Happy New Year 2023 everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed the celebrations for the new year and the Christmas parties; I sure did. Won a brand new TV, spent some good time with my family, ate cake, became unable to sleep thanks to the fireworks, it was all awesome.

Now, to try and be more consistent with my writing both here and on AO3. I got one heck of an uphill battle to do, but hopefully things will be better this year.

Anyhow, enough rambling; let's begin the year with a bang!

"Would you like to come with me tonight for the festival?"

That question was one asked to Lincoln, Chandler, Eleanor and Meli by one Ronnie Anne, who had her arms folded behind her back as she stared back at them, expecting an answer. She primarily looked at Lincoln, who looked the most stunned at the sudden question.

"Um, sure, I guess?" Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "But this is a little sudden, don't you think? And also, what festival?"

Ronnie Anne flashed a little smile, and snickered to herself...

...

"What's the Year of the Rabbit?"

Sam was just making an innocent question when she did, but this caused all of the guild members to turn to look at her, each more shocked and or annoyed than the last one.

"Are you seriously asking about that now?" one of her fellow musicians asked in disbelief. "You've had the entire year to question this, and you ask just now?!"

"Well, excuse me for not having the time to get up to date with every single thing," Sam huffed as she put a hand on her hip. "Now, could somebody tell me what's this Year of the Rabbit gossip everybody's talking about?"

"It's not gossip, it's tradition."

Everybody turned around to see a certain teenager entering the room, causing everyone to fall silent and stare in shock. She had blonde hair tied in a pair of pig tails, a set of blue armor with navy blue highlights, black gloves, and she was carrying a bag over her shoulder as she walked to Sam, who quickly recognized her:

"Lady Lana?"

"Just Lana's fine, adding "Lady" to it just doesn't feel right," Lana replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, you were asking about the Year of the Rabbit festival, right? It's quite simple; It's a festival made to commemorate the arrival of the moon rabbits

Sam blinked twice. "Moon... rabbits?"

"It's a pretty long story, but to make it short, centuries ago an embassy came from the moon, and inside that embassy were the kigdom of the Lunarians, who were rabbits who were sent there and evolved into humanoid forms," Lana hastily explained before dropping the bag on the ground. "There's more to it, but I think I can let you figure it out by memorizing the script."

"Script? What script?"

"The main attraction of the festival is a play re-enacting the arrival of the embassy itself," Lana answered as the musicians looked through the bag to find costumes inside. "Certain guilds are selected to play the characters, and this year, Luna's guild has been selected."

Sam reached for one of the costumes, then pulled it up, causing it to roll down to reveal what looked like a white kimono with several moon and star-shaped patterns across it.

"That's the costume for the Moon Princess, the one who established contact with humanity during first contact with the lunarian empire," Lana explained with a little smile. "I had to ask Leni for some help in order to recover and fix the dress after the last festival's... unfortunate performance.

Lana winced at the remembrance of the event.

"So, wait, let me get this straight..." Sam sighed as she rolled up the kimono. "Aliens?"

"Rabbits, actually."

Sam paused. "Alien rabbits?"

"Technically speaking, they're Earth rabbits who were sent to the moon and then evolved to better accommodate to their new environment," Lana explained before waving her hand. "Anyway, enough talk; I came here to pick everyone up, to begin rehearsing for the performance tonight."

"Got it. Say, tell whoever got picked to play the princess that they have my condolences," Sam remarked before looking at the kimono again. "Though I have to admit, it's surprising that someone else shares the same sizes... as... me..."

Sam took a closer look at the kimono, then turned to see Lana staring at her with a bemused smile, and she did this a few more times before she finally connected the dots.

"Wait just a minute, what do you mean I'll be the princess?! Who even decided this!?"

"Luna did."

"Of course she did..." Sam sighed in defeat. "But I'm a bard, not an actor! My experience with entertainment is with songs!"

"That's the same thing for everybody here, but they're gonna play no matter what," Lana answered with a cheeky smile. "Now, I suggest you stop whining about it and come with me to begin rehearsing. And the same goes for your friends!"

The rest of the guild groaned in frustration as Lana handed them their costumes, leaving Sam behind to look at the kimono one more time with visible worry.

...

Soon after, Lincoln's team joined Ronnie Anne down to the streets of the Great Lakes Kingdom, the latter now donning a purple dress that covered her whole body, alongside a purple top hat tilted to the front and a domino mask, for good measure.

"You got a thing for purple, don't you?" Lincoln quipped.

Ronnie Anne immediately smacked Lincoln in the back of her head.

"I gotta say, after seeing you wearing armor, it's kinda weird to see you in casual clothing and a dress," Eleanor remarked as she scanned the girl. "I honestly thought you'd be more of a pants-kinda girl."

"I am, but the dress is better at keeping my identity hidden," Ronnie Anne answered as she adjusted her gasses. "Believe it or not, I'm quite well known around these parts, so I need to put on clothes that don't remind someone of me."

Eleanor kept staring at Ronnie Anne for a moment, something that the knight noticed and promptly responded to:

"And before you ask, yes, I'm wearing shorts underneath this dress."

"Ronnie Anne, please, give me some credit," Eleanor folded her arms and looked elsewhere. "I'm not so shameless as to lust after any random girl that I happen to look upon! I have a type, you know?"

Ronnie Anne paused. "That's not why I brought it up. Anyway, let's keep going."

The team began to walk down the streets, and as they did, Meli latched onto Eleanor's arm, the elven girl petting her head as they did and the guys watched them. Ronnie Anne also watched, looking slightly more annoyed than usual.

"Looks like Meli seems to be getting closer to Eleanor," Lincoln remarked before turning to Chandler. "You're not jealous, are you?"

"You and I both know which way Eleanor goes for, Lincoln, It'd be dumb to be jealous over a pair of girls getting to know each other," Chandler replied before looking back at the duo. "Besides, it never hurts to form bonds between team members. That'll help us work better as a guild, I think."

"Work better as a guild, huh?"

Hearing those words, Lincoln began to look around, with his attention eventually landing on a group of rabbits jumping around without a care in the world, with one of them stopping to stare at him for a second before it jumped away. And shortly after, Lincoln got an idea:

"Hey, I just had a weird thought."

Everybody stopped and turned to look at Lincoln, who scratched his chin.

"We're gonna need a name for the new guild, right? Well, why don't we take this festival as inspiration..."

Lincoln smiled. "And call our guild "The Unlucky Rabbits"?"