The Travelling Fox Blog: Sidestory: Northern Lightning ~ Malmö & NFC Day 4

22-Feb-2025

Today is a sunny and relatively warm day as I set out to walk to the NFC once again.

Even so, the ice on the Rörsjökanalen has yet to thaw.

My strays to and from the NFC today look like this:

Today's approach takes me through the Gamla Staden ("Old City") of Malmö.

There, I pass the Moderna Museet Malmö, which has a really Flirial quote on one of its walls, along with whatever in Lerra that is.

I also note that they have bike parking lots on the road, with 5 of them taking up the space of one small car.

And here's the Teaterrepubliken, with it's latest and very furry piece Kattkabaré.

I next pass the Sankt Petri kyrka, which looks quite beautiful in the sunlight.

And then, at the Lilla Torg, I notice the Swedish equivalent of a Tardis.

From there, I can follow other furries all the way to the Clarion.

And once there, it's time for a fourth day of furry goodiness.

Inside the Clarion, I notice for the very first time that they have an old train station flip display modded to display major upcoming events. How cool is that?

Since I'm here relatively early (read: 10:15), there isn't much going on yet. Most furries like to party deep into the night, after all.

Here's another SOUP poster that I found.

A friendly reminder for all those furries that do drink.

And another Yokai. This one is the Bakeneko (化け猫 "Changing Cat").

With not much to do right now, I am happy to volunteer for more SOUPing again, which results in me first cleaning up a panel room by deflating air mattresses, and then putting rows of chairs in another panel room.

Then, I briefly wander into the Kemono meetup, where there are Kemonos in Kimonos. The name similarity is not entirely coincidental, by the way: Kemono literally translates to "Fur Thing" and Kimono to "Wear Thing".

I also randomly pass by the blue furs meetup.

By the way, yesterday's charity vote was apparently Ramen VS Sushi.

Oh, and here's a Youko (妖狐 "Mystic Fox"). And it has three tails, just like me! =^,^=

After that, I head over to the Malmö Saluhall for lunch once again.

There, a sign at the Clemens Kött & Husman quickly grabs my attention.

I also end up acting as an ambassador to the fandom as a bunch of people come up and ask me about what's going on. So I happily explain, and invite them to watch this afternoon's fursuit parade. Anyway, for lunch I have original Swedish meat balls, which is something I've been wanting to try anyway. They're very tasty, especially the sauce!

While I eat I also notice that my new armband matches up really nicely with my old one.

As I leave, I take note of a certificate that is half Japanese and half English. Looks like the owner of this stall has completed a course of meat preparation at a school in Japan.

After that, it's time for the Fursuit Photoshoot, followed by the Fursuit Parade. And that means a lot of suiters spread out all over the side of the canal.

Likewise. a lot of spectators have gathered, and many of them are not furries (yet). In fact, I can see the next generation of furries coming right up here.

There's also not one, but several drones up in the sky covering this occasion.

And then it begins! Let by Mousie, Iris and Trax, there are over a thousand suiters now crossing the bridge.

Crossing over the road.

And all through the Gamla Staden ("Old City") of Malmö.

WannaBeast is also part of that parade.

Of course, a bunch of furs are up to their usual antics, like when we pass the Pink Head Noodle Bar.

And after that, we're back on the home stretch, where a bunch of energetic suiters are putting up a dance performance for the furry finish.

In fact, I also covered the event on video, and have prepared a YouTube Playlist Here.

Back in the Clarion, I also spot a banner I hadn't noticed yet.

Next, I head over to Valhalla, and on the way walk past a modern building of Glass Vases.

Over in Valhalla, I spot a few more artful standees, as well as another Yokai.

The theme of today's Charity vote is Beer or Cider. I'm missing an option "neither".

After that, I attend the performance of the Taiko Bastards from Hamburg, which is very cool.

Again, I made a playlist of that here.

Back at the Clarion, I meet a cool cyber-mirror fox.

And I also notice these neat menus for the local restaurants.

Then I do some more SOUPing, helping out with some cleanup after an event, walking between the chairs and picking up garbage and lost items. Did I mention I'm Lv33 SOUP by now? There aren't any rewards above Lv20, but at this point, I'm just curious how far up I can still go.

After that, I run into the Dutch Angel Dragons meetup, which is very cute, especially with the noises. Also, getting cuddled to death by Dutch Angel Dragons is definitely one of the better ways to go.

It also nicely transitions into the Cute Noises Meetup, which I spontaneously organized for this year's NFC. That one ends up evolving into a big furpile with everyone making cute noises as one another. Since I am integral to that, I'm afraid I didn't get to make a video of that, but if anyone did record some of the cute noises that we made, please send me a link or something.

Afterwards, I pair up with a jaguar from Switzerland (from around Zürich, to be exact), and we head out for dinner. On our way out, we still come across a very beautiful little piece of group artwork.