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Preacher bristled at Axel's words. "Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud cuz I nicked some food once, old man!" But it was Axel's next words, almost a sibilant hiss, that made Preacher see red. She legitimately snarled at the other man, lips pulling back like a feral animal, before forcefully pulling her face back into a mask of joviality. Instead, she ran her tongue along her top lip and hummed. "So ya wanna stare at me? I see how it is." She stepped up to him and grabbed his collar briefly. "Don't get too close; you'll get burnt." Preacher skipped back, vest swirling around her. In a supremely childish display of temper, she stuck her tongue out at Axel.

Keeping an eye on Axel (he wasn't to be trusted after all), she turned to the rest of the group. "Shun, you in the military police would be... hilarious. Ey. whatall happened to tha rest of your.... group? I ain't seen 'em around.." Her question trailed off as Saga burst loudly out of the tent, screeching about adoptions. Preacher couldn't help it; her curiosity peaked and she called out to Lloren. "Oi, what was that loud felller on about?"

At Elliot's words, Shun just sort of shrugged. Was he really military material? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, he was in there now.

A low grunt came from him as Preacher mused about him being with the Military Police.

he said, "I'd rather not have to deal with them or the little shits they put up with if I could help it."

It wasn't surprising to him to hear that Alec wouldn't want to be MP either. He wasn't too certain how popular they were with the general populace. While there was some talk of horses nearby, he furrowed his brow and looked about. This was becoming a bit of a crowd, much to his displeasure. Before he could try and separate himself some, Preacher had piped up.

"They're all dead,"" he answered under his breath before looking towards one of the Military Police in the tent. He just raised his brow and turned away. He didn't want to know.

The Semblance of Unity

leon_a_darkangel

Kaiyumi

Okay, so he probably deserved Preacher hissing at him. Didn't matter. He wanted to fling Preacher away when the boy grabbed his collar, but he forced himself to stay still and give Preacher his most ferocious glare. Axel was deeply suspicious of Preacher. Just what was the boy doing at the parade, anyways? Volunteering? Axel doubted it. He was probably there to steal as much as he could. He rolled his eyes when Preacher stuck out his tongue and resolved to ignore the boy as much as possible ... but continue keeping an eye on him, in case Preacher decided to start trouble.

The conversation about the military interested him. He looked at Alec, curious. "So you're joining the military? What for? You got a death wish?" Alec didn't look stupid or starving, and Axel was pretty sure those were the only sane reasons people joined the military. It was peacetime, wasn't it? You only joined up if you were on some kind of weird ego trip and wanted a uniform and a feeling of importance, or if you had absolutely nowhere else to go. He gave Shun a curious glance too. Shun was obviously familiar with Preacher, so he might fall into the "starving" category of trainees. Interesting.

The outburst from the field marshall drew his attention away from Alec and Shun. He raised his eyebrows, looking over in Lloren's direction. Adoptions? Lloren was beckoning Preacher over. Axel looked around the little group. It seemed like the conversation might be heading into oohing and ahhing over horses territory, which did not interest him in the slightest. He had decided to ignore Preacher, but he was interested in what the crazy field marshall might want with the young thief. If Preacher headed over to the tent, he would follow (at a distance) out of sheer nosiness.

[I forgot to say, but Preacher is dressed as a boy right now <33]

Preacher's eyes widened art Shun's whisper. All dead? It was unimaginable to her. But she didn't press. After all, what more really was there to ask? Briefly, she wondered how he had been pressed into the recruits. It wasn't everyday that they wanted a street rat. Shaking her head, she dispelled her questions. They were for a later time, perhaps. Instead, she swaggered back over to the volunteer booth.

"Ey, who was that loud bloke? Dude had a voice loud as seven hells, ye ken?" She propped one hip against the table. Lloren seemed a nice sort. Maybe everyone in the military wasn't weird or so hung up on policies that they eat and breathed and shat rules.

"Same with you Cyril, glad you could make it." He gave him an apologetic smile.

His talk of horses interrupted as Axel questioned him, falling quiet for a long moment his smile wavered. Shifting on his feet nervously.

"No not really. I want to live as long as I possibly can. Trust me.." He assured Axel shaking his head. "My old man..he uh was in the military." His fingers touched the ring around his necklace. "I don't know if I'll follow him into the Scouting Legion, but the Garrison seems like a good place for me. I don't know." He shrugged some. Only his mother and sister made him hesitate, but he could better care for the family even if it meant they hired a shop help.

Everyone had their reasons for joining..and not everyone wanted to show off. To Shun he said a bit quietly. "Neither do I..maybe they have some good people but I'm not so sure." However, he admired the men and women in uniform regardless of branch, and aspired to be one of them was all.

Looking back at Shakuntala he blinked a bit. "I'm not sure if they do with the horses at the moment..it would be really nice." Maybe the bashful dark brown haired girl was onto something? He'd inquire soon. "I'm sure they'll have you do something so you can avoid your mom yea." He agreed, for her sake anyway.

The disturbance of the person shouting about adopting made him shy back just a bit, remembering he still needed to figure out what he even wanted to do. "I think..theirs some one over there." He looked back at Tala. "I'll be back in a moment..I'm going to see what they need help with most so far if anyone else needs something to do." he waved Mykanos to follow. "Coming?" He asked the other already ducking away from the crowd, making his way back over to the booth.

"'scuse me um.." He tried to catch their attention still a bit leery from the commotion a moment ago.

"Of course," Shakuntala replied with a small smile, bidding Alec farewell with a dip her chin.

Since she didn't know much of the souls about, she was keen on just standing around and keeping to herself. A peculiar sound stole her attention for the time being. With a scraping, snapping sound beckoning her onwards, the short-haired teen came upon a majestic steed craning its head. The drawn back ears, snorts, and whinnies immediately signaled to the girl he was in discomfort. And, while she knew not how to relieve the animal of its stress, she was encouraged to assist it somehow. With hands clasped to her bosom, Shakuntala tiptoed over to the horse with her mouth drawn to a small O.

"H-Hey..." she muttered towards it. "C'mon, c-calm down..."

Her eyes glided over to the pole the animal was tethered to. The way the tent swayed could only mean that, with a few more tugs, it would topple. With eyes widening, she was unsure if she could calm Drakon in time. She continued to try and calm the horse with soothing words, even extending a hand just before his ebony muzzle for when it was safe to touch him.

"My dad was in the Scouting Legion too," Axel said. The day his father didn't return had come when Axel was quite young. He remembered his dad as nothing more than a friendly faceless giant that rode around on a big smelly brown beast. "If I joined the military, I think the Garrison would be the place to go." Or the military police, though he wouldn't dare voice that opinion in this mixed crowd. Some people didn't care for them much. He frowned at the tent that shouting idiot had disappeared into. Axel disapproved of people who didn't take their jobs seriously.

Then Alec and his friend with the interesting hairdo were heading over to the booth. So was Preacher. Axel trailed after Alec and Mykanos and split off to see what Preacher was up to.

He felt a bit like a stalker, but he couldn't imagine what the officers would want with Preacher ... unless, maybe, they were going to arrest him! Aha! That would be most excellent.

Axel heard Lloren talking about oratory skills and so forth, but she lowered her voice for the next part. He leaned in, just barely catching some of the words. Something about the Parade Field Marshal wanting orphans, which sounded extremely unsavory to Axel considering that the Field Marshal was probably hardly older than Preacher. He curled his lip in disgust. Was that what they got up to in Utopia?

Axel realized that Lloren had noticed Alec, which meant that he had probably been noticed as well. "They want to join the security detail, too," he butted in, as though he was the one who brought them. Then he left Alec and Mykonos, stomping around towards the back of the tent like he wanted to get a look at the horse, which he definitely didn't. But he did want to get away before Preacher realized he'd overheard.

Having successfully reeled in the human, Drakon began to get excited. He stepped up and down, pulling on the reigns until the entire structure made a creaking noise. That got his attention. The stallion looked up, only to be frightened by the now-leaning canopy.

Beginning to panic, his efforts to look distressed turned into efforts to run away from a real source of distress.

The tent leg was dragged into an increasingly precarious angle. Unless someone did something, any moment now...