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Zinnia marched with all her effort throughout the entire parade. The sound of the roaring crowd and beating drums kept her moving to the beat for hours. She gleamed beneath the warm beating sun, and continued to march even as it sank and the sky grew gradually darker. She had lived for this glorious moment.

She was completely exhausted at the end of the parade; her legs shook, but her smile never once faltered. It had all been worth it-- the volunteer clean-up, the catching of the horses, the broken barge, and even taking a dip in the canal. The way she had felt marching with her fellow trainees, and knowing that the citizens of Shiganshina were enjoying the best parade the world had ever seen, was enough to make her feel complete.

She was also grateful for the banquet table! Glad to finally sit down, Zin helped herself to a bit of everything within reach and dug in without hesitation. She tapped her foot in time to the music that the cheerful musicians were playing, and pondered getting up to dance after she'd regained some energy.

"Oh, hi, Axel!" Zin said, looking up brightly. She had a knack for remembering people's names. "I'm glad you could make it!" The parade had required a lot of hard work, after all. Anyone who made it to the end ought to impressed with themselves.

Zin swallowed her mouthful of food. "Yeah, I hope I can find Lenore soon," she told Axel. "I want to make her dance with me again." She giggled impishly, glancing back over to the dance floor. She looked back to Axel and asked with an enthusiastic grin, "Did you enjoy the parade?"

Day 7

"Please continue to remember, Lloren!" Preacher winked at the trainee, but couldn't hold back a snort of derisive laughter at her next words. Work out? Life was hard; that's all there was to it. You got stronger, quicker, better than the other boy or you died. Used that strength to take things, do jobs, or you starved. "Routine? Livin', I guess. Shun's tha same way, ya ken? Being stronger, workin' harder, it's just day-ta-day." She shrugged and tore off a tiny hunk from one of the bread loaves. Her stomach gurgled a little. Between her thieving stints, Preacher had taken on hard labor where she could get, as well as some other... less-savory things that needed a strong arm. Coin was coin, whether it came from a lifted purse or from 'taking care of people'.

Preacher leveled at stare at Alec. Well, not exactly at him. Her gaze was instead pointed somewhere over his left shoulder, as if he simply wasn't there. "Whoaaaa," she drawled out. "Do ya hear that wind? Or mebbe it's a mouse squeakin' like he don't know nothin'. Funny, sounded almost like Curry boy." If Alec persisted in calling her clearly ridiculous and girlish names, well, two could platy this game. A sly smile touched her lips. She'd just simply make a big point in ignoring him if he called her 'Peaches" again. She put her arms behind her back and stretched. The cold from the canal had finally faded. While she still felt less than 100%, she'd be alright eventually. She sniffled.

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Day 8

Liftin' lay again. Since she'd already been in hot water (well, cold, but the concept was the same), Preacher was extra careful in how and from whom she lifted as she shouldered aside over-eager parade watchers. There was a heart-stopping moment when she thought she was caught, but it passed. Her head felt heavy sand her nose was plugged. The dip in the canal had clearly done her no good. Preacher pressed one hand to her head. She couldn't tell, but everything felt weirdly hot. When the parade finally finished, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Although she knew she should immediately return to the booths and try to work the crowd some more... her love of free food won over and she staggered over to that inner courtyard. For the majority of the parade, she hadn't seen anyone she recognized, which was likely for the best. Preacher had avoided the barges like the plague. Still feeling light-headed, she grabbed a few pasties from the food tables and thumped down near the edge of the enclosure. Resting the food on her belly, Preacher sprawled flat on her back. The sky was blindingly blue. Normally, she would never sleep in a place she didn't feel absolutely safe, but a coughing fit left her fee;ling exhausted. And although she tried to fight it, her eyes kept drifting closed. Ugh.

"That's true, but today went off without a hitch!" It seemed that Zin's happiness was an unstoppable force. "I'm not good at dancing, either, but that's not the point of dancing!" She noticed Cyril and shot him a smile and a wave. Zin returned her attention to the slice of quiche on her plate and devoured it with gusto.

With warm food in her gut and friendly chatter all around her, Zin felt like she was holding a bubble of pure positive energy in her chest. In a moment, she would float away.

((Axel is so cute. emotion_kirakira ))

Axel nodded as Zin spoke. "Yeah, it did go without a hitch ... finally." Zin's bubbly attitude was contagious, and he felt his spirits lifting despite all of the disasters he had endured over the last few days. Maybe parades weren't so bad after all. He laughed as she talked about not being good at dancing. Being so clumsy when dancing with Tala had made him feel a bit bad. Axel was just about to ask Zin if she wanted to dance with him until Lenore got there when Tala arrived.

It would be rude to ask Zin to dance without even acknowledging Tala, so Axel waved to her. "Hey Tala!" Tala was walking stiffly, looking worse for the wear. Was it from her dunk in the canal? His brows knit with concern. "You feeling okay?"

"I feel fine," Zin said in a chipper voice. "I'm sorry you aren't feeling well though..." Of course she'd felt exhausted after yesterday's events, but she was the type who rarely got sick. She'd slept like a log and felt completely restored earlier that morning. The parade left her tired, and the food made her a bit sleepy, but she still had enough energy left to be chatty and cheerful. "Did you catch a cold from the canal?" she asked Tala, tilting her head.

Lenore walked through the parade slightly happier than the last time. In her haste to save people, she'd lost the book costume. And while the manager had given her a stern finger wagging, he didn't have time to craft a replacement, so everything went better than expected. Still, the girl had to partake in the parade, if just for punishment. Instead of a walking book, the girl was dressed in a one meter class titan costume.

The parade went off without a hitch, except when she saw the wallist that was pestering her during the banquet. At that point, she quickly broke formation and kicked him in the shin before running back and pretending nothing had happened.

When the parade finally ended, the girl made her way over to the banquet.

Bleeehh. Preacher opened bleary eyes. The sun was the same, the sky still the same shade. Good, she thought. It worried her that she might have dozed off. With a muffled groan, she sat up and stuffed the pasties in her mouth. Water sounded great. Coughing here and there, Preacher wound her way back to the tables.

She could she Zinnia and Tala chatting nearby. It looked like, for the most part, they were alright. Preacher felt vaguely guilty. After all, she had been the one to cause that accident. There were people everywhere, but Zinnia's bright voice sailed out over the din. Quickly, she downed a glass of water before sailing over.

"Sorry ta interrupt, jus wanted to-" cough "check up on ya." Preacher grabbed a cough of something as another coughing fit threatened to take hold. It was ale, and she made a face at bitterness, but at least she didn't cough. Her face still felt uncomfortably flushed, so she kept her head down even as she spoke. "I saw yer ridin' pretty earlier, Tala. Looked natural." Preacher saluted the other girl with the cup.