Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shakuntala raised her eyes to the figures upon the podium. The talk of partnering up and dancing with others sent a small flutter of whispers to the bodies left and right to her. Unfortunately, she wasn't too keen about the idea. She shirked back into the underbrush of people and remained in their shadow until the procession began. The seventeen year old wasn't against the festivities, but her only experience with dancing was standing on her father's feet as a girl and having him lead. Shakuntala was fine with watching and listening; it's what she is best at.

Danny had clung to Shun and Rikki's side for the rest of the day, before eventually returning home. She'd been berated for abandoning the booth so much, but as per usual she was let off the hook, because nobody really cared.

- Day 2 -

Returning the next morning, she was considerably more groggy, but still ready to have a good time. She was, at the very least, considerably more excited and energetic than Shun was.

When the person in charge announced a dance contest, Danny was all too happy to take center stage. She was nearly the first to jump in, bouncing a little with excitement. "What do I do, what do I do?" she murmured. Find a partner?

She turned to the rest of the crowd and said, "Someone-" Maybe a look to Shun- "Dance with me!!"

Preacher stood motionlelss in the crowd as Saga spoke. Her eyes bore into him, sending hot yellow daggersof a glare tot he oblivious man. He looked ridiculous behind the podium, like a child playing dress up in his mother's clothes. His enthusiasm was innocent, though, if, as always, somehow misplaced. Sighing, Preacher twirled an errant curl around on finger. The rest of her navy hair was up in her hat again, secured but don't of creative tucking and a few precious pins. She wondered what kind of family Saga had had to make him so... flamboyant a young man. What a weirdo.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed when another person took the stage, only catching the last bits of her speech. Wait... dancing? Preacher blinked. Why would there be dancing? She looked around. Shun leaned back, arms crossed. His face was a little forbidding for today. Still, she sidled over to him. "Not gonna find a pretty lady to dance with, Shun? You're light enough. on your feet, eh. Unless you're here a-lookin' for marks?" The last sentence was said quietly.

Preacher hadn't managed to score anything this morning, sadly. She hadn't really tried; the beating from Tinker has left her stiff and sore and while her fingers worked fine, a thief needed their entire body in peak condition. When she moved, Preacher swore she heard creaks and saw stars. A voice nearby caught her attention. Axel was going to dance. Preacher told herself she didn't care.

Zin sighed with relief. There, she didn't have to be alone now. "Hi," she greeted with a smile.

She turned her attention to the podium as the man and woman made their announcements. At the mention of dancing, Zin's eyes lit up. She didn't want to be a part of the dancing portion of the parade-- she had her mind set on marching with the other trainees-- but she would never pass up the opportunity for a fun party.

Zin's eyes widened when Lenore desperately pleaded to dance with her. She tried and failed to suppress another giggle; somehow, Lenore's behavior never ceased to amuse her. "I'll dance with you," Zin agreed happily. "I was going to ask you, anyway. But," she added, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I don't really know how to dance. Let's try our best, though!"

With that, Zin grabbed Lenore's hands in her own and started twirling around with her, paying no heed to what the steps were supposed to look like. She grinned as she danced, clearly having the time of her life.

Danny squinted over Rikki's shoulder and stuck her tongue out in Shun's direction. Well too bad for him, she was going to have more fun with Rikki anyways.

She took Rikki's hand and pulled him towards the "dance floor" so to speak, and then realized one very crucial detail.

"Wait I don't know how to dance."

A number of people were pairing up to begin dancing as requested. He caught Danny's gaze when she sought out a partner of her own, but thankfully Rikki had appeared to take that before she could do something crazy like try to drag him into this.

Shun let out a light scoff at Preacher, then shook his head.

"I don't dance," he said flatly, "Unless you'd call exchanging blows in a spar as a 'dance'."

Regarding his last little sentence, his gaze flicked down towards the younger boy, then let out a breath. "I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind. But no. I'm here for work. Just not... this s**t," he grumbled while making a wave motion to all the dancing.

Alec blinked his eyes open, having been asleep on the grass for some time not having intended to be so lazy and doze off for so long. Rubbing his eye as he sat up yawning he blinked a few times stretching. Not that he'd really been asleep that deeply.

He could have sworn he heard his name a moment ago. "I know that voice.." He mumbled thoughtfully. Who had called his name, he glanced around looking for the source of the voice swearing he recognized a particular girl. Had that been Lillian? The girl rarely left her workshop with her old man, and was a long time best friend of his over the years. The prospect of seeing the girl at the festival sounded wonderful.

"You rang?" he pipped up a little unsure if he'd get an answer having perhaps imagined his name being called.

Then they were announcing a dance was going on. No way, he had two left feet. The teen covered his mouth giggling as he watched some pair up. Laying his arms across his bent knees he leaned forward watching the scene unfold with a warm smile on his face. He'd made a lot of what he hoped would be long lasting friends. They were all different, and had different attitudes and ways of going about things.

That was evident as Rikki and Danny tried to dance together, or Tala and Axel the red head gave another little yawn.