Banshee was in the backroom, getting ready. Cats hurriedly applied makeup and motioned for them to put on their earrings. Banshee did as they were told, staying quiet. They had a cup of coffee in one paw, and sipped it, they could use the extra energy right now. The blast of sugar to keep them going. Maybe that cat was right. Maybe they really needed to stop having so much coffee. Banshee took a long exhaling breath, trying to focus for once. Today was parade day, banshee hadn’t really prepared for it, they had been too busy doing nothing. But alas they still had to go. Their designers had ‘talked’ to them, taking inspiration from their personality and life for their outfits. Banshee liked it better than designing it themselves so they didn’t argue. Though the designers were /super/ personal. They wanted to know /everything/. Which surprisingly didn’t faze banshee. They complied and told them some things about their life, they didn’t tell them about /some/ things though. Those things were better left a secret. And they didn’t want their designers to blab to others about them. That would suck. So they told them the bare minimum. Banshee was dressed in red and black, the fabric was reflective and shiny. It had straps and buckles covering the armor-like outfit. It made them look like a mercenary, or a mob boss. Banshee almost smiled at the thought of their conversation with Lilou, ‘Your practically a mob boss!’ she had said with a laugh. They wished they talked to her more. Lilou wasn’t annoying at all. By the time the cats were done with them, they had black eyeliner, freckled with sparkles. The dots shined when they hit the light, shining a hopeful white. The designers instructed them to look traumatized and tough. Which banshee figured would be no problem for them. It was in their nature. They adorned more earrings than they would prefer, small daggers in each ear with other assorted earrings. None of them matches except the daggers. The small daggers let off a slight red glow, making it seem like they had been used recently. To sum it all up, Banshee looked fantastic. The designers squealed, proud of their work. Banshee smiled lightly, “ I guess I look ok. “ they muttered, twirling around with a giggle, a creepy one. God, they had tried so hard to stop that. Could they look even more like a monster? Banshee took another painfully shaky breath. This would be fine!! Just another stepping stone in their life. They would be ok. Ok. The peacekeepers motioned to all of eight to follow onto the float. It was based on eights focus, textiles, and factories. Disgusting but better than some other districts. Like 12, coal mining?? They betted it would be hard to make an outfit based on that. They remembered failed attempts over the last few years with costumes and floats. The last three years or so had been pretty good on costuming and sets. They just hoped this year would be ok as well. The float appeared to be a metallic gray, smoke coming out of holes. It seemed they had focused on the factory bit a little mote this year. Heh. The float when hitting the light shined a little, reflecting off of the light. It was almost pretty! Almost.
(CONT) Banshee frowned mournfully, sitting down on the edge of the parade float. They sat at the front of the float, looking bored and sad. Exactly what their designers had instructed. Banshee was great at following directions. Accept when it came to some things of course. Of. Course. A cat beside them handed them a flower, it was pretty, the petals a ghostly red. They realized that Nef had handed it to them, they nodded gratefully, and peeled the petals, tossing them into the crowd without a second glance. At least they were good at looking sad. He glanced back at Nef, they were waving cheerfully at the crowd. At least he was happy. Cats stood on either side of them. Cheering for eight, for that cats next to them, even for them. But Banshee didn’t know /why/ they were just a pain in the game, a m^rdurer. A monster from everyone else’s perspective. Bells words had been bothering them the last couple days. Her terrified expression as Banshee revealed the truth. That they weren’t soo innocent. That maybe her classmates hadn’t completely lied. So why was Banshee almost scared of their fear? They couldn’t handle seeing them tremble. Thinking that Banshee would k/ll them. Hurt them or others. Why did they think like this. They were fine. This was fine. It would be ok. Their jaw trembled slightly but thankfully it wasn’t too visible from a distance. No one would notice. They would keep on screaming. /God/ there was so much /noise/. It wouldn’t stop. “ EIGHT EIGHT EIGHT. “ Cats chanted, screaming. There was so much noise. They couldn’t focus. It was too much. They needed to get out of here. They had the impulse to run back to the designers to their coffee and start crying. But they stayed glued to their spot, face clean. No emotion. For once. Banshee wished they could get out of here. They couldn’t do this. They imagined, no hallucinated their dad in the audience, he was grinning. Cackling, giggling at the top of his lungs. Banshee almost started screaming at the sight of him. This was /not/ the time. He was /not/ here. As Nef said, they weren’t there. The ghosts couldn’t harm them. But. There was always that but. But they were still scared. But they couldn’t handle being here. But they wanted a hug, a friend. And not a friend that would d/e or that they would end up k/lling. Just a friend. They wished Rinn was here. They sighed shakily and Banshee stood up, holding a paw up to the ceiling. A show of strength that they didn’t have. But alas nobody else knew that so why should they care. They could play dress-up, be a scarecrow for the capital. Or could they, or would banshee break. Shatter in a million bl00dy pieces of glass. Be the untouchable, broken weapon. Banshee could be exactly what Alphecca called them. But sometimes ghouls just happened to be beings of great power. Sometimes a Banshee could scream so loud they could k/ll anyone near them. Maybe Banshee would start screaming sometime soon. Maybe they would win. Maybe they would prove everyone wrong. Maybe they would prove everyone right. Maybe. Banshee was ok with a maybe. They could work with that. So they did. They smiled peacefully, letting the fist drop to their side. And they screamed, adding to the noise. They let out a war cry, letting it mix in with the others. They erupted into a fit of giggles. Letting the noise echo around them. Letting the crazed laughter consume them. God, this was exhilarating. Everyone probably thought they were crazy, and strong. They could really use that. The capital was full of idiots. So hopelessly believing. They wouldn’t know how Banshee was practically crying, or how they hated this. They wouldn’t know how much they cried each week. They would see Banshee’s good side. Thought at the moment Banshee wasn’t sure what that was. Banshee sat down, stopping giggling and returned to their pose on the edge of the float. It helped them focus, not even glancing at the cats behind them. They didn’t matter, they weren’t there. No need to panic. No need to feel bad. No need to worry about Nef. Or Ellee, or Lilou, Scylla, Kaz, Ray. No need to worry. Banshee was fine. Then before they knew it they exited. Got behind the curtains. Away from the audience. They whipped their wetting eyes, grabbed their coffee and exited the room without another word.
