The Strange, Strange Sections of Dieci Gardens (DISCLAIMER: I do not own Swan Lake or Final Fantasy and its characters and weapons.)
Zephyr was back at Dieci Gardens High School for her second marching season, and she was quite excited. Not much about the show (Swan Lake) or the slides (she shuddered at the thought), but reuniting with her friends after a long summer and meeting the new freshmen.
Currently, they were reviewing basics and perfecting them, for it was a State year, and the marching band had an opportunity to compete at the state level against the best of the best 4A schools. The drill instructors this year (Kalie Silvermead, Juliana Xu, and Erica Parker) were going over proper instrument carriage.
"You see," explained Kalie, "your flute should be perfectly parallel to the ground and your arms should not tough your body. It's like they have floaties on them."
"Wait, are we talking about those inflatable things on our arms when we went swimming as kids?" asked Juliana.
"Yes, Ju-Ju. Floaties."
"I always called them water wings."
"No, they're floaties."
"No, they're water wings."
The argument lasted for about five minutes, and the inside joke was so popular, it became the flute section shirt.
Max Norris, a senior euphonium, was playing Final Fantasy while lamenting the director's choice of field show. Suddenly, staring at his television screen, he had an idea.
He brought the picture of his idea to Victoria Tramel and Charlie Daily, two other members of the euphonium section. "I have the perfect idea for our section shirt!" he proudly announced.
"Well, let's see it," sighed Victoria.
Max revealed his drawing: a badly-drawn swan with Cloud Strife's blond, pointy hairdo holding the Buster Sword, a sword of massive proportions used by Cloud. Below it was the caption "Euphoniums: Bustin' Up The Competition!" Victoria's eyes widened; she and the rest of the section (as well as some of the trombones) were avid fans of the Final Fantasy series.
Everyone in the euphonium section, as well as a French horn and a flute, ended up buying one.
The band, by this time in the season, had figured out which series of taps started which drum cadences, and so knew which dance to perform ahead of time. For Zephyr, the start of this particular drum cadence told her to look at the trombone section at least once.
For this cadence, all of the trombones would place their bells on their head and rock back and forth with the rhythms. It was so entertaining to watch (at least, to the little flute player) that sometimes, she would forget to dance with her section to stare and chuckle at one of the weirdest sections in her band.
The next day, trombone section shirts were passed out. Curious as to what random trombone-superiority message was written all over it, she asked Scott Daily if she could see the shirt. On the front, there was the signature "DGHS Trombone Line" emblem, along with the definition of "talented." She flipped it around and exploded with giggles. A picture of a boy with the trombone bell on his head was printed on the back, accompanied with the caption "Talented like that."
The French horns managed to create a similar graphic for their section shirt, with the instrument screaming, "You're doing it wrong!"