by Narrator » Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:26 pm
Even though Jez didn't have a clear idea exactly what was going on, and that became more and more readily apparent, she would find the people around her more encouraging than anything else. Not the old lady giving the speech, oh my no, but the younger generation, at least, helped her by giving her several hints as to what to do at various points during the ceremony -- motioning when to drink and when to wave and all that sort of thing. Generally speaking, smiling faces -- maybe they were a bit confused as to why she was here, but they were welcoming. The older generation? Eh, not so much -- lots of stony faces, probably not entirely comfortable with some sort of outsider coming and not only taking part, but winning, their cultural traditions. Apparently, Symkaria wasn't part of the EU or anything here.
English wasn't anyone's first language, but the gist of Jez's speech was understood by...most of the crowd, at the very least. Once again, it was better accepted by the younger members of the crowd -- perhaps a sign that Katarina's generation would be more willing to listen to the 'decadent West' than the older generation would be, necessarily. Either way, there was a decent round of applause when she was done, so this could have gone significantly worse, all things considered.
The man in a royal-looking uniform who had listened in stone-faced silence and had started back for the castle, presumably to beat her there, might be less positive, though whether Jez had time to worry about that as she was ushered towards a horse-drawn carriage thing for a Victory Ride was up in the air.
"Good! Nice job!" a girl about three years younger than Jez was saying as she began to lead her away. "English?"