After dropping “Kenshin” off at the dance and getting in one last hug, we headed back down to the wide fourth level of the center to take more pictures and just hang out in general with the other con-goers who didn’t go to the rave. Soon after we were fortunate enough to get a hold of another Shinsengumi member (also from Vancouver) that had been busy for the better part of the night until then. For the next hour or so we shared the floor with a game of limbo, a break-dancing Domo-Kun, and a 15-foot tall Menos Grande.

I will say one thing about posing for pictures when we’re dressed as Shinsengumi: it’s always fun with our group because over half of us know how to pose with swords! I’ve wondered often how much this influenced our interests in Shinsengumi cosplay, because pretty much all of us have backgrounds in martial arts; about half the group studies (or has studied) iaido, a few have done kendo, and some like myself have done kung fu. I never make any excuses for myself or pretend that I actually know the correct way to tie hakama or draw a katana… but I’m always comforted by knowing that someone always will.

That said, two of our iaido-types went on to go through some of their sequences on the floor. They weren’t trying especially hard or anything – they both commented that they hated how sloppy they looked – but for video and photo purposes, it was excellent. I remember seeing many flashing cameras during those few minutes.

Shortly afterwards, these very same two iaido-types noticed the newest addition to our march had his hakama tied incorrectly (something to do with needing to go to the bathroom and hastily taking them off and putting them back on). Well, that led to an amusing moment where those two essentially ordered him to drop his pants in the middle of the convention center so they could fix it for him. With shouts of “take off your hakama!” and “are you wearing pants under that?” our troupe member learned something new that night (and yes, I imagine this shall all be on YouTube sooner or later).

Sadly, at some point during our goofing around, we snapped our flagpole. All I can about that is that that was the third flag we had made, and it was the third flag we had broken. That was about the worst of it, though. Everything else was going quite well; Seattle was beginning to take notice…

…and this was all just a sneak preview of the “true” march we were planning the morning of day three…