Don’t worry about the future.

[mansionstaff]

Who: EV ERY ONE
What: Graduation. Prom.
When: The evening of May 31st.
Where: The Stadium.
Warnings: WHO KNOWS

It's a beautiful spring evening at Smash Academy, the barest hints of summer just beginning to touch the stadium floor, which had been rearranged into a platform overlooking neat rows of chairs meant to seat the gathered crowd of faculty and students. Towards the other end of the complex was the arrangement for the prom that was to follow. Food and drink, chairs and tables, each with a floral centerpiece, and, of course, a dance floor.



Before everyone could get their party on, however, there was the main event of the evening. From his place at the podium, Master Hand watched students and staff alike find their way into the stadium. With the recent shadow bug invasion, there seemed to be tensions in need of dispelling. If the Headmaster knew one thing, however, it was that some silly antics were not going to ruin this esteemed event. Not tonight. Not if he could help it.

-------

HEY DUDES! Here's how stuff is going to work. We kick off the log with GRADUATION. This part of the log will be divided into separate threads. I'll post them all at once, so feel free to hop around, mingle, post whenever, wherever.

HOWEVER, once the PROM starts, it will be up to you guys to post your own threads. Please check out last year's log if you'd like an idea of how this works. Everything after the thread titled "DISMISSAL" (I will post that in a bit, so don't post prom threads until I have that up!) will be considered prom, though don't let that stop you from continuing to post in the graduation section.

Please label all your threads appropriately! (Examples: "SHENANIGANS AT THE FOOD TABLE", "DANCE-OFF", "THE PUNCH IS SPIKED", "BOTHER X" In general, a location + what is going on in the thread is the way to go. Obviously, more than one thread can take place at the same location. 

Linking back and forth when and if you thread hop is very much appreciated. If things start to look a bit laggy, we'll bump to the next page. Most importantly, TAG YOUR DUDES, HAVE FUN, and let a mod know about any problems or concerns you might have!

Comments

[testgasm]

Wheatley did not really know what to say to that. Sure, he'd had some trouble learning to speak, but compared to things like arms and legs and fingers, talking was a breeze. It probably had something to do with the fact that talking was mostly all he ever did. Seeing someone apparently incapable of figuring it out was perhaps just a little bit baffling.

"No, no, that's for--that's for talking, not poking at, what are you--don't do that, nobody wants to see your tongue."

Tongues were gross, and squishy, and covered in saliva, eugh.

"Just--just put it away, why don't you--can you say hello? Hellllloooooo."

Look, Wheatley would even draw out the word and enunciate it carefully in the hope that his robot son would be able to mimic his speech.

[sixextraseconds]

Some people already had things like arms and legs and fingers before, but had been distinctly lacking in capability of speech. Hence, a slightly inelegant but fully mobile human with the vocal capabilities of a toddler. Don't be model-racist, Wheatley.

ATLAS blinked at him, before reluctantly releasing his tongue. Speaking was supposed to be a task of more important units, the few noises it made nearly involuntary. But if Wheatley deemed it important to know, he supposed he needed to.

Squinting very hard at Wheatley's noise flaps, ATLAS did his best to imitate.

"Hhlllllurrrr."

He positively beamed. He made the noise! A noise. A talky-ish sort of noise!

[testgasm]

No son of his was going to stand around playing with his own tongue. It was simply undignified.

"Okay, that's...almost it, you've almost got it, should probably just--just enunciate a little more. You're doing very well, though, try again," he said, perhaps not as impressed as ATLAS was excited.

[sixextraseconds]

"Hullg, lllluooo hallall, ooo."

Things were rapidly devolving, and now he was just having fun with the notion that he could make noises in the first place. You're going to need to step up your fatherly guidance, Wheats.

"aaaalllooooooooorrrrrr"

[testgasm]

"Augh, okay, no."

This was getting nowhere fast. "Do you--do you even know what that means, hello? Or are you just making noises and hoping for the best?"

Wheatley was starting to suspect, however, that ATLAS was mostly making noise for the sake of making noise. "Just watch, watch the way my mouth moves. Helllloooooooooo. It's a word, not a noise. It means something."

[sixextraseconds]

"Hulull."

The two didn't need to be mutually exclusive, all right? At least he was enjoying it.

Still, Wheatley was right, it wouldn't do for him to get caught up in audiology without applying the proper method. His face screwed up, focusing hard on his boss' noisemaker hole.

"Huuu... huueee...ell oh. Huel o."

[testgasm]

"Ah, yeah, that's probably--that's probably good enough."

He still didn't know if ATLAS was connecting the meaning to the word, but at least things were getting somewhat intelligible. "So that's what you say when you're meeting someone. Do you--do you understand this? Are you, ah, picking up what I'm putting down, as it were?"

[sixextraseconds]

He looked down to see what needed picking up, but it did not seem Wheatley had put anything down.

His brow furrowed, and he raised his hand in a small jerk of a wave. "Hue lo?" The two things for greeting people, put together. Double the greet.

[testgasm]

"Yes! That's it."

Maybe he wasn't a hopeless robot-child, after all, though Wheatley didn't exactly have high hopes. Still, it was too early to give up on him. He'd integrate his robot son into human society yet! He'd managed to put a dress on, so that was a good start, he figured.

"Now you can greet people properly, instead of just...garbling at them."

[sixextraseconds]

That big, enthusiastic smile came back with Wheatley's affirmation. Human bodies were weird and confusing and illogical, but the better it came to understand the process of humanity, the greater it could assist them in their testing needs. Surely, with Wheatley's expansive knowledge helping him along the way, he'd be a master before long.

He held up his hand for that, the most powerful of celebrations, the high-five.

"Harrblathm."

Because you are so very proud, and want to celebrate, Wheatley.

[testgasm]

Wheatley, having been built without arms, has never really seen the point of gestures like high-fives. That, combined with the fact that he really doesn't enjoy touching other people (eugh, germs), meant that he just kind of...stared. At ATLAS' hand.

He left ATLAS hangin'.