smash_logs | Don’t worry about the future.

Entry tags:

Don’t worry about the future.

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.

title or description

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.

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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!

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Ziio had made it on her list of priorities to ensure the responsibility of students and faculty alike, which meant eventually making her way to Hagakure's side and offering him a gift bag that looked like it carried unmentionables. And it did.

The bag contained a variety of behind closed door goodies like sensual lotions, rubs, oils, candles, in addition to prophylactics and things referred to as 'morning after's, which she'd thought would be useful.

All the same, it was meant to be a gift in good favour. But it didn't mean Ziio was going to get away as sneakily as she'd appeared.

"Enjoy yourself, but do so responsibly."

Hagakure was somewhat confused, although a kinchaku bag was a traditional accompaniment for kimono attire, it certainly didn't match his outfit, and he was additionally confused by the fact that he was given a gift by the sex ed teacher when he, himself, had not graduated. There were things inside of it. He really had no idea what to make of this.

He knew it was rude to open the bag in front of the person who had given it, and so he just said, "Thank you, sensei," and stashed it inside of his kimono.

He'd figure out what was inside of it in a few minutes after she'd left, and wasn't watching.

Some people got the connection. And some people didn't. Ziio was reserved the birds and bees talk for her classroom only, and maybe for her son who likely already knew the process, but just wasn't practised in it. (As far she knew.)

She gave him a look over, a made a note to herself that she actually liked his garb. "What is that?" Ziio asked as she motioned to his outfit. She was pretty sure no one else had worn such a thing since she had come.

Hagakure looked at his clothing, and realized that it wasn't quite normal; then again, neither was hers, as it looks like it was made out of the stuff they made nice house slippers out of.

"Oh, this?" he said, looking down at his formal attire. "The jacket's a haori, the top's a kimono, the underwear is a hanjuban, the sash is an obi, and the pants are hakama. I've got five kamon, uh, family seals, on the kimono and the haori, so it's as formal as I've got."

He pointed out one of the seals on his haori. It was the odd hexagon symbol that was on the back of his jacket that he always wore.

"Oh yeah, and the socks are tabi and the sandals are geta. It's traditional Japanese formalwear, du...sensei."

Haori, kimono, hanjuban, obi, hakama, kamon, tabi, geta. So in other words, a plethora of terms that were very obviously not the ~~language of the white man~~ common tongue, which potentially brought up even more questions, but considering she wouldn't understand even if Hagakure told her (which she imagined he would easily), it seemed illogical to even begin inquiring. Instead, she simply nodded along and took it at face value.

He was dressed formally for his homeland and that, she could understand and respect. "You stand out," which was an odd form of praise, but maybe it was because she had always gone somewhat out of her way to stay connected to her homeland and her roots and Hagakure seemed to be embodying something very close to it.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" she further asked, thinking him less troublesome and more sometimes naive or uninformed.

"With my hair, I always sorta stand out, du-sensei," Hagakure explained. "But, you're wearing a dress made out of, uh... sorta looks like suede leather. That stands out."

Hagakure looked around the room. "It's alright. Free food's always a plus, and somebody'll probably want their fortune told, maybe. Another plus."

Ziio didn't argue because she knew she stood out. She almost always did and that was just something to take in stride because she was too stubborn to try fitting in.

"You tell fortunes." It wasn't something she was experienced in. She wasn't at all, really. Visions sometimes foretold the future, which she did know and it seemed the Clan Mother was always more aware than her people. "I would expect people to take interest in that, though I'm not sure they will while they're here."

"Somebody gets too much to drink, they think that they suddenly have to know what they're gonna do tomorrow, it happens," said Hagakure with a bit of a shrug. "Drunk people get funny thoughts."

"Where I come from, the people who have too much to drink wind up throwing punches, bottles, stools, anything they can get their hands on."

Like when she and Haytham hunted for information, only for Braddock's men to be calling out 'cockrobin' and Haytham 'feeding them their teeth.' The memory made her smile just a mite, for she'd been right behind the counter rooting him on. What a sight that must have been.

"Fortunes sound tame in comparison," she admitted.

"Yeah that wouldn't work in Japan. Staff drinking parties are sort of... everybody's happy drunk, sitting around a table, eating food, filling up your neighbor's drink, stupid jokes, congratulations, your boss gets crazy drunk, sometimes somebody says something mean but because we're all drunk, nobody cares..." Not that Hagakure had been to any staff drinking parties, having never had a job, but he was old enough to know how they worked.

"The people where you come from, Hagakure..." Ziio began with some consideration, "...sound very interesting."

And they did. She couldn't imagine redcoats ever being so amicable and she knew not to expect it either. But were her people like that? No. To drink too much seemed... irresponsible to a degree and while Ziio certainly wasn't the most responsible, she was better than an unruly person with too much drink in her.

Not to say she hadn't been tempted more than once.

"They are," said Hagakure. "Japanese culture is very unique. We have four distinct seasons."

Hagakure thought nothing strange about saying what it was that he was saying.

She had to wonder because she had an inkling of what seasons were. The changes in the time of year. While she easily could have gotten caught up in her own thoughts of her homeland far from the academy, she focused her attention onto him instead.

"...Mm? I don't understand," Ziio admitted somewhat uncertainly.

"We celebrate all four seasons," said Hagakure. "It's a very traditional Japanese activity."

It's always clear, Ziio.

"That would be helpful if I really knew what any of that meant." Which meant it evidently wasn't always clear. "I will assume since you think I am worldly, that you are talking about your culture, which I will respect. I like to think more than one place celebrates all seasons. My people acknowledged the changing of the year and what it would bring with it."

Considering she lived right in the middle of everything changing. But they probably experienced the same things in different ways. Considering how different just Haytham and the British were from her people.

Hagakure looked sort of mildly surprised. "Wow, really? You do? The traditional Japanese calendar has 24... uh... sekki... uh... small seasons. Each season has six small seasons inside of it. They're on all the calendars. Seasons like, uh, 'Awakening of Insects' and 'Cold Dew.'"

The More You Know.

"That sounds very in-depth," Ziio admitted with a nod. "I think we are not so great in number of celebrations, but we honour rains and snows, the green world, and blue waters. As well as the stories of our ancestors and how we came to be." But most cultures did that, even if they weren't very loud about it.

"Where is it that you're from?" she finally asked, for it certainly wasn't any place she was familiar with. The least she could do was read up on it when she had free time. And she had plenty of free time, oddly enough.

"Oh, like the Kojiki," said Hagakure. "That's an ancient text that explains how Japan was formed out of the sea and the birth of the gods. You have that stuff too? Neat."

Neat.

"Oh yeah, I'm from Japan, it's a bunch of islands in the middle of the ocean. I'm from the Tohoku region of the main island of Honshu. It's really nice. We get a lot of snow in the winter."

She nodded slowly in response to his former inquiry, which she assumed was mostly rhetorical in nature. Beyond that, she found herself caught once again. He lived in lands across the water and the only waters Ziio had ever found herself vaguely familiar with were those where the outsiders had come from.

"The same waters as the British Isle and the king who resided there?" she asked quietly, knowing there were hundreds of years between the days she'd known and Hagakure's.

"What?" Hagakure said, looking at Ziio sort of funny. "England? No, no, that's the opposite side of the world, dude. That's over in Europe somewhere. Japan's in Asia, next to China. You know, where all the oolong tea comes from? That's China. Where are you from, again?"

"Across the water," she answered rather succinctly. Except there was more to it than that, and the way she'd answered it didn't really make it an answer at all.

So she decided upon something better. "A village called Kanatahséton. West of the British Isle and across the water from there." She didn't know what they called that in the modern time and she didn't much care because it wasn't as if she was going back.

It's called 'Murrica, and there's a Freedom Eagle shedding a lone tear for it even as we speak.

"Oh, so, like you live on an island, too? That's cool, du...sensei. Do you get typhoons, too?"

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Don’t worry about the future.

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