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.

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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!

Comments

[nottheproblem]

She appreciated how he watched himself with what he said. In some ways they were quite a bit alike. She might have been a little more primitive, but even if she was, he certainly wasn't going to say it like that. His question, however, beckoned her to pause.

"...Hm." How to even begin going into all of that. That was stuff she hadn't even told Gordon. In fact, she had to wonder if Connor even knew. He probably did, considering he had Haytham's journal. And she had his journal, too. Two journals. One further along than the other. Hers was behind.

"He helped me kill a man who did horrible things to my people. If it were not for him, I would not have lived, I think. He was a good man, in some ways, but my efforts were for very little, it'd seem. There is little I can do about it now and nothing good waits for me in those lands."

[jonny_talbain]

Jon sighed. He knew enough to guess that she was probably right. "I'm glad you were able to exact some measure of justice." Though, how much justice could the death of one man bring when stacked against many evil acts? He was unsure. It was probably something so far outside his ken he'd be better not thinking on it too hard.

"Well. This place is... certainly a land of second chances. I've likewise nothing to return to in my homeland. That was proven to me time and again. And I'm in a position to travel back, should I chose to."

There was no chance of him doing so, however.

[nottheproblem]

"I would say you at least have the opportunity to, except if I did, I would not wish for it. Things happen for a reason, I have found. I am not interested in leaving this place just yet or the people here."

For if she did, there certainly would be no returning. But she couldn't really expect much of anyone else in the academy to understand that sentiment.

"Ever feel like going back, even though you have nothing to go back to?"

[jonny_talbain]

"No." he replied without hesitation.

Then he paused, his gaze drifting past her for a moment. He owed it to her to be a little more forthright than that, surely?

"...sometimes. Sometimes I see a photograph of London. Big Ben or the Thames. And it crosses my mind for a moment that I should like to see it again. Feel the fog in my nose and the rain in my hair and buy cheap fish and chips in a newspaper. Then I remember that the world I'm from is full of small, impotent feeling souls who've more violence in them than sense and I remember being shot at and chased with fire and I remember the only place I truly felt like myself was the wood, anyway."

He cleared his throat and shrugged slightly. "And we've a perfectly serviceable wood here, as you know."

[nottheproblem]

He didn't seem like such a rough and tumble animal when she heard him then. Not that he really had been much before. But then, in those moments, when she looked at him with her deep brown eyes, Ziio thought she saw something more. Obviously more than whatever the people in his homeland saw when they looked at him.

"Yes," she agreed with a short nod. "Yes, we do. It suits you well, better than you would otherwise be. You should stay here for a while." Because it was the closest she could get to saying she wanted him to.

[jonny_talbain]

"I intend on it." he replied, doing his best to draw away from the melancholy thoughts of home sometimes inspired within him. "I've responsibilities here. And folk I'd not see again, were I to leave for good."

Of course, she was included within that number.

"I'm also able to enjoy the city here without thoughts of discrimination. At least, most of the time." There had been the instance of Human vs Non sentiment. That had been short lived, though. "And that's to my liking. It may not be old London town, but it has it's charms."

[nottheproblem]

"That it does."

Ziio nodded slowly with that in consideration. "Charm is one way to put it. It is nothing like the world I come from or the things I saw and I have certainly seen my fair share of things."

But she got the distinct impression that Jon probably saw more. She just wasn't going to bring that to light. "I imagine you and I will both see much, much more while we're here."

[jonny_talbain]

"Aye. And I've a suspicion we'd both feel disappointed were that not the case."

They currently lived in an age of miracles and marvels the likes of which he'd never conceived back home. For her, it would be even moreso, he'd wager.

Not that he was a huge fan of technology. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy it's benefits.

[nottheproblem]

"I think you're right," and it wasn't often that Ziio agreed with someone. "In light of that, let us stay true to ourselves."

Something she thought would be reasonably easy for them both. Too stubborn to change for anyone else, after all.

[jonny_talbain]

"Agreed." he replied with a nod and a smile to match hers. Wry, candid and rare.

[nottheproblem]

And then in that moment, they must have looked akin to one another, despite representing night and day in many ways. Birds of a feather had a way of flocking together and the more time she spent with him, the more Ziio began to take notice of it. He was good company and he was a good, dependable, and reliable man. And she was beginning to recognise that she liked that in him.

How terrifying.

"Thank you for your company."

[jonny_talbain]

"Likewise." Jon replied, offering the smallest of bows in her direction, though his smile spoke of a very genuine gratitude. He always found her good value as far as company went and tonight had been no exception.

"Enjoy the rest of your evening, and I hope your gifts are well appreciated."

[nottheproblem]

His motion didn't go unnoticed by her and she thought it was too... She didn't think it fit her. Respect? The motion wasn't one she really recognised, but it didn't seem anything the way the outsiders she'd known would have acted. Ziio thought about doing the same in return and instead, opted for a low dip of the head, acknowledgement and feeling an odd sense of flattery that she couldn't quite explain.

"As do I," Ziio replied. "Have a good evening, Jon. Let's see one another again, when you have the time."