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

so late plz forgive me

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

Mondo never actively sought Aoi's company to begin with, but ever since February's fiasco, he actively sought to avoid it. It wasn't as extreme as running away at the very sight of her, but he never spoke to her, and if eye contact was made, he averted in an instant. Ignoring her was far easier than confronting her about his actions. Even if he did, it's not like he could even begin to detail what kind of sorry he was, since his actions baffled even himself. To this day.

It may have been the prevailing mood of an end-of-the-school-year celebration that changed things up a little within, compelled him to speak to her for once. Make no mistake, he never thought to approach her for any reason tonight because it hadn't been weighing on his mind, but at some point he found her by his side on accident near the food table. Seeing her made him feel like he was turning as red as her dress, one because he felt neverending shame about kissing her like that, and two because her being dressed up so stunning and so feminine caused him to feel funny. To not say anything to her when they noticed each other like this would seem weird and forced, maybe even more awkward than if he muttered a single word at all. It didn't have to be anything more than quick!

"Hey..." That was all he could come up with when his brain felt like it was being stopped up like this.

how dare you

[glazedandconfused]

Things had more-or-less smoothed over in the Ishimaru department, but that didn't mean Aoi was hella awkward around Mondo. She'd since come to the conclusion that they'd both been under the influence of some kind of love drug, but that didn't make things easier. When he approached, she felt heat rise in her face all over again.

"Hey!"

AND THERE

was the awkward silence, as Aoi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trying to look anywhere but at him.

"So I guess, uh, we're seniors now!"

Unless Mondo didn't pass. Did you pass, Mondo, did you?

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

It's a fighting school. What do you think?

Mondo exhibited the same dodgy behavior, only mirrored by looking in the opposite direction. "Yeah. Just one year left, and we can graduate..."

The word 'graduate' had become a bit of a touchy term for him. It served as a grim reminder of what it had meant for them in a past day distant from now. His heart winced. More than the connotations that word held for him when talking to a fellow Hope's Peak "survivor" was his anxiety about kissing her frothing beneath the surface of his demeanor. She was probably thinking about it above their idle conversation, he feared, just as he was.

[glazedandconfused]

Hooray, Mondo. Good job Mondo.

"I mean, it'll be nice to graduate for real, this time."

You know, as opposed to 'graduate from Murderschool by killing a classmate'.

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

Ugh, why was she even bringing it up? And then he was reminded how he kind of hated most of this school and wished he could experience the high school life he couldn't remember, rather than have to pedal through some alien high school and graduate when he was 21. There were some good parts about it, though. Silver linings.

"Yeah..." Once again, he couldn't come up with more conversation than that. He kicked himself for not being better at communicating like this. Even with the understandable pressure placed on him, it was frustrating as all hell. What else could he bring up? Should he cut it off there and move along with his night?

That seemed pretty cowardly.

It was this notion that stuck him in this spot, this awkward, bumbling spot. He knew that he had nothing to talk about, but he stayed planted here anyway. Well, he did have ONE thing he really wished he could bleed out of his chest, but once again, not only was he deathly ashamed, but concerned about putting her in an embarrassing spot. Even then, with a mood of finality and wrapping the school year up to a close, it pushed him to want to clear things up with her. He knew there was no excuse for any of it and nothing would undo what they had done, but he could at least let his feelings be known. It would be closure. And it seemed fitting to bring closure on a night like this.

"H-hey, uh..." Now that he started, there was no getting out of it. He could barely think up a replacement conversation, so he would be forced to see it through. "About last February..." He stopped, letting it sink in so she would be prepared to take what he had coming.

[glazedandconfused]

Aoi very much lived in the present--though it was certainly awkward to be standing around with Mondo when her mind kept creeping back to the events of February, she was perfectly fine making conversation and pretending that it never happened.

So when he brought it up, of all things, she couldn't help but maybe want to roll her eyes a little. Internally. There was also a large part of her that just kind of wanted to crawl under the covers and never come out of bed. That was how much she didn't want to think about last February.

"What...about it?" She asked, trying to sound as innocuous as possible. Clearly the best solution in this scenario was just to shove as many profiteroles into her face as possible.

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

Why... was this so difficult? All he needed to say was sorry, right? There was a whole traffic jam full of the things he could possibly say cluttering up his head.

"I... Look, I never got the chance, so I'm gonna go for it now!" he declared, a little too loudly for comfort. His loudness only made him feel even more on edge, but his volume and intensity was one of the hardest things for him to control when he was so nervous like this- something else that should be simple to do but wasn't for him. "I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am! I seriously don't know what got into me back then..."

Poor Mondo didn't even know about the cupid bots. He still thought it was all on him to this day.

[glazedandconfused]

Aoi stared. For a few moments. As if carefully weighing the direction in which she was going to take the conversation. Perhaps, potentially gauging the least awkward of awkward answers.

"It's okay," she said, shrugging a little and trying to look less embarrassed than she actually was. "It wasn't your fault."

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

He remembered that she had been the one to initiate the kiss, but his feelings for her at the time were so overpowering that it was hard not to feel responsible in some way. After all, he sure did kiss back.

"I dunno. It just sort of... freaks me out. That I did that out of nowhere. It kind of felt unnatural," he confessed. He was sore on himself for his loose grip on self-control in some situations, so having that happen on top of his insecurities dug him deeper. Still, he couldn't understand what happened back then. It was like the urge just came out of thin air.

[glazedandconfused]

"No, I mean, it...really wasn't your fault."

Aoi, being of slightly limited intelligence, was trying to make sense of it herself, but what she did understand was that there was some kind of outside influence at play.

"I think there was something that day that was just...causing everyone to fall in love with each other."

[butterbelieveamanspromise]

Mondo raised his brow and widened his eyes some. "Ya think so?" God, he hoped so. It never really occurred to him that an outside force was at play, but when he took into consideration the same forces that had the capacity to turn him into a chick...

Yeah, it was possible.

"So... like a curse or some shit?" He'd think the chocolate was probably drugged, but he didn't get any chocolate prior to the hot rush. "Damn, this school is fucking nuts. Why do I still put up with this crap?"