Graduation and beyond

[mitochondriaaya]

Graduation was just before her birthday, so Aya was fifteen when she slithered into the graduation gown and tried her hat on. Walking with a tassel (as practice proved) was distracting. She wasn't katzu, true, but she still had the urge to bat at it. Instead she had to look calm. Sedate. Grown up.

Yeeeeah.

At least she wasn't Valedictorian, that would have added a whole new level of stress to her last year of school! And still she'd almost been swayed by the teacher who suggested she stay another year. Almost. Life didn't wait though and the boys were already so far ahead of her that it was a laughable idea to 'catch up' but hey, at least they could all be in college for some of the same years! Sure, not the same college but...yeah. She went out with her friends the night before graduation, a low key party out on a floating dock with a lot of silliness and loud music, but hey, they were all seniors, it was expected!

She made it home in the morning in time to toss back a mug of coffee and try to think about breakfast. "Have to be at the field at...four? Four thirty. Right. Yeah." More coffee. The message light on the answering machine was flashing so she hit the button and listened as her dad rambled cheerfully about it being the day, and he had his ticket to the graduation, and he wasn't going to lose it and what else did he need to remember? "Your head," she chuckled, listening. He'd been leaving messages all week as the day rolled closer. It was nice for Jerrig to be excited.

Granted, traffic was going to be hell with the town turning out to see graduation at the nearest sports field and tourists flooding in to see the surfing competition in the town nearby, but as long as everyone left early they'd be fine right? Right. It wasn't like she had to drive.

Maaaaaaaybe staying out all night hadn't been the best plan though. The coffee waqs sitting heavy in her stomach and she felt her hands tensing around the mug as REAL LIFE loomed up in her mind.

Ouch.

Yeah.

"What was I thinking?!" It was totally okay to ask these things of the empty kitchen, yep.

Comments

[mitochondriaaya]

"I accept flowers from katzu and not jewelry for that reason!" Aya laughed. "No one takes flowers seriously on the southern continent!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Well, Haran does." Braig pointed out, "But that kid is going to make a killing as a perfumer. Seriously, that scent he made for you? Mom actually talked to his parents and the clan head. When he's ready for college we're sending him to a perfuming school in France."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Well, yes, Haran does, but he doesn't take gifts of flowers too seriously!" Aya laughed. "And good, he'll like that. He was debating majoring in chemistry to try to work scents better, but France will have better ideas of what classes he needs!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, it's a perfume school specifically!" Braig said, "He may still come here for a couple of years first, to get a better hang of dealing with non-Katzu."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Because we don't count, naturally," Aya grinned and flipped another page. "He'll like America, at least as a temporary thing. And France, but then he'll go home with a vengeance I think."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Oh, yeah." Braig laughed, "What he'll be able to do with the Territories flora? Yeah."

Dilan grinned and just watched the others for a moment.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yes, the world trembles. Or faints in envy. One of the two!" And they would too! "Huh, do you ever stop to wonder about the sheer number of extraordinary people we know?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Like attracts like!" Dilan pointed out cheerfully, "Non-extrodinary people can't keep up with us."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Unless they're magnets," Aya noted wryly. "Still, it seems odd sometimes. Like my brain expects all the amazing people to settle out into their own little kingdoms or something."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Mwah ha ha you've divined my eventual plan." Braig chortled.

[mitochondriaaya]

"What, divide the world into fiefdoms of amazing isolation?" Aya poked Braig's forehead. "No volcanoes dear."

[sliceitwithwind]

"No, collect all the awesome into one country and succeed from everywhere else." Braig said happily.

[mitochondriaaya]

"The free state of Awesome?" Aya blinked at him. "That's...Ansem would smack you."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, probably." Braig agreed cheerfully.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Most people are not so cheerful about getting smacked by the president," Aya noted drily. "Might want to work on that."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Most people haven't been smacked by the president nearly as often as Braig is." Dilan pointed out cheerfully.

[mitochondriaaya]

"That's true. He may have been gaining an immunity to it through repeated exposure!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, probably...but the egosphere is probably helping protect him, too."

"...Right here, guys."

"Yup. And still a dork."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yep. You are!" Aya poked Braig as a matter of course and turned another page. "And you did just confess to long term plans of seceding from America so..."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, yeah." Braig just grinned at them and went back to looking at photos.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeah yeah, you know if you declare your own country I'll have to kick you right?" Just saying. Then she could settle back down into looking at pictures as well! "When you guys graduated did it feel like the day was taking forever?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah." Dilan said, "It really did. But it ended eventually!"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yay eventually!" Aya chuckled. "Think you guys could do something with my hair?" She'd let it grow since she was thirteen after all!

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sure!" Braig said, "Any idea what you want, or should Dilan just play with it?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Play!" Aya voted immediately. "After I shower and climb into the white clothes? That way I won't muss it pulling things on..."