witchesreign | SeeD Graduation Ball; 2100-2400 SATURDAY (forward dated); [2F] Ballroom

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SeeD Graduation Ball; 2100-2400 SATURDAY (forward dated); [2F] Ballroom

[Night has fallen on Balamb Garden; the halls of Garden are mostly deserted besides the stray student walking about, and even the usual faculty members are missing from their posts around the school. There's a certain festive energy through the air, the source coming from the Ballroom cheerily decorated located on the second floor.

At exactly 2100, as soon as the dinner rush ends, the Garden chime sounds and the intercom clicks on. The Headmaster speaks to the Garden.]

The Graduation Ball is now beginning. Your attendance is requested at [2F] Ballroom.

I repeat, the Graduation Ball is now beginning. Your attendance is requested at [2F] Ballroom. The dance will run until 2400. Students leaving the ball after curfew are to return to their dorms immediately.

[After the announcement, the intercom falls silent. The faint sound of music can be heard from the second floor of the building. In the second floor ballroom, the Headmaster, Garden faculty, and even some of the instructors are present, so troublemakers are free to roam until 2400. Caterers roam, offering drinks and refreshments to the party goers; a stationary stand for punch and food is also offered. Unfamiliar people can be seen speaking with staff and amongst themselves - potential clients, perhaps?]

(Mod note: You may participate in the dance in comments to this post, or opt to make your own new post or log.

The dance is not mandatory (though it is strongly recommended that newly graduated SeeDs attend), so students that choose not to attend won't be punished.

Newly graduated SeeDs are required to wear their uniforms. Otherwise, the occasion is black tie. All inhabitants of Garden are welcome to the festivities.

Should players have any questions left unanswered, feel free to ping the mods via PM.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He's certainly not about to argue that point now. He smiles sheepishly.] You free now?

[No need to dampen the mood right away if she isn't, after all.]

Sure, I'm good!

[Or she might just have bumped him to the head of the queue.]

I just felt like going for a walk. Some fresh air, maybe. Don't know about you, but that band's giving me a headache.

[That's all he says before turning to head out of the ballroom, tight ponytail trailing behind him.]

It IS a bit stuffy in here. I could do with not being on display for a bit.

[Resisting the urge to swat that ponytail with a hoof just for fun, she falls into step beside him. After all this time, matching her four steps to his two just comes naturally.]

Yeah, I'm sure they could do with it too.

[He doesn't say much as they walk. It soon becomes apparent they're heading out onto the roof, into a cool, clouded-over night.]

Wow. Nice night out.

[For some reason, Rainbow briefly thinks of home -- someplace she's thought less and less about these days, as it happens. She shakes her head to clear it.]

Needs a moon though.

You think? I'd say it's missing stars.

[A quick once-over of the area turns up no sign of movement or anything otherwise unusual. It looks like they're the only ones up here, at least for now.]

You'd figure there wouldn't be much difference between the view from a town in the middle of nowhere and the view from somewhere that's really in the middle of nowhere, but there is.

[He settles against the railing. If he sounds a little absent, it might be because he's hoping talking on autopilot will give him a decent run up to this; it's that or stand around in awkward silence, which honestly he'd rather be doing, but that's not going to get him anywhere.]

Same night sky, all over the world. It looks like Equestria. Same as your world, huh?

Aside from humans and Sorceresses and all this crazy stuff... it's kinda nice that all these different worlds are alike like that.

[Even Rainbow thinks she's weirdly philsophical tonight, but she's starting to come down from the rush of excitement and the first hints of tiredness are making themselves known. Also, she's out on the roof with Ed, and that's nice.]

Not exactly. That's what I'm saying. It depends where you look.

[Actually, if he's going to get it over with, he should really get it over with. At least he came prepared, sort of. He quietly starts to rummage around in his left trouser pocket.]

But however you look at this, it's pretty much the end of an era, huh?

Yeah. You know, you're right. We've been cadets for over a year now, and that's done. We could still take classes, I guess, but...

[It isn't the same, is the obvious ending she doesn't bother to voice. Now that he's mentioned it, she'll miss it. As rough as it had been, class had also been fun in a lot of ways -- learning, getting better, maybe even studying just a tiny little bit. It hurts. A good sort of hurt, but still a hurt.]

...it was a good year, wasn't it.

[He shrugs, still smiling.] When I first heard about this place, I thought I could be out of here in a month or two. Look how well that panned out.

[Out of sight in his left pocket, his fingers close in on something, then hesitate.]

Which means you must be right, too. Some things don't change no matter what world you try them in.

I'm right? [She chuckles at that, shaking her head, then smiles sidelong again.] If this is that type of world, isn't it our job to do our best to make it a different one, where what you give determines what you get?

[He's silent at this, looking out across the fields. He hasn't removed his hand from his pocket.]

I told you once what I used to do for a living back on the world I'm from, right? [Although it must have been a while ago if it did happen, and only in the vaguest of terms.]

You dropped a lot of hints that were probably intended to give me the entirely wrong idea.

[She isn't oblivious to all of his tricks. Maybe not even most of them.]

Well, fine, you get to hear it again. I was a soldier. Nobody in their right mind would give a couple of dumb kids the time of day, so we decided we'd piggyback on the people they had to listen to, and that was the military. But they were just a step along the way. When I found out I passed that exam, I wasn't thinking about the wars they fight or the orders they have to follow. I didn't think of myself as one of them. All I could think of was what that exam was going to do for me.

[And all of that sounded almost jarringly casual, but now he finally turns his head to look straight at her.]

Do you understand yet? Maybe I won't say nothing's changed. I'm not the same person I used to be. But I'm looking up at almost the same sky, and seeing that... it's hard to forget there's still so much else I need to do.

[He extracts his hand from his pocket and holds it up. Between his finger and thumb is a slightly dog-eared slip of paper, and there's obviously something printed on it, but even squinting it's difficult to make out much beyond that in this low light.]

So yesterday, I went and got this.

You don't fool me. No matter how perfect the world was, you'd find something to do.

[But the sudden change in tone this conversation has undergone scrub away any hints of cheer she might have. She squints at the paper for just a second before the obvious answer hits her.]

Let me guess. Train ticket? You're leaving.

[A small part of her mind had always known this would happen, so she isn't even surprised -- just weary, a person seeing a friend go away for a reason she doesn't agree with.]

Yeah. I'm leaving. It's either that or just waiting around until I change my mind - start to think that perfect isn't still worth a try.

[He lowers his hand, leaning back against the railing again.]

Got a few days to make sure I remember everything, and then I'll be gone. The one and only Edward Elric, finally out of your hair. Won't that be nice?

[His fingers curl a little tighter around the ticket. Well, here goes nothing.

...or not. The words are on the tip of his tongue, but he finds himself biting down on them, and something feels frozen in his continued uncharacteristically gentle smile.]

[She rolls her eyes, smiling back at him.]

Get real. You'll be back. This is your home and where your friends are. And the only place people will think alchemy is cool, instead of shooting at you. Someday you'll want to clap your hands, turn a wall into a big grabby hand, and have it applauded instead of feared, and that's when I'll see you walking down the halls like nothing's changed.

[Spreading her wings, she rises into the air, stretching out her hooves to encompass the sky.]

Besides, I'm a SeeD too. Any time I want to see you, I'll just take to the air. Airship or not, I can get to you. Your clever plan to escape forgot that one little detail!

[He nearly laughs.] Me, I haven't had a home in a long time. It's a bit late to start looking for another one now. And even if I did, there's something else I have to get back to first.

[He slips the ticket back into his pocket.]

If the whole world's going to be against me in the meantime, I'm fine with that. I can understand. But you... you're gonna be busy. Sitting around all day, the best damn pilot in history might as well be a paperweight. You won't need to worry about me on top of everything else.

So move on, okay? Don't look back.

[There's very little mistaking what he's actually talking about.]

[Rainbow goes very, very still except for her wings, still beating out a hovering pattern.]

[Who told him? Only Pinkie Pie knew. And Pinkie Pie wouldn't break a promise not to tell -- and Ed wouldn't have listened to her if she had.]

[So he figured it out himself. So there's no point in denying it. The only thing left she can do is refuse to acknowledge what they're actually talking about. She won't give it voice, not directly, because it will only hurt.]

[She swallows, then finally meets his eyes again.]

You and I... aren't the sort of people who sit still. Ever. That's why we're friends. But Sorcerers and monsters both have the world against them. If you don't want me to drop by... that's fine. I'd get in the way, I know.

But you'll always have a friend here, if you need one. And you'll always have a friend, here... [She lifts a hoof to her chest.] Anywhere you go.

[Ed looks at her. No dramatic fit-pitching today? That's unusual. He might even feel a slight twinge of pride.]

You wouldn't get in the way. Believe me. It's just... [He looks away and up at the cloudy sky again.] Where I'm going isn't the kind of place anyone should follow, if all of this works out. I'm going back.

[Distantly, he taps a finger on top of the railing.]

There's a lot you don't know about me, but in the end... I'm not a Sorcerer or a monster. I'm nobody special. [Just a tiny, insignificant human who - well, never mind that.] You'll find somebody else. You're good at that.

[What's to be dramatic about? She knew this would happen, someday. She couldn't keep the secret forever. The fact that he's being gentle makes this the best of all possible scenarios she had ever imagined.]

[Nopony can accuse her of being unrealistic in her expectations.]

[She laughs, a little bitterly, it must be admitted.

If you think it's that simple, you're wrong. You got back something equal to the effort you put in... and you put in a lot more effort than I think you even realize.

[She folds her forelegs on the railing, turning to look out at the sky they'd commented on what feels like a lifetime ago. Cloudy, and grey. She should've seen this coming.]

Also, you don't understand what 'special' means, but I forgive you.

[He stops tapping for a second and tilts his head back.] What're you talking about?

[She shoots a mildly annoyed look his way. Ed, you're ruining the bittersweet moment of mutual understanding.]

You're special. No matter how much you say you aren't.

[He looks away, shifting a little in order to rest both of his elbows on the railing.]

If I really got out exactly what I put in, the way I used to think, I wouldn't have kept him waiting for so long.

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