Distant Strums//OPEN

An acoustic melody echoed from within the walls of the ballroom. The siren’s song was the only drawing factor to the otherwise vacant room. Upon entering, one would notice that the decorations from the past spring fling were still strung about, the shadows of a time that has already passed. Cups were still scattered amongst the tables, half empty and lying in wait for their owners to return. Streamers littered the floor and a few stray balloons were bouncing about like tumbleweeds in the wind (or within the streams of the air conditioner in this case).

At the back of the room, sat upon the stage, was a lonely figure. Esha, dressed in a rather drab dull fuchsia saree, had her mandolin in hand. She strummed a melancholic tune as her gaze fixated on the room, though she looked at nothing in particular. She just zoned out completely, absorbing the contents of the room as the sounds of her instrument guided her thoughts.

She remembered the night well, just by being there though she could recall the events with near perfect accuracy. Nothing about the night was necessarily haunting her. It was good fun, most of the parties she attended at Foresta were. It was just… not as eventful as she was hoping. The more she dwelled on the past, the more she realized just how little time she had left at Foresta. Her time as an exchange student was nearing its end. Not only that, she was no closer to her goal than when she arrived. While she missed her home, there was plenty to not look forward to.

As Esha contemplated her current position, her strumming stopped for a moment. She slid her playing hand along her neck, past her concealing head scarf. Her fingers laid upon her hidden set of gills. It was strange. In a school full of gifted people, she was about the only one who knew anything about her powers. Meanwhile, back at home, she had a hard time finding a single person who didn’t know about her gift. All the more reason for her to use her time while she still had it.

Braedyn was on his way back from the dining hall, having grabbed a "quick" meal of steak paired with assorted sauteed vegetables. He had been starving after a couple of hours spent surfing, and had nearly collapsed into a seat in the dining hall. His hair was still damp from rinsing off, despite the breeze he had called to dry himself off. And he still smelled like saltwater. Thus, he had intended to go straight back to his dorm and, perhaps, treat himself to a nice, long nap after taking a proper shower. But the lovely, somber music caught his attention. Was it a guitar? No, it didn't sound quite right...

A moment later, the strumming stopped, and he debated whether or not to peek in. Was it better to give this person their privacy? It sounded like they weren't in a particularly happy mood. He knew that when he was upset, he would rather be left alone to weather out the storm. (Ha, ha.) But his curiosity won out. Maybe they could use a friend, he reasoned with himself. Plus, that ballroom hadn't been used in so long. Every time he had walked past it, its silence brought him a touch of sadness. But it seemed that now, life was slowly returning.

He popped his head in through the door frame, and was surprised to see the remnants of the last event that had been hosted here. Had no one bothered to clean? Thankfully it didn't seem as if there was any food that had been left to rot, though he could definitely smell the alcohol sitting in the red Solo cups scattered around the room. The memory of dragging Felicity to the Valentine's Dance danced in his mind, bringing a faint smile to his lips. At the far end, on the stage, was a young woman with a....lute? Mandolin? He wasn't really sure. 

Braedyn knocked on the doorframe to announce his presence. "Mind if I come in?" he asked, offering her the chance to request privacy. 

With her vision so wide and blank, Esha barely even noticed that someone was standing at the doorframe. Considering that she didn’t expect anyone to come swinging by, she wasn’t really keeping an eye out for movement. It was only as the boy knocked on the doorframe that she realized she was no longer alone. Just like that, her hand froze in place, like her gills were not something she should be touching right now. For a moment, she locked eyes with the boy like she was a deer in the headlights, but her eyes lightly shied away quickly after the moment of shock was over. Her hand slowly fell to her side in sync with the movements of her eyes.

Esha’s eyes flew up again as the boy inquired about coming in. Considering that she wasn’t focused on the embarrassment of being walked in on, she had the opportunity to really get a look at his face. It was strangely familiar, but she couldn’t place the name. Where did she remember him from? The vagueness made her think that she must have met him at a party and probably talked to him. Given his boyish charm, she wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Was it the karaoke party?

After taking a bit too long trying to place a name to the face, she realized that she should probably give him an answer before it got too weird. “Yes…” she spoke lightly, trailing off with a twinge of confusion. She lightly battered her head with her fist as she realized his exact wording. “I mean, yes, come in.”

Adjusting her posture a bit, Esha sat more upright, holding her mandolin closer like she was about to resume playing. “I, uh, don’t own the room… just playing a bit” she added with a sweet smile that flattened after she finished speaking. “This room, it just, uh… carries the sound better.” She gestured to the high ceiling to illustrate her point.

When the young woman looked up, startled by his voice, Braedyn was hit with a vague sense of recognition. She had been at Foresta for a while, although they hadn't interacted often. He was suddenly hit with another faint memory--something about culture shock? Where did that come from? Where had they met before? He racked his brain furiously, trying to dig up buried memories, but to no avail. She seemed strangely nervous, which puzzled him. Had he done something in the past? Had he done something wrong in the past few minutes? Surprise he would have understood, as he knew firsthand how caught up one could get in music, but nerves? He had no idea.

"Thanks," he said, offering a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I got what you meant." Braedyn strolled casually towards the stage, although with his long legs he covered the distance quite quickly. Grabbing a chair, he sat down a few feet away from her, at what seemed like a safe distance where they would be neither awkwardly close nor awkwardly far. 

He looked up when she pointed. "Yeah, I haven't been here in a while, but I used to sing here or play guitar back when they had open mic nights, and people used this as a hangout spot," he chuckled. In particular, he remembered that time he had serenaded Felicity here, half trying to embarrass her and half trying to get her open up a little and come out of that scholarly shell she'd built around herself. "It's a shame that they don't do that anymore."

Braedyn paused for a moment, looking around the room and soaking in the memories that were trickling back to him, building up speed until it was almost a flood. He closed his eyes and mentally shook the thoughts off, then looked back at the girl. "What instrument is that? It sounds lovely."

The unease that was set upon the new boy’s arrival was quickly washing away the longer he was around. His eyes weren’t prying, though he did seem to have that same flash of familiarity with her. Considering that he didn’t make comment about it, she felt a bit better knowing that they might be in the same boat of uncanniness. Albeit, she was probably a bit more of a rarity around school considering her choice of attire and ethnicity, but that didn’t mean he should be able to recognize her because of that. She was quite the wallflower when she wanted to be.

Esha continued to change her posture, mostly so that she was always facing the boy. She thought it might be a bit rude if she was just following him with her head, especially since his visit seemed to be revolving around her.

As he spoke about his history with the room, Esha glanced around with a new sense of fascination. “Oh! I did not know that” she spoke with surprise. Granted, she wouldn’t have looked into it, thus would’ve never known about it on her own. She played for herself, not for crowds. Well, except for those few times she played for Chase, but that had more to do with calming his werecat side. The mere thought of that thing made her skin crawl. She shook her head just to get rid of its image. “Maybe it will come back soon, yeah? Music is very helpful for moods.”

Esha looked down to her instrument as the boy questioned it. “Oh, this mandolin? It’s like a mini-guitar. So, uh, not too different from what you play. My mum played a lot. I, uh, only know two songs” she answered with a slight nod, lowering her head to focus on the instrument again. It was then that she began to strum the chords, releasing the same melancholic tunes as before.

After she got herself on the right track, she lifted her head again to return the boy’s gaze. “It’s called Hum The Jinke Sahare, or, uh…” She ceased her strumming so that she could more clearly think of the translation. Her head tilted curiously as her eyes glazed over. “The one who was supporting me. I think that’s right” she spoke in half confidence, but her expression sold it otherwise. “It’s very, uh, reflective. I sing it in my head.”

It seemed like she was also remembering past events, though seemingly more negative memories than the ones he had been reliving. "Yeah, I hope they do. Music is definitely a stress reliever for me, and some people told me than having my music in the background was a nice study track, or good for just chillin'," Braedyn said. Music was also his main pastime outside of sports, and it did wonders for calming him down after a long day of working out. 

He nodded thoughtfully when the girl answered his question about her instrument. So one of his guesses had been right--he was glad to know he wasn't totally clueless when it came to the more obscure instruments of the world. Her answer of "mini guitar" made him wonder about picking up a new instrument. He'd thought about it before, but never seriously; perhaps learning something similar to the guitar wouldn't be too difficult. 

"Hey, two songs is better than one," he laughed. "Everyone has to start somewhere." Braedyn leaned back in his seat as she began to strum again, enjoying the unique sound of the instrument. It was more..delicate, and almost daintier than the guitar, which made sense considering its small size. Although the song was almost mournful, and somewhat reserved, the sound of the mandolin reminded him of rustic countryside scenes.

The song was unusual, definitely not something off the Top 40 charts in America, and he waited curiously for her translation of the title. "What happened to 'the one who was supporting you'?" he joked. "The title sounds like it could be a love song, or a song of appreciation at the very least, but it sounds quite wistful." Pausing for a moment, he then asked, "Why not out loud?"

While Esha was prepared to weather out the rest of the day in her melancholic state, the boy was slowly but surely bringing out a bit more liveliness from her. Her general posture became looser and thus she wasn’t sitting all tall and proper, but instead leaning forth and engaging in the conversation. It was refreshing to just have a normal conversation with a boy without seeking companionship or having an agenda. She might be experiencing burnout with the whole high school dating game.

Regardless, Esha nodded along with the boy’s side of the conversation, though her eyes lifted when he mentioned how people reacted to his music. “Oh! You make your own music?” she asked with inquisitive eyes. She didn’t exactly see herself as a musician, more of a hobbyist, so meeting someone of that prestige felt kind of special to her, like she stumbled upon a celebrity she’d never heard of before.

She looked to her mandolin once more, laughing with the boy’s question about the song she played. As she breathed to ease her smile, her face became a bit more serious again, though this time with a bit more of a scholarly twist considering that she had to sum up the song in a shortened fashion to get the point of it across. Not to mention that she was playing the song for its reflective nature, so she was dipping her toes back into why she was playing it to begin with. “Well, he, uh, stopped” she spoke plainly. “He supported until there was nothing for him. His promises were walls of sand. He never became mine, he abandoned me when the shore was right in front of me” she elaborated as her eyes dulled, like she lost a bit of her own life when she abridged the lyrics.

When she came to the room to play initially, she thought that her mind would be focused on Chase given their rocky relationship. While she did at first, she found she was thinking more about her father. Somewhere Freud was rolling in his grave. Chase may have been a sore spot for her, but the song better illustrated her relationship with her father. He was such a supportive figure in her life, up until the day she became ‘a woman.’ Suddenly every topic of conversation was when she was getting married or him offering her a suitor. It took her forever to get him to agree to wait until she was done high school at least. How much longer could she test her father’s walls of sand before they collapsed?

There was a brief moment of silence after her explanation, one where Esha was looking off with concern. After her eyes dwelled for long enough though, they fell upon the boy and brightened up a bit. Again, she twitched a slight smile to him. “I, uh, prefer the voice in my head. It sounds like my mum, so it feels like home.” She cracked a smile and laughed inwardly. “I’m also not a good singer” she jovially remarked, the corners of her mouth going ear to ear.

Braedyn nonchalantly shrugged at her surprise. "Well, only occasionally. I usually only write instrumental music, it's easier to find chords and notes that sound pleasant together than it is to write a good melody and lyrics. I wouldn't say it's anything remarkable. More like background music," he said, sheepishly. "I also like to dabble in making lo-fi music, but that's also pretty easy. More therapeutic than anything." He really didn't think it was any sort of accomplishment--anyone could write what he did. It was unlikely that he'd ever write a number one hit or anything even remotely close, but writing music that was just easy listening wasn't hard. 

He listened curiously to her explanation of the lyrics. The way she spoke, it really seemed as if she were speaking the words from her heart, rather than reciting someone else's words. There was a hollowness in her tone that could only come from someone who felt the emotion of those words. Braedyn frowned. "Man, who is this guy? Sounds like a real jackass." What a self-serving coward, to run as soon as there was no personal benefit. Weren't relationships--of all kinds--supposed to be about mutual support and reliability?

Her admission that she preferred the voice in her head because it was like her moms cheered him up a little, and her smile brought out a smile in Braedyn. It was such a small comment, that she wasn't a good singer, but it seemed to amuse her greatly, and he liked that. He was glad to see that she was not totally gripped by the sadness of abandonment. "So, no open mic nights for you?" he asked, feigning disappointment. 

(OOC: blegh sorry for short post)

Listening with intent, Esha once more found herself leaning in to the conversation. She found it quite amusing how quickly the boy was to backpedal on the topic of conversation as soon as his talent was put into question. Here he was trying to build her up as a musician, yet he was so quick to dismiss his own work. She shook her head with a twinge of sass. Try as she might to think of a witty reply, she couldn’t quite translate it into English in time to really sell it well, so she compromised for the sake of getting it out in time. “It’s pretty easy because you’re good. That’s how you know” she stated logically as she straightened herself up again, with a know-it-all head bob.

“If one or two people enjoy your music, that’s, uh, pretty remarkable. Everyone has to start somewhere.” Her face inflated a bit after she finished her sentence. “Corny, yes, but true” she added as she lowered her head softly as an admission of the purity of its corn.

At the boy’s commentary of the song’s target, Esha nodded with justification and an eyeroll that was the epitome of the phrase ‘tell me about it.’ She was so close to giving out Chase’s name, but even she was able to recognize that wasn’t very fair and misrepresentative of what happened between them. Him abandoning her was entrenched with his need to protect her from his volatile werecat side, which Esha would have a hard time arguing as not justified. Her dad though, he had his own beast to hide, old traditions. “No one important” she stated harshly, though without the vocal sting to back it up. It would have been a bit much to get into her issues with her father with a complete stranger. It was a bit cathartic to hear someone agree with her on his attitude though.

Esha laughed once more at the boy’s inquiry about her attendance at open mic night. “Oh, no, no, no. I’m usually pretty busy-” as she thought of what to say, she had brief glimpses of what usually ate up her time. The literal hours she spends shaving off her quills, the parties she attends, whatever it was she did as house leader. “-studying” she slowly added with suspicious squinting eyes.

Esha’s eyes lit up quickly afterward, as her head jolted with a sudden realization. “Oh! But I’d love to hear you play. Uh, next open mic night, I’ll keep an eye out for you! Is there a sign-” before she could finish that thought, she had another revelation. She was about to ask about a signup sheet so that she could know if he was playing, but she had no idea what his name was. Her eyes opened wide with shock. She proceeded to bow her head politely. “I’m so sorry, I never got your good name. Mine’s Esha.”

(OOC: no worries, I think I gave you a bit more to work with this time around)

"Psh. Nonsense," the boy said, waving his hand dismissively. "For real, I'm sure you could do it too. You just have to have the confidence to try." He himself had struggled with that; oftentimes, the biggest obstacle to being successful was just the internal fear of failure. External problems were rare. Mental blocks were common. But the good thing about that was you just needed the right attitude, which could either be 'I can do this' or 'who cares if I fail'. Braedyn knew he wasn't bad at music, he had practiced enough to know that he was quite decent. There were no illusions and no false humility in that regard. But he really did feel that simply composing a nice-sounding sequence of chords was nothing to glorify. Sure, it required some basic skill, but it was skill that this girl had already demonstrated. 

Braedyn grinned at her 'corny but true' statement. "Hah, what a cliche, huh? I was enjoying your music just now, so you're getting somewhere, yeah?" Though his tone was lighthearted, it was obviously sincere. He wasn't trying to give her empty reassurances; he would have much rather offered her constructive criticism and help to improve if he felt she needed it, but it seemed like she was learning fine on her own.

Her eyeroll amused him, despite the fact that it could only mean bad things. He pondered what her hesitance meant. It seemed like she was considering her answer. Was she just deciding how much detail to give, or was she trying to fabricate a story? In the end, it didn't seem to matter--all he got was a non-answer. Braedyn figured "no one important" actually meant someone who was pretty important, otherwise she wouldn't have been singing about them in the first place. But it seemed like she didn't want to discuss it, so he just nodded in agreement. "Sure, sure," he said placatingly.

Another delay, this time before she proclaimed that she was usually busy studying. He hadn't taken her for a party animal, but maybe he was wrong? Her expression only added to his suspicion, and he raised his eyebrows dubiously. He prodded lightly, "Come on, I won't judge you if you say you're too busy partying." 

Braedyn laughed when she said that she'd love to hear him play. "Well, I guess the pressure is on, huh? I better sound good next time," he said. "Nice to meet you, Esha. My name's Braedyn. Or perhaps re-meet? You seem familiar somehow." He paused for a moment, then added, "Sorry if that sounded like a cheesy rom-com line, I just meant that I feel like we've met before. Or I've at least seen you around."

Another thought came to him--"Hey Esha--what do you say we team up for the next open mic, huh? You can play the mandolin, and I'll sing. Of course, we might have to organize the next open mic ourselves. It seems like people might be slacking around here these days." His mouth quirked at the last part. He was fairly sure that if they just waited for the next open mic, the day would never come. After all, just looking at the state of the ballroom was enough to tell anyone that things weren't exactly as...lively and well-kept as they had been, once. 

Confidence didn’t tend to be an issue for Esha, at least when it came to being productive. When it came to music though, she saw it as more of a hobby, not exactly something she should take all that seriously. She was a student of science after all, her studies were primary. Foresta did lend her the opportunity to play her mandolin more often than usual, considering that she had already taken all her required courses to get into her desired university back home last year. In fact, this conversion with Braedyn was probably the most she’s ever talked about her musical talents. His constant energy and pushing was really rubbing off on her though. Maybe she should be putting more stock into music.

Esha was somewhat surprised that the boy was able to read right through her coverup, albeit she wasn’t too subtle about it. The fact that he was able to deduce that her time was spent partying was kind of concerning though, but she supposed that it was an easy conclusion to jump to. She laughed it off though, rubbing the back of her neck. “Hah, yeah, it’s, uh, not a good look for a house leader though. It’s important for Pyxis students to study… I mean, it’s important for all students to study, but sciences are more…” Esha’s head was spinning from all the backpedalling. “You understand what I mean” she presumed and handwaved her meaning. “I represent the dorm, so I also have to be a role model. I think so, anyways.”

Continuing to laugh alongside Braedyn, Esha was pretty well out of her funk. It also helped that the boy was presenting her with some opportunities and ideas that were helping her forget her problems for the moment. Though, her mind did return to the original question that plagued her mind upon seeing the boy. During the course of her conversion with him, she had the vaguest feeling that perhaps the familiarity was spurred on by a sense of fate. His own admission of familiarity did put it more into the category of ‘possibly met.’ Now that he mentioned his name, it did matchup with his face, like the last puzzle piece. “Oh no, it’s good” she replied with a sly smile. “I must have met you during a campus party. Don’t know which.”

At the suggestion of running their own open mic night, Esha’s head tilted with whimsical curiosity, biting her lip as she did. That was certainly something within her power, and the view of the cluttered ballroom could certainly use some improving. Even if the open mic was a no go, she should notify the staff about the mess from the last dance at the very least.

Esha pulled the strap of her mandolin, allowing it to swing around and sit comfortably on her back. She hopped off the stage and approached Braedyn casually with the look of a person whose mind was racing. “That could be fun! Sounds more like an event for the Lyra house leader to be running though, eh? I don’t really know them, but! I have, uh, I have the secretary on cell. I can ring him. Have this place ready real quick!” she rambled with her eyes to the ceiling and a finger on her lip.

She stopped a couple feet from Braedyn, her eyes lowering to meet his. She grew a pleasant smile. “Sound good?”

Braedyn could see that she was at least reconsidering what he was saying about music, and he was glad. He'd be happy if she walked away curious about practicing more, or even interested in writing her own music. He was also satisfied that he'd guessed what was truly occupying her time. It was kind of the obvious alternative--there were plenty of students who preferred to party than to study, and he couldn't say he entirely disagreed with them. He chuckled, saying, "I think there are many who would disagree with you that studying is important for all students."

Her comment about sciences being "more..." elicited raised eyebrows. This seemed to be a common topic of discussion when his friends and other peers brought up the issue of college and majors. For some reason, science seemed to have a better reputation, seemed to think it deserved more respect that other subjects, and this rubbed him the wrong way a little. She was certainly not the only Pyxis student who held this opinion, but Braedyn already knew that it was all but useless to try and convince them to be more holistic in their consideration of what subjects deserved respect. So, he didn't try and push the issue, instead focusing on her comment on her being a role model. "I don't know how much people care about having their house leaders be a role model, to be honest. I think that's what the school wants from house leaders, but I think people would like their house leaders more if they fostered community. So, y'know, consider using those party animal tendencies of yours?" he said thoughtfully. He had never really looked up to his own house leaders (and in fact didn't really know who they were anymore), but if they had made some effort to bring the community together, he would've at least known their names and faces.

Braedyn laughed at her saying she didn't know which party they had met at. He teased, "Too many parties, huh?" No one expected him to be a star student, so he wasn't worried about how that might reflect on him. He partook in social events freely and with no hangups about trying to be a role model of any kind. 

Though Esha's movements were relaxed as she walked towards him, he could tell her mind was spinning. And by the look in her eyes, she was about to agree with him. He was proven correct a moment later when she agreed that it could be fun to collaborate for an open mic. "Who needs to rely on house leaders? We can set this up on our own. Get the place decorated, serve some drinks and snacks, have some candlelight..." Braedyn followed her gaze upwards, and scanned the room, envisioning it cleaned up and decorated. Then, he wrinkled his nose, and said, "On second thought, we'll need some school staff. This place needs to be cleaned up, first of all, and we'll need some publicity. Call who you need to call, partner." He reached his hand out for a handshake as if they were business partners, shaking on closing a big deal. 

Laughing along with Braedyn, Esha encroached a bit closer to his side. She placed a hand on the table he was seated by and swayed her hips to make up for her new stature. Her calm eyes continued to vividly gaze into his.

The fact that the boy had never been much of a leader or similar representative kind of showed in the way he spoke about role models Albeit, Esha wouldn’t hold that against him. She did have a bit of a unique position among her peers, considering that she spent a lot of time as a figurehead for a whole community, if not her entire religion. Her position as a house leader wasn’t nearly as suffocating as that, but that past experience was certainly helpful foe teaching her how to present herself. “Oh, they care. They might not admit it, but they do. When you, um, represent something, it matters a lot to people. Not everyone, but” she shrugged lightly “when you say you are the leader, you take… responsibility for how you represent what you’re leading. If someone thinks I party too much, they think I don’t study enough. If I don’t study enough, I’m not, uh, academic. Doesn’t mean its true, but if someone wanted to use that against me, they could. If someone wanted me out, they would say ‘Esha’s a dumb party girl, she shouldn’t be our house leader’” she explained, logically in tone. She had way too much experience with people trying to debunk or defame her and her family for her so called ‘miracle of rebirth.’ It was kind of annoying that such an important part of her life was wrapped in so much controversy.

Once she finished speaking, she bowed her head and chuckled a bit. “Sorry, that was a lot. You’re right though, it, uh, wouldn’t hurt to do some fun things with my dorm. Maybe it’s me who thinks they study more than they have fun, yeah?” she ended with a chuckle.

“But yeah, I, uh, wouldn’t say too many parties” she replied slyly with shifty eyes. “Not enough. More than I would like to admit though” she lightly joked.

As much as Esha enjoyed Braedyn’s enthusiasm and drive to get things done, she also not surprised at how quickly he retracted his statement when he got a good view of the room. She was also willing to put in the work to get the room in order, but the mess left behind wasn’t an afternoon ordeal, it was more of a whole day thing. She had prayers to keep up with and plenty of other tasks needed doing without having to put the ballroom into consideration. With the right people and tools though, the space would be something worthy of running an event for. “Happy you agree. There won’t be a wall without a poster.” It also helped that the school had deeper pockets for these types of events than Esha did.

It took a second for Esha to recognize what Braedyn’s splayed out hand symbolized. Ah yes, the handshake, the bowing of the western world. It was never not a weird custom to her, but she would oblige nonetheless. She completed the gesture by joining his hand with hers and shook it lightly. She wasn’t accustomed to it, and that might show through.

(OOC: Let me know if you want to continue from here or get started on an Open Mic Night event-like thread. I could totally edit in Esha’s exit at the end here).

Braedyn considered Esha's thoughts on leadership for a moment. He remembered back when he'd had the opportunity to do team sports--not really a thing here at Foresta, unfortunately. He'd never really seen his captains as a role model for anything outside of sports, but considering that Pyxis was the dorm all about academics and knowledge, perhaps it was important to them that their house leader showed a strong work ethic. Or, like Esha said, perhaps she was a little out of touch with them? "Either way, I do respect that you care about your image as a leader. And yeah, I think no matter what, creating some stronger social bonds within your house can't hurt," the boy said thoughtfully. 

"Well, let's get started, huh? I'll start reaching out to some people personally who I think would be interested--" at this he tapped his head knowledgeable "--and take advantage of all those social connections, y'know. Design some posters. Once we've got the school staff on board, we'll be all set." With that, he did a little two-finger salute to her with a grin on his face, and was off on his way to spread the news.

(OOC: end of thread)