Hammel Graduation Ceremony, 2013

[Yvette Morgenstern]

One of the features of life at Hammel was the difference in size between graduating classes. Last year, it seemed like a fifth of the school graduated at once. But as Yvette watched the auditorium fill up with students, she really noticed how small the group graduating this year was.

This year's ceremony was going to be more intimate, not just because it was smaller, but because there were less infamous students leaving. She'd had run-ins with a few of them, but mostly it was a good group of young adults. She was happy to see them off.

((This thread is now open to all students, staff, family, and friends of graduates. I will post Yvette's speech on Jun. 27. For now, feel free to send your characters into the ceremony!

If you still want to make your character graduate but didn't sign up, post in this thread.))

[Odion Martins]

Less infamous his ass. Hammel had never known him, never would know him, and Odion was happy to say good riddance to the sorry lot of them. After much deliberation, Odion decided he would apply to the Greenview Community College, and once he was accepted (he tossed the embossed paper in the trash the moment his eyes read the last word), he planned on talking to Lani about what sorts of classes he was taking. Yes, for once Odion was trying to plan something. He wouldn’t have bothered attending if Lani wasn’t going, but it seemed like an interesting waste of time at least.

Odion was in his room, packing. He had all the time in the world today to get everything ready, and he had no intentions of going to the graduation ceremony. They could just mail it to him at his new address, the apartment he’d be sleeping tonight. The thought made him smile. He didn’t have the jitters, and there was nobody to say goodbye to. He didn’t feel like a new leaf was turning, only that his life was continuing and he was finally done with this meta school. His powers hadn’t been the problem for an extra year, merely his lack of interest in school curricula.

There were a couple others he knew who were graduating, his boyfriend and brother included, and he wondered if they were excited at all. He felt like he was beginning to know them quite well, and it dawned on him as he placed the last of his stuffed animals in a box that the person he was in this moment was quite different in mind and attitude than the person who first arrived here.

And then there was Lani. His family would surely be here right now. Everything had been boxed up, and Odion had started to move everything out into the hallway, which was surprisingly clear despite the time of year. Perhaps not a lot of people were graduating this year. The last box he brought out was oddly light, and glancing at it, wasn’t labelled. Where had it come from? Setting it down and opening the thing, Odi noticed all the things which had belong to Rhett once upon a time. His lips tightened, and then turned up at the corners. The day Rhett left was perhaps one of the best days of Odion’s life, now that it was in retrospect. He’d throw the whole damn thing into the dumpster on his way out.

“Need any help with that?” Odion looked up at the familiar voice that didn’t belong at Hammel. He lifted his hands palm spread in a greeting. “Hello Mr. Hunter.” The tall blond man had his arms crossed over a suit jacket Mrs. Hunter had probably corralled him into. Odion glanced at the many boxes outside his dorm, “I can handle this by myself.” Kevin shrugged, and out from behind him came Mrs. Hunter, her arms quickly wrapped around him and Odion returned the hug. It had brought a warm smile to his face. “Odion! It’s been too long!” Odion laughed lightly as they pulled away from one another. He stood with his hands clasped in front of him. “Why aren’t you dressed and ready for the ceremony? It’s only half an hour away.” Odion glanced from her to Mr. Hunter, who seemed to be searching the remainder of the hallway for someone.

Well this wasn’t awkward at all.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Goodbye Hammel, hello real world full of nothing. Going off to college was supposed to make her feel accomplished wasn't it? It was supposed to be a happy, fun time in her life where she got to live out her wild days. Unfortunately, the wild days were taking a back seat because she had to prepare for the worst that would soon be coming. Summer was just beginning and in the next few months, she'd be waiting for her mother to give into the cancer. Amelia was a fighter, strong and stubborn, but the cancer wasn't going away no matter how hard she fought. The harder she fought, the quicker it would do away with her.

As if dealing with the fact that her mother was dying and would be gone by the end of this season wasn't bad enough, she had her father to deal with. He was back and being intrusive in ways that she never expected from him. She didn't even know him, but after the way he bolted, she shouldn't have been surprised by the levels he'd stoop to. Adrianna hadn't spoken to him, she refused to see him and she knew all of this was taking its toll on her mother. Still, she couldn't bring herself to care because he was the one who left. And it wasn't as though he was helping prepare for the funeral or helping with anything. He was just there as a reminder to Amelia of what used to be back before he'd gotten her pregnant. That was the thing that made her hate him even more than she had before.

Adrian was already packed, she had her things all together and would be ready to leave for California soon, taking her best friend with her for support. Honestly, if Guy wasn't going with her, she wasn't sure how well she'd do on her own. Originally she'd planned on taking Lani, but after the constant fighting, she didn't want Amelia to see them like that. If she was going to die soon, Adrian wanted her mother to remember Lani in a good way. She wanted her mother to think of him as that boy she'd walked in on when he was making out with her daughter. The scared look and all. There was no point in ruining her image of him. Lani was a good guy, they just weren't cut out for being friends.

The auditorium wasn't nearly as packed as it had been the year before. It was a small graduating class, but she knew most of them. But she didn't mingle, none of the people she saw were people she even thought of mingling with. No good friends, former flames, nothing special. Adrianna stuck to the wall and just watched. The more people that filed in, the busier her mind was anyway. Power mimics in a room full of metas never had nothing on their mind. The colors, the difference in all abilities, it was always so fascinating. None of them stuck out to her though, which meant a certain telekinetic and his time controlling 'friend' weren't here. Honestly, she wondered if they'd even bother with the ceremony.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani hadn’t honestly been planning on going to graduation, but when his parents had declared they were coming for it he had resigned himself to the cap and gown. It shouldn’t be a long ceremony, there weren’t a lot of graduates. He didn’t think Odion was going so he had really only gone because his mother had politely promised terror if he didn’t allow them to rejoice in the moment. In all honesty they were more excited than he was. But them being here served two purposes. They got to see him walk and receive a piece of paper and they were also helping him move into his apartment. They had met his roommate for next year and they were going to be staying a few days to make sure he was settled. He had gotten a call from them a few minutes ago saying that they were here and on their way up to the dorm to retrieve him.

Adrianna still wasn’t speaking to him. And he honestly couldn’t blame her. He had said harsh thing to her the last time they had met, but she had said harsh things right back. Lani tried his best not to think about it and instead think of how he and Odion were going to celebrate afterwards. Things with Odion had been going better than he could have ever imagined. He had yet to bring anything up to his parents. They were still in the dark even if Caroline wasn’t. He adjusted his tie. He hated ties. He looked himself over and examined the well fitting suit in the mirror. A gift from his mother. Or rather a gift for her because she always wanted him to dress nicely. He didn’t think there was a problem with what he wore most of the time but she begged to differ. Odion would probably agree.

He checked the time. They should have been up here by now. He snagged his phone dialing his mother. “Hey, did you get lost?” He asked jokingly. Her response surprised him. They were out in the hallway, chatting with Odion. Lani hung up and poked his head out the door. Indeed they were. He saw how his mother was chatting and figured he should probably rescue Odion. Lani caught sight of Caroline standing off to the side. He caught Odion’s eye and pressed a finger over his lips. He snuck up and grabbed Caroline from behind swinging her around. “Sweet Caroline,” he sang before setting her down laughing. “Hey Odion, how’s the packing?” He asked keeping a safe distance from his boyfriend. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to tell his parents but whenever they were around he got cold feet.

His mother gave him a quick hug before she started peppering Odion with questions about what he was going after graduation. Was he going to school? Did the apartment work out okay? Did he want them to take a look at it? Any help getting started out? Did he have any plans for Europe? Most importantly, this came up several times in rapid succession, “Why aren’t you getting ready for the ceremony?” Which was followed up by her starting to lay on the guilt with, “Oh I wanted so badly to get pictures of you boys in your cap and gowns! I’m so proud of you!” Lani shook hands with his father who jokingly agreed. “Yeah, we want to document this, we never thought this day would come!” “Hey, now,” Lani pouted elbowing the older man, glad to see he was a few hairs taller than his father.

Lani’s eyes wandered to a far off place. He wondered if Adrianna was alright. Despite the harsh words, he was keeping an eye out for her. Especially since her mother’s health was starting to diminish. He was in much of the shadows as he could be, since by now he knew she could sense him. It had been tricky but he had discovered that Adrianna was going to California and taking one of Lani’s roommates, a kind fellow, Lani actually really liked him. He was selfishly glad he was here and not Venn. But that didn’t sit well with Lani. He was going to follow her. He needed to make this up to her somehow, apologize. Get on his knees if he had to. He hadn’t lied when he said their fighting was killing him. He now needed to man up, swallow his pride, and admit that he was wrong. He didn’t know if she’d ever forgive him for the things he had said but he had to at least try. He looked at Odion and his heart raced. Maybe this summer he’d also tell his parents and this new year would finally turn into something good. This summer, maybe he could be rid of his boss forever. Maybe, he could finally be free.

[Odion Martins]

Odion caught sight of Lani over his mother’s shoulder, and Odi couldn’t for the life of him process what he saw. Lani wasn’t in a t-shirt and jeans, and his hair was actually decent. Strange, how they had seemingly swapped places for the day, and Odion felt suddenly self conscious in his jean shorts and black t-shirt. He watched Lani sneak up on Caroline as though it were in slow motion. Odion didn’t say anything back in greeting, and the silence was soon to be filled with questions from Lani’s mom.

He chatted back easily. Yes he was going to Greenview as a matter of fact. He should probably be all settled in by tonight, and the place came with furniture so the move would be an easy one. He explained he had already examined the place and it was up to his specifications (or cleanliness, as Lani knew). He had a few ideas about Europe, and even resisted the urge to glance at Lani while talking about them. And then the ultimate question.

“I wasn’t. Well, I’m not going.” He said, wondering how Lani’s family would react to that. There was no point in going really, he didn’t want to bore himself to death. Caroline’s look of sadness was what drew Odion’s attention. It was easy to see she felt sorry for him, and Odi didn’t mind, knowing she meant well. “I don’t have a gown, or anything to suit the occasion really.” He smiled at the play on words, but he also didn’t want to make a big deal out of this. He just wanted to move in peace.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

2013. Another year, another graduating class. Another graduating class that Sean Neville had seen through from beginning to end.

The psychiatrist always felt a swell of pride at graduations, occasionally with an additional sigh of relief. As had happened when Mia Keystone and Zachary LaRousse had graduated. As would happen when Sam Rixon graduated, and if Vincent Verax ever had the slightest ability to follow suit.

Although the graduation ceremony wasn’t mandatory, Sean always attended. It was important for the students to have a full audience during his milestone, and he did his part. That included dressing up in a neatly pressed suit, to pay the students the respect that they and their achievements deserved.

As always, the psychiatrist took a seat in the rows of the auditorium reserved for the faculty. Around him, he could hear the thoughts of the students about to graduate, of their family who came to watch with pride, and of the other staff members who had attended for various reasons. The mood was overwhelmingly cheerful, for which he was grateful.

As long as nobody chose to follow in Robbie Wilkes’s foosteps and streak across the stage or through the audience, they would be in for a nice ceremony. Considering who was graduating, Sean didn’t expect anyone to try that trick.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani stood and he tore his eyes away from Odion. It was indeed like they had swapped places. The ceremony would be starting soon but he hadn’t anticipated running into Odion. Perhaps he should have warned the redhead. Of course his mother would say something. His mother looked completely devastated by the news. Lani bit his lip and glanced at her then to Odion and braced himself for the guilt. She may have met Odion only once at Christmas but she had fallen in love with who she didn’t know was Lani’s boyfriend. Would she feel the same when she knew? He had a feeling she would. She was always asking about Odion when they talked on the phone in addition to reminding him to call his grandmother and telling Caroline to call more. She had really made a life for herself here. He wasn’t surprised she was loveable.

“What? Odion why not?” She asked, Lani knew she was truly upset about the idea of Odion not walking. “You’ve worked hard you earned the right to walk.” If Odoin wanted to move in peace he’d better go back in time and hole himself up in his room until Lani’s parents were gone. “There’s nothing you can do? They don’t have ones for last minute decisions?” Lani gave Odion a look. If he really wanted to walk they both knew he could go back in time and get one. Or just go steal one for the time being. “Mom, if he doesn’t want to go he doesn’t have to.” Lani said then added, “No matter how much we want him to.” Mostly Lani didn’t want to sit alone in the audience with one person who hated him at the moment.

“Lani why don’t we grab the last of the boxes?” His father said looking at his watch. Lani nodded and drifted away giving Caroline a wink. They were on the same frequency and as he walked back toward his room with his dad he heard Caroline speak their shared thought. “Can’t you just go back in time and get one?” Caroline gave Odion wide and sad eyes. Lani smirked as he opened the door for his dad. Caroline was getting very good at being sneaky. Lani wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

[Odion Martins]

Worked hard, hardly. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about school, and he didn’t want to walk. But hiding his emotions was easy around those he was apprehensive about. Odion glanced at Lani, who seemed to be thinking the same thing he was. But once he looked back to Lani’s mom, it was all over for him. She was proud of them. She was doing what every good mom did, and she was admittedly just that. When he did spy on Lani, he heard his mom asking all kinds of questions. She cared.

Odion looked helplessly between all the Hunters. Really? Did it really matter that much? And now Lani too? Come on! This was just another thing they had neglected to talk about. They all knew he had time powers, it was so unfair. Obviously he could right things and it would seem wrong if he didn’t. But why bother playing the good guy? Why did he feel obligated when he could go back in time and pretend none of this ever happened? Nobody would have to know. Nobody except him.

Odion stopped time.

“Goddamn it Lani,” he said, since he had brought the blond with him. He put a hand to his head, thinking through this. He wanted Lani to know that this had happened before it was going to restart. Suddenly, Lani and Odion were standing in the hallway by themselves as Odion threw them back into time, keeping it paused so that Lani’s family would be just outside the main doors. Odion was doing this for Lani and his family, not for him. He threw Lani a crooked smile. It was just easier to bring him along when the telekinetic was around, then everyone’s power would be happy.

Going back into his room, Odion went to his closet and took out the suit and gown he had had all along. He was still full of surprises and Lani should never forget it. Hopefully Lani hadn’t followed him back, but what else was the blond going to do in paused time? Odion rid himself of his casual clothes, noting that the last box he had just put into the hall had to be put there again. Along with the Rhett Box. Fully dressed in a yellow tie and black suit, Odion didn’t bother with his hair. He still didn’t care about today.

“Shall we then?” He asked Lani, handing him a moving box. Odion himself was holding the last one, letting time resume before he stepped into the hallway. Lani would have a strange sense of déjà vu as they were greeted in much the same way by Lani’s family, except this time his mom was insisting on pictures before hand, and not questioning why either of them weren’t ready. Kevin still wanted to help move boxes, obviously trying to make himself useful. Caroline was hugging Lani tightly. Odion smirked over at his boyfriend – only he would know about the switch, the change. But Odion wondered if Lani was thinking about how many times Odion had replayed moments if it was inconvenient for him. Hopefully Lani would answer himself with a resounding no.

---

Filing into the auditorium, Odion noticed very few people that he knew in the audience, and they were all part of the Hammel staff or Lani’s family. His dark blue eyes fell on Adrianna, the only other person he knew who was graduating. He gave her a courteous nod, hoping that the ceremony would begin soon. Otherwise this was going to get very awkward very quickly. Maybe he could just make himself zone out the entire time, make things less painfully boring.

[Noah Washington]

Noah wasn't sure how he felt about graduating. Things for him were still so up in the air. His mom, grandma and brother were all proud. And happy. But he assumed they were so happy because they were excited to finally be getting him back. He didn't know how to tell them that he wasn't sure what he was going to do. At the very least, he was going to hang back in Vermont until everything got sorted.

He had friends here. He had a life here. He'd had more than his share of drama here. And Valerie was here. But he had friends, a life and a decent amount of drama waiting for him back home. Noah never really lived for himself until he was forced to move away. He wasn't sure that he wanted to throw himself back into the mercy of his family's problems just because he'd graduated. He was supposed to be becoming his own person, but he knew he was making his decision based on what everyone else wanted him to do.

But what did he want to do?

Noah was waiting in the auditorium, in his assigned seat. He was just staring out at the stage. His mind was running a mile a minute, and his body was completely stagnant because of it.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani felt the lurching of time stopping and he looked back at Odion and a grin formed on his face. He gave Odion an innocent look and shrugged. “I didn’t do anything,” he said with a sly smile. Well, technically not. He was having a hard time not laughing because he hadn’t actually been sure that Odion would break between Caroline and his mother. “You’ve gotta watch that one,” Lani said pointing at his frozen sister, “She’s devious.” It had actually not been Lani’s idea, believe it or not. Lani had a feeling that Odion would rather not. He grinned at the redhead and followed after him wondering what he was going to do while they were frozen in time. Odion wasn’t actually thinking about going back in time to get a gown was he?

Laughter filtered out of Lani’s lips as he had finally decided standing in the hallway with frozen people was boring. “You had it the whole time?” Lani asked seeing Odion appear in a suit with gown in tow. Lani couldn’t help himself he reached up and fiddled with Odion’s hair. He couldn’t be the only one with nice looking hair. Lani took the box and blinked for a confused moment as his parents appeared. The blonde placed the box with the others and greeted his family for the second time. The change in time didn’t stop his mother from fixing his tie and smoothing out the shoulders of his suit. He finally had to wriggle away and tell her to leave it. At which point she declared pictures. Lani grinned back at Odion and patted Caroline’s head affectionately.

The thought hadn’t honestly crossed Lani’s mind. After all there had been plenty of moments where Odion’s going back in time and redoing things would have done them a lot of good. Well a lot of good at the time but probably not in the long run. Odion was roped into pictures. As much as they could make him at least. His mother loved photos and poor Odion was going to have to deal with that because she was going to get them one way or another. Before the photo shoot was done there was a rather nice one of Lani dragging Odion into a picture. Thank goodness the pictures couldn’t capture what was going on behind their smiling eyes. Or at least Lani’s.


Lani felt so strange in the cap and gown and shifted awkwardly as he sat. So many people had thought he’d never see this day. Lani caught sight of Adrianna and his eyes dodged her quickly. Where they then found Dr. Neville. He gave the telepath a smile and wondered how relieved he was that Lani was leaving. He found Odion again in the crowd for a moment but he was all the way in the Ms and Lani was might higher in the alphabet. He was soon forced to face forward. He wondered how long this would take. He was looking about. Their class wasn’t too big. It hopefully would be mercifully brief.

[Odion Martins]

Odion couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. "And you think your pouting face works..." Caroline would have all kinds of people eating out the palm of her hand. Odion had caved only because everyone seemed sad that he wouldn't be joining, and they wouldn't be sad unless they cared, even though they had used guilt to tell him that. Oh well, sometimes things didn't go as planned.

"Ready for anything," he mused, swatting Lani's hand away. Couldn't Lani be the nice looking one for once? His parents wouldn't care what Odi looked like, only that it was out of character. Odion mostly stood out of the way with a half smile on his face, once again observing the family as they interacted. It was still a strange thing to ponder over. But he didn't have much time to do so before being pulled into the family himself. He went along with the pictures with a dead look until Lani started, well, being Lani, and goofing around. It finally caused Odion to laugh, and a picture was taken.

[Yvette Morgenstern]

“Good morning students, family members, friends, and colleagues. It’s my sincere pleasure to welcome you to the Hammel Institute’s 2013 graduation ceremony.” Yvette peered over the podium into the audience, looking at the students poised to leave the grounds, spreading their (proverbial more often than literal) wings in the outside world, where they were a small minority of the population. “Our graduates are smart, hardworking, and capable young women and men. They are prepared to live their lives to the fullest and change the world in ways we can only imagine...”

It would not be an easy road ahead. The economy hadn’t recovered, many young people were disillusioned, and yet another year had passed with meta-human status being added to the list of protected classes. Still, today was a day when the students should be happy, where they should be proud of their accomplishments and have only happy memories. She would focus only on the good things ahead of them; they deserved that.

They also deserved the ability to celebrate with their families, which was why she kept her speech short. In addition to her speech, there were speeches by the Valedictorian and Salutatorian, in addition to a few other ceremonial touches. That was enough for pomp and circumstance.

“...words cannot express the pride I have in each of you, for your accomplishments here and for what your futures will bring. Hammel will always be here for you, and in return, we know that you’ll continue to make us proud. Congratulations, Class of 2013 and the best of luck in all that you will do.”