Fandom High Graduation Ceremony Class of 2007 Part I - Saturday Afternoon

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

The sun was shining high in the sky above the front lawn (not that this would matter to certain members of the audience since there was a nice awning and shaded pathways). A stage was set up with a podium and several seats for the administration and guests. Off to the side of the stage, a guitar for musical performances.

In front of the stage, blue and gold chairs were set for the largest graduating class in Fandom High history (not that it was a tough record to achieve), and to either side of those chairs were bleachers for students, family, friends, alumni, and residents of the town of Fandom who wanted to wtiness this event.

It was a beautiful day for a graduation.

[OOC: Please wait for OCD. You're good to go! This post is mostly for audience mingling, general graduation stuff, and such. Look for Part II with your standard Fandom Surprise early this afternoon.

It'll be kind of hard to miss the events of the second post, so you might want to hold off an any post-graduation posts for a while to avoid being Jossed.]

Comments

Welcome!

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

Audience, please find a seat on the bleachers. If you happen to mingle while doing so, keen!

Re: Welcome!

[gilmorerents.livejournal.com]

Lorelai was there extremely early with a large cup of coffee, a camera, and a videocamera, to make sure she didn't miss a minute of Rory graduating. Luke would kill her if she missed a minute and Miss Patty had threatened her with...well, never mind what she threatened her with if there weren't pictures, but it wouldn't be pretty.

Kirk, of course, had offered to come take pictures for her, for a nominal fee.

Re: Welcome!

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

Callisto stared at her feet, when she wasn't nervously scanning the crowd and looking like she was going to jump out of her skin, that is.

Re: Welcome!

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Naomi arrived and found a seat.

Re: Welcome!

[surferboy-09er.livejournal.com]

Dick was there. He was zoning out, but he was there.

Re: Welcome!

[pennyhalliwell.livejournal.com]

Grams sat as close to the front as she could so she could get a good view of her darling girl getting her diploma.

Re: Welcome!

[courier-gavin.livejournal.com]

Jacob senior and Lau were there. Lau looked like he was still hungover, and Jacob looked very pleased with himself.

Re: Welcome!

[pyroliz.livejournal.com]

Liz came in and sat down.

Re: Welcome!

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara came to watch Jack and Tori and Conner and everyone. She wasn't entirely sure what the point of graduation was, but it was a big deal so she was there.

Re: Welcome!

[carbontelepath.livejournal.com]

Emma was here to watch her students graduate. She might be carrying a camera. But she certainly wouldn't miss any of them, nope.

Re: Welcome!

[mycanonhatesme]

Chloe found a seat and made sure that all of the settings on her video camera were correct. It was kind of hard to believe that it had been a year since her own graduation.

Re: Welcome!

[rose-bad-wolf.livejournal.com]

Rose had a camera and she wasn't afraid to use it.

Re: Welcome!

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana sat quietly, waiting to watch her friends graduate.

Re: Welcome!

[jarodpretends.livejournal.com]

As he'd promised Jaye and Parker, Jarod was there, in the back, behind some of the trees, taking pictures with a telephoto lens and trying to blend in. If anyone who he didn't want to see approached or glanced in his direction, he slipped out of sight easily.

[ooc: If you want to talk to Jarod, please ping me on AIM, but otherwise he's going to be almost wraithlike so he doesn't end up back at the Centre.]

Re: Welcome!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn took her seat and had both a camera and a box of tissues. She didn't know a lot of the senior class, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to show up.

The Procession!

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

Dean Tick stepped up to the podium and smiled. "Welcome, students, family, friends, and other assorted people, to the second graduation ceremony for Fandom High! If you are on my right, please look to your right! If you are to my left, please look to your left! Because here comes the graduating class of 2007!"

The seniors walked along in pairs in alphabetical order, wearing their blue gowns with gold trim.

Belthazor and D'anna Biers
Martin Blank and Samantha Carter
Angela Chase and John Connor
John Crichton and Hamlet Dane
Jake Gavin and Rory Gilmore
Phoebe Halliwell and Tori Hanson
Jack Harkness and Zero Hopeless-Savage
Charlie Kawalsky and Alex Krycek
Conner McKnight and Cameron Mitchell
Maureen Parker and Stark
Aeryn Sun and Alanna Trebond
Jaye Tyler

[OOC: Audience, feel free to comment and wave and such once your (or any) graduates pass by in their subthread.]

Re: The Procession!

[demonbelthazor]

The gown wasn't too bad; Bel was used to wearing black robes in the Underworld and they weren't much different. The mortar board, however. . . . He kinda felt like a dork.

Principal Washburn's Welcome & Speech

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Please wait until Principal Washburn has posted her speech before replying to this thread.]

Re: Principal Washburn's Welcome & Speech

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Good afternoon," Zoe said, somewhat stoic in her effort to not let her hormones get the best of her, "and welcome to Fandom High's 2007 graduation. It's good to see so many familiar faces in the audience, especially since none of you are students who I was hoping to never see again," she added, smirking. "And it's hard to believe that another year has come and gone so quickly, considering everything that all of you have accomplished in that time, both seniors and non-graduating students alike.

"To all the parents and friends and other family members out there, I just want to say that I hope you're as proud of your seniors as I am. Graduation is a necessary thing, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sorry to see every one of these students go. As for the seniors...well, you've all been through a lot in your time here. And I don't just mean with the unique visitors that we've had on the island. You're leaving some pretty big shoes to fill, and while I have faith that the rising seniors can get the job done, it's going to be hard to live up to the standards of excellence and insanity that you have all set.

"If there's one thing I've told you guys and girls more than any other group of students, it's been 'For the love of all that's holy and right, don't try to be heroes without adult backup.' Well, I guess I can't really say that any more, can I? You're the adults now, and the world is about to be in your hands, and as much as that thought kind of scares the crap out of me, if there's a group of people who can save the world from its rampant idiocy, it's all of you. I'm very proud of you all, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you accomplish in the future."

Dean Tick's Speech

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Please wait until Dean Tick has posted his speech before replying to this thread.]

Re: Dean Tick's Speech

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"You stand here at the summit of the Mountain of High School! Below you, underclassmen, climbing the mountain just as you have! You know the challenges they face! Rock slides! Angry goats! Yetis! You know these challenges because you fought against them long and hard!"

"We, the faculty, were there with you, guiding your path! We are sherpas of knowledge! We're there to keep you on the right path and push away those yetis, give those goats something to chew on, allowing you to go forward and upward, until you get up here! And then, when you're up here, you can put on your equipment and ski down into that valley that we call Life! You can start to climb another mountain from there. The Mountain of College! The Mountain of Marriage! The Mountain of Careers! The Mountain of Climbing Mountains! Once you're in the Valley, you can choose whatever mountain you want to conquer next!"

"You'll need to find new sherpas, though because we'll still be here. Well, not me. I have a new mountain to climb myself. The Valley is leading me to a new mountain over in The City! It's a mountain that I don't think I would have ever found if not for all of you. You see, as sherpas, we know a lot about this mountain. We also know something about other mountains, but we don't know them nearly as well. You - all of you - have the ability to give us more knowledge, make us better climbers ourselves! If not for you, I wouldn't be the climber I am today. We've had some rough spots that I couldn't quite deal with alone and you helped me through it! You made me a better person."

"You've done that for me, and I would like to thank each and every one of you for that! I'd thank you all personally, but we have a lot more speeches to get through!"

"In closing, I'd like to applaud all of you here at the summit! While people make it here every year, few do it with quite as much style as the Class of 2007! I have to believe that you'll head into that Valley with just as much flash and substance as you showed here! Just remember, when you ski down to the Valley, be confident. Be self-assured! And yell a battlecry that lets people know that you're coming! If you hear mine, please give me a wave so I know that you're there!"

The Tick paused to put on a knit cap and ski goggles. Then he posed dramatically and let out his battle cry for the last time in Fandom. "Spooooooooooooon!"

Musical Performance #1

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Now for a small break in the speeches, a musical performance by graduating senior, Skank Zero Hopless-Savage!"

Re: Musical Performance #1

[swerval_zero]

Somewhere offstage was a pop and a shouted, "Thank SQUALL!" and then Zero came dashing onstage in her cap and gown, which had somehow made the transition to girl-sized with her. She quickly tuned her guitar and told the audience, "Okay, so, this is a song I lost the lyrics to about some very special events of our first year here at Fandom high. Those of you who know what I'm talkin' about, fun times. Those of you that don't, LUCKY."

Runnin' from zombies, climbin' on chairs
Shot the librarian and no one cares

Meow, Meow
But that's okay
Meow, Meow,
We'll fight another day yeah
Meow, Meow
That's okay
'Cause we're so catty anyway!

Guest Speaker - Neville Flynn

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Please welcome our guest speaker, a man who went through a harrowing experience that you may have seen a recent movie about! Ladies, gentlemen, and any others, please welcome the real FBI Special Agent Neville Flynn!"

[OOC: Please wait until Agent Flynn has posted his speech before replying to this thread.]

Re: Guest Speaker - Neville Flynn

[fh_extras]

"Thank you to the man in tight-fitting blue suit. Ladies, gentlemen, invited guests, staff, students, graduates. Considering the movie theater here in Fandom tried to buy out every single copy of Snakes on a Plane in the United States, I'm assuming you've heard of me. If you haven't, the title of the movie based on the true story of my experiences in the line of duty gives it all away.

As your guest speaker at this graduation ceremony, I was asked to come up with something inspiring, something to motivate you. But the truth of it is that if you're here, if you've come this far all ready, you're motivated enough. You may even be motivated enough to survive being trapped inside a pressurized tube in the air with over a hundred deadly snakes. I can't say. You can never say until you've seen that for yourself.

But at first, coming into this school, you may have been afraid, you may have been petrified. You may have thought you couldn't live without the people you rely on by yourself. You might have spent so many nights thinking how your parents and guardians did you wrong leaving you here, but you grew strong and you learned how to carry on. You survived. You will survive.

I'll keep this short, because I don't like to do a lot of talking, but know this: when life is tough and you're trapped in a confined space with nothing but an inflatable life raft to separate you from things with sharp fangs that can deflated the inflatable life raft in an instant, sending you to your venom-filled death, you send a message to life. You stand on life's tail and you hold its head and you look into its snapping jaws and you say 'Enough is enough! I have had it with these [microphone feedback]in' snakes on this [microphone feedback]in' plane!'

And if that doesn't work, open some [microphone feedback]ing windows.

Class of 2007, do as I say and you'll live. Thank you and congratulations."

Valedictorian Speech - Rory Gilmore

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Please wait until Miss Gilmore has posted her speech before replying to this thread.]

Re: Valedictorian Speech - Rory Gilmore

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Principal Washburn, Vice Principal Hades, Dean Tick, faculty members, fellow students, family and friends, welcome. We never thought this day would come. We prayed for its quick delivery, crossed days off our calendars, counted hours, minutes, and seconds, and now that it's here, I'm sorry it is because it means leaving friends who inspire me and teachers who have been my mentors - so many people who have shaped my life and my fellow students' lives impermeably and forever.

I live in two worlds. One is a world of books. I've been a resident of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, hunted the white whale aboard the Pequod, fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim, committed absurdities with Ignatius J. Reilly, rode a sad train with Anna Karenina, and strolled down Swann's Way. It's a rewarding world, but my second one is by far superior.

My second one is populated with characters slightly less eccentric but supremely real, made of flesh and bone, full of love, who are my ultimate inspiration for everything. Richard and Emily Gilmore are kind, decent, unfailingly generous people. They are my twin pillars without whom I could not stand. I am proud to be their grandchild. My friends - Skywalkers to Sun, Chase to Crichton, Meerkats, Stickbugs, seniors and underclassmen alike - without whom my summers and winters both will be empty, are undoubtedly some of the most unflinchingly loyal and unquestionably brave people I've ever encountered, within a book or without one. But my highest and greatest inspiration comes from my best friend, the dazzling woman from whom I received my name and my life's blood, Lorelai Gilmore-Danes.

My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn't do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be. She filled our house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Welty to Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible eighteen years, I don't know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her. Thank you, Mom. You are my guidepost for everything.

As we prepare ourselves today to leave Fandom High, I hope that no one chooses to abandon the memories that the school has inescapably etched upon us. I am a vastly different person than the Rory Gilmore who took those initial, hesitant steps through the gates of our school. My life at this institution, through times of joy and pain alike, have been the single greatest years of my life. As a result, fragments of my heart, soul, and the very essence of who I am are, and will continue to be in the years to come, inextricably bound to this rock and the buildings and people upon it.

Regardless of whether you feel as I do, not a single person who will be leaving this island can claim they're untouched. That is the ultimate goal of education - to reach students and alter them to their very core. Fandom, as always, has ways of doing so in a more unique fashion than the average education system. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the class of 2007."

Student Council President Speech - Alanna Trebond

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Please wait until Miss Trebond has posted her speech before replying to this thread.]

Re: Student Council President Speech - Alanna Trebond

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna steped up to the microphone, more than a little nervous. "Um…Good afternoon parents, teachers, administrators, family members, friends, students, that weird guy in the back, and anyone who didn’t fit into the previous categories but still showed up anyway. It was quite a year for all, including the students, teachers, and anyone within a mile of the school. Between the trolls, mummies, creepy shadow things, musical singing, the cabin war, gender swapping, small - and not so small - children, and Jamie there were still projects, homework, and tests to deal with. Somehow, we made it through with all limbs and most sanity in tact. But now, the year is over and it is time for us to say good-bye as we leave for our various destinies and more normal jobs some of which may include dentistry. There is one thing I can say for sure, though, where ever and whenever the future may take us, we will always have Fandom High."

Musical Performance #2

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Before we move onward with our festivities, one more performance from Zero!"

Re: Musical Performance #2

[swerval_zero]

Zero? Still girl-shaped, and hoping fervently it was going to stick. She didn't preface this performance with explanation; just launched right into it.

You think I
Think I’m not like you
You think I
Can’t take care of myself
But I
I’ve got magic
Magic in my boots, yeah
And now, now you see,
The real me because

La la la
Kick kick kick
We’re kicking trolls
La la la
Kick kick kick
And we’re kicking trolls
Kicking trolls together

They say
‘She’s just a little girl’
They say
‘She’s all too human’
But now
We’re all on the front lawn
And we’re

La la la
Kick kick kick
We’re kicking trolls
La la la
Kick kick kick
And we’re kicking trolls
Kicking trolls together

You can’t bring us down
You can’t defeat us
Or steal our spirit
Steal Jack
But that’s okay
We’ll get him back together!

La la la
Kick kick kick
We’re kicking trolls
La la la
Kick kick kick
And we’re kicking trolls
Kicking trolls together

Together forever we’re kicking trolls!

During the applause that followed there was another, less audible pop and she turned back into a kitten. "Mrrowlr!" //Squall!//

Diplomas!

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

The Tick stepped back up to the podium. "In the hurricane of graduation, we've passed through the high winds of speeches and are now in the Eye of the Storm! As such, you're about to get your diplomas! Please come up to accept your diploma when your name is called!"

[OOC: Grads, please ping into your thread. Audience, you can react when they ping in.]

Diploma - Belthazor

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

.

Part I OOC

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

OMG GRADUATION!

Part II will be up just as soon as I have myself some free comics and people have a little bit of time to play in here!

Re: Part I OOC

[water-wonder.livejournal.com]

YAY FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!! <3!!