Fifth Floor Common Room, Saturday night

[willbethenight]

The ceremony was over. Nothing had eaten his diploma. He got to test out the taser function of his grapple. He punched a bear until it cried (basically

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[wasthecuteone]

"Dude!" Petra said when she saw Bruce in the common room. "You beat up an evil koala!"

Yeah, good luck with the not being remembered for that thing, Bruce.

[willbethenight]

It kind of worked. She was using singular nouns. "That's not a sentence I really expected to hear when I woke up this morning," Bruce said. "But I knew there would be something like that."

[wasthecuteone]

"Seriously?" Petra asked. "Does that sort of thing usually happen? Because it wasn't on the program but then there was a locker of weapons, and I just would like to know whether I should bring some pepper spray next year, you know?"

[willbethenight]

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst," Bruce said. "Two years ago there was a witch who turned the grads into children, animals, and made them sing. Last year there were vikings and the island started traveling through space and time."

"So the administration learned to keep some useful objects on hand. Pepper spray's a good start."

[shestheworst]

After that 'graduation' or whatever, Britta was really in need of something to clear her mind. Thankfully, there were offerings upstairs and she cracked open a Diet Coke.

"Okay," she said, to no one in particular, "so someone tell me that they saw what happened down there, too, and that it wasn't just some bad LSD."

[willbethenight]

"I have the drop bear blood on my brass knuckles to prove it," Bruce said.

[shestheworst]

"Gross," said Britta, because drop bears were people, too! "Is that what those things were? What were they doing there? Someone must have upset their natural habitat, or something."

[willbethenight]

"They were trying to eat our heads," Bruce said. "And I'm pretty sure they're magical creatures without a truly natural habitat. They just like to eat people's heads."

[annieadderall]

Without any family in town, Annie just needed someone to squee at.

"We graduated!"

[willbethenight]

"We did. Congratulations, Annie," Bruce said. "Now you should be able to relax for a couple days."

[annieadderall]

"Are you kidding me? I move across the US in under a week. There is no relaxing," she told him. "But you can!"

[willbethenight]

"I'll be working in New York in a few days, then back home to work for the rest of the summer," Bruce said. "So not much rest for me either."

[nothornlessrose]

Cassidy couldn't believe she was here -- at a party without one of her friends. But, it was something she had heard Bruce was doing and she wanted to be able to congratulate him.

"Hey," she said, standing at the door. "Congratulations for finishing school." She was grinning.

And not one mention of a bear, yet.

[willbethenight]

"Hello, Cassidy. Come in," Bruce said. "And thank you. It's been a long time coming."

Approximately 12 years, if you judge by math.

[nothornlessrose]

She came in and gave him a cheerful smile. "I have no doubts that you worked very hard to get it." She tilted her head. "The ceremony was interesting, to say the least."

[willbethenight]

"Nobody transformed into anything and the island didn't change locations," Bruce noted. "I think that makes this the most normal graduation I've seen since I've been here. It's almost a little disappointing."

Only almost. He did get to fight drop bears, after all.