What I Learned at SRU -109-

A/N:I WROTE A COMIC! ABOUT JANE! IT'S GOING TO BE PUBLISHED! IT AN ACTUAL BOOK!

Ahem. A four page mini comic showing part of Jane's backstory was recently finished by DA artist 'Dooglebuggy.' It's called 'Metamorphosis' and is slated to be published in Grayhaven Comics' upcoming compilation 'You Are Not Alone.' I hope to tell more (longer?) stories in comic form in the coming months. Please take a couple of minutes to check out 'Metamorphosis' and leave us a comment. You can find it in the SRU art gallery, the #S-R-U DeviantArt page, and the photo gallery on Facebook.com/WhatILearnedatSRU.

On with the prose, now. What I have learned by writing a graduation scene and in turn revisiting memories of graduations I have been to is this: Graduations are actually really stuffy and boring and you just kind of want to get them done and over with so you can move on with the story your life. Hopefully I managed to work in some moments and some bits of foreshadowing/character development that merit how…generally uneventful this event is. =_=;

What I Learned at SRU
Chapter 109 - What Lies Ahead

- Saturday, May 28th, 2011 - Graduation Day

"You can't just...skip your graduation ceremony, Zuko."

"I can if I'd be disgracing the school by going to it."

The cafeteria that morning was much busier than it normally was for how early the hour was.

"Ugh, you can't...-!" Mai tensed up, teeth clenched as she glared at her boyfriend. Zuko was guzzling his coffee down in a rush, his eyes scanning his surroundings every few seconds. "I may not be a bundle of sunshine, but even I can appreciate that there are some days where you should...try to be happy and optimistic, and...I think your graduation is supposed to be one of them."

Zuko looked up from his coffee at Mai, who had paused from eating her breakfast croissant to glare at him with expectation. From that one look, Zuko could tell that nothing he said was going to win her over on this one.

"You're right," Zuko gave in with a shrug. He took another sip and sighed, the caffeinated liquid calming his soul and waking up his mind. "Happy. Optimistic. Sure." He nodded thoughtfully. "You want to know what will make me the opposite of those things?" Mai's stern eyes had some of the sharpness dulled at Zuko's expression. He finished his thought. "Spending an hour or two in front of the entire school after what's happened. That would not make me feel very good."

Mai's lips pursed with reluctance at this idea.

"I don't think you have as many haters as you think you do," she theorized.

"Do you want me to show you the pile of e-mails and letters I've gotten over the past week?" Zuko posed with raised eyebrows.

Mai's eyes rolled upwards, away from his negativity. Her short supply of optimism had about run its course already. She wasn't going to argue about this with him.

"OK, I get it, whatever," she mumbled with a shrug, taking a bite out of her breakfast pastry.

"It's fine, don't get worked up," Zuko insisted with a more gentle tone. "I'm not angry. You are right - today should be a good day. And I think it would be better if I spent that time with you, with my Uncle - with people whose opinions I don't have to worry about."

"Hm..." Mai nodded begrudgingly. "It's been four long years, Zuko," she reminded. "You deserve to have all of the time you've spent studying, and slogging through classes, everything you've tried doing for this community...It should be rewarded. Honored. You know?"

Zuko extended his arm across the table, and Mai knowingly accepted his warm grasp.

"Mai, I don't need a ceremony, or a diploma, or anyone else to honor my time here. My memories, my experiences...that's good enough for me. I'm done trying to win over people's approval. I want to put others before myself, but I still need to do what feels right to me."

Mai smiled, and Zuko's solemn look shifted to match her subtle glow.

"And that is what's going to make you a good leader some day," she assured, squeezing his palm.

"Thanks," he murmured with gratitude. "We'll see..."

"We will," Mai agreed with insistence.

They went back to their breakfast, and by the time Zuko had finished up his coffee, he'd noticed a perky, wildly waving young lady approaching them - it was Ty-Lee, with a groggy-looking Azula being dragged by the arm.

"It's the man of the hour!" Ty-Lee chirped. "Good morning, guys~"

Zuko, Mai, and Azula all gave Ty-Lee an dull look. She seemed entirely too peppy for how early it was.

"It is a morning," Azula noted.

"Not just any morning!" Ty-Lee gushed. "This is the morning that Zuko graduates!"

"Yes, well..." Azula shrugged. "I suppose that makes it a noteworthy morning, but 'good?' Hardly."

"Ohhhh, brighten up, Zuly." Ty-Lee smooshed Azula's cheeks together, pulling her in for a sloppy kiss that was struggled again.

When their faces broke apart, Azula's was flashing a dangerous shade of red, while Ty-Lee's was a pretty pink.

Zuko made a mock puking sound, to which Mai smirked, Ty-Lee pouted, and Azula rolled her eyes.

"Don't be such a child, Zuko," she scolded, adjusted the collar on her vest. "And why aren't you dressed up? You look quite disheveled."

"I think he looks nice with a little bit of stubble," Ty-Lee mused wryly, studying Zuko's face with careful observation. "But she's right - you're pretty grody-looking. And no offense, Mai, but you look like you just rolled out of bed. Literally."

"Maybe because I did. Literally," Mai came back, dry as ever.

"Guys, I'm not going to the ceremony," Zuko explained, getting their discussion off of appearances.

"Whhhhat?" Ty-Lee gasped out slowly. Her eyes began to quiver with worry. "Y-you're not going? But...but what-?"
"It's OK, Ty," Mai insisted gently. "He's still graduating, he's just skipping out on the formalities."

"But you love formalities!" Ty-Lee squeaked, staring at Zuko with expectation.

"I don't," Mai grumbled under her breath, going back to her food with a shrug.

"Brother, I'm not sure you've quite thought this through," Azula sighed, detaching herself from Ty-Lee and rounding the table. She hovered over Zuko, hands folded behind her back. "I walked that stage to receive my diploma, and our mother did before us. There is a reason there is a ceremony for this event - it is a right of passage. As of today, you are - as much as I don't care to admit it - officially deemed 'an adult' by the standards of this society we unfortunately reside in. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and no brother of mine is going to squander his graduation day moping around." The longer Azula indulged in her monologue, the less it seemed that Zuko was listening, and the more Mai and Ty-Lee became aware of this fact. "Now, come along," Azula insisted with a an upward nod of her head. "Finish your meal and let's be off. You must look presentable. We can't have you disgracing our-"
"This isn't about you, Azula," Zuko at last interrupted her, finally looking up to her.

He'd spoken calmly and clearly, his eyes not burning with anger or pain. Azula was taken aback, her brother's face firm and conclusive, but without the normal rage she'd grown accustomed to seeing him send her way.

"If this really is 'my day,' I'd prefer to spend it how I please," Zuko explained in simple terms. Terms that Azula would be less likely to find some loophole or nitpick with. His elder sister wrinkled her nose at him, looking off to the side in reluctant submission. Ty-Lee swooped to Azula's side and reattached their hips together.

"But...what about our friends?" Ty-Lee objected with timid hesitation. "Some of them are graduating...It would be, like...totally rude if we just skipped that. Don't you think?"

Zuko scanned his sister and her girlfriend - they both looked their Sunday best. Dressed up sharp and clean, both insisting that Zuko not make a decision he might regret. Azula's apathetic expression had a subtle disappointment to it that Zuko could read, while Ty-Lee was being predictably transparent, if not exaggerating. The two of them sure seemed to care about this ceremony more than Zuko himself did. Over the past few months in dealing with staff, police, students, and the general public regarding the incidents he'd been connected to, Zuko Kurosawa was in a state of existence right now where he was not in favor of being in the public eye. He needed a fresh start, and that was what today represented. As far as he was concerned, though, he might as well start by bucking tradition. All the same, he couldn't completely disregard the effort through which his sister had gone simply to be present for such an occasion.

"How about this?" Zuko proposed after his few seconds of observant silence. "If any of you girls want to go - seriously - it's fine. I don't mind. I just am not comfortable going myself. I'd rather just lay low and wait until the technical ceremony is over. I'll meet you guys outside when everyone is filtering out, taking pictures, doing their meet-and-greets..."

Mai nodded, her mouth full of croissant, while Ty-Lee's eyes quivered with uncertainty. Azula rolled her eyes with tired resolve.

"Very well," said Azula. "If you refuse to listen to reason, I suppose it can't be helped." The words carried a humbled tone to them, Azula's brain seeming to understand Zuko's feelings but her ego refusing to acknowledge them.

"You're still gonna wear your cap n' gown, though...right?" Ty-Lee pleaded, clasping hands up to her chest.

"Yea, I'll wear it," Zuko replied, confused but endeared by his friend's request.

"Oh, good~" Ty-Lee chimed. "We're all going to have gorgeous photos together."

Zuko gave Mai a look, and they both exchanged a silent, split-second reaction to this - of course Ty-Lee would be concerned about how they'd all be looking in photos as opposed to other aspects of this day.

Mai wiped her lips and dusted her bony fingers off over her now empty plate, gulping the last of her morning milk. Zuko continued to nibble away at his omelet for a moment or so.

"Guess that means I'd better go clean up, too," Mai decided, rising from her seat. She was wearing a gray t-shirt and baggy jean-shorts - the same clothes she'd just slept in the night prior. And her hair was slapped up in a lazy bun, bags beneath her gloomy eyes.

"Gosh, you seriously need, like, a total overhaul here," Ty-Lee mused, shaking her head slightly with a finger to her lip.

Mai sighed, one hand in her pocket and the other stacking her cup on her plate.

Mai pondered aloud, "Is that your way of saying you're going to follow me back to the dorm and work on my hair or something?"

Ty-Lee cried back with enthusiasm, "You betcha!"

Mai shrugged to Zuko, who smirked at what he considered Mai's misfortune. Mai kissed him on the cheek, scratching her nails through his unkempt hair.

"I'll call you when I'm done," Mai told him, grabbing her dirty dishes and heading off.

"What she said," Ty-Lee hurriedly explained to Azula, following Mai's lead and leaving the two siblings alone.

Azula, having not expected this sudden but intentional opportunity to have a private chat with her brother, cleared her throat. The two blinked awkwardly at each other for a second before pulling their glances apart. Azula shuffled into the seat Mai had just been occupying and twiddling her thumbs as Zuko cut another slice of omelet with the side of his fork and consumed it. Azula adjusted her position, her cheek in one palm, elbow on the table. She drummed her long fingernails across the table as Zuko continued to eat.

"I visited him again last week," Azula told him casually.

Zuko's chewing slowed down to a pause for a moment as he studied her face - she was looking off across the cafeteria. Despite a lack of reply from her brother, Azula elaborated.

"You were right, you know. About how he views this whole mess we've found ourselves in. Naturally, it's our fault, not his. No responsibility on him, at all, it seems." She wobbled her head left and right, her words reeking of frustrated sarcasm. "He refused to discuss it beyond laughing at my apparent lack of competence."

"Forget him," Zuko advised. "I told you, he doesn't care about either of us. Maybe he will in time, but it sounds like prison hasn't done its job yet."

"He's our Father, Zuko, there's no use in...'forgetting' him."

"Fair enough. Ignore him, then."

"Mm. I suppose that is a viable option for the time being..."

As Azula contemplated this thought, Zuko finished eating his food. The cafeteria was humming with energy, various family members talking with the students they'd see walk that day - utensils clattering and scraping against plates. But the stillness between Zuko and Azula was uncomfortable. Azula was reminded of that same day the year prior, when she had been the one graduating.

"I suppose that, perhaps, I may have been wrong," Azula muttered as Zuko cleaned his face with a napkin.

Zuko, placing his napkin down on his plate, stared at her with lowered brows.

"About...-?" he murmured back, baffled by the very idea of Azula even vaguely apologizing.

"About this school," Azula sighed, straightened her posture. "I attended SRU more out of obligation to our family - to Mother - than anything else. Last year was...admittedly challenging for me."

"Really? I thought your Senior year went well..."

"Oh, it did, insofar as grades were concerned. Everything else? Well...Suffice it to say that Ty-Lee has brought some things to my attention which I may have overlooked while I was a student."

"Is that...regret in your face?" Zuko playfully poked. Azula's nose scrunched up briefly, her eyes narrowing. "Sorry," Zuko quickly backed down, realizing that his sister was attempting to have a serious moment.

"I regret nothing of my time here," Azula insisted off-handedly. "What I regret is...trying to coerce you into dropping out."

Zuko relaxed back into his seat, hands folded on the table.

"You were under a lot of pressure," Zuko reminded her with a shrug. "Trying to fill in Ozai's shoes while...simultaneously living on your own for the first time?"

"Mm..." Azula nodded carefully. "I retract my statement - there is something I wish I had done differently while I was here."

"Oh?" Zuko was intrigued by the very rare flicker of remorse in his sister's eyes.

"I wish I had treated Mother with more respect," Azula reflected, her face distant from the present. "She thought I was a monster, didn't she?"

Zuko swallowed the lump in his throat, aghast as Azula's somber words.

Azula added under her breath with self-spite, "I suppose she had goodreason to feel that way."

"She...misunderstood you," Zuko defended, scratching his cheek. "But she did love you. She loved all of us. Even Ozai."

"She had very little reason to, with the way I treated her - the way Father hurt her."

"You know, I've thought about that, Azula," Zuko was quick to confer. "And...well, that's how you really know when someone does love you, don't you think?"

"When they let you walk all over them and use them?"

"Uhh...Wh-when they forgive you and still love you even if you do those sorts of things..."

"Mm. Well, I gather this is the part where you regale to me once again the tale of you and Uncle, and how he so graciously took you back under his wing after-"
"I wasn't going to repeat it, but...obviously, that's where my mind was."

"The man does seem a bit of a fool in his old age, tolerating as much as he does..."

"That's exactly what I mean, Azula. You and I both like to try and be perfect, sure. But let's face it: neither of us is. It takes people like Iroh to put up with our mistakes long enough for us to learn from them."

Azula shrugged and sighed at her brother's ideal proclamations.

"Statistically speaking, one of us has to be an optimist," she mumbled. "But, all right. I won't deny that your argument does have some merit to it."

"Azula," Zuko chuckled, shaking his head slowly. "I'm not-...This isn't an argument, I'm just expressing my opinion based on all that's happened."

"Yes, yes," Azula complied, checking her elongated nails. "You know, I wouldn't give you such a hard time if you weren't so easy to perturb."

"And I wouldn't repeat my sentimental ideals if you didn't act so cold-hearted about everything."

Zuko and Azula paused in a moment of confused tension, each trying to read the other - had that been a playful, facetious exchange? Or had it been more aggressive?

"If it is any consolation," Azula continued the conversation, calmly, "Ty-Lee has been rather stubborn about warming this 'cold heart' of mine."

"Has she, now?" Zuko asked with a dubious look. Azula frowned with some bitterness.

"Do not judge me, Brother."

"I'm not," Zuko insisted. "It's still...hard to adjust to the idea. That's it."

"Hmph. Well, imagine what it must be like for me, after all this time spent ignoring...-" Azula trailed off, her fingers interlocked in her lap. "At least out west we're not subjugated to the kinds of looks we receive around here..." Azula's face flickered with contained aggravation, and Zuko was reminded of the stuffy business partners from the Golden Dragon Ball who had made a fuss about Azula's date that evening. Looking back, he certainly had to hand to it to his sister: she had guts, and wasn't afraid to take what she wanted and flaunt it all the same.

"I try my best not to give you those kind of looks," Zuko expressed. "I'm sorry if I don't always succeed."

"It's quite all right, Zuko. I know that your default state of expression is 'grouchy.'" Azula sent him a sly smirk, and he managed to smile a little in reciprocation.

"Hey, I've gotten a lot better," Zuko defended with a mellow tone.

"So have I," Azula pointed out with an equally pleased voice.

"And I'm, well...happy for you. For what you've found with Ty-Lee."

Azula gave pause, leaning back in her chair with skepticism.

"You truly mean that?" she muttered, eyes narrowed.

"Yea," said Zuko in earnest. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still getting used to it - but I promise you, it's not because-...I mean, Ty-Lee being girl, you two being...you know, a same-sex couple...That's not what's weird, that's...fine. It's just odd for me because I've known Ty-Lee for a while now, and she's so...not...what I would've expected in a partner for you."

"I can put any concerns to rest and assure you that she and I find ways to manage," Azula explained. "And frankly...-" Azula cleared her throat and leaned over the table slightly. "Don't let that woman's clumsy demeanor and puppy eyes fool you. She is a minx if ever I've known one."

"Y-yea, I...gathered that," Zuko mumbled shakily. Once again, the uncomfortable 'too-much-information' alarm was blaring in his head. "As long as you're happy."

Azula drummed her nails on the table at Zuko's sappy words, her eyes staring down into blank space.

"I'm afraid it may be some time until I am entirely happy," Azula confessed with an odd melancholy. "But it is a work in progress," Azula scoffed in spite of her own mood change, quickly reverting to her own 'default state of expression' - in this case, 'cynical.' "You can only truly account for yourself, after all. I can't help if everyone in my daily life is an imbecile, or refuses to accept simple truths such as...one's age in running a business, or one's sexual preferences."

Zuko scratched at his neck as he considered a response.

"I was just saying to Mai before you two showed up: I've decided to stop worrying so much about others and just do what feels right to me."

Zuko watched Azula's face brighten with a certain satisfaction at his words.

"So, this school is teaching you something, after all."

"Taught," Zuko corrected, popping his eyebrows up and down.

"Pardon?"

"Taught - past tense. I'm done, remember? Graduating today? The entire reason you're here?"

"Ah. Right. Yes, yes."

"And the way you don't care what people think if you date Ty-Lee? That's how I feel about this ceremony. I don't care if some people judge me for it. It's...-" Zuko shrugged. "-...not an event I want to participate in."

Azula blinked at Zuko with reflection, his comparison bringing the idea into a different light she hadn't considered.

"Very well," she acknowledged his choice. "Once again, a sound argument. I won't waste my energy refuting it."

"We're not argu-"
"Such easy buttons to press, Brother. Do lighten up some. Your default may be 'grouchy,' but today is not a 'default' kind of day."

Sokka stood on the sidewalk, his knees a bit weak, his stomach a little queasy. In mere minutes, he would be experiencing the moment he'd worked four years to reach. It was a bit crazy to consider how very different his life was now than it had been when he had arrived at Saint Roku University. What would be different even a year from now? Sokka's eyes wandered toward the growing collection of dark blue cloth, his colleagues and fellow senior students conglomerating in preparation for the morning's ceremony. He glanced in the opposing direction, toward the quad. His group of friends was escorting Hakoda across the grass. Sokka had just bid them farewell, and mere moments after their departure, the reality of everything had inflated his brain.

Sokka took in a deep breath and bent down to double check his loafer's shoe laces. Yep. Still tied tight. As they had been ten minutes ago. The tassel dangling from his square-topped cap got in his face and he puffed air at it with irritation. He stood upright again, shoving the tassel to the left side of his head with a sigh. He fussed with his cap, adjusting it to a more comfortable position, and checked to ensure that his gown was straight.

"You look nervous."
"Augh!" Sokka yelped, his whole body flailing as he erected his position.

After spinning his head around, he found the face of professor Piandao greeting him. The man was dressed up in his academic regalia. Sokka found the mess of varying colors and accessories across the faculty to come across as random and confusing, but he figured that if such people spent even more years than he just had dealing with homework and the like, they had earned the right to wear whatever damned color they wanted. Piandao chuckled as he came to a stop right beside his student. Piandao rubbed the side of his finger along his weathered chin, studying Sokka's wide-eyed expression.

"You are nervous," Piando observed.

Sokka shrugged, continuing to fidget with his outfit.

Piandao reach out his arm and pinched Sokka's tassel, flipping it around the corner of his cap so that it hung over the opposing side of his head.

"You'll want to keep that on the right until it's time to turn them over," Piandao explained.

Sokka sighed and nodded.

"Just another rule or tradition waiting for me to mess up," he muttered.

"Sokka," Piandao said with a slightly scolding tone. "When you first arrived in my classes, you were so unsure. You even seemed down on yourself. But that first day we sat and had a talk, I saw something in you right away." He patted his heavy hand against Sokka's shoulder and squeezed. "I saw a heart as strong as a lion, and twice as big. I saw a young man whose mind was brimming with ideas and aspirations; someone who could think critically but still laugh in spite of himself. And as we continued those talks, and I continued to have you in my classes, it wasn't your test scores or your essays that impressed me." Piandao's hand dropped off of Sokka's shoulder as he raised an eyebrow and smirked at his pupil. "No, it...certainly wasn't your grades," he mused, giving Sokka a beat to frown slightly at the joke. "But you showed something beyond anything that can be measured by a letter or a number: Creativity. Versatility. Intelligence. These are the traits that define a great student, and a great leader. And these are the traits that define you."

Sokka could feel his tear ducts filling up with some kind of joy or pride at his teacher's compliment, and he looked down at the cement below his feet in an effort to avoid showing his bashful face. Piandao went on.

"You once told me that you weren't sure if you were really an adult. That you felt you weren't ready for life after school. But Sokka, acting in childish ways or laughing at childish things doesn't make you a child." Piandao latched his firm grip onto Sokka's shoulder again, calling the young man's attention. Once he had Sokka's gaze back to him, he finished his thought. "Being true to yourself, true to your beliefs and values, and enduring the uncertain - those do make you an adult. And I believe you are one of the most mature students I have ever taught. I believe you are already an adult."

Sokka's lips fell open slightly at his mentor's compliments, but in his moment of fumbling for words, Piandao pulled him in for a hug.

"Congratulations, Sokka. Your presence will be missed on this campus."

"Y-yea...Thank you, Professor," Sokka managed out, returning the hug.

As their moment ended, Piandao slapped Sokka on the back, nudging him toward the river of students heading toward the river of dark blue cloaks. Sokka's brain immediately jumped to some vague, unformed pun about a school of fish, but such thoughts were quickly cast aside as he found himself a part of the subject he was trying to come up with a joke about.

Here was everyone, all dressed up in silly clothes with weird tassel things that were supposed to hang a certain right way...Sokka felt oddly out of place. And his hat was a bit too tight for his head, which was already starting to frustrate him. They received their instructions on what to do, how to act, what not to do, but it was all kind of a blur over Sokka's head. He found himself eager, anxious, bored, and just wanted to be handed his piece of paper and sent off on his way.

And then, when the class began its walk across campus, traversing around the quad and making for the auditorium, all of Sokka's anxiety disintegrated.

It was a strangely quiet couple of minutes - the sidewalk rumbled with so many footsteps, yes, but there were no words. No plastic greetings, no hum-drum student activity, no odd banter...Just the warm glow of the late morning sun, peeking down through the cloudy sky. Birds tweeting in the distance, fluttering across the trees strewn about campus. In the moody seriousness of it all, Sokka had a thought. He hastily pulled out his phone, raised it before him, and began recording the moment - a surreal slice of ceremony, now captured in fuzzy pixels.

Then Sokka noticed the flute. A calming, mysterious flute broke through that formal silence. It played a strange, eastern-imbued tune that was subtle and slow with occasionally quick flourishes. The distant but commanding music transformed their journey across sidewalk cement from a studious march toward a stage into a right of passage.

+ Youtube(dotcom)/watch?v=2dQ5c5SIYnc +
('The Greatest Adventure,' circa The Hobbit [1977])

The auditorium is dimmed as the bright stage is filled with a parade of students and faculty.

Everyone stands - the National Anthem is played.
It is not Sokka's own home anthem - not the one he grew up with.

~The greatest adventure is what lies ahead~

A sea of cloaked students on a stage, hot lights shining down on them.

~Today and tomorrow are yet to be said~

An ocean of friends and families looking onward with anticipation.

~The chances, the changes are all yours to make~

Jane, impatiently fidgeting with her itchy scalp.

~The mold of your life is in your hands to break~

Korra, slouched back in her seat, eyes heavy, half asleep.

~The greatest adventure is there if you're bold~

Toph, picking her nose with her pinky and brushing it off on the bottom of her seat.

~Let go of the moment that life makes you hold~

Hakoda, patiently watching the proceedings, a permanent soft smile about him.

~To measure the meaning can make you delay~

Katara, bouncing her leg and fidgeting her fingers together.

~It's time you stop thinking and wasting the day~

Aang, silent and still, his mind wandering to dozens of different places.

~The man who's a dreamer and never takes leave~

Meng, occupying her boredom with her portable DS system.

~Who thinks of a world that is just make-believe~

Sokka, hidden on stage amongst many, playing a game silently on his phone.

~Will never know passion, will never know pain~

A speech by someone Sokka doesn't know - flowery and fitting, yet forgettable.

~Who sits by the window will one day see rain~

The long, daunting wait as each department presents its degrees.

~The greatest adventure is what lies ahead~

Sokka's turn - he crosses the stage. Katara feverishly snaps photos with her phone.

~Today and tomorrow are yet to be said~

Piandao shakes Sokka's hand, delivering his placeholder diploma with the other.

~The chances, the changes are all yours to make~

The class' tassels are moved from the right side to the left side.

~The mold of your life is in your hands to break~

Sokka, marching outside with his class, a rolled paper in his hand.

~The greatest adventure is what lies ahead~

After filing out of the auditorium, Sokka lingered on the quad, which was now littered with various tables full of snacks and drinks - balloons and streamers all about, with various workers dressed in black vests and pants. Sokka recognized amongst the throng of bodies one set of tight-panted buttocks to be that of June, who seemed to wear the tuxedo-like outfit well. When the figure turned around to set a large bowl on the table she was manning, Sokka confirmed that it was, in fact, June, and reveled in a moment of minor pride at having recognized the woman merely by her ass.

He decided to approach her and say 'hi' while grabbing something to eat while he was at it.

"Ah. It's you," she greeted him with the same lack of fanfare she did every other day. "That piece o' paper ya got there make ya feel like a million bucks yet?"

"You'd think," Sokka laughed, scooping up a plastic cup of punch and taking a sip. Mm, nice little combo of cherry and tang and sour. "I'm gonna end up owing half that to pay this freakin' thing off over the next thirty years."

"Heh. Can't put a price on knowledge, though, right?"

Sokka laughed again at June's facetiously sly smile. He couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or trying to be sentimental. Likely the prior, knowing her.

He gulped down the rest of his small portion of punch before dropping it into the nearby recycling bin.

"Get back to me in a few years and I'll have an answer to that," Sokka replied, making a cracker, meat, and cheese sandwich and chomping it down in one bite.

"Lord knows I sure as fuck ain't goin' anywhere," June sighed with a dull shrug. "Come back in a few years, and I bet I'll still be here."

"Mm." Sokka swallowed his snack, and made way for a family to swoop in and partake in the goods.

A fellow Senior classmate whose name he couldn't pin down but whose face he knew well passed through, as well, and they bid each other hello. Sokka realized too late that it would probably be the last time he'd ever see that guy.

"This place really isn't all that bad, though," Sokka decided, talking to June from beside the table as more and more people were filling up the surrounding area. "I mean, if I could work here for a while longer, I would."

"Hmph! Is that your way of offering to be a sub this month?" June posed.

"Errrr-" Sokka immediately regretted his phrasing.

"Yea, I didn't think so!" June balked, raising her brow his way. "Anyway, hey. Kid. You put in your time - good on ya. It may seem like everyone n' their mother goes through college...-" Sokka couldn't help but have a weird, queasy feeling of lightness in his stomach at that particular phrase in this context. "-...but seriously, guy, even now, most people in this country still don't. Be proud, be happy...I don't know, fuckin' revel in the fact that you're probably already smarter than I'll ever be."

Sokka scratched his nose as he considered this thought - the idea that regardless of monetary value of his degree, or technical, measurable 'knowledge,' just the sheer fact that he had gone through this multi-year experience had taught him a great deal. He'd had the opportunity to shape his brain into a way of thinking that many others weren't fortunate enough to exercise. June did not strike him as a very happy person, or as the sort who had been granted the privilege of higher education. She clearly had made some mistakes in her life, and Sokka decided that her words in this exchange had been some way of June expressing, 'It's good to see someone who will be luckier than I am - who won't end up at a dead-end like I have.'

"Hey, you taught me how to grill a good burger, at least," Sokka tried to lighten the tone. "And let me tell you, that is some damned priceless knowledge I will take with me to the grave."

"Psh." June smiled with half of her mouth, looking down as she prepared a new cheese platter to replace the one that was quickly disappearing. "Glad to hear I taught you somethin', at least, Kid."

The quad had rapidly transformed by now as the girth of blue-robed graduates was swallowed up by their friends and family. Sokka spent the brief period nodding, waving, and generally greeting acquaintances that passed by. In time, the clump of beings that had attended in his owner drew near.

"Knucklebrain! Meathead!...Idiot!" Toph's shouts were hard to ignore, anyway.

"Speakin' of meat-" June callously picked. "-there's yours, mooing at you over there."

"Yea, I can hear that," Sokka sighed in a stupid, pleasant way. It was a little hard not to admire the way Toph was blindly calling out to him with her impatient, almost pouting face.

"You go have fun," June insisted. "Thanks for stoppin' by."

"Uh, yea," Sokka hastily said, his attention having been all but stripped away from quite uncommon sight of Toph in a dress. "I, erm, I'll see you around," Sokka told June. "We'll probably still be hanging out down there over the next few weeks."

"Yup," June casually dismissed him with a wave.

"Snoozles! Oh-Captain-My-Captain! Come on, here, I'm runnin' out of-"
"Dead-Eyes!" Sokka called back, imitating her tone. She was close enough by now where he could savor the way her face lit up at his voice.

"He's by the food," Katara chimed out, pointing Sokka out to the group.

"Yea, real shocker, there," said Jane.

Katara led the charge, fording a path through the crowds. People were fanning out across campus, at least, allowing for some more maneuverability. Sokka scurried forward, going to meet them partway.

Katara was dressed in a white tubetop dress, her hair straightened, two large locks tied and hung over each shoulder. She was toting a bouquet of roses in one arm, waving frantically with the other. In the smallest of moments, Sokka's brain saw his mother where his sister stood. He stared down at the rolled up piece of paper he now held in his hand, finding himself wishing that Kya could have been there in that moment to see his accomplishment. Once Katara was within arms reach, she clutched her brother's shoulder with a warm hand and a glowing smile. Sokka glanced up to her and smirked weakly, and her smile grew wider. She pushed the roses into Sokka's free hand before enbracing him with a tight hug. His hands both full, Sokka laughed at her tight squeeze.

"Way to go, Sokka," Katara spoke into his ear. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks, Sis."

Katara pulled her body back off of his, giving his shoulders a firm slap. She stared at him, smiling like a fool, her eyes quivering from joy. Sokka didn't know how to react, and could feel his own eyes starting to water up.

"OK, all right, girlfriend coming through!" Toph was stretching her hands out, detaching from Meng and fumbling her way through Sokka.

Katara blinked rapidly, her emotional moment interrupted. She sighed peacefully as she let Sokka go. As if to prevent herself from getting overly sappy, she quickly backed off and lightly twisted Toph's shoulder to direct her toward Sokka.

Toph's hair was tied back in one long braid that was flopped across the front of one shoulder. She was dressed in the same green satin dress with golden flower print highlighting one side, a sash tided around her waist. It was familiar, as Sokka had seen her wear it to two dances now - and that was fine by him, with how glorious she looked in it. A golden chain necklace accented her outfit, and yet, despite all of her beauty, Sokka chuckled to himself when he was reminded of her feet that day - clean, for a change, yet sitting within a pair of green sandals.

Sokka stood awkwardly at her approach, his hands upturned - a diploma in one, the roses in the other. Toph's hands found their way into his chest, and once they had, they immediately scaled up to his face. Toph tugged Sokka's face downward slightly, pressing her face at his. The two engaged in a long, rather wet kiss - Sokka's eyes shut closed in the moment, and amongst all of the madness swirling around them, for that second or two, it was just her touch, her lips, her hands on his face, that existed. Toph squished her frontside at him with an amount of passion that caught the young man off guard, and he slowly wrapped his arms around her back as they kissed, his hands tightly grasping the objects they still possessed.

"Oogie!" Katara teased their public display of affection.

Toph ran her hands up and down the back of Sokka's neck vigorously, tipping his graduation cap off center. She savored his sweaty hair between her fingers, pressing her forehead against his chest.

"Good job, Bacon-for-Brains," Toph congratulated him, her eyelids still closed from their kissing. "With yer...diploma...n' yer bein' all...smart n' shit..."

She took in a deep sniff, breathing in the strange mixture of scent that was Sokka's unique odor combined with the sterile fabric of his graduation robe. She released him from her clutches, and he found himself glad that he was presently wearing said loose-fitting robe, given the sudden swell that had naturally occurred between his legs due to her contact.

"Next time you try calling me an idiot," Sokka explained, "I'll have this to prove you wrong." He wiggled his diploma in the air.

"Yyyyeeaaa," Toph answered with smarm. "Somehow, I'm not sure that's gonna do much."

Sokka grinned, lightly bonked Toph on the head with his paper, and kissed her on the forehead when she flinched from the impact. Just after the kiss ended, Toph nailed him in the gut with a well-placed punch, which he had seen coming and absorbed.

"Why do you keep hitting him?" Meng asked her, humored but slightly concerned.

"There's no use reasoning with her," Sokka wheezed out, recovering from the blow.

As Toph reluctantly withdrew from her boyfriend, Meng eased her out of the way of the others.

"Congratulations!" she bid him. "You deserve the kissing, but not the punching."

Sokka nodded with a simple, "Thanks."

"Oh, he deserved the punching," Toph coyly insisted.

Before Sokka knew it, Katara was swiping his diploma and roses from him to free up his hands for the next hug in line, which came from Korra. Korra was in a gray button down with black slacks, which was probably about as formal as Sokka could've asked for. Her hair was even lacking in any manner of 'tails' of any sort, which was rare form. Korra charged straight at him, and went as far as to scoop him up clean off the ground, a foot or so into the air, and he worried for his own back.

"Woot-woot!" she roared, crushing him in her strong arms. She dropped him back down - a rough landing, giving him a moment to cough out and breathe before Korra flipped his cap off of his head. He scrambled to catch it and set it back in place, and Korra lifted a hand for a high-five. Sokka swung, slipping up with a loose, -pfft-. "Aw, c'mon," Korra insisted, raising her hand again. They both wound up and released, a much more satisfying clap being their reward. "Yea! You're free now!" Korra declared, swinging her fists up into the air.

"Tsh, yea, now I get to take my soul from school and give it away to some corporation or something," Sokka mused with some skepticism. Korra gave him a raised eyebrow and shrugged, slapping him on the back.

"Hey, man, you still did something I never could: finished school."

"Not the easiest thing. Thank god it's over."

"Right!" Korra swiveled off to the side, allowing Aang to come in and give his roommate a more gentle hug. Aang was wearing a white, collared polo with his hand-painted SRU tie and a matching pair of white khakis. His hair was brushed back and neat, which Sokka decided looked odd on him. Still, his friends all dressing up on his account was something he could appreciate.

"You did it," Aang simply stated.

"Sure did. Always knew I would," Sokka proclaimed smugly.

"No, you didn't," Aang incredulously picked on him. "But you still got there." After their hug ended, Aang asked him, "Do you feel like a 'man' yet?"

"Eh," Sokka shrugged and nodded carefully. "A little bit."

"I'm not sure what we're going to do without our Idea Guy," said Aang. "He's going to be missed."

"True," Sokka agreed. "And I don't pity you at all," he concluded.

"Why's that?" Aang asked, confused.

"Uh, 'cuz now that I'm gonna be livin' the life of Manhood, you're gonna stuck with all these women."

"Ha!" Aang grinned. "You know you're gonna miss everybody."

"Well, maybe not...-" Sokka leaned over to the side, looking past Aang toward Jane. "-...everyone," Sokka goaded her. Her off-put expression - wary from the thick crowd she was wedged in the middle of - transformed into that dull smirk Sokka had come to know well. She was kind of shelled up, standing inbetween Katara and Hakoda, her hands crossed around her chest - in her current outfit, there were no comfortable pockets to place her hands.

"...Ass," she grumbled, her pale, speckled cheeks turning pink from embarrassment as Sokka dramatically waved his arms inward, signalling her to come in for a hug.

Jane shuffled her lanky body over to him, keeping her arms folded all the while. She was wearing a bold and noticeable spaghetti strap dress of yellow and black stripes that ran down to her knees. Her spotted shoulders were flushed pink from the sunlight, and her hair was brushed neatly, though a bit frizzy at the edges.

They hugged. Sokka - having just been choked, squeezed, pounded, and slapped around by everyone else - found Jane's hug to be very different. It had been quite some time since he had hugged her - just Jane. He couldn't actually remember when it had last occurred. She was much more...light and gentle in the way she hugged him, compared to everyone else. Their hug would've been much shorter than the others, as well, had Sokka not pulled her back in to extend it.

"Yea, I'm pretty much an ass, all right," he conceded to what she had called him a couple of moments before. "Good thing you're tough enough to deal with me, though, eh?"

"Uh, I guess," Jane half-mumbled, half-laughed, her arms tightening a little to reciprocate Sokka's embrace.

"Glad you came back while I've still got some time left around here, Freckles," Sokka told her.

"Me, too," Jane replied, allowing her weak smile to widen a bit as their embrace ended.

With only one person left, Sokka made his way around the rest of his friends to meet his father. Hakoda had been standing quietly, patiently, his back straight, his hands tucked together in front of his waist. He was dressed in a simple suit of blue, The two had not yet had much time to interact that day, and Hakoda hadn't arrived into town until earlier that morning - later than anticipated. In a way, it was like Hakoda had almost been avoiding prolonged contact with his son to prevent himself from gushing all over him. This was made pretty evident in the way his arms pressed against Sokka's back, one hand sliding up and down his shoulders, the other patting the back of his head. It was a tender moment - as if this was the last time Hakoda could hug his 'boy' like he were a 'boy.'

They spoke quietly in their bubble of physical proximity, talking below all of the commotion transpired across the quad.

"She'd be so proud of you, Son. I hope my own pride is enough here."

"It always has been, Dad," Sokka assured. He was forced to sniff in a deep breath, his nose becoming runny. The tears had been building up with each hug, each moment of realization that very soon, each person wouldn't be the permanent fixture of his life that they had been. This was even more painful with his father, because Sokka was forced with the truth that this was already the case, and had been for most of the past four years. At this point, much to Sokka's chagrin, the tears had started running. Not too many to bear, but enough to warrant a good wiping of his face.

"I'm thankful she left me you and your sister to see grow up and follow in her footsteps."

"Mom's aren't the only footsteps I plan to follow."

Just as Sokka was about ready to go separate from his father, Katara side swiped the two of them. Their familial group hug was tight and heartfelt. Kya's absence in this moment was made up for by double-bonds between the three of them.

"So sweet," Meng gushed quietly from the sideline.

"Yea," Toph whispered back with nonchalance. "Sokka's got a squishy center."

"Like you?" Meng giggled in Toph's year.

"Heh," Toph smiled with a hint of bashfulness.

"You should be in there, too," Aang muttered to Korra quietly, pointing the bouquet of roses (which Katara had handed off to him) at the other Kesuks.

Korra, staring at her extended family with a melancholic longing and sympathy, simply shook her head to Aang's suggestion. Jane, likewise, had no words to contribute, her heart conflicted by joy for her friends and lament at her own lack of equivalent experience. Katara had handed her dad a handkerchief she'd pulled out of his coat's chest pocket. He dried his tears with the cloth, while Katara wiped her own eyes with her wrists, smiling and laughing out the remnants of her joyful sobs.

A dry, crackling voice complimented what had unfolded as the Kesuks broke apart.

"That one's probably going to make the yearbook..."

The words had belonged to Mai, who was just lowering her camera from her face. She'd snapped a flurry of photos of the moment that the others had just been engaged by.

The Kesuk family turned toward the gothic art student, her lips black, hair tied up in a sturdy bun. She was wearing a maroon Chinese dress with a sideways slit, the satin fabric trailing down to her flat top shoes. She was wearing some eye makeup that alluded to butterfly wings at the edges of her face.

The group greeted Mai, and she said her 'hello' back to them all

"Wow, Sokka," Mai taunted with lowered eyelids and a smile. "I didn't realize tears were a thing you were capable of."

"Fff." Sokka brushed his face with his robe's sleeve and sighed peacefully. "Yea, I forget that sometimes, myself."

Mai let her camera hang by its strap over her neck and extended a hand.

"Congrats on graduating." He accepted her handshake, and was bold enough to lean forward and give her a light hug, catching her by surprise.

"Thanks, Gloomy Girl."

The group greeted Mai, and she said her 'hello' back, though Hakoda was confused.

"Oh, yea," Sokka snapped his finger, looking toward his father and gesturing toward the photographer. "This is Mai. She's an art major. One of our friends."

Mai exchanged a brief glance with Sokka, pleasantly surprised by his warmer-than-usual attitude. On any other day, she might find it suspicious or even annoying, but she could get behind the cheerier vibes for a day like this. She shook Hakoda's hand - his grip was a lot more sturdy than Sokka's - and nodded to him. It was a bit strange from her perspective, meeting this man who she presumed knew very little about her, and yet she knew he had lost his wife many years ago, and struggled with depression through it. She was inclined to respect the man right off the bat, especially given how his children had turned out despite the circumstances. Even without the comfort of a wife, it sure sounded like Hakoda had been a much more consistent and present father than the ones Mai or Zuko had been dealt.

"It's very nice to meet you," Hakoda greeted. He rubbed at his eyes a bit. "Although I guess it's a little embarrassing for you to see a grown man leaking like a faucet..."

"Actually, I'm...really glad I saw it," Mai admitted, trying her hardest to give the sharp-cheekboned gentleman as earnest a smile as she could muster. "I hope you don't mind." She lifted her camera up slightly. "I see beautiful things, and I shoot them. It's instinct at this point."

"Oh, no, thank you!" said Katara. "You're so good at it, I'm actually really happy you're here." Katara turned to her Father. "Dad, she does photos for the newspaper, the yearbook, that kind of thing."

"Ah, yes, they've mentioned you before," Hakoda acknowledged Mai. "You'll have to make sure you send these two copies of photos from today." Hakoda pulled his son and daughter to his sides, his arms slung over their shoulders.

"Definitely," Mai promised, nodding to Sokka. "Um, actually...-" Mai clasped her device with both hands. "I could take some more pictures, if you'd like." She seized the moment of their tight framing and steadied her hands.

During this exchange, Jane and Korra stood quietly beside one another, feeling out of sorts amongst all of the pleasantries and socialites. Meng was scanning the crowd, while Toph questioned who she was looking for.

Aang, meanwhile, had noticed Zuko, garbed in his graduation robe, lingering in the shade of a tree just outside of the quad. He quietly pondered why the young man had not participated in the ceremony, and why he had separated himself from the crowd. Zuko had certainly been more withdrawn as of late - well, more than he normally was, anyway. It made Aang worry a bit. Whatever had transpired over the last week, Aang knew it hadn't left his normally ambitious, idealistic friend in high spirits.

"Hey! Twinkle-Toes!" Toph's voice broke apart his moment of reflection. "Your Lady is trying to get your attention."

"You, too, Toph!" Katara clarified. "All of you. Over here! We need some photos of all of us. To mark the occasion."

"Bleh," Toph stuck out her tongue and crossed her arms.

"Don't be a little bitch," Jane snickered at her friend, flicking Toph in the back of the head. Toph snorted a laugh and dropped her arms back to her sides.

"Being part of the group means being a part of group photos," Aang repurposed Katara's reused saying as Jane took Toph's arm and led her over to the others.

Korra and Meng were left wondering if this was a 'Fivesome' kind of deal, or what.

"You guys, too!" Sokka insisted, jerking his head sideways as he took center in the cluster of companions. Toph was sitting in the grass below him, Hakoda linked on one side, and Katara on the other. Jane was kneeling down in front of Hakoda, and Aang likewise in front of Katara. Meng ended up finding her way standing next to Katara, and Korra took the other side, slinging her arm across her uncle's back.

Still holding Sokka's graduation items, Aang presented them to Sokka.

"I got you flowers," Aang joked.

Sokka accepted his props and winked at Aang, making a clicking sound through grit teeth.

"Roses - my favorite. How did you know?" Sokka jested.

Katara slipped one out and stuck it sideways in her brother's mouth. He bit down on it, waggling his eyebrows at Mai's camera - she smirked and rolled her eyes, recalling him fashioning a rose in the same way back in the fall when she'd taken their Homecoming Dance photo.

"There, I got him to shut up," Katara teased, eliciting a round of chuckles and a puzzled expression from Toph.

Mai was directing the lot of them with commands and hand gestures, trying to attain the right proportions. She twisted her lens and tweaked her position.

"You know you belong here, too, right?" Hakoda whispered to his niece.

Korra didn't reply, her brain too addled with emotions to respond - emotions, those things she had grown so accustomed to ignoring and pushing aside, to the point where even on a happy occasion she was having trouble feeling that happiness that everyone else was radiating.

"-aaaand hold it. That's it." Mai bit her bottom lip as she steadied her hand, clicking at her shutter button repeatedly. "Smile, people. Come on. Smile. Smile. Even I can do that, come on, let's-...OK, Toph, smile a little...less. No. That's just-...You're smiling more. That's just creeping me-...Eugh, no tongue. No hanging out tongues. OK, yes, just like that, Toph. Like a normal human being. Hold that steady. OK, but, Korra, smile. Seriously."

A few minutes, many poses, many combinations of subjects, and oodles of photographs later, and Mai felt pleased with the possibilities she's captured. It hadn't been as much for the yearbook as it had just for the sheer entertainment and pleasure of placing such an eclectic collection of people into photographic form. She saw beautiful things - like the connections shared between Aang and his friends - and she felt compelled to freeze them through her lens.

They bid Mai farewell, and the girl immediately swooped off to find her next target to nail down.

Katara was ecstatic at the prospect of high-quality pictures, which was a lot better than what they would've captured using their phones. Sokka was getting tired of wearing his stuffy robe in the hot sun, and Hakoda was showing signs of his lack of took a deep breath, unbuttoning his robe and tossing it over his shoulder. He was wearing a dress shirt, which he'd left untucked out of his belt-tightened beige slacks. Katara delivered Toph's hand to Sokka's, and Sokka smiled as he quietly walked with Toph on his own side, his father on the other. He noticed his dad was looking fairly tuckered out all of a sudden.

"You sure you don't, like, need a nap?" Sokka asked his Hakoda with some concern as the lot of them made their way off of the quad, aiming for the campus center.

"Agh, I haven't my coffee yet today," Hakoda explained.

"Yea, you were falling asleep during the ceremony, Dad," Katara pointed out.

"I think we all were," Toph amended. Hakoda laughed at her remark.

"I did," Meng openly admitted, lifting her hand.

"I was playing Fruit Ninja on stage during part of it," Sokka gleefully bragged.

"You were not," Katara gasped, her shock evaporating into humor and she slapping her brother on the back of the head.

"You were what now?" Hakoda asked.

"I was playing a video game," Sokka coolly rephrased with a smug shrug. "Oh-oh!" He got excited and pointed his finger up in front of his face. "And, I also video recorded this one part where people were applauding us."

"You...recorded a video of the audience?" Hakoda was utterly baffled.

"Sure did!" Sokka confirmed.

"It's good to know some things are still the same," Aang decided.

"Amen!" Toph agreed. "Don't go growin' up too fast on me." She jiggled Sokka's arm a couple of times.

"Oh, don't worry," Sokka insisted. "Next time I hit a spurt of maturity, I'll make sure to take you along with me - then you'll actually know what it feels like."

"Mur-mur-mur-mur," Toph childishly mocked Sokka's intonations.

"See, Dad?" said Sokka. "She literally speaks a different language from the rest of society."

"Then she might actually be able to understand your brand of nonsense," Hakoda noted with a smile.

"I try," Toph claimed. "I fuckin' try, believe me..."

Behind them, Meng was walking beside Aang and Katara, admiring the campus around them. It was...more green than she'd been anticipating.

"This place is so pretty," Meng remarked, watching a squirrel stare at her from twenty feet away before scampering up its tree.

"It's definitely easy to get used to," agreed Aang, looking up to the bright, cloudy sky.

"I think you'll like it a lot here," said Katara, watching Meng pull out her cell phone and type at it as they walked.

[From: Tylee]
[omg did i just miss u? mai said she just saw u guys! we gotta meetup!]
[Sent: 12:18pm]

[Reply]
[To: Tylee]
[lol. it's ok. i should have time later tday. :3 ]
[Sent: 12:19pm]

[Send]
[To: Douglas]
[hey! graduation is done. lunch now. maybe we can meet up tonight?]
[Sent: 12:19pm]

Meng tucked the phone back in her pocket and nodded, late in responding to Katara.

"I think what'll be the tricky part is figuring out what to study."

"You might as well take a little bit of everything next year," Aang suggested. "Balance things out, get your gen ed's out of the way."

"That's probably what I'll do," Meng decided.

In the year, Jane and Korra dragged their feet, occasionally glancing at each other before diverting their attention elsewhere. With the campus center finally in reach, Jane broke the ice.

"You doin' OK?"

Korra's eyebrows furrowed a little.

"Why's everyone asking me that?" she muttered warily.

Jane shrugged, her fists balled up at her sides - they had no pockets to slip into, after all. Korra noticed that the girl looked a little out of sorts, walking around in a dress but with strides like a dude.

"You look beat, man," Jane explained simply.

"I shouldn't," Korra huffed, running her hand through her loose hair. "It's not like I've been doing much of anything," she spitefully grumbled.

"Looks like you haven't been chilling out, either," Jane observed.

"Too late for that now," Korra sighed out as they walked up the small set of stairs that led into the back entrance of the campus center. "I'm gonna have to bail in a couple minutes here, or I'm gonna be late for work."

"Damn. Sucks," Jane sympathized.

"Yea, I'll live," Korra dismissed. They passed into the bustling campus center, the drop in temperature a welcome change from the humid outdoors.

"Well, we should, uhh...-" Jane awkwardly pushed some hair back behind one ear, scratching at her lobe. "You should hang out with us again some time."

Korra avoided Jane's olive eyes and shrugged up one shoulder with uncertainty.

"Or, maybe, like, just you n' me?" Jane offered another option, finding her throat tightening at Korra's negative body language.

"We'll see," Korra reluctantly replied, head bobbed. "I'm dealing with stuff...things."

Jane was immediately suspicious of this, but before she could inquire further, a loud, dinosaur-like roar cut through the campus center. At the base of the stairs that led up to the cafeteria, Toph and Sokka were wrestling, making loud monster-like noises and generally disrupting the overall peace of the crowded center. Hakoda stood on the sidelines, a bit terrified, from the look of it. Katara giggled at her father's reaction.

"This is what I get to deal with," she told him over the sound of bird-like screeching.

"No wonder you've been stressed," said Hakoda wryly.

"What was that you said, Aang?" Jane asked with humor. "'Bout things never changing?" She presented her arm out at their two friends. Sokka had captured Toph using his robe, which she was now wearing like a sheet ghost. "That's good?" Jane rhetorically picked on them. "Ya sure?"

Aang grinned, watching Toph flail her arms around Sokka, smushing her robe-covered face into his. Sokka was smiling widely and warmly in a way Aang didn't see too often.

"Some things haven't stayed the same," Aang decided.