[COLOR=GRAY][CENTER][COLOR=dimgray]
[sup]________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/COLOR][img]https://i.imgur.com/GxrTKQH.png[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=silver][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Pacific Royal Campus[/I] - [I]Dundas Islands, Pacific Ocean[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=silver][b]Dance Monkey #4.001:[/b][/COLOR] [I]A Change Is Gonna Come[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][COLOR=dimgray][SUP][sub]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sub][/SUP][/COLOR][INDENT][sub][color=silver][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I]None[/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=silver][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [I]Crawling[/I][/right][/SUP]
[INDENT]A cloud hung over the Pacific Royal campus in the day following Haven’s rescue and Lorcán’s mysterious recovery. Daedalus had still managed to escape and neither Shiv nor Torres were any closer to discovering the mad scientist’s true identity. But despite the events of the last two weeks, all things were still a go on the Senior Formal and you could tell the upperclassmen were looking forward to a reason to kick back and blow off some steam. 

Thursday arrived quickly after what had felt like the longest week since Jim had taken the reins of Pacific Royal. The students assisting Calliope, Harper and Gil had all arrived ahead of time to the Augmented Reality Center, turning the training facility into a full-blown Hollywood gala. Bartenders from the speakeasy had begun bringing in kegs and liquor to set up for the event while community contributors from the Mess Hall had begun work on the food for tomorrow's dance.

Jim stood in the center of the A.R.C., nodding his approval before departing. He had a meeting with Miranda scheduled and Teresa Torres was scheduled to return today as well. In his absence, he left the dance in the capable and pliable hands of Aaron Matthews, one of his closest colleagues. 

Though he had no doubt he’d pay the price for it later. 

Enrollment at Pacific Royal continued to drop, especially as word got around about Haven’s kidnapping, the sunken sub-basement and Lorcán’s attack in the Northern Forest. Team Eclipse in particular had lost almost all of their students save for three. 

It was unprecedented, but Jim was considering combining the remaining members of Eclipse with those in Blackjack. Between the revelation about Pallyx, Mei’s departure and the fact the team seemed to always have at least one member in the infirmary, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring their numbers back up.

Blackjack had always been the most receptive to lost souls.

While students were expected to attend classes both today and tomorrow, Jim had no doubt that many in the senior class would be taking their leisure time or skipping class to catch a ferry to the mainland. Blackjack in particular was bound to be a big offender given their recent struggles and lack of other opportunities. 

Jim still needed to have a talk with Rory regarding the endangerment of the team and his lack of trust to involve the faculty. Unfortunately, Tyler was a product of what the faculty had come to refer to as ‘the Hyperion Generation’. Students who had bore witness to the school’s greatest tragedy and thus the inability of the faculty to stop it. It eroded the trust those students held towards the authority around them and given the tragedies that had followed Jim couldn’t blame them entirely. 

He was after the first true Chancellor in the last five years and unlike his predecessor, he wasn’t a terrorist.

Still, he was elected during ‘wartime’ and as such had a lot of tough decisions to make to keep the school afloat. Discussion with the team following Haven however had illuminated some new truths and while Jim still was holding Rory accountable as the team leader, it was interesting to know that Baxter had played a huge role in Haven’s rescue. To Jim’s understanding now, Harper had led the team effectively and while she too was to be blamed for the lack of trust in the administration, Jim wanted to cultivate her leadership and thus had deputized her alongside Rory to make up for Tad still being comatose.

Perhaps with holding each other accountable, a better course of decision-making would follow in the future. 

[color=#ffffff]“‘Course it is Blackjack, so probably not.”[/color] Jim muttered aloud to himself before taking a seat on a nearby bench as he watched the hustle and bustle of the campus. 

Sometimes it was nice to just take a moment and be part of the world. [/INDENT][/INDENT][/COLOR]