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“Now, will you look at this?” Went Mags, lifting something out of the cardboard box. Boom Bloom, wading knee deep in the ocean of miscellaneous junk alongside her, looked up from the small pile of stuff she was sorting through.
“What’s that?” She asked, voice perking up with curiosity. Mags waved at her to go over, so that they may look at it together.
Mags had planned to start cleaning out her closet sometime that week. And when Boom Bloom heard about it, she wanted to go and help. After all, Mags had been a pretty big help when she first arrived at the Academy. Giving her tours of the place, helping her move into her new room, lending a helping hand whenever she needed one. It only seemed fair that Boom Bloom should repay her when the time came. And when she heard about her plans for the weekend, it appeared that the time had arrived.
“Oh, it’s just some stuff I had since college. I nearly forgot about some of these.” She showed her what she held in her hand. A tiny painted rock. The paint formed what looked like a crudely-done red flower, but Mags looked at it fondly. “This was made as a graduation present by one of my old friends. We kept in touch. They said that they’re looking into moving to the Lava Lakes someday.”
“How come?” Asked Boom Bloom.
“They’re currently trying to figure out new ways of getting energy. They have a theory about lava, and how to harness its heat energy.” Boom Bloom nodded, though she was still confused as to how lava could be converted into energy. She made a mental note to ask someone later about how energy worked. For now, she wanted to see what else was in the box.
Next, Mags pulled out something long and wooley. “Oh, and this was the college’s official school scarf.” It was coated in a thin layer of dust, but the striking school colours of orange and green were still visible. “Looks like I’ll have to give it a wash before I wear it again, though.” She gently tossed it back into the box, then began rummaging through it again.
Boom Bloom kneeled down along with her, peering into the box. So many strange items which she had never seen before. “Hey Mags, the Academy’s like a college too, isn’t it?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah, it is,” she answered, still buried up to her elbows in old college memorabilia. She pulled out a small circular item. Like a glass ball with a tiny building within it.
“Well then, why don’t we sell these things? You know, like the scarf and the… whatever that is?” She pointed to the glass ball.
“It’s a snow-globe,” said Mags. She pressed the item into Boom Bloom’s palm. “You see, you shake it like this, and…” a flurry of tiny white… something rose up from within the ball. It looked like snow falling around a building, which Boom Bloom supposed was the intended effect.
“That’s cool. But why don’t we sell stuff like this?” She was always hearing about how the Academy was always in need of more donations, more funds. That was why they kept throwing fundraisers and charity events. “We could use the money, right?”
Mags shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to take it up to Eon. But anyways, most of this stuff was given to me for free as part of the University’s welcome package. It’s not like we have that sort of money to spend here, to give the students freebies. Most of our funds are still going to fight evil across Skylands.” She placed the snow-globe back into the box, then dug another item out. “Oh, look here.”
“What?”
“Another old friend of mine made this as a graduation gift.” It was some sort of hand-held mirror. With ceramic starfishes and seashells stuck onto it. “She works in marine biology. A couple years ago she left to go on this big expedition to previously unmapped territory, and I haven’t heard from her since.”
Mags flipped the mirror around, looking at it from all angles. “I sure hope she’s doing well for herself.”
Boom Bloom didn’t quite know how to respond to that.
And so they went through that box together. Several of the items were things like graduation presents, and Mags always had something to say about the gifter. There was also a school jersey and a school cap included besides the scarf. Apparently Mags used to wear the jersey as pyjamas, and the cap got itchy if one wore it for too long on a hot day. “Those were all good times though,” she admitted. There were also a few trophies she had won during competitions too. Best New Invention, Most Creative Use of Springs, and her favourite, Most Dazzling Laser Light Show.
Then finally, Mags dug to the bottom of the box, and pulled out a long, thick book. And when she saw it, her eyes practically lit up. “Oh, I’d been looking for this for ages!” She turned to Boom Bloom, and explained further. “This right here is a yearbook. At the end of the school year, the graduating class is given this as a memento to remember their time in school.” She flipped through the book, showing her all the photos people had taken of her and her cohort all those years ago.
It was all rather interesting for Boom Bloom to see. Looking at the younger Mags with crazier hair in the photos, and comparing and contrasting her with the Mags right in front of her. Seeing her surrounded by all those people who would later go on to become accomplished scientists, but they all appeared so youthful in those pictures. So carefree and so… for lack of a better word, dumb. It was all so interesting for her to think about.
But then, something caught her eye. “Wait, Mags, turn back a couple of pages.” Mags obeyed. And when she did, Boom Bloom’s eyes widened in surprise. “What’s he doing here?”
“Who, Krankcase?” Mags asked. “We lived in the same dorm way back in college. Hoo, he was a bit of a weirdo, honestly. Then again, pretty much everyone was back in the day…” She trailed off once she noticed that Boom Bloom had gotten surprisingly quiet. And a little pale. “Erm, Boom Bloom? Are you doing alright?”
Boom Bloom turned to her, eyes wide and a little sad. With a twitchy hand, she pointed to the man in the photo, and whispered, “That’s the man who created me.”