"hey...”       river wore a sympathetic smile, approaching with steps slow and slightly hesitant in case company was unwanted; truthfully, he wouldn’t have blamed her if it wasn’t. he’d heard all about what lana and her minions had done, and about what josh had apparently done, too           and the story had weaved its way through the student body grapevine before those photos had gotten out, too. he wouldn’t have blamed mia if she didn’t want to see any students of anthony r. grove high school ever again. but still, that wasn’t an assumption he wanted to make, and he wouldn’t have felt right not checking in with her, at the very least. “you’re more than welcome to shoo me away...” smile grew just a bit, in hopes that the light-hearted delivery might elicit a similarly natured reaction from her           though she was more than welcome to tell him to leave her be. “ ... but i just wanted to see how you were doing, and all. and tell you i think they’re all a bunch of immature jerks.”

@ameliarenaldi​   inquired:       “      it’s  good  to  see  a  familiar  face .    ”

aristocratic          gatherings         a       recurring       part       of       moroi       life                 ,             had      gotten      used         to        the                  obligation          .                       at     times          ,           even  relished      in       the      interactions         .                a      playground     of     politics                 &           change             .                 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃𝐒        𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆              ,                    𝐋𝐄𝐓        𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌  𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄            𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓              .                   rarely         had         a       moment       of         quiet      at         these          type           of          affairs              ,                      but           she         didn’t          mind        as      much           when            reuniting          with          like   -   minded            people            .    

          “well, looks like i’m gonna have to look into some flights out to genovia, huh?”       river pulled away from their embrace just enough to look at her, expression warm with pride and admiration, though the small smile on his face and the way he gazed back down at her were both tinged with sadness. he was going to miss her, and of course he selfishly wished she didn’t have to move so far away. but of course, he only had those feelings because of how much he cared about her and valued having her in his life, and they were absolutely trumped by how excited he was for her and all of the things she had ahead of her, by all of the pride he felt for her, for how she was handling such a wild situation, for how he knew she would continue to handle things as a working royal in genovia. giving her arms a gentle little supportive squeeze, he gave a little shake of his head, corners of his lips lifting upwards just slightly as his tone shifted, hoping that joking with her a bit might bring some levity to their somber goodbye and give her spirits a little boost. “come on, you’re gonna get there and get so busy, and you’re going to be able to do so much good         ” he paused, voice softening for a brief moment to convey the sincerity in the sentiment, “         you’ll barely be able to give me and jenga a second thought. and i’ll be over here watching you better an entire principality and bragging to anyone who’ll listen that i knew you when.”