Woods Random Legacy: Chapter 47 - A Life of Her Own

Dearest Epsilon,
I know you prefer traditional, handwritten letters, so I've taken time out of my busy schedule to write you one.  I know it's been a few weeks already, and I'm sorry about the delay.  It's been hard adjusting to life here, especially the roommate situation.  I'm staying in Malan Hall.

While the housing is included in the price of tuition, it means that I have to share the building with seven other people.  I wasn't even lucky enough to have my room to myself.  Luckily the girl I'm sharing with is hardly ever there, so I can get a few precious moments to myself.

When I feel the need to get out of the dormitory, to be properly alone, there's plenty of spots to hide away around the campus.  Nobody ever comes poking around the roofs.

As a technology major, I'm required to maintain and experiment with some equipment that was leased to me by the school.  It's been quite a challenge, but rewarding when I finally get it right.

Classes are interesting, you would like them.  Sometimes things can be frustratingly ridiculous, though, like when the stupid mascot shows up.  All of the other students laugh like it's hilarious, but it's really just disruptive.

When the lectures are serious, though, I do learn a lot.  Definitely more than I learned back at the high school in Sunset Valley.

Anyway, write back soon!  I want to know how things are going back home.  Is Omicron still having trouble with the kids at school?  How's work been?
Yours,
Alpha

Dear Epsilon,
I know, I know, I kept trying to visit but I was so busy over term break!  I tried to stop by, but Dad was there, and I didn't want to deal with him again, so I just went back to Valerie's.  Thanks so much for spotting me the extra cash to rent my own place, this time.  It couldn't have been avoided last term, as all underclassmen have to stay in dormitories, but I'm definitely enjoying the peace of having my own place.

Of course, as an upperclassman, I have a lot more work to do, especially since I signed up for the maximum amount of credits.  I had to give a presentation about database organization yesterday.  I was pretty nervous, having to get up in front of my entire class, but I think it turned out well.

There's lots of social groups on campus.  Even though I don't really hang out with them too much, the science nerds let me try out the contraption they've been building on campus.

I have no idea what it actually does, but it spins around when you turn it on, and the air inside it starts changing color.  It's almost like the spinning is causing some sort of a field that changes the physical properties of the air.  You'd understand it better than I would, Epsi.

It's going to be a challenge to get a 4.0 GPA again, but I know I can do it.  I just have to keep working hard.
Yours,
Alpha

Soon enough, it was time for Alpha to graduate.  She'd managed to achieve a 4.0 GPA for her second term, sealing her position on the Dean's List.  As she left the ceremony, she watched all of the other students mingling with their loved ones and regretted that there was nobody here for her.  With a sigh, she set off towards her rented home to get some sleep before she had to move back to Sunset Valley tomorrow.

Epsilon: "Hey!  Al!"
Alpha turned at the sound of her sister's voice.
Alpha: "Epsi!  What are you doing here?"
Epsilon: "I caught the bus up.  I didn't want you to graduate all by yourself, after all."
Alpha: "You didn't have to do that."
Epsilon: "Of course I did, don't be stupid.  So, what's next?"

Alpha: "For me?  Well, I have a job offer from the military.  They'd be starting me as a Squad Leader."
Epsilon wrinkled her nose a bit at that.
Epsilon: "The military?  I don't know, Al."
Alpha: "They pay well, and as a Squad Leader I wouldn't be under contract.  I could leave if I didn't like it.  It's apparently a much more technical position than what you'd get just enlisting at the military base back home, and it's not uncommon for technology graduates to work there."
Epsilon: "I guess it wouldn't be so bad.  It's not like we're at war, and it doesn't look like anything's heating up in the world.
Alpha: "Exactly.  I promise I'll write home when I can, and visit when I get leave."

The sisters said their goodbyes at Alpha's ceremony, but Omicron had to wait until Alpha had returned to Sunset Valley.  Alpha made sure that her brother knew that she was only an e-mail away, before packing her things yet again to catch her military transport.

As it had been on the night Alpha left for university, it was snowing as she made her way to the waiting taxi.  On the other side of town, another traveler was also making its own way through the deepening snow.  It had traveled a long way, and its journey was almost over.

~ * ~

Correspondence redux!  Epsilon does like her old-fashioned letters, she gets that from her mother.

This is it for Alpha, as far as her being a playable legacy spare is concerned.  What happens to her from here on out is largely to be determined by story progression.  The Magician hasn't forgotten about her, but he's patient in a way that only a vampire of over a thousand years can be.  I'm still waiting myself to see if anything comes of his run-in with Alpha, or if he gets distracted by more pressing matters.  Time will tell.

Please ignore the fact that it's winter in the legacy hood and summer/fall in the university hood.  I don't know how to fix this, and it really irritates me.