Hallowed Halls, Fall, 2013

Resar, fall, 2013

Pierce University
Si'Enya Warwick is a senior, Naraj Shazad is a freshman (Elphy Mendenhall is a junior)

WilTech
Myra Shazad is a first year student

Naraj was finding his adjustment to university life a bit difficult.

It wasn't sharing a room, that part was easy thanks to a secluded nook for his bed.

Nor was it the horrible cafeteria food,

that was often burnt.

The workload wasn't hard for him either,

he enjoyed working on his term papers and assignments.

Even the hands-on labs were a breeze

thanks to his prior internship with the hospital.

It was really just him,

he tried to talk to people and to build relationships in his dorm,

he tried to notice the pretty women that were in his classes,

but honestly at the end of the simday, he preferred reading a scientific magazine and being alone. Things would have to change if he wanted to get married one day, but honestly after Annie dumped him, maybe it was best for him to remain single for a while.

Myra didn't have to worry about that. She had Abel and she was far too busy to talk to the other students in the robotics program. Thankfully, the other students didn't try to talk to her as well. It seemed that every sim would rush into class from a stressful job or home and then rush out of class to return to work or home. They were working students, non-traditional students, students with responsibilities outside of the classroom. There were not any parties or streaking, only mostly dedicated students trying to build a future.

She would arrive for class, tired and worn out from working at The Toy Shoppe building robot after robot. Her job was helping to pay for classes and there wasn't any other way she could attend without it. Thankfully Rebecca was understanding and Myra had flexible hours and a key to the shop to build the robots. She just had to make sure she met her weekly quota and with the approaching holiday season, sales would increase even more and she would need to pull extra hours.

Then she would struggle through her practical classes trying to make sense of ever complicated designs and specs for strange robots with strange functions. Once she saw her teacher build it, she could easily repeat it, but she still needed to learn the specs and plans since she couldn't always count on a sim showing her how it is done.

In addition, she still had to keep an eye on their father who had suffered greatly from depression after their mother's death. She remembered coming home to him talking to some dirty soccer ball. It had frightened her and the doctor said that a few things needed to change.

They moved to another apartment so that Johan wouldn't see constant reminders of his wife. It helped a bit, but the new research project he was funded for at the university helped even more. It kept him busy, occupied in his mental world with only rare instances where Jadhira would invade his thoughts and cause him to come crashing down, weeping in a corner or desperately smelling her favorite dress to calm him down.

Myra would watch him carefully as she milled about the house cooking and cleaning. She worried about leaving him once she got married, but he assured her that he was fine. The doctors said the same thing, that he had made vast improvements and was "moving past his grief".

Still, Myra worried. She needed to know that he was getting even better as he read his journals,

she needed to ensure that he wouldn't do something stupid and crazy and leave them without a father and Udar even more alone.

She tried not to be jealous, nor to think that Naraj was selfish for leaving her alone. She didn't have the luxury of sitting in a dorm, removed from the daily pressures of their broken family. She had to study and work right through it, to make sure that there would still be a family for her to come home to each night.