In a little over a month she would be writing her finals for the first half of her senior year of high school. This also meant that applications for university were due, and people had decisions to make on narrowing down their choices, if they chose university at all. Roz was in the middle of finishing up those applications and was taking campus tours to see the schools she was applying to. Not that there were a lot/ of different options in Vallo compared to the options she’d have back home, but from what she could tell the schools here were good.
Today, she was meeting Sabrina at her school after Roz’s classes got out. She’d asked Sabrina about getting a tour instead of going through school officials, because this way she’d get a real tour, with real input, not the scripted ones that most campuses provided.
When the final bell rang in class, she headed straight to her locker. She was stopped for a few minutes by Asher and his girlfriend. They chatted briefly about some council business, mentioned a party over the weekend, and then headed their separate ways. Rosalind left campus by Waypoint and arrived at the University moments later.
Pulling out her phone and sending Sabrina a text to let her know that she had landed on campus, and then took a seat on a bench at their meeting point to wait for her friend to arrive.
Sabrina wasn’t sure if everything her high school teachers back in Greendale had told her about college had been a lie or if Vallo’s universities were just very different from what was back in her world, but she wasn’t finding them to be as difficult as she’d always been made to believe. If anything her college professors were a lot more understanding of everything, way more laid back, and while the workload could be a lot it didn’t compare to battling Hell, Heaven and the Eldritch terrors. Maybe it had a bit to do with her major. Most of her classwork was memorizing lines and practicing dance routines, stuff that she enjoyed doing.
And none of it was life or death, which was always a bonus.
Sabrina liked the open air and the fact that at least her university was spread over an area of the city, waypoints often used to get to different buildings sometimes. Though some of them were connected by green areas that were dotted with students strolling around.
She spotted Roz almost the same time as she received the text and hurried her pace, handing over a hot chocolate as she joined her on the bench. “I figured we couldn’t go wrong with some hot cocoa.”
Fall and winter was mild here, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t cool. While it wasn’t cold, hot cocoa was a nice touch for walking around campus. “We can never go wrong with hot cocoa.” she agreed with a grin. “Thank you. This is perfect.” plus it didn’t hurt to have the heat source cupped in her hands.
Maybe it was the season, or just Vallo in general being a picturesque type place, but the campus seemed lovely. The architecture, the layout. Roz could see the appeal. “So, where first?” she asked cheerfully, looking around them. The campus seemed spread out, which would normally be an issue if it wasn’t for the waypoints, so that was good. “And thanks for doing this. They have pretty regular campus tours that I could have signed up for but I’m sure those are pretty scripted.”
There were plenty of things she wanted to see. The library, the student union building, the political science buildings, and the buildings Sabrina had classes too out of pure curiosity, but there were probably things she wasn’t considering that would end up being important to a university student.
“They pretty much show you the basics only with those tours,” Sabrina agreed as she nodded for the two of them to start walking. “The campus’ main buildings are spread out over about a five block radius here with a few of them scattered a little further out. You can access all of them by the Waypoints or public transportation.” Or Sabrina supposed that driving a car would work too but she hadn’t bothered with that in the city yet. It seemed like it would be a bit of a nightmare to try and navigate.
“Your first year classes will probably be in this area if you’re doing your basic core without a major in mind, but if you already think you know your focus you can choose classes that are more tailored to your major.” That’s what Sabrina had ended up doing, knowing she wanted to pursue an acting degree there. Not at all what she had been headed toward back home, but a lot of things hadn’t exactly gone to plan back in Greendale.
She’d led them toward the political science building, well aware of her friend’s penchant for getting involved in various social issues. “You can sign up for debates and things here too. Plus there’s different organizations that take part in some of the protests that happen downtown about a whole lot of different things. And a program for helping out local kids who don’t have a support network, with tutoring and lots of other things.”
It seemed silly to take public transport when you had the Waypoint system, when waypoints were faster and more environmentally friendly. But logically she knew magic wasn’t for everyone. There was a point in time she had wanted nothing to do with it herself, afterall. “I didn’t realize it was that spread out.” Roz admitted, five blocks was big. But really any university in a city was probably going to feel big. She had grown up in Greendale, after all.
“I think I’m applying for poli sci.” she said, though she didn’t sound totally confident in her answer. This whole ‘figure out what you want to for the rest of your life as a teenager’ thing was insane. It was too bad this reality hadn’t managed to fix that aspect of society. “At least I can switch majors if it’s not right for me.” She knew an older version of her had been here as a lawyer, she had vague knowledge of that. But who knew if that was the choice she’d end up making.
Signing up for organizations. Yep, Sabrina knew Roz well. The options at Baxter high had been abysmal. Geliara was better, but she suspected that university would be even better. “Clubs, organizations, I’m definitely looking forward to those options.” She made a mental note to do some further research on options for campus organizations to join. “How are your classes going?”
“Plus you kind of have centuries to live if you decide to start out with one thing and change it during another lifetime,” Sabrina pointed out as they kept walking, mentioning other buildings here and there. It was supposed to be one of the good things about being a witch--all those years of possibilities laid out at their feet. They really could be or do anything with them. Especially in a place like Vallo where the world wasn’t always ending.
“But my classes are going well and this first round is almost over. I’ve only got one traditional final for my history class. Everything else is performance based and cumulative because of the kind of class it is.” Which Sabrina was finding to be a lot of fun. The classes where she got to perform and be creative were her favorites. “Plus I get credit for performing in Heathers in December and all of the rehearsals leading up to it.”
“How’s school going? Margeaux behaving?” Sabrina doubted it, but maybe the Vorerra girl had cooled down.
The whole centuries thing was still a weird thought, especially now that it had been confirmed. “True.” she said, with a slightly frown. “Guess that whole thing still hasn’t really sunk in.” It sounded kind of exhausting, the idea that people she met and loved would age at such a slower rate than her. She had no idea how Sabrina would have dealt with that if Roz and the others hadn’t figured out she was a witch.
“Okay, one traditional final sounds kind of amazing.” Roz was fairly confident she was signing up for a whole lot of very traditional finals in her future. Performance and cumulative sounded like an amazing way to approach a class. Part of her did miss performance, theatre classes, cheerleading, etc. But she also really did love the path she was currently on.
At the mention of Margeaux, Roz just rolled her eyes and took a sip of hot chocolate before she said anything too rude. “Typical high school mean girl, you know? She hasn’t sweetened her disposition but I’m not really expecting her to. Snide comments, trying to throw her weight around on derail school council plans. Always annoying but nothing unexpected.” Roz was telling herself it was good practice for law school. Somehow.
Being raised by her aunties and Ambrose had helped Sabrina have a little perspective on witch aging. A lot of it was still foreign to her, but she’d grown up not seeing any of them age and knowing how old they all were. It hadn’t made much sense when she was little, but it was a lot easier to grasp hold of now. Though she wasn’t too sure how it would be for her with her celestial side. She could die, but would she end up aging at all with her celestial blood? She wasn’t too sure about that. But that was a path to cross centuries from now and not something she was going to focus on.
She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that the Vorerra girl was acting that way. It seemed pretty on par with the rest of her age group from that coven. “Good thing you and Asher usually see eye to eye.” And hopefully the Vorerra influence would continue to dwindle in Geliara. Though Sabrina wasn’t about to hold her breath for that. Not with Roz graduating this year.
Which speaking of covens. “Beketh asked me to join them again and I think I might do it this time.”
The Vorerra Coven at Geliara had their own little clique, just like last year. She didn’t think that would ever actually go away if that school continued to be the best one around. But that didn’t mean they would automatically control the school. “That does help, yeah. Her influences are minimal, but she’s smart.” She wasn’t going to do anything too stupid or extreme, Roz was sure everything that came out of her mouth was calculated.
Whatever direction she thought the topics of covens was going to go, that certainly wasn’t what she expected to hear. It wasn’t her choice of covens, Roz knew Sabrina liked Beketh. But she hadn’t expected Sabrina to join. Not after everything from home.
"But, to be fair, nothing was like it was at home. Thankfully.
“Really?” She asked, surprised, but there was nothing negative about it. “When?” she asked, then followed up. “I mean when did they ask and when will you join?”
“They asked at the beginning of November and I told them I’d let them know soon. But I wanted to talk to Bonnie and Nick about it. Which led to me talking to some of my other friends who are in the coven and not in that coven. Plus I needed to talk to my dad about some things in regards to them and Hell.” All of the conversations had gone in various ways, though none of them had painted the coven in a bad light. There had been concerns sprinkled in here and there that she was going to keep an eye out for but Sabrina was a lot more confident about her decision now.
“I need to let Morgaine know that I’m a yes now and then I’ll go from there basically. Arwen says there’s an initiation ceremony for anyone joining--like even she did that and her family has been Beketh for centuries. But like you don’t have to be in the coven just because your family is, so that was good to learn.” It wasn’t like back home where she was supposed to be a member of the Church of Night because her father had been.
“I just want to see what it's like to have that support network, to be part of a group of witches who work together and care for one another, and aren’t beholden to any deity.” Or led by a warlock who hated her and wanted her dead. It was the little things that interested her the most.
The idea of people working in and around Sabrina’s hell made her a bit queasy. That wasn’t the fault of Beketh, and more to do with the absolute shitstorm that had come with hell in their world. There were so many souls that did not deserve to be there, because there was no way that Theo’s uncle had been the only one. Those souls deserved to get out, and Roz knew Sabrina would never grant just anyone access to them. She trusted in Sabrina’s decisions, they weren’t her own decisions to make, but the whole idea was weird to think about.
Roz was largely unfamiliar with the inner workings of covens. She’d basically been conscripted into the Order of Hecate when the universe was in danger of being destroyed. Most of her involvement had been keeping watch in the Observatory with the Weird Sisters, and then tracking down Sabrina after she had left to keep people safe. Her inclusions in spells had all taken place before she had known she was a witch, and had all been as needed in emergency situations. Her involvement with the Weird Sisters had been a fluke. If Dorcas had managed to come back, Roz had no doubt she would have been kicked to the curb.
All in all she hadn’t really experienced anything positive, but she also knew their situation had been extreme. Covens here weren’t like that, her guard was still up in general. “That would be a nice change.” She said carefully with a nod. Sabrina’s negative experience with Covens stretched back so much further than Roz’s did, but she could understand the appeal of a coven that actually functioned properly. The idea of joining Prigany had come up before, but she didn’t think she was ready for something like that. Vorerra was out the moment her classmates had started to size her up.
“Will you be told what the ceremony is, or is that one of their secrets?” She knew Beketh was one of the more extremely private covens, so it was probably one of their guarded secrets, but she wondered if new recruits would get a heads up.
Sabrina shook her head. “No, that’s something you only find out if you actually join.” Which made sense to her and she didn’t really think it was anything awful. Not when people could walk away from the coven if they wanted to at any point. She wanted to trust her instincts that she wasn’t being manipulated this time around. It was difficult considering how often she’d been manipulated by Lilith, Blackwood, and Lucifer back in her world.
But Vallo wasn’t their world and no one was trying to lead her down a dark path in this one. Or at least she hoped they weren’t. And if they were, well, she’d deal with that then. She had enough people in her corner to help her if that was actually the case.
“I’m hoping it doesn’t blow up in my face, but I’ve been here nearly two years and haven’t seen anything shady from them.” Sabrina liked to think something would have cropped up by then if Beketh wasn’t who they seemed to be. Vorerra had shown their true colors more than once already.
“I don’t think most of the covens are like the ones from home.” Roz said with a shrug, eyes drifting off to watch a group of students throwing a frisbee back and forth on a large patch of grass on the campus. “Maybe it has something to do with covens being integrated into regular society. Less overall secrecy and room to do whatever they want?” That was just a theory though, who knew. If covens, humans, and other species were all integrated together, then there was less room for things like...murder, sacrifice, cannabilism, and so on.
Roz shrugged, it was just one theory. “It probably doesn’t hurt that there’s no celestial trying to force you to rule anywhere too.” she added with a half smile. “I’m all for the chill versions of celestials.” Mostly people were chill, at least.
“You’ll be fine, Brina. I think you’re right. A coven that’s actually supportive would be a welcome change of pace.”
“Not having to swear their souls to the Dark Lord is also probably a big part of it.” Sabrina really thought that should have been a giant red flag for the whole thing, but it’d been so ingrained in the covens of their world that it just wasn’t. But Roz was right, also the celestials being pretty chill in Vallo was a big help. Sometimes she wondered what it would have been like to have this Lucifer as her father all along instead of the one she’d gotten, but that was a thought train to go down some other time.
“Anyway, we should probably keep going on this tour and see the most important part now,” Sabrina suggested, ready to move away from the topic of covens. “Which is all of the food options that are at your fingertips. You can do the student union if you want but the stuff there is pretty bland and right across from the street are tons of amazing options.”
Like the food trucks that were parked across the way that Sabrina pointed out. “The donut one is a big hit for anything early in the morning.”
Not having to swear your soul to anyone was an instant draw coming from their world. Swearing not to speak about inner coven rituals was much easier to agree with.
Donuts for breakfast. That sounded both delicious, and a terrible idea. “They say first year university students often gain a lot of weight in their first year. Donuts for breakfast is probably one of the reasons why.” Not that she was entirely opposed to the idea when you were in a rush.
“I think I should check now to make sure it's worth it.” she suggested, eyeing the food trucks Sabrina was talking about. “Just to be really sure. And which one has the best coffee?” That was also going to be an important one if she ended up coming here.
“That’s one of the reasons I run with the hounds every morning.” Also so they wouldn’t try to sleep at her and Nick’s apartment. As long as they got their daily dose of interaction they seemed to be content to stay in Pandemonium and the Forest of Torment.
“Chitty Chitty Bean Bean is a big fave,” Sabrina nodded toward that particular truck. It had a long line coming from it. “I usually pick something up on the way to school though since I pass so many coffee places on my walk here.” Plus it gave her a chance to try out different shops in the city.
She might have to increase her forest walks with Phoebe, or maybe turn them into runs. Or pick up any kind of physical activity again. That was a problem for future Roz, but the tips were one to lock away no matter what school she ended up in.
“Come on, donuts on me and then I want to see where your classes are.”