When he finally arrived on campus, the thing that excited Link the most was the chance to stretch his legs. Five hours of driving was way too much, especially with only one brief stop to use the restroom and nothing but his Astronomical Astrology audiobook for company. It had been a gift a few years before from his sister—a notorious nerd—in response to his complaints about how inaccurate his horoscopes were, and it talked about astronomical sun signs and the actual positions of the stars which are different from how they are interpreted by most astrologers. It was an interesting read, and his horoscopes had gotten much better since he started incorporating actual astronomy into them, of course they were still horoscopes, and therefore pretty much meaningless, but he had fun with them.
He stepped out of his car, rolled his shoulders, stretched his arms. He didn't get the chance to do anything more before an overly cheery upperclassmen with a clipboard came up to him to give him the welcoming packet and the rundown of campus rules and that sort of thing. Nodding along as she spoke, he figured it was best to just waited out, and when she finally finished talking and asked if he had any questions, he asked her to point him in the direction of his dorm, and she did so with a bright smile which he knew was absolutely fake.
It was a conscious choice not to be offended by her stiff posture and the fact that she kept fiddling with the whistle that hung around her neck. Her aura was mostly pink, caring and friendly, but the layer of green around her head and heart betrayed a nervousness she did her best to hide. Link smiled politely, thanked her, and got back in his car to go to the dorms.
The place where Link would be living for the foreseeable future was student housing unit 3, a block from campus: four high-rise halls, a central courtyard, an a commons building which had a cafeteria, student lounge, and academic services. Across the street was Beverly Cleary Hall, which the woman who welcomed him seemed to think was important for some reason, but he wasn't paying enough attention by that point to know why.
He checked in at the commons building and got his room key. He was in a double room on a co-ed floor, and his roommate was a guy named Michael Yun. As soon as Link entered the central courtyard, he could see that the welcome party was well underway. The music was loud, and the excitement in the air was palpable.
Unpacking could wait until tomorrow. Tonight, he would acquaint himself with some of his dorm-mates.
The first people he approached were hanging out as a group at a metal picnic table, all with warm-colored auras, oranges and yellows and one red-brown. It didn't take long to find out that two of them, Riley and Brett, were student dorm supervisors, but they would probably lose that position by the end of the week for throwing this big welcome party.
Apparently it was a new tradition in unit 3. For the past few years, a few of the student dorm supervisors would throw a massive, three-day welcome party right before classes started, then they would be stripped of their position for throwing that party and replaced by students who were more suited to the position. They even planned who would get booted and who would be the replacements ahead of time. This year, Riley and Brett were gonna be replaced by Katrina and Eduardo, who were also at the table, drinking beer out of cheap plastic cups and generally having a good time.
A senior had set up a makeshift bar and was mixing actual drinks, as opposed to just serving out cheap booze in red solo cups, and he was even mixing some without alcohol. His name was Lucien and his aura was an odd and even mix of enthusiastic orange and inquisitive blue, with sparks of lavender that indicated just a hint of pretentiousness. Apparently Lucien had originally come to college as a history major, but once he graduated he was going to Northern California to become a sommelier, which was a fancy word for wine expert that Link had never heard before.
When the sun set, the light show came out, with lasers and strobe lights and a general warning at dusk about photosensitive epilepsy, just in case. It couldn't be said that Brett and Riley didn't break the rules responsibly.
Under those bright, color-changing lights, it was harder to tell what colors the auras were, so when a girl named Molly challenged him to a ping-pong match, Link accepted. Had he been able to see the competitive streaks in her electric blue aura which exuded well-founded confidence, he might not have. She utterly obliterated him, 21 to 9, and it could hardly even be called a match.
The strongest aura he saw that night belonged to a girl named Callysta, who was so anxious the sickly green oozed right off of her and creeped into the people around her, but upon closer inspection, he saw buds of courage just waiting for the chance to bloom. She seemed grateful when he talked to her for a while. It turned out that Callysta was a visual arts major, and she pulled up one of her sleeves to show him a beautiful impressionist landscape she'd painted on her arm in the same style as Van Gogh.
Despite the contagiousness of her nervous disposition, Callysta was not the most notable person Link met on his first day at college. That title belonged to another person he met at the 'bar'. The man's aura was mostly yellow, like Lio's, but it was the dimmest Link had ever seen around someone over the age of five, to the point where Link almost thought the man didn't have an aura at first, and he couldn't figure out why. He didn't seem to be lacking in personality. He was cheerful, boisterous, funny, outgoing.
"Hello handsome," the man said when he saw Link.
"Name's Link, and you are?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not as drunk as you obviously think I am," the man responded indignantly, turning his nose up dramatically for a moment before looking back at Link with a smile. "I'm Sol. Can I buy you a drink? Plastic cup martini? Piña colada with no coconut because Lucien forgot to buy any?"
"I'd rather not be arrested. I'm only eighteen," Link declined.
"How about a cola then?" Sol offered, then turned to Lucien, the interim bartender, who was frowning at him for the piña colada comment. "A cola for the gentleman with the absolutely awesome dreads, seriously man. I always thought of dreadlocks as kinda grungy—I had this neighbor, he was a wannabe thug white guy with absolutely the grimiest dreadlocks you've ever seen—but those are tight, and they look so good on you, but considering how good looking you are, I imagine I'd say the same if your hair was a literal rat's nest. Those muscles genetic, or did you have to work at 'em? I bet you did sports in high school. Am I right?"
"Weight-lifting and Judo," Link said and he nodded his thanks when Lucien put a chilled can of Coke in front of him. "And thank you? I guess? For the compliment and the Coke."
"Of course, anything for a pretty fella," Sol said, smiling and putting a had to his cheek flirtatiously. "So where're ya from Link?"
"Riverton, about five hours south, near LA, but not so near that anybody's ever heard of it before, you?"
"LA, actually, and you're right, I've never heard of Riverton," he said thoughtfully. "Five hours away though, will you be making trips home often? I'll be honest, I never really planned on going to college, but it wasn't exactly my choice."
"Strict parents?"
"Or something."
They talked until almost eleven, and Link learned that Sol's family was originally Japanese, and that he was a scorpio, although he wouldn't tell Link his birthday. He was majoring in English "against his will" but he said there were worse things to do than read books and make up symbolism.
Link really enjoyed being around Sol, and they had a lot of fun partying together until it started to get really chilly outside (it wasn't even that cold, but to a couple of Southern California boys it was practically freezing). Then Sol invited Link back to his dorm for a little "fun".
"Is your roommate gonna be okay with that?" Link asked him skeptically.
"He's not here yet, probably won't show until tomorrow," Sol answered and he smiled slyly. "So, how about it big guy? Down for a little woohoo? Some vertical tango?"
"The euphemism is 'horizontal tango' Mr. Big-shot English Major." Link chuckled and shook his head at the floor, grinning. "You know what, sure, fuck it."
"Please do," Sol's smile widened and he led Link up to his dorm by the wrist.
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