I’ve just been so sleepy the last few days, not sure why. Grief from losing Ellie, probably, along with coming down from the exhaustion of Clarion West teaching. I slept ten hours last night, and I could’ve slept more.
But I’m a few days behind on the Patreon story, and I owe a story to my local workshop today too, so I’ve taken Anand to his programming summer camp, and am now ensconced at Fairgrounds cafe, and have managed to spent an hour taking the previous University of All Worlds (aka UAW, aka “Wow”, aka The Dome, aka the Uni) stories and putting them together into one file — I’m not sure if they’ll come together into something book-like, but I think they might.
*****
I was starting to get confused with all the characters, so I drafted a cast list to help me keep them straight:
Cast of Characters (so far)
Undergrads:
• Selah-na-Sorayyah (Selah), human, of the ship Brightness Falling (aunt Natti-na-Sorayyah)
• Nam’kuko Kahale (Nami), human, local from Kriti (mother Jaya Kahale, brother Kwame Kahale)
• Joethe al Passat et Cairn clan Karid (Joe), human, of the planet Karid
• Tsinga, of the planet Thangel
• Surinder Chelliah, human, local from Kriti
• Jonathan Smith, human
Grad students:
• Manju (Dance Department)
Professors:
• Prof. Marwenn, of the planet Varna (but Earth-trained), Music Department
• Prof. Grant, human, of the planet Solvida, Dance Department
• Prof. Rishenthitharavenyi, of the planet Varis, Fine Art (Ceramics) Department
Staff:
• Etchnedy, Props and Wardrobe Master
Assault victim:
• Name unknown, of the planet Querna
Campus Security:
• Kris, human, local from Kriti
• Guarav
*****
And then I started a new story. Not very far into it yet, but still, writing. Writing anything is good. If I had any idea what happened next, that would be better….
*****
Surinder frowned at the mirror, dissatisfied as always with what he’d been able to put together on a starving student’s budget. Not that he could complain about his parents – they’d scrimped and saved on their miners’ salaries to let him go to the capital. UAW was free for locals, and basic food, clothing, and shelter was free to all on Kriti, but Surinder choosing university meant forgoing his income in the mines for four years.
There were six younger siblings to think about, so Surinder did what he could with the standard government-issue clothes, cutting and sewing into new patterns with just a little bit of flair. Maybe he could find someone willing to pay him a little for sewing skills, and then he could buy some embroidery thread, or even better, fabric dye. He was so tired of wearing student basic blue.
Still, he spun around, and the flare of his kameez flared just a little wider than you might expect. The newly-created fringe on his dupatta rippled with motion. He’d ‘borrowed’ some supplies from the theater department, so his cheeks and eyelids glinted, gold-dusted, and his short black hair was spiked up in a way he thought might be interesting.
If he’d been bolder, he’d have borrowed some costume supplies too, but Surinder had already learned that old Etchnedy, the Props & Wardrobe Master, had an eagle eye. Surinder had never seen an eagle, and now he wondered what their eyes looked like.
Focus – if he didn’t finish getting ready, he’d be late, and that’d all Nami needed to use for an excuse to bail out of the dance altogether. And Surinder wasn’t about to let that happen – he wanted to dance!
*****
I guess he goes to the dance next. 