postcards from grad school

September, October 2088. Justin Nova is 28, Calvin Banks is 21, Amy Jones is 22, Natalia Deppiesse is 23, Andre Sylvester is 23. Cynthia Kim is 52. Selena Sosa is 25. April Hutchins is 25, Beau Jackson is 24.

#1: welcome to grad school

Grad school is happening at Magnolia Graduate College. 

Leading our group is Dr. Heather Thompson, Dean of Students. She specializes in biology. (Hi, Ingrid’s mom!)

Our students this year: 

Andre, Calvin, and Steven are all working on their medical degrees. 

The others are non-medical graduate programs. Justin (architecture), Amy (nursing), and Natty, (teaching).

commencement

June 2088. Selena Sosa is 24, Andre Sylvester is 23, Luis Talbot is 24, Evie Bachman is 24, Odin Grant is 27, and Summer Phoenix is 23.

previously: Selena and Luis were so in love for many years… // but Andre is in love with Selena, too? // in the end, Selena and Luis can’t make it work // despite the initial rejection, Andre and Selena give it a shot

—

The graduation ceremony ended and everyone filed into the reception hall for drinks and congratulations. Selena joined everyone, standing nearby Andre and his parents like an afterthought.

Everyone congratulated him on his acceptance to med school and on his big move across the country which didn’t involve her for at least the next three years. No hard feelings, though. They all knew he’d go to med school next. They knew he planned to live in the dorm housing and bury himself in his studies. It wasn’t exactly a breakup, but the fact was that there was no room for her in his immediate future.

But, summer break! Yes, they still had summer break. Then maybe they would talk about the end of things. Or maybe they would try to make long-distance work. Or maybe they would just let the relationship fade and cut the cord over the phone on some random weekday night this fall when they both decided it wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.

Seven months was such a precarious length of time. Too little to make a big deal over, but long enough to feel its loss.

Gosh, he was going to be a doctor. Emergency room trauma. He was going to save lives. Surely that was more important than some college girlfriend. He was so good and so giving, and she felt so petty for feeling sorry for herself.

But all this talk of his bright and bountiful future was getting her down.

graduation 2088

June 2088. 

This evening is presented by April Harris, Education Minister. 

AH: “Welcome, friends, family, and esteemed graduates! Tonight we gather in San Catalina, California, to congratulate our graduating class of 2088! This year’s graduating class was brimming with talent, but one student inched out ahead with her dedication to service and community as Class President and National Merit Kindness Ambassador. Please enjoy a speech by this year’s valedictorian, Delphie Deppiesse, from Fort Palms High School.”

what you deserve (SNU & DAC, spring 2088)

Sierra Nova University and Dresden Arts College

Spring, 2088

*** warnings: abortion vs. pro-lifers


It was weird, Melissa now realized, how little she actually worried about the possibility of this happening. Melissa was a good girl, mostly. Daydreamy and whimsical, sure, but always headed in the right direction. She didn’t sleep around that much. She took her birth control pills. She asked her partners to wear condoms, too. And still?

It seemed wrong. It seemed unfair. It seemed like her pills had a manufacturing error or an incompatibility with some rogue herbal tea. It seemed like it should be absolutely anything but the biggest mistake of her life. 

Because, oops? Just like that? Oops, there went her plans. Like, oops, she dropped her phone in the toilet. That’s an oops. This was more than an oops. 

postcards from (probably not) your biggest mistake

November - December 2087.

#1: you're not my husband  

Aurora Harris met Clark Beech, as romantic as this sounds, when he stopped by to talk to her about her taxes. 

She wasn't aiming for a romance, of course. 

Joel has been gone for a little over two years now. Sometimes she still imagines herself waiting for him to come home from deployment, when in fact the war is long over and everyone has been home from even the furthest reaches for years. Two years for a grieving widow is not that much time, she reminds herself. But when Clark asked her out on a date, she felt compelled to give him a shot. As friends, to start. She’d like to go out with him as a very handsome friend. 

And, ugh, admitting that she found him so handsome made her feel like a cheating trollop. She would have to get used to that feeling eventually, unless she wanted to be alone for the rest of her years. At barely 42 years old, that could end up being a long time.  

3rd quarter grades and graduation, spring 2087

June 11, 2087. Congratulations to this year's graduates: Selena Sosa, Dallas Deppiesse, Liza Hathe, and Marcus Sylvester! 

* grades at the end

Tonight we gather at the theater hall of the Casbah Arts Center in San Myshuno, California to celebrate graduates from the nation's universities and high schools. Students and their families have traveled from near and far to commemorate this great occasion.

postcards from the winning team

November 2086.

#1: strong enough to put hair on your chest


Nathan Lind was in Catalina this month for business, so he popped in to visit his sister and the kids. After much begging and pleading, and pleading and begging, Aurora finally agreed to let him take Zach to the Humor & Hijinks convention. She had worried it was too late on a school night and too adult for a little boy.

"Can I have some?" Zach pointed toward a glowing purple fountain.

"I think this is juice," Nate said. "Pretty sure, but you never know. Hey, how old are you now? Ten?"

"Almost nine," Zach said.

"Close enough!"

rootbeer float

October 14, 2086. Aliyah Sylvester is 26. Raymond is 59, Deirdre is 56, Andre is 21, Marcus is 18. 


The next week, Aliyah was in Arizona with her family. Her youngest brother had just turned eighteen. Their dad said, "Old enough to drink like a man, at home at least." Then he poured a round for the five of them.

Aliyah stopped him before he got to hers. "Uh, Dad, think you could make mine a rootbeer float?"

Deirdre Sylvester was no fool. In fact, she was the smartest woman Aliyah would ever know. Deirdre glanced down at Aliyah's swollen belly with suspicion. "Those root beer floats are very decadent," she said, looking quite certain that belly wasn't just full of rootbeer and ice cream.

Andre

Andre David Sylvester

story tag
simblr tag

born: June 28, 2065 — Cancer

toddler trait: angelic
child aspiration: motor, achieved
aspiration 1: popularity, friend to the world
aspiration 2:
traits: outgoing, ambitious, family-oriented, good, compassionate, physically gifted, gregarious
MBTI:

religion:
politics:

loves:
hates:

education:
- Potomac Graduate College (Med School), currently attending
- Sierra Nova University, Class of 2088 (Biology, Pre-Med)
- Greenpeace, 2 years — medical and handiness skills

- Pacific District High School, class of 2084

career:

- student

career history:

- none

skilled at:

wanted to be when he was a child: a doctor

orientation: straight
IFS: 4

romance:

- Selena Sosa, dating since November 2087, fizzled out: October 2088
romantic history:

- none local

parents: Deirdre and Raymond Sylvester
siblings: Aliyah Sylvester, Marcus Sylvester
children:
grandchildren:
friendships:
enemies:

DNA: skin shade #23 // eyes, dark brown // hair, black // adult height, 5'11"
weight:
fitness:

health history:

legal history: