Author's Babbling: A completely random idea I had. I don't often write AU's, but I did one recently for another series and I had fun writing it. And, since I'm in graduate school after a major career change, experiencing university again as a slightly older student, I wanted to really play with some ideas and stuff I notice around me.

Note #1: Football in this story means American Football, not soccer. Also...author is not particularly a sports fan, so there may well be mistakes with sports scenes. Also the math. I'm not a math person, either.

Note #2: I am open to different title ideas. I honestly didn't know what to title this. Semi-Charmed Life was another idea I had, because I was a 90's teen and let's face it, I blared that song on the radio more times than I could count. I think my current title is cliché.

Note #3: This story is NOT complete and I have no bloody clue where I'm going with it. As of September 2018, I had 2.5 chapters written. Who knows if I will finish this or come up with an actual plot line. What you see is what you get. No promises. I have a thesis waiting in the wings to be written too, and that's a teensy bit more important. My Muse mocks me.

Disblaimer: I obviously don't own The Slayers. M stands for masterb- uh, mature. Mostly for excessive language and possibly sexual themes, because I am notorious for playing about in the gutter. It's a fun little place. Also, flames are ignored and marshmallows are gleefully roasted over them.

Pairings: Canon (Lina/Gourry, Zelgadis/Amelia, Xelloss/Filia)

Slayers CC: College Confidential

Lina Inverse stormed across the quad, readjusting the satchel of books on her shoulder as she ignored a gaggle of chattering Freshman girls. Instead of walking around them, she simply plowed directly through them, earning a few nasty yelps, a couple of ugly remarks, and some pretty foul language, all of which she also ignored. She was nearly late for her appointment with her advisor, Professor Rezo, and she had no time for measly Freshmen who were only interested in whether or not they'd be getting laid this weekend, and to hell with studying.

She had no idea why the man wished to see her — term had only just started two weeks prior and the intimidating mathematics professor surely had bigger fish to fry; after all, he typically had to sort through all the new students that had declared mathematics their major. Lina had been cleared to study practically whatever she wished under the mathematics curriculum two years previously, so long as she met the requirements to earn the major. She was one of Rezo's favorite students because she was so brilliant, and he generally left her to her own devices. Besides, she had other things to do today — specifically nipping into the library for a bit of research for her psychology class, followed by a grueling evening hockey practice. To top it off, she'd gone and slept late.

Well, if push came to shove, she could pass the psychology class with minimal research. It wasn't her major, even if it was a required course for graduation. She wondered, briefly, why she hadn't taken the class back in her Freshman year. Was it because she had been so desperate to take calculus courses instead? Something like that.

Psychology aside, she couldn't skip hockey practice; hockey was her primary scholarship, and she needed to keep it.

On the other hand, it wasn't as if any of it really even mattered. It didn't matter that she had graduated high school two years early, that she was a college senior at the age of twenty, that she was the best female hockey player in the region, or that she was going to graduate Magna Cum Laude in May. It didn't matter because her perfect, older sister had graduated from a French culinary school at the age of twenty-one and landed a coveted spot as a sous chef at a five star restaurant, because Luna was just that bloody amazing.

What did matter was that at the age of of sixteen, Lina had posted a video on YouTube showing said buxom older sister taking a shower, earning the wrath of said older sister and their parents, which was probably why Lina chosen an out-of-state university — all the way up in the north midwest, despite the cold weather and lake-effect snow. Her sister could keep sunny Los Angeles and her parents could keep their relaxing ranch in southern Colorado. Lina would have moved halfway across the world if she'd had the chance; as it was, the hockey scholarship won out over going overseas. Hitting people on the ice was a great way to let off steam, after all. And Cambridge was a bit too stuffy for her liking.

As for the YouTube video… Well, at over six million hits, the thing had gone viral, which she considered a mild success, and she had cashed in on the situation by asking for donations for future videos. Her sister should be proud of her double-D chest, Lina thought bitterly, as she glanced disdainfully down at her own chest — a modest (read: ridiculously small) size almost-B. Of course, Lina had been forced to delete her YouTube accounts shortly afterwards, to avoid legalities of "stealing" money when she wasn't able to post any additional videos of her sister. Because Luna sure as hell wasn't going to let her pull it off a second time.

Blast Luna. Perfect, bloody Luna with her perfect, bloody chest and perfect, bloody career and her perfect, bloody popular friends and their parents' perfect, bloody admiration.

Lina's stomping echoed up the stairs to the third floor of the mathematics hall, and she had to take a deep breath to calm her irritation before she knocked politely on her professor's office door. Meeting Rezo while she was angry was never a good idea; she'd learned that back when she was a Freshman.

He immediately bade her to enter, but when she did so, it was to some surprise.

The Mathematics head was sitting behind his desk and he had just closed a student's file, but in front of the desk stood one of the tallest guys Lina had ever seen — at least two heads taller than she was. She was short though, and the office was cramped, so perhaps outside in the open he might not look quite so tall. Regardless, he looked awkward and confused, shuffling his feet and shifting a couple of books under one arm. Must be a jock, she thought with annoyance. Though she had no idea what sport he played with that long blonde hair. It almost looked weird on him, tied back at the nape of his neck with a leather band. It almost made him look girly…except for all those bulging biceps and triceps and pectorals. Was he a male cheerleader or something? That thought was a bit disturbing.

Then she suddenly realized she was staring at him, and she quickly shifted her eyes to the desk in front of them. The jock hadn't seemed to notice her at all, even when she had entered the office. Typical. Men never seemed to notice her. In fact, his own eyes were diverted towards the other side of the room, as though he didn't really want to look at her at all.

Professor Rezo coughed slightly and Lina snapped her gaze to him.

"Miss… Inverse," he began - in that slow, measured, quiet voice that so many students found horribly intimidating. "Thank you for coming on such short notice. This young man is Mr. Gabriev. He is here on a football scholarship. It is imperative that he keep it, for as I understand it, he is the team's star quarterback this season."

Lina's felt her eye twitch. Football? Oh, balls. She didn't attend football games herself, usually because she was too busy. But there was also the fact that she simply didn't give a flying rat's arse about the sport (hockey was infinitely better than football… anyone with brains knew that). And God knew that Rezo never went to sporting events. Rather, he usually disliked jocks of any kind, and more than once he'd even curtly remarked to Lina that she should give up hockey and focus entirely on calculus instead — to hell with the fact that hockey was her major source of funding for college.

Rezo either didn't notice her twitch, or perhaps just decided to ignore it. Instead, he continued, "Mr. Gabriev is in my basic algebra class, which is a required core course for graduation. He's put it off until junior year, and he is having some difficulties with the subject. As a fellow sports scholarship recipient, I trust you would be willing to tutor Mr. Gabriev on the coursework to assist him in passing the class?"

Oh, lovely. Rezo's eyebrows had quirked upward — a sure sign that she had absolutely no choice in the matter. As one of his star mathematics students, this wasn't the first time she had been asked to assist a dim-witted moron. Though she did wonder why he hadn't asked Zel instead; normally, she got the girls who couldn't pass algebra and Zel got the guys.

"Of course, sir," she answered in a clipped, polite voice, knowing that it was fruitless to give any other answer. Rezo might be one of her favorite professors, but for crying out loud! She certainly didn't want to waste any of her time on the idiot who was currently taking up half the office with his hulking bulk! He didn't look like he could walk down the stairs without tripping, let alone understand fractions.

Ah, yes. And that was probably why Rezo hadn't asked Zel to help this guy. Lina tended to take her time with the students who needed her help, even if they aggravated her. Zel, on the other hand, had the patience of a bull that had just been prodded in the ass with a branding iron and was trapped inside a china shop.

God, sometimes she really hated that she'd grown up on a ranch. The animal metaphors never seemed to leave her.

"Excellent," Rezo said, his voice indicating finality. "Mr. Gabriev, Miss Inverse is one of the most brilliant pupils I have ever had the pleasure to teach. I am sure she will be able to assist you in passing the course without too much difficulty. If any issues arise, I trust you will both make an appointment to see me." He handed Lina a piece of paper — the syllabus for the basic algebra class. It didn't appear to have changed since the last time she saw it, last semester, when she'd helped another student. "The next test, as you can see, is in two weeks. I except Mr. Gabriev to make at least a C-minus and improve from there. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Lina sighed.

Beside her, her new pupil said nothing. He merely stared dolefully at his shoelaces.

"In that case, you are both excused." Rezo glanced at the clock on his wall. "I have an advanced trigonometry class at ten o'clock."

The football player allowed Lina to exit the room first, and then followed her down the hall; behind them, she heard Rezo lock his office door and head in the opposite direction. She put on a stern expression and turned to face the jock, ready to remind him that he would have to pull his weight in this endeavor. But before she could speak, he was already stammering.

"Look," he blurted, his face pink from embarrassment, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your semester."

"You haven't ruin my semester," she answered testily. "Yet."

"I just don't get math," he continued hopelessly, as though he hadn't heard her. "But did I hear him say that you, uh… That you had a sports scholarship too?"

"Yeah. I play hockey."

He blinked. "You play hockey?"

"Don't sound so shocked." She knew exactly what guys like him thought of her: a short, red-headed girl who didn't look old enough to be a freshman, let alone a senior. A girl with a small chest who wasn't worth their time. She wasn't pretty or sexy enough to ask out on a date. Hell, she was practically invisible on campus. Once or twice she'd heard someone peripherally comment under their breath that she was the girl who played hockey like a crazy demon, the one who always got shoved in the penalty box, the one who had received more time outs than the rest of the team combined. When she heard those comments, she had to grit her teeth, count to ten, and keep walking; otherwise, she would turn around and cold-cock whoever had made the remark. Hockey was all about strategy and tactics, and sometimes that meant deliberate penalties.

The jock before her turned brick red. "S-sorry," he stammered, looking back at his shoelaces. The worn strings must have been oddly interesting to him for some reason, she thought with irritation. He went on, "I didn't mean… I meant… Well, I'm the stupidest dude in the class! I'm barely keeping my scholarship and now I have to get help from a short-tempered hockey player with a flat chest! Just my bad luck, I guess."

Lina felt her blood pressure sky rocket. She reached out, grabbed his heavy algebra book from his hands, and whacked him hard with it a few times, regardless of whether he felt it or not. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" she snarled, ignoring his yell as she shoving the book into his stomach. "If you don't want my help, you can just say so, and I'll go back to Rezo right now and tell him the deal's off!"

She had just started to push him out of the way when he grabbed her arm.

"Wait! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to say that!" His face was still bright red. "I just… gah! I just get nervous around girls and all! I'm really dumb! It'd probably be better if I just failed the stupid class! It's not like my family would care or not, and football's a lot of pressure!"

That made her stop.

Most of the time, it was easy to forget that there were other people who shared similar problems to hers; others who had a perfect sibling who always stole the spotlight, or others who just didn't get enough attention at home. What pushed Lina to do her best was dwelling in self-pity without letting anyone know her real frustrations, and she tended to be brash, abrasive, cocky, and confident because of it. But deep down, she secretly knew that there were plenty of others who faced the same problems. And deep down, it bothered her that her family gushed over Luna so much.

"Why wouldn't your family care if you failed?" She scowled, because even her parents would comment if she failed a class. It might be a disappointed remark, of course… something about how Luna could pass the class blindfolded. But they would still notice.

He shrugged, though his eyes seemed to darken slightly. "Never mind. It's not important. Let's just say… My family and I… We aren't on the best of terms."

Lina had to bite back a groan. This was going to be next to impossible, but damn it all, she had promised Rezo. His cold disappointment would be hard to swallow if she failed. Regardless of what she thought of this stupid jock (and her opinion wasn't very high; the ass had called her flat-chested and short-tempered in the same sentence, so she rather doubted he would work his way into her good graces by the end of term), she had still agreed to tutor him.

"Look. Write your email down." She reached in her satchel and pulled out a scrap of paper. "I'll email you my schedule tonight and we can figure out what times we can meet. I'll have you understanding algebra in no time. Then you won't need my help, and you can go back to those buxom cheerleaders you'd rather be partying with."

He scribbled down his email with the mechanical pencil she'd handed him and gloomily said, "I doubt I'll get it. I hate math. I'm terrible at it."

"Hey, I haven't started yet," she reminded him angrily.

He handed the paper back without a smile.

She glanced at the sloppy handwriting. "Gourry?"

"Yeah. Gourry Gabriev. I, uh, didn't catch your name?"

"Lina Inverse."

He nodded slightly. "I'll wait for your email, I guess. I have to get to the computer lab and work on a paper for English lit right now. I'm only barely passing that class, too. See you."

"Sure. I'll send the email when I get back to my apartment tonight."

He nodded once more, then started trudging down the stairs.

She scowled after him, but she had more important things to do that morning, so she headed for the library instead of worrying about her newest tutoring pupil.

oOo

The whistle sounded sharp and shrill over the ice, and Lina skidded to a halt, spraying flecks up with her blades.

"Excellent practice!" Coach barked out, his voice ringing over the rink. "See everyone tomorrow, 7:00 p.m. sharp! Hit the showers!"

Lina sighed and rolled her shoulders and neck as her teammates began to skate past her to exit the rink. She waited for the others to get ahead, then pulled her helmet off and shook her sweaty hair out of her eyes. She had a million things to do when she got back to her flat, and more than anything, she wanted a hot shower and a long sleep. It had been a hell of a day, between cramming for psychology, dealing with Rezo's coolness, meeting her idiot new tutoring pupil, attending classes, and a grueling hockey practice to top it all off.

A grating laugh came from behind Lina, and she cringed.

She had been hoping to get through tonight's practice without talking to Gracia, but it seemed she wouldn't be so lucky. The older girl had latched onto her from the moment Lina had joined the team four years ago, and there was absolutely no shaking her, no matter how much Lina cussed at her or hit her. Every time they saw each other, Gracia just had to open her big mouth to try and piss Lina off.

In a whirl of ice, the taller girl slid around Lina, her smirk a little too knowing.

"You're out of sorts tonight," she teased, skating backwards. "You've been fouling and banging around like a freshman out here. Taking out your aggression on us is only going to piss off coach, you know. And the rest of the team."

Lina gritted her teeth and easily skated around Gracia. "Fuck off, Naga," she complained, using the older girl's team nickname. Gracia had a way of slithering over the ice with the puck that made her almost snakelike (or dragon-like, in Gracia's personal opinion) - hence the nickname.

"Oh-hoho, it's like that is it? Must be man trouble."

For all that was good and holy, how could Gracia be so bloody accurate and yet so damned annoying? She had a grating voice that would make armies fall to their knees in surrender, if she would only shut the hell up! But sometimes she was dead right about stuff, and Lina loathed to admit it. (And she would never admit it to Gracia's face; otherwise, Gracia's ego would become far too much to deal with).

"What makes you say that?" she asked evasively.

"Woman's intuition," Gracia responded loftily, shifting to skate beside Lina to the rink's exit. She grabbed her blade covers from the bench just off the ice and clicked them on more gracefully than usual; at least she didn't fall over like she normally did. She might be murder on the ice, but Gracia could barely walk to save her life.

Lina slipped on her own blade covers. "Fine. Professor Rezo has yet another shmuck for me to tutor. This one's a real loser. As if I didn't have enough to deal with this semester."

"So what's he like? Your new pupil, I mean."

"You automatically assume it's a guy, huh?"

"Woman's intuition, remember?"

Too tired and moody to argue with Gracia, Lina muttered, "He's a football player."

"Ooooh. Really? Which one?" Gracia looked far too interested.

"I don't know! I don't go to football games! I think he's the quarterback or something."

"The one with long blonde hair? Oh, hell, he's built like a brick shit-"

Lina cut her off before she could get going on how hot she obviously thought this guy was. "Knock if off!" she snapped, pushing Gracia into the wall of the corridor that led to the locker rooms. "He's the biggest idiot I've ever met in my life! I'd be surprised if he could walk down the stairs without tripping, let alone run the ball 10 yards!"

"Actually, he's a damned good player," Gracia reasoned, waxing serious for a moment, even though her eyes were still twinkling mischievously. "Regardless of how stupid he is in class, he has this kick-ass way of plowing through the defensive line. As if they made of were styrofoam."

"Oooh, we must be talking about Gabriev."

A new voice — and one Lina disliked just as much as Gracia's — joined the conversation just as the two girls stepped into the locker rooms. With her dyed blue-green hair the color of the Caribbean ocean, Martina Zoana grinned from one of the benches. She was half-dressed and looked wickedly delighted that the discussion was about boys instead of their hard practice, which was what the rest of the team were complaining about around them. Martina played hockey and tennis, though she was better at tennis than hockey. Lina sometimes wondered why she stayed on the hockey team at all, except that Martina liked to knock people around almost as much as Lina did.

"Apparently," Lina responded dryly, lumbering to her locker and sitting with her back to the others. As she bent to unlace her skates, she only vaguely heard Gracia telling Martina about Lina's new tutoring gig, and Martina gushing about how handsome Gabriev was. Lina took that with a grain of salt. Martina would flirt with anything male that moved - and did, for that matter. Rumor had it she was sneaking about with two professors (one old enough to be her father), as well as four college boys on campus, including some guy named Zangulus, who was apparently a member of the fencing team. Lina still didn't understand why the school even had a fencing team.

Distantly, she heard Gracia say, "Well, I'm going to hit the showers. Lina, tell little sis I said hello!"

Lina nodded and pulled off her jersey and pads. In a bizarre twist of fate, her roommate was none other than Gracia's younger sister, who was almost as irritating as Gracia…though not quite. Amelia was a Sophomore poli-sci major. She didn't play any sports whatsoever, although Lina had it on good authority that the girl had been trained in a weird style of martial arts since she'd been a child. Few people knew it, but the two sisters were actually the daughters of a foreign ambassador, and he was hoping the younger would take his place one day. Gracia had flatly refused to enter politics (though really, anyone who knew Gracia would be appalled at the idea of her being a political ambassador). Lina only knew the truth about the sisters because she had to be cleared by national security before Amelia could become her roommate. She still wasn't certain how that had happened, and sometimes, it was best to not ask questions.

oOo

An hour later, after a hot shower and a trek across campus to her apartment, Lina staggered through the door and wasn't at all surprised to find Amelia studiously working on a paper. Several cartons of Chinese take-out were sitting on the counter of their tiny, shared apartment kitchen.

Amelia glanced up, smiled, and said cheerfully, "I thought you'd be hungry after practice, so I ordered out."

"I'm starved," Lina groaned wearily. She dropped her heavy duffel bag and her school satchel to the floor (which earned an annoyed grimace from Amelia, who preferred things in their proper places) and grabbed the take-out. She was shoveling it in her face before she even made it to the couch.

Amelia started typing on her paper again. "You look grouchier than usual," she commented dryly.

"Professor Rezo is forcing me to tutor another student this term."

The words tumbled out of her mouth even while she was still stuffing it with rice. Amelia's thought process was entirely different from Gracia's, and Lina didn't mind confessing realities to her. Amelia was expected to analyze situations in a rational manner, given that she was being groomed for a specific role after she graduated. Gracia never thought rationally about anything.

Amelia turned in her chair and cocked her head to the side. "So? He usually has you tutoring at least one student per semester, doesn't he?"

"Yeah but…" Lina paused, then plowed on. "This one is a guy."

Amelia's eyebrow quirked upwards. "I thought Zelgadis normally tutored the guys in math."

"I can only assume that Rezo didn't give Zel this guy, because this guy," Lina emphasized, "is a complete idiot."

"Have you told Zelgadis yet?"

"I haven't seen him today."

"Oh. Well, he'll probably be glad it's you, and not him." Amelia turned back to her paper, but after a second, she glanced back at Lina. "So… what's he like?"

"Zel? Oh, you know how your boyfriend is," Lina said sarcastically. "Dark and moody and very likely pissed off about something or other. Probably mad at the library for moving the medieval history texts to make more room for more philosophical rhetoric. Or else he's plotting the demise of world civilization as we know it, which wouldn't surprise me either."

Amelia's tone became clipped. "Xelloss is the one who plots the demise of world civilization as we know it. And you know very well that I meant your new tutoring student, not Zel. Or Xel."

Lina sighed and fished a shrimp out with her chopsticks. "He's a big, blonde, stupid jock. His hair is longer than mine. It's more than a little disturbing."

"Gourry Gabriev?"

Lina actually twitched at the fact that Amelia knew his name, and said it with such… interest. Sourly, she said, "Don't let Zel here you say it like that. And how the hell do you even know who he is?"

"Everyone knows who he is," Amelia answered, more reasonably than Lina expected. "He's the star of the football team."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't get fractions. Or that x plus y equals n minus 4."

"Not everyone is a mathematical genius like you and Zelgadis, Lina. …So, what is Gourry's best subject?"

"Hell if I know!"

"Well, maybe you should ask him," she said thoughtfully. "It might help. I mean, if you can find a core connection between whatever his favorite subject is, and algebra, he might be able to learn easier."

"I highly doubt that."

"It's worth a try."

Lina stood up and carried the empty cartons back to the trash. "Well, I need to email him my schedule so that we can meet and start this ridiculous little venture."

"…or you could pawn him off on Zel."

"Ha! As if! Then Rezo would be disappointed because I didn't hold up my end of the bargain, and good grief, I'd owe Zel. I have absolutely no desire to be at the mercy of Zel for a favor."

She pretended to ignore Amelia's little smirk as she made her way to her own desk and sat down. Amelia knew damned well that Lina and Zel's relationship balanced precariously between tense irritation and a sadistic mutual partnership — based on their love of the same subject and their competitiveness to out-do the other. To top it off, Zel was also related to Professor Rezo, although he refused to tell anyone what the relation was. Only Lina and Amelia knew that Rezo was Zel's grandfather. If anyone saw the two of them together, they would never guess the truth; Rezo treated Zel with as much indifference as he treated everyone else, and Zel seemed to loathe the professor more than anyone else.

Forgetting about Zel (she'd see him tomorrow in class anyway), Lina opened her email and glanced quickly through the list.

From: Student Life
Subject: Upcoming Student Life Events in September

From: The Writing Center
Subject: Grammarpalooza! Come Learn New Words!

From: Greywers, Zelgadis
Subject: Are You Tutoring for Rezo This Semester?

From: Student Life
Subject: Campus News - August Edition

From: Student Life
Subject: Reminder - Fall Debate is Coming!

From: Dean Lon
Subject: President's Blog - Awesome Athletics!

From: Health Center
Subject: Health Clinics are Open!

From: Dr. R. P. Rezo
Subject: Tutoring Schedule

From: University Library
Subject: Library Book Request - Ready for Pick-Up

From: Dr. Eris Vrumugun
Subject: Advanced Calculus Practicum on Wed.

From: Writing Center
Subject: Free Writing Workshops!

From: Copt, Filia
Subject: Psychology Study Group Monday Night? =)

From: Student Life
Subject: Tutor Appreciation Week!

From: Campus Police
Subject: Emergency Situations and Procedures

From: Taforashia, Posel
Subject: Hey Flatty, when are we getting pizza?

From: Student Life
Subject: Cancer Awareness Walk

She sighed. Stupid Student Life Center, junking up her email as usual. She quickly deleted those out, as well as the Writing Center, Health Center, and Campus Police emails — she didn't need those, either. That cleaned up the list a bit.

She opened the one from Zelgadis first.

Is it true? Are you seriously tutoring a football player this semester?

Jackass, she thought irritably, and closed it. She could practically hear the delighted sarcasm. She'd answer that later, when she could formulate a better reply than go to hell.

The one from Dean Lon turned out to be a long email praising the various sports teams on campus, encouraging students to support athletics, and contained a slightly unnerving excitement about how everyone needed a healthy dose of competitiveness. Lina had never met Dean Lon (nor did she particularly want to). The faculty only spoke of her in hushed tones, and the only professor who had said anything about Dean Lon in Lina's actual presence was Dr. Milgasia, who worked in the science department. He had made the odd remark that Dean Lon was a powerful force to be reckoned with, but had refused to elaborate.

Rezo's email curtly requested a detailed tutoring schedule for Gourry Gabriev by the end of the week. Dr. Eris wanted to remind the students in Lina's Advanced Calculus Practicum to bring both of the course's textbooks to class on Wednesday. Filia, who was double majoring in Psychology and Early Childhood Education, had offered to put together a study group for Abnormal Psychology. Posel was an early-admitted genius Freshman this year, but he was interested in the Mathematics Program and the IT program. He had visited the school the previous winter and Lina had been assigned to escort him around campus due to his preferred major. His high school nickname was Pokota, for some unknown reason. Despite the fact that he was younger than she was, the two had hit it off and formed a weird friendship. He had promised to email her as soon as he was settled in the Freshman dormitories so they could meet up for pizza. But if he called her "Flatty" one more time, she would knock his fucking block off.

Lina sighed and glanced at her upcoming calendar. It was jam-packed already with hockey practices. She would see Zel the next day in Dr. Eris's Advanced Calculus Practicum. She couldn't email Rezo until she emailed Gourry, so she reluctantly put down her take-out, fished the scrap of paper with his email out of her bag, and opened a blank email.

To: Gabriev, Gourry
From: Inverse, Lina
Subject: Tutoring Schedule

This is your math tutor, Lina. I have Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons free from 1-3. I have Tuesday and Thursday mornings free from 8-10. I have Sundays free from 3-10. Let me know if any of these times fit your schedule. Once we have a set time for tutoring, I need to email the times to Rezo, per his request.

Lina

As soon as that was sent, she shot Filia an email to let her know she could meet for the psychology study group over lunch on Monday, Wednesday, or Fridays; then she shot Pokota an email to let him know they could meet next Tuesday for lunch.

Finally, with a heavy sigh, she dragged out her homework for the night - 50 pages of reading for this class, 20 problems to solve for that class… It was going to be a long night.

Or maybe just a long semester.

Additional Author's Notes: Like I said; this was just a random idea that flitted into my head and worked itself onto paper. I have no idea where it will go or if it will go anywhere. A reviewer on AO3 asked me to post it anyways and see where it took me, or if anyone had suggestions, so this is for tira_chan.

Special thanks to: My brother, also a Slayers fan, for his thoughts on the location of this story. I was torn between the UK and America. In my head, the UK version featured Lina as a tennis player (based on the NEXT episode in which she plays brassball against Martina), and Gourry as a Rugby player. My brother suggested I keep the story in America; he felt hockey suited Lina better because of her violent nature, and thought Gourry made a good American football player. I thought about setting it in Florida instead of the Northeast; in that scenario, Lina could still be a tennis player and I could put Naga into a ridiculous tennis outfit, but ultimately the original idea won out.

Random Thoughts: Dean Lon is the Lord of Nightmares, obviously. I thought that the most powerful person in the Slayers universe should be the ruler over this very fictional university. On that note, the university and specific location are unnamed other than "north Midwest", so use your own imagination. I don't live in the north OR the midwest, and I'm not familiar with universities there outside of the major state schools. It didn't make sense for me to set the story in the Southeast or Southwest, where hockey isn't a major sport. The point is, I did not intentionally base this school off of any real school. It is entirely fictional.

Some portions of this chapter came from my own life experiences. For instance, I knew a girl who entered college at the age of 16. Lina certainly learned magic quickly in the series, before she was 14 years old, so it made sense to me. Also, the emails Lina sifts through were real college emails from when I earned my third BA (2015-2017). I'm still twitching at the idea that a Student Life Center hosted a "Grammarpalooza". I can't make this stuff up, people. Seriously.