After a couple of days settling in and sorting out a routine for the Summer's Cousin in the household, Eris had joined Buffy and her best friend Willow on a patrol/talk about college get together. Eris and Willow got along as best as they could, Willow still needed some time to adjust since Eris was like a more aggressive Cordelia, but she didn't have anything against the cousin for acting like that, just brings up old high school worries. And Eris liked Willow well enough, though she hadn't been one to be friends with bookish people, too nerdy and not free spirited enough. However, they seemed to have a connection to their interest of magic, Willow really enjoyed hearing about Eris' magic knowledge, and though Eris herself wasn't exactly a witch, she did know a few things about the craft.
As of right now though, Eris and Willow were looking over the Classes that Buffy could take for college, "Anything?" Buffy asked her witchy friend as she scanned the area with keen eyes, looking for anything with fangs that she could put a stake through.
"Ahh!" Willow replied as she pointed to a section of her book with her pencil, "Introduction to the Modern Novel"
"The Hell is that?" Eris asked as she looked at the book, so many electives, it was making her head spin.
Willow ignored the bluntness of Eris' question but still answered, "it's a survey study of 20th-centry novelists. Opened to freshmen" she looked to Buffy "you might like that."
Eris stuck a finger in her mouth to show her disgust on the topic as Buffy responded in an uncertain tone, "Introduction to the Modern Novel?...I'm guessing I'd probably have to read the Modern Novel."
Willow nodded, "maybe more than one" perhaps that wasn't the right course for her friend.
"I like books" Buffy tried to reason, "I just don't wanna take on too much."
"Reading books for an entire course doesn't seem like the most interesting topic, especially for someone like Buff who needs something to stimulate her brain" Eris said to Willow, trying to show some support for her cousin.
"I can do a reading course, don't make me seem so spaz brain Eris" Buffy retorted, though when she gave it a proper thought she decided to backtrack a little, "Do they have an introduction to the Modern Blurb?"
Willow took a second too look at her book before spotting something, "oh! Short Story!"
"Well, that's good" the Slayer replied in a hopeful tone before Willow shot her down with a "oh. No, it conflicts with psych."
"Maybe I shouldn't take psych."
"You gotta. It's fun, and you can use it as your science requirement."
Eris nodded in agreement, "I don't really agree with the fun part, but psych may be able to help with slaying."
"How?" Buffy asked.
"Well from what I know about Slayer stuff, you need to know your enemy" Eris responded as she recalled something she was told once, "like how he thinks and stuff, especially vampires, if you know the enemy and their mind, you can know how to defeat them."
"That's surprisingly insightful Eris" Willow said in a mildly impressed tone, "Besides the bonus to Slayering, Professor Walsh is supposed to be great, she's like world-renowned."
"How do you get to be renowned?" Buffy asked as she began walking back and forth "I mean, like, do you have to be 'nowned' first?"
"Yes, first, there's the painful 'nowning' process" Willow replied absentmindedly as she scanned the other classes.
"Then will come the renowning which happens when the nowning process is finished, which can take a long long time" Eris got up from the ground to stretch out her legs a little, "good for the professor though, getting into big sciency stuff as a woman can be really hard since it's a men's kinda world."
"Wait!" Willow interjected, stopping their weird Summer conversation, "images of pop culture! This is good! They watch movies, TV shows, even commercials!"
"For credit?" Buffy said in surprise before Willow responded with an excited, "Isn't college cool?"
"I'm with Willow on the cool part, being able to watch TV as a course is awesome, it's like lazy study."
"You should join us in college Eris" Buffy said to her cousin.
"Funny you say that, mom is making me go to college so that I can learn discipline and keep out of trouble" Eris huffed and crossed her arms to show her annoyance, "Though I have no idea what to study."
"College isn't for a while, gives you time to get ready and sort yourself out, maybe we can call Aunt Julie and ask what she would want you to do" Buffy shot back, "though you're too obsessed with partying that you'd end up dropping out."
"Hey! I would not!" all she got was a silent look from the other two women "ok yeah, I probably would, not like mom would let me."
"All this talk of college, it's exciting, isn't it?" Willow let a nerdy grin grow on her face, she loved having this talk with Buffy. Even though the Slayer wasn't exactly into it, it was nice to just have the conversation in general.
"It's gonna be an adjustment."
"Yea. It's, like, five miles away" Willow said with a scoff, "just uncharted territory."
"Horrible adjustment really, too far away from Aunt Joyce's nummy food."
"You have a point Eris" Buffy said jokingly before becoming more serious, "Giles said I have to be secret-identity gal again."
"That makes sense."
"It's gonna be tough, though. With a roommate."
"You never know, you could get a supernatural roommate who might end up being part of your…what did you call it again?"
"Scooby gang" said the Slayer, completely unaware of the approaching vampire wanting to feast on the 3 girls, "I'm psyched about college, definitely. I just need to figure out how its gonna work with my extracurricular activities."
As they were speaking, the vampire got close enough to see the multitudinous amounts of vampire killing weapons resting on the grass and against the tombstone, crossbows, stakes, crosses, all things that could really hurt or kill him "I just can't let it take the edge off my slaying. I gotta stay sharp."
She said this right as the vampire turned tail and ran, making as much distance between him and these scarily armed women. "Is this guy ever gonna wake up?"
Soon College had crept up and the holidays were over, which wasn't something Eris enjoyed because she could no longer go out to party at her new favourite spot, The Bronze. It was the only place to party in town but when Buffy and her friends showed her she was hooked. She got to hang out more with the Scooby gang as well which was interesting, they weren't really in to her party life like she was but she didn't mind them. She had gotten friendlier with Willow and she met Giles however he wasn't too interested in Eris, only really seeing her as someone who might distract Buffy. Apparently they had another friend called Xander but he was on a road trip.
But with the holidays over, Buffy and Eris found themselves standing on campus grounds swarmed by people passing them to get to friends, find their dorms or just to wander. It was overwhelming to the 2 girls who had no idea what to do.
"Freshman!" they heard an older lady call out over the crowd, the girls turned around quickly, hoping she would help them, "we're doing this by folder colour! If you're not holding on to a yellow folder, you're in the wrong group, you belong up by Weisman Hall!"
The girls looked at their folders, then to each other "oh thank God you got red too" Eris said to her stressed out cousin.
"I don't even know where Weisman Hall is" Buffy retorted as she pointed to her right, "I think its this way" Eris nodded and followed her.
As they walked they saw all the different groups you could join, some sounding like protestors, some dancing, some religious, others just partying at Dorm houses. None of which helped the girls find where they were meant to go, it was honestly exhausting.
"Buffy, Eris!" They heard a girl shout, looking to their right, they saw Willow jogging over excitedly.
"Boy am I glad to see you" Buffy said back as her friend reached them.
"Isn't this cool? There is so much going on" the witch spoke hurriedly, not giving a chance for Eris to chime in, though it wasn't like she had much to say, she would rather check out the hot guys and give them flirty waves back.
"Yea. Almost, one might say, too much" Buffy shot back.
"I got all my courses, except for Modern Poetry, I had to switch to Ethnomusicology but that's cool."
"The hell is that?" Eris asked as she finally paid attention.
"Its West-African drumming" Willow said helpfully, earning her a nod "I think its gonna change everything" that earned her a chuckle from the cousins, "Have you guys met your roommates yet?"
"No, neither of us have" Buffy replied, a hint of stress lacing her words.
Eris agreed, letting out a huff "We haven't even found our dorm building yet."
"Me neither" Willow smiled and ruffled the stack of coloured papers in her hands, "I hope she's cool."
Noticing the papers, Buffy said jokingly, "I see you got ticketed too?"
"Yes, I've heard about 5 different issues, and I'm angry about each and every one of them. What'd you both get?"
"Jell-O shots" Buffy said back before looking at her cousins papers, "oh, Eris did too."
Willow looked disappointed as she said, "I didn't get Jell-O shots, I'll trade your for a take back the night" Buffy agreed and traded the papers.
"Is take back the night about vampires?" Eris asked with a interested tone.
"No sadly not, its about taking the night back from crime and claiming our freedom" Willow said, causing Eris' shoulders to slump.
"Moving on from random fliers" Buffy interjected "Are we heading to anywhere near Wiesman Hall? We still need to get our ID cards."
"Oh, I got mine this morning, the lines are really long now" Willow shrugged "you should've gone early."
"I would have but Eris slept in late."
"A girl needs her beauty sleep, and I didn't want to look tired for my first day, I need to leave an impression" Eris flicked her black hair over her shoulder like a diva which earned her a snort from Buffy.
"Well, I hope you learn from this experience and grow into a mature adult, like me."
"I will pinch you Buff."
"We should probably get you guys into the Hall before you start a pinch fight" Willow said with a chuckle.
They met up with Oz and got the cousins ID's sorted and grabbed their class books before heading off to their respective dormitories.
Buffy and Eris shared the same building but were sadly on different floors, and with a dramatic hug Eris had gone to finally meet her dorm mate.
"Number 14…14…" Eris muttered to herself as she looked at all the doors whilst also dodging people with no special awareness. "Ah, found you, now to meet my new best friend, yay" she said sarcastically, she disliked the idea of sharing a room with another person. She liked her own space, and hated the idea of sharing. Most likely due to being an only child.
With a swing of the door, she walked into the room to see a young woman unpacking her things on her bed. She looked posh and stuck up, but not in a rich or fashion girl type of way. She had short cut hair in a bob, a dark blue turtle neck and a pencil skirt, no style whatsoever. Eris knew she shouldn't judge a book by its cover so she put on a fake smile, "hi! You must be my roommate" she said chipperly as she walked further into the room.
Looking up from her suitcase, the girl looked Eris up and down and sneered, "nuh uh, no way, I am not sharing a room with Malibu Barbie!"
"Wow, that is unnecessarily hostile" Eris shot back, sure she was wearing high end clothes like usual and makeup but she wasn't that plastic looking. "I only just walked in, calm down Trunchbull."
"Trunchbull!" the girl snapped, "how dare you, my dad puts a lot of money into this college, I'll be asking for a dorm change!" she shoved passed Eris and stormed down the all, most likely going to call her daddy and complain.
Eris stood still for a moment, processing what happened, "I hope she get a dorm change or I'm putting laxatives in her drink every morning" she huffed and moved over to her bags sitting on her bed to start unpacking. "Oh shit, I forgot to ask for her name!"