Entry tags:

Bakersfield Collegiate

Boarding School AU

Girls dorms, boys dorms, track team, uniforms, latin studies, O Captain! My Captain!, smoking in the bathroom, fearing and idolizing the upperclassmen, sneaking out after curfew, lusting after the rare good looking prof.

Welcome to Bakersfield Collegiate; a boarding academy of legend and lore, and coming of age stories you’ll write a memoir about some day. The rules are strict, the classes are tough, the living conditions range from lavish to questionable, but you can be sure this institution turns out graduates with character, substance and a little trauma to unpack.

Maybe you’re:

↦ Here because you come from old money and Daddy wouldn’t send you to any place less.
↦ Kicked out of other schools and Bakersfield’s toughest programs are going to get you back on track.
↦ A brainy little nobody who’s grade grubbing got you into the best academy around.
↦ Alumni of this legendary school, come back to teach.
↦ Any other genre trope you might need to to tap.

Top Level

with your boarding school scene and your character AUed into the setting. Best of luck this school year.

Comment

with characters AUed into the setting and try not to get stuffed into a locker.

[Blank top levels will be deleted.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Maureen "Ducky" DeCecco is from a poor family--some might even know they have smuggling connections. Ducky herself, though, has a brilliant mind for words and is an observer of school politics. If you need someone to proofread your English assignment or help you get a connection for illicit materials (anything from weed to pornography) or the latest gossip on campus, you find Ducky.

She has a habit of making herself available in the evenings in a certain secluded corner of the library, idly reading a book while waiting to see what will come up tonight.

River comes from old money. Her brother graduated from Bakersfield and is now an ER surgeon, and it's expected that River will do even better. She excels academically, taking as many courses at a time as the school will allow her and still somehow finding time for being on the dance team and all those rigorous late night practices.

Though she'd rather keep to herself and her studies, she does her best to be social, because Mother and Father so want her to make friends while she's here.

She can usually be found in the library with a stack of books, or in the dance studio, practicing her routines.

[The hardworking scholarship student who spends way too much time studying in the library at night, as well as volunteers for the student council in any way she can. Probably treasurer or secretary this year. She's top student material, but getting her to stay put is an impossible task because she always volunteers for e v e r y t h i n g. Never in her dorm room, looks ready to collapse at every moment yet also the most cheerful person you'd meet.

Also clumsy. Really clumsy. She makes up for it with enthusiasm and her work song, or something like that. She's a bit dense though because of how seriously she takes her work, and will follow rules to the letter. Please get her to take a break.]

[ She’ll awaken to see the school nurse standing over her, his lab coat unbuttoned as usual, even if the school clinic’s chilly as its always been. He’s busy reading through a file, however, and doesn’t seem to pay much attention to her until she stirs. ]

Hmm, awake already? That’s the fifth time this week.

[ He scribbles something on her file—because of course it’s her file; no one else’s in school is nearly as thick, because even the sporty kids at least wear protective equipment when they’re at school. ]

[Waking up in the clinic was... admittedly not at all an unfamiliar sight to her. Which is probably bad, even by her standards, because at one point she had an impeccably clean record of not getting knocked out at all in the first place throughout the school year. This might be a particularly mundane record, but for Nadine, it was important. It meant she only passed out, which is probably by choice and not because she'd been tired after a few all-nighters and did not see the ball flying through the air and slamming into her at full force.]

It's the first time!

[She protests, almost automatically, the whole sequence of events flashing before her eyes like it would for more people in front of the door of death. For her, it's probably just another Tuesday. Maybe. She doesn't sit up though, because she can feel the throbbing headache that was originating from one side of her head, which meant that if she sat up now, she might topple over.

Also, she might be avoiding looking the doctor in the eye. It's been a daily visit this week.]

Today, I promise I did not pass out in the library while reading up on the History of Illumobraton for the third time. I drank the minimum amount of energy drinks required to stay up for 48 hours. This was not due to negligence, sir!

[See? Totally reassuring.]

[ Corax stares at her for a long moment, before looking back down at his clipboard and scribbling something on it.

He deliberately lets the silence hang uncomfortably in the cold antiseptic air between them, having heard such excuses at least a thousand times before, and remarks, with a completely straight face: ]

The patient seems to be exhibiting particularly severe symptoms of concussion. I prescribe plenty of bed rest, a ban on all extracurricular activities, and a lobotomy first thing in the morning.

[Doctor please!?

She sits up immediately at that, almost falling over because whoa, vertigo, as she looks at him in alarm. She might be taking that seriously, but then again, with Dr. Corax, it is highly possible he is serious. He just seems like the type who will just open up your head with a poker face.]

A lobotomy!? Doctor, I'm really fine. My brain needs to stay in place for me to be able to pass my finals!

[... That's what she's worried about?]

[ Yep. He figured that’s what she’d be worried about. Which is why he sighs and immediately starts rummaging in his coat pocket for something. ]

We’ve talked about this before, Miss Nadine. I keep telling you to prioritize getting proper food and rest, but now…

[ And then he whips out a scalpel from his pocket, which glints ominously in over-bright fluorescent lights of the infirmary.

Because of course. ]

It may be too late.

[The way it glints in that light was ominous. Even more so with that dark look (read: poker face) he was sporting, making her freeze as she realizes just how dire her situation is.]

Wait, doctor. You can't!

[She starts, turning to him and squinting, trying to forget the vertigo. She must deliver a convincing speech for him not to take her brain out.]

There is no rule in the student handbook that says that a surgical operation can be carried out in the nurse's office due to a concussion! Please follow the proper procedures.

[#Nailedit]

Hmm? Oh.

[ He blinks, glances at his hand, notices the scalpel, and stuffs it back into his coat. Then, with the measured silence of someone who totally knows what he’s doing, he fishes out an extremely deadly weapon—one that’s shining and icy blue and could also stab your eye out. ]

Sorry, I thought it was a lollipop. Here.

[ He hands the confection to her, his face as impassive as when he’d threatened to cut her skull open for shenanigans earlier on. ]

[... She doesn't buy that at all. He claimed lobotomy just now.

She eyes the candy warily, trying to gauge if it's a scalpel in disguise. He seems like he would have hidden scalpels everywhere, including in candy, especially one that looks very stabbity.

But she does take it, because that's the polite thing to do.]

... Does this mean you won't be performing a lobotomy?

[ Please this isn’t Halloween. The worst it’ll give her is a tooth decay. ]

That depends.

[ Crossing his arms— ]

Will you be taking my other advice?

[Expecting the girl who doesn't know how to rest and does even more work to rest is like expecting the moon to turn into the sun. Just not happening.]

I will keep it in mind.

[She does look remorseful about causing him trouble at least.]

I will learn the best way to dodge flying basketballs to avoid troubling you again.

…

[ Any other doctor would sigh. But Corax is beyond sighing, because he understands when someone is well and truly beyond saving.

It’s only a shame the university is against euthanasia. ]

Lobotomy it is.

Doctor!?

[Why is that the only solution!?]

Isn't there another way?

[For example... Just keep doing what she does. She's lived this long on nothing but willpower and determination.]

[ Well, he really can’t stop her from doing what she wants, in the end. He’s not a teacher or anything like that. He’s just buried a few bodies in the school’s backyard!

Which…nobody needs to know about. ]

I’ve already discussed your options. Unfortunately, they all require the use of your brain.

[........................................... Darn it.]

Doctor, I have a confession.

[She will just have to go and be honest then.]

Oh?

[ He’s already drawing up a prescription for her as they speak. ]

[Wow, Corax. That's cold.]

... Shouldn't you hear it first before you write that up? I didn't even say anything yet.

[ He stops writing, giving her a half-lidded but somehow rather pointed look. ]

I’m listening.

[...She's not sure she believes him, but that doesn't matter. What's important is that she will still have a full brain by the end of today.]

I cannot relax when I rest.

[... Yes.]

Ms. Carleen had given me time off from student council duties to focus on my studies, but having much more free time felt wrong. I can't sleep, thinking about all the free time I have, and so I study. Have you never experienced this before?

[ Ah, they’re getting to the root of the problem at last. But if it’s really a psychological issue, then that should be the purview of the guidance counselor.

Then again, when the current guidance counselor happens to be Kleken… ]

…In a way. I was a med student, after all.

[ And college does have a way of wringing its students dry—even the ones studying up on the health sciences.

But he looks wistful now, as he gazes toward the distance—or at least the white wall of the clinic, upon which some cheerful slogan had been cross-stitched and framed:

The Shadow is watching you. ]

But then there was…the accident.

The accident, doctor?

[Ah yes, that strange slogan that most of the students found creepy, but if that is what Dr. Corax is into, who is she to judge? Everyone finds comfort in things. She finds comfort in overworking herself to death, and he finds it in shadows that may be stalkers in disguise.]

Yes. I wanted to do my parents proud, you see, so I often studied late into the nights even when I knew I shouldn’t.

[ The memory makes him chuckle a little. Oh, the irony of an aspiring doctor ruining his whole health.

But that’s pre-med for you. ]

[See! That's her point. Though, she doesn't say that, because he prefaced this with an accident, so that means this is probably not a good story.]

I see...?

[What happened in those late nights?]

[ He gets the feeling that she’s only too ready to debate him on this, and honestly he can’t even blame her.

But clearly she’s bored and restless and he doesn’t see any reason to stop her regardless. At least it keeps her in here, in bed, for a while. ]

Well, eventually it came time for my finals. I was really nervous, and didn’t sleep a wink the night before. I wanted to study as much as I could. It wouldn’t be so bad, I thought, if I could just read another chapter for a bit or hastily look up other textbooks for a concept that didn’t quite stick with me…

[In her mind, she realizes something important. Sure, this could sound like the story of a regular student, because who doesn't cram from time to time? Nadine was not, in fact, a crammer, and yet she has found herself sometimes reading until the last minute to make sure she didn't miss anything.

However, one important detail there-- is that he's a doctor.]

This is during med school, isn't it?

[She asks cautiously, not wanting to disturb his tale, but wanting some sort of clarity on the context.]

Yes.

[ It seems that Nadine is indeed picking up on what he’s trying to tell her. Or at least he’s telling himself as much. ]

It turns out that my finals was a practical exam all along. I had to successfully perform a difficult surgery on a patient, all while running on no sleep whatsoever.

[She doesn't disturb him there, but it's obvious on her face what her thoughts are. Nadine was rather honest like that, and no amount of eyebags, no matter how proud she is of them, can hide the way her eyes widen a bit even as she purses her lips into a thin line.

She's afraid to ask, the scenario-- bad case after bad case-- running through her mind, sharper now than it had been after a ball hit her in the head.]

It was horrible. My instructor even said later on that it looked like a crime scene after I was through with it.

[ When did he begin idly toying with his scalpel, exactly? Who knows. ]

I even forgot to put on surgical gloves. It was a mess.

Oh my--

[Yet he skipped over the most important part of that story. Doctor, why?]

Wait, what happened to the patient!?

Hmm? Oh…it got stitched to another one, along with the instructor’s surgical scrubs and, somehow, the school mascot.

[ A beat. ]

Someone was still inside of it…

You stitched a man to another man inside a man!?

[Wait, isn't that a crime? Shouldn't she be reporting him for a criminal act? Is there even a law about this somewhere?

Well, on the plus side, she hasn't left the room yet. Though, she's certainly not looking all that relaxed either.]

[ Ah, well, at least she isn’t trying to get out and study again or something. Kids these days. ]

Well, no. The guy inside the costume leaned a little too far to the left, so…

[ Maybe he shouldn’t look too disappointed about this? ]

T-that's---

[Is that what she might end up doing? Will she accidentally stitch people together in a half-asleep daze during her finals despite being a high schooler? Will she make a man walk around attached to a mascot costume for the rest of her life?

The idea was horrifying. Had she been a little less horrified, she might even notice something off about his story. 'It', for one, and the fact that this should be national level news or something. Why would their school hire someone who messed up that badly on a real human being?

Alas, it's Doctor Corax, whose pokerface was so perfect it's impossible not to take him seriously.]

I... I see. So I could potentially make a man turn into half a mascot if I don't sleep properly for my exams.

[Horrifying.]

I'll... sleep properly tonight, and every night from now on.

[ Well…not quite the lesson he’d intended, but at least she’s willing to get proper sleep now!

He’ll consider this a successful diagnosis. ]

…Good.

[ Silence, as he reconsiders something, and starts tearing up his prescription. ]

I guess you won’t be needing that lobotomy anymore.

Y-yes, thank you for reconsidering your diagnosis.

[But okay, she is in tip-top(?) shape now with renewed energy, now that she has a game plan(??) underway. Surely, she won't have to revisit Doctor Corax anytime soon.

So she gets off the bed and pumps her fist, the fire renewed in her heart.]

Then I shall have to read twice as many textbooks now before the library closes! Goodbye Dr. Corax! I'll make sure that Ms. Carleen and Ms. Vice will all stay separate during the examination!

[And you know what? She'll run out before he stops her. Just in case.]

[ Oh. Well. All right, then. She did promise to do better, so he decides to just let her be.

Time to get back to his cross-stitching then. Maybe he can finally nail down this bloody brain pattern the next time she’s carried in. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bakersfield Collegiate

Boarding School AU

Top Level

Comment

Maureen 'Ducky' DeCecco' - Lavender Jack - OTA

River Tam | Firefly | OTA

Nadine | Alchemy Stars | OTA

i normally hate college aus but...

you love me and thus will suffer for me?

is that what the kids are calling it these days

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