Elsewhere University Brochure
Set within the world of @elsewhereuniversity as created by @charminglyantiquated.
Autumn Summers was a first year. She didn’t know where her classes were, her iron and silver stash was practically none existent and she hadn’t come up with a safe name yet. So just normal first year things, however, the other students had had the privilege of going through all this together, they had mistakenly given each other their real names, learned the hard way the necessity of carrying iron or silver and of course got lost the first few weeks of the semester.
Autumn was late. It was a month into the semester and her fellow freshmen had already formed bonds and established routines.Â
Autumn pulled her suitcase behind her as she walked down the corridor, watching the numbers on the doors grow higher and higher. Her arm was burning from the effort of carrying her bag up five flights and she could feel beads of sweat dripping down her neck. It wasn’t exactly how she wanted her roommates to first see her. The fact that they were all strangers to her and all already knew each other was scary enough, but they were all second years and that made it so much worse. Autumn still wasn’t exactly sure why she had to dorm with them and not other freshmen, she hadn’t been given an explanation.Â
She finally drew to a stop outside room 444, and an inexplicable shiver ran through her as if someone or something had run an icy finger done her spine. She closed her eyes, steadying her nerves for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and turning the doorknob (which was of course made of iron).
Inside she was greeted with chaos.Â
“How many times have I told you to knock?” Yelled a girl wrapped in nothing but a very small towel. She was still dripping water and there was shampoo in her mane of braids. She clutched a pillow in her hand as she towered over a boy on the ground with such ferocity it might have been a battle axe.Â
“Not so loud, my head is pounding,” the boy complained, wincing. His voice was hoarse and he looked like someone who had only just stumbled back into his dorm, despite it being 09:00 am.
“Not so loud? Not so loud? I’ll show you fucking loud-”
“Babe, come on, he’s got a hangover,” a second girl cut in. She was smaller and had honey coloured hair and looked extremely unimpressed.
“And whose fault is that? He’s been out partying every night this week! He needs to reign it in.”
“Yeah, he does, but Jax isn’t here to help him anymore, so cut him some slack,” the smaller girl said and the change in the atmosphere of the room was sudden and palpable.Â
“I’m going to finish my shower,” the dark-skinned girl muttered after a long pause, dropping the pillow before leaving.
Autumn wondered whether she should leave and pretend she hadn’t seen anything, but just as she was moving to close the door as quietly as she could the smaller girl caught sight of her. Her face broke into a smile so genuine that had Autumn not seen annoyance moments before would have believed, or perhaps she was just the kind of girl whose moods could change easily between one moment and the next.
“You must be our new roomie! Welcome to the North Dorm, my safe name’s Honey.”
Autumn took a tentative step into the room but the mood inside had shifted. With the pillow girl gone and the boy passed out on the couch, the room seemed far more approachable.Â
“Safe name?” Autumn asked.
“Yeah, you know, so people have something to call me.”
“Doesn’t your name work for that?”
“Of course not! Didn’t you read the brochure?” At Autumn’s blank look Honey sighed, “you’re going to want to read that. This place isn’t like most universities. There’s a lot of things you’re going to have to learn the hard way but your name doesn’t have to be one of them. Never give it to anyone. Ever. So you’re going to have to come up with a safe name instead. Too many freshmen are unprepared for that.”
“That’s why the acceptance rate is so high at Elsewhere University. They know most of them won’t make it past first year.” Pillow Girl was back, but she was dry and clothed and looked calmer. “Hi, I go by Babe.”
“Hi, nice to meet you. I don’t know what I go by yet.” Autumn said and Babe shrugged.
“No worries. You’re luckier than most freshmen, you’ve got us, we’re the ones who made it to our second year. There’s plenty of useful information in the brochure but we’ve got better. By your second year, your classmates will be down to less than half. The first semester usually gets rid of the students who aren’t legacies or who didn’t grow up in a place where the veil is thin.”Â
Autumn was neither. She was beginning to think that maybe she should have studied closer to home like her mother had suggested. Then again, Babe did have a point, Autumn was dorming with students who had survived their first year, whatever that actually meant. Then Autumn had a horrible thought, this was a dorm that was meant to accommodate four.
“Was there... Was there someone else staying here before me?” She asked hesitantly. Babe lowered her eyes.
“He went by Jax,” Honey said, casting a worried look at Babe, “he was Ham’s cousin, Ham’s the idiot passed out on the couch. Jax always wanted to explore the courts, he always spoke about going on adventures and it looks like he finally left.”
“Yeah, he got his adventure,” Babe said bitterly, “without so much as a goodbye,”
Babe stood and excused herself, saying something about finishing an assignment.Â
“Babe and Jax were basically a couple before he... left.” Honey explained in a hushed voice. “It’s a good thing the changeling couldn’t come and stay with us, I think that would be more than she could bear.”
“Changeling?” Autumn asked.
“Fair folk that takes the place of students after they’ve gone on adventures or go missing. They use glamours and continue the life of the student so no red flags are raised and if the student comes back they can slip back into their life as if they’ve never left. At least it’ll be like that for people they know outside the university, most of the students will be wary of them for a time. Anyway, Jax’s changeling couldn’t come live here because of all the iron in the architecture, the North Dorm is probably one of the safest places on campus, which is probably why you were put here, having missed orientation and the general acclamation of this place.”
“Oh,” was all Autumn could think to say.
“It’ll get easier I promise,” Honey smiled and Autumn gave a weak one in response. “So I’ve got an essay due today that I haven’t started so I’m going to the Library to try and maybe gain some extra hours.”
Honey left and Autumn was alone again (well besides Ham on the coach). Autumn sat at an armchair by a big window. She sat and stared out for a long time. There was so much information to process. Her breathing started coming out in short gasps. It was too much, too fast all at once. She needed to... She needed to.... What did she need to do? She closed her eyes to calm her nerves. She felt her heart slow from it’s frantic beating, then she opened her eyes and took a deep breath before rifling through her bag until she found what she needed.Â
Autumn Summers was a first year. She didn’t know where her classes were, her iron and silver stash was practically none existent and she hadn’t come up with a safe name yet. But she was going to learn, and she was going to make it to graduation. She held the Elsewhere University Brochure in her hands and began to read.Â
