The Hallowed Halls of Fielding

**The Hallowed Halls of Fielding** (commonly abbreviated to ***HHOF*** or simply ***Fielding***) is a fanfiction series by Roentgen started in 2010. The story examines the premise of Daria and Quinn Morgendorffer attending Fielding instead of Lawndale High School when they move from Highland to Lawndale. It originally started as a one-shot called "First Day of School."

In the series, Daria and Quinn must face the rigorous intellectual demands - and bewildering customs - of an elite private school, as well as navigate the perilous social minefield. During their first year at Fielding, Daria sets her sights on earning an 'A' in English in this much more demanding academic environment, while also being forced to participate in school sports as a competitive diver. Meanwhile, Quinn becomes a member of the Tops - a group of elite girls at Fielding who are fashionable, popular, and wealthy. Along the way in this alternate universe, Daria has made a new friend with Elsie Sloane and has developed a crush on her brother, Tom Sloane.

Roentgen promises that this series does have an end to it, but that he will take his time getting there.

## Characters (Warning: Spoilers)

### **Main characters**

* **Daria Morgendorffer**: Initially a Soph at Fielding, now a junior, who finds the competition stiffer than she thought it would be. The diver in Fielding Swim, a role and team she *loathes*. Does not think much of her new school's social environment.
* **Quinn Morgendorffer**: Initially a Frosh at Fielding and now a Soph. She is a member of the popular girls club at Fielding known as the Tops, and is an heir-apparent to Tops leadership along with Sue Bentley. Master of social climbing, behind-the-back sneaking, and moments of tactical amorality.
* **Elsie Sloane**: Initially a Soph at Fielding, now a junior. Fraternal twin of Tom Sloane. Cynical. Jaded. Daria's new friend. Suffers from mental illness.
* **Tom Sloane**: Initially a Soph at Fielding, now a junior. Elsie's good looking and accomplished older (by twenty minutes) brother. Daria thinks that Tom's *so all that*. Tom thinks Daria's pretty cool too, but took ages to say anything and was angry that someone else was romantically interested in her.

### **Supporting characters**

* **Patrick "Pat" Hackney VII**: Initially a Soph at Fielding, now a junior. Somewhat ludicrous friend of Tom Sloane, very monied and slightly out of touch with common sense. Is in love with Quinn Morgendorffer, who didn't quite feel the same way. Quinn's official boyfriend.
* **Terry Wicklemore**: Another contemporary of Tom's, along with Pat Hackney. Initially a Soph at Fielding, now a junior. A rarity at Fielding, an openly gay student. (Well, he doesn't deny it.) Obese, dry-witted. Drama performer.
* **Sue Bentley**: Contemporary of Quinn's and long time Topisienne who is jealous of Quinn Morgendorffer's rapid ascendancy to Tops. Initially a Soph at Fielding, then a junior. Ex-girlfriend of both Patrick Hackney and Tom Sloane. Control freak, bully, and general bad girl.
* **Jill Yardborough**: Quinn's hanger-on, turning into Quinn's main ally and agent. Responsible for getting Quinn to pass freshman year. Seventh grader when she met Quinn, now in eighth grade. Jill has made herself over into a beauty after a stay in France, and is now in Tops with Quinn; what Quinn doesn't know is that Jill had training in social climbing in France.
* **Sephora "Zip" Benson**: A member of the Fielding swim team. Becomes one of Daria's sort-of friends. Along with Donna, got Daria to remain in Fielding Swim. Initially a Soph at Fielding, now a junior.
* **Donna Whitmore**: Junior and best swimmer in Fielding Swim. Met Daria when they were both Sophs. Donna assumed that Daria was gay and propositioned her, which led to a mini-crisis. A true believer in Fielding Swim, distraught when the school allows the team to collapse (because it's only a *girl* team). Along with Zip, got Daria to remain in Fielding Swim. Initially a Soph at Fielding, now a junior.
* **Claire Davidson**: A former Soph at Fielding, an English scholar and obsessive-compulsive grind. Writer. A bag of crazy. Attempted suicide at Fielding and left school. She then attended the Tabard School in Dallas and communicates with Daria through Skype. Was a Soph at Fielding, and entered Tabard as a sophomore.
* **Shuler Kennedy**: A good-looking Soph (then junior) in the Drama department, whom Quinn liked. Boyfriend of Buttons Gwinnett. Quinn and Shuler had a secret relationship that ended with the two sleeping together, but Shuler was unable to break up with Buttons and the relationship fell apart. Critically injured in a savage gang-style assault instigated by Pat. Did not return to Fielding.
* **Flora "Buttons" Gwinnett**: Eddie Sterling's heir-presumptive when Buttons was a junior, and Tops Chair as senior. Girlfriend of Shuler who was oblivious for a long time to Shuler's cheating on her. Extremely polite, but unassertive. Quinn and Sue actually ran Tops with Buttons as a figurehead, which changed after HHoF 125.
* **Jane Lane**: Impoverished student at Lawndale High School. Worked as a nude model in Fielding's Art Department to earn extra money.
* **Henry Michaelas**: Graying eminence serving as Headmaster at Fielding.
* **Bethany Barksdale**: Daria and Quinn's grandmother and Helen's mother. Alumna of Grove Hills  when it was a girls' school. Pays the bulk of the tuition for Daria and Quinn to attend Fielding. Determined to mould Quinn into a proper upper-class girl, with Daria used as the test subject; doesn't realise that her 'friends' don't think Quinn can ever be one of their class and have contempt for some of Bethany's actions.
* **Edmonda "Eddie" Sterling**: Graduate of Fielding. Was Tops Chair at Fielding during Quinn's Frosh year.
* **Patty Clark**: Contemporary of Quinn's and fellow Topisienne. Has known Quinn since Frosh year when they were both in Tops.
* **Becky Anne MacAngus**: Jill Yardborough's roommate at Fielding when Jill was in seventh grade.
* **Megan Eastman**: Has exaggerated her mild dyslexia to a complete disability, enabling her to obtain extra time on homework and exams. Daria and Megan had Ms. Merritt together in English for her Soph year.
* **Sara McGraw**: Contemporary of Jill Yardborough, who claims to be a full-fledged witch/Wiccan and who grants hypothetical supernatural assistance for money. Grade undetermined.
* **LauraJeanne NorthChase**: Wealthy junior girl in Tops, threw a deb party in Atlanta and invited - and flew - all of Fielding's upperclassmen to the party. A candidate for Tops Chair who did not know that she would be passed over in favor of Buttons Gwinnett. LauraJeanne appeared to possess some residual bitterness but was briefly Tops Chair at the conclusion of Quinn's sophomore year.
* **Clayton Arbusto**: Contemporary of Daria's. Texas "good-old-boy", openly cares little for Fielding. Leader of a close-knit gang who have bullied younger students, particularly younger girls during "Bitchmas". Romantically interested in Daria, Tom's rival; able to talk his way around Daria, which Elsie views as a manipulation. Has very socially conservative views but avoids talking about it. Daria may or may not have got cold feet about a school "prank" because of him. Left Fielding due to bad grades in the middle of his junior year and returned to Texas.
* **Deacon Arbusto**: Younger brother of Clayton. Clayton considers Deacon a goody-goody and kiss-ass; unlike the Daria and Quinn relationship the two brothers are very close despite their bickering. One year behind Jill Yardborough, making him a sixth-grader at the start of the series and a seventh-grader in his second year.
* **Anthony 'Tree' Edwards**: an unusually tall (7'0) Fielding student who Daria goes out on a single date with. Plays for the Fielding basketball team, and has literally nothing in common with Daria (she finds him and some of his stories 'creepy'). Formerly known as 'Fingers' because of a habit of eating without using silverware; now known as 'Tree' because of his height. Grade undetermined.
* **Taylor "Tipsy" Stillwell**: A bully and general school terror. Incidents of physical violence or threats thereof against (among others) Claire Davidson, Quinn Morgendorffer, Zip Benson, Donna Whitmore and Jill Yardborough. Sycophant of Sue Bentley, who kept her around for her usefulness. Later expelled from Fielding.
* **Ms. Merritt**: Daria's English prof in Soph year. Known to be a tough grader.
* **Mr. Goodlett**: Quinn's English prof in Frosh year. Black, large, strict-minded. "Short-lists" Quinn - puts her on academic probation.
* **Mr. Mackryk**: Daria and Elsie's Intro Law prof in Soph year.
* **Mr. Butler**: The former chaplain at Fielding. Butler lost his job protesting the actions of Fielding students who took over the Administration Building in a rebellion led by Daria and Quinn.
* **Ms. Morioka**: Daria and Elsie's Stagecraft prof in Soph year.
* **Mr. Allen**: Daria and Elsie's Drawing prof in Soph year. Extremely flamboyant. Jane Lane serves as a nude model in the class.
* **Mr. Gullette**: Quinn's Drama prof in Frosh year.
* **Mr. Key**: Daria's Screenwriting prof in Soph year. A mentor and confidant to Daria in her Soph year, helping improve her work. Told Daria she should stay in Fielding Swim; he didn't tell her that he was an alumni of Fielding's old male swim team.

## The Fielding Uniform and Crest

The Fielding uniform is much like your typical prep school uniform. Both boys and girls wear ties. A pullover sweater is worn under the blazer in the fall and winter; the pullover may be discarded in spring and summer. Boys wear slacks and girls wear skirts with white calf-high socks.

The crest was inspired by Quiverwing's artwork The Hallowed Halls of Fielding, Starring.... The letters reflect Fielding's motto, *facultas, amicitia, manentia, audacia* - "ability, friendship, permanency, boldness". The motto forms the acronym of *fama*, which stands for "tradition". (Fielding students have their own...*interesting* acronyms as substitutes.) The blue symbolizes sincerity, the cross reflects the Christian ideals of Fielding's founders, the wreath below reflects the hopes that Fielding graduates will distinguish themselves. The year "1780" reflects the schools founding year.

## "Vocab"

* **The Ancestors**: Old Fielding alumni. The Ancestors are an all-male organization with a private club on the Fielding campus.
* **Bitchmas**: April 9, 1971, the day after former headmaster Franklin Adams announced that girls would be admitted to Fielding during the 1971 Fall Term. The day is 'celebrated' at Fielding with the female student body suffering various harassments.
* **boarding student**: A student who lives on the Fielding campus, making Fielding a *boarding school*. The vast majority of Fielding students are borders.
* *Fielding Boarder*: The student newspaper at Fielding.
* **Fielding handshake**: The manual sexual stimulation of a male student. Generally male-to-male but can also be female-to-male. "Did Bob try to give you the Fielding handshake?" A term known outside of Fielding among the prep school circuit.
* **day student**: A student who lives off campus and does not board at Fielding.
* **demerit**: A points-based system of punishment where students receive negative points - demertis - for failures in self-discipline. Demerits may be given by profs for failure to meet the Fielding dress code, for being late to class, being disrepectful and so on. Accumulating a certain number of demerits over a certain period of time puts a student at risk for disciplinary action, including expulsion.
* **Ditch Day**: The day when students have the option not to wear the sweater vest of the Fielding uniform. Ditch Day usually falls one month (four weeks) before the last day of classes in the Spring Term.
* **frosh**: A freshman student, equivalent to a 15 year old student in other parts of the world. Graduates become sophs.
* **Halo**: Another name for demerit, after a legendary demerit-collecting student, Mark Hale.
* **Head**: Short for Headmaster - the head of the school, Henry Michaelas.
* **The Knowledge**: A set of questions asked from the small printed book "Your Place in Fielding" given to all new students. New students are hazed a certain number of days into Fall Term when senior students may ask them any question from the book (and some questions not in the book but passed down from Fielding alumni). Failure to give a correct answer subjects the new student to punishment.
* **The Morgue**: A on-line server containing several years worth of class notes to Fielding courses. It is not known if the Fielding administration knows of the existence of the morgue, but nearly all of the students are aware of it.
* **The Others**: The organization of female alumnae of Fielding.
* **prof**: Short for professor, the name given to all full-time instructors at Fielding.
* **Quant**: A group of core courses required of all Fielding students, the bane of many a poor scholar.
* **soph**: A sophomore student. equivalent to a 16 year old students in other parts of the world. Graduates become juniors.
* **short-list**: Administrative action which may be taken against a transfer student during their first semester at Fielding. A prof can recommend that an incoming student be short-listed if the prof believes the student's work is not up to Fielding standards. A short-listed student who receives any grade lower than a C will be asked not to return for the upcoming term.
* **Tops**: A society of the most popular girls in Fielding, all of whom wear gold bracelets signifying their membership in an exclusive club. The head of Tops is called Tops Chair. Fielding girls become Tops when they are voted among the most popular girls in Fielding by the male student body on the Tops List. If a *Topisienne* - a member of Tops - makes the list one year and fails to make it the following year, she can lose her place in Tops.

## Fielding Athletics

Fielding belongs to MEPSAL, the Mid-Eastern Private Schools Athletic League. The other schools in the league are:

* St. Anthony's (boys sports): Natalieville, NJ
* St. Agatha's (girls sports): Paul's Chapel, VA
* Crosswoods: Buffet, PA
* Georgian Academy: Peninsula, DE
* Gilbert Friends: Washington, DC
* Grove Hills: Columbethra, MD
* Kirriemuir: Red Hollow, VA
* Seton: Orton, NJ

It has been established that Fielding fields teams in football, basketball, lacrosse, water polo, debate and swim.

## External Links

* The Hallowed Halls of Fielding on the PPMB
* WFBJ Radio, a blog devoted to background information about HHoF, the current status of next episodes and to talk about HHoF outside of the PPMB...