State of the Taxon: One Day Early!

[taxonmods]

Greeting Taxon! It’s April, time to shower you all with information!

CALENDAR: Located here as ever. Let us know if there are any events you’d like to have added!

• APRIL FOOL’S: After March came in like a...horrible monster with fangs and claws and a thagomizer, the aliens have opted for April to begin on a lighter, whimsical note. For all of April 1st the city will be filled with harmless pranks like buckets of water or glitter balanced atop doors, cream pies left just sitting around waiting to be thrown in someone’s face, and whoopee cushions in the damnedest spots. Careful opening any containers today as “snakes” may jump out, and handshakes may result in mild electric shocks.

• TAXIVERSARY: The Taxon Project begins its fourth year on April 15th! Stuff will happen! It is a surprise!

ANNOUNCEMENTS
→ First off, we want to thank you for all your feedback on the HMD. We’re assembling a modly response to it and will have that up shortly. Also we want to say that we’re thrilled with the overall response to the HMD and want to encourage further discussion if you feel the need to have it.

→ Taxon has a tumblr! Or a thing for Keri to waste time on at work! One thing that’s always been a frustration is being unable to really provide a proper visual example for what the city looks like. Hopefully Taxitecture provides the next best thing! Each image is set in a particular district (Central, Osten, Speares, etc.) and is further tagged with functionality. Or it’s just there to be pretty. If you’re looking for a place to set your next post you can check out public spaces, or if your character is in need of a home you can choose a residence. The tumblr’s there for inspirations, scroll through and see what you come up with!

→ As ever, we want to hear from you! Email or PM the mod account, hit one of us up on AIM, grab Keri on plurk, or you can always hit up the suggestions or complaints posts if needed.


AROUND THE CITY
→ Weather/atmosphere: The weather’s staying with Batumi and getting increasingly warm and pleasant!

Really, spring is bustin’ out all over with flowers and pretty floral bonnets and the introduction of songbirds and squirrels to the city’s wildlife. It’s a glorious season so long as you don’t mind the occasional wicked witch.

→ Freebies: Candy and the aforementioned bonnets will be available from the hatches and stores. If that seems cheap? Don’t fret, the aliens aren’t letting the project’s birthday pass without giving the citizens presents. They’ll have a blast.

→ Awesome, It’s A Party!: Down at the beach in Osten spring break is in full swing! It’ll be noticeably warmed at the coast, and anyone exploring that way will encounter a brand new five star resort as well as numerous skeevy dive joints and bass-thumping clubs. Take a break, play some volleyball, shake your groove thing, and


MEME
Here is your monthly CR meme! Jump in, tag around, have a grand old time!

<user name="CHARACTER_USERNAME"> | CHARACTER NAME <b>Previously:</b> What's been going on with your character over the last month, or even months! Bring up things you feel you might need to handwave with others, too, to make sure you don't get stuck. <b>Glitch Plans:</b> If there is a glitch event this month, let us know what your plans are! Or detail other individual character glitches you may be planning so folks can plot with you and get ideas bouncing. <b>Other Plans:</b> The rest of your plans for this month! CR and plot requests, idea bouncing for what kinds of development you want them to accomplish, anything at all you want to do this month or get rolling for the months to come.

Comments

Questions!

[taxonmods]

Questions, comments, and requests for elaboration go here!

Hint for the Taxiversary: don't fret, the aliens have done a hole lot of research and they guarantee that the citizens will absolutely LOVE what they have planned for the project's birthday. Trust us. Yes.

[aintnoconvict]

aintnoconvict | Glitch

Previously: Mirror!Taxon was awful. His queen called him out on schtupping her daughter, Ambrose cheerfully reminded him that he's a sham of himself, there was a vampire nest to take out, and oh yeah there was horribleness with Cain and then he had to kill a couple guys. Despite ~none of it being real~ he had a bit of a breakdown over it (and all over Bagoas) and is still recovering. Thankfully he found his way back - Emma I wanna continue that thread because that conversation has to happen - and stuff happened. He invited Madelyne to stay at the palace, tried getting to know Josef, and answered a query from Arthur.

Glitch Plans: Oh goodness DG's going evil again. Instead of running away immediately he's probably not leaving her side and will be her chief minion/fanboy. This'll be due to magical brain-whammy which will effectively headcase him again. I may turn this into a longish-term thing but don't see a way out of...or maybe I do. It's up in the air.

tl;dr Keri's evil and sorta misses playing the cheerful half-brained doofus and wants an excuse to do it again for a bit.

Other Plans: See above, anything else will depend on how that goes. I know this kinda plot-locks him for the month but Stuff Will Happen anyway.

re: re-glitching of the brain

[hasaheart]

B|

[brokenoptimism]

Hi Glitch.

Hi.

[angry_salad]

Glitch and Arthur need to have a Talk. About dreams.

[sourcebloodaughter]

slayersidekick | Willow Rosenberg

Previously: Canon update, dealing with things, being utterly confused and terrified at the whole holo taxon thing.

Glitch Plans: Don't have... much in the way of plans for her.. she's kind of beginning to stagnate again.

Other Plans: See above.


secretshame | Jenna Sommers

Previously: Her canon update finally happened! And she's probably still recovering from that. Also Holo Taxon freaked her out something awful :c

Glitch Plans: Totally open for April Fool's pranks :3

Other Plans: ...Mostly she and James are dancing around something and eventually they need to get shoved together or something. Aside from that, she's hanging at the Dodgy Jammer and wishing Fitz was back.


sourcebloodaughter | Ashley Magnus

Previously: She was pretty active in the whole Holo Taxon thing, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. She also finally talked to Buffy about the fight they had a while back and the whole not a vampire thing.

Glitch Plans: Someone seriously needs to prank her XD

Other Plans: Currently, she'll be dealing with Helen's departure. Losing her mother is not going to sit well with her at all. Eventually, there's a dinner thing in the works with James and Briar and IT MUST HAPPEN. It will be epic. She needs more friends, though, since I don't think she really has any in canon. It's always just been Ashley, Helen, the Big Guy, and Henry until Will got hired on.

[brokenoptimism]

Vague CR ideas but CR with Charles and any of these three would be fantastic.

[angry_salad]

Arthur might be able to help Ashley with the mom thing--my headcanon is that he's had to deal with that sort of stuff. I'm TOTALLY down for a friendship line/bro-type line if you are?

[blue_bird]

electro_girl | Gwen Raiden

Previously: She got caught in Haunted!Holo on her way to finally face Long, which was both a blessing and a curse. She had to rely on her powers heavily there, saw some faces of the past that made her feel super guilty, and ran into some fellow Taxon people stuck there. She rejected the chance to do some good by helping out Briar, a choice which I had her make because her recent glitch really messed her up, and she doesn't feel as inclined to play the hero as she might have prior. She's kind of regressed to her survivalist look-out-for-number-one mentality.

Glitch Plans: Likely being super annoyed at all the pranks. (Glaring at the electric shock handshakes.) Maybe I'll make her the butt of some jokes, I'm not sure. I'd like her to be involved in DG's glitch though! I'm trying to consider what role she'd choose to play in it, given her state of mind. But if a group gathers to take DG down, she'd likely agree to be a part of it.

Other Plans: Facing Long, when that happens. Getting in touch with Party is also a must. Still dealing with the fallout from her own glitch, which will last a pretty long time. It's gone beyond guilt into acceptance, but it's kind of a "I'm a freak, I'll always be a freak, I don't deserve anything more and I'm not gonna try" fatalism acceptance. She won't try playing the hero for awhile.

blue_bird | Illyria

Previously: She got stuck in Haunted!Holo and dealt with that Like A Boss. Spike arrived, which though she may not admit it, she definitely is not displeased about that. She had a chat with Bagoas in the market, a thread which I LOVE by the way, and I think she'll take a liking to him.

Glitch Plans: I definitely might have her be effected by an April Fool or two for the lulz. She will not be amused.

Other Plans: Trolling Spike, likely beating up some minions during DG's glitch and perhaps dealing with the witch herself. Other than that I have very little at this point!

caps locked love

[thepersianyouth]

I AM LOVING ILLYRIA AND BAGOAS FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS, see below in Bags's meme. XD

[tothelightshown]

THAT APRIL'S FOOLS DAY POST FOR ILLYRIA WAS A THING OF WONDER.

[brokenoptimism]

So, I think I say this ever CR post, and continue to fail somewhat miserably at accomplishing it but... Charles + Gwen CR = Want.

[killtheparty]

Hi.

Hi.

Hello.

I WANT ALL OF YOUR CR JUST ALL OF IT JUST LET ME LOVE YOU STEPHANIE LET ME LOVE YOU.

[thepersianyouth]

thepersianyouth | Bagoas

Previously: He arrived, fainted, was carried to an ice palace sitting on a lake, bonded with a scholar who favours a silver hair band placed neatly in his center parting (and no, Bagoas will never have looked closer than that). After a week or so he ventured out, and was promptly caught by a wave of bad code, was caught, tried and almost executed for regicide (royal murder) by a horde of Macedonians. He met a spunky redhead with a cause, a demi-god who shoots fire from his eyes, a blue-tinted Ruler with a capital r, and...just, lots of people (I'm getting to those backtags as well, just gimme a moment).

Then he found a door that lead back to the regular Taxon (or rather, the demi-god pulled him along and *boom*, back where he started). He spent about a week recuperating and fussing over his benefactor with the silver headband, then decided to try that Thing where he Sees the City with his Own Eyes all over again. He found a market, probably cleared out his monthly stipend in an hour (because sparkly pretties speak to him when he's feeling insecure), and met a bunch of new people, two of which ROYALLY OFFENDED HIM. LOL cultural boundaries crossing time and space. Honestly, though? I am loving his post so much. On the one hand, Illyria? He thinks Illyria is the safest, most comforting presence in the entire city simply because she acts the way he expects to be treated. He's convinced Arthur's soliciting him, that Josef is mocking him by lowering himself to a servant's rank (because he just happens to predate the French revolution and such values as liberty, brotherhood and equality by about a thousand years, sorry). Also also itty bitty Charles in pajamas :DDDDDDDD

Glitch Plans: All the appalled April Foolery shenanigans! Come at me with ideas! :D

Other Plans: PHEW! Meeting new people, shopping for a master. No, really. Just having a generous benefactor isn't enough, Bagoas knows what happens to owner-less slaves/servants without employ. He'd rather find a suitable lord and offer his services than have a slave trader kidnap him (again) and sell him to the highest bidder. Funny how control's such an important thing to a really quite submissive eunuch.

[loveawkward]

Well in truth, Josef is lowering him to that status. He's a bastard and I can't help but find it fun, I admit. I love the idea of making it worse with the April Fool's pranks and misunderstanding, such as Josef being nearby when something happens to Bagoas.

[loveawkward]

loveawkward | Josef Kostan

Previously: Previously on the Big Bang Theory... Wait, wrong show. Josef has arrived in Taxon and things have gone swimmingly. Other than his old friend, he's worked hard to alienate most he's spoken with due to adjusting poorly to not being the top of the food chain/political chain as he's used to.

Glitch Plans: None as of now, just hoping to help him adjust to the city though I look forward to using April Fools to further bring him down into the realm of acceptance.

Other Plans: Making plans to put Josef out there more, get to know others within the city and begin to establish a "home base" in this world. Open for just about anything and working to have him socialize more than he's comfortable with.

[electro_girl]

*facepalm*

I need to have Gwen meet Josef.

In which I feel like just copypastaing Glitch's meme in places

[hasaheart]

hasaheart | Wyatt friggin' Cain

Previously: Stuff not being played out but happening behind the scenes anyways: A lot of domestic stuff w/Smecker. Friendly banter-ing, being totally utterly adorable in a very non-fluffy way since that's how they roll. Plus, despite them having been a Thing for a bunch of months (but no one's counting, shh), neither one of them are likely to showcase or flaunt stuff. So. Basically, there's two people who know about them, aside from the pair of them. Yay paranoid, privacy-obsessed Law-Enforcement Types with Traumatic Pasts.

*AHEM* In-game, on-screen, whathaveyous: Holo!Taxon sucked rotten grapes. First you have to accept the fact your scientist friend with no-longer-half-a-brain goes out of his way to figure out the weird happenings, and that's fair enough. You can't keep a good guy down if he's curious as an entire litter of kittens. Then he gets snatched up by the code: cue worrying. Then, to make matters even more godawful and DNW (Do Not Want), he wakes up to find his late wife in his kitchen. All's well and good until he finds his son in the bathroom, very very dead (and I'm still leaving it up to everyone's imagination what happened to him), and Adora comes at him with first a rolling pin, then a knife. Good times.

He shoots her dead, has a bit of a breakdown when Glitch gets there, then has about a minute or two to compose himself before finding out Smecker's being hunted like an animal by multiple maniacs with big guns.

RESCUE MISSION: ENGAGE.

And anyone who thinks it's improbable that two magical Main Characters from the Outer Zone would ever be able to kick ass the way they did, much less exit stage right alive when up against the Irish Trinity of Self-Sanctified Mass-Murder, well...

I have perfectly valid arguments. Go on. Try me. XD

Then there was the whole Paul's bleeding out thing, eep! and rushing him off to the London that Is No More and Martha's old hospital (correct me if I'm wrong) for some emergency medical care.

Yeah. Epic plotline is epic and on-going. For the rest, I'm gonna do a switcharoo on the Plans below.

Other Plans: Dien Dien we need to do that Thing we've talked about. :D

All in all, Cain'll be coming out of the Haunted Holo with a lot less angst than anticipated. He can compartmentalize to his heart's content, because like Glitch said repeatedly during the gore-ier part of the Rescue Plot, 'it isn't real'. The people weren't real. They were horrendous, lifelike, carbon copies of people they once knew, but they weren't any more real than the Extras. They were impostors at best. So he didn't actually kill his wife, he didn't actually have to see his son dead at his wife's hands.

Most importantly, Paul's alive and recovering, and providing ample opportunity for focusing on someone that isn't himself. Cain's a fixer-of-things. He gets things done. Helping Paul will be at the very top of his priorities.

Plus, he's relatively unscathed. Glitch is too. It's all good.

Glitch Plans: No glitch plans for Cain this time around. Buuuut I think he'd enjoy a day at the beach. (Or two, especially if he can convince Paul to come along. They could sit under an oversized parasol and bitch about the General State of Things. It would be buckets of fun. Buckets. Buuut that's depending on how the Other Plans section moves along.)

Other than that, Cain's always available for meeting people. He may not be the friendliest guy off the bat, but he's...getting better. :D?

OH OH I FORGOT DG + WITCH

[hasaheart]

DG AS EVIL WITCH IS SOOOOO NOT ON! XD

I'm looking forward to much mind-fuckery and creeping suspicions and trying to be Pragmatic and Talk Sense into his two best friends (dammit).

[no_rose_tint]

no_rose_tint | Scott Summers

Previously: Scott got caught in mirror!Taxon, helped out and thoroughly confused/terrified Bagoas, then got unceremoniously dumped at the feet of his ex-wife. So they had coffee. Right now he's trying to act as a vaguely authority figure to baby!Charles with no real success.

Glitch Plans: Super villain meet X-Men Leader. Scott won't be able to NOT get involved in vanquishing evil.

Other Plans: Scott has stuff to finish with Charles (Cody, IM me, we can handwave some stuff if you prefer, I know you're busy). Otherwise, no current plans, been busy with app. I love CR and playing, just a bit shy, so poke me if you want to have muses collide!

[aintnoconvict]

I'll probably sneak out a Glitch post (possibly today) before horrors happen if you want to do the crystal-sample thing?

[tothelightshown]

tothelightshown | DG

Previously: DG was stuck outside holo!Taxon and, consequently, spent most of the month feeling helpless and frustrated. Which was fun. She also did her best to be there for her friends who were trapped and for Willow after her rather unpleasant canon update.

Glitch Plans: As detailed here, this month marks the return of the wicked witch of Taxon. Various horrors are already planned, but there is always room for more if you're interested.

Other Plans: Well, dealing with the aftermath of her big glitch will take up most of her time. She's definitely going to need a Willow to lean on.

... people who will be decidedly less helpful that Willow are also welcomed wholeheartedly. Make her life even more difficult! Blame her! You know you want to.

a_pretty_fire | Drusilla (AU)

Previously: Drusilla followed Angelus into holo!Taxon and spent a large part of the month in the company of her long dead mother and little sisters. She was somewhat reluctant to leave them in the end, which is something that I want to continue into this month.

Glitch Plans: Nothing, although I think I want Drusilla to catch (and accidentally kill, because, you know, it's Dru) one of the newly arrived songbirds.

Other Plans: Nothing in particular, for once. Spike needs to find out about the chip in her head and the differences between their worlds, though. Because that stuff is always fun. And she's going to sulk and miss her ghostly companions, because ... that is what Drusilla does.

allthatlife | Martha Jones

Previously: Thanks to the holo!Taxon incident, Martha ended up back in the middle of the nightmareish year that never was. She survived for a second time and she managed to keep her fear in check long enough to help various other victims, but it was still a horrible experience.

Glitch Plans: Nope. Unless someone can think of an excuse for me to get her to throw a cream pie at someone, because I'd really love to do that.

Other Plans: She'll still be dealing with the aftermath of holo!Taxon and the memories that it woke up. Anyone who wants to discuss those horrors - and the horrors that inspired them - with her would be very welcome. Bonding over angst is always nice.

[brokenoptimism]

I'd like some more Charles/Martha and Charles/Dru CR.

BB!Charles will think Martha is the coolest and be all over her with science questions and no boundaries and all the mind reading he and I can get away with.

Sometime after Charles' glitch ends he and Dru should have another chat about that chip. bb!Charles will, in all honesty, be more likely to run away from her.

[genequeen]

genequeen | Madelyne Pryor

Previously: Maddy arrived! And then she was invited to live at the mansion with Charles and at a Castle with Glitch! She's still trying to decide which is correct but may well actually end up doing both since living with her ex-husband still seems like a bad idea. No matter how accommodating he actually is. Speaking of her ex, she had coffee with Scott and didn't yell at him, even if she wanted to do that and more. She's also had a few conversations with Arthur and committed to meeting him for coffee as well.

Glitch Plans: No ideas currently!

Other Plans: Maddy still needs! There needs to be tea and cookies or something. Also, Charles is 8 and is tugging on all of Maddy's crazy over-protective mommy strings.

loves_bitch | Spike

Previously: Spike arrived! He has a conversation with Illyria and with Dru. Then he stumbled across Buffy and Gwen. He's still trying to figure out what is going on with Buffy and needs some clothes he hasn't stolen.

Glitch Plans: I haven't decided yet. I am open to suggestions.

Other Plans: Spike needs to meet up with Dru and see how she's actually doing.

[brokenoptimism]

Tea Party with bb!Charles.

[brokenoptimism]

brokenoptimism | Charles Xavier

Previously:
The Westchester Mansion became an open site available for anyone who bears the other residents no ill will. Charles attempted to make himself more available, and has been doing a bit more exploring

Then he got glitched, and he still is. bb!Charles will be around quite a bit yet.

Glitch Plans:
Charles is currently a bright and optimistic young genius who is a lot less bothered to be in a new place than he is by the freaky extras and their not-right/empty minds. He'll be a whole lot more personable and friendly (and a whole lot more naive and trusting.)

Perfect time to get some CR with the little guy. (I'll be catching up on his tags tomorrow after some sleep

Other Plans:
Fully available for plotting anything and everything else

Charles is also going to start looking for a job. He's got to keep a bit more food in the mansion if he's going to start filling it with people.

[no_rose_tint]

Anyone hurts Charles they get eye lasered. Just saying. Eye lasers.

BRRRWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOMMMM

[angry_salad]

angry_salad | ARTHUR

Previously: Arrival! Texting everyone! Coffee with Madelyne! Confusing Bagoas! HOLY FUCK A DRAGON

Glitch Plans: None yet. Want to let Arthur settle in first.

Other Plans: Trying not to spam the entire community, but Arthur's frantically running around trying to get things set up and trying to get his hands on the parts to build a PASIV, which is basically the device that allows him and the rest of the Inception cast to ~go deeper~ into everyone's dreams.

And don't think Taxon's citizens are free.

[skysung]

SOMEDAY, teaching the dragon to play D&D must happen. And I want them to meet in person sometime, so Arthur cannot hide behind his texting. XD

[smecker]

smecker | Paul Smecker

Previously: Paul did not have a very good month in March, what with his boyfriend best friend getting haunted by his murderous dead wife and he himself getting haunted by The Brothers Saintly, Free PsychoDa included. He got shot, but Glitch and Wyatt saved the day, and Martha patched him up. Yay team!

Glitch Plans: Paul is going to get a pie in the face at some point and throw a temper tantrum.

Other Plans: See: throwing temper tantrums. He's still Recuperating from being shot and will therefore be in a splendid grump and snarl like the hissy cat he is.

[imperial_long]

imperial_long | Mayland Long

Previously: Gosh, well, he died. Woops.

Glitch Plans: Long probably needs a bucket of water atop his head at some point, it would be good for him.

Other Plans: fallout with Gweeeeeeeeeeeeeen
-need to actually address Long being back and his books/rooms being gone
-he has to greet a crap ton of new people that he has missed, because he has been zoning out the last few weeks

Kitten and Briar

[skysung]

skysung | Skysong "Kitten"

Previously: I did not do as well as I would've liked with flinging Kitten into things, possibly because I just... have trouble with network posts. So location things are happening and she's meeting Josef & Willow & Glitch, and that is good. Also, Arthur interests her. I never posted her reaction to Long's death (and am considering going back and just doing a standalone comment about that), but she did not take it well at all.

Glitch Plans: I... fail at glitch plans.

Other Plans: Meeting Madelyne, possibly moving in with Buffy and Willow (since they have her room from home at their place), all the location threads I can find time for? BRING ME YOUR CR. I WANT IT ALL. /flings a dragon at people



thornandmoss | Briar Moss

Previously: Haunted holo: still backtagging things there; Briar wound up in Gyongxe, which is the setting where his PTSD is rooted. So he's a mess. I'm hoping we can clue at least a person or two (Martha?) in on just how messed up he is. Rescued Jenna from her house before she bled to death & brought her to Martha for doctoring.

Glitch Plans: WHAT ARE PLANS!?

Other Plans: Dinner with James and Ashley, please! Also must get him back in touch with Party. I chose A HOUSE for Briar from the amazing Taxon architecture tumblr. I would love if anyone wanted to come visit, either by invitation or just stumbling over the house and meeting him. He'll be hanging out in the garden an awful lot. If I could find anyone for him to spar/train with, that'd be lovely too. He's good with a staff or knives.