Holiday Glitch / Change of plans!

[taxonmods]

Hey Taxonians! After some late-night mumbling amongst ourselves, and after some amusing-as-all-get-out talk in group chat about glitch ideas, the original plan to do a 'past or future' glitch for the characters is being put on hold until the holiday busy-ness is past for people.
Instead, we're planning some gratuitous silliness for this holiday season: Taxon's going High School.

Starting December 15, characters will turn into silly high school versions of themselves. This does not necessarily mean 'what my character was actually like at age 14-18', it's more a 'stick them into an over-the-top American High School setting and role'. (As an example, Jason Blood's going to be turning into that gothy kid with the eyeliner and the bad poetry who tells people he worships Satan, rather than the earnest would-be knight he probably was as a young man.)

We encourage you to be a student but if you absolutely cannot think of a way that can go, faculty is an option too! Participation is optional, but we really hope everyone plays and has some wacky fun.

The glitch will go until the end of the month, returning everyone to normal in time to ring in the new year. At Taxon High, there's a holiday dance planned and attendance is mandatory...

AND NOW, DISCUSS YOUR PLANS TO INFLICT HIGH SCHOOL SHENANS ON YOUR CHARACTERS AND GIVE THEM EMBARRASSMENT FOR AGES AFTER. Yes good.

Comments

[infinitelystranger]

AW HELL YISS.

People who were in chat with me last night already heard the gist of this and a whole lot of random lulzing expanding on the gist, but for those who weren't: Sherlock is gonna have the chance to fulfill his John Hughes movie destiny being nerdy to the extreme and whiter than sour cream. He is an unpopular emo kid in the Science Olympiad who is a Redditor and plays Minecraft a bit too much and probably idolizes Richard Dawkins. Also a mouthy antisocial hedgehog who sits at the back of the class and raises his hand incessantly when he has something to offer, and disdains the educational system but wants to win at everything intellectual, leaving his transcript laden with A's and F's. I think he has a Problem with Authority and an xkcd poster. HEY! TEACHER! LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE!

Real teenaged Sherlock in sixth form is aghast at this dreadful, uncool not on nearly enough drugs Americanized version of himself, but no one asked him.

He will eat lunch with Jason. Prickly, unpopular lunch. Also his Most Likely-style Superlative in his yearbook has always turned out to be things like Most Likely To Shoot Up The School In Junior Year.

[ownlittleprison]

* Hey, if Holmes ever wants to score some illicit substances, Mick's very probably the one to go to, right?

* Cain'll see right through his faked notes excusing him from PE.

* Bagoas will happily sit back and watch him blow up the science lab. From a safe distance. With popcorn. Candied popcorn.

[skinandbone]

Aw, he's not so bad. Under that prickly, antisocial exterior, there's a pretty decent guy. Probably.

Metody likes him because Metody likes everyone, and because he values hearing a different viewpoint, even if Sherlock is possibly insane. He's probably considered asking Sherlock to tutor him in math and science, then gave up the idea on the basis that one should not knowingly walk into bear traps.

[aintnoconvict]

Ambrose wants to follow Sherlock around and study his ways. Or maybe Sherlock can be the one person to get a rise out of Ambrose's state of Perpetual Chill.

IDEK talk at me :3

[aintnoconvict]

Glitch is going to be an Erudite Stoner - minus the hippie throwback stuff - and resemble a younger Aaron Taylor-Johnson. And I have no social structure in mind for him but I think that can be worked on given his schtick.

He comes from a wealthy family, is possibly involved with chorus/choir, and can very likely make a bong out of anything. EDIT: oh and he'll be going by Ambrose. Because.

[threelivesdown]

Ooooh, ooooh! Can Selina hang out with Ambrose? I dunno, it sounds like it would be fun.

[ownlittleprison]

* Very Distant Cousins fistbump(?) and also, dude, this is why everyone thinks Mick knows where to get hold of pot et.c.

* Cain'll be watching you, pothead.

* Bagoas will be fascinated by his bong-making skills, but ultimately be put off by the marijuana vapours for no apparent reason. Boo, vague canon references, boo.

[aintnoconvict]

MORE FUN FACTS: his family's fairly conservative and he spent an obnoxious period in sophmore year reading Atlas Shrugged and spouting Objectivist cliches. Things have since changed thank God.

He likes sending random texts to people. Usually song lyrics. Sometimes horrifying things he's found on TFLN.

Hilariously a good student, used to be vying for valedictorian but he doesn't want to be boxed in by his mom's society's expectations. Ambrose is generally friendly but not overly outgoing, a good listener when he's not rambling, and he doesn't really flirt.

This icon is going to be abused a lot.

[threelivesdown]

Spike will be a nebbish poet. He will be shy and attempting to find enough courage to talk to girls about much of anything. He's likely teased, picked on and generally made fun of - possibly also taken out back and beaten up on a regular basis. He likely does well in class which doesn't help him an anyway.

Maddy is going to be a cheerleader. She's going to be super peppy happy girl. She's pretty and outgoing - does decently well in classes and seems to actually be one of those people who actually /is/ that nice. She doesn't talk about her home life much and pretty much, flat out, refuses to tell people where she lives and /never/ invites people home. I'm toying with the idea of a twin sister but I don't know how that might or might not work.

Selina, I think, will be Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club. Weird, anti-social and something of a kleptomaniac.

[ownlittleprison]

* Spike'll have a fan-of-sorts in Bagoas. The Arts must always be encouraged - especially when coming from pretty boys.

* Maddy will pose such a challenge for Mick, being a borderline trolling stalker type who can't keep his hands off a good mystery.

* Cain'll ask very nicely to get his stolen stuff back from Selina, but otherwise never say a word.

[aintnoconvict]

Ambrose will totally stick up for William/Spike, if it's needed. Peace is the way to maintaining the balance in the world, and if peace doess't work, kicking bullies in the kidneys could help.

...yeah he's going to have no idea what to do with Maddy. She may be a victim of random texting, though, just to see what happens.

[bub_snikt]

Logan is either Judd Nelson from Breakfast Club or the self-destructive metalhead who pleads for attention by doing crazy shit.

Or something else. Still figuring that part out.

[thepersianyouth]

* Mick'll gladly share the smokes with either AU!Logan. Social misfits of all variations unite! RAH RAH SOLIDARITY, or something along those laid back lines.

* Someone wants attention? Bagoas can be very attentive. And it's not like the broody/crazy loner guy can ever have enough fanboys...fangirls...fanpersons, right?

* Cain'll keep an eye on ya. And an ear or both if any version of Logan needs to vent about the shittiness of the world.

[personaldemon]

Jason is going to be DANGEROUS and SERIOUS and YOU SHOULDN'T MESS WITH HIM cuz he'll HEX YOUR CAT okay.

Yeah, he's gonna be Obligatory Goth Teen who considers himself a 'Satanist' and wears black and eyeliner and has little pentagram earrings.

And this Jason totally dyes his hair to get that streak, okay. Shh.

He is a pale creepy misfit who will jab pins into dolls and who writes horrible poetry and reads books about 'magick'.

He has just as much sense of humor as regular Jason, which is to say, almost none, and has probably managed to avoid getting beaten up mostly because while none of the jocks really BELIEVE him about the hexes or anything, come on now, they're not stupid, he's still just... a little... unsettling. (they probably take it out on Sherlock or William instead)

Your cat might still end up dead, okay. Creeper Jason.

He's got a brother who is off at Harvard despite being younger than Jason himself is, something Dad is really proud of and something Jason hates with deep jealousy.

[aintnoconvict]

You seriously need to let go of the anger, bro.

[smecker]

Paul is a clever young man who is on the fast track to success, okay, and fuck you if you get in his way. He pulls good grades, always with an eye on his GPA, and primarily is involved in the theatre club, where he rules with a catty iron fist or something.

He's gay, and makes no bones about that, but has not actually joined the LGBT club on campus. He's side-eyeing it and deciding whether or not it would look good on his college applications or not. Weighing it down to the gram.

He blasts opera from his car in the school parking lot and doesn't give a shit who hears it. He also is on the school fencing team.

He's got a soft spot for misfits, kinda, sorta, but also is like, hey, self-reliance, don't let the fuckers push you around, come on, learn to pick a locker from the inside OKAY. He can sometimes be a dick.

[aintnoconvict]

...wait, like, studying and working for grades? What is this madness, like, the A's don't just magically come to you from your mystical genius brianspace? That must suck, and you must resent the fuck out of slacker assholes who pull that shit >.>

Dig the opera, though.

[imperial_long]

Long is fifty something. He has always been fifty something. He will always be fifty something. Therefore, he is faculty, not a student.

Long teaches World Religions, and Chinese and Latin and Greek, to those overachievers or nerds who would like to take those languages. He has also been saddled with the rotating task of Assistant Guidance Counselor for this school year, and gives students appalling advice on how they need to let go of all desire, embrace enlightenment, and reject the illusory nature of all the world.

Parents just love it when Junior comes home saying he's rejecting the illusion of college.

Do not touch his tea thermos in the staff room.

[aintnoconvict]

Your padawan wishes to learn more, Master.

[tothebone]

Metody only recently convinced his parents that he should go to public school. Before that, it was hippy-dippy Montessori-style teachings with all his many siblings and cousins. The first school he went to just wasn't ready for him, but hey, maybe this one is.

He's a bright, cheerful streak of energy and has a 50/50 chance of showing up in a dress. He's a driving force in the LGBT club, and is probably involved in whatever drama/art groups will let him in, but not band, because he can't carry a tune for crap. Metody's smart, but he still got placed in remedial math and science, which burns a bit. He has a note excusing him from vigorous exercise, which never works.

He'll talk to anyone about almost anything. I'm not sure how bullies respond to him - he's got all sorts of things that make him a target, but who wants to deal with the crap they'll catch for beating up on a tiny gay kid with a heart condition? That said, he's probably been stuffed in a few lockers.

If anyone needs a posse/sidekick, let me know. I'm up for just about anything.

[aintnoconvict]

Ambrose would be fascinated because that background is way different from his (sort of: he hed to convince his parents to send him to public school rather than some snotty private academy). He's not much of an activist-type because that requires...activity, but he's well aware that his own sexuality's a moving target and will sometimes show up at meetings, sit in the back, listen vaguely, and buy whatever they're selling for fundraising this week.

He may be using said purchases to try and cover his bedroom ceiling in rainbows.

[thepersianyouth]

Everyone, meet Bagoas, Taxon High's resident social butterfly ever so slightly to the sidelines of the social hierarchy - he's co-president of the Rainbow Alliance for Queer Rights, and frequently tries to sell people cookies or rainbow pins or other brightly coloured trinkets for The Good Cause.

He's in theatre club, mostly because Smecker roped him into the whole deal with promises of pretty costumes (dresses! FLOWING SKIRTS OMG) and makeup. It's good fun, but he wonders if he wouldn't be better off dancing. Or gymnastics, that looks like fun (and just lookit all the pretty, strong-armed beauties working the...thing with the pole and the hoops and the--)

Maybe he could join cheer leading. :O BONUS!

Also, puberty is such a total bitch. He not so secretly wishes he was a girl, and will change his mind from one day to the next, and choose not to pick a gender by Wednesday.

Though polite and soft spoken, he can rip you to shreds with a few select phrases - often leaving the less eloquent high schoolers very unsure if that thing he said was a compliment or what.

[aintnoconvict]

Give me your trinkets. And your cookies. Cookies are very important.

...idk what else whoops.

[ownlittleprison]

Mick's the resident motorhead-cum-'cool kid' who skips every class but woodshop and frequently hangs out behind the school proper, smoking. He doesn't do drugs, but gives off the vibe that if there's anyone who ought to know where to score some weed (or insert any other type drug here), he's the one.

He's a total puppy dog beneath the bad boy exterior, and despite any foreseeable denting to his image, he's likely to look out for underdogs.

...he's also totally the guy to ask if you want to break into someone's locker/office/storage, but that's neither here nor there.

He's Prank Central on a good day, Suave Ladies' Broodster on a cloudy day, and he never leaves home without his sun glasses and leather jacket.

Also he is such a troll you wouldn't believe half of it. Give him half a chance and he'll run with it, all friendly-like (even if the vapid popular cliques deserve all the ridicule they can blink stupidly at). :3

[no_rose_tint]

Scott is the classic overachiever. He's a straight A student, captain of the basketball team, on the debate team, the chess team, swim team and probably would try and do more if he could actually physically manage it. He also does martial arts outside of school.

Scott was adopted as a not entirely young child and has been proving he was worth that chance ever since.

He wear tinted glasses for genuine light sensitivity, it's called keratoconus. Rose coloured glasses alleviates the pain.

He steps in against bullying and supports a lot of social awareness.

[thepersianyouth]

* As mentioned in chat, Scott will find himself the proud leader of a slightly creepy troll bad boy stalker type guy. Because Mick likes rattling cages and snapping people out of their Very Narrow Boxes.

* Bagoas will try to foist all sorts of complimentary stuff, because a) social awareness, b) anti-bullying and c) cute boys get free cookies

* Cain will bear his keratoconus in mind during PE, but not give any special favors. Wouldn't wanna single out anyone, after all, especially not a good kid.

[hasaheart]

Like Long, Cain (or 'Coach' to all y'all) is also faculty. He teaches PE, and helps the Actual!fax football coach out when he for some reason can't get to practice.

Actual!fax coach is a bit of a slacker, really, but the boys on the team don't seem to mind when Cain kicks the proverbial shit out of them on the field. Anything to win, right? No pain no gain, and so on and so forth.

Cain runs a pretty ruthless football practice, mostly because he knows the guys need to be able to take it if they ever want to win - or if they ever want to get a scholarship when their more intellectually-based grades fail.

As PE teacher, he's far less brutal, though his reputation as a no-joke drill sergeant may not help his attempts at earning the kids' trust. He generally takes pity on those kids with legitimate reasons to get out of gym class - and make no mistake, he can spot a faked note a mile away. He's looking at you, Holmes.

He's a generally calm, centred sort of guy with a dry wit and even drier banter. Widower, no kids, took up smoking (again) after Dora died.

No one had better talk about his family, or he might not be such a nice guy any more. That's off-limits.

...that said, almost nothing else is off-limits, even if he doesn't actually enjoy trying to explain why girls or boys behave in certain ways. Oh, teenage problems. That's what you get for being a good listener, or something.

And sometimes, just sometimes, he teaches home ec. Have fun with that. <3~

[skinandbone]

Metody's got a note excusing him from vigorous exercise. He tries to use it whenever he can, but really, can pretty much do whatever the other kids can. There might have been one episode of him turning white and sitting down when he had a cold and his body was already taxed, but otherwise, he's pretty much fine.

He may have come to Cain once or twice for advice, once he was sure he wouldn't be mocking him for it later. Metody could really use someone who will straight up tell him things. Long is nice, but awfully...uh...um....um....he sure is nice.

[buffy_slayer]

Buffy will be That Girl.

Blonde, cheerleader, cute as a button. tends to kick asschew bubblegum, and is somewhat annoyingly valleygirlesque (thanks to Dien :).

I figure, she makes a lot of her own clothes, so expect a mix of fashion and things like stripey tights and petticoats.

I can't figure out if she's nice or not. while it's fun to be the Bad Guy, it's also nice to get along with others :)

[genequeen]

So she's Harley but with less out and out crazy?

[apackofone]

Remus is the British kid. He lives on a small farm property, was raised pagan, comes across as vaguely hippy like and is not outing himself as gay because he does not need the shit he figures he will cop from that.

Pondering giving him some horrible illness to replicate the lycanthropy. It was always a metaphor for HIV/AIDS in the books...

[buffy_slayer]

Right. change of plans.

Buffy will be heading more towards the Mean Girls end. Cheerleader, rich family, makes perfectly passable grades in school (minimum effort applied), is her parents' Sweet Little Girl Who Can Do No Wrong.

Is also a party-goer/thrower and thusly a drinker/smoker/toker. Has likely made out with a large number of people, and doesn't really give a shit if people know this. Not a virgin, and she's gleefully bisexual.

I'm willing to have her be a Bad Guy here. She's supremely confident that she's going to make it through high school at the top of the food chain, and that when she's done with college, she'll go to work at some PR firm and make a killing.

She has a posse of fellow cheerleaders and hangers-on; they are largely interchangeable and will mostly serve as background/errand runners.

Has likely dated the captain of the football team, because that is How Things Work.

Interactions with your characters? Varied :)

[aintnoconvict]

Quasi-antagonistic but tolerant Because Of Reasons? Maybe friends from elementary school who chose different paths? idk idk, let's see where texting goes :3

[threelivesdown]

Hey, all, does anyone mind if I put up a new post for a 'big basketball game'? I talked to Jemi (Scott being all basketball captain) and Buffy and Maddy can have their cheer duel or whatever.

Let me know!