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taxonooc2013-07-30 04:07 pm
trojanhorst) wrote in taxonooc2013-07-30 04:07 pm
Entry tags:
Not Quite Hamsterball Material
Hi, Taxon! I meant to make this post yesterday morning, but I've been languishing with The Headache since then -- but since I cried off work sick today, I'll take a minute to put it up now, and I hope you'll all take some time to chime in. This isn't meant to upstage the official check-in post below, so please answer that one before you tackle this one. <3
One thing that's been weighing on my mind recently, is how do other characters actually feel about the Taxon experience? I think we kind of blanketly assume "okay, well, no one likes being imprisoned, duh," but this isn't just any prison, and the reality is that people are more complicated and have more things going on in their psyches than that, and there are plenty of reasons why individual Taxonians might have more complicated feelings about their present circumstances than that. Do they actually all hate it here? Are there some aspects they like?
So, in hopes of each of us learning more about what other people are exploring with their characters, the following little meme:
How does your character feel about being in Taxon --
1) In general, do they like it here?
2) Do they want to stay here? Do they want to leave? Do they have mixed feelings? Do they not much care either way?
3) Is there any reason they might want to stay in Taxon? Is there any reason they might not want to go home to their own reality? Is there anything or anyone they would miss from Taxon that might make them hesitant to leave if they had the chance?
4) Does it bother them that Taxon isn't like their home reality?
5) Is there anything or anyone they particularly miss from their home reality? (Is it pizza? Be honest, admit it, it's probably pizza. Just kidding.)
6) Do they wish Taxon had more fully sentient citizens? Does it particularly bother them that there aren't many people to talk to? Are they lonely or lacking the ability to socialize with large numbers of people, or is this something that doesn't much impact their life/happiness? Or do they prefer it this way?
7) Do they like living in this particular environment (climate/urbanity-wise)? Would they be happier if Taxon looked/felt like someplace else, or does this not much matter to them?
8) How do they feel about the Taxonian economy? Do they enjoy the financial security of Taxon's job/income system? Do they dislike the limitations of the sorts of jobs they are forced to take and/or the boredom inherent in doing them, or do they not much mind?
9) Are they interested in solving The Mystery of Taxon? Are they only interested if they need to solve it in order to escape? Or do they not particularly care what the fuck Taxon is? Do they think there's any point in trying to solve it, or trying to escape?
10) What's their current guess/theory about what Taxon is?
These questions are very freeform -- I put a lot of leading thoughts in there to try and draw out some of the complexities of the questions, but feel free to answer as briefly or as lengthily as you want, or to talk about any other aspect I didn't cover.
There are no right or wrong answers -- whether 95% of all characters have the same exact answers, or every single character feels entirely different, both of those are awesome in the end because it means we have a unified group of people (awesome) or a group of people who are bound to get frustrated with each other and bicker like hell (also awesome). I just figure we should talk publicly sometimes about what's in our characters' heads, not just what they've been up to -- so I thought, what the heck, I'll ask.
TL;DR HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER LIKE BEING IN TAXON, GO
One thing that's been weighing on my mind recently, is how do other characters actually feel about the Taxon experience? I think we kind of blanketly assume "okay, well, no one likes being imprisoned, duh," but this isn't just any prison, and the reality is that people are more complicated and have more things going on in their psyches than that, and there are plenty of reasons why individual Taxonians might have more complicated feelings about their present circumstances than that. Do they actually all hate it here? Are there some aspects they like?
So, in hopes of each of us learning more about what other people are exploring with their characters, the following little meme:
How does your character feel about being in Taxon --
1) In general, do they like it here?
2) Do they want to stay here? Do they want to leave? Do they have mixed feelings? Do they not much care either way?
3) Is there any reason they might want to stay in Taxon? Is there any reason they might not want to go home to their own reality? Is there anything or anyone they would miss from Taxon that might make them hesitant to leave if they had the chance?
4) Does it bother them that Taxon isn't like their home reality?
5) Is there anything or anyone they particularly miss from their home reality? (Is it pizza? Be honest, admit it, it's probably pizza. Just kidding.)
6) Do they wish Taxon had more fully sentient citizens? Does it particularly bother them that there aren't many people to talk to? Are they lonely or lacking the ability to socialize with large numbers of people, or is this something that doesn't much impact their life/happiness? Or do they prefer it this way?
7) Do they like living in this particular environment (climate/urbanity-wise)? Would they be happier if Taxon looked/felt like someplace else, or does this not much matter to them?
8) How do they feel about the Taxonian economy? Do they enjoy the financial security of Taxon's job/income system? Do they dislike the limitations of the sorts of jobs they are forced to take and/or the boredom inherent in doing them, or do they not much mind?
9) Are they interested in solving The Mystery of Taxon? Are they only interested if they need to solve it in order to escape? Or do they not particularly care what the fuck Taxon is? Do they think there's any point in trying to solve it, or trying to escape?
10) What's their current guess/theory about what Taxon is?
These questions are very freeform -- I put a lot of leading thoughts in there to try and draw out some of the complexities of the questions, but feel free to answer as briefly or as lengthily as you want, or to talk about any other aspect I didn't cover.
There are no right or wrong answers -- whether 95% of all characters have the same exact answers, or every single character feels entirely different, both of those are awesome in the end because it means we have a unified group of people (awesome) or a group of people who are bound to get frustrated with each other and bicker like hell (also awesome). I just figure we should talk publicly sometimes about what's in our characters' heads, not just what they've been up to -- so I thought, what the heck, I'll ask.
TL;DR HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER LIKE BEING IN TAXON, GO
no subject
1) In general, do they like it here?
Short answer: objectively, whether or not he liked it depended on the
time ofday and present company.Long answer: because of Glitch's unique memory issues, Taxon was normal, it was the most familiar environment he'd ever experienced, and the only place he felt he had continuity. Three and a half annuals of clear recall vs. forty-something annuals of mostly shattered uncertainty? Yeah, if not for Cain he might've started thinking the aliens planted the O.Z. in his head and he was some sort of prototype advanced Extra or some nonsense like that.
Since he didn't go down that road he felt he had a duty to try and protect the city, to maybe be an advocate for the other prisoners but stick an optimist in a hopeless situation long enough and he stops seeing the point. Basically the town fucked him up but good.
2) Do they want to stay here? Do they want to leave? Do they have mixed feelings? Do they not much care either way?
IHe never ever thought he'd ever get out so vanishing would come as something of a shock (if he remembers, mmmhm). This was a mix of resignation and futility on his part, plus a weird sort of egotism that made him think he was ~extra special~.Did he want to leave? Of course, even if the place was, more or less, home. The only way he'd have wanted it to go would have been on the condition that EVERYBODY got to go home (if they wanted) or if they were doomed/from a crapsack world they could tag along with other people. Glitch figured he'd be able to bargain for this somehow, he'd already struck one deal with the aliens and he'd provided them with endless entertainment over the years, they owed him.
Sorry buddy.
3) Is there any reason they might want to stay in Taxon? Is there any reason they might not want to go home to their own reality? Is there anything or anyone they would miss from Taxon that might make them hesitant to leave if they had the chance?
He'd've stayed for his friends and his family and all that, of course, but it's so complicated because of the "I'm either never leaving or I'm going to be the Great Savior" thing. He'd lost literally DOZENS of people, people he'd been ridiculously close to (a not!daughter/kindred spirit, a handful of not!nieces, close friends, people he'd have followed to the crack of doom, Azkadellia, DG) and expected every day to lose more. He existed in a sort of flux between clinging hard to those he cared about and pre-emptively mourning them--
Shit I accidentally turned him into the fucking Tenth Dcotor kill me now.
ANYWAY. His frets were similar to Cain's re: taking several bajillion steps backward once he got home. Even though he'd gotten MORE depressed and PTSD'd than he was before, it's about different things. The brain mess, the identity shenanigans, the lack of self-worth, that had mostly all been sorted out and peace had been made. Plus despite how much knowing and losing all these people hurts he'd rather know they'd been out there, and they'd found each other and valued and comforted and disagreed with and laughed and loved and all that.
(He is DREADFULLY WORRIED about what would happen to Bagoas and Paul shush when they go home and yes he does firmly believe that people go home thanks a lot Fitz. He is also DREADFULLY WORRIED that he and Cain won't bond the same back home because there is so much shit that will be going on and thet're going to forget Taxon because again thanks a lot Fitz. Interestingly he is DREADFULLY RELIEVED by that last thing re: DG because that would be awkward.)
What is this answer. What. YES HE WOULD/WILL MISS PEOPLE AND THINGS YES HE DOES HAVE MASSIVE RESERVATIONS LONELY GOD I'M SORRY I'M SO SORRY.
4) Does it bother them that Taxon isn't like their home reality?
For all intents and purposes Taxon was his home reality. The only thing that still occasionally bugged was the one sun and also the ocean. Otherwise he'd long gone totally native.
5) Is there anything or anyone they particularly miss from their home reality? (Is it pizza? Be honest, admit it, it's probably pizza. Just kidding.)
See above, though hilariously his second to last IC action in game was to mope about DG. He missed thinking of home as home instead of some abstract pretty place with waterfalls and monkeybats and endless virgin woodlands and jackbooted thugs who wanted to beat the crap out of him.
6) Do they wish Taxon had more fully sentient citizens? Does it particularly bother them that there aren't many people to talk to? Are they lonely or lacking the ability to socialize with large numbers of people, or is this something that doesn't much impact their life/happiness? Or do they prefer it this way?
The Extras were REALLY, REALLY lifeless (and had only existed for a couple months) when he arrived in the city, so by the end he basically thought of them as people and they were totally normal. They also made for good punching material when he got redline frustrated.
What freaked him out was the lack of "real" people since he remembered a time when there were dozens, scores, upwards of a hundred actual folks running around town. The sharp decline had him paranoidly thinking The End Was Nigh for a while but then he even got used to/resigned to that. He was a gregarious sort but the "they're-all-going-to-leave-me-behind" thing meant he stopped trying to get too close for a long time.
7) Do they like living in this particular environment (climate/urbanity-wise)? Would they be happier if Taxon looked/felt like someplace else, or does this not much matter to them?
It took adapting to since he was a hobo in the wilderness for so long but again, it had all become normal to him, even the sudden and drastic alterations to the landscape.
8) How do they feel about the Taxonian economy? Do they enjoy the financial security of Taxon's job/income system? Do they dislike the limitations of the sorts of jobs they are forced to take and/or the boredom inherent in doing them, or do they not much mind?
He was around when the economy was introduced and remembered when everything everywhere was FREE and if you could imagine it you could just have it. Good times. That said he loved his shop, the very first proactive thing he did in town was get it established. It was a combination of business and place where he could figure himself out, test his limits, invent wacky things, work with DG and Kaylee and later Bagoas and really some of his happiest memories in town was of time spent at Langwe and Gales's.
Getting paid for it so he could go out and buy awesome coats was just a bonus. His personal view of the economy was that you could find something you love, do it, and the aliens would reward you, which was the kindest thing they ever did. He never considered the service industry jobs people tended to fall into to be very imaginative and sort of Judged You if that's where you immediately went (unless it was the Dodgy Jammer, he loved that place too).
9) Are they interested in solving The Mystery of Taxon? Are they only interested if they need to solve it in order to escape? Or do they not particularly care what the fuck Taxon is? Do they think there's any point in trying to solve it, or trying to escape?
In fits and starts, mostly in the interests of finding a bargaining chip to get everyone home. There was also scientific curiosity, after a fashion, because he recognized heavy duty way-beyond-anything-he-understood-as-possible when he saw it.
And Glitch was a guy who made a gizmo that stopped celestial bodies from moving so yeah.
10) What's their current guess/theory about what Taxon is?
A scientific/social experiment-cum-entertainment venue for a group of highly advanced but highly childish alien beings. Mostly ebcause they more or less told him this yes he's from a time in-game where the OOC/IC knowledge barrier was non-existant. He was also told that he was very inspirational, gave good pathos, and had made aliens "cry" when he got grievously injured. He also knew that they record everything and broadcast it.
tl;dr Glitch was a hot mess and Had To Go.