Before We Part (Highschool Graduation Stories) (LGBTQ Friendly) (CLOSED FOR NOW)

Started by Capone, May 23, 2017, 05:18:31 PM

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Capone

CHARACTER APPLICATIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED!
Thread topic will be updated if we are in need of more players. For now, we are pretty good.



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Congratulations, class of 2017. You have completed your first big step into a greater world. You've laughed. You've cried. You've forged ever-lasting memories. Or you've snickered at the melodramatic sappiness of the valedictorian's speech, having spent the last four years eagerly awaiting the last day you'd see some of these fools again. Some of you only moved here recently, and the friends that you cherish more than anything feel as if they're an entire world away. Many of us will be heading to College in the next three months, ready to begin the next big step in our journey. Others are sticking close to home, earning credits at the community college or attending a trade school. Others are already working, preparing for full-time careers in positions our guidance counselors seemed all too eager to steer us away from.

We have one last summer together. One last summer to ask that really cute crush out. One last summer to say the words you've always been too afraid to say. One last summer to make things right or to settle old scores. A lot can happen in those three months. Maybe you'll injure yourself, kissing that football scholarship -- and with it College -- goodbye. Perhaps all of your future dreams and visions will be interrupted by an unexpected pregnancy. Maybe you'll get so wasted you actually run over someone, or find yourself cradling the body of a friend that has succumbed to alcohol poisoning.

It's just three short months. How will you spend your summer?




What Are You Talking About?

Normally high school roleplays on E are rather anime or Buffy the Vampire Slayer in nature. There's always some kind of sci-fi or supernatural twist to it all. Recently, however, I found myself listening to a few songs that made me think of such an age with a more serious, slice-of-life, down-to-earth perspective. It encouraged me to take a one-on-one story concept I had that was designed to be a bit "raunchy teen comedy" and expand it out. Rather than just a pair of undersexed losers striving to bang as many chicks at the mall as they could, I wanted something that could tap into the seriousness, comedy, and sappiness of a John Hughes film (think The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, etc.) but perhaps also delving into the seriousness of something like Boyz n tha Hood or Rebel Without a Cause (or, probably more accurately, American Graffiti or Dazed and Confused, though I've yet to see either despite both being on my watch list). Better Luck Tomorrow would also be a good one, though a lot less criminal activity.

In other words, instead of just being a story about teenagers trying to get laid, I wanted something that could be that and perhaps a serious drama between teenagers at a tough time in their lives. One that is fragile as glass, dreams ready to be shattered by sudden and unforeseen circumstances. From the light-hearted denial that, once you split to different Colleges, your relationship is bound to end to wanting to have no regrets and even to fucking up your chances.

I don't want to craft an escapist fantasy story of "I wish high school were blah". I want something that resonates. That's nostalgic for those that are no longer teenagers and would seem relevant to those that are graduating high school themselves.




So What Sort of Players Are You Seeking?

Ideally, fairly literate players capable of writing about 3-4 paragraphs or more, depending on the necessity (sometimes all you need is two paragraphs, after all). I want well thought out characters that have goals and ambitions beyond getting laid. These will largely be middle class kids, so no one is going to be rich. There may be upper middle-class kids whose parents can buy them a car and lower middle-class kids who have two part-time jobs in order to help their parents pay the rent, but no individual character will be wealthy.

Players will need to be respectful of others at all times. There is no "who started it" should a conflict break out. Players should be able to work together and help craft background connections with each other to help make these characters more real. It's inevitable that players will be drawn to working with others that they know, and that is fine. But please do not form cliques out of character and do your best to reach out to other writers. That is part of the beauty of a group game.

Submission of character sheet is not a guarantee you will be approved. I will be reading your post history and seeing how you've interacted with others to determine how I feel about including you. Lords seeking to create female characters have a very, very high bar to clear from me as I find few such writers convincing, I'm sorry to say. As the vast majority of characters will be those who are graduating, all characters will be 18. I will accept characters at age 19 that were either held back a previous year or are an already graduated character (perhaps a sibling) coming back from College for the summer. I will also accept characters age 17 as Juniors getting ready to move on to being a senior. However, I'd prefer most of the characters be 18+.

I also wouldn't mind having a Co-GM to help keep eyes on everything.




Character Sheets

[float=right][img width=200 padding=5]image-url-here[/img][/float][b]NAME:[/b] Character Name
[b]AGE:[/b] Probably 18, but here just in case
[b]CLIQUES:[/b] What sort of cliques they fit into. Can be Athlete/Football/Baseball/etc., Cheerleader, Choir, Band Geek, Metalhead, Goth, Nerd, Honors, etc. Best left to one or two, three tops.
[b]PLANS:[/b] Where that character expects to be at the end of August or start of September. Choose University, Community College, Trade School, or Work
[b]DREAM:[/b] What their dream career is. Undecided is valid, but some may be Athlete, Actor, Model, Programmer, Game Developer, Musician, etc.
[b]CAR:[/b] List none or what sort of car they drive

[b]HOBBIES:[/b] Simple descriptions of hobbies. For example, shopping, video games, photography, guitar, etc.

[b]ABOUT:[/b] The bio that describes their personality and general history. 2-3 paragraphs should be sufficient, no more than 4.

[b]MOMENTS OF GLORY:[/b] Something positive they'll be remembered for. Intercepting the football and scoring the game winning touchdown. Streaking through the hallways while outrunning faculty. That time s/he pantsed the biggest bitch in the grade at that party and revealed her ass to the crowd. The sort of thing someone might write proudly in your senior yearbook.

[b]MOMENTS OF SHAME:[/b] More likely for the less popular kids, though even the cool kids have 'em, too. Spacing out in the outfield and getting struck by the baseball rather than making the easiest game-winning catch. Breaking your heel during the prom and falling face first into the punch bowl. Getting such a bad wedgie that your boxers tore.


Setting Details

Greenfields, USA! A typical suburban town filled with the smaller, close-together "old town" filled with sidewalk but lacking for parking, as well as the surrounding developments filled with assembly-line houses and inconveniently located far from anywhere a teenager would want to hang out. The developments are slowly "encroaching" upon farmland, though the farmers don't have much problem selling the property and retiring off the cash they get in the deal.

In the middle, almost acting as a border between old-town and the further separated new developments, is Greenfield High School. It's not too huge a school, though not to small either. With a senior class numbering 183, with 157 of those students successfully graduating. Documented teen crime is relatively low, though with so little to do in the neighborhoods without a car plenty of teens smoke, have done drugs at least once, and have spent a lot of time having intimate relations. While there have been issues of teen pregnancy, friends lost in drunk driving incidents and other such problems, there has been no real epidemic of such issues.

Those with cars usually travel to Glenn's Hill, the nearby town with the Hill Valley Mall -- pretty standard American mall but the best these kids can get -- the Green Grass Shopping Center equipped with a GameStop, Sunset Tanning Salon, Dairy Queen, Dragon Sky Chinese, Domino's Pizza, Dollar Emporium and Bobby's Billiards. There is also Warren's Warehouse, a Goodwill style outlet. Lastly is the Neon Serpent, a rave/nightclub that's 18+, but only serves alcohol to those that are 21+ -- 18-20 get a yellow neon wrist strap while those 21+ get a neon pink.

Ron Don Volante

Totally in on this. In fact I've had a storyline perfect for the whole "what are we going to do after our last high school summer is over?" Plot brewing in my head for ages.
My character and plot repository

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat about my or your characters, plots, your work or anything that interests you.

Jason Hunter

Please put me down for this one. I have a character in mind who tends to travel a lot with his parents and has finally found somewhere he belonged. Graduation now could ruin all of that as he needs to move on, starting a new life again.

la dame en noir

*curses approvingly* I love Slice of Life, I'm totally into this.
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Capone

I plan to have the character sheet template up today, as well as my two characters as examples. Glad for the interest so far!

Ron Don Volante

My character and plot repository

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to chat about my or your characters, plots, your work or anything that interests you.

Capone

Character sheets are now up. Here are my two characters as examples.

NAME: Aaron Gilbert
AGE: 18
CLIQUES: Band Geek; Pop Culture Nerd
PLANS: University
DREAM: Undecided
CAR: None

HOBBIES: Plays saxophone; reads comic books; mild cinephile; occasional gamer; street hockey

ABOUT: Aaron moved to the new school when he was around 11 or 12, and thus has a moderately positive reputation. He's not one of the cool kids, but he's a generally positive personality and hasn't really done anything aggressive to anyone else. He's a more quiet personality, and as a result some assume he's rather stand offish. He's a decent student that gets primarily A's and some B's, though he has only taken some honors courses. If anything keeps others at a distance, it's that Aaron's best friend is Benny.

Aaron has only had one girlfriend, one of the clarinet players in the band. After about seven months she ended the relationship, citing him as being too boring and needing more excitement. Ever since then Aaron has been trying to step outside of himself and be more exciting or interesting, but always feels a bit out of place. It has given him a wallflower appearance at parties. He's a bit of a romantic, but ultimately just seems to lack the ambition of others. A trait that has kept him feeling rather uncertain of his future -- including the decision to go to College.

MOMENTS OF GLORY: During the bonfire celebration of the marching band's last performance, Aaron surprised everyone when he struck a drunken Scott Hudgins -- harassing fellow bandmate Clarissa Wilkins -- in the back of the head with his saxophone case.

MOMENTS OF SHAME: That same heroic act resulted in getting beat up pretty badly by a drunken Scott Hudgins. Perhaps he'll be best remembered for having thrown up during the birthing video in health class sophomore year.




NAME: Benny Rothschild
AGE: 18
CLIQUES: Slacker; Pop Culture Geek; Metalhead
PLANS: Community College
DREAM: To be the next Wil Wheaton
CAR: 1999 Volkswagen Jetta

HOBBIES: Video games; Twitch streaming; Playing drums; Moderate cinephile; Moderate comic reader

ABOUT: Benny's family life wouldn't be so bad if the other kids didn't make fun of him for it so much. All he knows about his father is that he's "an ass-licking cock maggot", according to his mom. His mother used to be quite a drug abuser, and now works at the middle school cafeteria cooking and serving lunches. His older sister was quite promiscuous, and many of the other kids had no problem informing him of when she was having relations with their older siblings. This has left Benny with a much more antagonistic attitude than others.

Benny's journey to bang as many chicks as he can -- an often failing mission -- is largely the result of some serious feelings of inadequacy. Not that he'd ever confess. In fact, those deep-seated fears of being what everyone says drives his bad attitude and snarky personality. Aaron, however, manages to ground him somewhat. While he likes to think himself as the leader between the two, he'd be in a much darker spot had he never met the kid in middle school. In fact, it was Aaron that first suggested Benny try streaming, and as a result Benny has been able to avoid getting a real part time job as streaming gets him enough spare change to cover car expenses as well as spend time with his friend.

Though he has no real clear ambitions to speak of, Benny is going to community college. Again, largely in thanks to Aaron. "A back up plan" in case streaming doesn't work out as a profession.

MOMENTS OF GLORY: Swapping out Mrs. MacGuilly's DVD of To Kill a Mockingbird with a DVD of Busty Bodacious Babes 13 in senior English class.

MOMENTS OF SHAME: Trying to shove Rodney Kiln down the stairs, missing completely, and falling down the steps himself; getting a boner in the middle of gym class junior year

Sephiriel


Lady Sakura

Bookmarking. I have a pair of twins in mind if that is okay?

The Lovely Tsaritsa

This sounds interesting, I maybe join, if I think of good character. I never graduate from high school, I don't quite know how for imaging this though. Except, what I watch in movies.

Capone

Quote from: Lady Sakura on May 24, 2017, 05:04:15 PM
Bookmarking. I have a pair of twins in mind if that is okay?

Not a problem at all!

Thanks for the interest so far, everyone!

Quote from: lovelylilT on May 24, 2017, 07:49:04 PM
This sounds interesting, I maybe join, if I think of good character. I never graduate from high school, I don't quite know how for imaging this though. Except, what I watch in movies.

If you have questions or want to bounce ideas around, feel free to drop them here.

I forgot to include a "connections" section on the character sheet, but I figure once we have more sheets rolling in then we can add it in easily enough.

Capone

Went and updated setting detail in case it will help people better visualize their character, or just help paint ideas. The idea is typical middle-america, with enough wealth and luxury but also nothing of particular note. Not identifying a specific state so we can be a little more free, I suppose.

If folks would prefer, they can PM me character sheets rather than posting them here. That way any feedback is private rather than public.

And for some mood-setting tunes, well, one of the ones that kick-started the idea in this group setting direction was The Most Popular Girl in School, a tune by Toehider about a love triangle from all three perspectives. The whole album is pretty good, but because of that one it caused me to contextualize Daddy Issues and There's a Ghost in the Lake, both of which are a less light-hearted, more serious, more depressing story.

As always, welcome to feedback, questions, etc. that people may have.

The Lovely Tsaritsa

Quote from: Capone on May 24, 2017, 09:18:18 PM
If you have questions or want to bounce ideas around, feel free to drop them here.

I forgot to include a "connections" section on the character sheet, but I figure once we have more sheets rolling in then we can add it in easily enough.

It's maybe the silly question, I'm wondering what the normal American student wants after high school though. Especially, those not attending university. I began attending one in the sophomore year, I spoke no English though. And, I still needed attending all the regular classes, nothing special, or extra, for language. I didn't get understand so much, of what happened. I hated it, for many reasons, I quit in winter for the senior year and didn't finish. But I would like playing this. For helping knowing, what the ordinary American kids do, and think. :-)

Capone

Quote from: lovelylilT on May 26, 2017, 11:50:10 AM
It's maybe the silly question, I'm wondering what the normal American student wants after high school though. Especially, those not attending university. I began attending one in the sophomore year, I spoke no English though. And, I still needed attending all the regular classes, nothing special, or extra, for language. I didn't get understand so much, of what happened. I hated it, for many reasons, I quit in winter for the senior year and didn't finish. But I would like playing this. For helping knowing, what the ordinary American kids do, and think. :-)

In the current setting, it's mostly on the College experience. Sometimes it's less about the academics and more looking forward to partying. However, during this summer time a lot of people will be attending different universities, so friends they were used to seeing every day they're now only going to be able to see every few months. Anyone in a relationship is now at risk of splitting up. Some are going to be living with their parents still as they attend a local community College, probably working part time.

Those that take up trade schools or find other sorts of jobs usually didn't get great grades in high school and/or cannot afford the loans.

Basically there's usually a sense of melodrama as a bunch of teenagers are leaving their parents' homes for the first time, and while there's excitement about the future, there's also nervous trepidation about making the right decisions.

EDIT: Perhaps it would be more helpful to first think about the character's background. What's their home life? Do they fit in with any of the cliques or more trendy crowds? Are they often outcast or struggle to fit in with others?

To use my two characters as an example, Aaron is going to be struggling with how he feels a lot more. He'll have some regret, such as who he might have been able to ask out, who he might have been able to be friends with, and how he could have done things better. Perhaps he can course correct before he goes to university. At the same time, what's the point if, in three months, he's gone and has little to no relations with these people?

Benny, on the other hand, is largely glad to be done with high school. Largely. While he's eager to begin community College and meet new people rather than seeing the same faces that have already judged him, he secretly buries the regrets he has. He might go to parties and insist it's to score, but in truth part of him still wants that acceptance, and time is running out to get it.

Does that help?

Lyron

I'm really tempted. What level of activity is expected? At least a post a week?


M/M Players for Groups: A Registry


Music junkie here!
Love random song shares.
Anyone, any genre, any time.

FeveredDreams

Would you have a problem with an accepting a kind of punky MtF goth girl? 

I'll work on the background stuff soon.
Are you afraid of me now?

On's and Offs-  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=171318.0


The Lovely Tsaritsa

Quote from: Capone on May 26, 2017, 12:00:20 PM
In the current setting, it's mostly on the College experience. Sometimes it's less about the academics and more looking forward to partying. However, during this summer time a lot of people will be attending different universities, so friends they were used to seeing every day they're now only going to be able to see every few months. Anyone in a relationship is now at risk of splitting up. Some are going to be living with their parents still as they attend a local community College, probably working part time.

Those that take up trade schools or find other sorts of jobs usually didn't get great grades in high school and/or cannot afford the loans.

Basically there's usually a sense of melodrama as a bunch of teenagers are leaving their parents' homes for the first time, and while there's excitement about the future, there's also nervous trepidation about making the right decisions.

EDIT: Perhaps it would be more helpful to first think about the character's background. What's their home life? Do they fit in with any of the cliques or more trendy crowds? Are they often outcast or struggle to fit in with others?

To use my two characters as an example, Aaron is going to be struggling with how he feels a lot more. He'll have some regret, such as who he might have been able to ask out, who he might have been able to be friends with, and how he could have done things better. Perhaps he can course correct before he goes to university. At the same time, what's the point if, in three months, he's gone and has little to no relations with these people?

Benny, on the other hand, is largely glad to be done with high school. Largely. While he's eager to begin community College and meet new people rather than seeing the same faces that have already judged him, he secretly buries the regrets he has. He might go to parties and insist it's to score, but in truth part of him still wants that acceptance, and time is running out to get it.

Does that help?

Thank you, that's for very helpful. :-)

Capone

Quote from: Haru329 on May 26, 2017, 04:21:45 PM
I'm really tempted. What level of activity is expected? At least a post a week?

I would expect it to eventually balance out at around 1-2 posts a week per person, 1-3 max. I'm not expecting daily posts.

Quote from: FeveredDreams on May 26, 2017, 04:44:05 PM
Would you have a problem with an accepting a kind of punky MtF goth girl? 

I would not.

Sephiriel

Quote from: FeveredDreams on May 26, 2017, 04:44:05 PM
Would you have a problem with an accepting a kind of punky MtF goth girl? 

I'll work on the background stuff soon.
Woo, another goth character interest, yay! This should be hella fun.
Just submitted mine.

LordLuck

I am very interested and will be submitting my own character very soon. :)
Mourning.

Capone

Thanks again for your interest everyone! I'll be busy this weekend but will give feedback and/or approvals on any character sheets posted her or PM'ed to me.

Lady Sakura

Those characters look fantastic Jane. Can't wait to see them come to life

Sephiriel

Thanky! I am also looking forward to your twins, I love twins concept O_O

la dame en noir

I will probably submit an artist of some fashion. Either literature/writing, music, or dance. She will be a lesbian, so that'll make her stand out as well.
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