YaYakuza MegaMix: V9

[Yayakuza]

Track One
Matthew-James Monoghan

Another Brick in the Wall (Parts I-III)

"When it comes on it's like a light without a lighter. You can't tell what caused it and you can't turn it off. It just...burns until it dies."

A troubled youth with a mean streak and a lot of emotional baggage, MJ is an alt-rocker with an ear for funk and a taste for the party. Despite a sullen first year and an ongoing battle with depression, MJ is friendly and laid-back to anyone who hasn't convinced him to be anything else. Aesthetically he's a punk, but at heart he's just a kid who has made a lot of mistakes and who wants nothing more than to put it all behind him and be a better person. Unfortunately, he's garnered a reputation as something of a delinquent, and the mental maladies that caused the crime and violence of his youth still plague him. A relationship with MJ is one fraught with his self-pity and mood swings, and constantly in danger of falling apart when he inevitably blows up at you with the abruptness and potency of a shotgun. His life has caused him to erect a wall around his heart, blocking off access to most if not all. If you can get past all that, however, MJ is fiercely loyal and doting almost to the point of clinginess.

Key Points:

• Generally unapproachable. He's got the face and style of a thug, and his hobbies seem to reflect that.

• Not to say he isn't attractive. He has dreamy bedroom eyes and rugged scars, it's just that most are scared before they're attracted.

• Very openly alternative without much care for who that may offend. He decorated himself with anti-authority slogans and pushes back against dress code regulations about as much as he can without getting suspended.

• Was a depressed loner in Freshman year then radically shifted into an extroverted rebel. The switch-up was quite jarring from the outside looking in.

• Has gotten into very public, very rough arguments before. Never anything physical, though he's seemed very ready to go there at times.

• Plays a solo music act in local bars and clubs called The Vivisection. Is open to adding members and turning it into a band, but is very particular about his vision for the music itself.

• Habitual smoker and gambler. Known to play cards with whoever is willing, usually for keeps.

• Involved in high-level art classes and is very passionate about painting. Possible common ground?

• Refuses to associate with people who openly buy into heavily reactionary ideologies and will aggressively grill anyone close to him who he suspects of harboring reactionary beliefs. Those arguments I mentioned before? Yeah, those were because of this.

• Has undiagnosed Intermittent Explosive Disorder. It's better than it was, but there's still the ever-present chance that MJ will just randomly fly off the handle.

• Despite his unequivocal support for queer folk, MJ cares very much about being perceived as masculine. His time in juvie and the people inside really did a number on him, and he associates being seen as effeminate with being seen as weak.

• This is an obvious contradiction with his radical political beliefs.

• Speaking of, he's a firebrand socialist and will respond to any capitalist apologetics with intense argumentation.

• Has serious emotional regulatory problems. He's prone to both under and overreacting at inopportune times.

• Deeply insecure about his future. Don't ask him about tomorrow, he's living for today.

• Heterosexual but perpetually single during his tenure at Red Rock.

My Ideas:

• Definitely at least one straight up antagonistic relationship. MJ is abrasive and willing to speak up against people he disagrees with, quite aggressively at that. Preferably a few of these.

• Other kids in the alternative scene who find MJ more agreeable than most. The lefter you are, the better. Basically a few minor acquaintances/hallway friends. Nothing too deep.

• This is the real fun stuff. Most relationships with MJ should be unspoken and implicit. People he's had short conversations with, who've seen his public displays, who admire his art, etc. Anyone who he's had an effect on that isn't willing to express that. Could range from simple bad boy crushes to annoyance to on-principal hate. Anything you want, as long as the two aren't actually regularly speaking.

• A loooooot of folks who've written him off. This is effectively where the NPC student body falls.

Excited to collaborate with you all! Can't wait to get my boy rocking and rolling!!!

[Dr Adjective]

Remember when I said I wasn’t doing these threads until I have my third and fourth profiles finalised? I lied I love hitting up newcomers whose ideas look tailor made to match mine actually.

So I will actually keep Mercy and LK ideas to a minimum since they’re the not-confirmed ones whose energies are still a little in flux. Luckily they’re also probably in the realm of thinking he’s a bit of a scary asshole and not engaging. Might be something to Mercy being a bit of an unoriginal poser musically speaking though, I dunno.

Now the other two. Yeah I’m linking music too we ball.

Heather Klein
You call this man perpetually single yet our friendly local anarcho-communist exists. Curious. But actually yeah I don’t know if I see them having anything seriously lasting, but they should definitely have non-zero hookups in their past unless his taste is more conventional I guess. Either way they have a lot of common ground on politics and music, so there’s gotta be a bit of rapport there. Possible collabs for The Vivisection with Calluna Vulgaris and/or Finest in Niflhel? He may have opinions on her vibe-switch in senior year into trying to reach out to moderate classmates and build some kind of solidarity when she spent the last three years smugly and antagonistically predicting things would get exactly as bad as they did and castigating The Libs for being asleep at the wheel.

And Hope Hynes
Under other circumstances maybe she’d also fall in the latter two categories of having little to do with him, but she’s complicated. Hope’s the kind of idiot to be five foot nothing with an obvious disability and still stand up to him when he gets aggro, because she’s sure that everyone being a bystander is how we get into so many messes. Ironically she probably actually agrees with him on a lot of principles, Hope’s not particularly politically conscious but while she was raised in a conservative household, she took mostly positive messages from her Catholic upbringing and likes the version of Jesus who said to be nice and share and kick grifters out of the temple. Her parents voted Canon, she feels extremely uncomfortable about it. Feels like a tragedy of two people who probably ought to kind of respect each other getting off on entirely the wrong foot and never getting that chance? She does probably secretly admire his art though.

[Cicada]

Actually never mind, I cannae ignore a new relationship tracking thread. I don't have everything up characters wise on my tracker (2 whole ass kids missing, actually), I can give you some thoughts for the ones who are established!

First off, the three without anything I can see for a close connection (won't be put into writing on my own tracker, this is just as a general note of where things likely stand so you can feel out the vibes at them in your own heads):
Mona - Doesn't really care either way, no overlapping social circles. She generally avoided trying to socialize with kids at school except close friends for the last two years anyways.

Clarissa - Intimidated, generally dislikes talking politics at all times especially with people she barely knows, no overlapping social circles.

Bell - More socdem/demsoc and not very good at articulating their political beliefs so there's probably some mild annoyance on their end from the 'I know I don't really agree with you but I couldn't really tell you why' energy, no overlapping social circles regardless.

Now for my kids that might have some real interactions with our boy MJ:

[+] Ray

Theoretical anarchist, practical hide in a corner and do nothing soft boy. Ray doesn't even talk the talk save for being able to talk theory on demand and being a ride-or-die vegan.

He and MJ might have a complicated relationship. See the above, for starters, but Ray is put together and difficult to alienate (on the surface) so MJ cutting at him and or even blowing up on him a few times wouldn't explicitly kill things between them, Ray can bounce back from that kind of thing (on the surface). On the other other hand Ray is very openly effeminate and queer to the point of drawing SFW yaoi/yuri in public and pulling out a feminine voice on a semi-regular basis. MJs need to project masculinity as a self-defense mechanism might not like that. They are probably not too close overall but definitely are on speaking terms and aware of whats happening to each other in their lives is my take. Ray also loves attending local music shows so he is likewise a fan and supporter of The Vivisection.

[+] Ingrid Ivy

Talented artist of the 'I can draw a whole crowd in detail after looking at them for a few seconds' caliber (this is an exaggeration). The only place their social circles overlap would be in art classes, but because art matters so much to both of them I imagine they'd be drawn to each other to some degree.

The things that would matter besides art connection: Ivy is left in the socdem/demsoc generic blob flavor and only engages to the extent you would expect an intelligent young Gen Z woman to do so, so not quite reactionary but verging on it by the standard MJ holds others to. Ivy's got the poker face and observational skills to likely be able to weather MJs episodes and inconsistency in moods without too much psychic damage to herself.

So I think in the context of their shared classes they probably get along and respect each other highly as artists. I won't front MJ seems like the sort of man who would be Ivy's type so she'd probably have a very well concealed crush/draw him on the regular when nobody is looking, etc.