The Many Types of School Meme, nabbed from bakerstreet (with slight alterations)

[veebox]

THE (EVERYTHING) SCHOOL MEME

HOW TO PLAY:
1) Post a comment with your character's name and fandom in the header.
2) Include any preferences or scenarios you'd particularly be interested in exploring.
3) Optional: Include a few starting comments so people responding have something to play off of!
4) Tag around, and get some god damn schooling.
5) Warn if your thread has triggering content! Smut is of course allowed.
6) Use RNG, 1-7 for Role, then 1-12 for School.

The Role.
I. TEACHER You're here to impart your knowledge and wisdom, whatever form that might take.
II. STUDENT An attendee of the school.
III. PRINCIPAL You're in charge of this madhouse. It's going to ruin your reputation, your funding, and your sanity.
IV. ADMINISTRATION/STAFF Secretary? Nurse? Janitor? You're one of the people who keep the school running.
V. ALUMNI You were once a part of this school. Now you're just visiting. Brings back memories, doesn't it?
VI. PARENTS Concerned for your child, or do you just want to dump 'em and get rid of 'em?
VII. ADVISOR Well, you're the babysitter. Congratulations; now you have a squad of students to take care of. Gotta make sure they don't get drunk, hook up, or just spend all night sitting around and crying for their parents.

The School.
I. MILITARY SCHOOL Are you a troublemaker, or is this your family's dream for you? One way or another, you've made it to military school. Be prepared for a rigid schedule, strict appearance guidelines, and a lot of practice standing extremely still.
II. DANCE ACADEMY Prepare to get worked to the bone. After all, there are hundreds of dancers-to-be, and only a handful of slots to make it into the company. You'll be constantly competing, constantly dancing, and constantly working to show yourself above the rest of the crowd.
III. ART/MUSIC SCHOOL At an easel or at a tablet, with an instrument or with your voice, you're here to learn how to pull your creative impulse from inside you and show it to everyone.
IV. MAGIC SCHOOL Whether Hogwarts or an old-school Mage-craft academy, or a necromancer's school or an informal training ground in witchcraft, time for you to learn how to harness that natural magical ability of yours. Better hope you don't run into any disasters along the way.
V. SUPERHERO SCHOOL Sky High? Xavier's Institute for the Gifted? Or are you training in quiet and in secret, honing your supernatural abilities for the purposes of some dark government, some hidden purpose? Better hope you're ready to cop with a roommate who has no control of their powers. And remember to think quietly; we have a lot of psychics in this building.
VI. BOARDING SCHOOL European or American, this is old-school, with bricks and ivy and, possibly, only one gender allowed. Is it family tradition, or did your parents just want to get you the hell out of the house?
VII. 1950S AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL Break out those poodle skirts and let's go to the sock hop! Maybe go on a date with the cutest boy in school. If he has a car, he could take you to the drive-in.
VIII. 1980S AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL Most any teen movie stereotype you can think of originated here, in the '80s. Maybe Breakfast Club-style up a detention, or Ferris Bueller a day off. Maybe just try to survive in the crowd of Freaks and Geeks.
IX. ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE Out on the prairie, in the middle of nowhere. Every single student in town can fit in one room, and they're all taught by one teacher. Have fun mingling with your range of classmates; you're probably stuck with them for the rest of your life.
X. MONASTERY Education is rare, in days like this. If you want to learn, you have to enter a house of God. Perhaps you've been sent here to keep out of trouble, or as part of a tithe. Perhaps you want to dedicate your life to the pursuit of the divine. In the meantime, the monks or nuns will take their time to educate you, on how to read and write, about history and philosophy.
XI. SPACE SCHOOL Welcome to Starfleet Academy. Or a space academy a la Ender's Game. Or its equivalent. Here, you'll learn about navigation, and physics, and combat against aliens. Xenolinguistics. Survival. Best of luck!
XII. OTHER Anything you can think of!

Comments

IDK WHERE ELSE TO PUT THIS SO HERE YOU GO

[ghostwhisperer]

[ Norman always hated family vacations. He still does, actually, he's just old enough to have an opinion that's actually taken into consideration, as opposed to just being written off as eleven-year-old whining. It's the one thing his family actually does as a family anymore, and, as such, it's not something he can get out of easily, regardless of his status as an adult — technically. Courtney refuses to treat him like a real adult until he's old enough to drink liquor, but, honestly, she'll probably never really treat him like a real adult. He'll always be her kid brother, and he's not sure if that's comforting or annoying. Probably a little of both.

He just wonders when she's going to move out of the house. He's actually a little surprised she graduated on time, but she still hasn't found anything substantial — or anyone. He expected her to move in with one of her boyfriends — he can't keep track of them anymore — but none of them are rich enough or willing to move out of whatever mancave they share with their friends. Or parents. Her boyfriends have been all over the place in terms of living arrangements. She's been trying to date older men, at least as far as Norman can tell, but as much as she likes to tell herself she is, she really isn't very lucky with the guys. At least five of them have turned out to be gay, and, honestly, Norman could have told her that.

He figured it out around junior high, that he wasn't like other kids, aside from the whole talking to ghosts thing. That was a given. It probably should've given him more prepubescent angst, but he found it was actually kind of empowering. He already knew he was different, so it's not like this was anything new. I mean, it was, but dealing with it wasn't. He'd already had his fair share of bullying from the ghosts thing, but once he saved the whole town from being destroyed by a vengeful witch, they all pretty much got over it. He was a hero. Or, at least, he liked to think he was. Everyone kind of forgot about it in the months after the incident with Agatha, but the bullying had at least stopped. The town accepted him, and that felt great. He didn't feel like a freak walking down the street to school, he just felt like a normal kid with a not-so-normal talent.

So it wasn't really that surprising when he realized that not only was he the awkward kid who could talk to ghosts, he was the awkward gay kid who could talk to ghosts. It just kind of... made sense. There wasn't really anything to do but accept it and move on. He came out first to his grandma, completely by accident, because, well, he'd just gotten flustered and she was asking him if there was anyone he liked and yeah there was but it wasn't a girl and... that's pretty much how it happened. Of course, he panicked and made her promise not to tell anyone, but who was she going to tell? They laughed about that and any residual awkwardness faded away.

He came out to Neil next, which was a little overwhelming because once Neil got excited about something, it was hard to calm him down — that, and for once his brother actually got excited with him. Norman honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Mitch that excited about anything his brother found exciting (probably because he didn't actually see Mitch that often, but still). It was nice to at least have someone to look up to who knew what he was going through firsthand, though he really wished they hadn't made such a big deal over it.

Courtney was next, and oddly the most simple. He just sort of blurted it out one day when she was driving him to school and she just rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever, like I didn't already know," even though she definitely didn't. Her gaydar might have gotten a little better after her failed attempt to court Mitch, but Norman still wouldn't trust it even in a gay bar. It was relieving to hear those words, though. He hadn't exactly expected her to react differently, he just might have been a little apprehensive that she'd freak out on him. He was really glad she didn't. She even gave him a hug, which was surprising, but not unwelcome.

His parents were the hardest ones to tell. He kept telling himself they'd been through this before, with the ghost thing, and they accepted him, they loved him, but something in the back of his mind was still afraid they'd reject him. That this time would be different, that talking to ghosts would be more acceptable than being gay. It was easier with his grandma being right next to him the whole time, an ominous force to be reconciled with if her son dared to spew any sort of close-minded bullshit at her favorite grandson.

He didn't, and there was more crying and hugging than talking. Norman out of sheer relief that his parents did still love him no matter what, and his parents out of happiness that he even decided to tell them. They were proud of him, their brave little man. They knew it couldn't have been an easy decision to come out so soon, but they were so, so happy he did. Their love and support was really all he wanted, and he already had it, he just needed to reaffirm it.

His mom did get a little overbearing with all the LGBT support — wearing rainbow pins and buying a flag to hang outside their house, going to rallies and parades with signs reading "MY SON IS GAY AND I'M PROUD" — but Norman did appreciate her enthusiasm. Most of the time. She wasn't afraid to push him in the right direction of a cute boy, and, as embarrassing as it was, sometimes it was nice. That didn't help Norman from being any awkward than he already was, though. Words just didn't come naturally to him, especially around people he found attractive. He tended to shut down and mumble, desperately trying to find a way out of such an awkward situation, yet still wishing he could find the right things to say just to make his mom happy. And himself, too, he was just never very good at taking risks. There were always a million things he could've said but never did, and it always ended the same way with strangers: wishing he could hide his head in the sand and die.

It was different with Dipper, though. Dipper didn't feel like just another stranger his age his mom felt the need to shove in his direction. She didn't actually get the chance, either, considering the first time they met was in the forest behind the Mystery Shack, and all the other times he gravitated toward Dipper without any help. He never could quite place it, what he found so fascinating and attractive about the other boy, but that was one week he'd never forget.

His parents had dragged him on yet another road trip across country for their annual family vacation, and he had a feeling this one was going to be one of the worst because somehow Courtney had convinced their parents to bring along one of her friends — she'd wanted to bring her boyfriend, but their dad had absolutely refused. There was no chance in hell, so she'd had to compromise by dragging along the friend Norman usually only heard on the phone. It was weird seeing her with a face instead of just a voice.

Their final destination before heading back home was a place called Gravity Falls, apparently chosen with Norman in mind, because it was supposedly rich with all sorts of paranormal and/or supernatural history. This actually piqued Norman's interest until he found himself in the biggest tourist trap ever to exist. His parents kept going on about how cool everything was — "oh Norman look at this, isn't it neat?" — but it was all so phony it almost made him angry. For once he actually agreed with his sister and her friend: the Mystery Shack was totally lame. Norman really just wanted to take a walk in the woods and see if he could find any real mysteries, so he snuck out of the shack and left his parents to their souvenirs.

That's where he ran into Dipper.

Or, more accurately, that's where Dipper ran into him.

There were a surprising amount of ghosts in the forest, though Norman remained unsurprised: when you've been able to talk to ghosts your whole life you know the #1 most common place of death is the forest — horror movies were at least right about one thing. He'd almost forgotten it's kind of weird to be having a one-sided conversation with yourself in the middle of the woods when a boy with a pine tree hat and his identical sweater-wearing twin startled him out of his conversation with a poor fellow who'd apparently been mauled to death by a giant puma. Norman thought that was kind of an odd way to die, even for a ghost.

He hadn't expected to meet kids his age out there, but, as luck would have it, he did. And one of them was... well, really cute. Technically they were both the same level of cute, since they were identical and all, but obviously Norman was only interested in the boy. Not that he said anything about it. Ever. He spent a whole week in Gravity Falls and not once said anything about any kind of feelings he may or may not have had for Dipper Pines. They didn't even get off on the best of feet, but that was mostly due to Dipper's suspicion of Norman to be either a gnome or some other sort of bizarre supernatural creature not to be trusted, and Norman's general lack of people skills. Mabel was immediately overwhelming with her exuberant personality and Dipper's trust issues only made things worse at first.

But after a few days and an adventure involving Norman's ghostwhispering ability, Dipper warmed up to him, only by that point it was almost time for Norman to leave. They only got a couple more days together before it was back in the car and back on the road, back to boring Blithe Hollow where the only interesting thing that could ever happen already happened. Can't beat an angry witch trying to destroy your whole town. Gravity Falls had so much more to offer, but it just wasn't possible to let Norman stay, not even for the rest of the summer. He didn't even get Dipper's cell phone number, or even a hug, just an awkward moment where there might have been a hug, but instead there was just an awkward hand gesture before Norman ducked into the car to hide inside his hoodie until they got back home.

He still beats himself up about that to this day.

He's a freshman in college and he's still beating himself up about not getting Dipper Pines' cell phone number when he was fourteen. That was four years ago, but not a day passes that he doesn't offhandedly think about the week he spent in Gravity Falls. It changed his life, really, helped him more fully embrace his paranormal ability and the effect it has on his life. It brought him closer to Dipper, brought him closer to himself, and when he turned sixteen, he started a four-year long project to modify his body to represent his life. His parents had been a little bit wary of the idea at first, but he convinced them by starting small, starting simple, with some of the most important words of advice anyone had ever given him: "don't let fear change who you are." Inked across his collarbone in cursive script, something even his grandma could be proud of.

Part of the inspiration to have it done was her passing onto the afterlife. Norman didn't think ghosts could just disappear like that, without any help, but that's how it happened. One day, she was just gone, without any explanation. It took him a few days to get over it, and that's when he decided. Part of her would live on with him, with her words inked into his skin.

Next came the piercings, one for each of the most important people in his life. A barbell in his left ear for his parents, a cuff below that for Courtney, a plug in his right earlobe for Neil and, the one he always handwaves with "someone special," the one for Dipper — a closure ring on the cartilage inside his ear.

(Unbeknownst to many, he also got a tattoo of the Big Dipper on his right shoulder blade, another symbol of the boy he's been in love with for the past four years. It's sad, really, and he can't say he hasn't tried to get over him or convince himself into thinking it's nothing, but he finds it's all rather pointless. He drinks and goes to parties and hooks up with guys that could almost be Dipper but aren't Dipper — if he learned anything about Dipper in that one week, it's that he'd never be caught dead at a party where your only intention is to hook up with someone.)

The rest of his tattoos were a long and painful process, especially the cobweb on his throat, but they were worth it. He feels a sense of accomplishment and pride walking onto campus in his short sleeve T-shirt, a few of his ghosts peeking through the bottom of his right sleeve. The backs of his hands have eyes, one open, one closed, the words "EVIL" and "DEAD" inked into the back of his fingers. Agatha's tree is clearly visible on his left arm, as are most of the zombies on his left. He feels powerful, almost untouchable.

That is, until he walks into freshman seminar.

His canvas bag drops to the floor with a thud. Did he drop it? He's not really sure what just happened. Does it even matter? Why are you thinking about the bag, Norman? Who cares about the bag.

Dipper Pines is in your freshman seminar.

And the only thing Norman seems capable of at the moment is staring, frozen in place, mouth gaping like a fish. ]