So now I wear the scars of your bitter disease

PLAYER

Name: Venus

Age: 29

Contact: needsmountaindewred on Plurk, thegreatpapyrus#3208 on Discord (prefer you message here!)

Permission Post: here!

Reserve: N/A


CHARACTER

Name: Richard "Rich" Goranski.

True Name: No matter what names he's been called or called himself before, now he will always be Rich. The family name has been abandoned.

Canon: Be More Chill (the Broadway musical, not the book of the same name. Canon point is post-play, a few weeks after being hospitalized, but still in recovery.)

Age: 17

History: Wiki link here, though it's very basic. Below is a written history:

Prior to the events of the musical, Rich Goranski had been unknown in every sense of the word. His mother is absent, his brother is suggested to be away at college, and as for his father, it seems that Rich takes every effort to ensure he is never in his father’s sight (“Fucking dads, right? He usually passes out by 9…”). Rich’s father is abusive and an alcoholic, so Rich spends most of his time mainly trying to survive.

Perhaps if school had been a reprieve, Rich wouldn't have become a walking primetime TV 'very special episode', but unfortunately, school is also terrible for Rich. He had been a complete nobody, so low on the social ladder that even known losers had no idea he event went to their high school. During freshman year, Rich had been invisible at best and an easy target for mockery at worst. He suffers from clumsiness and can barely make it down the hallway without tripping. He has a lisp that likely gained him negative attention from his peers. His attempts to make friends had been seen as “gross” and he was so awkward he usually ended up sexting any girl that paid attention to him. Due to this, he had become extremely hopeless and depressed... and even suicidal, which made him the perfect test subject for a SQUIP.

Though they're black market experimental tech (sold primarily to gullible kids in the back of a Payless), a sort of digital life coach known as a SQUIP (Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor) has been developed by Japanese engineers and sold overseas. The SQUIP takes the form of a small pill, the size and shape of a Wintergreen Tic Tac, which can be ingested. As long as it's taken with Mountain Dew (for reasons unexplained and unknown even to the people selling it), once the pill dissolves in one's stomach, the nanomachine inside will pass through the bloodstream and up to the brain, where it will implant. The host of a SQUIP is able to then communicate with a projection of their SQUIP. The AI takes the form of whatever the user considers appealing. Prior versions have included Keanu Reeves, Princess Leia, Zack from Saved by the Bell, a sexy anime cat girl, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Rich's own SQUIP takes the form of his mother, and quickly settles in to assist Rich in his goals: to be noticed and to be seen as someone stronger than all those who Rich has spent his childhood under the heel of.

Shortly after this, Rich’s life, from the outside, turns right around. When seen in the musical, he has become second in command to the most popular boy in school, Jake Dillinger. Despite being only about 5’5”, he’s intimidating to most of the students (and teachers), as he makes up for his short stature with a very muscular frame and an intimidating presence to match. He is seen as cool, confident, wild, and fun to kids who are popular. For kids who are unfortunate enough to be on the lower rungs of the social ladder, he’s a bully and a menace, mocking two of the resident nerds, Michael Mell and Jeremy Heere, with jokes about their apparent gayness. He writes “BOYF” and “RIENDS” on their backpacks so when put together, the school can laugh at them. He shouts “Gay!” and draws attention to Jeremy when Jeremy attempts to sign up for the school’s drama production. He even corners Jeremy in the bathroom, physically attacking him if verbal mockery doesn't provide enough of a release for Rich's anger issues.

One day, though, Jeremy asks enough questions of Rich’s bizarre motivations for attacking him that Rich’s behaviour only becomes more bizarre. After spasming against a wall for several moments and making poor Jeremy worry he’s wandered into a revival of The Exorcist, Rich corners Jeremy, his lisp sneaking out in his desperation to explain to Jeremy both his past unlikability and his current status as a popular kid. Directed by the SQUIP, Rich suggests to Jeremy that the other teen could become just as cool as Rich if he pays him the $600 needed for Rich to go to his source and buy Jeremy a SQUIP. It’s unclear if Rich actually wanted to do this, due to Rich having the SQUIP installed for close to two years at this point and the SQUIP itself having other motivations besides making its user popular, but it doesn’t really matter, because unfortunately, Jeremy goes to the mall and purchases a SQUIP himself.

After the weekend, Jeremy is confronted by Rich about the money Jeremy was supposed to give him for the purchase. Jeremy’s SQUIP has been activated and has been planning for a few days, so it quickly intervenes, syncing up with Rich’s SQUIP. Due to this, Rich’s desires become synced with Jeremy’s, and they form a “digital bond” that results in Rich immediately treating Jeremy as a close friend, inviting him over to play video games, and even confiding in him about the trouble Rich is having at home. Popular kids instantly take note of this bizarre friendship, and Jeremy’s popularity skyrockets. Rich seems happy, and everything seems to be going well at the school.

A few weeks later, Jake organizes a Halloween party, as his parents are away (for an indeterminate amount of time) and kids have to get wild somehow. Rich attends, and appears to be his usual hyperactive self for a while, but things quickly get out of hand. Unknown to the rest of the students, Rich’s SQUIP has become more demanding with its requests to Rich to sell SQUIPs to other students. The SQUIP wants to have everyone connected to a “social network” in order to eliminate human unpredictability and sync all desires together, leading to a hivemind in which “everyone can be happy.” Rich’s SQUIP has a new plan to reach this goal, and has been coaxing Rich to stockpile hundreds of SQUIPs, trying to force Rich into dosing everyone at the Halloween party.

Rich, thankfully, realizes this is a bad idea. He fights with his SQUIP throughout the night, his SQUIP puppeting his body to make him look like a happy, wild partygoer. Rich occasionally breaks through, but his pleas to his peers for the Mountain Dew Red needed for a SQUIP's deactivation come off as unhinged ramblings from someone either extremely drunk or high. Eventually, Rich has no choice. Realizing that he cannot save himself, he attempts to save everyone else from the pain he's gone through under the SQUIP's control. The only way he can think of to save everyone is to get them away from the party... by going to the garage, dousing his surroundings in gasoline, and lighting a match.

Rich is rushed to the hospital and is absent for almost the entire remainder of the play. The student body’s rumour mill runs wild with gossip regarding the house fire at the party and the physical and mental state of Rich himself. The tragedy backfires somewhat by leaving the student populace lost, worried, and scared... in other words, the perfect targets for an upgrade. Jeremy's SQUIP picks up the plan and directs Jeremy into finishing what Rich started by spiking a prop drink for the school play with dozens of SQUIPs.

Thankfully, Jeremy and the SQUIP fail. Michael manages to figure out what is happening to the other students and gets some Mountain Dew Red to Jeremy, Thankfully, it only takes one drop of the soda to deactivate every SQUIP synced together. When Jeremy is taken to hospital to be checked on after what is labelled by adults as a bad drug trip, Jeremy meets Rich there. Rich is in a full body cast, but he’s alive, and he is free of the “shiny, happy hivemind.” He vows that from now on, everyone will get to meet the real him, including himself, as he realizes he is bisexual and quickly develops a crush on Michael.

The play ends rather ambiguously, and it is not clear what struggles any of the characters may have to deal with, but it seems hopeful that Rich and Jeremy will become genuine friends with their peers, able to listen to their own voices instead of the voices in their head that aim to bring them down.


Powers/Abilities: Rich is mainly an average human, though his strength has been amplified somewhat due to his SQUIP’s training regimen for him. Rich is very physically fit, able to take and deliver quite a few punches. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any formal training in any fighting style.

Rich, being a high school student, doesn’t have many skills aside from occasional hobbies, but he does have a talent for the guitar. He does have extra knowledge in regards to mental health, if only because therapy was required after his suicide attempt. His own SQUIP would say he had developed better communication and socialization thanks to its influence, but Rich tends to ignore most of its advice now, so only the basics tend to remain.


Inventory: One hospital gown (with sweatpants acquired from a visiting friend), one balloon shaped like a unicorn, and one brown teddy bear, which is partially wrapped in felt gauze and is holding a plush heart that reads "Get Well Soon!"


Job History: Rich is currently a high school student and hasn't been able to have a good enough reputation to hold down a part time job. Perhaps one could say he had a job as an elevated drug dealer, selling Japanese supercomputers to nerdy teens. In this position, he was responsible for collecting inventory from a dealer at the mall, scouting out potentially flawed individuals (outcasts, loners, people with love troubles, etc). Eventually, he would have to corner these people alone, making sure not to be overheard by anyone, and he'd give them a sales pitch for the SQUIP (which somehow involves intense hip thrusting and ab flexing, but don't worry, it's not gay to sell dudes on drugs like this). It's certainly not much of a work history, but the cash gave him some ability to take care of himself while his father was neglecting him, and the sales spiels gave him some extra confidence.


Suppressions: With his SQUIP once meticulously controlling every aspect of his being, freedom has left Rich very confused. He was forbidden from being himself at a crucial time of self-discovery, so now, he's left as a scared kid trying to fight back and become who he wants to be. Due to this, parts of his personality that he isn't used to showing are still heavily suppressed, even without Rich intending to do so. He hides behind joking confidence and bravado, which does the job of hiding his deeper flaws from casual acquaintances.

For those that get to know Rich better, he does become more vulnerable the longer he knows someone. He isn't exactly shy about the trauma he's gone through, and though he usually obscures it slightly with morbid humour, he doesn't succeed at hiding how his past screwed him up, and how (in his eyes) he selfishly screwed his life up further.

The one thing Rich keeps close to his chest is just how scared he is of figuring himself out. Though he's openly bisexual, his struggles with figuring his identity out further and unpacking the toxic masculinity he was brought up in are near impossible for him to voice, and he usually falls back on that crass sexist rhetoric to explain how he feels he should be. He speaks about his mental health, but he's terrified of understanding what diagnoses he may have, and is ignorant of flaws he blames himself for that may be symptoms of his mental illness. He wants to know who he is, but only the parts that he can deem simply 'good.' Anything more morally grey or complex has to go. This struggle with autonomy, purpose, and character is something he suppresses so badly that he honestly is unaware how much he's covering up.


Greatest Fear: His body and mind no longer being his own. Control and suppression. An inability to be free.


Greatest Desire: To be himself, no matter who that may turn out to be once he shakes off the influence of his SQUIP.


Greatest Regret: Allowing his fear to dictate him. Not coming out before he took the SQUIP. Allowing harm to come to people he wished he could be friends with.


Sample: TDM here. Please ignore the potential CRAU part, but aside from some dialogue, most of Rich's responses are accurate to his post-canon self.

Please reply here if you have comments, crit, or concerns with Rich! IT's hard to play a character who's gone through so many changes, so if you want to talk about navigating that, let me know!