High School Revenge (WIP) (Chapter 3 OUT NOW, Mar 24, 2024)

What, it’s not like it was on purpose and Regina George survived :yum:

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Yes, but the notification requirements would still apply whether the last name was changed to the mother’s maiden name or one the father’s doesn’t matter one bit where that’s concerned. And public anouncement requirements would render any such name changes worthless for stealth purposes. If dad objects there may even be a public court hearing, which would make it even easier to find on the internet.
Plus Olivia or Dylan might actually know mom’s maiden name and birth dad certainly would, again making it impossible for the mc to fly under his radar while executing their revenge, which likely means lots of unwelcome scrutiny. Particularly since as a principal dad is likely well known in the community and knows the bullies’ parents if he lets it slip his son/daughter is coming back to town we might as well just splatter it all over social media and take out a giant front-page ad in the local newspaper. It would considerably increase the difficulty of any revenge plots, particularly ones involving seduction and breaking their hearts.

Going through the process yourself when you’re 18 is actually a lot easier and unlike with name changes for minors those records are confidential and only available on a need to know basis (i.e. with a warrant) almost anywhere in the world.

I like the player getting to choose their surname, but it likely cannot be the mother’s maiden name, if only because birth dad would know, which likely means the whole town would know when we’re back in town given the contact that guy has with the teaching staff and parents.
As for what the surname should be I hope that the mc connects with at least one of their new step-dads (hopefully the last one, provided mom is serious about staying with him for a much longer time then most of the others) so he’d feel comfortable taking their name.

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While court cases can go into public record, who would be just as crazy as us to actually look that up? We would have a way bigger concern on our hands if someone was keeping that deep of tabs on us.

…Actually that sounds like a really interesting twist. :smile:

I’m not opposed to changing our name when we’re 18, I was just suggesting an alternate if it was decided that the MC would be under 18. I agree it would be waaay more convenient, especially where cost isn’t an issue on our MC’s part, but as far as we know our dad may not even care. He may actually be of help to us. But it could certainly add a whole new obstacle if he held a grudge against us or something.

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Ummm…then again I did eventually go into law school. :sweat_smile: Also Olivia does seem to have been a fair bit obsessed with the mc, so she might be crazy enough and she certainly seems smart enough.

But if the name change is just to the mother’s maiden name then it is guaranteed that birth dad knows and particularly if he doesn’t care he also probably wouldn’t care to keep it a secret and would just confirm it to anyone who might ask. Most likely a teacher taking roll-call sometime. I’ve already noted that if he does care it might actually be worse as then we’re going to have to deal with either is unwelcome scrutiny or let him in on our plans. Neither of which my mc would want to deal with.
If it’s mom’s maiden name there’s probably also a halfway decent chance Dylan or Olivia might know it too.

Such as being a homophobe with a gay son?
Anyway dad doesn’t seem to be a target so he’d just be an unnecessary obstacle making things that are likely to be difficult enough as they are even more complicated for little added enjoyment to the gameplay most likely as his involvement would be likely to severely restricts what the mc can and cannot do both with their wealth and otherwise.

All I can picture is Olivia as that Overly Obsessed Girlfriend.

I’m down for that :sunglasses:

Then there is only one option: We make dad a target.

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This was a wonderfully fun demo. I can’t wait to see more!

I wonder if there will be a story line of forgiveness … or maybe coming back as the cool rich kid means that nobody recognizes you, which means you can humiliate THEM.

Being rich means that you are Insta-famous, naturally. Do we have thousands of followers following our every move on IG? Are we impossibly attractive for our age thanks to mommy’s money? Do we have hella daddy issues!?

I’m very interested to see the next chapter! Will our real dad take us in?! I want retribution for being humiliated! How DARE everyone make a fool out of me!!!

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In my former jurisdiction, and even in my state, no such announcements are necessary. The only such issue would be dad objecting, but as it is a matter involving a juvenile, such matters are held privately and sealed. In that case, only birth father would know. This is assuming he didn’t terminate or have his rights as a parent terminated. Based on his lack of presence in his child’s life I’m guessing he does not have legal rights, therefore mcs mother has full parental rights which includes all name changes. Basing this off American federal law, my state law, and even my tribal law.

Getting a minor a name change is far simpler where I am compared to wherever that convoluted thing came from. Just sign documents and have notarized if single custody parent.

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@Sucof: I tried to make pretty weird reflexes since they would be easier to spot by the other characters. I was thinking of using them as a thing that you do when you fail in a task that you assigned for yourself and make it possible for the other characters to guess who you are."

Huh. I guess that makes pretty much sense now…

I think that the relationship with the father will be more important in the next chapters since we’ll need him to let us do our plans. I might add a relationship stat with him."

Ooooo, you totally should! I think it’d be really cute if MC tried to get his/her parents back together and, if you have a ‘high’ relationship with him, they should or something :3 <3

:smiley:

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love the story so far!! felt actual rage when i read what happened on the dreaded day, and i’m excited to return richer and better than ever.

quick question about ROs: are all the ROs only the people we’re trying to get revenge on, or are there some ROs that we haven’t met before (and y’know, don’t hate)?

also i’m excited to see how dad #1 will react upon our return. sorta hoping we can try and manipulate him and tell him we’ll help him get back together with mother if he helps/does’t get involved at all. :innocent:

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I can’t wait for the revenge why will the revenge be

I think our character should be a person that don’t trust anyone and hates peole

Then, according to this website you live in a minority of US states. Most of them require publication of a notice, which means that anybody who knows what to look for can find it easily. At least since the advent of internet. Name changes published before digital archives of either newspapers or the courts came into vogue require a fair bit more due diligence, I’ll grant you.

You’ll also notice a slim majority of US States explicitly require notification of the general public, which means changing the mc’s name in any of those would be as good as worthless for the purpose of this game, as anybody can look it up.

I guess we’re “lucky”, well for the purposes of this game at least, in that the US seems to be way behind the EU countries in explicitly requiring digital publication as most have not updated their laws to change newspapers to the internet. Mom had better not change the mc’s name in France though.

Even if his rights are otherwise terminated many of your states and all of the EU countries require he be notified nonetheless, he can’t object to it in that case but he must be notified nonetheless.
I suppose if the mc gets lucky he tosses the notice in the shredder and that’s that, but all of this will be moot anyway if the mc is a minor who has to actually live with him, again.
I further suppose rich people can game the system provided they own property in multiple US states and/or countries by filing in the most lenient jurisdiction, but before the mc is 18 anything would be up to mom’s sole discretion and far more complicated to boot.

Not particularly. Lots of rich people who prefer (relative) anonymity out there and this mc would have good cause to be one, considering their past and the fact that even as a rich kid their life seems to be mostly studying and activities with their mom. Not everybody, even among young people, wants or needs social media accounts.

Now this, this I do hope is a possibility make mom’s personal trainer actually work for his money and so on, but if anything I envision this mc would do so because they’re insecure as heck and never want to go back or remain the way they were. The stunning appearance may be nothing more then another mask to put on a palatable facade to world and plaster over lots of deep-seated issues.
though in the case of mine it may also be something he really does love, but like everything it’s likely complicated.

Hopefully not, as they’d likely want to control the mc’s life if that happens and if the mc is younger then 18 they actually get to do so with all sorts of inconvenient rules and scrutiny too.

Just hope you’ll keep one where the mc fidgets with their jewelry, necklace or otherwise, whenever they’re stressed or nervous. As I still think it could be a really cute habit, particularly now that the mc can afford lots of nice jewelry.

Well the only reaction of his my mc would want to test is if he recognizes them at all anymore. :grin:

Yep, which is why I’d like for the mc to be able to live on his own and decide for themselves when and how to spend money, what car they drive and when they do so, how they dress or how late they get home. (well with only mom to worry about of course, but no need to get dad involved in the mc’s life or habits).

Would be nice if there were some of those around, particularly if they are the boyfriend or girlfriend of one of the bullies at that start of all of it. You know steal the boy, or steal the girl for those who prefer it that way.

In summary I really hope it will be up to the personal choice of the mc if they want to move in and try to re-connect with their birth father or try to close that chapter of their life for good.

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I’d honestly rather prefer someone who has nothing to do with any of them. Never liked the whole steal someone else’s SO. Maybe someone we knew as kids but never really interacted with, maybe another victim of the bully’s or another person who was the new kid before us.

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Normally I’m not a fan of it either, but if they’re really cute and nice and it’ll break one of our former tormentor’s hearts it’d be good revenge, just as good as having to seduce them and break their hearts ourselves, without actually needing to let them “sample the goods”, so to speak.

Now this would certainly be intriguing as well and it is likely a healthier course of action in the long-run for the mc to boot.

Both of those are probably too far removed from his schemes for my mc to be interested in them, but if there’s gonna be a suitably large cast of ro’s I don’t see why not. If the number of ro’s is small or limited then I’d definitely prefer someone who actually was either a victim of some of the same bullies too, or their boyfriend/girlfriend.
I mean if the mc really wanted somebody completely unrelated to anything in their former life much better to simply prowl the sorts of parties they can actually go to as a rich kid, I would venture.

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For my MC they would want to separate their love life from their revenge. They want someone who would be there for them long term and who they can actually trust besides their mom. Also it would be hard for my MC to trust the SO of the bully unless their relationship is bordering on a break up. And If they started a romance with Olivia or Dylan it’s possible they may be able to forgive them if their reason is good enough and move on from there.

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I do understand, but like I said for me I really do think that if my mc really wanted to fall in love with somebody, which implies he’d be comfortable to open himself up to people he might fancy like that, which he really isn’t he would be better served just looking for somebody in the world he inhabits now, i.e. among the other rich kids and fellow beneficiaries of the Trump tax cut on private jets, or people close to them, instead of going back all the way to the site of his old life. But one of the points of the game may be that the mc at the moment is simply incapable of embracing a forward-facing, future-focused mindset like that even if they wanted to.

I feel like the mc currently isn’t really even capable of that sort of romantic love until they get over their hangups. Even if he does hook up with a fellow victim I think that in the beginning my mc would just be using them as a tool to pick their brain for information on the bullies’ current lives and tactics and other local info. At first that is, something else may gradually develop, particularly if the person in question is sincere and dedicated enough to gradually wear down his considerable “defenses” but it isn’t likely to come easy.

Any romantic shows the mc puts on, particularly near the beginning are likely to be just that, acting and faking it. The way I see it the mc may or may not be a master at faking love, but apart from possibly his mom and if he’s lucky at least one of his step-dads he hasn’t experienced the real deal in a very long time and likely a grand total of never when it comes to romantic love.

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Really great concept and seems like it really well written. A few gripes is that some of the dialogue seems a bit stilted and the title definitely feels like having some negative connatations but really eager to see this to completion. Looking forward to the next chapter.

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MC: you to Olivia
Julies Ceaser: et tu Brutus

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Go big or go home, eh? xD

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Can’t wait until we get our revenge! :laughing: I̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶I̶ ̶u̶s̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶y̶ ̶n̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶r̶c̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶f̶a̶l̶l̶e̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶o̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶p̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶i̶s̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶d̶a̶r̶k̶ ̶s̶i̶d̶e̶
Btw, does anyone have any revenge songs for their MC’s?
I think Fighter by Christina Aguilera fits my MC perfectly :ok_hand:

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