Outside the Dorms; Tuesday [ 04/17 ].

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it would take a lot more than the threat of losing funding to allow Britta Perry to be able to take this sort of fascist regime to take over, even if only for a week. She regarded the uniforms with complete disgust, seeing them as nothing more than symbols of conformity and the loss of individuality for the mindless monotony demanded by the Man to ensure that no one had their own brain, personality, or even fashion sense. This was not going to stand. Oh, no. Not while Britta Perry had anything to say about it.

The smoke bomb had been a failure, but Britta was sure that this protest would be more effective...and more important. Uniforms! Ha!

Needless to say, Britta was not wearing her uniform. In fact, her uniforms were piled up in front of her on the ground.

"We will not be confined to the strict and starchy guidelines of uniformity!" she called from the front of the dorms. "We are not clones, but human beings! We are not factory made cogs to fit into your machine, but people! Down with your pre-fabricated attempts to make us all mindless blank slates to serve the one percent! This is America, not Communist China! This is the Land of the Free, not the Land of 50-50 Cotton-Poly blend! I reject your pathetic attempts to make us conform and substitute it with anarchy of my own! Behold!" She held up her lighter in triumph. "This is what I have to think about your fascist dress code!"

And this was where she was supposed to ignite the lighter and set the flame to the uniforms and send them up in a glorious blaze of revolution, but her thumb seemed unable to spark the flint. "Damn it!" she said, giving the lighter a shake and trying it again, to no avail. "Why isn't it working?"


[[ stop her. please. ]]

Comments

[dollpocalypse]

Now, Topher was up in his room on the third floor, trying to play a video game. And Topher was very distracted by the screaming.

So he opened his window.

"Can you not?" he called.

[[there was a very heated internal battle over whether i should send topher or my school board NPC. i think i chose wisely, but who knows?]]

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Britta narrowed her eyes, glaring up into the sun so she couldn't even really see who was shouting down at her. Whoever it was, he obviously was just another lemming.

"Can I not what?" she challenged up to the sky. "Can I not stand here and accept the suppression of my rights as a person? Can I not put my foot down and stand up for justice? Can I not reject these glorified straight jackets of conformity? Oh, sure, they're just uniforms. Just uniforms now. But what happens when these uniforms start turning into the shackles of oppression? Will we next be known by numbers rather than our names? Will we become faceless rodents on the hamster wheel of mediocrity and slavery? CAN YOU NOT STAND UP AND BE A MAN AND CLAIM THE FREEDOM THAT IS RIGHTFULLY YOURS FROM THE GRASPS OF THE MAN TRYING TO HOLD US DOWN? Shake off the shackles of suppression! Shrug off the shroud of subjection! Throw off your uniform and toss it out the window! Say no to assent, and yes to discontent!"

[dollpocalypse]

"This is worse than the yelling before!" Topher called back. "And I like the uniforms!"

[notfrizzy.livejournal.com]

"Excuse me, young lady," said the normally upbeat and perky Lizzi, whose typical smile had most decidedly been turned upside down, "but what do you think you're doing?"

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"You would!" Britta, Queen of Comebacks, yelled back.

And swore a little more over her lighter, still refusing to ignite.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"I'm standing up for liberty!" Britta announced, narrowing her eyes at the woman who had, in part, put the school into fascist lockdown. "I'm standing up against the conformity of youth! I'm standing up against man-made pre-fabricated materials that aren't even comfortable, but whose production probably flattened out a gajillion acres of lush jungle forest. The moment we start to dictate what citizens must wear or say or do is the moment we give into fascism!"

Again, Britta felt this rousing speech was the perfect time to set the uniforms on fire, but the lighter would still not cooperate, so she gave them a far less dramatic sort-of kick.

[dollpocalypse]

"They're comfy and look like my regular clothes!" Topher agreed. "And I think you're out of lighter fluid!"

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Your regular clothes suck and are probably made by children in sweatshops for barely a penny a day!" Britta informed him, and then she looked down at her lighter. "And I am not. I just filled it. You don't have another lighter or anything, do you?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Nope," Topher called back, thoroughly unsympathetically. "Try T&C."

And with that, his window shut.

Hmm. Maybe he'd work on some soundproofing or something.

[notfrizzy.livejournal.com]

"That's very inspiring of you," Lizzi assured her, "but we're really going to need you to stop that."

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

The sound of a window shutting filled Britta with a moment of sad disappointment. She considered still yelling up at the window, considered taking a break from protesting to get a new lighter, and then considered the pile of uniforms again.

She took a deep breath.

"ARE WE PEOPLE," she began again, "OR ARE WE SHEEP?...."

So on.

So forth.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Need me to stop?" Britta asked. "Need? Why? Can't handle someone standing up for their own individuality? Need? Can't handle a wrench thrown into the cogs of your machine? A turd in the punchbowl can't just climb out on its own, you have to fish it out. And I'd like to see you try. But you know what? Somehow, the turd always comes back. There will always be turds in the punchbowl of submission. ALWAYS!"

[notfrizzy.livejournal.com]

"Now, now," Lizzi said, with a finger-waggle in Britta's direction. "That sort of language is uncalled for." Because Britta was eight. "And more importantly, young lady, think of the affect your actions are having on the other students here. Do you think your classmates would like to see their school shut down because of your demonstration?"

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"They should," Britta informed the woman importantly, pulling herself up with a dignified (well, sort of) lift of her chin. "Any school that gets shut down just because a student tries to stand up for her rights and individuality is a school that should be shut down. Anyone who tries to shut down an entire school based on the actions of one individual is a fascist. Are you a fascist? Do you like crushing a whole population under your thumb just because one person rose up against starched collars and pleated skirts?"

[notfrizzy.livejournal.com]

"No, I'd like to maintain order," Lizzi said, "and prevent Mr. and Mrs. Howell from coming across anything that would jeopardize that, Miss... what did you say your name was?"

[wasthecuteone]

"DON'T DO THAT!" Petra yelled out a window from all the way up on the fifth floor. "They're polyester! They won't burn! They'll melt! And we'll have a giant mess on the lawn!"

God, Britta. You were the worst.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

For a brief second, Britta thought about making up a completely fake name. Or possibly using someone else's. But then she remembered that if she wanted to be a renowned anarchist some day, it never hurt to get her name out even on paltry thing like this.

"Perry," she said defiantly. "Britta Perry. And if Mr. and Mrs. Howell decide to close down the school because of me, then they're fascists, too."

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"And so that MESS ON THE LAWN," Britta shouted back, "will forever symbolize the day we refused to become mindless clones in the face of conformity!"

But the uniforms would continue to fail to burn thanks to her still faulty lighter. "What a piece of junk," she murmured to herself.

[notfrizzy.livejournal.com]

"I hope that helps you sleep at night, Miss Perry," Lizzi chirped. "Now please go inside."

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Nope." Britta stomped both her feet into place for extra emphasis on her immoveable. "I'm not going anywhere until this blight on freedom is completely eradicated in the cleansing fire of revolution!"

Considering the faulty lighter, that was...probably going to be a really long time.

[wasthecuteone]

"WE ALL HATE THE UNIFORMS, OKAY?" Petra yelled down. She hadn't heard Topher. "Just don't RUIN THE LAWN! We're gonna have to look at that after these people leave!"

Geez, Britta, you needed a lighter to light a fire? Petra could do that with two sticks.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Hand Britta two sticks, and someone was probably going to wind up with an eye poked out.

She took the other shout into consideration, looking down at the pile, and narrowing her eyes thoughtfully at it. "I'LL BE CAREFUL, OKAY?"

Geez. It was grass; not like it wouldn't grow back.

[notfrizzy.livejournal.com]

"Miss Perry," Lizzi said patiently, "your lighter isn't working."

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"It's not working yet," Britta said, after a few more desperate tried, and a few choice expletives muttered under her breath.

[wasthecuteone]

Not if it was covered in melted plastic, it wouldn't.

Petra switched tactics. "I CAN FIX IT, OKAY? I can tailor your uniform so it looks decent! I'll--I'll fucking sew an anarchy symbol into the lining! It can be a subtle rebellion! Trust me, I GET IT, I just really would rather you didn't set the lawn on fire!"