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THE MURDERGAME SHIPPING MEME V1.1

This is probably too straight to accurately represent most murdergame ships but like. We take what the stock image industry gives us.

So, you've been put into a murder mystery game where you're going to have to fight for your life! Every week another body or two, surrounded by strangers- Wait, you knew that? You actually kind of have your bearings? Well fine, here's a different problem - see that person over there? Yeah, that one. Wouldn't it be a really terrible idea if you fell in love with them right now?

This is a meme for that sometimes most fun of bad choices in murdergames: shipping. Leave a toplevel with info that might be in your character's profile (recommended, so everyone knows what your character is About), maybe a murdergame title (optional but encouraged), and any extra info you want to give along with whatever your shipping prefs are, then either pick from the prompts below or wing it and go tag around! Profile code and some prefs options below.

SETTINGS (note: absolutely not an exhaustive list)
1. Shopping Mall - Live your teen movie romance dreams! Sure, someone seems to get mcfucking murdered in the Starbucks every week, but that doesn't mean you can't go on a coffee date, right?
2. School - Live the... other party of your teen movie romance dreams! It's a little hard to be romantic when the only place for a dinner date is the cafeteria, but in fairness you are also constantly overcoming bigger problems than that here.
3. Generic Facility - Looking for romance? Try scenic Sealed-Off Building Full of Rooms! It's themed in some way - science, underwater - but the concept is the same. Surely there's some kind of bar or inexplicable amusement park in here you could use for a romantic evening, right?
4. Spooky Mansion - You know what they say about going on dates to scary movies, right? What if the scary movie was uh. The whole thing. The whole place. Where you live. And die, sometimes.
5. Romance Zone - I mean hey, maybe you're stuck somewhere literally built for both romance and murder! Pleasure and pain. Life and death. Smoochin' and stabbin'.
6. Other - If you can block off an area, you can put a murdergame there. Get creative!

PROMPTS (ship scenarios)
1. Confession (Fun) - Ah, the start of any good murdergame relationship. Maybe you've been dancing around each other for a week or two, maybe over the course of one thread and a lot of screaming your players decided you're gonna kiss. Time to figure out what these feelings mean while you're, you know. Here. Can be combined with some of the other prompts too, if you like.
2. Dating??? - Where do you even go to date in a murdergame? Is it even worth trying to hang onto this kind of normalcy when either of you could die any day now? It's probably fine.
2b. Dating+ - Can be combined with any other prompt, but somehow, some way, one of you is taking the lead in this date and getting a bunch of emotions in... because you're deathflagging. You're deathflagging hard.
3. Afterparty - Hey, that was a rough trial! Whatever it was! But you're both alive, so... better try to comfort each other, huh? Enjoy whatever kind of snacks you guys have available.
4. Confession (Unfun) - Oops, uh. One of you... seems to have confessed to murder. Better get whatever last moments in that you can before voting ends and one of you gets brutally executed!
5. The Couple That Kills Together - Okay, so maybe you did or didn't actually kill someone together. But at least one of you did a murder, and the body hasn't been properly discovered yet, so... time to talk this through? Make bad choices for love?
6. Deadland Romance - Maybe you've just reunited in the land of the dead, or maybe this is where you're trying to get your relationship off the ground. Either way, there's gotta be some weird emotions to "we're dead and trying to make it work."
7. Golden End Reunion - Great news! You beat up the mastermind (or befriended them, I don't know your style) and got all of the dead people back, including the other half of your ship! That's gotta feel good, seeing them again after however many weeks.
8. What now? - The game is over, it's time to go home. But... which home? If you split up, is there going to be a chance to visit each other again? Can you work that kind of long-distance?
9. Smut Option - Look. It's not generally onscreen, but hookups happen. Did you have to kick roommates out? Is this the fabled... you know, variant of option 5? Basically look, if you wanna use this meme for smut I'm not gonna say no, just tag appropriately.
10. Anything else! - Look, one of the fun things about murdergame ships is how many ways they can go in the emotional crucible inherent to them. I can't account for a lot of things ahead of the basics, so plot with your thread partner and have fun with it! Hell, maybe bring a good ol' murdergame polyblob into the mix, I'm not gonna stop you! Go with ur heart, assume other characters, live your truth!

PROFILE CODE (pilfered from the general murdergame meme):

PREFS CODE:

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[ With Cairo behind her, it almost feels like Riley can do anything. That's what she was missing before. That's what she should have changed, all she needed was this, and she could— she can do anything, right?

Entering the bridal boutique...puts a damper on that. The whole place is a mess. A bunch of armless sewing mannequins are toppled to the ground, and laying on them, lifeless, is a boy just a few inches taller than Riley. It's weird that he's so silent, because he's always been a friendly, jovial presence, trying his best to make the younger of them feel safe and comforted, helping to run those little gatherings that have become a once-a-week occurrence.

But there's no mistaking it, especially with the amount of blood covering his front, coating the dresses beneath him.

Mitsuki Izumi is dead.

It sends Riley back down to reality. Her mouth is dry. Almost a little choked, she repeats, once again, ]

I... I really...didn't...mean to.

[ She liked Mitsuki. Against all odds, he was nice to her. ]

Not sure on the divine specifics of the soul and all that-

[He's the arcane science nerd, not the cleric.]

-but, uh. Some kind of afterlife, is all we've really been able to figure out so far. Just us, the ones that were in the manor. Sometimes spirits don't quite pass on like they're supposed to- friend of mine'd be better at explaining it, sorry- but looks like that's us, now. If I had to guess, something about the host's gruesome little setup with the rules and trials and everything is encouraging it for some reason. Or it's someone working against them, hopefully.

[that's definitely a comforting thing to say, right]

...you, uh. You want a hug, would that help or just make this worse, I can give you space too. Or a stiff drink, the saloon you all got showed up here after Rory and Olivia did. ...Oh, yeah, this place's been shifting to reflect the new unlocked floors week to week, it's fascinating.

[Rose is curled up in her bed, beneath her blankets, where she's been basically since she fled the cafeteria. For some dumb reason, she hadn't expected this; she hadn't prepared. She's been watching other secrets come out all week, but somehow she'd still been holding on hope that...well, not that someone would die, but that things could somehow be okay. Maybe they just wouldn't get around to airing her secrets. Maybe they didn't even really know. It had just seemed unthinkable that this could really happen.

Stupid.

She's cried, of course, but she isn't crying now. It's sort of funny; usually she's so quick to tears, but now she just feels sort of numb. Like she might as well be dead already, and it just hasn't caught up yet. So it's silent in the room, and she hears Calypso's call just fine - she just doesn't understand why she's here. Didn't they tell everybody everything? Why would she want anything to do with her now?

...does she want to talk?

No??? Of course not! The idea's terrifying! But she can't see a way out. She can't just stay alone in here forever. She can't go anywhere else. What is she supposed to do?]

What do you want?

[Ugggghhh and she had just gotten to bed.

Well, not really. She'd been laying in bed for the past hour, staring up at the ceiling. Waiting, she supposed. And now, she'd finally allowed herself to shut her eyes, only to be interrupted by the clamor at her door.]

Okay, okay.

[Up and at em. Let's see who's at the door.]

[The who is probably pretty obvious, even if Cass is kind of sleep-deprived at the moment. There can't be that many six-three amazon types in this game, unless the mastermind has some really specific tastes.]

[The why might take a second to register-]

Cass, I. I messed up. I'm sorry.

[But boy is that a lot of blood splattered across Calypso.]

...to make sure you're okay? Okay-ish. You know, considering. And to see you?

[Was that not clear?]

Is that a trick question? You know I'm not good at those- look, I brought a couple beers, they're non-alcoholic and also I don't know if Gems can get drunk anyway, but they're cold.

I can't.

[She sounds genuinely miserable about it, although maybe that's just her voice in general right now. Rose pulls her blanket down from over her head and flops onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. Should she let her in? She probably should; it'd be rude not to. She's scared, though - she's terrified, though she's not even sure of what. It can't get all that much worse. Everyone already knows. But she's still scared.

...and now she's been lying here for like, a whole minute, and Calypso's probably gonna hate that even more. Rose presses her hands over her eyes, and then gets up to go open the door.]

...hi.

[She can't really think of anything to say past that. Rose has obviously been crying (a lot), and her mass of hair is a bit disheveled from the whole blanket cocoon situation. She's not really making eye contact.]

[...Does she knock again, is she being quietly sent away. Like, understandable if so, but she'd kind of like to know for sure. Her hand might be raised to tentatively knock one more time as the door clicks open.]

Hey.

[She looks up at Rose, mouth pressing into a sad line as she takes in her condition.]

You look like crap, Rose. Come on, let's drink these, it's a thing humans do when things are real bad and upsetting.

[Calypso offers up a sweating, icy can of Unwiser Brand™ Nonalcoholic Beer-type Beverage (Taste the Despair).]

Talking's optional, but I hear sometimes it helps.

Edited 2021-04-10 05:46 (UTC)

[......... Shit. Was Cairo hoping that Riley killed Forsythe? Yes. Yes, she was. She definitely knew that it wasn't, though. Riley wouldn't have been that distraught over someone like him, wouldn't have been in the ice cream parlor trying to be talked down. It had to be someone that Riley actually liked.

The fact that it's the worst of the worst options makes something in Cairo's stomach sink, but she breathes out. Fucking hell.]

Okay. [Cairo moves around to stand at his head.] You grab his feet and we'll take him down to the fountain.

[This is, uh. Eerily reminiscent of Mattie getting drunk and passing out. It's fine. It's fine, don't think about it. Sacrifice is worth it.]

[ Why would Riley ever do anything that could make this easy on either of them? That's so far from her specialty.

What she doesn't need to do right now is to think; Cairo's told her what to do, and despite her fear and worry...she listens, inching up to the other end of the body. ]

Okay. [ Even though her gaze is glued to Mitsuki's face. His eyes are still open. Riley reaches down and stops short. ] He...kept talking about his little brother. Cai, I... I don't know if...

[ The guilt of Chess and Farrah has been eating away at her for months. Having to actually talk about it with Cairo's made it all worse. She can't pretend she did the right thing anymore, can't pretend it fixed anything. She'd done this once with girls she knew for years, but now, it feels impossible. ]

[ It's... strange. Growing up in Chantphare, she'd heard stories of what was supposed to come after death. Vague ideas of warmth and light, pain kissed away by a spring breeze and nothing but bliss afterwards. Maybe it's because they've been taken and put in this terrible place, but Garnet can't imagine anything more distant from the Spring Court's gentle light.

She heaves a shudder that jumps all the way up and down her body like an electric shock. She needs to calm down. If they're still here, then perhaps there's still something they can do to help – and if they can, then they have to do it.

But right now... Garnet can't even bring herself to stand up. ]

A hug...

[ She makes a noise that doesn't quite make it all the way to being a laugh. ]

W–would... that be alright? [ Her voice is shakier and softer than she usually allows it to be, in front of the others. ] I'm... I still don't feel quite like myself...

[Cairo swallows.

She reaches down and closes Mitsuki's eyes, gently. A single kindness before they do a lot of terrible in the name of self preservation. God. He had a little brother. He had a family. This is all so fucked up.]

Don't think about it now, Riley. When we win, when this is all over, we'll find. We'll figure out some way to bring them all back. [Confident. Self-assured.] But first we have to get through this, you know?

[Some people might try to convince Riley through facts and logic. Cairo's always done it through emotions. If she projects herself a certain way, Riley will follow her lead. That's the way it's always been.]

[ More often than not, it works. It doesn’t blind her to rational, reasonable arguments, but it makes it a lot easier for Riley to follow along. Between the two of them, Riley listens, and Cairo plans. ]

This isn’t a fairy tale or a movie, Cairo. [ But still, this one’s a hard sell. ]

You've met people who can do magic here, Riley. [Cairo rolls her eyes.] Who's to say we can't get a bunch of pokemon to cry or whatever and bring Ash Ketchum back.

[The lie of Cairo's confidence is for Riley, of course, but it's also for Cairo herself. She just needs to believe they can through this. She just needs to believe and make it true.]

Yeah, take all the time you need.

[And he'll just. Kind of gently envelope her in a hug? "Envelope" is a good word for it, he's a huge wall of muscle wrapped up in academia and a waistcoat.]

...Someone else is probably going to show up here in a bit, how bad's that gonna be for you.

[ How utterly ridiculous that this makes sense to her. Between the two of them, Cairo is the one who's popular, the one who knows how to navigate a social situation with ease, and yet she's the one who remembers all the little silly things from their childhood, the one who would casually play the hottest video game and come back with a tidbit of information about it years later, completely out of nowhere.

Riley, meanwhile, psyched herself out of doing anything that she wasn't instantly perfect at and cultivated a limited but intense knowledge of cheerleading and her single celebrity crush, true crime and dystopian novels. Like Cairo's a fully realized person, and Riley is... ]

After this...we're going to fix it. [ She distills what Cairo's saying down to an easily repeatable mantra. ] We're...going to fix this, together.

[ Together is what she emphasizes. There's no way Riley can do this by herself. She's already broken once under the weight of it, after all. ]

[ Garnet sort of sags against him in the manner of one leaning against a brick wall for support. Her breathing is finally starting to settle back into something resembling an easier rhythm but her shaking hasn't subsided at all.

His question, though, makes her freeze as completely as if someone had hit a pause button on her. It hadn't even occurred to her that someone else would be arriving soon – of course they would, though, why wouldn't they? – but that presents its own kind of problem. ]

I... I don't know... [ She pulls in a shaky breath. ] Whoever it was who– [ killed me ] – w–who did this... they came up behind me. I didn't get a chance to see them...

[He might have a whopping 8 wisdom and an insight to match, but, uh, that's pretty obvious. His mouth presses into a thin line, and he lets out a carefully quiet breath.]

Right, got it. Hang on.

[The brick wall is now lifting you up into the air, Garnet. All things considered it's still pretty ridiculously solid support, and Mordecai is definitely carrying her away from the chance at suddenly being confronted with whoever killed her. It'll have to happen eventually, sure, but it sounds like this was a bad one, and there's no reason to NOT get some time to calm down and prepare first.]

I don't know.

[She's never really tried talking about things, but old instinct tells her it's dangerous. She always used to get in trouble by running her mouth. Keeping things quiet and secret is the only way they're ever safe.

Rose sits heavily down on her bed, takes the beer, and opens it to try a sip. It's terrible.]

This is really what humans do when things are bad? That's so funny. It's like...like listening to sad music when you're sad already. [let's talk about them and not her!]

[ I wish there was a flattering way to describe the noise that comes out of Garnet's mouth as he lifts her, but really, there's no other word for it than a splutter. ]

M–Mordecai...! [ She sounds very much as though she'd sink clean into the floor from embarrassment if she wasn't, you know, being carried along by this big beefy boy. ] You really don't have to– I–I can walk by myself if you really think we need to leave...!

[ For all her protesting, she's wise enough not to put up an actual struggle, because she wants to be put down and not, you know, dropped. ]

Yeah, together.

[Cairo smiles. The thing about Riley that Cairo's always tried to get her to put aside is that perfection isn't perfect. Perfection is about easy, about the ways you can get other people to relax and listen to you. At least it is for Cairo.

Where Riley's always wanted to be perfect, Cairo wants to be effortless. It means she does a lot of research and memorizes facts that she can pull out whenever necessary. It means she practices smiling in the mirror, practices the way she tosses her hair over her shoulder. If people see those parts, then they don't see past them to the fact that it's an act.]

Okay, let's get him down to the fountain.

[ And just like that, Riley does as instructed. She gets the legs, Cairo gets the arms, and all the while she does not look at the multiple stab wounds that she inflicted on a perfectly nice young man's chest.

Mitsuki's blood has started to dry, but little bits still drip as they walk. If his torso dips one way or another, blood runs under his shirt down his back. They'll clean the trail up later, Riley tells herself. If they can make everything look chaotic, if they can keep their cool, then it'll be okay.

Or... Or maybe— ]

Cairo. [ A little breathless, as they're halfway to the fountain. ] Should...we try and frame someone?

[ The trepidation in her voice is palpable. It's not just the memories of framing Mattie, sending an innocent girl to prison for the crimes she herself did, it's that fucking jerk who tried framing Riley herself just two weeks ago. Cairo hadn't exactly been quiet about Riley's past...mistakes, and, well.

Joe Goldberg was nice to her.

Riley thought, perhaps, that kindness was sincere, until then. ]

[ Colette had done her best to try to reach out to the others after... all of that, to make sure they were okay, but it took a little bit more time for her to find Olive. She was getting a little worried, admittedly, but she eventually spots that familiar white hair. ]

Olive?

[ If there's something nearby that she can gently knock against the announce her presence, she'll probably do so. ]

Are you all right?

[ Relatively, of course. Obviously the answer is no. ]

All right, all right, sorry-

[Okay, he'll gently set her back down- they've got at least a little distance from the graveyard now. He has, as perhaps noted by some strange force from beyond, say, some type of numbered wall, really long legs.]

[But he's gonna keep a hand on her shoulder for support. She seemed, bluntly put, a little likely to collapse.]

Ah- we don't have to. But whoever, uh. ...Whoever did this is gonna show up soon, probably. If you want to be here for that or not is up to you, I'll be behind you either way.

[dot dot dot]

Literally, I mean. If you want to beat them up a little I'll help.

[ Despite all her protests, her legs still feel like liquid when Mordecai sets her down on them. She doesn't know if it's a physical response – for however much anything can still be physical here – or just the shock of what had happened coming over her in waves. If she'd been alive, still worried about the others more than herself, she might have insisted on making it alone, but she reaches up and sets a trembling hand atop Mordecai's, not trusting herself fully to stay upright just yet. But she's walking on her own two feet, and even if the choked noise she makes still isn't quite a laugh, it's an improvement from before. ]

I think for now... I'd like to just find somewhere to sit and take all this in. And maybe later, when we're all a little calmer... I try and understand why they'd do this. Or I can try to, at least.

[ she's really gonna go down empathizing with the person who garroted her, huh ]

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do you expect me to make a high int/low wis himbo and not go whole hog on making him lorg

fuckin rip

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u get the honor of the first tag w my edited icons

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Shopping Mall, Afterparty?

i feel so blessed

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