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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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[No one deserves this—]

Who are you thinking of? [Sacrifice is worth it.] I vote Forsythe.

[Yeah, uh. That doesn't make any sense, but she hates him so of course that's her vote. If he weren't fucking dead already, she'd say they should frame Joe in retaliation but oh well. She'll get revenge on that bastard some other way.]

[ Despite everything, Riley rolls her eyes something fierce. ]

Oh, of course you vote Forsythe. No, Cai, everyone knows he's your nemesis. No, it has to be someone...believable. Someone we don't...have a connection with. [ As she runs through everyone in her mind, she pauses for a moment.

Because there's an almost obvious answer, given who she's spoken with this last week, but she... Even if they're all going to die, she can't bring herself to throw Aria under the bus. ]

Medusa. Everyone's been- since Sparkles spread all our secrets. Everyone's been waiting for her to...do something.

[ The trials aren't ever exactly easy, but... this one was Rough. Sometimes you're close to both sides of the case and now you're in hell, that's just how it goes!

Olive isn't crying, but she's definitely distant, so the knock startles her for a moment. ]

What? I... guh, I don't know. I'm mostly keeping it together? I think?

[It's on the tip of Cairo's tongue to say We could frame Aria, but she stops herself. No, that. No. Cairo likes Aria and she doesn't deserve that.

Medusa, on the other hand.]

It would be her or Hannibal and he's too meticulous for this. [A beat.] No offense, Riley.

[Also he's a cannibal and............ gross? Gross. She's not faking that. Cairo has limits.]

[ From what they've heard about -A, Aria perhaps deserves all this the least out of everyone here—

Nearly dropping Mitsuki's body, Riley shivers at the mention of their resident people-eater. That was another secret she really, really could've done without knowing. ]

Please, I do not take offense to having differences between me and him.

[ It's creepy! He's really, really creepy!! ]

Have, um— how, can you...forge anything?

[ Before the cat was let out of the bag, sweet Dr. Medusa hosted one of their post-trial gatherings, after all. ]

[Cairo struggles under the weight of Mitsuki when Riley slips, but they get it back under control. Honestly? She can't blame Riley for feeling that way about Hannibal. The dude's gross. That's why Cairo was constantly trying to get him to stay the fuck away from Riley.]

Riley, my parents haven't signed a single permission slip for me since I was in elementary school.

[Is she good at forgery? Not especially! But she can probably fake it enough to cause some confusion.]

[ It's not Riley's fault that she flocks to whoever shows her the slightest bit of affection... ]

Excellent. [ That's what she thought. Her own forgery skills are...limited to just her own parents. ] ...And...we can...um...

[ For someone who loves true crime, actually attempting to frame someone in the moment is...very difficult. ]

[All it takes is a single inconsistency to bring the entire house of cards crashing down. Week by week, they've added more culprits and victims to the pile of lost souls, sacrificed to this senseless display.

Cassandra hated it.

The Ultimate Lady-in-waiting, a title she loathed, had spent more than one week attempting to keep things orderly and bring at least some semblance of control to their lives. But unfortunately, Cass was only one woman. Pacing out the twisted halls of their captors only served to misguide and sever the group further. Leaving the school overwrought with hidden corners, perfect for defiling in secret with the blood of the innocent.

And the trials were no better. Bodies piled up with every passing week, and the motives stretched thin. Some, Cass understood, were accidents. Others, spur of the moment, acting on emotions. Then, there were the few among them that showed cruller colors than initial meetings would suggest. And now, Avaka, who had murdered on a fancy. An entire room of exhausted people had very nearly lost their lives just to sate one woman's curiosity.

The meeting afterwards was especially dour - Cass disliked calling them "after-parties" for that reason. There was nothing to celebrate beyond escaping death by the skin of their teeth. And nobody seemed in particularly high spirits after this case.

Not even Iris. The Ultimate Savior, who amassed a hurculean effort to win the trial. One last pouring over the evidence finally did the trick. Without that... who knows. But now, Cass catches sight of her, ever so silently disappearing up the stairs.

She follows. Quietly, shoes echoing hollowly against the empty halls. Just barely does she see Iris vanish into a classroom.

Her hand hesitates on the doorknob. Why? She knows why. She opens the door, just a crack, enough to show her face.]

Iris?

[The who comes naturally pretty quick. Calypso was fairly hard to forget, try as Cassandra might. Which she didn't, because Calypso was generally, a nice person! The matter of her being built like a mountain cliffside notwithstanding... They'd built up a repertoire here. A rather comfortable one.

That's that sets panic off in Cass first. At the tone of Calypso's voice.]

W-what?

[And then she spots the blood. She's dumbfounded, before quickly grabbing Calypso's shoulder...]

G-get in here!

[And yanking her into the room.]

How... HOW?

[ She's stood at one of the boarded up windows when Cass opens the door, staring like she might be able to pierce through the wood and figure out just what's lurking out there if she tries long enough. She's distracted enough that she doesn't immediately realize she's been followed and it's only when Cassandra speaks her name that she reacts – she jumps hard enough to make the desk at her side rattle and whips around. Her shoulders are high and tense, but when she sees who it is, they unwind just a little. ]

... Cassandra. [ She follows that with a sigh and lets herself sink into one of the chairs. She'd been doing a good job of keeping herself cold and steady during the trial, but now she's just visibly exhausted. ] I thought you might have gone with the others. We've had a long day.

Do you still have that poison from the other day? Maybe if I poison the ice cream, we could make it look like she lured him in.

[She doesn't actually know if Riley tossed the poison or not. Riley said she was going to toss it, but what Riley says and what Riley does aren't always the same. Cairo definitely feels like Medusa is a poison person, though.]

[ They stop in front of the fountain as Riley glances away guiltily. ]

Yes, I still have that poison.

[ She was going to get rid of it! Seriously! It just...you know...felt maybe...useful... ]

Okay. Where'd you leave it? I'll grab it while you make it look like she went crazy in the bridal shop.

[Cairo looks down at Mitsuki, then at the fountain. She's already feeling bad about this but, uh. They're already here.]

...My room. [ Cairo isn't scolding her, but the words drag from Riley's lips as if she is. ] Desk. It's- not like I was staying there anymore.

[ So it's positively become a horrible mess... Ugh, she really doesn't want Cairo to see that, but she also doesn't want to be standing here about to toss a dead body of someone she actually liked into a fountain! So we can't always get what we want. ]

Sh... Should we just...d-dump him in?

[Cairo just raises an eyebrow. They're gonna have to have a talk about that later, if they survive this. That's a problem for later Cairo, though. Right-now Cairo's problem is:]

We'll get wet. Let's just. Gently put him in?

[Oh god. They're the worst, aren't they?]

[ This is awful! They're awful! This is the worst!

Riley halfheartedly nods and starts to lower Mitsuki's feet into the fountain, a lump forming in her throat. Very, very quietly, she murmurs: ]

Sorry.

[Cairo lowers Mitsuki's upper half into the water and, once he's all the way in, just looks down at him for a moment before closing her eyes and breathing out. They just have to get through this. Just get through this.]

Okay. You go trash the bridal shop, I'll go poison some ice cream.

[D-E-F-E-N-S-E, tamper with a murder scene
Not the proudest thing we've done,
but Tigers fight until they've won]

[ There's part of Riley that's trying to be more...realistic, now. Part of her that knows whatever happens, both of them aren't getting out of this okay. That in trying to save them, she's doomed them, as is what always happens. Maybe, instead of anyone else, Riley's the cancer, the common point in all the failures that has to be cut out.

But instead of voicing any of this, she nods automatically, falling back into the comfortable role she'd had before life started to tear them apart. ]

...Pick the...the cake flavor. He liked that one.

[ After all this, Riley has to figure out if she can get Mitsuki's blood out of her clothes. ]

Yeah, I remember. [It's soft, almost nostalgic.] I made fun of him for how much whipped cream he was putting on. He laughed and put, like, an entire pound of sprinkles on top.

[She breathes out, rolls her shoulders. Now's not the time to reminisce about shit like that. If they're both going to make it out of this alive, they need to stop being soft. They need to be cold, calculating. They need to figure out how to get blood out of clothing so Cairo doesn't have to mysteriously leave her beloved jacket in their room.

It'll be suspicious. The junior detective squad will definitely notice.]

Iris.

[Cassandra catches herself in the doorway, her hand still closed around the knob as Iris jumps. She unfreezes as the Ultimate Savior does, arms coming to hang limply at her sides. Tenseness was fine. Expected, even. With the torture - yes, it was torture - they were forced to contend with each week... maybe it would have been worse to not see her like this.

...No. Seeing Iris like this was bad. Exhaustion was one thing, they were all suffering from that. But fear? Worry?]

You don't have to tell me. That was... [Awful. Unforgettable. Pointless.] Long, yeah. I saw you headed this way, and I just wanted to check in on you.

[ Iris doesn't smile – partly because well, it's Iris, and she never smiles but mostly it's exhaustion, physical and emotional and every other kind in between. But something about the chilly expression she's wearing seems to warm up just a touch, even if everything else about her posture is still stiff. ]

I appreciate your concern, but there's no need to worry. I simply needed a moment alone to gather myself. I'll be fine.

[ Which, of course, means that she's currently not fine. ]

... How are you, then, Cassandra? You may speak your mind freely while the others aren't here to fret.

[ This is a horrible place.

It gave her a chance to fix what she broke, and she only broke it worse. ]

L- [ No. Stop that in its tracks. ] Let's... Quick. So...we can clean the trails. We don't know if...anyone else is gonna...be out here.

[ It's a thought she's had a few times so far. ]

Yeah. [Don't think about it, don't think about it.] I'll grab a mop while I'm getting the poison.

[Cairo turns to leave but then stops. She reaches out to lace her fingers with Riley's.]

No matter what happens, we're a team. Okay, Riley?

[ The stilted thoughts, the ones she can't quite settle on, racing around, of all the things she'll need to do— they all stop.

They all fall away, when Cairo holds her hand. ]

Always. [ Impulsively, without a single thought, Riley kisses her. Like before, it's quick, only moments. But she worries if she stays there longer, she'll never leave. ]

A lot of people do the music thing too, actually. It's cathartic in a super depressing way.

[She takes a slow sip, squatting with her back against the wall.]

But yeah? It's usually this or, like, bathtub ice cream. And all we've got here is that off-brand non-dairy froyo stuff, I checked.

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what if I replied to this.... in a timely fashion....

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