aworldwithoutboxes | we don't choose who lives or dies

we don't choose who lives or dies

THE MURDERGAME SHIPPING MEME V1.2

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. Remember - unexpected murdergame ships are the best kind! Don't be afraid to tag out and across canons!

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. Musical Theater - Sing a love song! Whether you're playing from a specific musical or not, live your romantic duet dreams!
7. 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 her eyes closed, she can't see the way Amiguchi swallows, wincing, as if struck. He lowers his hands to his sides, his voice to a murmur.]

Senpai.

[He won't allow himself the coward move of looking away from her.]

I wanted you to hear it from me this time. Before... whatever she thinks is gonna happen--can happen.

[Instead of a pop idol's distant pleas or memories of Prisoner 426, what kept Amiguchi lying awake last night were the quiet implications of the day's announcement from the mastermind, growing louder with each revisit, each echo, until they reached a roar.

'Hey, assholes! I reeeeally think you'll appreciate this one, hahaha. It's definitely one of my faves so far. Not only is it a two-parter--so at LEAST double the fun--it's a twist on one of the classics! You have to hand it to me, I bring this death game business to a whoooooooole new level. You're wel~come!

'Inside the envelopes I'm so GENerously providing you today, you'll find a secret! Here's the catch, though: It ain't yours. That's right, dicks and dipsticks--this secret belongs to one of your cute, little buddy-buddies here. It's a secret so hidden, so juicy, they might not even know about it themselves! And if nobody shows some goddamn pluck by the end of the week...

'I'm gonna share aaaaaaaall of them with aaaaaaaall of you. And I'll do it in a way not a single one of you will be able to deny. You'll all know exactly how fucked up the rest of you are, in lovingly. Intimate. Detail.

'Have fun with this one, chump maggots! Ahahahahahaha!'

If Shinonome were to learn what she did--relive it, the way he's had to relive Ida at his foulest, at his most darkly pleased--Amiguchi doesn't know what might happen to her. What she might do.

How much else of Ryoko Shinonome might collapse in on herself like an imploding mine.]

I want--you not to find out about this stuff alone. I don't want you to keep bearing it alone, Senpai. I'm not Ida, but I... I feel like...

[He has to make it up to her. Everything that sick bastard did, Amiguchi needs to undo it, to shield this damaged, faltering, reckless slip of a girl from that black hole of a man.]

Please. [He squeezes his own eyes shut, parting from the wall so he can bow at her from the shoulders.] Please. Just... lean on me, won't you? Don't go on trying to be strong by yourself. I can't--it's my--

[Biting his tongue, Amiguchi sinks his fingers into his hair, holding fast over the nanomachines' entry wound. All his life, everything has come easily to him except finding these words, right now.]

It feels like my fault. All I want--the only freaking thing I can think about is protecting you, Shinonome-senpai. Ida... I can't let him hurt you ever again.

[ The pained note in Amiguchi's voice makes Ryoko lift her face to see his – she doesn't think she's ever heard such raw feeling out of him before, even after being trapped in this hellhole. He makes everything sound easy and light and effortless and Ryoko knows better than to bother believing a word of it. But this...

Ryoko doesn't think anyone has ever pleaded with her for anything. Even the Sentinel Project – they had asked for her participation, pushed and needled her until she agreed, but even Mr. Ida had never pretended he needed her in any way other than as someone to live and die in her Sentinel. She'd been happy with that. She was sure she had been.

This is... something new. Her chest constricts with a feeling she can't identify that makes her want to flee from the room without looking back. Amiguchi wants to help her. Amiguchi wants to protect her. Has anyone ever said such a thing to her before? She doesn't even have to think for a moment longer before she knows that the answer is no.

And yet... here Amiguchi is. The boy who is and isn't Mr. Ida asking her to just let him help.

She swallows hard. ]

What... do you even expect to be able to do? [ The words by themself should sound like an accusation, but Ryoko's voice is soft and almost wounded – if she didn't have too much pride to allow herself to beg, it might almost sound like she was pleading with him in return. To convince her that he was worth trusting. Worth leaning on. ] How can you say that... knowing she might show you something next week that makes you throw me aside?

How am I supposed to trust that you won't?

[Ah. He doesn't look up, but the tenseness between his eyes relaxes. His fingers loosen without dropping from his temple. The way his hand remains up makes him look almost bashful, like he'd hide his embarrassment--except that he isn't embarrassed at all. Not of this.]

...'Cause I never would.

[Those words come much more easily. Not only are they true; they're something he'd like Shinonome to know. He sighs and flattens his hair, turning his face up towards the ceiling so he can say, as matter-of-fact about it as though discussing the weather (but soft, but careful, but sincere):]

After all this, there's nothing anyone could show me... that I'd want more than to be at your side.

[ That strange sense of panic makes her stomach clench again, but this time it's not cold – it's warm and a little fluttery and it makes her feel skittish and caught off guard. It feels all wrong to be hearing that from Amiguchi and yet... he's being so sincere that she finds herself feeling strangely reassured, no matter how hard she stubbornly pushes back against it.

Shu Amiguchi is a lot of things, but Ryoko doesn't think he's a liar. But the thought that he's telling the truth when he says all that is scary in its own way.

She lets out a long, slow breath, trying to get some air around the way her insides still feel like they're tensed and tightened. ]

... You say the most embarrassing things sometimes. [ Her voice sounds a little tight too. Winded, maybe. It's how she feels. ] But I could almost believe you mean it.

[ Which, coming from Ryoko, really is a glowing affirmation. She swallows again, twice in as many minutes, to try and ease the tightness in her throat. ]

And... if you do really mean it, then it might be alright to trust you.

...Huh? Really?

[After a moment, his surprise morphs into a warm, light laugh. Nothing about their situation is funny, of course; certainly not the secrets each of them carries from their strange, fractured history before this prison. It's just delight rising up and out, as improbable a flight as his Sentinel's.

His hand falls to his hip, relaxed even as he blushes. Amiguchi loves this feeling, the rush and tingle of really liking someone, of doing his best for them, of finally noticing the start of something opening up before them.]

Wanna take trusting me for a test spin, then?

[His smile's still softer for her than he's shown to any girl before, more invitational than charming. Even if this weren't Shinonome-senpai with her heartbreaking vulnerability, not even Amiguchi is totally immune to the facility's oppressive atmosphere.]

It doesn't even have to be over something big. [They can set the matter of Tetsuya Ida aside, for the moment. He glances around her quarters and then tilts his head a hair, like a friendly setter. Maybe he's making this up as he goes, but...] Got some minor task you can trust me to handle for you? You know... something to help you feel a little safer?

Edited 2021-09-26 19:59 (UTC)

[ When she sees him smile like that and registers the colour in his cheeks, Ryoko almost averts her gaze. She doesn't know how to deal with Amiguchi giving her such an earnest smile and it makes her feel embarassed to look at it, as if she's seeing something she shouldn't be. Of course, if she went and telegraphed her embarrassment by looking away, that'd make things even worse, so she holds her gaze as steady as she can make it. ]

It's not like there's all that many errands you can run in a place like this... [ There's no bite to her words, really, even if she's trying to force it – the more she tries to cover up how wrong footed she is, the more obvious it becomes. ] But...

The envelope you got today. Do you still have it?

[If it was burning a hole in his pocket before, now his whole uniform must be aflame. Still, rather than allowing himself to be a liar, liar, pants on fire, he reluctantly admits:]

Yeah.

[What's he going to do if Shinonome asks to see it? He hasn't told her the worst of it yet, the truth printed coldly for any to read. He hasn't because it's so much, and he wants her to lean on him--to have anyone to lean on, really--if it turns out to be too much, if she has to let that knowledge slide off so she doesn't break.

Or if she does break, someone will still be there to hold the rest of her together.

Amiguchi started down this road himself, though. He promised her she could trust him. And if he's going to live up to that, if he's going to be any different from him, then he can't lie to her. It's that simple.]

Got it in my pocket right now. ...Why?

[ Ryoko lets that sink into her heart, her stomach and wonders if she has the courage to read whatever it is Amiguchi had learned about her. It must he something truly wretched to have brought him here, practically coming apart at the seams with the desire to do something to help. And that thought, knowing it must be terrible without knowing exactly how terrible makes her feel a little sick.

Eventually, with what feels like an incredible effort, Ryoko stands herself up off the bed and pulls open her bedside drawer. Hidden there like a dirty secret is the envelope she'd been given in turn. She fishes it out and with a quick breath in, she turns and offers it to Amiguchi.

Perhaps surprisingly... it's unopened. She hadn't been able to bring herself to peek. Just in case she didn't like what she saw. ]

Here. I haven't read it yet, so I have no idea whose it is. [ It occurs to her, that it could even be Amiguchi's. Somehow, it wouldn't surprise her. ] I want... I want you to tell me what it was you read about me.

And then burn both these envelopes.

...

[Yeah, Do Not Want is written all over Amiguchi's face. But what else can he do? He takes the unopened envelope and gives it a long, grim stare, then closes his eyes, letting it remain unopened.]

It said... that Ida made you install some kind of code to sabotage the Sentinels. Something that messed you up, and I think Kurabe-kun, too...

[How many Juros could there actually be in the world, you know? Or at least, how many in their world? Who else could possibly be involved in this sci-fi B-movie shit? There's that Ei Sekigahara person, too, but Amiguchi has no clue who the hell he is. Bringing up someone he doesn't even know feels like just piling on the guilt, when all he wants to do is be gentle with her.

He bites his lip, looking at Shinonome.]

Senpai... you know something's wrong with your memories, don't you?

Edited 2021-10-02 15:26 (UTC)

[ At first, she just blinks at him. The leap of logic in the conversation seems to come from nowhere and she can't quite follow him. ]

I... my memories, they're...

[ And then, as she had at the door, Ryoko just... freezes.

It strikes a familiar note in her head, jangling and discordant and she feels a horrible sense of deja vu. A code installed inside the Sentinels. Not just any Sentinel, Ei-kun's Sentinel, because Ryoko had– had wanted to show him he was wrong, wanted to show him Mr. Ida could be trusted, wanted him to know that she wasn't a fool to offer her heart up on a plate as she had.

She's white as a sheet and her hands curl into fists clenched so tight that they start to shake. ]

M... Morimura told me... it was because I was overusing the gates. Or... s–something to do with spending too much time inside the Sentinels. That... I'd recover, with time.

Hey, hey.

[Before he can really think about it, Amiguchi finds himself reaching for those trembling hands. He stops himself, hesitating, but then completes the motion, slowly sliding his hands under hers to support them and to offer the solidity of a squeeze. The envelope she gave him is in his pocket, safely stored away with the note he read about her. He's got her.]

You still can, right? Not that I know anything about it, but you've seemed... a little better, here.

[Though, maybe it's just him. He says, not quite lightly enough:]

I mean, you didn't totally forget me after a day this time, so...

[ Ryoko starts at his touch and it seems like she might jolt away from him at first. But then, her tense hands relax just a little in his grip and her fingers curl around his, just barely. Her hands are always cold, it feels like and she's sure they must be icy compared to Amiguchi's – but his hands are warm and having something tacticle to focus on helps to slow her thoughts, whirling in a panic as they are.

The breath that comes out of her is slow and a little pained, but it's still easier than the ones that came before. ]

... I don't know. [ The confession of weakness makes her feel prickly and uneasy, but she pushes on. ] My headaches have still been coming and going... and I've still been taking my pills for them, when I get them. And... things aren't slipping away as easily anymore. At least I don't think so. But I have no idea how long it'll last. Or if things really are getting better.

Maybe it's like the magic people's powers, and the code, or... whatever's doing that to you, it's offline right now, so you're actually getting a chance to heal.

[He wants to reach up and touch her temple, to carefully tuck her hair behind her ear, to do something to fix the wish for her recovery physically in place. He felt the way her hands twitched in his at the contact, though, and he leaves them where they are, touching her face with no more than his gaze. Contact brings home how small she really is, even compared to him, just a first-year. She's so hurt.]

It's not your fault. It's his. And you can depend on me to help for as long as it takes to get better. And when you are-- [He gives her fingers the littlest, gentlest squeeze.] --we can help Kurabe-kun and whoever else, too. Once we get out of this crazy place, of course.

[They're going to get through this. He has to promise himself that, and her, and then make it happen. The hardest things are that simple, sometimes.]

Sound good, Senpai?

[ She twitches again in surprise at the gentle squeeze. It feels so mixed up and strange to be sat here, having this conversation with Amiguchi of all people – her heart is beating hard in her throat and there's a warmth there that feels foreign and familiar all at once. Is this feeling even hers? Her memories of Amiguchi from before this place are so jumbled up that she has no idea anymore.

But... his hands are warm. And he's here, asking her to depend on him. And it's scary. It's scary because Ryoko just might believe that she really can.

She squeezes his hands in return and nods. ]

Yes. Alright.

[ Things aren't alright yet. Maybe they won't be for a while. But she thinks if they can hang on a little longer, work a little harder and survive this, they might be eventually. ]

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we don't choose who lives or dies

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