aworldwithoutboxes | keep your shipping instincts sharp in the off-season

keep your shipping instincts sharp in the off-season

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, if you want a format to follow. 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:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Name: Christine Berman | Champion Camper / Carrie On
Age: 15 | Species: Human | Occupation: Survivor
Likes: David Bowie, Stephen King, pranks, fighting
Dislikes: Giving up, curses, Sunnyside
Traits: rebellious, scrappy, sororal
Trivia: One time at summer camp, Ziggy was nearly hanged and set on fire.

[ What's On The Table: You ever wanted a rude teenager from 1978 in your murdergame ship? No? Well, now you've got one! She swears so much and is so rude. But like... especially if you're also a rude teen, you might enter the category of "eh, alright." Terrible taste in boys, but also let her gently hold hands and do pranks with a girl.
Looking for: Honestly anything? I love her with other delinquent children, I love the idea of her falling for someone way nicer/softer than she is... bring it on!!! ]

Name: Nanase Nana | SHSL Girly-Girl/Crystalline/The Runaway Bride
Age: 17 | Species: Human | Occupation: Student, occult researcher
Likes: Pink, boys, antique radios, agency
Dislikes: Expectations, being trapped, her stupid name, snow bunnies
Traits: Carefree, willful, rebellious, gullible
Trivia: Nana's natural hair colour is brown.

[ What's On The Table: Nana gets understandably upset when you all wake up here, but after the first day or two, starts to make herself at home and insist that murder land can't really be that bad. This doesn't last through the actual murders, and she starts stirring the pot and making herself a nuisance by prank-calling the overseer, making dirty jokes, and joining in on other people's plots. She acts shallow and doesn't put effort in, but maybe there's more to it.
Looking for: M/F for this one; unfortunately, Nana is the Straight Larry in a team of magical lesbians. Someone who can help her deal with her problems when her memory regains start coming in and/or just deal with her everything.]

Edited 2023-01-21 23:11 (UTC)

Name: Clarissa | Champion Vessel / Haunted
Age: 18 | Species: Human(s) | Occupation: Student/Crew
Likes: making fun of people, smoking, long soaks
Dislikes: herself, her hometown, long waits
Traits: mean, depressed, unknowable
Trivia: All good things are eventually lost in the water.

[ What's On The Table: Okay I know I'm out here being cryptic because I've already done the Sunken thing, but Clarissa is depressed and acerbic and uh. Tough to get out of her shell! But once you get past the dead boyfriend issues and the 97 ghosts she's lovely.
Looking for: Whatever! If you think your character would ship well with the subdued kind of mean and sarcastic girl, here's your chance! ]

[There's always a lighthouse, isn't there?

It's the first time Connor's seen the sun in months, but there's really only one thing he's looking at: Clarissa. He doesn't really know what to say to her, hasn't known what to say to her for the past two weeks before she dunked him into the pool and held him there. It wasn't actually her, though. He knows that now, told by the others, but he doesn't know how to take that information and reconcile it with whatever was blooming between them before that.

A different Connor would leave it at that. Complicated feelings weren't really his thing before the first time he died and it's only another death in that Connor's realizing that feelings are complicated and running away from them means feeling like he did before Clarissa said You're not so bad, Murphy. Empty. Hollow. Nothing.

Connor slots into place next to her, the way they'd been doing for weeks, and doesn't say anything for a moment.]

... Where are you going after this?

Name: Connor Murphy | The Sad Invention, Apathetic,
Age: 18 | Species: Human | Occupation: Student
Likes: Memes, thrifting, art, The Little Prince, M
Dislikes: Authority, his parents, Evan Hansen
Traits: Speaks almost entirely in monotone, artist, six foot tall noodle, extremely depressed
Trivia: Connor Murphy's favorite pan dulce is conchas.

[What's On The Table: Connor Murphy is the dead one from Dear Evan Hansen. He's stressed, depressed, and attempting to try his best. "Attempt" is the key word there, but at heart he's a nice person if people are nice to him. Has a lot of weird and vaguely random knowledge gleaned from wikidives and will simply say it when relevant, but immediately backtrack when someone "mistakes" him for being smart.

Looking for: Do you play a very persistent and cheerful shonen protagonist type? Connor will die for him. Do you play a vaguely mean and horny, Veronica Sawyer type? Connor will die for her. Generally, he likes friendly and sweet people and has a strong preference for male characters. Like, he is 100% bisexual but it 80/20 on the gender of people he finds attractive.]

Name: Alfyn Greengrass | Succor Every Minute, Champion of Clearbrook, Green
Age: 21| Species: Human | Occupation: Apothecary
Likes: Ale, medicine, good company, helping people
Dislikes: Charging money, standing by when others are in pain
Traits: Chummy, generous, inquisitive
Trivia: If you praise Alfyn too much, his butt gets uncontrollably itchy. Awkward!

[What's on the Table: This scruffy lad built like a young lumberjack is actually ye olde fantasy JRPG equivalent of a pharmacist, and he really knows his stuff. That's easy to forget when he comes off as such a simple, fun-loving guy with his friendly brown eyes and backwater drawl. He's open, friendly, and eager to do whatever he can, whenever he can, be it as easy as chattering over drinks to keep folks' spirits up, or offering his medical (albeit medieval) expertise when--well, when the worst happens.

The murders never fail to upset him, he always gets too worked up at trials, and he attends after-trial gatherings red-eyed and sniffling, but Alfyn's the first to pitch in with organizing and setting them up and the absolute last to leave. Healing hearts is just as important as soothing scratches, after all, and as long as someone's hurtin', an apothecary's job is never done.

Looking for: 18 or older, no gender preference. Since Alfyn makes it his business to try to get to know everyone, he'll be just as earnestly friendly towards your withdrawn and tsundere types as with characters as sunny as he is himself. Actual evil or cruelty is a turn-off, but he's fallen for manipulative lies more than once... Still, are you really gonna go and break the boy's heart like that?]

[ i know you said jk.... but what if.... was NOT jk...... ]

[Me, chuckling as I type JK at you: Got 'em

Do you wanna do early CR or jump to a more critical emotional moment? You know he'd be such a well-meaning busybody up in her grill all the time, totally immune to her unfriendliness. He's bros with Therion.]

[ i have no self control so i would LOVE to slam directly into some of the late game angst and emotions 👀 my immediate thought is some motive to do with secrets or worst mistakes/regrets which would be a great time for the You Know What she has been adamandly refusing to talk about all game to come out ]

[When their nameless, cackling kidnapper drops her latest motive on the captives she's got left, Alfyn's righteous anger, surprisingly, gutters. It doesn't go away or anything. What she's doing to them is inimical to every fiber of his being, every stitch and scrape of his healer's heart, and he ain't yet given up the hope of doing something to stop her.

But her offer gives even salt-of-the-earth, good boy Alfyn a second's pause.

'I'm going to give you sadsack losers a chance to be less losery! Remember that one boneheaded thing you did, the move that was a total mistake? You know, the one that ended in tears, blood, or some sad blended drink of both? Deadify one of your friends down there, and you get a redo. Whatever happened, "where making it un-hapen." Lol. Oh, and if none of you go for it? I'm telling eeeeeeeeverybody what you've done. Just a little stick for those of you who don't chomp at the bit for your orangey root vegetables.

'Anyway, why don't I let you morons give it some thought? I bet some of you would die for the chance to take control of your own narrative. So, you're welcome! Hahahaha.'

Later, Alfyn's pensively doing inventory in the infirmary, where he's shelved some plant-based concoctions alongside the modern painkillers and antacids already supplied. He checks expiration dates, studies ingredients, makes sure nothing's gone off-color, and his mind is obviously elsewhere.]

Playing on our biggest regrets, huh...?

Edited 2023-01-23 21:48 (UTC)

[ It takes her a few weeks – longer than she'd want to admit – to really accept that any of this is real. The scientist in her is sceptical for a number of logical reasons; they're humans (for the most part) and she knows there are none of those left anywhere else in the universe. The second is that she's put enough time and work into virtual environments and simulated worlds to know first-hand just how real and tactile they can seem no matter how absurd the situation is. The third – less scientific and more achingly, stupidly human despite everything – is that if she admits any of this is real then it means she still has some kind of hope left.

But the passing weeks and the people around her chip away at her resolve – or rather, they erode it gradually, gently, so easily that she barely takes notice of it happening. None of them know much about her aside from the details splayed out on her profile, but a title like Champion of Humanity and a trivia section with the words final surviving member of the human race is enough for them to be kind to her – kinder than she deserves and god help her, she can't bring herself to make them stop. She'd forgotten what other humans felt like, sounded like and the prospect of having it all taken away from her again is...

Well. It shouldn't be a surprise for it to have come to this. Even if she tries to keep her desperation in check, surely their captor would know well enough how to weaponize it against her. She spends the hours following the motive announcement in a daze, going through her routine with the shell-shocked compliance of a person who doesn't know what else to do with themselves. It's late in the day by the time she finds her way to the infirmary and though she should know better by now, she finds herself a little startled to realize someone has already beaten her to the punch. ]

... Alfyn. [ They'd gone from Greengrass-san to Alfyn-kun to just Alfyn at some point in the passing weeks so naturally that it makes her a little afraid. ] I didn't think you'd still be awake.

[ She hovers at the doorway for a moment as if she might excuse herself and leave it there, but against her better judgement she finds herself coming inside and making her way over to him. ]

How are the supplies for this week?

[Maybe it's pathetic, but his face genuinely tries to brighten when he looks back at Ryoko. The smile starts, wobbles, and crumbles before it can gain any real traction, but the gladness behind it reaches his eyes before it falls. Even now, as miserable as they've yet been in this nightmare, he's happy to see her.]

Hey there, Ryoko. Just what the doctor ordered, huh?

[His heart isn't in it, though, and Alfyn seems to hear it, too. He sighs, shakes his head, and moves half a step to the side so she can see where he's at on the shelf.]

No change to the "modern" stuff, as far as I can tell. But I'll need to whip up more salve for all the self-defense trainin' folks and replace my easy-sleepin' tincture with a fresh batch. Luckily--

[He trails off, because it isn't lucky at all, but then barrels forward anyway:]

--we've been here long enough for my new ones to finish brewing. ...I ain't ready to sleep yet, so I figured I'd strain and rebottle 'em for a spell.

[Then, faintly hopeful:]

You wouldn't wanna join me, would ya?

Edited 2023-02-02 18:17 (UTC)

[ Hm. That's a look she's familiar with. She thinks, for the first time in a while, of Minami – even to the end, she'd tried to wear a smile anytime she ran into one of the others, even as their numbers dwindled and there was barely anyone left to smile for. She wonders if Alfyn will be like that too.

She wonders whether or not she'll be around to see it happen. ]

It's lucky that we have anything at all to work with. [ That word again – lucky. Both of them know none of this is really luck, just another thing for their captor to dangle over their heads... but she also knows better than to say such a demoralizing thing out loud. ] And luckier still that we have someone who knows how to make proper use of it all.

[ She glances up at him and the look on her face is too tired to really be called a smile, but there's a gladness and a little more easiness to it in turn. ]

I'm happy to help, if you need the extra pair of hands. I certainly wouldn't turn down a distraction at a time like this.

Name: Ronan Lynch | The Dreamer, Champion of Lindenmere
Age: 20 | Species: Greywaren | Occupation: Greywaren
Likes: Adam, ecoterroism, forests, dreaming
Dislikes: Cellphones, lying, Declan, dreaming
Traits: Abrasive, taciturn, religious/Catholic, kind of an asshole, "bad boy"
Trivia: Ronan was born and raised at the Barns.
[What's On The Table: Ronan is a somewhat abrasive, asshole-ish guy who can uh. Warp reality. It's called "dreaming" in his canon, but it's reality-warping in the vein of Wanda's powers. Gets black nosebleeds when he doesn't use his powers, has retained the ability to dream small objects—think things like photographs. Greywaren spoilers if you care about that: He is also a literal alien/god in the form of a young adult because he thinks it's fun to live as a human sometimes.

Looking for: Ronan's gay, but aside from that he just generally likes guys that he finds interesting. What does "interesting" mean? Haha, good question! It's mercurial and changes with the weather but his canon boyfriend is a psychic who desperately wants to rise above his meager upbringing and is full of crime so that's the template. Any ship would be very much (murdergame) slowburn, because he's slow to trust people enough to open up, but! He's ride or die once it happens.]

Name: Isabella Rojas Flores | The Chosen One, Sister of Dragons, Stolen
Age: 19 | Species: Dragon | Occupation: Student
Likes: Jesus, school, cooking, her friends
Dislikes: Cults, getting kidnapped, Untitled Goose game
Traits: Friendly, practical, normcore, calm
Trivia: Isabella has seen all of Marble Hornets.
[What's On The Table: Isabella is a high schooler who recently escaped not one but two religious cults. She's been raised to believe her purpose in life is to fight the Antichrist, which she believes was on the verge of happening before she arrived here. Also she's a dragon, but she will deflect about that when asked.

Looking for: She's super friendly, so she'll get along with nearly anyone except, uh. People like her ex, who was a.... Fortnite streamer. Picture a teenage version of Ninja and that's who she was dating. Romantically, she believes she's straight but she's never really thought too hard about it.]

Name: Mako Mankanshoku | Ultimate Wasted Potential, Champion No-Star
Age: 17 | Species: Human | Occupation: Underachiever
Likes: Friends, cheese, cute clothes, mystery meat croquettes
Dislikes: Early rising, classwork, isolation, missing meals
Traits: Energetic, optimistic, devoted
Trivia: Mako was president of the Honnouji Academy Fight Club until its disbanding.

[What's On The Table: She absolutely considers this a really weird vacation and may or may not actually understand that everyone's been kidnapped; this persists even after the deaths. Not that she's unaware of how bad things are getting, it's that SOMEONE IS RUINING EVERYONE'S VACATION. How awful.]

[Definitely manages to nail at least one culprit with insane rambling logic during a trial. Does her best to contribute and keep everyone's spirits up, but is probably too chaotic to do it reliably. Latches onto anyone that treats her at all nicely, enjoy your new best friend.]

[Looking for: See above about latching onto anyone who treats her well, but she's 100% made for some Grouchy Loves Cheery dynamic. Would also be down for pairing her with another sunshiney character with sufficient Hidden Depths or Sadness, given the setting.]

Edited 2023-01-22 10:41 (UTC)

Name: Ryoko Shinonome | Champion Pilot / The Mechamancer
Age: 16 | Species: Human | Occupation: High School Student, █████
Likes: Mr. Ida, ███████████, and not much else
Dislikes: 426, the nurse's office, headaches
Traits: Crabby, clever, tenacious
Trivia: Ryoko is the pilot of ████████ ███, a giant robot created to fight kaiju.

[ What's On The Table: let's be honest with ourselves. you're on my TL. you know who ryoko is. she's a pretty crabby, grouchy, antisocial girl who doesn't trust very easily but if you manage to get past her walls then she will love you to death.

Looking for: Other teens! I play Ryoko as being pretty casually bi with a slight preference for boys, so I'm down for ships with anyone. I really like sunshiney, well-meaning, interfere-y types to contrast her terrible personality. Or people who are just as hot-headed as she is, that's always good. People to get past her massive 'don't perceive me' force field. People who will hear about Tetsuya Ida and want to throttle him to death. REALLY I'M FLEXIBLE. ]

[ so i heard you want to ship ryoko with well-meaning interferey types,

any prefs on prompt for this mess ]

[ i'm indecisive so i rolled RNG a few times and got 1, 3, 6 or 7 in a generic facility!! so i'm down with whichever one of those scratches your brain itch best ]

[ The facility has been... well, Miko is actually pretty used to places like this, considering her line of work, but it was still A Lot for A While. Ryoko was a bright spot in that, mostly! They made a good team, is what Miko liked to say before she realized there was anything more to it. So, after an awkward week or two of dancing around it, there had been a confession! It was very cute. The game discord went wild.

One week later, after barely having the time to hold hands, Miko had turned up dead. Oops.

She's been hanging around deadland for the last week or two after that, full of... a lot of feelings? She has spilled a lot of them on her replacement bff, poor Utsumi Sho, but he's not around when uh. Suddenly, on the dead side of things, Ryoko is here too, in whatever capacity you deem fit to have her arrive.

Miko blinks, and offers a hesitant, but emotional: ]

Wh... What's the deal, baby seal?

[ Nailed It. ]

[ Much like she did in the actual murdergame we were in, Ryoko spends a good few weeks fucking around so it's perhaps unsurprising that the time has come for her to find out. What is a surprise is whose hands she'd done that finding out at – Ryoko doesn't trust adults easily and while she hadn't exactly trusted Camellia, she'd at least been reasonably certain that she wasn't the violent type. A smile and a knife in the back later and she's here, too dazed by the immediacy of it all to really begin processing any of it.

So don't take her total underreaction personally, Miko. The girl is just going through it, is all. ]

... Miko. [ She sounds a little winded and a lot disbelieving. ] I'd ask if it really was you, but...

[ Who else is going to come out with a line like that at a time like this? ]

Everyone here is pretty much who they were when they were... well, before this. Unless that changed really fast at the last second there, but then they're still that.

[ There's Always One.

... That does, however, prompt Miko to take a step closer and, shifting into the shockingly rare Emotionally Serious And Genuine version of herself, say... ]

Am... I a total huge dingus jerk for saying it's nice to see you again?

Ah...

[ It takes her a second to respond – the question catches her off guard, not for any slight against her feelings, but... ]

Well... if that's the case, it makes two of us. I was actually about to say the same thing to you.

[ Her lips don't quite make it all the way to being a real smile, but her expression looks just a little less wan and lost than it was a moment before. This whole situation is still monumentally awful, but at least she's not on her own. At least Miko's here. ]

This might sound stupid, but... are you alright?

Name: Olvia Park | I Can't Believe It's Not Asuka / Robot Whisperer
Age: 15 | Species: Human | Occupation: Robo Pilot
Likes: Success, Hero Force One, friendship(?)
Dislikes: Friendship, failure, the Sharg
Traits: dedicated, serious, daddy issues
Trivia: Olivia recently piloted a giant robot to save Earth from an alien invasion. Also she learned the value of friendship or whatever.

[ What's On The Table: I actually have an info post written up for her, sort of! Here is a description of her Deal as well as some vague prefs.
Looking for: I play Olivia as a lesbian, generally, because no one can stop me until the show happens (if it does). Let her like. Have fun? They can learn to have fun together, it's fine. ]

Name: Miko Kubota | Champion Gamer
Age: 16 | Species: Human? | Occupation: Glitch Tech
Likes: Video games, friendship, winning
Dislikes: Mitch Williams, losing, tutorials, animatronic animals
Traits: Competitive, athletic, resilient, energetic
Trivia: Miko was once so dedicated to beating a child at a rhythm game that her hometown was nearly destroyed.

[ What's On The Table: Energetic teenage gamer girl who secretly fights evil video game glitches and has an absolute nightmare of a vocabulary! It's just a mix of video game slang, video game references, and catchphrases from classic cartoons combined with the former. She might say poggers. I am so sorry. She only doesn't in the show because of trademarks and such. Will be A Lot in a relationship, but she's a good girl at heart as long as you can keep up with her and especially if you'll play co-op games with her!
Looking for: WHAT'S UP GAMERS- okay no Gamer is a plus but it's definitely not the only thing she's generally looking for. She likes nerds of all kinds, and if you aren't then by god she will make you one. Other gremlin types a plus, but also someone lower-speed is totally fine! She can slow it down and be weirdly mature sometimes when she wants to be. ]

Name: Lord El-Melloi II | Super High School Level Ambition, Star-Crossed, The Professor
Age: 29 | Species: Mage | Occupation: Lord of Modern Magecraft Theory
Likes: Research, teaching, roses
Dislikes: Failure, himself, loss
Traits: Reckless, sentimental, secretive
Trivia: Refuses to eat fish.

[ What's On The Table: full information in his infopost! extremely prickly and secretive (up to and including not giving out his real name), so if pining issues and/or tough tsunderes to crack are your thing this is the guy for you. highly intelligent, incredibly sarcastic, and always worries about everyone else before himself while trying to play it off like it's nbd.
Looking for: m/m with not the slightest attraction to women, he has Past Hangups but his general type is 'good-hearted tough guys who can and will throw hands for good reason'. hit me up and we'll see what happens]

Edited (im sorry lyndon i can't type) 2023-01-22 22:04 (UTC)

Name: Phil Connors | The Weather Man/The Champion the Champion the Champion the Champion
Age: 42? | Species: Human | Occupation: Weatherman
Likes: Sex, booze, hedonism
Dislikes: Groundhog Day, repetition, alarm clocks, small towns
Traits: Charismatic, egotistic, tired
Trivia: He slept with thousands of women

[ What's On The Table: Phil Connors is a weatherman who thinks he's bigger than he is. After a routine report on Groundhog Day he finds himself trapped in an endless timeloop of living the holiday over and over again. He spent many years living it up by having constant sex and partying but the years of it have emotionally worn him down. I'm also willing to do later canon points where he betters himself as well!
Looking for: I love down to earth people who are able to rein in this horny man, but another horny person who Phil can be an absolute gremlin with is also great :) Really I'm not picky]

Edited 2023-01-22 21:48 (UTC)

Name: Ardyn Lucis Caelum | Super High School Level Scapegoat, Champion of Lucis, Dyskrasia
Age: 33(?) | Species: ??? | Occupation: Unknown
Likes: Chess, open spaces
Dislikes: His brother, everything else
Traits: Tired, bitter, despondent
Trivia: Very not-recently single.

[ What's On The Table: so imagine that easter was 2000 years late and jesus was a deeply depressed individual with nothing to live for and possibly all four horsemen of the apocalypse? basically the living incarnation of anhedonia coming straight from a weird lab where a twink voiced by steve blum would not leave him the hell alone.]
Looking for: no preference, i'm good with basically anyone willing to tolerate his miserable horseshit. can you fix him? probably fucking not but take a crack at it.

Edited 2023-01-22 22:05 (UTC)

Name: Cassandra | Champion Ranger/The Lady-in-waiting/The Ranger (Likes: adventure, not dying)
Age: 23 | Species: Human | Occupation: Knight Errant
Likes: Swords, Owl, Rapunzel
Dislikes: Snobs, laziness, waiting
Traits: Bold, harsh, protective, soft
Trivia: Cassandra can slice an apple into eight perfect pieces

[ What's On The Table: It's your favorite handmaiden to a disney princess!! Despite what they may sound like, Cass is easily one of the more determined and tough folk here. She's probably already declared that several people are under her protection (maybe including you). Which is only going to make it worse when they inevitably die and it weighs on her more and more. She's bad at feelings but that doesn't mean she's heartless - she's a disney, after all. That means she can be quite the romantic.
Looking for: Cass is a lesbian who is instantly ride-or-die for anyone who'll treats her with the base level of kindness and respect. So the options are wide. For maximum hilarity I do play her with a soft spot for blondes and/or royalty. ]

[ Sometimes, death is weird. Death is sort of always weird, but some people, Entrapta has noted, take to it better than others. Death, which apparently here means spending an undisclosed amount of time (eternity? that's the standard conjecture for an afterlife, right?) in a shitty, run-down version of the mall they've been asked to do murders in. The mall where Entrapta accidentally did a murder!

She has not examined the ethics of this, and has decided instead to focus on the lack of a need for a tetanus shot in the afterlife and mess around in the ruins of the electronics store for... days straight, now.

When she sees Cass, her favorite person among the living, arrive, she waves. ]

Cassandra! Hello! Please be careful of the door, I keep forgetting to get rid of the broken glass! Because of the hair, you know how it is.

[ ... ]

Oh, wait, you being here is a categorically bad thing. Hm.

[Death is weird. Especially for someone who has already died once; it's strange and quick, apparently offering little warning as the norm. The first time, Cassandra had barely known what happened before waking up on the cobblestone of the castle square, a glowing princess hovering over her.

She'd take that over a shitty mall. God, she hates malls. She's never been to one before getting trapped in this murder show, but now she hates them on principal. At least people like Entrapta made it bearable. Before she did a murder, of course. After that, Cassandra was just sad.

There were a lot of feelings to still digest. Probably why she got caught off-guard and was murdered. Hello, second shittier mall.

Hello, Entrapta.]

Hi, Entrapta.

[Cassandra steps through the ruins of the electronics store, straight up to the princess, who she regards for a quick second before pulling her into a stiff hug.]

Quick on the draw as always.

Ha! That was one of those friendly jokes at my expense, right? I think I'm getting better at spotting them!

[ But, after a moment, she does hug back. With her arms and, after a moment, her hair. ]

Wait, how... did you get here?

Name: EIJIRO KIRISHIMA | THE BOULDER HERO
Age: 17 | Species: Human* | Occupation: Hero, Student
Likes: Meat, manliness, teamwork, friendship, self-improvement
Dislikes: Villains, bullies, regrets, homework
Traits: Red hair, red eyes, sharp teeth, bright smile, excruciatingly excitable
Trivia: Kirishima never misses an opportunity to take off his shirt, even in winter.

[ What's On The Table: Kirishima's version of humanity comes with 80% of the population possessing a personal supernatural power, called a Quirk. Kirishima's Quirk is called Hardening, allowing him to transform his skin into a rocky surface for both offense and defense. He used these things to enter a school for 'pro heroes' - a sort of cross between celebrities and cops in his world - in order to protect those around. So his sense of what is human, what is a villain, and what constitutes as his responsibility is a bit skewed. Despite his sharp appearance, he's basically a human labrador in terms of personality and it is hurting his heart to not be able to do anything to stop the murders that take place in the game, mostly because he doesn't know how not to try and be friends with everyone.

Looking for: Bisexual disaster here. Kirishima is his canon's Asshole Wrangler, so he would be good for anyone who needs someone to kick down their walls with positivity. He can ignore insults without also letting them get away with shitty behavior, especially involving other people. Other ships ideas I like are mutual jock crushes, Stupid + Also Stupid, morosexual nerd coming to terms with finding a himbo, and possibly someone who is just so sweet it's impossible not to crush on them. I mean I'm really open here, so feel free to come at me with other ideas! ]

I don't get how ya'll peeps just keep doing this every week.

[The trial had been rougher than usual. Finding out that one of them had betrayed the group again was never fun, but finding out that Steven had finally snapped under the weight no one had realized he was carrying had made it worse.]

[But as usual, Fern was here in the commissary as everyone tried regrouping in the aftermath somehow.]

[For some reason he'd been talked into taking a plate of spaghetti. It looked tauntingly delicious.]

Like, is it just me? This is all getting crazy pointless, right?

[ Kirishima is a little out of it. He used to consider himself a pretty decent judge of character, thought he had his finger on the pulse when it came to the general feelings of those in the group. It feels like a real blow to that perception know someone as good as Steven was suffering and he hadn't seen it. It wasn't like they didn't talk...

So Fern is catching him zoning out - or rather, he's reigning the redhead back in from self reflection. Kirishima's brow wrinkles. ]

What, eating?

[Fern stops. Blinks.]

[Readjusts mentally, just a little.]

Kind of?

[He stirs up the pile of noodles on his plate.]

I mean- every week here's kind of been the same in a real dirtballs way. We get some kind of weird incentive, every week we think maybe no one'll do anything, but then someone does, and then we gotta figure out who and basically croak 'em by voting, and then we all sit around and eat and talk like maybe the same thing's not just gonna start again in a couple days.

[Fern pushes the spaghetti away with a more forceful jab of his fork than it probably deserves.]

It bumps, man.

[ Kirishima has noticed that he somehow manages to understand everyone here despite being from some obviously different backgrounds, but Fern certainly has a special way of talking. Even now, with the grim topic, there's a twinkle of something warm in attempting to translate the gist. ]

Yeah... It does bump.

[ Eijiro himself is cued to pick up his own fork. His own plate is majority meatballs, with a hint of spaghetti beneath. He slices one of the aforementioned meatballs in half. ]

But I don't think anyone feels like it's not gonna happen again. Not anymore. It's just tough to figure out what we can actually do besides try to hold out, you know?

And even doing that is hard, man. So I think that's what these gatherings are about, and maybe why it looks like some people ain't reacting in a way that makes sense on the outside.

Name: Reagan [REDACTED] | Champion [REDACTED]/The [DATA EXPUNGED]
Age:[REDACTED] | Species: Human | Occupation: [REDACTED]
Likes: [CLASSIFIED]
Dislikes: [LEVEL O-5 CLEARANCE REQUIRED]
Traits: Resourceful, hard-working, intelligent, anti-social
Trivia: Reagan is a hard working employee of Cognito Inc.

[ What's On The Table: Early 30s scientist who happens to work for the shadow government that secretly controls the world, except instead of megalomania, it's more of an office comedy. Reagan works through the ranks, hoping to lead the company, which is difficult when your dad, the former founder, is a drunk negligent jerk, and you've got a shit ton of social issues.
Looking for: I play Reagan as bi with a slight tilt towards men, but I'd love her for either. Provided you can get past the fact that she is practically married to her job and can barely see herself doing anything else.]

Name: Sasha Waybright | Champion Cheerleader/SHSL Cheerleader/The Duelist (Swings both ways. Violently.)
Age: 13 | Species: Human | Occupation: Student/Revolutionary
Likes: Being in control, Anne Boonchuy, Marcy Wu, toads, music
Dislikes: Bullies, kings, failure
Traits: Brash, cool, controlling, self-reflective, self-conscious
Trivia: Blonde is Sasha's natural hair color.

[ What's On The Table: Former cheerleader isekai'd into a world of frogs, newts, and toads who gaslight gatekeep girlbosses her way into nearly overthrowing a kingdom before all of her bad decisions caught up to her. Did some self reflecting, joined forces with innocents to repel the real threat, and generally grew as much as a thirteen year old girl experiencing war crimes can grow. Besides that, she's a pretty fun teen with a bigger rebel streak than you'd expect.
Looking for: Girls! Boys! Sasha is a canonical disaster bisexual so throw your delinquents and cinnamon rolls at her and see what sticks.]

[ It's difficult to enjoy even a giant shopping mall for too long when A. You Cannot Leave and B. Someone gets freaking murdered every week! Even if you aren't actually... used to hanging out in malls like a regular kid, because you aren't a regular kid, you are a globe-trotting homeschooled influencer.

It made sense that Sasha and Brooklynn would start to hang out together pretty early on - not a lot of other kids their age (LOTS of well-intentioned but kind of weird attempts to parent them tho), good survival and leadership instincts, annnnnd a weird familiarity with the concept of death especially as relating, in some regard, to large reptiles/amphibians. Small multiverse!

But on top of that, with all those things in common, there have been...... Feelings. Feelings that, up until this point, Brooklynn was all too down to just kind of push aside and like. Table for discussion at a later date? But this murder sort of. Got to her. Maybe it was the fact that the victim was partially eaten, who can say, but... either way, she makes a beeline at the gathering to Sasha. ]

Hey, wanna get out of here and swordfight?

[ Has she picked up a sword since Brooklynn Unboxes Fencing, a video released like a year ago and shot before then? Irrelevant. This is metaphorically, and maybe literally, entirely an excuse to fall into Sasha Waybright's arms, because that's what she's pretty sure she needs right now. ]

[A long, long time ago, Sasha Waybright was the queen of malls just like this. Well, not exactly like this. It would be weird if malls back in California were engineered death traps.... blatantly like this. With people getting murdered! Weekly! It's a darn-near trend.

Somehow, she's kept a level head, or she's gotten better at compartmentalizing all her stress. Either case, she at least managed to hit it off with one person here. Brooklyn and her, as it turned out, were cut from similar cloth. Who knew the creeping threat of amphibians/dinosaurs was so prevalent in the multiverse? Not her.

She could always count on Brooklyn for someone to talk to... in a friendly way. Not romantically, of course. Not even after she told her that she'd do her best to protect Brooklyn. That was a friend... thing. She continues to tell herself that, weighing a sword in her hand as she's approached.]

O-oh? Oh, man, please. Anything to not keep standing around here.

Name: Neku Sakuraba | Champion Legend
Age: 18 | Species: Human| Occupation: Unemployed
Likes: Art, music, his partners, Tin Pin
Dislikes: Being trapped, assholes, loud places
Traits: Imaginative, emphatic, sarcastic
Trivia: Neku has been killed 3 times

[ What's On The Table: Neku is a dude still recovering from quite a bit of trauma. He's quiet and supportive, so a good pillar for others, but in turn doesn't open easily about his own issues. Once he's comfortable though he can be quite sassy and funny.

Background-wise he's a survivor of the 'Game', a afterlife survival game to win the right to be brought back to life. It and the aftermath have built up a lot of his character, so the fancy new trauma of a murdergame will effect how he deals with people here (cw: odds of disassociation as a reaction to stress is very likely in more serious threads)

Looking for: Open to all genders. Neku does best with people that are more overt and direct than he is. People that can get him out of his own head when he needs it. Earnestness is a big draw for him but he's not above attaching himself to the occasional asshole if he can find something deeper there- just don't expect him to not be blunt and mean in return as needed. ]

Edited 2023-01-24 00:39 (UTC)

[It should be easier, Shiki thinks, to be here and witnessing death. They've lived through death and come back from it, haven't they? It shouldn't be any different to be here knowing that people will die than it was being in the UG knowing people were being erased. And yet... No, it's different from the other side. It's the same here as when Neku disappeared and she had no idea what happened to him or where he was. The uncertainty, the terror at maybe being next—Shiki breathes out and tries to smile. It won't fool Neku, but it only has to fool everyone else anyway.

Four people are dead now, but she'll keep smiling to keep everyone's spirits up. Shiki sets the plate she's holding down in front of Neku, perfectly formed onigiri all in a line.]

You should eat. You haven't stopped liking onigiri, right?

[Tastes change. People do too, but her tone has the same false brightness it did when they first met in the UG. She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes as she sits down.]

They didn't have any salmon, though, so they're just plain.

Name: Fern Mertens | Champion of OOO, The Green Banana, Ultimate Luigi
Age: 17 | Species: Human | Occupation: Adventurer
Likes: Meatloaf, fighting, BMO, music, his brother
Dislikes: Boredom, isolation, failure, his brother
Traits: Driven, searching, protective, green
Trivia: Fern is made of two swords and an extra Finn soul.

[What's On The Table: Ethically awkward grass kid who's a little too quick to leap to the simplest (violent) solution as a suggestion, but wants to protect as many people as possible here. Very down to fight the mastermind or host, probably more than a little withdrawn at the start of things. Definitely pretty down on himself for "failing" to stop any of the murders.]

[Definitely a bit of a hard mode, sorry guys.]

[Looking for: Someone he feels like he can protect, someone capable of kicking his shit in, has a bit of a thing for nerds. Definitely up for someone sunshiney to fill out the latter half of Grouchy Loves Cheery.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

keep your shipping instincts sharp in the off-season

Ziggy Berman (young) | Fear Street

Nanase Nana|The Girl in Twilight

Clarissa | Oxenfree

rng said 3-8 and i think this would be indescribably funny

connor murphy | dear evan hansen

Alfyn Greengrass | Octopath Traveler

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Scream-sings I WANNA CUT TO THE FEELING and writes you a starter

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ronan lynch | raven cycle/dreamer trilogy | m/m

isabella rojas flores | original

Mako Mankanshoku | Kill la Kill

Ryoko Shinonome | 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

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3-6 it is!!

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Olivia Park | Mech Cadet Wu

Miko Kubota | Glitch Techs

Waver Velvet/Lord El-Melloi II | fate/ servantswap au

Phil Connors | Groundhog Day (musical)

Ardyn Lucis Caelum | FF15

Cassandra | Tangled: The Series |

1-6

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kirishima eijiro | bnha/mha

woe, grasshole be upon ye (3-3)

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Reagan Ridley | Inside Job

Sasha Waybright | Amphibia

1-3 (and kinda 1?)

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Neku Sakuraba | Neo: TWEWY

rng said 4-3 so

Fern Mertens | Adventure Time