aworldwithoutboxes | mistletoe meme but people die-

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. CHRISTMAS!!!! - The holidays really can be murder! Welcome to some kind of cozy Christmas-themed residence, and remember: they're your present this year! Because the only other thing you're liable to get is fucking murdered.
8. 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

[ They've been snowed into Legally Distinct From Hill House for three weeks, and two people are dead, when the conservatory is unlocked. Outside, the wan winter sky provides light and precious little else; inside, it's as warm as a summer day. When Kabru touches the glass looking out onto the blank snowscape that surrounds them, he feels the heat of a sun that isn't even on this side of the horizon yet. He wishes, for probably the hundredth time since he got here, that he understood magic well enough to know what kind of spellwork lies behind the sensation, but of course he's totally useless.

The person he's seeking out, on the other hand, is likely in his element right now. Kabru's interested to see what that looks like on him, and he gives himself a moment or two to just observe before speaking up. ]

We missed you at breakfast, [ he says, smiling an easy smile with a dual purpose. On the one hand, he wants to ensure Alfyn knows the remark isn't any kind of reproach, to snuff out the notion that anyone would actually hold this absence against him. Realistically, despite how hard Kabru's pushed everyone meeting up to talk in the dining room each morning, and all his post-trial cajoling of the people that seemed like tough sells yesterday, they missed, like, five people at breakfast! ] Well, not just you... but, of course, that was to be expected. Everyone's still having a hard time, and some of us don't eat to begin with.

[ On the other hand, almost subconsciously, he wants to disguise just how relieved he is to see him. Logically, he knew there was little reason to worry. No motive hangs over their heads now, and killing without a reason, when almost everyone else has an alibi? He's a good judge of people, and while there are individuals here who'd be heartless enough to go for it, he doesn't think any of them are that stupid. Even so, uncertainty's kept a vise grip on Kabru's stomach ever since he took a count of the group and noticed a certain ~~JRPG~~ tousled blond head missing from the number, and it's only just now beginning to release. ]

Then someone mentioned this place, and everything started to make sense. [ The smile is somehow even more intense now?? ] So I thought I'd bring breakfast to you instead. You don't mind, do you?

[ For the record, he has 100% gotten exactly what Alfyn would usually eat for breakfast, down to the most minute details, and is somehow managing to carry it discreetly on his person! Also he brought along a thermos full of coffee for himself because no matter where the murdergame is and what's going on in it, he's gonna Develop A Problem. ]

[In his element he is. In keeping with their prison's spooky vibes, the plants in this conservatory have overgrown their containers; instead of brightening the space, they only add to the abandoned, sinister, unwelcoming feeling that pervades the whole manor. Still, despite the tangled mess, Alfyn's unearthed what looks like a tiered herb garden and has plopped cross-legged in front of it. At least three books from the library lie strewn on the ground around him, open to diagrams and descriptions of various plant parts. Alfyn's own well-used notebook sits in his lap.

As Kabru watches, Alfyn breaks a plant stem with his gloved hand, sniffs it, and leans over to page through one of the books. The pencil in his mouth bobs idly up and down until he makes an affirming noise and grabs it to scribble something down. He's red enough around the eyes to suggest he's been crying sometime in the past twenty minutes, but he's all focus and concentration now. Enough that when Kabru speaks up, he jumps.]

Oh, Kabru! [Chuckling, he rubs the back of his neck.] Sorry, pal, I didn't hear you come out here.

[Or should Alfyn say in here? This conservatory's the closest thing to the outdoors they've had in three weeks, but no amount of wishing and pretending makes the glass walls any less impenetrable. They're still packed in like crabs in a bucket. An eerie, death-mongering, probably haunted bucket.

Even with Kabru's reassuring smile, Alfyn's chin dips sheepishly.]

Shucks. Did I really miss breakfast with everyone? Hope I didn't worry ya. I guess I lost track of time, what with the sun never breaking through.

[Closing his notebook, Alfyn picks himself up and brushes off his pants. He rubs a knuckle quickly, and what he probably thinks is surreptitiously, at the corner of one eye. Yeah, he was definitely crying earlier, but that's no surprise. After the trial, even while he was trying to take care of others, he'd been seen turning to face the wall to wipe his eyes. Or weeping, quietly but openly, with one of the kids.

There are flowers on the table, here in the conservatory. The blue and white ones must be for Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. She and Alfyn had gotten on well, two plant-loving healers in a pod. She, and her killer, are gone now.

Alfyn smiles, diminished but genuine, at Kabru.]

'Course I don't mind. A body's gotta eat, and we all need to keep our spirits up, besides. But you didn't have to go to all this trouble just for me. [He brightens a little.] You'll join me, won't you?

[Alfyn's a companionable sort. He's genuinely sorry to have missed the group meal.]

Edited (Sorry, I missed a chance for minor alliteration and it could not stand) 2024-12-12 20:01 (UTC)

mistletoe meme but people die-

lord only knows if this is coherent BUT HERE WE GO

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