118th ♫ | asking myself over and over – "have i won? has a new me been reborn?"

[phaiinein]

Welcome, Champions, to the Tulipa Residency Station, the #1 top voted temporary home away from home, currently orbiting the beautiful uninhabited planet of Seraphim #52973! You've been given the very exciting opportunity to test out our facilities for free over the next few weeks. All the food fun and relaxation you could ever want alongside a beautiful view, at absolutely no cost! If space makes you anxious, don't fret! We have an on-board therapist, the distinguished Doctor Maruki here to attend to your every need! Oh, you didn't agree to come here? You want to go home? There's a weird rule in your resident ID about murder? Well, I guess there is one teeny tiny catch... Welcome to the murdergame meme: Airlocked Gaiden edition! This is a meme-ified version of the Airlocked sequel/Round 6 AU cooked up by myself and Jess made available for everyone to goof around with. HAVE FUN, GANG TL;DR: we still have airlocked brainrot THE BASICS: This meme is for threads/plots/mingles/whatever set in an Airlocked-based AU as outlined above. You don't need to be Airlocked alumni to play here but some familiarity with the game's vibes and mechanics is useful! The game's setting is Tulipa Residency Station, a high class space station orbiting an unoccupied planet. It's basically a cross between a super fancy hotel and a super fancy cruise liner so feel free to make up fitting locations as you see fit. AND YES, YOU CAN HAVE ROOMMATES. Slap up a toplevel quickly outlining what's going on with your character in the tradition of murdergame memes gone by – you can also outline your character's role in the game, how long they last and maybe give ideas for progressive CR, memory reveals, that sort of thing! TAG AROUND AND HAVE FUN THAT PART IS NOT OPTIONAL PROMPTS: Downtime 1. Excuse Me, Who Are You? You've just woken up in this weird place and you have no idea what's going on. But hey -- maybe this stranger's more informed than you. Or maybe you can put your heads together and investigate what's going on. 2. Social Link Go! Well, if you're going to be stuck in here for however long, you might as well get to know the people stuck in here with you. You've got plenty of rooms to explore together and there's enough to do to keep you occupied. How do you plan on passing time without killing each other? 3. Vending Machine Woes Somewhere in this place there's a mysterious vending machine that spits out all manner of bizarre items and occasionally dispenses items that belong to you and the other people trapped here. You've got a fat stack of tokens and nothing to lose. 4. The Corners of My Mind So as it turns out, your lovely hosts have been fiddling with your memories. Maybe you're just discovering this now or maybe you've had a particularly upsetting memory regain you're dealing with. 4. Wildcard! GO WILD AND BE FREE (or as free as you can be here, anyways) PUTTING THE MURDER IN MURDER GAME 1. Motive Your mysterious overseer has decided there's not nearly enough murder going on and so they've ~helpfully~ given you a little push to do the deed. Maybe one of your loved ones is in danger, maybe they're offering more money than you could ever dream of or they're threatening to reveal your deepest darkest secrets. Whatever is it, would you kill for it? 2. Murder WELL APPARENTLY, YES. Are you a killer or are you being killed? Either way, someone's not walking away from this alive. 3. Body Discovery Rise and shine, murdergame! It's a brand new day and someone's dead. Better get investigating! 4. Trial You know how this one goes. Line up all your evidence and sniff out the killer -- or sit there and sweat and hope no one works out you're the murderer. Will they go down with a confession or put up a fight? 5. Afterparty You've survived another trial, but more of your friends have died. Even without the executions, trials are a stressful enough affair. It's time to destress and lick your wounds and support each other. 6. Mastermind It's the end. It's time to uncover all the mysteries behind this murder game -- and find out just who trapped you here. Are they really an unconnected party, or is the mastermind someone among you...? 7. Freedom Just as it says -- you're finally free, but at what cost? Have those you love been returned to you, or are you still reduced to just those who made it to the end? Are you on your own, or is anyone here to help you? And more importantly, how the hell are you going to get home? CHAMPION PROFILE CODE: <center><b>Name:</b> NAME | <b>TITLE (Super High School Level, Ultimate, Champion, etc)</b> <b>Age:</b> AGE | <b>Species:</b> SPECIES | <b>Occupation:</b> OCCUPATION <b>Likes:</b> LIKES <b>Dislikes:</b> DISLIKES <b>Traits:</b> A HANDFUL OF NOTABLE TRAITS <b>Trivia:</b> A PIECE OF TRIVIA</center>

Comments

[reaperrabbit]

[Well, it does make him sweat a little.]

No. That she was a Sinner. I know she did bad stuff, but--even when I can see the Sinner's Mark on people, that doesn't always mean they deserve to go to Hell. Here, I can't even see that.

[finalflower]

You've forgotten one thing.

[Annu raises her hand and casts what should probably be an impressive spell, except instead, she's just created a tiny flame that fizzles out before it goes anywhere.]

We barely have our abilities. Who's to say you could even control where she went?

[reaperrabbit]

...I didn't think about that.

[That... sounds pretty genuine?]

[finalflower]

I haven't seen any of our dead around here, either, and given the circumstances, one would think they'd be sticking around.

But that aside, Brook. Tell me. Your explanation is that you would only kill the way you did at home, for the same reasons, right? For your job, your demonic contract.

That wasn't the motive.

[reaperrabbit]

...What do you mean?

[finalflower]

What I mean, Brook, is that the entire premise of the Champion Excellence Program is predicated on pushing people to kill one another, not waiting to see if they'll kill someone they otherwise might anyway. Isn't that right?

[Someone else cuts in, as they do, with a piece of evidence they found, what that could mean, who it could tie to. Annu doesn't look away from Brook.]

This week's motive... Wasn't it allowing you to go back? That would seem to fit with someone who lost the only one who thought he was worth saving.

1/2

[reaperrabbit]

[His odd, pink eyes blink once and widen, and his tightly-wound jaw slackens slightly. For a second, Brook looks wholly, purely, unmistakably...

...stumped.]

[reaperrabbit]

...What...?

[His eyebrows draw in as he tries to work it out. Then, all of a sudden, they fly up.]

You--you thought I meant someone would've killed for me.

[Brook's hands tighten on his podium. He swallows, gaze dropping, teeth gritted hard enough to hurt.]

You're so fucking wrong.

[finalflower]

[This is new. The way she's finally shocked something more out of him, but he turns on a dime, tense, hurt. If he's a prey animal, he's the kind that, if one day he can't keep running off, will attack with everything he's got.

Annu gulps before resuming her composure. Remember all the faces of the people she wants to be. Strong. Sharp. Without mercy.]

Not a friend, indeed. Who is it, then?

[If they wouldn't kill for him --]

Who killed you?

[reaperrabbit]

You really want to know?

[Some of the people talking about the knife that failed to flush down the toilet trail off to listen to this. Brook lets out a long, slow breath, hands still clenched tight for control.]

Fine. My sister killed me when I turned eighteen, who knows how many years ago. She wanted the life I was born into--and for all I know, she got it.

[No wonder he ended up thinking of her then. All Annu's talk about her siblings, what they did and didn't want to do; of course it brought up those times, distant as they might be.]

Now you're gonna say I did it to stop that, right? You'll claim I killed Terezi to save my skin back then. But I didn't. I didn't kill her. I don't... What would be the point, of going back to that meaningless life?

[finalflower]

[She listens, something flashing across her face before she settles back into the persona that's served her so far.]

You don't seem to see much meaning in the unlife you've already got either. So it isn't like you're giving up someplace you're happy with.

[reaperrabbit]

Sure. Existing as a Reaper for the last hundred years... I'm not happy, but I'm not sad. I just am. And it's fine.

I do my job, and if it serves no big purpose, neither does waiting around in purgatory forever.

[finalflower]

And here I thought hell's assassins would've been chosen from hell instead.

[She folds her hands on her podium.]

You don't look fine. And you especially didn't on Sunday.

[reaperrabbit]

[He glowers at her and chooses not to answer the second part.]

...The other two are. But I didn't die a sinner. I didn't do anything particularly good or bad while I was alive, so when my soul was judged, I ended up in purgatory.

[finalflower]

Don't give me that look. I haven't done anything to you, really. Not more than ask questions that relate to the topic at hand.

[She laughs, but it's harsh.]

You say you don't feel or care about anything, but you've already proven that's a lie. Something happened to make you care. And it's whatever changed in you.

1/3

[reaperrabbit]

...

[Yeah. Looks like that's right on the money.]

2/3

[reaperrabbit]

[He lowers his head. Instead of holding on tight, his hands tremble slightly on the podium.

And yet, Brook swallows.]

It still wasn't me. B-because if what I remembered is real... changing it would erase the only thing I ever did that meant something. So if I'm fucked when I get out of here anyway--

3/3

[reaperrabbit]

[He sucks in a breath and looks up, screwing a determined look onto his face.]

--I might as well last here as long as I can. That means convincing you assholes I didn't do it. Tell me again how she died. What do I have to do to prove it wasn't me?

[finalflower]

[Oh, we're doing this, are we. She brushes her ponytail back.]

Slit throat while she was out patrolling. Presumably with that knife somebody tossed into the water closet and tried to flush. Somebody who doesn't realize that's not how they work.

I've been to other times enough to understand plumbing in the future and what the toilet will or will not get rid of. What's your excuse?

[reaperrabbit]

I also fucking know how a toilet works. Yeah, I'm old, but I spent the last hundred years in the modern world. I have a blog.

Also, blades aren't my thing.

[finalflower]

And you expect that people are only going to use the things they know in a place where everyone is meant to find them out under threat of death? You're smarter than that, Brook.

[reaperrabbit]

[Is he, though? Is she sure he's smarter than that?]

No, seriously. I wouldn't use a murder weapon that could be found at all.

[He hesitates a half second longer, then sighs shortly--not one of his usual drawn-out, world-weary things, but he's under a lot of pressure, here--and raises his gloved fist. Black energy wraps around it, ragged at the edges, like paint starting to run dry. Power nerfing at play.]

I can't get as much of it here as normal, but even with just this, I could've broken her neck easy. ...Ugh, this isn't proving anything. She didn't go down without a fight, did she? Was she armed?

[finalflower]

She wouldn't have.

[Someone else follows up with some more of the bodytouching details, and the courtroom starts arguing over whether the toilet knife was actually just someone's attempt to wash blood off and had nothing to do with being clumsy or unfamiliar with modern garbage disposal. Annu stands there, occasionally adding in some details from what she found on the body. But she still watches Brook for any sign of cracks.]

[reaperrabbit]

[The sudden accidental discovery that a sword pops out of Terezi's cane changes the direction of discussion. The question of why a killer would replace the blade after their battle leads to the inevitable wound check. Brook's clean, and while that begs questions about whether or not injuries would heal faster on a demon-powered undead being, the token Fire Emblem unit's obviously fresh, bandaged cuts all but close the case.

Brook avoids meeting anyone's eyes for the rest of the trial. He's quiet, pays even less attention than usual, and turns to go without a word after they send Joshua to his execution.]

[finalflower]

[Annu can't turn off her emotions in time. She notes the change, presses Joshua just as hard as she had Brook, and makes some creative threats involving the teleporter before he cracks. As much as she tries to look composed during the execution, she looks haunted, and in a different way than usual.

She knows he'll ignore her as they leave for the teleporter. She has to say something anyway.]

...I won't apologize for anything that moves the case along and keeps us alive. You wouldn't want my sympathy anyway.

[Annu's not her mother, the sweet and endearing morality pet in a tower full of miserable war criminals. She can be... hard to get along with. But she means well, whatever that's worth.]