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

[deadplating]

It's his goddamn power.

[Vince hisses out. Weird, cuz Maruki has not shown any overt powers to the group. Just his services as a therapist and the station being willing and able to come to his defense any time someone showed even a HINT of attacking him]

That's the only reason a man like that would be here.

[He starts chewing on his pen]

You're right on that though- it's nature for us to eat each other the longer we're here.

[finalflower]

[That makes Annu's eyes widen half a second, and she sits up and leans in, book forgotten.]

Power? Did you find something? Don't tell me he told you himself.

[Sure, most of the Champions have powers that were suppressed, but not all -- and the fact that such an "ordinary" man jumps to that is intriguing in itself.]

[deadplating]

That's the term you all use for those abilities you claim to have.

[He made it clear he didn't buy that shit right from the start, so this is quite a switch up. His chewing becomes more aggressive, to the point the plastic is cracking]

Two weeks ago. He made that offer to 'fix any flaw'. I called him out for the disgusting bait that it was... so he offered me a 'demonstration' in private.

[He pauses in his chewing, eyes narrowing, but a very unpleasant smirk on his face]

Honestly, I thought he wa suggesting something different. But no, he really... did something... to me. Maybe hypnotism?

[finalflower]

[Ah, yes, that motive. Annu scowls at the memory and straightens out one of her gloves.]

So you feel different, but you're not sure what it is. It makes sense with no magical background for you not to have the words for it. And a staff member wouldn't have his powers dampened to the point of party tricks like we have.

[She lowers her head a bit, just enough to shadow her face, in thought.]

I have to wonder what it is, then. And what use it has for making an Ultimate Champion.

[deadplating]

Not just feel. He gave it back-

[The pen finally snaps, plastic digging into his gums and ink staining his mouth. He doesn't seem to notice]

-and took it away. No freebies.

[finalflower]

[She blinks, almost says something, but thinks to herself. Something that could be taken and given with magic, something part of the brain, surely, or he wouldn't jump to the explanation of hypnotism. The mind or the soul. Maruki's a therapist, after all. Who wouldn't take a job that their abilities could help them along with? And fixing flaws goes straight into that job anyway.

Or creating them. Maybe he has had more of a hand in this than they think. But she'll hold onto that for now.]

Of course. Incentives become motives. It's happened week over week. And if he can grant something, it can also be taken from him, can't it?

[deadplating]

[If he knew her thought process he'd be impressed how close she was. But he's too caught up in his own bubbling rage]

Even if it can't, it's a waste for him to have it.

[finalflower]

That's an odd turn of phrase, but I can't say I disagree. This entire program, whatever it's truly made for, whatever they need a victor for... Whoever he answers to won't be swayed by the pain they're causing or the waste of life at their feet. Anyone who does this must have the conviction for it. Which makes me wonder what it is our dear therapist thinks, truly.

Tell me. Do you remember the first days, everyone looking through our Champion profiles?

[deadplating]

[Her words mostly roll over him. As someone who also would do certain things for his goals, he understood someone like Maruki better than most. But in turn that meant he couldn't help but despise him]

I do.

[finalflower]

[She folds her gloved hands in front of her face Gendou pose she probably ripped off from someone, book at the side neglected.]

Your profile made me think of it, actually. The way it talks about the piece your business is named after. I learned it when I was studying painting in France. The story goes that Saturn didn't eat his own children just because, but because he feared a prophecy that they would overthrow him. One that came true when his wife betrayed him and spared one of the sons, who grew up to slay him and revived his immortal siblings. Victimized by his own victims, as it were, and all because he struck out at what he was afraid of.

We may be going about this all wrong. As a group, I mean. All this wondering about what our captors have to gain, what power or prestige our deaths pave the way for that would be worth the investment and the risk. Maybe we should be asking: what are they so afraid of?

[deadplating]

[victimized by your victims. His hand raised to lightly touch his neck, the gnarly scar he's had since he arrived mostly covered by his collar. But always there. Itching with rejection]

If... there's something you fear enough... you can do anything. Accept anything.

[finalflower]

[That's interesting. Not something she'll press on right now, when the focus at hand is Maruki and the mysterious director. But something to keep in mind, filed with how cagey Vincent is about his motives every week. She hopes she won't have to use it, but better to know everything than nothing.]

Precisely. And the one who set this all up might not just see us as stepping stones. It might even tie into why our abilities had to be dampened, but that's only a theory.

[deadplating]

'Abilities'... still not sure how much of that shit I buy... even after seeing what the Pig did to me.

[finalflower]

A skeptic to the end, aren't you? I suppose with what we do have relegated to the smallest and most harmless things.