There's No Place Like Traumabonding for the Holidays

[beebs]

HOLIDAY MURDERGAME WHERE ARE THEY NOW MEME



It's the hap-happiest season of all, and what better way to celebrate than by remembering that one (or more) horribly traumatic experience that permanently changed the face of not only your relationships but possibly your outlook on life itself?

Any character (including NPCs!) who's ever been in any murdergame is invited! Feel free to share with your friends!

Regardless of how you choose to use this meme, there's two blanket rules:
1) Make sure the header of your comment has your character's name, home canon, and murdergame listed. If you used the same account for several murdergames, you can use the same toplevel for all of them.
2) No blank comments! First and foremost this is a chance to catch up with old murdergame buddies, and maybe make new ones if you choose! Thus, your comment should go into whatever degree of detail you like describing what life has been like since the murdergame ended. Did life go back to normal? Did they get married? Have a kid? Move to another universe entirely and start over with their found family? Have they kept in touch? Go into as much detail as you want, just put something!

You can use this meme to set up any kind of "canon" or canon-compliant holiday threads with your castmates, big holiday party or no.

OR... you can pretend that there's an interdimensional all-murdergame nondescript winter holiday party that you've been invited to attend! Maybe the Curtains narrators made sure the Denny's was conveniently empty (don't mind the weird old guy in the woods out back), or maybe there was some other convenient arrangement. Either way, you received an invite, and you're here now! So spike the eggnog and check for mistletoe, because the night is probably going to get wild.

(If you're not down for one option or the other, just note that somewhere in your top-level.)

Have fun, and Happy Holidays!

Comments

[notgentle]

Uh, yeah, doesn't look like a whole lot of. That.

[Dio squints down at the bird. He's not totally unfamiliar with the concept of talking animals being real way out there in the universe but this might be the first time actually talking with one.]

You flapping out of stomping height before I change my mind?

[RESPECT THE BOOTS. RESPECT THEM]

[theduke]

[The fragrance is strong and savory, permeating the air around the carriage.]

It's a Romanian delicacy - sour cabbage rolls with ground pork and rice. Let's see here...

[He shifts, his wooden carriage squeaking slightly underneath him, as he turns around and comes up with a china plate, serving up a couple of. Well, cabbage rolls with polenta and sour cream.]

[notgentle]

[Dio gives a lil nod and peers widely at the room. It's turned into Toy Story "Jackasses. Jackasses everywhere."]

Yeah, not like I was the last one either. We talked it out eventually. That must happen pretty often if so many of us can party like this.

[Seriously, wouldn't have happened back in the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition. Right?]

[mopocalypse]

It's... not something you want to understand, Aniki. [Haruka slumps a little.] Wanting everyone else to suffer 'cause you are, thinking there's only so much happiness to go around and that the only way to get yours is to take someone else's, or even that no one deserves it and everyone should just be miserable. I was like that for a long time, you know, you know? I don't ever want to go back.

[mindofathief]

[He did not realize how hungry he was until he smelled that, and the plate is a full-on dinner. His night is getting better and better.]

This is incredible! [He takes a bit forkful of the sarmale and savors the taste. He's right, this is perfect for beating back the cold.] Mmph - are you going to join the party?

[mindofathief]

You were a kid, Haruka. You and Monaca. You were trying to make sense of the world. But so many of these guys are adults. They should have known better.

[mopocalypse]

I guess if no one helps you when you need it, then you just... end up like that for a long time, or maybe forever, huh?

[lastreward]

Well, I want to try anyway! Maybe one of those marathon sort of things?

[ Now that she isn't confined to a hospital bed, the world is so large and free and she's invincible. ]

[scribbly]

[Of course her expression falters at his answer, but how could it not? Still, the Mary he met all those years ago wouldn't have left it at that; she would have screamed and kicked and cried and lashed out against the horrible unfairness of it all. A part of her wants to, of course, but she has been through enough that she knows how little good it would do. She has enough of a life now that she knows this is not the end of it, no matter how it feels.

And yet, there's a but.

It's enough that Mary settles, just so. It's more than enough, isn't it? That she has spent a life carrying the weight of mourning and for just now, even if it's only now, she gets to put it down. Still, she is always the sort of girl who wants more.

But it is enough that she can make a big display of pressing a finger into her cheek, hmmming in deep thought over this. There is no helping, despite her dramatics, the light returning to her eyes with the desperate hope that there will be another holiday party and another meeting.]

How's this, then? When this party is over [and she cannot help the way her voice catches, just a little] I'll keep believing we might meet again. But I'm going to treat it like we won't when we do, just to be safe.

If that's a deal, so is the cookie trade, 'kay?

[prenebular]

[It takes her a moment, just a moment longer than it ought to, but you can see how big her eyes get when recognition sets in.]

Hiyoyo...? [that was the nickname, right. i don't fucking remember. it was now] It's really you, isn't it?

[prenebular]

[She chuckles a little.]

Is that all? I suppose one can count themselves lucky, if they aren't waiting for a call.

Oh, but where are my manners. My name is Tiki.

[scribbly]

[LMAO IT'S MY ONLY "HEY LOOK AT THIS" ICON

anyway! That comment about the newness of the fresh air does not strike her as particularly weird because, like, same? I mean less of the God stuff but same??? She nods along, though, understanding.]

It's good to appreciate downtime. I was your age when I got pulled into a game, too, and when we weren't in danger, I had fun, too! And! And, I'm always really happy when I get to feel the fresh air and the sun, and even the cold, too. It's nice to be able to go outside!

[She does a final few dramatic strokes with her pencil and hums thoughtfully before turning her sketchbook around to face Jeanne with a,] Tah-dah! [She's drawn a little chibi sketch of Jeanne next to a lamb!! Jeanne-drawing is petting the lamb on the head, and the lamb looks so pleased about the whole situation. Mary is an impressive artist for her age, but given that she had a reference for Jeanne and not the animal, of course there's a slight disparity in quality.]

How's this? I was just gonna draw the lamb at first, but your dress is so pretty that I wanted to draw it, too.

[scribbly]

You're...you're okay?

[It seems like too much to hope for. But still, she's here, and solid, and real, and—and she's just the Ene that Mary remembers, so happy for her, so supportive, energetic in a way Mary understands. She doesn't need the details—Ene is one of so, so few people Mary will trust to say they don't matter—but even so, even still.]

You're really okay now? You... You get to live, too?

[snideper]

That's the strategy, huh? Begins and ends at dick-punching?

[Unnecessary snark brought to you by generally disheveled looking young woman going to fucking TOWN at the snack table nearby. She's shoving that shit into pockets and bags. This shit is hers now.]

[bluescreenofdeath]

[Takane takes hold of her hands and clutches them tight, nodding. She doesn't really want to explain the endless murder time loops to Mary, it's a lot of depressing details that will get in the way of the happy end, so it's a relief that Mary isn't asking about them.]

It took a while. But we finally figured everything out, me and my friends back home.

It's a real Christmas miracle, isn't it?

[pyriscence]

Surely there can't be this many lunatics with the same terrible idea across so many worlds, can there? With a group as big as this... it has to account for at least five or six games including our own!

[ She kind of eyeballed that math, yes, but she's not wrong. ]

[rowboats]

[ lazy html, don't know her. i have none of the icons i wanna use active rn.

She hears that from her parents all the time, how proud of her they are for accomplishments both in and out of school, but this hits differently. Takane knows exactly what she's gone through--the game, the art gallery, all of it. So that compliment feels much more loaded than anything her parents have ever told her.

Ib doesn't wanna start crying again, so she scrunches up her face in a dumb-looking way (see icon). ]

...thank you. You don't know how much that means to hear.

[ she is trying so fucking hard to not cry again, girl looks like she's constipated or something, smdh. ]

[romancing]

Thanks! Neesan added the bows! [ posing ] She's always making me clothes and stuff...especially since I got back.

[ air kisses? that's a weird motion for her, but monkey see, monkey do, so she copies Jeanne and returns the gesture of affection ]

[nmc0204]

[ Dryly: ] I have no choice but to know how they're all doing. I don't think I could get them to leave me alone even if I wanted to.

[ She says it in a grumpy voice, but she's clearly kidding. Marissa knows just as well as anyone else who was under Jack's thumb just how much and how fiercely Ryoko cares about the people she'd found there. ]

The people who followed me back to my world are settling in well – Majima and Serizawa-san were right at home anyway, and Harumi and Claptrap are adjusting as well. And we see the others more often than we don't – I'm planning to try and attend college in Parker's world with her and the others, so we're trying to get used to it before we settle there.

[theduke]

[Pleased but unsurprised that his cooking has earned approval, he smiles and clasps his soft hands together.]

Well, maybe I will, at that.

Have you been enjoying the party so far?

[serrata]

I can tell. [ Her voice is a little wry, but certainly not unkind. ] It's good that you've got a friend looking out for you at a big party like this, though. They can be a little scary if you're on your own, huh?

[ That's her tactful way of trying to make sure this girl isn't here on her own. There's a few young children running around and Yuuri would usually assume they're a plus one to someone else, but... ]

[inaclearing]

[Brett clicks his tongue.]

Yeah...if it said her name on the invitation, I don't know if I would have come. I thought maybe it was one of the Star Trek guys - the Federation people, that is. Deanna's the one who mentioned it to me, she said she heard from Data.

[He goes to therapy in space now because where the hell else is he supposed to go about this???]

[inaclearing]

[Brett contemplates this, glancing around.]

Well...there's not enough space here to lock us all in for another round. [You know he's doing better in that he can kinda joke about that, even if it's gallows humor.] We're still on the same team if that happens, though, right?

[serrata]

Ah–

[ Yuuri starts a little – her expression is a little embarrassed and a little guilty, almost like the proverbial kid with her hand in the cookie jar. She doesn't put her phone away just yet but she lowers it and gives the other woman a hasty smile. ]

Sorry – I'm not making too much of a scene, am I?

[tellthestory]

I don't need magic for that.

[Was he trying to show off for the randos here? Eh, maybe a tad. But he's happy to play for Salieri!]

Did you get here okay? No universe hiccups?