Welcome to May’s Best Kill and Best Death Awards. Before we begin, the rules:
1. In this thread, you may post as an anonymous guest to select one student to receive the day's Best Kill Award, and one handler to receive the Best Death Award. Prizes will be given out in-character for BKA, consisting of a weapon and food, and out-of-character for BDA, consisting of a quote from their character to be displayed on the board index until the next BDA is awarded.
2. You may only vote while logged out. You can identify yourself in your vote if you want, but you may not claim to be another handler.
3. You may only vote once, and you may not vote for yourself in either category. Staff can see IP addresses, and we will check them if we have reason to suspect shenanigans.
4. You must provide reasoning with your vote for why you think your choices deserve the award. Votes with no reasoning will not be counted.
5. Don't be a jerk. You can explain why some scenes are your favorites without tearing others down.
6. Make sure that your answers are clear; please don't use any formatting that might cause votes to be miscounted or left out.
7. Please be sure to read every kill and death before voting, please vote for your genuine favorites rather than just voting for your friends, and please don't campaign for awards in the chat or otherwise try to influence the vote.
And your Best Kill and Best Death contestants:
BEST KILL AWARD:
Blaise D’Aramitz for killing Teresa Rojas
Justin Greene for killing Angie Cortez
Blaise D’Aramitz for killing Princess McQuillan (Attack, Death)
Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer
Ace Ortega for killing Lori Martin
BEST DEATH AWARD:
Cactus for the death of Claudeson Bademosii
Shiola for the death of Tyrell Lahti
Emprexx Plush for the death of Helena Fury
Kermit for the death of Valerija Bogdanovic
Melusine for the death of Paloma Salt
MethodicalSlacker for the death of Violet Schmidt
Jilly for the death of Teresa Rojas
MurderWeasel for the death of Juliette Sargent
Melusine for the death of Angie Cortez
Cicada for the death of Princess McQuillan
Tonyskin for the death of Amelia Fischer
Ruggahissy for the death of Lori Martin
Voting will run for five days. A timer can be found here. Votes will remain hidden until time is up, and the winners will be declared in the following announcement
V7 BKA/BDA Voting: May 2020
V7 BKA/BDA Voting: May 2020
"My man got too familiar and I’d ended up having to whoop his ass, man, you know. Because he would step across the line. Habitually. He’s a habitual line stepper.” -Charlie Murphy
V8 Relationship Thread
Slidin'
Lookin' for the opps, they been hidin'
I grew up 'round drugs, sex, and violence
We turnt off they street, we heard sirens
Since a juvenile, I been wylin'
Slidin'
Lookin' for the opps, they been hidin'
I grew up 'round drugs, sex, and violence
We turnt off they street, we heard sirens
Since a juvenile, I been wylin'
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Guest Of Wind
BKA: Marceline for Amelia
There's a ton at play here, but the thing I specifically want to shout out is just how patient an arc Marceline has been on to get her to this point. I'm not sure it really comes through without having followed her, but since the abrupt death of her girlfriend, she's tried on different identities and grappled with her actions and their possible consequences and never quite found a clean fit. She wallowed in despair, she tried to tread the hero's path, and finally—finally—she has reached a point where the only road to success she can see is the other side of the coin: playing. Of course, in a normal circumstance, one where she gets more time to muse, she might veer off this course too. She's not suddenly a different person, and the act of betraying Amelia is painful to her, all her protestations of mercy and ease quickly being proven false. We've seen her fail and back down once already. But here, now, she's finally sealed the deal, and there is no more going back. We're finally at the payoff stage of an arc that's been bubbling for nine months, and I can't wait to see how the rest of it plays out.
BDA: MethodicalSlacker for Violet
There were some really excellent deaths this round and I haven't been doing shout outs a lot this version because there are too many good things but I want to shout out Rugga for Lori also because the fall to her own poison, the specifics of her goals, the use of hallucinatory feedback as a source of comfort in her final moments, it was pure poetry. I couldn't decide here so I Kiriyamaed it, but Lori's super worthy too.
That said, Violet: Violet's an absolute tangled web of a character front to end, in the best way possible. Her narrative picks up these strangeunusual quirks as it goes, using them to inform and suggest but never pausing to explain, because doing so would strip away some of the power and magic. And oh, are power and magic key themes for her. Violet views everything that occurs through the lens of her beliefs, though at times the lens is closer or further away. Interestingly, while she wore a reputation as a sort of second-tier villain, if you actually go back through the things Violet did, that's not at all a fair assessment—she killed Kyle from a sense of mercy, and while Layla's death had an air of execution about it, it was still fundamentally self defense against someone who had done almost nothing but attempt to prey on others. But Violet felt that she was doomed for her crimes, and this self perception in some ways manifested the reality she thought she deserved, leading her further and further from her peers and into ever greater conflict.
And her death taps into all of that. Teresa is at first introduced not directly, but in the form of little wrong notes in the environment, as Violet stumbles into her trap. When she does come out, Violet perceives her as an angel, and a vengeful one. It is only in the final post that she sees the truth and names her foe. And yet, where in another story this might have signaled the disintegration of Violet's beliefs, here it reinforces them. Her understanding shifts and accommodates Teresa, explains her, and in this she is sent off on a beat that blends horror and peace, that complicates and challenges without being unearned. It's great stuff, and I hope Violet gets some more attention in hindsight, because I think most of her story is really slick in ways that will especially pop as part of a cohesive whole (and of course, things aren't quite done... there's a related Meanwhile or three that have been providing interesting context along the way).
There's a ton at play here, but the thing I specifically want to shout out is just how patient an arc Marceline has been on to get her to this point. I'm not sure it really comes through without having followed her, but since the abrupt death of her girlfriend, she's tried on different identities and grappled with her actions and their possible consequences and never quite found a clean fit. She wallowed in despair, she tried to tread the hero's path, and finally—finally—she has reached a point where the only road to success she can see is the other side of the coin: playing. Of course, in a normal circumstance, one where she gets more time to muse, she might veer off this course too. She's not suddenly a different person, and the act of betraying Amelia is painful to her, all her protestations of mercy and ease quickly being proven false. We've seen her fail and back down once already. But here, now, she's finally sealed the deal, and there is no more going back. We're finally at the payoff stage of an arc that's been bubbling for nine months, and I can't wait to see how the rest of it plays out.
BDA: MethodicalSlacker for Violet
There were some really excellent deaths this round and I haven't been doing shout outs a lot this version because there are too many good things but I want to shout out Rugga for Lori also because the fall to her own poison, the specifics of her goals, the use of hallucinatory feedback as a source of comfort in her final moments, it was pure poetry. I couldn't decide here so I Kiriyamaed it, but Lori's super worthy too.
That said, Violet: Violet's an absolute tangled web of a character front to end, in the best way possible. Her narrative picks up these strangeunusual quirks as it goes, using them to inform and suggest but never pausing to explain, because doing so would strip away some of the power and magic. And oh, are power and magic key themes for her. Violet views everything that occurs through the lens of her beliefs, though at times the lens is closer or further away. Interestingly, while she wore a reputation as a sort of second-tier villain, if you actually go back through the things Violet did, that's not at all a fair assessment—she killed Kyle from a sense of mercy, and while Layla's death had an air of execution about it, it was still fundamentally self defense against someone who had done almost nothing but attempt to prey on others. But Violet felt that she was doomed for her crimes, and this self perception in some ways manifested the reality she thought she deserved, leading her further and further from her peers and into ever greater conflict.
And her death taps into all of that. Teresa is at first introduced not directly, but in the form of little wrong notes in the environment, as Violet stumbles into her trap. When she does come out, Violet perceives her as an angel, and a vengeful one. It is only in the final post that she sees the truth and names her foe. And yet, where in another story this might have signaled the disintegration of Violet's beliefs, here it reinforces them. Her understanding shifts and accommodates Teresa, explains her, and in this she is sent off on a beat that blends horror and peace, that complicates and challenges without being unearned. It's great stuff, and I hope Violet gets some more attention in hindsight, because I think most of her story is really slick in ways that will especially pop as part of a cohesive whole (and of course, things aren't quite done... there's a related Meanwhile or three that have been providing interesting context along the way).
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enthused voter
This was a lovely round; great deaths all around. It was a really tough call, too.
BKA: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer. This one was eerie and uncomfortable and as mentioned by a few people when it happened, seeing Amelia call out for Marceline's deceased girlfriend made the situation probably so much worse and damned her even more. I definitely want to commend both handlers for doing a real great job on this one.
BDA: MurderWeasel for the death of Juliette Sargent. I'm a sucker for metaplot stuff, and the crazy stuff that MW has been doing all game long just makes this feel like the ending of Inception. Did this really happen? Was it just part of her imagination? Either way, it was an intriguing way to have her go out and was the only real way that I think her story could have ended. Great work. Again - so many good deaths in here, it was really hard to choose.
BKA: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer. This one was eerie and uncomfortable and as mentioned by a few people when it happened, seeing Amelia call out for Marceline's deceased girlfriend made the situation probably so much worse and damned her even more. I definitely want to commend both handlers for doing a real great job on this one.
BDA: MurderWeasel for the death of Juliette Sargent. I'm a sucker for metaplot stuff, and the crazy stuff that MW has been doing all game long just makes this feel like the ending of Inception. Did this really happen? Was it just part of her imagination? Either way, it was an intriguing way to have her go out and was the only real way that I think her story could have ended. Great work. Again - so many good deaths in here, it was really hard to choose.
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bone hurting juice
Best Kill Award: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer. I love a fall from grace, and seeing someone like Marceline, who has spent most of the game wallowing in suicidal feelings, flip it all around and decide to try living for all the wrong reasons just does it for me. Convincing herself that she's mercy killing Amelia while Amelia screams for help and Marceline gets more and more brutal just to shut her up just hits in all the right ways. Given Marceline's immediate regrets and her attempts to steel her resolve afterwards, I'd really like to see how a BKA win would go for her and whether it would motivate her going forward or cause her more regrets. I think she's shaping up to be a very interesting late-game mover and that it would positively impact her story either way.
Best Death Award: Emprexx Plush for the death of Helena Fury. This was a really, really tough choice. I want to shout out MurderWeasel with Juliette, Tonyk with Amelia, and Ruggahissy with Lori especially, but this was a very strong death round overall. My vote is going with Hel because their death feels like the culmination of a lot of jokes the universe has had at their expense, in a way. Like Marceline, they spent a lot of the game grappling with suicidal feelings and the idea that they didn't deserve to live, but it was always pretty clear that they never had a chance to power through that and come out the winner. The thing that finally ends it for them being petty spite from someone that they don't even know all that well hurts, but the death post itself is beautiful and a fun and unique bit of meta/formatting play. It's not intrusive and can be ignored if the reader wants without them missing anything essential from the death, but I enjoyed that Hel's communications back home that popped up throughout the game got to be brought to life in this way.
Best Death Award: Emprexx Plush for the death of Helena Fury. This was a really, really tough choice. I want to shout out MurderWeasel with Juliette, Tonyk with Amelia, and Ruggahissy with Lori especially, but this was a very strong death round overall. My vote is going with Hel because their death feels like the culmination of a lot of jokes the universe has had at their expense, in a way. Like Marceline, they spent a lot of the game grappling with suicidal feelings and the idea that they didn't deserve to live, but it was always pretty clear that they never had a chance to power through that and come out the winner. The thing that finally ends it for them being petty spite from someone that they don't even know all that well hurts, but the death post itself is beautiful and a fun and unique bit of meta/formatting play. It's not intrusive and can be ignored if the reader wants without them missing anything essential from the death, but I enjoyed that Hel's communications back home that popped up throughout the game got to be brought to life in this way.
2 days and 50 minutes for votes.
"Art enriches the community, Steve, no less than a pulsing fire hose, or a fireman beating down a blazing door. So what if we're drawing a nude man? So what if all we ever draw is a nude man, or the same nude man over and over in all sorts of provocative positions? Context, not content! Process, not subject! Don't be so gauche, Steve, it's beneath you."
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FIrst time voting
I would vote both best kill and best death for Marceline killing Amelia. I honestly loved the two girls, but I really think there wasn't any reason, in a way, for Amelia to survive. She was unstable, and weak-willed, and innocent, and I think her murder had been a long time coming, no offense, even though she was a genuinely wonderful character to read. I think it was the betrayal and tragedy that got me. it's incredibly personal and emotional, especially reading it from amelia's perspective. Their interconnected paths, and Amelia's calling for Dolly to save her along with Marceline being angered by that- it's a painful read, but a good one. The juxaposition between Amelia's broken mental state and her finding comfort, and Marceline's contemplation of murder is wonderful. And after the attck, too. Amelia's lack of anger directed at Marcy, her hallucination of Dolly, her trying to look at the stars as she died really shows the hopeless and tragedy of the situation along with her kind, bright heart. Marceline's anger and horror at herself, too. It is a great moment of character development and characterization for both, and I love it!
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Werethot
Everything is miserable but that just means you're all super talented. Gonna keep it short and sweet this time!
My vote for BKA goes to the new horrific murderer on the block: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer
The kill was visceral, the relationship was personal, and how Marceline is justifying it to herself is chilling. It was also a fucked up version of what she intended to be a sort of mercy kill (it ended up being a marcy kill, ayeeeee), and I love a good botch.
My BDA vote goes to Shiola for the death of Tyrell Lahti, because Ty's story felt completely bookended from start to finish, as if Shiola knew when and how his story would end the whole time. I love how the violence invigorated him, and how he went all edgehog at the end and dug the bolt out himself. Chef kiss.
I can't state how hard this was for me! In-between the humor, horror, and overall quailty of deaths this month, this contest was stacked with contenders.
My vote for BKA goes to the new horrific murderer on the block: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer
The kill was visceral, the relationship was personal, and how Marceline is justifying it to herself is chilling. It was also a fucked up version of what she intended to be a sort of mercy kill (it ended up being a marcy kill, ayeeeee), and I love a good botch.
My BDA vote goes to Shiola for the death of Tyrell Lahti, because Ty's story felt completely bookended from start to finish, as if Shiola knew when and how his story would end the whole time. I love how the violence invigorated him, and how he went all edgehog at the end and dug the bolt out himself. Chef kiss.
I can't state how hard this was for me! In-between the humor, horror, and overall quailty of deaths this month, this contest was stacked with contenders.
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Wingers
BKA: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer
Marceline finally deciding to do something by killing one of her friends is a very emotionally charged moment and scene. Marceline's struggles to justify what she's doing while Amelia just exists in a oblivious state of bliss make for some good tension up until the moment where she attempts to kill her and botches it horribly. It calls back to Caedyn's murder of Bridgette in V6 thematically with how both killers find the act of killing to be a lot messier and more gruesome than they imagined and it really works for this scene. Marceline has been insulted from the vast majority of horror in the game while talking up her big plan to take out players, so it's fun to see her become truly exposed to the horrors of what her plan would entail up close, especially as she watches her own friend die.
BDA: Ruggahissy for the death of Lori Martin
It's always interesting to watch people try more experimental ideas, especially when it's someone who tends to have a very established style to their writing and that's what I liked about Lori's death scene. We get the callback and karmic retribution of Lori accidentally drinking the drug water after her activities with it throughout the game and it gives us a very cool and characterful drug trip sequence that while making use of some more experimental elements still feels decidedly Rugga in tone and execution. The way it comes together at the finale of the scene to lead to her death also works great as Lori finally feels guilt over all her previous actions and ends up dying as a result of the freak-out that causes.
Marceline finally deciding to do something by killing one of her friends is a very emotionally charged moment and scene. Marceline's struggles to justify what she's doing while Amelia just exists in a oblivious state of bliss make for some good tension up until the moment where she attempts to kill her and botches it horribly. It calls back to Caedyn's murder of Bridgette in V6 thematically with how both killers find the act of killing to be a lot messier and more gruesome than they imagined and it really works for this scene. Marceline has been insulted from the vast majority of horror in the game while talking up her big plan to take out players, so it's fun to see her become truly exposed to the horrors of what her plan would entail up close, especially as she watches her own friend die.
BDA: Ruggahissy for the death of Lori Martin
It's always interesting to watch people try more experimental ideas, especially when it's someone who tends to have a very established style to their writing and that's what I liked about Lori's death scene. We get the callback and karmic retribution of Lori accidentally drinking the drug water after her activities with it throughout the game and it gives us a very cool and characterful drug trip sequence that while making use of some more experimental elements still feels decidedly Rugga in tone and execution. The way it comes together at the finale of the scene to lead to her death also works great as Lori finally feels guilt over all her previous actions and ends up dying as a result of the freak-out that causes.
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loonacee
BKA: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer. I liked this kill in its execution. It was well written and I liked how Marceline has to psych herself to do the kill, along with the panic and guilt when it didn’t go as quickly as planned.
BDA: MethodicalSlacker for the death of Violet Schmidt. I like the description of the fight in this scene, with the added details of angels and being damned giving a nice reference of the character being involved in the fight, instead of just a fight itself. Surprisingly, I also liked the poetry style in post 14. The choices of similes to describe how it felt to be stabbed were pretty original, rather than the standard descriptions one sees. I also really liked the death post itself, and found the description of Violet shutting down chilling, with the description of bubbles in her nose being a particularly gross detail.
BDA: MethodicalSlacker for the death of Violet Schmidt. I like the description of the fight in this scene, with the added details of angels and being damned giving a nice reference of the character being involved in the fight, instead of just a fight itself. Surprisingly, I also liked the poetry style in post 14. The choices of similes to describe how it felt to be stabbed were pretty original, rather than the standard descriptions one sees. I also really liked the death post itself, and found the description of Violet shutting down chilling, with the description of bubbles in her nose being a particularly gross detail.
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VoltTurtle
- Posts: 801
- Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:10 pm
- Location: Dreamland
11 hours and 28 minutes for votes!
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Bakarina
Best Kill Award: My vote for BKA goes to Marceline Carlson killing Amelia Fischer. It was close between this one and Ace killing Lori for me, but I think the tipping point was that Marceline's killing was a lot harder. She had to deal with Amelia being a bit off, and it wasn't as easy a kill. Marceline was pushed to end Amelia's life and really had to put in the effort to kill her. It's brutal and heartbreaking, and I think it's what made it the best kill of the month.
Best Death Award: This one has to go to MurderWeasel for the death of Juliette Sargeant. Bravo. Just. Bravo. It's a fun play on dream sequences, fakeout deaths, and unrolled deaths. It's going to be one for the history books (of this site) and is quite a great way to end it. I feel like a lot of future death scenes will be compared to this one, for the right reasons. Because it needs to be said again: bravo.
Best Death Award: This one has to go to MurderWeasel for the death of Juliette Sargeant. Bravo. Just. Bravo. It's a fun play on dream sequences, fakeout deaths, and unrolled deaths. It's going to be one for the history books (of this site) and is quite a great way to end it. I feel like a lot of future death scenes will be compared to this one, for the right reasons. Because it needs to be said again: bravo.
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Longboi
BKA: Marceline Carlson for killing Amelia Fischer
I've been really enjoying VoltTurtle's writing in V7 so far, and I think while brevity has its place, I really enjoyed just how far VT goes in terms of exploring Marceline's thought processes. There's also something about stabbing deaths like that which always makes me shiver slightly.
BDA: Murderweasel for Juliette Sargeant
I really, really enjoyed reading Juliette this entire version and I was kinda surprised when MW took her in this direction. After that feeling subsided, however, I kinda looked back at her whole character and saw how it all fell into place. I wanted to see Juliette as this calculating villain who was going to wait to the last possible moment to cross the line of killing someone - but it made a ton of sense that it was really more of a coping mechanism. Great work on this one.
I've been really enjoying VoltTurtle's writing in V7 so far, and I think while brevity has its place, I really enjoyed just how far VT goes in terms of exploring Marceline's thought processes. There's also something about stabbing deaths like that which always makes me shiver slightly.
BDA: Murderweasel for Juliette Sargeant
I really, really enjoyed reading Juliette this entire version and I was kinda surprised when MW took her in this direction. After that feeling subsided, however, I kinda looked back at her whole character and saw how it all fell into place. I wanted to see Juliette as this calculating villain who was going to wait to the last possible moment to cross the line of killing someone - but it made a ton of sense that it was really more of a coping mechanism. Great work on this one.
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powerfuloxlikethighs
BKA: Ace for Lori. Honestly, I just like to see Ace get a win here for once. Things went pear shaped like they always do for him but the set-up for the death was very deliberate and if the situation was playing like he thought it was, there was a pretty serious chance he was about to watch a girl die from poison of her own design, and that is some cold shrewd shit that speaks well to his ability to put the work in going forward.
Which obviously makes my BDA: The goat Marceline killed in her one shot, I mean what can you say? From her tenure as cheer captain to her time as Michael's partner in crime to setting up Amelia and Darlene's clash that edged Amelia into Marceline's path for death in the first place, that goat's journey has just been an island whirlwind of-what's that? She's not in the running? Fucking politics, I swear. Alright fine I guess I'll vote for BDA: Lori Martin for giving us a wild ass drug sequence with Charles Entertainment Cheese turned to a prison of her own sins. There was a lot of quality stuff this round though, you could have split award time between the whole running and I'd doubt there'd be hard feelings, good hustle.
Which obviously makes my BDA: The goat Marceline killed in her one shot, I mean what can you say? From her tenure as cheer captain to her time as Michael's partner in crime to setting up Amelia and Darlene's clash that edged Amelia into Marceline's path for death in the first place, that goat's journey has just been an island whirlwind of-what's that? She's not in the running? Fucking politics, I swear. Alright fine I guess I'll vote for BDA: Lori Martin for giving us a wild ass drug sequence with Charles Entertainment Cheese turned to a prison of her own sins. There was a lot of quality stuff this round though, you could have split award time between the whole running and I'd doubt there'd be hard feelings, good hustle.
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train
Bda: juliette. The format and the whole schtick of it is interesting, but moreover this death, and the two threads preceding it, are just such a satisfying wrap up of her arc. Its also just a heartbreaking read in general
Honorable mention to lori. Its hard to strike a balance between sad and funny so consistently without resorting to mockery, but thats what rugga managed. Nice formatting too
Bka: marcy. IC, kills like this are exactly what BKA is for. OOC, i appreciate the turn marcy made and how it was justified in the prose. Its hard work pulling off that stuff but i think it was done nicely here
Honorable mention to lori. Its hard to strike a balance between sad and funny so consistently without resorting to mockery, but thats what rugga managed. Nice formatting too
Bka: marcy. IC, kills like this are exactly what BKA is for. OOC, i appreciate the turn marcy made and how it was justified in the prose. Its hard work pulling off that stuff but i think it was done nicely here
And that's all folks! Voting closed!
"My man got too familiar and I’d ended up having to whoop his ass, man, you know. Because he would step across the line. Habitually. He’s a habitual line stepper.” -Charlie Murphy
V8 Relationship Thread
Slidin'
Lookin' for the opps, they been hidin'
I grew up 'round drugs, sex, and violence
We turnt off they street, we heard sirens
Since a juvenile, I been wylin'
Slidin'
Lookin' for the opps, they been hidin'
I grew up 'round drugs, sex, and violence
We turnt off they street, we heard sirens
Since a juvenile, I been wylin'