Disorient Express AU Brainstorming

[thedirectors]

Welcome, dear players, to Grief Street! You've joined us for tonight's episode, The Disorient Express, a murder mystery aboard a train with secrets and inter-character drama galore.

Given the nature of the game and application, we've provided a collaborative space for you to brainstorm with your fellow players about your AU'd characters. This is where you'll be able to figure out who they are, what they're doing here, and also what relationships they might have to other characters on the train. Relationships can be as simple as "Character A and Character B are gossip buddies", or as spicy as "Character A is having an affair with Character B and is plotting to help kill their spouse". Have fun with it!

Remember to be respectful of each other's ideas! If you have any questions or want to talk about something you want to keep secret, feel free to reach out at wolfnoir or on Discord at wolfnoir#4990.

---

Player Name: That's you!
Character Name: You can also add their AU name here, if you're changing their name.
Canon: If they have one, that is.

Age: How old is your character?
Occupation: Describe what they do for a living!
Appearance: A brief visual description of your character, if you're changing the way they look/dress/etc.

About: Write a few sentences about your character's AU. This doesn't have to be finalized in the slightest, but it'll help give people an idea of what your character's vibes are! It can be in paragraph or bullet point form--whatever gets the point across.

Looking For: What sort of established relationships are you looking for? Family, friends, enemies, rivals, etc? You may also want to discuss are potential relationship hooks (occupation, country of origin, habits, etc) to help others collaborate with you. You're also encouraged to integrate other player characters into your own character's secrets!

Additional Notes: Anything else you want to put down!

<b>Player Name:</b> That's you! <b>Character Name:</b> You can also add their AU name here, if you're changing their name. <b>Canon:</b> If they have one, that is. <b>Age:</b> How old is your character? <b>Occupation:</b> Describe what they do for a living! <b>Appearance:</b> A brief visual description of your character, if you're changing the way they look/dress/etc. <b>About:</b> Write a few sentences about your character's AU. This doesn't have to be finalized in the slightest, but it'll help give people an idea of what your character's vibes are! It can be in paragraph or bullet point form--whatever gets the point across. <b>Looking For:</b> What sort of established relationships are you looking for? Family, friends, enemies, rivals, etc? You may also want to discuss are potential relationship hooks (occupation, country of origin, habits, etc) to help others collaborate with you. <b>Additional Notes:</b> Anything else you want to put down!

---

NAVIGATION

Main Community: griefstreet
OOC Community: dressingrooms
Mod Account: thedirectors

Game Overview | Rules & Expectations

FAQ | Reserves | Applications | Setting Info | Test Drive
Locations | Cast List | Investigation Notes

Comments

[theobviousculprit]

Player Name: Nick
Character Name: Eva Ushiromiya
Canon: Umineko No Naku Koro Ni

Age: 48
Occupation: Aspiring Head of the Family
Appearance: Eva is a middle-aged fair-skinned woman. She has ginger hair that forms a straight fringe over her forehead and is tied up in a high bun held by a purple hairpin. Eva's family conference outfit is a dark purple dress reminiscent of the Chinese cheongsam/qipao, emblazoned all over with the Ushiromiya family crest: the One-Winged Eagle. She also wears two gloves, a long right one and a shorter left one, which reveals the One-Winged Eagle tattooed on her arm. She also wears a pink bracelet, white pants and black shoes. Eva carries a maroon hand fan with her, which she sometimes opens up.

About: The Ushiromiya family name probably will ring a bell. If you're not very knowledgeable about the world of investing and business, at best you will remember hearing about the name before, but not able to pinpoint what they do. Those who would know, though, would be aware how infamous they are. The Ushiromiyas don't stray from legal stuff, but they would be known for being...forceful and shrewd.

Eva doesn't hold any position of power but her ambition is widely known to the point she's distrusted and disliked by most with some awareness of the business world. One would say cynically that she's just waiting her turn to be in charge.

In the original canon, Eva is the aspiring heiress of the family, (rightfully) jealous of her older brother's position as head of the family, and eager to toss him away from that position because he's very incompetent and is doing some really shady stuff with the family money. One thing lead to another and she and the rest of the family are in a murder mystery canon mixed with fantasy. In other words, generally she's not too different from canon.

In general the main difference is that the Ushiromiyas are infamous and therefore Eva should be distrusted right away.

Looking For: Not looking for anything in particular but I sure welcome anything that involves the Ushiromiya Group screwing over someone your character knows, or even your character directly. Even though it's impossible for Eva herself to have done it, just the fact she's an Ushiromiya may be enough to poison the waters a little.

Additional Notes: I can't think of any additional notes right now!

[stimpaks]

Hello Fellow Individual Who Has Ties To A Shady, Powerful Group. the one difference between the two being that the enclave (i guess im sticking w this name) was dissolved due to external pressures. idk if i have any relationship ideas right now but regardless it will be cool to see how these two interact 👀 maybe arcade's father once did some crossdealing w/ the family?

[theobviousculprit]

Hello, fellow individual with shady ties, let's have a relationship.

What external pressures would have led to the enclave dissolving? Your post mentioned the military and other external pressures, but I wonder if the Ushiromiyas having a cordial relationship with the enclave until, for one reason or another such as maybe saving their own skins preemptively they saw advantageous to contribute to those pressures, backstabbing Arcade's father would work.

It's the kind of treacherous snake nonsense even Eva herself has done in canon, hah.

[stimpaks]

Ooooh, I think that would work! I think I'm going w/ the fact that as time went on and the Enclave's glamor began to wear off, maybe they began to be suspected of conspiracy and influencing/bribing government officials. Once investigation started, maybe because of the Ushiromiya's cordial relationship with the Enclave, they might've decided to "leak" details that sealed the organization's fate and thus absolved the Ushiromiyas of their involvement? If you have any other ideas I'd like to hear 'em!

[theobviousculprit]

That's perfect. I'm all in with this relationship!

[stimpaks]

Yessssssss. Love some unresolved tension!

[agoddeal]

NICK THAT USERNAME, HELP

Kotoko is from a less shady business family, but I think she'd definitely have heard of the Ushiromiyas! I'd be down with the group having screwed over her family directly, or just someone she knows, although Kotoko herself only dabbles very intermittently in business things. She's definitely the type to be petty about it though.

Alternatively/additionally, she's really into the occult, so she might have heard about that if you're keeping any of Kinzo's quirks there as potential gossip fuel?

[theobviousculprit]

First of all, I'm sorry for the delay in replying, I was pretty busy.

Hah, I definitely am keeping those quirks as rumor fuel. The head of the Ushiromiya family indulges into the occult like there's no tomorrow! As if they weren't shady enough!

All sounds good to me. I'm all for the Ushiromiyas having screwed over Kotoko's family. Eva probably didn't have a hand of it, but she sure wouldn't really feel any guilt or bad about it at all, and even if she did in families like hers silence is as good as being an accomplice

[agoddeal]

No worries, same hat! <3

Oh good, these two are going to be so sweetly poisonous! you better believe Kotoko would lean in on the "oh I know you weren't involved (since you don't have power in the family)", haha.

idk how much you want to fill out the details of what happened--maybe the Ushiromiyas scooped them on a deal, or pressured the Iwanagas into getting involved in something that backfired? or Krauss hit them up for a loan he hasn't paid back? I'm down for anything, including just handwaving!

[theobviousculprit]

What a way to get under her skin, hah! It's going to work, and oh boy we both know Eva was never great at keeping a straight face when she gets barbs thrown at her, haha. Sure can't take what she dishes!

Pressuring them and then washing their hands if it goes wrong sounds just like their style. That will work -- although honestly Krauss crawling back when things get dicey for him and taking a loan would be nice to have as well, just so Kotoko knows there's signs the Ushiromiyas are not doing well. That's something I sure am keeping and something I'm writing Eva would really like to keep under wraps. Have to keep the facade the family is doing great, and someone who can threaten that image like Kotoko is really going to have her bothered, haha. I'd love that.

[agoddeal]

LMAO I'M SO SORRY EVA! she absolutely doesn't deserve this.

oh man, having both sounds perfect to me! I love this, Kotoko can and will hold that over her head. (we can delete these if you wanna keep this more secret, too! I say very belatedly 😂 )

[theobviousculprit]

Nah, I think it's fine to have it here in the open, there should be no problem.

[whodie]

How international is the Ushiromiya Group and how likely are they to tangle with the funeral industry (AKA dispose of corpses in unusual, shady or under the table ways--), because Hu Tao's family has been in business a long time but they are local to their turf in China.

That said if they have tangled with and/or bribed anyone in the death industry before it's possible that they're at least known to be shady in the whisper network lolol...

[theobviousculprit]

Hmmmm...with the funeral industry per se it's unlikely they will get entangled into it unless there's money to be had, but honestly it's possible they would reach out to have a connection or two because hey, you never know what can come useful in the future. It could be good to have a link with someone in an industry even if they're not doing business in it.

They're reasonably international, focusing most of their assets in Japan and America. It's not much of a stretch to think they could reach out to China and nearby areas, though -- Eva's father spent quite a bit of time in that area. It could be easily said that he still had connections from that area, leading to that.

Absolutely eager to have Hu Tao know that they're untrustworthy and pretty much a walking den of vipers even if they're not heavily entangled, though. Perhaps she even could be glad they haven't sunk their gnarly claws in that industry...yet.

[whodie]

Laughs I was thinking less of them muscling in on the business and whether with all the shady stuff they do and the rivals they keep backstabbing if there's murder or mafia stuff going on behind the scenes that would produce Unusual Bodies™!

That said if it's strictly business then connections are still totally possible, the funeral industry isn't quite as global as in modern times but the grapevine still exists, especially for a family as old as Hu Tao's and because she's also been traveling. :D

This makes me laugh because Liyue in her canon is also full of cutthroat businesspeople... some things never change. :>>