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oddsandends2021-02-26 10:05 pm
sakurabeam) wrote in oddsandends2021-02-26 10:05 pm
88th ♫ | electric, a stun gun pulse surges through the crowd buzzing out the shadows
You know the script. You wake up in a place you've never seen before, with a whole bunch of complete strangers and there's a mysterious voice or a mascot or what have you ready to let you know how things are going to work around here.
The rules are simple: You're trapped here, with no hope of release or rescue. You've been provided with all the basic necessities you need to live comfortably, and all you have to do is settle down and live out the rest of your days here in peace. But if you can't do that -- if you're really so desperate to escape that you'll do anything -- then there's one teeny tiny thing you have to do first.
All you have to do is kill somebody.
But it's not quite that simple. Every death will be followed by a period of investigation, followed by a trial in which the survivors will attempt to solve the mystery and out the culprit. If the survivors guess correctly and out the culprit, the killer is executed and life goes on. But if the survivors guess wrong, then the culprit is free as a bird and everyone else is executed.
Even with the promise of freedom, can you really bring yourself to kill so many other people?
tl;dr: it's a murdergame meme. TIME TO HAVE A BIG OL' MURDERGAME BLAST.
Settings
- 1. High School A classic! Doesn't matter if you're too old or too young to be in high school -- you've been enrolled and the only way for you to graduate is to kill a fellow student. But hey, the faculties are nice!
2. Tropical Island Weren't you just hankering for a nice tropical vacation? No? Too bad! You're going to have a nice sunny vacation at the beach and if you don't like it, just kill someone and go home. Simple!
3. Prison It doesn't matter if you don't remember committing any crime; you've been tried and found guilty of something or other and now you can go ahead and rot away in jail. If you ever want to see the sunlight again, better put that criminal mind to good use and get rid of your inmates.
4. Mall A huge mall stuffed full of stores, places to eat and all the regular amenities like deadbolted doors and the threat of death. It's like Black Friday but even worse because you can't leave and all the rest of the shoppers might actually kill you for real this time.
5. City Holy shit, you've got the run of a whole city this time around! Maybe with all this room to keep out of each other's way, you'll be able to make sure no one starts killing people. But probably not.
6. Cruise Boat YOU'RE ON A BOAT, MOTHERFUCKER. The accommodation is all five star, even if there's no one around to act as wait staff. The only snag is that you still have this whole murder thing hanging over your head – but on the plus side, they have those little drinks with the umbrellas in, so...
7. Space Station THE FINAL FRONTIER... Maybe you're familiar with space stations like this or maybe all this future tech is fascinating to you. Not like it matters either way, of course, because you won't be getting out of here unless you lay down a murder on someone.
8. Wildcard! None of the above scratch your murder itch? Go wild and come up with your own setting!
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?
8. Wildcard YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO
OPTIONAL FUN
- Lots of murdergames have in-universe public profiles for other characters to get the skinny on yours. If you'd like to fill one out to post with your toplevel, peep at the code below!
aurelie alouette · oc
Age: 15 | Species: Synchronic | Occupation: Student at Estrella Academy
Likes: Lights, cameras, action
Dislikes: Bugs, sports drinks, obscurity
Traits: Flamboyant, prideful, bright
Trivia: You may remember her from that one soup commercial!
[ A former child actress who is taking some time off from the set to attend a prestigious school, for gifted teens with certain supernatural acuity. She maintains a pristine, cheerful image in public, and she markets herself accordingly: hamming up her good points and reframing her bad. She wants to be everyone's friend, but makes it a point to keep every relationship strictly surface-level. She'll be sure to butter you up...if she gets the right quid pro quo out of it.
She's initially of little to no help during the trials, but over time, she may just find her courage. ]
first round of memory regains
It's all brand new. All shit that feels weird and unfamiliar but comfortable and easy at the same time. Nostalgic almost. Erina doesn't like it.
So she deals with it like a reasonable person. By which I mean, she goes to Aurelie's door at ass o clock in the morning and just starts hammering on it. KNOCK KNOCK IT'S THE SWORD LESBIAN POLICE, OPEN UP. ]
no subject
That thought made her stomach twist, and she slept rather fitfully through the night, with strange dreams and night terrors pulling her in and out through Saturday evening. So of course, when Sunday morning comes and she's awoken by a loud banging at the door, Aurelie jumps up with a start. Was it happening all over again, this soon..?
Yet when she opens the door, still in her pajamas, hair an utter disaster, she doesn't get that kind of urgency from the face of the visitor slamming on the wood.
No, it's just that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad-- ]
M-Mademoiselle Estival, what a surprise... [ Why me? ] Is...something the matter, perhaps?
[ Or does she just go wailing on people's doors with the force of a battering ram every Sunday morning? It wouldn't particularly shock her, one way or the other. ]
no subject
[ That's all Erina says in way of greeting before she just makes her way past Aurelie and into the room without missing a beat. It might lack of the panic and urgency of Friday morning, but it's transparently obvious that she's full to the brim with nervous energy. She doesn't stop to take a seat or even really slow down - instead she redirects her momentum into pacing so furiously that she might just wear a track on the floor if left to her own devices for too long. ]
You sleep well? I didn't. Slept like total crap. Felt like I was having a goddamn fever dream the whole time. Weird shit. But way too familiar, like I know it already.
[ She knows she's not making much sense but her brain is running on so much faster than her mouth it's a struggle to make it keep up. ]
What about you? Weird dreams? Anything?
no subject
Erina slept, in her own words, like crap. That much is evident. Aurelie doesn't know why that surprises her, but it does, and it's a bit uncomfortable to watch; like she's in on a secret that she's not supposed to know about.
Should she...comfort her? Should she even acknowledge it? To bring it to light seems almost as though it would make it worse, so she puts it aside, for the moment. ]
Well... [ Aurelie stands to the side of her own doorframe, fidgeting with a lock of disheveled hair. She hasn't moved from the spot where Erina has all but shoved her aside. ] I did have a rather strange dream, myself, but...if I may be candid, I had assumed it was simply due to the stress of what happened this weekend.
[ That's plausible, isn't it? Anyone would have vivid dreams, after the things they saw and did in that makeshift TJ Maxx turned-trial room. ]
You believe there's more to it than that. [ Not a question. That's obvious. ]
wait i had a brainwave pretend i was usng short hair erina icons this whole time
Yeah. I mean– [ She flaps a hand in the direction of her chopped short hair, still weirdly light and bouncy on her shoulders in a way she hasn't gotten used to at all. ] I figured something was fucky already with all this. I mean, come on, they're not gonna sit me in a salon chair to give me a trim and ask me if I've got a vacation booked before dumping me in murder mall.
But, it's like...
[ She lifts a hand to her mouth and starts gnawing on one of her nails, so her voice comes out a little indistinct. ]
Wasn't like dreaming something new. It was like dreaming something old.
no subject
For argument's sake, if there was some hypothetical Resonance that made them forget just how that happened, and that Resonance was beginning to wear off...just what would that feel like?
She wraps that lock of hair between her fingers, coiling it around her pointer, just to give her hand something to do. Watching Erina move like this, with energy on top of energy, makes her own body begin to shudder with some sort of nervous anticipation, as though she should be just as skittish.
Maybe she should be. ]
And? [ She gulps, and steels herself for the answer to her next question. ] This "something old"...just what happened? Is it what you saw in this dream that has you so out of sorts, or is it that you had this dream to begin with?
[ It's not quite like Aurelie to be so concerned with the other girl's affairs; Erina Estival has her problems, and Aurelie carries her own. They may attend the same school, and live in the same dormitory, but they're far from close.
In spite of that, because of that, this behavior is difficult to look the other way from. So Aurelie can't help that the concern in her voice right now is genuine. ]
no subject
Somehow, it's more upsetting than all her frantic energy from just a moment ago.
How in the hell is she supposed to explain this? And to Aurelie, of all people? If this was Jess or Zuri maybe, but Aurelie? She hardly knows her. Doesn't like the vibe she gets off her. But right now, that's not important. Right now, they might be each other's only allies.
She takes a deep breath. ]
Hey, Aurelie. [ It's the first time Erina's addressed her by her first name. ] What's the highest sync rate you've ever hit?
[ It might seem like a non-sequitur but she's going somewhere with it. ]
no subject
[ ...No, she's...going somewhere with this. Erina doesn't come off the brightest; as a matter of fact, Aurelie might even go so far as to think of her as foolish, on a particularly chaotic day, when she can hear her nonsense from a floor above. But this level of focus is telling her a different story, and it changes her perception of the other girl, if only for a moment.
To say she'll humor her is incorrect. For the time being, she'll trust her intuition. ]
On my best day? It's 40, on the nose.
[ Âme will more or less cooperate when she feels like it. There are some days where she feels further away than others; hot and cold, shy and pushy. When Aurelie can get a sense for her, she skews higher...but she usually has some trouble pushing past 36 and a half. ]
no subject
[ For once in her life she says that without bragging – just flatly, matter-of-factly. And Erina not taking the opportunity to rub her sync rate in a fellow student's face is probably the most damning bit of out of character behavior so far.
She goes back to chewing on her nail, so furiously that she's at risk of just biting into her thumb and drawing blood.]
But last night, I remembered hitting one hundred with Zwei.
[ She doesn't bother pretending she thinks it was just a dream anymore. ]
no subject
But even for an obscene talent or the world's hardest worker, Erina is describing something that just doesn't happen. ]
One hundred percent...
[ There's some earnest awe in her voice, but it's colored by more than a bit of concern, if only because-- ]
And...you're still okay?
[ Hitting a high sync level is all well and good, but hitting triple digits is not only more-or-less unheard of, but also actively warned against. There's no shortage of negative effects that have been reported once you start pushing 85, and they only get worse as the number climbs higher; all things considered, your body shouldn't be able to take the strain of approaching 100, let alone reaching it entirely.
And Erina is saying she did it..? ]
no subject
[ Erina makes a sweeping gesture towards her body with her hand as if to say see for yourself. She doesn't look any different from usual aside from her newly short hair but other than that, Erina just looks like... Erina. Unless hitting 100 somehow fried off all her hair, then it doesn't seem to have any kind of physical effect on her.
She can't decide whether or not that's comforting. ]
And I don't feel any different either. Could be because I don't have Zwei with me, or whatever fancy bullshit they're doing here to keep our powers shut off. But... I don't think that's right. They always made it sound like you'd burn your brain right out of your head, like you can't come back from it. But I'm just the same as always.
So... what the fuck, right?
no subject
[ There's an incredulous little sound that escapes Aurelie's throat; it's her way of trying to relax Erina, but given that it's Aurelie, the sound comes out a bit more dismissive than it really needs to. Maybe it's just that her voice has this naturally haughty air to it, but... ]
Is there a reason why everyone would lie about such a thing? Maintaining high sync rate is encouraged, more often than not. You wouldn't be advised against getting close to a hundred unless it was dangerous, in some form. Reaching that level even once surely would has some consequence, be it physical or mental...yet, all this time, these past two weeks, even I can see that you've unequivocally been the same Erina Estival you always have.
[ With her palm outstretched, and a short little wave. ]
It isn't as though I don't believe you, of course. But what you're saying here...I believe there must be more to the story.
no subject
[ The rebuke comes out sharper than she really intends it, but it's just because she's so wound up. It's shitty of her, but she suddenly wishes that literally anyone else were stood there in Aurelie's place. Jess, Zuri, Hilda, Mercy – Christ, she'd take Sara at this point over Aurelie's infuriatingly haughty I'm-calmer-than-you vibe right now. But even Erina recognizes that getting ratty with her isn't going to help – she and Aurelie are each other's only real allies right now and as much as she might absolutely hate the idea, they need each other.
Erina pulls in a breath to try and calm herself down and when it comes back out in a heavy sigh, it seems to have done something to unwind some of her tension at least. ]
But I don't know what the hell to think. There's way too much weird shit going on and we don't know enough about it to figure out what the fuck any of it even means.
no subject
[ Even in the face of the sharp rebuttal, Aurelie doesn't seem particularly struck; as a matter of fact, there's something in its ferocity that seems more familiar, and as vulgar as the words are, there's some comfort to be found in what she knows. If she acts as she always does, it's likely that Erina, eventually, will pull herself together and do the same.
And it's not just because Aurelie feels that Erina is more capable of pulling her weight that way, either. ]
Listen, I do agree with you. There's far more that we don't know here than we do. This vision of yours... [ That seems like a reasonable middle ground; somewhere between a dream, a premonition, a memory-- ] It's simply one more mystery to add to the list. Whether it's instrumental towards solving anything, only time shall tell, but...
[ Perhaps this is a reasonable solution? ]
For now, it may be best to see what tomorrow brings. Should you wake up in the morning and suddenly find yourself knowing just what happens after you reach a 100% sync rate, then we can regroup from there. For now, though, there may be clues that are more immediately within our grasp to focus our thoughts on.
Eventually, it will all come together. You do have faith in that much, don't you?