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oddsandends2022-05-25 03:03 pm
superorbit) wrote in oddsandends2022-05-25 03:03 pm
102nd ♫ | sell your soul to the devil on the street corner
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!
Miranda Wall | OC
Age: 20 | Species: Human+ | Occupation: Pilot
Likes: Proving herself, violence, motorcycles, EXO-4376, EXO-4925
Dislikes: Maintenance, contradictory orders, EXO-1437, violence
Traits: Fun, flirty, full of rage
Trivia: Captain Wall is the oldest living human EXO pilot on the western front.
[ Okay I literally just slammed this out so she has no info page but (EDIT: I started one!)!!! Here's Miranda!!!! She's pretty chill, and loves horror movies and memes and indie music - just ignore how she refers to them as "Old Earth stuff," probably. Absolutely makes a point of befriending and being slightly protective of any kids in the cast, and has a weird distrust of any adults who claim to be either doctors or teachers? But she's so casual about everything that it's hard to tell like. How much that really is.
Has a few quirks, you know, like anyone does: she doesn't really seem to sleep, her eyes glow in the dark, she has inhumanly perfect aim... #justgirlythings!! Also she may or may not nearly try to kill one or more killers with her bare hands during trials. It's normal, she's normal, things are fine. ]
tropical island downtime 4
Age: 19 | Species: Magigal | Occupation: Team Wildfire Champion
Likes: Henrietta, Vero Mango, Tajin
Dislikes: Hotel California, time travel, cauliflower
Traits: Guarded, confident, kind
Trivia: Ammonia has been Team Wildfire Champion for two years running!
[Ammonia doesn't believe the dream she had was a memory at first. Or rather, maybe, she doesn't want to. She doesn't want to believe that she... Regardless, the meeting had convinced her that the dreams might, in fact, be memories and that's a lot to unpack which is how Ammonia finds herself knocking on the door to Miranda's cabin. If anyone might understand why the memory is upsetting, it'll be Miranda.]
Anybody home? I brought cake from the cafeteria.
[If they're going to be, like, having a heart-to-heart, then Ammonia figures they'll need the cake.]
no subject
It takes her a moment of surprise to respond when she opens the door and sees the cake in Ammonia's hand, but it's a brief moment. ]
Well I can't say no to that, can I? Come on in.
no subject
[Henrietta once told her that Ammonia's biggest problem was she's too nice. She's not made for the Magigal Tournament, where every girl is trying to cut down their peers so they can stay around for one more year. So they can be Team Champion, a thing that Ammonia never even wanted.
Was Henrietta right? Probably, but it didn't stop Ammonia from baking a cake for every single girl's birthday on Team Wildfire. The cake she's got in her hand is slightly dry in the way of cake that's been sitting out long enough to go a little stale, but she hasn't been able to charm her way into the kitchen yet so it'll have to do.
Stepping into Miranda's room, she sets the cake down on the small table that's in everyone's room.]
Normally I try to make the cake myself, but well. You know how it is here.
no subject
[ It's said with a wink, but they both know it's performative by this point. Miranda moves to sit down on her bed - the room betrays her underlying attitude a little bit, sparsely decorated and spartan, sheets tightly made out of habit - and levels an even gaze towards Ammonia. ]
I do know how it is. What's up?
no subject
... There's a rule in the tournament: only one girl can win. Apparently, I won.
[There's sort of an underlying insinuation to that statement: Henrietta lost. Ammonia's called her a "good friend" before but it very much has the vibe of "girlfriend" when she talks about her.]
no subject
[ Lesser, more impersonal relations might have merited an "oh oof" for that sort of thing, but... Miranda likes Ammonia well enough. Trust her? Ehh. Like her? Yeah. Also, she is more than possessed of the ability to read a fucking room. ]
Which isn't promising for second through whatever place, I take it.
no subject
[She doesn't actually make the air quotes, but that's just because they know each other well enough to know that there is no such thing as "retirement" when you're a cog in a big government propaganda machine.]
They skipped the from the quarter-finals straight to the finals and made me murder the other girls. Which I guess answers the question of how I ended up here.
[She shrugs. The real reason she came to Miranda to say this and not one of the other people is it just... is what it is. The other girls she's made friends with so far would do the whole pity party special. Miranda will just understand and let it be.]