110th ♫ | all the things making us sick and tired turn into bubbles and disappear

[phaiinein]

The Murder Game Meme



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!

<center><b>Name:</b> NAME | <b>TITLE (Super High School Level, Ultimate, Champion, etc)</b> <b>Age:</b> AGE | <b>Species:</b> SPECIES | <b>Occupation:</b> OCCUPATION <b>Likes:</b> LIKES <b>Dislikes:</b> DISLIKES <b>Traits:</b> A HANDFUL OF NOTABLE TRAITS <b>Trivia:</b> A PIECE OF TRIVIA</ul>

Comments

[friendwich]

It felt like he was just slapped by that last revelation. Enough that Turo might hear a half bitten off Hostia puta! from Arven, too surprised to censor himself in front of his "dad". He almost stumbled from the surprise, but Mabosstiff leaned against him, keeping him up. A good thing too- the lack of food had him weak and the shock put him in a near faint, his knees knocking. He was doing better than some due to his youth and good health... and because he was pretty sure some of the adults were slipping him and the other teens extra rations when he wasn't looking to call them out. Though part of that was going to Mabosstiff- pokeball stasis can only go so far. But even so he'd lost weight- had been from stress even earlier- and was getting the sunken eyed look of the starving.

"This... this thing will get the door open?!"

[turingturo]

"Arven--?"

The AI turned quickly, hearing that swear, but far more concerned about how Arven's vital signs dropped.

He reached out--

...Tried to reach out with his free hand, on what he could only call an instinct, but his arm was completely loose and unmoving.

Right. He hadn't updated his system yet to recall he couldn't use it anymore.

So instead he shoved the remote back into his pocket, and grabbed hold of the young man's shoulder with his good hand, trying to help steady him.

"--I apologize for shocking you. Are you alright?"

[friendwich]

Between Turo and Mabosstiff he managed to get his footing back to mostly steady, rubbing his head.

"Yeah. Just dizzy. Don't-"

Worry? Touch me? He didn't get out whatever he meant to say as he eyed the still limp arm. Before he had assumed it was due to the robot's odd movements but now... he reached out to grab it, lifting it up (its heavier than he expected, honestly) and watching it drop limp again. His eyes darted to where Turo tucked the remote- they didn't really have much tech they could safely take apart here... he might not have inherited the real Turo's genius, but he was observant enough.

"What... what did you do?"

[turingturo]

Better he didn't inherent that 'genius', honestly, for all it was worth in the AI's opinion.

"..."

Turo allowed the young man to take his arm, and drop it, unable to hide from Arven what he'd done. There was no point after all.

He was... done, hiding things from him.

"I had to use whatever means was available to me." Even if it was his own body.

"...The remote is for an EMP. By pressing the start switch, my robot body will release a Electromagnetic pulse powerful enough to knock out all electronics in the building, including the magnets holding that door closed, along with frying all computer systems-- hense why I printed out paper copies for you."

...But he might still skate around the Iron Treads in the room- that to give survivors a fighting chance...

He'd need to be destroyed.

[friendwich]

He didn't need to state it outright, Arven could connect the dots. He rubbed his face, teeth grit, overcome with too many emotions.

"Again? You're doing this to me again?" First the real Turo throwing himself over that brute, then this one into the time machine- the fact that he was right only made it worse. The fact that each 'death' was some noble sacrifice did nothing to soothe his anger. All it did was heap onto his frustration... because he couldn't argue against it. Because he was right.

And he was right to have Arven do it- just like with the Protocol he had to assume the AI was unable to 'self terminate' or something like that. And anyone else could just take advantage of the chance to 'win' the game instead of getting everyone free.

He might not has inherited his father's mind, but he certain did his emotionally driven stubbornness.

"No. I'm not doing it."

[turingturo]

"... I..."

There was a slight distortion in the AI's voice, a twinge of feed back, as he gingerly let go of Arven's shoulder. He didn't move back, just... stood there next to the boy.

What could he say? What could he do? Running over the professors thought patterns and memories... was as useless as always. Inconclusive.

"...I didn't wAnt to leAve you. I...still... do not wish to."

So he did what he always had when faced with such lack of information. He was honest. Taking a moment to get his vocal system in order again, he continued.

"But I also don't see a viable alternative solution. I'd use the EMP myself, but my programming prevents me from self-termination. And depending on how the Mastermind counts me, I can either be what unlocks the food for you all, or not counted as a death to avoid a 'Class Trial'.

He wasn't alive, after all. He wasn't human. But they all were, and they were suffering.

[friendwich]

"And what if it doesn't work? There might be a trial." And even if Turo made the device and told him to do it... he would be the culprit. They had seen accidents be held to similar standards. Have had to send innocent people to their death. The idea of being on that podium and knowing he was next? He shivered with the thought, enough to make Mabosstiff woof softly in concern.

But... he can't let everyone slowly die either, can he? He sighed, slumping, knowing already he was going to do it.

[turingturo]

"...That is the 4.5% chance that makes me hesitant to commit to this plan."

The AI would readily admit that.

"Because as much as I am prepared to do this, I..."

Another pause, as the AI searched for words, scanlines running in his irises as he tried to vocalize the discordant processes running through his circuits.

"...I don't want you to do it. I... I want to keep you safe."

A hollow sound of feedback static came from the AI again, trying to juggle these two thought processes.

"And yet I know neither of us would approve of giving the remote to someone unknowingly or staging it that way. If someone does not make a move, you will all starve. So you will not be safe if things remain as they are."

So it was a matter of certain death, waiting for someone else to commit murder, or taking matters into their own hands on a risky bet.

"Judging by the ways the Mastermind has interacted with us, nearly all of its actions relies on mechanics and electricity. If we set off the EMP, you'd be able to open the doors, find what they're hiding, and they'd need to take time to repair their information network around the campus. Best case scenario, you escape with them all. Alternatively, you are able to argue that since I'm not alive, I do not count as a death, and thus, nothing happened to be worthy of a trial."

Probably a long shot, that second part, but the AI had to believe it. Because, otherwise, he was...

He was seriously risking sending the boy who he couldn't help think of as his son to his death.

"... If you cannot do it, Arven, I will not ask you again."

...The more that thought stuck in his mind, the more that 4.5% chance loomed too large to bear.

"I will simply request you ready everyone near the doors to take advantage of the EMP."

He would... find another way to set off the EMP. He just needed Arven to make sure everyone was ready for it.

[friendwich]

He didn't speak as the AI explained itself, himself. His thoughts swirled and fear filled his belly with acid.

Still, he was a lot of things, but he wasn't a monster. Even if it did come down to him going on trial, he can't bring himself to damn everyone else on the hope that someone ELSE will die instead. If there was even a chance of ending this, he had to take it. He was no coward.

"...I'll do it." He wrapped his arms around himself, eyes hidden in his bangs to not expose his fear. But resolute regardless.

[turingturo]

"..."

An ache went through his chest cavity, sharp and painful, and the tinny sound that left his throat was... comparable to a hitch in his throat.

He didn't want to do this to Arven.

They had to do this to save everyone, and to give Arven a chance to escape and live.

"... I know it's not my place to say this. But you are..."

An awkward pause, as he tried to get his voice box to work-- turning to face the young man. Sparkling energy seemed to leak from his eyes.

"...Truly the greatest treasure I could have ever hoped for, in my time here."

[friendwich]

"Dad..." He knew it wasn't actually him, same as he knew it when he said the same thing in Area Zero. But the feelings are true, and it's the closest he'll ever get to some kind of resolution with the original Turo.

Plus, he realized... even if the AI was an echo of a dead man, he also was a real thinking being. One who was willing to sacrifice himself to give him a chance. The fact that it might just be his programming that made him care about Arven... really was that so different from their own human brains? Signals and sparks of information? It was, really, as real as he was willing to accept it to be.

"I... I'll get them out. I promise."

[turingturo]

...Dad...

An odd twitch went through his shoulders, a shock going through his circuits, his expression unable to hide the surprise he felt. Was that an auditory malfunction, or...

Did... Arven...?

This... wasn't like before. Not like in Area Zero, where Arven called him 'Dad' while still coming to grips with the fact he was not his living, breathing father.

Now he knew everything. Now he knew that the being before him was simply an AI copy, and...

And yet...

Even knowing that...

Arven... still?

He could feel something... warm, deep in his chest. That same feeling he remembered when he first saw the picture of Arven and Mastiff on the professor's white board, that carried him through his time there.

Now he... truly understood what that feeling was. It wasn't simply just the echos of the professor anymore, was it?

It... was also just... him. His feelings.

His good arm hesitantly reached out to the young man, gingerly pulling him close to hug him. He couldn't do it fully with one non-functioning arm, but that would be better, if Arven needed to pull away.

"I know you will. I have complete faith in you."

There was a conviction in his voice now, that he had held back before, scared to let show. Because for so long, he felt he didn't have the right to love Arven like a father loved his son. Was told he was just a copy, albeit a perfect one.

So he had spoken for a dead man, trying to assure the young man of the feelings he'd shared with the Professor. But now, he ...

Could say it for himself. Mean it for just himself.

"...I ... I love you, Arven."

Ever since he woke up in that small lab, buried in crystal, he'd always known...

"...I've always loved you."

[friendwich]

And Arven let himself be pulled in, and rested his forehead against Turo's shoulder, body shaking a bit as he started to cry, years of pain and longing coming out in a way he never could with anyone other than Mabosstiff, tears soaking into the pokemon's fur.

This time he doesn't snap at the AI, telling him not to say such a thing now that's it's far too late. This time it didn't read as pandering to his hurt, bitter ears like it had before.