117th ♫ | aren't i filthy? why won't you kill me?

[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></center>

Comments

[scallopstrategist]

["Bored" is doing some heavy lifting here. But it will have to do. He can't let the others know that he is afraid, or how vulnerable simply being this visible is for him-- and for the Oresoren, too, simply because they were kind enough to welcome something as awful as him into their lives.

If he can't be unseen, Jay must be untouchable and unknowable. Better to be unsettling and strange than an easy mark. He doesn't have his eres or his usual equipment. He's not completely helpless-- he was taught too well for that-- but Jay knows exactly how small he is. He knows exactly what a disadvantage that is in a physical altercation.

He wants to live. He wants to go home. He can't die here; not when there is so much he needs to protect.]

Maybe. That would be nice, wouldn't it?

[He doesn't believe it. Not for a second. People aren't like that. Even when they aren't cruel, they're mostly apathetic and preoccupied with their own problems. All of this talk about "let's all make it out together" is such a joke. None of them really mean it. A temper will flare. Patience will fray. Their space is too confined, their numbers too many. It's going to happen eventually, with or without incentive.]

Still. You should be careful, Ms. Ai. We all should. Are you familiar with the "wolves and sheep" puzzle? This game is a bit like that.

[liedol]

Ah-

[ There's a clunk as the knife slips in her grip and comes down harder on the cutting board than she means it to. There's a pause, just a fraction of a second longer than it strictly should be - and then Ai beams at him, lifting her hand to waggle her already bandaged fingers. ]

Look at that, not a scratch on me! Kitty paws save the day again!

[ She keeps that clueless, hapless grin up at she goes back to chopping, as if the warning hadn't clanged through her like an alarm. She doesn't think it's a threat (though with someone like Jay who she can't read all all, how could she tell?) but it will make the hairs on the back of her neck prickle unpleasantly. ]

I haven't heard of a wolves and sheep puzzle, though. Is it some kind of game?

[scallopstrategist]

[Jay smiles. It's a practiced gesture, something he privately spent hours practicing in the mirror, because smiling is something real people do when they're happy. It's a perfect arc in his pale face; a good imitation, except it doesn't reach his inky eyes. When Jay smiles like this, it's cold.

Despite his best efforts, it's the sort of expression that makes most people realize he isn't a nice boy after all.]

Thank goodness. I'm relieved you weren't hurt. Knives can be pretty tricky, if you aren't used to them!

[As with the rest of this conversation, he barely seems to pay attention to the wickedly-sharp paring knife in his own fingers. It's like second nature to him. Another perfectly peeled potato gets plopped into the waiting bowl of water, another long and winding piece of peel into the discards pile.]

Yes, you've got it exactly right. Here's how you play: you have a set number of wolves and a set number of sheep. Your goal is to get as many of them safely from one side of the river to the other, using a boat that can only hold so many at a time. If you leave a sheep alone with the wolves, the wolves will eat the sheep. It's actually a pretty simple puzzle, as long as you take your time, once you realize you can always bring someone with you on a return trip back to the other side of the shore.

[He tips his head to the side.]

But for us, it's a little more complicated. Because we don't know who the wolves are, you know? Since we're all together, everyone is acting like a sheep.

[liedol]

[ There's a chill on the back of her neck and all the way down her back too, like an ice cube skittering down the length of her spine. It's a feeling she knows well, even if she hasn't needed it for a while. It means: watch out. It means: don't stop smiling, even if you're scared.

It means: if you're not careful, you're going to end up hurt.

The steady rhythm of her chopping doesn't stall or let up even once. ]

It sounds pretty complicated. Knowing me, I'd lose all my sheep right out of the gate.

[ She gives a merry, cheery sounding laugh – then re-evaluates. That's a little far to push her cluelessness. An idol without opinions is preferable back home, but here it might make her a liability and thus, less valuable.

So instead she carries on as if the joke had been an aside to try and clear some of the tension. ]

But... do you really think there's no chance that we could all actually be sheep?

[scallopstrategist]

You shouldn't sell yourself short like that, Ms. Ai.

[But Jay supposes that's the point. In a way, that's probably Ai's best defense. If she's charming and nonthreatening, the softer hearts in their group will want to look after and protect her. It's not a bad play.]

None whatsoever. Whoever is behind all of this has gone to an awful lot of effort to bring us together and prepare this space for us. People have hurt and killed each other for pettier reasons than this.

[From his perspective, everyone has the potential to be-- or become-- a wolf. How much longer is this uneasy peace going to last? It can't be for much longer. They've all gotten so restless. Even the overbearing friendly types have started to get irritable. Something is going to break. And it's going to be ugly, he thinks.]

Usually I charge for my consultation services. But in this case, since we're in this together, I'll offer this advice for free.

Avoid being alone with just one person, especially if no one else knows where you are. Lock your door at night-- the bolt and the chain-- and don't open it for anyone. Don't leave until you see others in the hallway the following morning. Be careful who you choose to trust.

[liedol]

[ She tastes a tang at the back of her throat that reminds her of sick – but there's no nausea to accompany it. Her stomach feels watery and strange but she knows without even having to think about it that the cause is entirely emotional rather than physical. She's known since waking up here and seeing what they were being asked to do that she's at risk but it's been nice to play pretend that maybe she could find a way to live, regardless.

A thought bubbles up in her head, darker hued and more bitter than she usually allows her thoughts to be: It's a little late for that, isn't it? Maybe if someone back home had taught me something like that, I wouldn't be here.

But that's not a fair feeling to have. Who knows how many other children had come and gone from the home she'd grown up in, who were worse off than her in who knows how many ways? Really, she'd been one of the lucky ones.

So Ai keeps the thought to herself. ]

So the smart way to play is just to assume you're the only sheep in a whole pack of wolves, it sounds like. [ It's not that much different from keeping her head above water in the entertainment industry, right? She can handle that. ] But the problem with that is... what are you supposed to do when you get outnumbered by the wolves?

[scallopstrategist]

[Jay nods. This way of thinking is not new to him: it's how he navigates the world on a daily basis. People, as a general rule, are capricious, self-serving, and capable of incredible cruelty-- especially when it comes to protecting themselves and the things they care about. Oh, yes, they can be kind-- but it's almost always when it's convenient for them, rather than going out of their way.

He doesn't trust a single one of the others. He can't. He doesn't know how to.]

I think, even if you're surrounded by wolves, you're safer in a group of three or more. This is just a theory, but... I don't think it's possible for two people to coordinate and escape together with a single murder.

[Honestly, that would be awfully convenient. If that was the case they could, hypothetically, draw straws and collectively kill whoever was unlucky enough to pull the short straw. That's the sort of thing that would earn him a bonk on the head from Will, so. He'll keep it to himself.]

Did you notice? When it comes to killing, our rules only ever mention a "culprit"-- singular, not plural. If we must find one culprit per death, logic follows that it's only possible for one person to escape at a time as well. So there's no benefit for the wolves to work together, unlike in the "wolves and sheep" puzzle.

The greatest risk in this game is associated with one on one interactions.

[liedol]

[ A one on one interaction like this, maybe? a wry part of her brain notes. But that's not strictly fair, either. Shirou's bustling around with the hundred and one dishes he has planned for dinner so it's not like they're alone in here.

And again – if Jay had murder on his mind, she doubts he'd be going out of his way to deliver her a warning like this. Or at the very least, if he was, there was no plan to involve her in it. Maybe she can work with that.

If nothing else, she can probably survive it. ]

It's funny to think of it like that. I mean, if there's only one culprit, that means they're the one who ends up outnumbered while the rest of us try to find them. Doesn't that make them the sheep and the rest of us the wolves?

[ She makes a thin sound that doesn't quite make it all the way to being a real laugh. ]

If you knew you were going to be that outnumbered, you'd have to be really desperate to even try.

[scallopstrategist]

[Jay is not desperate. That is what he has told himself every morning so far, as he combs his hair and paints his face in front of a mirror so large it would have cost a small fortune on the Legacy: I am not so desperate to escape that I will bite like a dog on someone else's orders. And: I have survived worse than this. I will make it back to them.

He doesn't want to be here, locked into this unfamiliar place and surrounded by strangers from worlds that are so unlike his that his own seems like a piece of fiction. There is a break in his memory. The tools he usually can rely on to protect himself are gone. He stands in the yawning mouth of the unknown, reaching blindly in the dark to make sense of his circumstances.

But he isn't desperate. He has survived worse than this. Therefore, logic dictates that he can survive this. The food supplies are plentiful, especially if he can slowly build a cache of non-perishables in his room and the water is clean. He has a place to sleep that, while he doubts is truly secure, he can at least bar the others from entering. This isn't a battlefield, or a warzone. It's a game. There are no punishments, as far as Jay can tell, to refuse to play: only for breaking the rules, or playing and losing. An early play is one of the stupidest moves he could possibly make. But if he is cautious, if he keeps his wits about him and learns as much as he possibly can, survival is far from impossible.]

Yes, you probably would be.

[Unlike before, there's not even a note of idle playfulness. Because Ai is completely correct. In this game, to kill is to admit that you have run out of other moves. It is a last ditch, all-or-nothing effort that is more likely to end in failure than success.]

It seems this game is designed to make wolves out of all of us. [And then-- another one of his strange, practiced smiles.] Perhaps it was a bad comparison after all. Do forgive me. I'm still trying to make sense of it all.

[liedol]

Heehee. You don't have to apologize. It's kind of useful being able to talk over all this with someone, honestly.

[ Ai flashes him a smile in return – equally rehearsed, if more natural for it. She's been practicing it in the mirror again since she got here, trying to keep it from being too bright and bold and perfect. She tries to make it more subdued, more gentle and wounded, in hopes that if she rolls over and shows her belly a bit then the act of submission might be enough to ensure she isn't preyed on.

Standing out too much in a place like this could only be trouble. ]

But I was thinking more like... if there's this many of us and becoming a wolf turns everyone into your enemy, isn't there still a chance that we could decide to work together and turn on the person who brought us here?

[scallopstrategist]

It's one way to work through it, I suppose.

[Still, he's dissatisfied. Jay doesn't like to show his work, especially when he isn't sure of his own conclusions or ultimate answers; he does hate to be proven wrong. He falls quiet as he considers Ai's strategy, eyebrows pinched together as he rolls it around in his mind.]

Theoretically. But that sort of tactic requires coordination and, more importantly, trust. It would be easier to pull off with a smaller group, rather than one as large as ours. [He tips his head to the side, curious.] Right now, can you honestly say that you trust the others? And not just one person, or a few of them. All of them.

[Jay can't. As far as he's concerned, that's impossible.]

[liedol]

[ The obvious answer, of course, is no. Of course she can't trust all of them – she'd be hard pressed to say she even trusts most of them. Nobody here has given her a reason to actively suspect them of having cruel intentions but that doesn't mean anything at all when they've all been pre-supplied with a perfectly good reason to betray the group, even before their own inclinations ever enter the picture.

But that's not the sort of thing Ai should say. Especially not right now and even more especially not to Jay. He's smart – which means Ai has to be extremely careful about the sort of things she lets slip around him.

So she hums thoughtfully to herself as she carefully chops another potato. ]

I'd like to think... maybe I could, eventually. Or at least, I can trust that we probably all really want to get home. And everyone's probably just about as mad as everyone else at the person running this whole thing. Don't you think that'd be enough to get people thinking about working together?

[scallopstrategist]

[Jay watches Ai as she considers. When he isn't thinking about it, or trying to look like anything, his own expression settles into one of stillness. It's difficult to say what he thinks of her answer just by looking him.

It's a bit ... naive. But more measured than he expected. "Maybe". "Eventually". If anything, that's more likely to happen after most of them have died. But who knows? Maybe they'll hold out.]

Maybe. Maybe not. I suppose we'll just have to see, won't we? Whose theory pans out. Only time will tell.

[Jay neatly pinches off the peel of the potato in his hands, discarding it and placing the potato with the last few waiting for Ai to chop them. Since it's the last of them, he helpfully nudges the bowl closer to Ai's side of the counter.]

That's the last of them. I'll be right back. [Jay hops off of his step stool-- completely demeaning, he hates it, why was everything in this kitchen made so annoyingly tall... but at least he's not the only one who needs the help, because Ai is also standing on one-- and jingles over to where Shirou is working.]

Mr. Emiya? We're almost done with the potatoes. What vegetable would you like us to work on next?

[Good grief. Does this guy have multiple arms, or something? How on earth has he managed to make this many side dishes already??]