phaiinein (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
phaiinein) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
oddsandends2023-08-08 09:41 pm
phaiinein) wrote in oddsandends2023-08-08 09:41 pm
117th ♫ | aren't i filthy? why won't you kill me?
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!
no subject
Now, though, with both of them gone...
She curls up a little tighter and ducks her head down, tucking it into her arms as best she can. Her voice is muffled but the kitchen is so quiet that it carries anyway. ]
That's too young. That's way, way too young.
no subject
Some of the others have said that as well.
[There’s an oddly pensive note in Jay’s voice. This seems to be a common thread of grief, among those who are willing to (or maybe can’t help but) express it to others. That Shinonome and Roscent were “too young”.
Too young for what, he wonders? Too young to be here? Too young to kill? Too young to die? He just doesn't understand it. They're still dead. Wasn’t Shinonome’s age and poor health what made her an appealing target to Roscent in the first place? And it’s not as if Roscent’s age stopped anyone from voting for her, when it came down to it. No one was willing to give up their own life for hers.]
It's not a sentiment I understand. Being young isn’t a shield, here or anywhere.
[Well, it’s probably impossible for him. After all, Jay is a liar and a cheat. The life he's built for himself is constructed from whole cloth; from stolen time he was never supposed to have. When he was younger, he never even thought to imagine making it to "probably" sixteen.]
no subject
The same age they had been. Past tense.
Her fingers curl into her arms and her nails dig in. Just a little. ]
It should be. They shouldn't have been here in the first place, but–
[ A rare emotion surfaces in her voice. Frustration. ]
There's adults here. People who know better. What sort of rotten, good-for-nothing grown ups are we if we can't even protect kids?
no subject
Why would any of us have expected that?
[Oddly, there is no bitterness or resentment in his voice. He truly, genuinely, doesn't understand the idea that the adults in the group "should" be looking out for and protecting their younger colleagues. Because it seems so obvious to him-- that this is just naturally how people behave, when push comes to shove-- he doesn't realize how telling his response is.]
We're all strangers here. No one has any obligation to anyone else. The rules don't particularly incentivize cooperation, except when it comes to pushing killers out of the circle.
[It's not that he expects them to be cruel for the sake of it. He at least understands that most people aren't like that. But kindness is a luxury; kindness is something one shares when the mood suits, from a previously established position of security.]
Why are you counting yourself among them anyway? You didn't vote. So, technically speaking, you didn't have a hand in Roscent's death. Or do you mean that Roscent never should have had the opportunity to kill Shinonome in the first place?
[Because the adults "should" have been looking after her. Because they "knew better" than to let her be alone like that.]
no subject
[ She says that— sharply. As sharply as Ai ever says anything, cutting across Jay a moment before he finishes speaking. She doesn't mean it to come out so harshly but there's an ugly feeling bubbling in her stomach, drenching all her words before they make it out of her mouth. ]
I mean that... no matter the situation, adults are supposed to protect children. Even if we're strangers and even if the rules here try and pit us against each other. No— especially then. Maybe we didn't know what was really going on with both of them but we should have done. We all know what kind of situation this is and we know they were just kids, so why—
[ Why didn't anyone do anything?
Her words stop short there as if she's forced herself to come stumbling to a halt. She'd talked so fast and so much that she'd run out of air but when she pulls in a breath, her voice at last cracks and breaks on the verge of a sob. ]
I hate this... I hate it...!
no subject
Instead, he settles into a practiced stillness while he listens to what Ai has to say. He doesn’t look away from the bitterness that bubbles out of her, although he doesn’t entirely understand it. It is only after she is completely finished that he speaks up again.]
It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if the world worked that way.
[But it doesn’t.
Jay doesn’t say it. But the implication hangs heavy and leaden in the air. Because that’s just reality. Adults don’t look after children they aren't related to, especially when their own lives are in danger. They aren't going to put themselves in danger, let alone sacrifice themselves for someone they've just met.
This is just how people are.]
[If Ai listens, she’ll hear the tell-tale sound of his bells chiming and his clothes rustling. If she looks up, she will see Jay has abandoned the task at hand to take a seat on his footstool at her level. His chin rests carefully between his palms, which he keeps balanced over his knees by his elbows in a neatly compact position. He isn’t looking at her, though; instead he watches down the narrow space between the counter and the island, as if he’s keeping watch for any busybodies who might come to bother them.]
I don’t think anyone could blame you for hating it. Our circumstances are distressing. I think the only person who is genuinely enjoying themselves is probably whoever is responsible for all of this.
[Jay’s tone isn’t particularly warm, or comforting. And although he uses the word “distressed,” there is nothing to indicate that he is personally upset by what has happened.]
jumpscare
So she allows herself a peek - just a flash of her teary eyes and nothing more - before her face returns to the safety of her arms. Her voice doesn't steady, but her composure doesn't deteriorate any more than it already has, at least. ]
I just... I don't get it. I don't know why you'd do this to anybody, let alone this many people. I'd get it if they hated us but...
[ Her words waver and she has to stop and pull in a breath before she thinks it's safe to continue. ]
I don't even know who they are.
no subject
Because that wasn't and has never been a question for him. Briefly, he is struck by the phantom scent of blood: mixed with mud on the Bridge Plain battlefield, old and stale in Vaclav's torture chambers, sodden in his clothes. People don't need to know each other to be cruel. In fact, it's easier to be cruel to strangers.
He tried to count, once, the people Solon told him to kill-- just so he could know, definitively, for his own bitter satisfaction, the cost of his own life. It was an impossible task. Most of them exist in a blurry and indistinct space in his memory, all the sharp details thrown together in a confusing jumble; back then, the thought to consider them as individuals hadn't even occurred to him. He can't even clearly describe the first person he saw die, or the first person he killed. It's like trying to pick out the first time he saw the sun.]
We don't know who they are, but they seem to know us very well.
[He really can't get it out of his head: how terrified Mielle Roscent had been of the way she was going to die. That was on purpose. Whoever was behind that knew her fear and exploited it. The motive they were given this week targeted her insecurities.
The only food Ai doesn't like is white rice. Jay has never been to school. He's a real teacher's pet, though!
Subtly, his posture tightens. He forces himself to keep his breathing steady, despite the twist of dread in his stomach. This situation really is very bad. The gap between what he knows (or can guess at) and what whoever is behind this knows about him is deeper and wider than the ocean.]
Maybe they have a purpose in mind, or a point they're trying to prove.
[He can't rule it out entirely. But if they had a goal, isn't this all a bit much? Wouldn't it be easier to do it some other way? Why them? Why the game? In the end, he really can only come to one conclusion.]
But if I had to guess, all of this is probably just for their entertainment. I don't think hate has anything to do with it.
[His eyes flick upward, towards one of the many, many cameras installed throughout the facility. He can never forget: every choice they make, every word they say, is being observed and recorded. And it's against the rules to tamper with the cameras.]