[INNOCENTS WIN] Grand Opening Fanfic Mafia - Game Thread

[Virgil134]

((Not sure what I'm more surprised about: The Doctor not protecting Karo or the Mafia not choosing someone else because they anticipated for the Doctor to protect Karo.))

Cabot blinked in surprise and repeatedly shifted gaze between Starr and Dave. "Huh?! What do Karo and Dave have to do with each other?!"

 

[NonAnalogue]

There was no time to process the most recent disappearance before Starr made her accusation in appropriately dramatic form.

"Hm, interesting," Mel muttered to Repeat.

"No kidding," said Repeat back. He raised his voice so that others could hear him. "Uh, Starr, right? Can you go into more detail about what you saw? Obviously we need to hear from Dave too, but the more information we have to work from, the better."

((Gonna be slow today! Lots of things to take care of.))

 

[Umbramatic]

"Starr? What are you even smoking if you think they're lovers?"

Loki snickered.

"More seriously it's a shame. I liked that Nosepass."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave didn't look like he'd had much sleep when he dragged himself out in the morning with a cup of black coffee, bags under his eyes.

When immediately after Starr's sudden accusation a wild squabble started up speculating that he'd been fucking the Nosepass, he didn't even have the energy to respond. (This wasn't even the first fucking time he was accused of bestiality.) He took a sip of his coffee, threw out a few curses when it burned his tongue, then set down the cup irritably and looked at Starr.

"Okay. I guess you saw me in his house? That's what this is about?

When I got here I realized I had this... bizarre fucking supernatural deflection thing. I can direct shit from one place to another in the night, except it only fucking works half of the time. First night we were here, I tried to deflect from me onto Starr. No idea if that one actually did anything. Then, I figured maybe the mafia'd go for me since I'd implied I could do something useful, so I deflected from me onto Infinite, hoping he was one of them. So Infinite getting killed was probably actually me, or maybe not, I don't fucking know. Last night, obviously I figured the mafia might be going for the Nosepass, so I tried to deflect from him onto Loki. Clearly that one didn't go through." He scowled. "So that's what I was doing at his house, trying to fucking protect him. Any other questions?"

((Incidentally, you can kind of see Dave stressing about having possibly gotten Infinite killed in my D2 posts.

This role is so perfect, though, Dave is indeed a master of deflection))

 

[Dragonfree]

((To be clear, it's literally a 50% effective deflection, not just Dave complaining it doesn't work.))

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr folds her arms, scowling. Clearly, things aren’t as simple as she thought. Of course not--why the hell would they ever be. “Alright, so assuming you’re telling the truth--and as far as I’m concerned, that’s a pretty tall order--why didn’t I see anyone else there last night? If the killer was strong enough to break through your redirect (not gonna argue that, for all we know they are strong enough, makes as much sense as anything else here) you’re telling me they were also invisible?”

She rubs her eyes--clearly staying up three nights in a row is starting to get to her. “Lucky for us, there’s a pretty easy way to verify this. Unfortunately, it kinda requires the cooperation of the person who supposedly targeted you that first night. I know who it was. And I’m pretty damn sure they’re innocent. So if they step in to clear your name, well…”

((Thank you qva for giving us the DaveXKaro crack ship we all deserve.))

 

[Chibi Pika]

((Oh! I missed the 50/50 thing. Well then. That complicates things~))

 

[Virgil134]

"So... you're saying that if someone gets attacked, you can make it that someone else gets hurt instead?" Cabot asked Dave. "But how can that possible when you don't even have to be attacked yourself? Is it some sort of human magic like how you use deeanay?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"I didn't claim anyone targeted me on the first night. I said I tried to deflect off me onto you. Who knows if anyone did, or if that even went through in the first place. Person you picked up targeting you could've just been targeting you. My thing just takes whatever targets the person I target and makes that hit the other person; doesn't affect on what targeted the other person in the first place. Or," he said, frowning, "I don't think it does."

"Not sure what's up with nobody else showing up for you, though." He frowned, rubbing his forehead.

"So... you're saying that if someone gets attacked, you can make it that someone else gets hurt instead?" Cabot asked Dave. "But how can that possible when you don't even have to be attacked yourself? Is it some sort of human magic like how you use deeanay?"

"Look, I don't fucking know how it works. This sort of thing definitely isn't possible in my universe. We're just in this hellspace that's set up like this is some kind of fucking board game. Believe me, if science had any meaning here I'd have better things to do."

 

[Chibi Pika]

“Okay so… let me just… sort through this crap in my head.”

“It would be most convenient for us if the person who wound up near me that first night was actually going for you. If not, then we’re back where we started. As for the killer not showing up…”

“Okay, I could buy them being able to get through your redirect… or being invisible. But not both at the same time. But if your redirect didn’t even friggin’ work… then it wouldn’t be that they broke through it at all. Still kinda relies on them being invisible though. Not sure I buy how likely that is.”

Starr turned around, muttering to herself, “Great. Just when I think this is all starting to make some lick of sense, more bullshit.”

((To confirm, your redirect isn’t a swap, right? Cause I could see why that would lead to me not seeing the killer.))

((Also, someone with more experience let me know if it even makes sense to assume that the mafia has special powers in this game. Cause that’s where my mind is going.))

 

[NonAnalogue]

"Hey, so..." Mel started her sentence a few times, and swallowed it each time. There was nothing being said that wasn't making her head hurt. "If I got this straight, this is what happened: On the first night, Dave tried to deflect from himself to Starr. Nobody disappeared that night, but something else might have happened. On the second night, Dave tried to deflect from himself to Infinite, and Infinite disappeared. And then last night, Dave tried to deflect from Karo to Loki, and Karo disappeared. Is that all right?"

"I think so, boss," said Repeat.

"Then, uh, there's probably something we should mention."

"Not to make this more confusing."

Mel nodded. "Every night, Repeat's been going out and acting as a decoy, or a dummy, or something. We figured he can make it harder for the mafia to hit their targets. The short version is that he can make it so two people basically get swapped: whatever woulda happened to one, happens to the other."

"And vice-versa," Repeat added.

"Right. Now, saying that, here's what he did. On the first night, he redirected whatever was going on around Starr and Psyduck. On the second night, he redirected around Dave and Cabot. And last night, he redirected around Starr and Hecto." Mel let out a breath. "Not that I know what any'a this means for us now."

 

[kyeugh]

Lachlan arches an eyebrow and strokes his chin pensively, like a goofy stock image motherfucker. "Hmm," he offers pensively. "Okay, so nosejob theory notwithstanding..." He takes a deep breath, channeling his latent literature major powers in preparation for the arcane Verbal Bulleted List he was about to drop. "Just to be clear, what you're saying is this:

• You have the ability to redirect actions made on one person of your choice onto another person of your choice. It doesn't always work.
• The first night, you deflected from yourself onto Starr.
• The next night, you deflected from yourself onto Infinite.
  • You were likely targeted by the mafia for implying that you had a useful role, so this likely resulted directly in Infinite's elimination.
• Last night you deflected from the nose guy onto Loki. Obviously this failed, since moai man is dead and Loki isn't."

He pauses a moment, continuing to rub his chin comically. "I'm inclined to believe you. I've honestly been feeling kind of good about you for a while? But the thought occurred to me that maybe you were just backing me up so that I'd clear you despite your ~ nefarious intentions~, eheh. Anyway, I think you're being honest here, since coming out about this stuff kind of puts a target on your back, either from mafia or potential counter-claimers. What exactly that means? Well...

"For one thing, it makes me very wary of Mia. Not enough so to point fingers definitively, yet, but... She's been coasting on her protection of Dave early on, which I think was fair enough, I guess. But it's also sort of an easy move to make with nefarious purposes, right? You know, protecting someone you know to be innocent in order to establish credit with everyone else. I'm not a big fan of the arguments she was making yesterday, earlier, and not just because they were directed at me. In general, I think jumping on and pushing convenient trains is an easy move to make, once again based partially on my vote on you, Dave... An argument built upon your implicit innocence, which by extension further clears Mia by association."

He shrugs. "I don't know. It's not solid. I just want to voice my suspicions over it. I don't really feel great about her in general. Assuming she's one of the bad guys here, it would make sense for her to stand by and let suspicion over you build like she did a couple minutes ago. The mafia already tried and failed to kill you once."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot gave Mel and Repeat a blank look as he tried to wrap his head around what everyone was saying. So Dave could redirect an attack to someone else... but Mel could have Repeat do effectively the same by transforming?

"I... don't get it. If Repeat goes out and acts like a decoy, wouldn't that mean he gets attacked and not someone else? And what was that about me and Dave?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr grabs her forehead. “Goddammit, I should have realized the Ditto was involved too.”

She notices the Cranidos’s confusion. “And, uh, it’s not quite the same. Dave’s just bouncing one target onto another. The Ditto’s been outright swapping them. Seems like it only made a difference that first night though.”

“Okay, so… I watched myself that first night. Saw Mel... or the Ditto, I guess. Didn’t see anyone else, so I guess no one visited Psyduck that night. I guess it can be said… if we find out Dave’s not original mafia… then we can also clear him as the recruit too, since that recruitment didn’t get bounced onto me. Course, that’s assuming the recruiting didn’t get blocked, and then followed up the next night, or whatever. I guess that’s still possible.”

 

[Virgil134]

"I mean... I guess?" Cabot said, putting a claw to his mouth as he thought over Starr's explanation. "But... if on the second night me and Dave were swapped, and he directed any attack to Infinite... does that mean the Mafia originally tried to attack me?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

At Cabot’s words, Starr pauses. “I--huh… you’re right. That doesn’t add up. Why the hell would the mafia try to kill you? That wouldn’t have cast suspicion on anyone. Unless they were just trying to be discreet?”

“Okay, so here’s what all happened that night, if I’m getting this right.”

• I watched Hecto (nothing happened)
• Mel swapped Dave and Cabot
• Dave redirected from himself onto Infinite
• Infinite vanished.

“It... makes way more sense for the mafia to target Dave than Cabot. What the hell is going on here. And why the hell didn’t I see who killed Karo?!”

 

[Dragonfree]

((Nope, not a swap. Perhaps the mafia has the ability to make a one-shot untrackable kill, or something like that? It'd make sense they might use an ability like that to kill Karo last night, since he was a pretty obvious target for trackers etc.))

"Huh." Dave scratched his scalp. "Maybe the mafia just went for Infinite themselves like you all originally assumed, and I was never the target. Could've made sense if they thought shooting one of the people who voted for me would keep the pressure on me?"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot blinked at Dave's words. "Actually... I think you're right about the Mafia going for Infinite themselves. Didn't Psyduck say that she was the one who made Infinite disappear and tried to do the same to Fish? If she tried to target me or Dave, and Infinite only disappeared because of Dave's deflecting powers, she never would have said that, right?"

 

[NonAnalogue]

"So if the contradiction here is that Starr only saw Dave and not the mafia," Repeat said, "there's a few ways that could play out. Either the mafia have a way to disappear people without notice, someone has the ability to block someone else's skills without showing it, or... Dave is lying."

 

[Chibi Pika]

“Ugh, alright. I’ll bite. So for Dave to be innocent, either there’s some other kinda switching/blocking/whatever crap we don’t know about… or the mafia can kill without being seen.”

“This is gonna sound pretty stupid, but so does everything else, so I’m gonna roll with it. If the mafia knew that we’d get powers like this when we got pulled into this space, well they’d wanna make sure that their ranks could stand up to us, right? Especially if they knew there’s a chance one of us could be watching them, waiting for them to make a move. It’d be pretty important for them to have someone who can kill without a trace.”

((Obviously “the mafia” didn’t choose their own powers, but… you know what I mean.))
((tl;dr: I might have just learned that our role configuration almost guarantees a ninja.))