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[INNOCENTS WIN] First Anniversary Fanfic Mafia - Game Thread

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
  5. farfetchd
Anyway, pbbbbt... I guess the roleblocker, if there was one, did target the same person. And the mob picked someone else.
what do you mean by this? are you saying you think the mafia get to choose who carries out the nightkill?
 

windskull

Bidoof Fan
Staff
Partners
  1. sneasel-nip
  2. bidoof
  3. absol
  4. kirlia
  5. windskull-bidoof
  6. little-guy-windskull
  7. purugly
  8. mawile
  9. manectric
[[
The unnatural daylight roused Nip from his slumber, beckoning him out of the makeshift den he had created: a small hole in the ground a few feet deep, surrounded by colorless bushes and a stack of stones to hide it. He paused just outside to scrape his claws along the bark of a false tree he had created (he needs to keep his claws sharp, in case of an attack) before hurrying to join up with the rest of the prisoners of this strange world.

An uneasy feeling formed in his stomach as the morning role call progressed with not one, but two missing. Fortunately, one of the missing parties was found, but the other...

"The pikachu's gone?" he asked incredulously. A shame, he actually kind of liked him. Who could have done this? Without thinking about it, he whirled on Lauchzelot. "You. You were the one calling to jail him yesterday. Are you responsible for this?"
]]

Note: I don't have any suspicion of qva at this time. I'm just flavoring the next with the way Nip would think. Either the roleblocker targeted a different person, or there was no roleblocker, and the mafia targeted a different person. Or the mafia sent in their kill through someone else, if that's possible. I know in last year's game both players could send in a kill order, but the boss order superseded whatever the underlings sent in.
 

Sike Saner

fundead
Location
*aurorus noise*
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. glalie
what do you mean by this? are you saying you think the mafia get to choose who carries out the nightkill?

What I meant was simply that the mob didn't target the same person two nights in a row. In retrospect, that was not the way to have phrased it, since whether or not they picked the same person twice shouldn't have had any bearing on the roleblocker's success. My assumption that the mob picked a different target was an unrelated thought that only got connected via the "and" because my wires got crossed on the matter; see previous sentence in this paragraph.

Anyhoo, I guess I just accidentally kind of softclaimed, whoops. At the very least, I might as well make it clear enough that I have ways of knowing that the mafia probably targeted two different people on nights 0 and 1, and the possiblity I raised that the roleblocker (or a switcher, come to think of it?) maybe targeted someone they shouldn't have ties into that.
 

DawningWinds

Ace Trainer
Partners
  1. hawlucha
Chibi (Chibi Pika) has been eliminated. He was Innocent. Discussion is now open for Day 2 and will continue until 6:30 PM UTC/2:30 PM EST May 10.
I switched Chibi and qva last night, which means the Mafia were initially targetting qva. This confirms qva as town, unless the Mafia thought it was smart to target one of their own.
 

elyvorg

somewhat backwards
Pronouns
she/they
Partners
  1. grovyle
[[

Tefiren climbed up into the boughs of his tree, which was properly-coloured now, like the trees from his other game back home.

This new game wasn't being quite as fun as he'd expected it to be.

Okay, sure, he'd thought that maybe not everyone here's tricks were clever enough to stop Them, and so maybe one of them might have ended up getting caught last night. But if that'd happened, it was supposed to be one of the stupid ones. One of the ones who'd not made any sense yesterday, or had just stood back saying not much at all.

Not the Pikachu. Not Chibi. (Why... why had Tefiren remembered that name?)

Chibi was the one who'd made the most sense, and had agreed that Tefiren made the most sense, too. He'd been clever. Tefiren had seen his terrible excuse for a hiding place and almost thought that maybe he was actually stupid after all, but no, Tefiren was sure it was more than that. That scrape in the ground must have just been some kind of diversion to throw Them off track - and They'd caught him anyway.

Chibi had had tricks, Tefiren had been sure of it from the way he'd talked.

...Even if he had, not tricks that could protect himself, clearly. Maybe They'd realised Chibi had tricks, too. Maybe that was why They'd gone for him. They weren't meant to be that smart.

Up in the tree, Tefiren's gaze flicked between everyone else on the ground below. With an unusual bitterness, he eyed the duck with the big leek, the one that had tried to get rid of Chibi yesterday - but, no. It wasn't him. That would be too obvious, too stupid a move to make. And They weren't stupid, not in this game.

Still, Tefiren could get some satisfaction from knowing that he'd been right to not want to get rid of Chibi in particular yesterday. But... that didn't help now. It didn't help them win.

He stayed up there, watching everyone carefully, waiting for things to start getting fun again.

]]

...Man. I was completely expecting Tefiren to brush it off no matter who was (most likely) going to end up being dead this morning, but... he's actually upset about Chibi. I've never written a Tefiren in quite this state of mind before.

Anyway, while Tefiren's busy sulking...

Anyway, pbbbbt... I guess the roleblocker, if there was one, did target the same person. And the mob picked someone else. Or maybe a roleblocker picked someone who would've protected Chibi. Or maybe everybody was just off the mark this time.

Even if we do have a town roleblocker who targeted the same person, it could just be that the person they targeted was never mafia at all and they weren't the reason we had no kill on night 0.

With regards to different mafia members being able to make the kill: in my experience, the don being the one to always do it is the default, buuut admittedly that doesn't mean Negrek's running things that way. Today's death definitely doesn't prove anything on that front, though, because maybe there just isn't a town roleblocker, or there was but they weren't who prevented the first kill.

It did occur to me yesterday, though I didn't get around to mentioning it because I didn't expect my late message to spark off a discussion, that if there's a roleblocker here then it could well be on the mafia's side instead. That'd kind of make more sense and be more likely, even, since mafia would get more use out of that, whereas the only real help and not hindrance a roleblocker is to town is if they happen to hit the mafioso doing the kill.

WAIT ninjas happened, never mind Tefiren has something more to say after all, let's pretend Professor Finnar is saying something to the effect of what DawningWinds is saying so I can RP this:

I switched Chibi and qva last night, which means the Mafia were initially targetting qva. This confirms qva as town, unless the Mafia thought it was smart to target one of their own.

[["You did what?" Tefiren suddenly snapped, sticking his head out from the boughs of the tree to stare accusingly at the Human in the white coat. "So it's your fault that They got Chibi instead of the leek-duck who was silly enough to try and get rid of Chibi yesterday? You got in the way of his tricks and messed everything up!"

So it wasn't that They were that smart, after all. It was just that some of the other players of this game were stupid.

"...But, I suppose that does mean the leek-duck isn't one of Them either. They wouldn't be so stupid as to try and catch Themselves."]]

...ahem. Don't mind Tefiren, DawningWinds, he just wants somebody to blame. I don't actually think there's anything wrong with you having used your power like that, assuming you're telling the truth, which I don't see any reason to doubt right now - it'd be an oddly random fakeclaim for the mafia to make.
 

Starlight Aurate

Ad Jesum per Mariam | pfp by kintsugi
Location
Route 123
Partners
  1. mightyena
  2. psyduck
Tanuki said:
His hat returned to its place. “‘T’s al’ays the yungins.” A paw rubbed his eyes and a hard expression turned to face the group. He hovered over his holster. “All right. Which o’ you’s gettin’ lead for breakfast?”

[[Yami Bakura smiled. "Try me," he growled. "That sounds fun. I've never tasted lead before."

Looking back to where the Pikachu had lain, Yami Bakura grit his teeth.

"I knew we should have eliminated someone, you cowards. Now we're wasting precious time. And there wasn't even anything to show the Pikachu's death--no blood stains, no gore, no screams--it's like he just vanished into the Shadow Realm. Did he even get to fight? We've wasted that precious day on deciding to do nothing and we've paid for it with the life of that rat."

Everyone stared at him in surprise. He had forgotten to take on the kind demeanor of his host.

"Oh, I mean to say--that was quite a shocker. I hope the poor bloke gets to rest in peace... But I do think we're wasting precious time. Unless we act quickly, someone else could fall."]]
 

Sike Saner

fundead
Location
*aurorus noise*
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. glalie
Today's death definitely doesn't prove anything on that front, though, because maybe there just isn't a town roleblocker, or there was but they weren't who prevented the first kill.

They weren't. I'm almost entirely certain I was.

I protected Espurr night 0. I protected Chibi night 1--or tried to. A switch would absolutely explain why my action failed to protect the right person. I guess now we've just gotta figure out if DawningWinds was, in fact, the one to perform the switch. I currently have no evidence either way.

[[ Ntairow immediately wheeled around. "You?" That couldn't be right. This was a mere human, after all. "You're the one who got in my way?" How, she wondered, before reason found its way through the haze. The tree was in her line of sight. The tree that had just sprouted out of nowhere. This place, by its very nature, didn't make sense. There was no telling what these beings might be capable here that they otherwise couldn't be.

Besides, there was also the chance that this professor wasn't actually human at all. That the ones who claimed humanity was extinct were correct.

Ntairow relaxed somewhat. Only somewhat. "You had better have had a good reason for doing that." ]]


Ntairow, chill. If the professor was the one who did it, there was no way of knowing that it'd put someone in danger. Such are the perils of early-game switching, I'd imagine.
 

elyvorg

somewhat backwards
Pronouns
she/they
Partners
  1. grovyle
[["We didn't waste time not getting rid of anyone yesterday," Tefiren insisted, still feeling very grumpy about all this. "If you lot had got rid of someone it probably would have been Chibi anyway, so that wouldn't have helped. And then They probably would have caught someone else last night, too.

"But instead, because we didn't get rid of anyone yesterday, now we know that the leek-duck isn't one of Them. And... not the white-coat Human either. Even though what she did was stupid"]] (--again, please do not mind him, it was a perfectly smart use of that power--) [["it wouldn't make any sense for one of Them to make up that They did that. So we know two people who aren't Them now. That's not a waste. We're getting somewhere! We're still... still basically winning.

"...But we probably should really get rid of someone today." He went back to shifting his gaze through the crowd, wishing he could tell which of them were secretly Them, the ones who'd tried to catch the silly leek-duck yesterday and only accidentally got through Chibi's tricks instead.

He suddenly turned to the blue blobby one as she spoke. "You used your tricks to try to protect Chibi? Then the white-coat human probably really did switch them. One of Them couldn't have known how impossible it was"--(it should have been impossible, Chibi shouldn't have been caught, this wasn't fair)--"to catch Chibi, so They wouldn't have known to make up that lie to explain it."
]]

Bahaha, looks like Tefiren's not the only one who's mad at DawningWinds for making a perfectly sensible move. After qva offered Chibi up as a lynch candidate yesterday, I can kinda see why one might assume that qva and Chibi are on opposite sides and that switching them might result in the mafia shooting itself in the foot.
 

Sike Saner

fundead
Location
*aurorus noise*
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. glalie
Bahaha, looks like Tefiren's not the only one who's mad at DawningWinds for making a perfectly sensible move. After qva offered Chibi up as a lynch candidate yesterday, I can kinda see why one might assume that qva and Chibi are on opposite sides and that switching them might result in the mafia shooting itself in the foot.

It really was a smart move; DawningWinds had no way of knowing that qva was being switched with a doctor's target. I gave no indication I was going to protect Chibi (I had zero intent of claiming day 1--or day 2, for that matter, but here we are). I hadn't even decided to protect Chibi until it was time to submit an action, and even then I wasn't going on any concrete evidence of innocence or likeliness of being targeted by a nightkill. I had sufficient evidence for neither. Instead I just picked who Ntairow would likely pick in-universe, lol.

[[Catching a pikachu seems hardly impossible, Ntairow thought, keeping it to herself out of respect for the departed, feathers or none. But she reminded herself just as quickly that things didn't make sense around here.]]

Ntairow can really be kind of an ass sometimes... :V
 

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
  8. meganium
CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES--

[[

Diyem stood still, eyes scanning each and every one of the survivors. There was a cold tightness in his chest of disdain and malice, watching the fingers point and the lamenting begin. Chibi... He didn't care about Chibi, and yet why was he feeling such seething hatred for the perpetrators?

Diyem steadied his breath and released a thin stream of embers from his throat. Cutting it off with a sigh, he looked up. "I had felt a similar energy from Chibi as an acquaintance of mine had of another entity from the previous incident. Starr, her name. She had been one of the most instrumental pieces in thwarting the mafia that time. If Chibi gives off similar energy, the mafia may have known this and thought to take him out early. It's only a guess... which would have held water, had this not come up."

I might as well make it clear enough that I have ways of knowing that the mafia probably targeted two different people on nights 0 and 1

I switched Chibi and qva last night, which means the Mafia were initially targetting qva. This confirms qva as town, unless the Mafia thought it was smart to target one of their own.

"...Then you are a protector," Diyem said, looking at the strange evolution. "You protected Espurr on the first night, which may have been what saved her, and then Chibi... But all effects had been swapped. Hmm..." He paused, looking up. "Would it have been too obvious to target Chibi outright? Or would they have suspected Chibi would be protected? And then to strike the one that had been swapped... That was quite lucky. Unless...

"Could they have used their Strongman, if it is mafia aligned, already? To guarantee a strategic threat be taken out early?"

He bowed his head, thoughtful. "You. You." He pointed to Ntairow, then at Finnar. "You have already revealed your powers to us. You may as well completely outline what you had done for the first two nights so we can piece it together. If anybody would like to have a claim against their roles... speak up now. Any information related to being a 'doctor' or a 'bus driver'"--these titles in the information pamphlet perplexed him--"should speak up now. Considering how many roles there are, I have my doubts there will be much overlap, if any... But we should still consider that as another possibility."

]]
 

elyvorg

somewhat backwards
Pronouns
she/they
Partners
  1. grovyle
[["Could they have used their Strongman, if it is mafia aligned, already? To guarantee a strategic threat be taken out early?"]]

[["No," Tefiren said, frustrated that the fiery one didn't get this, "that doesn't make sense. Even if They knew Chibi was good at this game, They wouldn't have known that anyone else knew that and might be protecting him. They wouldn't want to waste their super-special one-off catching trick on that, not when They wouldn't have been smart enough to be sure that They should have needed it for him last night.

"But that doesn't matter anyway, because They weren't even trying to catch Chibi! The big blue one protected Chibi, and They went for the duck. Then the white-coat Human swapped Chibi and the duck, so that the duck got protected and Chibi got caught instead when he shouldn't have. It's simple."

]]

...Again, please do not mind Tefiren's tone; he's still feeling rather grumpy about this whole thing.

Are we even seriously considering the possibility that the strongman power could be town-aligned? That doesn't seem likely to me. Mafia members usually don't have any reason to even need to protect themselves from nightkills, so the idea of a vigilante townie having the special power to pierce through protection that probably isn't even there in the first place seems very unnecessary. More likely to backfire on the town and kill a useful protected townie if the strongman-vig aims it wrong.

(I know mafia doctors can sometimes be a thing, but in my understanding that's usually in games with a healer clash mechanic, and the mafia doctor's main point is to try to deliberately cause healer clashes on innocents, rather than to protect the mafia.)

Re: role overlaps - I at least think it's pretty likely there could be two doctors in a game this big; there were in last year's. If there is a second doctor, they should definitely stay quiet for the time being. There were also two bus drivers in last year's game, I believe? So, you never know. A hypothetical second bus driver probably also shouldn't claim so soon, especially when I'm pretty sure DawningWinds's roleclaim is already corroborated by Sike's.

(Did anyone ever figure out last year if there was a healer clash mechanic or not then? Sike, does your role PM indicate anything to that effect going on this time? If it's not mentioned in your PM then we're probably safe on that front.)
 

windskull

Bidoof Fan
Staff
Partners
  1. sneasel-nip
  2. bidoof
  3. absol
  4. kirlia
  5. windskull-bidoof
  6. little-guy-windskull
  7. purugly
  8. mawile
  9. manectric
Did anyone ever figure out last year if there was a healer clash mechanic or not then?
Only have time to just answer the question right now. My understanding of last year's game is that there was no heal clashing mechanic - if you're talking about the overdosing thing at least. Someone got double-healed in last year's game and was fine. Whether or not that carries over in this game though, IDK.
 

DawningWinds

Ace Trainer
Partners
  1. hawlucha
I protected Espurr night 0.
...I should stop switching the doctor's target.

Anyway, I was actually trying to get Chibi shot because I thought he was Mafia and missed the vote deadline by three minutes, and I was fairly certain qva was town already so I thought she might be the one getting shot.
 

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
  8. meganium
[[

"But that doesn't matter anyway, because They weren't even trying to catch Chibi!

Diyem was about to speak but, but then grumbled and looked through the pamphlet. "Strongman... pierce bus driver... mmmrrgh..." He flipped through the pages...

]]

So, according to the wiki, a strongman is unable to pierce "hiding" roles, but I don't see any here. It pierces through protection roles like Seraph Knight and doctor etc, but does it pierce role/target swapping? I... don't actually know the answer, and this kind of affects whether or not the one-shot was used. I don't think it's likely, but I do want to make sure--because if they targeted Chibi and it went through anyway due to strongman, well...
 

Sike Saner

fundead
Location
*aurorus noise*
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. glalie
He bowed his head, thoughtful. "You. You." He pointed to Ntairow, then at Finnar. "You have already revealed your powers to us. You may as well completely outline what you had done for the first two nights so we can piece it together. If anybody would like to have a claim against their roles... speak up now. Any information related to being a 'doctor' or a 'bus driver'"--these titles in the information pamphlet perplexed him--"should speak up now. Considering how many roles there are, I have my doubts there will be much overlap, if any... But we should still consider that as another possibility."

]]

[["I certainly can," Ntairow said. "I believed Espurr was of the easiest targets for whoever's trying to pick us off and would therefore likely be one of their first. So I stayed near her shelter, hoping to deter anyone who thought they'd only have one person to deal with--which apparently worked. Apparently they thought better of trying to take both of us on at the same time.

"If only I could have perceived something about the attacker, anything at all, I could have matched their appearance, or their psychic signature, or something, at least, against everyone here. I could have put a swift stop to all of this." Her fingers flexed of their own accord. She sighed. "Whoever is responsible for all this insists on toying with their prey. They won't let us have an easy time stopping them.

"As for last night, I took watch over Chibi--another easy, likely target, I thought. No harm came to my ward--and as far as I could tell, no change. Whoever did this--if indeed it was you," she added with a glance and a flick of her tail branches toward the professor, "did so in a way that utterly foiled my senses, all of them. Or else this place is simply designed to screw with my perception in general." Another frustrated scowl crossed her face. "At any rate, I didn't even know a switch could have occurred until the possibility was brought up here after the fact."]]


I think I already outlined it myself--

I protected Espurr night 0. I protected Chibi night 1--or tried to.

--but Ntairow hadn't, so I figured I might as well let her state her actions in-universe.

Anyway, a mafia strongman kill is, I think, still technically a possibility for what happened last night. It's also still possible that someone other than the one who claimed performed the switch, but your guess is as good as mine as to who that could've been. And, yeah, there could totally be multiple bus drivers.
 

elyvorg

somewhat backwards
Pronouns
she/they
Partners
  1. grovyle
Since DawningWinds is basically confirmed innocent at this point as far as I can tell, perhaps it's best if they don't tell us who they swapped Espurr with on night 0. If it's not made public yet who was switched with whom as much as possible, it might potentially make it harder for any future mafia fakeclaimers to make up who they targeted each night with whatever their fakeclaimed power is and have it not contradict anything.

Anyway, I was actually trying to get Chibi shot because I thought he was Mafia and missed the vote deadline by three minutes, and I was fairly certain qva was town already so I thought she might be the one getting shot.

[[Tefiren stared in even greater disbelief as the white-coat Human spoke up again, half-climbing down from his tree he was so irritated, his wing leaves flaring outwards. "You did that on purpose!? You were trying to get him caught by Them? Because you thought he was--!?"

He caught himself before he made it all the way down, shaking his head. No matter how stupid the white-coat Human was, she couldn't have been one of Them; it didn't make sense for Them to lie about doing this, especially not after what the big blue one had said. But still. He clawed at the bark of his tree, muttering to himself in frustration.

]]

Tefiren, please chill. Blaming Chibi's death on other innocent players' "stupidity" rather than admitting that maybe he was totally killable (and by extension so are you), and then dealing with it by ragging on that "stupidity" when you know the people involved are almost certainly innocent is not going to help you root out Them.

[[

Diyem was about to speak but, but then grumbled and looked through the pamphlet. "Strongman... pierce bus driver... mmmrrgh..." He flipped through the pages...

]]

So, according to the wiki, a strongman is unable to pierce "hiding" roles, but I don't see any here. It pierces through protection roles like Seraph Knight and doctor etc, but does it pierce role/target swapping? I... don't actually know the answer, and this kind of affects whether or not the one-shot was used. I don't think it's likely, but I do want to make sure--because if they targeted Chibi and it went through anyway due to strongman, well...

Right, there is that. However, since bus driver swaps what's effectively the position of players rather than giving any protection per se, I wouldn't be surprised if strongman targets are still swapped by it. You'd need a different kind of special killing power, one that's un-misdirectable rather than un-blockable, to get past that kind of thing, I'd imagine.

The first half of Tefiren's argument in that post was less about the strongman kill having definitely not happened at all and more just that it wouldn't have made much sense for the mafia to attempt it under these circumstances.
 

Equitial

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. inkay
  3. woobat
  4. ralts
[[
Jen woke up. Still there, but the weird-looking Pikachu wasn't. Jen felt something strange in his stomach. He knew that someone would be found gone this morning. The weird forces that had brought them all to this place said that would happen, and why lie? If they wanted to make everyone here squirm they might as well take people out rather than just claim to. But still, a part of Jen really hadn't expected --

Focus.

The people around Jen started speaking. Wobbufet got caught and confessed she been granted an ability to heal. And the human professor, Finnar, announced she had gotten a special power too and that Sirfetch'd had been the mafia's actual target.

Jen crossed his arms and listened to everyone else talk about their abilities. He started tapped his fingers against his side. The feeling in his gut gnawed on him.

Eventually he couldn't take listening and doing nothing anymore. "The biggest thing is that we know those three" -- referring to Sirfetch'd and the two who'd claimed abilities -- "are innocent unless they're lying. Narrows down the suspects." And it would be weird if they were. Why would they suddenly fabricate this convoluted story if they were guilty? "And we know the mafia targeted Sirfetch'd last night." Who led the no-jail argument after Charizard backed down. "Why."
]]

Jen changing the topic is partly an RP thing -- obviously Sike and DawningWind tell us about your abilities -- but yeah we should also start figuring out who's mafia with the knowledge that they targeted qva, significant for being the main pro-lynch advocate yesterday. And I think they targeted qva, not Chibi, from what elyvorg said. If they have a strongman, they probably wouldn't used him yet unless they thought he'd be lynched today.

Also, more minor thing -- we don't know for certain they targeted SparklingEspeon and thus that Espeon's innocent. There could be other healers (or others roles?) that could account for them not getting their target last night.

I guess now we've just gotta figure out if DawningWinds was, in fact, the one to perform the switch. I currently have no evidence either way.
Who else?

...I should stop switching the doctor's target.
Who'd you switch her with?
 

Equitial

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. inkay
  3. woobat
  4. ralts
Who'd you switch her with?

Ninja'ed by elyvorg, who made a good point that we might not want to tell that yet. You may ignore.
 

Sike Saner

fundead
Location
*aurorus noise*
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. glalie
obviously Sike and DawningWind tell us about your abilities

Already did mine, both in-universe and out:

They weren't. I'm almost entirely certain I was.

I protected Espurr night 0. I protected Chibi night 1--or tried to. A switch would absolutely explain why my action failed to protect the right person. I guess now we've just gotta figure out if DawningWinds was, in fact, the one to perform the switch. I currently have no evidence either way.

[["I certainly can," Ntairow said. "I believed Espurr was of the easiest targets for whoever's trying to pick us off and would therefore likely be one of their first. So I stayed near her shelter, hoping to deter anyone who thought they'd only have one person to deal with--which apparently worked. Apparently they thought better of trying to take both of us on at the same time.

"If only I could have perceived something about the attacker, anything at all, I could have matched their appearance, or their psychic signature, or something, at least, against everyone here. I could have put a swift stop to all of this." Her fingers flexed of their own accord. She sighed. "Whoever is responsible for all this insists on toying with their prey. They won't let us have an easy time stopping them.

"As for last night, I took watch over Chibi--another easy, likely target, I thought. No harm came to my ward--and as far as I could tell, no change. Whoever did this--if indeed it was you," she added with a glance and a flick of her tail branches toward the professor, "did so in a way that utterly foiled my senses, all of them. Or else this place is simply designed to screw with my perception in general." Another frustrated scowl crossed her face. "At any rate, I didn't even know a switch could have occurred until the possibility was brought up here after the fact."]]

But to reiterate: I can block kills. I have no way of knowing exactly who'll be targeted; all I can do is guess, or pick at random, and hope for the best. I have no way of knowing until the day after if anybody interfered with my block. I can't stop anyone from piercing or redirecting it. Hopefully that's clear enough, because I really don't know how to spell it out any more clearly than that.

Who else?

Who else might have been able to perform a switch? I already gave my answer to that one, too, more than once--including right in the bit you quoted there, as a matter of fact:

I guess now we've just gotta figure out if DawningWinds was, in fact, the one to perform the switch. I currently have no evidence either way.

Emphasis on I currently have no evidence either way.

It's also still possible that someone other than the one who claimed performed the switch, but your guess is as good as mine as to who that could've been. And, yeah, there could totally be multiple bus drivers.

Emphasis on your guess is as good as mine as to who that could've been.

In short, I can't give an answer I don't have.
 
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