[INNOCENTS WIN] Grand Opening Fanfic Mafia - Game Thread

[NebulaDreams]

Ess saw the room hadn't reacted favourably to his little rap, and so, sat back down and observed the players in the room. He watched Hecto's expressionless face as he explained himself, and waited for him to finish before giving his own two cents.

"Well, I never knew you legendaries were real before this, but whatever. I kinda agree with Starr here, it seems way too easy for the members of the mafia to be the most powerful mon in the room. But lemme give my own take on this."

He looked at all the humans in the room, of which, there were 5, and grinned. "Honestly, I think some of these bastard humans might be suspect." He pointed to the duo Mel&Repeat, and then Lachlan. "You seem cool. The rest of you, I dunno. Dave kinda of seems like he has a stick up his ass. Point is, the humans are the most likely to be involved in some sorta criminal stuff, speakin' from experience. Money launderin', drug traffickin' and Mon smugglin' seems their forte. Most Mon are just lapdogs for 'em."

Ess looked at all the Mon next. The only one who looked a bit sketchy was Loki, but he didn't voice his concern, as it would've seemed too obvious, and kept that mental note for later. "Honestly, most of these Mon seem harmless. Smart. Livin' peaceful lives. I doubt they'd be the kindsa people to dump Ponyta heads on your bed.

"I'll throw you humans a bone here, though. Whoever's runnin' this shindig, that's probably what they want us to think; to bunch up the most innocent Mon in the group and have them be mafia members in secret. I mean, cute things don't exactly trigger a fight or flight response, do they?"

He leaned back in his chair. "Still, I'm keepin' an eye on you humans. I ain't species-ist, or anything, and my kind usually get the shaft in bein' called criminal Pokemon. You ain't exactly suspect yet. But you're the most likely to be suspect, if you catch my drift."

 

[NonAnalogue]

"No, you've got a point there," Mel said, her hand on her chin. "We definitely can't go by appearances. If someone here is up to no good, then they're probably pretty good at hiding it, yeah?"

Repeat nodded. "And even with that in mind, if someone looks suspicious, it could still be a double-blind - someone trying intentionally to throw suspicion off of themselves by looking too sketchy to be for real."

"The way I see it is this. We've got nothing to go on right now, so we can either trust everyone or trust no one." Mel rummaged in her backpack for a thick book, flipped through it, then lifted up her glasses to squint at one of the pages. "Either way. 'When all else fails, look for what doesn't make sense and start from there.'"

"Hey, look at you! Quoting from Octavius Esry! I knew you had more bookworm in you than you were letting on."

Mel rolled her eyes and slid her glasses back down onto her nose. "Thanks for that, Repeat. What I'm trying to get at is this isn't a matter of who's suspicious or whatever. We gotta find whatever contradictions we can."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot tilted his head and skeptically looked at Ess. For someone who claimed to not be a ‘species-ist’, the Scrafty sure seemed to be biased against humans for no real reason. Even if he hadn’t met humans before all of this like Ess did, based on what he heard they certainly didn’t sound like anything Ess described. And it’s not like the humans here had done anything malicious. Sure Starr and Dave did act rather hostile, but that didn’t mean they were members of the Mafia… Then again, could he really say for sure anyone around here was?

The Cranidos looked around the group, and while all of them did seem a little strange in their own way, none of them really stood out as a potential member of the Mafia. He turned over to Mel and Repeat, and as he heard them talk, he realized there was a way to be more certain who was with the Mafia.

“I think Mel’s right. If there’s any contradictions in someone’s story, it probably means he’s lying. So we just have to talk to each other more and ask questions about what we all know.”

Cabot’s mind drifted off to what Hecto said earlier about jailing someone today, realizing not everyone would have the patience to hear everyone out.

“Look I know that we don’t know too much right now, but I don’t think that’s a reason to randomly lock someone up. Doing that… would be wrong, and if most of us are innocent, wouldn’t we most likely jail someone who is innocent? If we do that, we’d just be helping the Mafia!”

 

[Dragonfree]

"What do you even mean, contradictions in people's stories? We're all from different fucking universes. I could tell you Pokémon don't fucking talk or join navies where I come from, and Zygarde's a monster from this mythology made up by drunk vikings that also involves a dude getting pregnant by a fucking Rapidash, but here you all are, so clearly what makes sense doesn't even apply here."

 

[NebulaDreams]

"Or, yanno," Ess said, picking his nose, "You could stop being a flaming douche and just play along for now. There's not much else we can really do except go with the flow, since everyone's pretty much a freak, including me. You ain't exactly helping by actin' all 'roided out, you know."

 

[Virgil134]

"A Rapidash… getting a human pre- wha…"

Cabot blinked incredulously as he fumbled for words. In what sort of strange world where gods surrounded by legends like those?! It seemed Dave was right about one thing: what makes sense really doesn’t apply here. Regardless, there was something he clearly didn’t get right…

"Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but all I was saying was that if someone contradicts himself, it’s probably because he isn’t speaking the truth. I never said we should compare each other’s stories and look for contradictions between them."

The Cranidos paused as a realization came to mind. "Actually, what is your story? We don't really know anything about you other than your name, and all you've been doing so far is silently scowl at people and accuse others."

 

[The Walrein]

I wish I could say this in character, but unfortunately it just wouldn't make sense for Psyduck. So here goes:

Guys, I think I've done it. I've cracked the caper. I know everything now. I may get eliminated by the mafia for saying this, but that's not going to matter, because right in this post, I'm going to list the identities of every single member of them.

There are two keys to this puzzle. We must consider what group would have both the motive and the means of carrying out the disappearences. Who would want to make these fanfiction characters disappear? I think we can rule out someone standing to gain from an insurance policy they took out on their characters, or any other finacial motive. Fanfiction is strictly nonprofit. And the stories they come from are too broad in world view and subject matter for an ideological motive to make sense. But there is one thing they have in common (with a single suspicious exception): they're all Pokemon stories. Think: who's always found themselves compared against Pokemon, accused of being nothing but a knock-off; popular, but never nearly as much, always falling in Pokemon's shadow? Could it be Yo-kai watch? Neopets? No. The level of bitterness and jealously these disappearences suggest could only come from a rivalry that goes back to the very start: Digimon.

Once I realized that, everything started to fall into place. The Mafia is able to strike at so many different stories so easily because they're masters at moving across the digital environments our fanfiction lives in. And they can easily do away with someone without leaving a trace; think of all the times Digimon have made each other vanish into clouds of data after a fight.

Armed with this knowledge, the identities of the mafia members becomes readily apparent:

1. Infinite. He's obviously a Digimon. Just look at him. The sobble he carries around is clearly nothing but a flimsy attempt to pretend allegiance to the Pokemon franchise.

2. Mel. What kind of trainer only raises one Pokemon for 18 years? A Digimon tamer, that's who! Her 'ditto' is obviously just one of those baby-stage Digimon that looks like a pile of slime. I dunno which, there's a lot of them.

3. Mia. A "Pokemorph"? Suuuuuure. Everyone knows that the Pokemorph genre has been dead for years. Digimon-human fusions, on the other hand...

So in summary, GG Digimafia. GG.

 

[NonAnalogue]

((That's it, y'all. Good game, but the Walrein just blew the lid off this whole operation.))

 

[Umbramatic]

"...If you say so." Loki said to Karo.

"I already have a few suspicions," they said to Hecto. "Mostly among the humans."

(Walrus: amazing. 10/10)

 

[Namohysip]

(This is hard to keep in character so bear with me on Hecto’s meta awareness. I’m operating under the assumption that everybody knows that someone will get eliminated every night as part of the cycle. Also gg Walrus.)

Hecto looked to Cabot. “I understand your feelings on the matter, Cranidos. Your philosophy reminds me of a Charmander from my world. However, you must consider something else: if we sit idly by with no knowledge, that gives the assailants a free night to pick one of us off. They could plan for it to be difficult for us to glean any new information one way or the other. If we continue to defer control to them on who disappears next, they will forever hold the advantage. If we do not take action today, when will we? If we attempt to jail someone now, we can observe how the votes fall. We can find a pattern... but only when we actually see how they react. If we do nothing, it is hopeless from the start.”

Hecto then looked to Loki. It was time to draw information out, one way or the other. “As a fellow Zygarde, I seek your opinion. Who here seems suspicious to you?”

 

[M&F]

Mia patiently waited for Dave to say things that made sense. He did say some, but it mostly went the direction of being the wisest of all the greeks. Knowing that you know nothing isn't quite as appealing when somebody else knows something and could kill you with it.

Which of these people looked like they know something? Mia silently eyeballed the variety of creatures gathered... and seemed to come up with far more innocents than culprits, based on that critterion.

 

[Negrek]

There are 23 hours remaining in Day 1.

Currently there are no votes. If there are no votes by the end of Day 1, a player will be eliminated at random.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr lets out a low whistle, reluctantly impressed. "Much as I hate to admit it, navy kid over here is actually making a lick of sense. We jail someone at random, all we're doing is cutting our numbers down. Odds are pretty piss-poor we'll actually choose right and nail one of these assholes." She folds her arms and smirks. "Not that I'm opposed to locking anyone up. Just kinda don't wanna screw us over in the process."

She glances around at the rest of the group. "Then again, I'm guessing anyone who saw anything suspicious last night is keeping their mouth shut so they don't get a hit put out for 'em. Can't argue with that logic."

 

[Namohysip]

Hecto's ear twitched again, then, just slightly, they folded back. His eyes dimmed. "Mrm. Perhaps you have a point as well," he admitted to Starr, though he still awaited Loki's opinion. "Still, unless we want to leave it to the winds, we will have to decide what to do." It seemed that Hecto's neutral nature made it very difficult for him to take the first step toward that, however, and he remained stationary, watching for any action in one direction or the other.

(I have no idea how to make Hecto acknowledge Negrek's statement otherwise, but so far, I guess we need to start making votes.)

 

[NonAnalogue]

Mel closed her eyes and tried to think through the conversation that had happened up to that point. It hadn't been smooth sailing by a long shot, but on the whole, most of the people there had seemed pretty amenable to figuring out the situation, except...

"I think I've got it," Mel said with a start, her eyes flying open. "So far, there've been a few people who haven't really tried to help. We haven't heard from either of those two at all yet," she continued, gesturing to Infinite and Mia in sequence, "and that's kinda weird, but there's someone who's been chiming in and being totally unhelpful every time. The first time, it was to cast the blame on the legendary Pokemon using logic that we're not even sure holds, and the second time it was to misunderstand the entire point that we were making to try and keep us from doing anything."

"You've got this," Repeat muttered.

Mel cleared her throat. "I vote for Dave."

 

[NonAnalogue]

((Also it just occurred to me that Dave never actually introduced himself, but 'I vote for that guy' isn't as dramatic.))

 

[DeliriousAbsol]

Infinite kicked himself back from the wall, almost knocking the sobble off his shoulder, and moved into the room. Pausing only to stop Ess from picking his nose.

"Cut that out. You'll remove your brains."

Then he leant against Karo and pulled a jar of peanut butter seemingly out of thin air and removed one of his gloves.

"Okay, I don't know what any of you are - except for the humans given they exist in my old world - but eh. All of you animals can talk, unlike Fish here." He stuffed a gravy bone in his peanut butter and offered it to the sobble, who grimaced but took it out of politeness. "I also don't have a clue what a 'Digimon' is, but I can assure you I'm not one. The word makes my fur bristle. But I suppose if you're gonna go around pointing random fingers at random people, I should probably clear up that little accusation." He chuckles under his breath. "Such statements are a fantastic way to make enemies, so watch what you say."

He scooped out a handful of peanut butter and licked it off his fingers while everyone waited for him to elaborate (probably with some expressions of disgust or amusement).

"Okay. Well, like that little dinosaur there, I found myself in this world through a portal, following this little guy." He nodded to Fish. "Wondered what he was. However, I don't like this place. Some of you claim to have 'reality warping' powers. So do I. It's a lot of fun, actually. I can make theme parks a whole lot more exciting. But this place seems to put some kind of dampener on it. You see, usually I can tell what someone's heart's desire is just by touching them. But sadly, I can't do that here. Sadly. Because, let's face it, we'd get to the bottom of this a LOT faster. However, some people do show some pretty undesirable traits."

He lowers his sticky hand to leer at Dave

 

[DeliriousAbsol]

((I'd just like to clarify Infinite can still warp reality. He just can't read what someone's motives are so easily, given in this scenario that's too OP. So I nerfed him.))

 

[Dragonfree]

((Did not manage to post last night because I was scrambling to make a last-minute Patreon, will be able to post sometime tonight, sorry for the lack of participation guys))

 

[Virgil134]

((It's alright, it happens. Will still respond to it in character though.))

Cabot waited for Dave to respond… only for the man to stay silent, prompting the Cranidos to give him a puzzled look. Did Dave really need that long to think of an answer? Surely it wouldn't take too long for him to think of how to introduce himself and explain how he got here… Was he hiding something and trying to think of a lie? Or… did he maybe lose someone as well, and simply didn't want to talk about how he ended up here?

The Cranidos considered speaking up and repeating his question to Dave, when Hecto caught his attention. Although it seemed Starr had changed Hecto's mind about voting for someone at random, it was hard to say for sure given his neutral, unmoving expression. The Cranidos shook his head, before deciding to reply to him.

"Well… I still think we shouldn't lock up anyone. Like me and Starr said, we'd probably just be helping the Mafia if we randomly imprisoned someone. I get that we might be able to learn more and find a pattern if we all voted to jail someone, but we don't know that for sure."

Cabot glanced at Dave, who was still silent. Mel and Infinite definitely seemed convinced he was guilty.

"I know a few people here are acting a little strange, but it doesn’t mean we can say for sure they're members of the Mafia. I mean, wouldn't the Mafia members want to appear as normal as possible anyway? So maybe it's better to leave things be for today and try again tomorrow."