The White Elephant in the Room Playground

[Namohysip]

"Actually, yeah, that kinda makes sense," Darkwhite added. "You"--she pointed to Lee--"d'you know if it's ONLY yes and no, or can they also say don't know?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"Only yes or no, meaning I could only ask him yes or no questions," Lee answered, putting a bottle to his lips and letting his head fall back.

"He already said that it was only yes or no."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

I knew someone that basically has your same story.

"Oh yeah? How'd they end up?"

In this game people don't learn who killed them when they die.

Jesse perked an eyebrow. "Oh, you're familiar with our circumstance, are you? Been in a similar situation? How confident are you that Squirt wouldn't know? You got a better line of inquiry?"

 

[Fusion]

"d'you know if it's ONLY yes and no, or can they also say don't know?"

Lee thought it over for a moment. "I'm fairly positive that he can only answer yes or no, but I don't feel like I should risk asking a question he wouldn't know to test it out. Like I said, no one told me how the door works, I just... know."

"Oh yeah? How'd they end up?"

Silence fell over Lee. "I guess... I should say there were some distinct differences before I say what happened." Lee took a long, long drink from his bottle. "M-He was, is..." he bit his lip. "You are far better off than he is. I don't believe you're going to meet the same fate as him."

Jesse perked an eyebrow. "Oh, you're familiar with our circumstance, are you? Been in a similar situation? How confident are you that Squirt wouldn't know? You got a better line of inquiry?"

"I'd also like to know why you're so sure," Lee nodded, quietly suspicious of Mia's very adamant stance that he might be wrong. "Having someone with experience in this is a huge help."

 

[Dragonfree]

Jesse perked an eyebrow. "Oh, you're familiar with our circumstance, are you? Been in a similar situation? How confident are you that Squirt wouldn't know? You got a better line of inquiry?"

"I haven't. But I remember Dave telling me about this game after he was in it. It's not a real memory but it must have been put there by the gamemakers, to explain how it works." Did this mean the Delphox wasn't responsible for the memory modification? "He had almost the same ability, to talk to somebody dead in the night. But when he did it, they could answer that they didn't know. Maybe Squirt could have found out, but normally you don't know.

"You should ask if he knows who killed him. Otherwise asking him about the killer is pointless. Or you could ask him about something that he would know. Can you ask anyone who's died, or only Squirt?"

 

[Fusion]

"You should ask if he knows who killed him. Otherwise asking him about the killer is pointless. Or you could ask him about something that he would know. Can you ask anyone who's died, or only Squirt?"

"I should be able to ask anyone, yes," Lee nodded. He finished more bottles than he realized, his body got all fuzzy for a second. "Yeah, I can. I was going to ask Mewtwo a question tonight, actually."

"I don't know know if asking either of them if they knew who killed them would be all that productive, other than confirming we can trust them," Lee said, then shrugged. "Frankly, I wish I asked him that first, thinking back on it."

 

[Tanuki]

What to do, what to do? They barely had any leads! And if that person was right, there could be multiple people orchestrating this!

"We still barely even know each other," Gen lamented. I don't even know many people's names...

“What. A. Wonderful point!” Shouted the Wii. Without anyone’s touch, it shot to life and brought up Gen’s face, bashful and surrounded by hearts. “Who would love to meet this handsome young bachelor? This friend is certainly looking for more than benefits!”

 

[Tanuki]

Where the “vaporeon” Blue once stood, now was a ralts. No one would even see the change unless they made a habit of staring at Blue. Abigail stood in Blue’s place as if she’d always been there. Was it her third day here, too?

 

[Namohysip]

"I remember spontaneously transforming," Darkwhite said with a fond sigh. "I like this new look, but I do miss scales."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Abigail looked around. There seemed to be a green bar obscuring the top of her field of view.

She seemed to be missing her human hands... and was generally just Ralts-ier. What had happened to her?

"Where am I? What happened to me? Why is this Wii asking me if I want to meet a handsome young bachelor?"

Suddenly, she was hit by a wave of memories belonging to someone... not herself. Was this a psychic's sense? The vaporeon didn't seem to be in the room... and... the memories ended with him in exactly the place she was standing. She noticed she had the... the item he had with him tied to her leg with a cutesy holiday bow. The vaporeon had decided not to reveal it, so she would do the same for now. Her odd, fleshy skirt would conceal it for now.

 

[Namohysip]

Darkwhite didn't look too interested in that strange game, so she drifted away and looked toward the others. "Ssssaaaaayyyy..." She twirled with her words. "So, I've been wondering... let's say, hypothetically, I did have a power... but maybe I don't wanna reveal it all too soon... buuuut I still wanna know if people need advice on it? Maybe I'll list out a bunch of powers and never say which one it is! Besides, it might apply to a bunch of other people who can use the advice, too!" She giggled. "So how about it? Want to give me advice on hypothetical powers where only one is real?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Palkia clapped its hands together. "Sounds like fun! Let's hear it~"

 

[Namohysip]

"Okay okay okay okay okay." Darkwhite sank into the couch. "So here's my six possible powers. Or seven, or eight, I dunno, I never played this kind of game before! I'm probably gonna try to do another when this is over or something. Okay so. How should I use my power and stuff if I have these ones? Okay so. Okay."

Apparently Darkwhite reveled in this.

"One: I can heal Aaaaanybody I want at night, or aaaaanybody I want during the day, if they get voted out... but! I have to do it before. So like, when I'm planning to heal someone at daytime, I gotta pick someone last night. So I guess that's because if the guy I like is gonna go away by vote, I can't just whip out my power and do the thing! Because then, I dunno, maybe it's allergic to the sun. What should I do, huh? Normal healing stuff?"

"Okay, two! It's not really a power, except it's a power of someone else's power! If I think someone is gonna die who has a really good power, I use my thing during the day or the night and BOOM! Power's mine for the next dude who yarfs! Little grabby gifty hands!" She pointed at Jesse. "Should I wait until he dies so I can take his stuff?"

"Three three three! Okay okay okay so. So what if I have a thingy that I activate, but I gotta do it at night or the day, right? And I can only do one or the other, so like, if I do it today I can't do it tonight, and stuff. But! But it's dumb on its own, I gotta do it with someone else with the same gift, or like, a different but the same kind of gift! And if we both light it at the same time..." She crouched down and whispered fiercely, "We get to see a Nice person."

"Four!" She hurled a baseball at the ceiling. "This one only happens on, let's say, the fifth night! And on that night I EXPLODE! Or something. And then I'm dead." She winked, sticking out her tongue with a devilish grin. "But if I make it all the way there, I get to take someone with me, huhuhu... Either overriding a vote during the day, or just grabbing someone at night. I dunno what happens if someone stops my powers, though... Oh!"

"Fiiiiiive! My power's to stop ALL other powers! I think. But only sometimes. It's like, I get to just GRAB the sun and YANK it here at night, and say hello morning! Or I can stop the sun and make it stay for longer! Go away, night! But like, only on some of the days, and stuff. So obviously if I have this one, I didn't use it yet, or I didn't have the right night to do it! But I'd probably use it to make the night shorter because I hate sleep!"

"And six! This one's my favorite one that I made up! This is the one where if I die, and the other guy who has the same thing I do dies, I win! And you all lose! Except if one of us dies, then you guys, like, find out two people who aren't the other guy, and stuff, so you don't totally lose by luck. So that means I win or I lose and then win! I get to party all I want!"

"Seven's fun too! This one's super dangerous. If I activate it, all the votes that went to me will go right back to you! Cuz I'm rubber you're glue! But at night, if I activate it, the first person to interact with me... DIES." She wiggled her claws menacingly. "...Unless they're a doctor or something, of course." She smiled sweetly. "I like doctors. And nurses. I'd love a check-up..." She winked at nobody in particular.

Darkwhite sighed, floating up. "And finally, eighth power. So with this one, if I die, I make a HUUUUGE spotlight, okay? Like so huge that you see it from your rooms and stuff, like I used Flash on everyone! And when that happens, you get to see everyone who was at my place that night, and it's, like, super-duper known! No avoiding it silently or being invisible, you're gonna be caught! Do I make myself a target or do I wait until later? Oh, and during the day, if I die, it'll call the first Nice person who voted to get me out. And they'll have my sad face on their forehead FOREVER! For killing innocent little me! Oh, but all Naughty people who pointed at me first won't get the face. Because they wouldn't care."

"Okay, ninth power," Darkwhite said, forgetting that she had said 'finally' just before. Or perhaps she didn't. "I'm a mad doctor! I can't control myself! At night, I get to heal someone, but if I heal them a second time EVER, they're dead! Because I just couldn't resist seeing how they ticked! And during the day, I can do the same thing, super secret, like if I wanna mark them for a checkup tonight... A checkup forever..." She giggled madly. "I'm gonna keep their toes."

"And I guess tenth power, I don't have anything and I made this all up." She burped out a single, black-white bubble of energy.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse kept up an even stare at Darkwhite as she reeled off hypothetical powers. Honestly, this was a decent way to collaborate with the group while restricting information flow to the killer and their supposed accomplices. He was... disturbingly... impressed. He just had to not get caught up providing too much info to the killer in his reply.

"Alright, Darkwhite, I can see yer strategy. Lemme humour ya. Although seein' as this is my first time in a situation like this I'm largely goin' off conjecture about what strategies might be of use."

He stroked his cheek in thought.

"As much as I'd love the peace of mind from havin' someone's protection on me at night, my power won't help us as much as any power that provides information. So ye'd wanna use healin' powers on Lee, not me.

"On a similar note, my power ain't half as worth stealin' as Lee's, at least until there's a lot more information t'go on.

"Confirmin' the identity of an innocent person sounds like mighty valuable information, but if the reveal is public, then it might paint a target on their back. I can't tell whether that might be enough of a disincentive, and if the information is somethin' you can keep to yerself, then ye'd want to get doin' it sharpish.

"If'n you explode, then... I'm mighty sorry fer ya. I hope it don't come to that. But ye'd want to take out the most suspicious individual not already bein' targeted, I guess?

"Cuttin' a night such that the killer don't get an opportunity to kill is a fantastic boon, and if it's what ye've got, I hope it's one you can use early on, to provide the largest buffer possible in which to gain information. But more important than that is preventin' critical murders when we know fer certain a key and confirmed Nice guest is in danger.

"That supposition of yers about winnin' if ya die... I'll take ya at face value that it's a legitimate poossibility, wild as it may be. That's just a further disincentive to let ya die early on, I guess.

"That vote-deflectin' idea is another one along the same lines, I suppose. A disincentive to target you, however suspicious ya might be.

"I have a strong intuition that if yer power is in part to identify whoever murdered ya at night, there'd be other powers that permit activity at night. Which, weirdly enough, disincentivises folks with such powers from seein' ya, to alleviate suspicion. I'm pretty sceptical that votin' you out to confirm a Nice identity will ever be a strong play, and I hate to humour such a callous strategy, but it's an option, I guess.

"Not sure what yer wordin' precisely implies if you are a... a 'mad doctor', hmph. Would that healin' be random? Or could ya kill on purpose? That could be a liability, my word...

"And lastly, all these powers sure sound a mite bit more interestin' than mine, and mine ain't among them, so that at least means Darkwhite's not got hold of a list of all powers in play. Probably."

 

[Namohysip]

that at least means Darkwhite's not got hold of a list of all powers in play. Probably.

Darkwhite's eyes glinted. "Would be funny if I did and that's my power," she said. "Knowledge. Just like that dumb Charmander back at where I'm having my real party."

 

[IFBench]

Gen yelped as the Wii activated, and his face appeared on screen.

"U-u-uh..." he stammered, unsure what to do.

 

[Tanuki]

I want to meet a handsome young bachelor

“Of course you do!” the Wii declared. “A familiar face to be sure, but a face nonetheless! What better opportunity to get closer to a close, longtime friend than a romantic dinner in the morning!”

Abigail’s face opposed Gen’s on the screen, the two gazing at each other longingly. “Let’s see how well this loving couple really know each other!” A simple patio overlooked a serene shoreline, a sight beautiful to behold, yet the models on screen were far more interested in each other’s eyes.

A candelabra with three lit candles appeared on each of their plates. “Love’s all about lies, isn’t it? No truer love than the lie it’s everlasting, wouldn’t you say?” It let the question hang in the air, but not long enough for anyone to answer. “We’ll see how good a couple you are by how well you two can lie to each other. Two Truths and a Lie! A classic! The name’s the game! Who wants to go first?”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I-I don't think I've ever met him at all. I-"

Abigail decided the machine probably didn't care about her objections.

"Fine, whatever. I'll go first."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse's face screwed up in puzzlement and he yanked at his cheek tufts before turning back to the chalkboard and replacing 'Blue' with 'Abigail'. That ralts had been a vaporeon a second ago, he was fucking sure of it.

"Fuckin' hallucination," he muttered. "'S a fuckin' bullshit nonsense fuckin' hallucinatory fuckin' thing. Augh."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Fuckin' hallucination," he muttered. "'S a fuckin' bullshit nonsense fuckin' hallucinatory fuckin' thing. Augh."

"Maybe this entire place is a hallucination. Maybe I'll just wake up back in my human body, in my bed. Maybe you're just a hallucination... Thought that begs the question of why my subconscious would have a Wii try to set me up with an Oshawott dude..."