The White Elephant in the Room Playground

[Namohysip]

"So I..." she said after that brief silence. "So I made up a bunch of them, hoping that it'd hide which one was the real power. And hoped that the smart ones..." She gestured to Palkia. "would be able to guide me without me giving away what I can do. Or--or maybe I'm making it all... oh, forget it." She slumped on the chair. "I'm useless without my real powers... I'm not smart. I'm not clever. I just like to have fun and party. But I can't even destroy stuff when that dumb beep-boop over there can." She gestured to the ramming device. "So now what good am I?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Darkwhite looked flustered, her hazy body crackling. "Because... because... because...!" And finally, the clouds faded, and she looked at least slightly normal, aside from the eyes, the tail, and the color. "Because I didn't know what to do with my power and I was scared I'd use it wrong."

Palkia tilted its head, eyes flashing with intrigue. "I'd been wondering if your gift was one that might be just as dangerous for us as it might be for our enemies."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse sighed. "I can think of several fuckin' configurations of Naughty and Nice that would explain the different takes flyin' about just off the top of my head. The way I see it, though, Lee is probably trustworthy, and I doubt he's fundamentally misunderstood his own power, which means Palkia and Darkwhite are probably trustworthy."

He scrutinised the scyther-morph with a look. "I'd like to know what kinda power you were gifted with and how you intend to use it. So far all we've heard from you is how you don't like the shape of Lee's evidence. Which is the only info we have. Even if Darkwhite is lyin', that doesn't actually suggest her motivations are malign. Her gift could be a double edged sword."

He gestured at several other guests in turn. "In fact, we got damn near nothin' of substance from anyone yet. How about that, huh? Lee, the legendaries and I are tryin' to solve this fuckin' thing, and meanwhile half the party have said fuck-all about their powers and how they might be of use. Hey! Beldum! What was yer gift, huh? You wanna weigh in on the fuckin' murder investigation, or are ya just gonna smash shit?"

 

[Namohysip]

Darkwhite rose up, shaking her head. "Whatever. I still need to prove that I'm innocent, so... Palkia. I challenge you to Never Have I Ever!"

 

[Dragonfree]

"However," Lee pointed a claw to Mia. "Being skeptical is fine, but this is also our only lead. Sowing doubt in the one possible lead we have is both a bad idea for the innocents, unless they know something they aren't telling us, or a good play for the murderers. Right now you are the only one I will have my eye on. Whether I am right or wrong, we shall see."

Nobody here made any sense. Mia wished Dave was there. "It isn't a lead when it's based on false premises. It's good to say something is wrong when it's wrong."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Abigail shrugged. "Listen, I'd like to get rid of someone malicious, but... we can't just take shots in the dark. The info I have I have is nothing, and we'll only shoot ourselves in the foot by acting out of step. Let's not."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Abigail paused. "Well, it's not that I know absolutely nothing. I got to see the Vaporeon's memories, but I can't justify any accusations based on what was in there."

 

[Persephone]

[Correction: Self is Unit001_101110110. Title:Beep-Boop is Incorrect;
Acknowledgment: Unit001_101110110 Is Adept at Ramming]

 

[Fusion]

Nobody here made any sense. Mia wished Dave was there. "It isn't a lead when it's based on false premises. It's good to say something is wrong when it's wrong."

"As I said, we will see how right or wrong I am. Until then, we should listen to Abigail and not vote one of us off while we still know next to nothing," Lee said, crossing his arms. "Lowering our numbers based off of guesswork and skepticism is a bad idea."

 

[Tanuki]

Night of the Third Day Begins

Counting time since Dec 24, 2020. Showing days, hours, minutes and seconds counting up

www.timeanddate.com

The Wii decided to forgo the hearts because everything was happening at once and it wanted to take a breather.
Darkwhite: Mia, Palkia,
Nickit: Jesse
Skip: Lee, Abigail

 

[Chibi Pika]

"I'd like to know what kinda power you were gifted with and how you intend to use it. So far all we've heard from you is how you don't like the shape of Lee's evidence. Which is the only info we have.

At this moment, Palkia vanished and then reappeared alongside the Delphox that had been its date not too long ago. "Now, for what it's worth I would like to say that I agree with the Scyther girl's reasoning." But then something else grabbed its attention and it vanished just as quickly as it arrived.

Darkwhite rose up, shaking her head. "Whatever. I still need to prove that I'm innocent, so... Palkia. I challenge you to Never Have I Ever!"

"Certainly! Let's begin~"

 

[Namohysip]

"Perfect," Darkwhite said, though she seemed more solemn. There was a glint of confidence in her eyes, and in an instant, she raised the controller...

She wondered if, maybe, she could be clever after all, working by this game's own rules and resources. This omniscient machine would do the proving for her. It knew about her escapades in Cibus, after all.

"Never have I ever..." She had to get it right. "...Been a Naughty Pokemon during this game. And, just so you know, I'm obviously a Pokemon." Or at least close enough that it counted, corruption be damned.

 

[Fusion]

Lee facepalmed. He would be damned if that actually worked. Feeling a headache coming on, he stepped back into the bar. "I'm getting something to drink..."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Never have I ever..." She had to get it right. "...Been a Naughty Pokemon during this game. And, just so you know, I'm obviously a Pokemon." Or at least close enough that it counted, corruption be damned.

Palkia grinned. "Well, that's easy! I've never been a Naughty Pokemon either! But I suspect the game might not let us clear ourselves so easily~"

 

[Namohysip]

"How?!" Darkwhite protested. "This thing knew about what I did in a whole other plane of reality! And it knew about that guy's daughter!"

 

[Tanuki]

"Perfect," Darkwhite said, though she seemed more solemn. There was a glint of confidence in her eyes, and in an instant, she raised the controller...

She wondered if, maybe, she could be clever after all, working by this game's own rules and resources. This omniscient machine would do the proving for her. It knew about her escapades in Cibus, after all.

"Never have I ever..." She had to get it right. "...Been a Naughty Pokemon during this game. And, just so you know, I'm obviously a Pokemon." Or at least close enough that it counted, corruption be damned.

The Wii screeched in objection. "How. DARE you accuse your date of being naughty?" it harrumphed. Two of Darkwhite's candles went out. "Despicable. That's not bonding, it's a courthouse! Marriage is for weddings, Vegas, and Elvis, NOT a court!"

 

[Namohysip]

Despite the fact that Darkwhite didn't point at him, it seemed clear that she was talking about Jesse.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse grumbled to himself for a moment before noting the course of the votes on his board.

"I reckon... hmm, if this vote fer Darkwhite goes through, her innocence would corroborate Lee's evidence, and therefore Palkia by extension, while her guilt would shed serious doubt on Lee, but not so much Palkia. Just a thought."

He drummed his digits on the board. "I don't like the idea of eliminatin' folks without hard evidence, but we'll just get picked off one by one if we don't put some pressure on. It's also our only way to test claims."

He glowered at Darkwhite. "Ya wanna start callin" me by my name, Ma'am? It's Jesse, if ya plain forgot."

 

[Dragonfree]

He scrutinised the scyther-morph with a look. "I'd like to know what kinda power you were gifted with and how you intend to use it. So far all we've heard from you is how you don't like the shape of Lee's evidence. Which is the only info we have. Even if Darkwhite is lyin', that doesn't actually suggest her motivations are malign. Her gift could be a double edged sword."

"His evidence doesn't mean anything unless Squirt knew who killed him," Mia said, yet again. Why did only Palkia get it? Palkia made sense. She liked Palkia.

"If I said what my gift was it'd become useless. So I'm not going to."

As for Darkwhite...

Mia was good at telling when people were lying. She could figure out with logic when something probably wasn't true, or she could see it in the way they acted. She thought Darkwhite was lying because of logic. But the way she was acting was more convincing. Maybe she was just a good liar. But the discrepancy was intriguing. Perhaps, with this information, she'd think back over the powers Darkwhite claimed to have.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Palkia chuckled at the look of outrage on Darkwhite's face. "Still, I'm impressed that you were willing to try such a bold move!" It had seemed that she genuinely believed it might work, which could only mean...