[Town victory] Vanilla Mafia!

[HelloYellow17]

Wes shot a glare at the odd helmet-wearing Pokémon. “You’re a doctor. And yet you just sat back and let our most valuable team member die last night? Yeah, to hell with that. I want you gone.”

He spat the last word with venomous anger. Ebony hadn’t deserved to die. Neither had Salem, or Hana, or Steven, or any of the other innocents. Hell, even that snarky little gremlin hadn’t deserved this. It was time to make all the scum pay for what they’d done.

[[I was gonna wait for more thoughts on the matter but screw it, Phan is 100% the mafia doc.

Vote: Hazel]]

 

[Homestar!]

Wes shot a glare at the odd helmet-wearing Pokémon. “You’re a doctor. And yet you just sat back and let our most valuable team member die last night? Yeah, to hell with that. I want you gone.”

He spat the last word with venomous anger. Ebony hadn’t deserved to die. Neither had Salem, or Hana, or Steven, or any of the other innocents. Hell, even that snarky little gremlin hadn’t deserved this. It was time to make all the scum pay for what they’d done.

[[I was gonna wait for more thoughts on the matter but screw it, Phan is 100% the mafia doc.

Vote: Hazel]]

[[*squints at read list*

If we have mother fucking Tragic Lovers I am gonna scream.]]

 

[Fusion]

[[I do believe Namo said we won't have any convoluted win conditions like Tragic Lovers so we should be good

That is, if tragic lovers mean one mafia one town]]

 

[HelloYellow17]

[[I do believe Namo said we won't have any convoluted win conditions like Tragic Lovers so we should be good

That is, if tragic lovers mean one mafia one town]]

[[Correct. Other than SK, there are no other alternate win conditions.]]

 

[HelloYellow17]

[[I suppose there’s still the possibility that the lovers could still be mafia lovers, but if that’s the case I’ll eat my socks. Four mafia and making half of them lovers?? Seems way too unfair for scumteam.]]

 

[Homestar!]

[[I do believe Namo said we won't have any convoluted win conditions like Tragic Lovers so we should be good

That is, if tragic lovers mean one mafia one town]]

"Then we have a predicament.

"Either Espy and Phan are both scum and nonsensically attacking one another,

"Or we have severely underestimated Wes."

 

[Fusion]

"Then we have a predicament.

"Either Espy and Phan are both scum and nonsensically attacking one another,

"Or we have severely underestimated Wes."

Reme rubbed her arms, looking to the side. "I... don't like to give that option much thought. But I'll be honest, it never left my mind..."

She shook her head. "But if Wes was Mafia then he willingly shot himself in the foot this entire time, and I don't believe anyone would risk that... even if the result was almost everyone listening to what he says..." It would have been a long-con, that paid out in full, but... Reme did not want to believe it was true for a second.

"I'd sooner believe that Clovis and Pixie are Mafia Lovers over Wes being Vanilla Mafia."

 

[HelloYellow17]

"Or we have severely underestimated Wes."

Wes raised an eyebrow, but when he realized Mike was actually being serious he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Look, I’m flattered that you think I’m skilled enough to be some undercover threat. Really. But I’m not that good, and hey, if you can’t take my word for it, at least trust Ebony’s word for it. She trusted me, and her judgement was solid.” He made an effort to mask the pain at the fact he was now referring to the Houndoom in past tense.

“And besides, even if I were scum, that would still leave one of the other two as a teammate—and if you recall, I haven’t hesitated to cast suspicion on either one of them.”

 

[Homestar!]

Wes raised an eyebrow, but when he realized Mike was actually being serious he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Look, I’m flattered that you think I’m skilled enough to be some undercover threat. Really. But I’m not that good, and hey, if you can’t take my word for it, at least trust Ebony’s word for it. She trusted me, and her judgement was solid.” He made an effort to mask the pain at the fact he was now referring to the Houndoom in past tense.

“And besides, even if I were scum, that would still leave one of the other two as a teammate—and if you recall, I haven’t hesitated to cast suspicion on either one of them.”

Mike sized Wes up. He chewed on his cheeks. He heaved a sigh.

"Scenario one," he finally began, "sees the Sylveon as being truthful. They have pointed out the Mafia doctor, who you do not hesitate to jump on. The Sylveon is good, every other player is spoken for, and you are the only bad one left."

Mike took a couple of paces. "Scenario two, the Sylveon is making a boldfaced lie. Painting their target in such a poor light, and banking on their outburst from yesterday to damn them. The Sylveon is bad, every other player is spoken for, and you're the only bad one left."

Mike completed a little triangle, slogging through the marshy ground.

"Scenario three shows us two bickering Mafia, both pointing at the other in a bleak and misguided attempt to garner trust. It's the only scenario that clears you, and it's the one that makes the least sense to me."

"Unless, of course," Mike rolled his eyes, "Mafia Lovers."

[[UNVOTE. Gonna need to really think on this, and currently trying to watch a movie. Not the most conducive thinky environment.]]

 

[Homestar!]

Reme rubbed her arms, looking to the side. "I... don't like to give that option much thought. But I'll be honest, it never left my mind..."

She shook her head. "But if Wes was Mafia then he willingly shot himself in the foot this entire time, and I don't believe anyone would risk that... even if the result was almost everyone listening to what he says..." It would have been a long-con, that paid out in full, but... Reme did not want to believe it was true for a second.

"I'd sooner believe that Clovis and Pixie are Mafia Lovers over Wes being Vanilla Mafia."

"Shot himself in the foot?" Mike made a little face, "when do you mean?"

 

[Fusion]

"By helping us get rid of Jean, and also by voting for Porygon all that time ago," Reme said, calmly. "Simply put, him playing the game how he mostly has been, being trying to out the Mafia, would be him shooting himself in the foot."

"Even when he casted suspicion on the wrong people, it didn't last long, and he didn't seem to try and throw suspicion on anyone for no reason." Aside from when he did...

What did Reme mean again, she thought? Wes honestly shot himself in the foot no matter his alignment.

 

[Homestar!]

"By helping us get rid of Jean, and also by voting for Porygon all that time ago," Reme said, calmly. "Simply put, him playing the game how he mostly has been, being trying to out the Mafia, would be him shooting himself in the foot."

"Even when he casted suspicion on the wrong people, it didn't last long, and he didn't seem to try and throw suspicion on anyone for no reason." Aside from when he did...

What did Reme mean again, she thought? Wes honestly shot himself in the foot no matter his alignment.

"The Mafia was in a bad position with Jean," Mike frowned, "though lemme see what I can come up with for the Porygon Predicament."

And with that, Mike T-Posed, and fell ass-backwards into the muck.

[[Seriously movie night ttyl]]

 

[Sinderella]

[[I’m pretty damn convinced Espy and Phan are the final mafia now. Wasn’t quite sure of Phan just yet but the whole doctor thing kinda pushed me over the edge. Why not protect Ebony?

I was gonna keep my vote on Espy, but fuck, if Phan really is doctor for mafia and we vote Espy, they might protect Espy.

Feelsbadmanclap, UNVOTE ESPY, VOTE HAZEL.]]

 

[Homestar!]

[[I’m pretty damn convinced Espy and Phan are the final mafia now. Wasn’t quite sure of Phan just yet but the whole doctor thing kinda pushed me over the edge. Why not protect Ebony?

I was gonna keep my vote on Espy, but fuck, if Phan really is doctor for mafia and we vote Espy, they might protect Espy.

Feelsbadmanclap, UNVOTE ESPY, VOTE HAZEL.]]

[[Not how doc works! Only protects kills, not vote-outs!]]

 

[Homestar!]

[[Tbh I am now erring towards an Espy and Wes mafia. Claiming that Phan is doc seems like a guilt play, and a counter to the "where's the beef power" story of Phan. And there hasn't been much in Phan's play (except yesterday) that paints them super-sus.]]

 

[Homestar!]

[[Sorry I am all the fuck over the place. Can explain all angles later.]]

 

[Fusion]

Reme shook her head, sighing. "All this uncertainty is going to give me grey hairs before long..."

 

[HelloYellow17]

[[Tbh I am now erring towards an Espy and Wes mafia. Claiming that Phan is doc seems like a guilt play, and a counter to the "where's the beef power" story of Phan. And there hasn't been much in Phan's play (except yesterday) that paints them super-sus.]]

[[…guys. Please. We are so close to winning this game. I know I’ve made some idiotic calls this game, but in the end Chibi trusted my judgement and we all trusted them, right? Plus, I don’t think I need to remind you, Homestar, of all the times you tunneled on people only for them to flip innocent in the end (Hana, Kent, Ebony, etc.)

And yeah, my logic was clearly flawed back in D2 and D3, but I at least had a train of thought that I followed and it wasn’t like I was throwing sus without some sort of argument behind it. It turned out to be wrong, yes. But I swear to y’all I am not the enemy here and we’ve been on the right track so far. Again, read Ebony’s notes at the end of the previous day.]]

 

[Homestar!]

[[Alright we're gonna, like, free associate up a NEW READ LIST. With a twist! All possible two-person combos, and what I think about them!

Spoiler: Saved for posterity; I abandoned this; Time to pivot!

First: Let's sweep some players off the table: Myself, Fusion, and The Lovers

Spoiler: "Why not The Lovers?"

If the lovers are mafia, they are both the mafia. We can come revisit this later.

The Remaining Suspects: Espy, Wes, and Phan

Espy sus cuz triple rolecop, absentee
Espy nus cuz it could have been a lot of newbie mistakes

Phan sus cuz EoD outburst
Phan nus cuz strong town play throughout, tbh.

Wes sus cuz strange early-game reads, late-game impossibilities, and a Phan vote when it was clear most were voting Espy (idiots notwithstanding)
Wes nus cuz that D1 Porygon out-of-the-ass vote, doubling down on it, general agreement that they are very townie


Espy/Phan Mafia: Based on today, it seems... perplexing for this combo to happen. Espy admitted to a bunch of honestly ridiculous choices as our "third role cop," and the absolute Mikeposting required to point the finger at Phan in this scenario is just... No, I don't believe this is correct. Then again: if Phan is our doc, why didn't they protect--- Ah wait they're protecting our lovers, I guess? Or maybe doing the semi-random thing because they can't cover all the bases?

Phan/Wes Mafia: This is an interesting combination. We saw yesterday that Phan went off at Wes, because they have really been flying under the collective radar. I'm not opposed to writing this combination off, except for one crucial detail: Wes came out swinging for Phan today. Now, either they're working together in one collective ruse, or...

Espy/Wes Mafia: This is my personal bet. No wait it isn't. Maybe? No. Fuck.

Nothing in Wes' play, especially D1, is indicative of them being anything but town. But how on fucking earth can both Espy and Phan be Mafia and playing so strangely???

]]

Mike rose from the mud, shook himself off, and flicked the dirt from his hands.

"Okay, I think I've sorted it all out," Mike spoke. "Or, at least, as much as I can tolerate in one of those sessions."

"Gotta nab the Sylveon today," he decided. "I don't personally see an end-game Mafia where they aren't in it."

 

[Homestar!]

[[…guys. Please. We are so close to winning this game. I know I’ve made some idiotic calls this game, but in the end Chibi trusted my judgement and we all trusted them, right? Plus, I don’t think I need to remind you, Homestar, of all the times you tunneled on people only for them to flip innocent in the end (Hana, Kent, Ebony, etc.)

[[Yeah see my latest. I don't see an endgame where you're in the Mafia. It's just baffling to see them, like... turn against each other???]]