[TOWN WINS] Third Anniversary Fanfic Mafia - Game Thread

[Inkedust]

"Aye, now that we've gotten our friendly reunions outta the way, perhaps we should begin to focus on...I dunno, all of this." He sat up on his hind paws and gestured to the entire void around them. "It's far from my first time - I've even played a game in this very void - so I know that our times are limited. As is our information currently," he grumbled.

 

[Sike Saner]

"Aye, now that we've gotten our friendly reunions outta the way, perhaps we should begin to focus on...I dunno, all of this." He sat up on his hind paws and gestured to the entire void around them. "It's far from my first time - I've even played a game in this very void - so I know that our times are limited. As is our information currently," he grumbled.

Karo let his purring, or what passed for it, fade out. "I'll say. Here's what we know so far, right: one, the inteleon disappeared. Two, there's mail service here, but uh, it kinda sucks since not everyone's getting it. And three, one of us could maybe use some anger management or something."

[[Right, so, to recap... such as there is anything to this early, lol:
1.) Qitlan's out and was innocent
2.) May claims to have gotten mail
3.) So does Archie

(Hopefully I didn't miss anything else potentially important, pfff.)

The possibility of multiple mailfolk is interesting. What if one of them's on our side and one isn't?]]

 

[Inkedust]

"Hrm." Altair considered the nosepass' words. "As I said, not much. Incomprehensible messages ain't gonna help us out much for the time being unless they're being concealed in some kind of code." He had a brief flash of a game he had no part in with some kind of mailman doing exactly that. Something he decided that he would question later.

"Don't see much use of there being one on the Mafia side though," he added, as if reading the nosspass' thoughts. "Aren't mailmen some form of communication for us innocents? The thing we don't have?" he asked.

 

[Sike Saner]

"Hrm." Altair considered the nosepass' words. "As I said, not much. Incomprehensible messages ain't gonna help us out much for the time being unless they're being concealed in some kind of code." He had a brief flash of a game he had no part in with some kind of mailman doing exactly that. Something he decided that he would question later.

"Don't see much use of there being one on the Mafia side though," he added, as if reading the nosspass' thoughts. "Aren't mailmen some form of communication for us innocents? The thing we don't have?" he asked.

"Well yeah, but like. What if they can send messages to us? Messages that are total bs. They could screw with our heads," Karo suggested.

More of that nonsense wasn't appealing. Bad enough he was already playing hide-and-seek with his own memories.

[[What the nose said, basically. I can see potential for misinforming town if the mafia has the ability to message us.

Granted, if the messages really are as vague/confusing as they're being made out to be, we might have a tough time interpreting them correctly regardless of their intent.

Also this is as close as Karo's ever going to get to saying "shit" lmao.]]

 

[NeoLurosa]

"Wait until I tell Roxanne that Nosepass know how to purr," Steven said to no one in particular. He rested his head against Karo, the cool surface a relief against his bruises. "Thank you, Karo. And you, too," he said to the Espeon in his lap. "Truly."

Did…did Nose-Rock just steal his thunder? His thunder? Neo couldn’t believe it. He thought about trying to one-up him somehow, but then decided to save that for later. He had plenty of time to prove to everyone that he was the best. And the cutest. And the smartest.

He turned his attention back to the man. Neo liked him. Silver hair aside, he was quite different from Wes—softer, more vulnerable—but he didn’t mind it. With a friendly chirp, he inserted his name into Silver-Man’s head.

The possibility of multiple mailfolk is interesting. What if one of them's on our side and one isn't?]]

Oh. Nose-Rock posed a good question. Since there appears to be two “mailmen” (whatever those were), it seemed possible that one would be a good guy and one would be a bad guy.

"Don't see much use of there being one on the Mafia side though," he added, as if reading the nosspass' thoughts. "Aren't mailmen some form of communication for us innocents? The thing we don't have?" he asked.

Neo blinked at the big spiky cat and sent a wave of telepathy his way. What if there was a bad guy mailman, and their goal was to mislead people?

Hm. He didn’t like that thought.

 

[Inkedust]

"We don't even know the contents of the messages," Altair thought briefly. "But I can see it happening if they're meant to be hiding some kind of message. If it's all nonsense, then I dunno what to tell ya."

 

[windskull]

Muse felt a pang of regret. Partially for the lost intelleon that she had failed to meet, and partially for her failure to intervene in the escallating fight.

But it's not my duty, she reminded herself.

Stepping forward, she spoke in a quiet, though firm voice. "We started with fifteen, but there are now fourteen of us. Common sense tells us that our enemies are few, but they have the advantage of knowledge." She paused, concentrating, and formed fifteen glass orbs out of the malleable ground. Then she shattered one. "With this many of us, if my dreams can be believed, I suspect there are somewhere around three and four of us that are working together to harm us. And perhaps one third party looking to harm. The fact that there was only one death tells us nothing. One shot could have been blocked, or perhaps our third party could not kill on the first night. Both are possibilities." Of the fourteen remaining orbs, nine turned green, while four turned red. One remained clear and colorless. "I would suggest operating off of a higher estimate, and hope that I'm wrong."

[[note, dreams are the flavor for why she understands how a game of Mafia works, nothing more]]

With one paw, she swept the red and clear orbs out of the way. "Based on what little we've been told thus far, there is at least one mailmon, maybe more. We could have one mailmon that delivers multiple messages, or two separate ones. One could be on our side, one could be on the other to throw us off.. Trick us. Or they could both be good. I can't see them both being bad. That would feel... weak."

Her attention turned to the two strange lanky simipour that had mentioned messages [[May and Archie]]. "From what little you were able to garner, do you suspect your message was sent in code? Or is it just the lack of context that makes it confusing?"

Her attention next turned to the... luxray. For a moment, her vision blurred. Strong and noble, he reminded Muse of her father...

But it's not him.

She took a deep breath and pushed her old feelings of grief away. "Like I said. There's a chance one of our carriers is looking to deceive us. Though... I wouldn't work under the assumption that one must be bad."

 

[Sinderella]

Dorien spent a lot of time putting together his "lodgings" for the time being. Losing the champagne glass gave him a clue that this void could be manipulated, and soon he was trying to put some semblance of a house together. Of course it had to be bigger than whatever caves the others had tried to put together--white void or not, he still had standards. By the time he got his oversized igloo looking lodging at least somewhat up to par he finally felt just drained enough to nap; a rare blessing indeed.

Only for it to be rudely interrupted by some yelling. And the sound of punches being exchanged. Among other things.

Grabbing Steven by the shoulder, Archie punched the man's face, throwing his full weight into the punch. Steven flew through the air and collapsed onto the ground. Not wasting any time, Archie leapt on top of him, throwing more punches.

"No Pokemon, huh? Who's the 'Champion' NOW, pretty boy?!"

A weight on his chest. More blows landing. He couldn't see properly. Up was down. Down was right. Stars danced in Steven's vision as the punches rained down. It was all he could do to try to curl in on himself, covering his face with his hands. It didn't occur to him to call for help, but as his arms ached and his cheek swelled and his head spun, a moment of clarity struck: This wasn't part of the game.

"Stop! Please!" he cried out, only to get another punch for his troubles. He didn't even know who or what had hit him, but whoever it was they were bigger, stronger, and they were mad.

If someone didn't help soon, well, he'd never seen this happen before... Could participants kill each other outside the rules of the game?

Steven's eye was swollen shut now. The white nothingness around them was starting to go dim....

Energy flooded Neo’s body from his paws to his tailtips. He bounded forward with a snarl and sent a blast of psychic energy at the burly man, flooding his brain with a Confusion attack.

He walked slowly out of the dwelling, but didn't need to go far to bear witness to the scuffle. He watched with low brows as the meathead jumped on the silver haired one that he'd briefly spoken to yesterday. Now that Dorien was looking at him with a clear head, he kind of reminded him of Clovis. The fucking jackass.

Then again, Clovis wasn't as much of a bitch as this one was. Dorien had seen Clovis handle petty bar fights like this like nothing, but this well-dressed guy was letting the meatstick go to town. Splattering blood on that nice suit; a shame. It wasn't until the Espeon got involved that things simmered down.

Really, it was far too much fucking noise for the start of the day.

"YARRR!!!"

And who the fuck did this big guy think he was? He was dressed like some cross between a stereotypical gang boss and a lowly coke dealer, but screamed like a pirate? Must be the coke, then...

Not that the guy's "suit" appeared particularly expensive looking; Dorien could practically see the light bouncing off the cheap polyester mix and that barber shop gacha machine silver chain...if it actually could be considered light in a white void.

"That boy and I have some beef. Doesn't have anything to do with what's going on here, and doesn't have anything to do with that mutant Kecleon disappearing. It's between us. If someone wants to finish that 'Champion' off, be my guest. But he had it a long time coming."

"The only beef I'm really seeing here is yours, uneven as it is," he chided. Seriously, this guy looked like he was all pecks and head and no legs. At least, from what Dorien could see behind those wide legged pants (which have been out of style for ages, but that was a different issue). So not coke, but maybe poorly targeted steroids? Is that how steroids worked? Dorien never bothered with a substance that inferior, so he wouldn't know.

"Tone down on that 'roid rage; I can't imagine this is the place for it."

Especially now that he was looking around, it was dawning on him that they appeared to be one person short. It was one of those witch hunt games after all.

"You, though," said Steven, fixing his assailant with a glare, still seated between Karo and his new Espeon friend. "I don't know what kind of 'beef' you think we have. I've never met you before in my life."

Figures; so this guy was so hopped up on something--whatever it might be--that he attacked the wrong guy?

"Heathens," Dorien scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Not that it was anything he hadn't seen before, especially with the people he hung around with and the substances he did with them, but it somehow hit different in the middle of absolute nothingness.

"I should probably add... I got a message, too. It... didn't really make any sense. But it looks like we've got some mailmen at work here."

She took a deep breath. "Anyway, I got a message last night. Guessing that's the mailman role we were told might be in the game. It wasn't very useful with no context, but just in case it means something we don't know about yet, I'm going to stay quiet on what it was for now."

At least some more level headed individuals were prepared to divulge some information; useful stuff at that. So, two people received messages? It seemed that the contents of said messages were questionable, but at least it confirmed the existence of certain couriers. That was a start.

What if one of them's on our side and one isn't?]]

[[Ooooooooooooooooo that's a very good observation; wouldn't be surprised if each side had one, but I also don't want to fully dig my heel into that idea just yet]]

 

[Chibi Pika]

Everyone was arguing, but all of it was dumb things, and maybe Jet wasn't sure what was important to argue about yet, but it sure wasn't this.

She'd taken a quick look at the guidebook she'd been given and then threw it away because it was boring. Also there was a weird voice in her head that kept trying to tell her how to play the game and it was also boring. She didn't need any help. She could win the game all by herself.

Okay, step one, beat up the bad guys. Except... she didn't know who they were yet. Hm.

Okay, real step one, find the bad guys and then beat them up. Yeah.

"Alright, one-a you guys made the tall lizardy guy disappear and I'm gonna find out who! So why don't you make it easier and just fess up already!" the Floatzel barked.

The voice in her head was saying that this wasn't a very effective way to find any bad guys but maybe the voice was dumb and wrong, maybe it should have considered that, huh?

 

[Virgil134]

Kichiro let out an annoyed groan and facepalmed upon seeing Archie punch and tackle Steven, only for the man to promptly get forced off of him by several Pokémon.

"Gods, what did I get myself into this time?"

He sighed loudly, before flitting up and clearing his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Look, if someone really did kill that Intereon, we should start by working together and find out who did," the Ledian said. "Instead of… that."

Kichiro pointed off at Archie and irkedly shook his head.

"I don't know about the lot of you, but I certainly don't feel like sitting around and waiting to get picked off whenever the lights go out," he insisted. "So let's start doing something about it. To begin with, has anyone seen or heard anything suspicious last night besides those strange messages?"

 

[Starlight Aurate]

"You, though," said Steven, fixing his assailant with a glare, still seated between Karo and his new Espeon friend. "I don't know what kind of 'beef' you think we have. I've never met you before in my life."

"Of course you don't," Archie laughed--and then winced as he gingerly felt his sore back muscles. "If you knew my face, I'd be doing poorly at my job. And this will be the last time you meet me. With you gone, the rest of Hoenn will be much easier to deal with."

"Aye, now that we've gotten our friendly reunions outta the way, perhaps we should begin to focus on...I dunno, all of this." He sat up on his hind paws and gestured to the entire void around them. "It's far from my first time - I've even played a game in this very void - so I know that our times are limited. As is our information currently," he grumbled.

"Okay, okay, hold up. HOW are all of these Pokemon talking? Where did you come from? You've played these games before? You want to explain what's going on? Or who you are? Or who any of these people and Pokemon are?"

Karo let his purring, or what passed for it, fade out. "I'll say. Here's what we know so far, right: one, the inteleon disappeared. Two, there's mail service here, but uh, it kinda sucks since not everyone's getting it. And three, one of us could maybe use some anger management or something."

[[Right, so, to recap... such as there is anything to this early, lol:
1.) Qitlan's out and was innocent
2.) May claims to have gotten mail
3.) So does Archie

(Hopefully I didn't miss anything else potentially important, pfff.)

The possibility of multiple mailfolk is interesting. What if one of them's on our side and one isn't?]]

Archie chuckled. "I don't need to manage my anger, bud. It's all under control. I embrace my fighting instincts."

[[Looks like Sike's recap is correct, at least as far as I can tell. I can see how communication between townies is definitely helpful, but not if the messages are nonsense ]]

"Well yeah, but like. What if they can send messages to us? Messages that are total bs. They could screw with our heads," Karo suggested.

More of that nonsense wasn't appealing. Bad enough he was already playing hide-and-seek with his own memories.

[[What the nose said, basically. I can see potential for misinforming town if the mafia has the ability to message us.

Granted, if the messages really are as vague/confusing as they're being made out to be, we might have a tough time interpreting them correctly regardless of their intent.

Also this is as close as Karo's ever going to get to saying "shit" lmao.]]

"Interesting..." Archie poised. ""So there might an innocent mailman, and a scum mailman? Well," he sighed as he shook his head. He looked at May. "I don't know about you, but whoever sent me my message... if there's some kind of code in it, they ciphered it too well. My message didn't look like instructions or real information of any kind. I think, whoever sent it was just letting everyone know that mailmen exist in this game, though they obviously don't want to reveal their identities."

Stepping forward, she spoke in a quiet, though firm voice. "We started with fifteen, but there are now fourteen of us. Common sense tells us that our enemies are few, but they have the advantage of knowledge." She paused, concentrating, and formed fifteen glass orbs out of the malleable ground. Then she shattered one. "With this many of us, if my dreams can be believed, I suspect there are somewhere around three and four of us that are working together to harm us. And perhaps one third party looking to harm. The fact that there was only one death tells us nothing. One shot could have been blocked, or perhaps our third party could not kill on the first night. Both are possibilities." Of the fourteen remaining orbs, nine turned green, while four turned red. One remained clear and colorless. "I would suggest operating off of a higher estimate, and hope that I'm wrong."

[[So you think 4 mafia, 1 third party, and 10 townies? Pls that means no lovers]]

With one paw, she swept the red and clear orbs out of the way. "Based on what little we've been told thus far, there is at least one mailmon, maybe more. We could have one mailmon that delivers multiple messages, or two separate ones. One could be on our side, one could be on the other to throw us off.. Trick us. Or they could both be good. I can't see them both being bad. That would feel... weak."

"Ah, the same person could have sent both messages, couldn't they?" Archie mused. "So we might not have mailmen, but just one person disseminating messages."

Her attention turned to the two strange lanky simipour that had mentioned messages [[May and Archie]]. "From what little you were able to garner, do you suspect your message was sent in code? Or is it just the lack of context that makes it confusing?"

"I don't think it was a code, just a nonsense phrase. My theory from before stands: I think someone innocent was just sending a message to let us know that a mailman--or mailmen--exists."

"The only beef I'm really seeing here is yours, uneven as it is," he chided. Seriously, this guy looked like he was all pecks and head and no legs. At least, from what Dorien could see behind those wide legged pants (which have been out of style for ages, but that was a different issue). So not coke, but maybe poorly targeted steroids? Is that how steroids worked? Dorien never bothered with a substance that inferior, so he wouldn't know.

"Tone down on that 'roid rage; I can't imagine this is the place for it."

"You don't even know, kid. If anyone's attitude is uneven, it's his." Archie pointed to Steven, sitting on the ground with a bloody nose, a few Pokemon snuggling up to him. "I'm fighting on behalf of ALL water Pokemon while he's apathetic about the destruction he causes. Like I said, my fighting isn't rage, it's enjoyment. You wanna have a go?"

"And don't look me up-and-down all judgmental-like! I have a wetsuit, but it's tight and uncomfortable to wear outside the water! And I don't want to wear my big chain except for fancy occasions."

"Heathens," Dorien scoffed.

"I'm glad you noticed!"

"Look, if someone really did kill that Intereon, we should start by working together and find out who did," the Ledian said. "Instead of… that."

Kichiro pointed off at Archie and irkedly shook his head.

"I don't know about the lot of you, but I certainly don't feel like sitting around and waiting to get picked off whenever the lights go out," he insisted. "So let's start doing something about it. To begin with, has anyone seen or heard anything suspicious last night besides those strange messages?"

"Hey, don't get too judgmental! You never know how much you enjoy the fight until you get to really embrace it. You've got four fists! Wanna put them to use? None of you would ever survive out at sea if you're not willing to stand up and fight for yourselves!"

[[My thoughts are pretty much summed up by Sike/Windskull. Looks like we've got two potential mailmen (or just one who can send multiple messages?) and so far, that's all we've got to go off of. Both Free and I claim our messages were not useful and had no context.]]

 

[IFBench]

"Okay, okay, hold up. HOW are all of these Pokemon talking? Where did you come from? You've played these games before? You want to explain what's going on? Or who you are? Or who any of these people and Pokemon are?"

"What do you mean, how are we talking?" Burhalla asked, tilting his head. "That doesn't make any sense...why wouldn't we be able to talk? And why are you talking like you're...not a Pokemon..."

Wait a minute.

"Are you a human?" the Charmander asked.

[[Don't have much to add. I agree with Sike, Windskull, and Starlight.]]

 

[Sinderella]

"Alright, one-a you guys made the tall lizardy guy disappear and I'm gonna find out who! So why don't you make it easier and just fess up already!" the Floatzel barked.

Again with this damn Floatzel and her loud mouth. Dorien grit his teeth and shot her a look.

“Yes, that’s very helpful,” he said, not bothering to mask the patronizing edge to his tone. “The bad guys will now throw themselves at your feet and surrender. Your tactics are flawless.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Seriously, did the mastermind of all this just decide to throw together the most obnoxious group of individuals? Was it so hard to locate more refined personalities in the multiverse?

“So, two messages received; two couriers. Or a single courier that can send two messages, perhaps. Did anybody else come to witness anything that they feel safe to share?" He asked. "I'll start off by saying that I was far too busy with my lodgings to do anything to that Inteleon."

"You don't even know, kid. If anyone's attitude is uneven, it's his." Archie pointed to Steven, sitting on the ground with a bloody nose, a few Pokemon snuggling up to him. "I'm fighting on behalf of ALL water Pokemon while he's apathetic about the destruction he causes. Like I said, my fighting isn't rage, it's enjoyment. You wanna have a go?"

"And don't look me up-and-down all judgmental-like! I have a wetsuit, but it's tight and uncomfortable to wear outside the water! And I don't want to wear my big chain except for fancy occasions."

Ah. Not a coke-head...possibly not a 'roid rager...but an angry environmental freak. The worst of them all.

"Did all the water Pokemon ask you to fight for them?" he cooed, as if he were talking to a baby. He stuck out his lower lip for added flair. With a roll of his eyes, he straightened his posture and shrugged off his coat, hanging it neatly on the lopsided hook he managed to form in the wall of his "home."

"Rest assured that I won't hesitate to hit you back if you decide it's in your best interest to come at me," he said darkly. "Unlike some people, I can form a decent fist with my hand, so watch yourself."

As for the outfit thing, well. Maybe a wetsuit would be a step up. "You call this a fancy occasion? Hardly. Nobody even bothered to set out any hors d'oeuvres. Some host," he scoffed.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

"Thank you, Neo. And Karo," Steven said, giving each of them another pat. "I think I'll be alright now."

Gingerly, Steven rose to his feet. He wobbled a bit, but held his feet, staring hard at his attacker.

"Of course you don't," Archie laughed--and then winced as he gingerly felt his sore back muscles. "If you knew my face, I'd be doing poorly at my job. And this will be the last time you meet me. With you gone, the rest of Hoenn will be much easier to deal with."

"I'm not sure how familiar you are with these games, but I'm not going anywhere regardless of what happens to me here. If anything, you've made sure I won't be forgetting your face any time soon. I look forward to meeting you again, back in Hoenn."

Steven turned away from the man, and made a mental note to keep an eye out for the "A" symbol emblazoned on his bandana. He was at least confident the man wouldn't try to jump him again; that boisterous Garchomp was still watching nearby.

"But, that's a problem for another time," he said, turning his attention back to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry, I'm still a bit out of it, but we're dealing with some kind of messages?"

He listened to the Absol explain, while a knot of worry formed in his gut. He'd been in games with messages before, and they never spelled anything good...

With one paw, she swept the red and clear orbs out of the way. "Based on what little we've been told thus far, there is at least one mailmon, maybe more. We could have one mailmon that delivers multiple messages, or two separate ones. One could be on our side, one could be on the other to throw us off.. Trick us. Or they could both be good. I can't see them both being bad. That would feel... weak."

Her attention turned to the two strange lanky simipour that had mentioned messages [[May and Archie]]. "From what little you were able to garner, do you suspect your message was sent in code? Or is it just the lack of context that makes it confusing?"

"Multiple messages from multiple senders? And they didn't make sense?" He was growing more concerned by the minute.

"None of them said anything about great deals did they?" Steven brought a hand to his chin in thought, wincing as he found another bruise there.

"We don't even know the contents of the messages," Altair thought briefly. "But I can see it happening if they're meant to be hiding some kind of message. If it's all nonsense, then I dunno what to tell ya."

"I don't want to ask anyone to reveal too much, but would there be any way to see if the messages are similar, or related? Could it be code broken into several pieces? Or is one message a cipher for the other?" He frowned.
"Or could they be interpreted as a warning, a way to mark a target?"

He could recall an instance of both of these types of messages in other games...

"I don't have anything other than speculation, though."

 

[Virgil134]

"Hey, don't get too judgmental! You never know how much you enjoy the fight until you get to really embrace it. You've got four fists! Wanna put them to use? None of you would ever survive out at sea if you're not willing to stand up and fight for yourselves!"

"Hmph, I'll be fine given that I've been a sailor for over ten years," Kichiro scoffed. "I didn't exactly stay afloat by acting like a moron and picking fights with anyone who looked at me funny! That sounds like a fast way to get sunk by a bigger crew."

 

[NeoLurosa]

The teleportation of matter by synthetic means. An innocuous sentence, but a grandoise goal. And yet it was over in a flash.

...Lurosa is dreaming...

When your body was teleported by a machine rather than by a psychic 'mon, did your soul come with it?

...Huh? Lurosa woke up!

Well. This was interesting.

"Good day, everyone. I am Espeon Lurosa, of Solos. This does not appear to be the destination I had in mind. Fascinating."

Lurosa scanned her memories... and found that along with her own memories were those of another. Those of another espeon, one named 'Neo'. The owner of the body she presently inhabited. Oh dear. She might be dead. Now that truly was fascinating. As was their present and shared circumstance...

"Ah. I see we are playing a game of Mafia. Excellent. I'm new to this, but the one called Neo whose body I am renting has played before and there is a Voice... No, two Voices in our head besides our own to guide us. How unexpected."

She blinked slowly, and scanned the participants. So, she and this 'Neo' boy counted as but one member of the Town, and they were down one ally already, of a total count of fifteen players. And – oh! How useful – they'd been supplied with a limited amount of information about the game's parameters. There were far more roles to roll than their were players to receive them. Which meant...

"I beg your pardon, but I'm not sure I'm ready to assuredly credit the idea that there are two 'mailman' players, just yet," she said, lightly. "With so many roles available, and given the nature of 'role madness', I would be a little surprised if there were duplicate roles in play, hm... It's possible, I grant, but there is another explanation for two messages – besides that one or both recipients might be untruthful! – namely, one message may have been sent by a Parrot. I note that this role is among the list of valid powers. I would caution against drawing firm conclusions with so little evidence available."

She smiled brightly. "In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you all. May the team composed of the best players, win!"

 

[Sike Saner]

"Good day, everyone. I am Espeon Lurosa, of Solos. This does not appear to be the destination I had in mind. Fascinating."

Lurosa scanned her memories... and found that along with her own memories were those of another. Those of another espeon, one named 'Neo'. The owner of the body she presently inhabited. Oh dear. She might be dead. Now that truly was fascinating. As was their present and shared circumstance...

"Ah. I see we are playing a game of Mafia. Excellent. I'm new to this, but the one called Neo whose body I am renting has played before and there is a Voice... No, two Voices in our head besides our own to guide us. How unexpected."

"So you're a double espeon? Huh. Neat." It was hardly the first time he'd dealt with body-sharers. Part of him idly wondered if one of those espeon would have to be surgically removed at some point lest one consume the other from the inside.

The mention of voices was interesting, meanwhile. Seemed he wasn't the only one with some sort of coach now whispering tips and tricks to him. Maybe everyone had one.

Now if only everyone could get mail. It sounded like said mail was basically just spam, but it could be good for a laugh, at least.

"I beg your pardon, but I'm not sure I'm ready to assuredly credit the idea that there are two 'mailman' players, just yet," she said, lightly. "With so many roles available, and given the nature of 'role madness', I would be a little surprised if there were duplicate roles in play, hm... It's possible, I grant, but there is another explanation for two messages – besides that one or both recipients might be untruthful! – namely, one message may have been sent by a Parrot. I note that this role is among the list of valid powers. I would caution against drawing firm conclusions with so little evidence available."

She smiled brightly. "In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you all. May the team composed of the best players, win!"

[[PARROTS, I forgot about parrots. That's actually a really plausible explanation. Of course, now I wonder if the messages sent are duplicates or if the parrot gets to come up with their own message.]]

 

[windskull]

Muse glanced at the Espeon, then the nose pass, before sitting down to scratch behind her horn. She closed her eyes in thought. When she stopped and opened her eyes again, she said, "You both raise excellent points. I can think of one way we can test this theory withiut revealing too much information."

Her gaze turned next to May and Archie. "You could each day the first few letters of the message you received. If they're the same, then they likely either came from the same person, or a parrot. I'd they're different... Well, we don't learn too much, but it could be valuable information. However..."

She closed her eyes again and let out a sigh. "One of you could be lying about receiving a message, though I doubt it at this time. Or you could lie about the contents. Then there's the question of whether we want confirmation of a parrot at this point at all."

She opened her eyes again. "What do the rest of you think? Is this even worth pursuing, or are we wasting our time on pointless nonsense?"

 

[NeoLurosa]

Neo jumped and yowled. A voice! A voice was in his head! No, not just his head, his whole body! He planted his paws and shook his whole body, trying to rid himself of the strange tingling sensation. What was this? What was happening?

He sat and rubbed his face vigorously with one paw, then began aggressively grooming himself as he gathered his thoughts. This other voice was…female, it seemed, and she didn’t seem to mean any harm. In fact, she had some very good observations, and was quick to catch on. Above all, she was a fellow Espeon, too.

Oh. That calmed him a bit. It was weird and uncomfortable, but if it was with another Espeon, he supposed he could put up with sharing his head for a little while…yes, that would work. They could work together and he could show her—Lurosa, was it?—just how smart he truly was. Yes! She was going to be so impressed!

Of course, now I wonder if the messages sent are duplicates or if the parrot gets to come up with their own message.]]

Neo wondered this, too. Though surely a parrot could form their own message, right? Maybe there was a way they could compare the two messages without giving them away completely, just to be sure if they were the same or not! Hahaha! He was so smart!

 

[NeoLurosa]

She closed her eyes again and let out a sigh. "One of you could be lying about receiving a message, though I doubt it at this time. Or you could lie about the contents. Then there's the question of whether we want confirmation of a parrot at this point at all."

Neo cocked his head to the side as he listened to the Slice-Cat. Maybe someone could be lying, but why would they? Wouldn’t that be risky for a bad guy to try? And why wouldn’t everyone want to know if there was a parrot around?