Let's Survive Zafehouse: Diaries!

Being meta all the time kind of does that to your complexion.

Yes, Maria acknowledges that this was all a painful amount of retconning that she just did, but Maria wasn't satisfied with the ending, so she changed it! But Maria feels that her retcons were at least properly foreshadowed.
For instance, the diary states that Maiko was lost, not necessarily killed, so I theorize that she got lost in the struggle, jumped out of the window in the bathroom, and was taken in by the mob, who felt sympathy towards the innocent, legless, little girl. Authorial intent may have been that Maiko was explicitly torn to shreds, but there's ambiguity in the language to prompt an alternative explanation, And that's the nature of magic, to hide in the shadows of the ambiguity of one's perception of reality.
And there are inherent problems with Nanako's death. Mainly, Maria questions the veracity of the diary entry. Who could've possibly written in that Nanako was killed? Ib is clearly shown not to have understood the concept of death, and Mary couldn't possibly have witnessed it from the factory she was in.
Maria proposes that the author of that entry was an observer who saw the events that transpired at a distance. We know nothing of this observer and whether he is objective or not; Ryukishi's variant of Knox's 9th: it is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions and interpretations be heard. That does not guarantee, you know, that this observer was correct in his observation.
Of course, I suppose that even if the author of that diary entry was Ib, can we trust her ability to confirm a death, considering she's mentally like nine?
Of course, these are all just blue truths; you could probably just shatter and bury them, dust to dust. And Maria thinks that some of the potential outcomes of this train of thought might be interesting.
The main thing that throws a wrench here is that Ib and Garry acknowledge Maria's living status, which shouldn't be possible if the authorial intent of the diary was to show Maria's death. So what does that mean for Ib and Garry...?
Here's a possibility: Everyone's dead except Mary. When Garry heard the truck, that's because Mary ran him over. And now everyone's reunited in the Golden Land afterlife. The Persona run will end with Yosuke finding Garry and Ib's graves. Or maybe just their bodies. Who knows~
Or maybe Garry and Ib did meet up, but they've succumbed to madness and are having a shared delusion of Maria. Or maybe this is Ib's desperate, Dying Dream. Or maybe Garry and Ib never did meet corporeally; Garry died of starvation looking for Ib, never realized it, and now their ghosts are meeting. Or maybe only Garry and Maria are dead but Ib can see ghosts for some reason.
...Though some of those would be unfair to the reader probably without proper foreshadowing. Might make for good Rule of Drama, though.
Of course, Maria prefers happy endings! Don't you?

Fuck me. I just realized I forgot to ask whether you want classic or road kill.

vayaviya Alko Boom JohnStargazer Dameceles Squishxd

I'm leaning towards classic since both of our newbies did Road Kill and we've just had two Road Kill rounds, so... then again, Alko Boom, John, and vayaviya have only played classic, I think? Eh, I'm eager to start this so I'll just go with whoever's online now wants.

Hee hee! I am free! I can do as I please! It's all so --
Huh? Was that Ib and... Garry?
...Why are they talking to one of my dolls?

So, Ozzo's answer is that... Ib and Garry are bonding by playing house with Mary's dolls. Truly this is the happiest ending.

Counter: Mary made it out of town and needs to scavenge for gas. She cannot possibly be witnessing the conversation that Ib and Garry had in the past few pages. She is succumbing to Hinamizawa Syndrome which was triggered from the stress she took back in Round 1.

I have no preference Ana on which mode.

Also, this is the best debate ever. Time for popcorn!

Counter: It is not specified when and where exactly Garry's and Ib's conversation is taking place. Therefore, it could be taking place out of town. Furthermore, Garry heard the sound of a truck, which makes it entirely possible for the conversation to take place within hearing shot of Mary.

(I'm totally just doing this for fun at this point, by the way, so please don't interpret this aggressively.)

You're forcing me into a devil's proof then. Which isn't my problem, Beato. This miasma of subjectivity will cloud over the world, which is what I prefer.

(What makes you think I'm not doing this for fun? ;D)

I am not the writer of this tale, Maria. Whether or not the truth remains shut up forever is in the hands of the pieces, as far-fetched as that may seem.

((I would prefer Road Kill, but I'm fine with Classic if everyone's bored with RK.))

*raises one eyebrow, unbuttons his top shirt buttons, and casts off his glasses dramatically.*

Challenge...




Accepted.

That's true, but my ability to maintain agency is at its end, as Ib's tale comes to a close. I feel the only people who ought to open this catbox at this point are Yosuke and his friends.

My vote is for Classic... if only because you can actually save during the run? (instead of have the danger of 24 hour laptop crashes) But if that's not a problem or I'm over voted... Ah... I'm just not going to be able to be around for a 24-hour-long tomorrow. (And this group has great RP potential) Guess what I'm trying to say is I'd like to take it slow with this run.
But if that's not an option, Ryoji will do what Ryoji does best.

: Suggest murder. Yay!
And whatever his stats let him be capable of...chosen for the good of the group.

Huh? You can save during the run no problem, no matter classic or road kill. It's dilemmas that are the, well, dilemma. Part of the reason we kept going and going last round was because we kept getting all those bloody dilemmas, and I can't save during those.

If you want to take it slow, sure, Road Kill would be the better option. If you can bear the guilt of delaying DK's group's long-overdue run on your conscience, that is. ;)

Oh THAT explains it, sheesh, what luck out girls had.

I'm sorry DK's group, but Maiko had like three interactive RP posts and about none with Nanako and I was really hoping to be able to RP more than that and I HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW so no staying glued to a screen for me.
Edit: But if it ends up getting rushed through, that's just my RNG I guess.

Either run's fine with me, but I'm leaning towards Classic; if only because I feel extreme slight guilt over delaying DK and company's long-overdue run. guilt guilt guilt

EDIT: I do agree with Dameceles about the quick pace from the previous run, but I'll leave it up to you. :)

To be fair, though, our Road Kill run lasted only about a day.

Yeah, well, the fastness of a run depends more on the frequency of dilemmas than anything else. And I'll be especially busy tomorrow, so you don't need to worry about the pace being too fast. ;)

Then the burden's lifted from my mind! Though that doesn't help this voting lock. I've got six Ryoji mood avatars ready to go~

Fine, since John is the only one who actually wants to play Road Kill for once, and the rest of you are voting for "OH BANANA GOD PLEASE GIVE US MORE TIME TO RP AND RESPOND PLEAASSEEEEE who cares about DK's group trololololol" and don't actually mind which mode, I think I'll go with Road Kill then.

This is because of Ryoji isn't it?

I cared. ;___;

I'm cool with Road Kill, though.

At least this time there's less chance of a zombified mad scientist rodent out for blood.

I know, baby, was just having a little fun with ya. <3

Oh, yeah. Can I be put on the waitlist again?

Absolutely!

EDIT: And it's done.

Well, now that I've reached the current end of this trainwreck, and Ozzo stepped all over my feels with that twist (how could you, Ozzo? ;A; We shared an avatar.) I'd like to sign myself up for horrible bloody death a hopeful survival of some sort of Zafehouse round. Don't use me as fodder for tormenting DK's group anymore though. I'll go whenever a place opens up in a later run.

It'll give me time to research some of this damn game's mechanics so I'm not the total noob.

Welcome, welcome! Newbies get priority so you're going with Antiqua's and Dokosu's group right after this run is done. You'll be kicking out Sarasha who's already gone two full turns and I was really torn about letting her go while DK's group hasn't gone and I was just thinking how nice it would be if a newbie signed up and TADAH HERE YOU ARE.

But you can totally wait till an even later round if you want to. I'll just feel really guilty about not letting a newbie go first.

Don't think I don't know what you're doing, you just want me to go first so I'm still floundering around in the deep end.

Ahem...

You shouldn't feel guilty, it's my own choice. Besides, I still have absolutely no idea what sort of character I want to play, and I'd have to find reaction portraits for them, and I still have to figure out a profile... I still have a ways to go before I'm actually even slightly ready to be thrown to the plot bunnies wolves RNG zombies.

I still love you all, even though you've made a game that continues to step on my feels despite rounds and rounds of the same strand of thing happening, you know that, right?
Especially you, Ana, you brutal, tyrannical mod, you.

OH CRAP I GOT FOUND OUT

All right then. You still get priority though, so let me know whenever you're ready and I'll throw you right in. The waitlist is always linked to on the front page for your convenience. Don't say you're ready right before DK's group though, that would just be unnecessarily mean.

I wouldn't do that; I'm sadistic, not cruel. D:

I'll brainstorm possibilities for my character during my spare today, so that's a thing. Then it's just a matter of figuring out the profile and portraits and not letting you know I'm ready until I've thoroughly researched the possible snags in surviving zombie apocalypse.

Can I just say how strange it is to see Anabanana without a banana avatar?

I think I read like 10 of her posts without realizing it was her...

This is reminding me of way back in the first round when Ozzo and Edel had the exact same avatar and it was confusing as fuck

Oh, you don't say.

EDIT: Also, we have enough touhou enthusiasts lurking around the LP forum for a not-quite-Danmaku-anymore round, don't we? Just a thought~

I'd join a Touhou round.

Be still my maiden heart! I mayhave to watch this run. Judging from the comments, it's probably god I missed Nanako getting brutally slaughtered.

Yu won't be thrilled about that.

Partly why I chose an entirely different avatar this time. But that also meant I wouldn't have consistent reaction pics.

After Yosuke's little mishap with his newfangled AMERICAN jetpack...



Wow. That is like totally far-fetched and totally not canon in any way at all.


Alko Boom

Yosuke's much the same, except for how he's explicitly gay now. Good job, Brosuke. Don't let the haters get you down. Like your best friend, for instance.


JohnStargazer

Yu're a disappointment. I never played Yu as a homophobe in the game, and I disliked it when the anime played his reactions to certain things up as just a little bit homophobic.


Dameceles

What, Ryoji? Don't like gay guys because they're prettier than you?


Squishxd

More like "I won't associate with you unless you're mentally RICH enough for my tastes", eh?


vayaviya

And Naoto and Kanji hate each other. Of course.

Anyway, please give me your default actions as well as . To slow down the game pace a little, I will be taking all survivors' votes/plans/actions into account for every update unless there's a clear majority. Dilemmas are the exception, as usual. We will be following the 24-hour rule; with Ozzo gone, he'll need another way of screwing over the survivors, right?

Your move.

One question before I shut up and let the LP do it's thing with my feelings again; can the game portraits be smaller than 270x270?

And of course I liked the opening before any of the participants.

You've been warned. I will fuck your Personas over. :D