Screw Mafia - Let's Play Monster Squad! You know, for Grown Ups!

Sorry, really sleepy right now so might not be thinking straight, but wanted to throw in 2 cents before I pass out

Why silence Gryff? He said he was a useless townie role, so wouldn't the scum want to silence somebody else instead of Gryff's who's pretty much guaranteed to not be an info role? I dunno, just seems strange to me.

Maybe the monsters thought he was bluffing and didn't want to take the chance.

Or.... maybe the Witch silenced some other monster to bluff the town into thinking Gryff was a townie. @_@

He was probably the most verbose of any of us, so they may have just wanted to supress discussion.

"Yo, Jacquelle!"

Ryutaro stubs his cigarette against the aging wallpaper as he grins.

"Glad to see your old face. Thought the monsters might target you last night."

Well, if they did, it seems to have fuckin worked; quiet as fuckin mice in here. Not that mice are that quiet, with their scribbling and scrabbling...

Seems to me Jacquelle and Jordan are the least likely targets for a while at least. I mean, we all know they're town so it's a surefire hit for the baddies, sure, but we also know that what their powers were and that they've been used up. As opposed to the ones among us who still have powers that might be useful against them, especially after a damn lucky first night hit like killing the doctor.

So I suppose we need to focus on the question of why someone would shut Gryff up. Aside from the obvious.

So, what reasons could there be? Suppressing discussion, as KWhit suggested, or to throw suspicion on one of the three he cited as probable monsters in an earlier post (which would be Kat and Matthew given the fact Paranoid's dead and innocent)? As suggested, throwing suspicion off of Gryff, just in case?

In any case, I really hate the math we're looking at right now. Seven potential monsters, three actual monsters, and at least 2 people I really don't want to see us accidentally stab.

Anybody got suggestions, or should we just target someone at random and then split into two camps voting for either the accused or the accuser until evidence comes up while we argue?

Can the witch silence her/himself?

I don't know if monsters would silence a person that lists one of them as a potential monster.... it seems a bit obvious, especially only after the first day/night cycle, where we still have little info. Or maybe they're banking on it being obvious. Argh! @_@

Oh. Well, this is a bit of a pickle, isn't it? No, this is awful, just awful. Our doctor is dead, we almost killed somebody yesterday, and we have to do the same thing today. This...this just isn't good for my stress level.

I don't think I'm ready to accuse yet, but we have to accuse someone, and time is not on our side. Seven potential and three actual is actually about as favorable as we can get and not lose outright, John. In fact, if I was the Vig, I'd really want a lynch today, so I could take advantage of the higher odds as well (especially if we miss...).

I still think Gryff is town, so that makes my odds even better. But I'm just not sure who to accuse. I guess we can wait a little (especially since debate seems to go quite late around here, although with Gryff silenced...hmm), but still, some information needs to be uncovered, I think.

"I'm glad zat you're okay, Jacquelle."

Tome smiles gently at Jacquelle but then a thought seems to cross her mind. She sits down on the crumpled couch, her back ramrod straight and her her eyes steely.

"I zink zat ve need to look closely at Gryff's silencing for now. It is ze only clue currently. To be sure, Gryff had strong opinions. Maybe he vas silenced because his passion forced all of us to air out our own opinions as vell. Currently, I agree vith John. Let us all say who has caused us to feel ill at ease, then discuss. As Gryff vould have."

I agree that Gryff was silenced because of his opinions. He was the most interested in actively figuring out who the monsters were and trying to get them to slip up, and I don't think they appreciated that.

I have no idea who to vote for now. Jordan is town, Gryff is probably town, Paranoid is dead... Right now my thoughts would be toward Kat. He voted for Gryff last night without much of a reason; trying to snuff him out so he wouldn't get in their way?

Yeah, that makes sense. I just thought that however much somebody is being proactive, they still don't have the certainty of an info role who can just out monsters if they happened to investigate one last night. Why would the monsters want to take such a risk? All he did was try to get people to talk, which players would do anyway even if not prompted to, as evidenced by the current discussion. And there were certainly people other than him talking a lot yesterday; Jacquelle, for instance. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but as maniskumquat suggested, if I were a witch, I would think that silencing a team-mate like Gryff would be a great way to throw suspicion off him, since there would seem to be a "legitimate" reason for scum to want him to shut up. But like I said, is it really worth silencing a low-power townie, no matter how proactive they might be, when a info role could have found out a monster's identity last night? It just seems suspicious to me. I don't know if this is just me over-thinking things though... Gryff does smell like a townie to me, but that could just be very good acting.

As for Kat, I don't think anybody voting yesterday had much of a reason. Kat's is actually one of the least suspicious to me right now because he deadline voted Gryff right when there was a tie between Gryff and jordantigers, and I think he was just trying to make sure there wasn't a no-lynch because you name-summoned him saying as much.

Going to re-read yesterday's discussion to see if there's anything else I can pick up.

Hmmm, fair enough about Kat. Maybe we should think about Gryff, then: he's obviously competent enough at this to put on a good act and make us believe he's town. It's possible that entire act is just him playing us, making us believe he's town in the most trustworthy way...

But I also have mixed feelings about voting for someone who can't speak up to defend himself. What a pickle.

But that IS another "benefit" of being silenced as scum. If a monster didn't participate in the discussion at all, that would look suspicious (I think Matthew Schempp, Kat, and soundlyParanoid were fingered as suspects because they didn't post at all early game?), but being silenced means that you don't even need to try and defend yourself against any accusations. Officially-sanctioned lurking, pretty much.

Even if Gryff can't defend himself though, I'm sure that there will be other participants who disagree with this line of thinking (and for good reason! He does seem quite town-ish!), so I'm not too worried about that.

Ozzo should I address you as Ozzo or as Ryutaro?

(Warning Aaron: OOC Post inside!

Ryutaro would work fine, in-char.)

[OOC teehee ❤Ryutaro]

Tome stares at Ryutaro for a few moments before finally deciding to just ask.

Ryutaro, zis may seem sudden, but may I bum a cigarette? Zis stress is beginning to vear me down.

"Figures. I was wondering when you'd ask."

Ryutaro slides a pack out of his jacket pocket, tilting the open end toward Tome.

"Need a light?"

"Please."

Tome looks greatly relieved.

Eh, fuck it.

Aaron drinks more tea.

Not sayin' it's a fuckin lock-in vote. But it's early, y'know? Early as fuck, and if I fall back asleep, I don't want my voice not heard.

deadline vote: Anabanana

Ana, you're not a fuckin idiot, I think you can convince me who to fuckin vote for, eh? Let's get some brains engaged on who to vote for, not just why Gryff might not be a townie or might be a townie.

While you two fiddle around with your smoking, Rome burns. Idle hands and all the roads to hell and all those other mixed metaphors, too.

Or, is that your game? You two, with your smoking and your drinking and your tissues and your "making everyone feel better" while the monsters kill off more and more and more of us. I'm watching you!

No, no, Ryutaro, I don't smoke. No, I don't plan to start. Why...do I looked stressed out to you? It would help?

Well, maybe just one. It can't hurt, right? Thank you.

Inhales. Exhales. Suppresses a cough.

Whew...that does feel nice, doesn't it?

Ryutaro stashes the pack again as he extracts a beaten lighter, flicking it deftly.

"Here."

His lips slide into a trace of a smirk.

"It was good of you to take care of Jacquelle."

"Chill out, fancy man. I can't just up and leave Harry, can I?"

Ryutaro drags his fingers through his hair, pulling momentarily at his ponytail.

"As awesome as I am, even I didn't plan on needing a group pack of cigarettes."

Tome lights the cigarette with ease, then smiles calmly back.

"I take care of my own."

She then ponders what Aaron said.

"I agree. Zis is vat ve need to be focusing on. The vote itself. Until more information presents itself, I shall vote Aaron, because I vonder vat feelings he is trying to suppress vith zat tea.

I'm trying, all right, Aaron? The whole Gryff being silenced thing is one of the few concrete things we have to go off, and I think you and Kwhit have tackled the soundlyParanoid death pretty thoroughly already. But you're right, all of this is going into WIFOM territory so I'll focus on other stuff instead.

Right now I'm the most suspicious of the people who have been posting mostly fluff instead of actually participating in the discussion. Good way to give the illusion of participating while actually contributing pretty much nothing to the scumhunt. Right now that means Tome-chan, Ozzo, and Kat. This is meta-gaming but whatever, Kat was town the last game we played and he also did mostly fluff RP posts as well, so I'm focusing on Tome-chan and Ozzo for now. Both have been bandwagoning quite a bit without actually giving their opinions on the lynch targets too. MORE METAGAMING: I know Ozzo likes RPing though, so the heavy RP, low content posts make sense for his personality and isn't necessarily indicative of scum trying to hide behind a fog of RP, so for now I'll tentatively

Deadline vote: Tome-chan

The people I mentioned as well as Gryff are still on my suspect list though, for reasons I've already talked about. Just don't feel comfortable dismissing them outright. I might have to leave in a few hours but I'll reread the thread again to see if I can catch anything else.

But why Aaron, Tome-chan? Is that a random vote to pressure him? Or is there another reason behind it?

Aright, now we're fuckin moving. I'm pretty solid with your thoughts, Anabanana. And fuck, if Tome wants to lead the charge on me...

Aaron snorts.

Deadline vote: Tome-chan

I answer your inquiries vith a question of my own.

How do you determine friend or foe, if you only accuse and never inquire or converse?

Ryutaro cocks his head to one shoulder as he leans back.

"At least you wore pockets today. But why Anabanana?"

Because accusing people pressures them and gets them to defend themselves, and that's where the baddies tend to let stuff slip? For example, what you're doing right now feels rather evasive to me because it's a meaningless question that deflects from the real issue: you're posting, giving the illusion of participation, but you haven't been contributing much to the discussion. I mean, "inquire"? "Converse"? You mean, like, RPing? RPing is a fun side note to the game, and I do enjoy reading the RP'd posts, but the fact remains that that's not the meat of the game, which is to find and kill the monsters. To avoid participating in non-RP discussions seems to imply that you're not interested in finding the monsters.

A lot has happened and I have drunk a lot of gin, so correct me if I am wrong.

Votes

Tome 2 (Anabanana, Aaron)
Aaron 1 - (Tome)

Oh, I am very interested in finding the monsters. And I'd be willing to drop the RP altogether, if it wasn't such an entertaining way to get information. I don't need to deflect, I just wanted to see your reaction to my question. The real issue here, is that it is still to early to form a full opinion, so I'm having to try and scrounge up a basic character for people just based off what I've read. If that bothers you, so be it.

RPing doesn't bother me. It's RPing without a point that feels scummy. I get that character interaction is fun, and I do like reading it, and I like all the weird accents that people have been throwing around, but it has no bearing on whether or not they're actually scum or not. So if that's all you're doing, forgive me if I get suspicious. The info you're getting from character interaction RPs is info about the character, not the player themselves.

Tome-Chan has been very nice to me. Even before they knew I was human. Very, very nice, to everyone in fact.

While I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, I can't help but be a little bit suspicious about this. Are you attempting to hide behind fluff-posts containing good gestures, hoping you can call upon them if you are accused?

I'm not going to vote for you, not yet, but I'm curious what you have to say for yourself. Why shouldn't we kill you?

I'm sorry, Ryotaro, of course. I'll pay you back as soon as I can. If I survive this. And you survive this, as well. Although I guess I could leave a pack of cigarettes in my will to your next of kin. Maybe that's unnecessary.

False binaries are so confining, you know? Aaron could be a monster, Tome could be a monster, they could both be human, they could both be...

Well, no, that wouldn't make sense. No matter.

What do we know? Apparently, nothing useful was found during the night. Soundly Paranoid died, and Gryff was silenced. KWhit is the only person implicated here, as Jacquelle is cleared. But SP didn't actually vote for KWhit, and backed off quickly.

You know what? I'm going to try to avoid piling on. I don't think we should "just target someone at random and then split into two camps voting for either the accused or the accuser until evidence comes up while we argue". I think John Stargazer is a monster. He wanted to set KWhit up, since she accused him. I'm willing to change my mind, but I think casting a wide net is better at the moment.

Deadline vote John Stargazer

Because they are not fluff posts, I really do take care of people. Believing it or not is your choice, I fully understand that, but all I can say is that I have not once said something I didn't mean. (Even if it was flawed, I meant it. That's what humans do.)

I know that, strategically speaking, this is not a good time to go to sleep.
However, I've said what I needed to say and I stand behind my vote as the best choice I can make at this time.

[OOC Also I'm sick and need sleep, silly winter]

Let the chips fall where they may.

"Can't believe the doc's gone..."

Smoke dissipates from Ryutaro's lips out the open window.

"Last thing he said was trying to stop us from voting Gryff. He was always trying to save us."

"But still Aaron voted for Gryff. Then today he voted for Anabanana..."

Ryutaro stares dispassionately out at the weathered brick wall opposite.

"Why, pocket pants? Why?"

That was a good answer.

...A little too good. Almost as if you want me to feel terrible for voting for you.

Deadline Vote: Tome-Chan

Sorry, I'm not shouting loud enough.

Deadline vote JohnStargazer!

Wanted t'know what Anabanana was fuckin thinking, Ozzo. Not just why not to vote for someone, who she thought we should fuckin vote for.

And y'know, it got the ball fuckin rolling. Someone had to throw the first fuckin stone.