day three - afternoon

[guestcontrol]

dreamland day three 34 players remaining. [As the day wears on into the afternoon, the dead aren't getting any deader. It's late in the afternoon, and the air is beginning to cool, when the chimes play again over the park loudspeaker. "All of us here at Dreamland wish you luck, guests! Let's meet up in the Hall of Mirrors!" Wherever you are, it's time to make your way over to the House of Horrors, where you'll have to brave the funhouse to find the room on the top floor. Don't delay, or your guest identification bracelet will begin beeping. The House of Mirrors is a large room, more than capable of fitting a crowd. Tall mirrors line every wall, and the door you entered through seems to vanish into a mirror as well. The mirrors give the impression that many, many more are among your number, standing in the background. In the back is a jar filled with blank raffle tickets. You'll have to take a ticket, write down a name, and place it back in the jar. Hopefully you already know who you're voting for, but if not, you only have time for a brief discussion before you're out of time. rulebook character statuses private conversations graveyard Voting will close at 10 PM EST on September 30. Voting

Comments

[jingler]

Please do not ask to be converted Tamaki. You realize we'll have to execute you if you're a VIP, right?

[edealistical]

The loss of any single VIP would be detrimental to them - they need to outnumber us, remember. There's also the possibility that they could lose two in one go if Legion were paired. Still then, when my execution is another error, I believe public opinion would still be on Missile's side. He would be wrong - he is a dog, he has made a mistake. His opinion may not be trusted again, but would anyone seriously consider the possibility of conversion?

But yes, it would be the action of a group willing to take chances - the possibility of protecting Legion one more day as opposed to whatever might come up in the future. Is there any other time when they would absolutely need someone to be executed? I would say possibly not. The Medical Team is busy protecting Missile, one of their own, and the Buddy Cops can be easily killed in the night at any time if discovered.

[sparklyrichbastard]

Nuh-uh! If I were a VIP I'd get the medical unit to protect the same person we were attacking every night until we were all one big happy VIP family!

[glasshole]

That may be true on our end, but it isn't true when your argument would be that choosing the detective was an incredible stroke of luck.

It was, but perhaps the very same qualities that caused someone to make a dog detective in the first place were also involved in the selection of the conversion. It's hardly impossible.

[sparklyrichbastard]

I'm... still thinking on that point!!

[edealistical]

No one has sniffed out 3 of anything. That's not... a guess; I didn't throw darts at a board last night. It's the question of what would be logically true if my theory is correct.

[unbridledjoy]

To believe what Edea is saying, though, we must assume many things. We must assume that Missile was converted, we must assume that one of the VIPs was able to train him, we must assume that such training could occur overnight, we must assume that he was capable of carrying out such a complicated and malicious plot, and we must assume that Edea is entirely innocent and that the VIPs are trying to frame her.

To believe what we already believed, all we must assume is that Missile did not understand everything that was happening before, and that he acted after Gundam Tanaka explained the situation to him.

One of these options seems much more likely to me.

[glasshole]

You do understand that there's nothing to be gained from arguing with him, right?

He's a complete idiot, so let him vote how he wants.

[cheats]

[ When Edea starts speaking, Ciel watches her with a mildly disgruntled expression, but as she works her way through the logic, his frown softens somewhat. It doesn't completely disappear (since it rarely does), but it's clear that this isn't a train of thought that he'd thought of. ]

I suppose this is possible. But for better or worse, Missile is the most credible person we have now, and has named you. You're likely t be hanged for that alone, you realize.

[ His voice is harsh, but not angry. It's very controlled and cool. ]

So it's a matter of whose word to trust, and while I would rather soundly say neither, this does stink rather wretchedly of desperation. It's well thought out, that's true, but why would these VIPs pick a dog, of all things? The rulebook implies they get to pick, but I would think nearly any other choice wiser.

[glasshole]

...I see.

There's something to it. I've been very troubled by this, but...your proposal is we execute Legion?

[chronic]

Look. The thing is, you're asking us to believe too much. It's just too much to all line up as perfectly as you're saying it is. If you get executed, and you really are innocent, well, it's going to be fucking horrible. But right now all we have to go on is what's most likely. And betting on a bunch of convenient coincidences isn't it.

[cakelover]

Ah...perhaps, but I wonder why Edea was not pointed out as a target yesterday, and we were permitted to hang Levi.

[ That's the part that's giving him pause. ]

[belgian]

I asked him during the trial if he investigated Levi and he made it pretty clear he hadn't, I think! [As clear as a dog can make it.] I didn't see Missile around when Levi was claiming to be the detective after the first trial, either.

[edealistical]

Missile is a dog that understands the concept of this game and the choices he is making at night. I find it difficult to believe that an announcement that caused everyone to literally cry out in astonishment would be something he would choose to simply ignore.

Even if he did, you're saying Missile isn't intelligent enough to understand Levi... but he was intelligent enough to leave Aya and K those clues on his own without prompting? I would say the latter requires critical thinking and problem solving abilities, which are higher levels of cognition.

[murimurimuri]

But logically it must be one or the other, right?

Does that mean you think the letter was real, too?

[unbridledjoy]

I think that was because... Missile did not understand everything at that point. All he knew was that Levi was claiming to be the detective, but he was not. So he tried to tell us that.

We are the ones who chose to vote for him.

[edealistical]

...I think this is still an inaccurate statement.

They didn't flip a coin to decide their conversion - they considered pros and cons, which changes this from a matter of probability into a more complex puzzle. You can only say 'everyone had an equal chance' if all of us were completely identical in every way. The fact is, there are too many variables to assign probabilities to anything.

And yes, I believe Missile was a good conversion choice because he would be considered above suspicion.

[a slight pause]

Also, er, it looks like Malik was killed because he threatened to cut off Missile's paw, so.... there was some... bias already shown.

[edealistical]

I understand if that's how you feel. My aim today is simply to defend myself the best way I know how... This is, in some respects, a court of law.

But as I said, I believe it more likely that Missile was instructed to behave as he did yesterday... than that it was natural behavior for an animal.

[cakelover]

I...really don't want to vote for an innocent again. We were very sure about Levi-chan, in part because of Missile-chan. Will Edea-chan hang there innocent, as well, if we vote for her today? I realized we can never be certain, but...taking a chance like that, without considering the alternatives...if we had talked it over more last time, if we hadn't simply listened to Missile-chan and nothing else...

[ Not that he ever really spoke to Levi, but. They...definitely voted the guy dead. Based mostly on Missile. ]

[foetida]

I don't get why you think we'd be more willing to kill a human than a dog. [Nanami Kiryuu ace animal murderer]

What's your last suspicion? You might as well say it now. It's not like you'll be able to if you're executed.

[godwhisperer]

Missile is above average intelligence. That is not the same thing as flawless comprehension of human tongues. He can pick up words like detective with repetition, but he does not innately understand them. That is because the languages of Babel are born from human pride of a kind he is lacking.

He also may not have understood why Levi claimed detective, or that he ought to be suspicious of it. But he came to understand and make himself known. Incidentally, those pictures were from the paper which I had shown him.

[belgian]

Missile never claimed to have investigated Levi, actually! I asked him and he said he hadn't. [As much as Missile can, anyway.] I think claiming to falsely be the detective is pretty suspicious on its own--it's not something you'd think an innocent person would do without at least talking it over with the actual detective first.

[shoutoku_administrator]

Edea has made her argument, and made it well. Now, allow me to respond with my own.

To summarize briefly, the heart of Edea's reasoning is thus: If Missile truly was the detective, then he had plenty of chances to oppose Levi before the second trial - most notably, when he made himself known after the first one. As a diligent dog, it stands to reason that he would have spoken up immediately, rather than waiting until Levi began to speak on the second day. Everything follows this single point, so that is what I shall address.

Some of you may have seen me with a pair of earmuffs from time to time - this is because my ears is extremely sensitive. In my day, I could listen to ten conversations at once, and understand them all. My profile on your bracelets will confirm that my hearing is superb.

Furthermore, Missile is not a subtle creature by nature. Any time he is near, I am aware of it. That dog is not capable of being anywhere near me without me knowing about it.

The point I am coming towards is that I am certain, beyond all doubt, of one thing: When Levi declared himself to be the detective, Missile wasn't there.

If any of you recall otherwise, please come forward. Until then, my argument is this: Missile did not fight Levi because Missile did not know that Levi had claimed Detective. Levi died because we misinterpreted Missile's warning that he was not the detective as a warning that he was a VIP.

[edealistical]

It isn't more likely, because at 10 o'clock in the morning, Missile sent K and Aya pictures to condemn Levi and myself. At that time, he already knew Levi was an imposter and was acting upon it. He then waited until late in the trial to openly denounce Levi. I cannot explain how this makes sense unless another factor was involved.

My explanation for 'why Missile' is that he would be the one person above suspicion, as I said. If you can't accept that, I potentially have others.

[unbridledjoy]

The difference now is that we have found a more certain way of communicating with Missile. We were very, very angry with Levi because he turned out to be lying. But that is not the case here. Now, Missile has found a way of telling us the things we need to know, and the person he has accused has spun a tale that relies on a lot of assumptions to defend herself.

The more I think about Edea's theory, the more confused I get. The truth is not something we should have to keep asking "Why?" or "What about this?" over... so when a story makes me ask as many questions as this one does, it makes me very suspicious.