Maf-Terra

[Omelette Robotnik]

Votes
2 Suwako
1 Starscream
1 Okuyasu

 

[Roy Mustang]

Mustang watched the argument continue from the shade of a nearby tree, arms crossed. This kind of attack was not likely to be an isolated incident, particularly since the towns people seemingly hadn't gotten the message to fear the mafia. If they didn't get things properly sorted, and fast, there would be several unnecessary deaths. Some people were shouting accusations without proof, and others were seeking to take the lead of the discussion already. Both choices revealed a desire for control that was dangerous, at the very least. This situation had the propensity to spiral drastically out of control. With a grunt Mustang walked into the ring of onlookers, hands in his pockets. He cast his gaze around the gathering, seeing who was able to hold his gaze as he spoke.

"Did anyone see this murder happen? Did anyone know who this girl was? Until we understand more information, we should be cautious, not paranoid. Those of us who have information to reveal, will you do so? Our actions this night is what will be the first test of who we can trust in this town. If you want to prove yourself trustworthy, state your intentions, then follow through with them."

 

[Ohm Zui]

Ohm Zui buzzed over to by the alchemist's shoulder.

"Though it's hard to recognize her, that's Toga. Zoo-ee, this is nasty business. From what those amongst us with knowledge of decomposition have said, she was killed last night: no-one has said anything about witnessing it, and since all thirteen current occupants of Crimington are present it's likely the culprits went unnoticed."

The zoombini turned their head to look at Mustang directly.

"So far you've missed a few accusations, and like you Gilgamesh, Frieza and Jak want to postpone action until tomorrow. I'm uncertain about that course of logic, myself, but... Perhaps you could give them all an example to follow, Mustang; I could just state that my intentions are to solve this puzzle before people get hurt, but you seem to have something more in mind."

 

[Roy Mustang]

Mustang regarded the Zoombini for a moment, trying his best to read the creatures inhuman face. their counter was a fair challenge. As much as he might wish otherwise, people were scared. In a case like this the first instinct is to hide your secrets from the group, to protect yourself through anonymity and hope that you were not chosen to take the fall. These people were looking to protect their own hides and were unlikely to reveal information without an example to follow.

"Yes, I have something more in mind. There's been a murder, and at least one of us here right now is the cause of it. For the moment we can only conjecture the person or group behind this atrocity, and I see little point in stirring up bad blood without evidence. When night falls, we should be all be asleep. Anyone who is out and about after the sun has set better have a damn good reason to be, and had better be willing to share that information ahead of time."

He crossed his arms, "At this point witholding information helps the enemy, the more that everyone knows, the quicker we will catch those among us who are lying. For instance, I am myself a military veteran. If the mafia sends at hit after me tonight, things won't go as smoothly for them as they're hoping."

He cast his gaze around the assembled witnesses, humans, people who held the guise of humans, and aliens of drastically varied sizes.

"Anyone else feeling brave enough to share?"

 

[Kayleigh Eudora]

Quill nodded in agreement during Roy's inspiring yet threathening speech. "Soldier boy is right, one of you is a killer, murdered an innocent member of our society in cold blood." Like a western sheriff his eyes glanced across the group, "BUT don't worry...this ain't happening again in my town."

Star Lord makes sure his blasters are quite visible for all to see. "Make sure to get a good night rest, I got your back. But for anyone with some murder urges...I'm coming for ya." His eyes stopped towards the group of self proclaimed rulers, he didn't trust those one bit....

 

[Azula]

“Tch.”

Azula rolled her eyes. “If we do nothing, the mafia will run free and will undoubtedly kill again, unchecked,” she crossed her arms.

“It may be prudent to send a message,” she mused. “If we come out — strong — against these rebels, perhaps it will squelch the flames of anarchy before they have time to set the whole town ablaze.”

 

[Ohm Zui]

Ohm flits over to the firebender, leaving the fire alchemist behind.

"A message? How so?" the zoombini asked. "Do you have something, or someone, in mind?"

They look around at the rest of the townsfolk, before looking back at Azula, curious.

 

[Azula]

Azula met the zoombini’s gaze. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Fight fire with fire,” the bender smirked, lifting a fist and encasing it in thick, blue flames. “A life for a life. For every person they kill, we kill one in kind. Chances are good it’s one of theirs, and even if it isn’t, it will be eventually. Perhaps the threat of being eradicated will be enough to frighten these bastards into submission.”

 

[Gilgamesh]

Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes at the fire princess. "It is unlikely that we are outnumbered by that brutish 'Mafia'," he accentuated with air quotes. He took a step towards Azula, his golden frame domineering over the fire princess, yet she stood unwavering. "If we were to kill someone here, we would likely kill one of our own," he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Wouldn't the Mafia want more to die, so that they would eventually outnumber us?" Gilgamesh called out to the crowd. "It seems awfully suspicious that a mongrel like you would advocate for more bloodshed, Azula."

 

[Azula]

“I am advocating for strong leadership,” Azula snapped back. “Are you soft, little boy?”

Tch. Insolent fool.

 

[Ohm Zui]

Ohm Zui hovered nearby. They looked back and forth between Gilgamesh and Azula, contemplative for a moment.

"... weren't you proposing a wait and see approach earlier?" they muttered, not quite quietly enough to go unheard. The zoombini shook themselves out of their thoughts and rose up to meet Gilgamesh.

"Gilgamesh, I'm afraid your maths is more sound than your logic. If criminals are going to be coming after the innocent, and we assume their chances of success are high enough to pose an actual threat, while it is true we likely outnumber them, every twenty four hours an innocent will likely die. In order to get rid of them, we must, by necessity, seek them out. If we assume that the innocent are less likely to convict an innocent when using logic and care, then by attempting to seek out and remove the threat the chances of removing the guilty are made non-zero."

The zoombini drew the mathematics out in the dirt with their flagella, dropping to perch on their propeller so that they could do so.

"Obviously, in order for the innocent to balance the scales in favour of the innocent, and the guilty to balance the scales in favour of the guilty, both sides will be engaging in their own arguments."

With that, Ohm drew themselves into the air. They peered around, carefully examining those around them, as if trying to catch people out.

"It's true I don't feel comfortable casting aspersions before we have more evidence, by my own logic I should make my vote known. Until I feel like I believe anyone's train of logic then... let's see how people respond to me voting for myself, Ohm Zui, to be killed."

 

[Jak]

Jak frowned, more arguing, more paranoia, more pointing of fingers.

This time? The golden king pointed at Azula and then she argued back with a quip of her own.

But then the more calm zoombini called out himself on the stand.


​

 

[Fenix]

Suwako raised an eyebrow as she listened to this ridiculous back-and-forth. "So, lemme get this straight." Suwako would add with a chuckle. "First, you cast suspicions on me for trying to steal a free pitchf-I mean, try to get an active presence going against this mafia thing, and now you're the one advocating for a good ol' fashioned witch-burning? I've never seen a girl switch gears that fast and I date a wind god!"

Suwako placed a hand on her hip as she looked at the woman. "Seems like you're just biting out at anyone that looks like they've got an open hand for you, fire princess. I have yet to cast a vote, and I don't plan to cast one now, but... I'm starting to think you might just be trying to play sides off eachother, Azula. Seems almost like something the Mafia would do...or maybe your pyromancy just happens to coincide with some pyromania? Eager to burn some bodies?" Suwako asked. "truly, someone I'd trust with my life" the frog replied, voice dripping in sarcasm.

 

[Azula]

"You all mistake my earlier request for your side of the story, frog girl," Azula scoffed. "I was happy to burn you. No hesitation. But if we're to be making a selection based on 'evidence,' I thought I'd give you a chance to present your own."

"Either way, I never stated my intentions against making a display of someone for the mafia to fear," she continued. "You say I flip-flopped; that's a lie, and one manufactured by pissing on the just opportunity I offered you. The fact is, this mafia -- they have us cowering, and honestly, anyone who agrees to stand aside and watch them kill another in the night without any attempt to curb them should be considered their accomplice. Weak minds, all of you."

The fire princess leaned against a column that emerged randomly from the city hall steps. Who designed this fucking town, anyway?

These fools couldn't be trusted with their own lives. She'd masterminded the entire takeover of the Earth Kingdom capital before, and managed to do so without sparing a single one of her soldiers or theirs. Suffice it to say, Azula knew the threat of discipline would rile up the mafia -- whether her other wet blanket townsfolk followed through on it mattered little. If one of the mafia members were truly amongst this crowd -- as she was almost certain they were -- they knew now the whole town, at least, wouldn't bow to them so easily.

 

[Fenix]

"And I've already presented my side. Yet, you're the one who decided to invite the pretense the robot's accusation had any form of validity, did you not? Or did you forget that part? I certainly didn't." Suwako offered with a grin. "And really. Weak minds? scared people? Did you confuse frothing at the mouth with bold and decisive action, princess?"

Suwako leaned forward. "You're just as scared as the rest of us, despite your pretense of control. Hoping if you shoot just enough fire at the dark it'll go away and trouble you no longer."

And with that, Suwako will give a shrug.

"...And you might actually be right on this one. Fear's supposed to guide certain actions. That's why it exists. So let's say you wanna take us for a ride and guide this suspicion. Who do you think did it, firecracker?"

 

[Azula]

"That's how fire works, amphibitch."

Hmph. Metaphors. The shields of the pathetic.

"Revealing too much makes us a target. We must be decisive, but discrete. Discipline one to protect the others."

 

[Roy Mustang]

Mustang rounded on the firebender with a hard glance, staring her down.

"Fire is not something to fling about with abandon, girl. You are demanding action, yet refusing to take it. If you believe someone here is the killer than say so. Having others do your work for you is a coward's choice, and betrays a life free from the consequences of your actions. I invite you to share your choice for who here is most deserving of death. If its me than so be it. If you are simply looking for someone to receive discipline for this terrible act, than I see no reason you are any less deserving than the rest of us Azula."

 

[Azula]

Azula glanced over at the alchemist. Hmph, she thought, now there's someone with promise.

"Good eye, Major," she smiled. "You're right. I'm not less deserving than the rest. But I am the only person here calling for us to do anything whilst the rest of these fools are content to let the mafia kill another unchecked."

"It seems I'm outvoted, though," she shrugged. "I don't like democracy, but nevertheless."

 

[Frieza]

Frieza cleared his throat loudly. The discussion was getting off track.

"As I said, I advocate we cast a collective, public vote on who should be investigated the first night. As much as I, too, would prefer to take complete charge, our greatest weapon against the mafia is the weapon of collective knowledge. The mafia knows who the other mafia are, but we don't know who the other townspeople are. Rather than point fingers at whoever seems the most suspicious, we should snuff out the mafia through process of elimination. Ideally, the investigator will choose a townsperson the first night. If the investigator does not come forward, we will assume that person is aligned with the town, and add them to the count of confirmed townspeople. That way, when the investigator does find mafia, they can relay that information through one of the confirmed townspeople so as not to make themselves a target.

"By the way, if the investigator does find mafia the first night, they may still keep quiet. While strictly speaking it will be erroneous to assume that whoever is investigated the first night is innocent, it is still a fair collective assumption to make. Should this happen, the investigator will simply investigate the next person we pick, until they reach a townsperson--at which point the information they have gathered regarding who the mafia is will be relayed through that person. And we'll know if that person is a liar rather quickly, by way of coroner report. That way we gain as much information as possible without putting the investigator themselves in any danger whatsoever."

Hopefully the people here weren't too dense to understand this.

"The question is," he continued, "do we vote for the most suspicious person to be investigated, or the least suspicious? Higher risk for more information gained, versus lower risk for less information gained.

"Also, I advocate that on this first night, the doctor should protect themselves--if possible. Their role will only be useful should somebody with a valuable role be forced to reveal themselves later, and they should do everything possible to survive until then."

 

[Ohm Zui]

Ohm zips down next to Frieza, perching on the ground nearby.

"You have an interesting idea, Frieza, though I hope the mafia are not as logical as you are."

They seemed about to say more, but instead paused and looked back at Azula, Roy and Suwaku, before turning and looking up at the alien. They blinked and continued.

"Please start us off. Do you have candidates in mind, Frieza? Who do you consider most suspicious, and who do you consider least suspicious? And which would you prefer the rest of us to choose?"