PrincessOnion04>I'm sorry Ruka
PrincessOnion04>But your long and detailed defenses are going to damn you.
PrincessOnion04>The reason I waited was to see how big of a hole you were going to dig yourself.
PrincessOnion04>And you did, you are a cool customer but it still made you sweat.

PrincessOnion04>I also refused to read too deeply into your posts, because I am very aware of the persuasive arguments you can make.
PrincessOnion04>Ruka, don't give me that, "If I were a hacker, I'm a bad one."
PrincessOnion04>We know that you're smart as hell.

PrincessOnion04>I too have issues with this:

PaleSky>If Saionji were the Hacker he would vote against me for voting against him

PrincessOnion04>Anthy did the same thing, if you recall.
PrincessOnion04>But we know she's innocent.
PrincessOnion04>This is not indicative of guilt, this is a method for self-defense.

PrincessOnion04>Also Ruka, if Juri were here and you were not, Saionji, Kozue and I would be at an impasse.
PrincessOnion04>Juri's vote could have been swayed to go along with the hacker, it still would have been tactically favorable for you to be gone.
PrincessOnion04>So your argument there is moot.

PrincessOnion04>*takes deep breath*
PrincessOnion04>OK, this is it.
PrincessOnion04>I cast my vote for Ruka.
PrincessOnion04>And I'm sticking to it dudes, come hell or high water.

[[Sorry if this is all OOC, I just can't picture Wakaba with a serious/analytical side.]]

[[DAY SIX: VOTE COUNT 3]]

AceOfSpades> Votes for...
AceOfSpades> ...Ruka: 3 (Saionji, Kozue, Wakaba)
AceOfSpades> ...Saionji: 1 (Ruka)

AceOfSpades> Out of four, a majority is three.

AceOfSpades> We have a majority.  Grace period ends soon.
AceOfSpades> Ruka, you have three and a half hours to put up or shut up.
AceOfSpades> Or post a confession, if you want to be trendy.

[[DAY SIX: FINAL VOTE COUNT]]

AceOfSpades> Votes for...
AceOfSpades> ...Ruka: 3 (Saionji, Kozue, Wakaba)
AceOfSpades> ...Saionji: 1 (Ruka)

AceOfSpades> Out of four, a majority is three.

AceOfSpades> Grace period is over.
AceOfSpades> Ruka has chosen to go out with protestations of innocence.  The other hackers left us with confessions.
AceOfSpades> I wonder what investigating his account will reveal.
AceOfSpades> Tsuchiya Ruka, the path before you -- and before all of us -- has been prepared.

[[NIGHT SIX, 4:00 AM]]

The name of Shinohara Wakaba, an ordinary user, was missing from the chat list that morning.  Few were left to notice.


[[DAY SEVEN, 7:00 AM]]

Only Kaoru Kozue and Saionji Kyouichi remained on the network.  Both logged on.  If there had been anyone to watch their conversation, they would have seen accusations and counter-accusations, angry words exchanged -- because of course the remaining innocent user knew by process of elimination that the other was a hacker, and the hacker would never admit to the misdeeds of the past nights.  If the chat room had had a CGI interface, the camera would have swung in wide circles around Kozue and Saionji, charging and retreating with blades drawn, swinging and parrying each other's blows.

[[DAY SEVEN, 11:00 PM]]

With Kozue and Saionji unable to reach a consensus, Mikage took the chat offline for the last time.

Someday I'm going to win a game of this.

[edit] - Wait, that was much too short.

I loved this game! I don't think I could play a non-RP version of it after this. But I'm not sure I could play an RP'd version of it either, it's hard to be wrong all the time! Sorry OITL! Sorry Chani! Sorry Razara! Sorry everyone else. Likey, your performance was comendable, you were the one I suspected the least, although despite how Ruka phrased things, I wasn't nearly as sure as it seemed. (Of course, if I had been right would I be admitting this now?)

Everyone was great, and because Mikage tends to get ignored, a big thanks for Satyr whose RP was as wonderful as the rest, but too creepy to comment on.

Last edited by Ragnarok (09-21-2009 04:19:39 PM)

And also, did we seriously have no blocker?  That's not nice.

You lasted to the end, Ragnarok-sir! While being a vital member of the users. Be proud! It may not be winning, but it's damn close.

Oh a more selfish note...



Go Likey! Even though Stormcrow and I were majestically screwed over, she saved the day!

And yes, this was awesome. I await with baited breath for the day when we can resume such festivities! I think the RP aspect of this was fabulous because even if it increases one's likelihood of being wrong, it's a zillion times more fun.

Having talkers was excellent even if I was mostly just kind of annoying to them (sorry Valeli ) and I think it definitely added much more interesting layers to the game. Especially when you have Paradox deducting the right things from the wrong actions behind the scenes.

He will be the doom of all evil doers.

OITL, you know you had us running for our money at first, right? "Hey, I suspect Utena and Kozue inexplicably. And what's up with that A-ko girl? That's some guilty shit if I ever saw it."

And yes! Behind the scenes would be awesome! Although mostly the hackers communicated via AIM. I'll post what I was plotting once I'm done with supper.

On Night One, Touga wrote:

Touga hunkered down in his room, typing away.  Long hours spent surfing websites of questionable content, and more importantly, hiding said activities from his devoted, inquisitive, but less than understanding sister, had honed his skills with networks to a point that few would have expected.  All the better for him.  Not that he liked spending his evenings this way.  There were far better things to do after sunset, but tonight he just had to know...

What was Juri doing tonight?


[[Could have gone four different ways here, easily.  Too bad I couldn't get anyone interested in voting, or at least stalling until Tsuwabuki joined the conversation.  This was not the right play, but I didn't want to be the lightning rod by voting first and risking drawing the ire of the hackers or a locker.  Ah well, here's hoping I see the dawn.]]

On Night One, I wrote:

Touga knew the right commands to send the network to convince it to give up its secrets.  After the chat went down, he systematically searched for all activity carried out by Arisugawa Juri.

Juri's network traces showed that she had visited an online clothing store and several sites devoted to female modeling.  There was no indication that Juri had communicated with any other member of the network, and nor was her login key associated with any activities even slightly illicit.  How disappointing; Touga had expected better things from Miss Arisugawa!

* * *

On Night Two, Touga wrote:

1:34 AM

Touga was annoyed.  Borderline angry in fact.  He'd actually canceled a date over this, one he'd been very much looking forward to.  Miki should have been the one making the stand, not sniveling in the corner, trying to make a martyr of himself.  Now their situation had gone from bad to potentially disastrous.  He'd overexposed himself, just trying to get something to happen.  He needed an answer and needed it now.  It was probable, if not all but certain that if he couldn't produce a guilty party, he'd be the next to go, if the hackers didn't get him first.  So the question was...  who?  Ruka?  Ruka was targeting Juri, who Touga knew was innocent, but was that malice, or just another aspect of his ongoing mind game involving her and that little tramp Takatsuki.  Or Saionji?   Or Utena, herself?  He kept coming back to that hint that Saionji knew something.  He'd thought maybe Saionji was a locker and might have failed to take him out that night, but Miki was the locker.

And the prodigy probably sat every bit as idle the first night as he'd been the first day.

Ruka, Utena or Saionji.  He disliked Tsuchiya, for the most part because he and Tsuchiya were cut from the same cloth.  He wanted to believe the dying ass was guilty.  He didn't think Saionji was capable of something this subtle.  He'd watched the boy turn into a man full of jealousy and rage, but not one given to underhanded behavior.  He couldn't imagine naive little Utena lying to their faces much less carrying off something this complex.  But he'd been wrong about Miki...  Was it the same with Saionji, or Utena?

Touga shook his head irritably.  This was exactly the sort of self-doubt that was paralyzing the others.  He had to lead, and right or wrong, they had to keep moving forward.

He pulled open a command console and hit a few commands, then entered a name:

Tenjou, Utena

She was the only one to ever best him.  Maybe Touga would go down tonight, maybe he'd be defeated tomorrow, but if it was her, he'd at least do everything he could to take her with him.


[[PS, once this is done, feel free to share these messages in the post-game wrap-up.  ]]

On Night Two, I wrote:

Something very strange was happening.

Touga had long ago learned how to log onto the network semi-invisibly, as he was doing now.  Doing so, he knew, left certain traces.  Those traces could be deleted afterward, but while a member was on the network, anyone who knew where to look could find out about it.

What gave Touga pause was that exactly such traces were attached to Tenjou Utena's account at the very moment he typed her name.

What was the Tenjou girl doing on the network that required invisibility?  She definitely wasn't conducting an investigation like his; that too left traces, and those weren't there.  No, he saw.  She was sending PMs.  Touga couldn't divine their recipients, but Tenjou was communicating -- covertly -- with other members of the network.  Something else was happening, too, something Touga couldn't make head or tail of.  Something Tenjou shouldn't have known how to do.  What was going on?

As if to answer his question, a status alert popped up in his browser window:

Target member TENJOU UTENA has deleted member TAKATSUKI SHIORI.

A moment later, all the traces Touga had found disappeared.  Tenjou had cleared her tracks, but too late.  Touga had found his prey.

* * *

On Night Three, Touga wrote:

Touga was almost giddy.  He'd bested Tenjou.  Not that this was a true duel, not that any of this really made any difference in the long run, Ends of the World was more amused by their struggle than anything, but it set a good precedence, and damned if it didn't feel satisfying.

Still, as he sat down, he was already moving past her to the next concern.

Tsuwabuki Mitsuru.  He was lying.  That much was certain.  His talker story was a desperate backpedal from claiming to be a stalker, and made not the slightest sense.  How would Miki-kun know whether the drama queen was guilty or innocent?

No, Tsuwabuki was either a stalker or a hacker.  There was no other alternative.

The worst-case scenario here is that Tsuwabuki was a stalker and got deleted tonight.  He'd be revealed as the stalker and cast doubt on Touga himself.  He'd again be hard pressed to survive something like that.  He was tempted to hold off a day on the boy.  If that did happen, he'd have another name, maybe his next pick, Shinohara that he could at least clarify before the users brought him down.  If the boy was still around tomorrow, he could be investigated then.

But that was making two assumptions, one that Tsuwabuki was innocent, and two, that the hackers were quick enough to pick up on his mistake.

No, Touga needed the truth of his claims and needed it now.

"Tell me your secrets, little boy." he whispered as he typed the name.

Tsuwabuki Mitsuru

On Night Three, I wrote:

Under his usual veil, Touga logged onto the network and hunted for any trace of Tsuwabuki.  But the more he looked, the more puzzled he became.

Tsuwabuki wasn't surfing, wasn't studying, and certainly wasn't stalking.  It didn't look like he was covertly communicating with other members, either, as Touga had seen with the Tenjou girl the previous night.  In fact, there was absolutely no evidence Tsuwabuki was using the network at all!

Could it be that Tsuwabuki had already been deleted?  Touga checked the member registry.  "Member TSUWABUKI MITSURU is offline."  No, he had an account, but he wasn't using it.  He hadn't logged on since Mikage had closed the chat room, in fact.  But then what could he...

At that moment, Touga heard a familiarly grating voice.  His sister's.  Ever since she got booted she'd been having friends over.  Miki had paid a visit to the Kiryuu mansion the previous day; even Shiori had made an appearance.  There might have been others, too.  But who did she have over tonight?  Touga listened carefully.  He couldn't make out the words, but Nanami's interlocutor was definitely none other than Tsuwabuki.

Touga's head spun.  Nanami was talking with Tsuwabuki, and Tsuwabuki was offline the whole night.  But then what was this business with A-ko, what could this business with A-ko possibly mean?  How would Tsuwabuki know whether Miki knew who A-ko was?  The more Touga thought about it, the less sense it made...

He was about to receive an important hint.  But not, perhaps, in the mode he would have chosen.

Touga turned back to his computer and hit Refresh, and saw the words he'd been dreading since he logged on.

404: Page Not Found

And that was the end of Touga

Like I said, Best Touga Ever. OMG those were amazing. A++! Touga was really the key element in getting Utena and A-ko banned, so kudos to Paradox for the good work!

Sadly, all my PMs aren't very interesting or IC, so I have nothing good to share.

Yes, this was a great game. It was especially funny in the beginning, and then everyone was just so busy doubting each other.

Edit: OITL, your Saionji was epic. I loved him. And I loved making fun of his pretty hair and otherwise offending his masculinity! You had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, worrying that you would figure it out.

I also loved making fun of Miki. Thanks for being such a good Miki to squabble with, Bio!

Last edited by Like_Autumn (09-21-2009 04:46:54 PM)

HAHAHA!

That's right, Kozue is sexy! Oh yeah! She wears leather and combat boots too, so you'd better not get in her way!

Rarr!

This game made me love Kozue. I was worried I wouldn't be able to portray her well, but I realized how much fun of a character she is.

Edit: because I think I'm wrong about the lady actress, never mind.

Last edited by Like_Autumn (09-21-2009 04:49:14 PM)

Like_Autumn wrote:

Edit: because I think I'm wrong about the lady actress, never mind.

The lady actress is Carrie-Anne Moss, who is perhaps not quite as sexy as Jada Pinkett Smith but is still pretty damn hot.

Ragnarok wrote:

Yes, Paradox was definitely our only hope! (Incidentally that's twice Touga's been the Cop/Stalker and identified the Hacker Ringleader first. And both times played by one of two people living together.)

You would not believe the expression on my face when that popped out of the random-number generator.    But I played the numbers as they fell.

I just gotta say I'm sorry for turning it into a shit show with the false confession. I was just having my fun and couldn't resist a bit of mayhem. I think I pushed your buttons at the end Ragnarok. Friends?