[LP CYOA] Spiral

That might be pushing the definition of a village a wee bit.

Out of curiosity, how does it hold up if you use the correct range?

 

Oh, it works just fine if you change the 16 000 to 1 600.

Code:

[1153]

Amusing how long 1153 lives even in the village of 16 000, but it's just coincidence.

 

If I were the village chief, I would insist that since there would be no number after the murdered 1600th villager at the end of the first iteration, repeating the process would involve breaking the cycle and starting from the very beginning by giving the knife again to the first person.

That way number 1 gets to slaughter everyone.

 

Can we vote for that then?

 

It'll appear in an upcoming update.

 

A1

 

A1 - 12
A2 - 4
B - 1

Big bandwagon means short update coming up, I guess.

 

Well, I guess we're not too heavily invested yet, which would account for the low degree of DISCUSS going on.

I don't mind a quick update.

 

“M-Mori-san… you said that we had met before. Why would you think that?” Feeling curious about whether Mori might have actually known you before this, you attempt to delve into the topic with as much grace as you can muster.

“Hm? Oh, yes, I did say that, didn’t I?” He replies without turning to look at you, still hunched over the keyboard. “In my line of work I meet many people. Perhaps you just reminded me of someone I once saw. I pride myself on having a good eye for faces so I rarely mistake one person for another, but I would not claim to be infallible. I’m sorry for my mix-up, but that is all there is to it. In such a strange environment, it is understandable, no?”

“I see…” you mumble, spouting off a half-baked conjecture without thinking. “I-In an extreme situation… people want to cling to anything they find familiar?”

Mori chuckles grimly and agrees with you. “That’s right. People get lonely, I guess. If everything is strange. But you don’t seem to be the sort of sociable person who would have that problem. If you are lonely when you are alone, then you are in bad company, eh?”

***

A. Something about his words seems familiar to you… did he just quote Sartre?

B. You do not notice anything at all.

***

Straightening himself, he looks over his shoulder, turning slightly so that his eyes meet yours. “So… Why do you ask?”

“I… uh…”

“It’s a pretty strange question, don’t you think?” he continues. “You did say that you have no recollection of ever meeting me. Shinoseki, you should know best what you remember… or don’t remember. If you have never met me before, that should be the end of it. Besides, I asked you if we had met before. I did not say that we had met before.”

Gulping, you realize that he is right. You had made a mistake in your choice of words.

“S-sorry,” you bow. “I used the wrong words… that was not what I meant at all!”

“Relax. Everyone does it at times. Saying the wrong things, I mean.” Mori bares his teeth, but you are not sure whether his grin is affable or predatory. He is adjusting his coat – a smile crinkling his narrowed eyes – as he moves away from the computer. “So, why did you bring this up?”

“I…” Your blunder has disrupted your thoughts, and you find yourself tongue-tied. You are not really sure how to answer Mori at this moment. Why did you ask that question? If you are to tell him the truth, you would have to confess that you lied.

“Normally anyone would chalk it up to an error on my part and move on if they have never seen me before in their life. Ah, do you happen to suspect me of anything? Is that why you asked?”

“N-no, I…” You back away and almost trip over a swivel chair in your haste. Holding your hands up, you shake your head desperately, beads of sweat building on your brow. Do you suspect him of anything? You are not sure, but you are certain that you did not come in intending to make him an enemy. Mori looks like he could crush you easily with his bare hands.

“Calm down, Shinoseki,” he says firmly. “I was just saying it in jest… you are as twitchy as a rabbit! Sometimes I wonder if you are only faking your herbivorous nature. I’m just curious that you asked me this question all of a sudden. Is it important that I know you, Shinoseki Adachi-san?” Mori places a slight emphasis on your name, enunciating each syllable clearly. Suddenly, you are nervously aware that during the conversation, he has subtly moved closer, reducing the distance enough to reach out and touch you should he want to.

***

01:54

A. “To… to tell you the truth, I don’t remember anything about myself. That is why I was asking you in a roundabout way. I was hoping to find out more from you, Mori-san. You say you find me familiar… I hope that you can tell me the exact reason as to why.” You can’t take the pressure anymore. You confess - truthfully and politely - to Mori that you lied about your name and memories, and hope he can shed any light on who you used to be.

B. “N… No. You were curious… but so was I. I’m… I’m not used to having strange men come up and ask me if they have met me before, you see… so I was afraid you were stalking me before we came to the hospital or something, ha… haha. In such a strange environment… it… it is understandable, r-right?” You gather your thoughts and try to calm down before making up an excuse for your behaviour, turning Mori’s own words against him.

C. You break down and make a dash for the door. Anything but this interrogation.

 

Nah, I was just surprised that the direct approach from a socially awkward guy got a big bandwagon. As a choice, it yields a shorter update, so I could bang it out quickly.

 

1. A
2.B>A

 

Sartre? We know Sartre. We probably know a lot of authors. What did we, as awkward around living people as we are, have to do with our time but read, anyway?

A guy well-versed in classics and computers, but lacking social experience and a bit of a creep. He will be one true Codexian protagonist.

I like Mori. And I like his suggestion that we might have a predator inside us, biding its time. Let's play his game and turn his own words against him like he did with ours. It would probably do us good to develop a manipulative streak.

AB.

 

AB.

 

AB>AC

 

1.X

2. C>A

 

AB

 

AB

 

AA
Didn't want to lie to begin with.

 

AA Mori is a pretty cool guy. Lets trust him.

 

AC > AB.

We have to start learning to think like a Shinoseki rather than an Ean or Xu Jing. Guys, come on. What do you think is going to happen?

xA -> We stumble and mumble out that we were a liar, which gives Mori a trump card against us. If necessary he can always use it to show that we lied to everybody. And what is the gain, anyway? We don't know if Mori knows anything of importance. He has not shown any concrete sign of that yet.
xB -> We are hardly going to convince Mori to set aside his suspicions, not with our way with words. So this iwll just make him more suspicious, but at least it doesn't feed him a trump card like xA.

Now, with xC, of course it will make Mori more suspicious of us. But why is that a bad thing? Look: Mori is already suspicious of us, but he has nothing concrete, and currently we have no way of making him not suspicious of us. Hence, the worst thing we can do is to give him something concrete. In contrast, what we can do is use his suspicion against him and try and make him trip up somewhere down the line. For instance, with xC, Mori becomes more suspicious, but he knows he can't really use that anywhere. If he starts being interrogative or aggressive against us in public, our 'herbivorous' demeanour will maen people like Tokigawa and Uehara will always be on our side. Mori can't exactly say "but he ran away when I questioned him!" - that's the kind of antisocial behaviour everyone expects us to exhibit anyway. The point is, if we can't make Mori our friend, let's try and make him a bit paranoid and show his hand.

xB is also acceptable, but continuing to talk with him means more chance that we will let something slip or that he will read something out of us. Mori is a canny fellow while we are already a nervous wreck. The best thing to do is hightail it out of there - and the nervous antisocial way in which we do it will cement our reputation.

 

I think he is going to accept our explanation and lay off us, especially in public, if he does not want to be considered a creepy stalker himself - and that is what we imply with our words. It probably does not look too good when a 40 year old man harasses someone who is 2 times younger than him.

He is not going to cease being suspicious, but why should we care?

Seriously, your argument for C is applicable to B, and we let him know about it to warrant ourselves a bit of a breather, too.

Why should we run and give way? If we are timid and uncomfortable around people, it does not have to mean we are a pushover.

 

I'm okay with B too, as evinced by the vote.

Actually, C is even more likely to prevent him laying into us in public. With B he can say "he brought it up and spilled a few things then started denying it", with C everyone else will just say "leave the poor kid alone, he's so scared of you". This is not a big difference though. I think B and C are both effective here.

Re. pushover - completely irrelevant. What's with the random burst of pride? We're playing a kid who is a pushover, we should use that to our advantage instead of randomly sticking up for ourselves in half-arsed ways.

 

I do not see it that way.

In B, we show our teeth in a friendly grin. I like that. We brought it up because we thought he was stalking us, and if he continues to press the issue, it is only goiing to confirm our own words. What exactly is it that we denied? An unfortunate choice of words would not surprise anyone, especially given our nature.

Running away, though, is a bit much, even for us. It leans towards the Paranoid Incarnation.

It is a question of how to develop the character, and I do not find that road particularly interesting.

No, it is completely relevant because I did not intend to play him as a pushover. We did not shrink back when there was a conflict in the group, and we did not slip out of the room without trying to talk to Mori.

And before you mention it again, it has nothing to do with 'playing Ean'. Unless everyone is Ean, including Dio and Senya.

The 'shrinking violet' Cao'er had a will of iron and a determination of a steamroller.

 

wait a sec is 2C the mysterious code door?

If so AC.

 

I agree with Nevill, one can be awkward and less talkative without being a pushover. Confidence does not reside in how loud you talk and how eloquent you are.

Besides, I haven't yet given up hope on having a character with an actual backbone.