Part 14: Versus: Ox

[BGM: Ox's Logic]


Phew. I gotta hand it to you, that was a close one.

This whole thing's really giving me a heart attack.

You're the one getting a heart attack?

Ah, I guess you're right. That's not fair.

Without the help of Horse and Dragon, what's your 'long-term' plan here? Are you going to play against each and every one of us until we're all under your control?

Why would I tell you that? You can sit back and watch the plan kick into action.

I don't think I want to.



Oh, I guess I didn't think about that.

Would you all just be quiet? I'm trying to pick a game that I can actually win.

By all means, take as long as you want.

… ...Whatever. If I think about this for too long, I'm going to get a migraine.



How about we play 'Two Truths, One Lie.'

'Two Truths, One Lie', huh? I've no objections to it. Seems like sort of a random game for you to choose, though. Not what I'd expect.

It's basically a game of interrogation, which isn't entirely far away from my actual line of work.

A game of interrogation, huh? Not how I'd characterize it, but to each their own.

We'll keep the rules simple. Every round will consist of two phases, your phase and mine. On your phase, I will make three statements. One will be a lie, the other two will be true. You need to guess which one isn't correct.

If you guess right, you get a point. If you guess wrong, you don't. Then we do the same thing, but I have to guess and you have to make the statements.

The game will end whenever a round finishes with one of us in the lead.



So basically it'll keep going until someone both 'attacks' and 'defends' successfully, huh?

If you wanted to think about it like that, I guess that works.

I've no objections to that on the face of things. However, there's a bit of a problem we might run into that I'd like to address. Unlike a friendly game of this, there's a bit on the line, isn't there?

So how do we know if the other person is being genuine when they reveal which statement was the lie?

We'll simply have to write down the false statement beforehand.

Mm, that works on the gritty mechanics side of things, but how do I know your 'truths' will genuinely be true and vice-versa?

How about this: Brian's observing these matches live, right? He's clearly done quite extensive research on our backgrounds before this, and he has access to the internet.



Behind the scenes, I would ask Brian to reasonably vet our statements, and if anyone says anything is true that isn't true, or vice-versa, that person instantly forfeits the match.

You know Brian doesn't know everything about us, right?

True, but we are both unaware of what he does know. I would think the risk of instant disqualification will be motive enough to not cheat.

Alright. Yeah, I can roll with that. We're just burning daylight as it is. Let's just jump right into it.

Fine. We can start now. I will go first.

[BGM: Silence]


Ox stood in thought for a few moments. He then looked around for a nearby sheet of paper. It took an awkwardly long amount of time to find some, but once he did he scribbled something down and folded the sheet up.

[BGM: Stampede of Truth]


Okay. 'I wanted to be a singer when I grew up.' 'I have a younger sister.' 'I am currently single.' Which is a lie?

Uck. Those are your three statements?

Those blow, my dude. But alright, I guess that's what we're going with.

Dog stood in silence for a bit, before sighing.

You're really no fun. Those were, like, nothing statements.

It could honestly be any of them and I wouldn't be surprised. I'll, uh, go with you being single I guess.

You seem like a pretty charming fellow. I'd think you probably have a lady friend on the side to have fun with. Prosecution's stressful work, right? You need someone to help with that.

With a taciturn face, Ox simply unfolded his paper.



I am, in fact, an only child.

Gasp. What shocking revelations. You've really blown my mind with that.

This isn't supposed to be a slumber party activity, this is a life-and-death battle!

Really? Then why did you choose the most middle school statements ever?

You didn't ask any follow up questions, no wonder it was boring for you.

You think this game is about follow up questions? Look, I'll show you how it's done.

On Ox's paper, Dog scribbled his own statement, then folded the paper once more.



Chief of Police Bowen currently is desperately afraid of something, and therefore is secretly conducting a very intense investigation.

Brian regularly showed up around my bar before this game started.

I lied during the testimony I presented during Mr. Morris' trial.

…

So? What am I lying about?

The fact that two of those statements had to be real, should have been real, made me shudder. What was Dog talking about here? What did he know? It also seemed to shake Ox. That's probably why Dog posed such questions.



Those are some big claims you just made. Let's go through them one at a time.

How did you learn about Bowen's desperation?

…

…

…

Are you going to say something?

Doesn't say anything in the rules about having to answer.

So that's how it's going to be, huh? Figures. Guess I'm on my own.



The third statement is so preposterous I'm tempted to pick that. However, if it's true, it's the type of thing that would explain why Brian would pick you for this sort of game.

You're also not saying that the whole testimony was made up, which I know isn't true, just that at some point during it you lied. It could be something minor. It's plausible.

But the second statement. That's actually something you already said.

It was brief, but you mentioned it offhand back during the first round. Back then, you had no motive to lie. So we can safely assume that that was genuine.

But why would you choose something that you had already mentioned? Did you just forget that you had said that?

No, despite your outward appearances, you've proved to be an exceedingly shrewd person. You would remember that. And I bet you know I would too.



In that case, even though I don't know why you'd lie about it, I think you did back then. And you remembered such a strange lie, and you're using it to your advantage now.

I believe your second statement is a lie.

Nah, sorry.

Dog held out the paper.

I didn't lie in the court.

I'm a very good boy who would never sin against the Lord by committing perjury.

Uh huh. So what was that about the Chief of Police?



I've no obligation to tell. That's private information.

We tied this round, right? Both our offenses failed? Then it's your turn to make some truths and lies again.

Very well. If you disliked my strategy last round, I very much doubt you're going to like what I'm about to do. However, I think this is the best strategy.

Ox took the paper and quickly wrote something on it. He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket.

I drew a smiley face on that paper.

I drew a frowney face on that paper.

I only drew one face on that paper.



You were right when you said I was going to hate this. This is literally nothing, Ox. You've made this a guessing game.

Precisely.

I hate it.

Alright, here we go.

Dog walked right up to Ox.

Right away, I'm going to eliminate the third option. You definitely only drew one face.

Knowing you, you probably drew a frownie face. That's just basic psychology. But that's probably what you thought I'd think. So then you drew a smilie face?

Hm.



I couldn't differentiate between your reactions when I suspected one than when I suspected the other. Is that because you really did draw both? No, no you didn't.

Because I just saw you get less tense when I mentioned that. And now that I've flipped, you've suddenly got more tense. So which did you draw?

You definitely drew a smilie face, didn't you?

That was an audible sigh of a relief. Way too blatant. Now that you realized I'm reading your reactions, you tried to throw me off. So...

You drew a smilie face!

Ox's face grew visibly concerned. He held out the paper and sure enough, it was a smiley face.

Ha! Wicked.

[BGM: Bullfighter]


It's not over yet. I can still make a comeback if I guess your lie properly.

Of course! It's far from being over, I wouldn't dare say that. Now let's see, what's a good one for this...

Dog thought to himself, then started writing something down on the paper. He folded it and placed it on the nearby table.

Here it goes.

I wasn't the first one to read the whip's tag.

Mouse wasn't the first one to read the whip's tag.

Bunny wasn't the first person to read the whip's tag.



Those were his statements? What was his game saying that?

So you're just asking who read the whip's tag first in your group? Then-

Ox started to turn around to look at me, then stopped.

Hold on. If I read anything useful off of Mouse's face, that would count as 'interference', and she'd be executed, wouldn't she?

I would?

Is that why you picked this question? To try and get Mouse executed?

No comment.

Wow. And I thought you couldn't go lower.

Yeah, yeah. Just make a guess.



I'm not going to just make a guess when my life's on the line! Since you used the whip, it would make the most sense if you were the one who directly found it.

But I can hardly be sure of that. However, I think you know I would be driven away from choosing you as the reader. And therefore, maybe that's why you posed the question like this.

And therefore, I'm guessing that 'I wasn't the first person to read the whip's tag' is a lie!

Dog just chuckled, and in an instant Ox's face fell.

Too bad, so sad. Tell 'em, Mouse!

...I read the tag off the whip first.

[BGM: Silence]


Man, Ox, you should've had more faith in your good pal Mouse!

So that's that, then? I'm under your control now?

Yup.

So the round's over?

I suppose.

Dragon smirked, and Dog ran into another room. Instead of continuing to chase after him, Dragon just stopped when she realized he would make it to the room. Everyone waited for him to challenge someone with the whip.



However, no announcement came.

Hey, what the hell, Dog? Why aren't you challenging someone?

Why would I challenge someone?

Uh, because you want to stop me from beating you up.

Why would you beat me up?

Are you dense?

Dragon, think about things a little more clearly. The last thing you want right now is for me to challenge someone. As the challenger, if I lose, I die.

Yeah, and?

Have you not been paying attention?



If I die, you die!

That's...

It would be much better for you if the group won after challenging me. Then they'd get control of me, and by extension you, and could lead the group to a mutual win.

Hold on, Dragon, if you don't make him challenge someone, he gets to pick the game! That lowers our odds of winning!

Winning doesn't matter if that victory will kill you, aren't I right?

…

Sorry Mouse, but Dog's right. As much as I want to kick the shit out of him, I'm transitioning to be his bodyguard.



If you want to get to him, then one of you needs to be the one to challenge him.

But we'd be at an advantage.

I have to ask- must we challenge him? Can we not simply run the clock out on him? So long as so many are unwilling to cooperate with him, it'll be exceedingly hard for him to get out alive.

If you try doing that, I won't input any actions for anyone I control this round! That way, they'll be executed!

You fucker! I'll beat the hell out of you!

Don't get mad at me, get mad at them! If you want to survive, your only option is to get someone who hasn't challenged me to challenge me, and for them to win!

So come on, get to convincing!



Dragon looked painfully at us. She was in a really tough situation. I didn't envy her. On the other hand, it was a tall order to convince anyone to challenge Dog. After all, everyone so far had lost to him, even when they got to choose their ideal game. The prospect of dying upon losing to Dog was an incredible disincentive to challenge him. And there wasn't any real motivation to challenge him.

At present, even though Dog had plenty of leverage, it was mostly an empty threat to those he hadn't yet challenged. If things stayed on course, Dog would still be unable to fulfill his personality's win condition. Not with everyone against him. He could use the people he had currently tamed as leverage, but once they died he'd be forced to resort back to challenging us one at a time if he wanted to win.

But... If we did nothing, Horse, Tiger, Dragon, and Ox would all die. Was it right to abandon them like that?

It wasn't. I steeled myself.

[BGM: Dance of the Snakes]


However, right as I was about to say something, Snake stepped forwards.

Very well. I suppose the task falls to me.