Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Owen shuffles the cards in his hands as the party guests form a circle around him. He pauses for a moment, a mischievous look in his eyes as he turns towards Gem.

“Gem? Where is the card box?” He asks, trying not to give too much away.

Gem produces the box from her pocket, handing it over with an inquisitive expression. “Right here, why?”

Owen smiles. “I’m adding two new roles. An evil detective and a jailer. The evil detective, or interrogator, will be given a jack. The jailer will be given a king. Everything else is still the same.”

Owen removes one random card from the pile as well as one Ace and replaces them with the king of spades and the jack of diamonds. “Now, just a refresh, Aces are Mafia, Queens are detectives, the Joker is the jester, the Jack is the interrogator, and the King is the jailer. Any questions?”

A chorus of no’s and head shakes follow his question. Until Lizzie pipes up, “what exactly do the jailer and interrogator do?”

“Ah, yes, I was going to explain after I handed things out, but I can do that now. Interrogator, you are one of the three mafia, but you don’t know who your fellow mafia are and they don’t know who you are either. You need to figure out who your teammates are and relay your information. Oh, and you can’t kill.” Owen explains. “You will function similar to the detective, you get one guess on anyone’s role per round.”

Lizzie nods. “And the jailer?”

Owen reshuffles the cards while he talks. “The jailer gets to arrest 3 people. At the end of every voting round I will ask if you want to use one of your three arrests.”

He holds three fingers up and turns around the circle.

“If you do, you will simply point to someone in the circle, if that person is a mafia, I will tell them they aren’t allowed to kill. If it’s the interrogator, they can’t interrogate in the next round. If they don’t have a role, nothing happens.”

He fans out the cards and begins to walk around for everyone to choose.

“Jailer, you will not know anyone’s role either. So choose carefully, you don’t want to accidentally arrest a Detective.”

After everyone has chosen their card, Owen asks everyone to close their eyes

“Detectives open your eyes.” He commands. He uses his phone to write down the two detectives then asks them to close their eyes again.

“Mafia, minus the interrogator, open your eyes.” Two people open their eyes. Owen writes them down before asking them to close their eyes and the interrogator to open them. He writes the interrogator down.

“Jailer, open your eyes.” Owen writes down the Jailer, then asks for the jailer to close their eyes. “And last but not least, Jester.” He writes the jester down and then asks the whole party to wake up.

Scott moves for the light switch. Owen nods at him, the lights turn off and the game begins!

Chapter Text

Cleo is excited for the new round. She doesn’t exactly expect to live very long with the amount of grudges against her, but she is excited nonetheless.

She decides to walk around with Grian and Pearl. They stop and chat with a few groups of people on their way to the top of the stairs.

“Grian, Pearl, we can stay for this game right? Have each other's backs?” Cleo asks.

Pearl nods, Grian tells her, “of course! We all need someone to trust.”

Martyn and Shelby join up with them after a while. Cleo is careful to stay away from Martyn as much as possible considering the way she tried to throw him under the bus last round.

The quintet talked for about five minutes before Apo and Pyro joined their group as well.

Cleo barely felt it, an almost imperceptible tap to her elbow as Owen calls out the five minute warning for the mafia.

1, she laughs at a stupid joke Martyn makes about werewolves.

2, she looks around to figure out who was next to her, unsure of exactly who tapped her.

3, she notices the circle of friends is standing in this order, left to right:

Martyn, Pearl, Grian, Cleo, Shelby, Apo, Pyro, with Pyro and Martyn standing side by side to complete the circle.

4, Cleo coughs dramatically, deciding to have a little fun with her death

5, she falls to the floor.

Pearl yelps in surprise before calling out to the house, “dead body!”

The rest of the party comes rushing up the stairs to see Cleo on the floor and six others surrounding her.

Owen makes his way to the center of the circle. He clears his throat then begins a story.

“The Mafia were looking for their first victim when they spotted Cleo walking down the street. They looked really suspicious, so they decided to follow along and see what she was doing. When they turned through what felt like dozens of dark, sketchy alleyways, they found out that Cleo was making a deal for crocheted toys filled with catnip for her cat Oscar. The Mafia, being dog lovers, took offense and killed her.”(story credit: @MyNameIsNotAmanda)

He waits for the laughter around the circle to die down. Pearl dramatically slaps a hand over her mouth and says. “No! The toys for our cat!” She squints and looks around the circle, shaking her finger. “I’ll find whoever did this!” Which causes even more people to laugh.

Owen claps his hands together. “Let’s get this voting round started then! Any accusations or evidence?”

Martyn crosses his arms. “Grian and Shelby were standing the closest, but no one in the circle was paying that much attention, someone could easily have reached around.”

“Woah, woah, woah! I wouldn’t kill Cleo, we bonded last round!” Shelby says, waving her hands around.

Grian stared at her. “ I wouldn’t kill Cleo either. She was supposed to be proof that I was innocent. You probably overheard that and killed her to make me look guilty!”

Owen retakes control of the conversation. “Anyone else?” When no one responds he asks a new question. “Vote to move to trial with Shelby and Grian?”

Grian, Shelby, Pearl, Martyn, and Legundo raise their hands. The first two glaring daggers at each other.

“That’s not enough votes, so we move to the night.” Owen states. “Everyone close your eyes.”

“Jailer, open your eyes. Point to someone if you’d like to make an arrest, shake your head if you don’t.”

The jailer shakes their head and then closes their eyes again.

“Detectives, no interrogator, open your eyes and point at who you’d like to investigate. I’ll give you a thumbs up if they are good, thumbs down if they are mafia, sideways for the jailer, and two thumbs for the jester.”

The detectives point at Gem.

Owen gives one thumbs up.

“Detectives go to sleep.”

“Interrogator, point to who you’d like to know about. I’ll answer the same as I did for the detectives, but will also add in a head nod for the detectives.”

The interrogator points to Drift.

Owen gives one thumbs up.

“Interrogator, go to sleep. Before we resume, if you have been jailed, I will cross my arms in an X next round to let you know.”

Owen walks over to the light switch. “Everyone wake up.”

The lights are turned off, and the next round begins.

Chapter Text

The meeting ends and Legundo decides to tail Grian. He follows Grian down the stairs into the kitchen. A few more people, including Sausage, Shelby, Pearl, Martyn, and Drift follow suit.

They talk for around five minutes before Gem, Joel, and Lizzie also join the group. Lizzie, hanging off of her boyfriend’s arm, starts talking loudly about how she wishes this was a costume party.

Joel responds that it would defeat the purpose of stealth if they were all in costume.

Legundo counters that it would have been really funny.

The group is all shifting around, but Legundo swears he sees a hand sneak out to tap Sausage.

He walks out past Grian and Shelby who are arguing into the center.

“Hey guys-“

He cuts himself off as he feels a double tap to his back.

1, he carefully turns around to see Drift, Gem, Martyn, Grian, and Shelby all within tapping distance.

2, he turns back to check on Sausage, who hasn’t fallen yet.

3, Sausage finally goes down

4, Gem calls out dead body for Sausage

5, Legundo falls to the ground

“We have two bodies!” Drift yells into the house, she rushes to turn the lights on before someone else gets killed.

Owen, Mumbo, Abolish, Pyro, Apo, Avid, Scar, Ren, Jimmy and Scott as well as Cleo the ‘ghost,’ all arrive in the kitchen shortly after.

Owen steps forward taking note of Legundo and Sausage’s bodies before beginning his story. “Legundo and Sausage were both on their way to the movie theater to watch the rerun of Hocus Pocus when all of a sudden, the streetlights turned off. Sausage took out his phone and turned on his flashlight. That’s when the mafia attacked from behind! Taking both the lives of the two men as well as their movie tickets.”

Owen looks around the circle. “So, do we have any accusations?”

Gem speaks up. “I think Drift might have been the closest to Legundo. But we were all moving around quite a bit, it honestly could have been anyone.”

Martyn nods. “I agree. Drift, Shelby, and Grian were definitely closest, but Gem is also on that side. It’s interesting that she’s casting the blame off.”

Grian cuts into the conversation. “Drift was further forward than the rest of us.”

Gem looks like she wants to retort, but notices that she has shifted in front of Drift. Saying anything could mean a death sentence.

Owen waits for any more accusations, then begins the voting round. “It sounds like we have four names being offered up. Only two will go to trial. Raise your hands for Grian.”

Pearl, Gem, Apo, Drift, Shelby, Pyro and Abolish raise their hands.

“Raise hands for Shelby.”

Martyn and Mumbo raise their hands.

“Raise hands for Drift.”

Lizzie, Joel, Grian, Avid, Scar, and Ren raise their hands.

Jimmy and Scott don’t vote.

“We move to trial with Grian and Drift. State your case, no interruptions.”

Drift clears her throat. “While it’s true that I was over in this corner, Legundo had to walk past all of us to get into the center. Also, I think we learned from last round that I’m a bit of a coward when it comes to kills. This was really obvious.”

Grian tips his head to the side. “Drift, that sounded more like a deflection than an alibi. Speaking of which, Shelby will back me up when I say that we were too busy arguing for me to kill anyone.”

Shelby carefully nods behind him.

Owen calls for a vote.

Grian, Ren, Scar, Lizzie, Joel, Avid, Jimmy, Scott, Martyn, and Mumbo all vote for Drift.

“That’s the majority. Drift, you have been executed.” A couple of cheers ring out from the ones who voted. Owen asks everyone to close their eyes. “Detectives open your eyes.”

The detectives silently debate for a minute before finally deciding on Abolish.

Owen gives them a thumbs up for a moment, then leans it sideways.

“Detectives close your eyes. Interrogator, wake up.”

The interrogator chooses Pearl.

Owen gives a single thumbs up.

“Go to sleep. Jailer, wake up.”

The jailer shakes his head, no arrest will be made tonight.

Owen nods, and the jailer puts their head back down.

“Everyone wake up, say good morning and don’t get murdered!”

Owen flicks the lights off and the next round begins.

Chapter Text

Jimmy is honestly surprised he’s lasted past the second round.

Typically people kill him off first as a running joke. Jimmy doesn’t necessarily mind it, but it makes him more nervous every round he’s left alive.

Jimmy hides behind Scott slightly as the round begins. Not keen on being the next one out.

He follows the blue haired man into the living room where the ghosts are hanging out.

They speak with the ghosts for a while, trying to get information out of them, but the glare Owen sends their way puts a stop to their questioning. Instead they pivot the conversation to how they’d love to play this at future parties as well.

Jimmy sees a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He pushes Scott over as a hand attempts to reach for his friend.

The hand pivots to tapping the back of his arm.

“What was that for?” Scott asks indignantly from the couch he fell on top of.

1, Jimmy notices the figure fleeting into the darkness is slightly shorter than himself.

2, Jimmy tries to signal to Scott that something is wrong.

3, Cleo and Legundo start laughing

4, “Scott?”

“What Jimmy?”

5, “AVENGE MEEEEE” he yells as he falls to the floor.

Both men and the ghosts laugh as Scott calls for the dead body.

Owen coughs into his hand to both control his own laughter and demand attention. “We gather here today to mourn the loss of Jimmy Solidarity. He was taken from us by a member of the mafia who decided that the oatmeal raisin cookies he brought to the last party we had were enough of a scandal to warrant his murder three months later.”

Pearl rolls her eyes. “Hey! I helped with those! They weren’t that bad!”

Owen lets the laughter die down before asking for evidence and accusations.

“Whoever I saw running away from us looked like they were shorter than Jimmy. I couldn’t tell much more past that because they had a hoodie on. That leaves Joel, Avid, Lizzie, Gem, and Grian as suspects, Martyn also has a hood, but he’s the same height as Jim.” Scott recounts.

Owen waits for his friend to finish before adding on. “That list needs to be narrowed down quite a bit for trial. Any more evidence?”

Abolish speaks up. “Not necessarily about this murder, but I don’t trust Martyn. He’s been sneaking around, almost like he’s trying to stalk people. He could be a potential Jester or a mafia trying to look like a Jester.”

Pearl adds on to the statement. “Gem and Joel were with me! This couldn’t have been either of them. Not sure where Lizzie ran off to though.”

Lizzie responds quickly. “I was tailing Martyn. He’s giving me weird vibes, I lost him towards the end of the round though.”

Scott narrows his eyes towards Lizzie, but doesn’t say anything. “Did anyone see Grian?”

“I was with Grian most of the round. We got separated towards the end but came back together at some point before you yelled.” Ren responds. Grian nodding along.

“I think that leaves Avid and Martyn unaccounted for.” Pearl directs her statement towards Owen.

Owen retakes control of the conversation. “Then we move to trial. I think everyone has made up their minds, but Avid, how about you give us a defense.”

Avid wrings his hands as he tries to come up with an answer that doesn’t sound too weird. “I know this is gonna sound suspicious. But I was in the bathroom for almost the whole round. I didn’t tell anyone and clearly no one noticed me missing, but that’s where I was.”

Owen nods. “And Martyn?”

Martyn clears his throat. “Abolish is correct. I’ve been watching trying to catch one of the mafia in the act. This round I was at the very end of the upstairs hall looking through the banister and down into the living room. Unfortunately both Scott and Jimmy were out of sight.”

Owen calls for a vote.

Pearl, Martyn, Shelby, Gem, Ren, Grian, and Mumbo vote for Avid.

Abolish, Pyro, Apo, Joel, Scott, and Scar vote for Martyn.

“Avid, by one vote, you have been executed.” Owen states. “Everyone go to sleep.” He calls the detectives first.

They hesitantly point to Mumbo.

Owen gives them a thumbs up.

“Detectives go to sleep. Interrogator, wake up.”

The interrogator lifts their head and points at Lizzie.

Owen smiles and gives a thumbs down.

“Go to sleep. Jailer wake up.”

Abolish lifts his head. He points at Martyn, then puts his head back down.

“Everyone wake up.”

Owen turns the lights on and the game resumes.

Chapter Text

Joel is the happiest man in the house at the moment. He’s lasted fairly long in the game, he’s got his girlfriend on his arm, and he feels slightly invincible with Martyn who pledged him loyalty.

The trio make their way upstairs into the bedroom where Joel died last round. When they get there Martyn speaks up.

“Lizzie?” He begins, Joel is a bit confused by the mischievous undertone. “I think we need to chat about your involvement in this game.”

Lizzie removes herself from Joel’s arm. “Whatever do you mean, Martyn?”

Martyn smiles, then stares Joel down. “I mean that if there’s information you need, I’m the one to get it from.”

Lizzie turns to Joel as well. A chaotic grin taking over her face. “Sorry love, but you can’t be left alive now.” Lizzie pats his shoulder twice and both Martyn and Lizzie retreat from the room, carefully closing the door behind them.

The pair stop in the stairwell and Lizzie asks Martyn a question in a hushed tone. “Do you have any information yet?”

Martyn responds, “Other than you? I know Pearl is a villager and Drift was one as well. Who’s the other Mafia?”

Lizzie goes to whisper a name when they hear Ren call for a dead body.

Ren, being the only member of the party who was upstairs, is surrounded by everyone else.

As soon as the lights are on, Lizzie speaks up. “Did you kill my boyfriend, Ren?” She crosses her arms and glares.

The entire party goes silent.

“No! Lizzie I promise! Why would I report myself?” Ren says rapidly, trying to prove his innocence.

Lizzie walks into the circle. “I happen to know more than you think. You were the only one up here when me and Joel split up. You are the only one who could have done this.” Lizzie glares at everyone in the circle.

Owen puts his hands up in a placating gesture. “Let’s put it to a vote then. Everyone in favor of executing Ren?”

“No! I’m being framed, friends, please believe me.” Ren tries desperately to convince his friends.

Every hand but Ren’s goes up.

“That is definitely the majority.” Owen states. “You’ve been executed. Everyone go to sleep.”

“Detectives, you know the drill.”

The detectives choose to investigate Scar.

Owen gives them a thumbs up.

“Go to sleep. Interrogator, wake up.”

Owen makes his arms into an X, waits for about a minute, then tells the interrogator to go back to sleep.

“Jailer, wake up.”

Abolish wakes up and almost points at Martyn again, then shakes his head.

Owen nods. “Go to sleep. Everyone wake up”

The lights turn on and the game begins again.