vivarium | ambidex voting #11

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ambidex voting #11

A M B I D E X V O T I N G

Chop chop, everyone downstairs to the first floor! You're all done the puzzle rooms, so you know what to do. Well, most of you, but it's pretty basic, just enter any Ambidex Room you like (they're not elevators, you ignorant test subjects) then vote! How does voting work? Very simple! Pick Ally or Betray, and that's it! But with every round, there's always some prizes, depending on what you vote, so here's this rounds:

For anyone who chooses Ally, well, if your opponent chooses Ally as well, then 2BP for each of you. You get all that friendship, blah blah, whatever.

For anyone who chooses Betray, and gets a Betray in return, your BP doesn't change at all, but you might get some coins for your trouble, let's saaaay, 20? Generous, I know.

Now, the best part: for anyone who chooses Betray and their opponent chooses Ally, Calhoun will be very generous with his prizes, again! You'll get 15 coins and a memory! Also, as usual, those who pick Betray get 3BP instead of just 2.

But if you're the poor sap that chose Ally and got stabbed in the back, well, sorry, you lose 2 BP. At least you got stabbed for the greater good, right? And plus, you might get a little something. He'll talk to you later about it.

But anyway, happy voting! Calhoun will see all of you later with the results.

BASIC INFO ✖ VOTES + FORMS ✖ RESULTS + REACTIONS

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After taking a day to sort himself out and try and make some sense of his conversation with Hershel, Heiji intentionally sought Snake out. Whether or not he had... feelings, and whether or not it Snake would be totally creeped out if he knew, well. Snake was his friend. And he had to know if his friend was okay.

"Hey, Snake? You feelin' all right?"

*Snake, having had a day to process the unpleasantness that was that room, could actually face Heiji with his poker face, the one that seemed indifferent to anything because he didn't emote nearly as well as everyone else.*

I wish yesterday had never happened. *To be blunt. He never wanted to feel that sickening sense of using someone ever again.* But then I thought about it scientifically. Ema warned me the room would be highly unpleasant and it was. This leads me to believe that everyone else had an equally embarrassing time that they aren't willing to divulge. That puts everything into perspective, in a way.

So it would seem that if no one else divulges the nature of what happened in the room, I won't either and I trust neither will you. That way we can move on.

Oh. Well.

Ouch.

It was probably a good thing that Snake couldn't see the look on his face, because Heiji hadn't been expecting... that.

So much for confessing his feelings, good job Hershel great advice 0/10 WOULD NOT EVER, EVER RECOMMEND.

Oh yeah, Heiji needed to respond, didn't he? Just give him a second to scoop his guts off the floor there, wow. "...Move on, huh? Well, I guess if that's what you want."

"I just wanted to make sure you weren't letting what Calhoun said get to you. I mean, we both know he's an underhanded little creep, but... I thought it still might have been bothering you. I won't... tell anyone about what happened. You don't have to worry."

Ugh, this was the worst. The absolute worst. It would have been one thing for Snake to flip out and get angry with him, but simply getting pushed coldly to the side, well. It hurt.

It would have been better if he'd never gotten to the bottom of this mystery.

Thank you Heiji. I appreciate it. *There. They could move on from this like the civilized people they were. Right? Except...except Heiji didn't sound all right. Not at all.*

*Could they really just pretend it didn't happen? All of it? Not just the forced makeout but the humiliation of all the other things that had happened?

*Heiji had seen him at his very worst, in mindless fear. Clearly Heiji wasn't all right with what had happened. And to be fair...neither was he.*

...I think I've let everything in that room get to me in the worst possible way. And I'm taking it out on you and that's not fair because I can tell you're upset. And you're not okay with what happened.

Neither am I. *He ran a shaking hand through his hair.* What do we do, Heiji?

Heiji worried at the corner of his sleeve, eyes cast downward. "Look, I... it's not that, exactly. I mean, yeah, that whole room was kinda embarrassing, but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. No one got stabbed or anything, and..."

And he'd enjoyed kissing Snake.

"I... I was just worried about ya because it seemed like you were takin' everything pretty hard. But I mean, the way you're saying it, it sounds like you don't even want to be friends any more. I don't want that. I like spending time with you." That last sentence was said quietly, as if someone else might hear -- despite the fact that they were alone at the moment.

*Oh. Well, yes, he had sounded pretty damn blunt there, hadn't he?*

*He sighed.* I really...really dislike taking off my arm in front of people. It's just very private. I'd like to think I'm not ashamed of how I am but I just...don't like pointing it out to people. Not only that, he got me about the cost of the arm. I'm angry he managed to me upset for two different reasons on the same thing!

*He liked spending time with him? Well. That had to be the silver lining of that shitty experience in that room.* Heiji...I can be pretty abrasive at times. I'm an intelligent person so clearly I need to use better vocabulary to express myself.

I don't want to stop being your friend. Even if we happen to be arguing with each other, I like spending time with you too. *A safe answer and...a true one.*

Oh.

Wait, what? Snake hadn't mentioned anything about the kissing, so... did that mean he was okay with the kissing?

???????????

But it didn't seem like this was the best time to ask about it. Or to mention that he'd sort of been looking while Snake stripped to the waist. Maybe he'd just... keep that under his hat for now.

"...I'm glad. And I'm sorry that happened to you." Heiji still didn't sound completely normal, but it was certainly an improvement over before. And while he still wasn't quite sure how to handle this situation, at least he could continue spending time with Snake. That was a positive, right? Even if it was just as friends...?

"So, um. I heard you got some new cards."

*Snake wasn't going to touch the kissing at all. That was just a subject he really would ignore and hope was never brought up again.*

Yes, I do, actually. *Subject change for the win!* I was getting a feel for them and I realize that I know the rules of poker.

"Oh yeah? Then let's play a couple rounds! They're those braille cards, right? You can teach me how to read 'em."

Although... maybe not at the exact same time. It kind of defeated the purpose if Snake knew what the values of Heiji's cards were.

*Generally you don't tend to win games that way, Heiji.*

Sure, I don't mind. *A nice, SAFE activity was just the thing.* We can even go grab Hershel if he'd like to learn poker.

Safe as long as no one accidentally brushed their fingers up against someone else's, anyway...

"Here, lemme shuffle, then. Five cards or seven?" Heiji seemed to recall the basic rules, at least. "I'm kinda surprised you went and bought these; you don't seem like a gambler."

*First perhaps they should take this into the lounge instead of wherever they're hanging out now. You kind of need a flat surface to play cards. With that done, he hands over his plastic deck to Heiji.*

They had braille on them. The more I shuffled them around, the more games I seemed to know the rules to. *He even knew how to play euchre and that took some practice to learn.*

Silly Snake, there was a table in the garden! But if Snake preferred the lounge, that was fine. He took the cards and began shuffling them deftly, dealing out several to both of them in turn.

"Oh? I hope you weren't hustling to fund your degree."

Maybe to get some spending money. I feel stickers on the plastic so I think they show the card values for people. In this set, the braille is a basic letter for letter transcription, which is why there's a lot of it on the cards. *He runs his fingers over the braille.* So each card will say "two of spades" or "Jack of hearts."

Snake certainly was demolishing that princely image of his...

Heiji set his cards on the table, feeling the raised dots on the cards. Of course, it would be easier if he had all of them laid out together, but that would be good enough for now.

"Okay. So what are we betting with?"

We don't really have anything to bet with. This is just for fun. *This isn't strip poker, so don't even think about it.*

If you feel the braille, you'll notice how each letter and symbol works. It's composed a small grid of six spaces, two bumps across and three down. Depending on which bumps you feel on that grid, they stand for letters.

"Really? You don't wanna rob me of the ten coins I have left?" But that was fine with Heiji.

As the game progressed, it would become apparent that Heiji was a quick and clever player, but also one that only played recreationally. He wasn't a card shark or anything, shocking and surprising everyone in murdergames.

If I wanted to really rob someone, I'd rob Jake. I think he's sitting on a gold mine.

*Unlike Snake, who seemed to have quite a bit of skill at the game. He lost to Heiji once or twice but seemed to win far more.*

"You're pretty good at this!" Was Snake like... a part-time gambler or something? It was lucky they weren't playing strip poker.

"Hey, you know how to play Blackjack, right? Let's try that, too!"

Sure. *Shuffling and dealing was also a good dexterity exercise for both of his hands.*

I think I might be good at it because card games are really about math and probability. Since I can only listen to your voice and maybe you shifting around to determine if you're bluffing or not, it's far better to pay attention to all the cards being dealt.

"All about math and probability, huh...?" As Snake dealt for the next game, Heiji slid the brim of his cap around to face front. From the sound of his voice, he was clearly smiling.

For some reason, he seemed to be doing far better now than he had been before...

We could end it here?

blind_badass - 2014-11-29 01:15 (UTC) - Expand

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ambidex voting #11

forward dated to a day later, fight me

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We could end it here?