ambidex voting #8

[vivariummods]

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

Comments

[detectiveofthewest]

"Yeah, maybe," said Heiji, looking a little doubtful. Like what part of knives everywhere and barfing dolls was difficult to understand?

"Hmm, you think Simon's into the girly type, though?" Because Simon was sort of sporting that girlish pigtail look himself, and... well, it was a possibility. Maybe.

"Oh yeah. Uh, I gotta ask you something, and it's kinda serious."

[puzzlinglad]

"Hopefully he didn't do anything in Kuzuryuu's room, I'm worried about him." Hershel frowned. "I mean he still has those two stab wounds and he's so insistent on not getting help, then all the running around with the robots..." Motherhen mode engage. "It'd be nice if he had a peaceful puzzle room. I'm sure he and Snake were careful at least."

"I don't know... maybe he would be more into someone like Jake, he seems um... well, like he may appreciate stronger people." Polite way of saying Simon's a wuss and probably could use a stronger boyfriend.

But okay now he was sobering fast. "Of course, what is it?"

[not_that_sasuke]

He's a ninja, not a detective, he doesn't do the asking thing!! He just sneaks around and overhears stuff.

"...You don't have to do that. It's fine." Just like how everything else is perfectly fine and dandy, yep.

[not_that_sasuke]

[Indeed it did, although Ema miraculously made it out (probably? mostly?) unharmed. Zelos wasn't as lucky.]

...Wilder got hurt.

[Or rather...]

...He got hurt because of me.

[detectiveofthewest]

"It's about Sasuke. Seems like Calhoun accused him of something in his last room, and... well, maybe you should hear the details from him. But I hoped maybe you could talk to him about the time Calhoun was throwin' those accusations at you, y'know? This time, it didn't even sound like he had any proof to back him up, but Sasuke's takin' it pretty hard..."

And of course Heiji couldn't just tell Sasuke what had gone down. He'd promised Hershel he wouldn't. "It's not a demand or anything like that. It's just... you know, if you feel like it'd help him."

[eeeek]

[oh, hershel! simon's face lights up 'cause he loves his best friend hershel and absolutely doesn't secretly want to punch him in the face. he does a little twirl to show off his hoodie, then realizes that's embarrassing and stupid, so he just freezes mid-pirouette and stands perfectly still. to the point that it's kind of uncomfortable to watch.]

Yeah. I had some money, and I thought, um - it gets kinda cold in the warehouse at night. [or whenever it is they sleep]

How did your last puzzle room go? I heard that you kinda fainted, or something. I've been worried. That's, like, a really big deal, you know? [okay it's not that big of a deal for simon, because he faints basically every twenty minutes, but still, it SOUNDS like it would be a big deal for a normal person]

[puzzlinglad]

[Wow, that was painful to watch. Hershel smiles though because idk he's seen worse probably, from Simon himself, so I guess this isn't actually all that bad. At least no one was thinking they were loving poolboys or whatever.]

Good idea, I've been tempted to try it a few times too but- [He glances towards wherever Calhoun is yucking it up.] -frankly I wasn't sure Calhoun wouldn't just use it as an excuse to give me a single sock.

[Hershel almost pointed out he's seen Simon faint like twenty million times or twice but he decides to not be a shitlord, Simon was being nice and caring and a friend.] It went pretty well, I wasn't too worried, Heiji and Clive are probably the best at puzzles here. I guess I didn't really get to see all of it though. [He shrugs, kind of embarrassed.] It's nothing to worry about though, but thank you for your concern.

[eeeek]

Dude, he totally hates me. He's, like, the only guy in this place who I think might actually try to kill me. [though that's entirely his fault. every time he and kuzuryuu talk, he says something stupid or puts his foot in his mouth. nobody can blame kuzuryuu for maybe wanting to punch simon in the face]

[buuuut he sighs. explaining why he's asking all of these questions is a little hard.]

Th-there's a reason, but... if I tell you what it is, you can't tell anyone else, okay? I trust you won't take it the wrong way, but... everyone else... I dunno.

[puzzlinglad]

[It's a Halloween miracle, okay. Still hearing that has Hershel stare in shock for a moment before he frowned and regarded the tree. Frankly he wasn't feeling up to tree climbing right now but there was no way he wasn't going to try and climb up there to be more level with Sasuke. This took precedent.

So he took a moment to climb up, a little slowly but he managed a comfortable seat on one of the branches before looking back to Sasuke.] I'm guessing Calhoun and the room had something to do with that. Was it a trap?

[eeeek]

[Simon blinks a few times, and then goes pale, all nervous and scared.]

I-I didn't-- I didn't think of that. Why did he give me a hoodie? Why didn't he give me a single sock or something? Do-- do you think there's something wrong with this? Was it naive of me to think this could all work out? [He pulls the hoodie off over his head, so now he's just wearing his weird mask shirt.] Th-this was a bad idea... the thread must have been poisoned or the red must be the blood of my family or - or something... I'm gonna die...

[oh but right the fainting thing. after staring in horror at his hoodie for a couple seconds longer he snaps to attention and realizes hershel's health is more important than his dumb bullshit]

O-Oh. But - um - that's - that's good? I'm glad you're not... like, dead, or anything. [he pauses.] You and Clive and Heiji are all friends, right?

[detectiveofthewest]

"It's not fine, and I'm gonna ask!" Thanks for cementing Heiji's determination there, Sasuke. "Maybe this way it'll put things into perspective a little more. No guarantees, though; I mean, like ya said, they might not want to speak up."

Unlike Heiji, who was... yeah, pretty open with everything. "You're not gonna do anything like skip meals just in case you run into either of the two of them, are ya?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"He hates you?" Wow, Heiji couldn't imagine Kuzuryuu actually working up enough feeling to hate Simon. "Whatcha do, call him a first grader?" Actually, you know what. That might do it.

Huh. Well, that was weird. What kind of super-secret reason could Simon possibly have for his actions...?

"As long as it's not that you're planning to knife someone or something like that, sure."

[puzzlinglad]

Hershel looked a little surprised before nodding pretty quickly. Honestly he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted Sasuke to know what Calhoun accused him of but if Heiji thought it would help Hershel was willing to suck it up. He just hoped Sasuke would be as understanding as Heiji had been.

"I can do that. He has been having a hard time since the knife throwing incident." He sighed softly, rubbing the side of his neck. "When I see him next I'll try talking to him. I think I can understand how he feels a little, at least about that incident. I tried telling him to remember how he's reacting and feeling now is more telling than anything else but that's not exactly easy to do sometimes."

[puzzlinglad]

[Oh no what has he done.] I'm sure it's just random, Simon, you don't need to- [Strip. Please stop last time was bad enough Kuzuryuu was going to pass out if he saw this.] Um, we can try washing it if it'll make you feel better?

[Because poison or whatever. And he smiles a bit at Simon's last question.] Yes, I consider Heiji and Clive good friends. I knew Clive before coming here too, I think I may have mentioned it.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji nodded. "Okay. And... no pressure or anything, really. I know you ain't really want to talk about it that much, so... I dunno. I mean, I hardly told anyone about my thing, so I can't exactly put the screws to you here."

"Maybe you can just judge if it'd make any difference, and then decide? Basically, I just told him that a bunch of people got accused of stuff, and Calhoun presented a bunch of evidence that couldn't really be verified. That much seemed to help a little."

[not_that_sasuke]

[Crud, Hershel hadn't been in the greatest shape either, had he? Was it okay for him to be climbing up like this? There's a flicker of concern on his face, and he looks about ready to help Hershel up, but...

Instead, he remains frozen in place. He just keeps causing trouble, doesn't he?

He takes in a breath before speaking again, his voice low.]

It wasn't. It's... the room is a game of truth or dare.

[That... already likely carries some pretty heavy implications.]

[eeeek]

Yeah? But you voted Ally anyway... [He speaks as softly as he can, like he's trying to be kind rather than accusatory.] That's okay. I think I'd do the same thing. I mean, how could I betray someone right after I hurt them...? If it had been me in your place, I'd feel like... I don't know... like I deserved whatever I got, or like I didn't deserve to protect myself. So - if you're feeling anything like that - I don't think that's bad, exactly.

[He pauses for a moment to mull over his thoughts, and when he speaks up again, his voice is a lot stronger than usual. He sounds like an actual adult, for once, which is crazy.]

Half of the people in this place would have tried to protect themselves by hitting betray, but you didn't do that. I think that makes you a good person, man. There aren't a lot of good people in the world, and there are even less of them in here. But you're one of them. No matter what you've done, I know you're inherently good, so I can't... blame you for any of this.

[puzzlinglad]

"I... honestly I think I trust Sasuke not to jump to the wrong conclusions." Hershel said after a long moment of thought. "He's a good person, the fact he's beating himself up so much about throwing that knife proves it to me. So... it's okay." He smiled at Heiji. "I think you're right, this might help and it's the right thing to do."

"But is he physically okay at least? His room didn't have any traps, did it?" Grey rooms sucked.

[not_that_sasuke]

Heiji, why you gotta do this. He's perfectly okay with staying up in this comfy tree for the rest of the game, too far away to stab anyone ever again.

"...No, I won't." Tempting as it is. But at this rate, Heiji's going to be keeping an eye on him, and he doesn't want to kick up more of a fuss than he already has. He'll just have to stick to the far edges and eat quickly.

[puzzlinglad]

[Note for time paradox things, I lied Hershel was totally looking for Sasuke because he was worried, ignore the part where I said he wasn't. That is all.

He frowned at that, yeah that. didn't sound good. Maybe the 'truth' part is what Heiji mentioned, and maybe the 'dare' is what got Zelos hurt.]

I see... [He settled in more, glancing up at the higher tree branches.] So I was right in a way, Calhoun did something to orchestrate whatever happened. Whatever it was, Ema and Mr. Wilder still allied with you, they must not blame you for what happened in there.

[eeeek]

Well, um... [man there's a list. he starts counting off reasons on his fingers.] I've called him short, like, five times... on one of those times, I said it'd be impossible for me to use him as an arm rest even though I'm taller than him, 'cause he'd beat me up, but I meant it as a compliment 'cause I was calling him strong... I asked him if he even knew how to make rice once 'cause maybe his parents never taught him how, but I didn't mean that, like, in a mean way... and I said his arms are tiny, but that's only because he looks like a little boy and I was worried he'd hurt himself if he tried cutting stuff up in the cooking contest. And I tried to feed him parfait we made by having him say "ahh" and he didn't like that. And some other things...

[blankly stares at heiji before shifting topics again]

I'd ... be a pretty bad murderer if I asked the smartest guy in here who I should kill. [he mouths the words "murderer" and "kill" because they're way too scary to actually say out loud]

[vengefulyears]

Clive looked up at Heiji and gave him a small, rather unconvincing smile. "Oh, no, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with." You know, just being moe trash... Heiji must know that lifestyle very well himself. "Did you talk to Snake?"

[eeeek]

C-Can we? We need to do that. We... we have to wash that. [because now he's terrified and basically shaking. way to go hershel

but yeah friendship. simon's still on edge because hoodie madness but he runs a hand through his hair and tries to focus]

Right, right. I remember. They're my friends, too. I haven't been in a room with them yet, though... [speaking of which, he suddenly notices Hershel's bracelet.] I guess we're going to be together next round, though? That's good! I hope it'll be us and Sasuke or something... [as long as kuzu's not the third he'll be happy]

[vengefulyears]

[Oh, it's one of the people that Clive was originally going to look for. He supposes he should make his presence known, then.]

I'm here, Snake.

[not_that_sasuke]

[Right on the mark, Hershel. He draws a knee up, propping his elbows on it. Hiding his face.]

--I should have looked for some other way. Wilder didn't do anything to deserve it- he was just there. [He only happened to be the healthiest person in the room at the time. What a reason to get stabbed.]