vivarium | ambidex voting #8

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ambidex voting #8

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It was unpleasant for us even before the explosion." Hershel answered with a sigh. "The questions weren't very easy to answer, but I suppose issues of morality never are. At least none of us got into fights about it, even though Ema, Jake and I didn't always agree."

Oh, right. "Oh, sure, if you'd like." He kind of forgot about that what with puzzles and stuff. "Could we go sit down somewhere though?"

"Sure," said Heiji. "Let's go down to the garden. That way we won't have to do a bunch of cleanup, either."

Not that they'd be the ones cleaning up. HA HA HA. "So what kinda stuff you disagree on?" he asked as he started walking.

"Sounds good." Hershel agreed, to the garden they go. Calhoun could clean up pieces of fro, screw him.

He considered as he walked. "Well, the first one Jake definitely didn't want the tall person to be excluded. I think if the prize was something truly important it'd be better to exclude the tall person for the sake of the whole, and Ema mostly just tried to rile everyone up with nonsense about revolution." Very serious puzzle room.

"Other than that... I think the mining one we had some differences in. In general Jake and I didn't always see eye to eye, but I expected as much. I don't think his views were wrong, they just weren't for me."

Heiji tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. "Probably because he'd be the one bein' left out, right? He'd be totally lonely waiting on the sidelines for everyone else to play!" Jake was too tall, he was a monster...

"For the mining one, I said I'd look at all the other options first. I mean, you can spin it any way you want, but lettin' the guy die would be the same as killing him."

"That's basically his angle, I imagine." He said with a small smile. "For once his height wouldn't work in his advantage, though he's probably just put people in 'time out' as a protest anyway."

But back to morality. "That's what I thought." Hershel answered, almost a little relieved. "Honestly I don't think it's right to decide that the injured man's life is worth less simply because he's the easiest one to sacrifice. He could have a stronger will to live than anyone, he should be allowed to be part of the decision on what needs to be done."

"I guess ultimately the point is someone has to die there for everyone else to live." He glanced heavily away. Rough shit. "That's why the room was unpleasant. The last question was one of the worst."

"The one about letting your loved one die?" asked Heiji. "That's not really anyone's choice to make, though. It's the person who's sick. Though I'm sure whatever you picked would take their feelings into account."

As they reached the garden, Heiji pointed to the small table with chairs. "Let's set up over there, yeah?"

"It would have been easy if we could know what the person wanted, but I guess the point was you don't." Hershel answered. "You know, in a way I wonder if the real reason for that room was to stir up trouble, maybe make people turn against each other. I'm glad it didn't seem to work if that is the case."

He nodded before heading over, pulling out a chair for Heiji and smiling a bit. "Do you want to go first?"

"Sure," said Heiji, sitting down in the chair without much fuss. Apparently he trusted Hershel not to make this a bloodbath.

"I thought Snake and I would disagree more, but we actually agreed on a lot." He seemed rather happy about this. "'Course, Clive was out at the time, so we didn't get to hear what he thought."

He'll try not to casually stab your eye out, even though eye patches were pretty rad. Heiji could be really dramatic detective then. Hershel grabbed the scissors from his sewing kit, regarding Heiji's hair for a moment as he tried to remember what it used to look like. "Do you want it much shorter or just a trim?" Boy he hoped he didn't ruin Heiji's hair...

He couldn't help a smile. "It helps to go in with someone you know like that. I trust Ema and Jake with my life, so even when we didn't agree it never felt hostile, really, just differences of opinion. I imagine it wouldn't be all that different for you and Snake." He paused. "It's an interesting coincidence, isn't it? You were in that room with the person you woke up in the elevator with, I was with the first team I went through a puzzle room with. I wonder if that was intentional at all."

"Just a trim. Don't worry too much; you'll get all tense and end up messing up. You know, just go with it!" Yes... great haircutting advice. But at least Heiji's hair was pretty hard to mess up on.

~~Don't say it like that, ok Hershel~~

"I'm not sure. Though if we were going with the original teams thing, we were missin' Zelos..."

"I didn't realize you had haircutting knowledge." Hershel teased but it was pretty good advice, so he'll take it. He started snipping here and there, trying to make sure everything was even and not a wonky mess. It was a puzzle or something, fifteen picarats.

"True... the other teams don't follow the pattern either, really." Then again Clive's original team was gone, whoops. He frowned a bit at that, he was kind of worried the whole fainting thing stressed Clive out and reminded him of that but hey, he'd go make sure Clive was okay later. Haircutting now. "I guess it is all random, or seems so. I still can't understand why we were chosen for this at all. Simon was telling me after the robot fiasco that he thinks he's here to... well, fail, I suppose, as if we were all individually chosen to add something different to the group."

"Guess it's possible," said Heiji as Hershel started to snip away. "In a game like this, even a small change in the makeup of the group makes a huge amount of difference in the way the rounds shake out. One action leads to another, creating a chain of events..."

He looked over at the trees. "If Jake hadn't betrayed Clive, maybe Zelos wouldn't have betrayed Jake and Clive. Then Clive would have had no reason to betray Piper."

Snip snip snip. "It definitely has been that way, hasn't it? I think back to those first three rounds a lot, if Ema hadn't told me to try to live in a way I'd be proud of I don't know if I would have argued for allying with Jake, and... well that would have went poorly." Hershel answered after a thoughtful pause. "If you hadn't been the way you are I don't know if anyone else would have agreed to allying at that point either."

"Everything's been built from such little details, the good and the bad. Still, I don't want to believe Simon's right in thinking he's here as some sacrificial lamb for the sake of whatever this game really is. There has to be more than that." Or so he hoped.

Heiji looked amused. "So what you're sayin' is, I'm a huge thorn in Zero's side? I'm okay with that. But you are, too, y'know."

He yawned a little. "Everyone's got their own strengths and weaknesses. But as for Simon, I don't think he's as hopeless as he always says. He got this far, right? Even people who look weak on the outside can surprise themselves."

"Yes, you're probably the designated irritant." Hershel sounded amused, even though yeah that was a dangerous thing to be, dude. "More so than anyone. Which is why you should be careful, you know."

Annnnd snip. He stepped back. "Well, that doesn't look too bad." He did a pretty good job, not that it was hard. "I hope so, I told him he can always adapt but he didn't seem to think he was capable of something like that."

"I am careful!" protested Heiji. "You don't see me goin' around smashing things, do you?"

He stood up and brushed a few loose strands of hair off of himself. "Hey, I feel better already. Okay, your turn! Sit, sit!"

"I'm talking more about the fact Calhoun and Zero don't exactly seem pleased with you, if we're assuming that incident after cooking meant anything." Hershel answered a little dryly- okay fine, Heiji didn't smash things that was true he'd admit it.

He took a seat, a little nervous but hopefully he wouldn't end up with the most ridiculous hair possible. At least he had plenty to spare... "How have you been feeling, by the way? I guess whatever it was didn't hit you that hard, given you were fighting robots a few days later."

Heiji considered this for a moment. "Well, yeah. I mean, it's obvious that both of 'em got on my nerves from the start. Snake totally tries bein' all polite to them, but what's the point? That's not gonna make 'em let us go."

He scoffed. "They should be more worried that I ain't exactly pleased with them." HMPH YEAH.

Heiji took out his own pair of scissors, then stood back, as if envisioning the perfect future of Hershel's new haircut. "Me? I'm feelin' okay. The first day was the worst. Had to be careful for a little while after that, but I feel pretty much back to normal. Started eating my food at the cafeteria slower, though. You know, in case anyone decides to try it again."

"True... still, agitating them may be ill advised. Sometimes it's better to pick and choose your fights." Hershel mused. Guess who also went with Snake's be polite plan? This guy. "I really wonder sometimes how Zero and Calhoun are connected. He seems loyal to Zero, that much is obvious."

Hershel couldn't help a smile. "Ah yes, you are rather fearsome to their potted plants." Shitlord. "Admittedly you'd think they would be more afraid of you and Ema, what with your police connections."

Heiji the stylist, this was going to be good. "Heiji, do you think it's at all possible it wasn't Calhoun who poisoned you and Simon?"

"I am pickin' and choosing my fights," said Heiji, looking a little puzzled. Maybe... maybe Hershel didn't realize how much Heiji was trying to behave himself? "Didn't I mind my manners when we were talkin' to Calhoun about the medical supplies? Unless you're talkin' about that time I grabbed Calhoun at the very beginning -- wait, Ema's got police connections? Well, that figures."

He crossed his arms, then put out a hand and started snipping carefully at the edges of Hershel's fro. When he spoke again, it was more quietly. "Anyway. Yeah, it's definitely possible. But I guess you could say that it's a matter of means, motive, and opportunity. The three people with the greatest opportunity to pull it off were me, Simon, and Calhoun, since we were the ones who spent the greatest amount of time with the ingredients. When you're talking about the others, it'd be a bit of a crapshoot.

"First of all, the one done it would have had no guarantee that I'd use whichever ingredient or piece of cookware that was poisoned. There was tons of stuff there, and I hadn't talked about cooking to anyone except Simon. Actually, since I talk about Japanese food the most, the cake ingredients would probably have been the worst bet. There's also the question of when they put the poison in there. Of course, it's possible that someone else did it before the others got there and Calhoun just let them cause he's a jerk. But again, how would they have known to get there beforehand? It would've been pure chance that they'd be able to be the first one there.

"When it comes to the means..." Heiji rubbed the back of his head. "Well, that'd probably be Clive, Jake, me, and Piper. And Calhoun, of course. But regardless of who it was, there's no way Calhoun ain't see it happen. Not with all those video cameras. So at the very least, Calhoun was an accessory to the poisoning."

"I suppose you're right... I guess if anyone's not picking and choosing their fights it's Mr. Enjolras and Ema." Look at Heiji, becoming responsible. "Oh, yes, she told me a little bit about it. Apparently she helped a prosecutor catch a criminal once when she was younger, she seemed to really look up to him." It was cute, Ema's cute.

Hershel listened, frowning as he spoke. Yeah, those words words words covered it pretty well. "Wait, why do you think Clive, Jake, Piper or you have the means?" He asked, puzzled. Did they have some access to poison he wasn't aware of? All he could think is they were all the people who were betrayed.

Regardless- "I know we've been assuming you were the target, but maybe it actually was Simon someone wanted to poison? I mean afterall, he baked the most from what I saw, so anyone trying to hurt him might think to poison the ingredients he seemed to be using the most."

"Plus, I dropped him once he said that line about regrettin' it," said Heiji. Gosh, people always thought the worst things about him, rude.

He looked a little uncomfortable. "Yeah, guess I ain't tell you about this before cause you were running around worryin' about everyone. So a little bit after I got betrayed, Calhoun took me aside and gave me some stuff. A switchblade, and two pills. Wouldn't tell me what the pills were, but I'm willing to bet they weren't a mini-course of antibiotics. If he's been givin' that stuff out to the other people who were betrayed, well."

Heiji paused in his snipping for a bit, then continued. "Anyway. Yeah, Simon could have been the target. Only question is why anyone would've poisoned him. He's new, far as I know he hasn't been making waves."

Poor Heiji's reputation, you need to tell him about what a mediator you've become! He'll be so proud. "He certainly doesn't beat around the bush there."

He made a bit of a face at the 'running around worrying comment,' ready to answer that dryly but ok, this information was new. He looked surprised a moment before frowning deeply. "I see. Calhoun and Zero really aren't even trying to hide their intentions, are they? They want us at each other's throats, why else offer such dangerous things."

"As far as I can tell he isn't hated. I think he annoys some people but that's a far cry from being targeted for murder." He answered after a moment of thought. "I don't see why anyone would target you either, not for personal reasons. You seem to get along with practically everyone, or at least are civil with them."

Heiji nodded. "I mean, it's not like everyone and their dog ain't running around with a knife anyways, but it means a bunch of people have access to drugs they might not necessarily know the contents of."

Snip snip snip. Hershel had a lot of hair! Hopefully he wouldn't end up looking like a hedge animal. "That's kinda why I think it has to do with the game itself. I ain't saying it's impossible for someone to dislike me or anything, but an isolated poisoning attempt doesn't seem like a logical reaction to that."

Hershel sighed. "Yes, that's true. I really wish everyone didn't have one, it's too dangerous. Owning a weapon means you need to be prepared to use it." And that was never good.

He already looked ridiculous so it was probably fine. "No, if anything I'd be more inclined to think Calhoun made a deal with someone and poisoning you was what he wanted in return. Still, I don't think anyone would go for that... I want to believe no one would at least."

absolutely, let's do it

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