vivarium | 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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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...

*Oh, a challenge? Good. Snake would win games and then Heiji would win games. He hadn't realized how much fun you could get out of a deck of cards.*

ambidex voting #11

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We could end it here?