vivarium | ambidex voting #13

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ambidex voting #13

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

Another round, maybe this one will end better? Less blood and gore even? No? Well, here are the conditions regardless.:

For anyone who chooses Ally, well, if your opponent chooses Ally as well, then 2BP for each of you and blah blah blah, predictable. Bore him to tears why don't you.

For anyone who chooses Betray, and gets a Betray in return, everyone's BP stays the same and one of you gets fifty coins! That'd be fun, right? A cheeky little gamble. The rest get a pat on the back and that warm feeling of a vote well voted.

Last but certainly not least: for anyone who chooses Betray and their opponent chooses Ally, same deal as last time, two whole memories! Eh, eh? Come on, that's a pretty good deal, right? Take the offer! And the ally person well, they get the usual.

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

BASIC INFO ✖ VOTES + FORMS ✖ RESULTS + REACTIONS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He offered Sasuke a smile. "I will, hopefully I'll be back soon enough with Alfendi."

And with that he nodded to them before heading off to adventure aka idk probably not finding Alfendi and getting distracted by stupid things, enjoy. If you want him back at any point you know where to find me.

"Don't let him get too excited," called Heiji, waving as Hershel left. Not... very likely, in his placid state, but one never knew with Alfendi.

Then he turned back to Sasuke. "I talked to Clive about the blue room. He said it happened almost exactly the same way it did in our room. He described a girl that looked and behaved just like Alessa. And the other girl, she looked the same, too. I mean, they gave him the exact same story and scenario..."

He nods as Hershel leaves, even if it's with only the barest frown. Hopefully he'll actually take that to heart...

The news from Heiji, however, clearly has him confused. "Alessa went through all of the same motions again?" But... that would mean...

"--It was faked?" But... how? And why? Had they just been actors, working with Zero all along? Or was there something else going on here?

"I don't know," said Heiji, looking thoughtful. "She's clearly a good actor. But... why would she agree to play along with a scenario like that, what with puttin' the bracelet on and everything? And exposing herself to danger with that hair dryer? I suppose the bracelet coulda been fake. And the other girl coulda been in on it, too. But her expression seemed so convincing..."

"There are a couple other possibilities, I guess. You know how Calhoun can erase our memories. I don't think it's that far-fetched to assume he can take away specific ones just like he can give us back whichever ones he chooses. If he wiped their memories up to a certain point each time, they wouldn't even know they were repeatin' the same scene. I doubt they'd act exactly the same each time, but most of the responses we had to choose from were canned..."

"She did know more than she was supposed to, erased memories or not." As Heiji had pointed out before. "...Would the hair dryer have even worked? Zero could have just shut off the power if she needed to stay safe. Or if she works for him, he could have told her that's what he would do." Even if he didn't need her alive, that didn't necessarily prevent him from convincing her of as much.

"Maybe, maybe not. It did work when it needed to for the puzzle. I know if it were me, I'd need to be pretty damn sure I wasn't gonna get electrocuted before I'd even think about buzzing around a setup like that. And it goes without sayin' that I wouldn't trust the word of someone who's a kidnapper and accessory to murder." Of course, Simon had cooperated, but Simon had actually seemed to like Calhoun or Zero, for some sick reason. Alessa had mostly seemed keen on escape...

"Oh yeah. Not everyone knows this, but a lot of modern hair dryers have an immersion protection device, precisely because they posed an electrocution hazard. 'Course, that particular model didn't seem likely to have those features."

"Anyway. There are a couple of things that are botherin' me about that room. Clive said that they called her on that other girl, just like we did. And she promised to 'return the favor' and stormed over into their room, just like she did with us. But in their case, Jake hid behind the door. She saw Clive and went for him, but then Jake showed up and knocked her out from behind. Instantly, was what Clive said. After that was when they all got put to sleep by Calhoun.

"Only, don't that strike you as a little odd? Jake was injured pretty badly in the second grey room. Granted, that was about a month ago, but I saw the explosion. I doubt he's completely healed yet. He did have the advantage of strength and surprise, of course..."

Heiji crossed his arms. "But she got both of us without too much trouble, didn't she? And not to brag, but we ain't exactly the world's biggest pushovers. That level of physicality ain't normal for a girl her size. And why'd she come after us at all, instead of just tryin' to escape? I'm willing to believe she ain't know exactly who to find in our room; she had a western name and most westerners don't know which Japanese names are male or female. But that's even more reason to back off. She didn't seem stupid, so she must've had the confidence that she coulda taken us, no matter who we were."

He falls quiet as he listens to Heiji's observations, his frown deepening as he describes her attack on Clive.

"...It's too weird. Even if she wanted to escape badly, she still followed our directions even when we were close to finishing. It should have been obvious where to go from there. And doing the exact same things, down to trying to attack the players...

It's just like setting off a trap in a normal puzzle room for getting it wrong." It's... almost hard to believe they're talking about a scenario that involves another person. "What do you think it means?"

"Well, I think it's clear she knew from the beginning a lot more about what was goin' on than she admitted to. And her motive's in question. Her actions might make sense if she was committed to carrying out Zero's plans, whether that was through promise of reward or believing in his cause."

Whatever the hell that was.

"...I seriously feel ridiculous even sayin' this, but... did her strength seem human to you?"

There's a moment's hesitation, but he slowly shakes his head, feeling just as ridiculous. But it can't be denied: the way she had caught them both so easily like that felt incredibly unnatural.

"But... if she wasn't, what could she--"

-Oh. Duh.

"...Do you think she was one of those?" They'd seen enough of them at this point. Those humanoid robots...

"Maybe," said Heiji, though he didn't look too happy with this possibility. "We've only seen the broken, decrepit ones. But Calhoun's obviously well-maintained. And it would clear up a lot of problems with Alessa's motive, as well as explaining the way she caught us both. Robots don't need bribes or threats. They do what they're programmed to do, up to and including repeating the same scenario over and over again..."

"It... could explain some other things, too." But he can't go into detail, given Heiji hadn't done that room yet. It would only make sense, really. There isn't any way a monster like that could actually exist. And the robots had already displayed the ability to chase after them - it was just a matter of making one with a slightly different shape.

"...So the whole scenario was faked from the start. Do you think it was the same with the second girl?" He hopes so-- the entire thing left him feeling pretty awful from a combination of guilt and betrayal.

"I'd like to think it is, 'cause the idea of someone going through that over and over is..." Well. Horrifying, to say the least.

"But I think we gotta consider the possibility that there are other people in this warehouse bein' kept against their will."

He nods in agreement.

"...Muller and I talked about it. We don't know how many floors this place is-- for all we know, there could be concurrent games played. There's just no way to tell." He'd like to hope not, since that would not only be terrible, but also make this an even larger operation than it already is, and all the more bleak to think about.

Heiji looked thoughtful. "I'd say the biggest argument against other games bein' played here is the amount of space we've seen so far. Wherever this place is has gotta be big. If they're keepin' nine other people here, or even more, they'd need an enormous amount of space to keep up the effect. I was thinkin' the possibility was stronger that there's the area we were familiar with and a staging area where other people were.

"Either way, we've gotta be somewhere isolated. There's no way someone wouldn't notice all this activity going on if we were somewhere well-populated."

"Maybe the general areas... but some of the rooms could be used by different groups at different times. We still have no idea where that maze was in relation to everything else." Still, it's mostly an observation; the resources needed to run multiple games would be staggering, so he can only hope that's not actually the case.

"That would explain how much space there is, too. Not only would the activity be suspicious, but the size of the building would make it even more noticeable."

"Yeah... but I think there'd be traces of them left behind. I don't mean the staged blood, either. There ain't a person alive who doesn't leave trace evidence behind 'em, and even Calhoun can't clean everything. Unfamiliar hairs, bits of fabric, and so on..."

Heiji... really hoped there weren't multiple groups of people in here. "Kind of another point in favor of this bein' underground somewhere, innit? It'd be easier to conceal something like a bunker than a giant aboveground complex."

"It's still a lot of space to put underground... We'd have to be pretty deep." Which... could pose some serious problems whenever they do eventually find an opportunity to try to escape.

"...Guess we gotta check if the girls are the same next round, too," said Heiji, shaking his head.

"Never thought I'd be involved in a case like this. And honestly, I'm really worried about Hershel next round."

"Yeah... it'll be hard for him to make the decision once she shows her true colors." It's... pretty likely he'll end up hurt just as they were, unless they can come up with a contingency plan like Clive's team apparently used. But that's harder to do under pressure, and especially right after a shock like that.

"I know we keep saying this, but... try to be careful in your room. If you can avoid getting hurt, the rest of it isn't so bad. He'll probably need someone to talk to afterwards." And honestly, Heiji's probably the best candidate for that.

"Yeah, I know. Clive's a real careful guy, so I don't think I should have too many problems." As far as partners went, it could be a lot worse. A lot, lot worse.

"Jeez, you think I'll get hurt so bad I won't be able to talk to him?"

It's... not that entirely. Rather...

"...He might just focus on you if you end up hurt." This is Hershel they're talking about, after all.

Heiji laughed a little despite himself and the fact that they were talking about him possibly being maimed horribly.

"You mean you think we'll have a fuss-off? Well, I think he'd definitely win at that, though that might not be so bad. I think worryin' about other people makes Hershel feel better. He likes to make sure we're looked after."

Sasuke has faith in your monster dodging skills, Heiji. Just don't try to punch the damn thing and hopefully you'll get out fine.

"But then he pays too much attention to others instead of himself. His BP..."

How did he miss it all this time? He hadn't even noticed until it came up on the board...

"...He got a kit for Alfendi, didn't he?" Alfendi is the only one he could think of who would need it so urgently.

Heiji nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry, I already told him he was being a moron about it. 'pparently Alfendi got chewed up pretty bad during the red room. I saw all the bandages; it was pretty bad. Jake said he did something super dumb, or else it wouldn't have happened."

"Guess he felt like he had to do it, but it woulda been better if we all just pitched in a little."

"I wish he'd asked. I don't mind giving up a few points for something like that." He can make do just fine without a bed; having the ability to get a medical kit was more of his priority when it came to points.

"I think... as long as you're even a little cautious, you won't have the same problem Alfendi did."

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