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

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"Sure." Hershel went to doing that, again carefully but sorry, Alfendi, it still probably hurt quite a bit. At least he's not telling you to be a corpse like Heiji, that's one bright side to all this.

Even cleaner the wounds look pretty terrible, and he bit back more fussing for everyone's sake. You're welcome. It probably doesn't take too long to get one arm done so he moves to the other when he's through.

[Alfendi does as he's told, mostly, keeping still and staring blankly ahead. It's... it's not... it. hm. it just. it doesn't make things much better. he was told to act like a cadaver, and that's pretty much exactly what he's doing. he doesn't even flinch when hershel's rag pushes against the more tender side of his injury, but his eyes do start to water and his breath hitches in his chest. GOD PLACIDFENDI IS SO WEIRD]

You know, I'm not sure many families get into a situation like this. Death looming around every corner, men being wounded by monsters and other men alike... I'd hardly call this par for the course.

[he doesn't blink when he talks. he is weird]

Are we nearly done? [HOW UNGRATEFUL]

"Oh yeah, almost," said Heiji. As Hershel finished applying the antibacterial gunk, he was going to start re-wrapping the wound. A few passes in, and he pulled a bit on the bandages, experimentally -- no real way to tell how much painkiller Alfendi had taken, after all.

[Alfendi winces somewhat more openly when Heiji pulls on his arm, and he actually breaks into the start of a cold sweat, his hand starting to shake. it's obvious that heiji just hurt him pretty badly, just by lightly tugging on his bandages, but alfendi's expression doesn't give that away at all. he just looks inconvenienced again, all lazy and tired and bored. someone just tampered with a major physical injury of his, and he's not on nearly as many painkillers as he should be - but he just looks disinterested, like the huge surge of pain going through his arm is happening to someone else. it's very obviously an inappropriate response, given the rest of his body language.

he does look at heiji after, though, frowning a little.

he doesn't say anything.

just frowns.

and stares.]

"Well that part certainly isn't." Hershel answered, unless the world was a weirder place than his vague memories were leading him to believe. Maybe bodies did fall out of the sky every day and people like Alfendi roamed the streets in packs. Maybe that was true and not stupid.

When Heiji tugged the bandage a bit Hershel didn't really notice until Alfendi's reaction clued him in. He just watched a moment, hopefully and a little guiltily, but-

Nothing. He tried not to sigh and just shot Heiji an apologetic look. Looks like his theory wasn't completely accurate 100% of the time at least.

Well, now Heiji just sort of felt bad. It was one thing to bug the other Alfendi, who would at least screech something about literal garbage and flail around in an attempt to defend himself. But this Alfendi was either unwilling or unable to complain, even when Heiji had apparently hurt him quite a bit. How badly were they going to have to inflict pain on him to bring the other Alfendi back?

"...Sorry. You okay?"

[rather than answer heiji (or hershel who is thinking about flying bodies like a normal person), alfendi just robotically lifts his arm and stares at it. quietly. in silence. wow it's really awkward in here all of a sudden. he just watches his arm until he starts to settle down, the pain very slowly subsiding.]

No, I'm fine. Thank you again for taking care of me.

[blank. stare. more staring at heiji. more fun, glassy-eyed staring at heiji. it's probably a relief when he turns away to look at hershel.]

If you're feeling uncomfortable, you don't have to stay here. You don't seem very happy. It must be a lot of work looking after someone's injuries like this.

"N-no, that's-" Smooth, Hershel. He honestly has no idea what to say and kind of deer and headlighted it for a minute. After that fun minute he sighed, rubbing the side of his neck uncomfortably. "Sorry, it's just been a long day, I suppose. It's not a lot of work, it's just... necessary."

And he glanced at Heiji. "Thank you for-" Trying. Even though that didn't really work and he didn't really want to go punching Alfendi in the wound to see if maybe that'd work better. "-helping."

Heiji sighed and finished wrapping Alfendi up. "There ya go. I think you should be okay as long as you don't reopen your wound. You make sure and take those painkillers, okay?"

Great, now what were they going to do? Sure, placid Alfendi was creepy, but they couldn't just torture him, right?

Sure thing. [he's answering heiji, but he's still looking at hershel... okay. whatever. he gets up and holds the book he was reading earlier and looks around the garden, slightly self conscious. he kind of wants to leave, now that these two might be finished with him, but he doesn't want to be rude. that would be very unlike him.]

Sorry. I don't mean to be impolite, or - or come across as ungrateful, but... if you don't need anything else of me, I might, uh. Go.

[HERSHEL'S CALL HERE DO YOU WANT TO KEEP PUNCHING HIS ARM??]

Yes, let's just start torturing Alfendi- no, Hershel sighed as quietly as possible as he stood. "Of course. Please be careful, Alfendi."

He glanced to Heiji with a meaningful, let's talk sort of look. "Here, let me help you back to where you were. Have to keep off that leg and all."

Okay. Alright. Thank you again, both of you.

[that's like the tenth time he's said thank you. normal alfendi barely even says it once, so what the hell. he ducks his head appreciatively to the two of them and just sort of shuffles a few metres away, where he promptly sits down on the spot. he's not really creating much distance between them, but yeah, he totally wants to be alone.

so shoo go talk to each other on your own goodness]

After Alfendi shuffled away, Heiji backed away a bit, so that they were at least out of earshot. "Well, that didn't work. And he gave me a look like I kicked his kitten." So yeah, what a wonderful experience this all was.

"Hershel, I know the personality he's got right now is kinda weird, but... well, ain't it also Alfendi? You sure it's okay to just switch him back and forth like that?"

Hershel sighed, shoulders slumping. "I don't know. Alfendi- the normal Alfendi, he seems to hate this version of himself, and this version doesn't seem to acknowledge the other exists. Is this even a personality or just a trance?"

He glanced over with a shake of the head. "Either way I guess we can't really know, can we? Maybe if I remember more it'll be clearer but- I don't know, Heiji. This him just seems wrong somehow. Maybe that's just an assumption."

"Yeah, but that happens in fiction a lot, right? Personalities that don't like each other? I never knew Alfendi before, so I can't really tell what's normal for him and what's not, but... even if this is just a persona who cropped up recently, I ain't feel too good about this."

He crossed his arms. "Even just tugging on his bandages a little seriously hurt him. He didn't say anything, but I could tell from the way he stiffened up like that. And he didn't even complain. I ain't sure how bad we'd have to hurt him to get him to switch, but... it just don't feel right. Do you think we could ask this Alfendi about it? Maybe he'd answer if we were up front about it."

"I definitely think we shouldn't try hurting him again." Hershel shockingly wasn't a fan of torture. Contain your awe. "Honestly I was hoping just the act of changing the bandages would be enough, I suppose it isn't that simple, whatever the trigger is."

And he considered for a moment before nodding. "It's worth a try. Maybe if we're persistant he'll be more willing to listen. He didn't seem too keen on spending anymore time with us but-" Eat shit Alfendi, this was for your own good. "If we can at least get an idea of who this Alfendi is it'd be useful."

"What's weird is ya keep talking about this Alfendi like he ain't Alfendi," said Heiji, glancing over at the subject of their talk.

"But who else would he be...?"

Hershel glanced over as well, how subtle were they. Thank god this Alfendi seemed to want to ignore them as much as possible.

"Do you think it's possible it really is just some split personality thing? That they're both actually Alfendi and it's not some... I don't even know, some strange condition I suppose."

Hmm, a good question. "Well, it's not like even experts agree on whether multiple personalities are a real thing," said Heiji.

"But let's say it is some kind of weird condition of his. Does that mean that when he's like this, he ain't Alfendi?"

"That's true. I'm not sure this is really the same sort of thing either." It was all a little too off for that in his book.

"Possibly? The louder Alfendi- we really need names for them... well, that Alfendi doesn't seem to think he is. This one barely seems to consider the question at all." He rubbed the side of his neck, brow furrowed as he tried to reason this nonsense out. "I think we can at least safely say they aren't really the same person. I'm not entirely sure they even remember the same things. Maybe it'd be best to treat them like separate people for now, until we have a better idea of what's going on."

"What would we call the other one? Idnefla?" Not that Heiji had any strong opinions either way, but it would make things more convenient.

"You've spent the most time with him, so I guess we gotta trust your judgment. Can't imagine how he coulda gotten that way, though." And the idea of one of the Alfendis not actually being an Alfendi was... weird. What was he, then...?

"That's a bit of a mouthful." Hershel had to be amused at that. Idnefla. Beautiful. "How about we just call this calm one Al? That's simple enough."

"I wish Kuzuryuu was still here, he saw a lot of this nonsense first hand." He sighed before continuing. "Thank you though, for helping with all this."

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