vivarium | ambidex voting #3

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ambidex voting #3

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

After escaping your rooms, talking with others, swiping your Ambidex Room cards, and entering, Calhoun appears on the screen to very briefly explain how the AB Voting works (45 minutes to either choose to Ally or Betray, you gain/lose points depending on what your opponent chooses), but to also introduce this round's prizes.

That's right, this round has a whole new set of prizes! They're a bit different from the last round, so listen carefully!

For anyone who chooses Betray, they will be getting a standard first aid kit and a can of food. Calhoun noticed that some of you managed to hurt themselves in the puzzle rooms, so he highly encourages you to take advantage of this one-time opportunity for free medical supplies!

For anyone who chooses Betray and their opponent chooses Ally, you will get a memory regain instead of a can of food! After all, you'll have access to the cafeteria so it won't really be necessary. ~~Unless your name is Clive Dove.~~

For anyone who chooses Ally, well, if your opponent chooses Ally as well, not only will all of your BP increase, you'll even get a gold star of friendship! Doesn't that sound wonderful?

If you're the poor sap that chose Ally and got stabbed in the back, well, sorry, you only lose BP, but maybe Calhoun will have something for you. He likes all of his test subjects, so he won't forget anyone here.

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

BASIC INFO ✖ VOTES + FORMS ✖ PRIVATE POSTS ✖ RESULTS + REACTIONS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hershel really tried not to seem amused about that. "You're probably lucky that's all she did then, you should be more careful, you know."

They probably looked like weird, gossiping teenage boys, which... they were. Superstars.

"What-" Oh right, he totally gossiped a lot, didn't he? He nodded with a smile that's both amused and a little thankful. "Thank you... I think she'd be ah... cross." It was only good, scary things Ema, I swear.

"Nah, it'll be fine," said Heiji, waving a hand as if he had not just run in the face of danger not ten minutes ago.

"Besides, I figure someone's gotta be on good terms with her. You get to talk to Jake?"

"I owe her a lot, if it wasn't for her advice-" Hershel shook his head. It wouldn't have been pretty, that's for sure.

"Oh, yes. He actually helped me with- you know." He gestured to his arm. "I'm still shocked at how calm you both are about all this... maybe you really were some adventurous film noir private eye."

"If it wasn't for her advice what?" asked Heiji, curious. "Don't tell me ya almost got done in by another one of them rooms!"

He crossed his arms. "Well, I'd been through a lot worse -- or that's what I kept saying to myself, anyway. I don't actually remember gettin' all those injuries, but I figure I must've been tough enough to get through them. You, too! You're tougher than you look!"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just- after the last round we talked and she told me I needed to be more um... firm? I think doormat was a word she used." Ouch, but totally true. "She said I should live in a way I'm proud of, and well- you saw how that turned out." He smiled. "I don't know what I would have done if she hadn't said that. I might have let you make the decision, you made a lot of valid points."

"You must have, with those scars." He nodded towards Heiji's stomach. "In a way it's nice to know you and Jake can handle a situation like this so well. If you hadn't been there I doubt I would have done as good a job at cleaning everything up." And he laughed a little. "Thanks, I'm not sure tough is the word I'd use but I guess we're all one stab closer to being completely used to it, heaven forbid."

Heiji looked surprised and a little impressed. "Whattaya know? She's like one of them life coaches or something. Well, if I'd been in charge, I woulda just told Jake to go for Betray from the very start, so no foul either way. But I bet that advice is gonna come in extra handy one of these days."

He put a hand to his chin. "And nah, I really mean it. How many people you know that can take all this and not keel over from shock?"

Hershel nodded - if it isn't obvious he respects Ema a lot, she's one cool customer. "I think so. She was right, and even if we had been betrayed I- well, I don't think I would have regretted trying. I would have regretted you being in the crossfire, though, so I'm glad things ended up the way they did."

"I guess... maybe we're all getting desensitized to strange things, in a way. Look at where we are, it's completely mental in every way but we keep pushing forward without too many breakdowns." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Maybe we're just a very strange bunch."

"Ha! I'm pretty relieved about it myself." Seriously, he'd been pretty sure Jake had been planning to vote Betray.

"We're only gonna get stranger after this," said Heiji. "In here, we don't even know if it's really day or night. But people, they're pretty adaptable. They can get used to pretty much anything, y'know?"

He was still a bit surprised too, to be honest. They lucked out. "In a way I'm still worried for Jake, though. He's so unwilling to trust anyone, and everyone seems wary around him..." He sighed. "I can't blame Clive for it, but I really hope everyone can learn to get along again, Jake included."

"People are a lot more adaptable than I realized, if we're all an example of it. It would be nice to have any idea of the passage of time besides these puzzle rooms- I've been trying to figure out how long we've been here and it isn't very easy." He frowned. "I think it's been well over a week, at least."

Heiji shook his head. "Some people are just like that, I guess. Like tryin' to herd cats." Actually, the image of Hershel wearing a cowboy outfit and trying to rope housecats into moving across wide-open plains was kind of a funny one.

He pointed to his wrist, where there was just the slightest hint of a tan line. "Probably on purpose. Mess with our sense of time, and it makes it that much harder to orient ourselves. Well, even in the absence of light cues, the human body reverts to a circadian rhythm of around 25 hours. You're probably not too far off. Anyway, now that we're clear to enter the cafeteria, how's about we see what's in there?"

Thank you for that image, it will keep me company in dark times. "Sometimes it feels like that's what this game is going to end up being, a study in how to herd a few stubborn, finicky cats."

He nodded. "The timing of the puzzle rooms helps too, I'm sure eventually we'll be able to figure it out better." And that's a very good idea, Heiji. "Yes, let's- having more than a small ration of beans sounds nice, even if I'm sure Calhoun will go out of his way to make sure it's as unappealing as possible." And Hershel paused. "Do you need a hand at all?" Still worried about your leg there, dude, that couldn't be fun to hobble around with.

"It's okay, just let me limp on after ya," said Heiji. "Gotta get used to this sometime, you know?"

THIRTY MINUTES LATER...

Heiji stuck his spoon into what was ostensibly soup and what more closely resembled congealed cat food. It maintained position. "I take it back," said Heiji. "I ain't feeling so thankful after all."

Hershel regarded his own mystery meat with a soft sigh, wondering if he should be concerned about what died to make such a grey, shapeless looking meal. At least it didn't look human. Probably.

"Honestly I think I miss the beans." Hershel admitted, stabbing at his meal for a moment before putting his fork down. "Remember what we were talking about before, about how humans are very adaptable? Do you think this food is going to get um... more bearable, I suppose?"

Heiji sighed. "Guess it's gonna have to. Okay, down the hatch!" He shoved a spoonful of the mysterious food (?) into his mouth and tried not to make a face.

"Well, it's... edible," he said, downing a gulp of water. "And that means we don't have to be quite as worried about starvin' to death down here. Heck, maybe people will cooperate more now that there's a little less at stake."

Hershel watched this brave warrior take the plunge and try it, impressed at Heiji's nerves of steel. After a moment he looked down at his own, making a determined face as he took a forkful and ate it.

... Ugh. "It's... an acquired taste." Going to gulp down some water too, damn. He coughed as he nodded. "Yeah, that's what I've been hoping. Of course now we're at the point where a betrayal will bring us all down from having access to food again... it may take a round or two for everything to settle more."

He straightened, suddenly remembering something. "Oh Heiji, I've been meaning to ask you if you've ever heard of anything called the Robbers Cave Study or Realistic Conflict Theory."

Heiji grinned; at least he didn't have to suffer through this alone!

"Sure, I've heard of it. In our case, though, we ain't competing in a zero sum game. Maybe that's why it's been a little easier for everyone to work together." Well, everyone whose name wasn't Jake, anyway, but even he'd come around last round.

"But it's definitely true people unite in the face of a shared goal. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' and all that."

Hershel took another sip of his drink as Heiji spoke, obviously considering everything the other was saying. "When Calhoun took me to get my memory back I asked him if they really wanted a natural experiment, and he talked about that Robber's Cave Study. He said um... oh, I guess basically that sometimes he needed to add stimuli to see every possible result?"

"Maybe that's why we've been having some luck, everyone sees Zero as the common enemy rather than each other."

"Every possible result?" This phrase seemed to bother Heiji, who began to half-mutter to himself. "But that doesn't make any sense. Even if you've got a hundred choices, you're only going to see one result. That's why people have computer models to predict future events. Are each of us supposed to be separate players in the scenario? But that would mean at some point they'd shift phases and try to encourage us to work together, wouldn't it?"

He looked at Hershel. "Hey... you ain't gonna say anything nuts like 'maybe this is all a simulation', right?"

"Maybe?" Hershel shrugged with his good arm. "Maybe I worded it wrong... I guess what he was saying is he wanted to see a lot of different reactions? I don't know, honestly most of this is beyond me and Calhoun is vague at the best of times." He sighed. "The one thing I did take from it is he isn't afraid to intervene if he feels like the results aren't to his liking."

Hershel couldn't help a smile at that. "I was thinking more 'it's all a dream?' Maybe we are all hooked up to some other pods and playing a very strange game?" He shook his head, growing serious again. "Honestly I don't know what to think. The only thing I'm fairly sure of is that this really is an experiment of some sort, whether or not Zero is a proper scientist or simply a madman is another matter."

For once, Heiji fell quiet for a fair while. "I got a bad feeling about this," he said finally, then pointed a fork at Hershel.

"Maybe it's just nothin'... but we've already had three rounds of people mostly cooperating. Hershel, be real careful, okay? Don't wander off into some dark corner by yourself. Make sure people know where you are."

Hershel looked a little surprised at Heiji's sudden silence then his comment. It took him a second to understand what Heiji was implying, and his expression clouded a little. "Do you really think..."

He shook his head. "You're probably right, we all have to be very careful no matter what." Says the guy who trusts several people he probably shouldn't. At least he was aware it was probably a bad idea to be that way, even if it didn't stop him from doing so. "You should be too, Heiji. Your leg, afterall."

"I ain't saying anything for sure," said Heiji. "Just... watch out for yourself. We already know these guys are kidnappers, and they've been dangling the threat of death over us, too. We don't know how far they're willing to go to see whatever outcome it is they want."

He laughed and tried patting his injury to show that it wasn't so bad -- only that actually sort of hurt, so he ended up wincing instead. "Ow ow... point taken."

"You're right... And now that Calhoun said something about just replacing people it makes whatever investment they had in us even smaller." Hershel said nothing for a long moment after that, thinking things over before looking back up at Heiji and offering a smile. "We'll have to work extra hard to make sure we can go see London and Osaka, I guess."

Have a raised brow, dude, before he sighed softly. "How is it, your wound I mean? I hope you haven't gotten into any trouble- Light seemed um... upset when I spoke to him."

"That's the spirit!" said Heiji. Although now he was wondering if they had another test site. Maybe people in a different set of rooms, running puzzles of their own... which all sounded ridiculously sci-fi to him.

"I'm doing okay, but I hope Light didn't blow up at you or anything. I mean, it wasn't your fault. Then again, I guess I did kinda get in his face about getting burned." Whoops.

"Oh no, he wasn't pleased but I think he was just frustrated that we all got hurt when they had the same problem. Ema got a cut from the knife in her room, she really wasn't happy about it either." Hershel explained.

And he can't help but smile. "Well, you're friends in a way, right? That's what friends do, get in each other's faces about things like this."

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