vivarium | welcome our new test subjects and say goodbye to old ones...

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welcome our new test subjects and say goodbye to old ones...

T H E W A R E H O U S E

【 day 10 】

To all the newcomers, welcome to the 【 Warehouse 】.

Once you escape your elevator, you will find yourselves here. It's strangely empty for a warehouse. Aside from the elevators you've come out of, there's nothing else here. In fact, the longer you look around, the stranger everything looks.

Every window has been bolted shut, with no way of removing the steel coverings. The only source of illumination comes from the florescent lights above. Along the walls are numerous amounts of surveillance cameras, watching every bit of movement and listening to the sounds of everyone and everything. Every door is locked up tight, with no clear way of opening them, and there's one giant door with a 9 painted on it. It's a rather strange place, and there seems to be a lot of people here, so go introduce yourselves?

As for the "old timers", they will find that their bracelets will not display any colour or status (SOLO or PAIR). The BP will be a simple grey colour, and there will be nothing underneath it. Wonder what they means. Before anyone can ask Calhoun, he will be screeching in your ear about something else, asking everyone to gather in the warehouse. Standing on a table (in an attempt to be at the same height as a few of you), he says that there's a special surprise for everyone. So, gather around, test subjects, and listen closely because he's not going to say it again.

【 day 11 】

Everyone might wake up today to the loud sound of... sirens? What on Earth can make a sound like that? Well, if they get up and look, they'll see Calhoun with... one of these, and him attempting to put Kotetsu on the stretcher. Due to being a 3'2" sized mouse, he's clearly struggling but he's at least determined to put him on it.

ANNOUNCEMENT ✖ NEW ARRIVALS ✖ GOODBYE ✖ NEW ARRIVAL

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"If it's an experiment," said Heiji, looking annoyed, "It's got about the shabbiest scientific method I've ever seen. It's true that we haven't been able to find a way outta here, though."

He jabbed a thumb at the large '9' door. "Supposedly, that's our ticket out of here. But no one can go through it until they've got 63 BP. That's gonna be a long while yet, the way things've been going."

"As far as puzzles go... well, can't say there aren't any dangerous ones." Heiji sort of looked askance as he said this, unwilling to scare the new arrival too much just yet. "But ya just gotta be real careful and don't try to force 'em. So far that's the only thing that's got someone hurt."

And in fact there was actually a tear in Heiji's jeans above the knee, through which bandages were just barely visible.

"BP?" She hadn't really looked at her bracelet that closely, unfortunately. Too busy being in a panic.

"Wait-- Someone got hurt?!" That's terrible news! "Were they okay afterwards? How bad was it? Is it, like, permanent damage?"

The rapid-fire questioning returns.

"Oh yeah, so countin' all the injuries I know of," said Heiji, "Think that makes four people altogether. Nothing that won't heal up, though."

He pointed to his leg, grinning for some unfathomable reason. "I got stabbed by a booby trap, like in one of them action movies. How's that for excitin', huh?" Well, actually at the time it had been more painful than exciting, but.

Heiji pointed at her bracelet. "Check out the face of that wristband ya got there. It records the number of BP you have. The more you have, the better, though I gotta warn you that if you let it drop to zero, that's what you have to worry about it. That happens, and it's game over."

It's actually kind of creepy how well he's taking it. Maybe it's just her, but experiencing that kind of thing in real life doesn't sound exciting at all.

The fact that he points to her bracelet not long after may well be a good thing, because it is a sufficient distraction from the fact that there are booby traps she'll have to worry about on top of everything else. She raises her arm to get a better look at it, realizing for the first time that she never actually fiddled with it any.

So naturally, the first reaction is to try to get it off. "Hey-- what's the deal with this?"

Heiji raised his wrist. "These things show you who you're grouped with for puzzles. But they're also... say, how old are ya, anyway?"

Because you know what for all that Heiji was kind of a Chatty Cathy, he also wasn't really down with telling kids that they could be injected with lethal chemical compounds at any time.

She has to think about that one for a moment. She did wonder for a moment when she first woke up, but then she was quickly distracted by the proceedings.

Except... the more she thinks about it, the deeper her frown becomes. No matter how much she racks her brain, it's all a blank. When she does eventually speak up again, her voice is quiet and nervous.

"I... I'm not sure how old I am."

But... how could that be? It's her age. That's about as basic as you could get!

"Right, that figures. Well... basically, you just need to follow the rules and make sure you don't drop down to 0 BP, okay? I don't think they're gonna make ya solve another one of those puzzles on your own, so you should be fine."

Heiji frowned at her; he might not have an exact age, but she looked pretty young. "Listen, there's another thing you gotta know. They're makin' us solve a bunch of puzzles and having us play a game after each one. Only it ain't really a game." He explained the basics of the AB game to Akiko, including the points and point subtractions for each outcome.

"Most of the people here seem pretty decent, and we've been working together so far. Just be careful and try to find a couple you can really trust."

Nodding. If she's not alone, surely it would be better, right...?

She listens intently through the entire explanation, doing her best to memorize everything he says. It could mean the difference between life and death; she can't afford to forget anything.

But the way he puts that last part...

"Does that mean there are people here I can't trust?"

"Well, ya can't trust Zero or his little minion, that's for sure," said Heiji. "As for everyone else... people are people. When you put 'em in a corner, they can make decisions they regret. They keep offering prizes every round for people who vote Betray, but so far everyone's been picking Ally. Except Jake."

He crossed his arms, frowning a little. "Most of the folks here I got at least a little handle on, but I just can't figure that guy out."

"Wait, everyone except one? Why didn't he ally?"

Allying seems like the obvious choice. Even if you were offered extra things, by trusting in the others to keep allying, everyone would get to leave faster. Wouldn't that be for the best?

"He said it was 'cause he didn't trust Clive," said Heiji, frowning a little. "Well, it ain't like I don't kind of understand where he's coming from, not wanting to put himself in other people's hands. But it's not like anyone here has a choice. 'Sides, who'd betray someone for a memory and a can of food?"

It was fairly clear that Heiji came down on Clive's side in this case.

She has to agree with you, Heiji. "That doesn't seem worth it at all. If everyone just kept allying, the whole game would be over quicker, right?" So why would you pick any other option?

He crossed his arms. "Yeah, only because the way the rules work, it's a little harder than that. People tend to fear losses more than they value gains. So when you put them in a situation where they don't trust the other side, it makes them even more likely to make irrational decisions.

"Well, you could say that the 'experimenters' in this case are playing dirty, too. They've been trying various things to try and make people betray each other. But that just kinda makes me want to do the opposite, ya know?"

“Wai—They’re doing what?” It’s one thing if people decided to betray on their own, but…

“That’s totally unfair! It doesn’t even sound like an experiment at all! Just… just some kind of sick show or something!” Trapping a bunch of people in a dangerous situation and forcing them against each other in a near free-for-all… Who could possibly enjoy watching something like that?

(A lot more people than she remembers, but at least those instances were only fiction…)

"Now you're gettin' the idea," said Heiji, looking none too pleased. "Ain't like any experiment that I've ever heard of. I guess the upside is, they can't hold ya down and make you vote the way they want. At least, I don't think they will. Probably wouldn't be fun for 'em."

"Anyway, the first thing we gotta do is get you to 9 BP! That's when you can go into the cafeteria whenever you want instead of trying to win food all the time."

"So... I need to earn six more BP if I want to be able to eat whenever?" Her expression is uncertain. That's gonna be rough... She'll have to wait until it's time for those games, and then she'll have to play through three.

She's not even going to think about the possibility of getting betrayed along the way.

"Yeah, but when we showed up, we got some food to start us off with. You might get the same thing. Or since most of the people here got access already, maybe someone'd be willing to give you their canned stuff."

Heiji put a hand to his chin, thinking. "Well, if things get rough, I'm sure we can sneak you food out of the cafeteria. It's against the rules, but we can't just let someone starve."

"Really...? You'd do that?" There's worry in her voice - she doesn't know what happens when you break the rules here, but none of the options that immediately spring to mind are at all pleasant. Which is why, even through there's fear, there is a sincere sense of gratitude.

...But all the same, she'd rather avoid that if at all possible. Which is why she tries to force a smile as she continues: "W-well, it's not a for sure thing anyway! If they give me canned food, I can survive on that until I get enough points. All of you did it, right?"

Heiji seemed a little taken aback that she'd even ask. "'Course I would. We might be in a tight spot, but that'd don't mean we're not still human." What kind of person would begrudge a kid food, anyway? Always ignoring, of course, that Heiji wasn't sure how old he was himself.

"And yeah, it's doable. I mean, ya might end up sick of eatin' the same stuff every day, but it ain't so bad. Tell you what, though: the second I get out of here, I'm going to stuff my face with some nice, fresh okonomiyaki. No, maybe yakiniku...? Well, whatever it is, as long as it's good!"

His enthusiasm is almost infectious. Though she's still worried, she finds herself nodding and smiling along with what he says.

"...Yeah! We just have to keep at it until we can get out of here. And then we can--"

...Uh...

"...We can do whatever we were doing before we got stuck here!" Just... what was she doing before she ended up in this place, anyway...? She's sure it had to be something far safer, and far more ordinary than this elaborate "experiment," but she's drawing a huge blank.

"That's the spirit!" said Heiji cheerily. "I figure once we get out of here, we can figure out where we're supposed to go then. Can't be too hard to figure it out. I already got a couple clues 'bout where I gotta look. 'Sides, we got to have people out there looking for us."

Even Light, who let's face it was kind of a pessimist about how many people he was close to on the outside.

...He does have a point!

"It would be weird if nobody noticed we were all missing." Even though she can't know for sure, there had to be people out there who knew who she was. They were probably worrying about her and trying to find out what happened, which meant they surely had to be searching for her, too!

Sufficiently satisfied with that, she can't help but ask: "What do you mean by clues, though?"

"Well, for one thing, my name's Heiji," he said, "Which is definitely Japanese. Then I got to thinkin' -- okay, what kinda places do I know around Japan? Turns out I know tons of stuff about Osaka. Some of it's like Osaka Castle and Tsutenkaku, but I even know about specific streets. So I figure I must've lived there."

Heiji almost told her about the scars, too, only he at least had the sense to keep from bringing up gunshot wounds to a brand-new kidnapping victim.

That... That actually is a pretty good way to go about it! Now it's her time to think about it as much as she can.

Unfortunately, it's hard to know where to start, so the best she can come up with is: "...My name is Akiko. That's probably Japanese too, right?"

"Yeah, probably," he said. DETECTIVE ON THE CASE. In any case, he thought it over for a second. What would someone living in Japan definitely know about...?

"How about this... name all the subway stations you know of!"

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