ambidex voting #5

[vivariummods]

A M B I D E X  V O T I N G Everyone (besides one newbie) should know how things work by now: you leave your respective puzzle rooms, head downstairs to the first floor, swipe your Ambidex Room cards, and enter your elevator. Now, this is where it gets different, because here's your prizes for this round! For anyone who chooses Betray, and gets betrayed in return, well you get a nice can of food! What kind inside? That's a surprise! Oh, and 15 coins for each person. As for anyone who chooses Betray and their opponent chooses Ally, well, the reward is always much bigger! Calhoun toss in three cans of food, for those poor saps who don't have access to the cafeteria yet, and along with 50 whole coins, each for a PAIR! Amazing! That just might be enough to put some of you in a nice comfy spot where you can start buying food or amazing goodies in Calhoun's Corner: Sundries and Collectibles for the Discerning Test Subject. Isn't that just great? For anyone who chooses Ally, well, if your opponent chooses Ally as well, then you'll just get the usual BP increase. How boring, but at least you can be all lovely-dovely with each other. If you're the poor sap that chose Ally and got stabbed in the back, well, sorry, you only lose BP, but you might get a little something. He'll find you later about that. But anyway, happy voting! Calhoun will see all of you later with the results. BASIC INFO ✖ VOTES + FORMS ✖ PRIVATE POSTS ✖ RESULTS + REACTIONS

Comments

[puzzlinglad]

[At least Hershel looks delighted, pausing a moment to finally give the puzzle before...]

... Jake, are you alright? [His head had been a bit cloudy ever since the gas but yeah now he was starting to notice something was off.]

[puzzlinglad]

I'm glad but...

[But what the heck, man.] Why are you still in there? You really need to get your cuts cleaned, Mr. Enjolras...

[detectiveofthewest]

And from Heiji, another long siiiigh. "Yeah, well, I hope so, too. I ain't holding out much hope, though. At least Snake seems to realize he was bein' a big blockhead."

[fairsfair]

[ Jake didn't have the best puzzle room. To say the least, he did not come out unharmed. So, he will just be in the lounge, on the couch, lying down, and attempting to get some rest. He would normally put an arm over his eyes to help, but what'cha know, being pepper sprayed makes his face all red and super sensitive. Amazing. ]

[ But good night. See you when he gives a fuck. ]

[fairsfair]

[ What, you mean a guy who got pepper sprayed, hit with needles, and then gassed doesn't look fine? Well, oops. Jake just looks off to the side. ]

Yeah, just fine.

[ He'll turn on the sink at this point now, and start washing his hands, using the soap there. ]

[puzzlinglad]

"Well, I'm sure you had plenty of time to scold him in your room." Hershel's just vaguely amused, he's got your number dude. "I can't say I had the same chance with Ema, she seemed rather set on making bad decisions with Mr. Enjolras."

What a life. "Ah, that reminds me, I hope he's left the elevator by now..."

[detectiveofthewest]

Shh Hershel no you didn't shh

Oh wait. "The elevator? Come to think of it, that guy was yellin' this and that about slavery or whatever when I saw him last. Even tried to follow me into the washroom when I was tryin' to wash off that pepper spray. What a nuisance!"

[not_that_sasuke]

"Ten days..."

Assuming they were indeed quarantined, that's a while to be out. He wonders how the other guy managed to recover so quickly in comparison.

...But wait. If they had been losing people all this time...

"...Hey. When people are quarantined, what happens with the groups?" That should have made the numbers uneven for the puzzle rooms. Given he had arrived alone, and right after a death of all things...

[euryalus]

I am making a point to Calhoun; to Zero. [ Or at least... so he's telling himself, anyway. So he is hoping. ] Cleaning them now, or waiting a little while and cleaning them later will not make a difference.

Do not worry, Hershel. I don't intend to do anything truly dangerous.

[ He's just sitting in an elevator. ]

[detectiveofthewest]

"Look, don't feel bad about it, okay?" said Heiji, looking a little concerned about Sasuke.

"It ain't your fault you got kidnapped, and if it wasn't you, it'd be someone else. 'pparently, they got a whole bunch of people waiting in the wings just in case something happens to one of us."

[not_that_sasuke]

Somehow, he doesn't look much happier at the thought. His gaze shifts to the floor as he becomes unable to look Heiji in the eye.

"...Did I replace her?"

In hindsight, it should have been obvious. He was brought in alone, and yet the teams remained even. Everyone he had spoken to that first day informed him, one way or another, that one of the other test subjects had recently died. But he had been so busy trying to take it all in that he never quite made the connection.

[puzzlinglad]

... You are not, what happened? [Concern time is go, shockingly. He scooted a bit closer, peering at Jake. Maybe the gas hadn't completely cleared from his bloodstream, great, how did he not notice this before?]

[At least... he didn't look injured?] Your eyes look a little strange, did something get in them?

[detectiveofthewest]

WELP. Might as well tell the truth. Heiji nodded. "Yeah, ya did. But like I said, you ain't responsible for what happened to her."

Hopefully, he didn't take this too hard...

[puzzlinglad]

[Hershel isn't really sure what to say to that. He wants to push but it just isn't in his nature, especially when he can so clearly see Enjolras wouldn't listen.

After a few moments he sighs softly, resting his forehead against the door of the elevator. When he pulls back it's so he'd be loud enough to be heard.]

Please be careful, Mr. Enjolras. We can't lose anyone else.

[not_that_sasuke]

Now why on earth would he do that? Just as Heiji had pointed out, it has absolutely nothing to do with him. He just happened to be the unlucky person grabbed in her stead, that's all.

...And yet, he feels chilled by the very idea. He knows there isn't any expectation - couldn't be, really - that he would have been any sort of actual replacement for that girl. But nevertheless, a life was lost, and he was the one Calhoun had dragged in to take her place even as the others were still mourning.

The others had been uneasy when they first spoke with him. It's only too clear why.

After a short moment of silence, he finally speaks again, his voice even quieter than the norm. "...Sorry."

Whether it's for their loss, or being forced to act as a weak stand-in, not even he's certain.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji smiled a little, but there was a subdued edge to it that wasn't usually there. "You're a good kid, ain't ya? But you don't need to apologize to me."

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "So c'mon, let's go back to the others and see how everyone else is doing. We gotta stick together, right?"

[puzzlinglad]

"He's... passionate." That's a nice way of putting it. "He told me he's trying to make a point by staying in the elevator. Frankly I'm concerned, the gas in our room hit him very hard, he had a terrible time of it."

French revolutionaries man. "I hope he knows what he's doing. Trying to agitate Zero and Calhoun could get him in real trouble."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Yeah?" Heiji said, looking not so much concerned as annoyed. "Maybe he could devote some of that passion to not bein' such a blockhead. So what happened when he stayed in the elevator? They fill it back up with water or somethin'?"

[fairsfair]

[ Scooting away, but still trying to stay around the sink so he could rinse his hands. He'll take off his fingerless gloves off and put them on the side of the sink after, then take the soap to properly wash his hands. ]

An eyelash. A real pain in the ass.

[ Clearly lying about it and not maintaining eye contact. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

He honestly has no answer to that. It's not like he can remember anything about himself. But... saying that much just seemed right - or at the very least, the most correct action.

"...Yeah. Alright." He doesn't look especially enthused, however. Really, part of him is tempted to just slink away right then and there and sort out how, exactly, he's supposed to feel about all of this, but... from what he knows of Heiji, he doesn't think it's much of a viable option at the moment.

Maybe the next time he isn't looking...

[puzzlinglad]

Oh come off it Jake, something clearly happened...

[full fret mode now look what you did.] Was it gas of some kind? May I-? [He gestured that he wanted to take a closer look, mostly to see if there was any damage or if it was just irritation. mother hen cluck cluck]

[puzzlinglad]

"I don't really know, I suppose so... I haven't seen him since though, he told me he'd be fine and insisted I'd be fine leaving him be." Hershel frowned. "What do you think of him, Heiji? It looks like you aren't too fond of him." Understandably, Hershel didn't have a problem with Enjolras but he could see that the man was maybe a little too passionate.

[detectiveofthewest]

"He's a loudmouthed, tone-deaf, arrogant moron who loves the sound of his own voice and wouldn't know a joke if it popped him one in the jaw," said Heiji, "...But who knows? Maybe he could be okay if you took all that out."

Um... damning with faint praise?

[puzzlinglad]

Okay Hershel can't help but smile at that, goodness Heiji. "Ah, I see I was right..." He said, amused. "I don't think he's so bad, he's just a little intense, you know?" Says the boy who liked Jake of all people. Patience level: saint.

And he mellowed a bit. "He's the only person to get sick like the others and come back... I wonder what that means."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Sure, intense is one word for it." At the mention of the sickness, however, he frowned a little. "I don't know. I guess you could say Kariya was just a kid, and Colette was kinda delicate. But Aoi seemed pretty full of energy, and Kaburagi-han wasn't that old."

He sure would trade Enjolras for the others any day of the week, though.