06. decision game: make your choice

[vivariummods]

make your choice

rules ✖ faq ✖ profiles ✖ schedule ✖ nav There are three parties. Perhaps, you're the first one. Instead of being able to go the unmarked exit door, you get dragged by the TALOS through the door marked "TRASH DISPOSAL". With a cold mechanical arm wrapped around your throat, its incredible strength will drag you, willingly or not, through the door and close it shut behind it. It takes you to a new hallway and it goes through an open set of stairs down. As soon as it pulls you down enough steps, the electronic door to the stairway closes shut. Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, it finally lets go but in the tight corridor, there's no way to get past the hulking machine. Try as you might, but it'll push you back, forcing you to walk down the long tight passage. Should you struggle, it won't hesitate to grab onto you and throw you. It will continue to do so until you finally go past thick metal doors and land on a long conveyor belt. It walks onto the belt with you and slams the doors shut. As soon as you get on, the belt begins to slowly move towards a large block that rises all the way to the ceiling and then falls back down with a deafening crash. It rises then falls. Rises then falls and there's no way you can escape. You can't go through the TALOS. You can't go to your sides, not with the walls extending up so far that no normal human could ever climb it). And you can't go behind you as the heavy block will surely crush you. Just what can you do? Perhaps, you're the second one. Instead of the TALOS grabbing you, it traps you in the Development Room. The flames from the electrical fire are hot and suffocating. It moves surprisingly fast and begins to move closer and closer. If the flames don't get to you first, the smoke will and no amount of banging on the doors or pleading will get the exits to open. Instead, the previously closed shutters of the windows go up and you can look out to see that the room you're in is positioned high up to overlook a deep diagonal area. Near the centre, you can see four conveyor belts, all leading towards their own falling blocks and then converging in the centre to a black void that goes nowhere but down. You can also see a balcony right outside the room, directly linked to the unmarked door. There, you may see a familiar test subject, standing right before you. Perhaps, you're the third one. Rather than on a conveyor belt leading to a gruesome death or in a burning room that'd burn you to a crisp, you're on the balcony. When you were forced out of that Development Room, it took you on a path that forced you to stand in front of a different room. You pass by the now-closed set of stairs (the ones that lead the TALOS and one of your fellow test subjects to the belt) and find yourself standing in front a similar but different Development Room with someone inside. Directly in front of one of the windows and on the railing are two round sensors, similar to the ones you've seen on various doors. Above each sensor reads one of the two characters that you are now responsible for. All at once, a robotic voice speaks out from everyone's bracelets. "Attention, test subjects. You have now entered a new Decision Game. Please listen carefully to the rules as your lives will depend on them. Some of you are on a conveyor belt. Should you not move, you will have approximately ninety seconds before you are crushed beneath the trash compactor. Calhoun recommends staying where you are instead of running towards it like, in his words, "a complete idiot." For some others, you are trapped inside the Development Room. You will either perish in the flames or die from smoke inhalation. There is no time estimate for your death. Now, the rest are somewhere on the balcony and you will see two sensors in front of you. Calhoun would like to congratulate you for being the "lucky ones" as you will decide the fate of your fellow test subjects. "You four will decide who will live and who will die. Decide who you want to spare by placing your hand on the sensor. Should you choose someone on the belt, it will come to a stop and they will be allowed back up to where you are. Should you choose someone in the room, the doors will open and they will escape to join you on the balcony. Should you choose neither of them, then you will die. "You have ninety seconds. Ninety seconds to decide who will live and who will die. Make your choice."

Comments

important notes.

[vivariummods]

important notes!

Please read the following carefully: ✖ Please see the map for the area and placements. ✖ Please see here for character roles. ✖ This event will last for two OOC days. ✖ This event will last for 90 IC seconds. ✖ The next event will go up on May 27. ✖ This is an open Decision Game so any activity may be discussed. ✖ Threadjacking is highly encouraged as everyone is in the same area. ✖ For Airi and Akira, Red, and Yuusuke's players: submit your votes in the top-level below. Votes can be OOCly submitted before the IC thread leads to it. ✖ Votes must be submitted by May 26 at 11:59pm EST at the latest. If votes are not submitted by that time, your characters will automatically die. ✖ For any questions, concerns, or clarifications, please contact a mod. ✖ Have a nice tragedy!

votes.

[vivariummods]

make your decision!

For Akira and Airi, Red, and Yuusuke, submit your votes with the following form: SAVES: [Character Name] KILLS: [Character Name] <font face="georgia">SAVES: [Character Name] KILLS: [Character Name]

[notalways_right]

SAVES: Hershel
KILLS: Jake

[laconism]

SAVES: Towa Herschel
KILLS: Kaede Akamatsu

Re: votes.

[infiltrationtools]

SAVES: Kokichi Ouma
KILLS: Kaito Momota

BALCONY FUNTIMES

[notalways_right]

[Okay, what the fuck?

Yuusuke actually looks pretty agitated as he's ushered onto the balcony by a TALOS, turning to look into the room he was so recently trapped in.]

Hey, watch it!

[fairsfair]

[ for once, jake is actually going up against something that he can't just punch away. he's always been able to take down almost everything that dared to cross his path, but looks like he's finally found his match. he has realized that trying to fight this thing is a waste of time because there's something more pressing going on... he looks up at the balconies and, whatcha know, yuusuke is the closest one. ]

Hey! Hershel's still in his room!

[ remember the deal!! ]

[notalways_right]

[He does glance Jake's way when he says that, and then scans the room for Hershel, cursing under his breath.]

You can't just tough out something like this, you know!

[But he does begin to navigate the balcony, quickly finding the sensors for Towa and Kaede - and finding he can't get past the fence. He can, however, head to the next balcony, and he'll make his way there with a surprising speed. Kid must've run in the track team or something.]

[fairsfair]

Quit your yapping and do something already!

[ well, yuusuke is already getting over to the balcony so that's something. jake is going to try and "tough out" his situation and try to get around the talos again but no such luck. also i forgot that he's shirtless in this because he gave his shirt to hershel so gross...... i can't wait for him to die. kill him, yuusuke ]

[laconism]

[Not long after Yuusuke sentences Jake to death, he'll hear a brief scream coming from the direction of the balcony that he originally entered from. If he looks over, he'll see C-Team's asshole TALOS (who is wearing a dumb hat) fucking launching Red into the air like a football from the Trash Disposal hallway. He flies over the railing of the balcony and crash lands onto the floor, doing a backwards tumble before his body flops over, his hat falling off in the process.

He sits himself up with a groan, rubbing the back of his head and looking in Yuusuke's direction with a dazed expression. Also his fingers and knuckles on both hands are pretty beat up and bloody. Sup, dude.]

[notalways_right]

[......Well.

That happened.]

Hey, what the hell did you do?

[laconism]

[He blinks, starting to regain his senses from that rough landing.]

...Uh... stuff?

[He can probably guess what kind of "stuff" Red (and Akira) did by the condition of that poor old, salty TALOS. It's walking unnaturally and one of its ankles is especially fucked up.

Then Red begins looking around frantically, the direness of the situation quickly beginning to sink in. Shit.]

for kaede, towa, and anyone else who wants to try to influence red's decision

[laconism]

[After Red's fun and unique entrance (which will be posted in Yuusuke's thread later) and the Decision Game actually begins, this poor battered child can only look back and forth between Kaede and Towa, his eyes wide with panic. Admittedly he's a little biased towards wanting to save Towa because she's the only one of the two he's actually met, but he can't pick her just because of that. That would be so cruel to Kaede. Her life is in the hands of a complete stranger... He can imagine how terrifying that must feel. In fact, he's feeling a familiar sort of terror himself, knowing that the fates of two people depend entirely on him.

Hopefully at least one of them (or someone else entirely) will start making their argument soon, because they don't have much time here.]

[spiritoso]

[ Kaede lets herself be taken to the tight corridor, following the path and finding herself on the conveyor belt leading to trash compactor. She doesn't want to die. But she doesn't want someone else to die for her either. Looking up to where Red is, Kaede can see he's panicking. ]

I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to make this decision.

[ And yet, here they are. Kaede doesn't feel right pleading for her life over someone else's, as much as she wants to live. ]

[laconism]

[His gaze locks onto Kaede as she speaks, quickly moving to a spot along the pathway toward the west balcony so he can hear her better, though still not too far away from the Development Room that Towa is trapped in, and grips tightly onto the railing to support his injured, exhausted body. Why is she apologizing? Red should be the one apologizing since he may or may not have to kill her.

He feels sick.]

...Y... Yeah...

[His throat feels so tight that he can barely squeeze that single word out. He wishes he didn't have to make this decision either, but the harsh reality is that he does. If he doesn't choose either of them then Red will be the one to die, and as a result, his precious Pokémon will be doomed to waste away and die with him in this absolute hellhole. That's the one outcome that he cannot allow under any circumstances. He has to sacrifice one of these girls.

And yet he just continues to stare down at Kaede, looking so helpless and lost. How should he even go about making such an awful, permanent decision???]

[formicarium]

[ After tossing Red over to the balcony, the broken down TALOS leans against the railing of his own balcony hallway. The worn down parts that the C-Team gave him and then the abuse he took from both Akira and Red is starting to take its toll on him, causing him to stand strangely at an angle. ]

Clock's ticking, kid. You better pick.

[formicarium]

[ The TALOS stands before Kaede, unmoving and just looking his head down low as he looks at the girl in front of him. His mechanical face has no shred of emotion, but when he speaks, there's an unnatural human-like tone to his voice. ]

... I'm sorry as well.

strolls in late B)

[fairsfair]

[ shortly after yuusuke has chosen hershel over him... jake looks over in red's direction. yeah, they've only really talked once but he guesses ema's words are kind of getting to him right now... ]

Hey, kid.

[laconism]

[Red instinctively pauses whatever he's doing and looks over in Jake's direction. There's a lot of kids here, Jake could be referring to pretty much anyone but since he had always called Red "kid," he naturally responds to it and sure enough, the guy is looking straight at him.]

Y-Yeah?

[He hasn't realized that Jake was chosen to be sacrificed yet...]

while airi and akira are making martinis

[decipere]

[ kokichi figured that something like this was going to happen. the rules stated that nine of them needed to die and only four of them kicked the bucket. five more needed to be wiped and probably quickly. this mastermind didn't seem to care about taking their sweet time knocking a few out at a time rather than taking it slow. so, when he entered the puzzle room, he was suspicious. no way that they're just having a cooldown period with absolutely no danger. sure, it can have everything "sink" in about how they lost so many people (asides from wistar because who really gives a crap about him), but it still seemed too peaceful. something was bound to happen... ]

[ ... he's really upset that he was right about that. ]

[ he holds his hand to his mouth as he coughs. no proper ventilation in this room or any open windows is causing the smoke to build up quickly. he has already tried the doors and he knows that he's not going to be able to get those open, no matter what, so he goes over to the now-uncovered window and starts to bang on it with one fist. c'mon, c'mon, someone's gotta be on the other side. ]

[infiltrationtools]

[Status update: someone is now on the other side! A tall figure appears through the smoke!]

[...The selfsame figure takes one look at Kokichi hammering for an escape, and curses under his breath. It may or may not be audible from inside the room, but it's easy enough to read his lips.]

[decipere]

[ glad to see that akira has stopped making martinis to check up on him. at least pour one out for him if he dies. ]

H-Hey, it's... getting hard to breathe in here. I-Is there anything on the door on the other side?

[ he doesn't know if akira can actually hear him (there is a lot going on at once and he's covering his mouth, after all), but he points at the unmarked exit. maybe that'll get his message across. ]

itp: akira walks in 30 seconds late with martini

[infiltrationtools]

[Look, the past several hours have been... a lot for Akira.]

[Fortunately for him, after being tossed out onto the balcony and finding that he had no way of getting back in, Akira turns around to see the full scope of what's happening. There's three TALOS models not including the one in the hat— three people moving towards whatever is in the center of that room — but Red's not among them. Where's Red? —On the other balcony. Red's safe. Airi's nearby, Airi's safe. Wait. Back in the center, all those models, is that Akamatsu and Momota? They're all— this was the plan all along! Those TALOS, they were all going to do this!]

[And on and on it goes. Whatever anger towards Airi he might have felt before is being put on the back-burner. There's more important things to worry about. There might be a way to save them. Where? Not here. He can't move south, so he books it for the north balcony, moving at alarming speed despite the numerous injuries on his person.]

(( NOTE: He's not actually going to get to the proper balcony until Airi tags in, but if anyone wants to scream at him fucking go for it dude ))

[tosearch]

Hey Scruffynerd, you still kicking? I can't believe you're standing in one piece. Thought we were goners.

[ She frowns. ]

Ugh, what the heck. You didn't see Red?

[infiltrationtools]

Yeah, n— yeah.

[Akira is speaking quickly and aggressively. He just barely cut himself off from saying 'no thanks to you'.]

Red's over there, use your eyes.

[The sprint has devolved into a power-walk, but Akira isn't taking his eyes off of the people on the conveyor belts. —At least until he sees a window into a dark room, smoke curling around the edges.]

Shit!

[Then he grabs Airi by the arm and starts running again.]