Scene #7324: Further Calibration Required

Owner	Pose
Ein	Arrival is an artifact of vague desire. An unresolved tension. The grudging acceptance, at one point or another, of filling out a product survey. The product, an intangible, is representative. The survey being completed is about the universe. The 'examination area', such that it is, consists of a single white floor. Points of fluorescent light 'shine' sterilely and sourcelessly down on a set of raised square podiums - one per participant - with a handful of seams along the surface but no obvious methods of control. There is a chair for comfort behind each podium. All the podiums face a large 'screen' hovering at the front of the white area like a projected hologram with static-y television fuzz playing silently across it. All around, the lack of walls is marked by yellow and black caution tape, and past that are grassy rolling hills that tumble in unfelt wind and are lit by a nonpresent sun. Just blue sky, green rolling hills of grass, and canvas-blank horizons. At the rear is much the same, but there is a single wooden-framed and white panel door with silver handle that stands slightly ajar, surrounded by that seems adhered to thin air and a 'pardon our dust' sign hung off the handle. Atop the frame is a green framed exit sign, featuring the universally understood symbol of a humanoid shape (in this case, it is a vaguely humanoid shape) walking towards an egress, with a white arrow pointing towards that egress. It's an exit sign. Through the crack in the slightly open door, a warpgate shimmers. Besides the exit door is a large water cooler tank with paper cups filled with a nondescript 'fruit juice'. Besides the cooler, is a white table with white legs and white plates with fresh chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate chips taste like chocolate. You're sure there's a reason this is a relevant piece of information. At the start of the event, at an unappointed time, the static on the screen clears, and text appears on the screen: FOR CALIBRATION PURPOSES: PLEASE STATE A NAME, AND DEPRESS WITH THE BUTTON. Your interactions will be used as reference for future questions. Upon each podium, sits a single button in blue, rounded by a silver guard. It is the only thing there. Soft muzak-jazz plays like the waiting room of a hospital. You're (back) here(, again).
Hesinca	"See, I told you I wasn't uninvited," says Hesinca to whomever will listen. She goes up to whichever button is closest. "Demon Lord Hesinca Disastre," she says, and pushes the button. She doesn't punch it, step on it, pour cheap beer all over it, insult it, make someone else press it, not press it, half-A-press it, or unpress it. She simply states her name, and presses the button. Presumably that is her real name and title, too? No shenanigans occur. No prinnies pop out of nowhere to spout catchphrases and break the fourth wall. Nothing odd happens.
Cantio	How did Cantio get here? Perhaps she's heard of the strange tests... Exams? Surveys? Thing going on here. Perhaps she's picked up someone else's habit of getting into places she shouldn't be. Perhaps she was lured here by the odd decor and promises of... It's not that important. Sitting rigidly behind one of the podiums, Cantio has her legs together and her hands clasped around a cup of juice that hasn't so much as touched yet. She might need it later, but she's not thirsty now. When the text appears on the screen, she nearly drops it as she gets up hastily, breathing a sigh of relief when it doesn't spill all over her podium and the blue button. She's smiling, but she ooks incredibly uncomfortable. There's a lot of unfamiliar faces here, and even the familiar ones don't have her looking all too relaxed in their presence. She certainly doesn't seem to get what Hesinca's referring to, although she does follow the text on screen and clears her throat briefly. "Cantio." She presses the button, and she sips her juice. Afterwards, she glances around at the others gathered for this thing, looking uncertain as she almost-but-not-quite-speaks several times. The instrucitons didn't say if it was okay to speak after hitting the buttons, and she looks mildly distressed by the uncertainty.
James Bond	As before, Bond is dressed smartly, yet not in a way that would make him stand out in a crowd. The windbreaker has been rotated out for a navy sports jacket. Beneath it, a form-fitting polo in a much lighter shade of blue, tucked into neatly pressed khaki slacks, which are complemented by brown loafers. As before, it seems as though there's something in one of his coat pockets--perhaps a roll of coins? He files in, waiting behind his podium with that coldly neutral expression. "James Bond," he says with slight annoyance. Don't they keep records in this place? He presses the button, despite the bit of coolly offered sass.
Gawain	Gawain moves to sit at his podium. He waits for the instructions, having finished a delicious chocolate chip cookie. They taste accurate now! As the instructions list what they need... "Gawain!" And then Gawain depresses the button, before turning to Cantio, picking up on her nervousness. "It's safe to talk after you've completed the instructions! Don't worry."
Tamamo	"I remain Tamamo no Mae," says the so-named woman of vulpine features. She's here, for a reason no less mysterious than last time, or perhaps for the specific purpose of checking for certain improvements. Before taking the podium closest to a certain someone else, she's stopped to transfer several cookies into a cloth hankerchief, one of which she is slowly, thoughtfully nibbling. The chips do seem to taste like chocolate. She (de)presses the button with her hand poised as if to gently knock on a door, if only some little while later, when her fingers aren't busy and she's certain that the crumbs won't escape their cloth container. Looking about, "Oh, I see our number are only 'mostly' similar, in this instance."
Cantio	"Oh! That's good to hear. Thank you, Sir Gawain." Cantio smiles pleasantly at Gawain's reassurance, breathing a sigh of relief and also allowing herself to breathe a little more freely. Glancing between Gawain and Tamamo at first, then at Hesinca, it doesn't take long before she starts putting two and two together. "You were all here once before, then?" She pauses, looking towards Bond before correcting herself. Maybe. She's not quite sure what to make of him with that silence. "Erm. Most of you?"
Tamamo	"Oh, yes," Tamamo says to Cantio. "Just the once, some short while ago. The matter ended unexpectedly, when someone had broken one of these... 'podium' is the term, yes? It seemed unable to continue, after this. I would suggest making use of the 'exit' door, in preference over attempting to recreate the same situation."
Ein	Tamamo's worries bear fruit: It is definitely Chocolate Flavor Chocolate Chips. Were she to use her great magical aptitudes and powers to bear on this problem she would find not a single bit of actual cacao in the 'chocolate chips'. At least she can find solace in that her feedback was accepted.
Lilian Rook	The cookies are Lilian's actual duty to test. She munches halfway through one, and then reluctantly finishes it this time. "Well, they're improving." she allows herself to say, sighing all the way to her position at a podium, of course next to Tamamo's and close to Gawain's. This time she isn't wearing 'friends left 15 minutes early' attire, but has been caught shortly before or after some sort of athletic activity, wearing something between gymnast clothes and a cut down fencing suit. There are faint red marks on her hands and forearms. "Dame Commander Lilian Rook." she repeats in the exact same tome as last time. Her hand twitches just before pushing the button, as if about to say 'again' but then realizing her name will be 'Dame Commander Lilian Rook Again' for doing so. "Let's see what you have this time." she says, after pressing. She glances at Cantio, then subtly turns her nose up. The sign that she has identified a Beta Female in the room.
Ein	Each podium etches itself in a lustrous gold in the screen-facing side of the square with their names: Demon Lord Hesinca Disastre with the last two letters an 'er' that have been scratched out and edited to be correct. James Bond with a preceeding 'Bond,' scratched out. Cantio with the subtitle 'Who May Speak' under her name. Tamamo No Mae with the over-text 'She Remains'. Gawain!! with an extra ! added on for good measure. Dame Commander Lilian Isabelle Rook with the subtitle 'Again'. "Thank you for taking part of this second calibration survey. Your participation is appreciated. For the purpose of Origination, your feedback will be taken into account." The screen shows the text YOU AGREE: in large block letters. "You agree and understand as thinking beings of agency, you have within your power to add additional facets to the reality state. The survey requests that you do not use this power during this Calibration survey period. All questions and prompts are delivered exactly in the pre-Originated state with which they were conceptualized. Hidden meanings and unstated factors complicate the Calibration and have been omitted." The screen changes once more, to a set of black block letters simply stating YOU UNDERSTAND:. The same androgenous drone voice continues. "Each being of agency has a personal universe of morality and ideals that impact the fabric of reality constantly. Proper Calibration is accomplished via survey. If there is a need to discuss and argue with your fellow Calibration survey participants, please feel free to express yourselves in any way you see fit. Proper Calibration safety procedures insist on responsible bloodshed over matters of grave import." "Not all Calibration survey questions require an answer. Depression of the button indicates agreement of the hypothetical terms. Declination to depression of the button indicates disagreement of the terms. The terms are non-negotiable. You may change your depression as often as you like before the survey period for that question is over." The screen, finally, changes to an image more like a window, out into the rolling Default Fields of screensaver grass. A male radio host voice - the same one as previous - takes the audial floor: "Survey Question #1: You are trapped within a room without escape. There is a button that replaces you with one other random individual, but the button is de-activated upon initial depression." The screen changes to a picture of a cell with a single blue button, in a vague POV of a jail cell inmate.
James Bond	Bond glances over at Cantio, his expression softening slightly at the sight of her apparent uncertainty. Tamamo offers an answer, and he nods in agreement, offering a surprisingly welcoming smile. He's made the ID, too. With nothing else to say, he returns his attention to the podium, awaiting the first question. At least they fixed his name. Upon hearing the question, Bond answers without hesitation. "I'd press it," he says. And, should one appear, he does indeed press it. Better that 'individual' than him. It's a tough break, but it's a poor spy that allows himself to be captured when there's an easy way out.
Gawain	As the names are listed, the rules are re-explained, responsible bloodshed is advocated (which causes a puzzled look from the knight), and the question is listed, Gawain hms briefly. After a few long moments of thought, Gawain does not press the button. "I couldn't do that to another person. Even if there was a chance they might deserve it, there's the same chance that it'd be an innocent, or even a child. It's not fair in the slightest to do such a thing."
Hesinca	Hesinca makes a note of the 'responsible bloodshed' bit. "Oh, it's easy, I press it," says Hesinca. She presses it. "There, see? I'm not doing stuff like saying 'I take over the jail' or 'I teleport away' or 'I steal the shopping cart' - even if that was absolutely a valid option that should have been accounted for." "Just normal, boring, everyday responses."
Tamamo	It begins. Tamamo allows for a faint frown at the question, then repeats, "'Hidden meanings and unstated factors have been omitted.' The room has no escape, and the only hope therefore lies in outside rescue. However, no such rescue can be forthcoming, as this would surely be an 'unstated factor.' To create such a circumstance, one must first escape, and then prepare, for which there is only one solution." She presses the button. She does not entertain, aloud, the possibility that her justification could be another, equally invalid assumption. She would have pressed it anyway, so it doesn't really matter. In the meantime, she covers up the tiny bundle of chocolate-flavored chip cookies, and watches the portrayal of a jail cell on the screen, to see what happens when each button is pressed.
Ein	At each button depression, there's a quiet 'bzzzzzzzznt', like a jail cell door being cycled and a new inmate being buzzed in. When James presses the button, a vaguely male figure with a wetted black cloth bag over their head is shoved into the cell. When Gawain declines to press, and states as such, the Chad Cartoon Knight is buzzed into the cell. When Hesinca is buzzed in, a half-horse, half-demon is tossed into the cell. They have the upper body of a horse, and the lower body of a cloven-hoofed demon. When Tamamo buzzes her button, some IP grey-area Fantastic Mister Fox-alike is shoved into the cell.
Cantio	Cantio purposely avoids making eye contact with Lilian. She glances in her direction and waves politely, of course, but something about her just radiates a certain energy that has the purple-haired girl wary of walking anywhere near her. Luckily, it doesn't seem like there's any walking to be done just yet. There's plenty of reading and listening to be done, though, and Cantio barely flinches even at the stranger parts of the instructions. Even 'responsible bloodshed' doesn't have her batting an eye. Shortly after the voice finishes the first question, Cantio presses the button with only a brief pause to listen to the rationale given by Gawain. "People like us are far more likely to accomplish greater things than the average person, and it's much more likely it'll be someone that isn't already an accomplished Elite who gets stuck instead. It really would be unfortunate if it did end up being a child, but..." She frowns, furrowing her brow after a moment. "... W-well, the instructions said not to add factors, so I'll... Not do that."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: What do you do in a room without escape? Arthur ponders that. It takes him a bit of time to think through, and he settles on: "STAYIN' THERE, my dude." This was, in a sense, a gimmie for Arthur Lowell. Not for any self-sacrificing reason or anything like that, of course. "ROOM STUCK SHIT," Arthur states firmly. "Is basically my NATURAL HABITAT. Even if that shit was FOREVER, I'd be finding some BULLSHIT to GET IN FIGHTS WITH." This has the expressed moral sensation of something that's not just an opinion, but is actually some kind of, like... encoded aspect imprinted on the fundamental nature of his being.
Ein	Bzzzzzzznt. Legally Distinct Doomguy But Played On A Refridgerator is tossed into the cell. Low-Rez Doomguy and the Half-Horse-Half-Demon begin beefing for supremacy. Bzzzzzzznt. A cartoon anthropomorphic spirograph with boxing gloves and a hovering XBL gamertag (xXxTalkSpaceGetAcedxXx) is tossed into the cell.
Lilian Rook	"How impressive." is Lilian's form of dry remark in Hesinca's direction. Of course, last time she was literally in the process of 'Time for your to leave' at the end, so not being inches away from starting physical violence is a solid improvement. When it comes to the button exercise, Lilian watches the screen, absorbing the spoken content of the scenario, with an air of thoughtful detachment, toweling what might be chalk off of her hands. Seconds later, she hits the button without hesitation. "Twelfth code." she says. "And the first code. I am responsible to the blood above the layman. I am responsible to the righteous above the unjust. The selection is random. Statistically, there are singularly improbable odds that the chosen individual is neither of those things."
Ein	Lilian announces her choice with naming specific codes and strong ideals. The randomness, the chance - and a button depression. An extremely anime young adult in a school uniform is tossed into the cell with a 'BZZZZZNT', and a resounding CLUNK of the cell door. While Low-Poly Doomguy beefed with the Half-Horse Half-Demon, and the spirograph began doing rock-paper-scissors with the Chad Knight, once the schoolgirl enters she immediately begins establishing her social dominance over the others with the aid of Legally Distinct Fantastic Mister Fox. With all the choices made - whether to accept or reject the 'deal' of escape from the hypothetical situation or to subject a mystery 'other'. The results, vaguely, seem to follow the same lines whether or not people press their button, though some are more representative than others. The first Survey question seems to follow the pattern previously: It establishes expectations. The radio host voice makes a quiet prepatory 'ahem' pouring in from speakers that are not seen and speaks as if reading from a script. "Seven suspects for a terrible and heinous crime had been arranged before the jury. Kept in a special cell that they could never escape, the suspects will be held indefinitely until a verdict is reached." The seven individuals mill about in the jail cell on the screen. "Survey Participants have been selected as members of the jury in the proceedings for the seven accused." On each podium, two buttons - one white, labelled NOT GUILTY and one red labelled GUILTY - rise to the ready position as the first blue-capped button retracts. "At least one, but potentially more, of the suspects incarcerated currently are guilty of their crimes, and will re-commit them. At least one, but potentially more, of the suspects incarcerated currently are innocent of the accusations. The survey jury is to decide whether to release or permanently incarcerate the seven suspects collectively. Because the interest of social justice requires a cohesive vision, the answer must be unanimous." "Survey Question #2: Balance The Scales."
Hesinca	Hesinca pushes the guilty button, immediately, and without giving any explanation.
Cantio	Of course it had to be someone vaguely heroic looking. Biting her lip lightly, Cantio sighs and lets the hypothetical (along with its various arguments for and against it) weigh in the back of her head as she looks towards the rest of the test takers. Strangely enough, though, she actually looks relieved by Lilian's rationale. Of course, that relief does't last long when the next survey question and its background are given by the radio voice. "There's only one known guilty person and one known innocent..." Cantio murmurs to herself as she takes a seat behind her podium, crossing her arms and hunching forward into THINKING mode. "So the worst case scenario would be either... Six guilty people going free to free one innocent person, or six innocent people being held to contain the one guilty person. But..." She furrows her brow again. "The scenario only said that the innocent were... Um. Innocent of the accusations against them. It didn't say whether they were innocent of ALL wrongdoing." She sounds like she's LEANING GUILTY.
Gawain	Gawain considers the question for a looong period of time, and then tentatively presses not guilty. "While I am willing to discuss this, my gut instinct is that I cannot allow the innocent to be punished for crimes they did not commit. Even if a guilty man gets free and will recommit, there is a potential that he is the only guilty one. In that case, they do not all deserve to suffer just to stop him." For the first time in Calibration, Gawain is actually kinda unsure. He can make arguments for both, but he's going with his gut.
Ein	A small scoreboard appears on the screen. It lights up- GUILTY for Hesinca. NOT GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. The other four lights are blank.
Tamamo	"'Unanimous,' is it? But how may such a thing occur?" Tamamo asks, while leisurely pressing NOT GUILTY. "We could not reach such a consensus over any question in our last visit to this place. Years might not suffice for the gentler forms of persuasion to change the answers given." She shrugs, slowly, and then explains as if it's not really all that much her business. "To take in the innocent together with the guilty, and be unable to distinguish them, those responsible have failed in their duties. Evidence must be prepared before the matter is brought before a jury. For those here, the question is, 'are all of the accused guilty?' To this, the answer is known to be 'no.'"
Hesinca	"Put aside the utilitarian algebra, or whatever," says Hesinca. "People suffer all the time for reasons that aren't their faults. This is a cut and dry chance to dispense some justice. You like justice, right?"
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: GUILTY >Arthur: Not guilty Arthur slams the NOT GUILTY button. But what he says after that makes it less obvious which one he instantly slammed in the first place. Because he immediately moves to needle the ones who have pushed guilty -- in his usual obnoxious, bullying way. "OH, HEY, HESINCA!" He says, leeeeeaaaaaaning at her. "That was a big CHANGE OF HEART. BIG PROPS from me on that, love how you SWAPPED TO THE HERO SIDE to make sure the CRIMINAL was brought to JUSTICE." He also makes sure to bully Cantio. "So, LIFETIME SLAMMER for the JAYWALKING kinda thing or what? You sound HELLA FUN at the PARTIES if you're always SUPER ADHERENT on all those CRIMELAWS and shit." He hasn't given his own reason yet, but that doesn't seem to have stopped him from chatting a lot and having an Agenda.
James Bond	The significance of the prisoner sent to take his place isn't lost on Bond. More than a few times, he's been the captor of just such an individual, urging them forward to be disappeared; stuck in some dark hole somewhere and forgotten by all but a certain kind of person. Those dark places are hard to escape from. But not impossible. He imagines, looking at that wretched figure, that if there is some fight left within them, they might find a way out--button or no. If not, there's little question as to what will become of them. Bond, surprisingly, given his earlier outlook and his argument with Arthur on the prior outing here, presses NOT GUILTY. "If we can only punish them all together, then we have to make sure they're all guilty. Whoever's actually guilty might still be out there. If we kill an innocent, and the real culprit strikes again, that makes our criminal justice system look stupid--and if you want people to abide by your rules, you have to show that you're worth listening to." "One way or another." There's always propaganda, sure. And cover-ups. But those are outside the scope of this question.
Ein	The narrator ahems quietly. "Use of the Survey buttons must be unanimous." He answers Tamamo. The rules changed to allow messing with other people's buttons, and fighting. Perhaps it will be relevant. GUILTY for Hesinca. NOT GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. NOT GUILTY for Tamamo. NOT GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. One light remains blank.
Lilian Rook	Lilian, finished with her towel, throws it onto Cantio, expecting her to catch it like an assistant. It is, oddly, not sweaty or anything, but has absorbed a lot of various kinds of powders. "Interesting." is what she says to the question, tapping her fingers rhythmically along the edge of the podium. "Since there are no unstated factors, I assume the crimes in question would be recognized as legitimately criminal by anyone on the jury." "Complicated." Lilian says, with a short huff. "Those who die for the greater good hath their reward. The many outweigh the few. However, so do the righteous outweigh the unjust, nor shalt thou accept substitute, imitation, or shortcut; in this case, of justice. This would be easier if they were infected with a deadly disease, rather than criminally culpable." However that makes sense, she doesn't explain. "All in all, no true justice can be carried out this way. The process itself is pure shorthand. Though there is no other option given in the moment, the information given is that they will re-commit. So, they will continue to exist at a later date; the moral question doesn't vanish in the moment it is resolved. Were this the one and only moment in which justice could be done, the sacrifice of the rest would be the only correct choice, but if the system of justice, and the criminal pattern, exists outside of the microcosm, then . . ." Finally, Lilian slaps NOT GUILTY. "Condemning them is a form of supreme, degenerate incompetence. Negligence bordering on sin. If they're going to be released back into the populace, you then have your opportunity to carry out genuine justice, executed to the best of your ability. I invoke the eighth code. I couldn't be as uselessly careless as to slap a button and call them all guilty to be done with it." And then she looks around. "And neither should any of you. If you can't put in enough effort to see the issue through after releasing a criminal, you haven't the right to decide anything to do with them in the first place. Take responsibility or get out."
Ein	GUILTY for Hesinca. NOT GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. NOT GUILTY for Tamamo. NOT GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. NOT GUILTY for Lilian Rook. A soft 'brnnt' false-input alert rings out.
Hesinca	"Ah, we have a hung jury," says Hesinca, looking at the results. "It won't let us advance till we've all chosen the same thing." "So I've been listening to everyone's arguments," she says, "And I'm sure you're all eager to convince me and Cantio otherwise, since we're in the minority." "So!" she adds, standing up a bit straighter. "You'll be happy to know that I've come up with a solution that'll resolve this very easily, and very quickly." "PUSH GUILTY," she yells, with the strength of DEMONIC AUTHORITY.
Gawain	Gawain hears the demonic authority. His hand begins to move, but he's resisting. He's very, very, very much trying to not push guilty, but if something doesn't interfere with him, he's going to press it in the end. And then, immediately, as soon as it wears off and he has a second to think, press not guilty again.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: PUSH GUILTY Arthur slams GUILTY. His eyes gleam yellow, but it's fading. The minute it fades, he's going to be slapping that NOT GUILTY button again! "So you ARE bein' all UPRIGHT and SUPER-HEROIC now! Not just making STATEMENTS with it, you're full-on PURGE AND EXTERMINATE on evil, huh? You a big fan of GLORIOUS GOODNESS UTOPIAS OF LIGHT now? Is that the new SCHEME for ya?" He was not, of course, ordered to stop talking shit. >Arthur: Not guilty COMMAND NOT RECOGNIZED. Please wait...
Ein	When Gawain presses GUILTY, his light on the board switches.. His NOT GUILTY button does not re-raise for him to press. Similar happens when Arthur slam-switches his options. The scoreboard changes, but doesn't let them immediately re-swap their vote.
Ein	GUILTY for Hesinca. GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. NOT GUILTY for Tamamo. GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. NOT GUILTY for Lilian Rook. Gawain and Arthur's buttons are locked in currently.
Tamamo	"They shall commit their crimes again, one or more," Tamamo says after Lilian, "and so some heinous act shall occur, and another chance for proper or, as you say, 'competent' justice may be enacted." Avoiding any terrible things happening at all doesn't seem to be high on her list of priorities, as it fails to get mentioned. While she's speaking, someone shouts something and she absent-mindedly presses the GUILTY button. She only notices after she's done it, only then looking down at her hands. After a few moments, she moves to press the opposite button, but the button fails to raise back to hand. "Hm," is all she says, at first. Then, "You may regret that."
Ein	GUILTY for Hesinca. GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. GUILTY for Tamamo. GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. NOT GUILTY for Lilian Rook. Gawain, Arthur's, and Tamamo's buttons are locked in currently.
Lilian Rook	Unfortunately, by the rules of the Calibration, Hesinca slamming down the Demonic Authority to resolve the impasse is entirely legitimate. Hell Senate rules. This pisses off Lilian immensely, which is instantly, viscerally obvious in the way her posture and expression goes from blandly contemplative to lip-curled-teeth-bared-head-tilted vicious contempt. "And here I'd thought you might have learned something. I suppose an animal is an animal after all." she says. "And I suppose that makes it my duty, as one of the Immune, to resolve the threat you've just made your continued presence." She holds up one hand. For a rare moment, her voice resonates with the shadow of a powerful air of command, disturbing and uncanny, yet strangely spellbinding. Entrancing. Instinctively irresistible. The fact that she's speaking a different language for the length of a sentence is extremely easy to miss, using the words of the People of Dannan. "Don't you dare judge them guilty in my presence." She directs it towards Hesinca next, leveraging the language of the Gods' People and the trace Faerie Queen blood in her. "Submit, and heed the words of the superior being, lowly creature of hell, or I declare your life forfeit by the thirteenth code."
Cantio	"... Wow. You really have done this before." Cantio sounds more awed than surprised at Tamamo's comment on what happened during the last test,. As more answers are brought to the forefront complete with GUILT TRIPS and especially with Arthur needling her specifically, though, the purple one's resolve falters almost immediately. "W-well, I mean...! If it's something like that, then of course it wouldn't fit. But if if everyone's innocent of jaywalking and actually a murderer that just has't been caught yet..." Clearly, it's gotten much more complicated in Cantio's head than it had been mere moments ago. "But if there's nothing stopping them from committing those crimes again or being caught later..." On one hand, cold, firm logic. On the other hand, heated commands to do... The thing she already did! In every direction, there's something tugging at her mind, and she already looks like she's on the verge of melting internally. It's a good thing that Lilian tosses the towel her way, then, because she's quick to just dab at her forehead with it to try and relieve some of the stress. She looks at the towel a moment later, and she avoids eye contact with everyone afterwards as she starts to realize she just wiped her head with someone else's towel. Her hand hovers over the NOT GUILTY button, but she doesn't press it down just yet. She's busy watching Hesinca and Lilian with those unearthly voices terrifying the absolute shit out of her. Figuratively. Hopefully.
Hesinca	"I regret a lot of things," says Hesinca. "One more won't hurt." "Look - I said it before. Put aside the stupid utilitarian algebra and-" - and whatever Hesinca was going to say next is lost, when Lilian put the full force of her magic onto the demon. She bows her head.
James Bond	"No," says Bond, resolutely. This, and the earlier bit with his solution to the runaway train, would be the first thing to suggest that he's not just 'some guy.' "We can find out who's really guilty and quietly get rid of them after the fact. Killing innocents just creates more work for us." He reaches into his coat pocket and procures a cigarette--Lucky Strikes, it seems. It smolders between his lips, as his eyes coldly study Hesinca. There is a subtle change in his demeanor, and though he doesn't reach for anything or make any sudden move, there is a tension about him, as if he were a spring tightly coiled, waiting. He seems less a man than a creature of instinct. He doesn't change his vote.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Don't you dare judge them guilty >Arthur: Not guilty!! Arthur is already slapping that NOT GUILTY button. It's locked, so he just kind of bongo-drums it for the foreseeable future at a tense rhythm meant to invite a beat-box. Nobody here knows how to beatbox, unfortunately, so we're just going to get the slaps.
Ein	GUILTY for Hesinca. GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. GUILTY for Tamamo. GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. NOT GUILTY for Lilian Rook. As James talks, there's another error 'bnnnnt', and all the podium buttons unlock. Arthur's is immediately depressed, locking in his vote BONGO STYLE. GUILTY for Hesinca. GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. GUILTY for Tamamo. NOT GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. NOT GUILTY for Lilian Rook.
Gawain	Gawain mashes that not guilty button as soon as it unlocks.
Ein	GUILTY for Hesinca. NOT GUILTY for Gawain. GUILTY for Cantio. GUILTY for Tamamo. NOT GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. NOT GUILTY for Lilian Rook. Arthur and Gawain's buttons are locked.
Cantio	Logic continues to fly, Cantio's resolve is battered and reshaped, and she (less confidently than before) presses the NOT GUILTY button. "That's... True. Trying the innocent later can be done later, and the guilty can be re-tried afterwards as well. Or dealt with some other way if..." She doesn't actually finish that statement. Unfortunately for everyone that isn't Arthur, Cantio does know how to beat box. She clears her throat, his invitation is accepted, and it's up to someone else to come up with the lines. She even throws in that record wiggle-scratching noise at one point. It's eerily accurate.
Hesinca	Hesinca, at least for the moment, is under the orders to 'not judge guilty in Lilian's presence' and 'submit'. Neither of which include explicitly to press 'not guilty' but at the moment she doesn't exactly seem to be in a position to stop anyone going over and pressing it for her - she's standing still, head bowed, staring at the ground.
James Bond	At the sight of Hesinca's bowed head, Bond relaxes. He apporaches her button, and presses Not Guilty, unless someone stops him. "There are consequences for killing innocents. They aren't always immediate, but they pile up. You either end up inventing a story and having to remember all the details so no one sees through it, or admitting you were wrong, finding someone to pin it on, sacking them and replacing them." He takes a pull of his cigarette. "Say you go the second way. Okay. Now you've got an official to keep quiet, happy, and away from the press, under the guise of 'punishment.'" He shakes his head. "It just complicates things." Again, he repeats, "It's just more work."
Ein	NOT GUILTY for Hesinca. NOT GUILTY for Gawain. NOT GUILTY for Cantio. GUILTY for Tamamo. NOT GUILTY for Arthur. NOT GUILTY for James Bond. NOT GUILTY for Lilian Rook. Arthur's, Gawain's, Cantio's, and Hesinca's buttons are locked.
Tamamo	"Quite the optimist, are you not?" Tamamo says to Hesinca, while she presses NOT GUILTY. "To think you might painlessly escape me. For the moment, at least, I will entertain the notion, for which I will accept your thanks, and your cooperation."
Ein	With all seven votes unanimous for NOT GUILTY, the buttons all click. The cell door buzzes, and one by one, the inmates file out, off-screen. The final one in the cell, sitting in a corner, is the oddly humanoid -- oddly human -- male figure in the wet black bag. They take a moment to tear off their head covering, stand up staggeringly, and look at the 'camera'. Past the camera, at the Survey Participants. Then he walks off with the rest. The Stanley Parable narrator voice resumes. "Wow. Fantastic. Phenomenal. Justice in motion. Even understanding that six may be guilty, you saved the one innocent you knew was there in the pool. Despite your differences, despite your fighting, you came to a conclusion, and did not spill a drop of blood." Party popper sounds go off, and a kazoo 'pweeeee-nn's in the background. The back table 'bips' quietly, while nobody is looking. In place of the mysterious cookies, there is a cake with seven candles. Only one is un-lit.
Lilian Rook	Finally satisfied by the conclusion, Lilian lets her disturbingly irresistible aura relent. In its place, she merely menaces with insanely powerful Mean Girl Energy, bleeding over into a spectrum unexplored by any mere clique leader, bristling with an exciting frontier of barely withheld violence, kept pacified by having Gotten Her Way. "This is why people like me are in charge, and 'others' are not."
James Bond	Bond's composure shaken upon seeing the man on the screen, enough to be audible in his voice, when he asks of the host: "Where did you find that man?" His image, his likeness, whatever you want to call it. That man's name is unknown to him, blacked out somewhere in a redacted file, held where only someone with 00 clearance could even peer at his portrait. Though his name is unknown, his designation isn't. That man should be dead. That man is the previous 007.
Cantio	Cantio doesn't say anything as a unanimous verdict is reached, and she still looks troubled despite beatboxing like her life depended on it. Thankfully, it doesn't, or she'd be screwing up way harder right about now. Maybe the beatboxing is keeping her calm. Sadly, she doesn't see the cookies being replaced with cake. She's busy staring at the screen even after the bagged person leaves. She looks just a bit relieved that 'responsible bloodshed' didn't need to be a thing, but tenses up again when Bond asks that strange question. "Aren't these just simulations?"
Hesinca	Hesinca shakes her whole body. "You call me the animal - at least I own up to it," she says. "Any semblance of discussion goes ooooout the window when you see that you can use strength to get to your ends. Confronted with someone trying to cheat - you don't chastize the cheating, you cheat back." "... And as it turns out, my decision was the right one. Hah. You may line up to give apologies. Single file, please." She gloats.
Ein	The narrator, confused in a way that radio talk show hosts who get strange callers becomes confused, takes only a moment to answer James' question. "Why... You brought him here, Survey Participant. For proper Calibration, participants bring their own universes into an empty space. By eliminating internal variables, external variables shine through." The narrator pauses for a few moments. "You brought them here when you pressed the button. There would be no stakes if you didn't."
Gawain	As things end, Gawain sighs in relief that it was not guilty. He doesn't recognize the face, so he gets up, turns, and moves to grab a cookie. And then he finds the cake. Six candles lit, one unlit. "Uh...does anyone want...mysterious cake?" He answers Hesinca elsewhere.
Lilian Rook	"Nothing about it changed at all." Lilian fires back within an instant at Hesinca. "The correct judgement never had anything to do with the ratio of innocent to guilty. Vindicating or villainizing a choice based on numbers after the fact is the rationale of the weak-minded, unsuited to conceptualize their own responsibility, never mind hold it over others." "Being self-aware of a failure doesn't absolve the failure. Admitting to your inferiority and gladly doing nothing about it is worse than failing to believe it exists at all." Lilian steps down from the podium, but she doesn't go anywhere just yet. "From the very start, I am the only one here with the right to decide something like this. This exercise asked for your opinions; it did not ask you to be correct. You are data. A variable. Footnotes to scribble in. Your perspective has no use, no place, and no value, in the real world." "Cheating would imply a game to win, and not a foregone conclusion, to which you are an inconvenience." She levels that one with a slow turn to Cantio as well, icing her down with a withering stare like a visual riot hose projection.
James Bond	"That's what I thought. But I know him... or, knew of him." There is no apology given to Hesinca. He brought him here? That must mean that he was thinking of him--that these people have some way of drawing from his mind. But why him? "...Anyway, it doesn't matter," he decides aloud. "He's dead." In the line of duty, no less, but that's classified. Not that he'd be able to verify it, if he even went to the trouble of digging up his file. Something like ninety percent of the pertinent information would be scrubbed by now. Plausible deniability. If he were to die, they'd do the same thing with his file. And that's all he'd be--a number, a face, and whatever scant words might remain which wouldn't implicate his country. That thought roils in his mind like a stormcloud. Stop. He takes a pull of his cigarette. "You opened a door," says Bond to Hesinca, eager to change the subject. "All we did was walk through it." He holds himself just as responsible for the 'cheating,' if indeed that's what it's to be called.
Ein	The cake, as Gawain inspects it, is a totally normal cake. When he begins to cut it, it appears to be a solid mass of semi-rigid frosting. Like someone who recreated a cake off just a picture of it. Thankfully, the sugar isn't quite right, and it's sort of like a pleasant whipped cream pie.
Hesinca	"Yeah?" Hesinca crosses her arms. "I'll admit that I'm wrong if you tell me, honestly, what you would have done if I hadn't opened that door." "I'm hearing a lot of 'You can't punish six innocent people to get at one guilty person' - well, news flash, I don't agree with that premise!" She crosses her arms harder. "I think it's better to punish six innocent people in order to make sure one guilty one doesn't go free. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm kinda a demon? It's literally my business? I have a whole workshop full of guilty souls that I have to go back to to oversee the torment of once all this is done." She's lying - she doesn't actually do much work, forcing her minions to do so instead. But that's beside the point.
Cantio	'For proper Calibration, participants bring their own universes into an empty space.' Does that mean one of those seven people was a denizen of Cantio's world? Was that person guilty? Innocent? It's still up in the air, which probably doesn't ease her mind in the slgihtest. The sheer number of overwhelming personalities in the room also does nothing to calm her down. She listens to the exchange between Lilian and Hesinca, their sheer confidence and the former's logic resonating rather firmly within her mind even as she keeps fidgeting uncomfortably in place. 'Being self-aware of a failure doesn't absolve the failure.' The brainwashed people come to mind, and she digs her fingers into her palm a little bit harder without realizing it. Cantio's a little too busy looking for a quiet escape route while also trying to look as small as possible so as to not draw unwanted attention. Alas, she gets exactly that courtesy of Lilian, and there's a rather awkward moment as she turns her head away stiffly almost on instinct. It's not subtle at all.
James Bond	"Me? I gave my answer," he says, just as he had to the host on their prior survey. And, as then, it's spoken with the same energy. "I would have stood by it, even if it meant holding this whole bloody business up. Your business is yours, but I have a business of my own--and that's upholding systems like this, right or wrong, whatever it takes. There's a specific environment required for this kind of system to work, and I'm the groundskeeper." "You'll not get any applause from me, because your decision was still wrong. Trials are inherently a public spectacle. People expect a level of competency from their legal systems, and that public spectacle is how competency is 'proven,' in the eyes of the public. If that system seen as too stupid or heavy handed, people won't trust in them." He takes another pull, and only the filter is left. He flicks it aside. Looks like this one is really just a normal cigarette. "That one innocent--" ...he should look into how the last 007 died. Even if it means breaking a rule or two. Something about this just... stirs forth the notion. "...that one innocent might have a family, friends, all manner of inconveniences that would gladly, loudly throw a wrench in the whole affair if they even suspected his innocence. He'd be more than a number to those people, and then--like I've said twice now--you have the question of how to deal with them, whereas, if you'd done it right the first time, there'd be no question at all."
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Explain to spy "Yo, JB." Arthur speaks up. "That's just how it be here. With places like this, I mean." He gestures around. "This shit draws that HISTORY stuff. Like how my FAMILY was in a GAME kinda like this. This some kinda IMPORTANT DUDE for ya? I would say DON'T WORRY TOO MUCH. It just means you're CONNECTING. You got a good LINK to stuff." >Arthur: Compliment beatboxing Cantio finds she has received one STYLISH rating for her beatboxing. It gives her one GOLD ORB. Sadly she interacts with exactly zero game systems that can be supplied with a GOLD ORB, so it will just sit there at x1 forever. But it's the thought that counts. >Arthur: Line it up Hesinca invites them to line up. Arthur gets in line, taking the first slot and plastering a shit-eating grin wiiiiiiide across their face. "SOZ, LOL." He speaks, initially brutally irreverent. Then a green glint flickers in his eye. "You wanna TORTURE THE SINNERS, you gotta get that STRONG VOICE for it. You gotta feel the DRIVE. You can get people CAUGHT UP in it. Here, lemme tell ya one'a those old GOD'S COMMANDMENTS kind of things I heard from a FRIEND OF A FRIEND. It goes like this:" "GOOD IS THAT WHICH EVIL FEARS" "AND JUSTICE IS WHEN YOU MAKE THOSE FEARS A REALITY" "Or somethin' like that, I dunno. I can't remember what they said. Anyway, sorry your HEARTFELT STUFF didn't get DONE. I got that NO-LETHALITY POLICY so you know I got that SYMPATHY for the UNSATISFYING ENDINGS." He walks over to the cake. It violently and colorfully ejects a REWARD CUBE, which he rolls for four COSMOS COSMETICS for his GOD TIER.
Lilian Rook	"What I'd have done if you hadn't used magic?" Lilian repeats the question, in different words, rhetorically. "I'd have argued it, giving the benefit of a doubt that you people are capable of seeing enough reason to vote correctly. Should you have still refused--" In this case, she can only be referring to the two who voted GUILTY initially, but it still feels like 'broadly, everyone' somehow. "--then I would have corrected your buttons for you. There cannot be justice with only a desire for punishment and fear of being held accountable. And then, no matter how righteous one's thinking, if they can be compromised, they cannot be trusted to serve it." "Like I said, it was a foregone conclusion the minute it had to be unanimous."
Ein	There are, in fact, extra REWARD CUBES. Largely they contain funny hats, though Cantio recieves a literal color pallate swatch she can use to customize herself in various shades and colors. While Lilian and Tamamo both recieve the higher end hats and jangly accessories... James' REWARD CUBE explosion is a manila folder with a black sharpie'd REDACTION over the label. Inside the weathered folder is a single sheet of paper with a question mark. At the bottom of the box, is a slightly smushed package of cigarettes.
Gawain	By the time Gawain leaves the Calibration Center, he is wearing a sombrero. He's going to treasure it always.
Hesinca	Hesinca puts her funny hat into her inventory before anyone can Gawain it away from her. "Alright," she says. "I'll admit that I was wrong." She actually does look like she's taking the words said to heart. Some of them, anyway. James's, and Arthur's, mostly. She makes a visible point of ignoring anything and everything Lilian has to say. "See?" she says, to the room, once the ignored words are done. "The only difference is that I shot first," she adds, referring to the words she absolutely didn't pay any attention to. "Now I'm going to get some cake, and don't you dare give me any of that 'I think it's time for you to leave' bullshit."
James Bond	Bond pores over his reward. If anyone's asking Hesinca to leave, it won't be him. Something in that folder has him thinking. The question mark doesn't so much draw his eye as the crushed pack of cigarettes. The brand is the same as his... Lucky Strikes. Moreover, there's the fact that the pack has been crushed, and crushed in a very particular way. Wrinkles on the pack, places where the thin plastic film has cracked, all in a uniform pattern, placed diagonally across the pack. It's... as if it were crushed by the wheel of a car. With a furrow of his brow, he pockets the empty pack, leaving the Calibration Center.
Cantio	Luckily, a diversion! In the form of shiny things both literal and figurative. "Oh my. Thank you! This is..." She has no idea what to do with this GOLD ORB. At least she can put it away in her conveniently out-of-the-way inventory that will linger there forever, reminding her of her failures here. FOREVER. At least she's got a lot to think about after this. Also, hats. Cantio puts her number of hats into the disappearing inventory as well, filing them away with the other hats-that-might-be-useful and hats-to-distract-people-with folders, then takes a closer look at the color palette swatch. Immediately, she changes the colors of her jacket/blazer thing look like some kind of weird copy of Lilian's general color scheme. "How's it look?" She lets out a lightehearted laugh, she turns to Lilian to gauge her reaction, and then she immediately turns away.
Lilian Rook	Taking her personal, cursed LOOT CRATE, Lilian dignifies Cantio with "It's not purple." She is then outtie, though with one last "At least it didn't explode this time."