SECOND EVENT: THE MILGRAM EXPERIMENT

[birdkeepers]

At exactly 2:00 in the afternoon, an announcement goes off: the intercom clicks on, and the warden reads a list of names. "... If your name has been called, please come to the cafeteria. You're to participate in the next event! If you do not go on your own, a guard will find and escort you

Comments

GROUP 4

[birdkeepers]

Fletcher Tringham is led into the teachers' half of the room, and Rosalind is led into the students' half.

[beansprout]

Fletcher looked around once he entered his half of the room. A chair, and a table with a button on it... and a stack of cue cards on the table. This didn't seem too hard...

He looked over at the glass, and the woman who was on the other side.

[unfaded_rose]

Rosalind's lips twitched slightly at the sight of her 'teacher' as she took her seat. The chair wasn't comfortable but she managed to make it look like she was.

"You might as well start," she said, her voice crisp.

A test of knowledge. Rosalind had to admit she wasn't that worried about failing.

[beansprout]

"Um-- y-yes, ma'am." Fletcher nodded to her, and took his seat at the table, then picked up the stack of cue cards and looked at them.

Aha. This top one was simple enough... He cleared his throat, and asked the first question. "Who was the first president of the United States?"

[unfaded_rose]

"George Washington," she said without hesitation.

Rosalind hoped the questions got more interesting, she really did. Though it was a good thing to start a game off simply at the same time...

"And while I appreciate your politeness, it's Rosalind."

[beansprout]

"O-oh-- S-sorry, Miss Rosalind." Fletcher turned a little red. "Um, m-my name is Fletcher. It's nice to meet you."

Okay, so this wasn't so bad. Maybe the warden had been joking about it being "deadly". (Although she hadn't been joking about the last performance...) Fletcher set the card aside and took the next one. He stared at it for a moment, tilting his head, and then asked, "In the Japanese era system for counting years, ... er, 'Kouki 1' corresponds to which Gregorian year?" He mispronounced it as "cookie".

[unfaded_rose]

"And you as well," she said, as if that was just as important as the game they were playing.

Her brow furrowed slightly. She was certain he'd mispronounced the word. There was no cookie in the Japanese era system.

(Thank goodness.)

But was she allowed to ask him to repeat that? Or did that fall under the teacher helping her to cheat?

She grimaced. She didn't know the kid, but getting him in trouble wasn't her idea of a way to get through this game.

"I don't know."

[beansprout]

"Sorry," he said, for no real reason at all -- he was just like that. It wasn't the Oh, sorry, too bad that a game show host might use in this same situation; it was more of an I'm sorry if it was somehow my fault. "It says the answer is 660 BC."

He set the card aside, and glanced at the button he was supposed to press to record the wrong answer. He hesitated for a moment -- surely it wouldn't hurt if he touched it, he was just being paranoid -- and then pressed the button.

[unfaded_rose]

She flinched violently, her eyes widening abruptly and a hiss of pain escaping her.

Electric shocks, she thought, feeling her nerves respond. For every question they got wrong.

Rosalind's eyes narrowed.

"Continue," she snapped. She wasn't angry at the kid, but at the situation. At the fact that if he messed up a question again, she'd take the pain to keep him from it.

[beansprout]

Fletcher blinked in confusion. "Wh-what happened? Are you okay?"

She'd flinched just as he pushed that button... No way. "Um-- the... the next question is, um... 'What is full of holes but can still hold water?' But if you need a minute..."

[unfaded_rose]

Rosalind flexed her hands and considered how to answer him.

Not the question, of course. Rosalind thought she knew the answer to that-- but then, there were several possible answers to that one and she had to guess the right one.

"I'm fine," she said, with a curt shake of her head as she drew herself up. Right. Sit like the chair was comfortable and like nothing hurt at all. She could do that. "Just a bit of a shock. As for the question, it's a sponge."

[beansprout]

A shock? Did she mean like a surprise, or... Whichever she meant, Fletcher was glad she'd answered the third question correctly. He couldn't stand the thought of hurting her again, even if he didn't actually know her.

"O-okay. Um... The fourth question." He flipped to the next cue card. This one was kind of awful. He frowned as he read it. "List five symptoms of Ebola infection."

[unfaded_rose]

Rosalind frowned.

"Some of the symptoms depend on the strain of Ebola," she said disapprovingly. The question was far to vague to allow for any precision. "In any case, the most common symptoms overall are: fever, inflammation of the pharynx, joint and muscle pain, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea."

[beansprout]

Though he flinched at the response, he was relieved she'd answered correctly again. All five of those symptoms were included in the list of possible answers. "R-right."

Now for the fifth card. Fletcher frowned again. "What is the name of Deadman Wonderland's head warden?"

Truth be told, he hadn't heard her name even once since arriving here. He hoped Rosalind knew it.

[unfaded_rose]

...Ha.

That was one thing she hadn't been able to find out.

Rosalind braced herself and said clearly, "I don't know."

[beansprout]

Well... great. Fletcher swallowed and looked down at that button again. "O-oh."

What if he didn't press it? He'd probably get in trouble... But then, she seemed fine now. So it had probably just hurt a little. But even that was something Fletcher wasn't comfortable inflicting on another person.

So he didn't.

He moved on to the sixth card. "There is a yellow house. It is made out of yellow bricks. There is a blue house. It is made out of blue bricks. What is the green house made out of?"

Once he finished reading the question, though, he winced and breathed inwardly, sharply, as his own collar shocked him. It passed quickly, but now he knew for sure that he wasn't supposed to do that.