vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

At the crack of dawn, presumably, Calhoun gathers everyone in the first floor warehouse to make an announcement.

"That's right, it's time for another of my special events!" He seems pretty pleased with himself. "I noticed you lazy, fat test subjects really let yourselves go last round! It's like I don't feed you here or something."

"Well, I'm worried about your health, always lazing about and not getting proper exercise. So, I decided to be the change I want to see in the world, and so we're going to do something a littttttttllllllle different this time."

"To stop you guys from getting soft from all the fun you're having here, it's time for a little workout."

From one of the doors Calhoun never lets anyone go through there's a loud, metallic banging sound repeating, as if something is trying to get out. Calhoun does not seem troubled at all by this. In fact, he seems pretty excited.

"The rules are simple, everyone's getting sixty coins to use as they see fit. You'll notice the vending machines on both warehouse floors. Anyone who isn't caught will even get a memory back." But what does that mean?

"So go on, survive for 23 hours, I'll even give you a five minute head start. Good luck!"

And with that he scurries off. Should people hang around they'll get to witness that same door open five minutes later. From the door comes several figures, human in shape but something is very, very wrong.

They seem to be robotic, skeletal humans. At one point they must have had some synthetic skin over them but most of it seems to be melting or ripped off. They don't move very fast, mostly they shamble about until they focus on a target. Better hope it's not you!

BASIC INFO ✖ FIRST TEN HOURS ✖ LAST HOURS ✖ POST EVENT MINGLE

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Though Kuzuryuu wasn't quite at the point of panic, he was feeling a terrible sense of dread. That awful feeling of your heart sinking within your chest was what he felt as the light in his bracelet dimmed then died. He smacked the side of it, as though that was going to help at all.

"Shit," he cursed softly under his breath. This was a bad position to be in. He wasn't even in a room at the moment, instead wandering the halls between them. And it was no use waiting for his eyes to adjust, the darkness was too impenetrable. So, the only thing he could do was attempt to cling to the wall, slowly walking along and listening and very much hoping that he wasn't going to run into one of those things.

*Snake was walking down the middle of a hallway when he heard footsteps approaching. He knew what the step of a robot sounded like by now -- heavy and metallic. This sounded softer. Still, he put one hand on his modified rope flail at his belt.* Who's there?

"Uh-" Stupidly, the first thought for a reply is 'me,' but he mostly caught himself before he looked too foolish. "M- Kuzuryuu," he replied softly.

"Not a robot or anything." Obviously.

Good. I've already been running from one a few minutes ago. Are you lost, Kuzuryuu? *Or at the very least, not getting anywhere fast?*

"Then there's one near here?" Kuzuryuu asked, sounding very much unhappy with the prospect of accidentally running into the one that Snake had only recently escaped.

"Hh-" Clearly he's somewhat hesitant to admit it but - "Yeah. Kind of. My light went out and I'm not that familiar with the layout of everything to begin with." So, basically he was totally lost and had no idea where he was going.

All right. If you don't mind holding my hand, I'll try to find somewhere safer to take you. *Good thing he studied the layout more thoroughly.*

"Huh?" For some reason Kuzuryuu wasn't expecting this. "Y-yeah, I do mind! I mean, holding hands, it's- it's either done so kids don't lose their parents or because people are dating." The first he was definitely not okay with since he was not a kid and the second was obviously a no. Clearly there was no other possible reason for anyone to hold hands, even if this situation where there was obviously another reason.

This is what he chose to worry about when there were zombie robots probably roaming around.

*Good GOD. Kuzuryuu was younger than he thought if he was going to get touchy about that.* Well I'm not your parent nor am I dating you. It's so you don't get caught. I can't have you following me just by my voice because if you can do it, so can a robot. *The scorn in his voice was quite palpable.*

"Yeah, no shit. That's kind of the problem I'm having," Kuzuryuu replied testily. This was a stupid thing to be caught up about at a time like this and he knew that.

"And I didn't say I wasn't gonna take it, I just said I minded." He hesitated for another moment, before adding. "How am I even supposed to figure out where your hand is?"

Well I can figure out where you are so I'll grab onto your hand, okay? *Everyone was clearly an amateur at roaming in the dark. By contrast, darkness was Snake's ally. If a voice came from a certain height, logic dictated the hands would be at a certain distance away. Snake reaches out with his real hand to grab one of Kuzuryuu's.*

"F-fine. Sure." Kuzuryuu was still somewhat unsure about this, but undeniably cooperation was his friend in a predicament like this.

The feeling of another person's hand grabbing his own was both strangely familiar and unfamiliar and the mixed sensations caused him to pause for a beat before properly clasping onto Snake's hand in return. "Right. Well. We're holding hands, so lead away."

There are a few places we could go. Can you climb trees at all? *Because knowing that would help determine if the garden would be a safe spot.*

"Hah. Yeah, I can climb them no problem," Kuzuryuu replied, a little amused by the question. "I feel like I've been climbing them all day."

Good. The garden is one of the safer places to rest for a moment. *So away they go! Snake only hopes that their lengthy conversation didn't attract any robot attention.*

"I've noticed," Kuzuryuu said, trying to keep his footfalls as soft as possible as they walked. "Those things don't seem to be able to climb." Well, the ones he's seen haven't been able to, anyway.

Also, if one happens to find you in the garden, you might want to try to trick it to fall into the little pool of water. *He cants his head, trying listen in the distance for a robot.*

"That feels like it'd be easier said than done, y'know." There was a slightly sour tone to Kuzuryuu's voice. "How'd you figure that out, anyway? Don't tell me you seriously managed to lure one into the water?"

Myself and Hershel tested it out by first throwing water on a robot. It went insane so we decided we had to kill it quickly. We had some rope and we got enough ahead of it that it couldn't stop so we tripped it and it ended up in the waterfall.

"That's-" Frankly Kuzuryuu couldn't decided whether or not he was impressed by that or whether or not he thought that had been a stupid decision do so something like that in the first place. "Something. What gave you the idea to throw water on it in the first place?"

Well, it is a robot and water and electricity do not mix...or mix too well depending on your viewpoint so...

CALHOUN HOUR - SURVIVOR

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