CALHOUN HOUR - SURVIVOR

[vivariummods]

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

Comments

[skyentificmethod]

[As her main memories of the room involve tear gas and physical assault, she doesn't attempt to go any deeper into the room either, simply sliding to the floor from her spot on the wall.]

I'm fine.

[...Which wasn't exactly true, but her voice is shaking and the more words spoken, the more obvious it'd be. Honestly, she hadn't expected to freeze up like that. The feeling, and the fact that something would shake her so is far more distressing than the stupid robots themselves, no matter how creepy they seemed with the lights out.]

Just...gimme a minute, I'll get out of your hair.

[not_that_sasuke]

...Are you sure? It might be safer to stay together for now.

[If there are two of them, it would be harder for the robot to catch just one. It seems to only focus on a single person at a time, from what he's observed.]

[skyentificmethod]

...

You're too nice. You'll have better chances on your own.

[not_that_sasuke]

That doesn't mean I want you to get caught. Besides, there are two exits - we can keep an eye on both of them this way.

[skyentificmethod]

...

[she can't think of a good argument for that]

...Fine. This's gotta be over soon, anyway...

[not_that_sasuke]

I wish there was a way we could keep track of the time, but...

[Ironically, these watches were useless for actually keeping track of things like that.]

Do you have any idea how long it's been since the lights went out?

[skyentificmethod]

I wasn't exactly counting or anything, but...hours. There really can't be that much more to go.

Sucks that you've gotta be stuck with all this. Usually we get power, at least.

[not_that_sasuke]

I hope so.

[He's not sure how much longer he's going to last. He probably should have taken more breaks. The lack of food isn't helping, either.]

...It's not like any of us can help it. You're stuck in this, too.

[skyentificmethod]

You're younger and newer. I'm an adult with a job, I'm used to days of droning boredom peppered with severe irritation.

[not_that_sasuke]

[Ah...] You remember your job?

[skyentificmethod]

...Not exactly. I remember coming home annoyed because of it, though. Idiot boss, too much paperwork. ...It's all a little fuzzy.

[not_that_sasuke]

[Oh.]

Sorry.

[What a crummy memory to get back.]

[skyentificmethod]

Might've just been a bad day.

[she hoped so, anyway, but with her luck...]

You haven't remembered much, have you?

[not_that_sasuke]

Just a short memory from when I was little.

[Which was... probably better than whatever led to the knife business, in hindsight.]

[skyentificmethod]

Nothing terrible, I hope.

[not_that_sasuke]

No, not really. It was a kendo match between my twin brother and I.

[...Probably the most shocking part was that he apparently has a twin, really.]

[skyentificmethod]

Two of you, huh... Did you win?

[not_that_sasuke]

I won the match, but apparently that left us at a tie for wins.

[skyentificmethod]

Not so surprising that twins would be evenly matched.

Doesn't Heiji do kendo? And Hershel fences. Maybe you guys can train together.

[not_that_sasuke]

That's what the others had said, too.

Actually... I had a kendo match with Hershel on one of my first days. Heiji was teaching him, so they asked me to join in. That's how I realized I knew it, even though I didn't have any memory of doing it before.

[And what an odd experience it had been.]

[skyentificmethod]

Huh... How do they stack up, then? I wanna be ready for the warehouse fight club betting pool.

[not_that_sasuke]

I've never seen Heiji practice, but he's probably better than I am. I must have stopped practicing for a while... When I had a match against Hershel, I was shaky at it.

Hershel's still a beginner at kendo, but he seems to be picking it up quickly.

[skyentificmethod]

He's pretty clever. But don't let him get too far ahead, nevertheless.

[not_that_sasuke]

[...Does it really matter? He's not... super invested in it or anything, as interesting as it is that he appears to know kendo for whatever reason.]

I'll try my best?

[skyentificmethod]

That's the only thing worth trying for.