vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

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CALHOUN HOUR - ESCAPE

When characters begin to wake up, instead of finding themselves in the usual warehouse, they will instead find themselves in an a very unfamiliar area. Maybe they'll wake up alone, or maybe they'll wake up with someone else. Either way, the biggest point is that they're in God-knows-where and it's the start of a new Calhoun Hour.

Within seconds later, a familiar voice booms throughout the loud speakers.

"Ahem, testing, testing! Hello, can you all hear me?"

It's, without a doubt, your favourite robotic mouse, Calhoun. As usual, he sounds a cheery as ever.

"Wow, isn't this familiar? It's almost like the first time we've met, you know. Test subject in a new location, maybe alone or maybe with someone else, my charming voice rings throughout the room, trying to drown you all in an elevator. Good times!"

"Well, anyway, welcome to your new Calhoun Hour! You can see that I've taken the liberty to move you all to a more suitable location. You may not know it, with how small your brains are, but you're all stuck in a maze! I've had my fair share of running around in mazes, you know, being a mouse and all, so I want to return to favour to you humans! So, you know the drill: explore, look around, try to escape, blah blah blah, I don't need to explain all this! Just get to it! Who knows, maybe the exit here is an exit out to the real world. I might be generous like that, if you manage to find it. If not, well, I guess you can all starve here!"

He snickers, then pauses. Suddenly, a loud gunshot-like sound rings throughout the speakers, and Calhoun screams again.

"Let's get started!"

BASIC INFO ✖ ESCAPE ✖ POST-EVENT MINGLE ✖ TURN-IN

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[she doesn't really have a key or anything, but she can at least try to hold onto the door handle or whatever so he can have that much more time! with the rat shrine of his dreams!! all out of friendship, of course]

What, are you its wingman, now? That is never happening again! If you're that into Calhoun, why don't you marry him?

[ glad to see that these two are acting like adults and not a pair of five year olds ]

Can't if he's already taken by you, and I have a feeling he's not into polygamy.

[ also, is she seriously trying to hold the door against jake. this is a guy who managed to punch a screen. is she sure this isn't going to end badly for her ]

[no, she is not sure of that at all, but she figures that even three extra seconds in there is punishment enough. plus the thought of being jake's sister wife is just. time to walk away from this shrine to satan before she gets even more nauseated]

You're disgusting. That's-- Ugh.

[ finally, he'll just walk out of that room now, looking decently amused ]

Noted, but c'mon, let's get a move on. We're not going to find the exit with you imagining things.

[ He'll start walking already. Time skip to the glass floor room or go through the other puzzles? UP TO YOU I DON'T MIND EITHER WAY B) ]

[we can have a ~montage~ of hair metal and puzzles and grouching and maybe a trap and more grouching and DDR and probably something getting punched and some bickering and!!! just as the guitar riff begins to come to a close (it doesn't sound like Guilty Love but maybe a little like My Boyfriend Is the Prosecution's Witness), the pair find themselves through the hallway, the door sliding open to reveal a chilly room with a floor of gleaming glass tiles. Part of the room stretches out of sight.

Ema hesitates in the doorway, not entering the room just yet]

Looks like something out of a video game... Doesn't look like that's the way out, either.

[ (i hope that guitar rift ends with said guitar catching on fire and later being used as evidence in a trial) Jake just leans in, not stepping into the room, but just trying to look around. ]

It turns, so our exit or clue might be beyond there. Won't know till we check it out, so hurry up.

[ He's just going to walk in (this glass floor doesn't scare him), and... ]

[ CRACK ]

[ Freezing in place... that didn't sound very good ]

[just. looking searchingly to the sky]

--Don't move. You're too heavy, it's gonna break. Can you get back h--

[except that at that moment, the door closed behind her, and by 'behind' I mean 'on top of' so that she had to run forward onto the glass a few steps to not get crushed, glass crackling underfoot. whoops]

[ With that, the glass cracks further on Jake's position. Thank... Thank you so much. He says nothing at first, just trying to figure out what to do in this situation. ]

... Don't suppose running is a good idea.

[ It's probably a really bad idea.... ]

[she tries not to facepalm, especially with all the hairline fractures growing each time she even shifts her weight.]

I'm--gonna try to get further from you. Maybe it'll be safer.

[she doesn't sound that optimistic, but she takes a careful step forward anyway...]

[ He gives a small slow nod, and was going to say something like 'be careful' (he's learning to be nicer, okay), but he's cut short when her step forward is enough to finally break the glass underneath him and he falls. ]

[ The chilling ice water is more than just a normal shock, like jumping into a swimming pool; this is completely different. It's cold enough that his body tense up and he almost instinctively breathes in water. It takes a lot of willpower (and probably whatever battlefield reflexes he has) to resist, even if the first thing he wants to do is just breathe. With eyes closed, he moves his arms around to find the glass floor again to get a grasp on. ]

[ Here's hoping that Ema doesn't fall as well. ]

Jake!

[she turns in time to see him go under, which is almost enough time to both notice and do something about the thick crack racing from the hole to where she's standing. Skittering away from the growing fractures, she gets further enough into the room that it seems as though all will be well (for certain definitions of 'all' and 'well,' of course).

That's when her back heel lands a little too hard, splintering then puncturing right through the glass flooring and going straight into the icy water. Falling down at a weird angle, she gets caught somewhere around her armpits, though from the snapping and cracking of the glass, she probably shouldn't get too accustomed to this cozy seat.

Okay. Okay. Time to take stock of the situation. Far door in sight (more or less). Limbs numb, but intact (probably). As for Jake...]

--Did you drown?

[she has no idea what she's going to do if there's no answer]

[ Luckily(?) for her, Jake isn't going to drown anytime soon, especially in some shitty warehouse. He manages to find the edge of the glass floor and rest against it. Everything is cold and everything sucks, but at least Jake isn't going to let that hold him down from snarking. ]

Yeah, I'm at the bottom of the floor right now.

[ He won't snark for much longer though, since he'd rather get the fuck out of here asap than float around and joke around. He notices all the broken glass around him. ]

Shit, where are you right now?

[not quite relieved but okay pretty relieved]

In the middle of the floor, I guess. Didn't mean to take a break at a time like this.

[she veeery slowly attempts to ease herself up; the glass slowly cracks around her, in all, somewhat unproductive so far, alas]

Can you actually touch the ground?

[ Jake tries to peer over from where he is to try and find her, but it's a lot easier said than done... ]

Yeah, though the water's up to my neck. Hold on.

[ So he's better off swimming, which he's going to do right now so he can try and get over to where she is. Diving and swimming under all this glass floor over to her area of broken glass is the worst... It's like taking a cold shower, only x10 worse but anyway, surpriseeeee Jake. Need some help there, pal ]

[nah, just chillin]

Looks like there's another door over there. Don't know how you wanna try to get over there, though.

...There's not anything else swimming around down here, is there?

[ haha, i get it, chillin, while in ice cold water. pretty cool joke ]

You'd probably have to swim there, unless you want to attempt running on the glass floor again, and if you're scared of underwater monsters.

[ Nah, nothing under here besides a few bags of mysteries inside (just coins), but he'd rather not freeze to death trying to get them. ]

[yup took a break, staying cool, other terrible yet canon-appropriate puns ema is generally too grumpy-straight man to say]

Was more worried about being caught on stuff and drowning...

[anyway, they aren't getting any younger so she figures they should probably get moving. it might not be the most productive of ideas especially with completely numb feet, but she attempts to detach her coat from where it's caught in the hole and heft herself back onto the glass--best case scenario she can get over while making useful holes for breathing and getting out; with their luck it'd be magical one-way glass that only breaks from the bottom. cue ungraceful flopping but there is a strong possibility of this working!!! at least for a little bit because freezing to death is really a minus, especially if you don't even get coins for it]

[ Jake will help her up, if needed, and then watch. He's not a fan of staying in the water, but he knows that heeee's probably too heavy for the glass,. He's certainly not going to risk going up on it, only to have it break and ruin Ema's chance of getting across it safely. He's making this sacrifice for you, Ema, you better be thankful. ]

[ He'll stick around for a bit, if it looks like she's having difficulty, but if not, he'll swim on ahead to the stairs so he can get out of this godforsaken water. ]

[help was probably needed for flopping to end in a relatively timely fashion but in a stunning and rare display of competency she is able to both stand and not immediately fall back through on her very first step. She runs over towards the exit without hesitation (though she does look back to see if Jake's gonna try to take the glass too--she didn't try to shut him down okay, that's almost like being supportive) and while there is plenty of glass cracking and close-calls, somehow doesn't end up tripping and falling until she's made it to the actual non-glass edge. If he's not out by the time she makes it, she'll offer a hand; otherwise she'll make sure this door opens!]

[ He stays behind to watch her make it across, just in case she falls or anything, so once she's mostly across, he'll start swimming over to the stairs. He'll take Ema's hand to help himself up and get the hell out of here. The door slides open the moment someone gets near, so Jake isn't going to waste any time in getting through and out. ]

[ Once through, he'll just catch his breath by standing in one place. He'll look off to Ema, though. ]

You all right?

Worry about yourself. Take that stuff off before you catch pneumonia again.

[she doesn't quite have anything dry enough to offer him unless he's into half-damp stuff but if so??]

Already on it.

[ He pulls off his shirt and wrings it as much as he can. He'll also pull off his gloves, but nothing more. He has the decency not to take off his pants and he doesn't want to walk around in bare feet because Calhoun seemed like the asshole who would just leave broken glass all over the floor. ]

Well, where next?

[Ema honestly doesn't care if Jake wants to wander around in his skivvies, though she doesn't do anything herself but dump out the contents of her shoes before walking south down the hallway and into the next room...]

...Looks like we are literally right back where we started. The whole thing was a dead end.

[she stomps on the floor with a low G-flat. how could such a great puzzle have led to so much pain?]

[ Jake isn't exactly all too pleased by this either and he turns, throwing an arm up, clearly frustrated. ]

Great. Glad to see all the progress we've made.

[ Ugh ugh ugh. He stays quiet for a bit longer, just silently fuming, before speaking up. ]

Come on, let's hurry up and find a place to dry off, so we can finish playing in this rat maze.

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