vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

It's another day, it's another start of Calhoun Hours. Bright and early in the morning, Calhoun marches into the middle of the first floor lobby and shrieks into his megaphone.

"All right, up to the Garden with all of you! C'mon, hurry up, I'm not going to wait for you lazy bunch!" He impatiently taps on his paw on the ground, but then stops. "Hmm, actually, nah, take your time. I'll just meet you all there in a jiffy!"

And with that, he rushes off to take the stairs to the Garden. Listen to him and slowly make your way, or rush up, it doesn't matter. After everyone assembles in the artificial room, Calhoun is standing by the waterfall, staring off into nothing. He just nods to himself a few times and doesn't even seem to notice the presence of the test subjects though. It's not until about ten seconds later that he turns and tilts his head.

"Whoa, don't sneak up on me like that, test subjects! Sheesh, trying to give this mouse a heart attack?" He huffs but then slides back to his regular mood. "So! Today's event will be called camping! Yeah, I got no clever name for it, sue me, but whatever, go set up a tent or other prep-work. I couldn't bring in all the supplies for this so you'll just have to make due until later tonight."

He runs away from the waterfall, but manages to trip on nothing a few steps in. He stays on the ground, as if trying to trick everyone that he's going to stay there for a while, but then pushes himself back up to make his way to the centre of the Garden. He then raises his arms out, as if he's presenting something.

"Even though I didn't manage to grab everything, I hope you like what I did to the place! Sure looks like a real campground, huh?" Asides from a few tent kits scattered around, there... isn't actually much at all. A few of the screen grids (that normally display the sky) are either turned off to a boring black colour or in a constant static display, but asides from that, everything looks exactly the same. Calhoun doesn't seem to really care though as he keeps on talking.

"Soooooooooooooooooooo, get to it, or something. Do whatever you test subjects do during events like these, chip chop chap!!"

BASIC INFO ✖ MINGLE

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[her eyebrows rise and she makes an effort not to flinch back at the sudden movement. what's more important is to take advantage to actually being close to calhoun to look the robot over for seams or hatches, plugs, anything like that. ema isn't really a robot person but this is actually the longest she's been in calhoun's presence while conscious these entire two months, so she can't help but be curious.]

...I'd hate to see how you treat your least favorite.

They're not around anymore for you to see.

[ He seems unsurprisingly nonchalant about that. For the most part his body seems fine, though his eyes on closer inspection are flickering at an uneasy tempo. All in all the effect makes him come off as almost unfocused. ]

Oh, I see your feelings are starting to show again, staring at me like that... Scientific Test Subject, we shouldn't...

[her hands twitch, her smile stretches, tight]

But it's just so hard for me to hold back. Especially now that we're so...close.

[she attempts to pat him on the top of the head. well, it is a little firmer than the average 'pat,' but not so much that it couldn't be interpreted as 'friendly,' if you were a generous sort]

[ Calhoun twitches, but surprisingly, he allows her to pat his head. He doesn't move and he just places his paws up to his cheeks, as if blushing. He moves his foot in circles. ]

O-Oh, test subject... What would the others say? Society would never accept our love.

[...Honestly she's not sure how to react to that. Not the comment, that's ignored easily enough. But she'd kinda started thinking Calhoun had put up a forcefield or something after being manhandled (rathandled?) the first day, since she'd certainly never had any luck at it. However, that was apparently not the case, so it makes sense(?) to continue to attempt to pet Calhoun's head. Maybe it'd unlock some sort of control panel, or maybe his leg would shake when scratched behind the ear, like a dog. She's not really certain how that would be useful, but knowledge is power and she's just winging it since she hadn't expected to get this far so maybe internal monologues don't need to be so picky about everything all the time!]

Since when did you care about them? What about your boss?

[ He... leans into the patting? This is probably a little disturbing for our studio audience. If anything he is acting a bit like a dog, tail twitching and ears flicking here and there. For a moment he jolts like something is wrong before sighing back into acting strange as hell. ]

My boss- [ That makes him jolt up again, wagging a paw at her. ] Asking to meet my folks already, hm? That's pretty forward even for you, Casanova Test Subject. You'll break my heart or make an honest mouse out of me at this rate!

[this is a little disturbing for at least one participant as well. Who'd've thunk a display of simple enjoyment would succeed where multiple druggings failed. However, for a moment it had seemed like Calhoun had slipped, was about to reveal something he usually wouldn't have. And it's for that reason alone she continues, trying not to feel really weird about petting a robot]

I'm a results-oriented kind of girl. ...What would I have to do to whisk you away? Your boss--or is it your father?--doesn't seem to approve of me very much.

[ Now Calhoun finally seems to snap out of whatever was going on, pulling away with a loud and almost nervous tut tut tut. ]

Such a sweet talker! [ He stares for a long moment, a bit too seriously. ] So, Scientific Test Subject, what do you think of the boss, hm?

[lets him, 'cause that was super weird]

[but if he's gonna ask her opinion, she's gonna give it]

He's a coward and a fool, locking us up and leaving his pet robot to do all the dirty work, as if that'll reduce his sentence any. It won't. He's assaulted police, and killed a child. He's going to get caught, he's going to get punished, and you're going to get dismantled.

CALHOUN HOUR - CAMPING

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