vivarium | DOUBLE BLIND

Shortly after the conversation with Zero ends, Zero opens the doors of the Garden and allows everyone to leave. However, the rest of the warehouse isn't better than the Garden:

The lights are still off, leaving everyone surrounded in darkness. The temperature just keeps on dropping, reaching near freezing point. The air feels more and more polluted, making it difficult to breathe without coughing, and nothing seems to be working as they should be. The electronic doors refuse to open without any power source, cutting off access to the cafeteria and dorms. At the very least, Zero has managed to open all the doors leading to puzzle rooms and has informed the group that new areas are now accessible to them, but they're on their own should they want to enter any other rooms.

Before the screens in the Garden turn off, Zero finally informs them that a new feature has been unlocked on their bracelets: any test subject wearing a bracelet may communicate with one another with the bracelet acting as a communication device. Holding onto the left button will enable the line to open just like a walkie-talkie. As long as test subjects are in the warehouse, they will have no troubles speaking with one another. What if they wish to talk to Zero? Zero's time is not be riffled, but they were generous enough to appear whenever anyone found a screen and pressed the on button a total of three quick successions.

And with that, Zero disappears from the grids and finally leaves everyone in complete darkness, leaving only one last piece:

"Best of luck, Test Subjects."

BASIC INFO ✖ MISSIONS ✖ MINGLE

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[glad to see your priorities in order, as always. he most certainly turns a little red when the implication sets in] ... what- oh, Ema, don't be so crass.

[now that he's properly scandalized he can notice the thing their friends the sentient limbs are going after. he squints, stares then realizes-] Is... that's Calhoun's arm, isn't it? [and he thought this couldn't get any weirder]

If you didn't make such great faces, I wouldn't have to be.

[a girl has needs, and hassling kids in red vest ensembles is one of them. however, staring at this robohand party ema's smirk fades into a grimace]

And here I thought it'd be something useful. I feel doubly cheated. Let's go see if that fruitcake was edible.

[ what a good conversation you guys are having... jake will not say anything and just make a face at the paw. ]

Yeah, what a waste of time. Let's go back an I'll go set up a fire and we can have a big feast.

[ toooottally not interested in getting that calhoun part. zero can go fuck himself ]

You're impossible... [his life is suffering.]

[but on the subject of things that aren't that, he kind of glances between them.] Shouldn't we at least try to get it? [he's not really calhoun's biggest fan but he kind of felt bad for the asshole, being groped by a bunch of weird legs and arms. also apparently being ripped apart probably wasn't great either.] Not that helping Zero in any way seems like an appealing idea.

Nope. It actually sounds like the complete opposite of an appealing idea.

...Guess we could burn the whole lot? One of those bottles had to be cooking oil or booze, right?

Gonna have to agree with her with this one. Burning it sounds way more appealing, so check if we have anything flammable in the bucket.

[ he's talking to you hershel, get busy ]

I'm not really sure that's a good idea either, to be frank. [when it's clear Jake's talking to him about that he sighs but doesn't put up a fight. truly he did all he could to stop this from happening so it's fine.]

[he rifles through the junk they found, pulling out a bottle that looks like cheap cooking oil in a noxious yellow color.] We have this, it looks both flammable and toxic. [he holds it out to whoever wants this prize]

Don't be silly, this is an excellent learning experience. Now, let's start our experiment of how fire affects semi-sentient robot limbs.

[flipping down her glasses, she'll take the oil and make some generous splashes over the pile of robot limbs, which seem much less interested in her now. Then she pours a little "wick" of a trail back towards them for easier lighter usage.]

Light it up.

[.... hm.]

She's a little terrifying sometimes, isn't she? [he doesn't have a lighter, have fun there, Jake.]

You kidding? She's way more likeable like this.

[ he seems a bit too pleased that he gets to do the honours of setting these things on fire so he grabs his lighter and away we gooo. ]

[ the arms and foot frantically jump and roll around the given area in an attempt to put themselves out. they don't have much success however and the fire seems to do the trick for two of the hands, rendering them motionless. as for the foot... well, it starts to hop towards the group like it has some fiery vengeance towards the culprits. it's still very much on fire so uhhhhh ]

Fascinating...

[though as much as the flaming foot's impression of the evil T-1000 is interesting to watch, it's still coming towards them, on fire. So she grabs her mop and swings it like a golf club, knocking the foot over and leaving a slight trail of flames where the oil dripped off. Then she just tries whacking on it because fuck robots, honestly]

You're both mental... [Hershel wasn't really sure what to do at this point besides hover and watch Ema beat up a flaming foot with a mop. not really on the top of his list of things he ever expected to see but she seemed to have it covered. mostly.]

I wonder why the foot was able to keep moving of all things. [fascinating is right.]

It tried to get one step ahead, but going toe-to-toe, I shoe'd it what for.

[ema steps back to see if the foot has calmed itself down any, or if her mop had caught fire, or is someone else wanted to beat up robofeet idk you take the entertainment you can get in a murder warehouse]

[ ... well, that was one hell of a sight. Watching Ema beat a foot to death, hm, well, still probably not the weirdest thing Jake has ever seen. The foot is defeated, but the mod is indeed on fire. It's not too big of a deal, though, or at least Jake doesn't think so since he just groans at Ema's terrible jokes. ]

You're getting a real kick out of this, aren't you?

Oh for goodness's sake, are you two done? [he's never been more disgusted in his entire life probably. then:]

I think your mop's a little- [he gestures to it. you know, on fire. better take care of that before more puns are to be had.]

Sometimes you've just gotta put your foot down. Or put down the feet of traveling robots, whatever.

[she flips the mop to stomp out the flames; probably won't be that useful for floor cleaning but you take what you can get in a murder warehouse]

So...that was certainly something.

It's your sole mission to make the worst jokes ever, isn't it?

[ okay, jake's done now (probably). ]

Just when you think you're getting used to everything, something new happens. [ He goes over to check out what happened to Calhoun's paw. It seems all charred up. ] Looks like we're done here. Let's go.

[this face, you're both horrendous individuals.]

Well Zero's not going to like that. Let's hope he's less soporil happy than his... whatever Calhoun is. Worker, I suppose.

[you know you get a kick out of it, hershel, just step on up and give it a try]

Partial charcoal briquette, you might say.

DOUBLE BLIND

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