vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

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CALHOUN HOUR - CHOICE

It has been two and a half days since the end of the virus takeover. The power, lights, and heating has been turned back on. All the newer areas have been sealed, BP is once again required in certain rooms, and it appears that everything is returning back to normal.

Asides from Calhoun.

Whether characters have chosen to give pieces of Calhoun to Zero, to hold onto them, or to destroy them, it does not matter. There has been no indications as to when he would ever be back, so there has been a robotic mouse void within the warehouse. Zero has refused to leave any information as to the status of rebuilding Calhoun, but they have left this one message for everyone shortly after the power restoration:

"While you may be left alone to your devices, do not trick yourselves into thinking that there is a way out of here, or that you can do as you please. I will always be watching."

It has been two days since Zero has left these parting words before entirely disappearing. When attempting to call for them, everyone will only be responded with silence. It's clear that they're still watching over the facility though, as any kind of rule breaking or suspicious activities would automatically be rewarded with an injection of Soporil β. True to their word, Zero is somehow monitoring the behaviors without saying a single word.

It is not until the morning of Day 72 does everyone hear again from them again, through the speakers throughout the warehouse.

"Good morning, Subjects. Today, you will be partaking in another experiment of mine. It has come to my knowledge that my assistant has been throwing these so-called "Calhoun Hours" every three days to keep everyone stimulated between his rooms. Don't assume that I will do anything similar of the sort. This activity has far more care and thought put into it than this camping nonsense, so let us begin."

"The rules are simple: every test subject will be paired up and placed against each other. The collective will then have to vote for one of the pair. The one with the fewest amount of votes will be subjective to a punishment of my choice. The one with the most amount of votes will continue their dull experimental lives until the next set of events."

"Any petty attempts of rebellion will be met with serious repercussions, so I would suggest that you rethink any sort of plans."

"Now, best of luck, Subjects. We will talk again soon."

BASIC INFO ✖ MINGLE ✖ VOTES ✖ RESULTS

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Sure enough, he eventually loses his balance, sliding from his perch. The movement is evidently enough to finally wake him, but by then it's too late-- even though his arm shoots out to save himself, his reaction is far too delayed and the branch is out of reach.

Guess that solves the problem of what to do?

Heiji caught Sasuke quite handily I mean he was pretty good at catching tiny people and how much did Sasuke weigh, anyway? Probably not much, with how little he ate...

"...?" It was lucky that Heiji was pretty expressive, even if he couldn't speak. There was a very clear, questioning look of concern on his face.

His ~*hero*~.

He seems surprised to see Heiji though - funnily enough, waking up to find you're falling doesn't give you a whole lot of time to register your surroundings.

Especially when you didn't even remember falling asleep in the first place.

"--Sorry. I guess I was tired." He manages to sound pretty calm for having just fallen out of a tree, especially with how confused he is that it happened at all. He's still so groggy, too...

Heiji gave Sasuke a disapproving look. Don't climb trees if you're tired, man. Wordless clucking. He carefully set Sasuke down on the grass, just in case ninjas weren't morning people.

Then he frowned expectantly at Sasuke. C'mon, Mr. Ninjuries. Dish on why you were suddenly unable to stay in trees.

Honestly, he's a little too distracted by the fact that Heiji isn't talking his ear off about this to answer those questions right now, giving him an odd look as he gets back on his feet. This is Heiji, after all. Normally he's a lot more...

Wait.

"...You can't talk?"

Excellent deduction, Sasuke, well it was either that or Heiji had come down with some sort of cold in record time. But he didn't look sick and anyway the point was this was rather unnatural. Heiji nodded.

"Did he actually hurt your throat, or...?" Did no one take on a deal for Heiji? He only knows of his own, but the others might have...

Heiji shook his head, and tapped his bracelet face. Whatever that meant.

He then pointed at Sasuke, then motioned at the tree and mimed something falling out of it. And gave Sasuke possibly the most suspicious look ever. No changing the subject, Sasuke.

Something from the bracelet, then...? Who knew what other stuff Zero had crammed in there, considering he got some mystery dose earlier.

Also wow, don't look at him like that. "...I just dozed off. That's all." Very... deeply. Apparently. "I didn't sleep very well last night- it must have caught up with me."

Heiji looked at Sasuke for a moment longer, then wrote something on a piece of paper, then showed it to Sasuke. Did you lessen the punishment for someone?

He'd, you know. Explain more about this question but he needed to conserve paper. But basically, you said you were better, Sasuke, were you fibbing about that or were you fibbing now >:(

Dammit Zero, did you seriously tell them about that...?

His silence is condemning on its own. He has no answer that Heiji was likely to believe, so he chooses to say nothing instead.

Well, Heiji couldn't say anything, either, SO MAYBE THEY'D JUST STARE AT EACH OTHER AND NOT SAY ANYTHING okay no.

Heiji took that silence as a yes. He sighed, which was apparently okay because he was not immediately electrocuted, thanks for that, Zero. And look, Sasuke. Stop foiling everyone's attempts to protect you from future ninjury. Have an exasperated look.

What did you have to pay for that?

"I don't know. He didn't say." That much is truthful... even if he's not readily expanding on the one other thing he knows.

That actually did sound legit, as Zero hadn't told him or Hershel what their punishments were. Heck, if Heiji were more like Jake or Sasuke, it might have even taken him a while to figure his out.

Unable to say as much, Heiji reached over instead, aiming to ruffle Sasuke's hair. You were a nice guy, Sasuke, and he was glad you didn't seriously hurt yourself falling out of that tree.

He doesn't avoid it, but he does tense slightly. Guess who's still unused to random physical affection, hint it's this guy. Hell if he knows what he did to deserve a hair ruffle, either.

"More importantly, are you going to be alright? If you can't talk..." Well, for one thing, he probably figured it out because he tried to say something and was immediately punished through the bracelet. And for another...

Being unable to speak would make communicating with Snake incredibly difficult.

That's okay, Sasuke. Heiji was still smiling at you, you weirdo.

He raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. If he couldn't talk, what? The rooms would be more dangerous? Life would be incredibly frustrating? He couldn't gossip about everyone? Well, to be honest, he didn't much feel like gossiping, anyway.

"...Snake."

That's... pretty much all that needs to be said, really.

Heiji's expression fell; he looked away a little before coming back with an answer.

I can still communicate some. And likely they'd improve over time, but this clearly was not ideal. He hated not being able to talk to Snake, though at least in terms of timing they'd gotten some things straightened out before this round.

"...If there's anything I can do to help, let me know." He'd voted against Snake, too... It's the least he could do.

Were you also offering to read long, embarrassing love letters Sasuke, was that what was going on. Heiji nodded slowly; he'd consider it.

You should stay out of the trees until you're less tired. You could get hurt badly.

If they really wanted him to... yes. In the most monotone voice ever.

You're welcome.

"...I'll stick to the ground for now and wait until I'm rested." Never mind that he... probably got about the same amount of rest as usual? Seriously, what--

It happens without any warning. Suddenly, he's too tired to even keep his eyes open, raising a hand to his head in confusion. He has the sense to lean against the tree for support at least, but soon enough he's sinking to the ground in an exhausted heap.

Heiji hovered over Sasuke, looking around frantically to see if anyone was around who could help with random narcoleptic ninjas. What the hell was even going on? What was wrong with you Sasuke? Clearly yes, the world was much more boring without Heiji's textwalls, but not that boring, you had so much to live for.

Well maybe if you could actually talk with that boisterously loud voice of yours he'd actually wake up or something.

But no, he'll be out for about five minutes or so. Heiji is free to ditch out in the meantime, because even when he wakes up he's going to be - surprise! - groggy still.

Hmm, should he leave Sasuke to lie out on the floor by himself?

...Yeah, no. When Sasuke woke up, his head would be resting on a folded-up jacket. Heiji was sitting by the river, with a mug in his hand. There was a little sprig of something in it.

...?

It takes him a moment to collect himself again once he wakes. He was in the dark-- no, he was in the garden. What was he doing in the garden? He had rested in the tree for a while, but somehow he fell, Heiji caught him, and then...

...Where did the jacket come from? Had he been out that long?

He sits up, his hand pressed to his head. He's so tired, it's making it hard to think...

"...What's going on...?"

CALHOUN HOUR - CHOICE

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