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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Hershel frowned, trying to figure that little charades out. After a moment his brow raised. "The bracelet's stopping you from talking? Did he threaten you with it if you did?" Close-ish, he's getting there.

What, Calhoun's pencil isn't good enough for you man, how rude. He put the pencil down with a pointed sort of look. "I'll leave it here in case you run out of ink- and as far as I can tell not a thing. He told me my punishment was lessened by someone then let me out, I'm going barmy trying to figure out what exactly he's playing at here."

Heiji nodded; close enough for government work, bro. Electrical shock.

He reached out to touch Hershel's forehead, but that wasn't really much help. Still get into the cafeteria?

Hershel made a face at that. "Blimey, that's a bit overkill, isn't it? Are you alright? I assume you learned the hard way."

And his temperature is fine, just a healthy British lad over here. He glanced at his bracelet again, still at 9 BP, and shrugs helplessly. "Unless my bracelet is lying, I suppose I should go check to make sure. Would you like to come?" Plenty of delicious gruel to go around.

Heiji smiled a little ruefully. Boy, it was weird, not hearing him talk at all...

But in any case, he took a few steps toward the cafeteria and then paused, looking over his shoulder at Hershel. Of course he'd like to come, apparently being electrocuted made you hungry.

Who lessened your punishment?

It was extremely weird. "This is bloody bizarre." Apparently Hershel agreed as he followed. The silence was kind of unnerving. "Do you know how long this will be?"

He shook his head. "I can see any of the three doing it, really. I think Ema's the most likely, if she didn't do it for Jake. I don't know if his was lessened or not though." It sure didn't look like it had, that shit sucked.

When they reach the cafeteria he took a breath and tried walking in, glancing at his bracelet and... nothing. No big drama, no skull, no explosions. He turned to Heiji and shrugged, almost disappointed. At this point he just wanted to know. "Oh well, might as well get something to eat while we're here."

Heiji nodded and got a tray for himself, sitting down at one of the tables. His mouth opened like he was about to say something before he caught himself, looking frustrated.

Worried about the others, he wrote. Clive and Sasuke and Snake and even that loser Jake I guess.

Who's Jake. "Me too." Hershel answered, sitting down with his own tray. His nerves didn't make for much of an appetite but you sort of learned to have an appetite with this cuisine. "I haven't seen many people yet, besides Jake. He was hit pretty hard, looks like something similar to pepperspray or the like. I don't think it will clear out of his eyes for a while."

"Then there's the people who did this 'lessening' business, I don't know what to expect from that." He mixed his gruel around, staring down into it's lumpy depths. "I suppose it wasn't as bad as it could have been, all things considered, but still... after those rooms and all that nonsense with Calhoun a break would have been nice."

Heiji nodded; he'd seen how Jake looked earlier. Heiji listened to Hershel speak for a little while, slowly looking more and more unhappy. His shoulders tensed visibly until he struck the surface of the table with the bottom of one fist.

It was one thing to go after him and tear gas Jake. What he was most unhappy about, though, was seeing Snake like that -- pale with pain, unable to properly use his remaining arm while Heiji couldn't even speak to him and reassure him.

And who knew what was going to happen to Hershel?

Hershel was a little startled at the strike against the table, glancing up from his gruel to see just how tense and unhappy Heiji was getting. He couldn't imagine how frustrated he was being unable to talk, Heiji was such a communicative person and now he was stuck in a shitty situation having to write and charade out what he wanted to convey. Zero was a god damned asshole, that's Hershel's professional opinion.

He placed his spoon down, pushing the bowl and such away because he had more important things to be focusing on at the moment. "We'll get through it, we always do." He offered before his tone softened. "And Snake's one of the tougher people I've met."

"If there's anything I can do to help either of you- this is going to be a frustrating stretch of time I imagine." Especially with the communication barrier now between Jake and Heiji, not to mention Heiji and Snake. Two people now Heiji would have trouble communicating with, and one of those people was kind of damn important for him to talk to.

Heiji looked away, not quite as angry as he had been a few seconds ago, but clearly not pleased, either. Well, at least it wasn't Sasuke being unable to talk? Heiji was actually extremely expressive.

It wasn't so much that not talking was bothering him -- well, okay, it was totally bothering him. But not being able to interact with the others properly and being cut off from two avenues of communication when it came to Snake was... upsetting.

He looked skeptically at Hershel. Hershel, were you volunteering to read mash notes or something.

"Don't give me such a look, I can at least read him notes from you, that would help, wouldn't it?" See, he can totally be helpful. Just don't write big, long, embarrassing love letters and it'd be fineeeee. "I'm sure you have plenty you want to run by him, so just find me if you need a middleman. It's the least I could do."

He offered a small smile. "It'll only be for a bit, with any luck at least. Zero won't waste his time with this nonsense forever I imagine."

Heiji paused for a moment longer, then nodded. Big, long, embarrassing love letters is a go, got it. It was frustrating having to rely on someone else, but... that was essentially what Snake and Clive had been dealing with.

Then he looked pointedly at Hershel. They still didn't know what his punishment was...

Excellent, make it as embarrassing as possible. He pulled his gruel back over, happy that at least that had been settled. Not the ideal situation but hey, nothing was ideal in murdergame land. Had to take what you got.

He paused some at that pointed look, frowning as he tried to figure out what it was for. After a moment he kind of figured it out, there wasn't much else he could think of, at least. "I'm hoping whatever Zero decides to do won't effect my ability to help you two. He's already played the gambit of losing vision and losing voice. I'm half surprised I'm not deaf or some similar nonsense." Nope, that'd be all for Clive, lucky boy. "Don't worry so much and have some gruel, no use fretting on an empty stomach and all." Pot calling kettle black.

Yes, have some gruel. Why thank you Hershel, how generous. Reluctantly, Heiji dug into the gruel; he'd eat it all, of course, but it was still gross.

Clive's the one who can't hear. He made a face, as if to convey how he felt about that little stunt, thanks Zero.

"Really? Blimey..." Seriously Zero, give them a break. He sighed at that news, clearly not the biggest fan of it. "Well... at least he wasn't injured, I suppose. So he lessened someone's punishment too? I bet they all did, stubborn lot."

He said as if all the losers wouldn't have done the same and he knows it. What champions they are.

Heiji nodded and pointed to himself. Clive had lessened his punishment, in other words. The gesture was much appreciated, but now Clive couldn't walk or hear. Not great for navigating the dangers of puzzle rooms...

Hershel nodded to that pointing. "I thought as much, either you or Snake, really. I'm sure he feels he owes you for all the good you've done him lately, silly as he is." He shook his head. "I can't say it's ideal but if it did anything to put a dent in your punishment maybe it was worth it."

"As long as it doesn't last until the puzzle room..." His primary concern. That's when shit would get kind of difficult with deafness on top of his leg. "What a mess."

Heiji frowned a little. He was grateful that Clive had done that favor for him, and he did think Clive had been extraordinarily brave for it. But it was still more than enough reason to worry about him. He wondered what his punishment would have been if Clive hadn't volunteered...

It probably will. He should be extra careful. I mean, come on Hershel. It was the biggest shitlord of all time handing out the punishments here.

"We'll just have to keep an eye on him." Hershel resolved, before offering a faint smile. "Carefully, I know the others get quite fed up with my fussing sometimes. I hope at least Clive will understand it." He was doing pretty poorly, all things considered.

"We can also try to talk to whoever's on his team right before we go into the rooms, just make sure they'll take extra care and all."

Heiji nodded. "Though I'm sure the chair'll tip anyone off. Hey, how's Alfendi doing, anyway? He's been in a coma, right? You think he'll snap out of it soon?"

Although on the other hand, being unconscious meant that he couldn't easily aggravate his wounds...

"He's still doing poorly." Hershel sighed, rubbing the side of his neck. "I really don't know. In a way I'm glad he's asleep so he can heal without all of this nonsense, I'm sure he'd just hurt himself causing a fuss. Can you imagine? Ranting on and on, 'Zero's nothing better than an asthmatic tarp,' etc."

He was pretty amused but there's a definite underlined worry hanging there. "He just needs more time, I'm sure."

Heiji patted Hershel on the shoulder. "Maybe by the time he wakes up, he'll actually be healed enough so we don't have to worry about him so much. Though if Jake starts callin' him Sleeping Beauty, I bet he'll go off on another tear."

"...Still can't believe he tried to punch Bluebell, though."

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CALHOUN HOUR - CHOICE

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I missed this how embarrassing

story of my life sometimes

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