vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Clive...

Clive.........

At first, the expression on Heiji's face was simple shock. Then it changed into something a lot more complicated. He was at once ready to scold Clive for putting himself in danger, touched that Clive cared, and worried because dude you could get permanent hearing loss that way. So, you know. Whatever you'd call an expression that reflected that.

At a loss for what else he could do, Heiji hugged Clive.

This time Clive reciprocated the hug right away, putting as much affection into it as he possibly could that was socially acceptable for two guy friends. Once they finished hugging it out, Clive gave him a warm smile as if attempting to dispel the concerns that were reflected in his facial expression earlier. Then he glanced back down at the journal, contemplating what he should say next. He wasn't really sure how to go about addressing Heiji's possible concerns directly, so he opted for shifting the topic a bit instead.

Is Snake OK?

Thanks, Clive, he kind of needed that. Heiji read the message, paused, then wrote a response.

Zero dislocated his shoulder. I put it back, but

He paused, frowned.

I couldn't talk to him.

Communicating with Snake had never really been a problem for Heiji, even with Snake's inability to see. He'd never really considered how difficult it could be if one of them lost an additional means of talking to each other. Now, however, he was forced to. Zero being an asshole wasn't new; that Heiji could deal with. But not being able to say something to reassure Snake, and that moment in which Snake hadn't had any idea who he was... that really bothered him.

Maybe he should have just spoken and dealt with the electrical shock.

Poor Heiji. Clive wished that his sacrifice could have been more useful to him; he was clearly still suffering a great deal despite receiving a lesser punishment. It frustrated Clive so much, and it probably showed on his face, too.

I'm so sorry. It must be hard for you. I'm quite upset that I can't talk to Snake either. I wish I could be of more help to the both of you. I'm sorry.

Yeah, he wrote that he was sorry twice in the same statement, fight him.

Heiji shook his head vigorously, and began scribbling.

It's not your fault at all. He made a point of underlining those last two words.

It's Zero's. Thank you for helping me. I'm sorry I didn't vote the way you asked. Snake was adamant that I shouldn't vote for him.

I figured that was what happened. That's just the kind of person he is, and it makes sense that you would respect your boyfriend's wishes over anyone else's. It must have been a very difficult decision for you to make. Clive couldn't blame anyone for voting the way they did, really. He was injured and Snake wasn't - at the time, at least. Even Jake voted for him. At least Clive could say he was the only one who voted for Snake.

Heiji's face turned a little pink while he read Clive's response. Snake was a really great person. Snake had voted for him, and he hadn't expected that. Of course, Sasuke was more injured, so it hadn't exactly been what Heiji had asked for, but...

The entire game was stupid. I'm glad you're okay, though. When I can finally talk again, I'll be sure to follow your advice.

And then, almost as an afterthought: I hope I don't talk in my sleep.

God Heiji you're such moe fucking trash. That last line actually managed to get a little chuckle out of Clive, though.

Let me know how that goes once you do. Also perhaps you should tape your mouth shut before you go to sleep. You better not tell me you don't have any.

He was, 100% guilty. Absolute moe garbage.

That'd be a waste of tape! Do your knees still hurt? Heiji was hoping that Clive's injuries were improving a bit; the deafness was a definite handicap, but the faster Clive could get back to full health, the better. Especially with the puzzle rooms coming up...

My scraped knee doesn't hurt at all anymore. My bruised knee still does, especially when I move it, but I can move it around a lot easier than I could before, at least. I think I still have a long way to go before I'll be able to walk on it again, though. So basically he was definitely going to be confined to his chair for the next set of puzzle rooms. Hopefully his hearing would return by then, at least; it'd be a real pain if he had to go into a puzzle room crippled and deaf.

Oh, by the way, do you know how to make a flower crown? I tried to make one on my own earlier and it didn't go very well.

Heiji beamed at Clive and motioned him over to the flowers; this actually was something he'd figured out how to do. He picked a few of the flowers and slowly began demonstrating how to weave their stems together without crushing them or breaking their stems.

This was something that was actually fun, so he was more than happy to show Clive how!

CALHOUN HOUR - CHOICE

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