CALHOUN HOUR - CHOICE

[vivariummods]

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

Comments

[puzzlinglad]

[With that debacle over Hershel comes out of the elevator looking completely fine?? He also looks about as confused as anyone else might be from this result, maybe a little nervous because, surprisingly, he didn't really think Zero was just being a kind and considerate soul.

For the time shortly after voting ends he'll of course be doing rounds, clucking up a storm and such. At this rate he really isn't sure how anyone fared, since some people apparently went and did something silly like take a blow to lessen punishments. Tsk tsk.

After that if anyone wants to be woken up around evening in the garden by a pretty undignified yelp, feel free. Hershel will be sitting there, looking completely shocked (pun absolutely intended) at his bracelet. After that he can probably be found wandering around the lounge or cafeteria when sensible people should be sleeping, so have at.]

[not_that_sasuke]

[Funny thing about narcolepsy is, it doesn't actually guarantee you'll get a good sleep at night. In fact, it does pretty much the opposite.

Despite dozing off at various times during the day, he's... well, not wide awake, but definitely not able to get back to sleep at the moment, either. Which is why Hershel may come across him staring dully at one of the magazines, not even really reading anymore at this point. He's so tired...]

--? Hershel? Are you alright?

[puzzlinglad]

[Have an immediately concerned look at that tired, buddy, but by this point he's probably realized Sasuke's got some weird sleep punishment going on so he can't do much more than sigh.]

Just... can't sleep. [That wasn't a lie, though 'not allowed to sleep' was probably a little closer to the truth. He walks over, stopping before he can sit with Sasuke, looking weirdly awkward.] Would you mind some company? At least until you nod off again.

[not_that_sasuke]

[He frowns a little at the nodding off comment, but it isn't like he can really deny it at this point.]

...Sure, that's fine.

[Even though it's wholly unnecessary with it only being the two of them here, he'll scoot over to make room.]

[puzzlinglad]

[What a polite boy. He takes a seat after a moment's pause, glancing ahead as he tried to gather his thoughts.]

You've been sleeping so much and you still look ready to fall right back to it. How are you feeling now?

[not_that_sasuke]

...I'm tired, but I don't think I could fall asleep right now, either. [Not unless he wants more wonderfully vivd dreams of that brand new memory.] I'll probably try again later.

What about you? Are you alright?

[puzzlinglad]

Not in a tree again, I hope. [Trying for the lighthearted, that's fine right. No bad vibes here...]

[He pauses a moment before deciding to just be honest about it.] I think Zero plans on not letting me sleep for a while. Can't say I'm terribly excited about that, but it could be worse, I suppose. [And have a long look.] You made the deal with Zero, didn't you?

[skyentificmethod]

[after voting, Ema heads over to Hershel; not in any particular rush, not even frowning or anything, but you know, it's good to see how your friends are doing, that kind of stuff's important, sure]

How'd it go?

[puzzlinglad]

[chill of you, ema, have a sigh after Hershel threw a concerned glance over. it didn't look like anyone was bleeding out, that's always good.]

Well in some ways, I'm glad Alfendi's alright at least- and not conscious for this, he'd be going mental. Don't know what my 'punishment' is supposed to be though, Zero just told me someone lessened it then let me out without another word on the matter.

[skyentificmethod]

Well, good.

[pause.]

Maybe it was lessened to nothing. And that's why you feel nothing. That'd be cool, right?

[puzzlinglad]

[he huffs an amused breath at that, clearly that's a funny joke, ema] Somehow I doubt Zero would be that generous, at least not without hurting the other party in the process.

[and that makes him pause as he regards ema for a moment.] It wasn't you, was it? [you're kind of his top suspicion in this deep mystery.]

[skyentificmethod]

It wasn't me what?

[look how innocent she looks. would she do an upsetting thing like that?]

[puzzlinglad]

You know very well what. [he's wise to your games, ema skye, even if you're acting kind of a little bit off right now.] You're alright, aren't you? Not hurt or anything?

[vengefulyears]

[By the time Hershel finds Clive, he's sitting in the grass in the garden with his chair nearby along with a small pile of flowers that he seems to be picking from and... tying them together? Maybe he's trying to make a flower crown so he can be an actual princess. Despite the light-heartedness of the activity, though, he doesn't actually look happy at all.

At least until he notices Hershel approaching from the corner of his eye. Clive pauses his work and looks up at him, smiling weakly and offering him a small wave.]

[puzzlinglad]

There you are. [That's the first relieved thing out of Hershel's mouth as he approaches. He's pretty sure Clive would jump at the chance to lessen a punishment, maybe Snake's since they were against each other or really just anyone, so yes, he expects some not so great things happening to his fellow Brit. That's probably obvious from the way he looks him over.]

You're rather quiet, is everything alright? [He hesitates to sit, incase Clive was in the same no company mood as before. He wasn't about to rudely hang around if so, gentleman and all.]

[vengefulyears]

[Once Hershel's mouth starts moving, Clive puts the flowers down and whips a piece of paper out of his pocket right away, then holds it up for Hershel to see, which reads "I can't hear" in large letters. He puts it away again after a few seconds and pats the ground next to him as he stares at Hershel expectantly, basically telling him to sit down.

Once he does, Clive takes his journal and pen out of his bag, opening the journal up to a blank page and tapping it with the pen as he passes both items to Hershel.]

[puzzlinglad]

Oh. [Is his eloquent answer to that. He can't help a soft sigh.] I knew it, stubborn bloke that you are.

[Right, okay, he sits down, taking the pen and journal. He writes small to conserve space and ink.]

Are your ears hurt? Who was it for?

[vengefulyears]

[How rude, saying things about Clive right in front of his face when you know he can't hear. But thank you for the small writing, at least. Clive writes his response in equally small, eloquent font.]

Heiji. Zero played a loud explosion-like sound before my elevator doors opened. It hurt at first but now it just feels weird.

[He pauses for a moment before adding another bit.] I'm really sorry about earlier, by the way. I didn't mean to be rude, I was just in a bad mood because of all this voting nonsense.

[puzzlinglad]

[Maybe you shouldn't go around being all self sacrificing, ever thought of that, hm. He nods and taking up the pen again.]

I could do without you being hurt for it but I'm glad, Heiji could use a break here and there, even if he won't admit it.

[And have a soft sigh and a smile.] Don't think of it, I'm sorry to have bothered you when you didn't need it. Is there anything you need?

[blind_badass]

*Snake hears a familiar pair of footsteps as he's walking along. His right arm is in a sling made from his jacket.* Hershel? Did you make it out all right? What happened to everyone else?

[puzzlinglad]

Ah, there you are Snake- [Have some concerned footsteps over.] Your arm, that's the punishment I take it? Blimey... is there anything I can do?

[blind_badass]

Well, the actual punishment was dislocating my shoulder. Heiji managed to pop it back in but I thought it best to keep it like this while the muscles have a chance to heal.

I know that Heiji can't speak for some reason but I don't know what happened to everyone else. Can you tell me? *Since someone cast a Mute spell on Snake's primary form of gossip.*

[puzzlinglad]

Right, of course, let's go to the garden then, might as well take rest as we do. [Snake also might need a rest after this arm business. He starts walking, pausing and waiting to see if Snake would follow.]

You, Heiji, Jake and I have lost. Jake was hit by something like pepperspray, his eyes are doing... poorly. You know how Heiji is, and I... honestly I don't know what my punishment is supposed to be. Nothing has happened yet.

[blind_badass]

Which means something will happen in the future. *Wait a minute, pepperspray?* Then you're telling me Jake is as blind as I am? *Oh, Snake could imagine how displeased Jake would be. He does follow Hershel to the garden. Keeping his arm in a sling helped but everything did hurt.*

Meanwhile I'm going to need to find an alternative means of communicating with Heiji.

[puzzlinglad]

Unless Zero has a hidden kindness in him I suspect something will happen. [Shockingly he didn't think much of Zero.] As far as I've seen, yes. He's... unhappy right now. I'd give him a wide berth for a bit. [Jake being angry?? Never.]

[He takes a seat at the bench, leaving room for Snake.] I already offered this to Heiji but I'd be happy to read his notes to you, if you two wish to speak.