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

[for as cloudy-headed as she may be feeling, she seems sure-footed enough, skidding down like...well, maybe not a pro, but not someone making a complete fool of themselves, either. she seems pleasantly surprised...amazing what healed stitches will do.]

So, good dreams, I guess? You seemed really zonked out.

[...Well...]

Not really.

[Maybe it's because of the memory he got back recently, but the short dream he experienced was pretty... dark. Quite literally.]

Are you doing alright? Zero probably offered a deal to you, didn't he?

Yeah... Did he make you do something? Like...nightmares?

[Wow, thanks for jumping to the assumption that he went ahead with the deal.

Even though he totally did.]

...I don't know. He didn't say.

[your reputation precedes you]

Weird. Well, I guess no point in worrying about it. We'll find out soon enough.

Did you make one too...?

Yes, seemed like the thing to do. I guess it could've been worse. But I wonder if all the games are gonna be like that from now on.

As long as Zero's running it himself, it might be...

I'll admit, I didn't think Calhoun was actually coming up with these himself.

Can't imagine Zero coming up with Halloween parties and all the other stuff we've had to do. I wonder if the puzzle rooms will be different, too.

I sort of thought they were like his idea of a joke.

...Then again, I also wasn't sure if Calhoun really was AI or not.

Artificial, sure. But getting yourself torn apart doesn't seem that in...telligent...

[her smirk fades along with the rest of her thought, and her expression goes uncharacteristically blank. Two beats later she continues, tone considerably softer and dreamier, especially for talking about the likes of Calhoun.]

I like jokes. Do you like jokes?

...?

[Where did that come from?]

...Are you alright?

...Why wouldn't I be alright?

You just... stopped, for a second.

[mildly]

You were about to fall out of a tree.

...That's different.

Is it? Is that something you do all the time? Just a fun habit?

[Ema

Ema why you gotta be like this.]

No, it's not. But what about you? It's like you blanked out for a bit.

[she likes you, my apologies]

...Don't worry about it. And don't tell Hershel. He's working on enough of a bald spot already.

I won't.

[He can well understand not wanting to cause any extra fuss. Although that brings to mind something else while he's thinking about it...]

You... never mentioned anything about the grey room to him, did you?

[her face kinda falls]

Of course not. Did you?

No, I just wondered.

[That's good, though. He doesn't think Jake would have talked about it either. It's one less thing to have Hershel fussing over.]

....Thanks. [For not saying anything.]

I kind of have a vested interest. ...Sometimes it's better for people not to know things. Pretty much everything that happened in that room is better that people, especially him, not know.

[Pretty much. For as much as he fusses about the others...]

He doesn't worry about himself enough...

No... Just means we've got to keep on lookout ourselves. Just without being a mother hen, that'd be hypocritical.

(no subject)

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