vivarium | CALHOUN HOUR

Yet another day, yet another Calhoun Hour where characters find themselves waking up in a new and unfamiliar area. The first thing characters will notice that it's dusty and dark. With almost no lighting whatsoever, characters will be unable to see anything in front of them. Are they with someone else or did they wake up alone? That's something they will have to figure out after Calhoun's announcement.

"Ahem, ahem. Testing, one two three, testing. Well, gooooood evening, test subjects! Yes, you have really been knocked out for that long, but it only fits the mood of today's game."

He snickers then continues.

"How many of you like the horror genre? I bet half of you do, but I hate it! Cheap and cheesy effects with lame jump scares, and what is this, The Human Centipede? "100% medically accurate"? Just ugh, that's not even horror. That's just an insult to science and medicine."

"Anyway, I thought I'd put my own twist to trying out this horror business, so welcome to my little haunted school! Now, all of you should find yourselves a nice little camera and pocket flashlight. I want you all to do me a little favour and take a nice photo of at least five different of my best friends down there. I'm not asking for breathtaking photos, but at least put some effort into it, test subjects. Do that and, you know what, I'm feeling generous, I'll give you whatever you want in the shop and I guess a memory or something, whatever, we'll talk later, test subjects!"

And with that, it goes silent...

BASIC INFO ✖ BEGIN THE HUNT ✖ POST-EVENT MINGLE ✖ TURN-IN

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

*Speaking of gossip time, Snake came sauntering up, only wearing his non-decorative jacket. He didn't look too traumatized or bothered so he might have actually gotten a decent memory for a change.* Heiji? Are you around?

"Yeah, I'm right here," said Heiji. "You wanna go over to the garden and help plant some seeds? Couldn't find anything else I wanted, so I thought we could at least grow a couple flowers."

All right, I'll do that with you. *Not that he'd be able to see them, but they might smell nice and feel nice once they were fully grown.*

Did you get another memory?

And Heiji would be able to stick some more flowers in his hair, that was another thing. He started in the direction of the garden, catching at Snake's hand and tugging him forward.

"Yeah, I did. I was running from a bunch of criminals in Kyoto. That probably would've been the end of me if I hadn't found a sword they'd stolen." Well, he sounded cheerful about it.

So what? Did you start having a sword fight with everyone by using your knowledge of kendo? *Because he's stopped asking "what is your life, Heiji?" and just accepted Heiji had a very different kind of life than most.*

"Yeah!" said Heiji, also not questioning his life. "Actually, we were trapped in an annex room while they broke the door down. I fended 'em off with the katana, but things looked pretty blurry at the time. I think I had a concussion, too."

How... exciting? As they arrived at the garden, Heiji homed in on an area of open soil where they could start planting. "The dirt here's pretty loose, but if you want, you can use my gloves. Or the shovel, but I think it's too big for flowers. Anyway, what'd you remember?"

I'll use my hands, thank you. *At least it's earth dirt and not the dirty atmosphere of that haunted house bathroom.*

And of course you had a concussion in your memory. I would expect nothing less. *Seriously, Heiji.*

I remembered something far less traumatic than your episode. *Snake started to dig a little hole for the seeds.* I'm not quite sure how old I was but if I had to guess, about 13 or 14.

"Someone had stabbed me, too." He dug a little hole in the earth and deposited a seed into the soft dirt.

"So you'd be in junior high? I bet you were pretty cute back then." Maybe one day Heiji would ask to see pictures.

*Snake paused in his gardening to shake his head. Heiji!*

I have no frame of reference to tell but we'll find out if my parents took pictures. *He patted dirt over the flower seed.*

The memory starts with me playing on the piano. It's some kind of concert and I'm not sure where it is. I'm playing something by Chopin and I'm concentrating so very very hard on what I'm doing. The reason for that is that I have both my hands. *He could hear the music in his head so clearly that he smiles a tiny bit.* I'm taking a guess but I think this might be one of the first, if not the first prosthetic I've had so having the ability to play with both hands is very important to me.

I think I'm only playing for five minutes and the only concession that I can recall in the memory is that I'm playing the piece a little slower than it should be but it's still perfect. Then when I'm done, people start to cheer. Specifically, I can hear my parents' voices and Clover. So now I know how everyone in my family sounds.

When I'm done, I feel so accomplished. And in that moment, realizing that I could play like anyone else without seeing the keys or being able to feel them quite right with one hand, I know that I'm happy being who I am.

*Snake started a little bit after revealing so much.* Well. At least I didn't suffer a concussion or a stabbing in my memory.

Heiji listened properly to the entire story. As soon as Snake finished, he wrapped his arms around Snake and hugged him. Hearing Snake so comfortable with himself -- and describing that feeling to someone else -- made him feel inexplicably happy. His voice came low and warm.

"I'm glad. I like you just the way ya are." W-well... for the most part, anyway. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let Snake's head get too big.

Do you? *Snake's voice was practically a purr.* You know, I found a mysterious present the other day after I woke up from a nap. *He smiled warmly.* I found a charm in my hand. I can't imagine who would give it to me.

He... oh. Since Snake hadn't mentioned it earlier, Heiji had simply assumed that it had gotten lost somehow before Snake woke up in the haunted school. Certainly a search of his bed hadn't turned it up. He'd started to wonder if he needed to gather up the courage to make another one.

"I thought maybe it got lost... a-anyway, I thought it was only fair if you had somethin' from me." Snake's smile had the strange effect of making his face feel a lot warmer than usual.

Well, I'll make sure to keep in my pocket at all times. Thank you, Heiji. *Snake dug in the ground and planted another flower seed before sitting back.* You know, that haunted house got some muck on my good jacket so I washed that off. Except I still feel dirty.

I think I might need a shower. How about you?

Was Snake suggesting what Heiji thought he was suggesting? He eased another little flower seed into the dirt.

"We could split the cost again. And... maybe give it another try. If you're interested." Not that Heiji was, of course, certainly not.

Oh, I think I could be persuaded. *For someone whose facial expressions could be genuinely hard to read, he made up for it with the layers of meaning in his voice alone.*

CALHOUN HOUR - HUNTERS

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