vivarium | the garden

T H E G A R D E N

Early in the morning, yet again, the test subjects get to wake up to Calhoun’s dulcet tones. Through a megaphone.

“Hey! Lazy test subjects, get your human rears up!”

Once everyone is moderately awake and gathered, Calhoun will continue.

“You all did such a great job last round, and everyone’s been so pathetic lately, that I, your glorious, merciful host, decided to open a room for you! Remember, rooms are a privilege, not a right! That means!”

He takes a deep breath to scream out the next parts:

“Don’t. Break. My. Stuff!!”

He eyes at a few people in the crowd before leading everyone up to the second floor, where a new door will now be openable. Once inside there is a surprisingly refreshing breeze and bright light flooding from the ceiling.

Welcome to the Garden!

The roof of the garden is made up of what appears to be grids with screens depicting a blue sky during daylight hours and a starry night during the evening (they must be sunlamps because the light from the ceiling feels warm and, yes, finally some vitamin D for you sad test subjects). It appears to be more of a dome than anything else, but the grass is green, there’s a few trees around, some flowers, a bench here and there, and even a little waterfall that creates a small creek around the garden!

Sure, there aren’t any edible plants, fruits, or vegetables around, the water is freezing, everything feels almost artificial, but this is a lot better than the cold, monochrome, and bleak look of the warehouse so far, so unless everyone else wanted to stay in the boring lobby instead of here, there wasn’t much to complain about.

Well, have fun! Enjoy your new surroundings.

basic info ✖ mingle

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Look every boy wants a toy robot except for Luke, who wants a stuffed bear

Heiji laughed. "Nah, there are a ton of places that sell it in Osaka. Kinda like ramen. If you want the really good joints, though, you gotta do the legwork to find 'em. Or know someone who knows."

"Borscht... that's originally Ukranian, ain't it? I don't think we got a lot of that in Japan. There are a couple Russian places, though."

Luke is just a strange kid. He's the same one who can talk to animals.

"If I'm saving some money, then I don't mind doing some legwork to find them." He would walk for an hour if he could just save a few bucks, but anyway, nodding. "Yeah, Ukrainian. Easy and cheap to make. I'm pretty sure they have it at some Russian restaurants, but it's probably made differently. Haven't exactly been able to try it there."

Heiji sat up finally, brushing a few leaves off of himself. "...What's up with you and money, anyway? I mean, not like it's good to waste it or anything, but you sound like... I dunno, one of those aunties at the market. The ones who keep track of hour-long sales."

"Oh yeah. And if I remember correctly, you said you weren't American, right? You remember where ya are from?"

Jake looked away at that. This wasn't exactly something he wanted to talk about, especially with Heiji (he didn't really mind Heiji, but that didn't mean he'll share things with him). "Sorry, but not really interested in sharing my life story with you." Since... yeah, the whole money thing really was a life story. Oops.

"And yeah, from Ukraine. Born and raised there." But... it did not explain why he had an American accent, a beautiful Troy Baker voice. "Hence, borscht."

Heiji decided Jake was either formerly poor, or a weirdo. Either way, whatever, he wasn't going to push it.

"Oh yeah?" Now Heiji looked interested. "What's it like? Telling me that's okay, right?"

It was then that Jake decided to just sit down next to Heiji, not too close, but a good steps away because if they were going to talk for a while, he might as well sit down.

"Yeah, but don't expect a lot of details. Can't exactly remember seeing much more than a market and some rundown neighbourhood, nothing special." He didn't really think it was anything special, probably because he grew up there, so Heiji was going to have to ask some specific questions if he wanted answers.

Hmm. "Well, we already established that they had borscht there. And if it was a run-down neighborhood, then you or your folks probably used the market to shop for vegetables and stuff, right? Was it an open-air market? They have any live animals? I remember they got one of those at Nipponbashi Station, only it's probably pretty different."

Jake thought back to his memories, since they both took place in a marketplace. "Open-air, no animals, but the usual fruits, vegetables, clothes, and the annoying merchants who don't know how to haggle. And your Nipwhatever station?"

Heiji thought for a second. "It's really big, and it's got all kinds of stuff. Cookware, fish, vegetables -- oh, and Wagyuu steak is only 1,200 yen. That's like $11 USD, but I hear it's like $150-200 for a strip steak in the States.

"Of course, it goes without sayin' that you gotta do a little negotiating while you're there. Best time is later in the day, 'cause that's when the storekeepers want to unload their stuff! Of course, you gotta compete with all the aunties that come in around that time, too."

"You know, you oughtta teach Hershel how to haggle. I tried, but he gave up when I pretended to have a heart attack." Yes. Heiji had totally pretended to be an old storekeeper guy faking a heart attack.

That steak sounded pretty good. At least compared to all the shitty food that they're eating here, he'd kill for some protein, and who doesn't like a good steak?

He gave off a small half-laugh. "You kidding? He barely has a backbone, shopkeepers will step all over him and use him as an actual doormat. He wouldn't survive five minutes out in the market." Jake was such a good friend, believing in his pals... "He'd need more than just help."

"Strength from weakness!" said Heiji, raising his fist as if to cheer Hershel on. "When he walks in, they'll be expectin' an easy mark. Besides, maybe he'd do a little better if he was bargainin' for someone else..."

Yeah, and maybe the storekeepers will feel so sorry for the poor lost gaijin that they'll give him something out of pure pity.

"Oh yeah, come to think of it, I think one of them new guys might be a cook or a baker or somethin'. Too bad there's no ingredients."

the garden

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