( open )

[overclocking]

Date & Time: Several days after the necromorph outbreak
Location: A VR room
Characters: Chrono + Rosette + open!
Summary: Lil bit of coping in-between zombie apocalypses and civil wars, nbd
Warnings: None! KEVIN AND BREAK
Notes: Feel free to tag around also! ♥


[ Chrono doesn't bother to close the door when he finally decides to try one of these rooms for himself. Something about the last few days (weeks) (months) has left him unwilling to stay in enclosed spaces too long, with no obvious path of exist. Too much like a lab or an undead-lined hallway.

But these concerns slowly melt away as he sets about instructing the AI, and the room gives way to a place that isn't a room at all.

Mountains rise up in the distance, framing a blue, clear sky, and a faint breeze rustles the treetops of a thick Michigan forest. Birdcalls ride that wind, and the air smells cleaner, fresher, than any moon base could reasonably boast. Where the blanket of trees ends, a large, glassy lake gleams in the sunlight. He takes care with this part—instructs the AI to make the water a temperature a bit too low to be entirely comfortable for swimming, knowing full well that this won't actually be a deterrent. But it wouldn't be right, otherwise.

He takes his time strolling from one familiar landmark to the next, having the computer make adjustments as necessary. He doesn't miss details, either; for all the times that Rosette brought him to this very place, his eyes had missed nothing. They were wide and all-absorbing, like someone who had been born anew and was discovering the world for the first time.

(Likely because, in all honesty, he had been.)

He stops once he circles back around to the open door—a black silhouette hanging oddly in the landscape, and the only giveaway that none of this is real. It's here that he surveys the scene as a whole, the sum of all its little memory-parts. ]

Perfect.

[ Well. There's still a thing or two missing. ]

... Almost.

Comments

[soul_sister]

[Oz gets almost right beside her when she dives! REEDS AND MUCK ARE NO BARRIER! She emerges again, triumphant and laughing, FATTY FROG HELD ALOFT.]

HA! I W-

Oz?

[velveteened]

( there's a little muck-splatter going on, but he's mostly surprised by — )

A frog?

[soul_sister]

[For a second, they're like that, mutual surprise on their face. The frog ribbits.]

Heh! Don't tell me you've never gone frog catching!

[velveteened]

( he starts to laugh, eyebrows up in bemusement )

Never! What do you do with them once you catch them?

[soul_sister]

You let them go, of course! Unless you want to try kissing for princes. I don't recommend it.

The person who catches the most, of course, gets to be the royalty for the day and everyone else has to listen to them.

[velveteened]

( kissing for princes isn't a reference he follows, but that's not something he's so pressingly curious about with the rest of what she's told him. )

No wonder you were looking so closely for that one. Who did you just beat?

( HE HAS A WILD GUESS BUT. )

[soul_sister]

Chrono, of course. The fool was trying to use a net.

[velveteened]

He must've scared them all off, instead of catching any!

[soul_sister]

Exactly. You can't catch frogs without getting muddy. It's almost against the rules of the universe.

Care to try? [She gently sets the squirming frog back into the mud. It lets out an annoyed croak before hopping into the water.]

[velveteened]

( for not the first time, he wonders how hard can it be, really? but what's really at the forefront is how fun it sounds to try. )

Okay!

( with an anticipatory grin, he moves closer to the water, boots sinking into the mud more and more in a way he doesn't pay much mind to — there have been worse things than mud tracked in from his shoes, and it's false mud anyhow — leaning forwards to look for signs of movement beneath the water... )

[soul_sister]

[The attention to details could make one wonder though. The cold mud, the lapping water, even the faint smell of mud rising as Oz disturbs the water.

Shapes dart through the swirling silt, fish quickly darting to deeper waters. But just in front of Oz, two black eyes break surface, followed by the back of a frog...

...

A moment before someone PUSHES HIM.] Gotcha!

[velveteened]

( it really does make him wonder — he'd pause, distracted, to soak up these details even if they were real, let alone simulated by technology he doesn't even begin to understand. it's incredible. he has to shake his attention back to the FROG SIGHTING, and has scarcely begun to belatedly reach out a hand before he's —

SHOVED INTO THE WATER.

he windmills his arms, reaching for any support around — which may very well be rosette if she's near enough and unlucky enough — before falling into the water with a splash! )

[soul_sister]

[It's was impossible timing. She was lifting her arm to gloat properly, and he caught her sleeve. SHE FALLS IN AFTER HIM WITH A MIGHTY SPLASH. At least a 7 point bellyflop RIGHT HERE.]

[velveteened]

( he surfaces quickly enough, sputtering. this may be a virtual lake, but it's just as well he's picked up a little swimming since being in exsilium. he shoves some of his sopping hair back with one hand, turning to look for rosette with an expression that could look like a prelude to anger...or more likely, mischief. )

[soul_sister]

[Something rises from the deep. Something wearing a lilypad draped over her veil, and a broken reed dangling off of her shoulder.

She looks nothing so much as like a drenched cat.]

[velveteened]

( the only response is to burst out laughing, honestly. )

1/2

[soul_sister]

[She picks the reed off, dropping it in the water.]

[soul_sister]

[BEFORE SPLASHING AT HIM!!]

[velveteened]

( he's laughing too hard at first to do anything besides holding up an arm, fruitlessly trying to shield himself from that water, but it's not long before he recovers enough to splash right back!!! )

[soul_sister]

[The terrible thing about laughter is that it's contagious. Her own, more giggles than anything, joins his as she backs away, trying to dodge thin waves and sprays of water. She splashes back between volleys now and then.]

[velveteened]

( his balance isn't the best, but he can wade over in her direction mock-menacingly, both trying to dodge and splash her. she can't back away forever!!!! )

[soul_sister]

[SHE PUTS UP A GOOD FIGHT. When her foot finds the familiar, slick rock that signaled the drop off to deeper waters, she waves her hands.]

Okay! Okay! I give.

[This is your moment, Oz. DO YOU SHOW MERCY?]

[velveteened]

( pausing in his advance — )

Do you?

( HE KNOWS THESE TRICKS!!!! )

[soul_sister]

....

You're not supposed to be suspicious already.

[velveteened]

( TRIUMPHANT LAUGHTER )

You can't fool me!