( 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

[jailbreaks]

[Yuri has never wandered into the room before, he just knew it was filled with technological mumbo jumbo that he'd never understand. So when he sees this particular room is being used, he can't help but wander in, and wow...

For the first time ever while here in this place, he's honestly awed. It's just like the first time he saw the ocean for himself. Nature, landmarks, all of these were something that kept him curious about the world. And well, considering it's been far too long since he's even seen green land, the sun, the feeling of that particular temperature along the lakebed he can't help but feel a little nostalgic. He can't help but feel that feint feeling he should be doing more than sitting on his ass and letting this world destroy itself.

He hasn't noticed anyone in the room yet, because quite frankly, he's captivated by it. Anyone who knows him will see he's completely unguarded at this point... and even genuinely smiling. Funny how nostalgia works.]

[soul_sister]

[The first approach is quiet, almost serene. Bare feet, streaked with drying mud and grass, lightly walk to the spot he'd picked. She doesn't say anything, just sits down beside him.

The setting sun behind the pines turns the sky pastel, and the first fireflies start darting through the early evening air.]

I never really appreciated it as much as I should have, at the time.

[jailbreaks]

Makes me miss home. We'd... always have campfires and just chat. One said she always liked eating over the campfire because food tasted better under the 'spice of the stars' or something.

[He lightly chuckles, still smiling. Those moments... he missed them. Being trapped in the rainy rundown city and now on the moon, well, it makes him more grateful for what he has experienced at home. Well, being stabbed before he was brought here aside.

But his misses his group. His pack. Maybe they never saw it in such a way, but he was kinda the alpha wolf that took care of those he took in.]

Didn't realize how much I missed it until now.

[He looks in her direction.]

Don't they say 'hindsight is 20/20' or something?

[Totally using in the wrong context, but what the hell does he know?]

[soul_sister]

It's something like that...

[This isn't the sort of place to look over regrets though. She picks a longer piece of grass and ties it into little, aimless knots.]

You should stay then. Chrono found marshmallows... so we'll have a campfire when the sun goes down.

[jailbreaks]

That'll be nice. Haven't had one of those in a long while.

[He falls back against the grass with his arms behind his head. One knee is propped up as he looks up at the sky created by this room.]

[soul_sister]

[She reaches down and without introduction or permission, simply tucks a flower behind his ear.]

It's very traditional, to go with stargazing.

1/2

[jailbreaks]

[There's a slight expression of surprise, but... it quickly fades.]

[jailbreaks]

[It fades into an expression of comfort, familiarity. Of home, and what made him happy. His makeshift little family he traveled with. His pack, his group, all of them.

...he misses them.

That stunt with the flower... he feels like it's something that Judy would do in jest, or Estelle would do because she read it in a book.

So he laughs. It's not a chuckle, but it's also not heavy or booming. It's not his teasing laugh... but it's genuine.]

Is that how it goes?

[soul_sister]

[She tucks a blue sprig of tiny flowers behind her own ear.]

Mmm. It's like that.

Do you have any? Traditions, that is.

[jailbreaks]

Not especially. Someone keeps guard at night, but that's about it. Campfires weren't something we did for fun, but to actually have a camp and keep warm for the night.

[soul_sister]

So, you went on a lot of adventures?

... Do you have a favorite?

[jailbreaks]

Adventure? I've only been on one, unless you count my short stint in the knights an adventure. That one was definitely not my favorite.

[soul_sister]

Eh? It went that badly?

[jailbreaks]

Wasn't quite my thing.

[His hand does subconsciously go to cover the bracelet, the blastia, on his other wrist.]

[soul_sister]

[Her eyes track the movement, but she doesn't make any comment. Instead,]

When I was little, I thought the Church I work with now was creepy and full of scientists that were going to sweep everyone away to perform unspeakable experiments.

It really wasn't true... but it goes to show, about where you plan on, and where you end up.

[jailbreaks]

Flynn and I planned on being in the knights since we were kids. Guess it wasn't meant for the both of us.

[He gives a weak chuckle.]

So yeah, you're right. We planned on changing the Empire from within, but... I couldn't do that. Flynn can, on the other hand.

[soul_sister]

It doesn't sound like you gave up, though.

[overclocking]

[ It's certainly not the kind of expression Chrono has ever seen on Yuri before—he can't help thinking that it suits him, and he's quietly gladdened if his little experiment has impacted others, somehow.

Maybe it's just that they all need something like this, right now.

Chrono's footsteps are just as quiet as Rosette's, his shoes discarded next to hers a ways down the slope. ]

Have some free time?

[jailbreaks]

Yeah, I got some.

[He smiles at Chrono, still unguarded. It's not an expression he shows very often, but the relief of being somewhere that was like home to him after all this time... it's... definitely something. What would make it even better is if he had the vision of the slums on this thing here. Maybe most people wouldn't appreciate that kind of experience, but the lower quarter? That's Yuri's home. He can envision how loud it is... how busy it is... how happy people are despite being poor.

How they'd snark at one another... or maybe they'd just snark at Yuri because he always got in trouble somehow.]

Did you set this up?

[overclocking]

With a little help—though I don't think she realized it at first. [ She requires no elaboration, it's inherent and implied. ]

Does it remind you of something?

[jailbreaks]

[He chuckles a bit.] I see.

[Then Yuri's silent for a moment. Actually in thought. It isn't long before he lets out a bit of an affirmative hum.]

Reminds me of home and traveling with my group.

[overclocking]

With Flynn and the others? [ He can only assume there are others, with words like "group". ]

You never talk about your home much. What is it like?

[jailbreaks]

Never really traveled with Flynn. He was always busy with the knights, being of rank and all.

[He smirks though.]

I belong to a guild. Knights and guilds usually don't get along, but guess Flynn 'n' I are different. They abide by their own rules, though guess the guild I belong to is different in that regard too. Guess that's why I like it.

[overclocking]

[ Something about that seems oddly familiar, if Chrono's being entirely honest with himself. Less severe, perhaps, but- familiar. It's why he can't quite staunch the question before it falls out; ]

Do either of you ever get in trouble?

For being friends with the other, I mean.

[jailbreaks]

No, but some people didn't quite appreciate it.

[He got stabbed for it, but eh, whatever.]