( 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]

Mm. I really can't imagine a life without him.

[velveteened]

( admits, )

I know what you mean.

( funny as it is to say when he's spent more of his life without alice than with, even (especially) here, and if the contradiction makes for a slight frown — he at least most definitely knows which way he's happier. )

[soul_sister]

You've got just enough good luck then, to counter all of the bad. That's what I think anyway. As long as that's left, everything else works out.

[velveteened]

( he looks up at that, over at her. )

Do you think so?

[soul_sister]

I'm sure of it.

[As much as she was half convinced that Xerxes Break was the demon bound to Gilbert Nightray (some details didn't add up, but then again... Break... ) Oz was easy, if she could tell anything by the fiery, smug girl interrogating Chrono.]

It all seems less... impossible, when she's there, right?

[velveteened]

( he'd noticed her interjection, mostly followed it with a laugh at his tablet. so it's a bit of a surprise when rosette mentions a she, but not altogether unexpected either. and — it's only because of how long it's been since they've been together that he has to pause to think at all. not for what to say, because there is of course only one answer, but for the magnitude of nine months to settle slowly, fall and make his shoulders drop as he slants his head and nods, resting his chin on his arms. )

Yeah.

( of war, of battles lost and powers borrowed and grief deeper than he knows how to comprehend (but she would and always has, you're sad for that child), of people come and gone and experiences good and bad but all of it so heavy, of white rooms and scientists with sharp instruments and a(nother) city dying screaming and a dark emptiness so big as to swallow them all whole. )

It does...you're right.

[soul_sister]

[She looks away, giving him some moment of privacy. Almost to the sky, rather than him, she nods.]

That's why I'm sure.

[velveteened]

( he knows the strength of certainty; as someone prone to handing out pretty words just as lenalee's accused of him, he knows the difference — or, as it were, the real thing — when he sees it. conviction is a flower that doesn't grow easily, and not at all where doubts are allowed to roost; it needs light and constant care, gentle hands that don't waver, and a warm heart.

looks downwards rather than at her sky, nods in turn and lets his eyes drift shut a moment. )

[soul_sister]

[For some moments, the only thing in the air was birdsong and the gentle lapping of water against the shore. She doesn't say anything at first, simply lifting her hand to drop it to rest on top of his head. It stays there a heartbeat too long before ruffling his hair.]

Come on, you can't nap through this. Kevin just got here. I'd bet you five of their funny coins that he brought food.

[velveteened]

( he laughs as he looks up, swatting at her hand. )

What funny coins?

[soul_sister]

... I don't know. Chrono never lets me keep any.

[velveteened]

( ah )

Is that so? That's a shame.

[soul_sister]

I know! He keeps both his and mine! I tell him that's theft but then he starts talking about boring things. [Like how much debt she's in...]

[soul_sister]

Anyway! If I've actually lost, he'll pay up.

[velveteened]

( ROSETTE....

he pushes himself up into a sitting position, glad the water and mud are virtual, and then to his feet. )

It's fine! I wouldn't demand payment for a bet like that.

[soul_sister]

[She stretches widely, more than content, before finding her feet as well.]

You should, he makes the best expressions.

[velveteened]

That's a good point! Should I say you bet ten coins instead?

[soul_sister]

Only if you split half with me.

[velveteened]

You can have it all back, don't worry.

[soul_sister]

Eh?! Really?

[velveteened]

Isn't it your money anyway? I don't need to take it from you.

( that's what gil is for!! )

[soul_sister]

I can't say I mind at all. [But this is weird. SO WEIRD!! Doesn't he need it?]

[velveteened]

So, don't worry about it! Besides, seeing the panicked look on his face will be payment enough.

( so brightly oz this is why you're a bad person )

[soul_sister]

You're horrible~

[velveteened]

How mean! Don't you feel the same way?