( 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

[velveteened]

Bees!

( oz is pretty much the worst shounen protagonist ever so he totally understands but doesn't stop with the dragging. it's also hard to say why he expects martin to recognize the name 'bees' when he doesn't know them on sight, but one never does know.

he's honestly more amused than alarmed by the absurdity of the situation, but the laughter can come a little later )

[theguideless]

What–?! [be what? bees? what's going on here?

i'll tell you what's going on here. what's going on here is at the next dip in the terrain and one unfortunate tree root, and Martin's tripping over himself, pulling Oz down with him for an obligatory tumbleweed roll the rest of the way down.]

[velveteened]

Th — 

( ROLLING IT IS THEN )

[theguideless]

Uah–! Owh! A–!! [OK let's stop this nonsense. LAND ALREADY. let the bees storm on.]

[velveteened]

( THEY LAND ALREADY — )

Ow!

( and even if it's virtual earth and programmed to be a bit soft it can still hurt in landings like these, especially ones in which the boys involved may or may not have landed at least partly on one another.

A BUZZING CAN STILL BE HEARD.... )

[theguideless]

[groaning, Martin rolls over (and off of Oz; sorry dude) onto his back. he squints through his grimace, barely understanding the cloud bulging and flowing above them.

he freezes, save for a hand that wildly pats around – and grasps at last at Oz's arm, tugging at the sleeve.]

Uh, uhhh– Uh–!!

[velveteened]

( he pulls himself upwards with similarly displeased sounds, rubbing at his head with one hand as martin tugs on the other. )

What's —

( oh. that's.

he looks at the bee cloud

and looks at nearby lake

and looks at martin. )

[theguideless]

[he looks at Oz.

y...you can't mean...?]

[velveteened]

( well, unless martin's got a better idea —

he'll be doing some tugging, himself, towards the lake. )

[theguideless]

Oh, uh, wai-waiiiii–! [even if he wants to balk, he's already tripped over his own feet and sealed their fates: Marty slams into Oz and sends them both headfirst into the lake.]

[velveteened]

( that's not quite the cooperation he was looking for, but it'll do; down into the lake they go, and the bees are fairly deterred by all that water. )

[theguideless]

[welcome to: the first time Martin's ever had his head submerged in water outside of a path.

it does not last long; he panics immediately, limbs flailing, cutting into the air and forcing him up...and probably Oz down. sorry dude. AIR PLEASE.]

GuaUUGH–!!

[velveteened]

( see, oz has at least got a little swim experience by now — and later he'll appreciate the complexity of this simulation, with the very real sensation of being submerged — so he's able to kick upwards, or moves to, before martin makes it a little more difficult.

WELL DON'T MIND HIM FLAILING DOWN HERE — for a moment, at least, as he works out maneuvering around martin to surface, himself. )