( 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]

... 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?

[soul_sister]

When it's only ten coins? Pft, completely.

[velveteened]

Good thing it's not any more, then.

( IT MUST BE A HARD LIFE TO HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MONEY )

[soul_sister]

It gets really hard when its more. Really, really hard.

[velveteened]

It does...?

( #rich boy worldview )

1/2

[soul_sister]

Of course it does! There's some times when you look back and know that your debts will never be absolved even if you lived a hundred times and worked non stop through all of them.

[soul_sister]

And then you realize, this far into the future the statute of limitations has passed and all of your debts are forgiven!

[velveteened]

( isthatso.jpg )

...that does sound really hard.

[soul_sister]

[Solemnly, as if conveying great wisdom.]

Saving people is a difficult job. Fraught with people who don't understand that collateral damage just sometimes happens.

[velveteened]

If it's for a good cause, it can't be helped! ( the collateral damage associated with him has been quite the opposite, so he hasn't even any mock judgment for her ) What matters in those sorts of cases is the end result.

[soul_sister]

I've been sure to include that in every report.

[She nods, very seriously. It has yet to work even once, but there's something to be said for persistence.

In the mean time. SCONES AND TEA.]