( 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]

Symbolic?

( seems a funny thing to say, makes him pause. )

[anklets]

It's said the Church reveres them as one of the Virgin Mary's flowers. [ tilts her head ] They may also represent innocence and loyal love, but that depends entirely on who you ask.

[velveteened]

Ah, I forgot about that.

( "that," being the flower meanings — not something he's so knowledgable on as some people he knows, anyway. he sits backwards, leaning on splayed hands. )

Who was the Virgin Mary?

1/3

[anklets]

[anklets]

[Maybe she. Misheard.]

[anklets]

She was the virgin mother of Jesus.

[velveteened]

( slow blink.

go on, lenalee. )

1/2

[anklets]

[anklets]

She conceived him of the Holy Spirit's agency, and he was born the Son of God. The Christian Church was founded on his teachings.

[velveteened]

Oh.

( GOSH )

No wonder they're revered.

[anklets]

You'll find much more than daisies are. But I don't mind wearing them.

[This is not untrue. She has not ceased her weaving, neatly tucking stem-ends out of sight. He shall match her before this conversation is done.]

Thinking on it, I suppose it's almost appropriate.

[velveteened]

Is it?

( he's content to watch her for the time being, though not without idle glances at the other flowers. )

[anklets]

Yes. [ she tips the flower crown upon his head a moment later ] We bear a Rose Cross as our emblem because we are a branch of the Church. The Order takes it quite seriously- some members bear the title of Exorcist, though I always felt that might give the wrong idea.

[velveteened]

You've mentioned that.

( commenting on the rose cross, mainly, but the rest reminds him of something else: it's a meeting he's failed to mention, though more from distractions than any real intent to hide it. )

Cross, too.

[anklets]

You've met the General?

[velveteened]

Just once. He helped me when those zombies got loose from the Agriculture Wing.

[anklets]

[Little bits which shine through the tarnish, she ought to expect it from him more than she does.] He does that.

[velveteened]

It was very cool! ( he purposefully pushing into lightness, a little ) He said "I'm simply doing my job," ( an affected deeper voice for that ) when I tried to thank him.

[anklets]

[Laughs, actually. She does not mind or need to force this levity: it's strange enough to hear of General Cross minding his job.]

"Cool", huh?

[velveteened]

Absolutely! It was professional and grown-up of him.

( he wants to grow up into a cool adult....one day )

[anklets]

[Oh, boy. She can feel Allen molting in unknowable distress from here.]

He is an adult, Oz. [ but she won't say that counts towards adult behaviour... ] Now you've met all of mine. Well, all who you can.

[velveteened]

( that's a surprise. )

Really?

[anklets]

I think! [ Miranda is more reserved, so perhaps not her ] I don't want anyone else coming here, anyway.

[velveteened]

I know what you mean.

( he thinks on the comparison, though without any intention of giving it breath; he's not sure if she's met elliot, and thinks it just as well that she's not oswald, despite his friendliness here. )

That feels like an accomplishment, somehow...

( GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL: exorcist edition. )

[anklets]

[A giggle for his efforts, as she winds another daisy into his hair. Give her an inch and she shall take it all. Kanda was never as willing a subject to her, making this a real treat.]

If you want to think of it like that. We keep clumped together, [ in keeping with the imagery ] like bees in a hive.