( 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

[overclocking]

[ He turns his head to look at her, wayward leaves and twigs lodging themselves in his hair as he does so. ]

What will?

[soul_sister]

[Her expression is soft, gaze still trained upwards.]

The stars.

... This time of year, the Milky Way is really clear.

[overclocking]

Well... I told the computer 'spring,' so maybe.

If it isn't, we can always make corrections. You remember the constellations we made up, right? It's a shame we don't have the paper with us.

[soul_sister]

[She actually hadn't been able to catch a clear view of the night sky in their time here. Between the city lights and the clouds, it was like being in New York or Chicago. It was hard for her to tell if she wanted to see a familiar sky or not.]

Of course! The Swamp Serpent always was first in the sky, right?

[overclocking]

And The Thunderbird next.

[ He's seen this world's stars, from within the walls of a UE prison compound. It's one of the things he doesn't regret about his stay there; a confirmation, something he needed to know- ]

... They're the same here, you know. The stars.

[soul_sister]

Good.

[Her hand shifts, lacing her fingers through his. She lets out a long breath, contented.]

Do you remember the first time Joshua tried to build a campfire? He wouldn't let you help at all.

[overclocking]

I remember... it had been raining, so everything was too wet to really burn.

[ There was a time he would have withdrawn from contact like this—the very time they're discussing, in fact. But now he simply turns his hand to fit better with hers, palm-to-palm.

He hadn't noticed before, how much larger her hands are. ]

But he tried for an hour and a half anyway...

[soul_sister]

[They fit now, Rosette's actually just a little larger. She squeezes, gently. It's a far cry from when he used to pull back... and when she used to stomp on his toes.]

He always called me stubborn, but really, he was just as bad.

[overclocking]

It definitely runs in the family.

[ With no small touch of fondness. ]

Honestly, who gives candy to someone who tells them to go away?

[soul_sister]

Who introduces themselves to children as a demon?

[The first stars peek through the darkening sky, pulling Rosette's attention upwards.]

I always kind of like this time the best.

[overclocking]

[ A demon, obviously. The answer doesn't pass his lips, though, in lieu of following her gaze. ]

It'll be time for the fire, soon.

[soul_sister]

And stories.

[While the Magdalene Church was trying to adopt Joshua, Father Remington made a habit of bringing donations to the orphanage, usually things they needed. Clothes, blankets, food that kept. But now and then, it would be confectionery like chocolate or marshmallows. They'd steal those right away, taking them through the woods to show Chrono a new wonder of the human world. Those nights, they stayed out, delaying the scolding. Just the campfire, roasted marshmallows or nuts... and the conjurings of the spoken word.]

I want to hear a new one tonight.

[overclocking]

[ Ah... Ahaha. Over the past few years—and particularly since coming to this world—they've been so busy and preoccupied that some of their oldest habits and routines have become fond memories and nothing more. He'd wondered once or twice whether she'd grown out of his stories. It's logical, after all; she isn't the child she was when he met her anymore, even if her vibrancy is the same.

Still. He's glad to hear it. ]

A new one, huh... that's a lot of pressure.

[soul_sister]

[She smiles at that, stretching languidly in the grass. The first two stars of the Thunderbird have begun to peek out, glittering in what would be a zigzag pattern.]

I'm sure you have one or two left.

[overclocking]

Well, how about this:

You prepare the fire, and I'll give you a new story?

[soul_sister]

Deal!

[She pushes herself up and brushes off.]

I'll be right back!

[overclocking]

[ Haah... just as easy as he remembers. ]

I'll be here.

[ Flops back on the grass while he waits, eyes closed, thinking and feeling nothing but the faint whisper of the breeze and the distant birdcalls. ]

[soul_sister]

[It's some fair amount of time later, finding both tinder and conversation to be sufficiently distracting. She sets most of it into a disorganized pile nearby and leans over to check on him.]

Fell asleep?

[Should he open his eyes, behind her, the sky is awash in stars, bright and clear, the diffuse glow of the milkyway keenly visible. A few fireflies dart between them, pulses of soft light touching the air.]

[overclocking]

Hn?

[ He blinks a few times, eyes re-acclimating to the change in light. It's been so long since he's had any measure of proper sleep that each limb feels weighted down, glued to the grass and moss. A few more hours and he might have fused with it, become just another ancient stone peeking out of the foliage.

Instead he shakes his head, focusing on Rosette first—as always, even with the heavens splayed out right in front of them—before he turns his attention beyond her. ]

Oh- [ Sits up, energy renewed. It's better than he'd imagined. ] Wow.

[soul_sister]

[She straightens up and lifts her chin to follow his line of sight. She clasps her hands behind her back and takes in a deep, long breath of the cool night air and lets it out.]

It's been too long.