thisavrou_log | OTA and Closed

Entry tags:

OTA and Closed

Who: Chara and misc!
When: Any time, will probably span as far back as Feb 24th
Where: Training Simulation Room, Library, maybe Medbay, and misc
What: Chara learns things about and in the simulation room, and avoids counseling where they can.
Warnings: General dark theme warnings for Chara! Also Undertale Spoilers.

Training Simulation Room - OTA

The Simulation Room's Default Environment #4 settings reminded them of a magazine cover. Not the interesting kind, but the boring one, with green golf courses and perfect people with perfect teeth. They were in a similar green field right now. The sky was completely blue.

Chara lifted their wrist, poking experimentally. Hadn't there been a note taped to the wall somewhere talking about controlling the room from the inside? It hadn't been very clear, and Chara is distracted for several minutes.

Without much outward warning the field shifts, and suddenly green is mixed with a carpet of yellow flowers. The effect on Chara couldn't be more different: their wrist falls to their side, and they don't seem bored anymore.

It's a sight that could hold them for a long time. They'll probably still be standing that way when someone else arrives.

Library - Closed

Their eyes hurt, and every few minutes Chara catches themself staring vacantly at some shelves beyond the book's top. They're not used to this much reading, and it's taxing them like exercisng a rarely used muscle. Can they really keep this up forever? Probably not. They have't thought that far.

There's nothing long-term-thinking at all about the way they've taken to hiding in the library. Their MID weighs on their wrist like a leaden weight, and they know there's things they should be doing. Screw those things! No one's the boss of them. They turn another page very defiantly, sinking further down in their chair.

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Eggsy had suggested that Chara meet him in the simulation room for some much needed anger therapy, that's what he was going to call it, but hadn't expected the place to look that way it did when he got here.

Yellow flowers everywhere, Chara standing still just looking at them.

He almost feels guilty for stepping in here, feels like he's interrupting, but how could he have known. Eggsy stays quiet, steps up beside them, looking at the flowers, too. He didn't even think to use the room for something like this, and he wonders at why they decided to do it, to set it up like this.

He gets a glance, but it's a longer look around at the simulated horizon that really brings them back to the present. Memories that were pretended to life now fade back to nothing. If he can't find words to describe their expression, then that's fine; they're not really sure what words they'd suggest, either.

They lift up their MID and deactivate the setting, sending the whole room back to a drab, lifeless grey.

"You showed up."

Eggsy turns as the setting around them fades back to the standard grey, a brow raised.

"Course I did. Said I would an' here I am."

He offers them a tentative smile, stepping backwards away from them to do a small spin before beginning to stretch. Eggsy had no idea what they were doing but he was going to participate one hundred percent.

"So what do you wanna do then?"

"You said there'd be something I could beat up."

They watch him stretch for a few seconds, remembering doing the same back at school. They've sometimes stretched for things since then, but usually they haven't planned that far ahead. Either Frisk was in charge and they were hoping to not fight at all, or Chara was in charge, and they'd be running around all day. How could anyone plan for the spaces in between?

"I figured out the, um, 'environment' section." But not the room-setting selection that came after.

"What exactly you lookin' to beat up, yeah? Then we'll get it ready so you can."

Eggsy had originally thought something like a punching bag, but maybe something person shaped would be better. Then any aggression that they're feeling can dissipate a little quicker, he hopes.

"You picked a nice one, too. Ain't seen that before. Basically, we can set this up in any way that would work best for ya. Fightin' a bunch of opponents, just one. Hand to hand, weapons. Can even practice off me, if you want."

He's so nice. Why's he doing this? What's in it for him, what could he possibly gain from waiting on some awful brat hand and foot this way? They're tempted to tell him 'make me a stabbing dummy that looks like you', but they have this horrible feeling that he might actually do it. Or, worse, maybe he'd offer himself, with some kind of stupid flimsy toy weapon that wouldn't actually hurt him.

It's tempting to walk away.

"Just one opponent. And a weapon, a big kitchen knife." They hold their up and a span apart.

Edited 2016-03-19 02:31 (UTC)

"Alright. So how about we do it together, yeah?"

Eggsy steps away, crossing the room to a small area in the back. He picks up two small grey bars that are about a foot long each.

"I'll program the room, you get a feel for your knife."

He walks up to them, holding out the bar.

"When the room comes on, that thing will feel like it's a knife. The weight and drag of it. It'll look like one two, sort of." In a holographic, almost solid way. "One opponent will come for you, one for me. Nothin' too advanced, but they won't stop until you hit just right with the knife."

Eggsy turns away to program the room. He wonders if this will actually help, getting their aggression out on something fake, or if it might make it worse.

Chara takes the bar and just looks at him until he turns away. It feels like they've been given a plain length of pipe, one that lumbers and drags in the air when they swing it experimentally. It's not knife-like at all, but maybe if they pretended it was a screwdriver--

--the shape in their hand flickers and shrinks, and just like that the knife's flat shows their own reflection. Whoa. They swing it again, up to down, then diagonally.

Wow. How realistic is it? Would it feel like the real thing if they stabbed that moron by the controls? Movement from their peripheral vision cuts a third slash short, and a pair of dummies have appeared several feet away, life sized and identical in every sense. For now they only consist of stretched meshes of blue light, like someone wrapped glowing chickenwire over invisible men. Chara squints, wondering if they'll stand still or dance just out of reach.

"You got the same one as me," Chara calls over.

Eggsy tosses the 'knife' from hand to hand, adjusting to the weight of it. He'd programmed the opponents to be on the defensive, but not aggressive or try to attack in any way. He doesn't want to start out too heavy.

"Yeah, ready?"

He's steps up beside them, hand low, knife tilted up. Eggsy's never actually stabbed a person before, and he wonders if these holographic versions will feel the same or if it will be like stabbing air. The knife had changed from a bar to something realistic, so he figures that will be along the same lines, too.

"I'll follow your lead."

They glance at him sharply, but he seems to mean it. He's still being so nice. Are these some kind of warning signs Chara doesn't know how to recognize? Probably. Maybe they'll find out just how realistic the knives soon enough, and not by being the one to stab him. (Chara doesn't really believe this, but they can't think of any alternative. Truly kind people don't just go around pretending to stab dummies, or handing them out to small, violent children. He doesn't make sense.)

"Okay." They look forward again, where their opponents stand waiting. The shift is subtle: their eyes narrow, and hatred is a low mist that clouds the edges of their senses. They rush the nearest dummy and slice at it, and blue-outlined arms catch the edge defensively, leaving bright red ribbons on its path. The whole form stumbles back, while Chara pushes forward.

They don't hesitate even once. There's a defensive, skittish spring to their movements, but the threat of unknown reactions pales in comparison to the battle-light already starting in their eyes.

Eggsy doesn't advance on his own target, not at first, he simply watches. He checks Chara's stance, their movements, the expression on their face as they attack.

He's a kind person, nice, and caring, too, but he's not blind to life and how it really is. Eggsy had been tossed head first into growing up when he'd still been a little kid. He knows nothing is clear cut, and that all good people have bad in them and the other way around. If it helps, doing this, then he supports it.

"Lift your hands. Keep your elbows tucked in against your side."

He takes a few steps, dodges his target, dips and twists until he's behind it. Eggsy kicks the back of its knees, watches the hologram stumble, and even though he's focused on his own, he still tosses out tips.

"You're smaller, so put your whole body into it."

The look they send him is baffled. Why should they? He-- ... Oh. He--actually doesn't totally suck at this. It's only a temporary distraction, but it's there nonetheless, and for the time of his attack he has their undivided attention.

Okay. They stop chicken-winging their elbows out, lifting their hands to about neck height. They don't much like the new stance, and almost at once their elbows drift back up a little. The third tip is a lot easier to follow, because even with their obvious lack of training it's impossible not to notice the problems of being small. Chara darts forward and stabs with their whole arm.

The dummy knocks it to the side, shunting them and their over-committed momentum on past. They grunt. By the time Chara swings back around the dummy's stance is firmly back at the ready. They hate this. They hate humans, and they wish all that was left was monsters.

The knife is yanked back to level, and Chara starts forward again.

Eggsy grins, adrenaline starting to hit him, getting him into what they're doing. He holds the knife up as if he's going to use it, but never attempts to stab the target. He kicks, hits, knocks it back, sweeps its feet out from underneath, but never goes in for the kill.

He watches as Chara moves, analyzes the steps they take, looking for ways that they can do it better.

"If you can't stop your opponent by going for the obvious places, wear 'em down."

There was always the possibility that Chara might come up against someone that matches them and they won't be able to take the 'kill shot' with.

"Even the smallest cuts bleed, yeah? Aim for areas that are sensitive, behind the elbow, thigh. It's not a quick thing, but it'll make them slower."

Chara shoots him another glance, and they reverse their grip on the knife. The dummy's not exposing anything Eggsy just mentioned, but Chara has things to prove, and a little thing like that's not going to stop them. They feint at the dummy's face, then swoop down to nick it just over one knee. The red line glows back at them when the dummy steps back, and Chara frowns at it. It's not enough.

There's been a practiced crudeness to their motions the whole way, hinting at enormous experience with no guidance. It's especially obvious now, when they dive past the dummy's right side and come out poised to slice at the back of its legs, but not to escape quickly. They compensate by scrambling before the swipe is even done, but it screams of wasted energy. The dummy turns and steps back, and Chara's only just gotten their feet under themself. They spring up and slice at the dummy's hands. It simply holds them out of reach.

Eggsy twists around his opponent, snaking an arm up and around his dummy's neck, applying steady even pressure. It reacts like an actual person would, fights back, but he holds until it goes limp, the hologram flickering out. It was quick, and he hadn't used his 'knife', but he was more interested in Chara and what they're doing.

"You done this before then? Somethin' like this?"

He wasn't blind, he could see their movements, and he kind of really liked helping them like this.

"Use the rest of your body. Kick, hit with your other hand. If you can't reach, bring them to your level."

They turn an ear towards him, but otherwise ignore his first question. 'Yes'. 'Almost yes'. They'll deal with it later.

'I know that', Chara wants to shout back, 'but it keeps not moving!' Too bad. Excuses are for quitters, and if Chara can't figure out how to take this crappy thing out then it's their own fault for losing. (Especially if it's just a mindless dummy. They can't be that pathetic.)

They grit their teeth and give his advice a shot anyway, and--yes, more of that untrained ability. They spring into the air to combine fantastic air-time with a cruddy kick, and the effect is that a blow that should've broken the dummy's neck only shoves it off balance. That's okay: while the dummy staggers they surge forward and swing the knife again. Red stretches from its ribs to hip, and the dummy flickers, then blinks out.

It's over. No blood or dust. No sense of accomplishment, either.

They round on Eggsy, eyes bright and focused. "That one sucked." It comes out like an accusation. "Give me one that actually attacks, next time! I'll do better." ... Where did his dummy--right, he killed it. (Vanished it.) They'd noticed in their peripheral vision.

Edited 2016-03-26 17:47 (UTC)

Eggsy's got his hands on his hips, nodding approvingly when the dummy flickers and vanishes.

"That was blood fantastic. The way you kicked it then attacked after."

He's grinning, he can't help himself. Now, Eggsy might not approve of murder for the sake of murder, but having the skills to protect yourself or the people you love, yeah, that's something he can get behind.

"Amazin', really."

Pausing, he taps the small bar in the palm of his other hand, expression thoughtful.

"How do you wanna do this? Wanna try takin' out a group together? Cause I think that with my strength and your speed, we could take 'em out fast."

Accusation bleeds out of them, and as it clears it leaves behind something more naked: a hunger for approval. He thought they were cool. Or at least, that the cool things they did were cool. None of Chara's skills were something most people would look upon kindly, because either Chara was attacking people or they were attacking people's friends, and even the most forgiving person was usually distracted.

"You'd want to fight with me?"

Would you really, Chara wonders. Possibilities reaching beyond the training room race through their mind in a flash. What kind of person would he be if he actually wanted to help them kill? Where would the ship's crew be? How would he act when covered in blood, and would this sweetness keep right on going for a hair-raising incongruency? What would he be like as a partner in spreading death?

He'd probably hog all the EXP, Chara decides. That wasn't acceptable. Neither was sharing even one bit at all, honestly; Chara needed everything they could possibly get, and Eggsy would interfere with that.

Oh well. The nice (so pathetic) thought is gone as quickly as it arrived.

"Yeah, course I would. You obviously got some trainin' in already. A little rough around the edges, but it ain't nothin' some practice can't fix."

He steps in a little closer, brows raised, a hand out.

"Sometimes that's all it takes, yeah? Someone thinkin' you've got potential and suddenly everythin's different. There's somethin' there, in you, I can see it."

Eggsy might not know exactly what it was, a mix of things honestly, but it was something he could relate to, somewhat and he wanted to be for Chara what Harry had been for him.

"I do gotta be honest and tell ya that I only do this," he waves around the room. "Hurtin' others, if it's for a good reason. Ya get me? I'll fight with ya even outside of here if the reason's right."

They've withdrawn by this point, and the look he gets is loaded with distance and meaning and cold answers that he would need a dictionary to make sense out of. How utterly idealistic o him; does he also see in their eyes the deaths of every innocent they've ever killed? If not, he should get his eyes checked, because surely they're in there somewhere.

"Okay," they say out loud. "What's a good reason? ... Protecting people?" He certainly seems the type.

Eggsy wasn't the type to just drop someone when things got rough, he'd stick around, had faith they could be and do better. Chara, unfortunately or fortunately depending on perspective, had themselves a new friend.

"Yeah, that. But it ain't the only reason. Sometimes people have to be stopped. Sometimes it can't be helped. Ya get me? It's not all black and white. Gotta do what we gotta do."

Vindication swells in their chest, because yes, that's what they've been trying to tell Frisk all along. Sometimes it was necessary. It wasn't bad to stop someone who was hurting you, and sometimes people were just plain evil. He got that. He was blind, but maybe he wasn't actually so unreasonable.

"... Okay." Their eyes sweep him again, and they mumble indistinctly, "'ll remember that." Rude--but not intentionally so.

"We just have to remember where the line is. Sometimes we've gotta cross it, sometimes we have to make sure we don't."

Eggsy is way past his limit on giving advice. He's out of practice with it, fuck, he's never had any practice with it. He waves a hand, gesturing to the room.

"Anyways, wanna go again?"

Whatever. Chara seems as eager to continue the subject as Eggsy is, and they bob their head quickly.

"Make it attack this time."

Will it actually make things easier for them? They hope so. Even if they get hit, surely it'll provide more opportunities than a dummy that blocks every attack. Chara's used to chasing, not sieges, and this should bring them closer to it.

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OTA and Closed

Training Simulation Room

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