OTA and Closed

[heart_breaking]

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.

Comments

Training Simulation Room

[commontype]

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.

[heart_breaking]

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."

[commontype]

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?"

[heart_breaking]

"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.

library;

[incantamentum]

Eric hadn't expected himself to ever try and hunt someone down for the idea of helping them. He'd dealt with difficult patients before, of course, those who'd been sent to him by the government- those special cases that required his specific skillset coupled with what he was.

Stalking the halls of a spaceship, however, looking for a child with a penchant for murder? That was so far out of his area of expertise though that he didn't know where to begin- until he got a helpful tip that a certain child with murderous tendencies was in the library. Which is why he found himself pushing open the large door, eyes searching instantly.

[heart_breaking]

For all that they're hiding from the far-reaching arms of justice, they don't bat an eye when peers it through the door. They look up, rest eyes on him just long enough to betray their lack of recognition, then look back down at their book.

Their own book is somewhat more interesting, besides. It looks like the sort of thing found on a livingroom coffee table, with glossy pictures and painstaking detail. This page has a photograph of what looks like a firecracker's cross-section. The next has bullet points and text, and they're tracing the latter with a pointed finger and frown.

[incantamentum]

He knew them the moment his eyes scanned the room, they'd been broadcasted across the ship often enough that it would be hard not to simply spot them sitting there. He doesn't even approach cautiously, he crosses straight to their table, removes his jacket, hangs it over the back of the chair before sitting down opposite them. He crosses one leg over the other, resting clasped hands on the table in front of them before eyeing the book.

He'd keep the pretense going at least for the moment, twiddling his thumbs as he glances between Chara and the book, blinking slowly and letting his senses expand around him, a feeling of surety enveloping him. "Enjoying your book, Chara?"

[heart_breaking]

Chara stops reading when he sits down, but they don't actually lift their head until a few seconds after he speaks. Shit. Who is he? Someone to tell them they're in trouble, they guess. Their eyes narrow frostily.

"Immensely." Chara's eyes flick from his face to his uniform, then to the mostly-blocked jacket behind him. There's nothing for it, and they're forced to look back at him.

"... Who're you?"

training room;

[niffin]

She's been looking for Miller, but a single glance into the room is enough to wipe those plans from the slate. It's beautiful, in a sterile, stock-photo sort of way. The flowers are too bright, too numerous, the sky too blue — an oversaturated filter. Alice can't picture Miller anywhere like this; it's hard to imagine someone real in the middle of this at all.

But there is someone. All too small, and all too real, and right now, distracted. Alice's fingers close, involuntarily, the hair on the back of her neck prickling. Chara, by themselves, might be unnerving. No one likes to see such fury from a kid. It shouldn't be any more than that. It shouldn't needle at her nerves the way that it does.

Chara is a problem that she needs to get ahead of.

"Excuse me," Her voice is quiet, calm. It doesn't match her eyes. "Were you here to train?"

[heart_breaking]

The room has a sort of forced serenity that strips away the ship around them. The sound of the engines is gone, along with the hums of the vast machines that breath around them. Flowers have devoured all, giving back only the softest of flutterings in an unseen breeze. Chara turns.

"Yes," they reply. "I still am." Their eyes flick down, and their own fingers twitch in an echoing curl. They look back up.

"Do you need the room also?"

[niffin]

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

The smiles she offers is tentative. Alice didn't vote on Chara's proceedings, she's been careful not to make herself a matter of public record, but word gets around the ship. They'll know others have heard. She raises her hands, palms open: A peace offering.

Alice steps lightly over the golden field, advancing slowly to close the distance between them.

"But sure, if you wouldn't mind a partner. I haven't been in here with anyone else yet." One of those hands slips out, towards Chara. She doesn't assume they'll take it, rather hopes they won't. It's already a struggle not to give away the urge to recoil. "I'm Alice."

[heart_breaking]

"Chara."

The dispassionate silence seems to intensify as she draws nearer, and it's as though the quiet isn't a product of the room, but rather the child themself. Just as the second passes when Alice's hand has been outstretched long enough to be considered abandoned, Chara reaches for it, holding and shaking once. They let go just as quickly, and even step back.

"Me neither. What do you usually do in here?"

The flowers are tall. Slight extra distance regained, Chara plucks a group of them by their knee and starts taking them apart, dismembered petals falling back to their bretheren.

training simulation room

[diamondslap]

To Aurelia, training simulation room means place to shoot lots of things that hopefully scream realistically.

She doesn't seem to care that Chara was in first, or even that they're a child. She does, however, have the presence to realise that a child getting caught up in whatever she's about to do would be quite distasteful and something Jack would probably approve of.

Idly holding her pistol up, shoot-y bit pointing at the ceiling, she calls out, "Child! Small, presumable human! Are you real or part of this ghastly simulation?"

[heart_breaking]

"Real!" They snap their head around, then the rest of themself, too. She's an intrusion on the scene's eerie serenity, and they ought to be disgusted, but there's only so much of this stilted peace and quiet that a person can take. Chara wades towards her, kicking up tangled creeping-plants with each step.

"It's in environment selection." Like a person lingering in a game's character selection, looking at the pictures without actually playing. "What are you doing? And is that real?" They wave vaguely, eyes resting briefly on the pistol.

[diamondslap]

Aurelia only raises an eyebrow, seeing it as nothing more than a child's impending tantrum.

"I can see that," she says flatly. "I can here to have some fun. It's real, darling. You wouldn't happen to know if there's some sort of combat mode, would you? I'm feeling the itch."

The murder itch.

[heart_breaking]

"Um. Yeah. They call it the 'Training Simulation Room', not the 'Moira's Aerobics Room'. You have to wait your turn, though, this place only allows one person at a time."

Or it would only allow one person if Chara had their way. People who haven't done their own questioning are just asking people to try and lead them around by the nose, and Chara's in the latter camp. She deserves it for barging in like that. Maybe next time she'll leave when she's supposed to.

Training Simulation Room

[takeitslow]

Peter hadn't spent too much time poking around the simulation room, but he had spent the past month poking around pretty much everywhere else. Then everywhere else started to get boring and that was his sign to move on to something new. And who could have guessed his something new would come with something familiar?

He stopped just inside, watching the child rather than the chosen setting. For a moment, he though it must be Frisk enjoying the peaceful meadow and spared a smile for the sight. "Pretty cute, but I thought kids would want something a little more fantastic to play around in."

[heart_breaking]

"Do I really look like the fairy princess type to you?"

They roll their eyes while they turn, and if their words hadn't been enough to clear him of his mistake, the look of disgust will be. It's him. That guy that doesn't know when he's not wanted, and who dashes through people's daily lives with or without invitation.

"You might even know better than me." Chara touches their MID, and the flowerless default settings restore themself. "You still act like a kid, even though you're too old to be one." Chara, of course, does not include themself in that 'dumb child' category. They're very mature. This disdainful dignity of theirs right now proves it.

[takeitslow]

"Do you think only fairies like flowers? Being a little obtuse there, kiddo. Though I really hope you're implying the species and not something else. I don't want to need to have a tolerance talk with you."

He smiles in the face of Chara's antagonism. It's not like he expected anything different. At least Chara was talking with words instead of fists. It's progress.

"Some people think that 17 is still a kid, you know? Maybe I'm acting exactly my age and you're the one trying to be too old." Peter sighs when the scene switches, but tries to keep the smile on his face. He's taking Frisks advice; keep trying and hope the optimism pays off. "I've never seen any harm in having a little childish fun anyway. It's a good way to let off some steam."

[warandpeace]

☄ Training Simulation Room

The door to the room slid open, and Miller entered with the tack of his crutch. A thump, a shift, and another thump, a shift. He didn't need it all that much anymore, but the prosthetic was hurting a little and he wanted to keep weight off of it. Despite himself, sometimes there was a little bit of a hobbled menace with the way he tended to walk with it.

There was the boy. The one that had gotten into the habit of murder. Not that he hadn't known other children that young that could kill. He just wished that he was better at getting them out of the habit.

He stared over the field of yellow flowers, wondering what made it special, before looking at Chara. "So. You're still interested in learning." He went over to his console. A little bit of everything is what the kid wanted, huh. Alright. He put down his crutch there and stood with his hand against it. "What are you looking into with this one?"

[heart_breaking]

"I was testing it." They turned to walk towards him when he arrived, but now they glance back. "The room said you could change things. It didn't say how."

If they hadn't been fully absorbed in the sight when he'd arrived, then their illusion of nonchalance would have been absolute. They switch the flowers off now with a touch to their MID's rudimentary interface, leaving eye-popping green grass in their wake. The 'sun' shines without change.

With that out of the way, they can turn their attention to the man, as well as his crutch. It is a crutch, slightly worn with use, and he genuinely seems like he needs it. Their gaze lingers long enough to speak volumes: how can anyone who's had that happen to him be good at teaching people to survive unscathed?

[warandpeace]

Unscathed? A stretch. With some of the things presented to them, unscathed might not be an option.

Considering he survived the loss of two limbs, he's pretty tenacious.

"It can. I've put in several environments of varying quality based on what I've read and seen. I designed training routines around them. This is a fairly basic one. I ran drills but it helps to train within a real environment with natural obstacles. Even an open area as this is its won obstacle."

[Closed to Eric]

[heart_breaking]

The Safe Space. They can't see inside, but the door looks professional, and Chara thinks it betrays nothing of the doctor they're here to see. Or maybe it does: it looks fine at a glance (as they think most adults do), and gives no more information than its name. Chara's scowl is far more forthcoming. If everyone radiated displeasure like they did, no one would question each other's state of mind again.

It's time. They take in a breath, set their jaw, and knock three times.

[incantamentum]

[He knew it was Chara before they even knocked. It was an awful thing to discover- he only knew they were standing beyond the threshold because of the palpable rage that seemed to be building on the opposite side of the simple door.

When they knock he steels himself, putting away the things he'd been working on and glamouring away anything that was identifiably a weapon before calling out.] Come in, Chara.

[heart_breaking]

[A child steps in, ready to dislike everything. What a stupid looking office-door. What stupid lettering on it. What a stupid sitting area towards the hallway's end, what a stupid, airy feel to the place. They look around.]

I'm here.

[Today's the first day of the real game between them, and this time Chara is ready.]