[DATING SIM] smile as bright as the stars

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

Love interest Otacon was in quite a cheerful mood, even by his usual standards of optimism and friendliness. After a rocky start, this nexus was starting to actually treat him pretty well.

Of course, things could change quite easily in a place like this.

Carrying his laptop and whistling a cheerful tune, he wandered through the halls of the building before finding his way to a room that looked remarkably like a sunlit park.

"...Well, this is different." he remarked, taking a seat on a bench and setting himself to work on his computer.

Comments

[better-disguise.livejournal.com]

[Having never been to the park here, Love Interest Tatyana grew curious enough to wander around inside. She strolls around on her own, and strangely... feels like she could use some company to chat with.]

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

Pain isn't in the dating sim, alas, but that doesn't mean he can't go around bothering Otacons with his humming and his hornets as he wanders in with a finely woven picnic basket and a very civilian, very turtlenecked navy outfit.

"Excuse me, is the meadow taken?"

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"Not at all." the engineer replied with a smile, not yet looking up from his rapid typing. "I could hardly take up this whole room myself."

If he had glanced up, he'd likely have had a heart attack. Hornets were not exactly on Otacon's list of things he wasn't afraid of--it was a short list, admittedly.

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"One of the others yous got a little upset when I showed up...although that's probably because it was a library and I was getting into a fight, so he was fairly justified. Still could have been more polite about it, though."

He sits down on the grass, hornet sitting around him in a circle. Opening the box, he pulled out an apple and tossed it in the air, thoughtful.

"Would you like a snack? I brought extra."

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"Sure, that'd be great." Laughing quietly, Otacon glanced over and--

--ohmygodhornetswhat.

"U-uh..."

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"They won't sting unless I tell them to, and I won't. You're safe." Waving a hand to clear the space between him and Otacon of hornets (who, in usual form, ran off behind him to play sullen hornet poker), Pain sighs. It's not the first time he's had to do this.

"I take it you're new?"

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"Uh...p-pretty new, yeah." he replied, smiling again. "I'm Hal Emmerich, but you probably already knew that...since there's apparently a lot of me around here."

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"From what I've seen, yes. You're almost as endemic as Snake is."

Pain leans forward slightly on his crossed legs, trying to be friendly.

"I'm Pain. It's nice to meet you again, Otacon."

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you too." A cheerful, friendly smile brightened his formerly nervous face. "Pain? Interesting codename. I met a Fury a while ago, any sort of relation?"

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"Same unit. You probably don't know who the Cobras are, do you?"

It would be nice if he knew. Pain grins sheepishly; he knows it's not possible. The Cobras were erased from history like so much chalk on a blackboard after Snake Eater.

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"Hm...let's see, Cobras..." He thought for a moment or two, but came up with nothing.

"I'm afraid not. Did you all have codenames like that?"

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"The Fear, the End, the Sorrow and the Joy."

Shrug.

"We were active from second World War to just before Vietnam."

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"Well before when I was brought here, then..." Otacon remarked. The rapid-fire typing resumed for a moment, as if he was taking notes of some kind.

"I'm guessing the, uh...h-hornets...have something to do with how you fight?"

After a vampire and a woman that deflected bullets, that wouldn't be too shocking.

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"Yes. They protect me."

And sometimes they sting serial killers to death. Or Nazis. Angered hornets in a large open space were bad for everyone that wasn't Pain.

"I'm guessing you haven't seen the more eccentric members of the Nexus, no?"

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"I've seen cyborg ninjas, an immortal guy that thinks he's a vampire, walking tanks, someone that was possessed by a transplanted arm...how much more eccentric could it get?"

He wasn't at all sarcastic, instead completely sincere and even curious.

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"Did you know that REX can talk?"

He assumes this Otacons knows who (or would it be what?) REX is.

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

That certainly shut him up.

"...I didn't design it to talk." he replied in clear disbelief. "Roar, maybe, but...talk?!"

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"He's sentient now. So is RAY."

Grin. Otacons are fun to surprise.

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"Sentient? You're...you're kidding." he muttered, gaze focused on Pain as his hands darted around the keyboard with frenzied tapping sounds.

"How did that happen? Was it something the nexus did?"

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"I'm not. He speaks, he requests bedtime stories," I was with him on sex day but I've learned not to tell Otacons that and that was a really bad idea anyway, "he's got a boyfriend...I think it was the Nexus, yes. It likes doing things like that."

He shrugs. "All the robots are sentient here. Everyone gets a boost from the Nexus."

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"That's...that's really strange." And the award for biggest understatement ever goes to Hal Emmerich.

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

Pain can remember worse understatements, but he's A) old B) attracted to weird things C) fought zombie Nazis during World War II, so hopefully he can be forgiven for that.

"Have you been in any rooms yet?"

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"One or two, not counting this one. I've heard they can be pretty dangerous, though." Otacon thought for a moment before continuing.

"Do I...want to know what kind of things they can do?"

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"Turn you into a woman, be larger than the building on the inside, provide food, break the laws of physics...they're usually not harmless.

"Usually, anyway."

He nods.

"It's good to know what room you're going into in case it'll turn you into something you don't want or is deadly."

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"That makes sen--deadly?! You mean, like...'walk in and die' deadly?!"

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"I've heard of them. Never actually encountered one, though. I don't think anyone has since before I came here, and that's been almost ten months. You have more to worry about from the people than the rooms, I think."

Beat.

"You know who's in here, right?"

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

Otacon cast a nervous look around, paranoia sinking in and fast. The scientist had no idea who else was around and he hadn't thought too much about it. As far as he knew, no one here had much of a reason if any to kill him.

...right?

"U-uh...no..." he admitted, clearly somewhat shaken.

[actuallyhornets.livejournal.com]

"Everyone here is connected to a Snake--Solid, Liquid, Solidus, or Naked. You know Solid; you know what most of the people he knows are like."

IE insane.

"Most of the people here are perfectly safe. But there are still a few..."

Pain sighs, standing up slowly. "You mind if I sit with you? It'd probably be easier for you to get accurate descriptions down if I can see what you're typing."

[otaku-mk-ii.livejournal.com]

"S-sure, go ahead." he replied, regaining some of his composure. "I'm just trying to take notes on everything that's been going on. Everyone I've seen and so on. It's a bit easier to comprehend if I have it written."