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And this make believe will get me through; [OPEN]
Claire had had a lot to deal with in the last few days. She had always been the type of person to look out for those who couldn't look out for themselves, or needed a little extra help along the way, but with the arrival of Sherry Birkin she'd pretty much bumped that up to full-time. Then of course, Steve was there now, too, and having to sort out everything dealing with his virus and all the charming problems that came with that had been mildly stressful, to say the least.
So, while Claire wasn't a huge fan of the idea of the Sensoriums, that's where she could be found, sitting astride a parked motorcycle on a cliff overlooking a remote mountain lake. The bike was the spitting image of the Softail she'd lost when she'd been forced to abandon it in Raccoon City. She'd had a handful of bikes since then, but the Softail had always had some sentimental value, and she still missed it. Her hair was a little windswept, an obvious indicator she'd been putting the bike to more use than just a sentimental piece of virtual furniture, but for the moment she was just stopped, appreciating the view and rolling over everything that had happened recently in her head.
Also wishing desperately her brother was around to talk to, but not hard enough that a virtual copy of him popped up. She was going to draw the limit at creepy realism there. She'd probably be open to other human interaction, however, despite the quiet state of contemplation she was currently in.
So, while Claire wasn't a huge fan of the idea of the Sensoriums, that's where she could be found, sitting astride a parked motorcycle on a cliff overlooking a remote mountain lake. The bike was the spitting image of the Softail she'd lost when she'd been forced to abandon it in Raccoon City. She'd had a handful of bikes since then, but the Softail had always had some sentimental value, and she still missed it. Her hair was a little windswept, an obvious indicator she'd been putting the bike to more use than just a sentimental piece of virtual furniture, but for the moment she was just stopped, appreciating the view and rolling over everything that had happened recently in her head.
Also wishing desperately her brother was around to talk to, but not hard enough that a virtual copy of him popped up. She was going to draw the limit at creepy realism there. She'd probably be open to other human interaction, however, despite the quiet state of contemplation she was currently in.
[theme from Jaws]
Steve had thought of a few. He thought that those few were probably reason for him to go check on the presence of a shipboard psychiatrist, but he'd thought of a few.
He got closer every day to acting on it, too, and today was the first day he'd managed to actually step inside the sensorium. So imagine his shock when the room was actually an outdoor lakescape, and standing nearby was someone Steve might have seen in the sensorium anyway (not like that!), and so had problems deciding if she was real or not.
Oh god she's so pretty with her hair like that- "Claire?" he barely muttered. "Is that... you?"
[uh oh]
"Steve?" She looked a little surprised, having not expected him to come wandering in, but she straightened up, twisting around a little bit better so she could look back at him. "Hey. I didn't expect to see you in here." She knew people could come and go, she just hadn't expected it.
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"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you or anything. I was just... I haven't seen the inside of this before," he murmured. "It's pretty cool."
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"You're not interrupting anything," besides thinking about everything she was dealing with, him included. "I'm just checking out the view, right now." She looked out ahead of her again for a moment, before smiling a little at his comment. "Yeah, I guess it's neat."
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Ugh, why was he being so awkward? It was only Claire! (Only? Yeah, right, he sighed internally.)
"I heard you can see people in here too," he murmured, glancing off to the side. "But I dunno about that, it sounds... weird." Nevermind the fact he'd been thinking of it.
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"I'm pretty creeped out by that, honestly. I've been trying not to think too hard about my brother in here, just in case Stacy gets ideas." She'd rather have the real thing, thank you very much.
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He immediately cut that train of thought short and tried, way too abruptly, to change the subject. "I, uh. I didn't mean to bother you or anything. I should probably just go. I probably have... stuff to do or something," he muttered.
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"You're not bothering. If you want to hang, that's fine." Because she seriously doubted he had anything else to do.
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"I know you're busy with. With Sherry and everything, so-- you know you don't have to-- You've already done so much for me, I wouldn't want to be a pain."
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"Sherry's with her dad right now. I'm not busy, and you're not a pain." She really wished she could get him to relax around her. It was a chore, dealing with teenagers.
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"Okay. I just wanted to make sure," he said, and finally came out of the doorway. He stepped up to the lake edge and looked out at the surface of the water. It was nice and calming... next time he got any stupid ideas about the sensoriums he'd just load up something like this instead.
"It's nice here," he finally said. "Or pretending to be here or whatever this is. There was a lake like this not far from my house. I didn't know you could ride a motorcycle."
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"Yup. This is actually a copy of one of my old bikes. My first one, actually."
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"Really? It's nice," he said, and genuinely smiled at that. He walked up next to the motorcycle and looked over it, looking pretty impressed. "It's a... uh... it's a Harley Softail. Those are pretty cool. They ride really comfortable if I remember right. Because the suspension is in a different place than older bikes."
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"Impressive. Do you ride?" It struck her that she really didn't know much about Steve beyond what little she'd learned in Rockfort. She made a mental note that she should put in the effort to get to better know him, now that the opportunity was there.
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"My uncle worked at the airfield where I took my lessons and all the mechanics there had motorcycles. Sometimes if I brought them lunch they'd let me take them for a spin. And I got a few magazines, too."
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"So planes and motorcycles, huh? Something tells me you and my brother would get along great." Or better than Steve and Leon seemed to be getting along, anyway.
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At the comment about her brother, Steve looked up at her and appeared actually pleased. "Really? He's into this kinda stuff too? I mean, I guess it makes sense, because he's your brother and all..."
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"He taught me pretty much everything I know about bikes, helped me buy this one, even. And he was in the air force, so he can fly pretty much anything." Thinking about Chris brought up that ache in her heart caused by missing her brother, but she tried to ignore it.
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"In the air force too? Man, that's so cool. I really hope I can meet him sometime," he said. "Dunno when that might be, but sometime. I could probably use some more lessons before I try flying a plane by myself again, huh?"
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He was quiet for a moment, reaching over and carefully smoothing a finger over the rim of the wheel. It was hard to believe it wasn't really a motorcycle, but something that Stacy created for them in this room. Now the idea of creating people in here was even more creepy. "I wonder if they have any smaller ships or something in this place, like they do in movies. Maybe I could learn to fly one of those," he wondered out loud.
Then he sighed irritably. "Well, then again, they probably don't want me going anywhere I might get hurt."
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"There are flight programs in here you could run, I'm sure. And I don't really see what the danger would be if you're in a cockpit." Granted if the plane was shot down or something that could be issue, but there wasn't much of that going on here, for the moment. She didn't want him feeling like he couldn't do anything besides be depressed, around here. It made him really difficult to be around.
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"I still feel okay, by the way. I've been really careful and I'm trying to keep track of how I feel every day. But it's all just normal so far. So I think I'm gonna be fine," he said without any prompting on the topic.
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"That's good. And I'm sure that Dr. Grey's been working on whatever she can do for you." She knew she would personally feel a lot better when Steve was infection free, although she didn't know if that was possible at this point. She wouldn't give up hope, though, if only because if she started doubting he could be saved, Leon probably would too.
And until Steve was an uncontrollable monster, Claire would really rather no one threw him out an airlock.
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He stood up and paced over to the edge of the rail, leaning on it and looking out over the lake. "You know, I bet you already guessed this... but truth be told, I was afraid when I found out that people would freak out and I'd end up chained up on a lab table somewhere," Steve admitted with an awkward smile. "But I guess you were right. That's what I get for assuming the worst of everybody all the time."
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She doesn't yet understand quite how retro the bike is compared to the technology she's used to, though.
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"Thanks, but it's not that retro," of course she realized that was all subjective around these parts. "By my standards, anyway. 1985 model, although who knows when we are, now."
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Your primitive technology has left the alien wanting to put her hands all over it, Claire.
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"It is. I take it combustion engines aren't normal in the future?" She was thinking hovercrafts and teleporters, although she wasn't sure how close or far off she'd be. Still, she recognized that look of wanting to touch the pretty machinery.
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"What exactly is an A-Pod?"
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