Honey I Am Home (OPEN)

Kristoff walked into the common room, taking a seat on the couch. So much had happened since coming here. He'd look at his flash drive, turning it over in hand. All of his crimes, all of his activities, everything that connected him to Zero, all in this little piece of plastic. He had managed to get it off the Titan database, perks of being technically a clone of a titan. He sat there reflecting on his past decisions, No, stop that, that's not who you are anymore. Zero is gone. It's Nomad now, Lt. Kristoff Makarov. Stop reflecting on your past.

The door to the room would make a soft hiss as it slid open, Adriana walking in, stopping as she noticed Kris and that he had a flash drive. She didn't say anything and just made her way over to the games that had started to accumulate on the floor by the game system before finally looking over to Kris. "Am I interrupting something?" she monotoned. He was by himself, alone. Or as alone as one would be with a "Big Brother" watching you. But she figured she'd ask anyway.

Kristoff looked up at Adriana, "Hm? Oh no! You're fine." Kris would look over at the gaming system, "Got another controller there?" He remembered kicking butt back at the Comic Store. Ah, those were what he missed, lazy days cashiering at the store.

"Yup," Adriana replied looking for a game they could play. She happened to pick one that was popular and that Kris probably had played before, and an extra controller. She gave Kris his and then sat down as the loading screen came up. Was she curious about what was on that flash drive? Yes. Did she need to know? No.

Kris took the control, looking at the loading screen with a grin. One of his favorites. He had won multiple tournaments at the shop. Kris looked over at the girl, she had no idea what she was in for. He cracked his neck and started playing some music from his phone for ambience. He would get to picking his character, ready to kick some serious butt.

And Kris had no idea what he was getting into. She was more fond of metroidvania style games. But she had put lots of hours into this game before... her mind wandered off for a moment. The holes in her memory were slightly disconcerting. And she prided in having a good memory and attention to detail. But she couldn't help but feel like something important was missing from her memory.

Once Kris picked his character, she'd counter pick a character that would be good against his. Folly of picking first. She turned her attention to the game with an unnatural focus as the game would start up... time to crush another noob.

Kris' eyes would lock on the screen as well, as soon as they were ready, Kristoff's hands began moving at high speed, his reaction speed was near superhuman. All products of his training, his ability to intake information and react was unreal. He would throw in flurries of combos. She picked his character's foil, so he had to make sure that she didn't have time to react, keep the pressure on. Pressure, like when he was in Sy- No Kris, not here, not now. Keep your mind off it, focus on the game, the artwork was beautiful. An Oasis, in a desert, the graphics were fantastic, Kris could almost smell the smoke, the- Stop it. No. You're not there. You're here. Kris was sweating profusely, his heart rate was increasing as he tried to separate the game from what he remembered.

"You're distracted," Adri said flatly, cool as a cucumber as she stopped blinking after they started. Kris could have as much reflex as he could, characters could only move and respond so fast in return. Plus he was distracted, as she said. She had gone against plenty of people who went all out on offense, trying to pressure and overwhelm her. All in all this was her game to lose, and all she had to do was keep poking at him when she found an opening in his character's hit animation. And she'd apply pressure back whenever she got the chance, her own fingers gracefully moving with precision and purpose.

Kris shook his head, coming back into reality, "N-no I'm not." He groaned, every third command didn't register it seemed, leaving a gaping hole in his strategy, and then she got her hit. And thanks to this character's hit rebound, it took 2 seconds for him be able to rebound, and if she kept the pressure, it was over for Kris.

And she did, she did not hesitate to knock Kris' character off their feet and into the air for an air juggling combo, finished with one of her character's special moves to hit Kris' character RIGHT as they landed where they could still be hit while being stunned. She finally blinked but otherwise her expression didn't change any. But she was watching Kris expectantly.

Kris sighed, but nodded at Adri, "Good game." He was just glad not to be looking at the desert anymore, he would get up, "I'm heading to get a drink from the Kitchen? You want anything?" He would say, his flash drive would be on the table. Once Kris would get an answer he'd walk out.

Adri blinked at him as what he said made little sense in their current predicament. "There's nothing to drink," she said flatly. She only briefly glanced at the flash drive but it was more of a subtle hint that she was curious but wasn't going to openly ask about it if he didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh right, well, I have to... not be here." Kris was still sweating profusely and started to shake, he needed to be by himself for a moment, he got himself way too worked up. Kris nodded as he headed to a bathroom, once inside he would decompress, practicing breathing exercises. These attacks had been getting worse ever since he first arrived here, no access to his meds left him a wreck. After a moment there'd be muffled yelling from that bathroom, and the sound of a broken mirror.
A monochrome face with a dull red eye would be visible through the cracks of the mirror briefly.

Adri said nothing before he left, watching him leave and taking another glance at the USB. Knowing what was on it was probably not be as valuable as just having it in the first place. But again, what would be the good of having it right now? Absolutely nothing!


Meanwhile, while Kris was having his episode, he'd get the feeling that something was watching him. And a thought entered his mind. "Why did he go on? He couldn't save all of them, and he would be forever haunted by the memories."

Kris would start looking over his shoulders like a paranoid schizophrenic, Relax, Kris, you're fine, you're safe.... Not like the people who were under you, they were gone, you made sure of the... STOP IT! Breath. Relax. Calm. Remain Tranquil. Kris would splash his face with cold water, then rub his neck with it. He'd then stare into the broken mirror, chuckling to himself, "Guess I'll have to tell the titans I broke their mirror, if they ever come back."