outdistanced | turbo heaven 🌼 richie

[our SWEET FLOWER BOY

This sucks. Richie will come visit him. Vibes are residually horrified and heartbroken but also intensely concerned.]

Laurence?

[ yeah. the vibes are miserable, his eyes red and puffy like he's been crying, but dry for now. he's simply settled into shellshocked and grieving. ]

...Hey. Sorry if I worried you today.

[ at least he looks like he's been bandaged up. ]

[There's a fond sort of exasperation here, and Richie will take the cue to come in and grab a seat nearby.]

Sorry, nothing. You don't owe me apologies, Laurence. You've been through absolute hell. [Looking him in those bleary red eyes and wondering if there's anything that can be done. Anything at all to ease it over, just a smidge.

Hard to think of anything. He hates feeling this useless.]

I'm sorry, though. That you got roped into this. It's inhumane. Absolutely vile.

We all have.

[ and we will go through it more before long, when claude dies. but does laurence really get a pass because he just killed someone he was trying very hard not to kill? he doesn't think he should. ]

Yeah. But someone clearly thinks it's some kind of game.

[SPOON REALLY DID THIS RIGHT BEFORE EST BEDTIME]

They might. But it's not. Doesn't matter how many cheap tricks or shit moves they make, it's no game at all.

[Bold words for someone with no way to fight against the powers that be. He looks to this miserable face and feels a pang of hurt. God, what I wouldn't do to get you out of here.]

...And maybe we're all taking a bruising from it, true. But that doesn't mean what's happened to you needs to get smoothed over like it doesn't matter.

We might know that, but it's not stopping them from treating it that way. It's fucked up.

[ he's too tired to really be angry about it right now, but the sentiment is there. ]

I'm not... I don't think that. [ he couldn't brush it off if he tried? today's execution matches his horror from seeing madam hurt iris, from learning about the pink sector. ] But I... I still couldn't do anything to stop it.

[ and that's really the part that gets him. even when all he tried to do is run from the inevitable, it still caught up to them both. and in such a way he'd never expected, too. who knew his power could be used like that? ]

...I know.

[Couldn't stop it. Couldn't get out. Can't wash the blood off his hands.

At the very least, it didn't end with fists. Richie might not be able to speak from experience, but he imagines it would be worse up close and personal, pumping knuckles into the bones of a human face until it stopped. If they hadn't both been so uniquely gifted, that would have been the endgame now wouldn't it?

Richie moves in, putting a hand to his shoulder (dodging bandages and bruises, if he's able) and speaking low.]

My heart breaks for you, kid. It wasn't right. And there wasn't a way out. Nothing we know of yet.

You gotta remember though — it's not something either one of you would choose to do. This isn't who you are. Whatever you got dragged by the heels into doing, it's not a part of you. It's a part of it. If the fucker's playing a game it's a rigged one, and none of the blame for what happens ought to fall on you. Or Akihiko, for that matter.

[ pure reflex has him flinch, but not quite pull away. and he knows, logically, that richie wouldn’t hurt him. not willingly. silently, laurence curses himself for being such a baby when others have suffered far more, been forced to do far worse. he just can’t get used to this shit, no matter how long it goes on. ]

I... I know, but... it still happened. I still...

[ well. he doesn’t want to say it out loud. richie knows. he takes a deep breath, shakes his head like he could shake the facts away. ]

...Why haven’t we found a way to stop it yet? It’s been this long already and we’re still - just stuck with this. There has to be something more we can do, right?

[Oh. He'll ease off, worried that he might have hurt the kid. He can hardly do worse than he already has been though. Christ.

He wishes he had something better to give him. Something more assuring than we're all in this together, don't give up, maybe our luck will turn around sometime. But he doesn't. It's just the same rehashed platitudes as usual.]

...I don't know. [Better to just say it plain. Richie grimaces.] We're leaning heavy on the angels right now because we don't have much room to move down here. Maybe that'll change, but...for now, it's what we got.

I don't like it either. No one does. But it's still too early to throw in the towel.

[ a plain answer is better than lies and window dressings that only make it all the more devastating when you learn the truth. so he takes a moment to cover his face with both hands and take a deep, rattling breath. in, then out, as taair keeps reminding him every time they're dealt another awful loss. ]

I... I'm not. [ throwing in the towel - his voice is small, exhausted, but still resigned. they have several weeks to go, still. ] I just... I really don't know what I'm supposed to do, here. I don't even have my powers, and the second I got them back...

[ he'd never known his portals could hurt someone like that. never even considered the possibility. now it makes sense why ms. needle had insisted he wait until his portals were fully stable to try stepping through one, even within the same room.

another deep breath, and he lowers his hands. keep it together. ]

God. I hate it here.

[Oh, dear heart.

Richie can't say he knows this particular pain. Portals and potions, witchcraft and future-tech. All beyond him by light-years. But the truth is this is just a boy, who only meant to do right by his friends, and found himself hurting them instead. Through no choice of his own, but still by his own means.

Richie lets him lower his hands first. Then he reaches out for him. Draws him into a gentle hug, mindful of the wounds.]

No shit? Me too.

[ it's unexpected. normally, he'd protest immediately, try to save his stupid teenaged pride by acting irritated by an embarrassing adult. affection doesn't come that easily.

in the wake of this weekend, however, laurence doesn't even try to resist. he lets himself be pulled with another shaky breath, hesitantly reaching up to accept and return the embrace. unfortunately clinging a little, because he's still too shaken to even begin unraveling the complicated mess of all his emotions right now.

but it helps, a little. to feel like he's not alone, even if only for a moment. ]

Sorry, Richie. [ mumbled, again, as his fingers curl into the other's shirt just a little. ] It... It's hard for all of us, I shouldn't...

[ shouldn't be so fragile, so childish, so torn apart when everyone else has suffered far more, far greater than this place has to offer. he's eighteen, now, he should really be better than this. ]

I... I'll be okay, soon.

[ boy does he hope that's true. ]

turbo heaven 🌼 richie

W4 SUNDAY

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