turbo heaven 🌼 chrono

[outdistanced]

this boy's hair is so mystifying

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week 0, sunday

[outdistanced]

[ what a fucking day. laurence rubs his face, grimacing as the scene replays in his head all over again. ]

At least it's over. I don't want to have to see something like that ever again.

[clockpunk]

[ running a hand through his own hair, still extremely tense. ]

Yeah. You ever... seen anything like it before?

week 1, thursday

[outdistanced]

[ now that four people have returned from who knows where bleeding and injured, laurence is waiting for them to be attended to before going to see them himself (read: wandering aimlessly) as the flowers on his head flutter between yellow and a light orange in color. he can pause to offer chrono a little nod, though. ]

Hey, man. Guess they were right about not going anywhere alone, huh?

[clockpunk]

[ since i forgor during the whole party threads chrono's transformation this week consists of transparent skin or thin glass along one arm, his upper chest, neck and one cheek. underneath, there's ticking clockwork in place of flesh.

he's rubbing at his eyes as if trying to clear them. ]

If one more of those angels says anythin' about safety or "it won't happen again", I'm gonna lose it.

w1 saturday

[clockpunk]

[ dude this is the worst case of genre recognition he's ever had. he's sort of pacing the mansion when they return for the evening, the dragon squishmallow tucked into his shirt. ]

[outdistanced]

[ mood though laurence mostly wanders the town when he's restless. maybe goes for a run. but he pauses when he finds chrono pacing, watching for just a moment before speaking up. ]

It's bad again, isn't it.

[ less of a question and more of a "yeah i get it, man." he never did like to pretend things were fine when they clearly aren't. ]

w3, monday

[outdistanced]

[ everyone is so bad at starters on this, the week of memshare, so we're just gonna dive right in. wherever they were headed before, now they're stuck in the house of mirrors, and a memory is already playing. oof.

cw for eyes, but there's no gore involved here. ]

[clockpunk]

[ the mirrors are disorientating enough, and chrono barely has time to register that they're even mirrors at all before the reflective sheen gives way to the images beneath, through, around.

stealing body parts. laurence had mentioned it before, but it had sounded so far removed from your baseline reality that the impact hadn't really registered. seeing these eyes - real eyes, taken - laid out like product was sickening.

and as for laurence...

chrono slowly moves beside him, not touching, but close. if he feels ill from seeing this, it can only be a fraction of how laurence must be affected. ]

When did... this...?

week 3, friday

[outdistanced]

[ well. it's a bad morning. a very bad morning, and laurence's eyes are red and irritated from rubbing tears away. it's miserable, but it's not like they can do anything today, anyway, so he just breathes out a sigh as he sits down. ]

It really always finds ways to get worse around here, doesn't it.

[clockpunk]

[ oh good we're both done with the morning cry and looking like absolute wrecks then? fantastic. chrono doesn't move at all, sore from sheer stress. ]

For some reason, that hope of waking up to no news was still there last night. Of course that was wishful thinking.

week 3, sunday

[clockpunk]

[ so after that they're not watching anything even mildly gun chase action related so this afternoon's selection of discs consists mostly of brightly-coloured scifi nonsense or suspiciously -- i was going to use the word flowery here but let's go with ornate -- drama covers. he shoves the small pile at laurence. ]

What d'you reckon?

[outdistanced]

[ you can say flowery he's gotten used to the fantasy racism by now.

he stares down at them all blankly. ]

I don't know... [ picks up a (flips coin) sci fi movie with a frown. ] I've never heard of any of these. You sure these are movies?

[ what else would they be ]

week 4, monday

[outdistanced]

[ erases my nice lil starter because we got results back anyway now they're at the maze, laurence radiating irritation while penny holds onto the chocolate coins from the fountain. he's covered in frosting and now his shoes are wet, too? awful. this is going to be a nightmare to wash out. ]

Why isn't anything in this place ever normal? [ wipes frosting out of his hair. ] Gross.

[clockpunk]

[ this might be the first and only time anyone will see chrono with his hair down this game, and it's because it's got sprite and frosting in it. he's trying to pick a chunk of it out of his spiral.

nevertheless he's kind of amused, though the background irritation is bringing him own forward more as well. ]

I'm gonna need like four showers. This sucks.

week 4, thursday

[outdistanced]

1. Jacopo and Claude.
2. Do you have plans for tonight?

[clockpunk]

huh

oh. sure i can see it
marcoh and uruha-san ?

uh
not yet

week 4, friday

[clockpunk]

hey are you free

can you come here
or i can go if yves is out


dunno why i'm assuming you're also not out
well when you can

[outdistanced]

It's fine, I'm free now.
Your room?

week 4, saturday

[outdistanced]

[ immediately after trial he's finding somewhere secluded to just lean against a wall and scream wordlessly into his hands. fucking awful. ]

[clockpunk]

[ he probably isn't even thinking of seeking him out but. he's here anyway. his hand hurts from punching akihiko and then the wall but he fuckin punches this wall too anyway. ]

What the fuck was that?!

week 4, sunday

[outdistanced]

[ well. that happened.

after execution, after being tended to, he's just bolting from the execution area as fast as his burned leggies can take him, emotions a whirlpool of horror, regret, grief, maybe still a bit of lingering panic. he needs somewhere quiet, somewhere safe to process this, but he's paying no real attention to where he's going. maybe he should not be doing that but

what did he just do? ]

[clockpunk]

[ dont "well that happened" me you demon

chrono watches him leave, having been sitting nearby as the doctors did their work. it's almost a shock to witness, after all that - laurence still being able to stand and move at all is a miracle of its own, given how blatantly outmatched he had been.

it's part shock and part self-doubt that makes him take a few moments to get up and follow, but he does. how can he not? his chest aches. and when he catches up, the only thing he does is reach out a hand to grab laurence's wrist and tug him into a tight embrace. ]

w4 sunday..... 2!

[outdistanced]

[ welp

when the news about claude comes through, laurence is just going to take a deep breath and curl up in the hospital bed, heedless of his injuries. there's no trace of surprise, only relief and a deep-seated sadness. ]

[clockpunk]

[ in contrast, there's shock, confusion, and a little relief-- but guilt, having stood all week, that won't be shaken no matter what. ]

Wh... huh? [ he blinks at laurence, from the chair he's in next to the bed. ] You knew?

w5 monday

[clockpunk]

[ why is all of italy in a train car. okay. he's only ever been abroad once, and it wasn't to italy, but he recognises it from euro league photos. sure is italy.

the weather is nice, at least, and they're on the outskirts of the city between the line of buildings, a few gardens, and a waterway with a set of gondolas leading back through a tree-lined waterway.

chrono rubs the headlight of a vespa with his sleeve and makes a face. ]

Wish I knew how to drive one of these.

[outdistanced]

[ squints at this... thing. ]

What is it? One of those "cars" you were talking about before?

week 5, wednesday

[outdistanced]

[ okay so sometime after the movie marathon laurence is gonna flag chrono down! hello! he probably still has flowers in his hair (spins wheel) buttercups? sure. he seems to be in a good mood somaybe the movies did them all some good. ]

Hey, Chrono! You wanted to talk?

[clockpunk]

[ oh this is so strange. it's nice in a base way, to see laurence so happy, but that smile's just a little too chipper to be realistic. ]

... wasn't sure if you'd be up for it. You're still feelin' peppy, huh?

week 5, thursday

[outdistanced]

[ he has been banished to the hospital and treated by now, and he's also changed out of the STUPID maid outfit so the only thing left of it is a yellow ribbon tied on one wrist.

he's currently just staring at bottle of painkillers like he isn't sure what to do with it. ]

[clockpunk]

[ swinging by later because he needed to walk off whatever the fuck all that was. speaking of; ]

You gonna fuckin' explain anything or am I going to have to wring it out of the new guy?

[ that's only a joke to try and sound less pissed, because. well. he's mad. ]

w5 friday

[outdistanced]

[ gonna save us another pc of laurence being a baby so he would have freaked out as soon as they woke up and saw the news and yeah he cried. absolutely he did. this is awful! not only is it yves, but three dead!

but by this point he's looped from sad to angry to just exhausted, so he'll come back around to chrono and taair's room later because he doesn't want to stay in his room alone... yay sleepover. he'll just sit on the floor and lean against one of the beds with a groan. ]

Three. I still can't believe it.

[ he didn't know jacopo well, but saber and yves... bad. ]

[clockpunk]

[ yayyy... sleepoverrr.......

chrono's prepared for him to show up, having gone on a little depression snack run beforehand. there's bottles of cold tea, juice and water in their little icebox, a few light snacks, some extra painkillers.

the floor blanket pile has been reestablished for the weekend, it seems. chrono hesitates for a moment before sitting next to him, rearranging the blankets a bit around them and leaning into his side. ]

There must be somethin' happening to to ramp it up like this. [ ... ] ...I'm scared.

w6 monday night

[clockpunk]

[ was your sleep peaceful, to start with? it's drifting, now, somewhere that smells of smoke, damp, and the oversweet perfume of rotten flowers.

you're in a destroyed building. the roof is cracked open, but where the sky should be above there's only a void. machinery and mirrors - many small ones, convex - scatter the floor. at the edges of the room, the bright pink of sakura petals bleeds in as if they'd fallen from the walls.

chrono sits in the middle, in front of a large blackened chair of some kind. he looks younger - actually, physically younger, shoulders thin and much shorter. ]

[outdistanced]

[ hey. what. the mirrors immediately put him on edge after all the funhouse nonsense a few weeks ago, but everything else... is new. why is the sky like that? what's with the flowers? he unsuccessfully tries to wave away the smell.

the only thing here that laurence understands offhand is that that's chrono, by that messed up chair. so he carefully begins picking his way over, stepping around mirrors and gears as much as he can. ]

Chrono...? Where are we?

w6 wednesday

[outdistanced]

[ they've been talking about this for weeks so we're finally doing this or so help me god. it's off to the cave for their festival date yay! laurence has brought some rice balls and dango per request. ]

How do these things go again...?

[ he really just has no idea at all what to expect here. ]

[clockpunk]

[ chrono's got his own bag slung over his shoulder, yakisoba and takoyaki hopefully being kept warm by the thermal lining. there's two bottles of tea in pockets on the outside. prepared

the pink clouds of the cave swirl in waiting as they stand there. he thinks, eyes closing, head tilted in concentration. ]

Gimme a minute, it's been a while...

[ he says, but the scene begins to construct itself pretty quickly. an evening sky, not quite nighttime. a long street that seems bare at first, but flourishes with colour and sound as chrono concentrates, lantern-laden stalls and tree branches covered in colourful wish slips. at the end, in the distance, a tower can be seen lit with its lights blinking to life as the sun sets.

it's the tail end of shitamachi tanabata matsuri. a smaller festival compared to something like new year's or sanja matsuri, but one close to his home and heart. indistinct crowds form, a murmur of activity, but the nature of the cave means they literally brush through them. this is only a projection, after all, no matter how good chrono's imagination is. ]

...oh, that turned out better than I thought.

w6 thursday

[outdistanced]

[ curfew time! laurence has brought a few extra things with the usual pillows and blankets... a polaroid camera, his demiflora book, and his gun. yay (:

he's changed clothes from earlier and washed his hands since it all got horribly bloody and gross but it's fine. he's clean now and he's just looking around like ? ]

...It's really just us?

[ he really thought taair would end up here if no one else did, the nerd. ]

[clockpunk]

[ sure is curfew...!! chrono's hauled along a few extra bits of bedding as well, a small amount of medical supplies, and some snacks. but it's just them so it seems a little... redundant. but hey, better safe than sorry. ]

Huh. [ welp. ] Maybe with everyone's injuries today, they decided to stay closer to home?

w6 saturday

[outdistanced]

[ we always go into trial expecting terrible things and somehow we are always still traumatized by the horrors... the end today was rough so he's going to come and check on chrono where are you buddy how you doing ]

[clockpunk]

[ he's literally sitting in the hall outside his and taair's room, letting the other sleep hopefully. he's fussed over him for like a good while and now seems to not know what to do with himself.

he'll look up at laurence, exhaustion etched on his face. ]

Hey.

w6 sunday

[clockpunk]

[ fucking awful!! just really bad!!! this had better be the last one because goddamn!!!!!!

he's actually the one to check in first this time, in the sense of trying to knock on laurence's door with his foot, given both hands are occupied by mugs of something that smells sweet. ]

[outdistanced]

[ opening the door to just. blink at him in surprise for a second, but he steps aside to let chrono in. ]

Hey. What's with the drinks?

w7 tuesday

[outdistanced]

[ i hope this is a good time for chrono because there is a greenish-yellow portal Appearing nearby! it just kinda sits there for a second before laurence cautiously steps halfway through, glancing at the new surroundings... then he spots chrono and his eyes widen in surprise. ]

It worked...?

[clockpunk]

[ he's literally just on his way back from the convenience store like halfway home... this stops him, a pause, not quite familiar enough with the appearance of the portal to recognise it right away. but he doesn't need to be, with laurence stepping through.

his eyes go wide as well, a mirrored reaction, when he realises what that means. then a grin starts appearing, very bright. ]

It worked?

w7 thursday

[clockpunk]

[ so while the majority of the adults are probably still drinking and having a great pardi time into the night, teens are leaving.

chrono's emotional state the whole way back to the mansion is-- complicated, but almost all positive. there's the high of general happiness, the even greater one of getting to ride a fucking dragon, the cooldown mood of getting slightly overwhelmed as things got rowdier...

and warm, warm affection, with a simmering layer of something he's not quite ready to acknowledge, tinged with a little anxiety, underneath it. ]

That was the best night I've had in ages.

[outdistanced]

[ honestly, laurence is a little relieved. even he'd started to feel a bit overwhelmed, after a while - there is only so much unabashed sincerity and embarrassing dares he can take before he wishes the earth would reclaim him.

he's still smiling, though, definitely riding the high of having everyone back and together and happy without the threat of imminent death looming over them all. even with the social exhaustion creeping in, that's enough to keep him going for now, so he reaches for chrono's hand with hardly a thought now that they're more or less out of the public eye. ]

Me, too. [ even in the tower, it had been so long since he really felt happy. ] I almost don't want it to end, but I'm definitely done with the whole party thing for tonight.