outdistanced | turbo heaven 🌼 chrono

Dude, the only portals I've been through before are the ones that dropped me in the stupid hell prison and out again. This is incredible to me.

[ so excited. absolutely glowing with relief, amazement and affection as well as a thread of something even warmer. ]

Sounds good. I even have snacks already if we wanna take a break.

[ winces. ]

Right. Well, mine should be better than that. [ unfortunately the good vibes are contagious. ] Okay. Let me...

[ he turns away, hands held before him as he searches for the garden within their isolated little slice of heaven. and it takes a second, but a spark appears, expanding steadily until it's just taller than the two of them, a glowing yellow-green doorway. laurence frowns in concentration for a moment, then nods. ]

Alright, go ahead.

[ it really is just like walking through a door, only the air changes instantly on the other side with the very sudden scent of flowers. ]

[ why is that unfortunate!! excited!!!! chrono watches the whole process with utter giddy fascination, tracing the edges of the portal (but not touching) with his fingers as it opens. so cool...........!! unfortunately his brain is also stupid, so ]

Wonder why it's like... lime flavoured. [ okay. that could've stayed a thought but alright. ] Uh. Excuse me, then.

[ he'll slowly step through, wide-eyed the whole time, and takes a deep breath of the garden air. ]

Woah.

Lime flavored? [ HELLO? he's not sure whether to feel indignant or just amused by this. ] I don't know, man, I don't control how it looks.

[ weirdo (fond)

he'll wait until chrono is all the way through before following, but he keeps the portal open in case he wants to go back. ]

What do you think?

[ feels a little silly to ask but he's curious now! ]

Yeah. Lime flavoured. [ nodding. why are you repeating this. idiot.

he takes a scan around, pops his head back through the way they came, grins. ]

I don't know how many times you want me to tell you that you're amazing and this is cool, but I'll keep doing it.

[ you are so weird. but sure chrono can be half-in, half-out of the portal if he wants, the portal will stay open until he decides where he wants to be.

and god!! laurence looks away, blushing. embarrassing. he does not handle being complimented well. ]

I never said I wanted you to say that.

Maybe it's just me wanting to tell you, then.

[ hehe. okay, he'll stay on the garden side now! but the portal will keep drawing his eye until it closes. wah. ]

Glad this place is untouched. Really like it here.

Why are you so embarrassing. [ he says, not minding it that much, actually,

but okay. he'll let the portal close once when they're both safely through and in the garden. ]

Me, too. It's nice to have somewhere that isn't all screwed up now. Gives us a break, at least.

Think you know why. [ hmm. that warm feeling is back, for a moment.

he watches the portal close the whole time... gooby lime flavour............ ]

Gotta wonder why this is the only area. Till and I went to the beach yesterday, and... man, was that ever depressing.

[ well!!!!! he's going to ignore that for now!!! :yell: ]

I know, it seriously sucks. Even the nice places we had are fucked up now. [ he's so mad about italy? their stars... ] But Zhongli said it might be because it was influenced by some of us? Same as the tavern.

[ it's not exactly totally going away so too bad

he hums, thoughtfully, and starts down the trail a bit. ]

...influenced by us? Like, the fact that this place remained normal is because we had some kind of control over it?

[ well he's trying not to think about it! even if it's hard to ignore! god!

following along though. ]

I guess so? Like - that game table over by the pond? Sounds like that might be something from Jiaoqiu's world, so maybe we do. I don't know.

[ we're just having a nice stroll after something really exciting!! his emotions are so pleasant right now!! ]

Huh... that would make sense as to why the neighbourhood's fine as well. It's a shame we can't show everyone the new spots as they were. Guess it's a good thing you sent those photos.

[ a soft noise of agreement. ]

Maybe it'll go back to normal before we leave, though. [ ... ] I hope it does, anyway. I kind of want a break from nothing going like how they say it should.

[ but anyway that's not fun to talk about. ]

It sounded like they liked the photos, at least. I'm really glad we could get those cameras.

Hope so. I wanna go to Italy again.

[ guy who has italy at home

but anyway!! he'll slow down a little so they fall into step, and give him an amused glance. ]

'course they liked 'em, didn't I say so? Think so? Whatever. [ waves. ] Hearing about everyone's experiences there has been nice. Mostly peaceful for real. Firefly said she started baking.

Weren't you going to go to the real thing when you got home, anyway?

[ might be nicer than a weirdass train car with cursed food ]

Pictures aren't the same as seeing it yourself, though. [ he nods. ] Oh, yeah, she sent me some cookies. She wasn't very good at first, but she said it was fun? Seems like there wasn't a lot to do there, anyway - probably so they could focus on healing.

Yeah, but it's free here.

[ he's on part-time retail wage man

he hums in agreement. wow this is a nice chill walk... can i hold his hand? he thinks, and does nothing to do that. ]

No one's good at baking at first. On Thursday she and I are gonna cook together and we mentioned inviting a few others, do you wanna come too? No clue what we'll make, but maybe somethin' sweet.

...Okay. [ laurence doesn't know what retail is. he hardly even knows about money. transitioning to life outside the tower is going to be an experience.

oh, that thought. he pauses to give chrono an amused look before reaching for his hand wordlessly, intertwining their fingers. overthinking again. stop that. ]

The tiramisu you showed me didn't look that hard. [ thinks of the yaoi tiramisu and giggles. not laurence, me. ] Of course I want to come. Not that I'll be much help.

Plane tickets are expensive, and I don't make a lot of money at my job. If I visit Tokoha, she'll probably offer to pay, but still.

[ her big pro player winnings. why are all of his friends like 500% cooler than him.

ah. well. good. he's not even embarrassed anymore, just grateful and pleased. ]

It's not that difficult. Might be a good start, unless anyone makes a request. Could make a few things with enough hands.

[ nods with the vibe of "whatever you say, buddy." ]

Then we'll keep checking. It has to wear off eventually.

There's already tiramisu in the tavern... [ and bas is a really good cook. ] You could try her sugar cookies or something. And I guess if you need an extra hand, I can try.

Guess you can just pop your head in, check for wizards and leave, huh?

[ how handy. so cool.

nods... bas is a really good cook. he's learned a lot from him. ]

Sugar cookies are good, if she wants to try again. Maybe something savoury, too. [ smirks at him. ] Oh yeah, you're one hundred percent bein' put to work, count on that.

Yeah, easy. Just have to make sure they don't come through while I'm at it.

[ imagine if the wizards got loose. ]

Wow. Maybe I should just come in later instead.

Can you make smaller portals? Just enough to look through?

[ pff. shoulderchecks him.]

Dude, you literally just offered. Can't have it both ways.

I'm not sure. Theoretically, maybe, but I've never tried. They can be dangerous if they're not stable enough, you know?

[ thoughtsharing the image of akihiko losing his arm... ough. bad. ]

I can take it back.

[ he isn't. but he could. ]

[ ouuugh bad. chrono squeezes his hand, thumb running a soothing motion along his. ]

Right. I get it.

[ keep things stable. makes sense. mm.]

No, you don't. It won't be hard work. You can throw stuff at me again, it'll be fun.

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