turbo heaven 🌼 chrono

[outdistanced]

this boy's hair is so mystifying

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[outdistanced]

[ tilts head but he'll just assume the awkwardness is because a guy just died. that does make things pretty weird around here.

he nods. ] It's where I grew up. I've heard of trials and people getting thrown out for breaking the rules before, but they do everything differently here.

[clockpunk]

Like... a boarding school?

[ that's what it sounds like. ]

[outdistanced]

What's a boarding school?

[ shakes head ]

No, the Tower's just a safe place for demiflora. There is a school, but demiflora of all ages live there.

[clockpunk]

[ well. at least being confused is distracting from the Horrors. ]

A boarding school is a school that students, like, live at most of the time I guess? What's a demiflora? A flower?

[outdistanced]

[ two teens making sad confused noises at each other ]

Oh. I guess it's kind of like that, since we do live there...? [ except old people also live there. ] Demiflora are people with supernatural abilities. We're not actually flowers, that's just how they named us to tell us apart easily.

[clockpunk]

Oh, you've got powers. Can I ask what you can do?

[ starting to think he might be the only Regular Guy _{[citation needed]} around here. ]

[outdistanced]

I'm a Daphne, so I can teleport. Or I could, if it was working. Apparently we lose any powers we had when we die.

[ sorry sweetie you're the normalest guy in the room ]

[clockpunk]

I didn't know that. Guess I didn't ask the magic guys if they could still use magic.

[ he's really just Some Guy huh. ]

That's cool, though, but you said it's dangerous for you?

[outdistanced]

I think some of them might have done something to leave already if they had their powers. Or at least to stop Jiaoqiu from getting hurt.

[ alas... powerless. ]

Spawncampers hunt demiflora outside the Tower because of our powers.

[clockpunk]

[ frowns deeply, nods, and takes a moment to move past that. ]

Spawncampers... like in a video game? So you're safe in the Tower, but break the rules and you're thrown to these hunter guys?

[outdistanced]

I guess...? [ he doesn't seem to get the reference. ] The Tower's safe, but it's only because we follow the rules. And it's not like you break them once and you're done - it just depends.

[ at least he thinks so? that's how it should be. ]

It's the tradeoff of living in the Tower, especially with powers as dangerous as demifloras' can be. Everyone knows it's safer, so there aren't usually any problems.

[clockpunk]

Doesn't it feel restrictive, havin' to stay in one place? Shouldn't getting rid of the- the spawncampers, be the first problem to deal with?

[outdistanced]

Not really. The Tower's pretty big. There's plenty of space to run on the top floor... it's even got grass.

[ fake grass, probably, but you know. it gets the job done. ]

I think there are just too many of them to stop.

[clockpunk]

[ is this the world 30 years in the future... ]

Does it... feel kinda similar to this? Only goin' certain places, havin' to do some things, seein' a small amount of people all the time?

[outdistanced]

I don't think so. We have to go to school and some special assemblies and stuff, but we're allowed to do whatever on our own time, as long as it doesn't break rules. And there are thousands of people there, not... less than forty.

It's weirder being here, I think. I'm not used to seeing so few people... or so much open space.

[clockpunk]

Big-ass Tower.

[ he can't think of anything else to say without coming across as an insensitive ass, so he'll ask something that makes him come across as an insensitive ass. ]

D'you... remember how you died?

[outdistanced]

[ he's so on edge this startles a sort of half-laugh out of him. ]

It's pretty huge. [ as to that... laurence shakes his head. ] No. Last I knew, I was in my room for lights out. There shouldn't have been any danger at all.

What about you?

[clockpunk]

[ breathes a sigh of relief?! ]

No, I don't remember either. Could've been taken out while I was sleepin', but I don't remember it at all. Everyone else who this came up with seemed to remember though, so I kinda worried that I was the only one.

[outdistanced]

I know what you mean. It sounds like half of the people here put themselves in danger on the regular.

I thought about asking the angels about what happened, but they didn't even know what "misdeeds" I committed to end up here. They probably won't have answers.

[clockpunk]

Yeah. They don't seem like they know much more than us, which is... stupid. Why're they just-- sittin' around?

[ ugh. ]

Wish I remembered. At least then I could be mad about it.

[outdistanced]

I don't know. Maybe they got stuck here when they agreed to help us. They did say they got trapped somewhere too, on Thursday night.

Or think about what to do when you got back. [ wait ] Unless you're not planning to go back...?

[clockpunk]

--no, no! Of course I'm gonna go back, I've got people I want to see. I can't leave it off like this, if there's a chance, but...

[ rubs at his eyes. ]

Man, I'm tired of fightin', y'know?

[outdistanced]

Fight...? Fighting what?

[clockpunk]

Whatever damn problem decides to follow me around this time! I thought I was done with it all, but now I'm stuck here.

[outdistanced]

[ blinks in surprise, but... he nods. ]

I think I get it. It's like there's always some kind of trouble, both here and back home.