Song Listened To :

Stars Appear by Adam Young

*Chapter 13*

A whole day's worth of creating, a mass of sunshine and endless ideas, Kepa, Mara, Novus, Gideon and Lash all lounged together, as their adult versions, in their brand new kitchen and common room. Atop this floating island, a few acres across, Gideon and crew had decided upon a massive sprawl of a treehouse concept for their new abode. Using a candy cane tree, one that stretched at least seven floors into the sky, said home base included a main gathering space with multiple abodes that were tidily and beautifully scattered upon the tree's thick, sturdy branches and trunk. A spiral staircase cozily hugged the trunk, a beast of a tree trunk that took a few minutes to so much as walk around, each abode upon the gorgeous mallow-covered branches was easily accessible via a proper teleportation pad inside their brand new common room. Their tree house had a sprawling front yard, one of which that lead to the island's entrance and exit, the stairwell that cut all the way from the bottom of said floating island and surfaced in the grassy plains up top. Such a base was delightfully complete with Kepa's and Gideon's lighthouse across the stretch of land behind the tree house. With now no true purpose, other than to cast its glorious beams and be a nostalgic landing point, the lighthouse and its common room was now properly being utilized as a gathering home right off of their brand new pool, of which had a miniature lazy-river running through and around the grounds.

Such spans of hours where each child had a say in just what their imagination wanted their new palace in the sky to look like, said palace was unique, charming, mismatched, handcrafted, a beautifully rich and cozy place the crew was now beyond eager to call home. The tree house's common room and kitchen was secured in a big, beautiful room with arched ceilings and striped-bark beams across the stretch. The mood of this common room was a warm and comfortable, clad in gentle shades of terracotta and sage, soft neutrals and low lights that kept the atmosphere from ever daring to touch on overstimulating. On one end was the base of their massive Sugar Rush tree, their sturdy common room skillfully built so that a piece of the trunk was a part of the kitchen. With this, the trunk was hollowed out and crowned with low lights, this hub of an area was where Kepa and Gideon were planning on putting the singular teleport pad that would lead to Sugar Rush, and only Sugar Rush. Across the kitchen and common room was one massive kitchen island, cozily lined with two dozen stools, as well as a much bigger, sprawling, carpeted area with multitudinous amounts of cozy couch and lounging spaces. What hugged this room was a near-panoramic view of the Sundog, from their incredible height. The common room surely had the best view in the whole house save for the tippy-top of Kepa's and Gideon's lovely lighthouse, of which now had a second, duplicated home here on the Sundog.

In order to cater to everyone now due to living on the Sundog, inside of Gideon's new tree house, Gideon took into consideration the abodes of Lash and Mara, Turbo and Berri, Throttle and Wren, Nox and Koko, himself and Kepa, as well as Gunner and his girlfriend Taya. Each couple had their own studio-like abode up the branches of the tree, securely snug into the beast that now inhabited this floating island. Something Gideon took into consideration was the idea of Elkuorra and Sezeke also joining, on top of any single one of his new house mates having the potential for new loading bars, the tree was well equipped and ready for any changes. With a few hidden rooms and places on the island, as well as inside the tree, the crew aboard said island was beyond set for a cozy, exciting, charmingly fulfilled live here on the Sundog. The massive, billowy canopy of lovely white marshmallow leaves and blooms, the beautiful, spiraling colors of the rainbow said candy-striped tree consisted of, the incredible glow of the Sundog's cosmic stardust on the horizon, due to the glow of the internet's cloud directly underneath them, Gideon finally heaved a long, drawn out, satisfied sigh through his nose as he continued to methodically chew his food. Lazily grouped together in the tree house's kitchen, the four only snacked on something small before Gideon was due to parting ways temporarily, a tiny, sneaky return back to Sugar Rush so him and Kepa could hopefully secure the teleport pad's waypoints to correction, the more-than-easy way of travel to and from Sugar Rush's lovely palace.

"It's not so much that it'd be impossible, I just think it'd take for some, well... Extreme scheduling skills," Mara mumbled to Lash, she crossed her arms and huffed a long sigh paired with the hefty slump her arms took against her rib cage in a crossed fold.

"I was eavesdropping in Sugar Rush's rec hall, the other week," Kepa waggled her hand, rolled her eyes and only somehow managed to get across, with said singular hand gesture, that she was well aware that there was a dead, two-year gap between then and now; she carried on, "Berri was telling Emery and Koko that her, Wren, Throttle and Turbo were having hardcore baby fever."

"Really?" Lash huffed in a spike of smiling shock, he long-blinked and looked across their lovely kitchen, the massive kitchen island that Kepa and Mara stood slouched against while him and Gideon lazily stood shoulder to shoulder.

"Yeah, and then what with all of our talk today, y'know," Kepa mused gently, she flattened her ears, as cute as a button, she eyed Gideon in a swing of smiling warmth though didn't don it entirely due to now seeing Gideon surely disassociating, obvious with his gentle, empty stare to nowhere while he methodically chewed the chunk of apple he had just bit off. Even though he was spacing out, Kepa gently carried on, "Not trying to manifest huge life-altering tasks on us literally on day one, but... I'm going to predict that the tree is due to welcoming some new babies here, shortly..."

"Well, we already have one, here," Lash teased in a mumble of warmth as he gently tilted his head, side-eyed Gideon directly to his left and hovered in the wait to be bullied in return, though Gideon continued to space out. Lash sucked in a slow breath and knew to pop Gideon's bubble as gently as he could, he lulled his eyes closed and calmly reached his fingers out to Gideon's forearm, and with a warm lay to Gideon's skin, Gideon perked up, raised his eyebrows and returned his brain to the group. The four hovered as Gideon innocently and tiredly scanned the group, Lash patiently switched gears, "I know you have an errand to run, but, uh... Y'think after, all five of us can go out and stargaze?"

"I will even if no one comes with me," Mara mumbled as she bugged her caught gaze with Kepa, they both grinned in childlike excitement.

"Yeah, hell yeah," Gideon's deep voice grumbled as he cut his eyes tight to his right, into Lash's eyes, and gave him a boyish little smirk, "Look, I'm entirely pooped, but I got time for stargazing on the Sundog of all places, y'kidding?"

"Yeah, even the view from in here is insane," Mara hummed excitedly as she pointed across the dim common room, to the massive sweep of a panoramic view they had out of the glass; the Sundog hovered on light and atmosphere that replicated the day and night cycle, and with each minute that passed, the sky, clouds, stars and all the cosmos involved were ever changing in ribbons of borealis that couldn't properly be described to do it all justice. A glowing sea of stardust, a splash of all sorts of colors, no matter what time of day, the five cranked their necks to peer out the span of windows, far across the stretch. Mara continued, "I still can't even believe we did it..."

"What are Berri and them going to think once they're actually here?" Kepa grew excited a she stood straight, though much to everyone's surprise, Novus began to snore. Kepa flinched and looked down to the ground on the other side of Lash, to which Novus was messily laid with his chin over his paw, his whole fluffy body was sagged in the full release of slumber, "Oh... I didn't realize Novus was asleep."

"They're not going to know what to do with themselves," Gideon stated above a whisper, for Novus's sake, he opened his mouth, fangs first, and sliced an easy bite out of the apple he was enjoying.

"Think you'll cave and bring them here tonight?" Lash hummed with a smirk, he furrowed his brow and peered tight to the side of Gideon's face as they stood comfortably side-by-side, Gideon shook his head.

"No, I've decided that us five will stay here tonight... I'll be the only one to leave, to set up the teleport pad at Litwak's, but I'll instruct that no one, Sugar Rush side, is to use it," Gideon tightly rattled as he chewed, "I'd like to give this place at least twenty four hours before we bring anyone else here... Besides, I have to set them all up as User-proxies, I gotta talk with Swillah about all that."

"Then you have Blue... Wait, what was his official name?" Lash dryly wondered.

"Visha," Gideon hummed, he lulled his eyes closed and donned a knowing smile, "Poor guy's gunna pass out upon meeting Berri and Turbo."

"And then Gunner," Mara bugged her eyes, Lash rubbed his hands together.

"I'm gunna sit back and watch the show," Lash mumbled, the group eased into quiet laughter, due to Novus's slumber.

"We need to figure out what to do about a house warming party," Mara encouraged.

"As well as a birthday party for Gideon," Kepa added, Gideon shot her a loving, grateful little smirk and closed his eyes in the hit of love Kepa had for him.

"It's okay, babe," Gideon dismissed gently, Kepa sagged her shoulders and looked ready to argue him, though Lash chimed in.

"Y'need a birthday party, bud, anyone who has had a birthday between when we were unplugged, to now, needs a birthday party," Lash grumbled as Gideon swung his almost forlorn, nervous gaze into Lash's.

"I-I'm not like... Expecting a party, it's really fine, guys, we have more pressing matters," Gideon mumbled dryly, he grunted in a lift from his lean to the birchwood and sage painted counters and cabinets.

"Bub," Kepa pawed in forlorn worry, to which Gideon shook his head and gave her a small smile of dismissal.

"Yeah, dude, we're not gunna just breeze past your birthday, it was literally yesterday," Lash nervously encouraged, Gideon rubbed the back of his head and tenderly eyed the area in which him and Kepa would be planting one of two incredible, internet-jumping teleport pads, one for the tree house and one for Tessa's palace.

"We can all go out for dinner, or something," Gideon stated with a loving smile, he shrugged his big shoulders and gave Lash a look as if to promise that everything he was saying was something he was entirely committed to with no hard feelings, though Lash, Kepa and Mara stole gentle glances to each other in prickled concern. Before any one of them could hush his oddly selfless notions, he skillfully changed topics, "So... Before we get started on planting these two teleport pads and figuring out the logistics of it, I kind of, well... Was kind of hoping I could talk to Lash privately."

"Privately?" Lash worried in a flinch of Gideon's jarring topic change, the three watched as Gideon rounded the front end of the huge island, put his hands on his hips, eyed the base of their gorgeous Sugar Rush tree, hollowed out, furnished and ready for the beauty of a powerful teleport pad, and brought his almost forlorn, apologetic gaze back to Lash's. He urgently carried on in a scoff of nervousness, "Wh-what's wrong? Did I do something?"

"I mean, unless you don't mind that Kepa and Mara hear," Gideon hummed patiently to Lash, who still looked taken aback. Gideon chuckled, shook his head and shrugged, "And, unfortunately, yeah... Y'did something."

"Alright, whatever, lay it on me," Lash grumbled, he tossed his hands up and slowly began to saunter towards the alcove of the massive trunk of tree, stationed cozily at the head and dead center of the kitchen, "I'm all ears, but... I'm gunna be cranky about it."

"A step in the right direction," Mara playfully hummed as both girls cautiously wormed around Novus, who soundly snoozed, and hovered about the gorgeous, terracotta-tiled gape of an alcove.

"I'm scared to do this, though... Not for the fact that I don't trust Kepa and Mara, but," Gideon huffed a long sigh and was the only one to step into the tree's gorgeous, low-lit alcove. The height of it was shorter than the ceiling in the kitchen and common room, towering a few feet over Gideon's over six-foot self. His hefty tail lazily slumped to the tiles underneath, he scanned the rounded out dome of a room he was stood in, the brilliant greens and sage colors of the candy-striped tree glistened with shine in the low lights that Gideon patiently admired. With a gentle swing, he finally peered into Lash's eyes, who stood with Kepa and Mara at the gape of the hub's new entrance. He looked frozen with worry as Gideon patiently continued, "For the fact that I would like to bring Lash with me, back to Sugar Rush. Leaving you two here, only if you're comfortable with it."

"Me and Kepa?" Mara gawked as she pointed her finger between both girls, to which Kepa donned a wide, happy smile and blurt a girly giggle, "Uh, yeah. We're gunna decorate the whole entire tree palace."

"Making the house a home without interruption?" Kepa hummed in a mutter of sarcastic knowing as she looked off and pretended to be disappointed, "Sounds awful..."

"Yeah, if you leave me here by myself with them anyways, you'll come back and I'd surely be hog-tied somewhere," Lash firmly gestured his hand over his shoulder and gave Gideon a further-curious grin, "Why do you want me to come back to Sugar Rush with you? I know you'd be okay without me, are you sure this is safe?"

"Lash, I know you love me. I know you will take any single shred of an opportunity to stand up for me, to defend me behind my back," Gideon's deep voice hushed in Lash's direction, the gentle echo of his voice, in the dome he stood in, bounced about the tiles and glossy, colorful tree bark, "But, you have to know that what you said last night, at that long-winded palace meeting, was fucked up."

Lash's eyes gently muted to grey in a dart about Gideon's collar bones, and with a long, hot, dreadful sigh through his nose, Lash slumped his shoulders, picked at his own fingers and peered down to them in a raw, beautiful show of accepted remorse.

"I know you're in my corner, I know Callum has devastated my life, or tried to anyways, but..." Gideon narrowed his gaze for emphasis and shook his head, he was thrilled that Lash noted the gap of silence and swung his muted grey eyes deep into Gideon's, "You have to know that Wren, Penny, Rancis, Taffyta... All four of them are hurting the worst, and what you said about 'that man not being your family' was low, and nasty."

"I know it's no excuse to say that I was just heated and angry, but, yeah," Lash shrugged and looked off, "I said some shit, but... I said it with my chest, Gid. That man isn't my family."

Gideon held his finger up and smiled at Lash's challenge, to which Lash cocked an eyebrow in a spike of nervousness and side-eyed Gideon's 'challenge accepted', "Tessa and Penny are technically cousins... Callum is Penny's littlest brother. You just so happen to be swap mates with Tessa's grand daughter... Making you and Callum..."

"Some-fourth cousins twice removed or something dramatic, surely," Kepa mumbled cutely with a smile in Lash's direction, to which Mara huffed a noise of tender surprise and looked down in agreeing to Gideon's brave words.

"Family," Gideon firmly pressed, to which Lash furrowed his eyebrows in a swing of defeated grief and continued to hold his muted gaze deep into Gideon's in warm acceptance, "He needs us... He desperately needs us. You guys never gave up on me, now Callum needs us more than ever."

Lash bobbed a small nod and looked off, once more. He furrowed his brow in a frustrated grimace and looked as if finally swallowing this amount of acceptance was similar to digesting nails, it was something he nearly couldn't stomach, though as Gideon's gentle, begging voice pressed on, he peered his teary eyes now hard into Gideon's.

"I'll help you save him, but it'll be months before I can look at him right," Lash muttered darkly, he shook his head and narrowed his gaze, "You're my priority. The people here are my priority. Bring him home and expect a very different side to me, temporarily."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Gideon stated in apologetic warmth, fully understanding that everyone would have a massive bone to pick with Callum and defending him would be one of the largest tasks he ever took on. Gideon's warm gaze hugged Lash's soul as he patiently carried on, "For now, I would request you come back to Sugar Rush with me tonight... I really believe that you should apologize to Wren."

"For my comments?" Lash stabbed, Gideon frowned and now was worried that he'd have to war Lash into finding common, peaceful ground, "They really can't just assume that I was heated and to just disregard what I said?"

"Lash, what if I looked you in the face, right this second, and said," Gideon paused for emphasis, took a brave step closer to Lash and meanly hissed him a fang-filled notion of hatred, "I hate Nox. That man is not my family. If you get Nox in a room by himself, you should kill him on sight."

Lash fluttered his eyes in the hit and felt a rush of certain understanding gloss him.

"The context is a little different, but Nox and I are essentially family," Gideon explained, "He's going to be married to my big sister, they share codes. Callum is in mine and your life, no matter what... If Nox was missing due to the tragedy Callum and I are going through, and I had the balls to say something THAT nasty out into the air? For you and your other relatives to hear?"

Lash squeezed his eyes shut and bobbed a definitive nod of now full remorse as both girls patiently watched both boys reach a tender understanding.

"I'm not forcing you, you can say no to my request," Gideon shrugged and looked down to his tail, which was messily slumped behind and beside him, "But, I'm going to go speak with him privately, while I'm in Sugar Rush... I'm thinking you should come with, help settle him. I'm sure he's in more pain than he can even see through."

"Okay, I... I will," Lash humbly murmured with another nod of agreeing, he sighed and gave Gideon a look of defeat, "I hear you, I'm... I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Gideon eyed Lash with a small smile, "It comes from a place of protection. You only had Turbo to protect for all of those years, Nox and Throttle were lost to you, and now that you've gained me a little later on, you're adamant about doing and saying anything, to anyone, if it means making clear that you will protect your brothers."

"...I'm genuinely surprised Wren hasn't snapped back at you, quite honestly," Mara mumbled regretfully as her and Lash caught eyes, though Gideon was floored to see Lash remain in a humbled state of being.

"I'm sure he's wanted to," Lash muttered tiredly, "I-I haven't been very nice to him, since I've known him..."

"Yeah, I remember Sugar Sun Island, that whole first half of the vacation was me trying to teach you social cues," Mara blurt a giggle, and though Lash smiled, he did so with an apologetic, sighing, forlorn swing of sorrowful eyes down to his bare feet.

"Hey," Gideon urged as he now pressed into Lash's bubble, grappled his upper right arm and kept him snug in a small grip of brotherly camaraderie, "It's fine... You're fine. This whole process of learning how to navigate this whole predicament is really difficult, but we have to look out for each other and call each other out on potential mistakes."

"I-I know, I just always feel like I'm apologizing to people for being myself," Lash stated as if his energy had been dashed, he pleadingly peered to Gideon, "I'm not trying to be mean, I just..."

"Feel strongly," Gideon concluded with positive inflection, "It's okay... Wren needs us, so I think it'd be best if you came with."

"I'm on your six," Lash hummed in murmuring knowing as Gideon squeezed Lash's arm and gave him a few brotherly pats, "Can't promise that I won't lay some truths on him, though..."

"And those truths are?" Gideon eyed Lash in a mild, authoritative sting.

"Uh, that I hold you in a higher regard than Callum, I'm sorry for what I said but-"

Gideon sharply interrupted Lash, "This isn't about you, this isn't about me. This is about making Wren's grieving experience a little easier, Lash, c'mon now."

"Babe, it's his own little brother," Mara hummed regretfully as Lash took a humbled swing of eye contact about the group, once more.

"You'll go down kicking and screaming," Gideon pawed sarcastically as he gently jostled Lash's shoulder, to which Lash heaved a long, tired sigh of defeat, once and for all, and bobbed a nod of understanding.

"Okay, okay, I'll behave, I promise," Lash stabbed as he squeezed his eyes shut and dared to let an annoyed chuckle leave his figure.

"C'mon... Let's manifest this pad," Gideon said with a nod as he finally released Lash and gestured to the hollow, "In all honesty, it's probably for the better that you're coming with... We're gunna need your expertise, when it comes to teleportation."

"Expertise," Lash guffawed, obnoxiously rolled his eyes, crossed his arms and beamed a wide smile.

"Yeah, it's a core power of yours, I need your help," Gideon encouraged with a chuckle.

"Got two big tasks for yah, Dubs," Mara chimed, "Teleportation, and... Apologizing."

"I don't know which one would be more difficult," Lash mumbled sarcastically.