Reviews :
Lyssdoodle : Aww xD She does, in her own sweet, sly little way ;)
Snake557 : Yes! Orion is massive :D I'll have to do an updated ref sheet of all the creatures, since I've added a handful prior to my last reference.
Burgie : Aw YAY! I'm really glad you feel that way, I really am enjoying having Orion back as well. There's a chapter coming up between him and Boss, and I had a world of fun writing it, strictly because I missed Orion so much.
faolan1230 : LOL Yeah, she is, but she's also cunning. She gets her way, you'll see :P
Song Listened To :
I Remember by Betty Who
*Chapter 4*
With fists clenched, shoulders shrugged to her shoulders in tense, full irritation, Vanellope stiffly came about the bend of her's and Ralph's larger, wide, airy foyer and front corridor. In a press into their main room, the twinkle of late morning sunshine flood the place in a ironic kiss of warmth that desperately tried to soothe Vanellope's now frigid, icy death stare to the back of Ralph's head. Relaxed in his recliner, Ralph suddenly barked a hearty laugh out to the room as his show carried on. He scratched his chest, propped his foot up on the coffee table, cleared his throat and leaned a little deeper into his recliner, which loudly croaked. Vanellope was silently unseen, her hazel eyes glossed their home. A place in which she tidied before she left was now a light mess, having only been gone an hour. As if it looked like maybe Ralph attempted to do one simple chore, such as putting laundry away, he opted for pulling it all out of the dryer, flopping it on their kitchen table and leaving it. Vanellope assumed the show he was sucked into was the culprit. In another irritated drag, she quickly noticed a few messy pans slopped into the sink to soak, full of food particles and a big billow of soap bubbles, a sink area in which she had cleaned before she left.
"Hey babe," Vanellope's voice so sweetly lilted out of her figure, and though she was successful in coming across totally unassuming, she could swear steam was coming out of her ears.
"Hey, y'home already?" Ralph wondered, he just barely glanced over his shoulder before re-fixing his eyes to the television.
"Yeah, I decided I just wanted to relax at home today," Vanellope stated in warmth, and though the clench of her hands very eagerly reminded her of that healthy dose of wrecking skill Ralph had gifted her, she sagged her shoulders and heaved a shaky, silent breath through her nose as she desperately tried to collect herself. Her frustrated gaze glossed their loving, lightwood herringbone flooring, their home glowed with light-colored furniture, an airy approach to make everything feel open and easy. A beautiful home all perfectly kissed with Vanellope's and Tessa's architectural touches, it had been littered with chaos due to the tornado Ralph had allowed himself to succumb to, like in his bachelor days. Vanellope's eyes nearly burned a hole into the back of Ralph's head, though she desperately tried to take Zed's previous advice, sprinkled with her own. She knew it was just temporary messes; she did everything to remind herself that it wasn't all just on her, and to get Ralph back on track required tenderness, "Hey, is there any way you can show me how to clean my wedding ring today?"
"Oh, yeah," Ralph bobbed a nod, he gestured to the television and complied, though his handsome brown eyes glanced to her, once more, "I'm gunna watch this episode first, it's brand new."
"Sure, just come find me when it's over," Vanellope complied, how badly she wanted to turn the television off and throw it out the window was something she skillfully hid.
"Okay," Ralph mumbled cutely, though as Vanellope walked away, Ralph furrowed his eyebrows in tight confusion and took a double-take on her; he aimlessly looked off once she was out of his peripheral, and though he peered back to the television, he felt confusion hit his brain, a reel of concern over just how incredibly easy said conversation was.
Ralph sagged back into his recliner and allowed his eyes to peer back to the television, though his mind began to try and connect the dots. Usually what would be a bit of a battle, Vanellope frustratedly asking Ralph to pick up his mess and clean up after himself, he was shocked to feel her airy figure leave it alone entirely. A kiss of easiness to the room, Ralph narrowed his gaze and allowed his eyes to peer into the reflection of their large flat screen. He was shocked to see Vanellope simply ignore the messes Ralph had left. He tapped his fingers to the arm rest of his recliner and now felt the waves of confusion continue to hit him. He knew that if he were to simply agree to do something later, Vanellope would passive aggressively complete all of Ralph's chores and not give him even a chance to correct it. What would be loud dishes clanking, hefty sighs of hot irritation, very obvious annoyed remarks out to the room was now replaced with a few dainty hums, an easy, gentle grab of a soda from the fridge, and with carefree bare feet, she pushed past their kitchen and into the opened den area that also segued into the downslope to their glassy, sunny basement.
Ralph now dug his eyebrows into his skull in full confusion and grunted to sit up in a wretch to look into the kitchen area over his shoulder. Dishes still piled in the sink, laundry still haphazardly strewn on their dining room table where he left it, Vanellope nowhere to be found, he held his breath and felt a wave of newness come over him. Relieved to be free of her nagging, free of any passive aggressiveness, he softly sagged back into his recliner and desperately tried to concentrate on his show, though his mind bounced around in confusion. Certain Vanellope was just due to changing into something more casual and coming back to continue on her silent, passive aggressive tirade, the main room remained silent outside of the laugh track from Ralph's show. Ten minutes in and he was certain he had not absorbed a single second of his brand new episode, something he was very excited to watch, he finally allowed his mouth to curl in cute confusion as he grunted to a stand, turned the television off and began to quietly search for Vanellope.
Ralph silently grunted as he stopped in his tracks and reached for their two-story ceiling in a stretch, though as he sighed to come out of it, he shyly looked about and began to head towards the den area in which Vanellope had vanished to. On the way, he picked up the few items of clothing that had fallen from the ground and laid it in the pile on the table. Warm sunlight kissed his figure, he wore a comfortable pair of brown sweats and a white t-shirt, surprisingly void of food stains. Ralph inhaled a soft breath, held it and quietly listened for movement as his eyes stared into their dim den. A lovely little hub that acted as a laundry room, it also rounded into another little corridor that sloped downwards and opened into their basement. With intent listening, and eyes that honed tight to the sunlight coming from said glassy basement, he slowly approached the wood-floored downslope as he could hear Vanellope tinkering with some of Ralph's power tools. Upon quietly entering their basement, his eyes landed on his bride. Although still dressed in her tattered, dark grey skinny jeans, she had changed into a lazy tank top, one of which Ralph quite enjoyed due to the loose cleavage it showed.
Ralph assessed just what Vanellope was doing; their basement acted more like a second, ground floor on the downslope of grassy land their home sat on. It was a high-ceilinged, spherical room with windows that hugged it, letting in Sugar Rush's entire swathe of natural light. Their basement was a hub of a workspace, whether that be physical work or code room work. Although not in charge, there were occassions where their expertise was required, thus said space having the ability to turn into a make shift code room. Outside of that, Ralph and Vanellope had a few building projects they picked at, on and off, alongside power tools and a bit of an art station, they allowed their free time to fuel their creativity. Vanellope cutely mumbled something to herself, threw her long black hair into a high pony tail and began to pick through a few of her art canvases that she had, leaned against one of her very messy, hefty easels. She pulled out a little box from their nearby tool organizer, and with it, she retrieved her wedding ring. Although he remained unseen and unheard, Vanellope turned to approach the machine Ralph used to clean his own ring, though she jolted upon seeing Ralph's figure stood in the airy entry way.
"... Oh!" Vanellope chimed in surprise, she furrowed her eyebrows and assessed Ralph's still figure, "Y-Your... Show, wasn't the episode like in the beginning? Is it already over?"
"N-No, I just... Turned it off, I figured this was more important," Ralph assured gently, and although he was previously an extremely attentive husband, full of care and doting abilities, somehow reviving this side of him felt odd; he knew this was fact with the way Vanellope simply just stared at him in quiet confusion. Ralph grunted a small laugh and gestured to her little ring, "A-As said, you're probably gunna have to be the one to clean it, your ring is like a hundred times tinier than mine."
"That's fine, just show me and I'll handle it," Vanellope eased; somehow the prospect of Ralph's huge mess, upstairs, was easier to forget once it was totally out of her sight and off of her shoulders.
"Sure, well..." Ralph bashfully rubbed the back of his head and now felt a wave of guilt come over him. Vanellope huffed a grunt, sat down at the machine Ralph had used to polish his own ring, and got comfortable. Similar to a sander, it was all powered by the code room and utilized coded structures instead of an actual, physical buffer or spinning apparatus. Vanellope flicked her long ponytail over her shoulder and cued up the machine with her purple coding, and as she set her ring down and prepared to tinker with said machine and see if she could potentially try and figure it out for herself, Ralph quickly began to step over to her in a weird show of concealed desperation, as if he was now excited to play teacher and help Vanellope out. With a careful approach, he, too, reached over, grabbed a nearby stool and confidently sat nearly directly behind Vanellope. Having all the height to see over the top of her head, he narrowed his gaze and began to fumble trying to pinch Vanellope's little ring between his thumb and pointer finger, "Okay, so... Since your ring is so tiny, you're gunna have to..."
"... Well, step one is to pick it up," Vanellope mumbled with a giggle, though her and Ralph finally erupted into sweet laughter the second the ring tinkered to the table due to Ralph's failure at being able to pick it up from a flat platform.
"If ONLY you knew," Ralph grumbled cutely, he opened his palm as Vanellope softly rested her tiny ring in his massive wrecking hand, to which he finally got a grip on it and cued the coded sander. With a tilt of his head, to find the pedal under the table, he rested the ball of his bigger foot to the pedal and ever so tenderly pressed on it. With a flare of their purple coding, the sander began to whir in a slow, soft movement, and though Ralph wasn't brave enough to push her tiny ring into the sander with his huge hands, he followed through with the motion and cleared his throat, "So, you just... CAREFULLY angle it like this, make sure you go around a few times."
"This isn't going to reshape my ring, is it?" Vanellope worried as Ralph's much bigger arms came about her, so to steady her little ring over the table, right in front of her. She smiled a little and relished in simply the thought of being raveled in Ralph's strong arms, once more, though she resisted the urge to lean back into his embrace, strictly for the fact that the two were in a much deeper state of feuding nearly at all times. Knowing the surface was very deceiving, due to how well they were getting along, she tread lightly and simply listened to the softer press of his closer, deeper voice hovered over her ear.
"No, if you don't push too hard, you're just buffing it," Ralph assured, as cautiously as he could, he started Vanellope off and so carefully angled her ring into the sander. It whirred a bit louder as his big, able hands began to so slowly rotate her ring, such delicate care Vanellope knew he was absolutely capable of, though seeing it in motion was like flying through a cloud, "We'll make it all shiny and such afterwards... The material is just porous, you know how that is."
"Yeah," Vanellope chimed cutely, and though she still felt a world of frustration towards Ralph, she glanced at Ralph's cheek, in her peripheral and felt the tickle of his wild, auburn hair grace her temples.
Knowing love was always at the center of their marriage, no matter how far away it seemed right now, she inhaled a small little breath and cutely pushed a little kiss to Ralph's cheek. Although an easy notion no one would be surprised by, Ralph's heavy foot suddenly floored the pedal, causing the sander to scream in suddenness. Both Vanellope and Ralph jolted in shock as Ralph successfully yanked Vanellope's little ring out of the vicinity of the sander, now nearly on the loose, though as the sound settled and everything went still, Vanellope broke the silence by erupting into loud laughter.
"THAT would've sucked," Ralph grunted in nearly grinning irritation as he tenderly set Vanellope's ring down and pushed himself to a stand, though Vanellope turned around and continued to laugh.
"What happened to you?" Vanellope pried with a wide grin, to which Ralph finally showed his teeth and messily flagged his hand down to her.
"You made me lose my concentration!" Ralph argued, Vanellope shook her head and blurt a giggle as she picked up her ring and began to test out the sander.
"Sorry," Vanellope eased with great warmth, though Ralph furrowed his brow in tight confusion and stared down the back of her head as she continued on, "It's a good thing I'm able to wear my ring, again... I-I mean, I guess I COULD'VE kept wearing it, but... Y'know."
"How come you say that?" Ralph inquired, he felt lead to return to his sitting position, though he brought the stool a bit more to Vanellope's right side so to not be directly behind her again. He softly sat down with slow, purposeful intention, as if to make clear he was due to staying in her curiously happy presence.
"Well," Vanellope stated with a long sigh, the sander whirred as she cautiously fell into a rhythm with herself, the ring glided along the coded sander. She occasionally pulled it away to see the product of her care, and after a few simple turns and a few moments of patient silence between both beings, she removed her foot from the pedal of the sander and assessed the finished product of her ring, all soft and smooth, "I guess... Something happened in Vidrix today that I don't really know how to tell you about."
"Is it bad?" Ralph worried, he peered into Vanellope's face, his stomach dropped in a bit of dread, though after a moment of Vanellope assessing her ring, Ralph began rummaging through a nearby drawer for the polish rub he was previously talking about.
"I mean, yes and no, it's not a huge deal, truly," Vanellope assured with a giggle as Ralph set the rub in front of her; she continued on in the act of putting said rub on a clean cloth and preparing to make her ring all shiny and pretty, "Since... I haven't been wearing my ring, I keep getting picked up on."
"...Y-You mean," Ralph furrowed his eyebrows with the sting, he felt his heart sink the second Vanellope's beautiful face peered to his in nervous innocence.
"Yeah, the guy at the candy shop gave me his number, today," Vanellope mumbled with a small, irritated giggle, though she shook her head and peered to Ralph in tenderness, "I just... Figured I'd be honest with you. It was weighing on me, I just needed to tell you. Not that I'd DO anything about it, I just thought it was weird."
"I should go with you next time. They could try asking me out, too, that'd go over well," Ralph stated in firm protectiveness, though he furrowed his eyebrows and felt a sting rattle his heart; Vanellope's gentle, lovely features nearly glowed, her gorgeous eyes hooked to Ralph's in a downswing of almost dreaded innocence, and it was here did Ralph suddenly feel a lump gather in his throat. Not wanting to make clear that her notions now had set upon a domino affect of panic to his heart, he swallowed a dry, hard swallow and looked down to the ring she continued to polish, in her hand, "Well... Now you won't have that problem, yeah?"
"Yeah," Vanellope stated with a smile as she held up the finished product; her gorgeous cross-striped ring proudly glowed with the creams, reds, oranges and teals of said candy cane bark, she smiled into Ralph's eyes, and although all of this was a great chore due to their previous feuding, Vanellope felt her heart thud, as if she was entirely successful with this innocent venture. She so carefully handed her ring to Ralph and held out her left hand, to insinuate that she wanted him to put it on her, like on their wedding day, "But, it's okay. I just said no thanks and left, obviously. It was just... Weighing on me, cause it had happened more than once. Figured I'd tell you. I'd love if you came next time, y'know... To chase everyone away with a stick."
"Gladly," Ralph grumbled in dreaded irritation, though as he softly slid her ring onto her left ring finger with an easy, snug fit, his tender brown eyes assessed her beautiful face as she peered down to her ring in cute, renewed pride; Ralph held his breath and felt a wave of weird, protective rage come over him, something he wasn't a stranger to, though with the fire ignited, he bit his lip in gentle contemplation and wondered why his brain suddenly felt like a hive of angry bees had been let loose inside.
