Reviews :
Firesong-Writes : I am SO THRILLED you feel that way about my name choices. Every single character's name, in my saga, has a special meaning. Even down to Emery, Mara, everyone's name was given a ton of thought and relates to me and my life in SOME way. Each name has a story, and I'm just really glad you're noticing/enjoying the name choices! We've narrows baby names for our future children - right now we have Libby for a girl, in honor of my mother, and Gideon if it's a boy - his name has deeper meaning for me, it's personal. I take these names seriously, so thank you, from the bottom of my heart :)
Burgie : Aw that's sweet! Thank you!
Snake557 : Yay! Thank you!
Lyssdoodle : Woohoo! Dragons for all haha
*Chapter 23*
Gathered in the uproar of community, a proper dining hall manipulated to accommodate the sheer amount of dinner guests underneath Sugar Rush's care, the majority of every single gamer, important to the palace's hierarchy, made the palace's dining hall their temporary point of rest for the evening. A fun night full of delicious food, spirits, lively conversation, the group of over two dozen gamers gathered about the massive table manifested by the code room's powers, stationed in the very center of the palace's gorgeous, communal dining hall. With beautiful, gaping skylights that let in Sugar Rush's kiss of twinkling stars, the room was abundant in voices from Sugar Rush, Dead Zed, Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero's Duty and Turbotime. The only two beings missing were Ralph and Vanellope, and though what would be a sad notion, the celebration of their reunited love was what was kept at the forefront of this cozy, lovely familial dinner gathering.
"Lookit him," Penny snipped cutely, she sat snug into Tessa's side; both girls drew their inquisitive gaze across the stretch of the huge, sturdy, gorgeously crafted wooden table. Eye sight woven through half-empty wine glasses, candles, platters of food now nearly devoured, Orph could be seen through the mess so happily doting on Callum, cradled safely in his strong, masculine arms. Although Orph was a good two dozen feet away, far across the stretch, and every single being's conversing was too loud to even begin thinking of hearing Orph's words, it was apparent that he was cutely carrying on a one-sided conversation with baby Callum. Although Rancis was sat next to Orph, Rancis and Nox loudly chattered on with each other, belly-laughs and cracked jokes were abundant. Penny cocked an eyebrow and finally dragged her eyes back to Tessa's in a string of hot knowing, "Anything, uh... Standin' out?"
"Yeah... I don't know what's in the water, but baby fever is contagious," Tessa muttered through her teeth as she sagged a little deeper into her chair, sat at the head of said massive gathering table, fit for a Queen. She eyed Penny, her right hand woman; both girls were cozily sat between Ace's little family unit of five, though as the evening went on, it was clear that migrating about was a normal event to partake in. Tessa glanced in Zed's direction, his chair was empty though he was close by happily chatting with Emery and Theo, "Zed confided in me, last night... Lickity's pregnant, my mom and dad are thinking of a fourth, Turbo and Berri let it slip a few times, Callum was just born..."
"It's Callum's fault," Penny hissed, she eyed her littlest brother, across the way, and blurt a giggle, "Orph won't shut up about babies. It's all he wants... He's practically adopted Callum, I mean look! My dad could literally give two shits."
"C'mon, that's not true," Tessa giggled quietly, both girls whispered amongst each other, though she flinched in shyness as she could see Turbo's intuitive, golden eyes hold tight to her in still, patient attentiveness. Although he was too far away to hear what Penny and Tessa were saying, a shiver went down her spine nonetheless; she always felt as if all four Turbotime boys had heightened abilities beyond what they lead on. She giggled and shyly waved in Turbo's direction, to which his little smirk broadened, as if he was making clear that he was on to her's and Penny's secret-telling, "I-I... I think I heard Berri mention something about it, too. Her and Turbo have been... Talking."
"For User's sake," Penny whispered, "Look, you already have two kids, but I don't want any, right now. Your kids are grown, why don't we just... Run away. No one will know, right?"
"I don't think so," Tessa mumbled cutely, though Tessa stiffened the second she glossed her eyes back to Turbo's positioning; he cutely was conversing with Lickity, though with such, Lickity held her ears taut and now held them, like a beacon, straight in Tessa's direction. Like satellite dishes prepared to catch all information, Tessa sagged her shoulders and now shot Turbo a disgruntled, dirty look of pure cheek. Turbo erupted with laughter, across the way, to which Tessa inhaled a deep breath and yelled across the table, a loud, reverberating pang of nonsense into Lickity's massive, sensitive ears, "I'M NOT AN IDIOT."
"What happened?" Penny giggled as she shot her eyes in Turbo's and Lickity's direction; the two shared muttering notions of cute defeat to each other, notions that couldn't be heard.
"Turbo's trying to spy on us via Lickity's hearing," Tessa rushed, she finally heaved a long sigh and sagged into her chair, "I don't know, Pens, Orph looks mighty cute holding Callum."
"ANYONE looks cute holding a baby," Penny argued, though she fingered her lip and narrowed her gaze, "I think your dad takes the cake for cutest, though... Are they trying for a fourth? It'd be SO cool to have another cousin."
"I'd get another little sibling, it's just wild to me, to think about," Tessa grinned, she shook her head and rolled her eyes, "It'd be Lickity's child, Callum and my parent's fourth that wouldn't have a world of an idea of what Sugar Rush has been through..."
"For the better, we're all drowning in trauma," Penny muttered, "We want better for the kin after us, yeah?"
"Yeah, it'd... It'd do my parents good. It'd be their first child outside of Kingdom responsibilities. I raised Ace outside of it," Tessa reminisced with a delicate, sweet sigh and a glossed her gaze to her first born, who was nearby, "I had a world of time with Ace. Berri, on the other hand, well..."
"She had Wren and Theo, it all shakes itself out, y'know?" Penny ushered, she could tell Tessa was about to be hard on herself.
"Man, that... Fourth child is gunna get a whole world of love and attention," Tessa stated with a warm smile, she shook her head and gave Penny a cute smile, "I hope they're having a good time on their vacation."
"Surely, those resorts, in Vidrix, are to die for," Penny ogled, "I WOULD take baby-man, over there, but I'm scared he'd shmooze me into a loading bar."
"It's really not the worst thing that can happen to you, babe," Tessa muttered cutely as she eyed her cousin, to which Penny flagged her hand and crowned a bashful, blushing little smile.
"I'm... Softening," Penny grumbled under her breath, in which she concealed a cute little smirk and eyed Orph, across the way, once more.
Tessa and Penny both perked up in dainty cuteness as a chime of a bell echoed through the hall, the gentle tinkering of silverware to Zed's glass of alcohol, his stoic figure gently came to a stand at the head of the table, right next to Tessa's sat figure. Tessa's eyes drew up his taller body, stood loosely to Tessa's left, and as the insanely large group drummed their lively conversations to a cute murmur of a halt, every single being's eyes held tight to their leader. He cleared his throat and sweetly swept the place with a quick gloss of easy pride, his vivid blue eyes finally peered down to Tessa's lovely gaze for a moment before his masculine chest inhaled a deep, readied breath.
"... Alright, I know we're all already likely on our second and third drinks, but, I propose a toast," Zed instructed, his strong voice boomed over the group in a swathe of lovely bass, he held his glass in his left hand and had it loosely tucked to his chest. He choked a small little laugh and shook his head, "Well... Two toasts."
"Let's hear it," Lash ushered cutely as he raised his glass a little; although he was sat nearby, his deep voice also carried, in which the lovely, massive group gathered began to litter the air with sweet, soft laughter, little notions of cute agreeing to Lash's delicate words of encouragement.
"I'd like to honor this night to three people, in particular... Two of which unfortunately couldn't be with us tonight," Zed stated, a knowing smile broadened across his face, "Though this won't be the last time we'll have a gathering like this... Ralph and Vanellope are missed."
"They don't miss us, I can guarantee," Orph delivered in a mutter that was obviously loud enough for the group about him to hear, thus the eruption of laughter that followed; Zed beamed a cute smile down to the table in shy understanding and bobbed a nod.
"The third person I'd like to honor this night to is... A woman in which has been trying to drown her worries, for tomorrow, with girly gossip over here in this little corner of Penny-land," Zed mumbled cutely down to his bride, to which Tessa sagged her shoulders and sunk her eyes deep into Penny's in a full show of entire, dull, playful irritation. The group loudly cackled at her expense, to which Tessa finally beamed a shy smile into her hand and rubbed her face, "Tomorrow, Tessa embarks on a new chapter as a professor at Arcadia Academy, and I could not be more proud of her."
"You're gunna do so well," Throttle cutely reassured from down the bend, in which Wren bobbed a loving few nods; Callum erupted in a full wail of playful protest as Orph rearranged Callum in his arms. Throttle eased a laugh and gestured across the table, "Callum agrees."
"With the sheer amount of brainiacs on your side," Minty cautiously started, she cutely looked about the group and loosely sourced the Users, the Turbotime men, the Kalivar men and driven back into Tessa's eyes. She sweetly smiled and shrugged her shoulders amidst the bend of her beautiful, light green hair, "You're gunna knock Academy's socks off."
"I don't know if I told you, but I have your class next semester," Emery delivered with a great amount of warmth, to which Tessa urgently perked up and allowed her nervous, shy demeanor to rise from the dead.
"YOU DO?" Tessa erupted, to which Zed eased his loving hand to her shoulder in a silent act of hoping she'd return to the toast at hand; she sagged, gave Zed a loving, sheepish little smile and cutely held her hand to his, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"How did you swing that? I want to take her class, too," Tammy hissed quietly across the four-man gap, between her and Emery.
"Tessa, you're going to absolutely rock Academy clear out the station. I know that whatever challenges you face, it'll be faced with strength and dignity, much like how you hold yourself here in Sugar Rush," Zed assured with a nod, and as he lovingly squeezed her shoulder, he looked about the group and cutely raised his glass as he broadened his cheerful voice, "To Ralph, Vanellope and Tessa."
The group unanimously repeated Zed's words with zest, and with a chorus of clinked glasses and hearty swigs of their drinks, the group cutely dote on Tessa for a moment longer before everyone began to slip back into their own molds of conversing to which they were previously, before Zed drew their attention. Zed sweetly leaned down and eased a few warm smooches into Tessa's cheek, in which she smiled in full-fledged, glowing warmth and easily sagged into Zed's tender loving care. She sighed a satisfied little sigh, set her cup down to the table, eyed Emery's figure, a few people down, and was eager to speak to Emery a bit more about the topic of Academy, though her and Theo began to quickly fall back into their own deep conversation. Tessa sighed, sagged her shoulders and felt abundant love surrounding her, no matter what, though in the toss of her eyes about the group, she felt her heart pang for the embrace of her parents. She bit her lip and knew texting either her mother or father, whilst they were on their little romantic getaway, likely wouldn't be best, though she wondered if the idea of seeing them, before Academy tomorrow, would be too far fetched.
