Reviews :
Burgie : They do! Thank you :)
Firesong-Writes : Thanks friend! Yeah, I think outside of Tessa, he's the longest-running conceptualization I have to date. We'll see if any of the other kiddos can beat him! So far it's looking like his son might...
Lyssdoodle : Oh thank you for following my IG! I'll be able to flood my page with far more drawings once summer hits :) And, yes! There are 5 plugged in, but no one being has all 5 as a part of their coding. Berri's and Turbo's first born will have a staggering 4 consoles, which will probably top it.
Song Listened To :
Together We Map the World by John Powell
*Chapter 37*
"You should tell'im," Novus mumbled with a mischievous smile, his deepening, crackly voice still did what it could to hold on to boyish tones.
"No," Gideon retort in a sharp grunt.
Sat cutely between the stance of Novus's powerful front legs, both boys were within the embrace of the flyer's grand enclosure. Well enough out of the way, both boys diligently watched as Ralph meticulously plowed down overgowth of new candy cane trees that had somehow sprung up inside the enclosure. Having made decent headway, he was making a solid amount of land for Libby to utilize as a place to grow her favorite flowers, fruits and vegetables, things only found inside Dead Zed. With both Gideon and Novus at about seven months old, the maturity of twelve year old children, they bickered in the dips and cracks of cute voices that had begun to deepen, the onset of puberty now doing what it could to blossom both beings all while wreaking havoc on their emotional wellbeing. Gideon hugged his bare, dirty knees, he wore a dark red tank top and torn up khaki board shorts. With Novus at about half Lickity's size, Gideon cozily snuggled into Novus's shadow and narrowed his gaze to his father, further down the little hill they had perched on. Gideon had begged and begged, and though Ralph promised Gideon he'd allow him to help wreck down the trees, Ralph made clear that he was to do the heavier work first before letting Gideon join.
"Whynot? It'd be funny," Novus grinned; a powerful beast like his father, he, much like Gideon, still had huge bumbly puppy-paws he still needed to grow into.
"Funny for you, he's already threatened to ground me three times this week," Gideon barked quietly, he flagged his hand outward and furrowed his eyebrows. Disgruntled though daring, he almost allowed a sneaky, toothy little smile to sprawl his boyish cheeks, "... It would be funny, wouldn't it."
"I guess papa Ralph is the last person in Arcade I'd want to taunt," Novus muttered through the grit of his fangs, he shrugged and lofted his incredible, vivid blue eyes down to Gideon's slumped figure between his strong, powerful front legs, "He's your dad. You know him better than me."
"I guess this would be like me goading YOU to taunt Boss," Gideon fingered his lip and allowed his mischievous little grin to broaden, "Which... Now that I put myself in your shoes, I'd be doing the same thing."
"So, do it," Novus huffed, he flagged his wings, of which were nearly full grown and something his body needed to catch up to. Novus bared his long fangs and allowed for boyish banter to promise to mature into something that resembled bickering or bullying, "Unless you're a tiny little chicken-liver."
"YOU'RE the one with wings, you're just an oversized chicken, yourself," Gideon quietly snapped as he got to his feet, leaned in like he meant it and stared Novus down. Novus flattened his massive, dark chocolate brown ears and bared his fangs a little harder as both boys playfully got in each other's faces. Although all smiles, Novus allowed a guttural of a scary snarl to escape his figure, to which Gideon inhaled a deep breath and puffed his becoming-broad chest, "Oh, GRRR Novus, you're so scary."
"Do it," Novus grunted in the middle of his growling as he grinned, though Gideon sagged, whirled around and cupped his hands over his mouth so that his blossoming, booming voice would carry.
"Hey, dad! You missed a spot!" Gideon bellowed; the dust cloud that Ralph had become suddenly came to a sifting halt as Ralph's fists stopped pounding the soft earth undertoe, though the second Ralph's huge figure rolled to a proper stand to eagle-eye his son, Gideon scrunched his neck down into his shoulders and huffed Novus a silent notion, "Welp. It was nice knowing you."
"Gideon Fox," Ralph's deep, fatherly voice boomed in a serious tone of teetering annoyance; Gideon felt his pupils tighten the second Ralph looked off in disgruntled exasperation and raised his massive wrecking hand. He curled his pointer finger in his direction, cueing Gideon to approach, "Front and center, my guy."
Gideon heaved a shaky, almost annoyed breath and firmly shoved on Novus's shoulder. Novus wobbled a little, though easily shoved the wrist of his wing into Gideon's strong shoulder, to which he grunted and nearly fell to his knees. Gideon caught himself with quick footwork and tossed Novus a glower of a playful, dirty look before he began to cross the illuminated dust cloud his father left behind. Kissed by Sugar Rush's Sunday, sunny noon sky, Gideon continued on through the cloud of chocolate earth until he pressed into his father's gravity. Gideon's eyes trailed up his father's whole, towering existence above him. Dressed in his game day clothes, prepared to get messy in the dust and dirt, Gideon felt a wave of guilt come over him. Knowing Novus wasn't innocent here either, he still felt bad; Ralph was doing something nice for Libby, and Gideon was well aware his previous pestering, about wanting to join in immediately and being denied, had only fueled his want and desire to poke the bear. Now that he was upon the bear's doorstep, Gideon visibly gulped as Ralph's disappointed gaze peered hard into Gideon's from what felt like a hundred feet up. Ralph sagged his huge hands to his hips and cocked an eyebrow.
"Y'wanna try again?" Ralph sternly wondered, he titled his head and side-eyed Gideon, his fatherly authority in full swing; Gideon nervously rubbed his arm and looked off in a sting of disgruntled defeat.
"No," Gideon mumbled.
"Was that Novus's idea?" Ralph wondered as he tossed his gaze across the stretch; Novus sat on his haunches, his ears were sagged in whole submission, Ralph was well aware that both boys, left without close supervision, were a team of boyish, brotherly, goading troublemakers, a duo as thick as thieves, and though Ralph was sure Gideon would fess up, Gideon looked left and nervously tugged his ear.
"No, it was all mine," Gideon fibbed, to which Ralph rolled his eyes, stifled a grin and firmly nudged the backs of his huge knuckles into Gideon's chest. Gideon wobbled backwards, loudly grunted and finally gave Ralph eye contact, "HEY!"
"Tell the truth," Ralph huffed, and though Gideon was being confronted, he did everything he possibly could to stifle boyish giggling.
"Yes, it was his idea," Gideon staggered as he sagged his shoulders and gave Ralph a look of besmirched, adolescent cuteness, "I mean, now that I'm out here, I can see Novus actually isn't wrong. You DID miss a spot."
"Then why don't you fix it, then, y'little turd-muncher," Ralph suddenly hissed as he bent over and firmly, though playfully got in Gideon's face. Gideon clenched his fists, stiffened his stance and eagerly got back in Ralph's face with a wide grin of whole entire challenge. Ralph firmly carried on in Gideon's face, a show of their boyish, playful natures, "If you think you got what it takes."
"I could wreck this whole game down," Gideon growled with a grin into Ralph's face, the flecks of gold in Gideon's eyes were alive with the fire from Sugar Rush's sun, the bright-eyed dewy look of full, energetic lightning that Gideon was becoming almost had Ralph genuinely believing Gideon's outrageous words.
"Prove it," Ralph hissed in retort, though he flinched the second Gideon tore from Ralph's gravity and glitch-hopped a few paces away, right to the few stumps of candy cane trees that Ralph had missed, due to the cloud of dust that had now settled.
"Oh, I'll prove it, alright," Gideon stabbed with gust, he happened upon the few juts of stumps Ralph had accidentally left behind, and though Gideon inhaled a deep breath, clenched his bigger fists and raised them above his head in preparation to begin blindly wrecking, Ralph's gentle coos of urgency halted him in his tracks
"Aht-aht, hold it," Ralph's voice warbled a little as he spoke in the middle of glitch-hopping to Gideon's point on the grid. Gideon sagged and cutely looked up to his father as Ralph eased into his gravity and put his much larger hand on the backs of Gideon's now slumped shoulders, "Lookit these stumps, bud, they're jagged and dangerous on top. What's gunna happen if you slam your fists into it, from that upward stance you just had?"
"...Oh, I didn't even think about that," Gideon mumbled, and though his fists were still clenched, his arms were sagged as he assessed said clubbed, bigger knuckles, wrecking features Ralph had very generously given him.
"The key in wrecking sharp objects, like these, is to swipe it from the side," Ralph gestures to the side of the stump, where it was softer and easier to hit. He clenched his massive fists and cautiously swung at the stump, as if to swing a baseball bat, though stopped short before he hit the stump, so to let Gideon do the honors, "Y'see? Even though we both have incredible wrecking power, and can mow down pretty much anything, if you're wrecking straight down into shards of candy tree, like this, it's not gunna be pretty... Trust your old man."
"You've done that before, dad?" Gideon's voice crackled in terrified, gawking worry, to which Ralph choked a laugh, bugged his eyes and put his hands on his hips.
"Hooo yeah. It's obvious I'm not native to Sugar Rush," Ralph grumbled, though he lovingly nudged Gideon's chest and grinned, "You are, though. I think you just were overtly excited and didn't think of the consequences."
"I just want to test my strength, dad, sucks that you wouldn't let me help with the bigger trees," Gideon huffed in a swing of honest sorrow, his dewy, golden eyes glanced about the field they were in, to the rest of the massive trees Ralph was in the process of wrecking down, and finally in a swing upwards straight into Ralph's loving, concerned eye contact, "I can do it... Truly, I can."
Although still a boy, Ralph could begin to see the true blueprint to Gideon's matured, adult form. An adorable being with strikingly handsome features he was due to growing into, Ralph scoffed a gentle, loving noise of defeat, shook his head and had a silent conversation with himself about just where the hell the time went. Gideon, although a healthy mixture of both parents, had a lot of Vanellope's facial features, especially her mouth, and the way her eyes would smile alongside the show of her cute teeth. Although sagged in boyish, pleading sorrow, Ralph could see the edges of Gideon's mouth want to push forth a smile of finally understanding that he had won this battle. As Gideon's grin grew, so did Ralph's, in which he rolled his tired eyes and looked off over the top of the sprout of Gideon's messy, auburn hair.
"Alright, Gid, alright... First, get rid of these stumps and then I'll help you get set up with the big trees, okay?" Ralph mumbled in smiling defeat as he gestured to the stumps; Gideon cutely bounced on his bigger bare feet and pumped one fist in the air as a gesture of victory.
"YES," Gideon loudly hissed, he prepared himself and honed his eyes tight to the much bigger stumps before him, "Alright, I can do this, I can do this..."
"Hell yeah you can," Ralph grunted encouragement as he properly took a few steps back, though after a moment of Gideon quietly and cutely amping himself up, Ralph raised his eyebrows in delighted surprise to see Gideon sharply inhale a breath through his nose, stiffen his posture and take the swing of the century. The stump erupted upon Gideon's strong fists colliding into the side of it, and as he swiftly and properly followed through, shards of candy tree went flying in their opposite direction. Ralph firmly began to clap his large hands as Gideon heavily panted with a relieved grin of release, "Damn, Gid, I'll never underestimate you ever again. That was awesome!"
"Thanks, dad," Gideon huffed through his panting as his adorable, grinning face met Ralph's proud eyes.
"C'mon, let's tackle these trees, then," Ralph concluded with a nod as he gestured to the much bigger trees, though Ralph halted in his tracks as a group of individuals, standing with Novus, eagerly began to clap with excitement. Both Ralph and Gideon perked up and tossed their sight across the way, only to see Rancis, Wren, Orph, Throttle, Penny and Callum happily cheering the two on. Ralph grinned and waved a little as the group, including Novus, began to approach the two, "Hey, guys! What're you up to?"
"Hey, man," Rancis stated happily as the group squinted in the sunshine. Upon approaching Ralph, the two sagged into a side hug full of firm pats to each other's arms and backs, "Boss and Lickity have kindly allowed us to use the far end of their enclosure for sword training."
"She wasn't too thrilled about me wanting to use my whips, but..." Orph shrugged and almost sorrowfully caught eyes with Throttle; everyone was dressed in casual active wear, looking confident and proud, though Callum hung tight to Rancis's side. Orph heaved a tired sigh and shrugged as he finally smiled into Ralph's eyes, "It took some convincing, but I think Lickity's reserves on the matter might have healed."
"It helps that you two are at least friends, now," Penny's gentle voice assured.
"I don't know, she nearly barbecued your ass that one time," Wren muttered cutely as Orph playfully shoved on Wren's shoulder.
Ralph and Rancis continued to kindly chatter, and though Gideon hung tight to his father's side, he glossed his curious, golden gaze to his older cousin, Callum. Out of all the Fluggerbutter men, Callum was the most reserved, the quietest and the sharpest. As if simply listening in patient wait was his deadly weapon. Due to being a few months older than Gideon, Callum was already nearly a fully realized gamer, just three months shy of turning one, which would equate to the maturity of a seventeen year old. Callum's darker blonde curly hair lightly dangled in his piercing eyes, his chiseled jaw was lined with fresh stubs of blonde, he was about Wren's height and stature. He ran with the big dogs, spoke their language, was as much of a man as the other men surrounding him; once a boy that Gideon had countless play dates with, was now a man that had quickly outgrown Gideon without looking back or making sure Gideon was at least somewhat included on the journey. Mildly bitter about it, Gideon and Callum caught eyes in a swing of silent understanding. Callum had moved on from play swords to real blades, he was a big kid now, a notion that unfortunately left Gideon in the dust. Gideon narrowed his gaze a little, and before he could start imagining a billow of hell fire raging around Callum's silently fiery aura, Ralph's gentle and familiar voice popped Gideon's bubble of billowing jealousy and frustration.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Gideon and Oliver could go toe to toe, huh bud," Ralph sweetly cooed to Gideon as he nudged his shoulder, and though Gideon was typically a very peppy little boy, somehow this mood swing of ripe frustration and bitterness was en route to rearing it's ugly head. Gideon mumbled a noise and shyly looked away, to which Ralph tsked a noise and glanced to Ranic, "Welp... We WERE in a good mood."
"You know the six month mark," Rancis mumbled knowingly, though Gideon furrowed his eyebrows a little harder as Callum's dark blue eyes glinted a sneer of a smile and snuck in a seemingly innocent chuckle to boot; Gideon felt the clench of his knuckles go white.
"Well, you guys have fun," Ralph encouraged, and though Gideon so desperately wanted to be included on the big kid activities, they loudly began to laugh and bicker amongst themselves as they kindly gave Ralph, Novus and Gideon their goodbyes. Gideon firmly glowered the group down as Orph swung his arm over Callum's shoulder, all five men's energies eagerly glommed onto one another, which included Penny's royalty-like presence; a swing of familial camaraderie Gideon was beginning to feel desperate for. Before Gideon could burn a hole through the backs of their heads, Ralph's tender voice brought Gideon back, "Y'okay, bud? We got some trees to wreck."
"Are they intentionally leaving me out?" Gideon muttered as he gestured his hand, to which Novus eagerly peered to the group, far off, as if he hadn't even considered it.
"I mean, no... You WANT to learn sword fighting? They're doing their own family business, we have ours," Ralph gestured to his fists to insinuate wrecking, though Gideon rolled his eyes and looked off.
"No, I mean like..." Gideon struggled to find the words, so after a moment, he sagged his thumbs into his pant's pockets and sighed with defeat, "Forget it..."
"C'mon, let's get these trees outta here, I wanna see what you got," Ralph encouraged with a nod, though as Gideon, Ralph and Novus began to approach the small patch of huge trees left, Gideon laid one last unforgiving glower in Callum's direction; although they had mildly grown apart, Gideon wondered just why Callum had stopped expressing excitement upon seeing Gideon, what once was a delightful brotherhood was now robbed by the notion of being too cool for school. Although desperate to move on and focus on the task at hand, Gideon felt the first strike of grief lay on his heart, as if losing a friend, this early in life, especially a family member, surely wasn't on the coded agenda.
