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Burgie : Finch is definitely a finicky being, and you'll find out why :D I adore Tessa's role, in this story. The way she sisters Gideon is the way I wish I was sistered as a child. Her's and Gideon's relationship is very important for the plot.


*Chapter 48*

"Professor Kalivar," A sweet voice called from down the sunny corridor; both Tessa and Gideon came to a gentle halt to see one of Tessa's students cutely striding over, books and papers cupped tight to her chest.

"Kiki," Tessa chirped with a lively smile, Gideon swallowed hard and did what he could to not shyly tuck behind Tessa's side, as if she were a motherly figure.

Aside from allowing his eyes to trail Arcadia Academy's magnificent, glossy white arches of corridors, sun peaking in from every angle, a heavenly glow of academia, Gideon cocked an eyebrow and tenderly eyed the adorable woman speaking to Tessa. Beautiful, fair white skin, upon further inspection, Gideon took note that said skin was actually very fine fur, a similar texture to velvety suede. She had piercing black hair that trailed down to her thighs, thin, delicate features, and it wasn't until Gideon's bashful eyes finally scanned her face did he feel his heart squeeze in a pinprick of boyish curiosity; her pupils tightened as she became animated with smiling, giggling excitement due to her's and Tessa's lively conversation. Slits of cat-like eyes now coupled with the delicate peak of adorable ears that finally made their presence known through her beautiful black hair, Gideon long-blinked in heart-thumping confusion.

"I just didn't want to turn in the paper without asking about the referencing stipulations," Kiki sweetly guffawed as she flagged her hand, though she eventually sagged her eyes into Gideon's in great cheek; she rested her little hand to the bone of her delicate, exposed sternum and eased a wider smile, revealing a kiss of longer, sharper canines further into her mouth, "I-I'm sorry to be so rude, your name is...?"

"OH, sorry, this is my little brother, Gideon," Tessa politely interjected as she took a step away from Gideon and smiled up into his eyes, though she looked off in teasing dismay and shook her head, "Erm... Bigger little brother."

"Kiki," She eased warmly as she extended a hand, and with Gideon's jumbled thoughts doing everything they could to rush to the forefront of his mind, he huffed a shaky breath and did what he could to delicately take her littler hand in his.

"Gideon," His deep voice warmly grumbled, sweet, buried shyness that was now angrily masked with crankiness, to which Kiki flattened her adorable ears and gave Tessa a polite, nervous smile.

"His first day, Pre-Academy," Tessa quipped quietly as she pat Gideon's lower arm, "He'll loosen up."

"The first day is always the hardest, especially Pre-Academy, but it gets much better," Kiki so cutely assured with a nod, a polite smile into Gideon's eyes, though she gave Tessa a nod and began to step away, "Thank you, professor. See you in class."

"Yes ma'am," Tessa concluded with a casual smile and a wave, though once Kiki was out of earshot and had mingled back into the very loose band of students that had begun to show up early to Academy, Tessa cocked an eyebrow and gave Gideon a stern smile, "My guy. We've got to work on your attitude."

"Attitude?" Gideon quietly stabbed, he drew his thick brows together in rising crankiness, an air and facial expression to mock Ralph's to an absolute T, "I don't have attitude, I'm just nervous."

"I'M GIDEON, UNGA-BUNGA," Tessa mocked in a deep voice as she hunched her shoulders, gave her best scowl and lazily held out her hand to Gideon's figure, for a sloppy handshake, though Gideon largely rolled his eyes and gently shoved her hand away as he muttered something incoherent to himself, "Come on, dude. Y'want to meet a lady friend, here? Gotta be warmer. And Kiki's a catch, I'd hold your breath for that gem. I'm pretty sure she's single, too."

"I'm underage, can we NOT discuss this right now?" Gideon muttered tightly, he shook his head and felt his face get hot, and though Tessa had begun to step in the direction the two were previously heading, she slowed and waited for him to follow suit. Upon finally following her stride, he shyly looked about before the two and felt his stomach do all sorts of different aerobic moves, "Pretty sure no Academy girl is gunna be interested in ham-hands, anyways."

"Hey, don't speak so quick, y'looking at your big brother? How about your nephew Ace? Your other nephew, Theo? Maybe, uh, I don't know, DAD?" Tessa cocked an eyebrow and didn't miss a beat, "All four men immediately caught absolute gems of ladies. Not to mention, Theo managed to snag a whole celebrity. All four of those men are ham-hands. I'd say you're in good company."

"Hmm," Gideon stiffly managed, he looked off and was well aware he was thwarted, though he deepened his nervous scowl as Tessa continued.

"Methinks you should be taking NOTES, my guy, those men know what they're doing, in the arena of romance," Tessa muttered tightly as they neared a strict, staff only area.

"I'm here to go to school," Gideon covered, he knew the redness of his face was likely something to give him away, a tell that assured Tessa his words were simply masking words, "Not find ladies."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Tessa flagged her hand and rolled her eyes, "You'll be singing a different song once you turn one. Penny's married and she still is wondering what's up in the dating community, here."

"Don't tell Orph that," Gideon finally managed a smile and a small, mischievous chuckle.

With a push of a much taller, heavier door, both Tessa and Gideon quickly trailed into one of the many faculty areas of Arcadia Academy. Lined with gorgeous skylights, pristine white walls and pops of colors all throughout the tidy, lovely span of office spaces and conference rooms alike, the sounds of keyboards typing, papers printing, all sorts of gentle murmurs of office chatter filled their ears. A quiet place for professors, board members and other faculty alike to retreat to, office spaces hidden away from their usual, massive classrooms where they could do administrative and grading work in peace. Tessa cutely greet a few other professors and faculty as her and Gideon powered on, and though she would carry tiny, walking conversations, Gideon swallowed hard and was well aware they were due to heading to likely the most important office in this entire game station, one of which one final corner turned had said massive office door revealed to the two.

"I met your guidance counselor yesterday," Tessa stated lowly, almost a whisper; they both powered on, bare feet on soft grey tiles, Tessa tucked her beautiful, mane-like auburn hair behind her ear and flashed Gideon a hopeful smile, "His name is Flint, Mr. Favor himself just hired him. He specializes in younger new students, making sure they're well established and integrated into Academy life. You'll love him, he's really sweet."

"Thank you, Tessa," Gideon eased quietly, an honest show of warmth, and though it was clear he was very nervous, the twinkle in his golden eyes proved his humble gratitude was genuine.

"I got your back, bro," Tessa returned warmly, she cocked an eyebrow as the two finally approached Mr. Favor's massive, gorgeous white office door, sealed and properly crowned with a golden plaque that read his full name, one of which Gideon only glanced at. Tessa hovered her fist before the door, in preparation to knock, though she issued Gideon one final whispery notion of wisdom, "He looks freaky, okay? Looks are deceiving. Don't allow your first impression of him to burn fear into you, okay?"

"I was already nervous, Tess," Gideon hissed quietly, his deep voice tenderly shook as him and Tessa hovered close to one another; Tessa squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head in stiff agitation.

"Just think of Turbo and his brothers, they're kind of like that, it's hard to hold eye contact with those men for too long, you know? I don't know how Berri, Mara, Koko or Wren do it," Tessa rushed in a whisper, to which Gideon swallowed hard and eased a gentle, nervous nod, "Pupils so black they're like voids. Similar feeling, here, just don't let it swallow you."

"Okay," Gideon whispered, and with that, Tessa finally allowed her fist to thud a solid few knocks into Mr. Favor's hefty office door; upon hearing his deep voice cue a welcome inside, Gideon felt his pupils tighten as Tessa gingerly grappled the huge, golden door handle and ease said heavy door open with a careful, slow push.

"Got your prized, new student, here," Tessa called into Mr. Favor's office in smiling tease, and as both Tessa and Gideon pressed inside, Mr. Favor's chair croaked as the tall figure, behind a glorious office desk, rose to a casual stand.

"Oh, good! You made it," Mr. Favor eased with great warmth, though as the hefty door gently shut behind Gideon, he did everything not to stiffen his spine in a visible show of rolled terror.

Tessa's voice sweetly and casually began ushering Mr. Favor some sort of incoherent nonsense about not wanting to be late, about wanting to show Gideon the ropes, the desire to have Gideon all set up for success, though it all warbled to echoey, reverberating technobabble as Gideon's sharp eyes fixated on Mr. Favor's being as a whole. An ethereal being, he stood nearly as tall as Oliver's stature, easily nearing the notches of seven feet tall. A bipedal, athropomorphic creature, Mr. Favor leveled down to the flat of his feet and shrank about a foot or so, likely to not come across so tall and intimidating. A grey, scaly creature, he looked almost alien. With softer, flatter features on his human-like face, shoulders and arms, he almost came across lithe and beautiful, the pristine shine to his scales almost made them iridescent in the right lighting. Gideon stiffly, though silently, inhaled a tight breath through his nose and felt his airways tighten the second the two caught eyes. Although Mr. Favor eased the warmest, most loving smile, he felt Tessa's wise words hit him square in the face. Mr. Favor's bigger, nearly-glowing, highlighter-yellow eyes confidently housed the gape of huge, black, circular pupils. Cradled by such a stark kiss of vivid yellow, like haunted, crescent moons, Gideon felt his coding do an uncertain wiggle of confused fight or flight.

"A Mr. Gideon Fox Von Schweetz," Mr. Favor's warm, grandfatherly voice ushered, he clasped his hands together as he tenderly neared to a slow half a dozen feet from Tessa and Gideon. Mr. Favor wore a plain, though very expensively beautiful kurta-like covering, it was delicately hemmed with the faintest of golden embroidery, it was clear his taste was expensive, yet very minimal and conservative. He smiled, a show of normal teeth, though Gideon still did what he could to allow air into his lungs as a hefty, much scarier set of thick canines hung at the edges of Mr. Favor's smile, barely seen, though so thick and long that his broadening smile didn't reveal it all. Mr. Favor reached out his hand, bigger and clawed, the embrace of kindness in his whole demeanor had Gideon's head spinning, "We're really happy to have you, Gideon. I hear you're itching for some friends your age, huh."

"I am," Gideon desperately tried to keep the tremble in his voice to a minimum, he politely looked Mr. Favor in the eye and warmly shook his extended hand, "Thank you, Mr. Favor."

"Bah, call me Sam. I try to stay on a first-name basis with everyone," Sam grumbled cutely, he reached out and nudged Tessa's upper arm; she blurt a quiet chuckle and looked off in shy, smiling delight, "This one somehow refuses. I don't know how many times I have to correct her."

"You're only my boss's boss," Tessa muttered as her and Gideon caught eyes; he sagged his shoulders and eased up due to seeing just how comfortable Tessa was.

"You excited to be here, Gideon?" Sam asked with a lilt of warm curiosity, he narrowed his incredibly scary gaze and eased a gentle smile, he clasped his hands together in reserved, polite patience.

"I-I'm... I'm nervous, to be honest," Gideon bellied up, he dart his eyes between Sam's and Tessa's eyes and wondered if showing a full display of vulnerability, here, would aid in a further swathe of warmth rushed his way; much to his delight, Tessa lovingly cupped Gideon's upper arm, to which Sam tsked a noise of sweet dismal and tenderly flagged his hand.

"Oh, you have absolutely nothing to be nervous about, you're going to love it here," Sam mumbled as the two caught eyes, once more, though Gideon smiled and began to feel the gape of Sam's pupils become easier and easier to endure; much like the Turbotime men. Sam heaved a sigh and began to press closer to his desk in order to retrieve his keys; it was here did Gideon flinch in the reveal of a long, white, lizard-like tail that eased from the back of Sam's robes and hovered above the ground in such grace and delicacy. Lined with hefty, worn down spines, it was his tail that showed Sam's grandfatherly age, "You have another seven-month joining you in your class, by the way."

"Oh good!" Tessa urgently cooed as she clasped her hands together and shot Gideon an excited grin, "Good, you won't be the only one."

"No, not at all, seems to be a popular trend," Sam's raspy, loved and worn voice ushered as he slid his keys into his pocket, eyed his desk in a double-checking fashion and finally turned to rejoin Tessa and Gideon across the room, "Methinks I'm going to have to readjust the acceptance age to seven months. Gideon's the third gamer I've accepted thus far, though I've had dozens of inquiries."

"Well, seriously, we thank you for it," Tessa assured with a nod, to which Gideon urgently nodded as well.

"Yes, thank you," Gideon included, he opened his mouth to continue on as the three began to turn to leave, though his eyes glossed Sam's desk and sunny office, one last time. With a near-twinkling desk name plate that read 'Sezeke K. Favor', Gideon raised his eyebrows in delicate surprise. Not only did Sam want to be on a first-name basis, it wasn't even a reiteration of his first name, rendering the notion that Sam was on a much friendlier nick-name basis with everyone. Gideon sagged with further relief and smiled up to Sam as the three began to file out of his office, "I'm... I'm happy to do something other than paint the palace walls."

"Oh, you're an artist?" Sam indulged with raised eyebrows of warm inquiry, to which Tessa bugged her eyes and bobbed a nod; Sam locked his office door behind him and kindly lead the two through the maze of faculty workspace, once more.

"Oh, yeah, he's got wicked-awesome powers, too," Tessa mumbled in a quiet brag, to which Gideon sheepishly smiled and looked off; a few associates eased excited, happy waves towards Sam, in which he nodded, so politely addressed each associate by their name and ushered said associates through quick, polite small talk as the three passed by.

"Just as well," Sam finally returned to Tessa's statement, he bobbed her a nod as the three pushed back into Academy's high-ceiling student corridor, once more; immediately Sam gathered a few greetings from fellow students nearby. Sam smiled and subtly waved to a few of them as he finally glanced back to Tessa and dug his eyes deep into Gideon's eyes with assured warmth, "Only the best attend Arcadia Academy."

"I'm seriously relieved I'm not the only seven-month," Gideon stated quietly as he twiddled his bigger fingers, shyly glanced to Tessa and finally smiled into Sam's haunting, alluring eyes, though he furrowed his brow and lightly swat his hand in Tessa's direction.

"Oh, stop pouting, Game Central Academy is pretty fantastic, as well," Sam playfully guffawed at Tessa, she erupted with laughter and looked off.

"That's my home Academy, I'm sorry," Tessa complained with a shrug and a sheepish smile.

"She didn't get to ATTEND Arcadia Academy, now she's stuck teaching here," Sam muttered to Gideon as he rolled his eyes and gestured to Tessa in a playful show of disregard, "Poor thing."

"Ha-ha," Gideon quietly huffed in Tessa's direction, though the three loosened with playful laughter; before anything else could be discussed, a dainty chime of a school bell rang through the halls.

"Whoops. Gotta go," Tessa urged, though she gently gripped Gideon's lower arm and looked him tight in the eye, "I can show you to your class, bud, but we gotta go fast."

"It's okay, Tessa, I can show him to his class, I don't want you to feel rushed," Sam eased with sincerity, he glanced a smile in Gideon's direction, "I mean, unless you want Tessa there, I won't deny you that cushion of comfort, if need-be."

Gideon raised his eyebrows and peered down into Tessa's eyes for a split second before he glanced to Sam's welcoming, sunny aura of warmth. Not ten minutes ago, he was panicked over this departure, though now that he was in the thick of it, he discerned this was a clever set up. Gideon felt a wash come over him, he was well aware Tessa was going to somehow give the option to let him fly out of the last branch of the nest alone, or with her tight by his side. Knowing this was a quick decision to be made, and sucking it up was likely key, he felt safe in Sam's care and finally gave Tessa a kind, grateful little smile of promised departure.

"I'll be okay, I-I don't want you to be late to your students," Gideon covered gently, to which Tessa eased a relieved smile and gave Gideon a quick, tight little hug of further conclusion.

"Okay, bud, I'll come check up on you later, okay?" Tessa eased quietly into his collar, to which Gideon hugged her with a squeeze and bobbed a nod, "Love you, be good, okay?"

"I will, love you," Gideon mumbled shyly.

"Thank you for everything, Sam," Tessa gently bobbed Mr. Favor a nod of a brief, small bow and began to step away, "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, Tess," Sam's gentle, authoritative voice ushered with a smile and a wave.

"Make sure he stays outta trouble, he may look like he's doughy and innocent, but you got a wily Mr. Fox, there," Tessa cutely called with a giggle as she pointed to Gideon.

"No promises," Sam volleyed as Tessa issued the two one final smile before turning and vanishing into the crowd. Sam cocked an eyebrow, leaned a little closer to Gideon and ushered him a hushed, secret notion of playful warmth, "Good, now I can show you where all the good vending machines are."

Gideon raised his eyebrows and finally eased a grin of full comfort, walls and guards down, he sagged his thumbs into the pockets of his dark grey jeans and shared a happy laugh with Sam as Sam stood to his full height, once more.

"Vending machines," Gideon repeated, he pat his stomach and grumbled a chuckle, "There goes all my lunch money."

"C'mon, there's one near your classroom, actually. I'll show yah," Sam narrowed his gaze in cheeky secrecy, and with a push, the two were off through the crowds with Arcadia's top dog at the helm.