Reviews :

Burgie : Definitely, though Flint's not technically the best influence haha.


Song Listened To :

Map of the Problematique by Muse

Stick the Kettle On ft. Scouting for Girls by Lucy Spraggan


*Chapter 58*

In rushing, eager, messy pacing, Gideon grit his teeth and angrily peered out of the lighthouse's glass double doors. A strange switch up of rapid shifting, he narrowed his gaze and could see a glowing beacon of hope out on the sand, from beyond the lighthouse he was strangely now inside of. As if this was a normal thing, a position he always took in these toxic, lucid situations, he was stationed inside of the lighthouse, it's inviting, lovely wooden floors glistened with the little breaks of sunlight that glinted inside, though Gideon could hear a deep, reverberating hum tight in his ears, almost as if to be purring. He felt drowned in bittersweet sorrow, as if he was desperate to get the attention of the person outside on the sand. The sunny, glowing version of himself seemed to peer hard into the glass of the light house, from across the golden sand, as if to taunt the version of himself behind said closed doors. Gideon clenched his teeth harder and growled the dirty glass a firm notion.

"C'mon, you little shit, COME ON," Gideon's voice growled, it was warbled and nearly demonic, and though Gideon's brain was hit with a weird kiss of reversal, he somehow felt as if he had been the angry shadow man, in this twisted nightmare, all along, so longingly gazing out at the golden, happy version of himself, just begging to share some of that happiness.

Gideon looked down to his hands in lucid, assessing confusion and took note that he was entirely void of skin, of anything, he was just black matter that jolted about in tiers of black, confused glitch lines. The noise in his ears drummed in and out of heavy purring, as if the distorted sound of heavy breathing of a big cat, as well as the aggressively angry and haunting whirring of distorted hell-screams. He lulled his eyes closed in dribbling confusion and felt his pupils roll into the back of his head, almost as if he was being summoned, somehow a being from a far away universe was reaching in to beg for his sunlight to coat the cold lighthouse with warmth, to light the fire and become the beacon, Gideon felt defeated with the swathe of scary responsibility on his shoulders. Gideon reopened his haunting eyes and rattled the glass in a jolt of messy anger, he huffed a loud noise of hot frustration and glowered the sunny version of himself down from across the sand.

"GET IN HERE! Stop pussy-footing and just... Just...! I need you!" Gideon clenched his teeth, grappled his hair, uttered a hard, raspy, hollering growl of whole entire undoing and finally allowed his glitching abilities to carry him past the glass of the cold light house he was previously sat in.

Gideon allowed his messy, black glitch lines to blob about the hot sand, and just like every single time he rushed out here to scare the daylights out of the doughy, silly naive version of himself, the sheer amount of sunlight and golden warmth that hit him burned him down to the bone. Gideon hollered in whole entire dread and pain, though in the act of messily coming closer to the golden beacon that his naive, sunny self was, across the sand, he was well aware he looked incredibly terrifying. Gideon did absolutely everything he could to reach the happy version of himself standing free in the sun and sand, he outreached his arms and could see the look of boiling terror rise from his true self, as if to be looking in a mirror, though before he could swing his arms tight about his sunny self and wrangle said beam of goodness into a needy, desperate hug, Gideon jolted awake with a faint kick of his lower legs and popped open his boggled, dilated eyes in a jump of a raspy inhale through his nose.

Laid comfortably in his big bed, sunlight beamed into his bedroom window. Clear that it was nearing noon on this lazy Sunday, Gideon sat in the dregs of his trembling veins and allowed his mind to come back to the Arcade. Now boiling in confusion, he softly panted through his nose and recounted everything that had just happened, the strange reversal that had just taken place, though now that he had new knowledge over this weird realm he was desperate to keep visiting, he heaved a long, tired sigh and slumped deeper into the cozy downs of his much huger, heftier adult bed. After a moment of mulling over the hard facts of battling with the good and evil inside of him, he rolled to a stiff sit, in his bed, and assessed himself.

Shirtless and wearing nothing but his light grey boxer briefs, his broad chest was sticky with sweat. Lightly sculpted, kissed with a fuzz of newly-arrived chest hair, he was easily coming into his own, nearly over night. Although he was thrilled to have the day off, he assessed his bedroom in mild degradedness and was now well aware he needed to take a shower, first and foremost. Having sweat all over his bedding, due to the insane amount of energy burned in these lucid dreams he almost now half-heartedly partook in, he wondered if it all was even worth this trouble, any longer. Confused over the fact that he had suddenly switched positions, and had now taken on the roll of the scary shadow man he had so insanely dread, he felt a switch up of desperation hit him. How badly he just wanted to give his sunny, good self a hug, how badly he suddenly wished for the warmth he once had. His tired, golden eyes lofted to his nightstand in an almost frustrated glower; the very application papers, to Game Over, proudly sat tucked in the draw of said nightstand, desperately waiting to be put to good use.

With a grunt, Gideon opened the drawer, pulled out the thick, dreaded papers and cued up his glitching abilities. Grateful to be taught Lash's little inventory trick, with great ease, he manifested the structure of his own coded inventory, which was empty, and socked away the papers to Game Over. With a blip, the papers were securely housed in his coding, safe from anyone that potentially would decide to snoop in the private corners of his bedroom. Feeling relieved that his secret would strictly stay with him, a cushion of a last resort and a last resort only, Gideon finally grunted to a stand and pressed to his shower so to get ready for a lazy day. He knew his mother and father were likely having a lazy day at home, though he was also aware that Archived Chaos was having a special event tonight, and that was likely going to take up everyone's attention. As Gideon pressed into his bathroom, he messily bent over, yanked off his underwear, huffed to a stand and swiped his hair out of his eyes, though he halted as he caught his reflection in the mirror.

Eyes sunken, heavy, dark bags under his dreary, golden gaze, Gideon sagged his broad, masculine bare shoulders and gave himself a look of forlorn disappointment, as if to silently berate himself for allowing a lucid dream to carry on as long as it did, thus getting no proper amount of deep sleep he desperately needed. He leaned over his bathroom counter in further, grimacing annoyance and peered hard into his own eyes for a moment. Pupils heavily dilated, and light that beamed in like he was standing on the surface of the sun, he felt a weird bout of nervous confusion come over him. He felt as if any metamorphosis he had previously went through was sunny and lovely, stepping stones into adulthood, though somehow, he felt as if mental innocence had suddenly left him. He long blinked in worried confusion and felt the hit of Chase come rushing to his brain, as if to stab him in the heart and assure him maybe just why he felt this way; he had lost yet another person to feeling sheer unimportance. Gideon nervously eyed his hair and felt reality hit him; he was very well aware his hair had gotten out of control, and though he was embarrassed to do so, he knew he'd have to reach out to someone for a clean up.


"Ralph, stop," Vanellope grunted in mild irritation, she stirred the spoon in her coffee, she wore a lazy t-shirt and candy-cane striped pajama bottoms.

"No," Ralph mumbled, he sprayed a healthy dose of whipped cream into his mouth once more and began to cutely chew it with a smug little grin, though he yanked his bigger hand away as Vanellope set her coffee down and began to swipe for the can of whipped cream.

"Give it, Ralph, that's for my coffee!" Vanellope urged in irritation as Ralph held the whipped cream above his head.

"What, so you can mute the taste of the coffee itself?" Ralph barked with a laugh, though as Vanellope was jumping up and down in front of of him, he swiftly set the whipped cream on the island and scooped Vanellope into a huge hug with a single twirl; she squealed with a kick, or two, and was sat back town to her tippy toes as they romantically sagged into a cute little embrace of snuggly love. Ralph firmly kissed her nose a few times before he was successful in catching her in a few kisses, his big, strong, careful arms held her tight about her body in a loving cradle as he quietly pressed on, "I'm sweet enough for you, aren't I?"

"No," Vanellope snipped with a youthful giggle as she scrunched her shoulders, though she erupted in happy laughter as Ralph firmly pressed a few more playful kisses into her cheeks.

"Yuck, you guys," Gideon's deep voice only mumbled as he shyly welcomed himself to the island; Ralph and Vanellope tossed their happy gazes to their son, though didn't budge from their gooey embrace.

"Oh, hush," Vanellope hissed in smiling, giggling happiness, though Ralph gave her cheek a few more kisses and finally unhanded his bride.

"Don't 'yuck' us, young man," Ralph grumbled cutely, to which Gideon rubbed his face and heaved a long, tired sigh.

"Mega yuck, then," Gideon grunted, he finally tossed his father a small smile of humility, to prove he was simply just playing. The two held stares for a second before Gideon's soft smile finally sloped to a bug-eyed look of playful taunting, he shook his head and teasingly threatened his father to a fight as he gestured his hands outwards, simply as if to ask if Ralph wanted a piece of him, "What, what're you gunna to about it? Say that I'll understand when I'm older?"

"You're already older, my guy," Vanellope heaved a hard sigh and shook her head, she stirred a little bit more creamer into her coffee and sagged her shoulders, "If I think about it for too long, I'll cry, so let's change the subject."

"It is true, son, you WILL understand one day, even though you are getting older," Ralph chuckled as he glanced in Vanellope's direction. Although Gideon looked irritated by this 'once you're older' talk, he sagged his strong bare shoulders and peered to Ralph in hesitant listening, "You know what I can see happening, one day?"

"What," Gideon grunted in smiling irritation as he crossed his strong arms over his bare chest.

"I can see you arriving on our doorstep, having already moved out," Ralph gestured to their larger front door, across the welcoming entry way and foyer, "Y'politely knock and wait... And I'll answer the door to see you standing there with a girl on your arm, and you know what you'll say?"

"... I gave her snacks and now she won't leave me alone," Gideon blurt with a hard laugh, causing Vanellope to choke on her coffee with a startled giggle-fit; both beings were all smiles as Ralph shook his head and tried not to laugh.

"You'll say 'I'd like you to meet my girlfriend'," Ralph grumbled cutely, he shook his head and gestured to Vanellope, "You're not wrong about the snacks, though..."

"Good man," Vanellope cooed to Gideon with a cute smile as she tried not to continue laughing.

"You won't be saying yuck, one day," Ralph assured with a nod and a smile, "I'm telling you, that WILL happen."

"Yeah, yeah," Gideon rolled his eyes and aimlessly looked off, "Don't hold your breath."

"How did you sleep, bud, you look exhausted," Vanellope cooed, having finally gotten a solid look at Gideon. He looked absolutely drained, totally pooped, as if he had pulled an all-nighter, "I know you were awake when we went to sleep, but I'm hoping you got at least SOME sleep?"

"Yeah, I... I got a little," Gideon mumbled dryly as he looked down to his thumbs and twiddled them on the island's cold counter.

"What's up, man," Ralph wondered gently, allowing playfulness to fall to the wayside, to which Gideon's gentle, golden eyes glanced to Ralph in a blossoming shred of vulnerability he didn't dare show anyone anymore.

"I'm... I'm fine, Chase kinda... Stopped being my friend, the other day," Gideon mumbled with a shaky sigh, "I've been trying to let it go."

"Chase? What?" Vanellope hissed in startled sorrow as she firmly glanced into Ralph's eyes, "He's... He's your best friend, what do you mean?"

"I-I don't know, I don't really want to talk about it," Gideon mumbled, his deep voice crackled as he easily did what he could to conceal tears; he only was successful at not letting them fall, but only mildly gather in his tear ducts.

Their home was silent, the television in the living room quietly droned on a lazy Sunday morning program, though Gideon's ears prickled as Vanellope heaved a defeated sigh through her nose, her motherly eyes peered to Gideon's with a twinge of nervous sorrow. She shook her head and assessed her young son. A lost, misunderstood individual, Vanellope was well aware he likely needed a bit more freedom, a bit more of an adventure. Without discussing anything with Ralph, she bobbed a nod, set her coffee down and pressed to the island's counter, opposite of where Gideon sat and stationed directly across from him.

"Tell y'what. Why don't you take Novus into the city, get yourself some lunch, get yourself a nice haircut and shave, have a day to yourself in the city, okay?" Vanellope encouraged delicately, to which Ralph raised his eyebrows and glanced to Vanellope in a swing of mild surprise, simply as if these ideas were golden, a good little outing for Gideon to have some alone time, though entirely out of left field. Vanellope shrugged and gestured to their home, "We're going to be doing boring crap here all day... Why don't you go have some fun off palace grounds. We'll go to Archived Chaos's event tonight anyways, y'know? You can invite everyone there to your art show."

"Yeah, I... I could do that," Gideon bobbed a nod and felt a weight lifted, he smiled a little and lulled his eyes in a close of soft appreciation as he began to feel hopeful that today would be not so boring after all. Although nervous to run off and do his own thing, in Orion City, he still was eager to get out there and have a day filled with just him and Novus, "Y'think Lickity will... I don't know..."

"I'll talk to Lickity, I'm sure it'll be fine," Ralph rolled his eyes and smiled, "She's not the strict parent, anyways."

"Boss," Vanellope muttered cutely, and though there was no ill-intent, everyone was aware that Boss had turned into a tough cookie, the head honcho of their pack. Vanellope sighed, shook her head and gestured towards Gideon, "Why don't you go get dressed and such, we'll chat with Boss and retrieve Novus."

"Thanks, guys," Gideon mumbled in warm, rising excitement as he slipped off of the bar stool and pressed down the corridor that led to his bedroom, at the end of the hall.

"... I appreciate you talking to me first before sending our son face first into the city all by himself," Ralph grumbled quietly as Gideon was long-gone.

"He'll have Novus," Vanellope whispered in irritation, "Poor kid needs to stretch his wings, and besides... His hair is becoming entirely unmanageable. Reminds me of someone else I know."

"He doesn't have to go into the city, nearly alone, to get a hair cut," Ralph returned quietly, he began to nervously fidget with his messy auburn hair as Vanellope playfully eyed it.

"It gives him some independence, he'll feel better if he can go off and get cleaned up on his own accord, I know I would," Vanellope vouched, she bobbed a nod and returned to her coffee for a hefty sip, "Besides. Gives us alone time."

"I don't want to be alone with you," Ralph grunted with a wide, taunting grin, "Don't think I didn't catch that whole 'don't mention my youngest baby getting older or I'll cry' bit."

"That wasn't a bit," Vanellope huffed in grinning irritation, to which Ralph heavily side-eyed her.

"It was a bit," Ralph volleyed, "You're not getting a fifth Schweetz outta me."

"Yeah, yeah, you'll be singing a different song once Gideon's flown the coop," Vanellope sneakily muttered into her coffee.