Reviews :
Snake557 : Aww haha. I can definitely see that xD
Burgie : Yeah, Gideon learns a world about himself, there's still a lot to be discovered. Thank you!
Song Listened To :
Willow by Taylor Swift
The Hunter by Adam Jensen
A/N : Hey all! The sketchdump has been posted - check out my deviantART Username Vyntresser
I HARDLY post there anymore, I think that's because I'm just sad deviantART has turned into this weird, sterile hell hole... It used to be so beautiful and creative, back in '07, and now it's just... Bland. I post every once in awhile, but if you want to truly keep up with my artwork, follow my IG username Vyntastic. Thanks guys!
*Chapter 59*
Hums and easy chatter filled the high archways of Pre-Academy's lovely white halls, Gideon's bare feet walked with renewed, humbled purpose. Dressed in a handsome dark shirt and darker jeans, he shyly opened his familiar locker in a gentle swing and peered into the lightly tattered mirror inside the door. He cocked an eyebrow and gave his reflection a hidden smirk, his and Novus's little solo trip into the city resulted in a very handsome haircut and a light buzz of his facial hair that had properly grown in, the lovely auburn hair atop his head was longer on top and faded to shorter hair near his temples and ears. Wholly coming into his own, growing to be incredibly dolled and adorably handsome, he inhaled a shaky breath and felt that every time his reflection caught with his own golden eyes, he was hit with just another tiny ump of confidence he needed to get through this insanely lonely first day of traveling classes.
Although he had succumbed to the idea of sinking into a much deeper, brotherly friendship with Novus, and having no complaints about it, he still felt sad that Novus couldn't join him at school. Having grown incredibly close to his dragon companion, he figured it was for the better and greatly looked up to Tessa, as well as Ace, Libby, Zed and Berri; their relationships with Lickity, Royal, Balba, Marble and Chester, respectfully, was something Gideon was excited to also be apart of, even if it was a quiet, not-so apparent affair. Having been let off the leash, likely due to being mildly forgotten about, Gideon and Novus had a daily pact. A free fly about Orion City, a getaway without straying too far from the palace's reaches, Gideon knew enduring school was now strictly about grades and nothing more. Previously having had hopes to make many friends, to sag away from loneliness, he wondered just why the busiest, friendliest place in all of Arcade could somehow make him feel more isolated. Starting not to feel so incredibly bitter over it, and more so just defeated acceptance, Gideon looked forward to the last bell where him and Novus could escape into their own reality.
Having anxiously read his schedule a thousand times over, Gideon's shy, uncertain stride approached his very first hour class. In the gentle trickle of students, he followed a few other people inside and was well aware any shred of confidence he had was now dwindling due to the slow, unsure scuffle he took to get to an empty seat. Gideon took off his backpack, sat down and nervously tugged it into his lap. Sat closer to the back of the class, he looked about the sunny classroom and could see proper friend groups already paired off. Understanding that normal students had multiple friends, Gideon sagged and wished that the one single friend he had didn't so abruptly cease to exist, much to Gideon's dismay. He finally gathered courage to set his bag down by his feet, he pulled out his phone and began to aimlessly scroll through the apps, an anxious fidgeting to somehow busy his whirring mind. He furrowed his brow in a mild twinge of prickled attention as the student, to his left, uttered a cute yelp and scrambled for her pencil as it swiftly rolled off of her desk and tinkered to the floor in Gideon's direction.
"Oh, I got it," Gideon's deeper voice ushered in raspy politeness, he immediately leaned over, gripped the pencil and brought it back to the girl next to him; in the draw of his eyes, he softened and peered into this girl's beautiful green gaze.
"Thank you," Her voice was curt, she tenderly snatched the pencil from Gideon's bigger, tender grip and immediately carried on with what she was doing.
"You're welcome," Gideon cooed, he assessed her in curious onlooking she was unaware of. In rapid fire, he gathered that she had beautiful brown skin, the sharpest green eyes, a pristinely pressed, conservative little white sun dress and slick, tamed silver hair that was tucked in a ballerina bun. She was beautiful, and though Gideon felt a lump gather in his throat, he glossed his eyes to just what she was doing on her desk and felt a wide smile come to his face; she was drawing, and it was here was Gideon desperate for friendship, "Oh, you're... You're an artist. So am I, that's really cool."
"Thank you," She ushered, curtly, once more, though Gideon intuitively read her body language and could tell she was resisting conversation.
"Of course, you uh... You work in any other mediums besides pencils?" Gideon tenderly asked, knowing, full well, he should probably not push the envelope, and with the sneakiest little side-eye she deployed on his shivering, lonely heart, Gideon was well aware he should've kept to himself.
"I have a boyfriend," She tightly muttered, and it was here did Gideon's face heat up in sorrowful embarrassment.
Gideon sagged, took his conversing leave and looked down to his empty hands, on his desk, in a hit of defeat. Although this girl had no authority over him, he felt as if he had strangely broken a rule and was now condemned for blindly flirting in loo of wanting friendship. Gideon silently sighed and peered ahead as his curt classmate continued to quietly draw, by herself. Now understanding that he should likely stick to trying to find guy friends, he felt a weird mix of emotions hit him. Desperate to relate to someone, the one person he finds actually doing something he's entirely interested in is immediately wrapped up in 'do not enter' signs. Although not searching for romance of any sort, he felt his heart sag a little harder as a previous conversation that him and Ralph had had. The notion that one day, Gideon would likely bring home a woman, and whatever that even looked like, Gideon was certain garnering a girl's attention was now entirely impossible, due to this simple interaction where he was being anything but rude or pushy.
Although Gideon previously had high hopes for his first class, the introductory class hour went by quickly and he begrudgingly head to his second hour with little to no hope, due to being thwarted. Although not due to giving up, Gideon began to feel exhausted trying to somehow garner a shred of attention, from anyone. He figured cleaning up, dressing nice, smelling good and putting on a lovely smile would somehow do the trick, though he had to fervently remind himself that it was only one tiny interaction, and next hour could hold surprises. Although him and Chase shared a locker area, Gideon was nervous to keep revisiting his locker lest he bump into Chase, or worse, Zee. Gideon did everything he could to hold on to the items he needed for each hour, and to only go to his locker if he desperately needed to. As Gideon held his schedule out and quietly pressed to his next class amidst the mess of loud chatter in the school halls, his eyes glossed the sunny, grassy quad with another hit of realization; lunch hour would be a new adventure, and finding a new place to eat was now at the top of his worries. In the lazy gloss about the tables splayed in the gorgeous, sunny quad, Gideon's eyes landed on someone familiar in the cut of a firm double-take, alongside the scuff of his bare feet to a stunned halt.
Far across the way, Gideon felt his pupils tighten in a draw of whole confusion as to just what he could see tucked securely in the shade of one of the many massive oaks. Callum sat with his group of friends, though lazily sat in the familiarity of their group was one of Gideon's old classmates from his stationary-class days. A boy his age, Callum sat with his arm looped over his shoulder in a brotherly fashion. They all chattered and laughed, there was little difference in age or social stature between said classmate and Gideon, except for the fact that said classmate was far more boisterous, far more excitable and charming, likely a lot more outgoing and assertive. Gideon felt his heart drop, and though the sag of cold, lonely sorrow made his skin tingle, he furrowed his eyebrows in an upswing of rising anger that was having a really hard time containing itself. Certain now that the age gap wasn't the problem, Callum simply didn't want to associate with Gideon due to the fact that this was now a character clash. The group of boys happily laughed and chattered away, said classmate hung in Callum's lovely, brotherly side embrace, simply as if Callum had taken on a new, younger being to mentor, to coddle. Seething, Gideon pressed to his next class in silent, stewing, scheming frustration.
Long after school had let out, Gideon's piercing eyes scanned the land and cityscape out before him. The wind viciously whipped his hair and clothes about, he readjusted the grip of his larger hands to Novus's saddle and relished in the feeling of Novus's thick, lovely mane that whisked against his wrists and kept his hands warm from this chilly, early fall afternoon air. Having gone home and changed into a lazy tank top and a black zip-up hoodie, Gideon and Novus made quick work of taking to the skies and diving head first into Orion City's gorgeous sprawl, eager to get lost and forget about their reality, for the time being. Although tempting to manifest another world, to soak into Gideon's imagination like they always would, said manifesting, at such large scales, was becoming taxing. Gideon wasn't sure what he could chalk it up to, though he wondered if getting older had anything to do with it. Although he hadn't lost touch of it, it somehow was becoming more difficult to outwardly share and he couldn't totally pin-point why. Letting Novus lead the two to their typical little hang out spot of dark secrecy, Novus's gorgeous blue wings drifted past a few high rises, dipped underneath towering street lights and came to a gentle, swooping flap to a dirty sprawl of a sidewalk in a rather run-down part of South Orion City, furthest away from the palace.
"I could practically hear your thoughts, dude, it felt as if my saddle was gunna catch fire," Novus's deep voice grumbled in tease, his vivid blue eyes glanced to Gideon as Gideon dismounted Novus's spine and lovingly pat the broad of Novus's side and neck.
"Yeah, today sucked," Gideon muttered, he cocked an eyebrow and glanced about their surroundings in a subtle toss of eyes, him and Novus were doing everything they could to be as inconspicuous as possible, "C'mon. I have a surprise."
"Surprise?" Novus wondered gently, he flattened his ears in a softened pose of slinking and followed behind Gideon as the two began to step into a darker back alley. Although said alley was damp and creepy, sunlight spilled down onto the cold cobbles at the very end of said alley, through a group of rather unkept trees.
"Yeah, I discovered something on the way home," Gideon's deep voice was hushed, they pressed into the smaller, dark alley and assessed for any stragglers that could have potentially gotten to this spot first and been lurking.
Gideon kicked a few empty, loose little trash cans out of the way and cleared away a spot of concrete wall he had taken a liking to. Although Novus and Gideon had only come here a handful of times, it was becoming a hangout spot where Gideon could paint whatever he wanted, obscene or not, and not have to worry about anyone on palace grounds seeing his work. Gideon loosely glossed his eyes about the alley, once more, in search for other beings and finally hovered his hands between him and Novus. With ease, Gideon's lovely, darker purple coding illuminated the skin on his palms and kissed the flecks of dust that had kicked up in electric, cyan goodness. Novus's beautiful eyes watched the secretive show unfold, though what had appeared out of Gideon's hand was something Novus should've guessed; a fresh, frosty bottle of beer. Novus visibly sagged in brotherly annoyance.
"Gideon, that's NO surprise," Novus urged with a cackle, though Gideon grinned in delight, popped the cap off of his beer and waggled his free hand. With ease, he manifested a big, tasty, scary looking energy drink, just for Novus due to Novus not being able to taste alcohol. Novus perked up and finally switched from jealous annoyance to teasing gratitude, "Okay, okay, I see you."
"You really think I'm gunna enjoy by myself?" Gideon muttered as he popped open the can, for Novus, and handed it to him. Although awkward, Novus was successful in grappling the bigger can of insane caffeine and sat on his rear with a thump of his tail and tail sails. Gideon took a solid swig of his ice cold beer and shook his head as his eyes glossed the wall before him, "That's not the surprise, anyways."
"What is, then?" Novus wondered, he eyed the wall Gideon had painted on a few days prior, both boys were surprised the painting was even still standing; a very scary, demonic recreation of Chase, an abstract retelling of Chase's character in an evil form, Gideon was well aware it was an immature low-blow for his and Novus's entertainment only.
"I passed by a trash can, just outside Academy's doors, and there was this spray bottle on the ground," Gideon started, without effort, one handed, he cued up his inventory and quickly swiped at said spray bottle. His secretive, hidden Game Over papers were buried in the mess his inventory had become. Said grind-lines of a holographic inventory zipped away as he grappled the can of what used to be a full bottle of spray paint, "I discovered something, coming into Sugar Rush's outlet... Check this out."
"... Whew, okay, I think I found my new favorite flavor," Novus mumbled in delight as he smacked his lips and peered down to his hefty can of energy drink; sour apple. He perked his ears as Gideon's strong hand jostled the can of paint, the marble inside clacked out in echoey, reverberating nonsense against the cavern of concrete both boys were lazily sagged into, though Novus cocked an eyebrow and cheekily eyed Gideon as Gideon took a few huge, eager gulps of his beer, downing nearly half of it. He came up for air and eyed the wall in which they had messily painted the other day, "You realize our flight home is going to be a nightmare."
"Shit, at least you'll be sober," Gideon muttered darkly with a mischievous smile, and with a firm press of the nozzle, of said seemingly empty can of spray paint, Gideon successfully manifested a blast of airbrushed paint, a gorgeous hit of lush turquoise suddenly splayed the wall, and with diligent, beautiful control, Gideon sharply spelled out his name in an edgy, educated font, a proper graffiti tag. Gideon took a step back, jostled the paint and eyed his smaller creation with fiery, excitable eyes, and with eagerness, he took yet another few downs of his rapidly disappearing beer, "Forget painting with my fingers, eh? Now I don't have to come home a fucking mess."
"Yeah, your mom wasn't happy," Novus muttered with a chuckle, he gently nudged Gideon's arm with the broad of his wing, tucked it back to his body and prepared to also down a few gulps of his tasty drink, "What happened today, I can tell you're pissed. Was it Chase again?"
"No, guess which asshole it was THIS time," Gideon barked, he tossed his sharp eyes tight to Novus's and firmly jostled the can back and forth, having manifested seemingly transparent paint inside of it, a vessel for colors his manifestation and imaginative glitching powers easily supplied.
"Zee?" Novus pressed in confusion, though Gideon tilted his head back and finished his beer, bottoms up.
"...Prettier," Gideon snapped meanly as he softly gasped for air, he slumped his hands by his sides and largely glowered down the wall, a splay of hatred coat his becoming-delirious, drunken soul.
"... Nemi?" Novus prod, he huffed a mean laugh and shook his head, "Y'gotta tell me."
"Callum," Gideon huffed darkly, he grit his teeth and, with a toss of easy-ushered strength, Gideon sharply chucked his empty beer bottle down towards the base of the wall and filled the alley way with a sharp shatter of the brown glass. He inhaled a raspy breath, shook his head, cued his glorious coding and manifested yet another frosty, perfect bottle of beer. With a firm swipe, he skillfully hit the rim of the beer bottle's sealed cap against the tattered spray paint can and popped it open with a fizz. His husky voice pressed on, "Guess who was sitting with him in passing periods, today?"
"Don't say Chase," Novus grunted as he flattened his ears in irritation, though Gideon jostled the can, the marble inside angrily clacked about.
"No, it wasn't Chase, but can you IMAGINE?" Gideon barked as he whirled around and gave Novus a wide, scheming smile of raw delight. Novus barked a laugh and shook his head as he took a gulp of his carbonated energy drink, "I'd leave, seriously. I already wanted to... It was just some kid in my old class. He's my age. Just sitting there, yucking it up with him like they're best friends. Why can't that be me?"
"This kid is YOUR age? I thought Callum was like... Ageist," Novus grit his fangs in hot annoyance as Gideon firmly chugged a few solid gulps of his second beer and pressed closer to the wall he was excited to paint on.
"At least now I know he hates me for me," Gideon sharply muttered through the grit of his teeth, though just as he was about to lay a world of paint to the wall before him, the grid near the mouth of the alley way ruptured with life and blipped a being tight to the electrified air about them.
Both boys flinched in whole surprise, sagged and peered hard to the mouth of the alley way only to see a very familiar being slowly, though menacingly, stride his way towards Gideon and Novus's frozen figures. Piercing, glowing yellow eyes scanned the wet cobbles, the trail of broken glass, the wall that was tagged, Lash gingerly cupped his arms behind his back and stepped his authoritative, stern presence into their loose bubble and finally caught eyes with Gideon in a whirl of cheeky, discovered disappointment. Lash bobbed a nod, eyed the beer in Gideon's hand, glossed his gaze to the immense amount of tagging on the wall, the broken glass one more time and finally delivered his scary eyes tight to Gideon's now furrowed, irritated, devious look of whole rebellion. Lash huffed a dry chuckle and, although he so badly wanted to climb all over Gideon's secretively fragile, gooey soul, he narrowed his creepy, vertically rectangular-pupil gaze and eased an equally as devious little look of deathly delight into Gideon's shivering, fiery eyes.
Lash gently clenched his teeth and ushered Gideon a hushed notion of venomous authority, "Start talkin'."
