Reviews :
Burgie : Thank you so much!
Snake557 : Thanks for the requests! I've added yours :D And, thank you!
ThoreLB : Awesome requests! I've added all of them :) I appreciate your support!
Lyssdoodle : Hey! Thanks for catching up, and for your requests! :D I've added them all.
Song Listened To :
Silver Comforts Jim by James Newton Howard
*Chapter 101*
Through the course of the evening, Gideon did what he could to simply just exist and see what came about, what circumstances came to him. Although happy to be included, he did, however, take note that there were circumstances where someone would make a sexual joke and it were to be nervously retracted due to the group having to condition and censor themselves around innocent ears, of which were previously Gideon's. Although now fully an adult, fully aware of said spicy jokes and in full support of a good laugh, Gideon would catch himself sagging into himself when the group would catch themselves and then quickly reverse their nervous retracting. Somehow flattered to be thought of, the idea of being briefly considered still a babe continued to sting Gideon's heart. The group would laugh and joke in Gideon's general direction, make playfully snide remarks about wondering just when he had grown up and now it was a party due to not having to censor conversation, though an inch of venom sat in the pit of Gideon's stomach. It bubbled, Gideon itched, he would crown a mask of a humble smile and allow the group to ease past such notions, he'd give Tessa a loving smile of warm, guffawing dismissal, though deep down his sneaky, sharp intuition could sense that everyone here was still struggling to put Gideon's now fully-grown adult body, mind and demeanor into motion with the rest of the group.
Doing everything he could to unravel bitterness and really genuinely try and rid his pores of it, the group slowly began to mosey into the idea of gathering around the bonfire outside for some delicious s'mores. Off of a massive sliding glass door and wall off of the kitchen, the gape of the cabin hung open into the frigid nighttime air, though as Gideon mildly shivered and scanned the outdoors from inside the bend of the kitchen and it's massive island, he smiled as he could see his father and big brother properly fanning the bonfire, a huge pit that lit the cold, blue, nighttime atmosphere aglow with the contrast of it all. As Gideon carefully tugged his much thicker black hoodie over his chest, he winced as he tried not to strain his wounded arm. Happy that no one had drawn their attention to it, thus causing Gideon to have to open up about Kepa, this only furthered the notion that Tessa likely told them bits and pieces of Gideon's situation behind the scene. Though certain Tessa had upheld Gideon's shy secrets, from the night prior, he still did what he could to not allow his shifty gaze to side-eye almost everyone he was currently involved with. As if in a constant state of being involved in a murder mystery, he knew he needed to watch his back and make sure he kept his secrets close to the vest.
Having promised himself that he'd avoid Oliver for the evening, due to both men on the brink of a tough conversation, Gideon allowed his hot breath to fog his vision before the cascade of fire that reached for the black, starry sky above. Like he assumed, guilt plagued him, his eyes quickly gathered loose seating arrangements, and almost to his whole dismay, Emery had cutely saddled herself with Tessa, Zed and Vanellope, leaving Oliver's attention and bubble wide open for Gideon to budge into. Gideon bit his tongue, looked off and down the bend of their gorgeous, snowy-covered cabin in the dark, and as Novus grumbled a soft noise in passing Gideon's left, Gideon heaved yet another fogged sigh and rested his hand on Novus's side as both boys began to apprehensively and slowly approach Oliver at the fire pit. With a grunt, Gideon slowly sat down next to Oliver whilst he was busy rummaging for his own bag of marshmallows on his left side, Gideon having sat to Oliver's right.
"Oh, hey," Oliver chimed after he had heard Gideon's deep, almost silent grunt of a sit, as well as his felt presence. Oliver and Gideon caught eyes in nothing but the flicker of the fire before them, a sag of warm smiles and golden brown eyes that hooked in easy glances of mellow knowing. Oliver broadened his grin and shlepped the gaping bag of huge marshmallows into Gideon's available lap. With such, Novus's grumbly voice eased a murmur of excitement as he slumped next to Gideon's feet and peered his big, twinkling blue eyes to said bag of huge marshmallows. Oliver sweetly rubbed Novus's sniffling bat snout and tsked Novus a noise of playful detest, "Keep that bag in your sights, Gid, Novus looks keen to steal."
"Don't I know it," Gideon grumbled cutely as he began to lovingly pet the top of Novus's soft head in long, slow strokes as Novus lulled his eyes closed and rested his chin in the space available in Gideon's lap, on his lower thighs.
"You enjoying yourself?" Oliver wondered kindly, he skewered a big marshmallow on the end of the long metal poker he and Gideon were given, and with an easy toss, Oliver hung said marshmallow over the gap and into the noisy licks of the fresh, hot fire.
"I am, I really enjoy the snow," Gideon stated kindly with a nod, although it wasn't easy to see due to him putting on a pair of thick socks, he stretched his knees a bit and starfished his toes out towards the fire. With a satisfied sigh, he lulled his eyes closed in a long-blink of contentment he was almost scared to marinate in, "If I'm being honest with you, though... Seeing the baby pictures of you and Tess, on the fridge, is making me jealous..."
"Don't be jealous, bud, we can take some pictures on this trip and adorn the fridge with a million new pictures, there's enough room," Oliver gently dismissed; Gideon sagged and now felt regret for opening up, due to how quick Oliver was to treat Gideon's sorrow as if it were really that easy of a fix, as if feeling previously left out was something a guffawing notion could just erase. Gideon pursed his lip a little and fell silent as he, too, tossed a marshmallow over the flickers of the fire out before them, though said silence was something Oliver now sharply took note of. Really doing what he can to adopt Tessa's intuition, Oliver cocked one of his black eyebrows and nervously side-eyed Gideon to his right, and with proper back-tracking, Oliver sagged a bit and allowed his body language and posture to open up to Gideon as he vulnerably carried on, "You, uh... You okay? Would taking new pictures make it better or...?"
"What would make it better is if I was actually there with you guys, as a child, myself," Gideon grumbled darkly, he shook his head and allowed his golden eyes to aimlessly get lost in the hypnotizing dance of the fire, "It's fine, Ol, I'm trying not to ruin my own vacation. I'm trying not to be too sensitive..."
Oliver frowned and also allowed his darker, honey-brown, Ralph-colored eyes to get lost in the fire, as well. He felt a pang hit his heart; well aware the notion of Gideon being too sensitive was likely something that had eventually made it's way back to Gideon, Oliver clenched his teeth and now felt guilt. Understanding that every being here, in the core of this fire pit, and every being in the throes of palace life, had a world of sensitivity and tenderness to offer. Although Gideon's maybe looked a little different than mostly everyone else's, Oliver heaved a hot, fogged sigh through his nose and allowed his eyes to close in gentle, humbled defeat. He aimlessly twirled his marshmallow once and finally reopened his curious gaze down to their much bigger fuzzy-socks-covered feet.
"Gideon, I owe you an apology," Oliver started, his tone held reserve, it was clear marinating to Gideon's level of sensitivity was likely hard. Although a big teddy bear of a guy himself, it was clear that there were circumstances over Oliver's life that have potentially hardened him, circumstances Gideon was now only briefly cued into, due to Tessa's say-so. Gideon lifted his eyebrows in humble curiosity and peered tight to the side of Oliver's face as he continued on, "I haven't been fair to you. You just told me an insecurity of yours, blatant baby pictures that have been staring you in the face all night, and I just dismissed you..."
"I'm... Used to it, Ol, it's really no biggie," Gideon muttered with a cute, snarky little smile and a shrug, a visible hurdle Gideon had successfully now placed between both men, something Oliver was eager to get rid of right away. Gideon heaved a very long, drawn out, silent sigh and continued to soothingly stroke Novus's head in long, combing strokes, his fiery eyes glanced down to Novus's beautiful pelt, "I understand none of it can be helped. I just can't help but feel sad. I've missed out on so much, you and Tessa have had a world of time together. Even you and Koko."
"Well, yeah, but Koko is in a very similar boat to you," Oliver cued, both men lazily drew their eyes across the fire and sourced Koko, who was easily giggling away with Nox and Ralph upon making a light mess of their chocolatey, gooey s'mores. Oliver chuckled and lifted his marshmallow out of the fire, "She doesn't have baby pictures on the fridge... Hell, she doesn't have baby pictures at ALL."
"Yeah," Gideon sighed, feeling dismissed once more, he was thrilled Oliver was successfully picking up exactly whatever Gideon was proverbially putting down.
"Gid, I'm not saying any of this to minimize what you went through, what you're currently going through," Oliver urged as he finally puffed on his marshmallow and blew out the remains of the fire that had clung to it, "If anything, I'm just... I don't know what I'm trying to do or say, here, all I know is that I've been made aware that I may not have been fair to you, and I want to make it up to you."
"I just want to be treated like an adult, I want to be included, I want you guys to truly care about what I'm up to," Gideon rattled as he, too, pulled his marshmallow away from the fire and blew out the remnants that fervently remained, "The way I see it, if I have to ask for you guys to pay attention to me, it's moot... I don't want to have to ask for attention, that feels forced."
"You're right, that would feel forced to me, too," Oliver muttered with a shrug, "You're a sensitive dude, but... Gid, you have walls up. We want to be included in on what YOU'RE doing, too. It's a two way road. It's hard to approach a wall, it's hard to include a wall. I hope I'm not offending you."
"You're not," Gideon heaved a long sigh and bobbed a nod, though he now did what he could to hide a small smile, "My best friend told me that no one has ever been able to really level with me because I don't show you guys what it means for me to be in the trenches. I struggle but don't really like to allow anyone to help me. I don't know how to put it."
"You keep giving us a blueprint to success, but no clear direction on how to help you out of the maze we all have accidentally put you in," Oliver volleyed, to which Gideon shrugged with a nod as well, though he felt his heart squeeze the second Oliver side-eyed him in cheeky, toothy delight, "Your best friend really sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders..."
"She's..." Gideon started as he heaved a shaky sigh and allowed a ruse of warmer, deep-voiced chuckling to erupt from both men, such noise had the tossed eyes of everyone else in the group, the easy ebb and flow of everyone else's conversations so gently drummed to curious, cute murmurs. Oliver grinned and nudged Gideon's left upper arm, causing Gideon to wobble in his seat without disturbing Novus.
"She's what, go on," Oliver egged cutely, to which Gideon now grinned through contagious, shaky, genuine laughter that soaked their intimate bubble of brotherly love. Oliver gestured out to the fire and began to prepare a graham cracker and a solid piece of genuine, Sugar Rush milk chocolate, "I want to know all about her, please tell me. She's obviously a gem, she's taken good care of you, she's even sent you off with solid, wise advice. Please tell me about her."
"She's amazing," Gideon huffed shakily with a smile as he forfeited his first marshmallow as a sacrifice for Novus; he waved it in front of Novus's snout, to get him cued to the idea of incoming food, and as Novus opened his huge mouth and fangs, Gideon lazily lofted the big marshmallow into Novus's awaiting mouth. Novus hummed a satisfied little noise and began to politely chew, his chin and skull still heavily rested in Gideon's lap. Gideon sighed and continued to pet the top of Novus's head as Oliver began to eat his first s'more, "She really is ahead of herself, she's had a lot of alone time... Not to mention, she's eleven years old, so she just has a solid amount of life experience under her belt. Kepa's smart, hilarious, incredibly interesting..."
"What kind of a gamer is she? Where's she from?" Oliver questioned politely through his chewing.
"She's from Castle Run's unplugged version, she's a lion gargoyle," Gideon mumbled, though he had assumed Oliver had all of this knowledge, he was stunned to see Oliver hook his intense gaze tight to Gideon in a soft swing of shock.
"Like... Thoroughbred?" Oliver staggered, Gideon bobbed a nod.
"Yeah, she can breathe fire, turn to stone, has wings, the whole nine-yards," Gideon rattled, Oliver continued to look floored.
"...You understand that's likely the rarest combination any lion-gargoyle can have, right? The only reason I know all of this is because of Tatum, she has all of this knowledge as well," Oliver rushed through a surprised chuckle, "Has Kepa told you all of this? You know that that combination is... NEARLY unheard of. Is Kepa royalty or something?"
"I think she was in tight with royalty, she mentioned something about her mother being at the Queen's right hand," Gideon rattled nonchalantly, to which Oliver now looked wholly confuse.
"...The lion gargoyles don't have a monarchy, it's a full-blown patriarchy, one ruling male with a dozen or so males underneath, and then a load of females underneath them," Oliver staggered in soft confusion, to which Gideon now furrowed his eyebrows in a swing of mild dread, dread that Kepa likely hadn't been totally truthful to him, something that now had him feeling as if he was given a taste of his own medicine, "Y'sure she's from the unplugged version of Castle Run and not the new one? I think the current version, plugged in, is a bit more of a freer reign, in their hierarchy."
"I guess... Now I really don't know, I'm just going off of what she's told me," Gideon mumbled nervously, Oliver shrugged and looked to be mildly bemused by this all, quite contrary to Gideon's now downslope of tender confusion.
"Maybe she's seen some shit and doesn't want to relive it in retellings," Oliver delivered gently as he prepared another marshmallow, "We've heard some stories through Tatum... Since she's a half-breed, she was never allowed on castle grounds, but from what she's told me, Theo and Emery, castle life, in Castle Run, is NOT pretty. Very strict, women aren't prized or cherished, they're very selective on reproductive rights and all the crap that entails. Gruesome process."
"Yeah, Kepa expanded on that a tiny bit, I guess molting was a part of it," Gideon staggered, now feeling a world of weirdness over the fact that he was even having this conversation with Oliver, of all people. Gideon sighed and looked down to Novus as he finally finished chewing, "I wonder if I should talk with Tatum, at all..."
"No, I... I wouldn't," Oliver cautioned as he gently shook his head and began to look as if sorrowful dread had fallen over him.
"No? I guess it's not the easiest topic to bring up, anyways," Gideon mumbled as he stroked Novus's head and shyly looked off, though Oliver inhaled a slow, deep breath and lulled his eyes closed in a rise of sorrowful dread.
"Tatum's a good girl, she's just been through a world of hurt that the lot of us wouldn't understand," Oliver said lowly, Gideon peered to the side of his big brother's face and frowned as he continued on, "I've attempted to ask her about Castle Run and it's unplug. She only briefly expanded, but since she is the product of a lion gargoyle and a human, it's... Incredibly touchy. I don't know if Kepa's ever told you anything about how humans are viewed, inside Castle Run."
"I know that it's insanely frowned upon to even so much as associate with us, right?" Gideon wondered, he felt his brain do a weird wiggle at the raw idea that Oliver had all of this information, valuable, tender information Gideon was nearly certain no one inside palace walls would have.
"Yeah, the guts it's taken her to venture out from that trauma and to saddle herself with Theo, obviously a human... And, previous to Theo was Gunner," Oliver staggered with a chuckle as he tossed another marshmallow into the licks of fire. The group across the fire roared with laughter as they carried on with their much livelier, easy-going conversations, "When she miscoded earlier this year, that was a season of time that Emery and I were taking Academy off..."
"I remember, you, uh... Would occasionally pick me up at Sugar Rush's outlet after I let out of Pre-A," Gideon stated in a cadence that was light and gentle, though he was well aware there was absolutely no way around the obvious, and with this, Oliver lulled his eyes closed in defeat, once more, and sagged his shoulders.
"I left you out there, abandoned... A few times," Oliver staggered sorrowfully, almost in a whisper, and it was here did Gideon freeze and feel as if a weight was prepared to be lifted, like the clouds were about to part, like Oliver was now due to recognizing a portion of Gideon's true hurt. Gideon raised his eyebrows a little as both men now properly locked eyes in the flickers of the bright fire before them, "That was... Incredibly shitty of me. I have my reasons for being so absent-minded in that season of your life, but it's not anything justified. There's nothing I can say that would mean leaving you out in Arcadia, like that, as making any sense in this world."
"It's okay, Ol, I usually had Chase with me, it's no biggie," Gideon covered; he was swiftly reminded of Kepa's words, valuable advice of allowing someone else to truly see him in the trenches, to really sit with Gideon in his pain. Gideon narrowed his gaze and felt Kepa's spirit, even from a whole game station away, so lovingly rest her hand on his shoulder and squeeze, as if to shake him. He clenched his eyes shut and back-tracked before Oliver could say anything, "Wh-who am I kidding, it... It really hurt me, very badly."
"I know, I felt awful," Oliver mumbled, as they swung into shy, twinkling, nervous eye contact once more, "It may not be an excuse or any reason to make you feel that way, but if you're willing, I'd like to share with you what Emery and I were going through at that time."
"You don't have to, if it's personal," Gideon pressed, he shook his head and felt his hands begin to shake, "Truly, you don't have to justify it, but if it'll make you feel better to share, then, by all means."
"Emery and I had taken time off of Academy to try for a second baby, truly we tried about a month or two after you were born in hopes that there'd be another child for you and Callum to pal around with," Oliver staggered as his eyes tossed across the way, to his bride. Although all smiles, a beam of sunshine no matter where she went, Gideon peered to his sister-in-law with a knot in his stomach at just the words crawling out of Oliver's figure, "She miscoded the four successful times she had gotten pregnant... The final one was nearly eighty percent loaded. Heartbeat listened to, he was named, nursery set up, the whole nine yards..."
Gideon grit his teeth with the hit and sharply peered to the side of Oliver's face; rightfully so, Oliver's lovely eyes welled with tears. He cleared his throat with a grunt, sat up straight, set his marshmallow prong aside and subtly wiped his face to rid his eyes of tears. Gideon sagged his bigger shoulders and aimlessly peered into the fire, now fully hit with sorrow, the ability to truly feel Oliver's emotions had a lump gathering in the back of his own throat.
"Ol, I'm... I'm so sorry," Gideon pressed genuinely; although he was previously miffed about Tatum's pregnancy announcement overriding his first day at Pre-A, he now looked back and understood that Tatum's miscode was likely within the same few weeks as Emery, a double-hit for Oliver's brood. Gideon sagged and felt contempt for the whole situation finally leave him, and although he knew it wasn't fair that his day was mildly robbed, he closed his eyes in a final kiss of peace and was happy to feel all the bitterness, from said event, finally give him one last wave goodbye. He peered to the side of Oliver's face and took note that Oliver was now failing at hiding his tears, glistening little flecks that slid down his strong jawline. Gideon gingerly rested his bigger hand to Oliver's upper right arm and allowed love to shine through, "I hope you know I wasn't too young to understand this severity... I wish you would've let me in, however fragile and sad this all was."
"Yeah, looking back, I should've told you, I could've used brotherly love," Oliver's voice clipped in crackles of him desperately trying to get it all under control; although a few people across the fire took note of Oliver's now silent show of tears, Ralph was the one to grunt to a slow stand and mosey his way over to both of his sons, as if to silently make clear that he spoke and acted for the whole group by coming over to see if both boys were okay. Oliver huffed a shaky breath and buried his face in his much larger hand as Ralph grunted to a hefty sit, once more, on Oliver's left and allowed his fatherly love to marinate and join the conversation with ease. Oliver staggered on as Ralph lovingly rubbed Oliver's broad upper back for comfort, "I just... Had no clue how to juggle both things, I had to be there for my wife and for my future daughter-in-law, the one grandchild I lost AND the four children Ems and I lost..."
"Easy, bud, it's okay," Ralph's caring voice cooed with a gentle chuckle, Gideon felt the weight of all of this sap his bones to goo with the very raw and visible show of his big brother now reduced to tears. Ralph heaved a shaky sigh and peered tight into Gideon's eyes, atop Oliver's head and shiny black hair, "I'm sure if your big brother could go back and do it all over again, he would, but just know... There was no malice in any of that, Gideon. Please know that."
"I do," Gideon huffed with a small nod.
"It doesn't take away from how little you probably felt, though," Ralph assured with a nod as he closed his eyes, "There's pain all around. I'm just glad you boys are having this conversation, once and for all."
"I just wish I knew, Ol, I may not have had any experience there, or even STILL, but I can at least comfort you, Oliver," Gideon staggered in a lilt of mild offense as Oliver wiped his eyes and heaved a shaky breath of regret out to the fire. Gideon narrowed his gaze and now felt the full weight sag onto his heart, thus causing said lump in his throat to cause his deep voice to crackle with the onset of tears, as well, "I... I love you, Ol, you know that. We just have been shitty at showing each other just what it means to be down and out, we haven't given each other opportunities to be vulnerable. That's the source of all of this bitterness."
"Well, it ends here," Oliver demanded gently as he sat up with a show of animated life and peered his determined, teary gaze tight into Gideon's, "I love my sisters, but I dreamed of having a little brother. I held you the day you were born..."
"He took my place on the roster so I could 'catch' you," Ralph added as he smiled into Gideon's eyes, "He sacrificed meeting you first so my game wouldn't get unplugged."
"Incredibly noble," Koko chimed in as her and Tessa now wormed their way over to all three boys, and with a glom, both girls wrangled their brothers into a cute swing of a group hug.
Sagged in bigger hands and arms, little chuckles of teary knowing, the four squeezed into each other's embraces as Oliver continued to quietly cry on Tessa's shoulder.
"Prince Oliver, it comes with the title," Tessa stated with a world of warmth, she smiled and caught eyes with Gideon as they remained smushed, "That extends to you, my guy."
"Prince Gideon," Koko added in smiling confidence as she cutely pressed a firm smooch into Gideon's forehead, to which he grinned and lulled his eyes closed in warm contentment.
"Alright, group hug, EVERYONE in the circle," Novus suddenly barked as he sat up a bit, sprawled his wings and awaited literally everyone to join in. Amidst giggling and setting down their supplies, the group began to clamor for a spot amidst the already-gooey group hug, to which Novus was prepared to wrap his wings around the lot of everyone, "Just nobody catch fire."
"Dammit, that's the best part of a group hug, though," Nox whined as he lugged into Koko's side and gave her and Gideon a good squeeze; the group erupted with laughter.
"We got a Schweet setup, here, if I do say so myself," Ralph grumbled with a wide smile as he wrangled Vanellope into a tight hug, the group audibly and noisily groaned at Ralph's pun.
"Got them Fluggerbutters beat," Emery muttered with a sly little smile, to which everyone now outwardly began to bicker in hot knowing, the group finally sagged out of the huge hold of a hug but loosely stood about.
"Yeah, let's talk about the elephant in the cabin, I want to know about your cut, Gideon," Koko very bravely admitted as she gestured to Gideon's right arm. Although concealed in his hoodie, everyone knew his wound was still present and bandaged, and though Tessa grit her teeth and worried this ultimate outward show of bravery Koko was displaying may very well send Gideon running, she was delighted to see him heave a long, readied sigh and open up.
"Yeah, that... Sucked. My best friend stitched me up, though, she's been really wonderful about it," Gideon eased cooly, to which Koko sweetly side-eyed Gideon and fluttered her eyes.
"A Ms. Kepa Schweetz?" Koko chimed, Gideon raised his eyebrows and felt his face turn beet red, to which the group muttered sweet, dismissing, guffawing notions in Koko's directions.
"Kepa Schweetz, no, none of that," Gideon mocked as he shook his head and looked down, though he long-blinked in sweet, lovely arrival and allowed himself to soften once and for all, to truly let his loved ones in, beings that were desperate to start anew with him. He sagged in defeat and sneakily looked off and to the side as he cutely muttered a conclusion, "Not yet, anyways."
"Ohhh," Koko loudly cooed, as did Emery, Nox and Vanellope, Oliver cutely nudged Gideon's uninjured arm as Gideon wobbled and choked a bashful little chuckle down to his feet.
"I'm proud of you, bud," Oliver assured with a nod, "No pressure, but... We can't wait to meet her."
"I'll let you guys know when I'm ready," Gideon stated with a nod, and as everyone else easily nodded with him, he was floored to find they were all so prepared to give Gideon the world, so prepared to remain patient as Gideon came to a certain comfort zone inside this new territory, "Thanks, everyone."
"You're royalty," Vanellope assured with a nod as her and Ralph squeezed into a loving side-hug, "We stick together. Don't you ever forget it."
"C'mere, you," Oliver grumbled as he yanked Gideon into a huge bear hug, though he was careful not to jostle his injury. Gideon willingly sagged into Oliver's huge, comforting embrace and rested his head on Oliver's shoulder, though he choked a cute laugh as Oliver gave Gideon a solid squeeze and ruffled the auburn hair on the back of Gideon's head, "I love you, little bro. Thanks for hearing me."
"I love you," Gideon returned, for the first time in his life, he felt the sorrows and bogged-down weights of his and Oliver's relationship lift and reach understanding, and with this notion, he smiled into Oliver's shoulder and kept his strong arms gripped about Oliver's much bigger midsection, "Thanks for TELLING me."
"We gotta have more of these chats, more often, y'know," Oliver mumbled cutely as both boys gave each other one final squeeze before parting.
"... Tell me more about this whole 'got the Fluggerbutter's beat' notion," Gideon dared; although he was on wonderful terms with his uncle Rancis and his two cousins Penny and Wren, he wondered if somehow the group was willing to open up about their opinions on Callum; collectively, the group groaned in little grumbly antics, very clearly family gossip that was about to ensue, and with this, Gideon bit his lip and dared to think he finally felt as if he was actually fitting in.
"This whole cabin could tell you a million stories about our favorite guy Rancis Fluggerbutter," Ralph grumbled cutely as him and Vanellope caught eyes, dark dog days where Radex's hologram used to near-torture the gang who came to unwind here. Ralph bobbed a nod and gestured to the fire, "Let's gather 'round then... Looks like it's gunna be a long night of storytelling."
