Reviews :
Burgie : He definitely outdoes himself, but probably not in the way anyone would expect :D
Song Listened To :
Pigs In the Sky by Grabbitz
*Chapter 106*
"Nox, c'mere, you're worrying me," Ralph called across the gap. Although still kissed with patches of snow, the field in which the group had found was now being fully-blasted by Sugar Rush's noontime sun.
Glistening peaks of grass and dirt peaked through said patches of snow, the cliffside continued up a lot higher than the huge field they resided in, and though it was hugged by massive mint-bark trees, the field glowed with sunlight and electric energy. Nox, although a strong and diligent wrecker, still had a few issues with his hands due to the very first time he had attempted to wreck back when he lived on the Kalivar Castle lot. Due to Ace's still-progressing healing sessions, Ralph knew doting on Nox was necessary to his full potential. Due to shedding their thicker winter coats, everyone was now dressed in lighter tanks and kicked off shoes and mitts. Nox bashfully rubbed the back of his head and allowed his bare feet to scuff the grass as he approached Ralph's now knelt figure.
"When's the last time Ace visited you, huh?" Ralph ordered cutely, Nox heaved a shaky breath, opened and clenched his stiff fists a few times before tenderly sinking his left hand into Ralph's much more massive opened right palm.
"A few nights ago," Nox murmured, his golden eyes immediately sagged to a muted show of minted worry, and as Ralph cued his vivid purple coding in a swarm of Nox's, both men stood still as Ralph did what he could to assess Nox's mainframe; though not nearly as fragile as it used to be, his hands still were a weak point ever since his coding blipped and failed to actually deliver him the full ability to wreck.
"Looks good, I could see you hesitating," Ralph kindly mumbled to Nox's bubble as the rest of the gang stopped what they were doing and began to stroll closer to Ralph and Nox.
Gideon, having manifested a whole slew of concrete walls, massive trees to destroy and a whole slew of other things to obliterate, he finally began to feel the wiggle in his coding. Although he had taken Kepa's full advice and was diligent in manifesting right from his core, really ushering care out into the universe, it had now gotten to a point where manifesting, on top of vigorous wrecking, was exhausting him faster than what normal, Kepa-taught manifesting would. A sweaty mess, due to taking off his shirt at any moment, he lifted said shirt to wipe the sweat off of his forehead. Happy to be out and about, he also did whatever he could to make sure he didn't bust his stitches and only participated at a much lower intensity. In a messy splay of his hair with his thick fingers, he panted as he came closer to Nox and his own father. He furrowed his eyebrows, and though he didn't have context, he figured the two were okay due to the quiet show of reassurance Ralph was giving Nox, and just how diligently Nox was glued to said swathe of reassurance.
Tessa and Oliver began to bicker, Novus took rounds in stretching his wings and returning to watch the show, though as Gideon's heels scuffed into the shade of the trees Ralph and Nox were in, Gideon narrowed his gaze and quickly melted deeper into this breed of familial love he had previously had a difficult time marinating in. Although both starkly different gamers, Gideon firmly had to remind himself that Nox was due to being Ralph's second son-in-law. Although a massive reeling event, Gideon sagged his shoulders and bravely inhaled a silent breath of steadied curiosity, and in his mind's eye, he patiently erased Nox from his vision and meticulously placed Kepa in his spot. Intensely curious to see just what that relationship would look like, Gideon squinted in enchanted disbelief and could most definitely see Kepa wildly getting along with the whole lot of his immediately family. A fiery, happy, sarcastic ball of fun and fur, Gideon lumped a swallow down his throat and wondered just how Kepa would even begin handling his own powers of wrecking, glitching and proper, tangible manifesting.
A beautiful sight, the very image of Kepa's adorable little figure stood before the sheer beast that was Ralph, the hefty swat of her tail, the sprawl of her incredible wings, Gideon cocked an eyebrow and now forced himself to look off. Certain she'd give the whole palace a run for their money, he furrowed his brow, put his bigger hands on his hips and was starkly reminded of something; the raw fact that gargoyles were a universal sign of protection over big churches, castles or palaces, Gideon narrowed his eyes and now glowered off into space as if to be upset that the universe was adamantly lining all of this up for him in plain sight. Eager to run away from his problems, he was now well aware Kepa was placed in his life to stitch it all back together. His brain swung back to the raw and vulnerable idea of giving Kepa his own powers and coding, and with such a spicy topic now eagerly dancing right at the forefront of his mind, he cocked an eyebrow and aimlessly peered off in the tornado of thoughts he was now drowning in.
"Gideon would know, I mean, right?" Oliver grunted with full certainty as he swung his arm and caught with Gideon's chest in a gentle swat; Gideon sharply flinched and was jostled out of his secretive little daydream, one of which that started out innocent and melted into something a little more private.
"I'm Gideon," Gideon blurt nervously in a mumble; Tessa and Nox erupted into happy laughter.
"Do you?" Oliver goad, he asked as if to assume Gideon was surely paying attention.
"Do I what?" Gideon huffed, though Oliver rolled his eyes and laid a sarcastic little grin to Gideon's shy, golden eyes.
"Pay attention?" Oliver teased, though Gideon stiffened and was happy that this caused Oliver to soften, "I-It's okay, dude, I asked if there was maybe something in the manifesting realm that could help Nox with his fingers? I guess they're sort of stiffening up on him."
"Ace and Lash usually just use their User abilities to sort of align the bones in my hand, but," Nox grimaced and began to fervently rub the skin atop his left hand, "I'm wondering if my issue is in the tendons in my hand."
"I mean... I'm not sure exactly what I could do to help, I mean if Ace and Lash can't permanently get your hands to cooperate, what makes anyone think I'd be of any help?" Gideon stated with pessimistic airiness, he chuckled as if he was absolutely certain they viewed him as useless, though their stunned silence was very loud.
"... Considering not even the Users can just manifest nearly ANYTHING at will, Gideon?" Tessa blurt a chuckle and crossed her arms, she shook her head and furrowed her brow in serious contemplation, "Uh, yeah... It's safe to assume you may have answers."
"I thought the same thing," Nox assured with a nervous chuckle as everyone eagerly peered to Gideon, and with such a stun of volleyed trust, Gideon raised his eyebrows, cleared his throat and dared to step closer to Nox, now with a kiss of purpose.
"Well, that's... Nice of you guys," Gideon mumbled cutely as Oliver firmly pat his back upon passing him.
"C'mon, dude," Oliver grunted in mild annoyance, "You bring a different perspective."
"Truly, I wouldn't count on me having answers, but..." Gideon and Nox closed in on each other as Ralph grunted to a stand, and as Gideon gently gripped Nox's littler hand in his, he cued his incredible, electric purple coding and easily swarmed the coding on Nox's arm in a melt of an exterior swap as he cheekily continued on, "Here goes nothing."
Nox flinched in surprise at the strange lick of feisty new coding that eagerly grappled his, and though Gideon's big, husky, intimidating figure stood frozen before Nox, his golden eyes aimlessly scanned the ground in curious searching. Gideon eventually furrowed his brows in a spike of smiling disbelief and hooked his eyes tight to Nox's, a reveal of a toothy, devious little smile, it was clear that Gideon's charming, cunning self came out to play in the arena of flexed abilities he was certain no one cared about until now.
"You have invisibility powers," Gideon stated in a swing of almost devious curiosity, to which Nox swallowed hard, gripped Gideon's hand and bobbed a shy nod.
"Y-Yeah, I do," Nox stated in a huff of nervousness, he narrowed his muted yellow eyes, the cube of his pupils hooked tight to Gideon's eyes, "Why is that relevant?"
"I don't know, you said the tendons in your hands are what's bothering you, is your invisibility selective or just a mass of power?" Gideon sharply questioned, intelligence that was always masked by shy, loner tendencies, though now that it was all on a full display, Ralph, Oliver and Tessa hung back and watched in a spike of gentle awe.
"Funny you say that, actually... Koko has found out how to be selective about it," Nox stated with a cheeky side-eye off in aimless pondering, "She's still trying to teach me, but... I-I mean, even she took a long while to teach herself how to do it."
"Is it something like this?" Gideon wondered plainly, though as he turned Nox's littler hand over, still gripped in his bigger one, Gideon inhaled a quick breath, eagerly hooked to Nox's invisibility skills and was successful in making Nox's skin, muscles and bones vanish on his turned-over left hand.
"H-Holy shit," Nox hissed as he hunched a bit, his golden eyes immediately muted to full grey, the sheer creepy, gory yet strangely beautufiul show of nothing but his tendons, in his hands, was now as clear as day and fully exposed to everyone's eyes. Like the highest x-ray technology, Gideon furrowed his eyebrows and leaned down so to get a better view at Nox's barren hand. Nox breathing began to pick up, the raw sight of his exposed inner workings with the exclusion of blood, muscle and bone had his brain wigging out, "Uh, Gideon, how the hell..."
"Yeah, you were actually right, these tendons and ligaments, here, look strained," Gideon skillfully pointed, his voice was lazy and carefree, though Tessa, Oliver and Ralph all collectively gasped and hovered tight about the bizarre, haunting sight of Nox's blood-red tendons all safely on display with his invisibility powers, all through the vessel of Gideon's raw skill, "Next time you're with Lash or Ace, just, uh... I guess call me, and all of us could get to the bottom of it. Much easier when you can actually visualize what needs to be fixed."
"Hammer not included," Tessa muttered as everyone stared down in stunned, cheeky terror, the raw fact that Nox's inner workings were just blatantly visible like it was no skin off of Gideon's nose, he finally sagged his hand and coding away from Nox and returned his flesh back to pure normality. Nox huffed a shaky, audible breath and began to fervently rub and assess the back of his hand, grateful to see his grey skin, once more. Tessa cocked an eyebrow, stabbed her eyes to Oliver's, then Ralph's, and finally Gideon's, "Uh, Giddy... Y-You, uh... That was really quick thinking, on your part."
"It was?" Gideon mumbled, he eyed Nox and shrugged, "It's a no-brainer. Invisibility? Just like layers, you choose which one to hide and which one to show."
"I would've never thought of that," Ralph grunted as he put his massive hands on his hips and side-eyed Gideon in cheeky, smiling annoyance, "Alright, kid... I understand you have your mother's wit, but where's this next-level problem-solving coming from?"
"It ain't from dad, I can tell you that," Oliver blurt, the group erupted into laughter as Ralph shrugged and looked as if to be fully agreeing with Oliver's playful sentiment.
"Sign you up for a game show, or something, you'd win, hands down," Nox muttered cutely, though Gideon raised his eyebrows and held his breath; the haunting remembrance of his blank Game Over application continued to prod the back of his brain like a hot poker.
"Don't forget us when you're famous, dude," Tessa cutely agreed, Gideon grinned and shrugged in forced nonchalance, though as his fiery eyes stabbed across the wrecked field of a full morning of productivity the five had accomplished, he desperately did whatever he could to come across as light and airy, unsuspecting; it was here did he source just where Finch laid off to, he wasn't surprised to see said tall shadow-mass hovering tight to the edge of the forest, once more.
"Don't let Gideon get his mitts on Lash's or Turbo's power," Oliver stated down to Nox as Novus's lovely, billowy wings allowed him to come to a glide down to the group's vicinity.
"Or worse, Throttle," Ralph ushered, "Telekinesis paired with Gideon's manifestation?"
"Teleportation sounds scarier," Tessa argued.
"It's all relative, you basically exposed the inner workings of my physical body," Nox complained as he urgently gestured to his chest, everyone happily laughed, "You gotta teach me and Koko how you did that... You know how badly I could scare the piss out of my brothers by waltzing around the corner as nothing but a skeleton?!"
"Dude, yeah, that'd be AWESOME," Oliver urged in boyish fervor, him and Nox eagerly began to add more notions to the mess, and though Gideon was glad to be of service, he held his breath and was wildly concerned with just how malleable his powers were, just the extent he could push it, and with this, he began to feel his head grow big with airy, egotistical fervor, a notion he was certain would be damn-near impossible to extinguish.
