Reviews :
chuckiboo : I won't spoil if you're on to something or not, but I will say that Gideon's journey to figuring out if he can trust Callum or not is something you all will take together. Callum is a portrayal of someone from my past. It's difficult to write for him, to be honest. Lots of emotion, there.
Burgie : Thank you so much! You as well! Yep, we're definitely edging up to the story's main drama... I'm nervous lol
Snake557 : The 3 gargoyle breeds in Castle Run are Dragon, Lion and Hawk... Maybe he knows someone from the plugged in version? Stay tuned friend :D I hope you enjoyed your week as well!
*Chapter 124*
Sugar Rush's glorious, Sunday morning sky sung in crisp, cool, winter-mint green. Every single cotton candy cloud in the sky looked pristine. A perfect patch of swirled goodness hung over the palace grounds, shrouding the palace's winter grass in big, saturated patches of sunny goodness. Koko dreamily sagged her face into her hands, she was happily having a brunch with the handful of family members and friends that orchestrated such meandering, spontaneous event. The recreational hall's high-beamed ceilings and open-aired kitchen area was alive with the murmur of lazy conversation, the smell of pancakes, waffles, bacon and eggs filled the rec hall's high walls to the brim with delicious goodness. Koko lifted off of her lean, tossed her charming, bright eyes across to the group of lingering family members about her and tucked her dainty glass, full of mimosa, to her lips. Before she could take a swig, the teleport pad hummed to life, across the way, she stiffened with delight to notice Gideon make his way off of the pad.
"Giddy, y'made it!" Koko stated in blind excitement, though with the way Gideon's bigger feet scuffed to a confused halt, the way his groggy eyes casted across the strange sight, Koko immediately felt her pupils tighten at one harrowing fact. Whoever put this little shindig together had forgotten to invite Gideon, or let him know such get together was happening, "Oh, are... Are you staying?"
"Staying?" Gideon choked a mildly annoyed little laugh and took a strong note as to just who lifted their eyes from conversation. Oliver, Ace, Libby, Tessa, Taffyta, Wren and a handful of other individuals, including racers, all happily hung out. It was clear, due to the pickings left on the stoves, the empty mimosa glasses, cleared plates and lazy, simmering conversations that this get together had likely already been in full swing for at least an hour or two, now. Gideon felt his brain boggle at the jarring sight he had walked into. Expecting the rec hall to just be totally barren of life, having only arrived here to retrieve a coat of his he had left a few days ago, Gideon tried to yank his brain from the slumbery fog it was in. He darkly glanced to Koko and allowed a tired, annoyed smirk to sprawl his face, "Why would I stay at an event I had no invitation to?"
"Aw, c'mon, Gid, it's not like that," Koko complained nervously, she firmly glanced in the direction of the people she was with and was glad to catch eyes with Tessa across the way. Tessa grit her teeth in a show of hot, apologetic regret that Koko was having to suddenly deal with this unfortunate predicament, "I-It's an open invitation, come get some breakfast and stay for a minute!"
"I'm good, Kepa's making me breakfast," Gideon delicately declined, though said declination was laced with snide smartness, a smiley, bitter vibe Koko surely could taste. Gideon grappled his coat, back-stepped to the teleportation pad and gave Koko a small wave of his bigger fingers, "Y'guys have fun without me."
"Giddy," Koko demanded, now in a swing of complaining, smiling frustration, though Gideon's vivid purple coding was off like a rocket. She sagged her shoulders and dully swung her eyes in Tessa's direction. Although it took a few minutes for Tessa to excuse herself from the conversation she was having with Candlehead and Swizzle, she moseyed on over to Koko's point on the grid. Just as Tessa approached Koko, Rancis and Callum's figures appeared on the teleportation pad, the invitation they RSVP'd to, though made clear they'd be late. Koko peered into Tessa's eyes in full dread and shook her head, "Had I known no one had texted Gideon, I would've let him know we were having this get together..."
"That was my fault," Tessa murmured as she watched Rancis and Callum scuff off of the teleport pad, come to a gentle stop and speak privately to one another. Tessa knew her uncle Rancis was doing everything he could to integrate Callum back into the palace's good graces, a desperate attempt to have everyone on palace grounds at least try and forgive Callum for what he did to Gideon. Tessa could tell Rancis was giving Callum a pep talk, the way Callum's darker blue eyes held tight to his father's in nervousness assured Tessa that Callum was wary about attending said lazy get together. Although still frustrated at Callum, she felt as if she had gotten enough nights of sleep between the anger that speaking cordially to Callum was at least possible. Tessa revisited Koko's eyes and continued on, "I... I keep forgetting we have that one group chat that excludes Gideon because, well..."
"It's ABOUT him," Koko stabbed in irritation.
"The invite got sent to that chat, as well as the other individuals I spoke to," Tessa rubbed her forehead in dread and shook her head, "I'll... I'll talk to Gideon about it later, this is my fault anyways, I'll just tell him what happened and apologize."
"Y'sure?" Koko worried, to which Rancis and Callum now approached and could sense the tension.
"You girls okay?" Rancis stated in fatherly worry as he approached his two nieces from the other side of the huge, swooping bar counter. Callum and Rancis lazily sat down at said counter, to which Koko and Tessa were stood with each other opposite them, in the nook of the kitchen.
"We're fine, just... I accidentally forgot to invite Gideon to this brunch, and he just unfortunately showed up not two minutes before you two arrived," Tessa murmured in regret, she eyed the bottom of her glass and understood she now likely needed a refill to counter the stress added to her plate.
"... He was here just now?" Callum quietly wondered, his overt, tenderhearted disposition was palpable.
"Yeah, he was grabbing his coat, he didn't know about this get together, I guess," Koko stated sadly as her and Tessa caught eyes in a swing.
"... So, he just showed up and saw everyone having a gay'ol time and it was then revealed that he slipped everyone's minds?" Rancis urged in hot irritation, it was clear that Rancis was now terrified to do anything to rock the boat, when it came to Gideon. Even though Rancis wasn't anywhere near the cause of any of this, he still peered to Tessa in full terror, terror Tessa knew was rooted back to the looming silhouette of one man - her father.
"I could text him and tell him it was a mistake," Callum nodded, though everyone furrowed their brows in a swing of full confusion and peered hard to Callum in silence. Callum tugged his shirt, nervously sagged into himself, dart his eyes about the three before him and swallowed hard before continuing through the cut of baffled silence, "I-I uh... I made nice with Gideon. We grabbed a beer last night, together."
"You made nice... With Gideon," Koko droned, she firmly side-eyed Callum in a swathe of nervous protection for her little brother, "Since when?"
"Since, like, a few nights ago," Callum loosely complained with a shrug, "He said he wasn't ready to fully forgive me, but he said he could be civil towards me. I took him out for a beer last night to break the ice."
"What timeline have we stepped into?" Tessa wondered to Koko as she gripped Koko's shoulder and jostled her a little, Rancis choked a nervous chuckle and eyed Callum in a broadened sense of concerned suspicion.
"...Really bold of you, son, what made you want to do all this?" Rancis staggered with a smile.
"We bumped into each other when I was moving into the spire and hashed everything out... Traded apologies, I offered to show him my new setup and he agreed to testing the waters, hanging out and stuff," Callum spout quickly, as if he was agitated that he had to justify all of this; the three held their eyes to him in continued, baffled stillness, "Seriously, I can text him and assure him that this was all a mistake."
"He's probably going to go running to Kepa and tell her how we're leaving him out again," Tessa worried in frustration towards herself, the situation and now the whole day as a whole, Callum snapped his jaw shut in surprise as Koko very largely rolled her eyes and looked off.
"Yeah, she's really bitey and feisty, too, so she'll just side with him and get upset at us," Koko droned, Tessa's demeanor rose from the dead.
"Holy USER I forgot you hung out with them!" Tessa loudly whispered in bright-eyed shock, Koko wildly giggled and bobbed a nod as Tessa jostled Koko's shoulder, once more, "How'd it go, then?"
"Oh, fine, she's really cool, it's clear her and Gideon have an asinine amount of chemistry," Koko droned, Callum fervently allowed his ears to collect any ounce of information Koko had to give, in this instance, "Personally... I worry he's going to dive away from us, with these mishaps, and code swap with her to spite us. He really needs to slow down."
"...Seriously? He's known her for how long?" Rancis interjected, Callum kept quiet and looked between all three individuals.
"What, a month now?" Tessa wondered, she scratched her head and looked off, "It was the day or two after his birthday that he ran off, into Turbotime..."
"His birthday was almost two months ago," Koko mumbled, Tessa nodded and looked off in a further swathe of aimless shock.
"Holy shit, time flies," Tessa hissed in shock.
"Still, two months? Vanellope said something about the two only making their status official like a week or two ago," Rancis mumbled as he adjusted his seat on the barstool and got comfortable next to Callum, "Not a lot of time, if you ask me... You really think he'd up and code swap with her so soon?"
"I don't think it's our business," Callum mumbled cutely, he tried to put on a mask of neutrality, something that easily worked in his favor.
"I'm good, Kepa's making me breakfast," Koko donned a mean-mug of mockery and allowed her voice to reach any depth it would allow to prove she was mimicking Gideon's departing statement. She lifted from said mockery, wildly rolled her eyes, once more, and looked off in a girly glower of frustration, "Yeah, whatever. Hope your prissy, lonely lighthouse brunch is fun, there, Gideon."
"C'mon, Keeks, c'mon," Tessa drawled in motherly irritation for Koko's attitude, and though Koko softened and peered into Tessa's eyes in a genuine show of confused hurt, Callum looked down to his lap in silent scheming and felt as if he had hit the jackpot with all this gossip.
"Is she really that awful?" Rancis worried, Koko lifted from her bratty self and shook her head in a swing of apologetic humility.
"No, no... I'm sorry, she's really not," Koko mumbled sorrowfully, "She's really kind, her and Nox got along really well. It's VERY obvious her and Gideon have insane amount of chemistry. The sexual tension between the two is nearly suffocating. I just worry these mishaps are going to drive him further away from the palace, he's gunna swap codes with her and run off into the sunset and they're going to paint the whole beach side with their manifestation nonsense."
"You're worried he's just not going to care about being on palace grounds anymore?" Rancis wondered tenderly, he showed genuine urgency to get to the bottom of this ordeal.
"I think that ship has unfortunately sailed," Tessa muttered sadly as she rubbed her temple, "I'll... I'll be the one to text him and apologize, this whole thing was my fault anyways."
"I don't think his powers are nonsense, Keeks, are you okay?" Rancis worried in tenderhearted concern, though he eyed his niece with fatherly authority.
"It's not, it's not... I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated that I showed excitement for him to show up and he ran off," Koko muttered in girly dismay, though Rancis sagged and eyed Koko a bit more fervently.
"It might've felt like it was too little too late, we technically owe him far more than just reheated excitement," Rancis soothed, he knew this was like salt to a wound, Koko looked down in mild regret and soaked in her uncle's wise words, "I have no clue where Gideon's final straw is, but I fear we're getting closer to it..."
"How do we reel him back in?" Callum tried to dumb down his typical snarky, bitey remarks and donned a look of genuine concern as he peered up into the Queen's eyes.
"I will text him," Tessa emphasized, she gestured to her chest for reiteration she was worried that she was having to repeat, "Again, this is MY fault, I will text my baby brother, don't you guys worry."
"Queen Tessa," Rancis mumbled politely as he eyed his young niece, his disposition was earnest and genuine, and though Callum nodded along with his father's sweet words, he looked down to his lap and twiddled his thumbs due to the load of gold he had secretly garnered, perfect gossip material he was extremely excited to eventually give to Gideon in the hopes of continuing to get on his good side.
"She was like 'Giddy you made it!'" Gideon cried in a sarcastic girly tone as he tucked his fists to his chest and bat his eyelashes in continued mockery, he sagged and gave Kepa a firm, annoyed glower as his deep voice came out of mocking Koko, "Yeah... I made it to the sliver of a timeline that involves me perfectly aligning with, YET AGAIN, being forgotten about."
"Why do they keep doing this to you?" Kepa tried not to giggle, she knew this was a serious issue within the nucleus of Gideon's family. She tucked her hand closer to her face and drew her claws in lazy assessment of her orange eyes down the flat bridge of her nose and snout, her and Gideon sat out on the lighthouse's deck that faced the ocean. Although under the patio's deck table's big, yellow umbrella, the cut of sun warmed their legs. Their table was sprawled with pickings of the breakfast Kepa had promised, as well as a few manifested coffees and other goodies, they lounged with Novus sprawled on his back nearby, a proper splay of napping amidst sunbathing. Kepa shot Gideon an annoyed smile and added on to her notion, "It's not like you're boring, or anything."
"I wish I could confidently agree with you," Gideon's sweet voice dipped to crackled nervousness as his fiery eyes glossed the ocean in a haze of almost permanent sadness, though it was here did Kepa sag from her rather giggly, nonchalant approach and peer to the side of Gideon's face in a narrowed downswing of stinging sorrow.
Gideon's handsome face was peppered with dark stubble, his lonely gaze peered out to the ocean as if he was on a harrowing, lonely internal journey in desperate search for answers. His hands and fingers anxiously stimmed in little stroking movements of aimless self sooth on each of his upper arms. Kepa heaved a long, silent sigh through her damp nose, unraveled the curl of her tail from her lap and sat a little straighter in her lazy, cushioned patio seat. With love, Kepa's gentle paw beans pressed to Gideon's broad shoulder as she rested her hand there in a squeeze, he dragged his forlorn gaze tight into hers and now peered into her soul with the same look of desperation for answers. He opened his mouth and croaked a raspy whimper of defeated sorrow.
"They're my family," Gideon staggered gently, him and Kepa held eyes in the stillness of safety they had afforded each other, and though he wasn't a fan of becoming a babbling mess in front of Novus, he was glad Novus looked to be currently dead to the world. Although the tears billowed in his eyes, Gideon held his composure through the blur and the mild crackle in his deep, lovey voice, "Surely... Surely they like me enough, right?"
"Gideon," Kepa started slowly through the trail of a regretful sigh. She kept her hand lovingly gripped to Gideon's shoulder as they sat close, she shook her head and allowed her eyes to trail their messy plates and table, an aimless crawl of the small amount of fun they had just had with the whole ocean as their morning view. Kepa cautiously carried on, "My eldest brother, Atoua, was... A rather grumpy individual. He and my mother never got along, and though that was the case, he and I genuinely did get along. He always would complain about my mother, and it hurt me to my core, because my mother was a fantastic, gorgeous, fearless individual."
Gideon held his eyes tight to hers and soaked in every ounce of information she had to give about her past, pure music to his ears, even though she looked hesitant to be speaking on it all.
"He would always combat my counter arguments with the phrase 'just because I love her doesn't mean I have to like her'," Kepa mused in a swing of sorrow, she shook her head and peered deep into Gideon's teary gaze, "I know this is going to sting. I know this isn't what you want to hear from me... But, this sounds like the behavior from people who don't even like you, Gideon. They may love you, but they don't seem to show a strong liking for you."
Gideon furrowed his brow in a clench of further grief and looked down to his hands, although this was information that alway hung curiously at the back of his brain, hearing Kepa put it all into tidy words for him to swallow was hard to stare headlong into.
"I may be wrong, I've only ever met Koko, and from what I've gathered from her, she seems... A little absent minded sometimes, spacey, a people pleaser with good intentions," Kepa shrugged, "She probably has a world of her own trauma and issues she doesn't talk about... Maybe her excluding you wasn't even on her, truly, maybe someone else dropped the ball. You think you could try talking to Tessa? Or your brother? Oliv... Olivander?"
"Oliver," Gideon gently corrected through a croak of being choked up.
"Oliver, sorry," Kepa hummed, "And, the other question here is... Gideon, truly, would that brunch even be fun for you? Do you want to hang out with them because you're worried you're missing out on fun? Or are you wanting to hang out with them strictly to feel as if you're wanted?"
Gideon pondered Kepa's gentle words, and due to silently coming to his own conclusions, he grimaced a little and allowed his composure to just barely slip. He staggered a shaky breath through his teeth as a few tears escaped into the auburn fuzzies on his strong chin.
"I would want to just feel wanted," Gideon's deep voice clipped in and out of a crackly, teary whimper.
"You're trying to divide your energy, Gideon, you're trying to give it to people you have looked up to your whole life, adults you thought adored you," Kepa loudly whispered in a narrow of her loving gaze for emphasis. Gideon brought his humbled, glassy gaze to Kepa's, once more, and allowed his face to slope to a show of sagged, softened vulnerability for Kepa's eyes only, "You ARE wanted... Wholly. Y'know where?"
"... Here," Gideon whispered, Kepa donned a cute grin and gestured to herself.
"You bloomed in adversity... A like minded soul was attracted to it," Kepa whispered in return, her gorgeous orange eyes held tight to Gideon's in the flickers of amber near her pupils, her soul radiated warm, palpable love Gideon could practically describe with each one of his senses, "Gideon, you're... You're a tornado. You're an explosion of ideas and love, you're like magic. You ARE the magic in people's lives... It's so painful to watch you carry on acting as if that's not the case."
"If I was, then-"
"You're a lightning bolt of magic born inside a box of people who don't have the mental capacity to receive you. They're built like flat rubber, your soul is seeking a lightning rod," Kepa interrupted in stoic, tender deliverance as Gideon's eyes drew to hers in baited, teary listening, "You're not too much... You're being left out by people who are too little."
"The vacation went so well... The second the rest of my whole family was brought back together, I just immediately returned to falling through the cracks," Gideon mumbled, "It's so painful sitting back and wondering why I'm not even worth their time."
"Well, are they worth YOURS?" Kepa countered, Gideon looked away in nervous contemplation. Kepa gently pushed her pointer finger into Gideon's broad chest for emphasis, "Genuinely, what the fuck does their brunch have to offer you? Explain to me what conversation would be like, TELL me just who would ask you about your artwork or any future endeavors you had in mind. Spell it all out for me."
"Uh," Gideon huffed a sigh and wiped his face, Kepa gently helped him with the touch of her gentle fingers to the skin underneath the eye nearest her. He shook his head, shrugged and staggered on through his composure, "It'd... Probably be just a lot of wedding talk, because of Koko, which would eventually turn into talking about babies. Oliver's wife recently got into this weird like... Candle selling business, so we'd probably talk about candles and other bullshit, no one's brave enough to tell her that it's a pyramid scheme."
"Candles," Kepa muttered, "Are they candles that SHE made?"
"No, they're like..." Gideon looked up in thought, outwardly pointed into the air and began to awkwardly draw a triangle, "Someone... Supplies them? And they get commission off of her? I don't truly understand it."
Kepa gave Gideon the dullest most unamused look of boredom she could ever afford, and though they held gazes in frozen expressions, they both finally erupted into happy, giggling laughter.
"Say that to me, out loud, AGAIN, and then give me a legitimate answer as to why the fuck you'd want to go to a boring-ass candle brunch," Kepa rattled, Gideon happily laughed, his nose was stuffed up. Kepa shook her head and sighed, "Look... I know this is a two way street, maybe you could afford them some inquiry."
"I have," Gideon argued gently, "It's only ever about them. Sometimes a cousin I don't talk to much will inquire about my art, or whatever, but nothing much develops from it. I tried telling them my goals, the other day, but... It was kind of shot down."
"What was your goal?" Kepa wondered gently, she shook her head and flattened her ears, "Before you tell me, rule number one about protecting the sanctity of your energy... Never tell anyone the in between on your goals. Don't talk about your money, your next move, or your love life. It's a breeding ground for people to insert their own selfish doubts and bring you down."
"... Welp, lesson learned, that happened to me the other day," Gideon grumbled, "I just... Expressed wanting to teach art, one day. Maybe there's like... An art school or a studio I could teach at, or give tutorials. I would love to help people."
"That's really honorable, Gideon," Kepa urged with fervent, enthusiastic joy, "How is THAT something that's not received well?"
"Oliver worried that it wouldn't translate well because of my powers," Gideon sighed as he looked down to his opened hand, "I can just manifest art, anything..."
"But, you know the fundamentals behind it, you can genuinely teach people how to make art with actual tools," Kepa argued as she waggled her hand about in frustration, "That's something YOU can do, even without your manifestation powers. What the heck is Oliver even saying?"
"I think I've finally just accepted that I need to distance myself more-so, the pain is too much to bear," Gideon mumbled sorrowfully, "I just need to chase my goals and keep it to only the very few that genuinely care."
"Uh, yeah. I'm glad you told me all of this, our first step is to research what kind of experience you'd need to qualify as a teacher," Kepa nodded, her eyes lit up with selfless joy, an easiness that Gideon felt warm his heart from its dreaded, dormant stage, "You're going to be too busy doing what YOU want to do that you won't even have time to worry about being left out of their little candle brunches."
"The get-togethers aren't all about candles," Gideon erupted into raspy laughter and lulled his eyes closed at Kepa's desire to hyper fixate on tiny details.
"I don't care, the thought is hilarious," Kepa rattled, "I wanna make a game plan with you, we can make this work."
Gideon heaved a long sigh through his nose and peered his humbled, loving eyes to Kepa's sweet smile. She tilted her head, the warmth in her disposition was otherworldly, her desire to push Gideon further up the ladder to success was the main thing keeping Gideon assured that maybe there really were people out here that would commit to his ambitions, would welcome the returned favor, would invest their energy into him as much as he did for others. He lulled his eyes closed and opened his mouth to utter her the warmest thank-you speech, though she gently beat him to it.
"You gotta look out for yourself, protect your energy and your desires, reserve them for the ears of those who will uplift you without blinking," Kepa stated in hushed warmth, as tenderly as she could, she moved Gideon's messy, auburn hair from the drape of his thick eyebrows, "You can't control others, or how others treat you, but... What you can control is what you do with all that magic deep inside you. I wasn't trying to be corny, Gideon. You... YOU are the magic in people's lives. The twinkling in your eyes can only be admired and cherished by secure individuals. Insecure people will try and stamp out your fire because they don't want you to do better than their candle brunch wedding baby business."
Gideon choked a surprised laugh and squeezed his eyes shut in full, head-shaking annoyance. Kepa eventually fell into his laughter and perked up as she pat his shoulder.
"C'mon, no more pouting. Manifest us some cold brews, let's do some research on that goal of yours," Kepa concluded with warm excitement, and though Gideon wanted to keep her glued here and spill all of his gratitude into her soul, he lifted from the proverbial cold and knew launching straight into the sun was the only option, the only way to go from his positioning was up.
