Reviews :
Snake557 : Hahaha oh gosh, that sounds like chaos.
Burgie : Aww that's nice of you. I like to think it is, hopefully you all will as well! :D
Song Listened To :
All I Am by Jess Glynne
Happy Now by Zedd & Elley Duhé
*Chapter 7*
In the dim warmth of Tessa's and Zed's bedroom, Ace and Libby stood in their comfortable clothes, dressed down for the night. Libby patiently held Berri up against her chest and her left shoulder, she so gently jostled Berri up and down and was successful in easing Tessa's and Zed's new princess out of a crying fit. Berri continued to softly whine nonetheless, though Libby's motherly hands pat and rubbed Berri's small back in soothing motions of love, Libby's sweet and tender voice coat the air about both girls, encompassing them in a bubble of ultimate comfort. Libby delicately straightened the bright, longer blue hairs on the back of Berri's head, and as Ace came closer to both girls, Libby's warm expression broadened, alongside a smile.
"Poor thing... Mom's instructions DID say she was teething, off and on," Libby pressed, Ace bobbed a nod and cocked an eyebrow.
"They warned us for rough nights, to be had," Ace sighed, though he shook his head and shrugged, "We should be fine. It's only a few days."
"Uh-oh, someone's stinky," Libby wrinkled her nose, and as she slowly began to head over to the small nursery area in Tessa's and Zed's sprawling bedroom, Ace felt relieved that she was heading there without any inquiring if Ace would like to follow. Libby continued on to Berri's little figure, "Probably should put you to bed, soon, huh... You're rubbing your eyes a lot."
"Mom said that when Berri sleeps, we probably should sleep as well," Ace rubbed the back of his head in mild contemplation; he shrugged and lofted his eyes to his mother's and father's bed, a massive, canopy California King all shroud in heavenly white and cream drapes, fluffed with the biggest billows of beyond inviting blankets and downs. Ace cocked an eyebrow and shrugged, "I mean... I was just about to say that I'm not tired, but just LOOKING at mom's and dad's setup makes me excited for sleep."
"I was just thinking that," Libby sighed as she shot Ace a sleepy, eager smile. She came upon Berri's beautiful changing table and carefully laid her down, so to prepare to change her diaper, "We can just relax, maybe use their new star pad and watch a movie together, with headphones."
"Sounds like a plan... Been wanting to test that thing out, anyways, what with all the commercial hype," Ace smiled in warm excitement, and although he could feel the nervousness of any baby-related tasks cloud his eagerness to learn, he cocked an eyebrow and somehow was still drawn to the chore Libby was about to dive into. He still held his distance, strictly out of a bout of lacking confidence. Ace opened his mouth to maybe begin suggesting a few movies for him and Libby to watch, though a gentle chime of a timer began to go off, sounding it's alarm from the open stairwell at the gape of Tessa's and Zed's bedroom. Ace cocked an eyebrow and peered his nervous attention to the back of Libby's head, "Wh-what's the timer for?"
"Shoot, I forgot about the cookies," Libby rushed in a stab as she urgently peered down to Berri, though in a rush of knowing exactly what she was setting Ace up for, she nonchalantly lofted Ace a kind smile, gestured down to his little sister and began to step away; something Ace was now dreading, "You wanna change her real quick while I go see the status of the cookies?"
"O-Oh, well... Why don't..." Ace staggered his words and now felt the blood leave his face. He held his breath in a slump of agitation as Libby's body began to hurriedly leave the room, though Libby eased a small giggle and rolled her grey hoodie's sleeves up to her elbows.
"It's okay, babe, just practice what I showed you earlier, the last time we changed her," Libby assured in an overflow of encouragement. She gestured to Berri's well lit changing table, "Remember... Clean her up first, then the powder, THEN a clean diaper."
"Libby," Ace huffed nervously, though Libby breathed a small giggle and passed up Ace's pleas as she began to vanish up the stairwell.
"You'll be fine, Ace, she's not judging you," Libby assured with a cute smile as she finally left the room.
Ace clenched his fists in entire nervousness and peered his trembling hazel gaze to Berri's changing table. Berri lay helpless on her back, she squirmed her arms and legs a little and babbled cute little noises out to the air, she remained in a mood that could be borderline content and sleepy, though Ace was well aware it could switch at the drop of a hat. Ace inhaled a deep breath, shook his head and knew he definitely had to start somewhere, no matter how shaky his confidence was. He bit his lip in nervousness, eased his body closer to the changing table and peered down to his adorable baby sister. Once Ace came within Berri's line of sight, her noises and babbles became happier and more apparent. Ace allowed his expression to soften, his baby sister's piercing blue eyes held tight to his in innocent inquiry, and it was in this instant did Ace finally sag his shoulders. He knew him and Berri would eventually have some spectrum of a loving, sibling bond, though he wondered just when said bond would start to sink in and take root. Ace was well aware Berri was way too little to properly from any verbal communicative bonds with him, though he eased into Berri's gravity and knew somehow, he had to be the one to make the first move, as the adult.
"Hey, Bear," Ace cooed, his deep voice was unsure, though once Berri's cute little wrecking hands grappled her feet, she beamed a gummy smile up at her big brother and was successful in blurting an adorable little giggle; Ace sagged his shoulders even more and suddenly felt his heart melt at the easiness she had towards him, "You pooped yourself."
Berri blurt another little giggle, and although she couldn't understand Ace's words, Ace beamed a wide smile and now was certain he could somehow run with it. Ace's much larger, wrecking fingers softly tickled Berri's belly, and as he eased tighter into her gravity with confidence that now began to sparkle naturally, he felt a bit more at ease about the situation, and with such, he began to unbutton Berri from her onesie, so to begin cleaning her up.
"Don't feel bad, I've done it before," Ace teased as he squirmed Berri's legs out of her soft onesie, and once he opened up her diaper, he largely wrinkled his nose, shut his eyes tight and gaped in a whole entire show of entire dismay, "Whoaaa, Bear, what the hell did you eat!"
Berri now choked a much happier giggle and began to squirm alongside it, which made Ace's job a little harder. Ace choked, fanned the air and felt his eyes begin to water.
"Okay, I've said I've also had this issue, but mine didn't nearly smell this bad, Bear," Ace playfully teased, his voice lilted in and out of playful tones and warm chuckles as Berri's face was entirely lit up with happy laughter. As quick as his large, fumbling hands could muster, he folded Berri's dirty diaper and began to successfully clean her up. He held his breath, and with such, he puffed his cheeks out, resulting in Berri's laughter to grow and grow. Ace finally choked a hard laugh and shook his head down to his adorable little sister, "I'm so thrilled you find my misery hilarious, Bear! Real awesome of you!"
In a forever grimace of a tightly wrinkled nose, Ace threw away the few dirty wipes, the dirty diaper and everything in between. As quickly as he could, he saddled Berri into a new diaper, sprinkled some baby powder on potential chaffing points and did everything he could to get his larger fingers to cooperate with Berri's tiny little diaper. He bit his tongue in whole concentration, though Berri firmly kicked her legs, causing Ace to lose his grip. Ace blurt a laugh, as did Berri, and in a quick movement, he softly tickled Berri's little belly.
"I'm telling on you, when mom and dad come home, by the way," Ace's playful tone eased, he softly leaned a little closer to Berri and nuzzled his nose to hers, a show of the birth of an undying bond that very rapidly began to bloom. He eased away, after a moment, and finally was successful in keeping Berri in her new diaper, as well as getting her legs back into her soft onesie, "Alright. Finally smelling Schweet. Get it? Berri Schweetz? Very sweet? Clever, I know."
Berri eased another giggle, it was clear all the energy expelled was beginning to exhausted her, and once Ace finally sagged his large hands underneath her head and lower back, he tenderly brought his baby sister to his broad chest and, for the first time ever, he soaked her into his warmth in a natural draw of a squeeze. Berri rested the side of her head against Ace's broad collar, and as Ace warmly kissed the back of her head, he heaved a sigh of success and slowly began to rock her, a natural progression of hoping she'd continue to become drowsy and doze off. As Ace very slowly turned heel, he cocked an eyebrow and halted his footwork as he noticed Libby standing in the stairwell, comfortably leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, adorning the tender sight she had a front row seat to. Ace raised his eyebrows in dewy, innocent surprise and began to feel a bashful smirk come across his face.
"You set me up," Ace muttered in cheeky dismay, though he was entirely thrilled with himself, in this instance.
"Most certainly did," Libby bobbed a nod of cute agreeing.
As Sugar Rush's most pristine haven, the palace held confident underneath Turbo's and Rancis's dual reign. With the warmth of the Sunday night coming to a close, every single racer either retreated to their own wing of the palace, or loitered in the palace's main kitchen in preparation for racing game day, to come. Much to Turbo's dismay, he could feel every single last inch of anyone's presence coming and going, the bodies that weren't the ones of the calm individuals he held tight to. Within the melt of calm conversation, underneath the soothing lighting and the glorious Sugar Rush constellations the sky lights easily poured in, Turbo tried his hardest to keep his heartbeat from thumping right out of his chest; he did his best to glue himself to the cute conversation coming from Penny, Emery and Vanellope.
"Archived Chaos lost their guitarist," Penny stabbed in whole agitation; she was dressed in one of Orph's hoodies, which absolutely drowned her, though she wore tight black lounge leggings underneath and had her baby brother successfully saddled to the side of her hip. With her small yet strong arm snug tight around Wren's rear, he sat upright against her body and fiddled with the long strings of Orph's hoodie. Penny flagged her hand and urgently peered to Emery, "This is the second one since last year."
"Yeah, they're struggling hardcore," Emery stated through the grit of her teeth, she tucked the loose, emerald green hairs behind her ears, hairs that refused to stay in the long braid that trailed her back.
"Aren't they in the middle of their tour?" Vanellope wondered as she sagged into the island's counter, and as kindly as she could, she eased the plate of cookies closer to Nox, who diligently sat close to his big brother Turbo.
"YES!" Penny loudly urged, Wren heaved an adorable giggle and peered up to his big sister in mild bewilderment at her outburst. Penny choked a giggle, as well, and jolted to tickle Wren's belly, which resulted in him cackling in uncontrollable laughter, "Don'tchu laugh at me, mister!"
"Weren't you and Emery going to go to one of their concerts?" Ralph lazily wondered, he reached for one of the cookies on the pretty white plate in the center of the large island everyone was comfortably lounged about, he eyed his niece in a teasing way and shook his head, "Orrr... Are you just waiting for them to come to you?"
"They're coming to Sugar Rush this coming December," Penny slumped her shoulders and rolled her eyes, only after she had gotten done lightly playing with Wren and smooching his cheeks; his adorable blue eyes held tight to his big sister, "It's so far away... I WOULD just follow their tour and go to every single concert I could, but they sell game-specific merchandise at each game their concerts are held in."
"Soooo you want an Archived Chaos-Sugar Rush cross-bred abomination hoodie," Vanellope rattled off, which had Nox, Throttle, Ralph, Emery and Wren loudly laughing; this was enough to get a silent stifle of a chuckle out of Turbo.
"Yes, and I don't care who makes fun of me," Penny rushed in girly dismay, though Emery flagged her hand a little and tried to control her laughter.
"I'm right there with yah, Pens, I for sure what Archived Chaos Sugar Rush merch," Emery hurried to Penny's aid alongside both girl's giggling, "I'm glad Oliver is indifferent to my massive crush on Gunner."
"You are so lucky," Penny stabbed, to which Vanellope covered her face and blurt a hard laugh; both girls continued on in fangirling goodness that no one could look away from, "Orph constantly is wondering if he should just dye his hair black and take up singing just so I'll get off the Gunner-train."
"And change ethnicities?" Vanellope nearly cried with laughter, Penny largely rolled her eyes and held Wren comfortably against her body.
"Who is Gunner?" Nox cheekily wondered, to which Ralph and Vanellope loudly groaned, as if to beg not egging Penny on, "And, what does his ethnicity have to do with Orph's code-room alterations?"
"Only the dreamiest, edgiest lead singer with a voice of literal HONEY," Penny ogled, Emery heaved a hard giggle and covered her face in riled bashfulness.
"He's Japanese," Vanellope blurt to Nox, though he beamed a confused smile and shook his head, "Sugar Rush's parent company is a Japanese company, so naturally... He's the cooliest."
"I don't have a crush on him or anything, I just like their music, and so what if the lead singer is a cool dude," Penny shrugged, "Excuse me for living!"
"So, you're going to his concert this December?" Ralph pressed a everyone was trying to control their laughter, "Where is it being held?"
"Orion City," Turbo mumbled in gentle, playful dismay, though he shrunk into himself in boyish cuteness as everyone dart their bewildered attention to the quietest, shyest TurboTime boy of the group, "H-His manager reached out to me to find a venue."
"Ohhh no," Emery covered her whole face and eased out of Penny's presence, which was now rigid in whole, fangirling dismay.
"Youuu... SPOKE TO HIM?" Penny choked in a high pitch, which had Wren nearly blue with laughter.
"Y-Yeah, I... Met with him and his manager, actually," Turbo began to feel a bit more confident as the positive conversation eased about him like a warm hug, he straightened his spine and felt a little bit more comfortable given the fact that Penny was now absolutely glued to his every word, "He was nice, seems as if stress gets to him quick, he wouldn't look away from his phone... Neither of them realized who I was, thank User."
"Did you get his autograph?" Penny huffed as she urgently stepped closer to the island, as if to get closer to Turbo, who was properly stationed on the other side of it.
"I mean, he signed the contract of renting out the venue... In which is in my possession," Turbo now felt a wide smile want to burst forth, the way everyone's friendly eyes held to Turbo's, he finally began to feel as if he could be comfortable in this group, with no judgement passed. He could feel the glow of his eyes want to blind everyone, though before he could carry on, he could hear gentle whispers, from far behind him, begin to saturate his worries, "D-Does that count?"
"I mean, YEAH?" Penny choked with a startled laugh, everyone kindly peered to Turbo in an encouraging manner of love, though it was in this rise of confidence and sudden plummet of fragile nervousness did Nox and Throttle quickly see the spike in confusion, on Turbo's end. Penny glossed past all of this and readjusted Wren against her hip, "Can you show me, sometime?"
"Sure," Turbo eased politely, his deep and raspy voice now very quickly dwindled down to concern, and it was in this silent lurk back into the shadows did he reassess the body-count of the room.
Turbo narrowed his eyes a little, peered down to the marble counter top and clenched his teeth tight in his closed mouth. Penny and Emery loudly continued on, a giggling mess, and although Turbo had a hard time really pushing past all of the nonsense, he could feel his stomach dip with dread at the sound of soft, nervous and sly whispering from far behind the group at the island. Stationed comfortably on a few lounge chairs and couches, in the dip of the kitchen into a small bout of living and gathering quarters, sat a few of Sugar Rush's racers. Turbo's eyes got lost in the marble's lovely splays and speckles of designs as he did his best to really hone in on what they were whispering about, though the only thing that really stood out was the hard 'T' sound and annunciation they made whenever they whispered Turbo's name. Right away, Turbo could feel the glow in his eyes begin to diminish, a dead give away of his emotions, a literal mood ring he couldn't hide, no matter what.
Turbo felt his heart sink; he knew he had been tossed side-eyes the whole evening, the trek from Throttle's tower to the main building, alone, was enough to make Turbo upset. He held his breath and suddenly felt like an alien. He was well aware he was welcomed in the group he was stationed with, though somehow, not being accepted by everyone on the lot was what made him want to run and hide away, for the rest of time. He knew no amount of reasoning or talking could possibly get the rest of Sugar Rush's racers to cooperate, or enjoy his presence. Turbo was well aware him simply existing, on an even playing field with everyone else, was likely not the most ideal situation they wanted to find themselves in. Sat comfortably in the same room with someone who nearly destroyed Sugar Rush, and who now temporarily held almost every single last ounce of Sugar Rush's power, yet again, was not their idea of a lovely Sunday night.
Turbo could feel Nox's and Throttle's gentle energy practically glue to his, their glowing eyes held to his, which now were certainly void of the lovely glow his eyes usually held. He tried his hardest to force a small smirk to both of his brothers, as if to silently tell them that he was alright and to just simply drop the notion for now, though after a few minutes, Turbo dreaded the impending fact that now Ralph and Vanellope were cued to the switch up in Turbo's demeanor. The grey, matte gloss of his already creepy eyes held in a drown of sorrow, as if all he ever did in life was try and get ahead, though the second he tried, he was thrusted ten steps back. Turbo exhaled a shaky sigh through his nose and held his tongue for the rest of their get together; he was well aware, once he was back at Throttle's, the roof would likely come off due to all three TurboTime's boys' pent up worries.
