Reviews :
Snake557 : Of course she's telling more people, she wants Turbo's name to be viewed in a different light. and, LOL yeah Chester's the only weird quadruple-hybrid bat dragon lyktata chameleon creature on the road! xD
CHICKENM4N : Aww wow ;-; that means a lot, I'm really glad you like it that much! Thank you!
Burgie : AW I'm glad you think so! :D Thank you!
Song Listened To :
Think About Us by Jake Miller
*Chapter 41*
Although Berri had previously used Turbo's main teleportation pad, she successfully lead Chester up to the span of Orion Tower and furrowed her brow in a lull of tender confusion. She sagged a little as Chester tenderly eased his way into a trot onto the span of the massive, sprawling sidewalk, the incredible stoop up to the tower, he drummed to a halt as she scratched the back of her head and peered to the large entrance, the rows of revolving doors. Orion Tower was incredible, a gleaming white tower of sun kissed beauty, the driving force behind Turbo's entire operation. Business men and women, of all sorts, filed in and out of the building, loitered about and everything in between. Although there were lofts on the higher floors, the lower half of the sky scraper was dedicated to business. Berri was well aware she couldn't just waltz in and reach Turbo's perch; no one could.
Blue : Uhhh... Well, I'm at the entrance of the tower. I forgot that no one can just, well... simply take an elevator to your floor.
Berri thumbed the sides of her phone and looked off to the traffic nearby. All sorts of different vehicles, creatures and beings alike swarmed the city in organized chaos. Car horns were abundant, the wet, snowy atmosphere had easily half-melted with Sugar Rush's beaming, early afternoon sun. She sagged on Chester's spine a little and flinched once her phone vibrated.
Black : If you can, drive to the back of the building. Let me know once you're back there.
Berri furrowed her brow, let her eyes follow the beautiful candy tree laced sidewalks and noticed a few streets that sprawled all the way to the back of the building, a proper city block away. In a gentle trot, Chester remained on the sidewalk, and after a few minutes, she finally eased around the back of the building and began to melt into a quieter, darker alley way. Although it typically was probably a much darker and scarier place to be, after dark, it was still sunlit and harmless during the day. Chester kept his ears perked in nervous readiness, his now hesitant trot was a little bit more skittish and alert, though Berri softly reached down and pat the side of his neck to reassure him that she wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. Just as Berri was about to pull out her phone and let Turbo know her whereabouts, it started to methodically vibrate, insinuating a phone call; she raised her eyebrows in floored surprise, she knew she shouldn't be taken aback that he was calling her, though she wondered if anything he'd do, from here on out, would ever not be a surprise.
"Hello?" Berri chimed in tenderness; she smiled, knowing full well it was Turbo, though she figured she probably already freaked him out enough for one day.
"Your highness. I figured this'd be easier," Turbo staggered, it was clear that the closer that Berri was to his tower, the more his shelled exterior became more apparent, "You, uh... You see the dumpsters that line the neighboring building? To your right?"
"Yeah," Berri eased, Chester continued to trot forward.
"Okay, once you've passed the fourth one, you'll see an alcove to your left," Turbo instructed; Berri silently counted just how many dumpsters she had passed, which were two. She pressed forward, came to the fourth, and was delighted to see said alcove. She chimed him a tender noise of affirmation as he softly continued, "Park in the alcove. I'll take care of the rest."
"Okay," Berri eased, she smirked to herself and understood that Turbo assumed she was driving either a bike or a car, neither of which she owned. She hoped Chester wouldn't be so much of a surprise to him. Berri gingerly steered Chester into the darker alcove, his now faltering, nervous paws so hesitantly eased into his new surroundings, his ears were perked high on his head. Once he was entirely in the cave-like alcove, she bobbed a nod and sat up as she held the phone closer to her ear, "Okay, I'm in."
Both Berri and Chester flinched in a roll of surprise as the entire floor, every square inch of the alcove came alive with the gentle glow of hot red coding, a swarm of honeycombs that eagerly grappled the soles of Chester's paws, and before the mixture of their coding could swarm the pad, Berri and Chester were immediately teleported to what Berri quickly assumed was Turbo's garage. With the stark change in lighting, Berri and Chester froze in solid surprise as they took in their surroundings. Inside a low-ceilinged, white walled garage, as crisp and clean as could be, Chester stood confidently next to Turbo's motorcycle. Berri sagged her phone away from her head, inhaled a shaky breath and allowed her coding to come back to her being, and with such, she felt her heart jolt at the sight of Turbo hanging near the wall of his garage's side door.
"...Oh, wow, I-I thought you were riding a bike or something," Turbo staggered, and although Berri was worried he'd likely be mad, she was delighted to see that his eager eyes held to Chester's whole being in a slew of boyish curiosity.
"My ride is a dragon," Berri giggled, she hung up the still-live phone call with Turbo, sagged her phone into her back pocket and prepared to dismount Chester's being. She sagged to the matte, concrete tiles of Turbo's garage and remained close to Chester in a rise of now impending bashfulness, "I... I hope that's okay? Sorry, I didn't even ask."
"It's okay, your highness," Turbo eased with a nod, he dared to give her the smallest smile, a reserved show of continued nervousness she wondered just when he would come out of, "He, uh... Does he talk? Is he like the other flyers?"
"No, Chester is actually blind AND mute," Berri explained in a slump of tender sorrow, and as she rubbed Chester's snout, she shrugged and gave Turbo a look of encouragement, "He still has a ton of personality, though. We get around via exterior swap. He can see the grid, that way."
"That's incredible," Turbo eased, he finally stepped out of his garage's side door, it hung ajar as he tenderly approached. He wore a proper pair of lightly loved, faded black jeans, a white t-shirt and a kept head of hair, in which he also neatly trimmed his beard; Berri eyed him in teasing suspicion, this time he had cleaned up and prepared for company. He held his creepy, glowing eyes tight to Chester's demeanor and held his hand out, as if to show that he wanted to introduce himself to Chester, though also make clear that he was a friendly being that was approaching, "I-Is he, well... Friendly? For lack of better words."
"Of course, just let him smell you, first, he's a big teddy bear," Berri shrugged, she rubbed the side of Chester's neck as Turbo very gently eased into their presence.
Chester held his ears tight to the top of his head, honed his blind eyes straight into Turbo's soul and allowed his snout to wrinkle in the cute huff of snifflings that ensued. As he eagerly inspected Turbo's soft, outstretched hand, his dark orange snout finally made it's way to Turbo's arm in curious inspection. The second he started sniffling Turbo's chest did Berri beam a smile, cross her arms and eagerly watch this situation unfold.
"Sold," Berri blurt a small laugh, she curiously held her eyes tight to Turbo's demeanor as a bashful smile sprawled his face. His gentle, masculine hands began to so softly pet the top of Chester's head, though it eventually turned into loving scratches behind his ears. Chester lulled his eyes closed, sagged his wings and firmly began to nuzzle his whole snout and head into Turbo's center, in which Turbo's figure shook the shreds of a bashful, surprised laugh, "Oh, User, you hit jackpot. Good luck getting him to leave you alone, now."
"His fur is really soft," Turbo bobbed a nod, he firmly scratched behind Chester's ear with a little more gust and, although Berri was still reeling from the past of her nightmares, she still flinched once Turbo volleyed her his creepy, golden gaze, "You, uh... Still have the drinks, your highness?"
"Yeah, I'm really going to forget my favorite drink, as well as the one I ordered for you," Berri lulled in cute sarcasm, she reached into her other back pocket and pulled out her thin, sleek materializer. She waggled it about and side-eyed Turbo with a kind, girly smile, "I know what's good for me."
"C'mon," Turbo's warm voice eased, a lilt of gentlemanly depth that Berri could feel every single last pixels latch on to, "It's cold out here. You... Enjoying the first snow?"
"I am," Berri chimed as Turbo tenderly eased out of her's and Chester's presence. They both followed Turbo to his garage's side door, though not without Berri stealing a long, curious, ogling glance at Turbo's incredible, futuristic bike. It was beautiful; she bit her lip and tried her damndest not to imagine herself on the back of it, "All the flyers were out in the field, this morning, just rolling in it."
"Living the life," Turbo concluded with a nod.
As Turbo stood aside and politely let both Berri and Chester into his home, Berri furrowed her brows in turned around confusion and beamed a delighted smile to find that they had entered through a rather subtle and secretive door just outside of Turbo's dining area, on the neighboring wall that was shared with his front door. She scoffed a small laugh of surprise, eased her moseying footsteps to his dining room table and softly set her phone down. Once Chester's whole body was inside, Chester eased into his typical, polite indoor-rules he always adhered to. He grabbed a wall, softly buckled his joints and tenderly laid down on the tiles. He rested his head in his paws and simply was still, patiently powered down in wait to be cued to, in the near future. Berri beamed her companion a loving smile, and as Turbo gently pushed past his dining room and to his kitchen, Berri followed, but not without giving Chester's side a firm, loving few pats of gratitude.
"He's so well-mannered," Turbo complimented with a gesture, he peered to Chester over his shoulder, eased his way across the gap and finally came to his kitchen island.
In a slow pace, she finally reached his island, as well, took off her goggles and hoped she wasn't potentially insinuating that she was due to setting up camp; she kept her shoes on, for the sake of avoiding said insinuation.
"Yeah, he's my good boy," Berri nodded as they both peered back to Chester; although he laid with his head in his paws, his face read entire puppy-dog delight, his ears perked high, his blind eyes honed tight to the direction of their voices.
"Alright, I'm scared to see just what you've brought me," Turbo grumbled, he crossed his arms, cocked an eyebrow and gave Berri a coy look.
Berri nearly reeled; due to not seeing nearly this much emotive power from Turbo yesterday, she almost felt as if she was having an out of body experience. She peered to Turbo's face for a moment before snapping back to reality, she shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows in rushing, girly cuteness as she finally swiped out her materializer, once more.
"Aw, well... I-I guess you may either be delighted or disappointed when I tell youuuu," Berri dragged, she set her materializer on the kitchen island's counter, pressed the center and successfully cued her two drinks, the coding of it all safely stored and preserved inside. Turbo's medium sized hot cup appeared before him, as did Berri's icy beverage, his curious eyes peered down to it with a small look of dewy apprehension, "I got you what you originally wanted... THOUGH, I did have them add cream and sugar."
"...You could've surprised me, and I wouldn't have been mad," Turbo stammered through desperately wanting to smile, he resorted to furrowing his brow and lightly holding his drink on the countertop, "Do I give off that vibe? Evil bad guy gets pissed, his whole order is wrong."
"I wasn't scared you'd get mad," Berri blurt a hard laugh and narrowed her gaze, she felt her heart so desperately itch for more glimpses of Turbo's real personality, his quirks, his jokes, anything, "I-I was just trying to be nice. I've probably done a number on your whole 'introvert for life' plans."
"Introvert for life," Turbo repeated in a tender, teasing whisper. He shook his head, lulled his eyes closed, brought the drink to his mouth and took a healthy swig. Upon release, he bobbed a nod and peered his boyish, grateful gaze into hers, "Oh wow, this IS good with cream and sugar."
"Welcome to Sugar Rush, Turbo," Berri shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows in a rise of impending teasing, "You've been here for User knows how long and are only just NOW enjoying all of its sweet sides."
"Yeah, it's... It's been a wild ride," Turbo raised his eyebrows, bugged his eyes in aimless irritation down to his drink, though Berri was floored that he took another hearty sip. Upon second release, his golden eyes nervously stabbed to the side of the cup. His grey finger pointed to his name, legibly written in confidence, "You, uh... Please tell me you wrote this, here."
Berri bit her bottom lip in cheeky, girly sheepishness, she finally beamed him an apologetic smile and shrugged as he sagged his shoulders and lulled his eyes closed.
"I-I'm friends with all the baristas there," Berri staggered with a laugh, she was floored to see him smile, shake his head, step away from the island and take another sip, as if to teasingly walk away from their conversation, "Oh, come on. H-He was nervous at first, but he actually wanted to meet you."
"Why, so he could kill me on sight?" Turbo lightly joked, Berri flinched and felt her heart sink; she quickly realized this wouldn't be an easy venture.
"No, dude, he was excited, actually," Berri crossed her arms, eased to the other side of the island and now shared the kitchen area with Turbo. He moseyed over to his other countertop, across from his island, "Look, I... I know that's probably hard to hear, but, at least everyone was positive about it. Isn't that a good sign?"
"Yes, your highness," Turbo's tone now drummed to the same ol' politeness he usually retained when speaking to either Tessa or Zed; Berri slumped her shoulders and tried not to be way too effected by his now curt tone, clearly intended for strict politeness.
"Well, I have your charger, and, uh... You can have your hoodie back," Berri pressed; she knew, full well, that she somehow needed to condition Turbo out of the default he'd strictly zip back to, the eyes-down, yes man he had morphed into, she knew playing it all back at Turbo had him quickly realizing that he didn't want to be treated the same way that he had potentially been treating others, "Throttle discovered that I had your charger, by the way... I know your brothers really miss you."
"Please, please... Keep my hoodie, it's cold out there," Turbo staggered as he reeled from the moseyed amount of distance he had put between him and Berri, he bashfully set his drink on the island, shook his head and stammered on his words in a secret show of nervous desperation, "I-It's snowing outside... I don't want you to ride all the way home in the cold, it's really okay, I don't really... Need my hoodies, right now, anyways."
Berri raised her eyebrows, peered hard into his eyes with plucked seriousness, she so desperately held onto his eye contact and was entirely relieved that he broke it first.
"Thank you," Berri sighed with a small nod, she gently rummaged for his charger, inside the hoodie's front pocket, and once she laid it on the counter, she gently eased her body posture in a sway away from the island, and in a directional movement to insinuate she were to be cueing to Chester, "Well... I hope you enjoy your drink, Turbo."
"I-I really appreciate it, you didn't... Have to do that for me," Turbo staggered, Berri shrugged and looked off in now aimless, tender defeat.
"It's the friendly thing to do," Berri cued, she lightly cocked an eyebrow, gave Turbo a small smile of continued defeat and wrinkled her fingers, "I'll be seeing you."
Turbo inhaled a sharp, silent breath through his nose, furrowed his eyebrows and practically had to halt himself from stepping forward. He held his hand out a little, grit his teeth him a show of sorrow and felt his heart sink at the sight of Berri's blue hair softly splayed across her back, the distance she now put between them, her back turned as she approached Chester. His heart raced with terrified uncertainty; he knew all he wanted was his solitude, everything he could've ever hoped for, right here in this loft of his, though for some reason, he now couldn't stand the thought of his loft excluding the lightly littered mess of her shoes, her phone, her drink, herself. He shook his head in a spike of leaping off the cliff, he finally shut his eyes tight and broke from his strict norm.
"Berri?" Turbo's gentlemanly voice eased in a lilt of vulnerability, and it was in this small act of bravery did his heart nearly stop at the sight of Berri freezing dead in her tracks.
Berri honed her eyes tight to Chester's face, and although he was laid on the floor, he had finally lifted his head and perked his ears high in alertness, he could tell that something tense was happening. Berri felt a roll of chills fall down her skin, she furrowed her brows and peered hard into Chester's eyes, the reverberating echo of her name easing from his own voice, for the first time, had her rocked to her core. Not realizing even how important that would be to her, she furrowed her brows in a lilt of inquisitive surprise, softly turned around in the peer over her shoulder, and locked her eyes on Turbo's now entirely fragile, vulnerable disposition. She slowly beamed him a small, cheeky, curious smile, crossed her arms and side-eyed him in a womanly, authoritative way.
"I-It's... It's what a friend would do," Turbo corrected tenderly, his voice just barely shook, the show of tender exposure, a tiny shred of his soul, was surely something to behold; Berri smiled, kept her arms crossed tight, she looked down to her riding boots and shrugged, though he stuttered to carry on, "P-Please... Forgive me."
"For what?" Berri pressed tenderly, she tried her hardest to just simply be still, to receive this fragile moment, to make clear to him that even though this was likely really hard for him, she was a safe landing spot for him.
"For... THIS," Turbo gestured to himself, and Berri, back and forth, "I-I... I don't remember the last time I had a genuine friend. Sure, th-the guys at the palace are friendly with me, and they're technically my 'friends', but... I-I just... D-Don't really know how to... Well..."
"Be in a friendship with someone?" Berri concluded, she finally beamed a wide smile and retracted her sorrowful stroll away from him, her positive body language filled their gap, once and for all. She got within half a dozen feet of him, drummed to a small stop, shrugged and leaned the side of her hip to his kitchen island. In teasing cheekiness, she grappled her drink, raised it just barely, in a lazy fashion, and shrugged, "Well, you're in luck. I just so happen to be the BEST at being a friend. I can make a best friend out of a friend in just days."
Turbo tried to hide a becoming smile, he eyed her in tender curiosity as she took a long sip of her icy drink.
"That is... If the other party is willing?" Berri wondered in a further show of tender security, she shrugged and gave him a curious look of solidification, "I understand you've had an extremely rough past, hundreds of people used to hate you, you lost and gained trust and lost and gained social status amongst royalty... You're on a roller coaster. I get it."
"I swore to myself that I wouldn't really let anyone in," Turbo shrugged, his sorrowful gaze hooked tight to Berri's, and although she had a decent streak going, she continuously had to keep glancing away from his haunting gaze, "I was okay not having friends... But..."
"I'm just too awesome, I mean, really, I get it," Berri only teased as she flicked her hair over her shoulder, and it was with the hard scoff of a laugh that Turbo finally emit did Berri soak up the show of the wide, genuine smile on his face; she sneakily held her breath and felt victorious. One wall down.
"You win, your h-..." Turbo raised his eyebrows in plucked surprise, lofted his now confused and boyish gaze of smiling apology to Berri's and wondered just where she'd go with his small slip up.
"Okay... You are NOT allowed to call me 'your highness' EVER again," Berri firmly pointed a finger at him and heaved a soft, girly laugh. He covered his mouth a little, looked off to the side and did everything he could to hide the further reveal of more smiles he had been saving up, "My name is BERRI. You can call me Blue, Bear, Bee, BERRI, ANY of those!"
"I-I can't help it," Turbo rubbed the back of his head, leaned the side of his hip to the counter and finally beamed the widest smile down to his feet. He crossed his arms in bumbling, tender agitation and shrugged, "I-I'm forever grateful to Tessa and Zed, for helping me, and for trusting me, it's... Extremely hard not to be polite to their own kin."
"I mean, please, by all means, be polite," Berri shrugged, though she shook her head and gave him a look of mild, teasing annoyance, "I'm not a robot. I may be royalty, but we're friends, right? Wren and Theo don't call me that... Well... Wren does, when he's making fun of me."
"Yes ma'am," Turbo stifled more laughter, though it was at this point he couldn't hide his smile.
"Speaking of Wren," Berri fingered her lip, narrowed her gaze and peered to Turbo in girly cheekiness, "He, uh... REALLY wants to come over and hang out with us. And Theo. Is that too much to ask of you?"
Turbo raised his eyebrows, inhaled a reviving breath and showed a wash of gentle renewal, as if this was exactly what his fragile soul needed. He rolled his eyes, blurt another chuckle, tossed his hands up and slumped them back to his sides in whole defeat.
"I mean yeah, but who am I to halt this train, then, I guess," Turbo barked a laugh and shook his head, "It's what I get for secretly wanting friends."
"Aww, you always secretly wanted friends?" Berri cooed, though Turbo rolled his eyes once more and was beginning to show more signs of a boyish, rugged, moody individual; a small show of his smiling, mischievously devious personality.
"I also was secretly hoping you'd bring me something inanely disgustingly sweet, from Sugarbucks, as long as we're being honest," Turbo's voice lilted into an ease of sweet and spicy snips, he rubbed his face and lulled his eyes closed.
"We can go tomorrow!" Berri prod in a rise of now whole entire excitement, to which Turbo now covered his face with both his hands and blurt an even further irritated laugh into his palms, "It'll be FUN! Come on, don't be a party pooper, you've been one for your whole life, y'gotta stop the facade."
"I'll let you get me something different tomorrow," Turbo tenderly finalized as he crossed his arms, peered his now dewy, smiling expression to his kitchen island.
"You can come with me!" Berri egged, knowing he wasn't going to cave.
"I'm not going with you," Turbo argued with a stagger of more laughter.
"You'll come with me eventually," Berri nodded, as if to be absolutely sure of her findings, though Turbo lulled his eyes closed, once more.
"What have I gotten myself into," Turbo muttered in smiling, grimacing dismay.
A/N : Hey guys! Just quickly wanted to let you know that I am about 12 chapters ahead of you guys, which is awesome, but in writing it, I figured I'd just warn you guys. These next handful of chapters seemingly go by a little slower, the progression of the week (in my opinion) is beginning to feel long, but I'm doing my best to lay really thick ground work for Berri's and Turbo's new friendship... Because shortly here, there are certain elements and other 'happenings' that will heavily challenge their friendship and create obstacles. So yeah, just a warning, that these next 12 or so chapters may seem to 'drag' or like the day or week never ends. I'm just diligently laying ground work, cause after Berri goes back to Academy, the whole plot gets exciting with a crap to of stuff that happens, and the group is thrust into quick-paced situations and the like. Just a fair warning! Lots of gooey fluff to come in the slow times, for now. Hope you guys are enjoying so far! :)
