Reviews :
Burgie : Aww, it's true! Pretty strange how it all sort of has unfolded to where it is now :)
Jay Sketchin : Hahaha way too true! And, thank you so much ;_; You don't know what that means to me.
Snake557 : LOL! Exactly xD
*Chapter 60*
"I'm still surprised you guys have never even played, I-I don't know... Even at a pub downtown, or something! Anything!" Gunner exclaimed with an easy, beaming, handsome smile; he slouched his upper body, arms and elbows over the top of one of the few studio chairs, in Berri's, Wren's and Theo's tower studio. Somehow, they had successfully snuck themselves, Gunner and single body guard clear across Sugar Rush's palace lot without anyone noticing. Gunner heaved a soft sigh of near relief, lulled his eyes closed and shook his head, "You guys are incredible... And I don't say that lightly."
"Y'haven't even heard Wren's side of the nonsense, yet," Theo grumbled as he, too, lay slouched in one of the comfortable, modern, swivel studio chairs, clad in thick, luxurious black and white fabric. Theo ran his larger fingers through his dark, nearly jet-black, dark green hair, the deep waves began to show a bit more definition due to the strange sweep of humidity the game was garnering, "Maybe once he, I don't know... SAYS SOMETHING."
"It's been like an hour, Wren, I mean, really," Berri blurt a soft laugh as she crossed her arms and shook her head, she cocked an eyebrow and noticed Gunner's eyes tenderly land on her, as if every word she was about to speak was beginning to be something he could hardly wait to hear; this was only briefly interrupted due to Wren's chest cavity finally expanding to take a readied breath.
"Wren," Wren finally meeped in tender cuteness, a shy aura that he was absolutely never seen with, he still looked absolutely star struck when Berri and Theo had nearly lost said fame-glow a hot minute back.
"WOW, congratulations man, you did it," Theo choked as he grappled the sides of his head and bugged his eyes in playfulness.
"Gunner," Gunner pressed with a soft chuckle of understanding, and as Wren held out his still trembling hand, for a proper handshake, Gunner kindly filled the gap and shook Wren's hand, "Nice to meet you, finally."
"L-Likewise," Wren staggered as both boys shook hands Wren heaved a shaky sigh and shook his head at Berri once they released each other's handshake.
"Not so hard, my dude," Berri breathed a soft giggle and shook her head back at Wren's still wavering, giddy disposition.
"Don't let Penny in here," Theo grumbled as he rubbed his face in impending agitation, he rolled his eyes and sagged a little.
"Whose Penny?" Gunner prod softly as he sat back and got comfortable, once more.
"P-Penny's my older sister," Wren staggered on, he did everything he could to at least try to act normal, "Sh-she... She's your biggest fan."
"It's not an exaggeration, that girl is your HUGEST fan," Berri blurt a soft giggle and crossed her arms in relaxation; she stood near the studio's shut and locked door, the air inside the studio was loose and comfortable, a group of new friends that sagged into each other's light and kind dispositions with the utmost of ease, sans Wren.
"We should surprise her, then," Gunner bobbed a nod, his kind, honey brown eyes hooked tight to Berri's, the look of confident, excited, boyish glee held tight to him, "I-I mean... We'll all hang out again, right? This isn't just a one-off, is it?"
"User, I mean, that's entirely up to you, Gunner," Berri choked yet another giggle and shook her head in nearly forlorn disbelief, "You're Mr. Celebrity, here... I'm surprised we're even worthy of your time, I mean, really."
"I-I... I could easily say the same thing about you guys," Gunner stated, his twinkling, excitable demeanor quickly collected into a reserved show of now near-nostalgic sorrow. He looked down and across the studio in aimless thought, furrowed his brow and shook his head, "The second my band mates sort of bailed out on me, I had to quickly assess just what I had been doing wrong, inside the friendships in my life. Guess it's easy for me to just jump into a new friend group, but... I hope I don't do anything to chase you guys away."
Berri furrowed her brow in tenderness and peered to Gunner, a forgiving amount of warmth seemed to radiate off of him, as if he had maybe been wronged, but was prepared to just let it go, to not hold the pain against anyone. The sweet, likable demeanor he radiated was entirely palpable, irresistible, Berri could feel her heart fluttering with the continued, renewed feelings of crushy, ogling, butterfly-filled gooeyness she was now uncertain how to navigate. The second Theo warmly began to reassure Gunner that his new pack of friends were loyal to the bone, with Wren nervously, yet cutely following suit, Berri felt a startling jolt shoot through her heart as the feeling of the vibrate of her phone, in her back pocket, immediately brought her back to Earth. With her phone on silent, she furrowed her eyebrows in entire confusion, slyly pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans, and felt her pupils tighten with the cold, heart-sinking remembrance that came slamming back to her brain.
The very name of the person now metaphorically reminding her to keep her head, plastered confidently on her screen with the continuation of silent vibrations, the cue that she was receiving a phone call, a very patient Turbo Black awaiting her to pick up her phone. Berri huffed a silent noise, bit her lip in a now tug of war her mind was having, and with a nonchalant jostle of her phone, she warmly cued to all the boys that she had a phone call to take and swiftly saw herself out of the sound proof music studio. With a heavy thud of the large, floor to ceiling door, she grit her teeth in whole dread, apologetic sorrow, and as her finger slid onto her touch screen, she answered Turbo's phone call and now wondered just how in the hell she was going to tell Turbo just what was going on. She scrunched her eyes shut, inhaled a long, dreaded breath through her nose, wrinkled her face in detest towards herself and brought her phone to her ear in anticipation to tread lightly around her's and Turbo's new found... Whatever they had secretly decided to call it.
"Turbo," Berri chimed quietly; she was well aware that no sound was going to come out of the studio, as well as any sound would get in, though she still nervously glanced back to the closed door of the studio and stood in the stillness of the short corridor of their tower, connected to said music studio.
"Bear, what's up?" Turbo's warm, friendly voice soaked her head with a spike of now whole entire conflicting, remembrance of just what other kind of guy was awaiting her return, the other side of the coin.
"Hey, I'm... SO sorry I ghosted you, there, I didn't mean to," Berri pleaded with a sheepish, terrified grin out to the sunny, glowing corridor, her vivid blue eyes peered into the kitchen, in which she had a good look into.
"Y'back in Sugar Rush? I-I know you said you, Wren and Theo were going to come over, but..." Turbo staggered on his words, as if he was about to prepare himself to be brave. He inhaled a shaky breath, let it out with an equally as shaky, blossoming chuckle and took a daring first step in a direction he knew both him and Berri would likely enjoy taking, "I-I'll be honest with you... Can you possibly bring no one but yourself and your guitar? I'd love that more than anything."
Berri raised her eyebrows and now felt her stomach do all sorts of weird twists and turns, and with such, she sagged her larger hand into her forehead in a blue-bangs scrunched kind of motion, a wave of now whole exhaustion just coat her being, the bravery that single sentence must've taken for Turbo to even so much as dream up, she knew she needed to reward him. She huffed a faltered noise, as if prepared to immediately bend to his cute, now forwardly flirty request, her eyes nervously peered back to said closed studio door in a build up of dread and was well aware she was at a weird, detrimental cross-roads. She bit her bottom lip in contemplation, she was well aware Turbo wasn't going aware, the whole fact that she had a full-blown celebrity in her very own music studio was what made her sag her shoulders, roll her eyes at herself, and lull her head back in the full understanding that she'd very easily be letting Turbo down, with the extremely difficult decision she was due to making.
"That's so sweet," Berri started, though before she could allow Turbo to continue on, she blurt an exhausted chuckle and held her forehead, once more, "I-I would, but... Y-You're never going to believe this... I bumped into Gunner Ko at Academy today."
"...Whoa, WHAT? Really?" Turbo staggered with a laugh of boyish surprise, his now vulnerable and loving interior left wide open for Berri to graciously receive had her feeling now terrible about her next few notions.
"Yeah, can you believe it? Turbo, he's literally hanging out with me, Wren and Theo in our music studio, right now," Berri choked a small laugh of disbelief and began to wander down the corridor, closer to the kitchen; she could immediately feel the proverbial air between her and Turbo grow thick with distance.
"...Wait, he's in Sugar Rush?" Turbo wondered, the boyish, cute glee in his voice now very slowly began to dribble to very greatly reserved dread, "Y-You... You guys actually got Gunner to come into Sugar Rush with you guys?"
"Yeah, h-he... I-I guess he's looking for some musicians to jam with, due to his band mates bailing out on him," Berri now knew she was blindly walking through a field just filled to the brim with land mines. She grit her teeth and knew she was letting Turbo down, here, likely making his life a little harder, though she inhaled a revived breath and knew now to swoop in with reassuring ideas, "B-But, we're just showing him our studio and hanging out a bit, I-I'm sure we won't be way too much longer. I-I'd be happy to still come over later, with my guitar. Should I just text you?"
"Oh, well... Sure, Bear, I-I don't want to take away from this awesome opportunity you have," Turbo now was very audibly trying to reserve the entire disappointment in his tone, though he still pushed through with warmth and gentle kindness, "I-I mean... It's not every day someone of Gunner's stature wants to jam with musicians he simply just bumped into... Y-You'd be wise to get your talent out there, Bear..."
"Thank you, Bo," Berri sighed in disappointed conclusion, clear disappointment to herself, she furrowed her brow and felt terrible; she knew prolonging plans with Turbo, someone already so incredibly fragile, for another guy, likely wasn't wise. She was glad he seemed to be taking it on the chin, and knew she'd make it up to him later in the evening, "I-I didn't mean to not text you... W-We had to sort of escort Gunner across teleport pads without anyone seeing... Lemme rephrase that, without PENNY seeing, so... We got preoccupied, but I take full blame."
"It's no biggie, Berri, just... Message me once you're finished doing what you're doing," Hope came back to Turbo's tone, he heaved a nervous, shaky sigh and sounded as if he was pacing, "W-We can jam out tonight, then, yeah?"
"I'd love that," Berri sighed with a revived smile, "I'll text you the second I'm free."
"Y'better," Turbo teased in gentle banter, his masculine voice dipped to that of a flirty, coy depth of enticement, something Berri eagerly cued too.
"See you," Berri trailed in great warmth, and as the two hung up the call, she furrowed her brow in revived sorrow, shook her head at herself and allowed herself to remain still in her now confused thoughts.
Berri sagged her phone into her chest in a lazy, dreaded manner, her eyes soaked up to the large, slanted glass ceiling of their incredibly beautiful kitchen and common room. The entire place was sun kissed in a magical stillness, a small greenhouse of warmth amidst the frigid winter air, outside. She lulled her eyes closed, heaved a long sigh of dread through her nose and knew this was something tricky to navigate. She knew, full well, that her and Gunner were strictly within the first five hours of a friendship, and although there was flirty notions and the sneak of subtle, longing glances, she was well aware it didn't hold a candle to whatever her and Turbo had. Berri reopened her eyes and felt her insides twist in apprehension and stress, she knew that keeping Turbo a secret, his own requests, was going to be difficult, all while trying her very best to now balance Academy, Gunner-jam sessions and time with Turbo. Just before she could allow the beginning tingles of stress to turn into bitey nips of irreversible dread, she flinched in a jolt of glitching, silver-coded surprise as the studio door heavily swung open.
"I mean, there are currently six dragons on the lot, but Chester hangs out with us the most," Theo confidently stated as him, Wren, Gunner and Gunner's silently observing security guard trailed out of the studio's warm entrance and corridor. Theo's eyes lit up as everyone peered to Berri, they approached her as she held her phone out, as if to pretend to busy herself, "Bear, we were just talking about how we should introduce Gunner to Chester!"
"O-Oh, sure," Berri bobbed a nod and now had to very quickly come back to the boy's light hearted reality, hers was so easily sapped in conflicting, two tiered dilemmas, one of which that could so easily get away from her.
"He's probably in his stable, he loves to hang out there," Theo bobbed a nod of assurance, and as all three boys, including Gunner's now more hands-off, moseying security guard, Berri inhaled a nervous breath and now allowed her brain to come back to the situation at hand.
"Silly thing, it's so cold out," Wren chirped, confidence began to slowly come back to him.
"Theo was just telling me all about your family's dragon-army," Gunner blurt a soft laugh, and one by one, everyone pressed out the glass back door, into the gorgeous, covered outdoor corridor, of their tower, a two dozen foot trail that lead to Chester's outdoor riding stable, "Full of bats and chameleons and... Hybrids of all kinds."
"Yes, it's a zoo out here, seriously," Berri choked a small giggle, she sagged her phone back into her pocket and was now eagerly counting down the minutes to where she could be alone with Turbo, the refreshing sound of his voice now had her confident that she could play this balancing act with ease.
"D-Do they bite? They're friendly, right?" Gunner now worried, his golden brown eyes nervously peered back to Berri for assurance, a cute show of unreserved apprehension, Berri now felt her heart beat in a jolt of endearment.
"Chester's really friendly," Berri bobbed a nod, she recalled his and Turbo's cute little bond, how puppy-dog like he'd become at Turbo's gentle hands, Berri smiled with reassurance and, as they came upon Chester's stable, they slowed their roll and only tenderly welcomed themselves inside his open-aired stable, a larger abode made available for any flyer to come and go, though it simply was a safe haven for Chester, as well as all his riding gear. Berri perked up and felt her heart swell at her adorable lykata hybrid, a majestic beast still growing into his paws, he was laid comfortably on his side, though he perked up in readied attention the second Berri's voice soaked his ears, "Hey Chessy-boy, c'mere! There's someone I'd like you to meet."
Wren, Theo and Gunner's security guard slowed to a stop while Gunner and Berri pushed on, though as they came within maybe twenty feet of Chester, Berri furrowed her eyebrows and felt a wash of uncertainty come over her. Chester eagerly got to all four paws, perked his ears high and kept a blind, tight-lipped eagle-eyed stare down on Gunner's presence, one of which Chester couldn't even physically see. Berri inhaled a nervous breath and warmly grabbed Gunner's upper arm, as if to eagerly warn him to slow down, to prove that she knew Chester better than anyone, and he was now acting particularly strange. Chester's nose wrinkled a few sniffles, his gorgeous wings were held tight to his body, his powerful body stood in readied apprehension, his whole being exuded the sheer strength and power of instinct, ones of which Chester was eager to rely on, first and foremost.
"Bubba, c'mere, don't be shy," Berri encouraged, she was thrilled his ears sagged for just a minute, as well as his shoulders, though as he took an apprehensive step or two closer to her and Gunner, he returned to his tight-lipped look of almost hunting diligence, his blind eyes held tight to Gunner, his ears were perked high in whole dominance, it was here did Berri understand that they'd likely have to encourage Chester to come to them. This whole time, she was surprised to find that she had continued to hold onto Gunner's strong arm, her warm voice eased into Gunner's gravity as she kept her eyes tight to her dragon, "Just... Maybe ready your hand, or something. Chester is both blind and mute, so he has to rely on scent and, well... Touch. Maybe let him smell you first, then you can maybe pet his snout. He's typically a love, but it's not often he meets new people, so who knows."
"Didn't you say he did just fine with Turbo, though?" Wren wondered blindly, unaware that the very notion of Turbo being their good friend was under wraps; Berri grit her teeth and held her breath.
"I forgot you guys knew Turbo," Gunner staggered with a gentle laugh, and although Chester was now cautiously looking like he was due to taking a few more steps closer to Gunner and Berri, he still held a dominant, tight-lipped look about himself, something that he wasn't known to holding onto for very long. Berri furrowed her eyebrows in rising nervousness and felt her heart sink the second Gunner naively took a step forward, his hand outstretched, his gentle voice carried on, "Hey, bud... He's so beautiful."
"Uh, Gunner," Berri worried as Gunner now took a few solid, slow and easy steps closer to Chester, though before she could get more words out, Berri felt her pupils tighten in a spike of sudden fear the second Chester's snout wrinkled into a full show of his incredibly sharp and strong fangs.
As if sat in an alternate reality, Berri was entirely floored to hear a wholly unfamiliar sound soak her ears, the sound of a full-blown snarl now reverberated against the walls of Chester's stable. A deep, prominent, growling snarl came confidently rumbling from the depths of Chester's throat, a proper guttural of a warning, and with said warning, Gunner's footsteps halted a little too late. Although Gunner's presence had come to a very nervous, prominent stop, Chester opened his mouth in a further show of dominant warning, and with a much louder snarl in Gunner's direction, everyone was entirely surprised to see Chester jolt forward a little and sharply snap his fangs towards Gunner's extended hand and warm. Gunner huffed a nervous noise, stepped backwards a few times, as did Berri, which thankfully had Chester's disposition gratefully showing signs of cutting the act of now recoiling. Berri huffed an almost authoritative noise of disbelief at him and shook her head.
"CHESTER," Berri now eagerly scolded, though she held her eyes to her incredible flyer and felt a weird mixture of frustration and glee brim in her heart. The fact that he wasn't playing nice so quickly was eradicated by the whole proof that his voice box was now finally showing signs of developing, of finally showing use. Berri blurt a laugh of disbelief, shook her head and was brave enough to now firmly approach him, "Chester, you play nice, whatsamatter with you!"
"Holy crap, d-did he just...?" Wren pointed his finger and shook his head with a bug-eyed look of disbelief.
"Uh-yeah!" Berri scoffed a harder laugh, and as she bravely soaked into Chester's gravity, she firmly pet his chest and was thrilled he so easily caved to her presence; he sagged his shoulders, lowered his head and ears, cut the snarling and nervously eased into her presence, in a needy fashion, "Th-this means he can eventually talk! I-I mean, I'm sorry it was sort of at your expense, Gunner, but... Wow, he has NEVER made a sound in his life."
"Glad I could help," Gunner muttered with a teasing smile of sorrowful disappointment, to which Theo and Wren eagerly laughed at. All three boys cued into laughter with each other, though Gunner rubbed the back of his head and longingly peered to Berri and Chester, as if to hope he'd be given another chance to make their introduction right, "I-I didn't mean to make him upset."
"N-No, he's just... Maybe caught by surprise," Berri encouraged, though she peered to Chester and furrowed her eyebrows, as if even she didn't really wholly believe the words coming out of her mouth; she knew, full well, that Chester never just lashed out at anyone to this, or any degree. She firmly rubbed the back of his neck, all through his lovely, fluffy orange fur and shook her head, "H-He maybe needs some time to adjust, I don't think he's ever met anyone that wasn't apart of Sugar Rush."
"Very unlike him," Theo mumbled as he crossed his arms, him and Wren caught eyes in a gentle slew of confusion.
