Reviews :
Xaehttium : Yeahhhh...Hate to say it, but it doesn't get any less frustrating from here. I'm Queen at slow-burn, but even *I* am struggling with it haha. I know you guys are anticipating the climax of this mess, the destruction of the love triangle, and I know it must be hard not knowing when it's coming, but it is also painfully difficult for me because I KNOW how to get there... It's just the tiring character development I have to go through in order to satisfy that slow-burn itch I've been trapped with. How badly I want to just upload a single chapter where Turbo and Berri get together and it's rainbow and sunshine, but... It'd do the characters a massive disservice. I enjoy developing them! Sorry it's driving you mad. If it makes you feel better, Berri does eventually 'get good' LOL.
Snake557 : Yeah... Poor BOTH of them, quite frankly.
Burgie : Too bad he doesn't have a chance to receive it! xD
marinetanker97 : You're not wrong! Although the last chapter, and this chapter sucks, for Turbo, it motivates him to do better :) So there's a plus. And, thank you SO much! I SO greatly appreciate your support! :D
Jay Sketchin : He's not nearly as bad as Selka. He has redeeming qualities, but he also has some skeletons in his closet you guys will come to find out, through someone rather important.
Song Listened To :
Capsize by FRENSHIP Emily Warren
*Chapter 91*
With a small clack of her heavy, massive front door, Berri grimaced a small, clenched-teeth look and watched as Turbo slowly revealed himself from the closet. Berri urgently peered to him in a rise of whole, apologetic grief, though she somehow tried to push through an equally as apologetic smile. Chester gently began to trot over, once and for all the clack of his non-retractable claws echoed about the glossy tiles and pristine, white walls. Turbo nervously rubbed the back of his head as his other hand easily closed the closet door, and before he could somehow stagger a nervous notion of cheekiness, as if to somehow be light hearted about this whole ordeal, Berri beat him to it and immediately dove right in, something he should've seen coming, certainly.
"Bo, I-I'm really sorry you, well... Had to deal with that, I had no clue you'd be here," Berri rushed, though Turbo largely furrowed his brow, looked off, heavily shrugged and began to put on a show of entirely forced nonchalance.
"Oh, no, no, it's nothing," Turbo urged as he sagged his masculine hands into his pockets, "It's my fault for not telling you I'd be here, I just thought it'd be fun to surprise you."
"I-I didn't think Gunner would be coming over, he insisted he bring me home and get me settled, cause I genuinely don't feel well," Berri urged softly as she began to take a few steps closer to Turbo; although he was forcing confidence and a cool, easy vibe, Berri could see his hands lightly trembling inside his jean's front pockets.
"No, right, I mean... That's what any good boyfriend would do, right?" Turbo pushed, he gave Berri a placid smile, his eyes looked hollow and defeated, though he still somehow smiled; Berri fell silently and sharply side-eyed Turbo.
"...He's not my boyfriend, Turbo," Berri's voice lulled into a gentle hum of rising authority.
"Oh, I mean... He asked you on yet another date and, well, kissed you," Turbo shook his head, the look in his eye began to grow distant, scarily distant, a distance Berri only knew upon the first few days of being inside Turbo's immediate bubble, a wall he so easily was ready to deploy to protect himself.
"He kissed my cheek, Turbo," Berri argued, "I really don't need to justify anything to you, anyways."
"No, you don't, it's all good," Turbo's voice lilted, he continued to wall off, something Berri knew would reverse if she just simply softened and potentially leveled with Turbo. Turbo cleared his throat nervously and tugged his collar, a little, "I-I guess I shouldn't have assumed."
"Yeah, makes an ass out of all of us," Berri snapped, a defense mechanism she deployed when she felt hurt, something she was well aware didn't get her anywhere, though due to feeling embarrassed, she figured she was fighting blind at this point.
"Yeah, I... Look, I'm sorry I came, I thought it'd be a nice surprise," Turbo staggered, he quickly began to conceal himself back into that spiky shell of his, something Berri and crew had worked so hard to pry him out of, Berri furrowed her brow and began to feel sadness fall over her, she knew she needed to rush to Turbo's aid and make this all better, though bitterness and stubbornness began to unfortunately get the better of her as Turbo coldly pressed on, "Guess I was still dead on, in my way of thinking, though..."
"What do you mean?" Berri begged softly, though Turbo almost meanly narrowed his eyes.
"He doesn't even know who I am and even he's wary to trust me," Turbo's voice darkened, Berri raised her eyebrows in sharp surprise and rushed to reverse the damage.
"Bo, he doesn't know who you really are," Berri stated as quickly as she could, though Turbo shook his head and peered to Berri's front door.
"I don't want to be the reason Gunner has trust issues, I don't want to come in between what you guys have and be that rando guy best friend that he eventually chases away," Turbo stabbed sharply, an eternity of not having solid, mature friendships and relationships severely hindered just how he should carry out normal social conversations and arguments; Berri furrowed her eyebrows in a spike of billowing anger.
"Turbo, it's not LIKE that, he doesn't know you're THE Turbo, h-he thinks you're just a random, full-blown criminal," Berri firmly argued, though Turbo inhaled a deep breath, his broad chest expanded in a solid show of every last pixel of power, he exuded whole authority over Berri, something she was entirely not used to.
"I AM a criminal," Turbo's voice grew stern as he began to take a few steps closer to Berri, he furrowed his eyebrows and now felt as if the only way to solve this mess was just to push Berri as far away from him as he possibly could, lest the two get hurt any further. He side-eyed her and watched as she visibly shrunk, "I single-handedly murdered everyone in my entire game, Berri. You don't think that counts as being a criminal? A wanted man? I don't deserve anyone's trust."
"T-Turbo, that's entirely d-"
"It's not different, and you know it," Turbo stabbed, Berri flinched and nervously peered up to him, though she began to show signs of being pushed too deep into a corner, "Even Gunner knows to be wary of me and he's never met me in my entire life... And now you see why even so much as being seen in public will be the end of me, we have cold hard proof of it."
"No we don't, people may be wary of you but they wouldn't come for you," Berri snapped sharply, she glowered Turbo down as her eyes grew heavy with tears, tears of anguish; her stress marks easily sprawled her temples unabated as she angrily continued on in the meanest tone she could deliver, "You're just too stubborn to do anything about your own problems. You're sitting and waiting for a miracle while letting life pass you by. A life you could have. A life I KNOW you want."
"You don't know what I want," Turbo growled, nearly in her face, though Berri took a sharp step forward and firmly got back in Turbo's face.
"Your core coding didn't lie to me, that one night," Berri stated in a sharp, firm tone, just above a whisper, she glared Turbo down one last time and narrowed her gaze to tightened, blue daggers, "We both want the same things but you're too stuck in the past to even begin thinking about how to even move forward."
"...Your highness," Turbo coldly delivered, a belly-up response that proved to Berri that he had immediately given up on the conversation, and with such a cold deliverance, Berri tried not to grimace into impending tears as she ripped her presence from Turbo's, once and for all.
Turbo flinched and felt a wash of regret come over him. He huffed a silent noise and urgently watched as Berri stormed away. He shook his head, held his hand out, opened his mouth to stop her but felt as if everything was just slipping from his grip, things so far out of his control. Turbo heaved a shaky sigh, sagged his shoulders in defeat and watched her beautiful, slender figure storm down her tower's single corridor and out of sight. Although Chester looked torn about who to follow, he gave Turbo a nervous, puppy-dog look before hesitantly following Berri and slipping out of sight. Turbo sagged, knowing full well his fun run had come to an end, and with the idea of hollowing away and sealing his heart in a concrete box for good, he lulled his teary eyes closed, grabbed his heavy coat and quietly saw himself out of Berri's silent tower, for good.
As the evening came and went, and Saturday easily lulled into a silent haze of a blurry, grey snow storm, Berri was certain that she had spent over twenty four hours in her room, darkened and filled with grief and frustration. As the bare, sunny glint of tinted yellow clouds came and went, Berri sat on the edge of her bed in a hollow ache of refusing to move. She could feel Chester's nervous gaze gloss to her every once in awhile before he slumped back into lazy slumber, something she wished she could also escape to. Her gentle fingers so aimlessly fiddled with her beautiful guitar pick necklace, the gift that Turbo gave her. Although the two were feuding, she still refused to remove it from around her neck. Having literally no more tears left in her body to cry, she just resorted to just barely breathing through the tender gape of her raw pink lips, her nose was entirely clogged, as were her sinuses, she felt as if her whole entire head was a lead balloon and her neck was a brittle toothpick. Her stomach had given up growling long ago, she was certain that, at this point, she was so hungry that she was now not hungry any longer.
Although she was previously desperate to fall asleep, somehow sitting at the edge of her bed in mindless contemplation, for over twenty four hours straight, had driven her into falling unconscious at one point or another. In the haze of a mild nightmare, her's and Turbo's fight easily repeated itself, in her mind, everything her stressor marks took note of was entirely heightened, exaggerated features, like the angry, golden glow of Turbo's eyes, were highlighted and dutifully noted. She tried to move her limbs but failed, reminding her that she was trapped in a nightmare and the only thing she could do was just to simply endure it. Although desperately attempting to claw her way out of shallow nightmares, a sudden, gentle doorbell like noise rung through her ears, a dainty noise that suddenly jarred her awake. With a jolt, she inhaled a hard breath through her mouth, sat up firmly and tried her hardest to open her crusted over eyes. Her heart raced at the speed of light, the gentle glow of the Sunday morning sun glinted into her bedroom, and although her room was still mildly dim, she grimaced at the very sight of a harsh, silver glow in her peripherals; a clear sign that her stress lines, on her temples, were now flared in entire anger.
The gentle doorbell rang once more, bringing Berri to a clearer draw of consciousness, and as her eyes urgently dragged to her teleportation alcove, across the stretch of her bedroom, a single named hovered in a glint of silver coding, the name 'Tessa Quorrin Kalivar' bobbed in bold font, cueing to Berri that her mother was politely asking if she could enter Berri's bedroom teleport pad. Berri sagged her shoulders and felt that vicious sting of tears hit her eyes, once more, the remembrance of everything that came rushing back to her, once more, the only thing she wanted, in this cold instance, was to be held by her mother. She hiccuped a small noise, grappled her communicator, thumbed a few options and unlocked her teleportation pad for her mother. In a hefty volley of concerned, silver coding, Tessa appeared on Berri's teleport pad, looking as clean and as fresh as a summer day, her lovely, auburn hair was kept and in smooth waves down her body, she wore a white t-shirt and a pair of tattered skinny jeans. She was prepared to begin construction on the flyer's new enclosure, though Tessa knew she had to get to the bottom of Berri's whole entire absence, first.
"Bear," Tessa dragged softly as she began to step into Berri's frozen in time bedroom, untouched for over a whole day even though Berri had been in here, it was clear by how stiff and musty the air was that Berri was simply rotting away, in here. Tessa approached Berri's fragile figure, sat upright on the egde of her bed, and upon Tessa's gentle sit, Berri crumpled into pitiful tears of dread. Tessa was quick to wrap Berri into her motherly arms and chest, a loving cradle she'd give either of her children, no matter how big or grown they were, "Baby, tell me what's wrong, you've been ignoring all of us for over a whole day now... We're all REALLY concerned about you."
"I'm fine," Berri's sweet voice finally griped, her dirty face buried into Tessa's shoulder.
"What is it?" Tessa pressed as she finally released Berri, held her jaws and made Berri peer into her. Tessa grimaced and stroked her thumbs to Berri's vivid, angry stress marks, "Bear, you... Y'gotta tell me what's going on, this is not healthy. These stress lines are way out of control, did you have a chance to talk to Turbo about these?"
"...Turbo," Berri choked a small cry and shook her head in dread, "I-I was so mean to him, h-he... Gunner and I came into my tower while Turbo was here, and... He hid away, but... Gunner doesn't trust Turbo, so-"
"Easy, Bear, one thing at a time," Tessa barely eased a chuckle, she tucked some of Berri's hair behind her ear and shook her head in a rise of concern, "You and Gunner came over here, but Turbo was here and you didn't know?"
"G-Gunner invited me on a third date in front of Turbo, and... And..." Berri staggered in whole bashfulness, whole grief, any ounce of any emotion her heart could afford was what showed right on her sleeve. She shook her head and shut her eyes tight, "Turbo's now mad at me because, well... I just want him to leave Sugar Rush so badly, mom, how is it possible..."
"Berri," Tessa stated through a defeated sigh, though she gave Berri a promising smile and wiped the tears from Berri's cheeks, "I know you want Turbo to leave Sugar Rush, and get to know the new Arcade, I do too... Everyone does... But, you can't force him, on this, Bear. It's on his own time."
"I just... I want him to be happy," Berri whispered in defeat.
"I'm certain he's happy, Berri... We haven't seen him this happy in a very long time," Tessa assured as she pet the side of Berri's head and soft blue hair, "You're his best friend, babe, right?"
"I-I was," Berri staggered in uncertainty, "I-I don't think he wants anything to do with me, now..."
"That's ridiculous, Berri, so you guys are fighting," Tessa shrugged and aimlessly looked off, "Lickity is MY best friend, and we've had some pretty gnarly fights. Even your father and I, Penny and I... You fight with Wren and Theo sometimes, right?"
"Mom, it's not the same," Berri argued quietly, though Tessa side-eyed Berri and gave her a cheeky smile.
"I DID include your father, in on that list of people, Bear... Someone of whom I'm romantically involved with," Tessa retort, Berri sagged and bashfully looked off, "Romance, impending relations or not... Turbo is still your best friend. None of that will change over a little fight."
"I don't know what to do, mom," Berri sighed, she seemed to be already feeling better due to finally being able to chat with someone.
"Here's what you do... Y'get on some clothes you don't care if they get destroyed, y'come out with me and help me with this enclosure. We're going to be moving your tower, as well, so I kind of need your cooperation, here," Tessa cheekily instructed, though she sagged when Berri didn't comply, not even a blink. Tessa exhaled a hot sigh of defeat through her nose and lovingly gripped Berri's hands, "Bear... I know how you're feeling. I do... I can tell you love him."
Berri raised her eyebrows in bashful surprise and eased her dead gaze into Tessa's in a warmth of shy revival; Tessa tsked her a noise and gave her a wide, cheeky smile of a side-eye.
"If you love him, Bear... You have to be willing to help put in work," Tessa eased, she shook her head as Berri opened her mouth and looked as if she was going to argue in defiance, "Ah-Ah! I'm NOT saying you haven't... You just HAVE to understand that, although it may not look like much, Turbo has put in a HUGE deal of work, and you have to recognize that..."
"What MORE do I have to do?" Berri stabbed in another mess of billowing tears, "I've already banged down his door, shown him an endless amount of support, have told everyone in Arcade that he's the best person ever. Now that I'm about to have all these shows I'd do ANYTHING to have him at, he's just..."
"Feeling intimidated, Bear. You have that rockstar boyfriend you were always dreaming of," Tessa almost darkly retort, Berri raised her eyebrows in a spike of dread as Tessa began to softly thwart all of Berri's plans, "He was doing all of this for you, but now that you're not an item on the menu any longer, he's given up... You have to teach him that this is now something he needs to do for himself."
"What are you saying?" Berri staggered in nervousness, though Tessa narrowed her gaze.
"You've brought him this far... You've made it about you, about chasing YOU to your concerts and coming to see YOUR shows," Tessa's voice was quiet and stern, "Now that you guys seem to be feuding, and Gunner's standing in his way, he likely feels as if trying is futile. So, you're having some fun, you're running way and doing some shows, but... You can't forget your roots, Bear. You can't forget the guy who pushed you out the door and begged you to chase your dreams, the one who was potentially willing to go chase after you but instead got chased away," Tessa cheekily explained, as kindly as she could, she cocked an eyebrow and gingerly flicked the guitar pick that dangled above Berri's sternum.
Berri sagged her shoulders and took in her mother's words. She knew this was supposed to be unconditional love, everything her and Turbo had built up, in such a short time, was valid and beautiful, something she craved, a romance she would be entirely glad to fall into, though somehow she felt thwarted by herself. The desire to up and run, at the speed of light, was something she also craved, something that Gunner was now easily supplying her. She grimaced slightly and knew her mother's words were laying thick, though she nearly flinched as Tessa carried on.
"Instant gratification is a lot of fun and it's really great in the moment, but," Tessa sighed and looked down to her hands, "Just be careful who you push away and who you pull in close, Bear. Turbo's trust is already so incredibly fragile... He's such a sensitive, old soul, I really would try and reign in your knee-jerk reactions, towards him."
"Can't teach an old dog new tricks," Beri mumbled, though Tessa cocked an eyebrow and gave her a stern look.
"Have you met your grandfather, Berri Schweetz?" Tessa corrected, to which Berri shrank, "That man is about as old as Turbo, and he's done a complete one-eighty, from what mom has told me. That guy is far more stubborn than Turbo would even begin to dream of being. If your grandpa Ralph can ease through change, like he has, and be that old dog that has successfully learned new tricks, then I'd say Turbo is worth every single last ounce of patience you have."
Berri bobbed a nod of defeat and looked down. She heaved a long, shaky sigh and quietly eased into a proper show of said defeat, not as quick as maybe Tessa would adhere to, "How... How do I even get Turbo to talk to me, ever again? I'm sure he hates my guts, now."
"He could never hate you... Just give him some space, Bear, let him come to you," Tessa shrugged, "If maybe you haven't heard from him, in a week, then reach out to him. I KNOW he cares about you... And, this isn't the end. You're Sugar Rush's princess. He HAS to deal with you, whether he likes it or not."
"I just feel as if all my effort has vanished... All my effort to help him and ease him back into society," Berri complained, though Tessa dryly shrugged.
"So? If everything was back to square one, would you give up on him?" Tessa plainly asked, causing Berri to flinch and think twice about her statement; she sagged and looked away in further defeat.
"...No, I wouldn't," Berri mumbled, Tessa beamed a smug smile and shook her head.
"No, you wouldn't," Tessa repeated cheekily, and before Berri could give her a dull glower of exhausted irritation, Tessa pat Berri's thigh and pointed to Berri's messy bedroom, "C'mon, get dressed. Surely you have some clothes, in here, you can throw on. We'got an enclosure to build."
