Reviews :
Lyssdoodles : Aww thanks! I agree, I wish I had a big group of friends like this.
Snake557 : It's true! There's nothing I love more :)
Song Listened To :
The Wolf by SIAMES
In Great Strides by Joris De Man The Flight
*Chapter 198*
With a sudden pop of rose gold, Turbo choked a hard noise of unadulterated terror, jolted to a firm, clumsy sit and felt his eyes peel open in a tear from the back of his skull. Prickled in the dribble of likely one of the worst nightmares of his whole entire life, his broad, bare chest so heavily rose and fell in the trembling cold sweat he was perfectly sat in. In a dart about his familiar, lovely, sunny bedroom, safe and secure, Turbo scoffed a shaky noise of whole, unmitigated relief as he scrunched his eyes tight, sagged his knees into a bend, plowed his elbows into said knees and held his head hung above the lazy gape of his blanket-covered thighs. Alone in his bedroom, having previously had a solid night's sleep, he trembled as the licks and mean taunts of his nightmare seemingly hung over him like a dark ghost, and as his mind reeled to the nightmare, he sharply furrowed his eyebrows and peered across his sunny bedroom in stark remembrance, as if this was a scene he had strangely visited before. Upon further, awakening realization, he long-blinked in whole fear as he quickly realized he had just relived the very memory of Berri's traumatizing visit with the deleter on Arcade's train cab, all those months ago.
Turbo's hands trembled, the vision of said creature rocketing itself at him, the haunting noises it made, the amount of pain Turbo's body relived through Berri's trauma, his shivering, new coding shook in almost taunting delight, as if to promise that sure, Turbo had demons he easily supplied Berri, though Berri's share of the coding was not nearly as much of a walk in the park as first promised. Turbo shook his head and continued to pant, he could see a strange new color glow on the bridge of his nose, though his brain did what it could to put any of it aside and simply feel a whole entire swathe of further appreciation for his blue beauty. The poor thing had endured said trauma and somehow held her head high, every day, with a wide smile and a plethora of love to give, Turbo shook his head in further, disgruntled apprehension and swiped the blankets off of his bare body. Still in a cold sweat of trembling uncertainty, he did what he could to yank a pair of underwear and black sweats over his body, and nothing more. With a swipe of his phone, he urgently pressed towards his closed bedroom door, yanked it open and was prepared to find Lash.
Having previously, the night prior, sat Lash down and instructed that Turbo was given permission to code Lash his very own bedroom, here, in Turbo's loft, Turbo pushed down his now a bit longer corridor, passed Lash's opened bedroom door and stormed into the kitchen, where Lash hovered at the gas stove. Lash raised his eyebrows in cute delight, easily looking as sleepily disheveled and also shirtless, he looked as if he was about to volley Turbo a kind notion of awakening, though jolted in hot surprise at the sheer fact that Turbo's eyes glowed a very angry, prominent color of vivid, hot turquoise, something Lash had never seen before. Lash sharply furrowed his eyebrows, set down the spatula he was holding and opened his mouth to rush Turbo with confused questioning, though Turbo heaved a trembling mess of words and, in his half awake stupor, he rushed Lash's poised soul with a swathe of very real terror.
"H-Holy User, Lash, I... I was THERE, like... The deleter was... I relived Berri's memory, guh that was AWFUL," Turbo hissed in high pitched, raspy terror as he grappled his bedhead, a whole mess of dusty grey hair that cutely fluffed his scalp; Lash long-blinked in entire, popped confusion and rested his hand to his broad bare chest.
"I'm sorry... WHAT?" Lash choked a hard, sleepy laugh and urgently peered to Turbo, "Bo, your... Your eyes are like, turquoise right now, what the hell?"
"I-I just need to find Berri," Turbo mumbled in hot agitation, "Sh-she... Guh, my GOD that was awful, I can't believe she went THROUGH that!"
"The train cab incident?" Lash pressed in hot, dire curiosity, "You... Seemingly adopted her memories, and her for you? I don't know how swapping works, I'm probably the last person to give good advice, here, my dude."
"The poor thing, I-I mean I saw the footage of the incident, but my god, dude," Turbo's voice pushed in trembling fervor as he stabbed his brightly glowing turquoise eyes tight to Lash's, "It's SO different actually experiencing it first hand, holy User... I-I need to find Berri and tell her that I love the everliving shit out of her."
"I'm surprised she didn't spend the night," Lash piqued in boyish cuteness, to which Turbo furrowed his brow, shook his head and opened his palms in readied nervousness, though Lash sharply raised his eyebrows and urgently gestured his hand outward, "UH, Turbo, I wouldn't."
"Why not?" Turbo stabbed in hot, rushing curiosity, still swathed with fear, his opened palms were cued with his and Berri's lovely coding, Lash shook his head and gestured to their front door.
"Don't test your time-hop coding, mixed with Berri's coding NOW, dude, you're like.. Running on adrenaline, you're going to warp yourself back like fifteen YEARS," Lash choked a hard laugh and was grateful he didn't have to argue Turbo, here; his trembling figure urgently began to rush his front door in defeated agreeing.
"I-I'll be back," Turbo instructed gently as he quickly left, closing his home's large front door behind him.
"Yay, it's a sun shower," Berri chimed in girly, cute excitement; her, Wren and Tatum hovered in their tower's lovely kitchen, and although it was brightly sunny out, this early Sugar Rush morning, a passing cloud began to sprinkle a hefty amount of sunny rain droplets to the bright, green and colorful plants outside. Berri clapped her hands and peered her eyes to Wren in cute delight, "I love when this happens."
"Me too, not too often it comes about," Wren pressed warmly as his eyes looked over his shoulder, to the huge splay of windows near him; all three beings were dressed in lazy clothes of full relaxation, Berri in Turbo's cozy, faded red zip up, Wren in a grey t-shirt and plaid pj bottoms and Tatum in a hot red cami and grey leggings. The atmosphere in their sunny little abode was fresh and lovely, the smell of breakfast saturated the air with the tasty scent of bacon, eggs, pancakes and buttery toast. Wren finally took a sip of his iced beverage, one of which him and Tatum had snagged for everyone, from Sugarbucks, and cutely continued, "Tatum and I saw the construction across the street from Sugarbucks, earlier, by the way."
"Do we know what that store is going to be yet, or no?" Berri wondered as she took a bite of her breakfast; they each picked at their plates, a mess of gentle, tinkering silverware and quiet chewing.
"No, but I'm sure Turbo would know, right?" Wren mumbled with his mouth full.
"Yeah, I can ask him, he'd probably have to do some digging," Berri bobbed a nod and shrugged, "Since it's so close to the Sugarbucks we frequent the most, I'm sure he knows off the top of his head what it'll be."
"Oh, wow, he like... Has a say in construction plans and all that stuff?" Tatum cutely inquired, to which Berri eased a proud, sweet smile and calmly nodded.
"Yeah! He like... Approves construction projects of all kinds, just what will be built where, road work, parks, street work, you name it," Berri rattled warmly, she looked down to her plate and smiled with further pride, "Kind of the end all decision maker of the city. My dad oversees it all, obviously, but Turbo makes the difficult decisions, there, in that aspect. He does a lot more, but... He'd explain it better than I probably could."
"That's so cool," Tatum chirped with a nod, though just as she opened her mouth to cutely inquire further, the teleport hub, in their lovely, sunny kitchen, angrily buzzed with a sudden fervor of hot, rose gold coding.
In a quick turn, everyone eagerly peered to the pad in stark curiosity and froze as Turbo's figure suddenly appeared on said pad, and though Berri almost began to think nothing of it and was due to giving her lovely fiancé a kind, welcoming, good morning greeting, she ceased all movement at the sheer sight of his eyes and body language. Shroud in whole terror, his brightly and strangely colored turquoise eyes housed very widely dilated pupils, a broad show of true fear he was urgently plagued with, and though Berri felt her adrenaline suddenly shoot through the roof, she sharply stood to correction, at her kitchen island, and was thrilled Turbo pressed into the kitchen. Albeit a clumsy show of almost confused terror, he urgently peered to Berri in a swathe of almost guilt, something Berri sharply cued to.
"Turbo, what's wrong, what happened?" Berri sharply pressed as both Wren and Tatum also froze in readied terror, though Turbo heavily panted and shook his head as Berri finally filled their gap and gripped Turbo's lower arm in a steady show of camaraderie.
"I-I... Guh, for User's sakes, I had the worst nightmare of my entire life, I... I relived the WHOLE memory of you and the deleter on the train cab," Turbo rushed in depleted terror, to which Berri sharply furrowed her eyebrows and peered her equally scared eyes into Turbo's widely dilated square pupils, an equally as haunting sight as if they were the typical slits that showed through when he was livid. Berri shook her head and opened her mouth to further question Turbo, though he gripped his hand over his eyes, grimaced in still panting terror and firmly showed his teeth in a sharper grit of entire, soul shaking dread, "God, I can't believe you like... I-I saw that footage, but enduring it, like you did, I... No WONDER you were so traumatized, for so long, oh my GOD."
"Hey, easy, c'mere," Berri urged as she gripped Turbo's upper arm, and as she pulled him a little closer to the kitchen island, where her half-empty plate of hot breakfast still hovered, Berri sharply did what she could to round the island, grab the empty bar stool next to Wren and bring it around for Turbo. Upon clacking said stool to the tiles, she gripped Turbo's upper arm and almost had to force him to a sagging sit, which he finally obliged to, "Sit, just relax, just breathe... It was just a dream, everything is okay."
"It WASN'T just a dream, YOU lived through it!" Turbo pleaded in further desperation, as if to somehow prove to Berri that he was in full understanding of the situation and now felt awful, all over again, even though the whole ordeal wasn't even his fault. Berri huffed a shaky, nervous giggle and very lovingly began to tend to Turbo in the form of tidying his messy, crazy grey hair in a motherly show of sweet doting. Turbo's breathing began to show signs of evening out, though he shook his head and peered his haunting, brilliantly glowing turquoise eyes off in aimless sorrow as his gorgeous gaze began to grow glassy in the downswing of adrenaline and right into the form of genuine sadness, "I can't believe that happened to you, and you... You still acted with such tact and were so quick on your feet, Bear, I would've DIED. I would've died."
Berri heaved a shaky breath and, although she was glad finally someone truly understood just how horrifying that experience was for her, she lovingly ran her fingers through Turbo's messy hair and quietly began to shush him as Wren and Tatum hovered in soft, readied sweetness. Berri kindly wormed out of the baggy zip up she was wearing, which was Turbo's, and lovingly draped it over his bare shoulders, and although Turbo had just bursted his riled energy into her's, Wren's and Tatum's very still, sunny, lovely morning, Berri knew the energy could be retrieved, once more. She shook her head, inhaled a deep, calm breath and very gently rested her hand to the faintly glowing stressor mark over Turbo's heart.
"Take a deep breath, for me, hun," Berri's gentle voice instructed, and with her womanly touch, he inhaled a deep, shaky breath through his nose and lulled his eyes closed; upon doing so, the glisten of tears, that had welled in his eyes, now glued to his black eye lashes. Berri shook her head and rubbed his chest a little as she warmly continued, she stood a few inches above Turbo's eye level, due to the medium-height stool he sat on, "I think I speak for Wren and Tatum when I say... You scared the SHIT out of us."
"Yeah, I nearly just crapped my pants," Wren barked with a soft, understanding laugh, to which Tatum covered her mouth and loudly giggled in knowing as her and Wren caught gazes. Wren shook his head and peered to Berri and Turbo in warm, collected understanding, "You guys are NOT having an easy go, with all of this huh... Traumas are being handed over, and then it just is seemingly... Having a hay-day on your coding."
"It's like it has a new avenue, a new person to sort of test," Berri mumbled as she was thrilled to feel Turbo's terrified demeanor now deflate to shaking exhaustion. He reopened his eyes in soft, exasperated humility and began to slowly worm his arms into the zip up Berri had provided him. Upon easing into his own clothing, he zipped the zipper to the middle of his chest, rested his elbow on the counter before him and sagged in Berri's loving, caring touch as she slowly pet the back of Turbo's head, "I didn't... Consider that to be a thing that would resurface, because I had successfully pulled myself through that trauma. With Turbo's help, of course."
"User, that sucked," Turbo muttered in sadness, he finally drew his eyes to Wren and then Tatum, and although his eyes still held that lovely turquoise glow, his pupils had shrunk back to normal, now, "Sorry to burst in on you guys, it just... Guh it was so much more real than just a dream. It was so... Freaking... Real."
"I'm really sorry, love," Berri mumbled, she gently tapped her plate and inched the fork closer to Turbo's hand, "Have some food, babe... You're safe, you're with us, okay?"
"Yeah, we won't scare yah," Tatum cooed with a small giggle of understanding, said cute notions finally got a small smirk from Turbo's shivering demeanor.
"Thanks, guys," Turbo mumbled in depleted cuteness.
"So, you've... Had a run in with a deleter, Bear?" Tatum asked in soft, apprehensiveness, she finally began to pick at her food, once more.
"Yeah, it was terrible," Berri stated through a gentle sigh of hot understanding, she lovingly lofted her gaze to Turbo and continued to warmly pet the back of his head in soft strokes of care. He had the side of his face and jaw now smushed into his hand as his elbow remained firmly planted into the counter. With closed eyes and a steady show of quietly doing what he could to quell his breathing, Berri stood close and continued to so tenderly rub the back of Turbo's head, her fingers caressed in firm, easy scratches into his scalp to further soothe him, "I... Made a REALLY stupid decision to sneak out of Sugar Rush, late one night, to meet up with Gunner. On the way back, I rode the train home all by myself and there was a deleter on the cab with me."
"No," Tatum hissed in unadulterated shock as she bugged her eyes in dread, Berri bobbed a nod and eased a smile of almost nostalgic wariness, as if this was just a hardship she was so far removed from, and Turbo was the one now dealing with it first hand.
"Yeah, we... Practically played wall-ball for five minutes straight," Berri grit her teeth and continued to methodically pet the back of Turbo's head, he quietly scoffed a noise and furrowed his eyebrows in a grimace of true understanding.
"User, it felt like an eternity," Turbo hissed in exasperated dread, Berri bobbed a nervous, lazy nod and gave Wren and Tatum a look of true, sarcastic glee.
"Yep, that's about right," Berri quipped with a hard, hot exhale.
"She killed it, singlehandedly, I mean... User, the sheer amount of will power and quick thinking," Turbo finally scoffed a trembling, nervous chuckle and peeled his eyes open, he aimlessly peered down to Berri's half-eaten breakfast before him, "Like I said, I would've died immediately."
"Bub, lookit me, please," Berri chirped in gentle instruction as she so tenderly hooked her finger underneath Turbo's defined jaw and chin, lined with black stubble. Turbo cocked an eyebrow in innocent curiosity and peered his beautiful, still turquoise eyes tight to Berri's. They both hooked into a tight gaze of mixed emotion, though Berri finally gave Wren and Tatum a silent look of further contemplation.
"Yeah, right there with you," Wren scoffed in bewilderment as he took a bite of his breakfast and bobbed a certain nod.
"Baby, what... Does this color of a glow mean?" Berri wondered softly, she narrowed her gaze into Turbo's as he hovered in still confusion, though in cute, humble, boyish mannerisms, Turbo wrinkled his nose, crossed his eyes to get a solid look at the bridge of his nose and finally returned his boggled gaze to Berri's.
"I-I don't... Know, I've never seen it before," Turbo mumbled in deflated innocence.
"Fear? Like GENUINE terror?" Wren wondered as Tatum giggled at Turbo's cute, youthful demeanor.
"Yeah, our... Our swap is REALLY unearthing a lot, Bo," Berri eased a conclusory giggle as she lovingly swept her hand to Turbo's broad shoulder; he bobbed a nervous nod and now eyed Berri's plate, once more, to which she tapped the rim of her plate and lovingly rubbed his upper back in encouragement, "Eat. Go on, I'll make myself another plate. You have that."
"You sure?" Turbo pressed as his eyes sagged up to hers in patient contemplation, Berri nodded in solid affirmation and scoot the plate of deliciousness closer to him.
"Eat, you need it," Berri instructed in gentle love, to which Turbo eased her a grateful nod and slowly picked up the fork on her plate, his hand still shook. She remained unwavering in her stance until Turbo finally shoveled a small bite of Berri's pancakes into his mouth and began to chew. She heaved a soft, shaky sigh and rubbed her forehead in the gentle revival of their positive energy, all of it began to slowly come back to the group as she pressed on, "Welp. I think I'll probably ask mom if she'll meet with us, maybe throw Throttle and Wren into the mix."
"How come us?" Wren wondered cutely as he and Tatum began to eat with normal fervor, once more, though Berri cocked an eyebrow and noticed that the second Turbo had a taste of food, he zoned in, went silent and began to quietly hoover everything left on her plate; she choked a small giggle and, before she peeled from Turbo, she laid a loving kiss to the side of his head.
"Because, you guys may not have the same intense throw of traumas and emotions, in your Turbotime coding, but you still can understand the depth and mass of information, right?" Berri chimed as she began to move closer to her stove, so to prepare her and Turbo a bit more food, due to the fact that Turbo nearly had cleaned the plate previously loaded with a decent amount of food.
"Yeah, I totally get the overload of it all," Wren bobbed a nod and tried to politely talk with his mouth full, as best as he could, "I mean... Throttle isn't loaded with nearly as huge of past, traumatic life events, lost swap mates, all of the sorrow that includes. I wouldn't say he's NOT in touch with his emotion, cause he is, but certainly Turbo and maybe Lash would have a better understanding. You think we should include Lash?"
"Might as well throw Nox and Koko into the mix, too," Berri mumbled cutely with a shrug as her gas stove clicked on with a blue flame, she inhaled a calmed breath and began to get back to work in preparing some more pancakes, eggs and bacon for her and Turbo; she softly volleyed her gaze over her shoulder and, although she opened her mouth to press on, she flinched in cute surprise at the sight of Turbo now honed tight to her, his eyes were gently kissed a muted yellow, as if he was on the mend. His eyebrows were raised in boyish, somber, piqued curiosity, as if to so silently and politely ask if she was making more food.
"... Alright, so... The cure for turquoise eyes is a head rub and delicious food," Tatum choked a cute giggle as Berri beamed a wide smile into Turbo's sweet eyes.
"What did we get ourselves into," Berri wondered in a wistful tone of sweet, sarcastic dread as she gave Turbo a bashful, loving grin; he bobbed a nod, long-blinked in understanding and inhaled a deep, revived breath.
"I don't know, but your cooking is otherworldly," Turbo mumbled sweetly, to which Wren bugged his eyes, down to his plate, and heavily nodded.
"Yeah, Bear, anytime you make food, I have to bust out my fat pants," Wren muttered with his mouth still full, to which Berri cued a cute smile of humble glee.
"Aww, you guys like?" Berri wondered sweetly, she returned to the stove with a satisfied grin.
"Yeah, the way you make the pancakes all thick and fluffy like... Mmmm," Tatum hummed in glee as her and Wren were well on their way to finishing their plates, as well, "Too bad Theo overslept."
"More for us," Wren chimed with victory, to which him and Tatum shared a soft laugh.
"I'm game for said coding meeting, by the way," Turbo mumbled as his eyes very tenderly began to soak back to a normal, golden glow. He inhaled a shaky breath and, although still deflated and apprehensive, he gave Wren a soft look of knowing and bobbed a nod, "I don't want any of us to be blindsided, like I just was. Man, that sucked. Bear, I believed you when you said it was the worst day of your life, but man... I never thought, in a million years, I'd get a front row seat to the drama."
"You weren't in the audience," Wren choked a nervous laugh as Berri easily smiled in wary agreeing and continued on with her task at the stove, "You were the star role."
"I didn't even try out, what the heck," Turbo muttered as he looked down to the empty plate in front of him.
"Serves us right for trying to be a mature, secure couple and allowing space to sleep alone, here and there," Berri muttered with a small giggle as her back was turned to the group, though Tatum sweetly shrugged and set her now empty plate down, as well.
"Well, you guys swapped for the very first time yesterday morning, right? Maybe... Allow a month, or so, before you start sleeping separate or doing anything, like such," Tatum kindly advised as Turbo honed his golden eyes to her in patient, curious listening, "I'm no swap expert, but... It seems, to me, that you both REALLY need each other, to lean on, right now. Had Berri been there when you were startled out of your nightmare, Turbo, it probably would've greatly helped, y'know?"
"You're right," Turbo mumbled softly, his eyes glanced to Wren's in soft curiosity.
"I mean, it's what I'd do," Tatum shrugged, she eyed Wren in further easiness and gestured to him, "What do you and Throttle do?"
"It really depends, I think it's a pretty even spread when we spend the night with each other, or sleep alone," Wren shrugged, "It's been different lately, because when he comes on tour with us, we share a bed. When we come home, then we have our alone nights."
"Maybe you and Turbo could do that, too, once things get going again," Tatum suggested as Turbo bobbed a nod of agreeing, though Tatum furrowed her brow and shrugged, "Well... Then you guys will get married and live together, so..."
"Might as well just move in with the dude, Bear, it was nice seeing you," Wren mumbled, "Please come over every morning and cook us breakfast."
"Oh, will do, that sounds like so much fun," Berri muttered sarcastically, though she gave Turbo a twinkling look of soft curiosity, to which he easily received with an equally as curious little smirk, as if to wonder if the grand idea of potentially moving in, with one another, would likely be too hot to the touch, or something they should immediately sag into. Berri turned back to the stove and allowed her mind to marinate in the thought of it all as Wren, Tatum and Turbo softly carried on with one another. Although a rather fast, impending installment, she did what she could to at least delightfully hover on the idea of sleeping with Turbo for the next little while, until the dust settled.
A/N : Hey guys, I hate to do this, but my mental health is declining. It's in my best interest to take a week or so from uploading, I think my move has finally caught up to me and I'm just extremely mentally exhausted. I want to remain 20+ chapters ahead of myself, for my own sanity, and I need to get back to a point where I'm writing every day. I've fallen out of it because of everything going on, and now that I'm in the downswing of finally feeling settled, I want to really marinate in that and take care of myself. I'm not burnt out, I just need a minute. I want to write without feeling stressed, and I recognize when I'm about to feel stressed and lay off so I don't crash and burn. I appreciate your guys' support. I'll be back Tuesday June 23rd. That's also the day I'll be getting WELL overdue therapy. It comes free with my job, which is extremely helpful. I've been suspicious for awhile that I might be ADHD and more and more signs point north, so I just need to take time and take care of myself before getting a proper diagnosis. Hopefully before school starts, wow... I'll be back in tip top shape soon, I appreciate your guys' patience.
ALSO - I'm almost complete with the sketch dump. I'll be uploading it to my deviantART once chapter 200 goes up. I'll remind you guys when the time comes, as well, but now is a good time to start thinking about what sketches you'd like for chapters 150-200 :D Excite!
