Reviews :
faolan1230 : Aww haha. Yeah, Tatum is of course understanding :)
BanannaSammich : Haha that's true. Gunner comes back into the story in a little bit, here! Definitely some burned bridges they attempt to rebuild.
Song Listened To :
In Great Strides by Joris de Man Flight
*Chapter 211*
Through the casted, little shadows of a nearby chocolate bark tree, Tessa's bare knees dug into the lovely, rich soil she was tending to. Through a thick inhale and a loft of her heavy, messy ponytail that could hardly contain her mane, she lofted the back of her wrist to her forehead, so to wipe away sweat, and looked up for the first time in a half an hour. In a quick, quiet assessment of her small group planted outside of Ace's and Libby's lovely, shaded abode, just on the other side of the code room's massive dome, Tessa's eyes took in the dainty, sweet sight about her. Due to Academy having an off day for administration, Tessa was happy to be home, helping tend to chores and things that likely have been on the back burner for too long. Her, Penny and Mara had started their morning off cutely planting the buds of to-be gorgeous stalks of flowers and plants about Ace and Libby's walkway, up to their home, though as they spanned out and continued their chore, conversation eventually muted to allowing the calming sounds, of palace grounds, to soak their shady slice of heaven.
Tessa's eyes gripped to Penny, a dozen or so feet off, sat cozily in the stepping stones and hands deep in soil she was digging, so to make room for new roots to be planted. Her hair was getting longer, past the usual, flippy, short bob she had kept it in. In said lovely, flippy curls of dark blonde hair, it eased into softer waves down her upper back a little. She adorably kept to herself, she cautiously planted a few gorgeous blooms that had already grown, but supported it with new soil, so to hopefully take root and grow into the bigger stalks that were promised. Tessa's eyes finally sagged to her beautiful grand daughter and still felt shocked to even see Mara out here, this early, this willing to help. A rather thorny individual, Tessa was glad her and Mara had dug deep, over the months, and had formed a secretive bond of sweet solace. Someone who had a thousand walls up and nearly championed Penny, Taffyta and Wren, in the realm of sass, Tessa narrowed her eyes and had hardly even noticed that, over these months, Mara's aura and appearance had greatly softened.
Coming into herself for good, Mara's lovely, short, light pastel blue hair held on to the typical wrecker's, wavy nonsense, though was securely tucked into a higher ponytail. She wore a lazy white tank top and khaki shorts, clothes to get dirty in. Her slightly larger wrecking hands sagged through the soil with careful fingers, and it was in Tessa's patent, attentive lesson in looking did she realize that Mara was humming a little tune to herself. Tessa narrowed her gaze, tilted her head in curious listening, and after a few verses of careful, spotty humming, Tessa pieced together that Mara was most definitely humming Berri's and Turbo's song 'Here and Now', in which they unveiled at Arcadia this past weekend. A sneaky smile sprawled across Tessa's motherly face, and with such a spark of a realization, Tessa tossed her hazel gaze across the lovely, sun-littered stepping stones and opened her mouth to inquire. She immediately halted production and held her breath, knowing that Mara was as still and poised as a piranha plant, equally as stunning, though Tessa knew that getting too close, too quick, would result in a vice-grip of deceit, a clam of unforgiving, certain emotional death. Tessa reassessed her inquiry and tread lightly.
"Mar," Tessa's gentle voice so tenderly called to her beautiful kin, to which Mara's icy blue eyes urgently flicked up in a spark of returned curiosity.
"Mom?" Mara wondered gently, a name Tessa secretly preferred over 'grama', from her children's children.
"How you feelin', over there?" Tessa wondered as plainly as she could, she continued to gently dig into the soil she was trying not to become overwhelmed with, though Tessa cocked an eyebrow and, without lifting her head, she shot her curious gaze to Penny's position; both girls had caught eyes sharply with their heads tilted down, scheming, knowing smiles that just barely graced their mature faces.
"Oh, fine," Mara sighed, she sat back on her legs and was becoming better about showing a smile, now and again. Pearly whites that showed through as she nervously gestured down to the soil, "I... I probably don't have much longer to be here, though, I'm sure Throttle's and Beaux's one-on-one is almost over."
"Y'wanna get cleaned up, then?" Tessa wondered, still plainly, she grunted to get to a stand and brushed the soil off of her thighs and knees, to which Penny slowly followed suit.
"Yeah, probably for the better," Mara huffed, she rubbed her forehead and gave Tessa a sheepish smile as she came over to help Mara to her feet, "Never did I think I'd be grateful to sit in Throttle's freezing house."
"He DOES keep it cold," Penny muttered as she, too, stood and heaved a refreshed sigh; all three girls gathered loosely as Tessa helped Mara to a stand, "I don't know how Wren survives the nights, there."
"He has Throttle to keep him warm, I'm assuming," Tessa blurt a chuckle and eyed Penny in curious, smiling understanding, "Maybe that's Throttle's way of keeping Wren close."
"... Not a bad idea," Penny eased a giggle as Mara finally came to a stand; at her full adult stage, once and for all, she stood an inch or two taller than Tessa.
"You do a good job of holding a tune, there, babe. Musical inclination runs in the family," Tessa so carefully pressed into the topic, one of which immediately had Mara's disposition shrinking in shyness, something both Penny and Tessa were prepared for. Tessa lovingly tilted her head a little and was glad to gain eye contact with her lovely kin, the trust they had built between each other was likely the only reason Mara wasn't back stepping in preparation to bashfully storm off, "Turbo's and Berri's song is really catchy."
Mara did what she could not to purse her lips or show agitation, and much to Tessa's surprise, she instead showed a downswing of soft, reserved sheepishness, as if to be caught in the act of actually enjoying something that had to do with Berri. Knowing, full well, that both girls absolutely did not get along, Tessa narrowed her eyes a little and wondered if there was anything she could to get this wound healed, or at least on the right path to said healing. Due to Mara's silence, Penny pulled out her phone and pretended to be uninterested in the conversation, it was clear having two pairs of authoritative eyes on Mara was what was going to cause her to recluse altogether. Penny clearly hooked to Tessa's fishing attempt here and was quick to aid the Queen in the act of pretending to dip out. Mara's curious eyes glanced to Penny's demeanor in nervous assessment before bravely coming back to her grandmother, the matriarch of all matriarchs.
"It is," Mara quietly admitted with a nod, shy, icy eyes that held tight to Tessa's, as if to politely beg this secret to be kept; Tessa eased an encouraging smile and allowed her hand to cautiously ease to Mara's upper arm.
"It's a shame you two don't hang out, more," Tessa mumbled, she shook her head and frowned, "You guys have a ton in common, believe it or not."
"Aunt Berri doesn't like me, she never has," Mara snipped as she sagged her shoulders and almost desperately peered into Tessa's eyes, as if she'd have all the answers here, "I'm just the baby of the lot. I was never any fun to be around, in her eyes."
"Yeah, growing up was probably difficult, in that aspect," Tessa shrugged, "Methinks you should really sit down with Berri and sort through all of that, now that you're adults. She loves you, you're her only niece. I'm certain she'd love a proper relationship with you."
"I wouldn't even know what to say," Mara grumbled as she shrugged and looked off in cold defeat, "She's off ruling all of Arcade's stages and being with Arcade's hugest, coolest relic."
"Relic," Tessa repeated with a small laugh, she rubbed her forehead and lulled her eyes closed, "Turbo IS one of Litwak's OG's... I can talk to Berri, if you'd like me to, y'know. I AM her mother, after all. I don't care what stages she's ruling or who she ends up marrying. I'm still the Queen."
"Don't put another thing on your plate, mom, it's... Really not that big of a deal, I'm over it," Mara stated with a weak smile that she was well aware Tessa could see through, "Beaux and I have all of our friends in Orion City, anyhow, it's not like... I'm lacking."
"Hmm," Tessa mumbled in dull disbelief, to which she raised her eyebrows in only surfaced defeat and gestured to the palace's gorgeous sprawl of a green lot, in which Throttle's abode could barely be seen peaking around the bend of it all, "Alright, love, well you should probably get going, then. Tell Beaux to head over here once he's done, we still got a bit to do."
"Yes'm," Mara stated in a quip of cute conclusion, to which she inhaled a deep breath, allowed her gorgeous, golden User coding to flood her existence, and in a flash, she was gone; a bolt of glitch-hopping goodness clear across the lot at lightning speed.
"Holy shit," Tessa hissed in surprise as her and Penny were left in Mara's proverbial dust. Tessa rubbed her forehead and eased a giggle, "Ace has been teaching her well, so it seems."
"She's not over it, you know," Penny muttered as she sagged her phone back in to her pocket, after aimlessly tapping away at the lock screen in the false pretense of busying herself so Mara would be comfortable.
"Oh, no, clearly," Tessa muttered, "Berri was never the best at letting Mara 'join in any reindeer games'..."
"And now she's run off and has a whole entire career and a brand new family unit of big brothers and Turbotime 'relics' to dance around with," Penny straightened her hair, of which kissed the tops of her shoulders. She shrugged and although both women peered across the way, they finally caught eyes in soft curiosity, "I guess sitting Berri down would never hurt anyone. Sure, Mara has her friends and everything, but you just... Don't want this tension to sit for the rest of their lives. I mean, think about it. I'd be pretty devastated if we grew up together and you kind of grew up and left me out of things, too."
"Yeah, that'd suck for both of us," Tessa sighed in a bout of already feeling exhausted about this, "Berri's crew is obviously a whole-hearted group that wouldn't want this for anyone..."
"Would be nice to see Mara come out of her shell, a little more, like this," Penny gestured, "I don't think I've ever seen her teeth like that, for so long. I didn't think she had the capability to smile."
"It's only really me, Ace, Libby and Beaux that have seen her at her fullest show of happiness," Tessa smiled down to her bare, dirty feet, "Shes a beautiful being, inside and out. Misunderstood? Sure."
"Aren't we all, though?" Penny agreed as both girls eased into knowing laughter, though with their lull of conversing, the smaller teleport pad, on Ace's and Libby's front patio, came alive with arriving coding.
"I don't think it's anything you should be deeply concerned about, uncle," Ace's patient, deep voice could be heard carrying on a soft, intelligent and thoughtful conversation with Rancis. Both men were dressed lightly and casually, a lazy, uneventful day in sunny Sugar Rush, thus far. Rancis heaved a hot, long sigh and ruffled his darker golden hair, careful not to entirely ruin the little swoop of a curl atop his head. Ace's eyes broadened to his mother and Penny as Ace's bare feet, and Rancis's lazy canvas shoes, stepped down the few steps of Ace's lovely abode, just off their front patio, "If it happens, it happens. It's not really for everyone, unfortunately."
"Whatcha guys talking about?" Tessa cutely wondered as both men slowly sauntered over, though Rancis looked sheepishly bemused, as if he had been stewing on something for a bit and it was beginning to brim over the edge; somehow, Penny could sense just what was going on, maybe having been more involved than Ace or Tessa, here.
"Dad, not this again," Penny cutely whined, careful not to trample over her father's fragile feelings, though also confident enough to stand her ground in a situation that included her, unbeknownst to Tessa and Ace.
"What's wrong?" Tessa pressed again as Ace heaved a soft, shaky laugh and eyed Rancis and Penny.
"Great uncle Rancis wants grandchildren," Ace politely mumbled, he eased that cute, irresistible grin of a gap-toothed smile in his great uncle's direction, to which Penny inhaled a deep breath and rubbed her forehead in mild exhaustion for said topic.
"Aw, uncle," Tessa cooed with a soft giggle as she put her hands on her hips, though she patiently peered to Penny and wondered just what she'd have to say about this heavy topic.
"Dad, I'm sorry... Orph and I want children eventually, but not right now," Penny eased as kindly a she could, Ace and Tessa were pleased to see Rancis politely nod, knowing, full well, none of this was his decisions, and none of it was to be put under a magnifying glass, "I know you have pure intentions, dad. Methinks you should bug Wren and Throttle about this mess."
"... Bug two men about coding a baby together?" Rancis eased in soft, mildly snarky disbelief, to which Tessa furrowed her brow and gave her uncle a cute side-eye.
"... You didn't know that was possible?" Tessa prod, to which Rancis raised his eyebrows in hot confusion; Ace blurt a hard laugh and rubbed his face in cute, stewing agitation as Penny eagerly joined in on said laughter. Tessa giggled and bobbed her uncle a small, understanding nod, "It's not necessarily the easiest thing in the world, and neither Throttle or Wren would physically CARRY the baby to term, but... It is possible."
"Oh the beauty of having a code room," Ace sighed through the end of his laughter, Rancis's eyes looked new with surprise and purpose.
"Wait, you're... You're SERIOUS," Rancis choked in hot bewilderment, and though Ace and Penny were, again, lost in laughter, Tessa contained her giggling, gestured her hands outward and stepped closer to her uncle.
"It would take a lot of code work, it's a similar process to swapping source coding, for an impending opposed code swap. What could be done is placing, say, Throttle's unexposed interior coding into Wren's, all done via the code room. I'd have to create a brand new code box, which, we all know... Is not easy work," Tessa pressed on intelligently, Rancis's curious eyes hooked to her in soft, patient listening, though Tessa shrugged and beamed up to her uncle's sweet, dark blue eyes, "Interior coding is interior coding... The baby would be as much of an equal mixture of Throttle and Wren, just like, say, Ace is the equal mixture of Zed and I. We'd have to just take down both Wren's and Throttle's firewalls and, well... Hope that a loading bar appears in the new code box. Takes time and patience, but that's standard for anyone trying to conceive new coding."
"Congratulations to ME! I get to be left alone," Penny raised an arm in the arm and cheered, to which everyone blurt out into soft, understanding laughter. She finally softened and gave her father a gentle, humbled look of cute, apologetic delight, "Sorry, dad. I promise Orph and I will give you grandchildren, one day."
"But, now you can go bug Wren," Ace shrugged, Rancis rolled his eyes and rubbed his face.
"Yeah, touring the Arcade alongside Throttle and leading a very fast lifestyle that would be PERFECT for a new baby," Rancis grumbled, he sighed and shook his head, and although mildly disappointed, he smiled and desperately did what he could to not make it seem as if he was holding it against his own children. He gave Penny a loving smile and shrugged, "I'm just excited, is all. The baby phase goes by so incredibly fast. I'm just itching to hold another one, I guess."
"Why don't you and mom-!"
"I tried," Rancis interrupted, everyone grinned and chuckled in knowing delight as Penny raised her eyebrows in hot surprise. Rancis looked up and heaved a long, hard sigh up to the sky above, "Truuuust me, your mother will not budge."
"You could get her to budge," Penny schemed as she crossed her arms.
"Alright, why don't YOU bug aunt Taffyta," Tessa pointed to Penny, she finally peered to Rancis and shrugged, "How about I chat with Wren and just see what he says. You really never know. They could very easily have the same answer that Penny does, which means, uncle Rancis, you'll get grandchildren EVENTUALLY."
"I'm grateful, either way," Rancis sighed with a smile, he nudged Ace and bobbed him a nod, "Thanks for the pep talk."
"Anytime," Ace encouraged, to which Tessa rubbed her hands together a little and caught eyes with Penny in scheming cuteness.
"Alright... Chat with Berri about Mara and ask Wren how he feels about babies," Tessa hissed in sneaky delight as she scrunched her shoulders, "I got my work cut out for me."
