Nothing much to say here. Moving along.

Chapter Four: Oblivious

"...and this is the Candy Cane Forest. Stink Brain and I first met here on one of these trees... somewhere."

"Oo-o-oh..."

Ralph had trudged behind since the beginning of the tour, keeping his mouth shut and his gaze elsewhere. While he had nothing against Vanellope showing Scrumples around Sugar Rush—she actually looked really excited to show off her world—he didn't know why he had to be a part of it. Wait, she just about forced him to go along, giving the dumbest explanation about why he wasn't allowed to let them go off on their own.

"What if someone were to kidnap us? Then it'll be all your fault, because you would've been there to prevent that from happening."

It was such an obvious lie, he would've countered it easily. But then Scrumples fell for it, and was emotionally torn over the thought. Knowing he'd never live it down if he left the two there, and not wanting to leave with a bad impression, he gave in. At first, he went along with it, and everything had gone smooth. However, as time passed and if they weren't paying attention, the woman began wandering off whenever a piece of candy caught her eye. Vanellope thought it was funny, yet even she started getting tired of chasing after her to make sure she stayed on the path. It was for that reason they strayed away from the Laffy Taffy, having the knowledge she would never leave that place.

"...don't lick the trees when it's cold. Especially after they've already been licked."

Ralph decided it wasn't worth asking, let alone knowing.

Scrumples knocked on the hard coating, staring wide-eyed up at the branches. "Is it climbable?"

"Of course! I climb these trees whenever I can!" The girl puffed out, and pounded her fist on her chest. "The branches hang down like that for a reason, and it's easy to hang on after you lick your hands." She looked around with shifty eyes. "That's my secret, by the way."

The woman quietly gasped, then slowly pulled her hands away from the trunk. "Anything... else I should know about?"

She pointed high above them. "See that double-striped branch? Those disappear when you land on or touch them. They come back, of course, but it takes about a day to respawn. If you want, you can go ahead and try your hand at climbing."

"Um... I'm good. Thanks, Vanilla."

"It's President Vanellope."

"Oh, right." Holding up a finger for her to wait, she pulled out her notepad and flipped to a page. "Okay... how do you spell it?"

"P-R-E—"

"I meant your name," Scrumples giggled, blushing a little.

Vanellope lightly smacked herself upside the head. "I knew that."

Letting out a tired sigh, Ralph turned his attention to the pink sky. It was steadily becoming a darker shade as the sun started to set behind the clouds, with hints of purple streaking after it. He estimated they had no more than half-an-hour left, which he also expected was how much time he had left with Scrumples for the day. Such a negative thought bothered him somehow, even with a few good reasons.

A tug on his suspenders brought his attention to Vanellope, whom was presently sucking on one of her drawstrings and gesturing for him to kneel. He lowered himself closer to her level without a word, tilting his head when she stood on tip-toe. "You think I should show her the hideout?" she quietly inquired, a small smile on her face.

"Absolutely not," he answered without hesitation, his voice low. "You've only met her about an hour ago."

"So? I showed you Diet Cola Mountain in that amount of time."

Ralph scowled a little. "She's different."

The drawstring dropped from her mouth when Vanellope raised a skeptical brow. "...yeah, I can kinda see where you're coming from, but um, I showed it to you out of trust. How can you not trust that face?" She gestured over to Scrumples.

He glanced up to find the woman's head was thrown back for a better look at the trees. She was so engrossed in it, when she backed up for a better angle, her shoe slipped on a pebble and she barely missed landing on the lollipops. Scrumples' eyes were wide and blank from the shock, complete with a small bandaid on the spot she hit her head, though when she flipped over and turned in the direction of the candy, her irises returned to normal with a sparkly gaze. Sitting up on her knees, she rubbed her hands on both sides of a lollipop, a small string of drool dripping from her mouth.

Looking back at the girl, her stance didn't change, though she let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm letting it slide," she whispered.

Ralph covered half of his face with a hand, shaking his head. "Kid, you're too trustworthy."

"Why are you being so paranoid, Ralph?"

"I'm not paranoid," he snapped, immediately realizing his voice raised. He dropped his hand. "I'm not," he repeated in a quieter tone. "I am just saying you need to be a little cautious. Scrumples is just..."

"Why not call her 'Scrumps'?"

He gawked down at her. "Why not what?"

Vanellope grinned. "That's the nickname I'm going to give her. 'Scrumples' rolls off the tongue too much for me. Besides, she just looks like a 'Scrumps', doesn't she?"

Ralph waved his hands around in defeat. "Whatever. Scrumples is a little bit ditzy. In fact, I'd say she's too ditzy to be let loose inside Diet Cola." The girl suddenly snickered through her teeth, and he reviewed in his head what he said before rolling his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Hey, uh... is this green goop safe?" Scrumples called out, pointing to the taffy.

"If Ralph can sink in like a rock and get out of it fine, Scrumps, then it's safe," Vanellope responded, giving a thumbs up.

Ralph resisted smacking her upside the head. "That was uncalled for!"

She smirked at the man, ignoring his glare. "Well, it's true."

"I don't care, I could have drowned in there that time!"

"There's no way you can drown in that stuff. It's too thick."

He cracked his knuckles. "Maybe you'll change your mind when I dunk you in there."

The girl let out a gasp, though her big smile gave it away she wasn't seriously frightened. "An 'assinated' attempt!" She laughed and pumped her fist. "I'm one step closer to becoming a true president!"

"That's not something you should be having on your 'to-do' list!" He then did a double-take when he noticed Scrumples at his side, quickly standing up and stuffing his hands into his pockets.

The woman didn't seem to notice, her eyes remaining locked on Vanellope. "Did... did I hear you right?" she breathed out, lips barely moving. "Did you give me a nickname?"

Rubbing the back of her head, she nodded. "Yeah... sorry. It's kind of a habit." She tensed up when she spotted tears at the corners of her eyes, guilt twisting in her gut. "Uh... um... I-I should've asked you for permission before I blurted it out, I'm sorry!"

Before any of them could react, Scrumples snatched her up and hugged her close, twirling around with a squeal of joy. Hearts were ejected out from the spinning, weirding Ralph out even more. "I have a nickname and it's the cutest nickname ever!" was squeezed out in one breath.

While she continued to make noises of glee, Vanellope shut her eyes in attempt to block the wave of dizziness. "That's good to hear!" she shouted over her voice. "Can you put me down, please? ...Scrumps?"

"Kya-a-a, it's so cute! Scrumps-Scrumps-Scrumps!" Her grip tightened.

"Ack! Ralph, help! I'm going to be si-i-ick!"

While tempted to laugh loudly and call it a form of karma, the man couldn't bring himself to do either. He nervously held up his hands in hesitance, unsure if he should stop Scrumples' spinning, or grab Vanellope. Unable to make up his mind, he shut his eyes and lunged forward where he was sure the woman was in. He only grabbed thin air, as she had fallen to the ground a second before. Ralph blinked in slight surprise, dropping his gaze to the collapsed characters. While the girl crawled clumsily a small ways, Scrumples lay unmoving, her eyes replaced by spinning spirals. The man scratched at his head, at a loss for what to do.

Vanellope let out a small gag, clutching her abdomen. "This is just like the time I binged on candy to make my wrapper-blanket," she groaned, laying back down on the ground. "Only... with a fuller stomach."

The woman uttered what sounded like a small laugh before quieting down.

Scrumples was still a little tipsy by the time they reached the terminal, but Surge Protector hardly glimpsed at her when he looked up and made a note on his clipboard. Ralph brought himself to smile and nod at him when he turned the woman toward the right direction (then rebalanced her when she leaned too much to the right). Once out of earshot, he let out a sigh and released her. "Something tells me he's starting to slack off at his job."

"Poor guy," she mumbled, stretching her arms out to help with her balance. "The security at Game Play is pretty nice."

"Possibly because they don't put up with folks like me." He meant it as a joke, but even he winced inward from it.

"I don't know..." She turned around to face him, slowing down her walking. "Thanks for coming along, by the way. The odds of us being kidnapped were really low like Vanellope said."

He fought back an urge to face palm. "You actually believed that?"

She nodded. "Though I have to wonder if the tour would've gone just as well without you there. I could tell you weren't happy."

"I was that obvious, huh?"

"You didn't talk a lot. But I guess it makes sense, since she was the tour guide, after all." Scrumples faced the front, clasping her hands to lay on her apron. "Vanellope has a really cool world to live in. All of those sweets..." Her voice trailed off to a sigh.

Ralph held back any sounds of disgust, instead choosing to side-glance at the other passing characters. "This was your first time game-hopping, I take it."

She looked over her shoulder. "Is that what it's called? Isn't that dangerous?"

"If you don't watch where you're going." He grabbed her shoulders to bring her to a halt. Scrumples tilted her head up and her jaw dropped to find a Tyrannosaurus Rex strolling past them. Before it crossed into the nearby port, it looked down at them, and lifted an arm in greeting upon recognizing Ralph. He waved at the dinosaur until it disappeared through, the thundering footsteps dying down. With a sly smile, he glimpsed at her face, which seemed to freeze from permanent surprise. "Not even the stations are safe," he added.

There was no answer, let alone any other reaction. When he lightly pushed against her shoulder, she started to tip forward, prompting him to straighten her back up. Feeling stares on him as characters walked around them, he snapped his fingers before her face in a thankfully-successful attempt to bring her back to normal.

"HOLY COMET STREAK, A DINOSA—!"

Ralph covered her mouth (then realized a moment later his hand took up her entire face), and promptly pulled her the rest of the way to the platform, avoiding eye-contact. Once inside, he took her aside and spun her around to look in her eyes. "What is wrong with you?!" he demanded, shaking her by the shoulders. "What did you do that for?!"

Scrumples stared at him with a puzzled expression. "You saw that dinosaur, right?"

He could feel something start to crack inside him the longer he searched her calm face. Pulling his hands away from her, one look at her arms showed immediate signs of bruising. The woman shuffled a little in place, slightly wincing when she rolled her shoulders. Following his gaze, she pulled up her sleeve for a better look. Ralph backed up in a panic, glancing back to make sure he wasn't getting in anyone's way, then dropped his head, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry... I-I wasn't thinking right..."

Pressing her fingers to the center of the bruise and flinching from the pain, Scrumples dropped her arms, turned to face him, and lifted her lips into her cat-like smile. "It's okay. It's nothing compared to the numerous burns I've had."

He sharply inhaled, shaking his head. "It's not. I could've crushed your shoulders..."

"Really, Ralph, it's okay." Gingerly, she reached out to clasp both of her hands over one of his, marveling at the size difference. "Oh wow, they are huge."

Ralph roughly pulled away, stuffing them into his pockets. "Stop pretending you're okay, Scrumples. This is serious."

"They're only bruises. They're much more easy to take care of than burns." Her eyes then arched for a second when she quietly giggled. "And why don't you call me Scrumps from now on? I don't call you 'Wreck-It' Ralph, or use Vanellope's whole name, which I think is 'Vanellope Bond Suits', or something." She placed a finger on her chin in thought.

The wrecker anxiously scanned her, inwardly wanting her to act normal for once, and drop this charade of naïveté. However, when her green irises locked back on to him, and she smiled, it became even harder for him to believe this was who she really was, programmed or not. Facing the tunnel in time for the carts to pull in with its share of passengers, he felt it was a godsend.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Ralph fanned his hand out toward the train, keeping his head down. "Off you go... Scrumps." The transition to her nickname felt unnatural in his core.

Scrumples remained standing where she was while the passengers changed, her expression remaining the same like it froze. Slowly, she leaned her head to the side for a better look, slightly stepping more into his point-of-view. Once they made that one brief eye-contact, she straightened up, and lifted a hand in a friendly wave. "Bye-bye, Ralph! I'll see you later!"

Giving him a bow, she skipped up to the carts, jumping onto the end facing away from him. When she sat down, she spun around in her seat, shooting him another smile. Ralph shivered a little under the many gazes: the confused or uninterested stares of the other characters, and the perky beam of Scrumples. He barely raised a hand for a small wave when the train jerked, and sped off into the tunnel.

The man watched as it disappeared from sight, a heavy sensation falling over his shoulders. Turning his back on the tracks, he punched the wall as lightly as possible on the way out, leaving behind a small dent.

Scrumples turned back around when the train swerved further into the wiring, still smiling brightly. She closed her eyes with a quiet sigh. "I like that... Scrumps." She squirmed happily in her seat. "Hee... Scrumps! It's so cute, too! 'Hello, Scrumps! Nice to see you!'" A small squeal escaped her lips, clasping her hands together under her chin. "Ohh, I love it, I love it! Scrumps, Scrumps, Scrumps!"

For the whole trip, she was oblivious to the other passengers giving her an odd look as she rocked in place, cooing to herself.

When the carts pulled into the dock, Scrumples was one of the first to hop out, twirling on her heel. Once she caught her breath, she smoothed out her dress, fixed her apron, and walked on out to the station. Her eyes sparkled at the numerous characters walking about, leaning on the railing as she stared out. The place looked no different from Game Central, but it was noticeably half its size, home to only twelve games, hers included.

Skipping down the steps, she hurried through the crowd, coasting to the left where her port lay. Scrumples let her gaze wander, spinning whichever way to look at whatever caught her eye, nearly bumping into other characters in the process. In her clumsiness, she barely caught herself stumbling over the dwarf twin dragons, Bubblun and Bobblun, though she swerved around to apologize and give them hugs.

"You look well," the blue one squeaked, giving his buck-toothed smile.

"I do, Bub—I mean, Bob!" She grinned with a nervous laugh looking over at the other twin. "Sorry."

Bubblun shrugged. "My response's the same."

Nodding rapidly, Scrumples sighed and twirled in place. "I've had a really fun time, today! The game went well like always, but I made a new friend today!"

The dragons perked up, eyes widening in interest. "You did?" they said in unison.

The woman almost melted at their unified voices until she composed herself. "Her name's Van... Va..." She took out her notepad for a quick look. "Vanellope! She's the president of her game, Sugar Rush."

"Oh, we've heard of that game," Bobblun gesturing to his companion, whom nodded once. "We heard it was saved from a virus."

Scrumples blinked twice. "A virus?"

"Well, that's just the rumor. It's become a bit infamous around here, as it's believed it could've threatened the entire arcade."

Her head tilted in interest. "Really? They didn't tell me about it."

"Because you didn't ask," Bubblun piped up. "We only heard it from the people in OutRun, since they're a type of racing game... I think."

"They prefer calling themselves 'drivers'." Bobblun used air quotes with the roll of his eyes. "Same thing, though. But yeah. I think the racing games have a secret clique or something if they all know this stuff."

She accepted it with a shrug. "That makes sense." Glancing up at the clock, she bent down to hug them again. "I'll see you two around!" They waved back as she hopped away, giggling to herself.

When she reached her port, she grabbed the end of the wall and spun herself into the terminal. Her shoe caught on the last step, but she quickly stumbled into the back cart, looking around to see if anyone witnessed the trip. Scrumples let out a breath that expelled itself in a mushroom cloud, and kicked her feet up on the seat before her when the small cars took off. Throwing her head back, she stared hypnotically at the passing lights, feeling herself start to drift off until she grew dizzy.

Until the carts came to a stop outside a green forest, she had her head between her legs, rubbing her temples. "I should stop doing that," she murmured to herself, drawing in a deep breath. "But why do the lights have to be so interesting?!" was the scream of anguish, eyes scrunching shut. "Why does it have to be so pretty?! No—why does it make me sleepy?!"

Scrumples paused to think on it, feeling she had this conversation with herself many times. "Let's see... I get enough rest," she started to count off on her fingers, "I like pretty things, light is amazing in some weird way, I stare at them long enough for it to either blur or sharpen..." Her eyes narrowed a little, small lines hovering on the side of her brow. "I think I have motion sicknesses..." she added, then slumped over the seat before her. "I'm tired. Besides, I don't want to forget what happened today!" There was a small prickle in the back of her mind at what she said, but she brushed it off without another thought.

Taking a large step out onto the dock, she inhaled deeply once more, and spun herself around to face the cobbled path. Rocking on her heels and face relaxing when she thought of her tour of Sugar Rush, Scrumples walked onward. Occasionally when her eyes wandered, so did her mind.

It's too bad the autumn season is nearing the end—Does the Candy Cane Forest have any leaves on their trees?—It sure is cool tonight—Cheese must be worried about now—Watch out for that stray root —The theme to Sugar Rush sure is catchy—

"I forgot to fill up Cheese's food bowl!"

In a panic, the woman ran the rest of the way to her house, skipping over the steps leading up to the front door. She grabbed the doorknob, then squealed. "Locked! Where'd I put the key?" After running her fingers over the top of the doorframe, she suddenly giggled to herself. "Oh yeah, I never lock the house. There's nobody here but me, after all."

The door opened soundlessly, the glow of the porch light spilling into the living room. Scrumples hopped over the threshold before bending down to unbuckle her shoes and place them in a small cubbyhole. She shuffled her feet around the small tile area, giddy at the cool touch through her stockings. Pushing the door closed with a heel, she called into the house in a sing-song voice, "Cheese, I'm ho-ome—oh!" Looking behind her, she frowned at the caught ribbon, reopening the door a small ways to release it.

Rubbing the silky material between her fingers, Scrumples walked past the room until she stopped at an entranceway to her right. Looking up, she scanned the kitchen area first at the stove, then the countertop and sink, back to the stove to stare at the oven, and up at the long, wooden shelves covering the entire wall. She spotted movement from one beyond her reach, and she flicked the light switch on. Before she moved for the step ladder, a head peeped over the board. The white rat's long whiskers and round ears twice the size of its head twitched, its beady black eyes blinking down at her.

The sight of her pet brought a toothy grin to her face. "There you are, Cheese! What're you doing up there, silly boy?" A brow rose in mock suspicion. "You getting into the ingredients behind my back again?"

Cheese emitted a small string of squeaks, sitting up on his haunches. Scrumples clasped her hands and rested her cheek on them, small hearts rising like bubbles at her sides. "Oh-h-h, I can never stay mad at you, Cheese!" When she looked back up with teary eyes, they individually popped. "I'm sorry I'm a little late. I was exploring another game. Isn't that great?"

The rodent scratched his ear, bringing another smile from her. "It's called Sugar Rush, and it's fu-u-ull of sweets!" The woman spread her arms wide. "I made a new friend, too! Her name's Vanellope, and she's the president. Isn't that cool? She's only a kid, and she's a leader!"

With an admiring sigh, she leaned on the counter across the shelves, gazing dreamily out of the large window in what little wall there was. From what she could see past the glare of the cabinet screen, and through the doors of the arcade, there was a light snow falling. Cheese, after finishing grooming himself, scurried through a hole in the back, appearing on the bottom floor within several seconds. Pausing briefly at her feet, the rat leaped for the ribbon, and took a few moments to carefully climb up to her back. Scrumples squirmed a little in delight, glancing over when he reached her shoulder and sniffed her ear.

"You like the sight, too?" she cooed, looking back at the window. "It's a shame we don't get seasons here outside of summer. But we can at least pretend that it's autumn in here, and that winter is on its way."

Cheese squeaked.

"We should decorate... if we had decorations." The woman hung her head in sorrow for a brief moment. "Well, hopefully the station, or... stations decorate. Then we can take a walk every day. How's that?"

She flinched a little when her pet stuck his nose against the back of her neck, reaching upward into her hair. Giggling from the tickling sensation of his whiskers and claws, Scrumples scooped Cheese up and held him out before her. He stared back at her, holding it for half-a-minute before turning around to look out the window. She lowered him to the countertop where he bounded out of her hand before sitting back to scratch at his ear. She gently pet him with a finger, then glanced back up. Her gaze drifted to a painting hanging next to her.

Often, she would stare at it for hours, and get lost in it. There were days she woke up the next morning still in her kitchen because she temporarily lost all sense of reality, and even still wondered for minutes afterwards if she was awake or still asleep—or both. Scrumples couldn't remember if her programmers gave her the painting, or if she placed it up there herself. All she knew was she wished to be there, running and dancing through its tall grass, climbing the many hills, trees and the occasional mountain, dip her feet in the lake mirroring the sky, watching the clouds drift on by as the sun soared across...

"Ow...!"

Raising her hand, she frowned down at Cheese whom gave her an innocent look. Glad he didn't break the skin, she rubbed the bitten area, then her eyes trailed to her shoulder, noticing a dark bruise had developed just underneath her sleeve. Rolling it back, Scrumples gawked at it, now feeling it throb beneath the skin. Curiously, she lightly poked at it, biting her lip at the pain. Furrowing her brows, she checked her other shoulder to find it was equally bruised as well.

"Huh," she murmured, fixing her sleeves after taking a good look at them. "Must've run into something again." With a shrug at her pet, she turned to face the stove, avoiding looking at the clock above it. She didn't need another reminder. Letting out a slow sigh, she plucked her toque from its hook and slipped it on her head, fluffing out her bangs.

"Well... let's get started."