Meanwhile Storm, Sniper and Anastasia were now all seen walking through Overcast's dark, whispering woods thanks to the
bright turquoise glow of Storm's horns as he'd guide them all forward with an old map that he'd fiddle around with and have to
squint at to actually try and decipher it. What a great sign. "An' 'dats why I was fired from washin' bikes an' got broken up wit' by
my first boyfriend." Cookies casually concluded as his forever changing glitches, his tongue, the middle of his chest wound and a
small red ring around his left pupil were all seen glowing in the darkness. The faint red glow in his chest would also be seen
disappearing for a second before coming right back another second later. "Oh...well at least you didn't die, right?" Sniper
nervously asked as his violet eyes would glow in the darkness as well. Cookies paused and blinked twice at this as he'd find
Sniper's words to be rather amusing from how ironic they were. "Yeah at d'time" he laughed "speakin' of jobs 'dough, back at my
old place I had, like, ten of 'em at least since we weren't doin' so well wealth wise. But d'one whea' me an' my sistah would go
around sellin' ice cream sticks was definitely d'best. She'd use 'dis wagon of 'er's 'dat she got when she was a kid t'pull me around in
wif' owa' ice cream supply and she'd shout at everyone t'buy owa' ice cream while I held 'deze cheap speakahs 'dat played
some jingly music. She told me 'dat it was a good an' friendly business tactic......good times." He elaborated with a smile as he'd
look even more tired than before now "aww that sounded like so much fun!! Is that why you like being in a wagon all the time?!"
Sniper happily said with yellow eyes. "Nah I jus'don like walkin'. Too ovarated f'me" he jokingly replied which made Sniper blink
twice and look confused as Anastasia looked unimpressed. "Oh..." the little fox stated before they all went silent and listened
to the whispering of the woods, Cookies' glitches and Storm's magic while they all passed by the colorful, faintly glowing
mushrooms and walked on the cold, carpet textured dirt. "Uhhh...guys...I don't mean to freak you out but we may or may
not be lost and have been going in circles for the past twenty minutes." Storm nervously announced as everyone blankly stared
at him. "Oh no..." Sniper said, blinking twice with gray eyes before we faded to black.
———————————————————————————————
"Aight' sprout have at it!!!" Overcast enthusiastically shouted which queued her grinning, overjoyed son to quickly grab a gift
that was wrapped in blue spaceship and robot wrapping before eagerly ripping it apart without a care in the world as everyone
happily watched. Overcast seemed to be a lot more weary though since this was Snowdrop's gift to him. And Daydream
knows what evil she could have given to her pride and joy on his birthday of all days. But nevertheless, Alex would end up violently
opening his gift to reveal a cartoony toy spaceship in a starry box that had slits in the plastic to open up compartments in the ship
while two stubby, smiling animals were up in the cockpit of the ship together. Along with this was a starry bag of chocolate and a
card with robot, space themed and birthday themed stickers all over it and 'Happy birthday Alex!' written right on the front in
accentuating letters. As soon as he laid his big, innocent eyes on this neatly put together gift, his dimpled smile would stretch out
as wide as it could be while the stars in his red hues expanded and twinkled even more. "THANK YA SO MUCH AUNTIE
SNOW!!!!" he excitedly shouted with a giant grin before quickly scooping up his card and opening it while his aunt would chuckle
and feel quite flattered and amused at his enthusiasm. "You're very welcome Alex, happy birthday" she softly said with a sweet
little smile as her sister glared at her from across the table like she had just watched Snowdrop burn her entire castle down in
front of her. And no, this wasn't just Overcast's resting face either. Snowdrop...didn't notice this however since she was way
too focused on her nephew, and the same went for Tony as well...but oh boy did Athena notice it, and it sure did make her
rightfully nervous for what was going to happen sooner or later. Aside from that stirring drama though, Snowdrop's card to Alex
had read; 'Happy 8th birthday Alex!! I hope you enjoy all the gifts you get today and have a wonderful 8th birthday! That's a big
milestone afterall you know?!' in red ink while many of those themed stickers had continued on the interior of the pawmade
card. "Thank ya Auntie Snowdrop!!!" he happily exclaimed once more before putting the card back in the box with a big smile on
his face as his fluffy little tail would excitedly wag. "Y'welcome Alex, im glad y'like it!" she joyfully replied with a small little giggle
as she'd feel very proud of herself. "Yeah...I sure am glad too" Overcast said through her sharp-toothed grin that was way too
wide for comfort as her blood reds would glare at her sister even more intensely now and she'd tightly hold her large, balled up
paws together while the veins in her defined muscles pulsed and pumped her boiling hot blood throughout her entire system. As
they heard this, the adults in the family would blink twice and glance over at her which made Snowdrop and Athena look very
nervous and begin to sweat while Tony was nervous for a different reason and just thought that grin was his niece's natural
smile. Suddenly though; "Uncle Tony gimme my next gift pleaaseee!!!!" Alex impatiently whined as he'd stretch his little
paws out towards his great-uncle and made little grabbing motions with them. And thankfully, this was enough to instantly
bring the attention back to the birthday boy and make them all look like their normal selves yet again. "Oh- uhh....awre ya sure
y'don'wanna-" "NOOO!!! Gimme yours first I wanna see what's insiiideee!!!" Alex impatiently interrupted like the spoiled tyke he
was. His impatient persistence, along with the stares and glares of the girls sitting at the table (mainly Overcast...) really didn't help
with Tony's insecurities about making Alex disappointed on his birthday with his last minute gift...and his first ever gift to his
great-nephew. However, he also really didn't want to get fried by Overcast...so he'd just 'playfully' say; "aight', aight'. 'Ere ya go" and
sweat a tiny bit as he'd gently set Alex's wrapped gift in front of him with a nervous grin.
