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Snake557 : Thank you! YES! That fast. Trust me, I've been at war with myself, with the beginning of this novel, I have -SO- much exposition and about 7 new characters for everyone to meet and get familiar with, if this singular current day you're reading were to end even at all before 30 chapters, I had to do what I had to do, and get the Sundog introduced as fast as I possibly could without ripping the entire beginning apart lol. I hope you're enjoying it so far, as well as anyone else reading!

*Chapter 7*

"Hey," Gideon cooed, the blur of the city noise and sunny atmosphere came to a crisp of high definition color the second Kepa's nervous eyes caught with Gideon's. Gideon, Kepa, Mara, Lash and Novus were all sat around a round concrete table, outdoor seating at a nearby pizza joint the crew had moseyed to. Gideon raised his eyebrows and smiled into Kepa's lovely though still wary gaze, everyone had situated, gotten comfortable and awaited their number to be called, so to retrieve their pizzas, "You're okay. I promise, you are safe. The scary parts are a lot further West of the internet's send and receive station, and we're directly East of the station, so... Do not worry."

"Okay," Kepa whimpered gently, she tried to sag her shoulders but failed, she sat hunched into herself but bravely looked over her shoulder so to see the sprawling metropolis beyond their cozy pizza joint, their table was cast in sunlight only barely guarded by a large patio umbrella.

The internet's main city, a massive, sprawling beast of a weaving cityscape, hugged the Internet's main station. All of these places had proper names, every street, every air way, every winding, glossy sidewalk that lead to different alley ways and sneak ways that wove deeper into the city, all had route names and check points. Futuristic cars and transport fluttered by in neon lights and speckles of dusty sunlight, tiers and tiers of levels of shops, housing, eateries, all sorts of exciting things to see, buy, touch, experience, it was all way too much for Kepa and Kepa only. Mara, Lash, Novus and Gideon had easily warmed up, though they knew that Kepa had endured a rather large, traumatically exciting situation on her way down to the Internet's station, it was something the group was desperate to hear about, though knew rushing Kepa into explaining wouldn't be wise. On top of being wary of any eavesdroppers, they also knew Kepa was due to coming up with some sort of interesting code words so to properly get her point across.

"Here, have some water," Gideon tended to Kepa in a gentlemanly swathe of loveliness Lash, Mara and Novus happily basked in. Kepa sagged her ears, flinched a little as a nearby pedestrian shot by on a moped, flinched again as Gideon gently presented his straw and cup to her, and softened in the hit of understanding that she was desperate for an exterior swap, though had to reserve herself for the sake of going entirely undiscovered. Any shred of coding that could come in contact with the grid likely wouldn't be the end of the world, though if the dark web got ahold of the notion that Gideon and crew were alive and well, walking about, it likely could mean trouble. Gideon gave Kepa an apologetic smile and warmly rubbed her arm as he sat close to her side. It was here did Novus gently sag his chin into her lap, as she sat loosely from the edge of their concrete table, Gideon cutely carried on as Lash and Mara warmly chuckled in tender understanding for her fragile feelings, "Kippy, I promise... I've been to this area before, I promise it's safe here. Feel the sun?"

"Yeah," Kepa nodded as tears of bittersweet joy stung her eyes, she tossed her gaze to the sky and was thrilled to feel the hit of their sunny escape, the oddity of it being an actual place they could go to was what still blew her mind.

"It's warm," Gideon used slow, easy tones and words, simplicity he was well aware would quell the buzzing in Kepa's head, "Just like the pizza we're about to enjoy."

"I'm so fucking excited, I got the nastiest shit on my pizza," Lash muttered into his fountain soda's straw. He gave Mara a dorky look and waggled his eyebrows, "Excited to sleep next to me tonight?"

"Oh, yes," Mara muttered in sarcastic, annoyed dread, "I love being dutch-ovened..."

"But what if we stay the night on the internet and we have to share a room?" Gideon pawed in annoyance as he delicately held the straw a little closer to Kepa and was thrilled she finally took the bait and began to suck down some of the ice water Gideon had.

"Well then we'll allll snuggle in close," Lash gestured to himself, sucked in a huge breath through his nose and grinned, "Y'all'll have to smell the roses with me!"

"Uh, no, Kepa and I will get the bedroom and all three of you boys are sleeping outside," Mara stabbed, Kepa finally snorted a small giggle and looked as if she was en-route to brightening.

"Don't trap me with Mr. Gassy," Novus cried in laughing annoyance, the group roused into louder laughter as Gideon eyed Lash in playful disgust.

"Pizza-gassy, too," Gideon sneered, Kepa rolled her eyes.

"You are NOT one to talk," Kepa mumbled with a snarky smile, to which Gideon's disgusted act dropped to a slope of mild embarrassment; everyone hummed with happy, sunny laughter.

"You're men, this is basic knowledge, y'guys stink," Mara choked, Kepa softened and continued to loosen up amidst their playful, happy giggling.

"Just accept it, dude, it's gunna be them doggin' on us for the rest of our lives, y'might as well just agree," Lash rolled his eyes and shrugged, he choked a small little laugh as Mara nudged his upper arm in a playful shove, "Happy wives happy lives."

"Speaking of smells, I'm very excited for our food, this place smells heavenly," Kepa murmured gently, Lash bobbed a nod and aimlessly glanced about and behind himself, deeper into the interior of said cozy pizza joint. It was packed and busy, though the sun kissed the tan and white concrete all about them, as well as some nearby sprawls of palm trees and foliage, the whole place sung with life of all kinds. It was here did Kepa begin to show signs of settling in, looking around without seeming terrified, Gideon cautiously rubbed up and down her back so to spot her and make sure she remained in a good headspace. Kepa nodded, sighed and gave Lash, Mara and Gideon gentle looks of apology, "Thanks, guys... I-I'm... I'm okay."

"I'm dying to hear what you have to say, but I understand," Mara rushed in a girly squeeze, Kepa sagged with a warm smile of understanding and bobbed a nod.

"Can you dance around actual words and convey your point?" Gideon wondered, Kepa pondered this for a moment and bobbed a nod.

"I think so," Kepa lilted in a show of tepid confidence, she sucked in a heavy breath and got on good look around, once more, before she allowed her hands to sag into the top of Novus's fluffy head and mane, of which he still rested his head in her lap.

"So, it was just a big, crazy dream you had last night, right?" Lash cooed in a knowing tone as he bobbed her a nod, "Set the scene, we'll try and follow along."

Kepa nodded, fingered her lip, looked off in contemplation and was thrilled the four patiently awaited whatever version of this retelling she was due to spilling. Although this truly wasn't a dream, she reeled and almost felt as if it was. She sucked in a huge, refreshed breath through her cute snout and tossed her curious gaze about the group. With Novus's big, blue eyes peering up to her from her lap, Mara's gorgeous, greyish blue gaze, Lash's glowing gold pixel-cubed stare and Gideon's lovely, fiery smolder, Kepa flattened her ears and felt invigorated, once and for all. The shock of everything that had swallowed her now eagerly spit her back up, animated and ready to freshly bounce back. She could tell that Gideon was cued in by the way he tossed said shy, adoring, smoldering little smile down to the table in front of him, as if to silently express just how lucky he was to be with her. She gestured her hands out a little, gripped her hands into fists, before her, and pantomimed driving a car.

"So... Last night, I had a crazy dream that I was driving all by myself through a dark tunnel with the windows down," Kepa started, everyone eagerly peered to her in silent, frozen excitement that she was finally opening up, "When, all of the sudden, I came out the other end of the tunnel and was just drenched in this blinding light. I couldn't see the road in front of me."

"Did you crash?" Lash egged, he knew Kepa was insinuating her experience leaving Litwak's and shooting down from the main source of electricity, and into the Internet, though he did what he could to keep the facade up just in case anyone else around them would catch said conversing, no matter how quietly they chatted with each other.

"No, but for some reason, I remembered that my car had like... Limousine tint," Kepa started delicately, she eyed everyone in soft suspicion, as if to question if they were following along; with the way they held their bugged eyes tight to her in riveted listening was enough to assure to her that they were definitely picking up what she was putting down. She gestured her hands to insinuate windows rolling up, in this imaginary tale of hers, "So, I rolled up the windows and suddenly I could see. I looked in my rear view mirror and..."

"...You saw the moon," Mara smoothly finished with a small, amped nod, she tossed her eyes to Lash and then Gideon in a swing of full knowing.

"It was... HUGE," Kepa whispered softly, now delicately leaving her tale and falling into the nitty gritty details of the truth, "There was a huge target on the underbelly of it, there's... I mean, a massive upheaval of land just hovering in the sunny abyss."

"Y'think you could've ever visited it if you tried?" Lash returned to their story telling, so to pry more inconspicuous answers out of her, though unfortunately, she shrugged.

"If I could... It would surely have to be via teleportation or something," Kepa murmured knowingly, though as everyone gently peeled their eyes to Gideon, to hear his take as their leader, they all were frozen at the still, adorable show Gideon was putting on.

"You did all this?" Gideon delicately questioned, his tone lilted in a gentle, uplifting tone of bewildered stun, almost as if he had to sit still and really take in everything Kepa was in order to understand that her one tiny little bout of smart, sneaky decision-making won them the whole lottery.

"Yeah, it just... Came to me," Kepa shrugged, "After all this talk about light, I tried to use my hand to shield from it, but knew that tinting worked on glass, y'know... Obviously."

"Very quick thinking, Keps," Lash murmured in warm, impressed cheekiness, though it was here did Lash now take note that Gideon genuinely couldn't take his eyes off of Kepa. Although this could've been an obnoxious stare of lovestruck, dewy, yearling-like puppy love, Gideon's face was washed with the expression of almost dumbfounded, awestruck conclusions he had very swiftly come to. To add to this, he long-blinked in a further swathe of disbelief, as if he had to adamantly remind himself that this precious, adorable gem of a cat was all his. Lash blurt a knowing, boyish chuckle towards Gideon and gestured his soda towards him, a little, "Gideon's fallen in love all over again, lookit this dweeb."

"Aww, Uncle Gideon," Mara cooed cutely as she tugged the straw from her pursed lips.

"Lover-boy's blushing," Novus muttered with a smile as he lifted his head out of Kepa's lap, to which Kepa softened the perk of her ears and tossed her beautiful gaze deep into Gideon's.

"Sorry, I..." Gideon huffed a faltered breath, delicately took Kepa's hand and now felt the weirdest collection of words come rushing to the back of his throat.

He swallowed them, furrowed his brow in stammering, blushing confusion and looked off in boyish nervousness through a smile he tried to conceal. The group laughed a little, though as Gideon squeezed her hand, he now almost nervously jostled it between the two and looked as if he was getting stage fright. Everyone sagged out of their soft laughter, playfully at Gideon's expense, and now very quickly began to take note of the sudden heavy, nervous, romantic air Gideon had set upon the place without even trying. It was here did Kepa freeze and peer hard into Gideon's eyes in almost stunned disbelief that segued into a temporary sag of her shoulders, though she furrowed her brow a little and re-scrunched her shoulders in full, fluttery confusion as to just what Gideon was now suddenly on about, looking about Kepa's clavicles and furry shoulders in searching, delightfully terrified contemplation. Mara was the only one, besides Kepa, to now very swiftly catch on to just what was about to come flying out of Gideon's mouth, and it was here did she freeze, stiffen and tuck the pads of her fingertips to her lips in a gentle swing of unadulterated, joyous shock.

"Kiprinka?" Gideon hummed, his voice shook, his hand gently followed suit, though Kepa now firmly furrowed her eyebrows and peered hard into Gideon's eyes in stunned, still-smiling disbelief. Due to the span of silence between Gideon cueing for Kepa's full, undivided attention, Lash and Novus finally froze and understood the weight of said silence. Lash snapped his jaw shut, bugged his golden glowing eyes, dart them straight to Novus's for clarification, to which he equally looked frozen in shock. Everyone was solid still as they peered to Gideon in continued disbelief, such suspended disbelief they were now positive was about to rocket into a full upheaval of celebration shortly. Gideon sucked in a trembling breath, shyly jostled Kepa's little hand, squeezed it and gave her an earnest look all lovingly and endearingly ladened with every last ounce of shy, spontaneous, boyish humility he could afford her as he gently pressed on, "Will you marry me?"

Kepa sucked in a silent gasp and covered her mouth, as did Mara. Kepa perked her ears up and out in a full swathe of wide-eyed shock, though in the gap of gasping silence, the group now loudly erupted in joyous, shocked laughter, a full table of beaming teeth and bug-eyed surprise, Kepa scoffed a trembling little giggle, kept her hand cupped to her mouth and now narrowed her teary gaze into Gideon's. He choked a trembling laugh in the show of his glistening fangs, he shyly looked off for a moment of trying to collect his thoughts and shook his head with a promising show of dainty reversal.

"L-Let me... Let me expand on that," Gideon nervously chuckled, he couldn't wipe the grin off of his face, to which Lash, Novus and Mara were loudly wrangled into excited laughter. The whole table was simply glowing as Gideon's trembling yet brave notions hurried to continue on, "Let's say... I find you the perfect ring and pair it with your father's blessing..."

Kepa crumpled and covered her face with her free hand as Gideon squeezed her left hand, of which he was adamant about not letting go. Kepa erupted into a silent show of happy tears, on top of the intense experience she had just gone through, she was happy to have a full excuse to come unglued. Novus sagged his ears, smiled hard into Gideon's equally-teary gaze and lovingly rubbed his clawed hand up and down Kepa's back as he sat near, on his rear and tail. Mara cooed an excited notion towards Kepa as she peaked her soaked, glassy gaze from the security of her hand and grimaced Gideon an adorable little cry of shock as she, too, squeezed his hand. Lash huffed a shock, airy laugh and was still frozen watching all of this unfold. Gideon tenderly carried on as Kepa finally gave Gideon the most broken, crumpled little teary smile of full, lovestruck, blistered shock.

"If, then, I find the perfect opportunity to get down on my knee and ask you to marry me," Gideon pressed cleanly as he lulled his eyes closed, though upon teary reopen, he gave her that heart melting, earnest smile Kepa had fallen in love with. He pressed her a similar notion, one that was laden with care, with planning, he narrowed his gaze and hushed her sweet face the loveliest continuation of his heart, on full display, "Will you say yes?"

"Yes," Kepa stabbed with a lilt of teary excitement, to which the group now wildly came unglued with clapping and excited whoops of sudden celebration; although they were sure it wasn't totally wise to draw this much attention to themselves, the group knew this wildly spontaneous show of courage should be heavily rewarded.

"You GUYS!" Mara squealed excitedly as she clapped her hands tightly together, "This is so exciting!"

"Alright, Lash, YOUR turn!" Novus barked a happy laugh, and though the group erupted into excited chuckling, Lash's face slowly sloped in hot knowing and was thus the only one not to erupt into laughter. Everyone froze and now diverted their attention to Lash, whose eyes immediately stabbed an aggressive, full-glow of rosy blush. Mara sharply raised her eyebrows, peered hard into Lash's eyes in a wild, rollercoaster of continued disbelief, to which Lash finally beamed a sneaky little smile of full, nervous discovery. Novus and Gideon gaped a little and peered hard to Lash's now cheeky little smirk. Novus continued on in a full, boyish tone of shock, "I... I was totally kidding, but by all means! Take it away!"

"Thanks, Gideon, you're out here spoiling the fact that we want to be married men shortly, can you NOT?" Lash firmly argued to Gideon, the whole table was grinning wider than ever, happy laughter soaked their noisy, outdoor surroundings, Gideon choked a small laugh and gestured to Lash in shock.

"Lash, I-I'm sorry, but..." Gideon staggered through laughter, glanced to Mara, and then back to Lash.

"Mara and I already had the 'will you say yes' conversation," Lash muttered, he rolled his eyes and tried to avoid eye contact with Mara, though failed and gave her a loving, cheeky little side-eye, "What 'lil blue, here, doesn't know is that her ring has been picked."

Mara gasped and now was punched into the same fervor of shock Kepa was still reeling from, though before Lash could return said shy, excited gaze about the group and back to Mara, Novus largely rolled his eyes and lifted his head in a toss of playful annoyance.

"User, that means I'll be the only unmarried bachelor, I HATE THIS," Novus stabbed with a guttural of a small, annoyed laugh, to which the group joined.

"Really?" Mara squeaked to Lash as Kepa finally wrangled her into a full show of teary giggling, from both girls, equally over the moon and floored their men were taking massive steps to amplify their relationships; Lash gave her a warm smile and began to snug her into a side hug.

"Really," Lash cooed, he gave the bridge of her nose a firm few smooches as she tucked into Lash's side with a teary, fluttery little grin of continued shock. Lash hushed a loud, whispery notion down into the bridge of her nose and squeezed his eyes shut, "Gideon, for the love of god, if you so much as worm more of this information OUT of me, there is going to be trouble."

"I'm sorry!" Gideon plead, his voice still trembled as him and Kepa held hands, "I-I... I have no clue where that came from. I mean, I do, but like..."

"You're ready," Kepa cooed knowingly with a teary nod as she squeezed Gideon's big hand, he lovingly peered deep into her eyes as she shook her head and shrugged, "That's where it came from. You realized you were ready."

"It's a cool feeling, huh," Lash murmured in now confident, humming knowing as him and Gideon caught eyes in a brotherly swing of smiles, "Alright, ladies, stop trying to sniff out any more of our secrets, this is important."

"I don't have any secrets," Gideon pawed as he equally wrangled Kepa into a tight hug, he firmly kissed her cheek a few times before they caught with a gentle, innocent smack of a kiss and sat tight to each other.

"Yet," Kepa snipped as she continued to paw at her cheeks, so to free them of tears.

"You and I got a lot to discuss, all-the sudden," Lash pointed at Gideon with an excited, invigorated little grin, to which Gideon bugged his eyes and nodded.

"Uh, yeah, especially due to how I only reached this conclusion, within myself, what... Sixty seconds ago?" Gideon cried with a trembling laugh as he rubbed the side of his head and fluffy auburn hair.

"Uh, hello! Sorry sack of lonely FUR here!" Novus cried with a gentle pop of his wings and a boyish giggle, the group erupted into apologetic notions of laughing warmth in Novus's direction.

"We have our destination, Nov, I promise we'll help you out," Gideon nodded, Lash nudged the back of Gideon's upper arm, nearest him.

"Yeah, and now Gideon can fly, so he can REALLY play matchmaker," Lash encouraged, Gideon squeezed his eyes shut in dreaded remembrance and scoffed a nervous, chuckling notion.

"I can't fly," Gideon mumbled.

"Yet," Kepa hushed.

"What kind of creatures would even be there?" Novus stabbed softly, the group now mellowed into a warm hug of tighter bonds, a familial cocoon of strengthening ties.

"Ones you can surely procreate with, is that what you want?" Kepa volleyed, Novus wrinkled his snout.

"Uh, n-no! I mean, maybe one day?" Novus staggered, though Gideon beamed an obnoxios smile in Lash's direction and waggled his eyebrows.

"See, you and Mara may have already had the proposal talk, but Kepa and I have already had the babies talk," Gideon rushed in sneering tease, Lash's face sloped in a wash of playful dread, the glow in his eyes immediately sank to that rosy blush of shyness, once more, as Gideon hurried to carry on, "Betcha I got a leg up on yah, there, huh."

"Yes sir! Whatdoyahsay we make this awkward and have this conversation right here, right now," Mara loudly chirped as she gestured out to Lash, and the table; he flinched and peered hard into her eyes, in a roll of smiling stun, "They had THEIR intense conversation in front of us, so..."

Lash tightened his lips in a seal and felt his heart begin to thud out of his chest; although he had never really previously seen himself as the kind of person to welcome children into this vast existence, he had felt the shift ever since swapping with Mara. A slow burn of decision making, it was all now heightened, it all felt way more secure now with the notion that Kepa and Gideon were now here to fully do life with, in this aspect. With this notion hitting him head-on, Lash grunted a trembling little laugh as Mara's eyes began to brighten, as well.

"How many?" Mara stated above a whisper, the little embers of their secretive love was now very tenderly blooming, Gideon reeled as he watched Lash soften to an ultimate gooey state he never sports publicly in full.

"Two," Lash quickly pressed, Mara sharply raised her eyebrows and grinned.

"Really?" Mara lilted excitedly, to which Lash grinned and looked off.

"Ohh, why not," Lash murmured, though he choked a small laugh as Mara swung her arms about his neck and shoulders for a loving embrace, "Let's start with one, please."

"You just doomed yourself to twins," Kepa giggled, the group glowed, though Novus erupted, once more, to swiftly remind everyone that he was playfully irritated.

"Oh POOR YOU," Novus grumbled, everyone erupted into apologetic laughter as Kepa rubbed Novus's snout.

"You WILL find a mate, Novus, I promise," Kepa giggled happily as Novus sagged and rolled his eyes with a disbelieving smile.

"We'll make sure of it, bud, don't worry," Gideon grumbled cutely, Novus nodded as Lash perked.

"Welp! Lucky for you guys, I have so much adrenaline shooting through my veins that I am no longer hungry and am NOW a suitable sleepover attendee!" Lash rushed in a high pitched tone, the group was in stitches as Lash chuckled and carried on, "Who wants to sleep next to me NOW!"

"STILL not me, you like to thrash your arms like a freak," Mara squealed through her contagious laughter, to which her and Kepa were now tearfully lost in silent gasps of laughter.

"So, what WE'RE doing here is humbly getting down on our knees and giving them really beautiful rings and asking them to marry us and have children with us, which then gives THEM permission to relentlessly bully us for the rest of our lives," Lash obnoxiously whispered to Gideon as they leaned their heads closer to one another for secrecy's sake; Kepa and Mara's giggling wildly intensified.

"I change my mind," Gideon whispered back to Lash, Lash squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

"You're fucked, it's too late," Lash sharply whispered back, the group continued to howl with laughter.

"C'mon, let's get the food, I'm starving," Kepa cried through girly laughter as her and Mara wiped the tears from her eyes.

"We got ground to cover, anyways, we shouldn't loiter here for too much longer," Mara sighed through an equal amount of giggling, and as Lash sagged away and was en-route to standing, so to gather everyone's food, he nodded and gestured to the group as he got to his feet.

"I have an idea where we can start, I'll tell you when I get back," Lash encouraged as he began to step away, and though the group was now falling into a tighter, more familial dynamic and hopes and dreams were continuing to unfold right before their eyes, the group knew that their hard work was definitely not over, quite yet.