Reviews :
chuckiboo : You're definitely right! It's far more heightened in this and the next chapter. Gideon's a little late to the game, but it's okay lol. And, I appreciate all the love for Kepa! I'm writing Gideon for my unhealed inner child and I am using Kepa as a vessel for everything I've learned about life, and myself, over the course of my struggles. Tessa's the sibling I needed as a child, Lash and Mara are my best friend Michaela/previous friend group I had, and there are a handful of other inserts, people in my life that have helped me and harmed me, but I won't say due to spoilers/name dropping. I don't want to offend anyone, nor do I want to give away friends or foes :0) I so appreciate the love. Truly!
Snake557 : YES! That's my hugest issue - I move too quickly. I've learned to slow down and take it easy but I still got a long way to go.
Burgie : Thank you! She's everything I inspire to be, as a being of peace and enlightenment. She's not perfect, but she's definitely cued in.
*Chapter 80*
"Uhhh... A little to the left," Kepa mumbled as she fingered her chin; Gideon grunted and took a step to the right, his strong bare arms flexed in the act of holding up a rather large flat screen television he had manifested to the common room's living area. Kepa choked a laugh as Novus loudly groaned a noise, rolled his eyes and thud his heavy wings to the ground below him in whole irritation, "Gideon... YOUR left."
"I don't know!" Gideon cried with a whine of a chuckle as he grunted and reversed the direction he was going, Kepa flicked her long tail in excitement and gestured her hand.
"THERE perfect," Kepa cued, and as Gideon gently thud the insanely thin television to the wall, he inhaled a steady breath and worked his power to properly mount the tv to the wall. He heaved a sigh, dusted his hands off and took a step back, "Good! I'd say this area's done, yeah?"
"Yeah, this couch was a good idea," Gideon's deep voice stated in boyish excitement; he took a running start to the huge sectional couch, nearly a dozen pieces all billowy and sagged together like a puzzle piece that formed a perfect square. Gideon's bigger body flopped right into the center, he sagged with an outward sigh of content, rested the side of his head on the soft couch and lulled his eyes closed, "Big enough for everyone."
"And, can be rearranged," Kepa bobbed a nod, though she flinched as Novus heaved a rather hearty yawn, stepped into the living space and quickly flopped his upper body onto Gideon's whole backside. Gideon uttered a loud, raspy groan of struggle as Novus laid his upper body's weight on Gideon, and the couch.
"Ooo, it IS cozy! It even comes with this built in dude, here, for extra cushion," Novus sighed happily as he firmly nuzzled his snout into the back of Gideon's head, to which Gideon uttered a strained laugh and desperately now tried to free himself from Novus's big weight, "Would be better if said dude wasn't so squirmy, though."
"No dog piles, I can't breathe!" Gideon wheezed, to which Novus stood to correction and freed Gideon.
"That's all you boys are, a band of puppies," Kepa muttered in very teasing detest, she flattened her cat ears in playful pretentious dismay and began to saunter towards the kitchen, "Loud, clumsy, no boundaries."
"Ooo, don't forget rolling in mud pits," Novus included, Kepa flashed him a grin and relaxed in a stand at the island.
Kepa giggled as Gideon finally freed himself from the near-grave in the couch that Novus had cemented him to. She softened and watched as Gideon tediously flattened out the thin tank top he had on, as well as the comfortable pair of grey jeans. His handsome hair was now messy in the back, due to Novus having his way with it previously, though Kepa softened and couldn't help but allow herself to stare. She was grateful Novus began to noisily ask Gideon a billion questions about Kepa's small puppy-joke, at hand. The adorable wrinkle of Gideon's nose as he tended to himself and tried to listen to Novus's ramblings, the peek of his handsome, youthful little smile that he desperately tried to rein in from hearing Novus's silly notions, his much bigger, masculine hands so gently easing out wrinkles of his shirt and tidying the waft of auburn about his head, all cleanly shaved on the sides. Gideon's tall figure, the expansion of his broad, strong chest with the breath of every last ounce of patience he could harbor for Novus's now loud and annoying words, Gideon finally tossed his eyes in Kepa's direction and issued her a world of cheeky cuteness. Worried she was caught staring, she was thrilled Gideon likely hadn't caught on, and instead, rolled his eyes and gestured down to Novus, as if to pity him.
"Novus, YOU'RE the only puppy here," Gideon urged into Novus's face, and with a playful shove to Novus's snout, Novus grunted a tiny, gutteral snarl and snipped his massive fangs at Gideon's hand, to which Gideon gaped and gave Novus's chest a harder shove.
"And this puppy has fangs, my guy, whatch'you got? Nothing," Novus urged, Kepa now fully rolled her eyes and opened the fridge the second she noticed Novus want to stand on his hind legs and entirely tower over Gidoen, to prove his point; she blurt a laugh as both boys began to struggle in a wrestling attempt that would very clearly have Novus as the winner.
"Pretty sure Gideon could beat someone up, real good, but... Yeah, Novus would win that fight," Kepa heaved with a giggle as Gideon stumbled over to the kitchen to free himself from Novus's hyper, boyish antics. Gideon panted and wiped his forehead of little dots of sweat as he gave Kepa a little smile of pure love, "Sorry, dude."
"Eh, it's fine, I'm no match for a dragon," Gideon's deep voice grumbled, Novus bobbed a hefty nod and huffed a tiny little spout of hot smoke from his nostrils; a threat Gideon now stiffened to, "Hey! No fire breathing here, come on."
"I didn't!" Kepa urged in a spike of triggered sorrowful fear as she whirled about and faced both boys, though as they gently sagged and peered to her, she noticed the very faint billow of smoke surrounding Novus's face and rapid-fire realized that Gideon was talking to Novus. Wrought with a sting of confused embarrassment, her heavy tail zipped about her lower legs, hugged her in a cocoon of sheepish cuteness and coiled in such a way to prove that she was bashful, "O-Oh, you weren't... Talking to me."
"... No, I wasn't, but NOW I am," Gideon's voice urged with a hearty chuckle as both boys eagerly peered to her in soft stun, "Kepa, you... You can breathe fire?"
"Yeah, I can," Kepa sighed in gentle dread, she smirked a little and eyed Novus as his huge ears perked up in a show of boyish excitement, though just like last time, when the topic of flying came about, Novus remembered that this likely could be a sore spot and hesitated to say anything, "It's... All stuff I've lost touch with."
"Well... You're helping me get in touch with things I SHOULD be in touch with, whose to say we can't return the favor?" Gideon lovingly chimed as he rested his hand to his broad chest and smiled, "Why don't I get started on gutting the tower, and... you tell Novus and I a little bit about your backstory. Is that doable?"
Gideon removed himself from the island and began to press to the shared wall of the tower's interior, though his body language and lovely golden eyes remained tight to her point on the grid. Kepa felt her heart begin to thud in anxiousness; although she was well aware Gideon was desperate to keep his own book closed, and was failing, she prided herself in the fact that her own book was closed and was successfully remaining closed due to Gideon's lack of being able to properly sniff out cracks in her main frame. Worried now that her ship was due to taking on water, with Gideon's presence now kindly asking to come aboard, she shyly glanced to Novus and very quickly noted something. Novus narrowed his vivid blue gaze a little and sniffled the air, as subtly as he could. It was here did she immediately understand that, although Gideon's sense of smell was dull, Novus was a being square in Gideon's corner with likely as great of senses as Kepa, if not better. Kepa immediately felt a near-hot flash of fear cross her soul, the very idea that Novus could smell fear, pheromones, sense energies and everything in between, she grit her teeth in her jaw and now understood that Novus was a walking lie detector. Any skillful sidestepping she was about to take was now out the window, and any questions Gideon would innocently ask now had to be honestly answered. She knew it was only fair; Kepa could see right through Gideon's fibs, why couldn't he or his team? She nervously ripped her gaze from Novus's wise, patient stare and silently accepted defeat at Novus's paws.
"Yeah, that's... That's doable," Kepa sighed in gentle disappointment, though she flinched in whole surprise the second a very large, half-moon gape in the wall suddenly clipped out of existence, at Gideon's hand.
"... Don't sound too excited," Gideon mumbled in cute sarcasm, though as the ground floor of the huge lighthouse tower was now accessible, all three beings perked up and cautiously approached.
"Whoaaa," Kepa cooed, her and Novus now equally began to sniffle the air, to which Gideon sagged his shoulders and watched his two friends absolutely go to town. He choked a sarcastic little laugh and began to fervently join them in intense sniffling, though this only caused him to take a few steps back, lean away and usher a few very hard sneezes into the bend of his elbow, to which Kepa cutely mumbled him a notion, "Bless you."
"You tried," Novus quipped as the two pressed into the dim, empty round room; Gideon continued to sneeze due to the dust that had picked up.
"Bless you," Kepa dully repeated, to which Gideon choked a stagger of chuckling, in between sneezing, and now escaped to the kitchen to blow his nose, though not without ushering another loud sneeze to the atmosphere. Kepa and Novus laughed with each other and pressed into the dark, massive space, "Bless you, for User's sakes."
"We're just cooler, that's all," Novus's deep voice grumbled, though with it, the bounce of his incredible voice drifted all the way up the spire of the lighthouse tower. With the only thing available in said dark tower being a very narrow spiral staircase, off to the right, light beamed in from the upper housing of the near one-hundred foot stretch into the void. Novus flattened his ears and huffed a whispery chuckle, "Holy User, I didn't realize how tall this building was."
"It's perfect," Kepa whispered in return as she lovingly rested her padded fingers to the top of Novus's velvety soft head, alongside the plumes of mane that lined his heavy skull.
"That sucked," Gideon barked, his voice fervently bounced about as he sniffled, his voice was a little nasally now due to forcibly inhaling dust that had kicked up. He rubbed his forehead and breathed a huff of a surprised breath through his mouth, "Oh, wow... This place is huge!"
"It's HUGE!" Novus hollered as he firmly stood up on his hind legs, ended his loud notion with a firm guttural of a roar to the tippy top of the building's housing and grunted as he came back down to his forefeet with a hefty thump, his efforts wildly echoed and bounced about in a reverberating fit of blurred audio.
"... That's what she said," Kepa muttered, though loud enough for her voice to also bounce; Gideon and Novus loudly choked out boyish laughter, at her statement.
"Alright, step one," Gideon ushered with confidence as he bobbed a nod and looked up to the gape of a spire above the three.
Although he inhaled a steadied breath and prepared to flood said empty space with lights, windows, new paint, and most importantly, hefty platforms for Kepa to climb, he softened and could feel Kepa's energy next to him hold still with baited attention. Dutifully remembering their conversation earlier this morning, he was well aware this was a continued opportunity to take manifesting slowly. Proud of his handiwork with the living room furniture and a proper, cozy snug of a fun hang-out area, he was shocked at the true ring of Kepa's words. He definitely felt as if all of this patient, thoughtful and slow manifesting was giving him energy as opposed to draining it. Mana he could so easily source and replenish whilst working hard, something he was having a hard time fully wrapping his mind around. He finally heaved a soft sigh and, though Novus stood in soft confusion, he could see Kepa's sweet face smiling up to him in a gentle show of pride, in their dim setting.
"Set an intention," Gideon cooed gently, Novus let his ears sag, he patiently sat on his rear and curiously peered back and forth between Gideon and Kepa. She bobbed a nod, crossed her arms and remained patient as both her and Novus now soaked in the fresh relay of teachings he had been given, "Easy access to the lighthouse's light, but also a proper space for you to stretch your legs and climb and do whatever else you want to do, a place where you can feel comfortable and be yourself."
"All of us, really," Kepa shrugged, knowing this all wasn't just about her.
"I can't climb," Novus whispered, noting their calmer energies in preparation.
"Neither can I, cats like higher ground, there's a reason neither of us were born into the feline-category," Gideon whispered back to him, to which Kepa stifled a cute, whispery giggle, scrunched her shoulders and looked off.
"Is it so she can officially get away from us?" Novus whispered as he peered his eyes to Kepa; obvious that she could hear both boys, Gideon bobbed a sorrowful nod and tried to also stifle laughter Kepa was wrangling him into.
"Yes, unfortunately, but we need to be respectful of the lady's wishes," Gideon ushered in hushed warmth, Kepa rested her hand over her heart and cutely swooned, though Gideon sneakily got in a playful jab, "Lest she claw our eyes out."
"You're not wrong," Kepa chirped, and though the three shared in laughter, they settled as Gideon slowly prepared himself.
With a few thick inhales, and steady silence between the three, he finally drew in one final breath, held it and shut his eyes in the flicker of his power. All at once, the faded, dreary, weather-worn concrete was laden in clean, creamy walls. In the same act, Gideon laid beautiful, long vertical wall lights which lay bevelled and flesh inside of the wall. Kepa gasped in cute delight as the whole spire suddenly sung with the warm house lights, and as Gideon properly manifested the flooring to match the common room, just outside of the gape of a half-moon entry they all stood in, Gideon opened his eyes and happily watched as the two ogled the place. The spiral staircase, that climbed the right side of the hollow tower, was now sturdy in its spot and re-coat in a lovely turquoise paint to match the exterior of the lighthouse, although unseen from here.
"Holy sugar on toast," Kepa huffed in great pride. A massive circular room easily fifty feet across, she held her arms out, slowly spun once or twice and was happy to welcome Novus into her gravity as he pressed deeper into the space with her. Her eyes trailed all the way up to the tiny little landing up at the very top, obviously access to the outdoor landing, as well as the lighthouse's main lamps and hub. She drew her eyes back down to Novus, swung her arm over the top of his head, cutely pulled his big skull into the side of her body and eased her gaze to Gideon. She perked her ears, gave a sweet smile and felt her heart jolt at the raw idea that she had caught Gideon longingly staring. She knew this due to the subtle rip of eye contact he did, the second their eyes met, the way he shyly sagged his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans, he shifted on his feet and smiled up to the tall tower they were securely housed in before Kepa continued on, "Exemplary."
"Thank you," Gideon smiled, he tossed his gaze down to his bare feet and inhaled another readied breath, "Not done, just yet."
Kepa opened her mouth to inquire said landing platforms, though before she could get anything out, the walls suddenly thud in echoey reverberation as huge juts of solid platforms, to match the walls, appeared along the whole of the hollow tower. Easily lined with thick, tough ropes, each platform was big enough for Kepa to stand and lay on, they almost haphazardly lined the walls, all the way to the very top of the tower, and though the spiral staircase came close to a few of them, there was only one bigger platform, near the higher end of the stairs, that had access to Kepa's domain. Each platform was unique in shape and size, with some crowning said rope material all up the wall it shared, so she could have proper scratching posts. All meticulously thought out, tiny details Gideon knew she'd appreciate, Kepa gasped and covered her mouth in a roll of floored excitement.
"Ohh, y'all are never gunna see me ever again," Kepa stabbed excitedly as she bounced on her bigger, powerful feet, her tail flicked upwards in a soft little wag of girly happiness, she shot her joyous, grateful gaze tight to Gideon's, and as he gave her an equally as loving little smile in return, he sagged his hands back into his jean's pockets, leaned his bigger upper arm and shoulder into the round of the entry way he stood in, and tilted his head up in the direction of a nearby platform, the closest one being a sheer fifteen foot gap from the ground.
"Try it out," Gideon chirped lovingly, and though Novus wanted to so eagerly attempt to join Kepa, he took a cautious step back, sat on his rear and held his eyes to her lithe, feline figure in baited wait.
Kepa sourced the closest platform to her and felt the coding in her legs easily remind her that she was definitely built for all of this, though had been without it all for so long. In the kick of preparing to jump, she softened and brought her gaze back to Gideon's. Although not subtle at all, they held eyes for a moment, a swathe of a million different things said in silence, a wall of gratitude lofted his way was easily volleyed with a wall of unending, gift-giving lofted her way. Drowning in the tidal waves of each other's urgent desire to give to those who would only wholly appreciate said effort, Kepa understood that it was here where she was doomed, being in Gideon's presence. She could feel the fire in his energy, the sheer, intense amount of love so deep inside of him, she heaved a silent, shaky sigh the second he tilted his head down with a small nod of extra reassurance, as if to finally conclude to her that this space was a shared, safe space, where everyone here could be themselves, unflinchingly. With that, Kepa bit her lip, gracefully eased to a lithe squat, sourced the closest platform and balanced with the agile curl of her long, gorgeous tail. With a seemingly effortless kick, she leaped from the ground, cleared the fifteen feet, easily, and grappled with the sturdy, thick platform. Her scary cat claws gripped the thick rope in a sound that had Gideon fully understanding that he had underestimated her power entirely.
"... Are you JOKING?" Novus suddenly barked in whole, shocked irritation. He peered hard into Gideon's eyes and gaped, "She just... THAT easy? You hardly looked like you made any effort! What the heck!"
"Damn, it looked like you didn't even try, you just levitated away," Gideon encouraged as he stepped into the room and peered up to Kepa.
"You didn't even make noise!" Novus complained, he shifted on his big, bumbling paws and bent down a little, to look as if he was going to leap and follow Kepa's lead, though Gideon firmly shoved on his side and threw him off.
"No, don't, this is her space," Gideon sharply demanded, he choked a laugh and continued to shove on Novus's shoulder as he stepped away and tried to evade Gideon's advances, "Unless she invites you, this is her space."
"It looks fun, though," Novus complained with a big pout, to which Gideon rolled his eyes and gestured his arms outwards.
"Novus, you have the WHOLE sky," Gideon quietly argued, though both boys flinched as Kepa suddenly shot across the huge gap, up to a higher platform. Slowly becoming out of ear shot, Gideon nervously eyed just where Kepa was and knew to keep the particular topic of flying down to a minimum, "Let her have this."
"I know, I know," Novus wagged his paw towards Gideon in dismissal and eyed him after a moment, he carried on in a tender murmur, "Awfully nice of you to spoil her so much..."
"She's my best friend," Gideon ushered in hushed nervousness, though as his eyes looked about, he flinched and took note that Kepa had easily leaped her way all the way near the top of the tower, near the one, bigger platform that was shared with the spiral staircase.
"I'M your best friend, and you don't do this shit for me," Novus quietly teased, Gideon grit his teeth and shook his head.
"She's homeless, dude, you're not, come on," Gideon huffed, Novus rolled his eyes in pure tease and began to saunter towards the tower's gaping, airy entry into the common room.
"Not anymore she ain't," Novus mumbled cutely, he lofted Gideon a smile and began to head out with purposeful strides, "Speaking of owning the sky, I need to go stretch my wings. I'll be back."
"Okay," Gideon sighed, he watched as Novus's gorgeous, near-black to cream gradient body saunter out of the room, his serpent-like tail swaying with each of his bigger steps.
"We should put windows up here, Gid!" Kepa called from all the way up the tower, he flinched and wretched his neck to look up, just to see where she was. He grinned in cute delight as the only thing he could see, from all the way up the near one-hundred foot stretch, was the dangle of her slowly wagging, long tail. He dart his curious eyes to the spiral stair case, to his right, and began to step over to it with caution, "That... Actually might be necessary for what I want planned for the ground, below."
"That's right, I still want to hear what you had in mind," Gideon encouraged, and though he began to take a few steps up the sturdy, turquoise spiral staircase, that hugged the far right bend of this massive, circular room, he raised his eyebrows in prickled cuteness and called up to her, "Uh, is it okay if I come up?"
"Yeah! C'mon," Kepa chirped excitedly, and with her permission, Gideon began to hustle up the stairs in rising excitement.
Grateful that heights weren't on the list of things he was scared of, he quietly came to the top of the tower, though before he allowed the top of his head to go past the man-hole sized shape of the highest platform that Kepa was on, he halted his steps and could hear long, hefty tearing noises. He cocked an eyebrow and very quickly collected that Kepa had been sharpening her claws against the roped material on the wall. Scared to peak out and see just what kind of damage she could do, he bravely took one step up and peered hard up into her figure across the two-dozen foot long platform, hugged by the circular bend of the tower's inner walls. He raised his eyebrows in a pluck of cute surprise and now noticed that, not only was she very happily sharpening her claws in a cat-like drag and lift on the rope, but her wings were on full display, sprawled and stretched. He snapped his jaw shut and froze, her long, beautiful tail so cutely curled in a bend of a spiral into her spine, the fur on her tail, as well as the longer tufts along her spine and on her shoulders, looked to be raised as she did what she could to really unfurl, stretch and unwind in her own cute way.
Remembering that Kepa made clear she was previously teased for the potential of weirdly-shaped wings, Gideon got a solid eye full and was well aware they were anything but weird, to him at least. He quickly realized that they looked a lot like Novus's wings, a bat-like web of a sprawl, her darker grey fur was only barely seen through the shorter fur on her wings due to the mass of beautiful, darker, rosy speckles of markings that she was crowned with. She bent her upper half forward, legs and knees straightened, she groaned a cute stretchy noise and continued to firmly claw the wall out before her. It was only here did Gideon finally unglue his eyes from her beautiful wings and figure to take note that her scary, dagger-like claws were doing serious work to the rope material given to her. The rope began to fervently fray in these areas, and it was here did Gideon understand that he'd likely have to do the honor of refreshing all of these scratching posts every now and then, lest she tear right through to the concrete underneath. Unsure if she'd want her wings on display for him, he took a few silent steps back down the stair well and pursued forward in a noisy manner, so to sneakily give her time to choose if she wanted her wings out or not. Just as he assumed, the second time he popped his head above the landing, she quickly caused her wings to vanish.
"I'm REALY glad I'm not scared of heights," Gideon muttered as he slowly joined her on the landing, to which she stood to correction, looked down at her claws in easy relief and retracted them back into the slits on her fingers.
"Want irony? I am," Kepa chirped, she eyed the platform, as well as the sheer drop underneath them, "Maybe, uh... We should make a second floor, right in the middle."
"I can make that happen," Gideon nervously chuckled as both beings stared down the scary drop they'd have to endure, lest one of them fell. They shared a laugh and moved away from the edge, though this larger platform made it easy to avoid accidentally falling, "This suffice?"
"DOES it?" Kepa sighed, she gently rested the palm of her hand to the ropes in which she was just murdering with her claws, she shook her head and looked all about the area given to her, "More than you'll know. Thank you, seriously... This is...I mean..."
"Hey, I get needing space to, well... BE," Gideon gestured to his chest and smiled, though he shyly rubbed the back of his head and looked off, "Kinda cool that we both get our way, here. I-I mean, I like... HAVE a single space, back home, but it's not nearly as grand as this place-"
Just as he was due to continuing on, he flinched in gentle surprise as Kepa pushed into his bubble with purpose, stood to her full height and wrapped her arms about Gideon's strong neck for a squeeze of a much-needed full embrace. Gideon huffed a small, shaky noise of inquiry, yanked his fingers from the front pockets of his jeans and cautiously scooped Kepa's little upper body into a secure hug. He frowned in bittersweet warmth and, although he stood stiff for a moment of uncertainty and the attempt to collect his boggled thoughts, he finally softened, shifted on his feet in a very slow and tender sag, and with said final, snug of a glue the two gripped each other in, he huffed a shaky little chuckle into the top of her soft shoulder and closed his eyes. His frown broadened as he could hear Kepa so silently intake a shaky breath into his ear, as if she was desperately doing what she could not to cry, and with the way his arms securely had a grip about her tiny rib cage, he could feel said stagger of expansion and deflation point all directions to her wanting to unload. Feeling proverbial sunlight glean the two with this opportunistic, private moment, Gideon smiled with closed eyes, squeezed her a bit tighter and felt his heart fully expand in the act of giving someone every single last ounce of love he wasn't properly shown.
"It's okay," Gideon's deep, husky voice rasped in her ear, though he grimaced as said engulf of loving warmth only made her come unglued. She uttered a whimper of a bashful, teary cry into Gideon's strong shoulder and gripped him tight about his neck, almost in a grapple of emotional desperation. Gideon peeled his eyes open with a hit of sorrow as she shakily inhaled a nasally little breath and exhaled a gentle cry that strangely coat the tower's innards with sweet, much-needed release. Gideon heaved a shaky breath and was hit with the notion that Kepa literally had no one, no family, no friends, everyone she had ever loved was dead and long gone. He firmly flattened his bigger hand to the broad of her little back, and in the easy splay of the careful, soothing rub he deployed all over her upper back, he continued on as she desperately tried not to fully unload, "Guess we both have been in an outcasted position, in one way or another."
"Sucks," Kepa's cute, high pitched little voice chirped through tears, she coughed a cry into Gideon's shoulder and slumped deeper into his solid stance, something he gladly accepted in the form of unwavering, unconditional love.
"Don't cry," Gideon tenderly pleaded above a whisper, it was here did he notice Kepa's tail had sagged to the ground about both of their feet in a show of full, exhausted defeat. He only cued to this by the feeling of her soft, fluffy fur that tickled the backs of his bare heels. What usually was kept cleanly above the ground, an act of balance and grace, was now limp as she leaned tight into the stronghold she found solace in, Gideon's bigger arms cradled her much littler figure with so much care. He furrowed his eyebrows and gently tossed his eyes to the scratching area Kepa was just utilizing, he knew he likely had afforded Kepa all sorts of things she had gone years without, and due to the desperation inside Kepa's quiet cries, he grimaced and wondered if this all ran a lot deeper than he even dared to know. With secured easiness, he promised he wouldn't release his grip on her until she did, his bigger thumb lovingly stroked the nape of her furry neck, through the spill of her soft, clean hair, "I'm here... I'm here."
"Thank you," Kepa whispered shakily, her furry face gingerly nuzzled into the bend of Gideon's jaw, near his ear, and though he figured this was just her prolonging the embrace and further settling in, he raised his eyebrows in surprise and quickly understood that this was cat language, and she was marking him, whether it be intentionally or absent-mindedly. Really only a thing cats did to either claim ownership or show solid, well-earned affection, Gideon held her close and felt flattered either way. He fluttered his eyes closed and relished in the sheer honor given to him, the feel of her soft fur tight against the side of his face, he gently continued to rub the nape of her neck, he felt his ears prickle at the sound of her dainty, nasally voice tight in his ear. Having only subtly nuzzled him once or twice, she heaved a raspy sigh and finally thud the side of her head against his and settled, "You're the greatest friend I've ever had..."
"Really?" Gideon huffed in a further swathe of given honor, he squeezed Kepa in a gentle sway, grunted a chuckle and was glad to get a soft struggle of a giggle out of her little figure before the two began to sag out of each other's snuggly embrace, once and for all. Gideon narrowed his gaze and peered to her teary face in bittersweet dread, though with Kepa's words, he firmly realized just how many Arcade years older she was than him, just how many friends she likely had in her lifetime, "That's... Huge, considering you've had a ten year head start on me."
"You'd be surprised," Kepa whispered as she took a step away from Gideon and quickly began to clear her face free of tears. She finally sagged and gave Gideon a bashful, apologetic smile, "Sorry, I... It hit me all at once, I'm just really grateful you're my friend."
"Best friend," Gideon tenderly corrected, to which Kepa grinned, perked her ears and shyly looked down at her hands. He cutely tapped the back of her hand once and tsked a noise of inquiry, "Sounds like you and I are more alike than I thought."
"Now that we both had turns to becoming babbling messes in front of each other," Kepa giggled as she continued to free her face of tears, her demeanor looked brightened, as if that truly was a release she needed, in the safety of Gideon's arms.
"What are friends for?" Gideon affirmed with a nod, "C'mon... Let's go see about the light in the housing, here, and... Maybe you can tell me a little bit more about yourself, if it's not too touchy. You already know a little bit of my drama."
"Drama, that's a good word for it all," Kepa rolled her eyes, Gideon gestured to the rest of the maybe twenty feet of staircase that lead to the very tippy top of the lighthouse, the beacon that was powered down, though before the two moved to head further up, Kepa bobbed a nod and felt as if it was time to allow her walls to come down. Grateful Gideon had done the same for her, to some extent, she smiled into his tender gaze and knew this was officially the safest point on the grid, was here inside their blossoming friendship, "Y'got your popcorn ready?"
"Ooo, is the drama THAT juicy?" Gideon ogled cutely as he took a step backwards, gently held her hand and pulled her close to the spiral staircase; she blurt a giggle, bobbed a nod and very happily followed suit.
"You're not ready for it," Kepa's laughter was now shared with Gideon, and as they traversed to the very top of their lovely light house, the whole beachside sung with sunny love on this gloomy day.
