Reviews :
ThoreLB : Riiiiiiight? My love for cats tripled due to writing for Kepa, auhg. And yes! A tiny baby kitty may certainly be a thing in the future. IDK about this story, but I haven't fully fleshed out the very end of FG so, guess we'll see...
Burgie : Thank you so much! My situation has improved greatly now that I've let the cards fall and have carried forward with whatever is left in the deck. It all shakes out. I appreciate your support, and I'm so glad you're enjoying both of them!
chuckiboo : You're absolutely right! Although, Tessa is aware, when she was in front of Flint she had to put up a protective front - chapter 83 shows a very different side of her and her opinions on this whole matter. She's unfortunately the only one that feels caught in the middle, but she does her best to rectify the situation before it's too late...
Snake557 : I know! Thank you! :D I'll try not to go overboard with it, but I can't make any promises. This is the only story where it can be deemed totally normal so you guys might just have to deal with Kepa's kitty cat tendencies lmao
Song Listened To :
Sticky Honey Roast (Genshin Impact Lofi Remix) by SuperDope
*Chapter 82*
"Aww, Kepa, look!" Mara cooed in girly delight, she grunted in her lean and reached for a nearby little package hanging on the display rack they stood side-by-side at.
"Sup?" Kepa chirped as she took a step closer to Mara and honed her sharp cat eyes tight to what was in Mara's hand. An adorable phone case with little cartoon cats all about the edges. Kepa blurt a giggle and softened in Mara's gentle presence, her ears sagged in a swing of familial warmth, "Aww, kitties! Wait, how much is this one?"
"Stop worrying about the price, you can pick whatever one you want," Mara stabbed with a hard chuckle, she gestured her hand as if this was the hundredth time she's said this. Kepa covered her face, scrunched and curled her tail about her body, though she blurt a giggle the second Mara lovingly nudged her arm and put the phone case back, only to pull another one off of the stand, "It's not like I'm swap mates with THE Whiplash, or anything, I don't think he's gunna be pissed if I buy my friend a phone case, like... It's totally on us, so don't even worry."
"I know, I just..." Kepa trailed off and tucked her cute hands into the heavy sleeves of her big, black zip-up hoodie. She shifted on her two much bigger, scarier paws, lofted her gaze over her shoulder and sourced Gideon.
Stood leaned against a far counter, with an employee, Kepa stared at him through the light crowd inside of this electronics store. Although she couldn't hear his voice due to the surrounding noise, Gideon and said store employee chat with each other, full smiles, the way Gideon tossed his shy eyes down to his hands and chuckled with the whole weight of his bigger shoulders had Kepa biting her lip in a reserved squee. Never having felt this way in her entire life, she heaved a long, hefty, silent sigh through her nose and wondered just why she had suddenly felt so mopey, so eager to swoon, quick to wanting to slump into a chair and just be caught breathing and sighing the rest of the air in the atmosphere, as if the blood in her body needed to fully mull over all of these new feelings. Gideon shifted in his lean and switched strong legs to hold him up, while the other one lazily tucked behind the other. Kepa held her hands to her chest and got absolutely lost in his sunny aura, though she sharply flinched the second Mara cutely flagged another phone case in front of her eyes.
"Lookie, this one has cute little red pandas on it," Mara whispered loudly, she wrinkled her nose and brought it back to her, "Hey, if you don't want it, I think I'M going to get it."
"Aww, their little faces," Kepa cooed as both girls huddled about the case in question, Kepa tapped her clawless finger to it and broadened her eyes to the wall of cases they stood before, "I like this color, but... I don't know, I kind of want tigers, or something."
"Tigers? That'd be cute, let's see," Mara fingered her lip and eyed the wall, though she flinched as Kepa stood to her full height, tiled her head up and got a better vantage point to the cases on the higher hooks. Mara grunted to stand on her tip toes, though fumbled and cutely sagged into Kepa's side. Both girls erupted in giggling as Kepa steadied Mara and brought the two back to normality, "It's no fair, you're so tall."
"Only on my tippy-toes," Kepa huffed, she gestured down to her own feet and, as she lifted one of her feet, she turned her foot over, as best as she could, to reveal the huge, squishy pink toe beans on her feet, easily the size of one of Gideon's much larger fingers, "I don't like standing at full height, all the time. Hurts my calves, after awhile."
"Yeah, same, I totally relate," Mara muttered sarcastically, they both blurt into laughter once more. Mara tucked her hair behind her ears and, although she could heavily tell Kepa had taken a very keen liking to Gideon, she was also well aware that Gideon was potentially oblivious to it, and was just stuck in his own little version of friendly adoration, towards her. Eager to play matchmaker and not be obvious about it, she eyed Kepa a little as her intelligent cat eyes continued to scan, "I'm really glad Gideon's getting you set up, like this. Then we can all chat and meet up for drinks sometime, y'know? Fun hangouts, include Novus, it'll be great. Gideon's such a good dude."
"He is," Kepa urged softly with a nod, she bit her lip and sagged back down to the flat of her feet as she took note the higher panel didn't have what she wanted, "I'm really grateful for him, I mean... He definitely does not have to do all of this for me, of all people."
"What do you mean YOU of all people, come on, you're great," Mara guffawed, "Yeah, it's... It's really rare of him to give this much energy towards anyone, really."
"It is?" Kepa prod, she hooked her eyes tight to Mara's icy, loving gaze and sagged her bigger cat ears in full shyness, "Wait, like... What do you mean?"
"I don't know, all I'm saying is... He must really think you're special to be this dedicated to making sure you're all set, y'know?" Mara chirped sweetly, her and Kepa held eyes in a sweep of loving knowing, "I can tell he really likes you."
"Yeah, he's pretty awesome," Kepa murmured, she smiled, though it was clear to Mara that Kepa was doing absolutely everything to keep from twirling about the store with arms sprawled out like she was in an endless field of flowers, her world tinted pink. Mara side-eyed Kepa in rising knowing, though flinched the second Kepa gasped and thrusted her hand out, "Oh, hey! Look, oh this one's awesome."
"Tigers! You found one," Mara cooed as both girls huddled about the case in Kepa's hands. An adorable, yellow phone case with cute little creamy orange and brown cartoon tigers strategically placed alongside the bottom. Cocooned with cute little tribal designs, Kepa beamed and bobbed a nod as Mara held eyes with her, "That the one?"
"Yeah, I want this one, please," Kepa mumbled, almost in a whisper, to which Mara tsked her a cute noise and tapped the back of her hand.
"C'mon, let's tell Gideon," Mara cued, to which both girls began to press across the busy store with purpose.
"Alright, uh... So, lemme just get your address, then," The worker chimed methodically with a nod as he firmly typed away at the older, hefty computer he was stationed at, behind the tall counter between the two of them. Gideon felt his pupils tighten, hyper-aware of his surroundings, he was glad Kepa wasn't nearby for this information.
"Uh, sure... It's one-one-three-zero, Kalivar Palace Way, Sugar Rush, Arcadia Station," Gideon tightly rattled, he hoped to get all of this personal information out quickly, "Uh... Schweetz Residence, lot one."
"Wow, you're..." The guy choked a small laugh and eyed Gideon with now starstruck, smiling apprehension. He adjusted his thick black glasses, on his nose, and showed full nervousness, "You're like, royalty, aren't you? What's your name?"
"Gideon Schweetz," Gideon huffed, he shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, "The... The phone isn't for me, it's for my friend. The billing address can be mine, but, I want the phone to be under another person's name."
"Oh, sure, sure, is that person here with you, today?" The guy ushered calmly, Gideon broadened his gaze and sourced Kepa; much to his dismay, both him and Mara were en-route to him, in this moment.
"Yeah, let's... Keep my details private, I'm not trying to broadcast my status to my friend," Gideon tightly stated under his breath, the employee typed quickly and caught on.
"Okay, lemme just make sure I have this right, I found you in the system as Mr. Gideon Fox Von Schweetz, correct? Prince Gideon?" He ushered quietly, Gideon tightly nodded and unclenched as the employee began to plug in more information underneath Gideon's name, just in time for Kepa and Mara to stroll up.
"Op... Lash is outside, Novus just snagged him, I'm gunna go hang with him out there, here... Here's my card, this is for Kepa's case," Mara stated to Gideon as her and Kepa approached, Mara looked down at her own phone and was grateful to catch smiling eyes with Gideon as Gideon tenderly received her bank card, "Then, after we'll go get dinner and drinks, yeah? You guys down?"
"Yeah, this shouldn't be too much longer," Gideon chirped with a nod, he briefly glanced at the employee helping them out.
"Yeah not long at all, just a few more minutes, I just need some more information," The employee kindly assured, to which Mara bobbed a nod and began to hurry out of the store, so to meet up with Novus and Lash, who had just made a landing outside.
"Lookit," Kepa whispered sweetly as she stood tight to Gideon's side, she showed the phone case she wanted, all cutely ladened with the adorable tigers and tribal design; Gideon visibly brightened.
"Ohh, tigers," Gideon cooed sweetly, he smiled into Kepa's eyes and bobbed a nod, "Perfect choice."
"Alright, Gideon, so this will be billed monthly to you, at your home address, I just need your information, miss," The employee warmly stated to Kepa as the attention finally swung away from Gideon. Gideon gently rested his hand to the middle of Kepa's upper back and could sense her mild bout of social anxiety, due to how tightly she was stood to Gideon's figure. Sure that she was unaware of it, he raised his eyebrows in a prickle of cute delight as her velvety, strong tail aimlessly lowered and curled tight about Gideon's thick, bare ankles, as if he was keeping her anchored. The employee began to type away at a new section on his computer, he moused over to the field where her information would go and kindly smiled into her eyes, "Can I get your full name?"
"Yeah, it's Kepa Sezeke Ketton," Kepa rattled nonchalantly, though as Kepa cutely began to spell it all, Gideon tried to unboggle his brain as she properly spelled her last name.
"Ketton," Gideon repeated quietly, Kepa tossed her innocent, beautiful eyes up into his and felt her smile soften with nervousness as Gideon's fervent gaze peered hard into hers, "Did you say Ketton? Or Kitten?"
"Ketton, with an 'e' and an 'o'," Kepa repeated, she eased a shy smile and tossed her eyes tight to the employee, who also looked as if he was mildly concerned, "Why, what... What's wrong?"
"Ketton? Like Vye Ketton? Do you know who that is?" Gideon scoffed a surprised little chuckle as he nervously caught eyes with the employee.
"She's only the scariest gamer in this whole universe," The employee mumbled in boyish delight, he grinned and looked as if he was eager to begin geeking out with Gideon, "Is her season your favorite, too?"
"IS it?" Gideon gawked, "All of her episodes are so suspenseful, she's fucking awesome. Scary, but awesome."
"I have no clue who that is," Kepa mumbled nervously, she eyed both boys with a smile that eventually came back to her, though Gideon furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.
"What are the odds that you share her last name, like that, weird," Gideon breezed, Kepa shrugged and smiled to the employee.
"Alright, I have Kepa Sezeke Ketton, lemme get you a brand new phone number all squared away, and you should be good to go," The employee chimed, he continued to type away, the bright screen blared in his face, he grappled the sealed box that harbored her gorgeous, expensive, brand new phone. The employee chuckled and eyed Gideon in a show of pure, playful tease, "Y'go home later and find out your friend is Vye's relative. Mind blown."
"... I mean, seriously? You've never watched Game Over or anything?" Gideon prod at Kepa, she shook her head and tossed her innocent eyes tight to Gideon's.
"I mean, I've heard of it, it's a television show, right?" Kepa wondered, "We weren't allowed all this fancy stuff, like tv or phones or wifi or anything, while we lived at the castle."
"Ah, right," Gideon huffed with a nod, and with a few more moments of aimless chatter, the employee rattled Gideon a total, gave Kepa the box to her new phone and ushered them a world of conclusory pleasantries as they wrapped up their transaction.
"Thank you," Kepa eased up to Gideon, he kindly wrapped an arm about her little shoulders and gave her a kind little side-hug. She giggled and relished in any and all forms of affection he had to throw her way, she scrunched the handles of the bag into her hand and held her brand new purchase to her chest, still securely in the box, "This is... I mean..."
"C'mon, let's go get some dinner, you can set it up and stuff and we can all hang out," Gideon's handsome, lovely voice glossed over her soul like honey, she sagged her ears and was thrilled he remained with his arm sweetly gripped about her in a loose side-hug as they walked, "Can't believe you've never heard of Vye, before, that's wild. I'll have to show you some episodes, it's really cool."
"That'd be great," Kepa nodded with a flick of her tail as the two came to the automatic sliding doors, her fur and hair ruffled about as the vacuum of air pressure whisked about the two, upon the doors opening. A rush of colder, nighttime air kissed their skin with a proper welcome of wintery nights to come. As the two stepped outside to source Lash, Mara and Novus, their pupils dilated to their dark surroundings, "It's clear I have a world of information to be caught up on, anyhow..."
