Reviews :
Burgie : He's as quick as a whip, that one.
Snake557 : Thank you friend! :)
Song Listened To :
Haven by Novo Amor
*Chapter 103*
"I'm absolutely positive I'm doing this whole thing all wrong," Gideon's deep voice eased out of Kepa's speaker phone with a rasp, the cadence and lilt of innocent sleepiness, her ears twitched with delight as Gideon could be heard officially grunting a heavy exhale as he flopped into bed and began to get comfortable.
Kepa, having made her way upstairs to her bedroom, sat cozily curled on the huge bed Gideon had manifested for her, ladened with huge, billowy blankets and pillows. She wore nothing but a lazy tank top and a pair of black underwear, she sweetly used a brush to aid in grooming the longer fur that trailed the backs of her bigger heels. With the nighttime ambience of a sprinkle of rain that coat Kepa's beachside, her bedroom was only aglow by the light of a few candles on her nightstand nearby, her phone lazily thrusted to the pillow next to her, she long-blinked in the easy splay of warmth Gideon's lovely voice did to the walls of her bedroom. A thought on her mind, blips on the radar, how desperate she was becoming to invite him upstairs, once and for all. A spot Gideon had very kindly made clear was off limits to him, she marinated in the multitudinous butterflies that remained lined to her stomach, the flutters of passionate thoughts that soaked her mind, the very idea of her and Gideon melting into her bedroom for romantic affairs had her heart racing as his irresistible voice carried on.
"I'm trying to be on my best behavior, I think... I think my dad is upset with me," Gideon braved, he grunted and fluffed out the pillow he now tossed his head into. Although Novus was typically always welcomed to stay in Gideon's space while he slept, Gideon was glad Novus made himself comfortable in front of the fire place in the living room of the cabin. With his room sound proofed, he was happy to freely converse with Kepa without having to worry about eavesdroppers. Fully nude, he snuggled underneath the cozy blankets of his temporary bed and allowed his eyes to aimlessly gloss the near-pitch black void of his warm bedroom, the sound of Kepa's gentle giggling soaked his heart with a squeeze of desire. He sighed, laid on his back, tossed his arm above his head, on the pillow, and let his phone remain on speaker dead in the center of his broad chest as he spoke out to the air above him, "I kinda... Brought up the whole Callum thing. We were telling ghost stories and I told them that I thought Callum was turning into a virus."
"...Damn, Gid, that's a huge stretch, dontcha think?" Kepa blurt as she pinned her ears to her head and eyed her phone with a sneaky, disagreeing grin, "I mean... Sure, he fucked up and REALLY wronged you, but do you truly think it's enough that his brain coding is literally rotting?"
"That's what it is? Brain rot?" Gideon choked a laugh and shook his head, he huffed a long, raspy sigh and lulled his eyes closed in the black, "Sounds like Callum."
"I'm not positive how all that works," Kepa hissed through a drawn out sigh, though she flinched in surprise as thunder suddenly clapped the ocean air, loud enough for Gideon to hear.
"...Y'in the middle of bad weather?" Gideon tenderly worried.
"Yeah, Mara left about an hour ago and the second she left, it started sprinkling," Kepa's voice wavered, it was clear she was becoming nervous, "It's... Been a long time since I've been in a storm like this, all by myself."
"Do you need me to stay up with you until it passes?" Gideon hurried in a swing of compassionate care as he grunted to a half-sit, as if to reach for the lamp on his nightstand, though Kepa ushered a few sweet notions of denial, causing him to slow his movements towards the lamp's on-switch.
"No, no... I mean, hopefully we can chat for a bit before you go to sleep, but," Kepa sighed a shaky sigh and ushered a wary giggle, "If it gets too bad, I'll text Mara. Sucks being a creature that doesn't sleep."
"... About that," Gideon dared quietly as he laid back down and lulled his eyes closed, "I was surprised you didn't fall asleep when I spent the night. Is there anything I can do to make you feel totally safe enough to actually get a single night of sleep? Surely your kind sleeps, right?"
"We do, we do," Kepa gingerly dismissed, she cutely flopped her tail over her lap and began to use her small, golden hand brush to smooth the lovely fur on her long, thick tail, the tip twitched in slow turns, "It's... Not really anything anyone can help. I have a lot of trauma around sleeping, truthfully. It's... Not really something I want to get into right now."
"I understand," Gideon concluded softly, "Just know I'm a safe spot. If ever, whenever, it's safe with me."
Kepa lulled her eyes closed and smiled; how desperately she wanted to usher Gideon the huge platter of secrets she, too, has been harboring. Well aware Gideon had skeletons in his closet, she wondered if she could shove her own skeletons into it as well. Although feeling braver than typical, she still tossed her round cat eyes across her dim room and knew she wasn't ready to take the leap. Thunder clapped, and though the fur on the back of her neck stuck on end, she sagged deeper into her bedding and had to keep reminding herself that she was safe with Gideon.
"Thank you," Kepa whispered, loud enough for Gideon to hear.
"Anything," Gideon returned gently, "Unlimited."
Kepa beamed a shy, girly little grin down to her lap and felt his advances knock on the underside of her heart, begging to spill every last ounce of her troubles onto him, it were as if it would satiate his desire to aid, an unending amount of patience he had for absolutely everyone but himself. Kepa sighed in silent, wistful desire and continued to sweetly brush her tail.
"There was one night, I... I was sleeping in my bedroom, on castle grounds. It was a particularly cold evening," Kepa started, her voice trembled, and although she had just told Gideon that she wasn't due to opening up any time soon, she felt the words come spilling out of the back of her throat. Thankful Gideon had just made blatantly obvious that he was holding space for her, she pressed on with certainty that Gideon was likely frozen in silent shock to her fragile reveal, "My mother's mate, at that time, was incredibly jealous of me because I'm a three-ability gargoyle. I can fly, turn to stone, and breathe fire... Incredibly rare."
"Mhmm?" Gideon so gently pressed; he bugged his eyes in surprise and desperately did what he could to emulate easy-going aura, though he half-sat up and was shocked that Kepa now did a solid reversal and felt fully comfortable, in this moment, to unveil just why she was unable to asleep.
"Elders were upset I hadn't molted yet, had I molted and been an option to procreate with, I would've been an absolute prize because my abilities would've been passed to my offspring," Kepa staggered, she continued to brush her tail in self-soothe, "One evening, while everyone was sleeping, including myself... My mother's mate came into my room and startled me awake with a big show of arms, a fight to the death, and although I would've regenerated, I still had no idea why he suddenly decided to attack me for no reason whatsoever, right out of a dead sleep."
"Just... Randomly? No reason explained afterwards?" Gideon huffed in a tone to show he was offended for Kepa.
"No, he left me mildly battered, but I... I burned him really badly by defending myself with my fire breathing, he left my room mangled and told the elders an entirely different story," Kepa's voice wavered, she looked off and allowed her ears to sag, "He lied and told them I had lured him into my bedroom for the promise of sexual relations, but then lashed out and burned him when he denied me. I never did that, I was just... Innocently sleeping."
"But why attack you from the start? He really didn't ever tell you a reason?" Gideon huffed in rising irritation for this situation.
"No, no reason was ever said. I was so heavily punished, I was banished to the lower levels of the castle, and my mother had no say in the matter," Kepa mumbled sadly, "Looking back, I'm well aware he was trying to get me to divulge in some brave, heroic act to get me to molt, in that moment. Rumor is that inside an adrenaline rush, inside a moment of purely defending yourself in a moment of high-tension, molting is often a final show of arms and is a finalizer to getting whatever attacker off of your case, but... I didn't molt. I just breathed fire in his direction and he fled with burns."
"What was the point of getting you to molt in that moment?" Gideon urged in frustrated confusion, "What, was he hoping you'd discover that he helped you molt and you'd fall into his arms with full gratitude?"
"That's my thinking," Kepa fingered her lip and set her brush down, "I... I was one of the only three-ability gargoyles on castle grounds, but due to banishing me to the lower levels of the palace, I was forbidden from breathing fire ever again. They warned me that if they ever caught wind that I was using my ability again, there'd be hell to pay. I disfigured my mother's mate pretty badly, and... I haven't slept a single night, since."
Gideon's face sloped to the renewal of remembering just what this conversation was about. Happy to now have an answer, he lulled his eyes closed with a squeeze and now wished he had never retained this dreaded information. Scared that Kepa was going to be jumped in the middle of the night, to force her into molting, to force a reaction and have no control over her own fragile, beautiful reveal, Gideon sagged and felt his heart shatter with this information. Although dire, he dared to let a smile sprawl his face as he laid back and heaved a long sigh of conclusion.
"... Through all that, you still trusted me to exist in the same space as you through the night," Gideon's voice cutely prickled the air, and though thunder clapped, Kepa reopened her eyes and peered down to her phone's dim screen, Gideon's name confidently plastered across the top of their phone call on speaker.
"It wasn't easy, if I'm being honest with you," Kepa mumbled, "Even as stone, I could still be attacked."
"You trusted me when I was painting on you," Gideon cooed curiously, to which Kepa smiled and looked down to the toe beans on her palms and fingers.
"It's because you gave me space prior, you asked my permission to be in my presence, you immediately radiated with the fact that you had the ability to deploy good manners every which way you turned, even to what you thought was an inanimate object," Kepa's sweet voice rolled with laughter, all concluded with a wistful sigh, "I let you paint on me because I knew you didn't have an ounce of malice in your heart."
Gideon opened his eyes in the black and felt his heart sink; everything he had just said about being an outlier, to his family, every shivering ounce of defiance he had laid out before his peers was now something he was feeling conflicted about inside of Kepa's wise presence. As if he was standing in his own way, he sighed through his nose and messily ruffled his fingers through his hair.
"There you have it. Sob story number one of a million," Kepa blurt a cute, shy giggle, to which Gideon allowed a huge grin to fly as he shut his eyes amidst a lazy eye-roll, he rolled over onto his side and got comfortable.
"You and me both, babe, together we can write a whole novel of sorrow," Gideon's voice raspy whispered, though he shrugged and cutely tucked his phone closer to his face, "Er... Maybe not entirely sorrow."
"I'd like to think it'd have a happy ending," Kepa chirped, "Maybe some twists and turns, some action and adventure... Some romance and humor."
"It's all yours," Gideon concluded sweetly, he could hear Kepa grinning through the phone, though as rewarding as it was to bask in revealed, tender secrets Kepa had to offer, he opened his eyes in the black, once more, and contemplated his next move. Although eager to hopefully allow her a peaceful night's sleep, a goal he was itching for, there was something he was even more desperate to gift her. With bravery, he wrinkled his nose and cutely cued to her, "Kepa, I... Can I do something for you?"
"Sure... What do you mean?" Kepa staggered with a cute giggle, to which Gideon heaved a shaky breath and pressed on.
"I'd love to help you learn to fly," Gideon patiently revealed, and with such, Kepa's ears perked high in surprise, she tossed her eyes to the screen of her phone and froze with delighted, plucked uncertainty. She scoffed a shaky giggle and sagged as Gideon's loving, romantic words filled her heart and head with gooey warmth, "There's nothing I'd want more than to see you take to the skies and gain that part of yourself back. Would you be willing to let me and Novus help you?"
Kepa sighed through her nose, sagged her shoulders and sat up a little bit. With ease, she raised her eyebrows in an inquiry of uncertainty and allowed her wings to unfurl from her back. With an embrace of herself, on her bed, in the gape of her gorgeous bat-like wings, she gingerly reached for the nearest fingers and webbing of her left wing. Through yet another thoughtful sigh through her nose, she gently rubbed the flat of her hand up and down the webbing of her beautiful left wing in contemplation, and though the silence was thick, Gideon was patiently silent alongside her, as if to make clear he was aware that Kepa was really mulling this all over. Kepa lulled her teary eyes closed with a smile as his sweet voice pressed on, her shadow danced on the far wall due to her candle light, all aglow through the thinner webbing of her beautiful wings.
"You know I'd never let you fall," Gideon so sweetly assured, his deep voice rasped in a cadence of tenderness, stated just above whispers that hugged her ears with an eternal vat of warmth, she grinned and bobbed a shy nod out to her room.
"I... I trust you," Kepa mumbled cutely, her teary eyes trailed her gorgeous wings as she embraced her body a bit tighter in the bend of said webbed fingers, "It won't be easy, but... I trust you wouldn't steer me wrong."
"I, personally, don't know how to fly, but I know the mechanics of it, and I know, full-well, that Novus would be more than happy to help, as well," Gideon stated with a world of patience, he grinned as he snuggled deeper into his pillow and blankets, "So cool to have TWO friends that can fly. Y'have those beautiful wings, it's only right you stretch them and make good use of them. Y'know?"
"Yeah, it's... It's time," Kepa nodded as she now audibly sniffled, tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Aww, don't cry," Gideon cooed sorrowfully, to which Kepa blurt a nasally giggle.
"It's a lot, I'm sorry... I was shoved away and told to keep my abilities to myself until I molted," Kepa whimpered, she tried to compose herself, "Opening up, like this, prior to molting, is... Terrifying."
"I know," Gideon cooed sympathetically, "I know... But, you're with a human now. We're bottom of the barrel. Literally anything any other gamer does is continuously the coolest thing I'll ever witness, so you're in good company."
"Are you saying you're easy to please?" Kepa's cute laughter grew as Gideon beamed the widest smile he could.
"No, well... I mean maybe, I don't know," Gideon grunted as they both easily shared in cute laughter, "I'm saying... You're pretty fucking awesome, as is. If you molted? It's only gunna be the cherry on top of it all. Your heart and character doesn't change alongside that molt, does it?"
"Just appearance," Kepa hissed wistfully as she wiped her tears away and sprawled her wings with a bit more confidence.
"Right, cherry on top," Gideon repeated with assuredness, though he heaved a long, exhausted yawn and sweetly mumbled on through the trail of a heavy sigh, "Put yourself in my shoes. You'd be thinkin' the same thing. Say I came over one day and I had a trillion tattoos all over my body. I'm the same person, right? You wouldn't love me any less, would you?"
"No, not at all," Kepa assured cutely, though she snapped her jaw shut in hot surprise and felt all the fur on her lower arms suddenly stand stick-straight.
She froze in hot surprise and was extremely floored to find the fur on her arms begin to urgently sprawl with hints of vibrant brown stripes, and though her eyes fixated on the nonsense, she watched as said vibrant stripes began to fade away upon her voice ceasing to carry certain words and ideations out into the air. Now entirely confident of just what it would take to molt, she felt her heart surge with apprehension, the now upcoming terror of Gideon potentially gifting her the dreaded L word and not being able to reciprocate lest it lead to fully molting. Although not a bad thing, she bit her tongue and knew she wasn't confident enough or mentally prepared to molt, just yet; especially with the phrase like 'I love you' attached to it, the discovery that Gideon was at the very center of her own becomings.
"Then it's settled, when I return, we can ease into flying lessons," Gideon mumbled sleepily, "Deal?"
"Deal," Kepa eased in forced nonchalance, though she firmly peered down to her arms and although thrilled to see the stripes melt back to the faded, maroon-tinted grey her fur currently was, she bit her lip and now wondered if she could experiment with this, further.
"I'll text you in the morning, okay?" Gideon promised warmly.
"I'll be here," Kepa cutely assured, she held her breath and was thrilled with Gideon's next concluding statement.
"G'night," Gideon said with a great amount of warmth.
"Goodnight," Kepa returned, and with a hover, the two politely ended their call. Although eager to get this thing off of her chest and molt once and for all, it being entirely within her grasp, she cocked an eyebrow and locked her phone, tossed it aside, raised her arm to eye level and inhaled a shaky breath. She spoke with clarity for no one but herself to hear as she deployed this field test, once and for all, "Gideon, I love-"
She immediately snapped her jaw shut, once more, as her forearms eagerly and angrily crawled with the kiss of vibrant whites all gorgeously ladened with glimpses of black, brown and creamy markings her future pelt would happily be crowned with, and with the now full-proof that molting was totally within her grip, she hugged her arms to her chest, as the stripes vanished, and now knew she had a whole other hurdle to clear. She could tell Gideon was climbing to the verge of wanting to at least reveal deeper feelings for her, the promise she had gifted to Gideon about the potentials of a pending relationship, and though the notion of traded 'I love you's likely wouldn't be immediate, she wondered just how long she could prolong the nonsense without hurting Gideon's feelings. Understanding that she had her own unfinished business to take care of before molting, within her own heart, she slumped into her bed and wondered just how she would ever explain this fragile predicament to Gideon, if he'd even reciprocate, the balance of timing feeling so entirely out of her hands, she wondered if holding it all in a death grip, for now, would either be wise or foolish.
