Reviews :
Burgie : Thank you so very much. I'm enjoying the cozy, sweet moments while I can. History repeats itself, with each of these stories - it eventually gets very, very ugly. FG probably being the ugliest of all.
Song Listened To :
Message in a Bottle (Taylor's Version)
*Chapter 122*
"Alright, lay it on me," Kepa whispered loudly as she gestured outwards, in Gideon's direction. Sunbeams glinted into the tower, the whole place sung with easy love, and though Gideon stood in patient readiness, the pensive look on his face read back-tracking, nervous contemplation. Kepa's ears sagged, she fiddled her fingers and stood still, she knew Gideon was now battling with himself, "Giddy? You okay?"
"I'm okay, I'm just really nervous all of the sudden," Gideon stated above a whisper, he rubbed the back of his head and now looked back into the common room in solid signs of regret, "I'm... Wondering if I shouldn't do this, after all."
"It's your call," Kepa assured gently, and although she was certain she'd be disappointed if Gideon didn't follow through with this next step, of showing his other powers to her, she knew this ultimately wasn't up to her. This gift to her would be just that, and was something she knew she shouldn't force, much like the boundary he had just put up not five minutes ago. Kepa fingered her lip and looked up to her climbing platforms, "Why don't you just start with telling me what your power is? You don't have to feel pressured to show me. Just explain what it is, and you can decide, from there, if you're comfortable following through with it. You know there's no pressure from me, babe."
Gideon drew his eyes back to Kepa and peered deep into her eyes from their small gap. He long-blinked in tender, revealed surprise. Though he knew he shouldn't be so shocked that she was continuing the train of patience she had on backorder for him, he still felt entirely grateful that even through putting sexual advances on pause, even with the caution tape Gideon constantly had at the ready, she patiently stood on the flat of her adorable, bunny-like feet, her arms lazily crossed, tail hovered inches above the ground, a solid figure of stillness and endless attentiveness. Gideon smiled, looked down to his opened palms and heaved a long, drawn out sigh through his nose. He knew she was the best being to receive all of this, and he knew for certain that one day, she'd have access to all of this inside their own shared coding. He returned his smile to hers and bobbed an assured nod, his eyes narrowed in loving gratitude towards her, he shifted on his feet and readied his thoughts.
"So... I have the ability to lucid dream," Gideon patiently stated, to which Kepa perked her ears and looked as if she knew exactly what that was, "Coupled with that... I have the ability to, well... Make that a manifestation outside of my mind. Kind of like VR but... Without clunky goggles."
"It's only something you can see?" Kepa wondered lightly, Gideon looked down to his feet in a swing and smiled.
"No, I can choose who becomes involved with it, as well," Gideon tenderly assured, he looked to Kepa as if on the brink of wanting to invite her in, though he hovered in curious assessment to her level of excitement.
"... You can dream up worlds that you have control over and other people can see it as well?" Kepa almost whispered in enchanted uncertainty, as if to wonder if it were all too good to be true, though Gideon nodded and shyly looked up to the tower's incredible spire. Kepa scoffed a shaky laugh and shrugged, "What, so like... The sky and the ocean trade places. The clouds would rain gumdrops. We could see outer space."
"All of it, any of it," Gideon assured tenderly, humbly. He nodded and kept his promised eye contact tight to hers, "Anywhere you want to go. It's yours."
Kepa froze and felt her mind race, the endless possibilities now right at her fingertips, she wondered just what idea to let surface first. She tried not to move to quickly, to show too much excitement, she knew this was all riding on Gideon's comfortability with this new predicament, and with her eyes locked to his, she stiffened her facial expressions and almost now reserved her ideas to further the notion that this was all on Gideon's watch. She flinched as Gideon inhaled a trembling breath, held out his hand to her and allowed his incredible, vivid purple coding to will the stick-straight circuitry, on his hand and arm, to come alive with the glow of his surely underestimated power. Kepa silently gasped and felt her pupils tighten with the rare sight before her, powers he never put on display, simply for preservation's sakes, though she stabbed her cross-hairs of pupils tight to Gideon's and awaited his word.
"What's something you'd like to see that you've never?" Gideon wondered quietly, it was clear he was nervous for all of this, though as Kepa prepared to sag her hand into Gideon's, she gave him a look of reassurance, as if to make clear to him that this power of his was safe with hers, was hers to appreciate and absorb for the wonder it likely was, and with this, she whispered him a cute, dainty inquiry.
"The cosmos," She requested, and as she eased her tiny palm into his much larger one, aglow with his royal purple coding, the two flinched in the tug of their now suddenly conjoined exterior coding, which erupted into electric turquoise beauty up their arms.
"Like this?" Gideon wondered with a breath, and with a whip of his incredible imagination, Kepa largely flinched, scrunched her shoulders to her head and fervently pushed into the security of Gideon's arms as the universe about them suddenly blackened.
Kepa squeezed her eyes shut and felt her fur raise with the prickle of electricity that now coursed her, though as she peered from the security of Gideon's broad chest and the embrace his bigger arms deployed about her littler shoulders, she sucked in a floored gasp and felt her eyes go wide at the incredible sight all around her. As if they had taken a rocket straight into the black of outer space, the two stood hovered in the mist of a star cluster, cosmic clouds that held the brightest colors of purples and oranges, colors Kepa wasn't even sure could ever be recreated on Earth. The universe about them deceivingly looked like it went outwards and beyond forever, and as Kepa gawked at her surroundings, she finally peered back to Gideon's eyes and sagged away from him. He huffed a chuckle and looked as if he was slowly sagging into his element, the way Kepa's excitement and shock was fueling his desire to share was now something the two were hurtling into, a secure lock of trust gained, earned, rewarded, solidified forever. Kepa looked about the swirls of stardust available for her eyes, millions of twinkling bodies of fire, the sheer amount of color that enveloped them in a bubble of majesty against a vivid black canvas, Kepa was at a loss for words.
"Want shooting stars?" Gideon whispered sweetly, and as a few suddenly shot by the two, Kepa flinched and erupted into giggling as she had to remind herself that none of this was genuinely real, even though she was on the verge of wondering if she was even right, with that notion.
"Saturn's rings!" Kepa called excitedly, her voice echoed out into the blackness, though she jolted in shock as suddenly their surroundings flickered in change, and in a hover above the sheer, colossal size of Saturn and all of her gorgeous rings, the belt of space rocks that glistened against the sun, Kepa covered her mouth in shock and desperately tried to get her eyes to absorb everything, "Gideon, how the hell are you doing this!"
"I can even access memories," Gideon stated with pride, and with a snap of his fingers, suddenly the two were stationed at Honeydew Ridge's lovely, snowy cabin.
"Whoa! What memory is this?" Kepa hissed as she flattened her ears and felt her fur begin to poof, the lick of snowy, cold wind began to whip past the two, though just as Gideon reached his hand out to present to her Honeydew Ridge, he swallowed firmly and now understood that maybe memories were too much of jump, the fear of taking her straight to the palace now suddenly became way too real.
"This is Honeydew Ridge, in Sugar Rush," Gideon stated cutely, Kepa perked up in floored excitement as she took a few steps out, her bigger feet crunched in the snow.
"It's been YEARS since I've been in snow," Kepa whispered as she knelt down, she curiously began to feel the fluffy white snow underneath her bigger paw pads, she drew her claws and curiously scratched at the ice a bit deeper down, "I can't believe any of this... I was NOT expecting this kind of a power."
"What were you expecting?" Gideon wondered cheekily as he willed the atmosphere, and the snow Kepa was currently holding suddenly sifted to hot, beach sand.
She squealed a noise of girly, giggling surprise as a rush of warm ocean water suddenly came upon her ankles. She pranced out of the way of the water, pressed closer to Gideon and was happy to catch him in a swing of a lazy hug.
"Not this," Kepa wildly giggled as she lazily gripped her arms about Gideon's middle, she panted and happily peered about their beach surroundings, "Can we walk around and not get lost?"
"Sure, this is all imagination," Gideon assured with a nod, "We're still in the lighthouse's spire, standing still... But, inside my lucid state, we can go anywhere with the certainty that our physical bodies haven't moved."
"So, what, we're just standing there, motionless?" Kepa wondered over the roar of the ocean's waves, though she jolted in the full mental whiplash Gideon had deployed on the two, he ceased everything all at once. Kepa wildly flinched, looked about and took note that Gideon's word was correct. The two were standing still, hand in hand, right in the positions where they had been left before their exterior swap, "Oh... Holy shit."
"I can do this while awake, willfully, or," Gideon looked off with a shrug, "I can do it in my sleep. Willed dreaming."
"So, if you find yourself in a nightmare, you can just get out of it?" Kepa inquired, Gideon nodded but then shrugged.
"Ehh... Depends on how dug in I am," Gideon grunted a small laugh, "Sometimes, I can't control it... And I wake up sweating."
"...This gives a whole new meaning to imaginative play," Kepa fingered her lip and looked off, "You said yourself you can revisit memories..."
"Yes," Gideon assured, though he felt his airways tighten with sheer regret over this. Suddenly, this all became real, and any faded memories the two had of whatever skeletons they were trying to keep from each other was now something that not only could be expanded on, verbally, but physically visited. Such an idea terrified Gideon to his core, he eagerly tried to change topics, "Novus and I revisited this make-believe city I dreamed up the other night, did you wanna go there?"
"No, no... Can... Can you reanimate our first date?" Kepa cutely wondered, though Gideon sweetly peered into her eyes and felt the hit of the innocent question, he held his breath and now certainly knew this was layered.
"Sure," He eased in forced nonchalance, and with the gentle grip of her littler hand, and the cue of their conjoined turquoise coding, the two were immediately illuminated inside the bustling, sunny burger joint the two were previously in not less than a week ago.
"I loved this place, by the way," Kepa assured as she looked about and took note her and Gideon were sat at their table, plates half-empty, their conjoined memory replayed exactly how they both remembered it. Kepa layered her fingers together, sagged her chin atop her hands, planted her elbows on the table and finally softened amidst this exciting, though tumultuous throw around, "Gideon, does your family know about this?"
"My powers? Yeah, of course," Gideon mumbled, he picked up a few fries and began to eat. Knowing this wouldn't physically fill him, he could still taste the deliciousness of said french fries and continued to power on.
"...I'm SHOCKED none of them are constantly asking you about all this, I mean, this... This is insane," Kepa held her forehead, "Gideon, you can just... Imagine IMPOSSIBLE scenarios, you can create it all with one blip in your brain. You can revisit memories? Seriously, your family knows about this and they... Truly don't care to ask more questions?"
"I mean, User love Koko and Mara, but do you ever hear any of it come up?" Gideon mumbled dryly, as if he had grieved this current struggle and now simply viewed it as a mild annoyance, though Kepa scoffed in full irritation and looked off, as if she now finally understood the weight of Gideon's plight, the weight of his misunderstood, undervalued soul.
"Gideon, I'm serious... NO one?" Kepa continued to press, Gideon barked a laugh and bobbed a fervent nod.
"No one," Gideon urged, "My mom and dad are really the only ones that will sometimes join me on these lucid states, but... I think no one really knows how to wrap their brain around it, so they just don't inquire."
"I get it, it's a lot, and it's... Definitely different, but to just act like it doesn't exist?" Kepa argued, Gideon now began to look as if the topic was reminding him just how upset this actually made him.
"Look, I know how to put on a happy face and just pretend being blissfully disregarded and treated like I'm nothing new doesn't bother me, okay?" Gideon urged darkly, he smiled into Kepa's eyes as if to show desperation for her to get to his attitude on the whole ordeal. He narrowed his gaze in cunning delight and gestured his thumb to his chest, "I know what I have is great... I know that I'll have the last laugh."
Kepa's facial expression sloped to gentle surprise, and though she was more expecting Gideon to just sorrowfully shrug and wonder, too, just why apathy was what he was given in life, from his peers, she flattened her ears in coy curiosity and side-eyed Gideon in the prod for more information.
"What do you mean by that, babe," Kepa droned cutely.
"I don't know... I mean, I hope one day, I can use my powers to my fullest extent, somehow," Gideon now felt his heart race, he wondered if he should stop talking, somehow the very idea of the Game Over application came into play here, something he never dreamed of even using. He looked off in shock towards himself and wondered just where the hell this was coming from. Certain it was his subconscious, he strangely rode the wave and wondered if he could somehow sprinkle it with sugar and make it digestible for Kepa, "Maybe build something for needy gamers, maybe... Get famous for my imagination. Show the lot of them just what they're missing out on, prove to them that I'm not just some weird, neurodivergent kid, that I am a somebody."
"...Gideon, why do you feel the need to prove that to anyone but yourself?" Kepa wondered gently, this notion had Gideon halted in his mental tracks. He long-blinked and peered into Kepa's eyes with stunned, inquisitive tenderness, "You want to do something exciting and grand? Do it for you... No one else. Not even me, babe."
"Kepa," Gideon mumbled, as if to suggest anything he did now involved her, she shook her head and smiled.
"Another key thing is to not talk about it... Maybe they're ignoring you or acting like it's not so grand because, well... Do you mention it a lot? Is it always in their face?" Kepa so gently inquired, though she was surprised to see Gideon shrug and then bob a nod of defeat. Kepa nodded, as well, and perked up, "Mistake number one... Don't talk about your goals, or your dreams, especially to people that are just gunna muddy your drive and send subconscious negativity your way. Work in silence... Let your success be the noise."
"... I like that," Gideon huffed in renewed softness, he peered into Kepa's eyes with refreshed, sweet delight as she perked up, shrugged and tossed a fry into her mouth, "Thanks for this... I guess I can keep this nonsense between the two of us. You're the only one that seems to care so deeply, anyways."
"I'm ALL ears, give me your energy... I'll make sure it's cared for," Kepa assured with a wall of warmth and sweetness, something Gideon was grateful for, though he looked across the busy joint they were in and sighed in mild dread, he almost began to beat himself up over the fact that he was still holding on to his Game Over papers; he knew he'd have to revisit Flint about it and wonder if he should just simply return said papers or destroy them.
"No danger there," Gideon mumbled cutely, and though he was at least relieved to have an outlet here, with Kepa, that would keep all his hopes, dreams and secrets safe, suddenly her advice began to ring loud and proud in the back of his head, and somehow he felt his vengeful spirit want to come out to play, towards the ones that had crossed him, with such a spill of clever words.
