Chapter 17: Bounded
The courtyard of the Basilicom was filled with energetic cries of happiness. The daughter of Nepstation's goddesses ran around in the open space filled with trees, cobblestones, and bushes. For her attire, she had on small pigtails that resembled her aunt Uni, and a single white D-clip nestled at the top of her head nearby where it parted. Her shirt was pink with light blue overalls that had patch designs of colorful mascots where a large pocket resided. Lastly, her shoes highly resembled that of her mother Neptune's.
It was one of those days where not much work was needed and the CPUs of Nepstation could kick back and spend some quality time with their daughter.
Both of the CPUs had on casual wear from shorts to sleeveless shirts to combat the heat. Noire wore a black top with white shorts, while Neptune wore purple shorts with a pink top.
Noire stood with one knee on the ground with a camera in her hands. She clicked the camera without pause at her daughter who was being chased by Neptune.
"And tag!" Yelled Neptune when she closed the distance and tapped the pink-haired little one on the back.
Euri laughed happily and ran toward Neptune with her hands outstretched.
The purple-haired CPU quickly sidestepped out of the way, avoiding her daughter's touch.
"Oh, so close but no dice-o, little Eu," teased Neptune with her colorful expression of words.
A brief shock filled the kid's face but was quickly replaced with a pout of determination. Not wanting to be denied what she desired, she aggressively proceeded to tag her mother.
Neptune could see the determination in her daughter's face and the urge to match her resolve filled her with energy. "Nope," Neptune teased again by quickly sidestepping out of the way of her daughter's reach.
Euri didn't relent and continued to desperately get a tap on her mom.
Noire halted her spree of photos and lowered the camera a bit. "N-Neptune…," she spoke sternly.
Neptune was caught up in her own entertainment that she failed to hear her wife's voice. "That's my afterimage! Oh, close but so far! Get me a pudding pack and I can do this all day!" Her evasion was perfect and relentless that slowing down was highly unlikely for the purple-haired provoker.
This caused her daughter to finally stop to catch her breath, ultimately dropping on the ground with her diaper-padded bottom. "Huff… huff… mommy—you're too fast!" She blurted in sheer frustration that had tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Ahh!" Cried Neptune once her actions finally caught up with her.
Noire reached Neptune and bonked her on the head. "Jeez, why would you tease her like that?"
"I'm sorry, I got too carried away once I saw that fire in her eyes. I… I didn't think I would push her to the edge of tears like that," said Neptune.
"She's still a baby and doesn't know how to deal with rejection that well," responded Noire.
Both of them sat down where their daughter had created a small pool of tears. "Euri, mama Neptune didn't mean to bully you like that."
"That's right, Eu. You just looked so cute with that determined face that I kinda wanted to keep that going. You really gave me 'mama Noire' vibes with that determined look," admitted Neptune.
Neptune's comment caused Noire to blush lightly due to the flattery. "Hmph, that still doesn't make it right. Her emotions are still raw and comprehending that as affection is such a foreign concept to her."
"You're right," replied Neptune with a lowered head.
Euri slowly ceased her wailings and looked at her parents. "Mama, how are you so fast?" Innocently declared the pink-haired girl with steady eyes at her mother.
Both Noire and Neptune were stunned to see how collected their daughter had become with delivering such a profound question for a girl who was physically and to some extend, mentally three years old.
"Well, it's because I do my daily leveling up," proudly replied Neptune which earned a question mark from Euri.
"She's being dramatic… as always," fired Noire.
"I guess I am. If you want a more meta response, well… it's because I'm a CPU. CPUs need to be strong and fast to keep the people safe when evil hags or dastardly robots come knocking. It's the same reason that you're going to get faster too the more you get older."
"She's half right, but you also need to train and refine your power as a CPU. Don't slack off or it's going to reflect in you as a CPU."
They could both see that all the info they dumped on her didn't process efficiently to her. "Then I want to get older!" Blurted Euri.
"Ah!" Both CPUs recoiled to that response.
"I guess that's all she got from that lecture," said Neptune.
"S-stop talking, Neptune, before we have a teen on our hands! Euri, all in due time, okay? There's going to come that time when you'll be able to match mama Neptune in speed, strength, and you'll even get to fly—but please just enjoy yourself at this age…please?"
Euri was unable to comprehend the pleading tones of her mama Noire wanting her to stay young for just a bit longer. However, once she heard that she would be flying, she knew the word enough to understand the lack of desire she felt from it. "Okay…" replied Euri quietly and defeatedly.
Both parents were curious about the sheepish tone that their daughter gave off. However, It was quickly cut down when Euri shifted gears and tapped Neptune on the forehead. "Tag! I got you!" She grinned victoriously at both of them.
"You sure did, Euri," sweetly replied Neptune.
While the day continued onward, collective stomach grumbles from Euri and Neptune filled their ears.
"Oh… looks like the old tank is empty," replied Neptune awkwardly.
Noire smiled lightly from her wife's words. "Hmm… it is about that time for dinner. Shame… as harsh as this heat is, a cookout wouldn't be such a bad idea," replied Noire without much more thought.
Neptune perked as if an ice cube fell on her back. "Hold that thought, Nowa! We can totally have a cookout!"
"But we don't have any meats to cook—" Once she uttered those words, it all clicked into what her wife was thinking. "—oh, I guess making a run to the market wouldn't take that much time if we used HDD."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Neptune then transformed into her HDD without wasting another second. "Leave it to me. I'll be back before Euri's stomach can even grumble a second time," happily said Purple Heart while giving her daughter a sweet motherly smile.
Euri's reply was nothing more than overjoyed jumps of excitement for the upcoming cookout.
Purple Heart then took off into the sky.
"Wait, Neptune! We didn't discuss what to buy—also, do you even have money on you!?" Shouted Noire, but her words could no longer reach her wife who was out of range. "Ugh, she can be such an airhead when it comes to planning, Euri. Luckily, that's where phones come in. Hopefully, she has some money from Histoire she can use," she declared with stern brows while she concentrated on texting.
While she was busy, Euri's happy mood had quickly changed when she saw her mom take off. She no longer looked happy but concerned with sad and fearful eyes. In her mind, she couldn't see herself doing what Purple Heart could do. Her heart also tightened when she realized she would not be able to playfully tag her mother from the ground.
A pair of soft hands then rested on her small shoulders. Her other mother, Noire, gazed at her with a warm smile that helped fill her empty and scared heart. "You want to help me get the table set up, sweetie?"
Her mother's words helped her get out of her paralyzed state as she happily nodded. "Okay, papa," she innocently replied.
Noire, like an understanding parent, merely accepted her daughter's comment. "Hmm… we need to work on that, though—but I can't stay upset with my little strawberry muffin," she adoringly declared while she ruffled her daughter's pink hair.
Euri reacted from her heart by hugging her other mother with both of their cheeks connecting.
Half an hour later, Neptune had returned with the supplies for the cookout. Among the various supplies, she brought most of the things that her wife had texted her, like hotdogs, burgers, nacho chips, and cheese. She also ended up bringing a pack of water to help them cool off from the heat.
The nearby table bench had been readied with a checkered cloth sheet over it. Noire, armed with an apron, took up the task of cooking the meat once she had readied the grill that she brought out while getting things ready. Aside from the grill, she had a slow cooker on a table next to her that was heating the cheese for her.
The meat soon started to sizzle and the poor black-haired cook soon started to sweat from the heat. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, her concentration unshakable from her grilling task.
That focus didn't last long when in the corner of her eye, she saw a water bottle lean close to her face.
Neptune was the one that had her hand outstretched with the bottle in hand. "Looks like you could use some hydration for the rescue."
Noire scoffed softly with a hint of amusement. "Thanks, honey, jeez.. this heat is brutal."
"I'll say. However, I don't know how you can handle this triple threat of hotness," declared the purple-haired girl.
Noire ceased her drinking to stare at her wife confusingly. "Triple? What are you on about?"
"Don't be so modest. Triple hotness, which I'm referring to this scorching heat, that raging inferno of a grill, and the tall gorgeous stack of smoke that is you," casually replied Neptune while tiptoeing to kiss her wife on the cheek. She also hooked her arm around her wife to place a cold water bottle on her wife's other cheek simultaneously.
"Kyaa!" Was Noire's initial response. The feel of the cold water and her wife's soft lips caused her to let go of her spatula and staggered forward. She did manage to control her footing and catch the spatula in the next second before it could fall. "Neptune… jeez…" she felt like she needed to berate her wife for the sudden act that would have either caused her to mess up the food or possibly burn herself with the grill. However, she couldn't stop herself from goofily smiling at the affection she had received. "Stop being a tease; Euri is looking at us."
"Aw, Nowa. It's perfectly natural for a kid to be seeing her parents acting all lovey—it should be encouraged!" Boldly stated Neptune sweetly.
"Tell that to her when she's a teen and seeing her parents kissing would be like staring directly at the sun," laughed Noire with a smirk.
They both glanced at Euri who had actually not even witnessed the act, as she had been sitting on the pack of water bottles. With a few more seconds of observation, it looked like she was pretending to ride the pack as if it was a horsebird. It was even made obvious with a few bags of nacho chips stacked high to imitate the neck of a horsebird.
"Oh, that's adorable!" Comically shouted Noire, gripping the spatula with both hands to contain her giddiness.
"You can say that again," hummed Neptune as she too was trying to hold herself from getting loud, or else Euri might get startled.
"Come on—make yourself useful and take a picture of her. I would so do that, but I got to make sure this food doesn't burn," demanded Noire with a push to Neptune to grab the camera by the table.
"Yes. Ma'am," jokingly replied the purple-haired girl.
"Hmph… how dare she get me bothered while so many heat sources are assaulting me. I hope you take responsibility later tonight for your brazen teases," she softly spoke to herself, while shortly wiping the sweat from her forehead again and trying to focus back on her task.
A short while had gone by, and the food was now on the table in aluminum casseroles. Both Neptune and Euri had stars in their eyes when they witnessed the plate in front of them that contained a burger, hotdog, and cheesy nacho chips. Drool then started to slowly descend from the corner of their mouths.
"And that's the kind of reaction I was expecting," pridefully spoke the black-haired CPU.
Both mother and daughter glanced at each other and giggled, wiping the drool with their arm. "Give my compliments to the smokin' chef but in honesty, she already has many talents that make me drool—ouch!"
As soon as she said that, she felt someone's foot hit her under the table, but Euri was none the wiser.
"Time to dig in, condiments are right there," she said, trying to hold back a crooked expression with a smile. While she was successful in masking it, her twitching eyebrows gave it away. "You're going to get it tonight, Neptune," her words were quickly followed by her munching on a nacho chip.
The purple-haired teaser perked up and turned her head aside. "I gladly accept my fate," she quickly muttered to herself with a small devilish smile. If Plutia could see them at this moment, she would approve the almost violent flirty foreplay.
Rapid chomps were then heard from Euri that sounded both strained and loud. They both glanced to see a messy sight that had the pink-haired girl straining to fit part of the burger in her mouth. The struggle between burger and Euri was a show to behold with how stained her mouth looked due to the ketchup from the burger.
Noire smiled brightly at the disastrous mess, yet found it reassuring of how much her daughter was still so young. "Hold it, Euri. Let mama Noire cut it in half to make it easier." While she did that, Euri didn't waste a second and wolfed down a few nacho chips, adding cheese sauce into the food mess that was the corners of her mouth.
Neptune stepped up and cleaned her daughter's face when she found an opening between chips. "As much as I can agree with a Nep stuffing her face, let's try to be clean, okay?"
Euri merely smiled at Neptune and waited for Noire to finish cutting the burger.
"There, now your little jaw won't be hurting," said the black-haired mother.
"Thank you, papa," replied Euri with the cutest set of pearly whites when she formed a wide smile.
"Hmm…," was the only response from Noire.
"I swear, I stopped running with that joke a while back," nervously said Neptune.
Noire sighed defeatedly. "It's okay, she'll get it right when she gets older."
"Hey, Euri, say mama Noire," said Neptune happily at her daughter.
Euri turned her head at Neptune with a look spelled mischievously child-like all over her face. "Papa… Nowire," she said with a giggle.
"Oof, that's twisting the knife in the chest," said Neptune.
"She's a little teaser; makes me wonder who she gets that from," stated Noire with narrow eyes at Neptune. Noire could tell that her daughter didn't intend to be rude as this was more like a fun game for a child that didn't know better. In time, she was certain that her 'papa' phase would die down.
Hi, everyone. It's been about a year since I last updated this story and I don't have a better reason other than I had lost motivation to continue it. During this year and most of last year, I had a lot of things happening in my life that brought me into a state of depression. I lost the urge to write and do some of my other hobbies, like playing video games. I've slowly started to pull myself out of that mindset and to try to take it day by day with some positivity. I did want to continue this story but I kept jumping back to a 'maybe or maybe not' type of mindset. I constantly had my mind focused on other things, even if they were negative to my overall mental health and stress levels. This year so far has been getting better as I've been trying to improve aspects of my life to help me stay positive. I've managed to get into a better state of mind, and I decided to dive back into my stories because that's genuinely what I want to do. I don't know how fast I'll be uploading but I'm making a promise to myself to be on the ball with writing and to not let another year go by where I felt stuck in life. I thank you all for your patience and hope that this chapter was a wonderful experience for you all to read.