{"id":5287,"date":"2022-02-02T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=5287"},"modified":"2022-01-29T14:02:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T14:02:11","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2022\/02\/02\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-90\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 90"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">\u201cThe future?\u201d exclaimed Kepa, an edge of panic in his voice. \u201cWhat do you mean, the future?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWell, why not?\u201d asked Maite, rhetorically. \u201cOur time is the future for Marina and de Lancre, and they\u2019ve both gone there. Why wouldn\u2019t there be zatiak in what we would consider our future?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut, but,\u201d began Kepa. \u201cAt least for the other bubbles we\u2019ve visited, we had some historical context. We had some sense of what was going on. Here, we have nothing. We\u2019re complete strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4558\" width=\"277\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png 369w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b-215x300.png 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 277px) 100vw, 277px\" \/><figcaption>The Adventures of Maite and Kepa<em> is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I&#8217;ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren&#8217;t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don&#8217;t know where it is going, and I&#8217;ll probably forget where it&#8217;s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite nodded, turning her full attention to Kepa. \u201cI agree.\u201d She paused for a moment, really looking at Kepa for the first time since they arrived in this new bubble. \u201cEhm, what are you wearing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa looked down at himself. He was essentially naked, a thin, clear film covering his body, adding a shine to it as it reflected the ambient light. It hugged his arms, legs and chest, following the curves of his muscles. The only part that wasn\u2019t transparent was a strategically placed black circle, almost like the fig leaf of old paintings, covering his groin. He looked up at Maite and blushed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy am I wearing this when you are wearing that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite could get glimpses of herself in the reflections off of Kepa\u2019s skin-tight suit, but all she could really discern was a flurry of colors. She looked down at her body. She was covered in fur that almost seemed a part of her until she tugged at it and realized it was fabric. The costume went all the way past her hands, ending in gloves that had sharp claws at the tips. She turned, and noticed a tail that seemed to sway to her thoughts. The fur itself looked like the stripes of a tiger, but the colors shifted randomly every few seconds, leading to some very strange color combinations. She felt the top of her head. Pointy ears stuck up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat does my face look like?\u201d she asked hesitantly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa smiled. \u201cLooks like you are all ready to go to a Halloween party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite sighed. \u201cWhat have we gotten ourselves into this time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At that moment, a woman walked up to them. She was wearing a pure white suit that billowed out at her forearms and calves. Above her arms and legs it was skin tight. The jacket flared out as it passed her hips. It was accented with black seams that ran the course of her arms and legs. She wore a wide brimmed hat that was also white with black edging and, to top it off, she wore dark sunglasses with a white frame. The white of her clothes contrasted with her dark skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The woman began talking to them, seemingly asking a question, but in a language that neither Kepa nor Maite had ever heard before. After a few moments, the woman paused. Kepa and Maite looked at one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEz dugu ulertzen,\u201d said Maite in Euskara. \u201cWe don\u2019t understand,\u201d she repeated in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The woman just stared at her in disbelief, gesticulating and raising her voice. She kept pointing to her ear, where Maite noticed some kind of earpiece. Maite simply pointed to her ear, shaking her head, and repeating \u201cNo, we don\u2019t have one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The woman walked away, clearly frustrated, shaking her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat was that about?\u201d asked Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d replied Maite, \u201cbut it seems that those earpieces translate for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A tall figure suddenly materialized behind them. It stood at least a head taller than either of them. Like some of the others they had seen, it wore a flat black headpiece with fabric that fell to the floor, hiding whoever was inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIndeed, they do,\u201d replied the figure in perfectly recognizable Euskara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write <a href=\"mailto:blas@buber.net\">blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe future?\u201d exclaimed Kepa, an edge of panic in his voice. \u201cWhat do you mean, the future?\u201d \u201cWell, why not?\u201d asked Maite, rhetorically. \u201cOur time is the future for Marina and de Lancre, and they\u2019ve both gone there. Why wouldn\u2019t there be zatiak in what we would consider our future?\u201d \u201cBut, but,\u201d began Kepa. \u201cAt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1nh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5290,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5287\/revisions\/5290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}