{"id":6559,"date":"2023-08-02T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2023-08-02T14:29:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T14:29:22","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-160","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2023\/08\/02\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-160\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 160"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cWhat the hell?\u201d hissed Maite.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYeah, dude,\u201d added Kepa. \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<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 class=\"wp-element-caption\">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>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Maite just shook her head. \u201cWhenever you want a break, that\u2019s fine. You can leave us here, leave the plot hanging. But we barely get five words before you throw us back into the fire. How is that fair?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa shrugged. \u201cHe has all the power. We are at his mercy. We have to literally jump whenever he says jump, but he doesn\u2019t have to do anything we say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite turned to Kepa. \u201cHow did this happen? We are the ones with the zatiak, with these marvelous powers. He\u2019s just a guy in front of a computer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHave you tried blasting him? Maybe that will get him to cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A mischevious grin crossed Maite\u2019s lips as she held out her hand. Sparks crackled between her fingertips. \u201cYou are going to give us some down time, or else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t even have the dignity to answer us?\u201d shrieked Maite as her hand began to glow so brightly, the bones in her fingers were visible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still there was no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite yelled as a bolt of lightning burst from her hand and evaporated into nothingness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite held her hand in front of her puzzled face. \u201cZer\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSee?\u201d said Kepa exasperatedly as he threw his hands in the air. \u201cHe has all the power. He could erase us if he wanted. Or just put us on ice, forget about us and keep us locked away on his computer forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so unfair,\u201d cried Maite. \u201cWe are put through hell for his entertainment, but what do we get out of it? Character growth? Personal development? All I know is I\u2019m sick and tired of being put through an emotional roller coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa nodded. \u201cMaybe we can go on strike?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCan we? He\u2019s the writer, we\u2019re \u2018just\u2019 the characters. Can we go on strike?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa\u2019s shoulders slumped. \u201cYeah, I guess we can\u2019t, unless he writes us going on strike. And why would he do that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite chugged the whiskey from the glass that had suddenly appeared in her hand. \u201cSince he\u2019s back from whatever the hell he\u2019s been doing the last few weeks, it\u2019s time for us to get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa looked at Maite and at his own empty hands. \u201cHow come I didn\u2019t get one of those?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite looked ahead into the emptiness. \u201cBecause he\u2019s so damn fickle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa shook his head. \u201cDo you think anyone is even reading this anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite shrugged. \u201cDoes it matter? We have to keep doing this as long as he keeps writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They both sighed as the page turned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background\"><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>\u201cWhat the hell?\u201d hissed Maite.&nbsp; \u201cYeah, dude,\u201d added Kepa. \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d Maite just shook her head. \u201cWhenever you want a break, that\u2019s fine. You can leave us here, leave the plot hanging. But we barely get five words before you throw us back into the fire. How is that fair?\u201d Kepa shrugged. \u201cHe has [&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-6559","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-1HN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559","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=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6560,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions\/6560"}],"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=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}