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Midian & Taralyn and all mentioned characters (c) Ketzio11 and Gothbunnyboy
Star Wars (c) Gene Roddenberry
part 1: https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=1111392
part 2: https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=1146005
mentioned
Parfait https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=986923 (warning cub)
Lumina https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=696557
3 (immediately after part 2)
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Midian found that sharing Taralyn's small and frameless twin mattress was far more uncomfortable than he had anticipated. Her body instantly tried to press to his chest and her massive bushy tail kept pushing him further off the small ledge and onto the, otherwise, disgusting matted carpet. Finally through progressive nudges, he ended up plopped on the floor and without any coverings besides his baggy pajama pants. He mused almost bitterly that if he had it his way he would prefer to be the small spoon in an intimate cuddle.
He sat up slowly and dusted off the pulped cheeto crumbs and cookie debris from many unvacuumed nights and glanced about the dim room. It was nearly too dark to see any fine details only a few shafts of blueish light and the occasional headlight of a distant traveler, that mimed their mysterious late night voyage in shadows and light on one of Taralyn's cracked interior walls. The thing that sat heaviest in Midian's guts and almost washed about in waves, was this slight forlorn feeling everything gave him at the moment. He desperately needed sleep but Taralyn had since sprawled across her entire bed; a bed better suited for one, he thought with contempt.
Midian slipped up to his feet and wobbled cautiously out the bedroom, slowly shutting the door and taking strides to the kitchen. The quiet was totalitarian and oppressive. He was used to his roommate asleep with Netflix on or the sounds of some frat boy party going on near his studio apartment, but here, in this suburban neighborhood far from home, all he could here was cicadas and the dull ringing in his ears. He found that he was growing homesick which was a notion that revolted and amused him.
As he got to the cheap formica topped counter where the remnants of a pizza sat, he brushed the box aside and grabbed a cup for the cabinet. The cabinet's door produced an unholy screech on its ancient hinges and Midian cringed; picturing Taralyn flying awake in the night. Nothing happened. He began to fill the cup with water from the gnarled tap and as he drank he strode slowly back into the living room, where his cellphone and unpublished book sat on the couch. He first grabbed the phone, half expecting a million texts from a particular beaver, and yet, not a single notification. He sat the phone down, took a sip and set the water down as well, now lifting his story. It was heavy and an ephemeral feeling of distance struck him hard: he was not the person who wrote it anymore. He was essentially a person now selling someone else's book, though he didn't feel quite like a thief. He simply felt that the Midian that wrote that book was now gone, perhaps dead, but he certainly knew that at this moment, he was not the same.
He reclined slowly into the couch and closed his eyes feeling a long smirk on his face.
~~
Midian awoke with a startling thud as the front door slammed; jolting him upright in his seat. The sunlight was absolutely blinding.
Slowly his eyes adjusted to a figure standing near the front door. It's still to-blurry face staring intently on him, while he felt the creeping concept of 'is this real or am I dreaming' take him.
Midian scratched at his eyes and looked at the figure while his vision adjusted: black and white fur seemed to create rigid thorns along it's heart-shaped androgynous face. Sunken deep sockets -- two flashing brown eyes balefully glared at him. He noticed that atop its head, it's black hair was tied into a wild and tight spiky ball that looked eerily like a dead spider.
His mind suddenly connected: this must be Taralyn's actual boyfriend. Everything she said was absolutely a lie and surely this would end in a dramatic flash. He dreaded somehow ending today with another broken antler to match the first. Gradually, though, he noticed the curved hips of the figure and the tight shirt that clung to a heaving breast and his fear relaxed timidly. This was a lady, and a badger; she was Taralyn and Midian's age, and for some reason she was looking at him with intent to kill.
Perhaps Taralyn was still lying and maybe she had a girlfriend.
"Where is Tara?" The badger hissed at him; emphasising the name different than he did by emphasizing it as Tar and not "Tare". She dropped a huge hiking pack on the floor. Midian's eyes followed it as he again cringed, at the loud bang and clatter of what sounded like silverware that it made.
"Um.. I don't... know... probably asleep still." He fumbled out the words and looked woefully for a shirt which, unfortunately, was still in the bedroom.
"Who are y- What are you doing here?!" The badger snapped demandingly with a snarling sound as she bared her non-impressive fangs at him.
Before Midian could explain, the bedroom door opened and Taralyn walked out wearing the shirt Midian was looking for.
"Who are you talking to honey-bunn--" she yawned and then froze up noticing the badger.
"Bea!" Taralyn exclaimed excitedly and sprung across the room tackling the badger.
"Ohhh Tara, it was horrible!" Her tone changed dramatically, suddenly as if on cue all the hate and anger poofed and became a nearly blubbering mess. "I just got kicked out by that disgusting pig, Don!"
"What? He just threw you out of his house?" Taralyn, as if portraying a parody of shakespearean acting, threw her hands up to her cheeks in overdramatic awe.
"He j--" the badger halted her sob story and shot a glare at Midian as if she just remembered he was still there. "What is this?" she changed the topic; referring to Midian like a stray bug crawling around on the couch. He certainly felt like one at the moment.
"Haah! That's my boyfriend, Bea! I thought I told you he was coming over." Taralyn kept her cheerful and oblivious tone as Midian attempted to mentally hide behind her.
"I uh... woops." the badger sighed. "I kinda thought you were joking about that." She shot another menacing glare at Midian. "I mean -- I thought you were smart enough to not go out with creepers online."
Midian certainly was not welcomed now -- before there was an inkling of a chance but that response cemented an answer. Being such a non-confrontational person, Midian had no rebuttal to defend himself against this hostile woman.
"Oh pshaw, you're so funny." Taralyn flipped her wrist at the woman with an innocent giggle. "But there's obviously a problem here! We need to talk about what happened to you. I know! I'll make some coffee and you can tell my boyfriend and I all about it." she sort of stressed the word 'boyfriend'.
"No." the badger muttered. "I need to talk to you about this alone."
"Yeah I'll just... wait... here..." Midian gulped; unable to even look in the two's general direction.
The badger began to drag Taralyn into her bedroom before the squirrel stopped in resistance for a second. "Midian?" Taralyn called out to him. "You gonna be alright by yourself there?"
"Uuuh... sure." Midian was racking his brain in an attempt to figure out if Taralyn was completely oblivious to the situation at hand or if she was just trying to defuse it by acting so polite. Either way, this was about as bad of a position to be in because all of his clothes were in Taralyn's bedroom. What was he in? Pajama pants. Not even a pair of boxers underneath. He felt quite exposed... especially after the rude awakening.
"Well okay, hunny-bunny. I'll be back in a--" before she could finished her sentence, the badger forcefully tugged at her again and into the privacy of Taralyn's bedroom with a loud slam of the door behind them.
There was an awkward moment of silence as Midian attempted to assess his situation. He found his eyes wandering over to the big bag the badger dropped on the carpet; a bag obviously full of clothes and things that make metallic clattering noises. Putting two and two together, plus piecing together what garbled mess the badger was raving about earlier, Midian realized that this girl was probably going to be staying here for a while.
In defeat, he slowly fished up his phone; checking his contacts and finding something he already expected before. Parfait had texted him while he was being castrated. That beaver always had the best and also the worst timing.
He opened his phone; bringing his legs up on the couch and preparing for something stupid to make him forget about the badger girl but he ended up getting... half of what he expecting.
"Dear Midian" the text message began, and he was immediately unsettled more by the formal start. "i just wanted to say im sorry for flirting with you i guess. im sure you're girlfriend didnt like it (but you prolly didnt show her =3=)"
Two things struck him over the head: firstly, he was caught off guard by how seemingly sincere this text was which led to a strong desire to actually talk to this bipolar creature, and secondly but unrelated, the horrible feeling of being very hungry but not having the balls to walk into the kitchen for something swept over him.
He rose his thumb to the phone and prepared a snarky reply just to see if he could rouse the old Parfait back from whatever hole she crawled into in the past night, anything but a dear Midian, but he was interrupted by a loud muffled yell coming from Taralyn's room.
"THAT RAPIST STAYED HERE OVERNIGHT?"
Rapist, huh? Even through the incoherency of the sentence through the door, Midian could understand it well enough. There was an incomprehensible response coming from Taralyn with the only hint being the very soft way she spoke compared to that badger beast.
"ALL THE DISEASES. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HE PROBABLY HAS?! ALLLLLL!!"
Yikes. Midian found that his own snark had drained away and he lowered his phone; unable to respond to Parfait in the manner he wanted. He didn't care to hear more, either.
"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GAVE YOUR VIRGINITY TO SOME RANDOM GUY ON THE INTERNET!"
Yep. Midian had enough of this. There was no way in hell he was going to stay the night here again... even if the invitation was still there and... even if Taralyn was so fun to hang out with and... fuck.
He tried to rationalize and imagine the badger was projecting her own failed relationship -- assuming that's what she was referring to when she said 'that pig, Don' earlier. Even so, he couldn't justify how she could react this way; had she taken stock in Taralyn's virginity? Was it something that she wanted? Why did that matter? All that mattered was that his hunger had passed.
"Well you just have to give him a chance, Bea." Midian could hear Taralyn say as it sounded like they were getting closer to the bedroom door. "We could all have breakfast and get to know each other better. You'd probably like him."
"Like a creeper who finds girls on the internet? Yeah. Of course."
There it was. He suddenly had the urge, not to text Parfait snarkily like he intended before, but to rather tell her that he'd be coming home earlier than planned. So he did. "Hey Faye : / heading home early"
He sat up from the squeaky and unstable couch; striding slowly into the bathroom where the sound of him being emasculated was a bit more muffled... but of course not without hearing a few more candid "men are trash" quips from Queen Bitch McBadger.
Shutting the bathroom door behind him, he sat on the rim of the bathtub; taking note of the lack of caulking between the tiles on the floor and cracks in the sink's porcelain. He also took a newfound appreciation of the silence that, just last night, he despised. He produced his phone to see that Parfait had actually already texted him back. That was... alarmingly fast. He had texted her maybe 40 seconds ago at this point.
"REALLY? WE GOTTA HANG OUT THEN ;D even tho im sick c:" Parfait's text read.
Midian smiled; toyed with texting back but deciding to call her instead.
The phone didn't even ring on his end. He had just pushed 'call' and he already heard the somewhat raspy voice of the beaver on the other end.
"Hi, Midian!" she greeted; sounding stuffy and finishing her sentence with a long and backed-up sniff.
"Oh. You really are sick." Midian's eyebrow rose.
"Whaaaa? You think I lied? When do I ever lie?" Parfait had this playful tone as if she knew she had just walked into a trap.
"Uuh, that one time you told me y-- actually, never mind." Midian caught himself from snickering. "So, did you still want me to get you some medicine or juice or whatever?"
"Oooh!" Midian could hear Parfait's phone pounding air as she flopped it around her bedside. "Nooooow you want to hang out with me. What makes you think I didn't make any plans for myself? Hmmm?"
"You uh... just asked me like 20 seconds ago." Midian muttered. "Buuuuut if you'd rather go out with someone else or sit home and rest then you c--"
"No, no, I'm free." Parfait quickly interjected with another sniffle.
Midian chuckled to himself. Just the way Parfait couldn't say her Rs made him feel comfortable again even with the roasting party going on outside of the bathroom door.
"Wait..." Parfait broke the short-lived silence between them. "...you're not messing with me, are you?"
"Wha?" he asked genuinely, but could feel the sweetest smirk on his face from her "you-w not messin wiff me awe you"
"Like... I get all excited and you tell me you were just kidding and I hang myself."
"You're a bit too young to be making suicide joke-- wait."
"And there you go with your... your... what's that damn word."
"Condescension?"
"YEAH!" Parfait yelled into her receiver. "THAT SHIT!"
"No. I'm actually coming back. I'll pick you up some snacks or whatever before I get back home." Midian said, hopeing not to sound to defeated or down.
"Yaaay~" Parfait squealed away from the phone; barely audible to Midian. "So does that mean your giiiiiirlfriend was a dud?"
"Her friend just came out of nowhere and started calling me a rapist, actually." Midian carefully recapped the events of this morning perfectly.
Parfait was silent for a moment; a barely received sound of soft but raspy breathing was the only thing present.
"Uuuuh... did you literally just pass out while I was--"
"LET ME KILL HIM!" Parfait roared; blasting Midian's eardrums to hell.
"It was a her." he calmly responded; rubbing his ears and prepared for the next audio-decimal-assassination.
"EVEN BETTER! EASIER TO KILL A CUNT!" Midian could hear Parfait fumbling around with her phone as she roared her instinctual beaver roar. "WHY THE FUCK WOULD SHE, LIKE, SAY THAT SHIT?! WHAT DID YOU EVEN DO, LIKE?! YOU'RE THE MOST NOT-RAPIST I KNOW, RIGHT? RIGHT? FUCK HER! DON'T ACTUALLY. BUT FUCK HER, RIGHT?!?!"
Midian couldn't help by sneer as each 'right' came out like 'white'. "Parfait," he calmly interjected. "Your British is showing."
"KILL YOURSELF!" she hung up with an almost immediate text message from her sent at almost the same time. "dont actully do that tho ^^;"
He thought long and hard about telling her the truth: to send her a text saying how grateful he was for that moment of comfort and joy. He was hours away, but felt home briefly, but before he could text he, heard Taralyn's door swing open with a triumphant thud.
Midian first imagined that the violent door opening had created a hole in the wall, but quickly recalled the state of the the rest of the house.
"Judge not, want not," he thought absently remembering that his own home was a studio on a row of college flunkies.
Midian collected himself and left the bathroom, a tad cautiously, aware that maybe there would be a new awkward conflict. He found that the badger was sitting folded armed and dejected on the couch where Midian had slept, a look of burning contempt scrawled on her face. Taralyn was in the kitchen, seemingly happy as she brewed coffee. The aroma filled the room with a burnt staleness; her coffee pot was ancient and the thought of how long it sat unattended made Midian's desire for coffee drop.
"Hey there silly." Taralyn said and softly strode toward him. "Sorry about all of that, we had to have a lil' girl talk"
She smiled with earnest apogy clearly on her face and pulled him down into a hug, planting a kiss gently on his lips, and for a moment he considered pushing her away before welcoming it.
"Whaddya want for breakfast?" Taralyn said sing-songly as the kiss broke naturally.
"Actually babe, um...." He cleared his throat. "I'm thinking about heading home soon"
As if prompted, the badger let out a loud farting noise from her pursed lips and snorted and slight tingles of adrenaline swan down Midian's spine. He had never ever fought before, and rarely even raised his temper, resigning most often to a default "fuk-it" attitude, but this woman was bubbling something nasty inside of him.
"Why though?" She whimpered and then gestured slowly to the kitchen. "You... bought all this stuff."
"Well..." he tried to keep his eyes focused on Taralyn, there was nothing in the world more important than staying sincere, the hurt confusion on her face was encapsulating. "Your friend... she seems like she needs a place to stay, and also seems like she wants nothing to do with me an-"
"Oh Midian- please don't." Taralyn pleaded, running her hand slowly through his pink forelock.
"I'll come back up and stuff... besides my friend is legitimately sick, so they need me to get some stuff." stretching the truth hurt even harder than looking at her, and he found a stain on the carpet to focus on instead.
"I - ... I guess I understand... and... maybe I can come and visit you?" She said, also seeming to find something else to look at.
"Mhm" he quickly said and as if on instinct, leaned down to snag a small kiss.
Another fart sound erupted from the living room.
"You know, honey bun... if you stayed... " She almost whispered and hung her head low. "We could probably still have alone time."
Midian recognized this as a bargaining chip, but he was also well aware of that not happening either, Taralyn wasn't sincere and frankly, he didn't want to stay just for that anyways.
~~
The heat was oppressive by the time Midian was on the highway and he welcomed the large and looming overcast that hung over his town.
Sporadically he would glance and respond to texts to Taralyn and only truly felt that sting of regret once he pulled into the drugstore parking lot. He had given up and vindicated the badgers impressions of him by leaving and for a moment he genuinely started to tear up in the parking lot.
When his phone buzzed, he was convinced it would be a break up and he hesitantly looked: "I love you : ) skip me tonite? - T "
Midian let an exhale escape and found it in him to respond. "I love you too and yes :D"
He shut the phone and strode into the pharmacy happily.
~~
By the time the day was up, the entire morning was a distant blur, Midian had shared an amazing day with Parfait: a movie, lunch, shopping, dinner and dropped her off, tuckered out, but happy at around 10 in the evening. He watched as she scampered inside and felt a strong fraternal feeling of love boil up. It was nice to see her happy and excited for a change; especially if he's the one who caused it.
The drive home was slow and he found the quiet roar of his engine a comforting blanket to meditate around. Midian thought of Parfait and how unusual she was behaving lately. He also wondered if his roommate, Lumina, was okay tending to her family. After all, she hadn't spent time away from his own place in several years. Finally, he thought of Taralyn and how they had physically entwined so veraciously only the night before. It seemed so long ago and he suddenly felt a strong desire for her welling up. "That's your repression, kiddo" his brain told him. "This is what you get for spending your teenage years jerking it to anime. The first girl who fully gives herself to you in years without any backlash and you get scared of her friend and run away."
Filled with shame and anxiety, Midian pulled into his apartment's designated parking garage; lumbering out of his little car as if he just completed a triathalon. What a day it was. It was good to be home, finally.
As expected, his apartment was a total mess. Lumina obviously hadn't taken the time to clean up after herself before leaving which simultaneously annoyed him and left him wanting her to still be on his couch; playing video games and junk. She'd probably look over at him when he walked through the front door and say 'so where's dinner?'. Funny.
He dropped his home keys in the Star Trek dish beside his door and immediately headed to his cramped bathroom for a much-needed shower. He needed to get all of this Taralyn off of him, after all.
Pinning his back up against the wall of the shower, he quietly reveled at how much more pristine his shower was compared to Taralyn's. Though, he did envy her tub as all he had was a stand-up stall.
He would always leave his phone on the toilet cover just in case anyone called him to tell him his family died in an explosion or something -- but he peered over at it completely bewildered that he hadn't gotten a text from Parfait or anyone else. Maybe she actually went to bed like a normal person, though that did make sense because, even through her excitement while they were hanging out, she did seem rather lethargic and lacking strength.
Amused with himself at how much he was thinking about Parfait recently, and especially now as he was showering, it dawned on him at how tired he was himself. He clutched his towel as he exited his stall when a second amusing thought occurred to him: he didn't need to dress because Lumina wasn't here. So, with a towel loosely wrapped around his waist, he trotted on to his bed while ignoring the warzone of mess Lumina left for him.
As his head sunk into his pillow, he found himself staring at the ceiling; it was then that his phone buzzed and, before he even looked at it, he remembered that Taralyn wanted to Skip him tonight. Sure enough, it was a text; her asking if he was home yet.
So much was on his mind that he almost forgot about that. "Yeah, wanna call now?" he texted her back.
"Yes :)" she responded, "I also got a surprise for you <3"
Midian fished up his laptop from his nightstand and plopped it on his lap; yawning a bit as he received a second text. "Also, before you ask, my friend passed out =w="
There was a wave of relief. At least now he knew that she knew about how awkward this morning was for him. The Skip call jingle, even if he was expecting it, still startled him with how abrupt and loud it was. He took a deep breath (he always took a deep breath before calls) and answered just to see the adorable face of his girlfriend taking up 90% of the screen as she seemed to be fiddling around with something. He could also see that familiar wall that he had grown so familiar with through their months of Skip calls beforehand. It was a comfortable nostalgic feeling, he guessed.
"Hi-- Huh." she stopped mid-wave; her dull-roar of a whisper almost incoherent on Midian's side, "You're soaking wet."
"I was... taking a shower." Midian sighed. "I may be a dirty, filthy man -- but I do shower sometimes."
Before he could even finish his sentence, he could hear Taralyn's distracting covered laughter. She was desperately trying to be silent which resulted in an emanating squeak noise. He found it hilarious which made him decide to push his luck.
"I might have to go onto YouTube and downvote some female-led remakes of movies or some shit." he put a finger to his cheek. "I am that filthy, you see."
"SHUUUSH!" she choked on her silent laughter; tears already welling in her eyes, "You're gonna kill me! And then Bea will wake up and kill you!"
Midian's face changed to a dismal glare despite his efforts to the contrary.
"Awww, come on honey-bun," Taralyn's laughter started to subside. "She's a heavy sleeper anyways, so it's ok. And I love you so I'll kill her before she kills you."
"Murder is pretty romantic," he said with a light-hearted eyeroll. "Sexy Skip call is probably out the window, I bet."
Taralyn raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who's only in a towel... I presume."
Midian could see that, on her side, his upper body was only visible. "Yes, I have a towel," he answered, "And no, we can like... talk about murder... female-led movie remakes... uuuh... Star Wars? I see you're wearing your Star Wars pajamas."
Taralyn pulled at her sleeves gently and smirked. "Your favorite, right?"
"The shirt or Star Wars?"
"I dunno... you answer." Taralyn giggled.
"You in that shirt is better than Star Wars. Is that the right answer?"
"Yes, but you don't mean it." she playfully pointed out. "You're just lucky that I love you back."
"In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." Midian quickly referenced; trying his best to sound like Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Once again, Taralyn exploded into a fit of silent giggles before finally gasping for breath and wiping her eyes. "How... are you even my boyfriend? How do you even talk to girls?"
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." Midian inflected a faux Darth Vader with a straight face.
"You're the woooorst!" her body bounced with almost painful-looking laughing jolts as Midian waved one hand in a mystical gesture.
"You will keep bouncing," he stated, "But without a shirt."
"I got a quote for you, honeybuns." Taralyn folded her arms with a condescending smirk, "Jedi Mind-Tricks don't work on me."
"Boooo, Episode 1 quote. Doesn't count." Midian smiled.
After a small and slightly awkward pit of silence as Midian waited for Taralyn to finally cool down from his gigglefits, she looked up at him with those huge eyes and very delicately stated: "So you gonna sleep naked in that towel? Is that just a guy thing? Do guys even do that? I thought you had a roommate."
It was Midian's turn to laugh uncontrollably, "Firstly," he sniffled, "Lumina's with her grandma so I can do whatever I want. Secondly, you're adorable."
"I know," Taralyn fluttered her eyes at him. "But I just uh... didn't know if your dicks got in the way when you sleep or whatever."
"My multiple dicks?"
"Shut up. I meant like dicks in general." she tried to clarify; flustered. "I dunno if it's the same thing as sleeping with a bra, you know? Super uncomfortable and junk."
"Okay babe," Midian took a poorly done deep tone, "Firstly, I know the bra thing is a myth. Every girl always talks about that but I've known several girls who very clearly sleep in bras."
"And you... check?" she, once again, rose an eyebrow. "Also! I'll have you know that it's NOT a myth! I'm not wearing a bra and I'm about to go to bed because bras are bullshit. Wired bras? Bullshit."
"I don't believe you." Midian said; thoughtfully raising his hand again with his best Obi-Wan inflection. "You will show me."
"Oooooh." Taralyn blushed; immediately figuring out Midian's 'diabolical plan'. "Okay, Mind-Tricks don't work on me but I do believe in capitalism."
"Say wha?" Midian queried.
"Like... you show me cool things and I'll show you cool things." she shyly fluttered her eyes at him just as she did earlier; this time slowly lowering the collar of her shirt simultaneously.