NoaG:Aftermath [35]
We return!! Apologies for the long delay, I do hope to be publishing more than one chapter a month, but that all depends on life being calm and writers block not rising it's ugly head. Still, We love these characters so much and have finally completed a chapter for all to see. Thank y'all so much for your patience!
Thank you, u/SpacePaladin15 for this universe. May you always feel the passion of creation!
And thank you, u/TheManwithaNoPlan for all your work! This story is just as much yours as it is mine, and I cannot express just how honored I am to have you as my friend.
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**Memory Transcript: Tarlim, Giant Foreman. Date: \[Standardized Human Time\] November 7th, 2136.**
*…Mmmmmmmmnnnnnn…*
*…*
*…Hhhhhhhhhnmmmm…*
*…Rrrrrfffffffffirst claw?*
My eyelids felt like slabs on concrete against my eyes as I faded back into consciousness, uncomfortable to be under but too heavy to move. I could hear my heart beat thudding in my ear, pressed against itself from my sideways position. The bedding beneath me felt soft and warm, but I had a nagging feeling that I had something more important to do than remain on it, something I couldn’t afford to miss. Mustering my willpower, I managed to pry my eyes open just enough to see… nothing?
*Ah, I woke up before my alarm. No wonder, considering how restless I was last paw.*
It was all too good to be true: an offer to do a job I would love being handed to me as soon as I revealed my worries to Sharnet, a date with a wonderful woman that had both a marvelous tour of a gallery and a completely free meal at a luxury restaurant? Returning to the facility to find the paperwork I had asked Merva if she could help with all completed? Jacob giving a toast during “dinner” in the cafeteria to my new job and the rousing cheers that followed? It felt like a dream… and perhaps it was. I didn’t *feel* any different physically—not relatively speaking anyway—and the sheets beneath my sparely-furred skin felt familiar. Was… it all a dream?
***\*SKNREEEEKKK\****
I felt my ears shoot up as a rattling snore interrupted my groggy first-claw thoughts. It was still too dark to make out any details, but as my eyes began to adjust to the lowered light levels, my mind only now noticed the light weight on my arm and chest. I centered my gaze on the spot I felt the pressure most firmly upon and… She was still here.
*She is still here.*
I remembered, after last meal, Sharnet and I had decided to spend the evening just hanging out together and cuddling as we read or watched videos on our pads, chatting and showing each other what we found until the allure of sleep had eventually come for us both. By the Tenets, it was as if we had entered The Flow while it was at its most gentle and calm. Just us, together in the same room, acting like we had known each other our whole lives and not like we only met a few Herds ago. She had crawled right into my bed without giving me any chance of argument, curling herself between my arm and chest. Without my thick wool, I could feel every molecule of her still pressed up against me.
*And I wouldn’t have it any other way.*
My head returned to its natural position as I stared at the darkness around me, soaking in the serenity of the pre-waking. This was… I didn’t know the right word to describe it to an acceptable capacity. Not even calling it perfect felt like it was adequately describing how natural and fulfilling it felt to have her next to me. It… it was like she was satisfying something nestled deep within my very nature,sSomething beyond the desire for Venlil to sleep close together to defend the herd. Even her snoring—loud and cutting as it was—produced an oscillation in the tip of my tail as I felt her chest rise and fall against me. I could just close my eyes once more, and stay here forever.
*“Shame about that,”* my body stated to me, “*'cause if you don’t get to the bathroom in the next minute or so I am pretty sure my bladder is going to explode.”*
I stifled a groan as I did my best to carefully extract myself from Sharnet, gently peeling her off of me despite my own wishes. Why must my body betray me like this, no fair at all! I praised the Tenets that we Venlil were deep sleepers, so I didn’t wake up Sharnet with my movements. Still, I couldn’t just leave her sprawled across the bed like a discarded fruit peel, so I took the moment and tucked my pillows for her to lean into so that even if I wasn’t present, she could still feel where I was. She seemed to take well to my surrogate, pressing her face into the clothen articles in her sleep.
*So cute. I can really only see her outline, but I just know she’s so adorable.*
*“Indeed,”* my body replied, “*unfortunately now I don’t think you have enough time to put on your leg braces. You know what to do.”*
Grabbing my braces from where I had left them, I immediately slid off the bed and drug myself toward the bathroom as fast as I could with my arms. Feeling the carpet beneath me transition to tile, I sla- I *gently* slid the door closed behind me after almost making a critical mistake.
I may have a biological emergency, but that was no reason to disturb her. Of course, now came the issue of hauling myself onto th—
**{-Trascription Paused.-}**
<Nope, not looking at that. Not a chance.>
{Ah, come on Jaq. He’s already had his Little Stonebuilder out for all to see when he was high on pheromones! What’s so different about this?}
<...>
{Okay yeah you know what that’s fair.}
**{-Command Requested: Awaiting Input-}**
**{-\[USERID-11229KMD\]:** ***timeforw\_2stm*** **-}**
**{-Forwarding Transcript…Done.-}**
**{-Resume Play? (Y)/N-}**
**{-Resuming…-}**
I stepped out of the bathroom unsteadily, feeling along the wall as I carefully searched for where I remembered the main door to be. Sharnet’s snores had ceased, leaving the only sounds in the room now my footfalls and the gentle whirs of my leg braces. Using my memory—along with some more feeling around—I picked up my data pad and stood once again, looking at Sharnet unmoving upon the bed. We Venlil slept like death at our deepest, and that was a depth I still did not desire to stir her from. *Wow, I am being poetic this waking, aren’t I?* I shook my ears, suppressing a giggle as I grabbed the door handle and gently slid it open… only to find myself pressing my face into a fist.
“Woop!” Jacob barked, jolting his hand back, “Sorry! Ah-“
I cut him off with a shushing hiss, pressing a finger to my lips in imitation of the human gesture. I jerked my ears back, gesturing to the bed and Sharnet *thankfully* still asleep atop it. Recognition and understanding immediately spread across Jacob's face and he stepped back with a smile to allow my exit. *“Shoot, sorry,”* he whispered.
I flicked my ears understandingly as I gently slid the door shut, turning my attention back towards Jacob in full. His smile had turned into a smirk as he tilted his head up towards me. “Ya know, Ah could say so many things about you and her, but Ah think Ah’ll save that for breakfast. Prepare yourself, Tarlim, for Ah shall channel my most ribbing constriction- constrect- *blelwle-* ***bwla!*** Dammit, Ah was trying too hard to sound cool.”
I laughed, whistling in amusement at him stumbling over his words. “Key word being “trying.” Seems you and I are alike in our particular need of some caffeine. Gotta kickstart that brain of yours somehow.”
“Hey, not all’uv us can get by on jus’ 4 hours!” Jecob protested, crossing his arms at me. “Not like that matters much here, life goes on whether Ah get’ta be apart of it or not. We poor humans gotta make do.”
“Well, then let us be off to the cafeteria,” I gestured down the hall with a twirl of my paw. One of Jacob's eyebrows raised in response. “We’ll see if they have that blessed bean juice you so require!”
“Poetic today, ain’cha? Yer jus’ in a great mood today, huh,” he laughed, “and whoooo can blame ya? Gotta wonderful girl on yer bed, and ah night of such vigorous activity behind ya it has brought hair back onto yer chest and everywhere else on ya!”
I paused in my walk and stared at him. “That… what? I guess that was technically a coherent sentence.”
“A sentence of all time,” Jacob agreed, face flat. “Man, ah’m just bad at wording today.”
“*Hee*, honestly I am glad to hear that “wording” again. Been a bit since we’ve just been able to chat, hasn’t it?” I mused as we walked through the halls of the facility. Since most of the humans left, it’d gotten much quieter, but at this point in the paw I was grateful for that. A low cloud of brainfog still lingered in my head despite our conversation.
“Yeah, things just keep happening and- oh! Raght!”
I tilted my eye, feeling my ear touch the chilling with my head turn. “Hm?”
“Ah was coming ta get ya cause a big anteater guy arrived here! Said ya told ‘em to be here, that you had judged him and he had to obey you as his new…” Jacob snapped his fingers then pinched his beard trying to think. “Y’know, it didn’t really translate; ‘boss’ wasn’t quite right, but somehow similar to ‘Don?’ Whatever it was, he’s currently in the cafeteria with Sulven.”
I flicked my ears in surprise. “Wha- already? I told him to come in later than this, right? I haven’t even had my first meal yet!”
“Then good thing he’s right where we’re eatin’!” Jacob smiled. “Plus, we can see how he handles being around humans while they eat too…” He paused, his smile turning into a sad frown. “And hopefully not get approached by anyone blaming him for Earth.”