Lazy Days In Valdell City: "Not Perfect"

Waning sunlight shown in through the windows of the University Library. After the debacle of the last exam (in which the Professor described his delegation style as "micromanagement"... and meant it pejoratively) Oberon knew he couldn't afford to screw this one up. He stretched and fidgeted in his chair, he'd been here nearly all day studying for the next exam and despite his best efforts he didn't feel any closer to acing it. Against what his brain was screaming at him he opted to take a short break... mostly because piercing through his mental scream was the equally loud mental scream of a familiar voice. As happened more and more often these days he could hear the dulcimer tones of a particular mouse girl... "Chill the fuck... out... Obie!" she would often yell at him... deep down he knew it was advice he really should take to heart.

 

With a heavy sigh, Oberon closed the textbook and leaned back precariously in his chair, his mind wandering back to the person providing the good mental advice. Though he and Lilith had known each other far longer it was on a particular fateful day (involving a rather large amount of cluelessness and bad online dating partners) that the lifelong friendship between the two had become something far more intimate. Perhaps not as intimate as some would like... but it was enough for the focused, and more importantly frustrated youths. Both for the sake of their friendship and their single-mindedness towards advancing their individual careers, they'd agreed that any physical communion they experienced would be strictly "No-Strings-Attached". That was four years ago now, but Oberon couldn't help but notice a sliver of doubt cracking the facade of their perfect relationship in his mind. He was quite happy (oh so very happy) with the time they spent together, but he couldn't help but allow himself to question a few things. 

 

Though both had the option to pursue other... well... pursuits... neither of them ever had. One could easily thank the simplicity of their arrangement for this, but with schedules becoming more and more demanding time spent together was becoming more and more scarce. The original purpose of the entire arrangement was simply to "ease mutual frustration" so it only made sense that one or both of them might move on... unless there was something else holding them back. This line of reasoning simply opened the floodgates and made Oberon wonder to himself... was there something more? Melody certainly seemed to think so, but though she often showed an uncanny wisdom beyond her years, she was young... and unemployed... in Oberon's mind clearly Melody could not properly prioritize. "Maybe her machinations are what started me on this thought process in the first place," thought Oberon "Really need to get her to stay out of my relationship business." Things had been simple for so long, but these intrusive thoughts were making things more... complicated... and Oberon didn't like complications.

 

Snapping him from his mental haze was a vibration from his cellphone. Oberon grinned wryly to himself, knowing what was occurring. During his last library session Lilith had sent him a text in the knowledge that Oberon had often forgotten to silence his phone when his mind was on work (which was almost all the time) and this had led to a rather loud announcement of "THAT'S A LOTTA NUTS!" in a quiet public space. After peeking in his phone to hide his shame from the looks of the other library patrons, he'd discovered the text simply read "Made you look ;-P". If nothing else the occasion ensured that Oberon would be silencing his phone during studying time from now on. So with a mocking huff he opted to glance at his phone knowing that he'd won this time, taking a big gulp of his coffee. Upon seeing what he'd been sent, he immediately regretted this.

 

Oberon shot up in his chair, clacking the front legs against the ground loudly while sputtering from coffee that went down the wrong pipe. Despite his state, and knowing that he was going to get plenty of looks for this, he slammed his phone face down to hide from prying eyes what the petite mouse girl was wearing... or not wearing in this case. Oberon knew he shouldn't have been surprised... never use the same trick twice after all. He took a few moments to soothe his lungs and regain his composure before daring to look around... sure enough there were plenty of concerned looks, a few mocking ones, and a particular librarian with a familiar annoyed expression. If Oberon could blush red he'd have been the spitting image of the devil himself in that moment. He quickly gathered his things and excused himself, hooves clacking on the stone floors as he saw himself out.

 

Once in the courtyard (and away from any potential snoops) Oberon dared once more to glance at the culprit of his embarrassment, the image of his lovely consort, the caption underneath of which read "Hope you're working hard. ;-3". Oberon stared for a moment  thinking to himself "Well... she's as limber as ever..." before getting up and beginning to head for Chiba's... he needed a drink. He knew a similar picture from him to her would not have the same effect (she was less easily frazzled by this sort of thing nowadays, not to mention he was still in public) and he knew enough to know that a picture like this was likely being sent as an invitation of sorts so he couldn't really be too angry. He knew he'd get her back in the bedroom but he craved his vengeance now,  so with a twisted smirk on his face he responded to her message in the only surefire way he knew to get back at her... with the power of a really bad pun.

 

"Well if the idea was to get me to work hard," he texted "then mission accomplished. My place or yours tonight? ;-P"

 

Satisfied that the joke had left her groaning and likely sending a response positively riddled with colorful language, he put his phone away for the moment and continued in the direction of Chiba's. What they had may not be perfect... but really, what was?