Taran Dallben

Fawn: Gosh, I'm such a mess. Sorry you just asked the most indecisive creature in the whole world if you should get something....

Fawn: If you would like.

Taran: do you like them? do you think anyone else at work would eat them?

Fawn: I like all sorts of things that others don't.

Fawn: If you would like.

Fawn: I like any raisins, lame I know but Chris Treager calls them natures candy so...I'm good with whatever, I usually pack my own snacks.

Fawn: Well anything vegan is good, I like raisins? Is that really boring? I think that's really boring..I'm sorry. Um let me think on that, I usually don't eat snacks I typically just eat like twice a day?

Eilonwy’s chest felt so full, hearing Taran speak. Too full. Her heart felt fit to burst. She loved him so much, and to hear that sentiment recited back to her, from the person standing in front of her, it was everything she ever wanted.

“You are enough. You’re more than enough,” she assured him, leaning up to kiss him deeply, unable to contain her emotions any longer. She needed to be as close to him as possible.

Her lips had met with his once again, and Taran rested his hand against her cheek, the other at her side. They’d only kissed enough times to count on one hand, yet Taran could no longer remember a time before he’d known how sweet her lips tasted. 

Eilonwy frowned faintly. She moved her arms from his shoulders, taking his face in her hands. “Hey,” she said firmly. “You are not just anything, okay? You are all of those things too, Taran. Beautiful, amazing, smart, kind … not to mention funny and patient and loyal and strong. Do you know how worried I’ve been that some other girl would come along and sweep you off your feet? I told myself it wasn’t right to be jealous or petty because we were just friends, but … I was. I am.” Eilonwy wrinkled her nose. “That’s part of the reason why I’m not perfect.” 

She stroked her thumbs against his cheeks gently before lowering her hands to his shoulders. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel less than or inferior. I mean, I know I did, back when we first met. I’m really sorry about that,” she added softly. “But please believe me when I say that I am not this perfect goddess who is out of your league, and you are not just Taran. You’re Taran, my best friend, an amazing comforter, a great listener, a hard worker, a dedicated and loving son and brother … and hopefully now my boyfriend and, in the future, my husband.”

Taran swallowed as she took his face in her hands. Had her hands always been this soft? He wanted to object to the things she called him, but he knew Eilonwy and knew she wouldn’t hear any of it. “I’ve never thought of loving anyone but you” he gave her a soft smile “I never have loved anyone but you” he lifted his hand up to touch the back of her hand against his cheek for just a moment. 

He bit his lip as she continued to speak, she hadn’t made him feel inferior, at least not in a very long time, and he knew most of his insecurities were just in his head. Still, hearing her call him all those things felt like something he didn’t deserve. “I know you’re not perfect, but you are definitely out of my league” he managed out a soft laugh, “I just - you deserve the world, Ei, and that’s something I’m never going to be able to give you, but I can give you me if that will be enough”

Eilonwy bit her lip, cutting herself off when Taran began to laugh. He did have a point, there. She knew he’d annoyed him when they first met. They’d come a long way from that misunderstanding at the grocery store. 

“I like the sound of Mr. Llyr,” she admitted softly, flushing some, embarrassed by her own anxiety concerning it all. She knew Taran. She knew he always meant what he said. “I’m sorry I lied about not remembering the festival,” she said, setting her forehead against his again. “Can I ask though … if you felt this way too … why didn’t you let me kiss you at the festival?” It would’ve saved her a lot of agony between then and now.

Taran couldn’t say the question surprised him. In fact, he was expecting it to come sooner or later. He bit his lip, despite expecting the question he wanted to take a moment to get his words right. “You weren’t you.” he started before continuing to clarify what he meant by that “I just mean that you were acting strange, which we know why now, but something was off and you were saying things and I was afraid that whenever you were you again that you would have realized what you’d said or done and regretted it because I’m just Taran and why would someone as beautiful and amazing and smart and kind as you want to be with just Taran?”

Eilonwy felt her cheeks heating up, as Taran spoke about marriage of all things. She pressed their foreheads together gently, resting her forearms on his shoulders, as she pushed the tip of her nose against his. “I would marry you tomorrow if you asked, Taran Dallben,” she confessed softly. She pulled away slightly to look at him. “But, you know, that’s rather impractical, considering we’re both in school, and you haven’t chosen a career yet, and I haven’t chosen what type of nursing I want to do, and even though I’d be fine with a courthouse elopement, you know our parents are going to want an actual wedding, which means a venue and decorations and catering, which all costs money which we don’t really have right now, plus I think it’s good to live together for a little while first, so we get used to each other’s habits and things, not that I don’t think we already are used to them, but we’ve never actually lived together before. You might end up finding me incredibly annoying and decide you don’t want to live with me until you die, which I don’t even want to leave you when you die, that’s why I want us to get plots next to each other so our energies can be together forever, though I suppose if we’re married we’d do that anyway though if you decide you can’t live with me then maybe we won’t, but that’d be such a shame and … oh gosh, Taran, are you sure you want to marry me? I know I’m a lot to deal with sometimes.” She really needed to stop talking before she spiraled them into a terrible divorce where they had to fight over joint custody of Hen Wen.

He couldn’t help but smile a little as Eilonwy started to ramble on about school and money and all the details that went with a wedding among other things. “Ei, I think I’m well past the finding you annoying stage” he laughed softly, had she forgotten how they used to be? There had been a time where he had let his annoyance with her be known. “and I’m sure. It might not be this year or the next or even five years from now, but one day we’ll share a hyphenated name...or maybe I’ll just be Mr. Llyr.” he smiled, figuring Eilonwy might want to keep her last name instead of simply taking his as was custom in a patriarchal society

“Oh yes I mean it’s so frustrating sometimes loving a TV show because you aren’t sure if you are meant to love it when the do a decision you may or may not agree with or just be angry with the rest of the fandom” She had been following this TV series since it came out and in all honesty it did provide her with joy and happiness but on the other end of the scale it did provide her with some lows as well; “Have you been keeping up with anyone on TV lately?”

“Shouldn’t that be up to your own interpretation?” Taran had never quite understood the hive mind mentality of fandoms. Despite having a deep love for some things, he’d never say he belonged to any of them. He’d been on messageboards before. Too much gatekeeping and arguing over things that didn’t actually matter. “Oh no, I don’t really watch tv” It wasn’t that he didn’t own one, it was more that he only used it for watching DVDs and back when he was still living at home the TV/VHS combo player he had was busted so that it only played tapes and not actual TV. “My dad had a lot of Star Trek and Hart to Hart tapes when I was a kid, though”

Eilonwy huffed out a soft laugh against his lips. “Are you seriously thinking of cake right now?” she asked, shaking her head a little at him before kissing him again, hoping to keep him distracted from the thought of cake when they were kissing for the very first time.

Taran laughed at her little huff. Even if she hadn’t meant for it to be it was rather cute. “I’m just saying” he smirked, before they were kissing again. His hand rested on the side of her neck as his thumb stroked her cheek.The kiss lingered for a few moments more before Taran slowly pulled away. “I’m going to marry you some day, Eilonwy Llyr. I hope you know that... or you know some equivalent. Either way you’re going to be stuck with me and Hen Wen til the day I die.”

Celia was aware that sometimes she could say things that other people didn’t understand or probably sounded like a different language at times and that was okay she just had to explain herself; “To ‘yeet’ once self means to throw them off of something, like for example if someone said they were going to ‘take a long walk off of a short pier’ or ‘throw themselves off of a cliff’ it’s a similar meaning.” before tying it back into what she was saying; “Basically it means if they do this thing with Poison Ivy I am gonna die”

“Oh” he gave a singular nod as she explained the meaning of the word. Taran still didn’t get it, why not just say throw or something similar if it meant the same thing instead of making up a word. It wasn’t the same as it being the word in another language. “Oh, well good luck with that, I suppose. You seem very invested.”

A few years ago he accidentally ran over one of the dogs and never told his dad or Georgie about it. Letting them believe that she had run away

When Taran was a teenager Georgie was in an accident that had left him severely injured (he recovered fully) that he blames himself for because his younger sibling was trying to impress him and Taran wasn’t paying attention until it was too late.

“One fall when we were traveling with the petting zoo we were staying at this motel and in the fire alarm started going off when I was in the shower. I didn’t have time to grab anything but the towel, so I wrapped up and ran out and forgot to grab my key. It was a false alarm, but my dad and Georgie weren’t back from picking up food and checking on the animals yet, so I was locked out in nothing but a towel for three hours because the man working the night shift refused to give me another key cause he said it was too much fun watching me in a - oh oh fuck”