candor1 | Open RP Post

"Alderaan", she repeated, sighing. "Alright, that's definitely a yes."

Again, she took a moment, humming in concentration as she thought, only laughing once a name popped into her head because of how similiar it sounded to Alderaan.

"Adarlon. But I don't want to visit any of the cities - I want to visit the snow and the sea all in one day, just because we can."

• Adarlon | countryside he added.

That made him think of Pakrik Minor. But the colony he'd found there—of clones-turned-farmers who were supposed to be a sleeper cell but had confided that if the Empire did call them up again, they'd refuse… probably a place to keep secret.

On the other hand, its twin planet was supposed to be very similar, and certainly more Imperially mainstream… changing colors to signal lower priority, Cassian added • Pakrik Major. It wasn't a terrible idea to include places where keeping track of local happenings was relevant to his work here.

Jyn studied the list they'd come up with thus far, nodding her approval. She wasn't particularly familiar with Pakrik Major, but if it was on the list, there must be a reason why. She considered her next offering carefully.

"Spira. Spira is covered in ocean and islands, and I want to explore as many as I can."

• Spira | (the wreck?) he added, as something he'd heard of and always wondered about.

He looked back over their list so far and alphabetized it.

• Adarlon
• Alderaan
• Bespin
• Naboo
• Pakrik Major
• Spira

"Looks good to me," he said, smiling, again, as he pressed his cheek a little into her hair.

The list looked ... good. Jyn didn't want to get her hopes up high enough to be dashed, but the more she thought about it, the more she really wanted as much time as possible to make this trip a reality.

"Mmhm", she murmured in agreement, closing her eyes, enjoying the feel of him so close. "Is it bad that I'm already looking forward to it?"

Even though it was still just hypothetical, wishful thinking.

"I don't think so," he murmured. "I am, too."

He set down the device, his hand running again, gently, over her arm. "I'm starting to feel like I could sleep. How are you doing?"

"Good", she answered, and she meant it wholeheartedly. "I'm glad. I want to believe that it will be fun. We're going to have a good time."

But perhaps more importantly - they were going to have a good time together.

"Tired", she replied, although it was honest, not petulant. "I could lay down."

Left unsaid: with you. Somehow, suddenly, going to bed had become the very best part of Jyn's days.

Cassian's, too. And he hadn't had a nightmare since they'd started sharing.

"Let's lay down, then," he agreed, brushing back her hair then starting to sit up.

It was so much more comfortable to sleep together. Jyn didn't even mind the careful extraction of their tangled limbs in the morning. It just felt better that way.

Before she thought about - before the logical part of her brain warned her not to, Jyn turned her head just enough to be able to press the softest of kisses to Joreth's cheek. "Okay", she murmured, little more than a breath. "Let's go."

…if he'd yielded to the temptation to kiss her hair, rather than brush it back, their lips might have met just then.

No. There were lines he had to maintain, not cross. …Not, at least, by accident. Or at all…? Could he avoid… no… resist, for how long…?

She might be able to feel the speeding of his heartbeat at the kiss. But his only deliberate reaction was another smile, and a gentle extrication of himself from between her and the sofa, assisting her rising, too.

In the bedroom, he grabbed his sleepwear from its drawer, as he always did, to take with him into the 'fresher and change in there.

It had been a spur-of-the-moment gesture, offered with no expectation of reciprocation, a simple little sign of her ever-growing fondness.

Although, if Jyn was being honest with herself ... she did wonder what it might be like to kiss, or even ...

She tried to find her breath even as she returned the smile and easily accepted his hand and the assistance in standing. Since she was already dressed for sleep, once they entered the bedroom, there was little for her to do but sit on the edge of the bed and wait.

He never took long. He reemerged with his other clothes already folded, placed them in their drawer, then sat onto the bed beside her. He still always checked her face and body language before touching her, but he no longer rechecked so nervously, or insisted on explicit verbalization. He slipped under the light cover and lay down, stretching his arm under her pillow as well as his own, so it would be under her neck; and lay facing her.

Jyn never had to wait long, and soon enough, Joreth returned. She shared a quick smile once he looked to her, a silent reassurance that yes, she was okay, and yes, she wanted the comfort of his arms wrapped around her, and yes, she wanted to share some of her own with him, too.

So, when he laid down, she soon followed, sighing softly once she was stretched out and mostly comfortable.

Only mostly because he hadn't urged her closer yet, hadn't tucked her close and held her tight and made her feel ... safe.

He never took long for that, either. Waiting only for her to settle herself, he moved closer, fitting his body to hers, every curve and corner, every hollow; the hand of the arm beneath her coming to rest on the back of her head, in her hair; the arm above draping over her ribs, her waist, its hand smoothing flat in the small of her back, pressing her so gently against him.

(Not for the first time, he was grateful for his training; knowing how to control the autonomic/usually involuntary. The training was for how to prolong, not lose it too soon; but in this case, it was to prevent.)

No, he never really took long for that, either. And Jyn didn't have to ask. Practically as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was being urged into the most comfortable position for them both - and she was grateful, for once, for how small she was so that it never really took much maneuvering.

She felt him everywhere all at once, and as his fingers carded into her hair, as he pressed his palm flat against her back, there was no quelling the shiver the rolled over her from head to foot.

She wasn't naive so much as she was innocent, so she didn't even think to question his ... lack of interest. It just hadn't crossed her mind. All things in their own time, and this was absolutely - for the moment - more than enough.

This was when he felt safest but was actually most vulnerable. Not just because sleeping with someone else made you more susceptible to them and compromised to all else. It was when other urges most powerfully washed through him; the urge to kiss her, make love to her, tell her things—not just but including I love you. (How could you know a thing like that anyway?) As relaxed as being like this, with her, made him, he had to get himself into the right frame of mind before allowing himself to fall asleep; minimize the likelihood of him losing control of himself, physically or verbally, in his sleep.

Tonight, he couldn't say why he murmured aloud, "Have you ever done this before? With anyone else? Sleep, like this, together?"

Jyn's walls all came tumbling down in the moments before falling asleep. And she could hardly know whether - safe and warm and comfortable, but only with him - she was susceptible to murmuring all the things that at the moment, she would rather keep inside, dangerous things like I think I might be falling in love you with, or acting on desires that so far, she had kept to herself, the desire to kiss him for real, to initiate physical things that she had never experienced before.

All she could do was hope that while slumbering, she didn't do anything to cause either of them any embarrassment or discomfort. Because truly - now that she had this, Jyn didn't want to imagine going back to what it had been before.

"No", she replied, her voice already soft and hazy. "Just you."

He yielded to temptation this far: he pressed a small kiss to her forehead.

"I have…" he admitted quietly. "But you're the best. By a lot."

It was, for the moment, more than enough, and more than she had ever anticipated having with anyone at all.

Quite honestly, she wasn't surprised to hear that she wasn't the only one. But surprisingly ... she didn't feel jealous or unreasonably upset. "Well, then, consider me flattered."

He smiled against her skin. Let his senses narrow in on their breathing syncing up, her heartbeat against his, every Force-singing string of their existence. And let himself let go and start to drift away.

Like in nights past, Jyn concentrated on how warm and safe and comfortable she felt, let her mind go blessedly blank, and followed suit.

* * *

The place they went to wasn't sleek or shiny, nor in one of the main urban centers. In other words: not part of the exotic pets trade. …Well, anywhere on Coruscant that featured nonsentient creatures was related to the trade, since there were no indigenous life forms left on the city planet; but this was one of the places that rescued and tended to the animals who got abandoned or rejected, fell through the cracks of the industry. Stylistic "flaws" of breed, undesirable behavior, physical abnormalities.

They were led to the rooms of tooka cats. Cassian shot Jyn a grin and gestured for her to lead the way.

Jyn didn't mind that it wasn't one of the 'prettier' centers, and she certainly wasn't disappointed to find that the animals it housed weren't perfect in every way. As soon as they stepped into the chaos of the tooka rooms, she had instantly fallen in love with each and every single one of them - from the ones with crooked tails or missing limbs to the shy ones that kept their distance and the ones mobbing around their feet, purring madly.

"Oh", she murmured, her eyes wide, her brow furrowed. "I wish we could take them all."

Cassian looked over at her and positively grinned. "We should probably start with just one."

He moved away a bit to pick a spot on the floor and sit cross-legged, very still. Just like on Lothal, several cats immediately went over to him, had a sniff, then clambered on board. Soon he had one on his shoulder, one on his arm, and several in his lap.

"For now", Jyn teased lightly. "But I can't guarantee that at some point, I won't want more."

She followed Joreth's lead and found a seat on the floor that wasn't already taken up by resting cats. She couldn't laugh as loud as she wanted to, lest she scare away the cats that were checking her out, but when she saw how quickly he was covered by happy, purring potential pets, there was no quelling the huge grin that lit her face up.

"They love you!"

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This a good next scene?

It's great!

Yay! <3

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