candor1 | Open RP Post

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!"

He did that eye-averting version of a blush he did. "I know how to be a good piece of furniture." He slowly raised one hand to scritch one of the cats under the chin.

Soon enough, Jyn had some of the more curious cats approach, some sitting at her feet or near her sides. And eventually, one climbed into her lap and flopped on its side, inviting her to give him scratches, which she easily (and happily) did.

"You're very warm, too. They probably like that."

Okay, he actually blushed, there. (Probably thinking about how situated they'd be for Jyn to have that observation.)

"Any idea how we narrow this down?"

Well, they had gotten comfortable enough to ignore all sense of personal space when it came to sleeping all wrapped up together - quite literally speaking. So she did know a little something about the heat he exuded in those moments.

"Not a clue. Do we want a kitten or an older cat? One with high energy? Do you see any that you like the looks of?"

"Kittens get adopted more," Cassian said, "so maybe we should go for an older one. But not so old we can't take it traveling." Some of the cats that had swarmed him had lost interest and moved away. He kept petting the one that had fallen asleep on him.

Jyn considered the points made. "That's true. I want whichever one we choose to be able to have a nice, long life with us." She scratched underneath her cat's chin and was rewarded with a satisfied purr. She yelped in surprise when she felt a sudden weight upon her back, but relaxed as another curious cat nuzzled against her ear.

Cassian laughed, watching that.

(And several of his Alliance colleagues fainted somewhere.)

"We could leave the room and see if any follow us," he suggested. It would be wonderful if they could feel the cat had chosen them.

Jyn easily laughed in return, continuing to tickle-scratch the cat who had taken up residence in her lap, the one perching on her back eager to nuzzle against her ear, purring all the way.

"We could", she agreed, careful not to nod too forcefully, lest she dislodge the little visitor on her back. "But you're going to have to extricate me from my little nest first."

"I couldn't do that." Still smiling. "We can just enjoy it for a while." The one on her back is definitely earning points with him for adventurousness and affection, not to mention the choosing them element.

As if Jyn had any real reason to complain. She was more than happy to sit and visit with the cats longer - just as happy to sit and watch her husband interact with them, as well. For once, she wasn't thinking about her work or any of the doubts she'd been having about what it all meant. For once, she could just enjoy herself and feel very much her age. It was quite the gift.

"Hey - ", she said, admonishing the cat, who was nibbling at loose strands of her hair. "Do you mind?"

It made a nonchalant noise in return, and went back to it's exploration.

"Can you believe the nerve of this one?"

He was outright grinning. He made a clicking sound and moved his fingers in the cat's field of vision, to see if it would come to him.

After a moment - and a deliberate swipe of tongue against Jyn's ear, setting her off into laughter, the cat did jump from her shoulder to trot to where he sat. It didn't circle him warily, didn't sniff at him to decide whether or not he was a friend. It only took a fraction of a second before Joreth had a happy cat flopping at his feet.

Cassian scritched its cheeks and chin and glanced up at Jyn. "I'm kinda won over by this one."

Jyn looked on fondly, nodding her agreement as she gently rubbed the ears of the cat still sleeping in her lap. "Yeah, I like him, too. I don't know, but he seems to like us, so ... "

He nodded. "When we're ready, we can try the see-if-he-follows thing. And if so… we should get him home and start thinking of names."

"I don't think we'll have any problem with that - ", she teased, gesturing to the cat, who was now nuzzling happily against Joreth's knee. "Seems like he's already perfectly at home to me. But ... I do think we should probably start figuring out a proper name for him."

"Okay." He leaned forward and started using his hand as a lure for the cat, to see if he knew how to play without causing injury. It went better than expected: the cat batting at Cassian's hand without deploying teeth or claws. Cassian would have accepted a little of both. He flashed his grin again at Jyn. "If I recall, our list of possibles so far is just Tookie and Wookiee."

Jyn looked on, amused, as another cat flopped at her feet and nibbled curiously at the toe of her boot. He seemed good-natured and playful, their potential new pet, and she didn't know what exactly caused her heart to tug in her chest, but she was grateful that it only (hopefully) manifested in a fond, soft smile lifting her lips.

"Mm, and neither of those really fit, do they?", she asked, humming softly as she thought of alternate monikers for the little white-and-gray cat, still seemingly perfectly content exactly where he was. "What do you think about Ilargi?"

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This a good next scene?

It's great!

Yay! <3

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