#for the star wars nerds: replace every instance of cat and kitten with an appropriate canon animal to your liking

[i-am-agent-washingtub]

The Exile gets a kitten and only barely tries to pretend she’s using it to bother Atton for no reason. No possible reason at all.

(I wrote this months ago after finishing the game but only just found it gathering dust in a folder and it’ll be a weight lifted to shove it off to you guys.)

“Did you find out why the general stayed behind?” Bao-Dur asked when Atton finally made his way up the Ebon Hawk’s boarding ramp, defeated.

“She force shoved me away!” he said in disbelief. “Like, actually shoved me! With the force!”

Bao-dur arched his brow.

“She just– I can’t believe her! She told me to ‘Scram, Rand!’ and flicked her hand at me and–” Atton stomped his foot and huffed.

“That sounds a little short tempered even for her,” Bao-Dur said.

“Well, I mean, yeah, she told me a couple times before that that she was fine and I should leave and she did ask kind of nicely, but to use the force on me? It’s a shady city out there! I wasn’t going to just leave her alone in an alley on Nar Shadda! I don’t remember doing anything to piss her off more than usual… Did I? Did you see me do something to bother her?”

“Not that I can think of. Maybe she’s just finally had enough of you.”

“No, that’s– No. No, that can’t be it,” Atton said, trying to convince himself more than Bao-Dur.

“Well, if she’s not back in half an hour I’ll go check on her,” Bao-Dur assured as he turned his attention back to the workbench.

Atton found Halyn leaning against the communications room doorway with her back to him a few minutes after Bao-Dur had finally gone to find her.

“–and I don’t care if it’s Atton’s jacket or just a sock or even Kreia’s musty old… anything, just pile it all in the box, ok?”

T3-M4 whistled affirmatively from the room. Halyn stepped roughly back into Atton to let T3-M4 pass down the hallway to the center of the ship and he caught her by the shoulders. Atton looked down expectantly at Halyn. His heart fluttered at the applewood scent and warmth coming off Halyn as they listened to T3-M4 whirr away from them. He tried to swallow despite the anxious dryness in his mouth and tried in vain to think of a witty and sarcastic way to greet the Exile for finally returning to them.

“Is there a reason you snuck up so close behind me, Atton?” Halyn asked, emoting at the wall across from them.

The moment had passed. Atton quickly pushed her upright. She turned to face him, leaning against the doorway again with her arms crossed under a bulge in her jacket.

“If you think that was me sneaking up on you then oh, boy, do I have a really neat trick to show you next time we head out somewhere.”

“Is it you finally disappearing completely?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it; you made it real clear you wanted me gone when you went all Jedi to shoo me off. I get it. It’s just this isn’t exactly the planet you want to be sitting alone in an alley on even with all the major bounty hunters killed. They spring up like weeds, you know. Save the Force powers for one of them next time.”

“One, not a Jedi, we’ve been over this. Two, I asked you to leave. A bunch of times. Then I told you to leave and you got stubborn so, hey, buddy, maybe next time I ask for some time to stare at a box, let me stare at the kriffing box in peace. And, three, I’m actually kind of sorry about that.”

“Right, well, you can make it up to me later. Or start a little right now and tell me why you were ordering that little tin bucket of yours to throw my jacket in a box with Kreia’s musty things.”

“Oh, right, I need some… soft… things for a thing and there’s usually a bunch of dirty clothes lying around on the floor in places they shouldn’t be so I’m declaring all those things forfeit and T3-M4 is going to collect them for me.”

“Not that I like to pry, but that was incredibly vague.”

Halyn shrugged slightly.

“It’s kind of a surprise, I guess. Have you seen Bao-Dur? I was going to ask him for some of his work rags but he’s not around which is why your laundry is now in danger.”

“Oh, he went out to look for you just before this. Probably worrying his horns off that you’re not still sitting in that alley.”

Halyn scrunched her face in an expression Atton couldn’t quite place. He figured there was some amount of confusion mixed with appreciation.

“Right, then I’ll just–” he noted the bulge above her arms shift slightly as she stepped fully into the hallway while speaking, “–hope he took his communicator with him and tell him to come back.” She scooted past him and said something once she reached the edge of his hearing that sounded curiously like a note to herself to ask Bao-Dur to pick up kitten food on his way back. He took a moment to wonder just how much he trusted his own hearing before he caught a glimpse of T3-M4 rolling past a far opening with his jacket in its clutches.

“Hey! Give that back or I swear I’ll sell you for parts!”

“What does a trash bucket like your little droid buddy even need to be that fast for?” Atton huffed as he stepped into the port dormitory with an armful of his own dirty clothes. T3-M4 tittered triumphantly past him with one of his gloves waving above him. Halyn peered out from behind the furthest bunk to watch Atton drop his bundle of clothes in a sudden grab for his glove and begin a new battle with T3-M4 to recover all his dropped items before the droid could scoop them up. He shouted various profanities at the droid while T3-M4 responded in kind with scandalized beeps and whirs. Atton caught a glimpse of Halyn watching them with amusement a moment before T3-M4 resorted to using a low powered shock.

“Stop! I am very proud of your dedication to helping me, T3, but I think Atton has given up enough of a fight to mean he really wants those clothes. Let him keep them,” Halyn ordered and ducked back behind the bunk. “Except for one more sock!”

Atton let out a wordless shout as he tried to protect his many loose socks but T3-M4 snatched one too quickly for him to prevent and flung it over the far bunk to where Halyn sat. It chittered contentedly and slowly whirred out of sight.

“I’m going to get that back,” Atton warned as he shoved his clothes under the second to last bunk. He heard a curious squeak from Halyn as he piled his jacket and gloves on his mattress. “What was that?”

He slinked cautiously over Halyn’s bunk and propped himself up on his elbows inches beside her head. A kitten sat shakily in her lap, swatting at her fluttery fingertips.

“Atton, meet Atton!” she said, brandishing the thin, uneasy kitten in his face.

“Is this what was in the alley box?”

“Wow. What an incredibly warm welcome. Be mindful or I’ll teach him to use your pillow to relieve himself,” she warned and held the kitten close against her chest. Atton eyed a low walled box to her right lined with various cloth items, including a sock or two of his.

“It’s cute that you wanted an Atton to call your very own but if you wanted a cuddle buddy you could have just asked me.”

“You would need to bathe for a solid week before I voluntarily let you touch me, Rand.”

“Hey, now, how many baths do you think that thing has had in its entire life?”

“Counting the one I’m about to give him? More than you.”

Atton frowned at the kitten capturing Halyn’s attention (and fingers in its small, nibbling mouth). The frankly tiniest kitten Atton had ever seen shivered every time it lifted its skeletal paw out to bat a finger and screeched weakly after every few moments. It had a muddy tortoiseshell coat with numerous small mats of muddy fur offset by bald spots and a few patches of thin, wiry fur. One of its ears was mangled at the tip and its whiskers bent erratically. Drab, watery gold-brown eyes darted back and forth piteously from the center of its broad, mucous encrusted face. It was hideous.

“Are you really naming it Atton?”

“Yeah! He kind of looks like you, don’t you think?”

Atton looked at the contentment on Halyn’s face and felt a twinge of hurt.

“Look, he’s a little scruffy, but I think I can fix him up nice and handsome.” She held the kitten up proudly in front of her face. “Here, he’s been smelling your stinky socks so he should be comfortable with you holding him while I go figure out how I’m going to wash him. And check on Bao-Dur’s progress with finding kitten food.”

Halyn gently placed the kitten on Atton’s back and left before he had a chance to complain. The kitten stood where she left it, shivering its little claws through Atton’s shirt and meowing sadly.

“Yeah, you get used to not having her around all the time,” Atton said, struggling to grab the kitten off his back. It began moving hesitantly down his back and Atton felt its claws slip painfully every time he moved. He decided to let the kitten figure it out.

“So that’s your bed, huh? Tiny box of stolen laundry right next to her bed here. My bed’s next to hers, too, see; it’s right there.” He vaguely pointed at the next bunk over and the kitten fell completely off his back. “Not as close as yours, but at least I’m far enough away she can’t just smack me when I keep her up at night talking about stupid things.” He rolled up against the headboard and pulled the kitten into his lap.

“So, if she thinks you look like me, that means I look like a mess (which isn’t surprising) but she also thinks you can clean up nice and I’m pretty sure I can clean up nicer than a street cat so–” he trailed off wagging his finger in front of the kitten’s nose. Atton the Kitten showed no interest in his game. “I can’t tell what’s my lower point; talking to Bao-Dur or a kitten about Halyn and me. The possibility of Halyn and me?” The kitten nibbled tentatively on his finger. “You need to do the name of Atton proud, little guy. Maybe if she likes you enough she’ll start to associate your good Atton qualities with me and then– nope. Nope, I’m done talking to you, cat. Done,” he promised, taking his finger back from the kitten to point at it sternly. He waggled his finger slightly when the kitten softly laid its claws on his extended finger. With a dramatic stretch, the kitten slipped its claws off and scratched lightly at the folds of Atton’s shirt. It curled up gently against him, examining the room with jerky movements and heavy eyelids.  

“Or maybe you’re just competition,” Atton mused. He frowned. “No, that’s stupid even for me.”

Atton the Kitten nestled his face finally in Atton the Human’s shirt. Atton listened to the soft whistling of the kitten’s breathing for a moment, contemplating its small size.

“Atton the Cat’n!” Halyn called, her heavy footsteps thumping toward the dormitory. “Time for your bath.”

“Good luck, mini me,” Atton told the kitten with a gentle pat on its head as Halyn came into view with her sleeves scrunched up and hair pulled back. “Be gentle with him,” he asked Halyn, holding up the whining kitten with one hand.

“If you say so.” Halyn picked the kitten delicately out of Atton’s hand and held it in front of her face, watching it whine. She turned around to leave. “Don’t worry, Atton is in good hands,” she said, hoisting the kitten above her head as she left.

Atton the Kitten let out one last plaintive meow and Atton followed up with an amused sigh.

“This is going to get confusing,” he said to the ceiling as he pulled his legs up and settled into Halyn’s bunk to await her return.