Private Jungle Creatures

[Inanna Harth]

A goodnight kiss? She gave him a mildly reproachful look, but privately… Well, he was sort of cute, in a roguish guttersnipe sort of way. But it had been a long time since she’d had a scoundrel in her life. They always left her broken-hearted.

He offered his condolences for Lao-mon and the Genocide, which she took with a practiced graceful bowing of the head. She was used to it by now. Thankfully, the conversation shifted to her combat prowess. She was no great warrior, but her skills were nothing to sneeze at.

“Well, when you’re fighting Shi’ido, being a Shi’ido yourself certainly helps,” she said modestly. “I had, uh, some training with the Force, but most of it was self-taught. The telekinesis, I mean. I’ve been practicing that ever since I was a kid.”

Raising a hand, she tousled his hair without touching it.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"No kidding. It's been a while since someone got quite that close to kicking my bucket." Cato remarked with a surprising amount of casualness. Death and/or grievous injury was an occupational hazard. But he always got back up. Even as a Jedi that much had been true. Now the chances were just a bit more… regular. And most of the guys he fought couldn't shape their bodies into anything they imagined.

As Inanna tousled his hair, Cato reached up instinctively to find only an intangible presence. He smirked with some amusement, "Hey, self-taught is pretty impressive. A lot of people struggle to do much with the Force unless they've got some proper guidance. Took me a while when I first entered the Academy to make much progress. Of any kind, really. I was a bit too shy as a little kid." He chuckled at the thought. Despite spending years as a scrappy street rat, suddenly being thrust into the prim and proper world of the Silver Jedi was a culture shock that sent him right back into his shell. He could hardly interact with his peers, let alone move things with his mind.

"Why'd you drop out?" Inanna mentioned her inability to sense much, but that seemed like something that could theoretically be solved by, y'know, training. Cato had to imagine there was more to it than that, even if he didn't know quite what.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Not everyone is well-suited to the Academy style of teaching,” Inanna said. It was something that not everyone seemed willing to admit, but which deep down they all must’ve known was true. After all, people were different even among the same species—and there were countless species out there in the galaxy who were all expected to produce the same results.

“My father was a retired Jedi Master, and I was the only one of his children who was Force Sensitive, so there was a lot of pressure on me to become a Jedi. But I was a poor student. I lacked discipline and drive.” She frowned. “At some point I realized it just wasn’t for me. So I left and went to forge my own path.”

“I eventually became a writer. I wrote a few novels. Got married. Had kids. Then the Maw came, and everything went downhill from there.” She sighed in an effort to dispel some of her emotions. “There goes paradise.”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato shrugged. A fair enough reason, in his eyes. He found many Jedi practices to be a bit of a hard sell himself, the boy always on a rebellious streak throughout his padawan years. Evidently other pursuits suited him better, seeing as he was now beating up thugs on a Hutt moon, fully disconnected from the rest of the galaxy's Jedi activity.

"You're a novelist? No shit? Do I know any of your work?" He chuckled, finding the idea very interesting. Most people on Narsh didn't have the time (or literacy) for books. Really, Cato had never been much of a reader himself, but for the sake of conversation at least. You never know.

The mention of a husband and kids made him cock his head. She'd made no mention of them before. Her niece, sure, but it felt like the kind of thing that might have come up naturally when their team-up was involved around family. Awkward, considering the flirtatious comment he'd just made. "Where-" are they now? Cato had very nearly decided to ask , rather oblivious to the true meaning of her words. He glanced to the sides of the room, as if expecting her family to pop out at the mention.

OH.

He put two and two together at the last possible moment, gulping down the stupidity with a bit of relief that he'd avoided as much. "That's... Inanna..." He reached out instinctively to comfort. Was he supposed to say sorry again? It felt trite, and insufficient. But nothing else came to mind.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

She smiled a little. "Do you like mystery novels? I wrote a few of those. Sand Castles Burning, Murder On the Hydian Way…" She had also written a few trashy romance novels to pay the bills, but she doubted he was interested in those.

His sudden realization of what she meant was unexpected. But more surprising was her reaction to his reaching out to comfort her. She didn't pull away; she moved closer, folding into his arms without resistance.

It wasn't something she wanted to talk about, but she would take what comfort she could get.

A goodnight kiss. She would've given anything to kiss Hal and the children goodnight again. Her eyes grew glassy at the thought. It had been a while since she'd thought about them, but she hadn't forgotten the evening rituals.

Reaching up, she unclasped the necklace that hung around her neck and tied it around Cato's. "This should help you heal faster," she explained, touching the blue and white gem pendant. Her fingers brushed the side of his face, and without another word she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Murder on the Hydian Way," He snapped his fingers with some recognition, "One of my old Jedi buddies was a real bookworm, told me I needed to drop my holocomics and find some real literature. Threw his copy at me," Cato laughed, "Maybe he was right, but for the sake of transparency… I just skimmed through and skipped to the end." It was more of a gotcha directed at his friend, combined with a bit of shameless laziness. "...No offense. For what it's worth, I did like what I read."

That line of conversation, however, was quickly overshadowed. What Inanna had gone through was unthinkable. Cato hadn't even seen his family in years, but the thought of losing them was all the same horrific. He couldn't imagine how much worse it must have been for her. But what words couldn't express, he could instead show by simply being there. Inanna had accepted the comfort far more than he had at all anticipated. Cato blinked, and froze. She seemed comfortable there, and so there they would remain for as long as she needed.

When finally the woman stirred, he shifted, watching curiously as she undid her necklace and shared it with him ,"I-" Once again, ready to deny, but instead he sighed, "...I appreciate it." If it would help him, and it would put her at ease, then all the better. Inanna's fingers grazed his face tenderly, and he looked up. The goodnight kiss. Cato couldn't hide the faint warmth that rushed into his cheeks.

He reached up a hand to the spot she had kissed, and looked at her again. The oft-chatty Cato had found himself at a loss for words most of this evening, but this time he managed to find a quiet few, "Well I think that might just do more for me than the necklace."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“I could send you a signed copy, if you like.”

Although she was flattered at her work being called ‘real literature’, she wasn’t really thinking much about her career or her books. The corners of her lips twitched up at his last remark, but she wasn’t all there, so to speak. Her mind was far away, dwelling on the past, worrying about the future.

“Get some sleep,” she said, standing up. Her hand was slower to leave his cheek, but eventually it dropped to her side. “You’re one of the good ones, Cato.”

Provided there was nothing else, she left him to his rest.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"I promise I won't turn around and sell it online," He joked.

After their little moment wrapped up, Inanna offered a farewell, and Cato seemed to pause until her hand at last left his cheek. One of the good ones. He tried to be, although he was too modest to ever call himself as much. Not in any genuine sense, anyway. The knight smiled warmly, "I'll take your word for it."

Even through their brief interaction, it was clear that Inanna was a woman with a lot on her plate. There was a heavy cloud over her, all the clearer now that he had some understanding of it. Still, she put on a face for everyone else. He hoped that his sympathies at least brought a moment of reprieve. And just maybe their work to bring back her niece would return some sense of normalcy, or at least security, to her life.

"Just let me know if either of you need anything else," Cato offered, just as Inanna left him to his thoughts. He slumped down in the bed, and stared at the ceiling for a long while, when he finally scoffed a laugh. Not bad.

Then, he shut his eyes.

Inanna Harth​