Outside MCA, Wednesday Morning

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden had a cat. It might be a surprise, since her sister was the one who liked cats, but Issa was obviously the best cat ever, and she wanted to go outside. So here they were, on the steps of the MCA, with Seivarden holding a cup of really horrible tea. Living without servants was occasionally really annoying, and she had never really had much practice in making it herself.

"No, not that way," Seivarden said, catching Issa who was trying to head off with determination. The cat complained with a loud wail and wiggled in Seivarden's arms. "We shouldn't go too far."

Issa tried to catch a strand of Seivarden's long curly hair, and she was soon back on the ground again.

Seivarden took another sip of her tea and made a face. It was really bad. She would have to find someone who could brew it properly. Issa was  cleaning a paw and tried to grab Seivarden's gloved hand when she tried to stroke her.

[Open! Welcome to say hi to the long-haired, glove-wearing androgynous-teenager. Bonus points if you know how to make tea.]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb had grimaced a little as he set foot outside, only to hear the loud angry yowl of something that was... probably a feline? He didn't recognize the animal that the other kid was struggling to hold on to, but that was fine. He hadn't recognized the dog that had jumped on him in bed this morning either, and said dog (whose name he felt weird about saying) was trotting at his side in anticipation of his morning walk today, not seeming to realize or at least care that his man was now his boy, today.

But even Stance paused at the yowling, tilted his head, and whined as they stepped through the door.

"Um," Caleb said, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head at the scene before him. "Would you like some help with... that?"

[1000yearstoolate]

Oh, look! Issa was pleased to see her friends and wiggled again, landing on the ground just as Seivarden said: "No."

The cat hurried up to Stance, reaching out to poke his nose. Seivarden blinked.

"That's weird."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb stood back and watched thoughtfully as the dog sneezed, and then crouched down low, butt in the air and tail wagging behind him.

"Huh," he said, tilting his head. "I guess they already know one another."

Which was good. At least somebody did.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I think they have."

But why a dog?

Seivarden looked up, for a moment studying the other kid whom she definitely didn't know. Then she remembered her manners.

"We haven't met. My name is Seivarden Vendaai." She bowed slightly. This place was so remote and uncivilised that people might not have heard of her house name, but she wasn't going to look down on them for that.

People not wearing gloves was a little... Well, she'll do her best not to look.

[uncertain_dume]

Why not a dog? It seemed to be working out for the two pets, anyway.

Caleb smiled a little at the introduction, and then bowed a little in return.

"Caleb Dume," he supplied. "Jedi Padawan."

Which the robes and the little braid in his hair would have clued people off about back home, but he wasn't at home now. And really, he still just kind of liked saying it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

When this wore off, Kanan was going to brush his teeth for a week solid.

[1000yearstoolate]

When this wore off, Seivarden would be cursing the island for quite some time.

"Jedi Padawan? I haven't heard of your family."

Obviously.

[uncertain_dume]

"Uh, it's kind of like a family, I guess," Caleb said, tilting his head a little bit in thought. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of us, but I guess this planet is far from home..."

Well, he'd certainly never heard of it, anyway.

[1000yearstoolate]

"It's far away from my home too, or you would have heard about my family. It's exciting, I suppose."

She paused.

"You don't happen to be good at making tea? For some reason my mothers didn't think I needed servants here, and what I made this morning," she nodded towards the cup she had left on the steps, "is undrinkable."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb peered into the cup, kind of winced a little, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"I could try," he offered. "I haven't had to make any hot drinks outside of a war camp in a while, but the general idea should be the same. And if I'm terrible at it, then you're not any worse off than you were before, right?"

He was actually pretty okay at it. It wouldn't be fancy, but at least Caleb's attempt at tea would be fairly satisfactory.

[died8yearsago]

Rosa didn't know exactly what was going on, but she felt that, in these cases, you just sort of went with it. It was more exciting that way. But she did know that she had a dog. She didn't know why she had a dog; she didn't think her parents would ever actually get her a dog, but there she was, all cute and fluffy and sweet, and Rosa was over the moon about it. And since she didn't want to screw it up and have her parents say something like see? We knew you couldn't handle a dog, she was going to make sure it was taken care of and started with taking it for a walk.

Good way to scope out the place, too.

She was a curious dog, that was for sure, eagerly trying to go after the squirrels, but when the dog caught a scent of a cat, there was no stopping her, and soon, Issa would be confronted with wet black nose trying to sniff her out, while the tall, thin, pink-haired teenager tried to hold her back.

"Whoa, Tchaikovsky," no, Rosa, that wasn't the dog's name "--no, don't eat that cat."

Which she wasn't gonna, she just wanted to say HI.

[1000yearstoolate]

This wasn't her dog friend. Issa hissed and Seivarden was quickly there to rescue the cat into her arms.

"No, don't eat the cat," she said, frowning at the dog's owner.

[died8yearsago]

Arlo 2/Tchaikovsky winced, cowering back from the unexpected and unfortunate hiss with a whimper, not used to such a quick and succinct rejection. Still, she seemed to recover pretty easily, looking up at the cat now in the person's arms with sad eyes, and then going to sniff the person's feet instead.

And Rosa looked like a hissing cat in response to an excitable dog was a personal offence. "Hey, chill out, cat. She was just trying to be friendly."

[1000yearstoolate]

"She doesn't like dogs," Seivarden said, although this was a blatant lie. The dog could sniff at her feet all it liked, just not touch Issa.

Was pink hair fashionable here? Her sister would probably like it, even if it looked... not quite civilized.

"Have we met?" Seivarden didn't think so. She would have remembered the hair.

[died8yearsago]

As it became clear that the cat was going to be very much out of her reach, the newly dubbed Tchaikovsky flopped down with a whimper and a sigh, resting her muzzle on the cat-holder's foot and looking up at her with the biggest, most hopeful puppy dog eyes she could manage. Which were pretty big and pretty puppy-dog like; she'd had plenty of practice trying to get that look to work on Rosa.

And they worked. Every. Damn. Time.

Not that she'd ever admit to that, of course.

Rosa, meanwhile, had narrowed her eyes, getting a good look at the other girl (or boy? She had trouble telling, and she liked that in more ways than she could possibly comprehend right now). There was something familiar about her, true, but she couldn't place it.

"I don't know," she gave up. "You go to Sacred Heart?"

[1000yearstoolate]

Issa escaped from Seivarden's arms and made a quick leap up on to a window sill, when she was safe from dangerous digs and could stare at them.

Seivarden stood where she was, letting the dog nuzzle her foot.

"Sacred Heart?" Was that some kind of primitive religious sect? "Oh no, I don't. Do you go to my poetry class?"

She had most of her tutoring done privately, but her mothers though she needed to meet some other young people too.

[died8yearsago]

When the cat moved, Tchaikovsky moved, too, away from the foot, toward the feline. But she didn't get up. She just sort of crawled as low as she could to the ground until she was under the window with her head down. And then she started making little whimpers, a mewling song of apology, unable to understand why the cat would be so mean and not want to play.

Rosa, meanwhile, snorted a laugh. "Poetry class?" What a nerd! "God, no."

"Dance Academy?" she tried, but she knew that couldn't be it. She'd remember someone who looked like this, and not just because it wasn't the typical ballerina body, either.

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden crossed her arms. "You have something against poetry?" she said. "And no, I don't go to a Dance Academy. I've been taught dancing at home."

Social dancing, not ballet.

Issa curled her paws under her body and looked down at Tchaikovsky.

[died8yearsago]

Tchaikovsky now turned those powerful puppy eyes toward Issa, begging, pleading, maybe letting out a well-timed whimper for ultimate pity.

And Rosa just shrugged. "Poetry's boring as hell," she said. "It's just a bunch of old dead white dudes talking about flowers and unrequited love and trying to sound way too smart about it. No thanks. And if we don't know each other from Sacred Heart or the Academy, then I don't know what it is."

[uncertain_dume]

"Oh, hey, another one," Caleb said, looking at the other dog with interest as Stance (ow, his heart) trotted over to say hello. His own dog was decidedly less golden, but infinitely more colorful. It was a wonder Caleb even recognized them as the same species. "She seems friendly. Can I pat her?"

Pat all the dogs.

[died8yearsago]

"Yeah, sure," said Rosa. "But I'm not responsible if she bites you."

Because, yes, the pup was such a fierce and mean dog. Just look at the insanity in those big old eyes and floppy ears and wiggling tail. Not to mention the tongue that was just aching for something to lick, which would seem to possibly be the other dog as she nearly vibrated with excitement to play. So, so scary.

But Rosa was actually eyeing the other dog, too, the one even more colorful than her own hair, the one that resembled on picture on one of the folders in her backpack right now, the picture she maybe corrupted a little by making the rainbow-spotted pup a little more metal with tattoos and piercings and a mohawk.

"...can I pet yours?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Sure," Caleb said, grinning a little bit. "I don't think he's a biter, but he might try to lick your hand off. He sure gave it a good attempt with me this morning."

You know. After startling him out of bed.

Caleb crouched down and held out a hand for the golden dog to sniff at, if she wasn't too engrossed in Stance, herself.

[died8yearsago]

Why not both? Arlo 2-cum-Tchaikovsky seemed quite capable of sniffing and licking both Stance and his person, even if it made her look absolutely ridiculous.

But it did make Rosa laugh. "What a spazoid!" she said, in the tone of someone who was obviously deliriously in love. She tried to get Stance behind the ears, but everytime her hand went that way, Tchaikovsky's head showed up, nudging Stance's out of the way so that only she could pet Stance...with her face. So Rosa resigned herself to just petting Stance's flank instead. "My dog is the dumbest dog in the world. I've only had her for three hours, but if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone on this island."

She paused long enough to bring her other hand into the petting mix.

"And then myself."

[uncertain_dume]

"Well, I don't think anything is going to happen to your dog," Caleb offered. "Because... I mean... look at her? It'd take a pretty depraved person to want to hurt anything that happy."

Caleb was pretty fond of Stance, too, but there was some baggage he hadn't been prepared for when inheriting a dog that was named after his only friend in the world.

[died8yearsago]

"Right?" said Rosa, who just shook her head and looked at Tchaikovsky like she was the best thing in the whole world. "What a total doofus. I'd totally beat the living crap out of anyone who tried, anyway."

She might actually beat the living crap out of anyone who even looked askance at her new best friend, but, you know...she'd beat the living crap out of anyone for half a chance.

[uncertain_dume]

"They'd have it coming to them," Caleb decided, smiling a bit as the dogs did weird dog things in weird wolf bodies. "I'd probably do the same."

Or at least mess with their heads a little.