fandomtownies | Furnado Animal Shelter; Thursday [11/12].

Did anybody know how hard it was to find a place that made fish broth on Thanksgiving? Vette hand only been vaguely aware that today was meant to be a holiday, and that was only by virtue of finding ways to blow up a turkey in class yesterday, so she hadn't had any idea what to expect when she'd set out today with a mission in mind.

At least it was about noon by the time she came in, a whole raw fish and a thermos of fishy broth in tow. She didn't make it far through the door before she stopped short and stared at the strutting turkey.

"What... is that?"

"That," said Sidon, meeting Vette's bewildered expression with a chuckle and an incredibly pleased glint in his eye for the unexpected visit, "is quite possibly the world's most smug turkey, though I'm starting to suspect that he's only accomplished what he has based on the fact that, surely, such a high concentration of self-satisfaction must simply add a rather unpleasant taste to the meat. It most certainly lends an unpleasant taste to his company, at any rate."

Yeah, that's right. He'd said it, turkey. Someone had to.

But, satisfying as it was, there were things he'd much rather be doing at that moment than throwing shade at vainglorious birds, so his attention shifted back from his warning gaze down at the turkey, back to Vette, easily finding his smile again as he nodded toward what she had.

"And what, praytell," he asked, "is that?"

He wanted to leave it there, too, as a simple mirror to her initial question, but he just couldn't help himself from hastily adding, "Also, hello, Vette, how absolutely wonderful it is to see you today!"

He had absolutely been planning on dropping in on her tomorrow, but he would not complain about getting to expedite the visit like this at all.

Vette smiled and ducked her head a little. Okay, it was hard to be too upset about the weekend when Sidon was there being all... Sidon at her.

"Hey, Sidon. I, uh... It's lunch," she offered, holding up the bag. "I noticed you were sneezing after your swim on the weekend, and I'm not sure if it stuck around or not, but I thought..."

She shrugged and kind of shoved the thermos and the fish in his direction awkwardly.

And Sidon did what he could to help make that hand-off a little less awkward by taking the offering out of her hands quickly, but he felt it was a little awkward on his end, as well, if only because a state of beaming with pure delight had seemed to override any other possible function at that moment. He had to laugh, remind his brain that he was capable of making sounds as well as just grinning with pleased amazement.

"How incredibly thoughtful!" he gushed, taking in a moment to breathe in deep and enjoy the fact that he actually could smell the fish quite easily now. "Thank you, Vette! I'm pleased to say that most of the symptoms from my very ill-considered foray into snowy swimming have faded considerably as the week has progressed, but I must say, this will still be exceptionally satisfying, perhaps help to vanquish whatever lingering effects may still be there just below the surface! Of course, I do have to wonder...will you be staying to assist me in its consumption? I understand if you're busy. Honestly, it has simply made my day that I have had the chance to see you, but meals such as this are far better enjoyed with excellent company."

Well, now, that just sounded dishonest by omission to him, so, his grin perhaps shifting to that strange sheepish confidence he always seemed to have around Vette, he added, "And enjoyed most when that excellent company is you. Besides, if I understand it correctly, today's holiday is intended to one where food is shared while expressing one's gratitude for all the wonderful things in their lives, so I can hardly think of a more fitting way to spend my time today."

And if he hadn't been awkwardly holding a thermos and a fish at that moment, there would likely be physical affirmations of those words, as well. But, alas, as it were, he would just have to hold in the ever-present urge to just sweep her right off her feet and never let her go. For now. While telling himself that it was probably for the best, anyway.

"There... might be enough for two," Vette replied, smiling lopsidedly up at him. "If you're sure, I mean."

She had to admit, it was hard to deny when Sidon was sure about anything. That wasn't going to stop her from talking as though there was a shadow's chance to the contrary, anyway.

"Last weekend was sure... something," she added, giving the turkey a wide berth as she made her way toward the counter, which looked like it would probably be the easiest place to enjoy a meal. "I'm glad you're mostly over that bug you caught, though. Got a little excited to go for a swim, did you?"

A thermos of fish broth and a fish any smaller than an octorok was likely just a snack for Sidon and his voracious appetite, really, but no one needed to know that except himself and his stomach. He smiled back easily. "It would be an honor to share it with you, Vette," he assured her as he, too, made his way over to the counter, grabbing a paper towel or two to set the fish on as he leaned forward onto it comfortably.

"And, yes," he admitted a little sheepishly, though it didn't seem to soften his grin too much, "I'm afraid so. Being in the dorms was making me even more anxious than it does normally, and it was even more foolish than it seemed, because, in addition to the cold weather, there was also the slight problem of the fact that I was hardly the swimmer I am today back then."

His smile did soften a little as he looked over at her, though, and he ducked his head slightly. "I've been meaning to thank you, by the way," he added, "for taking such good care of me, I just...haven't quite figured out the best way. I can't help but imagine that I would have had to deal with something far worse than a case of the sniffles, if you hadn't been there."

"Yeah, well..." She shrugged, smiling crookedly. "Little non-humans need to stick together, I guess. You were so small, Sidon!"

So. Small. She regretted that she didn't have holos, because she needed to look at them and squee over just how tiny and floppy he was.

Sidon might not be able to blush, but what he lacked in regards to a sheepish color across his cheeks, he made up for with his grin. "Yes," he agreed, since it wasn't like he could deny it, "I suppose I've had a few growth spurts since then...."

And he was far from finished, too, though, thankfully for doors, he seemed to have hit a momentary pause for now.

"At least one or two," Vette agreed, smiling up at him. She checked out the counter behind her to make sure there wasn't anything there, and hiked herself up to sit on it, bringing herself a little bit closer to eye level.

A little.

"I kind of wanted to wrap you up in a bunch of blankets and hide you away," she added. "I hit 'tiny vicious protector kid' mode pretty hard whenever you were around."

Sidon's grin warmed a little more as Vette got settled. He'd rather hoped she'd join him in just that fashion, to the point where he'd almost considered putting her there himself. It was comfortable, it was nice, it made him easier to get closer and have a real conversation without one of them having a rather sore neck the following day. It was nearly perfect, at least for the current situation.

"I wish I could say," he said, "that I wouldn't have minded that one bit, but I know myself better than that. You could have certainly tried, but you'd have likely spent more time rewrapping me up again than I'd have deigned to tolerate being wrapped up in the first place! I do appreciate it, though, and I'd have been grateful for the effort."

"I can't imagine my lack of Basic at the time would have helped my cause, either," Vette noted, quietly, maybe a little bit sardonically amused. "I know maybe two people on the island who speak any Ryl."

Hera, of course. And Nina had been learning, to her surprise. There had been the boy who'd been tending bar on Sunday, but she didn't know him, and had no idea if he'd picked up more since his childhood days, so she wasn't going to count him.

Ryl. Sidon made a note of that, yes, especially since he was pretty sure he had a good inkling as to who one of those other people were. He did worry a little about bothering her so much with all his pesky language questions, but if she minded, she did an excellent job of hiding it.

"Not to mention," he added with a chuckle, "my complete lack of any words at all! I dare say, though, we did well enough for ourselves, despite the obvious challenges."

He may have wanted to just take the memory of them simply sitting on the floor of the arcade together, wordlessly sharing a pizza, and just how thrilled it had made his tiny little self, and hold it close to his heart forever.

"I'd say we did pretty okay," Vette agreed, smiling fondly. "And we got free pizza out of the deal."

... She still maybe had a pizza or two ferreted away somewhere.

There was another moment more, and then she added, "I, um," before clamming up again entirely. There had been the faintest glimmer of nerve, something edging very nearly toward a bout of open honesty. And it had fizzled out as quickly as it had appeared.

Ah, but it had appeared. And it would have been nearly impossible for it to have slipped away from them without Sidon noticing, as he couldn't exactly help being rather aware of every little detail and thing about her at that moment. He would hardly want to push her, though, so he just smiled faintly, peeling off a piece of fish carefully and offering it out to her.

"Yes?" he prompted gently.

Vette looked down at the piece of fish, accepting it gratefully - a distraction, maybe. Somewhere to direct her eyes while she scraped about for words, immediately regretting starting something she wasn't certain she could finish.

"I..." She took in a deep breath. Exhaled slowly. "I haven't given you any tidbits about Twi'leks in a while, have I?"

It wasn't what she'd wanted to say.

But maybe it would get her there.

If Vette needed to travel all the way to Nar Shaddaa and back again just to get there, then that would be a journey that Sidon would gladly wait out with patience. Of course, he'd rather hoped he wouldn't have to, especially now that his curiosity had definitely been whetted, but time was rarely a concern for a Zora, even impulsive and restless ones like him.

He smiled again, peeling off some fish for himself, cracking open that thermos. "We have be rather remiss in our cultural exchanges recently, haven't we?" he noted. "I suppose we've been rather engaged in...other," sometimes kiss-related, he couldn't help thinking to himself with a bit more of a grin "pursuits. I would love to hear one, though, I'm sure there's still an awful lot to be learned still."

"You have no idea," Vette replied, a little wryly. She took a moment to just take a bite of fish. Chew it slowly, thoroughly before swallowing, scrounging for words. "Twi'leks..."

Why was this so difficult?

"We're considered one of the galaxy's more attractive races," she said, and the way she said it, it sounded more like a curse than a brag. "Nice curves, bright colors, there's just something about a nice pair of lekku, I guess. Ryloth's biggest export... is slaves. Not that we ever had a say in the matter. People try to justify it, say they're saving us from Ryloth's harsh environment, but..." She shook her head. "That's all it is. Justification. An excuse so that they can sleep at night. Doesn't stop them from making fast credits from the sales. Isn't as though there aren't better ways to save kids from heat storms and lyleks."

She wasn't looking up.

Couldn't look up.

Well, now, that was quite the departure from the lighthearted exchanges of popular girls' names and naming schemes, wasn't it? Sidon was quiet for a moment, looking at Vette, at her not looking at him, trying to parse out exactly what to say to that. What could he say? Maybe there was nothing that could be said, and he wanted to reach out for her, but...hi as uncertainty was just one emotion in a jumble with anger, sadness, confusion...

"That," he finally said, quietly, his voice a bit deepened as it wedged in his throat, had to be forced out a bit, "sounds like trying to save a Zora from drowning by plopping the into the Gerudo Desert. Naturally, the possibility of drowning has been vanquished, but...

"No," he frowned at himself with another surge of that anger, "that is a poor comparison, really. I...I am so sorry, Vette. That's so..."

Not use to being a loss for words, this one, but usually, it was for a much happier reason.

"...perfectly awful. Enraging, really. Incomprehnsible!"

So, apparently, he'd go for all the words.

Well. Not all. There were other words, to form a question that he couldn't help having, but he doubted there would be any delicate sort of way to ask it, so he wouldn't.

Not yet, anyway.

"A lot of the time, the slavers start out new slaves in the mines," Vette said, her voice quiet, still not looking up. "That would go on until they could find a buyer, usually a crime boss somewhere wanting a new dancing girl to show off. A status symbol, you know? So, some Twi'leks spend the entire rest of their lives underground, just... working. The pretty ones or the strong ones, they get sold off first. There's only so long a mother can cover her children in mud, trying to hide that they're growing up. Sooner or later somebody notices."

Her mother had tried so hard to hide Tivva that way, for all the good it had done.

"Vette..."

No delicate way of asking, no, but Sidon was starting to think perhaps he didn't have to. People didn't talk like that unless it was coming from a place of experience. He could be wrong about that; he hoped he was, but even his optimism couldn't carry him through that one.

Just imagining her...Vette....Ce'na....going through that, any of it, pairing her words with the picture of that kind little girl who'd kept him warm when he started shivering, carried him back to the dorms, shared with him her pizza. Her reluctance to go, the pride in having procured the food in the first place, despite the bounty laid out for them.

It might have been a little awkward, what with the counter there, but Sidon was determined to make it work. There was no way he could stop himself from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a hug.

Probably more for himself than for her, really. And maybe a small lesson from his smaller self: sometimes, you didn't need words to say what you wanted.

Vette gasped a little as she was pulled into Sidon's arms, but it wasn't in protest, wasn't even really so much surprise as it was just... she needed to breathe, right then. Maybe inhale because who knew when the next exhale was going to try to come out as a sob. She leaned forward, lifted her arms to cling to him in turn, closing her eyes and pressing her face into his shoulder.

"I started going by 'Vette' when I was freed," she murmured quietly, if only to take away his need to ask. Maybe to clarify a few potential questions, in fact. "Haven't gone by Ce'na since I was about eight. It was a new start. It made sense at the time."

It was kind of a stupid name, but it was her stupid name.

And what could Sidon do there but squeeze her a little tighter, hold her a little tighter? And be incredibly restrained in it, because of he'd really expressed how he felt, he'd be very likely to just crush her. He tilted his head so it rested against hers...more than rested, really. If there was a slight nuzzle in there somewhere, well, that couldn't be helped.

"It's a good start," he said softly, hating the fact that she would have even needed one in the first place, feeling a surge of anger that he couldn't just go back and fix it, that nothing could be done to heal a wound like that. But he knew that the past was the past; all that mattered was the future, the road that was ahead, and tgat, he felt, he could do much more about. "I rather think it's an excellent name, though I suspect I'd feel very much the same about any name you'd have, especially one you've claimed for your own."

Eight years, he marveled slightly to himself. At least it had only been eight years, though he had to remind himself that what was nothing in Zora tome was a lot different for anything else, and the fact that it had been any years at all was far, far too much.

Vette exhaled softly, a laugh, maybe. Not quite a sob yet, and she was actually a little proud of herself for that. It was an old hurt, but one that still prickled at her just under the skin, every time she tried to move forward and stumbled over stupid little things like how anybody could possibly care half as much as people seemed to care about someone like her. She nuzzled her face against his, quietly marvelling at that, too. That she was telling him. That he was here.

"It was totally going to strike fear in the hearts of slavers across the galaxy," she said, because of course it was going to. Sure, people would hear the name, 'Vette,' think of a tiny blue ball of righteous fury, and start shaking in their boots. There was the dream, right? "I'm still working on that part."

... Eh. Getting there.

"You can do it," Sidon grinned, just faintly, with another squeeze in place of the usual pump of his fist that would accompy that phrase. "I believe in you, Vette. And I know I would certainly never wish to be on the other side of your wrath."

Which...sure, had far more to do with general devastation at the mere idea of it than receiving any proper justice for atrocious wrongdoing, but the point still stood.

Hey, someday she'd be one of the two most valuable treasure hunters in the galaxy. That had to count for something, right?

"You'd have to work pretty hard to get on that side of my wrath," she informed him. "Tell you what, though. If you get anywhere near that side of it, I'll consider giving you a head start."

Consider it. If he managed to make it to that side of her wrath, he would really have to have it coming.

"A head start would be far more than I would deserve," Sidon admitted easily enough, even if the vague consideration of what would ever even cause that already struck him with fear right to the core. So it was a good thing he fully intended to never have to find out. He hugged her right again before pulling away, pausing for a quick kiss on her forehead before ducking enough to look into her eyes, smile just faintly again. "Are you okay?" he asked. "We do have puppies, if you need one."

He rather it be him if she was going to need to cling and snuggle to anything, but far be it from him to deny the healing power of puppies to anyone.

"If you hand me a puppy right now, it's going to come home with me," Vette warned, "and I should at least warn Nina before smuggling a puppy home."

Then again, Nina had stolen a jelly demon from her workplace, so she probably wasn't in any position to get upset over a puppy, either.

"Besides," she added lightly, smiling faintly up at him, "the puppies have some pretty big competition right now."

Yeah, no one was convincing Sidon that Nina would have an issue with s puppy.

(He might be convinced that a puppy might have an issue with Nina, though).

"More of a cat person, are you?" Sidon asked, smiling faintly back, realizing his hand seemed incapable of leaving her arm just yet anyway. "We do have kittens, as well."

"Hmm," Vette mused, "call me if you get any mewvorr in. I always wanted a pet that could be its own night light."

Her lek might have shifted ever so subtly as she tilted her head, reaching to lay over his hand.

Maybe as further incentive to leave it there.

"But I don't think it's a pet I need right now."

Any curiosity about this supposed clnight-light creature was banished quickly at the arrival of that further insentive. That hand wasn't going anywhere, but his thumb may have started to gently brush against her arm.

"No?" he asked, tilting his head, not just to the side, but perhaps a little bit forward as well. "Then what do you suppose it is that you need right now?"

He had an idea. Well. He had a hope>/i>. But no matter what is way, he was pretty sure he'd move mountains to procure it for her.

"It seems as though what I want is standing right in front of me," Vette informed him, her smile going a little lopsided.

Maybe a touch vulnerable again.

"And I would like very much to just... be close for a while."

The thought of a joke to turn his head and look behind him for whatever Vette was referring to had crossed Sidon's mind, but that last part completely swept that away. And that hand would have to move from her shoulder after all, but it didn't go far, finding her back as he moved in for...

...well, it was going to be a hug. It wound up being a kiss, one that he barely pulled back from to say, "Close, I can most certainly do."

"You," Vette murmured, lips still slightly pursed after that kiss, "will never fail to surprise me, you know that?"

Sidon was a very surprising individual. And Vette wouldn't change that for anything in the world.

Sidon had surprised even himself on that one, so she was clearly not wrong there.

His next move, however, would be incredibly intentional. "I most certainly hope not!" he declared. He leaned in to steal one more swift kiss before swooping in to lift her right off the counter and into his arms. A quick turn to allow him to hop up to where Vette had been sitting, and, technically, she would now be sitting there again, only this time with a Zora lap between her and the counter, and Zora arms all but draped over her.

"This is wonderfully close, as well," he explained, "but also significantly easier on my back."

Not that he wouldn't have happily taken every bit of pain, but he'd always been problem-solver, really.

Edited 2018-11-23 04:54 (UTC)

And what a straightforward solution, at that! Vette actually made a surprised little, "Eee!" as he picked her up, and then sat there for a moment blinking almost comically at this new arrangement before laughing softly and settling back against him.

"Well, then we'll have to consider this arrangement more often," she decided. And then wiggled in place as if she was settling in all over again, just for a moment. "This? Is so much better than a puppy."

Which was pretty high praise, considering her intended puppy theft trip back during the Halloween heist. Puppies were pretty awesome, Sidon.

Furnado Animal Shelter; Thursday [11/12].

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