Prompt: Which of your characters are animal lovers, and is there any situation you can tell us about to showcase that?
It was such an adorable little bundle, curled up and snoring softly inside her robes. She could hear the small snuffling sounds and felt the pricks as those tiny talons peddled in its sleep, and she couldn't help but smile.
"Kin, I need some help." Vejaar had sidled up to her almost apologetically, knowing her usual reaction to his presence. And sure enough she had felt her heart pounding in fear, the usual terror responses gripping her as the Sith sighed in resignation. "It's not what you think. Not this time, anyway. You see, I got this egg on Alderaan, but I can't keep it. Broonmark keeps looking at it as though it's lunch and I don't know what else to do with it. I think it's close to hatching and I want to give it the best possible chance." The young human smiled, almost shy beneath his red tattoos. "And I thought, who better than a Jedi?"
"I... maybe?" Through the Force she could feel the tiny lifeforce pulsing within the green shell, and her heart went out to the poor little mite even through her fear. Who wouldn't give it a chance? And there was no way she would allow it to be eaten by anyone. She was a Jedi, after all, no matter how she had come to be one, and they were all about protecting and defending, weren't they? "Ok... yes. I'll take it. I'll make sure it gets a proper home."
The Sith Lord had smiled in a certain relief then, and as usual they parted ways before anyone might realise they were speaking, and the Twi'lek was left holding the egg.
"Now, what do I do with you?" she said, holding the precious package up to the light.
It was Tharan who had come up with the solution. Peering at the egg as it gently rocked on the tabletop, Kin standing in the background wringing her hands, he declared,
"Heat, Jedi! We need to find it a heat source that won't destroy it."
"Oh, Tharan, honey, what about Tatooine? There's got to be something there that would do it, if not the suns by themselves?" Holiday simpered and the bearded self-declared genius beamed.
"An excellent suggestion. Leave it to us, Jedi, and we'll get you your answer."
And so they had. A turbine in the abandoned Czerka complex had provided enough heat for her to stand and hatch the egg, though she'd had to absolutely drench herself in water before she could tolerate it. It had taken all her will to stand upright, but all her love to not mind.
When the green chick emerged from the shell and crooned up at her, she was lost.
"Hello, little one." she whispered, stroking the yellow beak with a finger. "Welcome out."
"Uh, Jedi?" Tharan looked dubiously up at the turbine. "I don't mean to hurry you through this birthing process of yours, but we really should be moving. Not that there's any hurry, of course, but I think your lekku are about to catch fire."
"Oh!" Forcing herself to look away from the avid little eyes, she nodded, holding out her robe as a kind of pouch. "In you go, little one."
The sensation of the sleeping body next to her skin was worth the melting heat. Blisters and peeling were ignored as she helped the little one preen, kolto applications ignored as she fed the bird with her fingers.
In an odd way, she felt lighter than she had in months. It was nice to have someone to care for, and she felt oddly complete.
