Tahiri is having a good dream. In her dream she is dancing with Anakin, and then they have the best dinner she has ever had. In her dream everything is perfect and beautiful, and he is awed by her.
And then he kisses her. Over and over again.
That is Tahiri's dream. For her, last night was a dream come true. As she awakens, she has to wonder if it really did happen, if it was really true. Then she sees Jaina's dress and Tenel Ka's jewelry laid carefully on Anakin's desk and a flicker of a smile crosses her face as she realizes that yes, it was real.
She stretches cat-like, luxuriating once more in the rough feel of Anakin's linen tunic against her skin. She smiles as she climbs out of bed, and leaves the room, intending to find some breakfast. Stretching out with the Force, she can sense that Anakin is still asleep on the couch, but that Jaina and Tenel Ka are in the living room, worried about something.
Shrugging to herself, she walks in there and sees the other two girls staring intently at something by the balcony door. As she comes around the couch, the smile that had been with her since she woke up dies at the sight of the large brown things on the floor.
She takes a step closer, and looks harder at them, noticing that they appear to be hard, but there are odd indentions which pulse. Then there is the slime.
She wrinkles her nose as her eyes track a strand of it going from one of the objects to a white carton sitting a little ways away from the door.
A white carton that she now recognizes.
A white carton that was filled with the remains of hers and Anakin's dinner.
As she is thinking this, her alarm starts to increase, until Anakin suddenly jumps out of bed, and looks around for whatever danger has frightened her. She bites her lip slightly as she starts to count the objects, her heart dropping as she reaches fifteen.
Even though she knows the answer, she has to ask the question anyways. "What are they?"
Tenel Ka is the one that answers. "We think they are Jacen's Mogwai."
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Danni Quee gets to her lab just as the sun starts to crest the tall buildings. She is excited to be getting back in there and see what the results of the tests she had started running last night are.
She opens the door, a bounce to her step and looks over at the cage. She draws up short for rather than the cute furry Mogwai, there's a strange looking pod which is bending the cage out of shape.
Frowning she pulls out her com, and keys in Jacen's frequency. After a moment a bleary, sleep-filled voice comes back. "What?"
"Jacen, this is Danni."
Danni smiles as the voice that replies sounds more awake, more alert now that he knows who is calling. "Oh, hi Danni."
"I have a problem, and need you to come down to the lab."
"Sure thing, I'll be there in a little bit. Jacen out."
Setting her com unit aside, she digs around until she finds a pair of clippers, and quickly begins cutting the cocoon out of the now too small cage.
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Jacen is happily asleep, as the buzzing sound starts dragging him up to consciousness. Frowning he reaches over to the com unit and keys it on. "What?"
A perky voice comes from the com unit. "Jacen, this is Danni."
Jacen sits up, a smile unconsciously coming to his face as an image of the pretty blonde scientist flies through his mind. "Oh, hi Danni."
He frowns as her voice is filled with worry, and she asks him to come down to her lab at the university. After telling her that he'd be there soon, Jacen slides out of bed and slips into a set of Jedi robes. Stepping around the still sleeping Zekk, Jacen walks out into the living room, just in time to hear Tenel Ka say something about his Mogwai.
He can feel his features twisting slightly into a scowl. "What about my Mogwai?"
He almost laughs as he sees all three girls jump where they are standing by the door to the balcony. As he comes closer he sees the large brown objects scattered around the floor. He looks around at the various cocoons, his eyes finally flickering on each of the three girls.
He can feel his scowl become deeper. "What happened?"
He looks among the girls again, and as his eyes fall on Tahiri, he notices that she is almost in tears. "Oh Jacen, I'm so sorry. I think they ate my leftovers after we got home late last night."
Jacen frowns at that. "When did you two get home?"
Tahiri turns away, hiding her face, so that Jacen can't see the slight blush that creeps up on her cheeks. "Half an hour after midnight."
Jacen shakes his head, not wanting to be involved in that discussion, as he notes the light that appears in his twin's eyes. He glances towards Tenel Ka. "I got a call from the university this morning, and they need me to get out there. I'll figure this out when I get back." Then he glances back to his sister. "Tell mom where I went."
Without waiting for a reply, he walks out the door, missing the brief look of anger that flashes in Tenel Ka's eyes.
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As Jacen leaves the house, Jaina grabs Tahiri's and Tenel Ka's hands and drags them back into her room. She pushes Tahiri down onto her bed, and plops down on the chair at her desk, a large grin plastered on her face. "So I take that to mean you two had fun last night?"
Jaina laughs as Tahiri blushes again and mumbles something under her breath. "Come on Tahiri you know you had fun, did he kiss you? Wait, I don't really want to know that."
Jaina looks up at Tenel Ka, and finally notices the hard glint in the girl's eyes, as she stares out the window. "What's wrong Tenel?"
"Jacen. He is going to see that scientist, and she worries me. When I went to pick him up the other day, they were flirting with each other."
Jaina barks a short laugh. "Jacen flirting?"
At the scowl Tenel Ka gives her, Jaina schools her features, turning serious. "Are you jealous?"
"No!"
Tahiri leans back on the bed and smiles up at the ceiling. "I think you are."
Tenel Ka's grey eyes flash as she looks between her two friends. "I do not wish to talk about this."
Jaina laughs once more. "But if we don't talk about this, what do we get to talk about?"
Tenel Ka narrows her eyes slightly and looks at Jaina. "We could talk about Anja Gallantros and friend Zekk."
Jaina's face darkens and she turns from Tenel Ka back to Tahiri. "So tell us how your date went."
Tahiri sits up, a bright smile plastered on her face as she tells the other two girls how her evening went last night, everything from the dinner and dancing to the kiss and landing on the floor at Leia's feet.
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Jacen arrives at the university and walks into Danni's classroom. Looking around, he spies the pert, blonde scientist in the back standing near some piece of equipment. Walking fully into the room, he starts to smile. "Hey Danni."
Danni turns around, a smile forming on her lips. "Oh, hey Jacen. I have some bad news about the Mogwai you left with me."
As Danni steps aside, Jacen sees the remains of a cage and one of the familiar brown objects that are sitting on the floor of his living room. Nodding his head, he looks up to Danni, away from the cocoon. "Yeah, I think that's what happens when they eat after midnight. One of my friends left a package of leftovers on the floor last night, and when we woke up this morning, we had fifteen of those things on the floor."
Danni nods her head and turns her attention back to the ovoid. "That makes sense; I think I accidentally left a sandwich sitting next to the cage when I left near midnight last night."
Jacen watches with interest as Danni picks up a small scalpel and starts scrapping a layer of the cocoon away and placing it into a small dish. Then she grabs another dish, and pulls away some of the slime that is covering the cocoon and wipes it into a second dish.
As she goes to wash her hands, Jacen makes up his mind on something. "You want to go get some breakfast?"
Startled the young scientist looks at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. Then with a coy smile she quickly nods her head. "I'd love to."