Jyn's cat is a wild beast, or she thinks she is. Wild enough to roam free in their building and traipse across the balconies like a tightrope walker. She generally lets her do her thing. If she were a bother she does know how to accept someone shooing her away. She is curious about her feline adventures though and when she comes back one night smelling of warm spices when she nuzzles her on the couch she can't help but tying a note to her collar before she leaves for work later that week, looping handwriting in green pen, not a single capital letter.
hello strange person my cat keeps visiting!
i know antoinette isn't running off to some secret cat rave because she came back last week smelling like jalapeños and i don't know of any cats that can cook. if she's annoying you, threaten her with the guillotine and she'll scarper. also she's allergic to chicken so please don't feed her any. don't believe her lying eyes.
Cassian has been living in this complex for about a week, maybe two, when he gets his first visitor, and she isn't much of a conversationalist. She likes to talk, by way of meowing at him whenever he cooks, and he doesn't mind the company, but it's a one way discussion. She has a collar, so he assumes she belongs to someone. But she's his little buddy now. It's a nice welcome, considering he doesn't know any of his neighbors yet. He can tell Kay he made a cat friend. Progress!
When the cat comes back yet again, Cassian is absolutely delighted to find a letter tucked into her collar. Now he has a name for her fluffy face, and she headbutts him as he writes one back, though he thinks in reality she may just be searching for food. His note is in blue ink, with stockier handwriting.
Hello, Jyn (and Antoinette)
She is a very good cooking companion, though she offers very little besides her hunger. Don't worry, she has not had any chicken. The only thing she got from me was a bit of tuna and water. It's nice to know her name after she's so graciously welcomed me in.
"Cassian," Jyn says aloud in the emptiness of her flat that evening. Antoinette's friend has a name. She's closed the window for the night once the cat had slinked back in but the next morning before work she writes another note and attaches it to Antoinette's collar, opening the window so she can roam and kissing her fluffy head before she leaves for the day.
hi cassian
she loves tuna, i think in one of her past lives she must have been a shark, so i can see why she keeps visiting. are you new to the building?
Is he getting himself a penpal? Via cat mailman? The next letter comes in the very same way, Antoinette winding around Cassian's legs as he pulls out all his ingredients for dinner. He wonders where she actually lives, but he'll never follow he back. A cat must have her secrets.
Jyn,
She very enthusiastically devoured it the first time, so I have assumed it was among her favorites. I moved in about two weeks ago. Antoinette has shown me the ropes. No need for guillotine threats (thus far).
don't let her cartoon eyes fool you she is a menace. she wears that bell now because she constantly tripped me. i was concussed once from hitting my head on the counter on the way down.
her namesake may have been scapegoated but, antoinette is not, i assure you.
- jyn
She writes it in a rush from the look of the scrawled letters, glowering at Antoinette all over again. She's half a mind to keep the window shut after waking up to a vase knocked over on to the carpet. Jyn had trod right on a piece of glass and now the carpet is not only soaking but spotted with blood.
He gets the next letter and bursts into laughter. He shouldn't, because the messiness of Jyn's writing this time leads him to believe there were some dramatic cat issues prior, but Antoinette curls up and sits on his lap, purring, and he is taken in by this fluffy little menace. He tries to pretend it doesn't feel like he's making two friends, with varying standards of communication.
She is rather quick on her feet. Currently she seems more interested in climbing onto my counters than tripping me, but perhaps she's lulling me into a false sense of security. I'll be cautious.
After a take away of Indian food and an ice bath for her foot, Jyn is much less annoyed with Antoinette but she still glares at the cat while she eats her breakfast the next day.
"I should lock you up. No one will storm the Bastille for you." Antoinette mrrps at her and licks her calf.
"Fine."
my sympathy flowers apparently offended her and her ancestors because she knocked them and the very delicate glass vase on the floor and didn't have the kindness to leave out a wet floor sign.
all good. do you happen to know how to get blood out of carpet? (mine, not hers.)
It almost feels like he's getting visitation hours, with a cat. It becomes almost clockwork to the point where he starts to get a little concerned Jyn will be worried he's trying to steal her cat, and not that Antoinette is trying to steal his food.
He attaches two notes this time, the second of which is his preferred method for cleaning blood from a carpet.
I have given her a set of instructions as appeasement for her crimes, but if it is a substantial amount of blood I might suggest a professional carpet cleaner and perhaps a trip to urgent care.
Were the flowers salvageable? If the vase is not totally shattered, perhaps it can be fixed too.
threw everything in the trash but i didn't like the flowers anyway. i like daisies and they sent roses.
foot's fine, don't worry. benefit of working in a hospital. :)
-jyn
His concern is a sweet thing to come home to and Jyn even gives Antoinette a pat while she rereads the note the next morning. Antoinette is still a jerk but at least she carries nice letters.
Before she leaves, Jyn adds in a hastily scrawl on the back of the note.
She works in a hospital. He likes finding out these little things about her, and it would be very easy to simply seek out her actual apartment (just follow the cat) for a face to face conversation - but he has to admit he's having fun with these little notes. They've become a highlight of his day.
He almost misses her little P.S. on the back, but Antoinette bats at the paper and knocks it over, flipping it as he leans to pick it up from the floor. He grins and scratches her head, to which she bumps up into his hand demanding more.
I like forget-me-nots, but I agree daisies are better than roses. Should I be calling your Dr. Jyn?
It was a long day, but not the worst one. I hope your week has improved. How is your carpet?
mostly dry i think? no way to tell if it's moulding until it starts to smell so i guess i'll see.
i'm a nurse actually but the doctor's scrubs are forget-me-not blue so you'd probably like them more than mine. ours were briefly this horrid mint green that looked like puke and the entire floor threatened to quit. if we have to wear them for 14 hour shifts they better be a color we like so now they're berry.
what do you do?
-jyn
Antoinette MROWS at Jyn and Jyn makes a face at her. She won't be judged for her epistolary friendship with a stranger by her cat messenger.
It should not mold, but I hope you were successful in cleaning it.
I am a physics teacher. Mostly I wear a lot of jeans, regular colored. Berry is not a bad choice, but I would hope for comfort to be on your feet for fourteen hours most of all. How long have you been a nurse?
- Cassian
When Antoinette drops off the note today, she leaps onto his table and nearly scatters his very neat piles of papers and pens. Red ones for grading, black ones for notes, laptop whirring while spotify runs through his instrumental lofi beats. Kay makes fun of him, but he finds it easier to concentrate when there aren't any lyrics, and the lofi doesn't get his foot tapping like other genres.
The cat freezes when Cassian startles, and he gently lifts her to deposit her in his lap instead, straightening up the papers while muttering a mild scolding she barely comprehends.
it's rude to ask a lady her age in a very roundabout way, sir. four years, give or take.
i almost fist fought my physics teacher in uni so i hope for the sake of your nose (i'm imagining you look like an old man and wear tweed with your regular coloured jeans, i will accept no criticism for this image) i hope you support girls and women in stem.
-j
If Jyn's honest her teacher wasn't opposed to girls in STEM, he was opposed to a disreputable scientist's daughter in STEM, but she isn't willing to give him that benefit of the doubt, especially now.
I would have just asked straight up if so. I have been teaching for five, so I have you beat. :)
I do have a tweed blazer but it's not my favorite. Girls belong in STEM if they want to be there, and I am not just saying that to avoid a punching.
Would cat-sitting be any different from how regular cat-visiting goes? - Cassian
He has to admit, he's mostly curious about cat sitting because he's starting to get curious about Jyn herself. He's met the cat! Plenty of times! He may have walked past Jyn in the building, but he wouldn't know.
either my window would be locked and you would have a feline houseguest or my window would be locked and antoinette would have to suffer the indignity of waiting patiently at my door for her nightly dinner guest and learn some manners. it would be for 4 days, maybe 5.
i'll pay you!
-j$
She doesn't want him to think he'll be doing it for free. She looks at Antoinette, Antoinette looks back. "Oh fuck off."
She doesn't even know him! But she supposes these cat notes might be leaving a certain impression, and he likes to think he's left a good one so far. He idly pets Antoinette, once again in his lap, half smiling to himself.
He stares at his own blank note, trying to figure out the least invasive way to bring up the fact that they should... probably meet, before he airbnbs her cat. But he doesn't want to be weird about it.
It would depend on when, but I may be able to host her for a few days. She might prefer the company of staying here, though I can just as easily feed her in the evenings. Mornings are more varied.
Would you like to tour the room before potentially booking her stay?
- Cassian
Oh, god, that's stupid. He stares at it for a long five minutes before deciding to just leave it. They're already commuting via cat.
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ohnofeelstho2021-01-18 12:04 am
to write is human, to receive a letter: divine!
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When the cat comes back yet again, Cassian is absolutely delighted to find a letter tucked into her collar. Now he has a name for her fluffy face, and she headbutts him as he writes one back, though he thinks in reality she may just be searching for food. His note is in blue ink, with stockier handwriting.
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And she's late for work! Demon cat.
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"I should lock you up. No one will storm the Bastille for you." Antoinette mrrps at her and licks her calf.
"Fine."
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He attaches two notes this time, the second of which is his preferred method for cleaning blood from a carpet.
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Before she leaves, Jyn adds in a hastily scrawl on the back of the note.
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He almost misses her little P.S. on the back, but Antoinette bats at the paper and knocks it over, flipping it as he leans to pick it up from the floor. He grins and scratches her head, to which she bumps up into his hand demanding more.
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When Antoinette drops off the note today, she leaps onto his table and nearly scatters his very neat piles of papers and pens. Red ones for grading, black ones for notes, laptop whirring while spotify runs through his instrumental lofi beats. Kay makes fun of him, but he finds it easier to concentrate when there aren't any lyrics, and the lofi doesn't get his foot tapping like other genres.
The cat freezes when Cassian startles, and he gently lifts her to deposit her in his lap instead, straightening up the papers while muttering a mild scolding she barely comprehends.
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He has to admit, he's mostly curious about cat sitting because he's starting to get curious about Jyn herself. He's met the cat! Plenty of times! He may have walked past Jyn in the building, but he wouldn't know.
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She doesn't want him to think he'll be doing it for free. She looks at Antoinette, Antoinette looks back. "Oh fuck off."
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He stares at his own blank note, trying to figure out the least invasive way to bring up the fact that they should... probably meet, before he airbnbs her cat. But he doesn't want to be weird about it.
Oh, god, that's stupid. He stares at it for a long five minutes before deciding to just leave it. They're already commuting via cat.