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She sits, tail-tip twitching, eyes blinking into pitch and drifting closed for minutes at a time, but she does not succumb to sleep. There are sounds to be heard and assessed, and the rapid, scrape-clunk of boots upon metal jerks her head, tenses her muscles, but passes by paying her no mind. There’s a scratch and scurry of something small and probably tasty behind the impenetrable boundary of her territory. Her ears swivel and she stares at the spot where the last sound came from, but experience has taught her it can’t be caught. She sighs at the thought of food.She drifts again until the unmistakable sense of Big approaching rouses her from her position. She darts before the voice barks out. Safe. Parent will never know. “Lights.” Brightness floods the corners and shadows flee to the crevices. She peers out from her retreat and sees boots of black gloss that tramp around the floor. “Pusspusspuss?” Silently, she shifts a little closer to the line where harsh light meets safe dark. Stops when there is movement and the soft thump of knees hitting the floor just beyond her current boundary. A hand. Arm. Face. Sounds, quiet and soft. “There you are. Come out. I promise I won’t tell daddy you were sleeping on his sofa.” She doesn’t move. The big face sighs and makes more noise. “I’ll even clean off the ginger hair from the upholstery if you make this easy.” She wriggles back, spying the base of a white box that she knows. Not falling for that again. “Fine,” Big moves away and she relaxes. Safe here. “Have it your way.” She watches as the white box lifts up and is set down again, closer. She knows he can’t reach back here and she can claw and bite through leather to make him go away.Something grips her by the scruff and she lets out an undignified yowl. She twists to try to see it, tries to bite and claw, but there’s nothing there. Paws scrabble uselessly at the smooth floor as she is dragged out from hiding. Big is there. She hisses all the bad words she knows and he shows his teeth to her in return. The box is under her and there is nothing she can do but yell and threaten and scream for help. Parent will hear. Parent will stop this. Parent will smooth her fur and give her food. The box closes around her and she glares out at Big’s pale face with deep, dark eyes. “Got you. Now, where does daddy keep the lint roller?”She hisses and yowls at the bumps and jolts but the journey is short and the floor rises to meet the base of the box with a softer thump. “Wait a minute, kitty.” Sound of doors closing. “Lights.” She shrinks with the shadow into the corner of the box but there are loud clicks and the lid comes off. She dives and darts and vanishes under a bed. It looks like Parent’s room but the smell is wrong. It smells of Big. But not all of Big: there’s a little scent of Parent too and something even more welcome. She peers out from her refuge. Big’s hand is there, so easy to make bleed, but it is the object clasped gently between fingers that she swipes and sniffs and rubs. It’s hers. She calms as she remembers hunting and pouncing and playing over and over with the blue knotted fabric that looks so enticingly like a mouse and smells of safety. She’s on her side, trying to disembowel it with her hind claws, when Big walks to the door and leaves her alone. Big’s voice carries through. “Inform General Hux that he may retrieve his most precious possession when he is able. Speak to no one else about this matter. Go. Lights ten percent.”She dozes and wakes but never for long at a time. The noises are familiar. Here, the faint thrum and hum that is almost beyond hearing. There, the scrabble and scratch of well hidden prey. She emerges into faint glow and explores the edges and corners and crevices of her new world. Once sure there is no hidden threat, she uses the litter tray, proud on its pedestal, and then settles at the end of the bed on a crumple of fabric that smells of Parent, and slips into the security of sleep.Hunger growing, she wakes at a sound. Parent should be home. She slides to the floor, trots to the door asks for food. Parent is not there. Big’s feet thump around and she holds back. “Eww! What the karking Sith have you... You little shit, did you use... Oh for kriffsake.” Big empties the litter, taking out the twisted black shape first. He puts that in the sink and crashes the tray to the floor. She skitters two steps back and peers around the doorway. Dare she risk asking again? Parent would have noticed her. Parent would say soft words and scratch her beautiful head because she’s his good girl. “Millie? Here, Millie. Millie-millie-millie.” She slinks out into view, staying close to the wall, escape route open behind her. “Come on girl, daddy says I must be nice to you or he won’t have sex with me ever again.” She risks a step forward. “Are you hungry? I brought something for you. From daddy’s suite.” Another step. “Oh come on, cat! Do you want uncle Kylo never to get laid again?” There! A flash of silver, a tearing sound and the welcome scent of meat. She darts forward, singing for food at top volume. “That’s better. Let me just OWW! WHAT THE FUCK!” She wiggles, launches and climbs, hauling claw over claw over claw up Big’s back until she can plop down onto the table to reach her food. “You’re a kriffing monster. You know that?” Oblivious to his insults, she eats and purrs. “Stars! I see you get your table manners from your daddy. I need bacta.”Big sits on a chair and closes his eyes. She can hear his breathing, slow and even. She waits. Parent would have tapped his lap and she’d be warm and safe, spoken to and stroked until she couldn’t help but blink and purr until sleep came. Big’s hands don’t move. She can feel the tension in his body evaporate and his head tilts forward. Careful this time, sheathed claws, she leaps and lands and tramples. “Huh? Oh!” She sits and licks one paw, pulling it over her face a few times, then repeats with the other. Big sighs and she freezes. A hand appears still in front of her nose. She sniffs, chews and rubs it. The hand moves to her ears and strokes gently. Parent is better, but Big is here. She turns around to angle her head better and purrs. Big laughs. “I suppose you’re not so bad. Sorry I had to take you. Daddy’s not allowed pets. If you were found you’d be... Never mind. Nobody will dare look for you here.” Big says more words, low and quiet, hand stroking slowly over her back, and soon she sleeps.Noise. She jumps down and eases under the chair then trots out when she hears the voice she loves. “Kriff, Ren. What a day. Thank you for seeing to her.” “She took a dump in my reliquary.” “Your... Oh! Oh no. Hahaha. I did say it reminded me of her litter.” “You’re washing the helmet.” “Oh, very well. Where’s my princess?” She winds around familiar legs, yammering in happy relief. “There she is. Did my little sweetheart miss me? Ren, did you feed her?” “Of course! Little shit climbed up my back. With claws! Scarred for life.” “You or her? Oh look, she’s leading me to your kitchen. I bet she’s hungry.” “I fed her. She’s a kriffing liar.” “Be nice or I’m not—” “Ugh fine.”There’s more food and Parent sits on Big on the chair. She’s distracted by the grooming noises they make and watches lazily, but turns away to find a safe place to perch and sleep until it is time to choose a toy to pounce on and bat around the rattly floor in the darkness. Parent moans and stands up at last. “I suppose I owe you my thanks. I don’t know what I’d do if she’d been found and... Well. I really am grateful you defended my cat from the exterminators today.” “Oh? How grateful?” “What? Oh! Aha. Haha. I see. Well then, would you like me to show you?” “Can I fuck you over the—” “Kylo!” “What? She can’t understand.” “No but.. Bedroom. Close the door and make sure she stays out here.” “Aww are you worried she’ll see and lose her innocence?” “No, I’m worried she’ll think you’re attacking me and claw your bare arse.” “There’s bacta there already. She’s a demon.” “How did— No, I don’t really care. Come on.”She opens her eyes a tiny slit as the door closes. She’ll demand that it opens when she’s ready for bed.