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It hadn't been long since Scar had left his home planet to travel the galaxy. The space cruiser had just been sitting there ready for the taking, okay? It was a nice little thing as well, just big enough for one person, maybe two if you enjoyed living in close quarters with that someone… Like he’d need to worry about that, he was alone. Alone in space, alone in the galaxy… But it was worth it! Haha, yeah. Worth it.
He shook the light doubt that always came to cause trouble when he was about to embark on a social planet. Seeing people happy together was hard sometimes. Loneliness was a killer up here in the stars, however, there was no way he was succumbing to that line of thought.
Leaving home on a whim to explore the great mass of stars was one of the best decisions he’d ever made, the journals busting with photos and descriptions of the places he’d been and the fauna and flora he’d studied came to mind. He wondered if he’d get round to sorting the drawers where he’d stuffed those notes.
The planet, hard to call it with how small it actually was, he was descending on, was a cold place, filled with ice, snow and a few busy settlements here and there. What was it known for? Its crowded, quiet and no question-asking market. Not his favourite place to go but the easiest. Especially when he wanted a quick in and out for supplies.
Landing was easy enough, the cold was a risk to his software freezing up so he took the extra time to leave a nice blast of heat running through the ship for an easier take-off, renting a blaze-born to come and defrost his engine was not on his cards today.
Hefting a large and empty bag onto his bag, tightening the straps to be nice and secure against his thick and warm coat, he marched forward into the snow, adjusting his goggles to make sure they were secured against his eyes to protect him from the deadly combination of a snow white landscape and a bright shining sun, he continued across the frozen land. The market was a good mile or two out from where he’d landed. Land too close and you’re at risk of getting your vehicle stripped. Land too far and you're getting lost in a blizzard, no doubt.
He made it with little difficulty, the hardest thing was the cold, but his self-warming undersuit fended it off well. He let out a tired huff and immediately located the nearest warm drink merchant.
The market was as quiet as it always was, a nice steady flow of customers, easy to get lost in. Even easier to get his supplies! After sitting down and enjoying his hot drink and local cuisine (he’d never get over the extreme use of chilli-flavoured sweet things here) he made quick work of gathering his supplies, buying a little extra on top of what he’d already planned to cover his impromptu exploration venture he’d planned for the next planet over,it was colder, meaner, and not inhabited. He was practically bouncing through the market at the thought of unexplored flora and fauna to say the least.
When he’d finally decided he’d had enough and his self-warming suit was starting to get a bit less effective, he wrapped up his shopping and started making his way back through the market before noticing a slight altercation at one of the vendors' stalls. Being the curious creature he was, he changed his course and decided to take the long way through the market to see what was going on.
Ah, it was the live-animal stall. Not Scars' favourite place to be. Cages, big and small, scattered around the wooden table sat in the middle of the mess, a dark green canopy draped over, protecting the vendor and animals from the snow-fall. The cacophony of assorted animal noises made itself known to the rest of the market to the point most people simply drowned it out.
As he got closer, his translator cued into the conversation.
“- ou lost it ?!” The vendor whisper-shouted at a seemingly bored looking, what Scar assumed, employee.
“ It escaped its cage. I wasn't going to chase it. It’s from ꍟꋫ꒓꓅ꑛ You don’t know what it could be capable of.” The alien seemed to shrug before adding, “I ain't dying for a ꏸꋫ꓅.”
Oh ho ho! Words that didn't pick up on his translator? Undiscovered, possibly endangered creature on the loose? He was contemplating involving himself in the conversation until the guy that was being shouted at turned and a shiny bounty-hunting badge shined on his hip.
Oh. Well that wasn't ideal. Scar very quickly and completely normally , spun around and started walking the other way. Unfortunately for him, he was seen looking completely suspicious for completely the wrong reason.
“ Hey!” The shop keeper, he thinks, shouted after him before encouraging the bounty-hunter after him.
Scar quickened his walk and lifted his bandana up over his nose as a clawed hand landed roughly on his shoulder.
“ My employer would like a word with you, stranger. Lower your mask. ” The bounty-hunter grumbled like he couldn't really care for why but he was itching for a reason for a fight if the grasp on a very scary looking pistol said anything.
Every possibility of what could happen if his face was seen entered his mind all at once. Go back? Be killed??? No, well, hopefully not- he hadn't checked the find-this-man-at-all-costs notice in a while. But the price for his safe return was high and he didn't want to go back. Not yet.
“Lower. Your. Mask.”
“HaHA! No thanks!-” He ran. The bag on his back jumbled as he shot down the closest alleyway, turning corner after corner as quick as he could- hoping there wasn't an unfortunate fence or wall to block his escape.
The bounty-hunter was on his tail, after a quick garble of surprise that his translator didn't quite pick up and an angry sounding exclamation, he was after Scar. Tumbling through the streets was not something Scar enjoyed- especially here! It was practically guaranteed that no criminals came here because of the cold and the very high chance of freezing to death! Why was a bounty-hunter here? What bounty was there to collect?! It couldn't have been for the unidentified creature, right? That dirty work was more in line for poachers!
Oh god- the dreaded wall was closing in and he’d already missed the nearest exit- oh dear, oh no-
“ Nowhere to run.” He looked up to meet the eyes on the hunter. An evil look in his eye flashed as he realised Scar was cornered, trapped and unarmed. He un-holstered a large and very sharp looking knife from his belt of various scary looking weapons.
Scar backed up as far as he could, pressing himself to the wall as his eyes darted for any form of exit. Oh no, was this really the end? He hadn't done anything. He wanted to research- go home and show them. No no NO!-
“ Mew?” A static filled his ears before settling at this unfamiliar sound- almost like the felarian race but definitely not?
He raised his eyes- first noticing the hunter frozen in fear, arm mid swing with eyes wide. He slowly turned to the noise and screamed .
Scar had never seen a man run so fast from such a small creature- that was a lie, he, himself had definitely run from smaller but not quite as fast…
The little creature seemed to look confused and then promptly unbothered as it sat there and slowly lifted one of its paws to groom itself. He’d never seen anything like it. Fluffy and small with big round eyes that were now looking curiously at him. Oh dear, if it had made the bounty-hunter run like that, what was it going to do to him?
He slid down the wall as his exhausted and overwhelming thoughts of death and doubt slowly took over his mind- he was going to miss out on everything all over again because he was too slow! Stupid, stupid, st-
It was sitting on him.
What? He took the risk and glanced down, curled up on his lap was the little fluffy creature, growling? No, no, it was… kinder? It reminded him of the time he’d seen a felarian mother trying to calm her child down after it had gotten lost in the refuel station he'd stopped at a few cycles ago. Purring, he decided was the appropriate term to refer to this noise. The creature looked quite content, he lifted his hand and paused before gently stroking it down her back. She briefly paused in her purring before lifting her head and looking at his face, he tugged down his mask and bumped up his goggles on his forehead so the little fluff could see his face, she seemed to deem this very important and she snuggled deeper into his pets and upped her purring two-fold.
His ship had enough room for two right? He supposed he could skip his next exploration trip to make sure they had enough supplies to last to the next refuel station- what was he thinking? She was likely a wild animal, poached from her home planet that had no business staying in a small ship.
But… the cold didn't seem to suit her. Ungloving his hand, he gently threaded his fingers through her fur, her shivering even more visible. There was no way he could leave her to freeze in this small market or worse, be caught and sold for the highest bid.
He decided he'd escort her to a new warm and safe planet, where she could live out the rest of her days with no issues. If they happened to bond along the way, well- no no no. He was doing this for the right reasons, not the selfish ones.
He gently scooped the fluff up into his arms and secured his goggles and mask, to be safe, back onto his face. Resurfacing from the alleyways, he made quick work of following his ship tracker back to base, shielding the little creature with his body; she had little complaint as he trekked the mile and a half back to the ship.
When he returned, he was so glad to see the low-lights fighting against the mini snowstorm that had picked up about five minutes ago. Quickly unlocking the side door and lowering the small ramp, he made his way on board, when the door closed behind him, blocking the snow and cold from penetrating further, he slowly opened the defensive cage that was his arms, small bunches of white cold falling off and melting once they touched the ground. He’d have to mop that up soon.
The little fluff picked her head up and looked around curiously before leaping. Out. Of. His. Arms!
He scrambled to try and catch her, but she landed swiftly and gently on her four little paws to look up at him, amused?
Either way, she looked quite content as she padded in from the entryway and over to the small sofa and entertainment area where he spent many evenings relaxing and distracting himself from how lonely space was.
She jumped up onto his normal seat cushion and sat down, tucking all of her limbs into her body, looking like some sort of fluffy fresh bread. A loaf, if you will. He lit up in excitement- she was adorable .
He quickly dumped his big, full bag of supplies and rolled his shoulders- happy he was free from that burden. He tucked his cold weather gear away and made his way through to the control deck and sat down in his pilot's seat, leaning back and pulling up each screen to check on how the ship had done since he'd been gone and if it was ready to take flight anytime soon. As much as he enjoyed solid ground, it didn't feel as safe without the perpetual comforting rocking motion that space provided. Including the fact that he could put the camouflage shield up when he got up there and not risk the bounty-hunters finding them. He might not have had her before, but now he was probably wanted for two reasons and honestly, he didn't want to meet the guy who discovered that.
It wasn't long after he'd decided the ship was ready to take to the sky did a small mass jump onto his lap and look up to him, mewing, perhaps asking for something?
Hmm, what do creatures need? Shelter? Check. Food? Not check, he doesn't know the last time she ate, or what she eats at all. Somewhere to go potty? Not check either, he'd need to either train her to use the shared latrine or maybe a box with some old papers would work? That's how baby felarians were taught anyways- maybe it'd work on this creature too.
He decided pulling the ship into orbit could wait ten or thirty more minutes.
She seemed to sense he wanted to get up and so she hopped off his lap in a controlled jump- it impressed Scar how she always seemed to land on her feet. He wished he was the same.
They made their way back through to the entrance hall and retrieved the bag of supplies, next going to the small kitchenette that served his small crew of one, now temporarily two. Emptying out his satchel into the storage cupboards and ice box, he left out a selection of meats, veggies and fruits, a small slice of each was cut up into small chunks and spread on the small table where the kit had made herself comfy, watching him again.
She turned her nose up at the fruits, consumed the meats quickly and efficiently and had a little nibble at the veggies but not much interest otherwise. A carnivore then. He supposed he could've told that much from her build and teeth but he didn't want to assume and risk hurting her.
He cut her up a bit more meat, leaving a dish of water as well and left to find a suitable box and papers to try and introduce her to the idea of a toilet. While searching through his storage cupboard filled with various things, he found a pretty pink ribbon that maybe she'd enjoy wearing or playing with- he was so excited to learn everything there was to know about this creature!
He returned to find her plate empty and her lapping up some water.
“Ahem-” He started, realising he had yet to address her out loud, apart from his mumbled whispers of comfort of their trudge back to the ship. “-ah, you don't have a name and I don't know what your species is. Hm.” He looked at her closely, crossing his arms in thought and tapping his foot- a little bit of jelly from the meat she was eating clung to her whiskers.
“Jellie?” As soon as the name suggestion left his lips her little head darted up and the cutest little purrpt left her- she must've liked it! “I hope it's okay but, I'm going to call you Jellie from now on so we both know who we're addressing when we're talking to each other. My name is Scar! I'm very excited to have you here! Welcome!”
“Mew?” She cocked her head to the side and approached, bumping her head against his outstretched hand. He coo-ed at her sweet action, deciding she was the queen of the ship, until he managed to find her a new home, he frowned internally at the thought.
Eventually, after much petting and bonding, Scar made his way back to the control room, prepared to take off and get them safely into the sweet embrace of the inky darkness.
With Jellie safely settled on top of his lap, they left the cold and desolate planet and sped off to a new and happy future, spent in the company of each other, never to be alone again.