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She curled up one night to sleep, but left one eye uncovered. She had never watched him ready for sleep and she felt compelled to do so now. They knew little of each other, despite their travel time. He seemed aware of her shifts from Cassie to Micha, but never said anything about them. He seemed to be a quiet kind of fellow.

She supposed now was a good a time as ever to get to know something about him. "What do they call you?" she asked, lowering her tail and uncovering her face completely. Cassie had come out that night, not to play, but out of sheer curiosity. Cassie was little more than a child in most ways. She followed the person in power and questioned the obvious things that no one else would. She played relentlessly. She chased butterflies. She was stuck in the time when she was still a kit and living with her parents.

Cassie knew Micha followed the man, but knew less about him than she did. She didn't know everything Micha did by default, despite the fact that they were technically the same person. Jason dragged his blade along the slick whetstone before pausing and looking up in question. He had been considering slinking off into the night for another night's watch, before he was intercepted by the innocently worded question.

The voice was lighter, playful, and he knew it wasn't normal Micha this time. The moon was high, and the trees sparse enough it was very well lit in the clearing they'd holed up in. "Jason." he said, most of his responses to her were monosyllabic at best, grunts and gestures at worst. "Just Jason," before she asked his last name, "I'm not sure of the rest of it." he explained, finding it easier to talk to the childish version, rather than the more adult version. He deemed Micha hard to talk to simply because she seemed to hate him. He looked at her sometimes and she would have a sad look on her face as she looked back that made him wish he too had stayed behind in the fire he'd set.

He snagged her warm, fluffy tail, and began to stroke it, as he would as if he had a puppy or bunny in his lap. The smooth, repetitive motion allowing him to truly relax all evening. Something about smoothing something soft and warm in your hands made for a better night. She squealed a moment before settling into a soft murring that sounded almost like a purr. She turned around and rubbed her face underneath his chin and smoothing herself over his chest as she settled herself over his lap.

"I'm Cassandra. But you can call me Cassie. Can I call you Jay sometimes?" she said and looked up at him momentarily. She nudged his hand in a silent demand to keep petting her. "Have you met Micha?" she asked and laid her head across his knee. She fit into his lap like a small puzzle piece. She had curled up as small as she possibly could and tucked her legs beneath her. She was little more than a large ball of fur now. Perhaps the size of a large dog with a lapdog mentality. Her questions for him were never ending and she couldn't seem to contain them even though he'd yet to answer the first few. He found he didn't mind answering her questions, though he didn't volunteer the information first. He figured that she should know as little as possible. Her innocence made him wary of another personality switch and he worried what she knew, Micha knew. He grunted as the curvy fox slid into his lap. She might have thought she was a lapdog, but she was still a full grown woman and he was all too aware of It as she snuggled into him. He sighed and rolled his eyes skyward as she shifted and settle in a thankfully relaxing position. She nudged his hand lightly again from his thigh and nipped lightly, demanding immediate attention. He gave into her nudges and appeals for affection and settle his hand at the nape of her neck. With her in her current state she was little more than a puppy and he was more than glad to treat her as such. His fingers were deft and skilled, scratching backs of her downy soft ears and finding those perfect places along her cheek, before giving her a full sweep from her head to her oversized tail. "Alright, Cassie," he said, eyes soft in the firelight. "And yes, I have. She's....pleasant enough." He admitted. She might be prickly and more than her share of a scold, but he found he quite liked her that way. It was what made her Micha.

She sighed in abject pleasure as his fingers and hands danced across her back and head. It wasn't often that she was pet, even as Cassie. Mother had only pet her when she was feeling particularly sad, but it was always a soothing soft petting. No scratching. She had never known what she was missing out on. "Have you met Fury? She's been quiet lately..." she said, closing her eyes and letting out a soft continuous growl, her own version of purring. "Or Lila? Lila should be here soon." she said, She blushed at the mention of Lila and settled further into his lap. Cassie could never remember all of them, but she always remembered Micha, Fury and Lila. Micha was the only one who knew all of them. It was a complicated mental relationship at best and more often than not, people met her and never realized she knew their best friend as well. They met one personality and her name changed and none ever knew the difference.

Jason shook his head in thought, looking up into the moonlight. "I can't say I have sweetheart. Is she as nice and lovely as you are?" he asked, smiling, his surprisingly white teeth flashing in the moonlight. He couldn't help but tease the little creature. Her blush was endearing and quick to appear. He fed her small strips of meat and smiled when she licked and nibbled the remaining flavor from his fingers. He sat forward a bit to remove his cloak before covering her with it gently. He let his hands roam underneath it again and continued scratching and rubbing her back and sides. The action was relaxing and allowed for him to empty his mind for once and he sighed to himself. It might be nice to settle down and have a Cassie of his own sometime; he could have spent hours and hours with a pet in his lap. He knew Micha would resent the thought and chuckled to himself at what she might say or do if she came back this very moment.

Her blush was instantaneous and almost harsh beneath her red brown fur. "Not at all. Lila makes me uncomfortable." she said and fell silent for a moment, just letting herself enjoy the feel of hands on her back. She accepted the tiny morsels without thought and nibbled his fingertips when she wanted more. "Why do you wear what the bad men wear?" she finally asked softly. It had taken Cassie longer to realize it than Micha, but Micha had just been too lackadaisical to ask. She had many things to hate him for, and she hadn't wanted to add to the list. Cassie however, was attached to the soldier and often pounced on him for the sheer joy of a rough and tumble moment. Cassie hadn't been with the Sisters as much, and though she mourned their loss, she didn't feel it as acutely as Fury or Micha. Jason was her world, much like her brothers had been. Or the kit who lived down her street. He was close to her because Micha let her out to see him, and she enjoyed him more than he could possibly know. The petting stopped abruptly and faltered when it began again. He knew the question would come up sometime, but he found himself wondering if he would have preferred it be Micha. He couldn't' bear the idea of hurting the sweet innocent thing settled in his lap. He was silent for a few long moments before he sighed and resigned himself to answering her sooner rather than later. "I am...was a member from the Empire. The Junior Brigade. We're nothing more than a bunch of children running around playing war..." He took a deep breath before forging on. His strokes became erratic as he remembered the atrocities he himself had committed in the name of The Empire. "I couldn't take it. I'd been in it for three years. All I got out of it was having to see my friends die. Children die, women die. Murdered. Villages torched, villagers raped and murdered in the town square. No more. I can't take anymore. I have my uniform simply because I have nothing else. They isolated me from everything, trying to brainwash me into a killing, defiling machine like the others, but I couldn't do it. The other resisted but gave in eventually. Those against the Empire were trash and deserved what came to them. But I know better than that. My mama taught me better than that... So I left during the last raid. I tried to help everyone I could, but I could only save one." He said. His hands slowed down and came to a steady stop as he looked down at her. He hated his past, but the small creature curled against him made it that much easier to deal with, knowing he had saved her at least. She might hate him, and he would accept it gladly as penance, Goddess knew he owed her that much. But he would protect her with everything he had, even if he had to trail her through the country, he would make sure she lived a long and full life, because after all the death he had left behind him, he owed her that and more.

Cassie nuzzled him lightly with a small lick to his cheek. "It's okay but I have to move. Someone is coming back..." she said softly, sliding from his lap. Moments later the gaze on his face turned more focused, angrier and much less innocent. "The Empire, huh?" she spat viciously. She slunk away and fumed for a while. She didn't begrudge him. He had left. He'd chosen a better life than the one his fellows had lead. Grunt work included lots of killing. Dismemberment. She was glad of it that he hadn't joined when her family had been killed. She wasn't sure what she might have done. Killed him? Maybe. Certainly caused him a lot of grief and pain. She had noticed his attire, but had never bothered to ask. It took Cassie. Sweet innocent Cassie, to ask him the obvious. "You are very lucky you didn't make her cry." she said softly, her low voice dark with anger. Most of which was directed at herself. Cassie had spent too much time with him as it was, and it wouldn't do to have her cry over him. She curled up into her customary ball and draped her tail over her face. She would be more careful about her time allowances with Cassie and Jason from then on, she promised herself before drifting off into troubled sleep.