As he stepped into the shower, he asked:
[i]Who was it? One of the youngsters, I presume?[/i] 

When Aria said it was Manso, he laughed, rubbing his scalp and allowing the water to cascade over his fatigued muscles.

[i]They do that, don't they? Grow. Apparently you forgot to grow when you were younger.[/i] He KNEW that was going to come back to bite him in some way, shape or form, so he would savor the victory while he was alone and not within tickling distance. Out of all the things Aria had come up with to get back at him for his teasing, tickling was the worst. It wasn't like he could swat her away because he was afraid he would hurt her. Instead, he was forced to go into a fetal position while trying not to die from laughter as she clambered on top of him and proclaimed herself the victor. That wasn't too bad of a position...

Jolting himself from the potential train of thought that could have gotten himself in trouble, he simply told his partner:

[i]I'll see you when you get home, then. AND I won't be a sweaty wreck! Won't that be something?! And yes, before you ask, I'll make sure the dogs get walked.[/i] As if they could hear their unspoken discussion, Chwuq's snout poked through the bathroom doorway, a knowing snort breaking Yerbol from his once peaceful shower.
"Hey, hey, you don't see me trying to harass you guys when you want your private time, right?" Silence. 
"Yes, I'll walk you both! Just let me finish my shower, for Force's sake!" A grunt of affirmation before another snout cracked the door, a groan that resembled "waaallkkkk?" coming from the other. Head hanging, Yerbol muttered:
"So lucky that you two have grown on me." 

__

After changing into a fresh t-shirt and shorts(Taris was experiencing a brutal summer), he opened the back gate and escorted the Tuk'ata up the path that wound towards where he and Aria had first proclaimed their feelings, but instead of heading all the way up, he shifted left to a wooded area that extended beyond the village. As the creatures bounded, played and used the bathroom, Yerbol kept one eye on them with another on his personal datapad. Logging into his messaging platform, he found a couple of links for strength workouts from Bex, who also attached a couple of snapshots from Zinuthra which featured some of the repairs that had been done on base. 
"Gettin it done, Bol!" and "Get your lazy butt over here!" were the captions, Yerbol chuckling at the exhortations. He and Bex had run several operations together and had instantly hit it off, spending time outside of operations getting to know one another and bonding over their mutual interests. He flipped past the message from his friend, noting some of the headlines that scrolled across the top of his screen from the holonet, one of which caught his attention. 
"Alliance Parliament coming together, Saresh choosing cabinet." 

He didn't click on the link to the article, but was comforted to know that Saresh's promise to stabilize the extremely vulnerable Alliance was working. With Bracknell out of the picture and what looked like a defunct government in play, some officials just abandoned their posts, fleeing in any direction their money could take them. Others chose to stay behind and work with Saresh, seeing as without this Alliance, government would be non-existent in the Core Worlds, a thought that chilled those in power. From what they had seen on the Holonet while planetside, there were heated debates, threats of secession from former Republic and/or Imperial diplomats that tried to stand on the pedestals of tradition and even a couple of attempted bombings on Coruscant and Dromund Kaas, but the overriding desire for one governmental body seemed to crush most open attempts at defiance. For now, things were taking shape, showing promise for the galaxy. He hoped it would continue. 

While in the midst of sending a reply to Janika(who had proudly sent him a picture of her bearing her lightsaber, the caption reading "I'm a Knight!", her tanned face beaming next to Ethan, another youngster they had rescued a couple of months back), the Tuk'ata came back, eyeing Yerbol expectantly. 
"Right, so we're through now?" He knelt down and patted them both on their flanks, a smile forming.
"You two must know that I think you've grown quite a bit. Almost like you're not vicious beasts that could tear someone's throat out." Their eyes were closed, humming coming from their throats. 
"You want me to keep doing this?" The humming continued, eliciting a laugh.
"Come on, you goobers. Let's go get dinner." 

___

With dinner and conversation out of the way, Yerbol was content to go to their room. removing his shirt before laying on top of the sheets, hands behind his head. When he heard Aria come in, he looked her over with a teasing smirk.
"You know, you ought to wear that top more. It's very...flattering."