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Ima-Gun Din had come to the meeting despite his hesitations, a Jedi had to make sure he was doing good and these clones needed help, and although he was the exact opposite of attractive, he would gladly marry someone if it was necessary.
In the meantime he had wandered off between the trees and finally collapsed to take a nap on the ground, there would still be time for him to join the main event when the human clones arrived. He didn't think it was a good idea for him to be one of the first faces to be seen anyway, he had been considered quite repulsive his whole life and had heard enough comments to know that humans who had seen very few non-humans would be uncomfortable with him, his sunken eyes, his unmoving face, his scaly skin... that was without even mentioning the breathing tubes in his neck or the membranes that closed them or closed over his nose to filter the air.
He literally could not do the most universal of human gestures: smile. Even among the Jedi, not everyone knew that flattening the flaps of his mouth was the equivalent of a smile. He had prepared to leave as alone as when he arrived, perhaps it was fear of the unknown or the easy choice that had led him to isolate himself: the less time he spent in public, the less chance of rejection he would have. So he had wrapped himself in his cloak and stretched out between thick roots, away from the gravel passages and paths he had taken, and had caught up on his sleep, or rather his lack of sleep of over 54 hours. He had fallen into unconsciousness the second his head hit the ground and no amount of commotion in the distance could have woken him up, in fact he had only woken up because someone had frankly kicked his legs, cursing while catching themselves on a tree, making it clear to Ima-Gun that the individual had walked away from the crowd like him and stepped on him after not seeing him.
"Who are you?" asked a harsh and aggressive voice... a property guard?
Ima-Gun reluctantly opened his eyes and turned toward the voice only to stop dead in his tracks, startled by the white armour and especially by the blaster pistol pointed right under his nose. The human slowly blinked and looked at him, looking the face, Jedi robes and lightsaber at his belt before lowering his weapon and taking a step back.
"General! Sorry sir. Uh... Jedi Master. Or is it Knight? You're not a Commander, are you? An apprentice?"
"No," Ima-Gun finally replied. "Padawans can be recognized by the braids they wear as a sign of accomplishment. I'm a Master myself. Master Ima-Gun Di."
"My apologies for the offense, Gen... Master Di." The clone insisted before extending his hand to help him up.
Ima-Gun hesitated to accept but felt it would rude to refuse so he slowly reached out his hand, checking with the Force that he wasn't making the human uncomfortable with his skin or his claws. He didn't react, or perhaps he hadn't looked too hard.
"It's nothing, I guess you didn't see me."
"Yes, but it's my fault, I should have looked where I was going."
"And I shouldn't have been lying down in a place like that," the Jedi replied with a shrug. "I didn't think anyone else would get that far from the buildings."
The human didn't move, clearly due to some form of training, because in the Force he was clearly uncomfortable.
"I needed some air. There are a lot of people out there."
"I guess, it was just Jedi when I got there, and that's a lot of people."
The human nodded awkwardly.
"I don't like crowds, but I didn't want to worry anyone. Are you part of the security team?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"I had understood that security had been left to self-employed persons."
The other frowned and turned to the buildings, incomprehension and uncertainty very strongly present in him.
"My name is Keeli. So you're a Jedi... haven't you seen the clones? They arrived about thirty minutes ago."
"No, not yet. I went to sleep as soon as I got here a few hours ago."
"Aren't you supposed to be meeting them to find a husband?"
Unfortunately, everything seemed to revolve around this topic, even for a security guy.
"Yes... but I'd rather not get there too quickly."
"Why is that?"
"I'm not very attractive, it would probably be better for them not to even see me at all."
"Why do you say that? You are very handsome."
Ima-Gun did the equivalent of his own people for an eye roll and covered himself with his cloak.
"You are very kind, but I know what I look like, especially for a human."
"I insist, sir, you are very handsome."
"I don't think you've seen many other Jedi, you won't say the same when you've been through the buildings."
The human straightened up, clearly offended, and defended himself:
"I've been there."
"And you haven't seen any beautiful humans, Nautolan or Twi'lek?"
"Yes, but I stand by my opinion, I think you are very handsome. Your orange skin is very distinctive. And your eyes are beautiful. I've never seen eyes so blue."
If he could blush, Ima-Gun would blush. That was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him about his looks, by far. He prevented himself by mental effort from bringing his hand close to his eyes and instead lowered his head, he was embarrassed though.
"Do you think so?"
Fingers without claws gloved of black approached his face, put themselves under his chin and incited him gently to raise the head.
"You should walk straight, no one will judge you for your body."
"They are humans, humans have a hard time with difference. Oh, sorry."
"I understand, but there are some who are not bothered by difference. And frankly, I don't see how clones would care so much about physical details. They're all the same, and besides, everyone knows that the Jedi are a heteroclite group, with members of every species, even the rarest. If they're here it's because they were open to the idea."
"I hadn't thought of it that way," he finally admitted. "You may be right. "
"I'm right."
The Force seemed to agree with the human.
Ima-Gun looked around and checked the surroundings with the Force, they seemed to be alone in the area.
"Did you see if things were going well?"
"From what I saw it was going pretty well, a clone got into a fight with a Zabrak almost as soon as they entered and they slipped away to continue fighting. Except that, everything was okay."
Ima-Gun felt the flaps of his mouth close as he laughed. He already knew who it was, there was only one to be so hot-blooded: Master Agen Kolar. Otherwise there was only Master Eeth Koth, but this one had much more self-control.
"He had dark skin and a green collar?"
"Yes, sir."
"They'll be fine."
"I'm sure they will be, my only concern is that they'll be in an inappropriate situation."
Knowing Master Kolar, it was more possible than one would expect from a Jedi, and if he was alone he might have been long gone by now, but Master Kolar had a young Padawan so Ima-Gun wasn't worried...yet.
"No, they'd be good, Master Kolar wouldn't do anything compromising with his Padawan around."
"Padawans are the students of the Jedi, right?"
"That's right, and some of them have a strong parent-child bond, Master Kolar and Padawan Yuster are very close, and I know Master Kolar wouldn't allow anyone to come between them."
"Do you have a Padawan yourself, Master Di?" Keeli asked pleasantly, gesturing for him to accompany him to the buildings.
"No, I was very focused on improving my skills and never really wanted to train anyone."
The man hummed, something like satisfaction and relief around him before he continued:
"And what are your field of predilection?"
"If we're talking about intellect it would be my strategic mind, otherwise I specialize in lightsaber duelling, I'm a duelling instructor, that is to say I teach classes of Padawans who return to their Masters after my classes. Unfortunately, it's become quite rare these days for Jedi to specialize in duelling."
"It's interesting, what else can Jedi do? I've always wondered, is it true that you can repel blaster shots?"
"It's true."
"And lift things?"
Ima-Gun assumed he wouldn't be offended by a response in kind, and the human's brief panic was replaced by wonder as the Nikto lifted him several feet off the ground.
"Wow! That's amazing!"
The Jedi actually enjoyed himself and forgot where he was and why he was on this planet, it was nice to talk to someone with so little judgment that he didn't feel it in the Force. They left the cover of the trees and Ima-Gun froze at the sight of Keeli's face... in front of him, on all sides.
Their faces were sharper, but absolutely everyone had his face, his features, his eyes, and his hair. He turned to look at the human behind him who grinned.
"I'm sorry I lied, it's just... we all have the same face and since we've been talked about everyone knows our face so... talking to someone who didn't know who I was was really nice."
"Just because I know your face doesn't mean I would assume I know these men."
He smiled gently.
"Yes, now I know, but it was still nice to talk without pressure. You came to marry a clone, I'm a clone, I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
"I understand. I'm not angry, I assure you. You're the only one with facial hair, right? Um... beard, sorry."
"Yes, I seem to be the only one who can handle it well. Sir, if it's not too much trouble..."
"Yes?"
"I'd like to say that I'm very interested in you, I'd like to see you again before I leave."
He doesn't say it like that, calm yourself Ima.
"I'm always happy to make friends."
The clone smiled wryly and Ima-Gun began to feel like the prey in a stalking game, but he felt nothing threatening and so agreed to shake his hand in separation. He carefully did his best not to react when Keeli turned his hand to put a hand-kiss on it and left him with a hungry look.
"If I have to settle for friendship I will accept it, but I like what I see very much... from a marriage perspective, Ima-Gun."
His own name had never sounded so sweet to him.