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“Commander?”
She raises her head from where she had leaned it against a lower bunk post, not really dozing; more trying to get her eyes to stop burning. She looks down at Echo, blinking hard, and watches his brow crease. “Yes?”
“Are you doing alright?” He’s got his arm propped up near her hip, and maybe she had fallen asleep because Fives is missing from the bed across from them. Must’ve finally given up and went to find polish.
Six. Ahsoka huffs, annoyed, but every time she’s been asked she feels less and less convinced. “I’m fine. Everyone keeps asking me that.”
Echo fixes her with a smart look before busying himself with his canteen. “Well pardon us for being worried,” he gripes. “Not everyday your Commander drops a droid factory on her head.”
Pointing it out like that makes her insides twist. She’s okay. They checked her over a hundred times and she’s in good shape. Just scuffed and bruised. Mind boggling was what Kix had said. Wording that had made Anakin pale. She’s alright. Her Master and the boys saved her and Barriss, they’re alright. She’s fine.
She knocks Echo’s arm mid sip. “Good thing I’ve got a hard head.”
Mid coughing fit, he tries to send his best glare at her and at the laughs she’s kicked up in their vicinity. She takes her chance to slip away.
Nimbly she dances through the crowds, ducking arms, sidling past groups, and jumping occasional armor pieces loose on the floor. Echo is an excuse but she needs to move. There's a coil in her sore muscles that she just can’t seem to untangle, like she’s poised even with nothing to strike at. So she’ll circle around, burn off the energy, or find someone else to distract her. Stepping over a passed out shiny—that might be Rink or Raze, he’s still working on the name—she catches an elbow before it can kiss her temple. Nax whirls and his eyes nearly pop out of his head as he says sorry. After assuring him it’s fine, he did miss, she shuffles on.
During her internal debate on muscling in on the Sabacc game starting up in the corner, she spots Jesse. He’s listening to whoever in his circle is talking, when she does catch his eye he wriggles his eyebrows at her. Copying him back gets him to chuckle quietly to himself. Even he had checked in on her earlier. She steers clear, his crowd looks fairly serious, and she’s not really in the mood for serious. She doesn’t get much farther before the barrack doors fly open and in walks Rex, who scans the room intently before landing on her. He jerks his head, beckoning her over, and she’s more than happy to get more distance.
She makes sure to do a wide circle midway through the aisles, careful not to—
“Don’t think I don’t see you.”
Stang.
“Hey Kix, how’s it—”
“Take your meds.” He says it without looking up from Cash’s bum arm. Cash looks like he wishes he was somewhere else.
“—going? I will.” She finishes lowly. He’d sat right by and watched her take them last time.
He leans back to unfortunately give her his full attention. “You’re clear for your next dose. Go take it or I will go into gory detail about potential flesh eating pathogens again.”
He’s been awfully no nonsense today. She wonders if it’s not his first time on Geonosis. For a lot of the 501st the planet had added another layer of anxiety. It had for Anakin.
Or Kix is just babying her too. “I will. For Cash’s sake.”
Cash lets out a huge breath as Kix eases off his arm with an apology. He’s still not done with her apparently because he tears back around to her mid-escape. “I’m not kidding around, Commander. You have no idea all the bugs you could pick up here. And worse, neither do I, take the gen antis until we can get you to a proper medical facility or I will have to stick them in a needle and jab you.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time now.” She grouses and breaks away before he can wave her off. Words like pathogens and medical facilities probably mean more shots anyway. Fun.
She finally makes it to the guy she wants to see, who’s watching her with poorly held amusement. An eyebrow cocked one way and a corner of his mouth tugging up the other.
“Not even gone for ten minutes and you’re getting into trouble.” Rex prods.
She rolls on her heels, tempted to pop him one in the shoulder and see if she can get some of that smug off his face. “Trouble? I’m not in trouble.”
His expression practically bleeds disbelief. “Ah, I overestimated you, you’re usually in plenty of trouble by now.”
She just grins sweetly at him, flashing a little too much canine than is considered polite, but Rex only shakes his head, moving further in. Funny, the center row clears out faster when he moves through it.
“How are you?” He’s a step ahead and the room is at a dull roar so he has to throw the question loudly over his shoulder.
Seven. “I’m fine. You see my Master while you were out there?”
“Passed by him a couple times, he was in the middle of a call.” Rex’s expression clears, which could mean he’s being honest and it’s nothing interesting or there’s something he knows that he doesn’t want her to poke at.
She tries to stretch out with her senses for a hint but his signature is purposefully vague. She sighs in defeat then hazards a guess. “Probably the council. I’ll bet he’s having a good time.”
There’s a spike of agreement that she picks up on and that’s all she needs to know.
Rex betrays nothing outwardly, merely nodding at Appo as they continue down the row. “Can’t say I stuck around. Kix sign off on you yet?”
Must be bad. She rolls her eyes. “Yes.” She sneakily pinches Appo’s wrist as she walks by. A few steps later she has to dodge his swat. He’s finally loosening up, good. Rex doesn’t say anything but she feels a sliver of his contentment. Rex doesn’t rough house with the boys but he doesn’t discourage it, it helps the shinies unwind. She doesn’t usually think twice about teasing and joking around but her earlier chat had made her wary? Worried? Barriss would probably be disgusted. She’s still not done being mad at her for that.
Oh great, they’re heading toward Echo, who’s had time to plot. At least she has back up now. Fives is back too, polishing his armor. She shoots past Rex so that she gets to the open spot by Fives first, out of range. Fives curses at her without heat when her crashing onto the bunk jostles him.
“Oy.”
Stretching out on her stomach as far as she can, even though it leaves her legs dangling, she beams at him. “Hi.”
With a distracting grin, she doesn’t notice till too late that he’s smearing polish on her nose. It’s sticky and reeks, something sharp and botanical. Recoiling, she groans and tries to rub it off as best she can but her hand is really only pushing it around. They can’t know how strong it is for her. That or they’re assholes.
“Be nice to Echo.” Fives chides and she picks up on a triumphant laugh.
“Augh, of course you’re on his side.”
Fives takes his pillow back before she can use it as a napkin, laughing. “Because he’ll shiv me in my sleep if I’m mean to him.”
“Or worse.” Echo supplies, looking only slightly guilty as Rex walks up.
“Or worse,” Fives agrees, not even a hair bashful. They both nod at their captain as he takes a seat on Echo’s bunk, not quite as casual as the rest of their sprawl.
She narrows her eyes menacingly at Fives, which is maybe less menacingly with her watery eyes. “Oh what, you’re not afraid of what I’ll do?”
Fives throws back his head and laughs, good and long. “You? Maybe if I’m worried about my ankles.”
She punches his armorless shoulder but that just shakes more chuckles out of him. Somewhere sometime, she is going to catch something very alive and very nippy and put it in his boot. That’ll give him something to worry about.
“Hey now, watch it,” Rex speaks up, giving her a look that says he already can guess what she’s planning. “We’ve seen how tall Togruta get. You think she’s a terror now? Wait a few more years till she’s a head taller than us.”
She warms at the idea and gives Rex an appreciative look that has him nodding back at her. Fives takes pity on her and uses his sleeve to clean her nose off. “No doubt about that, gonna send all the Seppies running, eh?”
She grins up at him. “You bet!”
What’s odd then is the loaded look that passes from Echo to Fives after he clears his throat. “Speaking of running away from the Commander...” Echo starts.
“Here we go,” she whines.
Expression shrewd, Fives picks up the rest, “You seemed to be getting into it with Commander Offee earlier. What was that about?”
Blasted Arc, such busy bodies. She peers at him keenly, chin in hand, and she knows without looking that several other heads in the barracks have now just twisted in their direction. “What do you know?”
Fives blinks at her oh so innocently, shrugs and turns back to buffing his shoulder piece like he doesn’t care. “Nothing important, just heard some things.”
“And how do you know we weren’t just talking?”
“Talkin’ pretty loud.”
Then Echo pipes in with a line that ensures everyone will be eavesdropping for fresh gossip now. “And most friendly chats don’t end with one party storming away.”
If the quieting chatting sounds and dying clatter noises are anything to go by then they most definitely have an audience. She worries her lip, aimlessly drawing figures into the blanket she’s on, wondering not for the first time what they’ll have to say. “We were having a bit of a disagreement. About you guys actually.”
At that, Fives stops playing disinterested, setting the armor aside. “Us? Like me and Echo?”
“Like who’s better looking?”
“Can it, trooper.” Rex snaps then looks at her. “Go on, Commander.”
“No, more like the whole 501st.” She rolls her eyes and ignores any other stray comments. “Barriss and the 41st aren’t close, I don’t think she spends any time with her legion outside of battles and briefings. I thought that was kinda strange but she thought it was strange that I would be here. In the barracks. With all of you.” That she’s weird and a part of her was afraid that the 501st might agree. As much as they might like her, maybe being in their space is bizarre and they’ve never said so.
Judging by the immediately baffled expressions on Fives and Echo and their twin “what's” she might be off.
Attie, who very much wasn’t eavesdropping, chimes in from a bunk away. “That’s dumb.”
And then no one pretends like they haven’t been listening and she can hear several more chiming in, conversations kicking up in other circles.
“It’s not weird, maybe abnormal--”
“Another word for weird.”
“Out of the ordinary then. Uncommon.”
“Maybe the other Commander is the weirdo.”
“Shush!”
“What’s going on?”
“Did she really say that?” Echo pipes up, expression pinching when she nods.
“The General was the one who started it,” Zeer throws in from across the row. “He wanted to know all the signals and formations and we’d help him study ‘em.”
Yup, and he’d made her study them too. She’d complained because there were a lot but they really did make the fights easier because she knew what a base of fire or hammer and anvil maneuver was. She’s not brave enough to make calls yet but she knows where to be when they happen.
“This is all just makin’ a big deal out of nothing. Commander Offee is the only one making it into an issue.”
It’s a step too far because Rex’s glare could cut steel and Fives’ shuts his mouth with a pop. She’s surprisingly glad for it, she is a little mad at Barriss but she doesn’t really want to trash talk her.
She watches and waits for Rex to speak up and she can tell he’s choosing his words carefully. With the avenue opened, he’ll be honest with her if he truly thinks she needs to hear it, and she does. Whatever he thinks, she tells herself she can accept it, even if her stomach is in knots just waiting.
His eyes go from tracing the floor to hers finally. “It’s out of the ordinary but it certainly isn’t off. A comfortable rapport with leadership is good for morale.”
She breathes out, letting her grip relax. “So you’re saying it’s not weird for me to come in here and hang out with you guys?”
“Of course not.”
“Not at all.”
“It’s not weird.”
“Not for me.”
The chorus of agreement helps a lot. She knew the problem had carried some weight but she hadn’t imagined it lifting would be such a relief. “Okay, not a big deal, but it is uncommon.” She spies a few grudging nods as she says it. “How often do other legions hang out with their Jedi Commanders and Generals?”
The murmuring is less confident here. Until one voice outside their circle chuckles, “Well if you count Commander B-”
On his feet in an instant, Rex’s flying bucket cuts the joker off and there's a roar of laughter. She gets the distinct impression she’s missing out on the joke. Rex is still pointing at someone menacingly while Fives is trying to cover his laugh and Echo just rolls his eyes.
“There’s the Wolf pack!” That’s Appo, helpfully trying to redirect.
“Yeah! Plo’s bros, they’re pretty close to their General.”
“And Shaak Ti?”
“I’d say she doesn’t really count.”
“She always said we could talk to her about anything.”
“But did we?”
She holds up her hands, trying to keep from getting off track. “But do they do what I’m doing now? Hang around in the bunks? Chat it up? And that’s only two other Jedi. See? She’s right, it’s not a Jedi thing, it’s a weird me thing.”
Trip, who crawled closer at some point, shrugs when they meet eyes. “But not like a bad weird, more… unique.”
“I think she meant it in a bad way. She said it wasn’t proper.”
“Proper? We’re at war.” Fives smarts.
“That’s what I said! Then she ran off all speechless.”
“It’s because she doesn’t know what she’s talkin’ about, Commander.” Fives says, avoiding Rex’s warning glare.
“I don’t know. Barriss is really smart.” Wicked smart and way ahead of her. If she says Jedi don’t bunk with their soldiers then she’d normally think she’s right. But it didn’t feel right, and being with the guys didn’t feel wrong. Morale is important, Rex even said it, and all those reasons Barriss gave her had felt flimsy. The Code is the Code but did it really say she couldn’t be here?
Rex’s mouth tilts slyly. “There’s a difference between smart and smart.”
She stares up at him for a long time. “What.”
He lets out a huff. “There’s a difference between book smarts and street smarts. You know what I always say, experience outranks everything.”
She covers her laugh as six different guys mouth the words in time with him out his eyeline. “That doesn’t work. She does outrank me. Barriss has been a padawan since the war started.” Probably before that.
“And General Skywalker outranks her. You don’t see him worrying about what’s proper.”
There are a few laughs at that and she looks down, feeling kind of silly at forgetting about her whole Master spending time with the 501st. “Maybe we’re both weirdos then.”
The smile is still there but the sharp wiliness of it shifts to something more gentle. “It seems to me that this is more of a personal preference, not a Jedi rule. For me, you’re more than welcome to hang out with us.”
She scans the sea of eyes, feeling warmth in her chest, overwhelming and embarrassing. “I’d like to. If you don’t mind.” She says it shyly, like they wouldn’t know her answer.
Rex sighs, faking put upon, as he says something as close to insubordination as he’ll dare. “Commander, there are a great many things I have to tolerate in this army, you are not one of them.”
“Aw, I more than tolerate you too.”