A/N: Hey everybody. This fic was given as a prompt challenge by WestwardGlance. The prompt was, "Ezra and Zeb try to prank Sabine, but it goes horribly wrong." There was also a rule that it had to be completed in less than an hour (though I think I took 2 hours haha). Also look out for other fics for the same challenge written by WestwardGlance and SweetSinger2010. We all traded prompts and we all wrote them incredibly fast. Enjoy!
"Ugh, Alderaanian food again? Can't you two cook something else for a change?" Sabine said as she looked distastefully at the meal before her.
"What!?" Zeb growled, his apron fluttering as he turned away from the stove to throw an angry look at the Mandalorian girl. "Last time we made Alderaanian goat kabobs! Before that it was Alderaanian trout fillets! This is an Alderaanian stork salad!"
"Yeah, Sabine! They're all completely different dishes!" Ezra joined in, pulling the chef hat from his head and throwing it on the ground.
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Well it doesn't help when you keep using Alderaanian spices. I don't care if the dishes are different, they taste the same!"
Ezra shrugged, making an unbelieving expression. "Oh really, Sabine! Tell me how…just how can you not appreciate the subtle differences between the dishes' textures?"
"Alderaanian food is all about texture, Sabine!" Zeb chimed in, his attention half focused on the dressing he was mixing.
"Well I'm sorry but I'm gonna pass this time. I'll be appreciating the texture of a ration bar for dinner tonight." Sabine stood up from the table, grabbing a ration bar from the pantry as she made her exit.
"I can't believe this!" Zeb slammed his fist on the counter. "I work so hard to cook these meals so she doesn't have to eat cheap, wrapped up garbage…but she chooses it anyway!"
"I know," Ezra agreed. "Man, she always gets like this when Kanan and Hera are gone for too long. Those two just had to make a supply run and leave us floating above the planet. We all know what's goin' on."
"Yeah. They use it as an excuse to be alone." Zeb finished Ezra's point.
"Well I'm not standing for Sabine's bossiness anymore…we're going to get back at her."
"Oh, I like the sound of that," Zeb smirked deviously. "Anything particular you have in mind?"
"Hmm…" Ezra stroked his chin, thinking hard. He then made his own devious smile. "Say…wasn't she going to dye her hair tonight?"
Zeb's smirk emerged into a grin. "Oh…I like where this is going…"
[A/N: YouTube search 'Ocean's Eleven Main Title Theme'. Play it for this next part]
"Alright. Here's the plan. Sabine keeps all of her dyeing products inside her room. First thing we gotta do is get inside."
"How are you gonna manage that? She never leaves it unlocked."
"Chopper's gonna help us out…"
Sabine sat in her room, startled by a clanking know at the door which she promptly opened.
"Chopper? What do you want- HEY!" Sabine was cut off by the droid accelerating into her room and fleeing with one of her prized paint guns. "Hey, give that back!" Sabine chased after him, leaving her room unattended while Ezra and Zeb slipped inside, locating the box of Sabine's hair dyes.
"You know he's gonna demand some kind of payment."
"That goes without saying."
"Okay, so we have a way in…but there's so many dyes. How do you know which ones she's gonna use tonight?"
"Her sketch book. Sabine always notes her final choice in it. So all we have to do is find it and look through the last few pages."
"Brilliant."
Inside the room, Ezra dragged Sabine's box of dyes out from under her bed. Feeling a nudge on his shoulder, Ezra noticed Zeb pointing out the sketchbook that lay on Sabine's bed. Grabbing it, Ezra flipped through, where on the final page a design of neon blue was prominently circled with the words "Final" scribbled under it.
"And the next part is where your expertise comes in, Zeb…"
"Right…Naboorian stink-bug sac. The liquid inside has no visible color, and when extracted it takes a full twenty-four hours for the smell to kick in."
"We also gotta be careful not to let it fall onto any surface or she'll realize it's not the dye that's the problem."
Holding the incredibly small sac over an open bottle of neon blue dye, Zeb cut into it, carefully dripping the sac's liquid into the bottle. Squeezing the last of it out, Zeb waited as Ezra procured a glass container. Zeb promptly dropped the sac inside with Ezra closing its lid tightly. The two then rearranged everything as Sabine had left it it before finally leaving the room.
"Sabine will then return to her room after chopper's distraction, unaware that we were even inside."
"Gah! That damn droid." Sabine returned from down the hall, paint gun in hand. Entering her room, she paused to look around. Seemingly fine with everything, she brought out her dye box and sketchbook to begin dying her hair as she had decided.
"And when she finally goes through with dyeing her hair, she'll have no idea that she's about to make herself into a stink-bomb."
"Perfect."
[A/N: End Song]
It was the next day—nearly twenty-four hours since Ezra and Zeb's plan was executed. Just as planned, Sabine had dyed her hair into a brilliant neon blue gradient, and the two tricksters were waiting with baited breath for the smell from the stink-sac to kick in.
"What's up, you two?" Sabine asked suspiciously, sitting at the table as the boy and Lasat cooked another meal.
"Huh? Nothings up." Zeb answered.
"Yeah right. You two have been passing glances at me all day. What, do you not like my new hair?" Sabine arrogantly flipped what little hair hung loose behind her neck.
"We're just getting used to it is all." Ezra casually replied. "Looks good."
Eventually all of them sat down to eat. And that's when it hit. The smell had emerged…and it was horrible.
"Oh…geez what's that smell." Ezra said robotically, though his gag afterwards was real.
"Karablast! It's atrocious!" Zeb followed suit, trying his best not to crack a smile.
Sabine too noticed the smell and plugged her nose. "Ugh! What did you two do to yourselves. You stink!"
"What? There's no way it's us. I'm pretty sure it's you." Zeb said.
"Yeah, what'd you use some bad dye or something?" Ezra said, trying hard not to laugh.
"No. I'm pretty sure it's you two…" Sabine smiled.
Seeing the girl's sly smile, Ezra and Zeb's stomachs dropped. And that's when they noticed. She was right, they were the source…not her.
"Ack! Oh man what the hell did you do to us!?" Ezra cried, the pungency of the smell kept increasing.
Zeb too, with his heightened sense of smell, realized as well. Previously he figured he would have to suffer a bit of the smell after putting it on Sabine. But now he was the one who stunk…and he couldn't get away from it.
"Hmph. You two should know better than to try and prank me." Sabine stood up, a triumphant look on her face. She then procured a sealed glass container which the two recognized as the same one Ezra used to dispose the stink-sac with. "You both should have paid more attention to your shampoos last night."
"How!? How did you know!?" Ezra asked, frustrated while trying to keep his nose plugged. It didn't help though. The smell could not be blocked out.
"You two should know that I have a certain, unstable droid on retainer to watch my back for things like this."
It was then that chopper entered the room. The reflecting light in his lenses looking a bit clever.
"You sold us out, Chopper!?" Zeb yelled.
"How could you!? I promised to get you some new bolts for your leg!"
The droid beeped haughtily, getting a pet from Sabine as he rolled up beside her.
"Guess he figured one of my promised oil baths is worth more than some half-polished bolts that you'd provide." Sabine laughed.
Ezra and Zeb looked defeated, still holding their hands over their noses.
"Well, even so…at least you still have to suffer the smell with us." Ezra said.
As if on cue, Sabine procured another item from her satchel. "You two aren't very bright, are you?" She said as she flashed her painting mask—air filter and all—in front of her two victims. Immediately she put it on, taking a deep breath of fresh, filtered air with it "Well, I'll see you two around." Sabine saluted the two idiots, leaving to her room, free from the burden of the awful smell.
"Zeb..."
"Yeah…?"
"How long is this smell gonna last?"
"…"
"…"
"…You don't wanna know, Ezra."