"I've been buying the wrong underwear."
"Come here. I want to show you something." Leia beckoned to him from her office. "Are the boys asleep?"
"Yes." He leaned over her chair as she adjusted her projector. "What is it?"
"One of the archivist at the museum sent this to me. Look." The projection jumped up, a still image of five very fit young men in five different pairs of undershorts. An advertisement of some kind.
It took him a minute to realize that all of the men had a the same face. A very familiar face.
Leia went to the next image. A young man with an intricate pattern shaved into his head lounged against a marble wall, wearing nothing but a pair of tight black shorts. Just behind him, a man with striking tattoos modeled a pair of shiny red shorts with a playful grin.
The next image had four of them in a shower room, three with towels wrapped around their waists, admiring the forth man's sleek blue shorts. The third scene was clearly supposed to be in a military barracks, although it didn't look like any military barracks Fett had ever seen. Stylized art prints covered the walls, and there was a rug on the floor next to an immaculate pair of trooper boots.
A young man reclined on a bunk in a pair of white shorts, the contrast striking against his tan skin. His hair was a little longer than regulation, it had a little curl to it. His helmet rested on the bunk in front of his chest. Phase I armor. This was early on in the war.
"Apparently there was a whole campaign," Leia said. "The company went all out, really tried to capitalize on the whole 'heroes of the republic" thing. Then at the last minute, the GAR refused to let them run the ads.
"Why?"
"My guess? It was too humanizing." Her tone was grim. "They didn't want people to think about clones like that."
Fett straightened, and put his arms around her from behind. "I've been buying the wrong underwear."
Leia put her hand up and touched his cheek. "Yes, you have," she said with a soft laugh. "But there's always room for improvement."