Disclaimer: The Clone Wars/The bad Batch © Disney/Lucas arts/George Lucad/Dave Filoni I'm just here wondering about when? how? Why? And why not?
A/N: the "take a sip every ten minutes to avoid upsetting your stomach and to keep at least bare minimum of hydration" was a valid advice given to me by a nurse.
All-you-can-eat
Echo was looking forward to today's dinner as the meal served at Benduday was his favorite. Long necks had a strict dietary regime. Ever since he was a cadet the menu stayed the same: Carefully calculated, not only by it's nutritional value but also in terms of conservation of excess. Benduday's dinner was the spiciest dish that looked like a crossover between hot pot and a stew. The flavoring covered the fact that it was made out of leftovers from the whole week. Echo ate quickly, basically shoveling food with a fork, barely chewing. He didn't know how he could be so hungry, yet not feeling like eating.
He finished his plate first, pretty content, leaning backward on a bench by the wall - the only place where a clone could do that. It felt almost like old times.
Benduday dinner was his comfort food.
Echo's face twisted in pain and discomfort. The man bolted out of the canteen. The rest of his squad paid him no mind. Echo was a newbie on the team - they didn't yet know his habits, nor what to expect of a cyborg.
Only Crosshair looked up from his plate, eyes following his team member as he disappear around the corner.
That corridor lead to the communal restrooms.
After the Bad Batch finished their food, Echo was nowhere to be found. Having nothing better to do, and presuming he was most likely stopped by some higher up or even more plausible by a friend from 501st, the crew got back to their living quarters to dig up some sweet baked goods, they bought with them on their way back to Kamino. It was stashed just for such occasions - a dessert to be enjoyed with a mug of caf.
Echo joined them much later in their living area. His sickly white complexion had a green hue. Bags under his eyes were much deeper purple than normal. Skin was glistening from sweat. In the sharp light of Kamino facility, he looked almost as bad as the day they freed him from the Techno Union Facility at Skako Minor.
Just as Echo was about to explain his absence, the smell of pies and caf hit his nostrils. The cyborg's eyes widened with horror. He covered his nose and run to the toilet. Thankfully each living quarters had one at the back. The squad looked at each-other, confused, if not worried for their comrade.
Hunter stood up, reached for Echo's water flask placed by his hammock then followed the cyborg to the restroom. It took the tracker a while to come back.
"upset stomach," Hunter confirmed "or that's why Echo thinks it is"
They could hear the cyborg's dry heaving in the background.
"it doesn't look nor sound like an upset stomach to me" the sniper sneered
"indeed" Tech interjected "the reaction is way too violent for a simple stomach bug"
"How many cyborgs have you met to come to this scientific discovery?" Crosshair scoffed.
Tech pointed his chin at the vague direction of their sick comrade.
Echo refused to leave the restroom. Afraid he would have to run back again. He was extremely thirsty, but every time he took a few gulps of the water, it immediately came back up. Hunter delegated himself to water refill duty, checking, at the same time, the cyborg's condition.
Out of the whole team Wrecker was visibly the most disturbed by the ARC trooper's state. He had never even seen a person so sick before, let alone a clone. He paced by the toilet's doors. Then, as if making a decision, went to his bunk, then to the spot where Echo sat against the toilet.
"if you're still feeling sick" Wrecker whispered theatrically, crouching next to his team member "I can lend you Lula... to keep you company as you puke" The larger man placed the doll on his sick companion's lap and lovingly put his mechanical arm around it. "Just... give her back once you're feeling better, OK?"
The ARC trooper raised his gaze from the toilet bowl. He tried to focus his watery, blood-shot eyes on the mountain of a clone. The spec-op wasn't even sure if Echo understood what was said to him.
As on cue, Hunter emerged from behind Wrecker, with Echo's flask in hand. He put the container down by his feet just in time to the cyborg's eyes to roll back. If not for Hunter's speed and agility the sick clone's head would hit the toilet bowl.
The ARC trooper woke up with anxiety forming at the back of his throat like an alien growth. Panicked, he looked around the room, breathing heavy. He followed the curvature of his arm, and the rows of IVs and hep-locks perturbing from it. Some of them were even attached to the ports planted in his body by the Techno Union. Was he still-? Was he again-? Was that... Wrecker's plush toy?
What was it's name, again? Lola? Lalu?
Lula. Right. Lula.
He cradled the toy and looked around, just now noticing the familiar equipment of a Kaminioan med bay. It was almost empty, too, by the stillness and silence of the place.
"don't move just yet," a clone medic warned. "I'll help you in a moment"
He had his back turned toward the ARC trooper, but all medics had a sixth sense when it came to the safety of their charges.
The medic wore the standard medical uniform and had a buzz cut. It appeared that he had a tattoo on the side of his head partially hidden by his haircut. Echo was able only to recognize good and is that poked out from under the short, thick brown hair.
"Kix?" he barely recognized his friend.
"yes?" The 501st medic approached his friend and assisted him to sit up.
"You've given the Batch quite a scare." Kix gave him a glass of water. "They went into full panic mode."
Echo flinched at the sight of his drink, his stomach twisted uncomfortably.
"They've abducted me right from under the shower" Kix complained, more amused than angry. "Just a sip, Echo" the medic tried to coax his patient into drinking, seeing the distress on the man's face "one sip every ten minutes – nothing more, I promise - you have to start drinking on your own now - drips cannot provide enough hydration"
Echo took the smallest of sips, sloshed the water around his mouth as the medic set the timer for another water intake.
"Guys were worried sick about you. Even him-" Kix pointed theatrically at the couch at the far end of the room where Crosshair was laying "I had to give him mild sedatives, otherwise I'm sure he would watch you for the whole night... man, he was breathing down my neck when I worked on you..."
"What happened?"
"let's just say that your... new body... configuration is neither used to the quality nor quantity of the food we're serving at Kamino" Kix tapped something on his data-pad "You've aggravated your stomach to a point it couldn't even hold liquids"
Echo squeezed Wrecker's toy tighter.
"I'm not saying you won't be able to eat anything normal anymore... just..." Kix hesitated, searching for the right expression "that... during the procedures they performed on you, your stomach was reduced and I don't know if it was by accident or by design, then when you were in confinement they found a different means to feed you. It will take time for your body to get used to solid foods and you'll have to adjust the portion sizes to your condition... Echo?" the medic called, seeing the blank stare on the ARC trooper's face. "Breath."
The clone trooper exhaled. He hadn't noticed he was holding his breath.
"For the next several rotations you're on a strict diet regime: gruel - six times a day, plain, unsalted, one-fourth of a standard bowl and water, drink it reasonably in-between meals. Maybe you can spice it up a little with some herbal brew, unsweetened, of course, if your body feels generous."
"it doesn't"
"give it time to adjust"
The medic sat down next to the ARC trooper. There was silence between them that sounded as if Echo wanted to say something. Kix sensed that, so he waited. However whatever the ARC trooper wanted to voice out never left his lips.
"I've already informed your squad about your condition." Kix finally spoke "Tech swore, he'll meticulously measure your portion sizes - his words not mine, by the way" the medic placed his cold hand on a nape of Echo's neck. "Crosshair promised he'll make sure Wrecker won't be tempting you, or rather forcing you, to eat anything outside your diet regime"
Before Echo could register what was happening, Kix wrapped his arms around his brother's torso in an awkward attempt at hugging.
"Everything's gonna work itself out... I promise"
By the time another timer went off, reminding Echo to drink, Kix was gone – as 501st had another campaign to win. With heavy heart the cyborg took a sip of water - slightly bigger this time – those were the medic's orders, after all.
Hunter came in with a refilled water flask just as another reminder went off.