Chapter 16: First Hangover
(Day 14 w/ the Bad Batch)
Being a young adult and having the fun which consists of partying it up in bars was romanticized in holos, displayed as being the cool way you should spend your free time during the best years of your life.
But Talla discovered that there was nothing cool about the morning after a night of binge drinking. And it started when the soft morning rays peeking in burned her retinas after her eyes finally opened late that morning, and it didn't go away no matter how many times she tried blinking it off - that was definitely not cool.
And there was nothing cool about how her head felt like it was being relentlessly pounded against a hard surface even though she was just lying there, completely still. And it was not cool when she did try to shakily push her upper body off the mattress, and a severe case of dizziness hit her on a level she had never experienced before made her fall back down and groan in agony. The low hum of the ship that had grown to become a comforting sound of home now only aggravating her painfully throbbing head, or the immense fatigue despite just waking up, or how her throat was dryer than the desert planet of Tatooine...
None of this was cool.
When the cup of water sitting on her nightstand was finally processed through her fried circuits for brains, Talla snatched it and downed that refreshing cup much like Wrecker did with his drinks last night. Once finished, the hungover for the first-time clone shifted so that she was hunched at the edge of her bed and groaned as the slightest movement sent more waves of dizziness, nausea, lightheadedness - by the moons of Gozgo Talla wished someone would send a blaster bolt through her skull and put her out of her misery!
And guzzling that cup so fast turned out to not do her severe nausea any favors. It was a miracle she even made it to the refresher with her intense vertigo, and before the water made a disgusting reappearance.
To put it simply, today was not going to be a good day.
The only good thing about throwing up, and honestly it wasn't even that good of a thing, was that Talla got a chance to look in the mirror when she rinsed her mouth out and thank the force she did because her face looked like it had suffered a terrible accident! The once separate red and black eyeliner winged to perfection was now smudged in a terrifying splotch around each bloodshot eye, and it made them look they had been gouged out. And her lips... Not in the slightest better. And her hair might as well have been a mynock nest.
Boy, was she glad Hunter didn't see her like this. Why it mattered, she hadn't figured that out yet.
In the common room, Tech and Crosshair were lounging at the dining table and enjoying warm cups of caf, the former perfectly chipper and okay from his moderated drinking and the latter only having mild symptoms of a hangover. But a truly hilarious and pitiful sight trudged in and cured Crosshair of all his mild symptoms, because this was what he had hoped for - hilarious results from getting Talla drunk!
Agent Talla slowly shuffled into the common room with her red comforter draped over her head and wrapped around her aching body. Her eyes were droopy, bloodshot and dead, and a deep scowl was on her face - a product of her suffering.
This was worth the humiliation from losing the bet he made last night, and all those mean things Hunter said to spite him. "Well, good morning!" Now chipper Crosshair bid Talla with an amused glint in his eyes.
Talla winced. With her headache and all it was as if he was yelling through a megaphone disk. "Must you yell?" She grumbled moodily, slowly lowering herself down next to Tech and wrapping the blanket around herself tighter in an attempt for some, any measure of comfort.
Crosshair calmly raised his cup of caf to his lips while cheekily saying, "Oh cyar'ika, I'm not yelling." His smirk into his mug was testy and showed his complete willingness to make her feel miserable. "But I could."
Talla lowered her throbbing forehead to rest against the cool table surface and requested in a muffled voice, "If you could whisper, make the room stop spinning and turn off all the lights, I'd really appreciate it." She groaned again. "I'm never doing a shot contest ever again."
Pouring himself another cup of hot caf, Tech happily informed her, "Caffeine helps with the pounding headache -"
At this promise for relief, Talla's head shot up, she regretted it for about half a second, and then she snatched the caf pot from Tech's unsuspecting hand and plopped it in front of her on the table. Next she grabbed the sugar container and began shoveling sugar into the pot of dark bitter liquid, paused in contemplation, and just decided to pour all the contents of the container into the pot, tapping its bottom to get every last bit of the crystalline solid that was the first of two additives for caf that made it bearable for her, then tossed the empty container haphazardly over her shoulder. Talla repeated this action with the creamer jug, then she used the former sugar spoon to stir the coffee, sugar, cream mixture before throwing the spoon down and taking several gulps, not caring about how the scalding hot liquid burned her all the way down to her stomach - it was nothing compared to the hangover symptoms she was experiencing.
The boy's stared at her in bewilderment.
"But given your reaction to caf, I would recommend painkillers." Tech finished with his pouring hand still suspended in the air, and Crosshair muttered 'Oh boy' under his breath as Talla took gulp after gulp of the caf, and for not the first time since he met Talla was absolutely terrified. The amount of caffeine and sugar she was ingesting was enough to kill a Bantha! Not that he cared of course.
Poor, pitiful hungover Wrecker shuffled into the room next and like Talla had his red comforter draped securely around himself, and he was groaning loudly from his suffering. "Pass the caf." He muttered grumpily, plopping down next to Crosshair.
By now Talla had gulped down the last dregs of the caf and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and pushed the empty pot across the table towards him, then drew her feet up onto the seat so she could prop her forehead up against her knees, and completely enclosed her body within her comforter. This dark cocoon that she had created not only blocked out any light, but it also muffled a lot of noise so she could experience a small amount of relief while waiting for the pot of caf to cure her.
Sadly, she was in for a disappointment.
Wrecker blinked and turned the pot upside down once he got a hold of it, then groaned again in despair since no one else was willing to make more. Tech just wordlessly handed him the two capsules and cup of water meant for Talla, and he scowled before taking them and chugging them both down. "Where's Hunter?" He wondered after, pulling his blanket around himself tighter for comfort like Talla did.
"He was already gone when I woke up." Crosshair unhelpfully told him with a one shoulder shrug, having no satisfactory answer.
Wrecker blinked in surprise. "So we're here... all alone... by ourselves?" Wrecker's shock was deserved. After the skyscraper explosion last week, it was a miracle that last night Hunter let them head to the bar without his supervision, and considering him and Talla's severe hangovers, Tech's broken nose from landing on his face after his dive over the second story railing, and a near brawl caused by Crosshair who couldn't pay up the fifty creds he stupidly bet, Wrecker truly thought they'd never be let out of his sight again.
"Not really." Tech revealed, then directed everyone's attention (minus Talla) to a small device in the upper corner of the room that had a lense and consistently flashing green light. "Hunter woke me up shortly after dawn and had me boot up the security-cam system we had originally decided not to use, then link the network to his datapad so he could watch the live feed and keep an eye on us while he ran his errand."
Crosshair had abruptly straightened in his chair and gave Tech an incredulous look as he divulged this valuable information, and asked when he finished, "Wait, you saw him?"
Tech was, as usual, unfazed, "Yes."
Crosshair rolled his eyes, thinking this was another one of those 'I thought it was obvious' moments, "Well, then where did he go, di'kut?"
This made Tech bristle, "There is no need for name-calling, Crosshair." He chided, "If I knew where he went, I would have said so."
Debatable. "Did he at least give any hints, Tech?"
"Hunter kept the conversation strictly on the security system," Crosshair humphed disappointedly but Tech actually wasn't done, "In fact, the only time the topic changed was when he asked me if I would be able to somehow forge a proper identification card for him -" Crosshair's disinterested face morphed into one of slight terror at this illegal request, but yet again Tech wasn't finished, " - and I of course took that shred of doubt on his part as a challenge to my exceptional mind... and I of course thought of nothing else for the next allotted time frame required to forge the ID -" Crosshair's hands wrapped around his warm mug twitched as he fought the urge to strangle his genius but ironically at the same time absolutely clueless brother, but said dolt was still had the grand finale, "- and by the time I realized what he had asked me to do was, in fact, highly illegal and could cost him what very little he had in life, he and the finished identification card bearing the name Hunter Lawquane had disappeared."
The day was not complete unless one or all of them face-palmed from a clueless Tech moment, and whaddya know it was before noon when this predicted event occurred, so it did not bode well for the rest of the day. Even super sick Talla peeked an eye out from her safety cocoon to give him a half-way glare.
Tech's life was spared only because Hunter sauntered into the common area exactly one second before Crosshair launched himself across the table at Mr. Clueless. There was a spring in Hunter's step that had never before been seen on such a taciturn man and would probably never be seen again, and the fact that he was, dare I say it, peppy - kriff, the man was even whistling a merry tune! - the four soldiers under his command felt their hearts leap into their throats, and when they saw the large duffel bag he was carrying on his back, they each experienced a painful knot in their stomachs.
Oh no.
Talla was the only one brave enough to inquire what was in the mysterious bag after slowly uncovering her head and clearing her throat. "Um... whatcha got there, Sarge?"
The unspoken questions: Really, what could you have possibly gotten with a real (fake) ID you couldn't get without one? Clones can buy or get practically anything a regular citizen can, as long as it isn't over like twenty credits. And we can basically go anywhere too...
His response was not a verbal one. No, with a dramatic air about it he slid the duffel off of his shoulder, unzipped it and literally dumped the contents of the large bag onto the dining table. Thankfully wasn't a body, only the next worst thing - stolen goods! In this case, a hoard of credits worth thousands no doubt, all in low currency denominations, tripling the physical cred amount poured onto the table in a glittering wave that gave off a wonderful tune of clinks which signaled the Bad Batch were now, somehow, filthy rich.
Like Hunter, every clone on this ship had never seen this much money in their lives, and obviously in no way would ever earn so much at one time with their measly clone allowance, and even after the war would most likely never see such a payday, thus making them draw the terrible conclusion that there was only one way their leader, who they last checked was a lowly clone just like them, had acquired such a treasure: he had robbed a bank. There was no other explanation. Why he needed a fake ID to get into that public place they didn't know, and frankly they didn't care about that tiny detail that didn't add up because there were bigger issues here.
"Wow." Crosshair uttered after a few charged seconds of silence, eyes almost bugged out from the stash in fear, but at the same time had to fight the urge to drool at the huge pile of valuable silver and bronze rectangles so close he could actually touch it, feel it, but he didn't because he feared he'd wake up from this sweet dream that also happened to be a terrible nightmare. "It took six years, but he finally cracked." He shared a look of genuine awe with his brothers who were experiencing the same symptoms of unbridled fear plus trying to suppress their apparent lust for money, "We actually did it, we drove him to insanity." He made a noise of disbelief, "I always dreamed of the day he'd lose it -" All longing was overpowered by ferocity now directed at grinning Hunter - oh my force, Hunter was actually grinning😦- "But now I guess we're going down with him since he's made us his unwitting accomplices!"
"Aw man!" Talla lamented, "I just got out of the Sithspawn Prison from Hell and now I'm gonna get locked up in another?!" Through the haze of her mind, she concocted a stupidly drastic plan that she relayed with dead seriousness to the other three potential victims, "I say we cut our losses and jettison him and the money into wild space, then wipe the location data from the nav-computer. No evidence=no case, no case=no jail."
Crosshair huffed annoyingly, but his answer showed his support, albeit of the unwilling variety, "Never thought I'd ever agree with the high and mighty Agent Talla -" The dirty look thrown at the amused Hunter from Crosshair would have disintegrated him on the spot if it wielded such power, and the same would have happened to Crosshair if Talla's had the same fake power, "Thanks a lot, Sarge!"
Tech recovered his voice finally, "Hunter, I must ask -"
"No No!" Talla rudely interrupted Tech with frantic wave of her hands, "We absolutely do NOT need to ask any more questions, otherwise we'll never survive the lie detectors."
The look she received from the clone who had to know everything resembled a lost puppy, "... But -"
"No." Talla reiterated desperately.
Tech tried a pleading tone to get her to let him speak, "But Talla I must know -"
"But Tech no you don't -"
He resorted to speaking over her after that, a rare time he raised his voice a little, "But Talla, you are forgetting one crucial fact to your disposal plan!" She quirked an inquisitive brow at him while he raised his signature pointer finger at finally having her attention, "There are security cams all over Coruscant, so the Guard are most likely en route to the Havoc Marauder as we speak to arrest Hunter, and since it will be clear that this was a one-man job, we might as well know what happened before Hunter is shipped off to... wherever clones who rob banks are shipped off to, because we will most likely not be informed of his status due to our position as the lowest of the low in the Republic, and the media will distort everything thus not be a reliable source."
With a chuckle Hunter decided to put them out of their misery and happily plopped down next to Wrecker who had still not processed their newfound illegal riches. "Alright, you can stop all the melodramatic conspiracy theories - I didn't rob a bank."
Oh, it's not illegal? :D
"Then how did ya get all this?!" Wrecker marveled, and now knowing it wasn't robbed from a bank, he was the first to reach out and actually touch the precious metals... Well, they weren't actually made of precious metals, but they were precious in the sense that they made them RICH!
"Follow up question: why did you need a fake ID to get it?" Talla queried nervously.
Hunter shifted his eyes away from hers to fight the creeping blush threatening to embarrass him, "Do you remember anything that happened last night?" On one hand Hunter hoped no, because there were some awkward moments he swore to take to his grave if she didn't remember, but on the flipside, he didn't want to recap everything that had almost happened to her, make her relive it.
Flashes of Rhyden, the glowing orange deathstick, his kindness turned aggressive, her retaliation, it caused her to squeeze her eyes shut and rub her temple in discomfort, "Ummm, the last thing I clearly remember is snapping the wrist of that sleemo Rhyden after he tried to -" She didn't want to say it, so a crease appeared on her forehead as she tried concentrating really hard to make sense of some blurry images of what happened next. "You and I talked, then next I think Crosshair gave me a shot of something strong?" She shook her head confusedly and gave him a defeated look and shrug. "After that I'm drawing a blank."
Oh that was a huge relief. Hunter immediately felt relaxed and merry again, "Well, sleemo is the one to thank for this. I turned him into the Coruscant Guard, and turns out there was a reward on his head for -" Maybe be vague? Don't wanna upset her. "Um, lots of different charges -"
"Relating to aggravated sexual assault, I presume?" Tech finished accurately and bluntly. "Most likely including drugging and even perhaps a weapon?"
When Talla became rigid in fear as a result of this gruesome guess, Hunter gave his tactless little brother a tight smile, "Thank you, Tech, for your input. I was trying to be sensitive."
This was extremely out of character, "Why?" Crosshair wondered as Tech surprisingly shrugged the hypocritical offhand comment off, "You've never bothered too before. You're as straightforward as they come, like the rest of us."
Hunter was blatantly vague again then pushed the topic of conversation back to the money so no one could ask more suspicious questions, for his sake and Talla's, "Trying something new - anyways, the only thing required to accept a reward in cash was a name and proof of identity, and I didn't even have to go to the bank, I just went down to the detention center. The incompetent regs working there didn't even scan the card in, so I wasn't put in the system, so I'm not even on the radar. Plus their security system was glitching and in the process of being fixed during the ten minutes I was there, so no one will have a recording of my face." He gestured to his torso, more specifically his hooded jacket, "My face was hidden from any other cam from there to here, so as far as anyone is concerned, I just did my duty as a loyal, normal citizen and received a reward because of it."
This was good enough of an explanation for the other three men, and they dove into the stash, selfishly pocketing what they each decided was their fair amount, but Talla did something she had never dared to do up until now because it was disrespectful and would possibly get her shipped back to Kamino - she openly disagreed her commanding officers' decisions, in front of the other soldiers under his command, and actually went so far as to reprimand him, "That was an incredibly stupid risk, Hunter!" Oh boy, she actually called him by his name too. His eyes sparked indignantly at this challenge, "I have no idea what the punishment is for embezzling clones -"
In the midst of scooping, Tech still managed to raise his pointer finger, "If this is indeed embezzling -"
Talla was having none of it, "Either way, this was a decision that could have had drastic consequences!" Her eyes wide with worry bore into Hunter's surprised ones, "You could have been thrown in jail or worse, sent back to Nala Se! And do you know what she does to experiments who don't meet her standards?" She didn't allow him a chance to respond, "It's the same reason there aren't disfigured versions of me hobbling around Kamino - all those failed experiments were executed, Hunter. That's what I was trying to tell you in the cave on Silva!" She sighed heavily and felt a stress migraine coming on, "But I've since learned of the Bad Batcher pact about not letting any one of our own suffer at the hands of the mistress ever again, so we'd probably blast anyone who tried to arrest you off the face of the planet and then become fugitives of the Republic." Her anxious ramble painted quite a grim tale that seemed to be happening for her even though it really wasn't, "Except I don't know about you but living a life on the run isn't one I want, especially if it means hiding out in enemy territory to avoid former allies who will probably be given orders to shoot us on the spot, so I'll probably be put between a rock and a hard place trying to decide to stay loyal to you and getting shot up full of plasma, or stay loyal to the Republic and live to fight another day!"
Taking a pause from stacking credits he claimed onto the table in front of him, Crosshair rolled his eyes at her continued display of melodrama, "But you won't have to, Hunter made sure of that, so don't be a spoil sport." Secretly though, Crosshair was hoping she would push the boundaries, thus causing Hunter to lay into her like on Silva, because that was a show he wanted a front row seat to again.
"No, because he just happens to also be incredibly lucky, which is not a good combo with stupidity!"
If Hunter had a credit for every time one of his soldiers called him out on a stupid decision he made while being emotionally charged, he'd have two credits... which wasn't a lot but it was kind of sad it had happened twice in less than two weeks. And while admittedly Hunter had to count to ten because he hated being called out in front of everyone, he remembered the other promise he made with himself about doing good by her, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel like she was going to be sent back to Kamino. And, a small part of him did acknowledge this was something that did fall into the stupid category, thus prompting him to say with forced calmness, "I agree, this was a rash decision made while under the influence and also fueled by my hate for the long-necks and their pathetic excuse for an allowance -"
No yelling? Crosshair mentally sighed in disappointment. Bummer.
"I usually don't risk anything that would tear apart this squad, but nothing happened and nothing is going to happen because like you said - No evidence=no case, no case=no jail."
"Works for me!" Wrecker proceeded to throw a handful of credits up in the air and let them fall back down like a nonexistent rain of the best kind, whooping and hollering while Tech scolded him and got down on his hands and knees to anxiously retrieve every last bit of the valuable precipitation.
"You can't tell me that you won't enjoy spending this money." Crosshair goaded her with a push of several hundreds worth across the table to her.
Her resolve began to crumble when she laid eyes on gleaming pile of moola mere centimeters away from her hands gripping the edge of the table. Man oh man, this is a fine looking illegal temptation. Although, Hunter did say he didn't even really have to use the fake ID... it's not even in the system... hmmm... maybe not so illegal?
After a bout of anxious silence, she cleared her dry throat and attempted to give Hunter a no-nonsense look, "Will you please promise to never take such a stupid risk ever again?" She corrected her question, "At least off the battlefield because I've read this squad's file and know what kind of stuff you pull while fighting clankers?"
Well if it meant no more scolding, "I promise."
Whatever shreds of responsibility Talla had, she desperately tried to hold onto while tentatively reaching out to the forbidden fruit, "And can we save some of it? For emergencies? Because I will not blow through..." Her eyes flicked up at him with inquiry, "How much -?"
"Seventeen thousand." He simpered.
Talla's jaw dropped, Wrecker's next handful of credits to be thrown up in the air dropped from his hand, Crosshair almost fainted, and Tech actually did black out for two seconds when he rammed his head trying to abruptly shoot up from underneath the table. "Seventeen thousand?!" Everyone repeated in stupefaction, Tech a little later and shakier than the rest.
"For one little rapist?" Crosshair couldn't believe that, and briefly considered the bank robbing theory again.
"He was wanted on seventeen planets."
Oh, thank the Force.
Those shreds of responsibility were quickly shrinking to threads now, "I do think we should save some of it because of what Blair told me about Nala Se restricting funds once they see my defiance," Talla picked up a nice-looking silver credit worth twenty and grinned mischievously, "But I don't see why we can't each take a well-deserved shopping spree!"
Whatever sicky symptoms those hungover had before, it was nothing compared to the potential exhilaration of getting some of the things they've always wanted. I say potential because right as they were going to speed off to the markets - messed up party clothes, no shoes, untamed hair and all - a happy trio made entered the common area - Talla's new pal Nik and his companions, her Glam Squad.
"What's up - oh my kriff, where did you get all that?!" Nik gawked at the pile of cash. "Did you rob a bank?!" He immediately assumed with a fearful gasp.
Skylar grabbed the others hands and forced them to whip around with her and high tail it out of there, "If we only saw it for half a second, I'm 99% certain we won't even be considered eyewitnesses!"
"Have fun in prison!" Blair called over her shoulder as they began stumbling down the ramp.
Hunter was quick to chase after them and persuade them to come back, and after it was clarified that the trio weren't going to be forced to fly the getaway ship, they eagerly listened to the grim but happy tale of how the Bad Batch came into possession of this money.
Skylar did sidle up to Talla and offered some low comforting words for her new friend who almost didn't have a good experience partying it up for the first time, while Nik tried to lighten the mood and steer the conversation away from her flustered self with a hilarious story of his own first and only encounter with deathsticks. The colorfully distorted universe made him think he was in a club when in reality after finishing the smoke he had wandered away from the club he had visited, and somehow ended up in the quiet Museum of Multispecies Sciences, interpretively dancing to imaginary music in the lobby.
When the clone agent no longer felt embarrassed or post frightened from the near assault, Skylar nervously asked the question she had been dying to ask since Talla left them yesterday. "Did you... you know -?" Talla's facia features were blank, signaling that she had no idea what Skylar was referring to, "Did you ask him -?" Her head subtlety nodded to Wrecker, who was laughing as Nik showed him the hilarious recorded holo footage of younger him in the museum that the police so thoughtfully gave the tattoo artist as a reminder for how bad drugs are.
"OH!" The color drained from Skylar's face when Talla did not respond with as much subtlety. No, there was none as she excitedly got Wrecker's attention right then and there when she remembered the promise made on her part, "Skylar wants you to call her sometime! She wants to be your girlfriend!"
You could have heard a pin drop from the stunned silence that followed. Skylar was mortified and redder than a Sith Lord's lightsaber, boisterous Wrecker was stunned into never-before-seen silence, Talla was cluelessly beaming, and the rest were a mixture of the first two plus awkwardness.
Thankfully, Blair came to the rescue. "Well it's about damn time!" Her dry but happy response was, "You've been crushing on him since he came to the shop almost two years ago!"
"It's the coward's way to do it, but I approve." Nik teased, pulling his sister into a headlock to muss up her hair, which earned him a shove and a punch. "Ow!"
It finally clicked with Wrecker what she had asked him. She wanted to his girlfriend! HIS GIRLFRIEND! "For real?" He asked her with so much bashfulness in his wide, hopeful eyes it made Skylar's heart melt.
Lots of people (and by lots, I mean the very short friend list) expected Hunter or even Crosshair to find a girl first because they were the dark and mysterious type, but let's be honest here Wrecker had a lot of good qualities! And Skylar saw these for herself. Wrecker liked hugs, he was thoughtful and considerate and respectful in his own unique way to those he cared about, he was fun to be around, maybe not trustworthy with going to a club or a training facility or a cafeteria by himself but in all the other ways he was! And he could be serious when the situation called for it. Full disclosure, there wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that Wrecker would try everything in his power to make sure Skylar was going to be treated like the queen she was, because he had been captivated by her since their first meeting as well.
Thus, the first Bad Batcher found a sweetheart.
The others would be lying if they said they weren't slightly envious that Wrecker actually managed to find someone special who looked beyond their initial social awkwardness. But they were still happy for him, nonetheless.
The Bad Batch didn't end up buying out the market district with their newfound riches like they had planned, but it still turned out to be a good day! Once the hangover symptoms eased with caffeine and other remedies, Wrecker cleaned up and then he and Skylar took a walk around this part of the city of Coruscant to get to know each other better. Wrecker was ecstatic when he found out Skylar liked trying exotic foods too, so they really spent all their time food-stand hopping in the markets and stuffing their faces. Nik and Blair kicked it back with the rest of the Batchers on their day off. Talla was a little embarrassed at the slightly messy state of the ship, but that was a battle for another time, and they didn't seem to mind the random cups and bottles in random places or other random items strewn about on whatever random surface someone lazily placed them on.
Wrecker was so excited about his new girlfriend that he didn't want to say goodbye, but with the promise that after their next mission they'd fly straight back to Coruscant double time so he could spend even just five minutes with her, he finally allowed the trio to leave.
He had so much nervous and happy energy that, you know the messy battle for another time mentioned several sentences ago? Well Wrecker decided, all on his own, without anyone's nudge, that he was also embarrassed at how messy the ship was and scrubbed it from top to bottom so his girlfriend (he was so happy to use that word he almost giggled when saying it) could spend time here comfortably. Granted, Talla had to go right behind him and straighten up things the right way after he finished, but teaching him how to clean properly was another hurdle for another day because right now the motivation was great. His room though, Talla let him tackle that solo. No way was she risking her health in that toxic wasteland. She could only pray he didn't mix up the cleaning products for some reason though, and literally create toxic fumes to go along with the toxic waste.
Around eleven is when Wrecker finally started to wind down and, much to Talla's overstimulated senses dismay, turn on the holovids. So she escaped to the cockpit that had actual places to sit as opposed to the uncomfortable cargo hold, her original place of respite due to the fact that it was Hunter who holed himself up in the second choice laid out for her. She could have done the third choice and gone for a walk, but she was so tired and still kind of achy and sicky from the hangover that she all she wanted to do was sleep. So comforter in tow again she headed towards the almost soundproof chamber.
Hunter jumped when the door whooshed open and an onslaught of flashing lights and booming noise from the holovids flooded into the room before it all was muffled and cut off when the door shut again a couple of seconds later. "Sorry." Talla sheepishly apologized in a whisper when his face momentarily showed annoyance and discomfort before it became impassive like it usually was as he attempted relaxing down in his chair again, closing his eyes and leaning back. "Can I please hang out in here with you? I promise I'll be silent as a Silent Desert on Tython..."
He had no idea where that was thus not fully understanding the idiom, but it sounded promising, so he nodded once in allowance. About two minutes into the silence though he sensed her anxiety increasing as opposed to decreasing, her leg frantically bouncing up and down and furiously beating heart a dead giveaway. "What?" He finally asked the nervous woman across the aisle from him.
Her head snapped towards him so fast he was surprised she didn't snap it or experience too much whiplash. "Huh?"
He reciprocated the head movement lazily and his eyes were droopy from exhaustion, "What's on your mind?" He inquired in a tired murmur.
"Nothing!" Talla silently winced at the loud pitch of her tone and his deadpanned flick of his eyes towards her shaking leg which she immediately put a stop to with a firm hand. She sighed in defeat and proceeded with a whisper-like tone to make this as uncomfortable as possible, "I'm really sorry about what I said earlier." He tried to hide his amazement but couldn't stop his eyebrows from rising slightly. Tech didn't apologize for his own justified outburst. "I didn't mean to be so disrespectful, it's just -" She made a low noise of frustration directed towards herself, "Nala Se says I have this anger management issue, only now I know that difficulty controlling emotions actually comes from the trauma symptoms she ironically inflicted me with, but anyways what this means is that when I feel something is unjust or in this case not right, I can't control whatever comes out of my mouth or even what I do with my fists, but thankfully for you that last part only happens with stupid regs, and also Wrecker, but he doesn't really count because he likes it -"
"It's fine, Tal." Hunter interrupted, but after a flinch she dared a glance at him and saw no irritation in his demeanor. "I get it."
"Really?"
"I went through the same thing too, remember?" He reminded her softly, "It takes time, but you'll get the hang of the anger management thing, okay?" Unless some stunningly beautiful person comes into your life and messes up your zen or as close as you could get to zen with this batch of deviant clones.
But that didn't seem like a very encouraging thing to add.
"Thank you." He hummed in 'You're welcome', then she repeated the phrase but for a different reason. "For turning Rhyden in, that was really... Sweet of you."
Hunter had been called lots of things in his short life, good and bad, but had never been called sweet. It was a strange thing for a gruff guy like him to be called, sure, but it also felt kind of nice. He'd done good by Talla again.
On the flip side, it also made him upset because an actual woman thought he was nice, and it was one he couldn't be with. Apparently, he wasn't as lucky as Talla thought.
"And, I know I said I didn't remember what else happened last night, but I vaguely remember me puking and you helping me out like a champ, so thanks for that too Sarge."
Talk about two for two. Stars, I hope she doesn't remember anything else.
She shifted uncomfortably in her chair and avoided his gaze as a blush crept up to her cheeks, which wasn't a good sign, "I... didn't do anything else too stupid, did I? While I was drunk?" She wasn't dumb, she knew Crosshair meant to get her drunk, the happiness in his eyes at her suffering today solid proof. She knew he didn't want her to join the shot contest because he had accepted her, he just wanted to make her humiliate herself like after the caf incident.
Oh thank the maker, "No." A little white lie to spare her embarrassment and him even more embarrassment at his reaction to such actions was not bad, right? What happened yesterday - and had been happening ever since that day in the hospital really - was in reality probably no big deal. But it still affected him this way. And he hated it because he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't lucky like Wrecker and could just ask the girl he to be his girlfriend. So he was stuck trying to make these feelings go away.
"That's good." She breathed in relief.
He abruptly changed the subject away from this uncomfortable subject. "By the way, you can call me Hunter, you know." He gave a small shrug. "Everyone else does."
It was not a change she was expecting, "It wouldn't be respectful." Talla automatically protested.
Hunter shook his head in amusement. "You should know by now we're not sticklers about rules."
Talla tittered, leaning back in her chair and looking conflictedly to the side. "You can say that again." But after a couple of seconds of deep thinking, she looked at him again with hesitant/hopeful eyes. "So, that makes us friends right?"
It was a term that put butterflies in his stomach and a knife through his heart. "Yeah." The bright smile he received didn't help either symptom.
From Talla's perspective, three out of the four male Bad Batchers were her friends! That was a lot of progress to make in such a short time! While she was starting to think Crosshair would never accept her for whatever reason she couldn't figure out, the fact that she had gotten the leader of the squadron to see her worth was enough to sustain her for now. And since the nice guy routine wasn't doing her any favors and only got her drunk, mocked, manipulated - actually you know what it would just be easier to say humiliated instead of listing all the things Crosshair had done to her - Talla decided 'No more Mr. Nice Guy!' Time to take a page out of the Bad Batch Book and fight fire with explosions.
There was no more conversation after that, and that gave Talla an opportunity to observe Hunter's positioning once her evil scheming proved to be harder than she thought because she knew nothing about being evil. It looked somewhat comfortable - captains seat facing away from the console, his feet were propped up on the passenger seat behind it so he could recline back in his seat more. Definitely wasn't the most comfortable way to sleep, but hey she had been forced to sleep on hard examination tables in a cold, noisy, brightly lit lab some nights, so a couple of somewhat cushioned chairs in a dimly lit, quiet cockpit with a blanket would be fine.
Propping your feet up on an adjacent seat was a simple concept, but the execution itself proved to be impossible. Hunter was a good six inches taller than her, so he had more body length to work with. Talla, in Wrecker's description, she was 5'6" and 'tiny.' The two chairs were separated enough that she had to shimmy further down the seat than Hunter had to until her toes even brushed the seat, but when she shifted further her bum on the edge of the sleek leather seat just slid off and the rest of her torso followed. "Oof!" Was the sound she made upon impact with the durasteel floor. "Eh, screw it." She muttered after a few beats before pulling the blanket down after her, then proceeded to roll to the left so it'd wrap securely around her body like a burrito then snuggled into its warmth with a content sigh... in the middle of the aisle... on the cold, hard, dirty ground. She'd managed to fall sleep in worse situations.
"There's no way are you going to be comfortable like that." Hunter couldn't help but remark down at her knowingly.
Already slowed and even breathing his only reply.
Hunter didn't want to leave her like that, but what choice did he have? If he woke her up, he'd have to deal with half-asleep Talla again, and that was just as bad as drunk Talla because they both invaded his personal space bubble with their touch of fire.
In the end, he simply shrugged off his soft jacket and rolled it up the best he could and managed to lift her head and place it on the makeshift pillow without so much as her giving a stir or any signs of disturbance.
It wasn't much, but it was the thought that counted, right?
Smoochy Smoochy Someone's in LoOvE (those who understand this reference, I love you)
~ side note ~ Wrecker and Skylar's relationship will be a little subplot but won't be the main focus of the story I'm afraid. just thought it'd be a cute thing to add in my story! But the characters I've created - Nik and his girlfriend Blair, and now Wrecker's girlfriend Skylar - because I've grown attached to them and their just plain too awesome to be kept strictly to these couple of chapters, they now have a purpose in my story that you all are gonna love and not gonna expect at all ;)
- Ella
