By Friday morning, Ahsoka felt like she was starting to get the hang of civilian life. It was probably way too early to say this, but she had gotten into a routine of waking up, going to work, coming home, and trying to figure out how 'taxes' and 'bills' worked. Then she would have and dinner, usually something hot and cooked or baked, clean up a little bit, and meditate before going to bed. For week one, it was pretty good.

One of the reasons Ahsoka had come to like where she lived was that she actually wasn't living in an apartment. It looked like one, to be sure, but she actually owned this part of the building. She had to pay for water, plumbing, and electricity every month, as well as renovate if she wanted it, but after asking Leslie and Jake about it, it seemed like a much better option than rent.

She had decided to reset the lock on her door to Rex's number as well. It was easier to remember since she used the code for work too. It actually looked a little old and needed replacing, but she had put it on her list of things to save for since she hadn't figured out how much her bills and taxes would end up costing, and she hadn't gotten paid yet. Wheeler had told her that Friday was payday, so hopefully, she would figure that out too.

On the brighter side, Ahsoka could now sprint if she so chose. Her saber cut had been scabbed over for a while, but it was starting to flake off. It healed a lot slower than wounds used to since she wasn't living in the Temple. The Light Side of the Force was strong there, so it promoted healing easily. She was managing, though, and she could probably fight in melee combat now. Even right now, while she was a bit rusty, she would be fine.

She had gotten jumped a few times on her way to and from work. Two of the times had been in the Chasm, and once was out on the street. The street fight had actually been a gang, but Ahsoka had shot them all down, stunning them. Actually, one of the times, her blaster had jammed, and she had to improvise, but that wasn't important.

Work was enjoyable, especially since being a mechanic was starting to come extremely naturally. Now that she was a little more used to home appliances, versus ships and tanks, she was getting a lot of repairs done and quickly. Some of the customers with memberships left reviews on their items, and all of the reviews for Ahsoka's work had been positive. Dealing with her coworkers was a little...interesting at times, but she was forming friendships with some of them. Wheeler, Rya, and Luce especially seemed to be fond of her. Ahsoka wondered if it was because they were all aliens.

That was something else Ahsoka had looked into. Almost two-thirds of Coruscant's population was human, according to last year's census. It was a lot for her head to wrap around if she was honest, but she tried not to let it bother her.

Granger had basically avoided her the whole week. Ahsoka didn't really mind, since she had no idea what she would say to him anyway. The rest of the workers at Gauges and Gears were friendly, to some degree. Nox had barely spoken to her since the first day she had worked, but Ahsoka chose not to take it personally. Everyone else had struck up a conversation with her at least once over the last four days.

About halfway through the day, Ahsoka ran out of copper wires to use as replacements. She ran down to the garage to grab another set for her workbench and noticed that Thyla was searching for something too.

"What are you looking for?" Ahsoka asked, tucking the box of wires under her arm.

Thyla checked the label on a bin of washers and scowled. "Spark plugs. I think we might be out, though."

Ahsoka turned to scan the shelves to help her search. She saw the bin for them on the top shelf and climbed up the frame to grab them. That was another accomplishment in the last week: she was starting to fight back her instincts to use the Force. So far, she hadn't slipped up since the time with Wheeler on the first day.

She reached into the bin to grab a spark plug, then jumped down, landing lightly on her toes. "That's the second-to-last one. We'll have to order some more sooner rather than later."

Thyla took it and stuffed it in her pocket. "Thanks, Tano."

"You're welcome," she told her, and she turned to go back to her workbench when Thyla piped up again.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Ahsoka didn't really know what she could be asking, but she wasn't against it, so she turned back. "Sure."

Thyla leaned against the rack of shelves and cleared her throat. "It's a bit of a personal question, so...well, I'll just say it." She breathed and got it out before she could second-guess herself. "What have you been eating these days?"

Not really seeing how it was a personal question, Ahsoka answered honestly. "I'll normally grab some quick protein for breakfast, and pack sealed food for lunch since I eat here. I try to have hot meals for dinner, though." Ahsoka smirked. "After eating rations for so long, it's nice to have cooked meals regularly."

"Is that what it was?" Thyla asked, suddenly looking much more relaxed and relieved. "Oh, god, that was a lot better answer than I was expecting."

Ahsoka scrunched her eye marks. "I'm confused. Am I doing something wrong?"

"No! No, no, of course not, but...you looked really thin when you first came here. Like, too thin. I thought you might be...the rations, do they, are they actual food, or...?"

Ahsoka laughed and shook her head. "Definitely not. It's just nutrients, mostly. It doesn't fill you up very much." She thought for a moment, then came up with an explanation. "I was sick right before I came on Saturday, and I was just starting to heal. I couldn't really eat food all that well, and I didn't have a lot of real food since I just got back from traveling. Most of what I had was rations."

"Oh, you were sick," Thyla repeated, finally looking at ease. "And you can't eat, 'cause you would just throw up, and..." she trailed off, but she smiled all the same. "Got it."

"What did you think it was?" Ahsoka asked, curious.

Thyla waved it off, then paused, and decided to trust the new girl. "I...used to watch my weight a little too closely, if you know what I mean."

She didn't, but she could guess. If Thyla had been worried about Ahsoka being 'too thin,' then she must have some experience with being underweight. Jedi never really had that problem, since the government provided (tasteless) food for them, and they had a lot of muscle built on their bodies. At any rate, Ahsoka nodded.

Taking out the spark plug, Thyla adverted her eyes. "When Journey found out, he flipped out on me. Well, sort of. In a good way. He's been helping me get back to normal, making sure I eat, and things like that. It's one of the reasons we started dating."

Building trust, Ahsoka realized. "Then I'm glad you are. It's nice to have someone looking out for you."

"Yeah," Thyla agreed. "I bet you don't have anyone like that on the surface, huh?"

Ahsoka grinned, then became sullen a second later. "I did, but that was before the trial. I'm on my own now, at any rate."

Thyla stared at her quizzically. "Even the Jedi?"

"It's hard to explain," the Togruta answered, even though it wasn't. They walked out of the garage, talking about their favorite meals, then split off to go back to their workspaces.

After finishing the speaker she was working on, Ahsoka made a detour to the offices. Rya, Leslie, Jackson, and Tyme had their desks here, with computers to do inventory, orders, customer service, and millions of other things that Ahsoka had no idea about. Since it was busy at the front desk, Tyme was the only one in the offices.

Tyme, as Ahsoka had found out a couple of days ago, had something called OCD. She didn't know the science behind it, but it caused him to be very meticulous about having things in order, straightened up, and looking sharp. Ahsoka had no problem with this, since she had served in the military and could appreciate a tidy workplace. The others were a little more irritated by his OCD, though, since he was constantly making sure that other people were doing their job correctly, or fussing over the finest details of a report, or organizing the supply shelves for the fifth time that day. They weren't used to it like Ahsoka was, even though he had been there for over a year.

Fuller loved Tyme since all of his work was impeccable. Nothing on his reports were omitted, and no detail went unnoticed when he was working. Ahsoka had a feeling that some type of accident must have happened to cause the OCD, whatever it actually stood for, but she knew better than to ask, the same way no one asked why she was so startled whenever she accidentally shocked herself.

Tyme looked up and smiled at Ahsoka. Since she was one of the few who didn't fight his habits, he had grown fond of her. "Is something wrong?"

"We only have one spark plug left," Ahsoka told him. "Has an order to replace them already been filled out?"

He immediately searched their orders for the right item. Since he was the one who organized them, he knew exactly how to find it. "Rya filled one out on Wednesday. It was sent, but no notice has come back saying it has been processed."

She nodded. "Thanks, Tyme. How has your day gone?"

Tyme returned back to his work, processing repair orders on his computer. "Typical," he answered, and Ahsoka left. She had found that Tyme was pretty straight to the point, but he liked being asked. He prided himself on concise answers and liked giving them. Jake complained that he didn't like to talk, but Ahsoka had found otherwise. It had taken a few minutes for Ahsoka to discover, but once she did, she made sure to respect the fact.

It seemed like everyone here had some weird quirk that they kept hidden, for the most part. Ahsoka's was probably the most obvious, even if no one knew half of it. Tyme's was his OCD, Thyla, apparently, was her weight, Rya was her slave past, and Wheeler had her parents on the surface. Ahsoka wondered if they all had some secret that she didn't know about. Maybe Granger's secret had to do with why he didn't like her.

She wondered why, when she had come down to the Lower Levels as a Padawan, she had never seen how much people suffered on the inside. The Jedi knew all about personal battles, physically, mentally, and in the Force, but civilians seemed to be fighting emotional wars, all of them. Some problem or person in their life ate away at their mind, and most people never knew about it. Why had the Jedi been so quick to fight in the Clone War, but blind to the suffering under their feet? Ahsoka had no idea.

When her workday ended, she was still thinking about it. She grabbed her bag and her blaster from her locker and shut the door, but when she turned around, most of the others were filing into the room at the same time. That's peculiar. They normally leave at different times.

Wheeler had an especially excited glint in her eyes. "Ready for an adventure, Tano?"

Ahsoka raised an eye mark. "What kind of adventure?"

"A food adventure, what else?" Luce joked from the left as he grabbed his own belongings. "It's time for dinner!"

Rya laughed as she explained. "We figured we would take you out for dinner since it's your first week here. Since you're new, we wanted to celebrate."

"And it's not optional," Jackson teased, linking his arm around hers and pulling her forward, towards the door. "It's time for you to get the full Lower Level experience!"

The rest of the group cheered and laughed, and although Ahsoka was a little startled, she laughed with them. They walked out of Gauges and Gears as a unit, and even though she had no idea where they were going, Ahsoka wasn't worried.

Ready or not, here I come.