Alright- this one's a bit longer than the others, though to be honest I think most of the chapters after this one are gonna be pretty long. Meh. As long as you guys like 'em, I'll keep on makin' em.
Disclaimer: Honestly, the only things I think I own in these stories are my original characters: a middle-aged miner, his father, and staring today, a six year old. And they're not even real.
"Okay- everyone know the drill?"
"Same as always- don't do something stupid." Zeb grumbled, answering Hera's question as she smirked at him.
"And yet I always have to remind you two." She gave both the Lasat and Ezra a pointed look, causing both to cross their arms with a pout. Sabine smiled before it slipped off her face rather quickly. That'd been happening pretty much all night, and the entire morning while Hera was briefing them.
So what, he makes me laugh- so does Zeb! And Kanan, even! And Chopper! So what it's one of 'the signs?' Just because he makes me laugh doesn't mean... that. If it did, I'd be 'in love' with everyone who could tell a joke.
Still. No matter her reasoning, she found the thought rather distracting, in the most in-opportune of times. Like when Ezra'd smirked at her as Kanan had made fun of 'hide and seek' in front of Zeb. Or when Ezra told an innocent joke in the eating galley that made Sabine chortle through her caf. Or when Ezra'd very nearly went on a rampage with in the early morning after Chopper's alarm clock protocols. Or when Ezra... did anything, really.
The thought was basically continuously running through her head, and Sabine found herself second-guessing everything she or Ezra said or did in the presence of one another, almost searching for a hidden implication or second meaning. As expected, such a thought pattern was rather troublesome when the two of them lived on the same ship. And expected to participate with their full attention on the debriefing.
Fulcrum had sent them the coordinates for the shipping center they were supposed to hit. Their target was still on Lothal, but since there were a number of those that weren't, Fulcrum had given them orders not to hit the base until a week from now, in order to give the other operatives time to get into position so they could all strike at once. Taking the opportunity to restock on their supplies before their mission, the Ghost crew was going on a shopping trip. Hopefully without any disaster ensuing in the process.
"That's just because I'm a magnet for trouble! It comes to me!"
"Don't I know it, kid." Ezra glared at Kanan, who was staring up at the sky almost wistfully. Sabine smirked, and then went back to her neutral face immediately after. She scowled.
Stop shutting down! We're friends, and I have no reason to act like a silly love-struck child. Sheesh, pull yourself together. And you call yourself a Mandalorian...
"Focus, boys... everyone know what they're getting?"
"Gee, I don't know Hera, I mean, with these incredibly detailed lists? And the half an hour brief beforehand? I'm not sure I do, would you care to repeat everything? Again?" Zeb chuckled at Sabine's teasing, at which Hera simply sighed, lekku swaying ever so slightly.
"Just be discreet, and don't get into too much trouble."
Ezra grumbled slightly as he made his way off of the ramp, following Kanan, Zeb and herself as they headed into Central from the docking station they'd landed in. Honestly, if they didn't try to kill her, the crew, and ruin millions of innocent lives, Sabine would have felt bad for the Empire. It was way too easy to get past their security... though with the Ghost's signal scrambler, they had it easier than most. Still. With only minimal hassle (which, to be honest, mostly came from Chopper), the four of them were able to walk around Central nearly carefree, while Hera remained to finalize some of the modifications they'd made during their maintenance day.
Now, where's the best place for these coupling links?
"You know, when Hera said this trip shouldn't take more than a half hour, I actually thought she might have meant it." Sabine mused, looking up at the sun and sorely wishing she was back in the cool interior of the Ghost.
Zeb tutted beside her, his arms currently occupied with the various stacks of rations he'd been sent out for. And those were the only things he'd been sent out for. Apparently, since he was the one with the brute strength, he was the only one sent out for food... and since food was a rather easy item to come by and purchase, of course he'd be done first. Sabine, meanwhile, still had yet to make a dent in her list, comprised as it was of complex mechanical bits that required inspired searching to find.
"Rookie mistake Sabine. You should know better than to trust her estimates for shopping."
Sabine huffed, re-adjusting the hip pouch she'd brought to store the pieces she did manage to find while looking for the others. It was despairingly devoid of parts at the moment; she'd only managed to find the coupling links and the backboard circuitry required from her portion of the shopping spree. She still had a long ways to go before she'd be able to return to the ship.
"When you reach Hera, tell her that if I'm not back by evening it's because I've collapsed from the heat and the freaking impossible list she gave me."
The Lasat chuckled, waving his hand as best he could while still maintaining his grip on the food containers, and then walked through the crowd, heading back to the landing pad. Oh, what a lucky creature he was...
Sabine scowled, shielding her eyes with one hand and pulling up her list by the other. She knew the contents by heart now, and it was only habit that made her keep pulling it up to read. Come on, Central city is an industry center! Shouldn't there be more tech than this?
Sabine sighed, squinting her eyes and scanning the market square around her, spying for another shop or store that could help her. Most of them, of course, were civilian needs: clothing, food stuffs, entertainment... there had to be at least one tech shop around somewhere. No town would be complete without some tech, and when tech and people were combined, there were shops-
Like that one on the corner of the street.
Grinning at her success in locating a proper store for the things she needed, Sabine started towards the shop, sweeping her sweaty hair out of her eyes in the process. Maybe she'd be lucky and they'd have a functioning cooling unit inside... most places did, right? Yeah- and it'd only make sense for a tech shop to have a working one inside...
Already imagining the cool air playing around with her colored bangs, Sabine barely noticed the blur barreling towards her before it was almost too late. She only just managed to twist to the side, allowing what she recognized to be a small female human child to rocket past her and into the small crowd. The only problem was, she wasn't the only person running.
With an impact that knocked the breath out of her, one Ezra Bridger barreled straight into Sabine. They didn't fall- both his Jedi and her Mandalorian reflexes took care of that, but they stumbled around for a bit, each grasping the other's forearms as they 'danced' around. A moment later, when Sabine was still struggling slightly to comprehend and adapt to the situation, the two of them stabilized. Ezra gave her a huge grin.
"Hi."
Sabine blinked at him, and realized he'd grown an inch or two. Well, not realized, such a thing would've been impossible not to notice when they lived in the same ship as one another- but now she was putting that observation into words (thoughts) and it felt... odd. He was still shorter than her, but maybe in half a year they'd be the same height...
"Oh! Um, sorry!" Ezra backed off real quick, and it was then Sabine realized that the two of them had been rather close together. While she just kind of felt a little amused and still a little weirded out by his sudden appearance, the Jedi in training- he who should show composition and dignity at all times -was scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Sabine smirked at the awkwardness he showed before that smile slipped off her face as well.
"...their boundaries are yours..."
No no no nononono no, you're not going down that rabbit hole. You're not going into freak mode just because he knows when to back off.
"Why in the worlds were you running at light-speed?!" Yeah; steer the train of thoughts away from the conflicting mass of weird distractions, that was probably best. And she was actually perplexed about his behavior.
"Oh!" Ezra's sheepish expression melted off as his eyes went wide and blank. He turned his head towards where the little girl had disappeared to- only for the both of them to be met with the sight of the child directly behind him.
It was odd seeing someone shorter than Ezra.
"Why did you stop?" Her brown eyes were pulled down in annoyance, her mouth set in a pout matched by the drooping bun of blond hair on her head. She couldn't have been older than six, making Ezra's chase of her even more confusing. Though, Sabine doubted it was actually a serious 'chase' if the child had come back asking why he 'stopped.'
Ezra blinked, then smiled widely at the girl. "Sorry Kavra, I just bumped into one of my friends." The little girl, Kavra, turned her grumpy pout over to Sabine, looking up and seemingly judging her. Sporting a small smile, Sabine still turned back to Ezra with inquiring eyes.
"Sorry- me and Kavra were... um,"
"Tag!"
Sabine looked at Kavra again, amused to see her looking up at Ezra with a determined smile. Looking. Up. At Ezra. It was so weird.
"Well, no not rea- yes, yes we were." He switched tactics abruptly when the child's eyes underwent change rapidly, going from a happy care-free look to a watery one in seconds. Sabine laughed. Watching Ezra handle... toddler was interesting, seeing his snarky comebacks and cocky façade go and hide in some desolate corner as to not upset the six-year-old. That and, of course, he had been playing tag.
"Tag? I thought tag was a game for little kids." Ezra looked at her defiantly, pointing a finger at Kavra.
"I'm in the presence of a little kid, so it's fine!"
Kavra giggled, holding her hands up to her face and laughing into them. Sabine spared the little girl a small smile, before turning it to Ezra and making it slightly sarcastic. "You were still playing tag. What about your list?"
"Oh, that thing?"
"Yes, that thing, the one that Hera sent you out to shop for. Did you finish already?" Guessing from the sheepish grin that accompanied Ezra's hand scratching the back of his head, that was a negative.
"Shopping is boring! Tag is better!" Kavra looked up at Sabine, her lips tugging downwards as if shopping was the worst thing in the world. Sabine shook her head, grinning, and Ezra huffed at her.
"I'd like to see you say no to a little kid like her..."
Sabine hummed, winking at Kavra and turning back to face Ezra. "I'd love to show you just that, but someone has to be the responsible person and get their list done. Just make sure she gets home safe!"
Ezra scoffed as Sabine turned and headed towards the gear shop once more, raising his voice to be heard above the Lothal market crowd. "As if I'd just leave her alone!"
Sabine smiled discreetly, but it was slightly sad.
No, no you wouldn't leave her alone. You wouldn't leave anyone alone- not like that. Not ever.
It was, luckily, cooler once Sabine had gotten all the mechanical parts on her list and had begun to head back. As the sun began descending into evening and the winds turned cooler, Sabine very much enjoyed the breeze as she strolled back to the Ghost in the hangar bay.
And when she was able to take off the belt holding the pieces, proudly displaying it towards the awaiting Twi'lek, that was just an added bonus. While her armor wasn't exactly cooling her skin underneath, the belt had just been adding an extra layer of uncomfortable to her outfit. Seriously, was the thing made of bantha-hide? Because there was nearly nothing else that would cause that much heat to get trapped underneath it.
"Welcome back Sabine- what took you so long?" Sabine cocked an eyebrow at Hera as she handed over the pouch with the gear.
"The apparent lack of just about everything on this list, that's what. There was barely a single store that properly sold any of this stuff, and I had to go hunting just to find them." Hera smiled slightly, leku twitching in amusement. Sabine might not be an expert in Ryll, but she knew a few signs here and there.
"Well, we can hardly blame the people for placing their needs first. Besides, I think you like shopping a little more than tuning the new responders Kanan got."
Sabine grumbled. "I'd prefer just about anything than walking around aimlessly..."
"Hey-o!"
The two of them turned to welcome Ezra back onto the ramp, his list apparently finished as he pushed a repulsor-crate in front of him. Suddenly, she was rather glad that all her items were small and able to fit into her little belt pouch. She didn't envy pushing around a great big storage box through the markets. Although Sabine noticed he did not seem to be sweating as much as her, which irked her greatly.
"Good to see you finished too- that's everyone now. Did you get the extra charging cartridges? We need those."
As Ezra pulled a blank face, Sabine reached over and dug in the belt-pouch she'd just taken off. "Karabast- hold on, I'll run back and go get-"
"-these?" Sabine stopped Ezra mid-step and mid-sentence, a rare and nearly unachievable feat as she pulled out the aforementioned charging packs. Ezra smiled at her goofily, scratching his head again.
"Thanks Sabine, you're a lifesaver!" She shrugged, dropping the batteries back into the pouch and handing it over to a pleased Hera.
"They were on your list- and what with how... distracted you were, I figured you might forget them."
Ezra's eyes lit up, apparently remembering something, and not even a moment later he dug into the open crate before him. Sabine smiled as he retrieved a full package of her blue spray-mix. She caught it as he tossed it over to her, affirming it was her usual brand with a glance before nodding her thanks. Hera cocked an eyebrow at them both, and Ezra shrugged.
"Sabine usually resorts to her green and purple combos when she's out of blue, and since it was on my way back I just figured she'd appreciate it."
Sabine laughed. "So, you remember what kind of explosive paint I'm out of, but not to check the list for an important item we need?"
"Wha- hey, it was like you said, I was distracted!" Sabine grinned at his fake scowl, for the moment ignoring the amused smile on Hera's face as she headed further into the bowels of the ship and to the fresher.
"I just know you too well, Bridger!"
"you know each other inside and out..." Sabine very nearly tripped going over the ramp as the unwanted thoughts returned to her head. Though her body didn't fall down, her brain did. Yet another one of these 'signs of love' that fit both her and him-
Hey, we're just good friends. Seriously, none of this stuff makes any difference between us, so stop freaking out every time!
"You okay there?"
"Perfectly fine- just still reeling over the fact that you were playing tag with a six year old."
Stop. Thinking. About. Him. It was a mantra by now, an endless cycle of thought, each word matching her steps and actions to the point where she pressed the controls for the fresher in the same pattern as the chant.
And it still wasn't really working.
Because now that the thought that there was a slight chance she might, just possibly... have... feelings for...
Stop. Thinking. About. Him.
She tried focusing on the soothing sensation of the sweat and grime being washed away. She tried focusing on the slightly tamer decorations in the fresher, tried focusing on designing more art pieces to liven it up. None of it was working.
Honestly, up until now, Sabine hadn't even given... well, love much of a thought. It was something ordinary people did- ordinary people who lived ordinary lives and didn't risk being killed every other week. Who didn't rebel against the overlords that called themselves the Empire. Love was just... foreign, to her. She didn't want it, didn't need it, and so, didn't think about it.
Until, of course, she'd noticed a similarity between that foreign concept and her relationship with... him. And since then, though she'd tried her best to suppress these kinds of ruminations, they'd continued on in the back of her head, brought up to the surface every time she noticed another similarity between the two of them. And now... those repressed thoughts weren't allowing themselves to be repressed anymore. Regardless of her say in the matter.
Stop. Thinking. About. Him.
Sabine sighed, well aware that she was perfectly clean and was just wasting energy at this point. She couldn't spend the rest of the day in the fresher to sort out her issues, much as she would have liked to. Besides, acting oddly would just concern the crew... and Sabine honestly didn't know how she would react to Ezra worrying over her when her mental situation was so jumbled up.
Probably with more sessions in the fresher.