Brook lay in the morning grass, could feel the cold dew creep into his clothing. His fingers were moist and cold. If Brook looked at them he was pretty fecking sure he would see them turn blue.
His stomach growled and he wished his older brother would finally cal the exercise done with.
Damn training. Why had he said yes to it?
White clouds puffed up in front of them. Winter was setting in, the nights were cold and the day warmed up slowly.
"Relax, calm breath. Keep it steady." Scorch was kneeling beside him, Brook squeezed the trigger.
The shot broke the silence of the woods.
Fixer clapped his shoulder.
"Good shot. Well done. I think you really earned your breakfast this time."
Brook sighed, let his head fall forward, letting loose a huge breath and heard his brother chuckle behind him.
A tanned hand entered Brook's field of vision.
He reached up, took it wand allowed Scorch to pull him up, grimacing frown stiffened muscles and a colourful collection of b
"All alright?" Scorch cocked his head to the side, seemingly oblivious of the cold in his armour.
Brook sighed, rubbed his hands over his trousers in the hopes of drying them and getting some warmth ion them.
"Sure, just missing my kit. Also." He hesitated a moment, wondering if it was aright to go on, but his brother had asked him.
"Yesterdays combat training with Boss left me black and blue."
Scorch chuckled, clapped Brook on the shoulder, hard, but fortunately away from any bruises.
"That one will never change, no matter how good you get vod." The clone in his yellow armour turned, surprisingly agile under all the weight of his kit.
"About the kit, well your old one was pretty much shredded, but Kal made some comments there. Come on; let's take a jog back. That will help your muscles." And with that, he was gone.
Brook groaned, but dutifully trotted after Scorch.
He ached in more places than months ago he had dared to imagine existing, but he fixed his eyes on Scorch's feet and followed the rhythm of his brother.
Slowly cold muscles warmed up and Brook moved smoother, found himself keeping up more easily.
Kyrimorut slowly came in sight through the trees and Brook bit his lips, dug his fete into the ground. He sprinted, racing Scorch to their home.
They were even up, stumbled through the door, out of breath, cheeks burning from the cold.
Breakfast was ready, Brook sat his rifle, really his, he recalled with a grin on his face, shook off his boots and plopped down at the table.
He dodged Fixer's elbow as his brother tried to shove him away from the nerf-stripes and managed to spear up his portion before Kal bend over and plucked the hot plate from Brook's fingers.
"Kur. There is enough for everyone. No need to wrestle for it." The older Mando said. Firm, but not unkind. He seemed glad that Brook was really finding his place. The table quieted down somewhat, but the lively chatter remained.
Brook was busy chowing down his food, completely absorbed by the task of getting hot, fat and salty food into his stomach.
It took a few moments where he was completely absorbed with the hot meal.
After the worst of the hole was filled Brook licked his lips, reached for the caf and took a good gulp. Brook felt someone watching him, just a tingling between his shoulders. He stopped, a bit irritated, and looked up.
Kal raised his mug, giving Brook a toast of sorts.
"Well, how is training going?" He asked, not letting on that he had kept a close eye on the youngest clone ever since his arrival.
Brook sat up a bit straighter, flexing aching muscles.
"More bruises than I ever had." He paused, rubbed a particularly sore spot on his shoulder, considering his next words carefully, "but I feel like I am improving every day."
He snuck a look towards Scorch, Fixer and Boss, all of whom appeared to busy with their food, so Brook turned back towards Kal.
"I am learning." He said, allowing himself a small smile. "And I like that best of all."
Kal nodded. "Well, your brothers say the same, Boss even said you were 'starting to be useful.' His words, not mine."
Kal stressed the last part, pointing at the Commando clone with a spoon full of fruit.
Brook felt himself blush, ears getting hot, he didn't dare look towards the three-man squad, but no protest came forward from them.
He knew Boss believed in the motto of 'no criticism in enough encouragement'; so for him to have mentioned this to Kal was a badge of honour to the young Spaarti.
Not knowing how to react Brook took another bite of the eggs, trying to buy some time.
Luckily Kal was not finished.
"Well, considering how your training goes it might be time to organize you some good old Beskar." Kal said nonchalantly.
Brook nearly inhaled his food. Choked, nearly spit them out.
Brook finally swallowed, tried to get his breathing under control, hands shaking.
A troopers kit was his life, the day he received his own real set of armour, swapped the training gear to the shiny white plates was the proudest of their life. He missed his old kit fiercely, no matter what kind of memories were attached to it.
He still had a hard time getting to grip with the concept of owing and buying things, but he did know that the Beskar was a big investment.
All his brothers prided themselves on theirs, kept it in pristine working order.
"Uhrm." Brook fumbled, felt his heart speed up. He did well enough on most topics these days, clones were exceptionally fast earners, but this caught him on the wrong foot. So he just blurted out.
"I will pay for t."
Now it was Kal's time to stop.
"Pardon?"
Brook put down his fork, hands only shaking lightly, sat up straight.
"I know it is a large amount of credits." He began, but Kal waved him off.
"We have enough, don't think about it son." For his father the topic was done, he already had his mind on other things.
"You really don't need to worry about it. You have time until you stand on your own feet."
Brook sank down a bit, lowered his head, and poked his eggs with light distaste.
His reaction had been wrong, or hadn't it? The moment left him without much of an appetite.
Fixer elbowed him in the ribs.
"Eat." He said. "It was a good idea, but Kal wants to help us stand n our own feet. He appreciates it, but you should concentrate on learning first. "
"Yep." Fi piped up.
"If you want to pay something back you can still do that later, when you are earning some creds from the bounties."
Brook looked up quickly, answering the medic's smile with one if his own, then quickly finished his plate.
His brothers were right, but sometimes he wondered why he still felt like he was sticking out so much.
'Give it time.' A small voice said in the back of his head.
'But what if I don't want to?' He thought back, at the same time feeling angry that his offer had been shot down and ashamed that he was upset about the generous offer.
He missed Mereel's thoughtful look, as if the older clone was also thinking about the words which had just been spoken.
A.N.:
Yes, I know... I wanted to work on the sequel to Small Stars first, but with precious little time to write this chapter got done sooner.
Also, the plot of the other fic gives me some headaches, and since Brook was cooperating (different to some other characters *glares at Fives*) here we are.
As usual, I thrive on feedback, love to hear all you have to say.
Until next time,
Windpheonix