Chapter Title: Sewer Jobs and Magic Brothers
Series Title: Unlikely Brothers
Ages in this chapter: Tanner (12) Dashen (18)
Chapter Summary: Dashen has an eventful evening after a day in the sewers.
The room was black; he extended a hand for the power, but the light didn't come on. He reached into the darkness and his fingers landed on the fingers of another hand.
Dashen screamed. High pitched and ear piercing. A laugh came from the darkness. A laugh that turned into that of the belly variety and then into a full fledged giggle.
"Damn it, Tanner! I'm gonna strangle you and your stupid magic crap. Turn on the lights!"
"Dash, that was the highest note I've ever heard a human voice reach. Very impressive."
"Shut up and turn the lights on. I told you no practicing in the dark."
"You said no practicing when you were home. Your weren't home until two minutes ago, so technically..."
"Technically nothing, you jerk. Where's the power? Hey!" The passing wind of an object flew past the older boy's head. "Tanner, if you are hurling things at my head again, we are so going to have a long talk this evening."
"You gotta find me first, big brother. I'm working on my stealth. With the Force, I can use it to cast quiet over a room. I admit, I'm rather bad at it, but I almost had it this time. Only took me two hours, but great timing for when you walked in."
"I don't need the Force to strangle you."
"True, but you can't strangle what you can't catch!"
With a lurch, Dashen leaped forward toward where Tanner's voice seemed to be. He missed, landing on his knees. Grabbing an idea then of where exactly he was within their apartment, he found his sea legs. Standing, sliding a hand along the wall, walking several feet backwards, and there was the power key for the lights. Lights came on and little brother was nowhere to be found.
"I know for a fact that your magic cannot make you invisible. Lights are on and your stupid little game is over. Are you bored or something?"
Tanner popped out from the doorway behind. "Hi Dash!"
Dashen leapt into the air, his feet actually leaving the floor. "You are so dead, you little swamp rat, come here!"
With a giggle and a rush, Tanner skirted away. There wasn't much room to run in their apartment and Colton would murder them if they carried the chase into the large main house, so there came a lot of round and round and round they went. Tanner giggling the entire way. Dashen threatening to feed him to the extra giant, extra people-eating scale fish the next time they were near the sea.
Steam ran out for the both of them eventually. Dashen tackled Tanner with a flying leap over the couch and they crash landed on the floor, breaking the glass on the small drink table in the process.
"See that, little brother?" Dashen said, planted on top of Tannerlin after the crash. "Don't need any of your magic crap to make a flying tackle."
"Ugh! Get off me, Dash, you smell. And ew, stars! What's in your hair?"
There was a short thud as Dashen rolled off his brother and onto the floor. A hand ran through his black hair, normally straight with a slight wave, but currently wild and coated in some type of gunk. "Oh, that. I had a run through the sewers today. For several hours. Job for Grunley. His runs are never dull. He had me tracking down some weird blue bird egg or something. He's an odd guy. Good guy, but odd." The eighteen year old lifted an arm and got a whiff of himself. "Oh, no. That is bad. I need a shower."
Dashen stood, extending a hand to Tanner, then tossing him across the couch until he flipped over the arm. "That's for scaring the living daylights outta of me and for playing your magic Jedi games in the dark."
"It was worth it," Tanner said, picking himself up and shaking the brief dizziness out of his head. Long light brown hair hung low covering his even paler brown eyes.
"You need a trim, little brother."
"I can see just fine. You let your hair long. I need mine long to cover my braid."
"But you should be able to see, dummy."
"I can see. I saw you scream like a..."
"Do not say another word or I put a bowel over your head and cut your hair around it."
"Hmm. Yes, I don't think that would look good on me. Fine, you can trim my bangs, but that's it. I'm not going back to that stranger barber lady you took me to last time. She just kept pinching my cheeks and telling me how adorable I was."
Dashen reached to pinch a cheek. "But you are so adorable. When you're not being a jerk face and treating me as a Force toy."
"You lived and it was good practice. My last visit to Ben was really good."
"Keep up what you did tonight and your last visit to Ben may end up being your last visit to Ben."
With a look, Tanner groaned at his brother and flopped onto their couch. Soft but small, it lacked the impossible coziness of Colton's giant couch in the main house, but it worked for their purpose. "So did you find the weird blue bird egg for Grunley?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I found an egg. It was blue. But I got this sense that it didn't belong to a bird."
"What told you that?"
"The fact that I've been running from an eight foot sewer-lizard for the last hour. Her teeth were the size of your head and she was one angry momma. Grunley does have the propensity to leave out tiny - yet important - little details at times. Bird egg, my ass. Look," Dashen bent down toward Tanner to show his right boot. "She ate the heel off my boot. Swiped at it with a claw and sawed it right off. A few inches more and I'm sans one entire foot."
"It's bleeding. We should clean that."
"Yeah, I'll clean it up in the shower."
"Dash, why do you keep taking sewer jobs? Do you enjoy running for your life and smelling like a garbage heap?"
Dashen stood thoughtful, pursing hips lips into a hard line. Come to think of it there had been a lot of sewer running recently. He did know the sewers well enough and had the speed to evade most of what resided below the surface. "Is this job number four in the last couple months?"
"Number four." Tanner nodded as he stood, closed his eyes, one hand out and slowly moved a towel from the nearby chair to his brother's hand. The proud-of-himself-smile was quite the sight and even Dashen smiled. "I'm getting better. Maybe your sewer runs are good for my Force practice."
"Yes, I enjoy leaping out of my socks in a dark room after spending the day in the underground waste pipes. That was impressive though, Mouse. Thanks for the towel, but I should probably use it after the shower. Or," Dashen reached up to feel the caked-on mud that remained patched over his face and neck, "I can just burn the thing."
"Grunley had you on all four of those jobs?"
"That was him. Not sure what his obsession is with the sewers, but he pays well and he's not a horrible person - which in my game is a positive - and he treats me fair. I suppose rolling around in the gutters ever so often isn't the worst thing in the galaxy. Made ten credits off that job."
"Good, you can buy some new clothes, because the smell may not come out of those."
"Burn them with the towel?"
"Maybe." Tanner pointed at the wounded foot again. "Dash, you're bleeding on the floor."
"Right. Shower."
Thirty hot-water minutes later, Dashen returned clean and no longer smelling like he'd been sleeping with swamp rats. Gunk gone from hair, face, feet and anywhere in between. Wet black hair dripped past his eyes before he reached for a small towel and raked it over his head. "Better. I can't smell myself anymore. Always a good thing. Grab the, oh, never mind."
Reaching for the words 'first-aid kit', Dashen realized his brother already had it ready and waiting. Dashen was quite good with first-aid, having taken care of himself and his baby brother Kossi for a number of years, but the worst of the wound was on the back of his heel and made for awkward movement. Not to mention, Tanner was also well versed in first-aid. All Jedi initiates required to spend time working with their healers to learn the basics. That training continued as the children got older and into apprenticeship.
"Sit and put your leg on the table, Dash. Keep your heel on the towel, it's still bleeding. You cleaned it?"
"As best I could with soap and hot water. Fix me up, Mouse."
A thick patch of bacta-ointment was applied, bandages set securely. Didn't take long and the heel was protected. "You may not want to wear shoes for a day, if you put a lot of pressure on the heel, it'll probably hurt like mad."
"Fine by me, I'm off tomorrow anyway. Maybe I'll just sleep all day. Or maybe it's best to ponder how my life went to the sewers. Pretty sure we will have to burn those clothes in the incinerator. They may sprout legs and walk if I don't." There was a pause as Dashen leaned head back against the couch and sighed. "Playing in garbage. Chased by lizards. Collecting blue eggs. My life is weird."
Tanner grinned. "You are weird."
"No argument from me, Mouse. Too tired anyway. Can you use your magic to pick me up and move me to my bed?"
"Not yet, but I'd be glad to practice."
A pause and an eyebrow lift as Dashen's green eyes flashed warily at his brother. "Yeah, okay, no? Find a rock or something to play with."
"Lifting a rock isn't the same as a person, even if it's similar weight. I can drop a rock and no harm done. If I drop you..."
"Then I kick your skinny little butt." Dashen finished.
"See what I mean? Rocks don't do revenge. I can drag you to your room, but that may be more uncomfortable than dropping you."
Dashen shook his head. "This is a strange conversation. I'll just sleep here. Float me over a blanket, would ya, Mouse?"
More concentration, Tanner lost himself in the Force for a moment then raised a hand and moved a blanket. Not the smoothest move, the blanket bobbled in the air, but he had trouble with complete focus when he was tired. He did it though and Dashen tucked the warmth around himself.
"Nice, little brother. Creepy, but nice."
Settling on the other end of the couch, Tanner said, "Will it always be creepy, Dash?"
"Your weirdo magic? The fact that you can move things with your mind and that you apparently have stealth mode now?"
"I can't move things with my mind, it's the Force. I know I explained it to before."
"Yes, you have, many times. Your mind. The Force. Magic. Whatever it is, it's creepy that you can do these things. Not a bad thing, I mean you got me a blanket without me having to move a muscle, but to a person outside those abilities? It's creepy." An extended yawn came on. "Proud of you though, little brother. Keeping touch with your Jedi roots and training and doing good things with it. You're a good kid. And I know what you're planning. I may not have your magic, but I can read your sneaky little facial expressions well enough. Don't you dare try and lift me off this couch after you just finished telling me you can't do it. Last thing I need is to wake up in the middle of the night suspended in mid air right before I crash onto the floor. Got enough bruises from recent sewer life. Remind me to ask Grunley about that too, will you?"
"I wasn't going to drop you."
"Not intentionally no. Go practice on Colton or his ladies. I think that one with the blue hair is visiting this evening."
"She's nice, I like her."
"You would."
"She thinks I'm adorable."
"Only because you've not yet had the opportunity to creep her out, throw furniture at her head, or drop her from five feet in the air. Good thing she has no idea what you are."
"You think Colt will find one of these ladies to stay with one day? Maybe even marry?"
"Don't think he's the marrying type, Mouse, but you ever know. Until then, enjoy the fact the Miss Blue Hair thinks you're adorable. Ugh! Okay, enough yakking, I need sleep. Be gone."
Tanner stood, but grabbed a quick hug before he vanished. Regular routine of the evening. "Love you, Dash."
"Love you back. And I mean it, no magic practice while I'm sleeping. I've got enough bruises from sewer pipes and angry giant momma lizards."
"Eh, you're no fun sometimes."
"I'm never any fun. Haven't you noticed by now? Except maybe when I'm roaming around the sewers. Hey, you should come with me next run. The smells are amazing."
Tanner twisted his nose in disgust, "No thanks. No one wants to smell like you. Night, Dash."
"Even I don't want to smell like me." Dash took one final whiff under his arm to make sure the long shower had cleared the odors completely. "So much better. See ya in the morning, Mouse. Night."
END
