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The look on Jigi’s face made Echo wonder if he had made a mistake doing this but he also wasn't going to back down now that he was here.
“She’s sick,” Jigi said again with a look on her face that was a strange mix of disbelief and confusion like she didn't understand why he didn't comprehend that concept. “She had to cancel your date because she is sick.”
“Yes, I know,” Echo said with the same calm determination that he had when Jigi had first confronted him in the Chateau's foyer. “And I brought her soup to help her get better.” He was still holding the basket out to her to take so he bobbed it slightly in the air between them. “I understand if she doesn’t want any visitors but could you at least take it back to her and let her know that I hope she gets better soon?”
Jigi just stared at him for a moment, “This would have been your third date and you brought her soup to get better?”
Echo tried not to get frustrated but he was starting to wonder if he was going to have to stand here and repeat himself for the next hour or so “Yes I-”
“Echo,” Jigi interrupted him with a wave of her hand. “You are by far the sweetest man I have ever had the fortune of meeting.” Echo felt relieved at the beaming smile that she graced him and though the gentle hug was unexpected he was careful to return it by wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“Come on,” she said, stepping away from him but making a point to drag a hand down along his arm and onto his scomp so she could take the end in a soft grip as if she was holding his nonexistent hand. “Come on,” she said as she started to lead him away. “She was so upset that she had to call and cancel your date. She’s been miserable since then.”
She had sounded really apologetic and stuffy when she had called earlier. “That bad?”
“... Kamie said she was crying about it for a good hour after she disconnected the comm.”
Echo winced but was even more glad now that he had made a point of making soup and bringing it over to her.
Jigi led him down through a door on the first level that was discreetly tucked into the shadows of one of the stairwells. It led to a fairly nondescript but still tastefully decorated hallway that wasn't half as ornate as the rest of the halls he had been in. It definitely had a more homey feel and Echo wondered how many if anyone outside the Chateau's staff came back here.
Jigi led him down the hallway and then took a slightly smaller corridor. She didn't walk very far down it. Stopping at the second door on the left and tapping lightly at it. It has the number fourteen on it and it looked like there was a small red lily somehow wedged into the four.
"Amara? Sweetie?" She said cracking the door open enough so she could peer inside. "I have someone here who I think you would like to see."
A painfully scratchy voice rasped out 'who' as Jigi opened the door fully and stepped aside to wave him past. "Someone I think you'll be very happy to see." Amara's eyes lit up as soon as she saw him but the flush on her face deepened as he took her in.
She really did look quite awful. Her face was flushed with a fever and yet she was somehow pulling off a pale tinge to the edges of her face. Her eyes were dropping with exhaustion and her sinuses were clearly puffy and swollen. He barely managed to hide the winced on his face as she croaked out his name. That had sounded quite painful.
"Have fun you to," Jigi said with a wink as she started to close the door behind him. "Just remember Echo, she needs her rest. Try not to wear her out too badly."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said over his shoulder as the door clicked shut behind him leaving him with Amara. He turned back to her and smiled, "Hey, I'm sorry you're sick."
Amara smiled at him, whispering hoarsely and seeing apologetically. "Didn't have to come. Can't do much..."
"We don't have to do anything," he assured her as he walked further into the room. The room itself was rather plain, with a double bed, dresser and shelf to it. There were minimal decorations, just a couple of wall hanging tapestries done in a very fine, weaved fabric depicting geometric shapes and symbols he didn't recognize. About the most extravagant pieces in the room seem to be the private fresher and walk-in closet whose door was partially open revealing the mass of garments inside. "I just wanted to come make sure you were okay," he held up the basket that had held their picnic two dates before as he walked over to the side of the bed. "And bring you some get well soon gifts."
The bouquet he had given her on the first date was sitting in pride of place on the dresser that seemed to also function as a place that she put things when she was in bed. He cleared off a small spot there as he set the basket down on the edge of the bed so he could pull the bouquet from the basket and set it up there. “Omega wasn’t available to help me pick out a bouquet so hopefully this is acceptable.”
Omega had gone with mainly yellow and white flowers for the first bouquet but he had gone with shades of soft pinks and deep purples. He had know idea if they really went together but he liked the colors and the shapes of the individual flowers. “Not sure if they really go together but I thought they were pretty.”
Amara honestly looked like she was going to cry but that could have just been with how puffy her face was. “Thank you,” she rasped. “They’re gorgeous.”
Echo felt a little bold as he said, “Not as gorgeous as you.”
It was obvious that she was blushing from that comment even with the flush on her cheeks.
He gave her a soft smile as he reached into the basket again, “And I brought you some stone soup.”
“Stone soup?” her voice really did sound like it was hurting her. He pulled the container of soup that he had started making only moments after she had ended the call earlier. He’d been lucky that the Martez kitchen had everything he needed in it already.
“It's about the only thing that I can make on my own… I’m…” he winced thinking back to the few times he had been left unsupervised in a kitchen. “Let’s just say cooking is not my forte.”
She opened the container that he handed her. Within moments the room smelled of fresh fragrant aroma that brought so many memories back to Echo. It reminded him of safety and security. Warmth and comfort… and -strangely enough- of Crosshair.
“Why’s it called that,” she asked as she took the proffered spoon that he held out to her.
“I’ll tell you the story while you eat?” He offered as he settled himself to perch on the edge of the bed. She nodded and tucked into the soup. Making a soft noise as the warm broth no doubt eased the pain in her throat. She nodded in agreement even as she went for another spoonful.
Good, hopefully it would help.
“It started back shortly after I was redeployed with Clone Force Ninety Nine. I had maybe been with them for a month or so and I was still struggling to recover from my… upgrades at the time. It left me with a weakened immune system amongst other issues so of course a couple missions in, I got sick...”
-Break-
Echo hit the fresher with enough force he felt it all the way down his reconstructed spine. He half stuck his head in the bowl as his stomach contracted. He swore it hit his spine as he lost what little he had managed to eat only an hour earlier. Coughing he felt the tears prick at the corner of his eyes.
He really couldn’t afford to keep throwing up what little he was managing to eat. He was already dangerously underweight and he would have been blind to not realize that the others were somehow covering for him. While he had contributed to some missions it felt like for every one he managed to do something there would be like three that he still couldn't get out of his own way.
Echo rested his forehead against the metal wall next to the vac tube and debated just sleeping there for a bit. It's not like he had managed to stay more than ten minutes in the bunk without making a mad lunge for the fresher. Whatever the hell had gotten into his system this time was really doing a number on him.
There was movement from out in the hall and Echo just sighed already knowing who was lurking out there. Why - out of everyone in the Batch- did they have to leave Crosshair with him?
… Okay he knew why but it still didn't make it any easier to choke down…
The mission was to investigate a suspected intelligence base that was masquerading as a medical center within the underground city that the rest of the Batch was currently scouting. While Crosshair was more than capable at short range he excelled at a distance and he was the backup medic for the squad. It made sense that between him and Tech that he was the one to stay especially when Tech's skill would be more useful inside the city. It irritated Echo to think that Hunter had left him with a babysitter but Crosshair was also protecting the Marauder -as well as Echo since he was particularly useless today- and ready to play getaway pilot if it was required.
Tech had pointed out they were on a Separatist controlled planet so to err on the side of caution was safer than not.
Echo was still pretty sure he was saying that just in an effort to make him feel better.
A hand lightly rested on his shoulder as the subtle scrapping of his armor gave him away. Echo opened his eyes to small slits and looked at Crosshair who returned it with a very neutral expression on his face. He was halfway tempted to ask him to shoot him and put him out of his misery... but he was also halfway positive that Crosshair might just actually do that.
Seeing that he was awake, Crosshair reached out with his other hand obviously about to pull him off from the wall. Echo couldn't help the soft sound that left him as his weight came back onto his abused stomach muscles. It had been so much better when he had been able to slouch against the wall.
"Echo?" Maker, Crosshair somehow sounded like he was being put out by all this. At least he wasn't sick.
"J-just leave me here," Echo said shakily. "Be back in here soon anyway."
"Hn." Crosshair pulled back but stayed crouched nearby. Echo closed his eyes fully, not wanting to watch as Crosshair stared at and seemingly right through him. It was creepy and it didn't help that now he knew just how many details that Crosshair could pick up from someone just by looking at them.
"Let's go outside."
Echo blinked his eyes opened and regarded Crosshair bewildered. "Outside?"
Crosshair nodded as he stood, one hand extended to help Echo up which he didn't take right away. "Fresh air will help," Crosshair said after a moment of their little stalemate.
Echo was surprised that he didn't sound put out or inconvenience somehow by offering the aid.
He sighed, okay he was being a bit unfair here. Crosshair hadn't been mean to him. Protective if anything and he had a strange heavy handed way of showing that he cared. It was an odd sense of ignoring but somehow still hyper aware of him that was especially unnerving to Echo. He wouldn't even realize he was slipping into a panic attack until a blanket was dumped on him and Crosshair would walk by with some snide comment about him staying warm.
… It was even more disturbing how wrapping himself up in a blanket just seemed to work in helping him calm down.
Echo sighed and took the hand still being offered. For such a tall lanky clone, especially compared to his brothers, Crosshair was still a pillar of corded muscles. Despite most of his weight now being metallic in nature, Crosshair easily hauled Echo up to his feet. He was quick to take one of Echo's arms over his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around his waist to take his weight. It meant he had to be at an odd half hunched over angle but surprisingly he didn't complain as he helped Echo out into the main space of the Marauder.
Echo didn't remember much of the debriefing. He'd fallen asleep during it which was usually a good indicator lately that his system was all out of whack or something was going on in there that either the programs that were now a part of him didn't understand or that his biological half couldn't seem to make work right. Tech had likened it to a porg trying to make a computer work or a computer trying to request an input from the porg… A bit of a rough analogy but it made more sense that way then whatever the hell he had been saying before.
Still, wherever the hell they were, it was still pretty.
The region of the planet they were in was more of a multilayer biome but the particular biome they had landed in was the high plains. The thigh deep grass shifted back and forth in the wind almost like waves lapping through a lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. The Marauder had been tucked in the lee of a large stone formation that were dotted about the landscape. Tech went into a thirty minute explanation as to how glacial movement had to left these erratics kicking about but the one he had parked in the Marauder behind was huge. It was hard to believe that a wall of ice had left that here.
Crosshair settled him on the steps near the very top of the ramp leading into the ship. After making sure he was settled, Crosshair moved to stand several steps below him and stared up into the sky. Echo didn't bother to try and see what he was looking at. Instead he looked out over the grassy sea and watched it roll and boil in the wind.
He had to admit that after about ten minutes and no mad dashes for the fresher that the fresh air seemed to actually be helping him to some degree.
Echo was just starting to doze off when Crosshair suddenly swung his firepuncher off his shoulder and fired seemingly randomly into the sky.
He started awake. The blaster rifle was near silent but hearing the quiet retort from the chamber and the sudden movement was enough to snap him upright, ready to fight… except he had no weapon, was stripped down to just blacks and he was like half dead on his feet from illness and exhaustion.
Karking hell, a tooka could probably take him out right now.
Still, for the sudden movement and the firing of his weapon Crosshair seemed rather relaxed so whatever had happened couldn't be that bad. Echo was still trying to figure out what happened as something suddenly landed on the ground about ten meters or so from the ship. It was apparently what Crosshair had been waiting for as he stepped off the ship and made his way towards whatever it was. Echo glanced up and had to squint slightly in a vain attempt to improve his vision enough to see whatever it was Crosshair had been shooting at.
He could just make out a flock of birds rearranging themselves mid flight.
Sure enough, when he looked back down at Crosshair, the sharpshooter was in the process of pulling out the combat knife he had on his belt to start dressing out a rather lanky looking bird.
Well… that was one way to get fresh meat he supposed.
Crosshair walked back over to the ship about five minutes later holding a small, fully dressed carcass in his hand with his combat knife. It looked like he had even managed to skin the feathers right off that thing. There really wasn't that much meat on it but that didn't seem to bother Crosshair as he walked up the ramp and into the ship.
"What's with the bird?" He finally asked as Crosshair left the ship again. He had been moving around in the back of the ship for a bit apparently to pull out the square, silver blaster case he was now carrying.
"Tech's been stressing how you need something easier on the stomach than ration bars," Crosshair answered, almost sounding bored. "The bird gives me the last ingredient I need to see if stone soup is light enough for you."
"Stone soup?" He had to have misheard him. Stone soup would imply-
The look Crosshair shot at him was nothing but annoyed. "You heard me Reg," he grumbled as he laid the case down on one of its sides on the ground. He flipped catches on the four corners and then grabbed at a hidden handle that Echo hadn't seen in the middle of the square case and pulled the whole unit up so that a set of little legs that seemed to lock into place when the were about a foot and a half above the ground.
Crosshair flipped open a latch and the case opened to reveal… something.
"What is that?" Echo asked curiously as Crosshair laid the bird and his knife on the flat portion to the right of the strange surface that had been hidden away into the case. It was obviously a Tech creation of some kind.
"Mess kit," Crosshair said as he pulled out on the ring to the left that unfolded into a very small stand. From the back of the kit he pulled a metal ring that he pushed on the bottom of to turn it into a rather large… pot.
"No way," Echo said in awe at what he was seeing as Crosshair flipped around what looked like a pair of stabilizing arms that he locked into position to keep the pot upright. "How do you-" his question was caught in the back of his throat as Crosshair turned a small knob set into the case by the pot stand and an orange glow of heating coils brightened up under the pot.
"Watch that a sec," the sniper said as he stood up and moved to reenter the ship. Echo just nodded, still staring at the small cook space that Crosshair had set up in minutes.
The case couldn't be any more than fourteen inches deep by two foot long yet it seemed to be a whole mess prep station that he was used to seeing in the mess tent condensed down into a relatively tiny box that could be carried around one handed. The small burner was on the left and the prep station was on the right but the longer he looked at it the more he could pick out.
There were two other sized pots like the one Crosshair had first pulled out and a pan using a similar collapsing technique. A set of cooking utensils that had their handles folded down to save space. A series of small jars just above the prep station and what looked like some kind of drawer that was just barely visible under the prep surface where the bird carcass was still sitting, waiting.
Crosshair moved past him again and moved over to the small cook station. He dropped to one knee and set aside several water packs and a couple of tuberous veggies that he had gotten from… somewhere. "Where did we have veggies on the ship?"
"Under the weapons station there is a small panel there that can store some things that need a cool environment to stay fresh." Crosshair explained as he began to fillet the meat off the bones of the small bird with his combat knife. There wasn't really a lot of meat but Crosshair seemed to be getting a lot more from the bird than Echo would have thought possible. "One of the coolant lines for the computers runs through there so Tech modified it to work as a cold strange for us."
Some of the veggies were looking a little… sad from what he could tell. "Not much in there I take it?"
Crosshair grunted as he rolled the toothpick he habitually had hanging out of his mouth from one side of his mouth to the other. "We'll have to get some extras here soon but we always use the 'saddest' veggies for soups."
Crosshair snapped some of the larger bones and tossed them into the pot where they sizzled faintly. He immediately covered them with water from one of the packs he had brought out. He then selected a couple of the jars from the back of the case and added small amounts to the pot of bones and water by first tapping them into his hand to gauge the amount before dumping them in the water.
"Where did you learn how to cook?" He finally asked as Crosshair seemed to rest back a bit as the soup began to simmer.
"I can't cook," Crosshair said as he poured some water in his hands and knife to clean them up a bit. It was only then that Echo realized that Crosshair had taken his gloves off at some point. "I saw this made once so I know what to add and how much to use," he shrugged. "None of us really know how to cook… but we get by."
Echo stared at the contraption a moment longer before saying. "That's not standard issue… Tech custom made it for you but none of you can cook so… why?"
Crosshair scoffed, "How much do you honestly think it takes to feed Wrecker?"
"Considering this size and strength and how you just said that: a lot?"
Crosshair snorted in amusement, "You have better observation skills than most." He nodded towards the case, "Tech came up with this when we realized just how much Wrecker could burn through in a week."
"Why not just request more rations?" Echo said, frowning. It was obvious that these kids were as defensive and secretive as they could possibly be without attracting too much attention to themselves… and Echo didn't want to think too hard on why given from the few clues he had managed to pull together so far. He was going to have to talk to Tech about it at some point and give him a logical reason to tell him what the hell had happened to cause them to act like this.
Crosshair gave him a blistering look like it should be obvious but after a moment relented with a huff. "We didn't want the wrong people to realize what a resource drain Wrecker really is… so we pretend to be normal in that regard and find the extras out in the Galaxy between missions if we have time."
"And if you don't have time to look for stuff?" Echo had a feeling he knew where this was going.
"I don't eat much anyways," Crosshair said with a shrug as he reached for one of the utensils stored in the case and snapped it open to reveal a slotted spoon.
Echo wanted to know more but he wasn't decanted yesterday and if anymore tension built up in Crosshair's shoulders he knew he was liable to blow up in one of his snippy temper tantrums. So instead he redirected the conversation, tabling this one for another time. "Why is it called stone soup?"
"That's what the guy who first made it for us called it," Crosshair said, stirring the pot's contents a bit before setting the spoon off to the side so he could lean back a bit again. "We'd come across this older twi'lek on a mission and we were out of supplies. We offered to help him in exchange for food. He agreed, gave the others tasks that seemed useful… and told me to go find a stone."
"Okay… um… why a stone?"
"Tech figured out that it was something to make me feel like I was contributing to earning food with them. The twi'lek really didn't need much help to begin with but he gave me just enough specifications for the stone that it took me a bit to find one." Crosshair leaned back in to check the soup again. "After I found it and brought it to him, he cleaned it up and added it to the soup."
Echo blinked at him, "He put a rock in the soup?"
Crosshair shrugged as he began fishing the simmered bones out of the pot, "Tech did an analysis of the soup and the stone while Hunter distracted the old twi'lek. It added nothing of value to the soup… but the soup did taste good so we still make it from time to time when we have access to the ingredients. The name just stuck."
Now that the bones were out and tossed out on the ground, Crosshair started chopping up the meat into small cubes and tossing them into the pot as he went. Echo found himself just leaning against one of the ramp stabilizers as Crosshair went through the same motions to prepare the veggies he had brought out and add them to the soup.
That done, Crosshair stood up and stretched. He did a sweep of the area and checked his comms as he entered the ship again. Echo just sighed. He was still tired from earlier and now that the stimulus of watching what Crosshair was doing was gone he found himself drifting.
A blanket was settled around his shoulders. Crosshair pulled him back off the stabilizer enough so that he could tuck a wadded up portion of the blanket between his chest and the stabilizer. He sighed in contentment. It felt so much better to be leaning into the soft blanket than the metal hydraulic tube.
"Get some rest Reg," Crosshair's voice was that same level annoyance that he always had except now that he thought of it, it was definitely softer than it was the first couple times he heard it. "I'll wake you when the soup is done."
"Thanks Cross," he yawned, relaxing right where he was. "You're not as bad as you pretend to be."
Echo had almost fallen asleep when he heard Crosshair's soft reply. "And you're not that bad for a Reg."
Echo smirked, it wasn't much, but coming from Crosshair, he'd take it.
-Break-
Amara had fallen asleep halfway through the story but she had managed to eat about half the container of soup which was a good sign. He knew from one of the analyses the Tech had one time done of stone soup that it had a high volume of nutrients given its rather small portion size. Perfect for an illness when only so much could get into someone during short periods of time when they were awake or felt well enough to eat.
Even though she'd fallen asleep he still told the rest of the story out loud. Whispering it to himself and adding in all the details he could remember. Every little sensation and of course the smell and taste of the soup; he described it as vividly as he could remember it.
The entire time his hand had been on his chest plate, right over the little memorial he had to his fallen brothers on the back side.
"Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum," he said quietly in the otherwise silent room letting his head hang for a moment as he finished the story. He knew that as long as he remembered them they would never truly be forgotten.
But it was definitely a heavy burden to have to bear.
"...Droidbait... Cutup... Hevy... Fives... Crosshair... I will never forget you."