Chapter Text
Fives is pacing around the hangar deck, flattening his kama and ruffling his hair. Echo rolls his eyes beside him, snorting, but he too is curious about the new batch of shinies arriving today. In five minutes, according to the report.
"Fives, udesii. You’ll get your own shiny, don’t worry." He says, slightly mocking tone to his voice, but that’s okay, Fives knows he’s joking. "Of course I will. Who would ignore those ori’vodish looks?" Fives says, though his voice trembles slightly. "Fives, it’s okay, those are just shinies." Echo says, exasperated.
Finally the transport comes into the hangar, rows of shinies come out. Echo tilts his head, his sharp eyes locked on two clones, standing close to each other, one looking around, though his bucket is still on, Echo can nearly see the curiosity in his eyes as they approach Echo and Fives. The other one is hunched over, head bowed and Echo could swear he’s trembling, casting one glance at him, before quickly looking away. "Hello, vod’ike. Go to your assigned barracks and then, meet us in rec room besh, okay?" He says, loud enough that every of the exited shines can hear him.
"Well, Raysh’ika, I think you’ll have plenty of shinies to pick from.” He teases once they’re alone in the corridor leading to the rec room. Fives makes an offended sound. "I’ll adopt all of them, Ey’ika, they’re all my vod’ike now!"
*****
As a large group of shinies burst into the room, Echo again clocks two vode slightly to the side. Now they’re without their buckets or armours, just wearing their red fatigues, and Echo can see their faces. One, the more confident and open looking has his curly hair tied into small, messy bun, indicating that it must at least reach his shoulders. That alone earns Echo’s respect, to grow hair so long still on Kamino, unbothered by what kaminiise think about it.
The other one seems uncomfortable without the helmet, his posture is tense and he’s whispering something to the other, his lips moving too fast for Echo to read. The other nods, leading him to a bench in the corner, and sits with him, almost like he’s trying to protect him from the rest of the room.
Fives nudges him, smirking. "Got your eyes caught on something specific, Echo?" He asks, and Echo nods. "Those two by the wall. They seem…close, really close to each other. And I haven’t noticed any other batchmates around them." Fives hums thoughtfully, and strides to them. Echo is quick to stop him, grabbing his elbow. "What do you think you’re doing?" He hisses and Fives shrugs. "To meet your shinies." He replies, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. "Alright, but I’m going with you. I don’t trust you to not scare them away." He scoffs, and two ARCs approach two shinies siting by the wall. The long-haired one seems to be explaining something to his brother who looks confused and slightly on edge.
As they get closer, Echo can hear their hushed conversation.
"…Tup, if that trooper meant 'I don’t want to talk with you', why did he say ‘I’ve got something else to do'?" He hears the question, and the vod’ika with bun - Tup, as he now knows - patiently replies. "Well, Dogm’ika, I’m sure he just didn’t want to harm your feelings." He says softly, and in more quieter voice, he adds. "Or didn’t want to risk meeting my fist again."
Echo smiles softly, and hears Fives’s snort. "I like this one. Can I keep him, Echo? Pleeease…" Echo rolls his eyes. "You haven’t even met him yet." He hisses, and smiles, crouching in front of the shinies. Tup returns the smile, eyes sparkling. "Hello! Can I do something for you, Sirs?" He asks, voice bright. The other one that Tup called 'Dogm’ika' jumps, flinching and curling into Tup’s side. "Come on, Tup. W-we should clear space f-for officers…" he mutters and Echo feels a pang of uneasiness at the reaction.
"No, vod’ika, we want you to stay here, with us." He says and looks back at Fives who raises his eyebrows. "Already 'Vod’ika'? Seriously, after one minute?" he asks in ARC hand-signs and Echo rolls his eyes again. "Don’t mind my di’kut twin, Fives." He says. "He’s jealous I was the first one to adopt a shiny." He whispers to the shy vod, who blinks, frowning. "Ummm…Sir, what do you mean?" He mumbles, fidgeting. He’s clearly distressed, Echo hears his heart pounding.
"I chose you as my vod’ika. I’m Echo, you can either call me that, or 'ori’vod', if you prefer, it’s your choice, kid." The shiny looks away, flushing. "D-Dogma." He mutters, voice barely audible. "Sorry, vod’ika. Could you repeat?" Echo softly urges. "Dogma. I-I’m Dogma." The shiny repeats and Echo smiles. "Dogma?" He repeats and Tup glares at him. "Yeah, that’s his name. And don’t you dare mocking him like all those shabuire on Kamino!" He blurts out, and Dogma visibly pales.
Echo chuckles. "It’s okay. I won’t, if you’re curious, ask Fives here about the origin of my name. I imagine the reasons are quite similar, vod’ika." Finally, after a longer beat of silence, Dogma slowly, carefully raises his eyes to look at Echo, a ghost of shy smile on his lips. "O-ori’vod…" he mutters, and Echo grins. "It’s loud here. Can I go to my barracks?" Echo wraps his arm around Dogma’s shoulder, and for the first time, he doesn’t flinch. "Of course, vod’ika. Mind if I come with you?" Echo asks hopefully, and after a brief hesitation, Dogma slowly nods, letting Echo take him out of the room. When the ARC glances backwards, he sees Fives, crouched in front of Tup, saying something that makes Tup nod with a large grin, leaping into Fives’s crushing hug.
*****
At the barracks, Dogma proceeds to melt into Echo, which honestly feels nice, no one sprawled themselves on him like that since Echo was three standard years old, when Droidbait laid on top of him like that. Of course, DB was nothing like Dogma, in who Echo already began to see himself. Dogma’s gentle, anxious and shy nature, the way he positioned himself in Tup’s shadow during their introduction, reminded Echo of how he always tried to stay close to, but behind Fives, especially as shinies after Rishi.
"Umm…Ori’vod…Echo, are you okay? You’re sobbing." Dogma says quietly and Echo looks at him more thoroughly now and scolds himself for falling for Dogma’s quiet nature. The kid is clearly much more observant than it may seem at first glance. "Yeah, Dogm’ika, I’m okay. Just thinking about my batchmates." He replies, meaning the ones lost to Rishi Moon. Droidbait, shot dead before they knew anything was happening. Cutup, eaten alive just after they could rest for a minute. And Hevy, Hevy who willingly gave his own life to alert the Republic. Three Dominoes gone in a span of one hour.
"They’re…gone, right?" Dogma’s voice is so quiet that Echo barely hears it and he nods. "M-mine are…still alive, I think. But they got assigned elsewhere…162nd, if I remember correctly." He says, suddenly looking down. "I don’t think I’ll see them again." He sighs and Echo swallows harshly. "I can…talk to the Captain, and he’ll talk to the General. Then, he can either set up shore leaves at the same time, or…or even permanent transfer, if you miss them. I just need their names and designations."
"Uhh…CT-6375, Rainy. CT-7722, Double. And…CT-5286, he-he hadn’t chosen a name yet." Dogma mutters and Echo commits the designations to his memory. "Thank you, vod’ika." He says affectionately, brushing Dogma’s hair, and the barracks doors open, Fives walking in, with Tup clinging to him. They’re laughing and Tup grins broadly at Dogma, who returns it in a smaller, more tentative way, before he slumps into Echo’s chest, limp and unresponsive. The way he’s positioned, body slack, sends an alarm through Echo’s mind, and he instinctively moves to check Dogma’s pulse. He’s breathing of course, even if it’s slightly ragged and shaky, slowly calming. Echo crosses looks with Fives, and immediately knows they’re thinking the same thing. But Fives is the one to voice it. "They’re practically us, but smaller and sweeter!" He exclaims, like he’d discovered a way to stop their accelerated aging. Echo raises his eyebrow, careful not to shift too much, because Dogma appears to be asleep, puffing softly into Echo’s neck.
Tup’s swaying too, and Fives gently lowers him to the bunk. "Easy, Tup’ika. Nuhoy, ner vod." He says softly, brushing Tup’s hair, as he promptly falls asleep as well, snoring quietly, and Echo snorts. Fives grins again. "Tup’s mine, kriff off, Echo. You can take Dogma." He says and Echo nods. "Well, thank you, Fives. Actually, I planned on taking Dogma, leaving Tup for you. I hope they’ll survive." He adds grimly, and Fives blinks. "We’ll make survive, they’ll become ARCs, just like us."