revivalproject | Cobb's Event Catch All

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Cobb's Event Catch All | Open

WHO: Cobb Vanth & All
WHERE: Various locations across Coruscant.
WHAT: Adventures across the planet
WHEN: Event
WARNINGS: Cussing. Angst. Possible violence. Will update as necessary.

This was not how Cobb imagined his first time off Tatooine. Then again, with his history, maybe he should have expected his first trip in space and to a Core world would be against his will. These Agrii fellas needed to learn to ask for permission. He would've said yes if they had asked. Instead, there was a little bubble of resentment brewing towards their alien captors.

But that anger could wait. A lot of people here had no idea how to navigate any planet in the galaxy much less one like Coruscant. Stars, even Cobb was a little out of his element but at least he could read the writing and understand how things worked in general. The first thing he focused on was getting everyone else settled and comfortable to go around by themselves. It was a lot of explaining how credit worked and offering to help if anyone needed it.

It took a few days before Cobb disappeared on his own one morning. The credits provided by the Agrii and the few he had on him when he got taken were burning a hole in his pocket. He went to the market and found himself some pieces of durasteel armor and a padded armor suit to wear underneath. It was, without a doubt, the nicest thing Cobb had ever owned, gleaming a brass-gold color against the black padded suit and soft green cloak he also bought to hide the scars that peeked out from the suit.

Damn if he didn't feel guilty for the two-thousand credits he handed over to buy it.

He just couldn't help but think of all the necessary things he could buy for home or this group of people at that cost. Two thousand credits would never got that far on Tatooine where everything was so damn expensive but it could've done something good. But after putting it all on he looked like he belonged on a Core world instead of an outsider in ragged clothes. Clothes he kept because they were still good enough for home and no one wasted anything on Tatooine. The armor though... wearing it he felt... like someone important and wasn't that a heavy thing?

Not only did the armor protect him and help him blend in, now he could get into better bars and taverns where they played high stakes sabacc. Cobb had learned his numbers playing the card game and was damn good at it. Good enough to win games against rich fools who tossed credits around like they could be dug up from the sand. That real vindictive part of himself really enjoyed it.

And everything he won now went to what they'd need to survive and anyone else who needed a few spare credits.

After all, he could always win more.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cobb didn't have any formal training in fighting but he was scrappy and honestly, pissed off. That was a damn good hand and completely legal. Those credits were his. Instead, these bastards made trouble.

The only reason he didn't draw his blaster was because he didn't want to kill them. They were assholes but no one needed to die for that.

He took a few punches to the face then got his knee in the ribs of the guy on top of him. Cobb rolled them over and returned the favor with three hard hits. Not trained but he could throw a punch pretty well.

"Don't get up," he warned the man on the floor before kneeing him in the ribs. "I ain't gonna be nice a second time."

He got to his feet surprised to see he had help. Good help judging by how calmly the Imperial... nope, not an Imperial. Had to remember that one. How calmly the Arc trooper was handling things.

Cobb let out a grunt of pain and a whoosh of breath as get caught a punch to the ribs. Ow. He answered by slamming his forehead against the Zabrakian's which ow again. Horns.

It was just one guy, but forcing an arm behind his back helped send the clone's stern warning of not starting anything anyone can call security on. He really didn't feel like punching people out at the moment, but that wouldn't stop him from doing so if things decided to get worse.

Fortunately, it didn't. This guy was more flight than fight. The moment Echo let him go, he looked up and saw that Cobb had finished his end of business. He had to give it to him, though – the man was tall and wiry, but he fought with vigor.

That last headbutt, and the sucker punch seconds before that, just looked painful. That part about not punching people was quick to change.

A fist connected with the Zabrakian's side while he and Vanth stalled out, followed by a swift kick to the back of the knees. "–Alright, that's enough!"

Yeah, Cobb hurt a little. There was a little cut on his forehead from the horn and he'd be bruised tomorrow but this was not the most serious bar fight he'd ever been in. It wasn't even the most serious fight.

"Now," he said with a note of authority in his voice. "I'm gonna take my winnings and go. And the next time you accuse a man of cheatin' at cards you better have some kriffing proof."

He made sure to shoot back the drink on the table that had survived and then collect his credits. He was real tempted to give the Zabrakian a kick on the way passed Echo but didn't.

"Thanks," he said as he passed him. Cobb didn't know if the man would follow him out or not but he planned to go back to the ships.

After Cobb's proclamation, Echo swept the area to make sure no one else was going to try anything funny. He also looked to the two that were still on the floor, checking to see that yes, they would be fine once things simmer down.

He did hear the brief 'thanks' the man gave while exiting, brow lifting slightly since he knew they weren't really on the best of terms. Turning back to fetch his helmet, he slid his drink over to another patron still at his table ("It's on me") and slapped a few credits down on the main counter ("For all the trouble – sorry about that") before heading out himself.

Of course he would try to follow Cobb. "Should I assume that's how things go with you or should I asked what happened?" the clone asked once he caught up, slowing his jog so he could match the other man's stride.

Edited (typeingnsdlfjdlfl) 2021-03-07 01:43 (UTC)

Cobb rolled his shoulders as a wave of irritation rose up in him. He didn't like being questioned like that but he wasn't sure if it was because he was used to being the authority figure or because damn it, Echo just looked so much like a stormtrooper.

"I can handle myself." Which wasn't the question Echo asked. Dank farrick. He could do better than this. Echo helped him out and no matter what Cobb's instincts said he wasn't an Imperial.

He took a deep breath. "I won that game of Sabacc but that fella thought I cheated. I didn't. I only cheat the rich and I don't get caught when I do. Guess he thought he could punch his way into winning the pot."

"Even so, the odds weren't fair," was all the clone offered toward the reply. He didn't mean for it to sound like an interrogation. That was how he operated, how he responded and replied to everything among the Jedi and the members of the GAR.

Still, he managed to switch to a more casual tone after studying the nuances Cobb displayed, nodding once he actually explained how he got into that situation. "I believe you. If you weren't as quick, it looked like he would've crushed you when he had the chance."

"Not the first time someone thought they could intimidate me." And clearly, Cobb didn't respond to threats very well at all. He had handled the situation as best he knew which was to fight back.

He pushed his hair back and huffed out a breath. Okay, just chatting casually with a man. Cobb could do this. He could negotiate with Tuskens peacefully. He could have a civil conversation with Echo.

"Probably looked a little sloppy to a trained soldier." See? He called Echo a soldier and not an Imperial. Cobb was already doing better than their first meeting.

One didn't need to be a jedi to observe the struggle Cobb had to wrangle with. There was a long history there, and probably one he didn't want to talk about so openly. So Echo waited, his brow creasing prior to lifting again.

'Soldier.' It was a step in the right direction.

A thoughtful expression crossed his features as he tipped his head to one side. "It did. But it was still effective." He looked back at Cobb with a faint smirk. "I'd recommend wearing a helmet if you're gonna be goin' around headbutting people with horns."

Cobb rolled his eyes. "I wore a helmet in fights for five years. It was instinct to do it."

After five years of wearing the beskar Cobb had some habits he needed to unlearn. Thinking before head butting was one of them. At least it had only given him a little cut.

"Cut off my peripheral vision somethin' awful. Don't think I'm gonna go back to it." He gave Echo's helmet a pointed look. It looked like it would be the same with his helmet but it might also have some real fancy tech to compensate for it.

"Ah. That explains it."

Well, it did. It was an unavoidable injury in the heat of the moment. He'd seen his share of brothers ending up in the medbay during training because of things like that, so it was a valid reason.

Echo glanced down at his helmet as well. Cobb's guess was right: clone trooper armor did come with certain advancements, and the HUD was a major part of it. "Helmets tend to do that," he replied with a shrug, removing the helmet from under his arm to hold it out for Cobb. "When you're expected to wear them all of the time, you get used to it. Besides, the ones we wore during practice were a lot worse."

It would've been nice to have the beskar for that fight but well, that was the past and Cobb couldn't live there.

"I've actually found it nice not to wear one. Missed seeing out of the corner of my eye without having to turn my head." Cobb felt like he heard better too, nothing muffled through the helmet. He never did get the audio imports working great.

"Where you from in this galaxy?" he asked because he didn't much want to hear about Echo's days training for the army. "Never heard you mention your home planet."

To each their own. And Cobb wasn't wrong about that. When one wore a helmet for a long time, the instinct to swivel your head to look at something just stuck.

Echo nodded, shifting the helmet so that it sat back under his arm again. Unfortunately the question was still related. "I lived on Kamino," he said. "The city's basically platforms because the planet's surface is mostly ocean, but that's where I was born and raised with the rest of my brothers."

Cobb's mental map of the galaxy was a little lacking. Kamino sounded familiar but he couldn't place it in the larger galaxy as a whole. He didn't want to admit that ignorance in front of Echo though.

"You've got brothers?" Look his history lessons came mostly from an old man in the commune where he grew up. He didn't know the old army was all clones. He knew a lot of people fought and it brought about the Empire though. "How many?"

Though, talking about family was dangerous territory. It could get dark real quick if Echo asked about his.

"Somewhere in the millions with more on the way." It may sound like a joke, and Echo is quick to clarify. "Mind you, I'm being serious – we're clones."

He doesn't seem to notice the fact that Cobb may be out of the loop with the history that is the clone's current events. "Also, you never did tell me where you were from."

"Clones." Cobb's galactic history was really lacking. He had never heard the old army was clones. He thought they were just soldiers, folks who had signed up to fight the war. If they weren't in the past he would've gotten himself a history book.

Wasn't he an idiot then?

"Tatooine. Outer rim planet." He figured everyone knew about Tatooine, right? It had a reputation in the galaxy. Full of sand, Hutts, and crime. "This is the first time I've been anywhere else in the galaxy."

First time in space as well. Cobb found it... thrilling and uncomfortable. It was hard leaving a planet so late in life.

A thoughtful frown crosses Echo's face. "Huh. I don't think I'm too familiar with Tatooine." It evens out if neither of them know anything about each other or where they came from, right?

But he understands how it feels being far from home.

"It's different," admits the clone. "When you think you'd be used to being away for so long, you never really are."

"Well stars, it's rare I meet someone who doesn't know that dust ball by reputation alone." Cobb grinned crookedly but there was a touch of sadness to it. Being in this galaxy had really hit him with homesickness. "Well, I'll give you a crash course. There's no water and everything under the twin suns wants to kill you."

Actually, it was the exact opposite of Echo's home world full of water. Cobb tried to imagine it but he can't. Water as far as the horizon? It still seems impossible even though he knows it exists.

"It can't be much fun to travel the galaxy when all you do is fight a war wherever you land." Was he sympathizing with a stormtrooper? Not a stormtrooper? Shit, he might just be. Everyone deserved a second chance didn't they?

Just as Cobb was having trouble picturing Kamino and its watery environment, Echo was now doing the same with Tatooine. If Cobb was telling the truth, it really did sound awful.

The corner of his mouth quirked. "Not even rain? And you were able to survive in those conditions? Now that's resilience..."

Where the clone trailed off, he let the silence sit in the wake of the man's sympathizing. Since he was so busy fighting, he never had to think of it that way before. "Yeah. Winning battles was crucial for the Republic." Mustering up a laugh didn't work, only coming off as a dry huff. "But that was what we were created for."

"We've got vaporators. They pull moisture out of the air. And no, there's no rain." Cobb didn't know why people were so skeptical about Tatooine. Why would he make anything like that up? "Sometimes you get dew in the canyons but as soon as the twins suns are up it's gone."

Yeah, he was sympathizing. Worse when the man explained that he and his kin were made for war and nothing else. Like they were droids or something. Sounded more like slavery than military service.

Shit. Cobb might actually like Echo.

"Shouldn't be that way. People should get to choose what they wanna be."

Vaporators. Echo learned something new. "And that's it?" He couldn't help it; he believed Cobb, but he grew up surrounded by water. And aiwhas. There should be a percentage of water on every planet.

That was all set aside when Cobb offered his opinion on the matter.

'People should get to choose what they wanna be.'

It was another thing he never thought about. Never had a chance to, considering where he was coming from. "Even if they don't know what else they'd want to be?"

"What surface water there is, is controlled by the Hutts. It's somethin' like less than one percent." Cobb shrugged. That was it. "Oh! There's also black melons. They've got a milk in 'em that's pretty hydrating."

Smelled real bad but Cobb was slowly developing a taste for them with all the negotiating he did with the Tuskens.

He shrugged. "You try somethin', you don't like it, you move on to somethin' else. You don't have to be what people say you are. Or should be."

If that was the way of things Cobb would've never gotten past being a slave.

Echo's nose wrinkled slightly. One, 'melon' and 'milk' sounded like they didn't belong in the same sentence. And two: "They have control over an important resource? That isn't fair."

When one wasn't actively a soldier, they had other jobs. Officers, pilots, engineers, custodians. Those were all still related to the GAR, however.

A sideways glance was cast Cobb's way. "What did you try doing?"

Cobb laughed bitterly. "Nothin' on Tatooine is fair, my friend. If the Hutts don't own it, some other crime syndicate does. If they don't, they Empire did. There are very few free places back home."

What did Echo think? That things had gotten better since the war he fought? No, the galaxy was a mess. It was even worse for Outer rim planets where no one cared about anything but profit.

The question made him pause. How much to reveal to this man? That was always the question, wasn't it? "A few things. Eventually settled on being a Marshal for a small town. Freetown we like to call it. One of those rare free places."

Echo thought, but it was all within a limited space. Everything he did focused on what he knew as the present, on what he had to do to live to fight another day. Now being nowhere near that present, there was too much time. Too much to think about.

During the war, Republic forces were already spread thin across the galaxy. They did get to the Outer Rim, Tatooine wasn't fully involved in the theaters that took place out there.

Still, it was hard to hear that nothing changed.

He allowed himself a faint laugh when Cobb spoke again, letting his other thoughts subside. "Marshal. That explains everything."

"Oh?" Cobb glanced at him, eyebrow raised but expression cautious. He wasn't sure if that comment would go his way or not. This was really the only conversation where they'd really gotten to know each other.

And it was a good conversation. Cobb's tempter didn't make him shove his foot in his mouth or his foot up Echo's ass. That was a win when he couldn't fully suppress the instinctive fear and anger every time he saw that white armor.

But he still expected people to see him and think 'worthless' which he knew he wasn't but a lifetime of being nothing to most people stuck with a man. He didn't know if Echo assessment of him would be good or bad.

Instinct said bad. Optimism said good.

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