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'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.

It did sound like a setup for something bad. Along with being repetitive, Echo used to have a habit of pointing out everything his batchmates did wrong during their training days. He had since been better about it, but he still called things as he saw it.

Fortunately, optimism gained a point in that regard.

"The way you took charge back there," he explained, thumbing back in the general direction of the bar. "Even outnumbered, you still fought. Not everyone has the guts to do that in the face of being intimidated."

"Not my first bar fight." Cobb relaxed a little. Okay, they seemed to have a little respect going on here. He didn't have to prove himself somehow which he almost always expected it.

He rubbed a hand over his beard. "You know, looked like you didn't get a chance to enjoy your drink back there. I got a bottle of spotchka back at the ship. You want crack it open?"

Truth was Cobb had more than a few bottles in the cargo of the First Breath but he was willing to split one with Echo. Share a few glasses. It was a pretty good nod of approval from Cobb to share a drink.

The clone blinked. "–Eh, it's just one drink. Nothing to cry over." He was about to dismiss the invitation, but he took a second to rethink his decision.

Cobb was offering. And they've been talking; despite the pauses, the friction was almost nonexistent.

In short, it was a vast improvement from their first interaction. The spotchka could be a celebratory step in their progress.

"...Why not. Let's do it."

"Spoken like a man who's always got something to drink." The common Tatooine saying about off worlders probably didn't have the same ring to it now. Cobb still shook his head about someone turning down a drink.

Luckily, Echo seemed to rethink the answer. Cobb nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Otherwise I gotta drink alone and people are gonna start talkin'."

He definitely wanted to drink a little, numb the ache in his ribs and the wound to his pride. They could sit around the hangar and drink, maybe more people join in.

It still made some sense. He came from Kamino, after all.

The clone snorted, not bothering to hide the smirk. "I'm sure no one'll notice."

"I'd never get away with it at home. Someone would join me or ask if I was alright if I drank alone." If he wanted privacy Cobb had to stay home and even then the door was open if there was a need for the Marshal.

When they reached the hangar Cobb pointed a finger at Echo. "Wait here. It'll just be a moment."

He walked up the ramp of First Breath and was gone for a few minutes because he washed his face of blood. When he came back out he had a faintly glowing bottle and two cups.

Brown eyes briefly fell on the finger, but Echo nodded all the same. "Take your time. I have no other plans to leave any time soon."

The good thing about hangars was that there were always crates around. They were pretty multi-purpose when not being used as storage. By the time Cobb returned, the clone was seated on one of them, his helmet placed to one side as he checked some of his gear.

"Oh good. That wasn't as bad as I thought it was," he said upon seeing no visible scarring on Cobb's clean face.

The only scar on Cobb's face was along the right side, old, and pale enough that it blended in with his hair where it stretched back over his ear. The biggest problem he'd have were a few bruises and a little swelling.

"Ah, like I said, I've had worse." He set the cups on the crate and opened the spotchka, pouring generously. "Landed right in the middle of some bandits once. Now that was a fight."

Granted, he has beskar on at the time but that armor hadn't covered everything. He got a nice scar on his side for that one. He raised the cup at Echo in a toast and took a drink. "Thanks for the rescue."

Depending on the person or clone, scars were like badges. And a few bruises never killed anyone as far as Echo knew.

"You're welcome," he said with a smile, raising his glass at the same time. "Although I'm sure you had it."

After taking a sip, he had to ask. "How many bandits were there?"

"Five. Just a pocket of a larger syndicate. Just my bad luck to stumble on 'em." Cobb's voice took on a more jovial tone, falling into the role of a storyteller. "They were lookin' to steal some explosives from the mine stash. And here's one lone Marshal suddenly in their midst. I was the faster draw."

He grinned with a sharp edge, something dangerous and dark in it.

"I got winged by a blaster shot right here." He pointed to his side. The beskar hadn't covered that low. "But they were dead and I wasn't when the dust settled."

The ARC Trooper leaned forward, his drink still in hand as Cobb told his story. He was like a child, wide-eyed and letting their imagination set up the scene; like a soldier who listened in on one of his brother's tall tales, not caring too much if it was true or not.

There was something about the way it unfolded: familiar because it dealt with violence, more personal because it was on a smaller scale instead of focusing on a broader perspective.

Bonus points also went into the style of the retelling but the truth was present, especially when it came to any wounds acquired from a fight like that. Echo breathed a laugh. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here tellin' me all of this?"

Oh, it's a war Cobb Vanth was waging on Tatooine. One of these days the planet would be free and he would have a hand in it. Even that small fight with bandits was one step closer to it.

"Probably not. One of these days it'll catch up with me. Especially without the armor I wore back then but in the meantime just gonna keep survivin'." He had never done anything else with his life but survive.

He was rather amused by Echo's eagerness. "How good is that stuff you wear?" he asked, nodding towards the helmet.

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