#cc drifter

[datastate]

void: why. why did you give cosmos a vibroknife

drifter: they felt unsafe

void, voice cracking: thEy felt unsafe??

void: I feel unsafe!

drifter: i'll give you a vibroknife too vod'ika

[datastate]

drifter: *has to change into civilian clothes*

ayrin: I Am Looking Respectfully 👀

[datastate]

OKAY set up for commander driter + ayrin because i need to enable myself.

drifter’s (small) ship crashes on an area ayrin is scavenging it w antaki - they aren’t jedi, and they’re honestly 'well meaning’ in comparison to traitors. just not the ‘best’ of the empire, but definitely not actively going against it. so, drifter works w them as they try to get her back to health

the twins (ayrin and antaki) are already aware that drifter’s a clone, not just bc of the designation, but because there are at least two back at vynara’s home (sky and 37; i’m still debating whether or not 37 would’ve had others on their mission w selinn... hm. void would’ve been there but they left the crash as soon as they woke, and 37 and selinn were already Away.) the two can tell that drifter’s acting off from the others, though. even 37, who admitted he was reconditioned by the republic before it ‘won’ the war, wasn’t so. stuck to this duty to the empire.

they deliberately make sure they only really have enough ‘fuel’ to get back to their home, promising drifter she’ll be able to leave and go back to the empire once they get there.

tl;dr of this is they figure out the chips are there; they help drifter take hers out. she’s very. disoriented for a bit, esp when selinn comes around, but ultimately decides to stay until she recovers from that and can get herself back in order.

sky gently helps her catch up on what was happening w the rest, and once drifter feels she’s in a state, she wants to try to at least get void back - and a few others she memorized their usual shifts. this is time sensitive, but she does work quickly once she gets back into the habit

even if she does still need some help w handling the new clone armor - it’s sky who ends up wearing her set again to infiltrate (which esp helps seeing as she’s a force-sensitive clone; she’ll be fine even if she’s found out) while ayrin hands over some of her own armor for drifter to wear (gay people REAL)

outside of these short rescue missions, drifter often spends her time w her vod’ika and ayrin. antaki would be included, but they’re often someone in the background who works on their physical craft - be it weaponry or armor, or fiing up the scraps so they can properly trade them for credits to keep the lusi family up (esp considering vynara’s no longer there and ash is getting increasingly stressed out at his work); there would also be ash and fierjin here, but tbh i don’t think drifter has spoken to them much other than just... generally kind regard, as she usually holds. i’m sure fierjin has offered to cook her some meals once they come back.

ayrin’s art is a large part of her life, drifter jokes at first that ‘her’ art would be stuff she’s stolen, but ayrin’s like nooo i actually create stuff i prommy... and begins to share a lot of her written ideas w drifter, who’s really good w listening to them and responding in a way that’s actually... engaging, which ayrin really appreciates. the closest person ayrin had before who would respond would be ash, but ash has gotten tired, and then there’s of course her twin, antaki, but antaki’s sometimes very... quiet, and ayrin knows that antaki appreciates her work but it’d still be nice to get more responses than “that’s nice” you know? there’s fierjin and vynara, but they’re sort of similar to antaki, or vynara well-meaningly tries to help her improve, but it ends up feeling like xe’s undermining what work ayrin’s already done.

anyway, ayrin and drifter bounce back and forth their own ideas. drifter shares a few her vode’ika have made, alongside her own, and then ones that she’s made w her own vode... it kind of leads into sadder stuff here, where drifter’s like... she wanted to see her vode make this stuff a reality, but now she’s probably the only one who holds those ideas and the opportunity to share them in the way they were supposed to be. ayrin consoles her - although the worst she’s had was a falling out w some past friends, two of which are dead, she still understands that feeling of... creating something w someone only for it to kind of break apart because you’re only holding half of it now - and just tries to support her through this.

they’re both really encouraging toward each other and share similar values, even though drifter will always go for protecting her vode that are left, ayrin and the rest of ayrin’s family has become something really close to her heart as well. they’re very sweet with each other and find it easy to pass the time just... talking and joking with each other, and it’s really nice. there are some times they argue, esp when drifter is being worn down by some failures to retrieve her vode (esp void...), or with how to treat vynara after what vynara did to void, but they do ultimately sort through it and readjust. it’s a slow process of falling in love, but. once they do care abt each other, and realize they don’t want to be separated, they do a lot to keep themselves close to each other and care for the other in what ways they can. they don’t like being physically apart, esp for too long, but thankfully that doesn’t often need to happen (unless they’re on missions, in which case they do check in on each other, maybe a little more often than need be)