my clone headcanons: making eye contact during sex
fem reader
warnings: sexual content
hunter leans in close as he inches himself through your pussy, gripping your jaw. he feels you gasp against his mouth and murmurs, “that’s it, baby, eyes on me…you’re alright…” until he’s all the way inside. he grunts when your tight walls clamp down around his cock, and for a moment, he just stares down at you, his hand caressing your flushed cheek as you wait for him to start moving. “fuck, look at you,” he whispers, kissing you, “taking me so good…” he says as his hips thrust slowly.
tech sucks in a trembling breath when he feels your eyes on him, sort of hissing as the head of his cock rubs on your pulsing, swollen clit. you sink your nails into his backside, clutching him close as his hungry gaze flickers down at you. he inhales shakily and kisses your cheek, his lips still pressed to your skin while murmuring, “you’re such a lovely distraction,” and you whimper when he grinds against your clit, his voice a little raspy. “i can’t look at you without forgetting where i am…”
wrecker drops his face right next to yours as he pounds into you, moving his large body over yours at a rough and uncontrolled pace. you hear him grunting and groaning in your ear, your hands gripping his biceps like you’re holding on for dear life. “fuckin’ love this pussy,” he mutters to himself, and then, “fuckin’ love you…” you turn your head at this, and your eyes meet from the proximity. he grins as he wraps his arms around you in a warm and tight embrace. “yeah, c’mere…”
crosshair holds your gaze silently at first, his eyes dark and narrow as he moves his cock in and out of your pussy, watching every little reaction flutter through your face. it’s like an unspoken competition between the two of you of who will break first and look away, but you’re as defiant as ever when it comes to him. he angles his hips and hits you deeper, smirking at the way your lips part in a breathy gasp. his nimble fingers gently trace your open mouth. “so desperate…” he tuts quietly.
echo has a stern little furrow in his brow when he’s fucking you, groaning deeply under his breath as he focuses on the back and forth of his hips, always sharp and never sloppy. you look up at him and cup his cheeks, smoothing out the faintly creased lines with your touch. his eyes soften upon meeting yours, and his lips curve up slightly into the sweet smile you love. playing off the shyness that creeps up on him, he buries his face into your neck and mutters, “fuck, you feel so good.”
wolffe throws you in different positions whenever he wants, and he chooses missionary when he wants to watch the way he’s just ruining you with his dick, moving deep and slow, a change of pace from how he controls your hips to move back against him, hands gripping your ass. now, he cups your breast and pinches your nipples as you squirm, moaning through his thrusts. “faster, wolffe,” you beg, your round gaze pleading with him. his eyes narrow down at you, twitching slightly when you run a gentle finger down his scar and cup his face. “so fuckin’ greedy,” he murmurs, smirking subtly. you grow a bit nervous under the pressure of his stare, but he holds your jaw in place and leans in close. “you know better than that, baby…”
fox just wants your attention, the needy bitch he is. you moan and whine under his body as he fucks his cock into your wet, dripping pussy, your eyes suddenly colliding with his through a breathy gasp. he stares down at you darkly and keeps hitting that one, deep spot inside of you, making you throw your head back and your eyes squeeze shut from the overwhelming sensation, but his fingers carefully wrap around your throat. “eyes open,” he demands roughly, “mhm, look at me…just me.”
cody chuckles under his breath, but the sound mixes with a low groan when you suddenly clench around him, your eyes widening from how deep he pushes into you. “fuck, baby, you’re such a mess…” he says softly, running his hand down the side of your face. he swipes some disheveled hair away and then presses his forehead to yours, all while looking into your hazy eyes. “something tells me you don’t wanna slow down, though…” he whispers, tilting his head. “hmm, isn’t that right?”
mayday physically feels himself weaken at the way you look at him mid-thrust, your lips slightly parted like you’re begging for a kiss and your eyebrows scrunched in that mix of pleasure and pain from his cock stretching you out. he doesn’t realize he’s been staring until you whisper, “what’s wrong?” and touch his cheek, lightly scratching down into his beard. he blinks and shakes his head, lowering his mouth to your jawline for a little nibble. “it’s nothin’, sweetheart, you’re just driving me crazy…”
rex leans in close right as he thrusts deep inside of you, his gaze trained on you like a hawk. your hands are clawing at his backside, pressing down so he can lower his body to yours and you can hide your face in his chest, muffling your moans. but he fights the pressure of your touch, his muscles flexing under your fingertips as he whispers, “c’mon, baby, don’t get shy on me…look at me.” his voice is commanding and also soft at the same time, willing you to glance up. “there you are,” he smiles.
fives exhales a ragged breath as he slides his length in and out of you, stretching your walls out with the hungry, constant snap of his hips. your gazes lock when you gasp, and he smirks, cocking his head to the side. “oh, baby, i’m gonna cum if you keep lookin’ at me like that,” he tells you in a low, dirty whisper, gripping your thigh to hike it around his waist and drive into you deeper. “you like makin’ me nervous, huh?” he teases, dropping his forehead to yours as he holds your stare.
kix smiles and presses a soft kiss to your mouth, his eyes still on yours when he pulls back to look at you again. “mm, you’re so pretty,” he hums under his breath, leaning down to nuzzle your noses together affectionately, his hips rolling into yours slowly and spreading your legs apart. your lips brush together again before he kisses you deeper this time, gently sucking on your bottom lip until it’s swollen. “can’t believe you’re all mine,” he whispers against your mouth, feeling you moan into him.
jesse grabs your cheeks between his rough fingers and squeezes gently, bringing your lips together in a sloppy kiss. your gazes lock when he comes back up for air, panting hard and slow as his hips stutter against yours. “fuck,” he curses under his breath and pauses, his length pulsing inside of you with a frustrating stillness. “what is it?” you whisper softly, wrapping your legs around his waist. he skims his nose down the side of your face. “i wanna last, but you’re so fuckin’ sexy…”
hardcase notices you look back at him as he fucks you from behind, grabbing onto your plush love handles to control your movements back and forth around his cock. he snickers under his breath and asks, “you like what you see, baby, or did you have something to say?” you open your mouth to respond but your words get stifled into a moan as you drop your head back down into the pillow, crying out from his thrusts that kiss all the way up to your cervix. “yeah…thought so,” he whispers.
gregor catches your gaze with a cheeky little smirk, firmly pushing your knees to bend your legs like a pretzel. he fucks you deeper at this angle, and you arch your back, gasping as you roll your head to the side. “mm-mm, keep those eyes on me, pretty girl,” he teases softly, his eyes crinkled at the corners from his smile when you look at him. “there we go, not so hard, is it?” he says, pressing a sweet kiss to your forehead, his lips lingering there. “i just wanna see you,” he whispers.
howzer watches you as he fucks you, just loves the way you look when you’re whimpering his name and moaning through his thrusts, but he falls apart the moment your eyes stare up at him pleadingly even though you’re not begging for anything. “fuck, baby, i can’t think when you look at me like that,” he groans, dropping his head, his back muscles tightening under your grip. “like what?” you whisper obliviously, stroking his hair. he kisses your shoulder blade. “you know,” he mutters.
emerie averts her gaze away out of instinct, nervously burying her face into your chest. you gasp when her lips latch around the bud of your nipple, distracting herself from the butterflies that come from getting a glimpse of your flushed cheeks, the pouty face you make when you’re getting fucked. “emerie…” you breathe, cradling the back of her head. you stroke your hand down and whisper, “don’t hide from me, baby.” she kisses between your tits, murmuring, “who says i’m hiding?”
Wowzer Wednesday! My favorite painting of Howzer, a hand painted (traditional art) acrylic on canvas board I did last year. I do sell prints in my Etsy shop, having a close out sale on many of the images. https://www.etsy.com/shop/FaithwalkCreationsCo
[i know.. im sorry.. 😔 here’s my apology cuz it’s pride month and im gay n shit]
Rex
-Bisexual king! gets equally flustered around both guys and girls. (i lowkey ship Rex and Gerrera hehe..)
Fives
-Pansexual ICON. he’ll flirt with anyone and everyone. he doesn’t gaf if ur a man, a woman or literally anything in between. if there’s a hole there’s a goal
-High key Fraysexual as well
Echo (pre skako minor)
-He was a bisexual train wreck. he struggled with being bi for a long time bc ‘they never covered this in the reg manuals!!’
-when Fives came out to him it kinda js clicked like ‘oh. i like boys and that’s okay’
Echo (post skako minor)
-Demisexual but still bi. established trust is essential bc he’s rly insecure about himself and his new body
Dogma
-Gay and he hates himself for it. Forces himself into straight relationships because he doesn’t want to ‘break the rules’
Tup
-Trans queen!! she/her pronouns. asexual cuz hell yeah why not. also side note- tup with her glorious long hair and bald fives would be PERFECT for the gru and dru trend going around rn (i swear im not chronically online)
Hardcase
-Genderfluid ICON. can and will rock both a dress AND a suit n tie
Howzer
-Demisexual and skoliosexual cuz he feels zesty but not like gay zesty yknow?? idk maybe im crazy
Cody
-GAY ICON. all caps. there’s nothing even remotely straight about this man (codywan my beloved)
Emerie
-Lesbian. women for the win. she’s asexual as well.
Omega (older version obvi)
-Lesbian ICON. She’s for the girls. Takes after her big sister
-I occasionally see headcanons of omega being trans ftm and sometimes even mtf and like hell yeah. i can see it.
Crosshair
-Straight. Asshair supremacy.
-Low key Fraysexual??
-Ally. Very supportive of Omega. Tells her ‘I don’t gaf if you date girls. If she hurts you, that’s the last thing she’ll ever do’
Hunter
-Straight and Demisexual. Not a big fan of one night stands.
-Ally to his brothers and omega (same mentality as crosshair)
Wrecker
-Bisexual bc he dosent gaf who you are. as long as you can tolerate his obsession with blowing shit up, he’s forever yours.
Tech
-highkey aroace?? (TECHPHEE FANS DONT COME FOR ME PLS IM SORRY)
[Quantum Entanglement] Chapter 25 - Faces New and Old (4k)
Master List - Howzer x OC Adventure Romance - PG13 - Previous Chapter
FANART FANART FANART!! "Training Time" by @nika6q featuring Aurelia and Cerra, whom you can read about in the freaking incredible longfic Stars Beyond Number by @dystopicjumpsuit, set during the clone rebellion/TBB featuring Rex/Echo/Gregor/etc. One of the best I’ve read! Go read it now!
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Aurelia sighed, leaning against the wall of the hangar where the clones and their allies had set up their base. It was quite the hub of activity with its mixture of mission planning, sparring, and an odd mix of seriousness and camaraderie. She hadn’t spent a lot of time there, preferring instead the familiar walls and small staff of the clinic, but she did enjoy time with the clones in a non-medical setting. She still felt distinctly “other”, since Chuchi was the only other nat-born female she’d seen in her sparse visits, and she didn’t really have any skills to contribute to their endeavors there.
Howzer naturally frequented it much more often, and they had settled into a bit of a routine – her at the clinic and him at the hangar. They’d been able to procure an extra cot for their space, but there were still no larger apartments available, so they’d crammed it into Aurelia’s, leaving virtually no room to walk around it. Climbing across the bed from dresser to refresher sometimes brought a smile, other times a grimace. They hoped to find something bigger, but in the meantime, they made the common area their living room in the few hours they had outside of work and sleep.
The hangar was quite full that day as Aurelia watched from her corner. Howzer was bent over a holotable with Rex and Gregor, brow furrowed as he pointed here and there. Their nods and murmurs were intensely focused on whatever mission was at hand, and she wondered if she should go back to the clinic just to feel useful. As though he could sense her thoughts, Howzer caught her gaze, face softening immediately as he flashed a tiny kiss face in her direction. He flinched and grinned as Rex smacked his arm with a mockingly stern expression, and Howzer immediately arranged his features into diligent solemnity.
They dove back into their strategizing, but within minutes, a couple others appeared at their table. She had seen the clone before – Fireball, she was pretty sure his name was – but her mouth fell open slightly as she noticed that he was accompanied by a woman. Aurelia couldn’t even begin to process it before the new arrival sidled up behind Gregor and wrapped her arms around his waist. She squeezed him tightly, earning an exaggerated roll of the eyes from Rex, then nestled beside him at the table to scan the holographic contents.
Aurelia was mystified. The woman had an undeniable air of confidence about her, standing tall as she joined in the conversation. Her muscular arm flexed as she ran her hand over her short hair, mussing it up with an agitated scratch before pointing at something and shaking her head. The men seemed to respect and include her as much as any of their brothers, and a slight twist of jealousy joined the befuddled awe in Aurelia’s mind.
Who was she? Why hadn’t she seen her before? What was her deal with Gregor? How was she so strong and confident? Mind racing with questions, Aurelia didn’t register that they all were looking at her for a few seconds, and when she did notice, she clapped her mouth shut and shifted on her feet. Howzer was gesturing in her direction, and when the woman gave her a curt nod and the hint of a smile, Aurelia felt as though she could melt on the spot. But she also didn’t want to seem like a helpless little corner-dweller, so she took a deep breath, straightened her posture, and strode forward to join them.
Trepidation rising beneath the five pairs of eyes upon her, she panicked halfway there and instead altered her path toward the makeshift kitchen. Once she’d slipped inside with as much nonchalance as she could convey, she rested against the counter, mentally kicking herself as she hid under the guise of making some caf. A sudden movement in the doorway caught her eye, and she turned quickly to see Gregor, an easy smile on his face.
“Excellent idea,” he nodded, putting her at ease as he began to craft two cups of his own.
“Might keep me up tonight but right now it feels worth it,” she offered, consciously relaxing her shoulders as she realized they’d climbed nearly up to her ears.
“Couldn’t agree more!”
They stood in mutual silence as they waited for the pot to finish brewing, cups at the ready with their various accouterments. Finally, Aurelia couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer.
“Okay… Who is that?” she asked, the words bursting out of her with no chill whatsoever.
“I know, right?” he said with a chuckle, arching an eyebrow at her knowingly. “Absolutely magnificent!”
“I mean, yeah, but–”
“Name’s Cerra. She’s been a killer part of our operation for a while now.”
“Nice,” Aurelia murmured, the duality of her feelings increasing as she compared herself to the formidable female at the table outside.
“Like you!” Gregor added, bumping his shoulder into hers gently. “Half of us wouldn’t be where we are without your fixin!”
She smiled, shrugging it off. “I’m glad to help… where I can.”
“You don’t sound too glad,” he observed.
“No, I am,” she replied automatically, sighing as she finally met his eyes. “Alright,” she confessed, “I just… I feel like I’m not doing enough. There are so many important missions going on, and I can’t contribute anything. I mean, anyone can patch up some wounds… And I can’t even defend myself. Not much of a soldier.”
“Well, you’re not a soldier.”
“I know–
“And,” he continued pointedly, “You are serving a very important purpose here. I mean, we can do our best to patch ourselves up, and Cerra helps… somewhat… in very vague terms… but we wouldn’t be able to accomplish any of those missions if we weren’t in good shape thanks to you.”
She waited, trying to allow his words to soak in. He picked up the finished pot of caf and began to swirl it into his two cups, comfortable in the silence for a moment before speaking again. She realized he was making an extra, likely for this Cerra woman.
“As far as defending yourself, I’m sure we would all be willing to teach you a thing or two, but uh… Hasn’t Howzer been working on your grappling skills?”
His roguish grin was met with an authentic snort on her part, and she snatched the pot from him to fill her own cup. On second thought, she reached for a second cup, filling and preparing it the same way. She should have thought of that from the start, she chastised, but let it go as her best attempt at a clever response came to mind.
“Not the kind of grappling I’d want to use on an enemy,” she deadpanned, his giggle bringing a wider smile to her face. “Although definitely not the kind they’d expect, either.”
“Nice,” he winked, finishing his caf creations and jerking his head toward the door. “Come with me?”
“Eh, I… uh…”
“You’ve got to deliver that to Howzer anyway, no?” he moved his eyes from her face to the cup and back.
“Yeah,” she sighed, giving him one last fond smirk before following him out.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” Cerra purred as Gregor slipped the cup into her hands. She took a long sip, closing her eyes and basking in its perfection for a second before smiling at Aurelia with significantly more warmth than the first time. “Cerra,” she offered, along with a hand.
“Aurelia,” came the response, and she tried not to let her entire arm shake with the force of Cerra’s greeting. Flexing her fingers as she let go, she picked up Howzer’s caf and handed it to him, everything else fading in the single moment they shared with an intimate gaze.
“Kriff, you’ve got it bad for each other,” Cerra poked, winking at Gregor as he giggled beside her.
“Clones, you know,” Aurelia answered, disproportionately proud of herself as Cerra gave an approving “heh” in response.
“So… I was thinking it would be prudent to have everyone in our group be confident in their basic defense skills,” Gregor said suddenly, nodding at his own words. “Aurelia here is a little rusty in her training, and I wondered if you might show her a thing or two when you’ve got time here.” Cerra looked Aurelia up and down, instantly making her feel as though she were completely naked, then nodded along with him.
“Sounds great,” she agreed, tilting her head at Aurelia. “If you’re interested, that is. Seems you just got volun-told.” A wink to Gregor.
“No, that’d be… helpful, I think…” Aurelia stammered, torn between Cerra’s smooth gaze and the jerky movement of Howzer’s head raising to look at her from behind the woman’s shoulder. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it, instead sinking into the stern expression that he wore more often than not lately.
“I’ll comm you,” Cerra affirmed, touching the outside of her arm in a firm yet kind gesture. “As for now, we’ve got a mess here. Maybe you can see something we don’t.”
They dove back into their strategizing, Cerra having made room at the table for Aurelia to watch and listen as though it were the most natural thing in the world. The men followed her lead, debating and brainstorming with focused intensity. Howzer moved beside her, his gaze lingering on Cerra for a moment before he stood a little straighter. Aurelia was wildly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information being thrown about – stuff that they all seemed to have worked with for a while now yet was all completely new to her. Fighting to keep up, she gathered the basics of the mission and listened curiously as they continued to bicker over conflicting details.
A few things were falling into place in her mind when she was rudely interrupted by the ping of her comm. Stepping away to check it, she sighed at the message awaiting her – she was needed at the clinic. Normally she loved to be useful, but this wasn’t what she’d call an authentic need. The nurse that had stepped into a managerial role upon Lennox’s departure had a tendency to make anything a crisis, which was an uncharacteristic trait for a medical professional. Aurelia had been the natural successor to the position, but with all that was going on, she didn’t want the added responsibilities. However, she found herself second-guessing the decision now that the staff struggled to adjust to the new personality dynamics.
Regardless, duty called, so she excused herself from the table and headed for the door. Howzer caught up to her in a few steps, grasping her arm and twirling her back toward him. She opened her mouth in inquisitive protest, but he was cupping her face before she could get a word out. His kiss was deep and passionate, and when he finally pulled back, leaving his hands on her cheeks, he gazed into her eyes with intensity.
“Well that was nice,” she murmured, taking one of his hands in her own and kissing it softly.
“Never gonna take it for granted,” he said quietly, pressing his forehead to hers before releasing her.
She smiled the entire way to the clinic.
* * *
When Aurelia got “home” that night after an unexpected shift that took much longer than anticipated, she headed straight for the refresher, daintily picking her way over the corner of the cot where Howzer was sprawled in blissful slumber. After washing the day off, she pulled on her comfiest pajamas and crawled onto her own cot beside him. There was a small groove between the two where they’d pushed them together as best they could, but they didn’t mind. It was worth the closeness.
Her arrival roused him a bit, and he rolled over to wrap an arm around her, smiling groggily and murmuring a hello. She slipped her leg between his thighs, nestling into his radiant warmth, and everything felt right in the world.
“You should quit,” he joked, entwining his fingers with hers where their hands rested against her chest.
“You should quit,” she returned evenly. “Then we can just do this all day every day.”
“Don’t need food anyway,” he mumbled.
“Oh, nevermind,” she said somberly. “Food’s important.”
He hummed in agreement. “Speaking of food,” he continued. “Apparently Garr Tevv needs to lose.”
“What?”
“Garr Tevv. On the Galactic Bake-Off. Karking loser.”
She laughed, a deep warmth in her chest at the nonsensical intimacy they shared. “Noted,” she said. “Kriff Garr Tevv.”
“Thassthe spirit.” He was slipping back toward sleep, and she thought it was quite the good idea. Another day of more questions than answers was waiting, but right now, all was well.
“I love you,” she whispered, feeling his gentle squeeze before she drifted off.
* * *
“We need to check it out ourselves,” Rex said firmly, his sentiment echoed by grunts around the room. He was standing straight in the center of the makeshift living room, addressing the others who were piled on the couch and the crates nearby.
“No way to gather more intel first?” Gregor asked.
“We don’t have a ton of sources,” Rex reminded him.
“We can have a look,” Cerra said confidently, Fireball nodding beside her.
“We can indeed,” Rex answered. “You still need to fix the stabilizers on that ship.” Cerra’s face fell at his response, but she kept her mouth shut. For a second at least.
“How do we not have any other decent mechanics? Where are Trace and Rafa?”
Gregor sighed. “We’ve been over this,” he said with a fond eyebrow in her direction.
“Things change,” she retorted, words sharp but eyes soft.
“Alright, it doesn’t matter,” Rex interjected. “We’ll take a small team and the rest of you can continue your duties here.”
“Fine, but I’ve got next.”
“You’ve got whatever I tell you is next,” Rex teased, and they narrowed their eyes at each other harmlessly.
Howzer didn’t realize the expression on his face until Gregor elbowed him in the side. Meeting dismissed, they stood and stretched, exchanging a few last words until disbanding for their assignments. Cerra appeared in his field of vision, catching his attention with a quick upward jerk of her chin.
“Want to give your girl my comm so we can have practice a bit while I’m stuck here? She said she’d show me some actual medical stuff, and I’m pretty sure that’d be wildly useful instead of the hack jobs we’ve been doing around.”
“Alright,” he said slowly, unable to hide the trepidation in his voice.
“What?” Her words were firm, but not challenging.
“Just… Be careful.”
“The point is to help her, not hurt her,” Cerra pointed out. “Wouldn’t you feel better with her being able to defend herself a little more?”
“She shouldn’t have to…” he muttered, realizing the naivete of his words as soon as he spoke them aloud.
“None of us should have to,” she rolled her eyes. “But I don’t have to remind you of the reality we’re all facing.”
“I know.” His eyebrows sank into the grooves that seemed to grow deeper by the day. “Thanks for watching out for her.”
“I know you’re doing the same,” Cerra reassured, offering the faintest shadow of a smile as she saw his shoulders lower a tiny bit.
“Mm. See you when we get back.”
* * *
Aurelia’s entrance into the hangar could not have been less confident, as she walked with one arm holding the other at her side and scanned the area for any sign of anyone. She heard a scuffle around the corner, eyes widening as the sight unfolded before her.
Cerra was drenched in sweat, squaring up to a clone that Aurelia couldn’t recognize from the back. Had the clinic been doing intake exams for new arrivals without her? She made a mental note to investigate. Not that she was necessarily needed for each one, but she felt a sense of protectiveness over the whole group and enjoyed getting to know each clone individually.
“Alriiight!” Cerra said loudly, grinning at Aurelia over her opponent’s shoulder. “Now the big guns are here!”
Aurelia laughed aloud, shaking her head in utter disbelief. The clone turned to look, realizing his mistake a split second too late. Cerra had him on the ground immediately, legs wrapped around his middle with a triumphant grunt as he squirmed and squawked in protest.
“Cheap shot!” he yelled, slamming his hand on the ground twice and clambering to his feet as soon as she released him. He was breathing heavily, glowering at her as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then helped her up and clapped her on the back nonetheless.
“All’s fair in love and war,” she said, giving him a familiar bump on the shoulder before fetching her water bottle from the nearby crate.
“Oh? So is this love or war?” the clone teased, oblivious to the exaggerated huff of disapproval from Fireball where he watched from the sidelines. The question sounded oddly familiar, and Aurelia squinted as she tried to place it. Or was it the way he said it? She was still unabashedly watching him as he turned to see the “big guns”, his face breaking into a large smile as he laid eyes on her.
“I knew it!” he laughed, and she was flooded with indignation, assuming he was referring to her diminutive stature. “You always did have it in you, eh?”
Now she was completely baffled. He was so maddeningly familiar, but his standard military cut and lack of any identifying tattoos wasn’t giving her anything to go off of.
“Ohh,” he lamented, clutching a hand to his heart. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me? All those nights at 79s didn’t mean anything to you?”
Cerra let out a knowing chuckle and wagged her eyebrows at Aurelia, whose mouth dropped at the sudden realization.
“Pivot?!” she said, eyes lighting up as she walked quickly toward him. “You’re alive!”
“Don’t sound so stupefied,” he grumbled, pulling her into a huge, sweaty hug that made her grimace at the sudden stickiness and smell. “You only saw me blowing off steam, not blowing up clankers. I was pretty good at it.”
“No, I believe it!” Aurelia said, extricating herself from his embrace before taking a jab. “It’s just that you were so old, even back then…”
“Ha!!” he bellowed, pushing her fondly as she caught her balance with a mischievous grin on her face. “You know it. Kriff, I’ve missed you.”
“I mean, I wasn’t exactly a big part of your life…” she protested, uneasy beneath the compliment.
“You’d be surprised,” the clone said, waxing poetic all of a sudden. “War is all the same. Battle after battle, loss after loss. The sparse time in between where we actually got to feel human… And well, that was…”
“Nice,” Fireball interjected, a somber expression on his face as he’d approached from the side.
“Nice,” Pivot echoed, grinning and turning to clap his brother on the back. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. And you,” he continued, “were the perfect balance of kind and snarky. Kept it lively but you seemed to really like us. Respect us, even. Meant a lot.”
“Well geez.” Aurelia’s eyes were glossy at his words and the sheer volume of memories they evoked. It felt like a lifetime ago, so much more lighthearted and simple despite the anxiety and aimlessness she’d felt without a clear purpose in life. She lost herself in it all for a second, eyes drifting across the floor, then she met his gaze again, warm and clear. “I did like you. And respect you. All of you.”
“Did?” Pivot prodded, arching his eyebrow so animatedly that Cerra chuckled from her lean on the crates nearby, noting how he looked an awful lot like Gregor when he did that.
“Do,” Aurelia corrected, peering at him from under mockingly stern brows.
“Mmhmm.”
“As cute as this all is, if we want to get anything done before the fearless warriors return, we need to get at it,” Cerra reminded, flipping the cap back onto her water bottle and swinging her arms out and back across her chest to keep her muscles warm. “You ready to roll, Reli?”
“Smoooooth,” Pivot grinned, nodding as he followed Fireball off to the side.
“First of all,” Aurelia replied, clenching and releasing her fists as though that were a sufficient warm-up, “Who told you to call me that… And second of all… Nice alliteration.”
Cerra snorted, moving out to the center of the training area. “First of all, it was our very own Captain Howdy who’s dropped the nickname once or twice. And second of all… nerd.”
“Captain Howdy?” A barely-restrained snicker accompanied the question.
“Howzer… Howz… Howzy… Howdy… It was a journey.”
“Over the last four days?”
“Fast journey.”
“Fair enough.”
***
To set the mood... Rocky Balboa - Theme Song (HD) (youtube.com)
***
In less than an hour, Aurelia was wiped out. Cerra had only gone over the basics of situational awareness, pivot points, and a few simple strikes, but practicing them repeatedly against the rock-solid defense of her trainer had left her wildly disappointed in herself. She was trying to calm her panting, forcing her breaths in and out through her nose, and paced back and forth in the corner as Cerra wiped herself with a towel while exchanging quips with Fireball.
The same thoughts rankled. This woman was so strong, so competent, so well-trained and clearly able to handle herself in a multitude of situations. She didn’t need anyone to protect her. She wasn’t a drain on someone else’s capacity…
“Hey, you did great today,” her words broke through Aurelia’s rumination, and she looked up to see Cerra extending a hand. She mimicked the motion and was surprised when she grabbed her forearm instead, giving it a gentle squeeze before releasing it.
“Thanks,” Aurelia mumbled, fidgeting with her fingers as she headed for her bag.
“You’re beating yourself up, aren’t you?”
Damn, she was as observant as she was skilled. Aurelia sighed, staring at the crate for a moment before looking back at her.
“I know, it’s just the first time. It’s silly to expect–”
“Anything,” Cerra finished, dipping her head to get her point across. “Do you know how long I got my ass kicked on a daily basis before I could start holding my own at all?”
“Like twelve days?”
“Heh. I wish,” came the mirthful response. “It was a long time. And I’ve had to keep practicing. You think I like getting trashed by this shiny?” She wrapped her arm around Fireball’s neck, attempting to rub her fist into his hair but he pulled away and jabbed her in the side, causing her to drop her arm with a fond chuckle.
“Shiny…” he grumbled, grinning at her fondly.
“Anyway,” she continued, regarding Aurelia earnestly. “I see it on your face and it’s not gonna fly. Be proud of yourself. All that you’ve done. Whether or not it looks like what you think it “should”. Besides… about 90% of this is ‘fake it til you make it.’”
“Fair enough.”
“Plus, you’ve got to make it up to me.”
“Oh?” This caught Aurelia by surprise, and she shifted her bag on her shoulder as she looked curiously to the taller woman.
“What, you think it’s free? You said you’d show me some medical stuff so I don’t have to attempt what probably qualifies as surgery from mimicking janky holos.”
“Ahh, ha. Yes. Name the time and place.”
.
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