Obi-Wan "Tooka" Kenobi

No, sir, stop that

Crash!

Cody's head flung up to look at the noise. His pot of styluses was on the floor, and the General was blinking at him owlishly. He sighed, leaning down and picking them all up and setting them back down away from the edge. 'They must have been too close to the edge,' Cody sighed to himself.

It wasn't too long before the silence was broken again.

Crash!

'Now I know they were not to close to the edge.' Cody grumbled as he tidied up the knocked over styluses again. This time, he silently activated his comm recorder to see what was happening and got back to work.

Crash!

Muttering to himself, he picked up the pot again and put it centrally on the table before pulling up the recording.

The recording showed the pot slowly itching across the table, the General's finger twitching each time before it falls off.

Sighing, Cody forwarded the recording to Book to see if the man had any idea whether this was a Tooka thing or if the General was just bored.

Crash!

Cody left it on the floor. It wasn't going to fall off the floor.

The notification light blinked into life as Book's reply came. It was one word.

'Yes.'

Cody felt like abusing the table with his head.

-----

"No, sir," Cody growled, grabbing his mug before it fell, "the covered datapads? Yes. The weird shiny things you pull out of your pocket? Yes. The closed tubs? Yes. But not my caff."

"Is the Commander okay?"

"He's pre-caff, and the General nearly knocked over his caff," Waxer whispered back to Boil, "I think some of it spilt."

"I'll go get him some more," Boil stated.

"Good idea," Waxer nodded.

-----

"Why is Cody in such a bad mood?" Rex asked, sitting down next to Waxer and away from Cody.

"Why don't you ask him?" Waxer offered.

"That looks like pre-caff Cody; I'm not stupid enough to approach him to ask that," Rex scoffed.

"It is pre-caff Cody; his caff got spilt," Waxer stated, "we tried to make him more and, well..."

"...one shiny is getting their stomach purged as we talk," Boil flinched, "it didn't go down well."

Rex cringed. "I'll go over with a peace offering," Rex stated.

-----

"What are you after?" Cody asked, eyes narrowing as Rex presented a caff to him.

"Is a brother not allowed to talk to another brother?" Rex asked.

"Not when they approach with a peace offering."

"We've noticed things keep falling to the floor," Rex stated, "it's both our stuff, the 212th and the 501st. We don't know why, but it seems only to happen when General Kenobi is present."

"Put covers on your datapads, lids on your pots, I'm currently trying to stop drinks from being spilt, but it has yet to work," Cody stated before downing the caff, "its a new Tooka instinct the General has developed. It might be partly a coping mechanism and fade eventually."

"So this keeps happening?" Rex asked.

"You get used to it," Cody shrugged, looking back down at his work.

"You are just adapting to it, all of it?"

"Are you suggesting we try and 'control' the General?" Cody asked, looking up sharply, his arms crossing in front of his chest. "Fault him for something he had no control over?"

Rex shrunk into himself, stopping himself from trying to cover his hair. "No," Rex whispered, diverting his eyes slightly.

"Good."

-----

The 501st barracks went quiet as Rex's helmet fell to the floor the moment the door closed. The man's hands shock just as heavy as the rest of his body as he went to step forward.

Fives and Echo jumped towards Rex, grabbing him to almost lead him towards one of the bunks. They shared a worried glance as Rex curled into himself, hands covering his hair as he rocked slightly.

"Someone pass me a spare towel before getting out along with everyone else," Kix whispered.

Walking forwards, Kix rested the towel on Rex's head, moving the man's hands away. "Is that better, Rex?"

Rex closed his eyes, hands resting on his knees before nodding slowly. "He's not been that aggressively defensive since an Alpha tried to report me for being defective."

The three standing clones shared a look. Was Rex talking about Commander Cody?

"He didn't suggest something was defective?" Fives asked.

"No, but he miss took something I said," Rex answered, "he thought I'd suggested General Kenobi was defective and should be faulted."

"He knows you didn't mean that he's probably just tired and not had enough caff," Echo stated.

"I know," Rex whispered.

There was a series of sharp raps against the door, followed by, "Rex?"

"Come in, Codes," Rex sighed, straightening out slightly.

The door opened, and Cody took a glance around the room. Rex's helmet was on the floor, the barrack looked recently evacuated, and three men were sheltering Rex subconsciously from him. And Rex? Rex was curled up on a bunk, a towel covering his hair.

Fives shifted again, blocking more of Rex from Cody's view. The action could get him into serious trouble, but his commanding officer's welfare was more critical.

Cody slowly placed his helmet on the floor next to Rex's before walking over and crouching in front of the man. "Rex, you know I know you didn't mean that, right?"

"Yes," Rex sighed, nodding for the others to leave the room.

Cody waited until it was just the two of them in the room, "Rex, you know that I'd never suggest that anyone is defective or should be faulted for something that wasn't their fault."

Rex looked down at his knees, one hand reaching to rest against the towel on his head.

"Pup," Cody stated sharply, Rex's eyes turning to look straight at him, "you are not defective, you are not weak, you are not faulty."

Rex lent into the hand that came to rest on his shoulder.

"You are strong, respected, and looked up too. Your men are lucky to have you."

"And that isn't because of who General Skywalker is?" 

"Fives shifted to block you from my view, potentially getting ready to get in my way if you even suggested it," Cody smiled, "he was prepared to do that, knowing what the consequences would be."

"Fives? Really?"

"Mm, yes, tried to keep me from my Rex'ika," Cody laughed, pulling Rex close to him, almost straight off the bunk.

"Kote!" Rex screeched, laughing as his attempts to push away only ended up with them both being knocked to the floor.

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