Long overdue...

[mosaic_archive]

Spider's missed this place... but sometimes absences just can't be helped. Stuff comes up, things happen... stubborn kids want to go out to lunch armed like they're going to raid the place...

They'd all needed some adjustment time.

But here he is, after about four months. And unlike most times, this time he's not alone. He usually picks a nice seat where he can see the view and orders the same grilled strawberry cream sandwich and hot cocoa... but this time he'll look around for a spot with enough room to accommodate the seven kids with him.

Comments

[random_xtras]

"Sup?" A cute little blue-eyed brunette stops to smile at the group. "Oh, hey, Spider."

Uzulee often hangs around Blue's, though she usually doesn't work there. Judging from her apron, the little Beast descendent is doing just that today.

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"Hello, Uzulee," Spider says with a smile. "Care to suggest somewhere I could get this lot to settle?"

The four look-alike boys are glancing around as if casing the place, making note of entrances, exits, and if anyone else there looks like a possible threat. It's sheer habit, and they're pretty discreet about it.

The two girls are actually doing something not dissimilar, but they don't seem to actually have to look around to do it, except to keep track of exits. They have other ways to be aware of any threats.

Seth's actually the most obvious about looking around, but he's also the only one just plain curious.

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Uzulee grins at the kids, recognizing the features on those first four as she does so. "How about the bar? There's nobody else there right now except for Pug."

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"Sounds good," Spider says, with a quick glance to the kids. They seem to have no objections. "Bar it is." He'll smile, then, adding, "I'll have my usual, but the kids are probably gonna have to have a look at the menu first." He'd told them before coming here they could pick anything they wanted.

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"Don't worry." Canderous takes his drink and knocks back half of it. "There are guys here from two or three different GARs, and everybody around here runs around without armour." He snorts. "And some don't even bother with decent clothes."

"Hey, fishing can be a hot job," says Blue, handing the drink to the girls. "There's nothing wrong with wearing a pair of shorts while you do it."

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"It takes getting used to," says Solus, quietly.

"The GAR isn't what it was," adds Husk.

Sev snorts and nods at that. "Can't have an Army of the Republic when the Republic's gone."

"This stuff really does taste like lum cake," says Trouble.

Eldewn and Elsae try a sip of the ice cream float and nod their agreement.

"It really does," says Elsae.

"You should try it with chocolate some time," suggests Eldewn.

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"I saw Sev the other day when that snapper went down his shorts," Canderous tells Blue, then he nods to the boys. "Yeah, the army never happened where I'm from. Or at least it hasn't yet. And yeah, I don't know about chocolate, but it's good with toffee."

"You think anything's good with toffee," teases Blue, then snags a passing tribble and uses it to polish the bar.

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Canderous nods to Spider's words, then smiles slightly as he hears the girls and watches the boy talk to them.

"Alora's not a normal Jedi," he says. "She does things right."

And here comes the food!

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"Universe we've been in, Jedi means Jedi Council. You either follow their rules, or you're not a Jedi... an their rules got in the way of doin' things right more often than not," Spider says. "Warned Kenobi about that, but don't know if he listened."

The four little Commandos quickly tuck in. Spider watches them eat for a little bit and snerks. "I swear we feed em at home... mom just ain't quite got Mando cooking down yet. Stuff cooked on a campfire she gets, it's all the spices that throw her off. I think she's afraid she'll make someone sick if she actually follows the recipes."

"This is good," Seth says, pleasantly surprised about the applesauce and spaghetti.

As for the girls, everything on the cold plate is scrutinized, and they're eating quietly... but a few items just disappear instead, tucked in pockets just in case.

[random_xtras]

Canderous snorts at that. "They tried that where we come from. But they need Alora, even though she's force blind now. So things have wound up different, I guess." He grins at Spider's other comment as he watches the boys eat, then reaches into the nearby snack bowl and offers the nearest little commando a tiny stuffed pepper. "Try that, kid."

[random_xtras]

Scrat nods, and one gets the feeling that he understands perfectly as he looks at the girls and Seth. "Brothers and sisters are a blessing."

"Even when they're a pain in the shebs." Atin offers the pepper bowl to Canderous and gets snorted at.

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Spider chuckles at that. "I come from a big enough family I can back you up on that one... though mostly from watching my uncles."

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"You want a pain in the shebs?" Another clone, this one in bare feet and a doctor's white coat, stops behind Atin.

"No. Keep your ugly feet to yourself. And eat a pepper." Atin stuffs the treat into his brother's mouth, and then grins at Spider.

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Scrat looks surprised, but Atin nods.

"I know. The offer still stands."

"Importing... children?" If Scrat's eyes got any wider he'd look like something from an anime. Fi finds the expression quite amusing.

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Spider just grins. "That's about the usual reaction. Seems someone had to go and tell Xavier that sometimes there are kids out there nobody seems to want... he put that together with the population issue and thinks he's got himself a perfect plan."

"He's been at this for eighteen days now, an if the repercussions haven't sunk in yet, I don't think they're ever going to. Weil might've been the one to make him, but that boy's Lightbot right to the core."

He's keeping an eye on his own group of kids as he talks. They've mostly finished off their food and are now snitching or sometimes trading for bites off each other's plates out of curiosity.

[random_xtras]

"He must think he's Guardian Fae," says Atin through his laughter. "Though the last of us that I know of who took a changeling was Aoife. But it was Charlie who left the stock to replace the girl."

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"Nah." Atin shrugs, hands in his pockets. "A bit of a glow. But no ripples."

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"Dunno whether to be pleased I've kept that low a profile, or disappointed I haven't made more of a change... unless that means it's mostly been positive ones."

The kids? Still chewing. Seth pauses a moment, and with the lack of table manners little kids are known for, briefly removes the bit of treat from his mouth to look it over and determine if there's been any progress before popping it back in and chewing more.

[random_xtras]

The fey clone grins. "It means you're doing what you're supposed to do. Not that anybody's got a set destiny. But there are things that people- and it wouldn't have had to just be you- do that are supposed to happen."

The flavour, though unusual, is well worth the exercise. It's one of those flavours that has one's body convinced that this food is delicious and MUST be eaten.

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"Oh, so they're a lot like we clones." Atin grins, hands in his pockets.

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"Nothing wrong with that," Spider says with a grin. "I've heard them compared to my uncle Zero a few times too."

[random_xtras]

"Maybe it's a feature of mass-produced but self aware fighting forces?" Blue carefully wipes the counter around the kids' dishes, giving them smiles as she does.

Atin thinks this over, then shrugs. "Maybe."

[random_xtras]

"It's a sentience detector," says the clone as the little disk turns green in response to being touched to Seth's fingers.

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Holding it carefully by the string, Seth tries touching it to a cookie.

"I can think of a few people that should've been made to use something like that," Spider comments. He's mostly thinking of types from politicians in his own world when he was much younger to some of the news commentary during the clone wars.

[random_xtras]

The disk promptly turns brown and starts very faintly piping a tune involving a ginger man.

"This one wouldn't have worked for them," said Atin quietly. "It needs the user to believe that it can work and tell it the truth."