Saga Shaking Things Up a Bit (Saga, Rebels, holiday fic-exchange gift for: brodiew)

Request info:

Spoiler

Your fic-gift is for: @brodiew

Their request is:
A story in Saga

Three things you would like in your fic-gift:
A. a character's fear/phobia used for humor (non malicious)
B. a secret handshake.
C. brotherly love

One thing you don’t want in your fic-gift:
romance

The main characters you want in your fic-gift:
A. Zebb
B. Ezra
C. Sabine

A character you don’t want in your fic-gift:
Kanan

Story:

Garazeb Orrelios hefted a crate of supplies and carried it to the shelves reserved for foodstuffs. It was a box of ration bars: nasty-tasting things, but they kept a body going and could be stored for decades, probably. He plopped the crate on the top shelf and went back for the next one.

There was a new shipment due soon. Another Rebel cell had been tasked a few months ago to gather supplies for Chopper Base. A message had been relayed last night saying they were on the way but would only have a short time to unload. So, Zeb was making sure they'd have room to do it.

The next crate was marked 'power cells’ in bright, multi-colored paint. Apparently Sabine was keeping herself busy by labeling boxes in a particularly artistic way. The Lasat could hear her spray-painting another crate at the end of the pile he working his way through. Waste of time and paint, really, Zeb thought to himself, But hey, it keeps her busy and helps keep her happy. Little enough around here right now to do that.

It had been a few standard months since Kanan and Ezra had returned from the mission that got Kanan blinded and Rebel contact and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano killed. The master and apprentice were still not really talking about Ashla-knows-what had happened to them. Hera had been able to get a few details out of Kanan, but it was still not totally clear to Zeb. All he knew was that Kanan had been isolating himself and it was making Ezra moody. Well, moodier than usual.

A sudden scream caused Zeb to drop the crate he was carrying and vault over the pile to where Sabine was working. He landed in a crouch, hand on his bo-rifle ready for an attack.

“What is it?” Zeb shouted, scanning the area for trouble and seeing only Sabine, perched on top of a crate nearby breathing rapidly. “Where's the trouble?”

“Oh, uh, sorry.” Sabine said, getting her breathing under control. “It was just, one of those bugs, the skitterers…”

“Karabast, Sabine,” Zeb swore. “You sounded like you had the whole Empire jumpin’ out at you.”

“No I didn't.” Sabine growled at Zeb's spreading grin. “I was just… startled.”

“Sure you were.” Zeb chuckled as Sabine threw him a glare and went back to her work. He turned to leave, but not before seeing how she checked the area thoroughly before sitting back down.

Zeb went back to work, laughing to himself about coral-shelled little skittering things and Mandalorians who think they're so brave. As he sorted and stacked the rest of the crates, though, Zeb got an idea. An awful, hilarious idea. A little bit of fun to shake things up a bit.

---

“Hey, Ezra,” Zeb whispered conspiratorially, sticking his head into the cabin they (still reluctantly) shared. Why Kanan and Hera didn't just get over it already and move their stuff into one cabin together was a continual source of both frustration and amusement to Zeb.

“What?” Ezra grunted, blatantly continuing to scroll through the music files on Zeb's terminal. Apparently he was trying to find something that fit his mood: itching to pick a fight with a bunk mate. Ezra knew Zeb hated people messing with his music without asking.

“I need your help with something. Some of that woo-woo stuff”—Zeb wiggled his clawed hands in a vaguely mystical manner—“that you can do with animals.”

“For what?” Ezra asked warily.

“Just trust me, come on,” Zeb urged, waving Ezra to follow as he left the doorway.

Ezra sighed, but followed the grinning Lasat out of the ship.

---

“Hey Sabine!” Ezra called out as the Mandalorian wandered past the common area towards the galley. “Want to play a game or something?”

“Sure, why not.” Sabine shrugged, setting her helmet on the edge of the ledge behind the curved couch. She plopped down on the seat in front of it.

Ezra switched on the holotable, casually flipping through a couple different options.

“How about cubikahd?” Ezra asked.

“If you want to lose in three moves again.” Sabine said with a snort, leaning her elbows on the table. “Sure.”

A few minutes later, Sabine was absorbed in the game, studying her dagger’s next placement as Ezra leaned back and nodded to Zeb.

Zeb carefully lifted Sabine's helmet, placed something small and wiggling beneath, and quickly put it down. Sabine glanced up from the holotable and narrowed her eyes at Zeb.

“Hey Sabine! Great move there. You want a drink?” Zeb hurried across the room towards the galley. “I'm gonna grab some, you want one, Ezra?”

“Sure!” Ezra enthused.

“You got it!” Zeb replied.

“What are you two up to?” Sabine asked warily, tapping a command into the holotable.

“Nothing, just making sure you two can focus on the game,” Zeb replied nonchalantly. “I think it's your move, Ezra.”

“Oh, hmm.” Ezra leaned in, studying the move Sabine had made.

A quiet scratching sound came from behind Sabine. She turned her head slightly, but it stopped. She turned back to the game, but heard it again.

“What is that noise?” she asked, turning around to look.

“What noise?” Ezra asked innocently, covering a growing smile with his hand.

The scratching, skittering sound came again.

“That noise…” Sabine glowered, pointing at her brightly-painted headgear.

“I don't hear anything…” Zeb responded, handing Ezra a cup and holding out another towards the Mandalorian.

With a sudden crash, the helmet skidded to the edge of the shelf and fell. Sabine jumped back and screeched a curse in Mando'a as a coral-shelled crab-like creature ran out of the helmet. It skittered across the toe of her boot as it shot across the room. Instantly, Sabine was up on the couch, blaster drawn, scanning the deckplates for the creature.

Ezra and Zeb were howling with laughter. The Lasat held up a large purple-furred hand to the Jedi apprentice, who met it with a complicated series of bumps, clasps and jabs - some sort of secret celebratory handshake at a successful prank pulled off.

“Very funny,” Sabine yelled, pointing her blaster's muzzle in the direction the bug had run. “Now catch that thing before it gets into something important, or I start shooting it.”

“Alright, alright.” Zeb replied, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. He crouched and looked under the galley counter. “I think it went under here.”

As he fished around under the counter, the critter skittered out and took off towards the couch again.

“There!” Sabine yelled. “Get it!”

Ezra dove for it just as Zeb's huge paws made a swipe at it. The pair collided in the middle of the room with a thud. The creature zipped back towards the doorway, past the fallen helmet.

Sabine fired a stun blast at the bug. The blast hit the beskar armor of the helmet, making it clang off the wall, scaring the bug away from the doorway and back towards where the co-conspirators were still untangling themselves.

“What is going on in here? Was that blaster fire?” yelled a voice from the crew quarters. Hera appeared in the doorway, arms crossed, lekku twitching in fury as she surveyed the scene.

Sabine quickly secured her weapon, looking abashed. “There was… a bug.”

“A bug? It had better be a pretty big one!” Hera replied.

“Almost bit her head off,” Zeb snorted as he finally managed to get to his feet.

“Garazeb Orrelios, you had better not be behind this,” Hera muttered darkly.

“No ma'am, I'm helping catch it.” Zeb grinned. “Ezra's helping too, isn't he?”

“Yeah, totally,” Ezra answered from where he lay still sprawled on the deck. “I think I see it. Shh!”

The room fell silent except for Hera's deep exasperated sigh as she turned and headed back to her cabin, shaking her head.

Ezra closed his eyes and reached out, physically and through the Force. Kanan had said the hand gesture wasn't really necessary, but it helped Ezra focus. There. He found the creature's little frantic mind and calmed it down, like he had done earlier that day when he and Zeb had caught it in the storage hangar. Ezra coaxed it out and into his hand. It was a funny little thing, even though it sort of look like the huge krykna that had been menacing the base since they had landed there months before.

Cradling it carefully, Ezra stood and carried it towards Sabine.

She cringed back. “Keep that thing away from me.”

“Hey, it's ok, it's calm now.” Ezra murmured. “They're harmless, really. Kinda like a little hard-shelled Loth-cat. They sort of sparkle, too.”

Sabine reluctantly climbed down and took a closer look at the skitterer. It actually did have some really interesting patterns on its shell.

“Come on, you two,” Zeb said, herding the teenagers forward, “let's take it outside before Hera comes stomping back.”

The trio made their way out of the Ghost. Sabine and Ezra continued to lean together. Ezra was pointing out more of the little creature's features to her, helping her get past the skittering legs. She even tried touching it. Zeb wandered behind them with a little smile. He'd gotten Ezra out and interacting with people, mission accomplished.

Ezra and Sabine crouched down together as Ezra set the little skitterer on the ground. He gave it a nudge with his finger, it shook itself, then ran off as fast as it could.

The teens sat for a moment, watching the bug disappear into the coral trees. Zeb watched them with a touch of fond wistfulness. There was another pair that could be really happy together, once they grew up a bit more. That was assuming Ezra wasn't planning on following ALL the Jedi rules -- Ashla knows his Master certainly wasn't.

“Well, that was fun,” Sabine said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she stood up and turned around.

“Hey, wasn't it a change from all the moping around?” Zeb laughed. “It reminds me of the time… ah, never mind.”

“What?” Sabine asked curiously as she and Ezra came over to stand by the large Lasat. Zeb never really talked about the past.

“Nah, nothing,” Zeb waved a hand dismissively. “Old memories, no use dwelling on what's lost when my family's right here.” Zeb snagged Ezra in a headlock and tried to muss his hair, completely forgetting that Ezra had recently cut it.

“Aw, this was funner when you had that rag mop on your head.” Zeb complained as he released Ezra. “All right you two, let's hit our bunks, there's visitors coming by in a few days that’ll be in a hurry to offload supplies. We have some work to do tomorrow.”

“Yes, Dad.” Sabine sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes again as she walked past Zeb up the Ghost's cargo ramp. Ezra snorted as he followed just behind.

Zeb hit the button, closing the door behind him as he watched the kids climb the ladder. Yeah, maybe someday when this was all over he'd retire on Lira San and find someone special of his own. But for now, this was his family, and this was enough.

 

Lovely point of view and very much in character. And a fun and affectionate prank which did succeed in get Ezra to stop moping. Someone special -- yeah, Zeb. We know who that is.

 

This was cute, who would think Sabine would have a bug phobia? Loved the sibling dynamics of this story!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I couldn’t write a story with Zeb in it without a slight reference to @Findswoman ‘s Shulma, especially since I was going to have her beta it

I like to think that it’s more of a situational phobia, she’s not normally afraid of bugs, but these skitterers are everywhere and remind her of the big krykna who have been menacing the base and have eaten someone already...

 

Very clever use of the prompts! I like how EVERYBODY knows what Kanan and Hera are up to but they themselves won’t admit it! Great scene of Zeb and Ezra, who often find each other annoying, come together in the common ground of teasing their “sister,” Sabine.

 

Thank you so much for this bit of fun, Ryn. I can just see Zeb and Ezra putting one over on Sabine. Nice job also with the secret handshake.
It's also good to know that Sabine is not without her ticks. Excellent work!

 

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. It was fun to write

 

Space siblings, always the best and the worst. It figures that Zeb would be the one to instigate this little prank, and of course Ezra is only too happy to be included in the conspiracy. Can't blame Sabine for her reaction, I'd probably do the same if a space coconut crab decided to sneak up on me! Those thingies always seemed a bit shifty and creepy. Liked the thoughtful moment from Zeb at the end as well; he appreciates the life he has now but sometimes things will make him miss what was or could have been. Always glad to see more Rebels stories around here, and this is a great one.

 

This is a nice "family moment" when there are no large battles to fight, no missions to complete -- just people doing what they do during quiet time. Gentle humor, affectionate teasing, and actually a helpful moment of helping someone get over their issues with bugs -- or at least one kind of bug. A fun, light read.