They All Fall Down
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Febuwhump 2024 | Day 8 | Prompt 8: “Why won’t it stop?”
Rated: G | Words: 1572 | Summary: Stuck in their barracks on Kamino, the cadet Batch try to survive the slow, painful death of boredom. [Character Focus: Cadet Batch]
ADVISEMENT: All training simulations have been canceled for the day, and training rooms are closed. All cadets are ordered to stay in their designated living quarters until further notice. Any and all disturbances during this mandated down time will be dealt with swiftly and with the utmost severity.
Tech reads through the message for the dozenth time, searching for any loophole that he and his brothers might be able to wiggle through to get out of their barracks. They are only scheduled to be cadets for one more standard week. It seemed unfair that they would be held to the same limitations as cadets freshly released from their tubes.
However, the mandate still stands, and Tech’s messages for further clarification have been ignored. It seems they are trapped.
“Hunter,” Wrecker whines, drawing out the last syllable in Hunter’s name to a ridiculous length. “Crosshair won’t stop staring at me.”
Having managed to develop a migraine within the first hour of their imprisonment, Hunter says something from under the pillow he’s sequestered himself to, but his words are suffocated into senseless mumbling.
Crosshair sighs lazily from where he is laying sideways on his bunk, head dropped over the side so that he is looking out at the room upside down. “Stop being such a tubie, Wrecker.”
“I don’t like you staring at me.”
“I’m not staring at you. I’m staring straight ahead.”
“Yeah! Which is at me!”
“If you are sitting in my line of sight, then yes, I’m staring at you. If it bothers you, move.”
“You move! I was sitting here first!”
“No.”
“If you won’t move yourself, I’ll help you,” Wrecker decides, standing up threateningly.
Crosshair smiles. “You just try. Let’s see what happens.”
“May I remind you that disturbances during this time will probably result in lockup,” says Tech.
“Lockup would be better than being stuck in here with him,” Wrecker says, jabbing a finger in Crosshair’s direction.
“Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you.”
“That’s it!” Wrecker yells.
“Hey!” Hunter barks, sitting up and throwing his pillow at Wrecker. His squinting against the light of the room effectively makes him look angrier. “Knock it off, or I’ll turn you both in myself to get some peace and quiet.”
Crosshair huffs and rolls his eyes while Wrecker has the decency to look properly chastised.
Wrecker picks up the weaponized pillow. “Want this back?” he asks Hunter meekly.
Hunter glares at him for several long moments. “No,” he growls before falling back on his bunk and pulling the covers over his head.
A laden hush follows the outburst for approximately five standard minutes.
“You’re still staring at me.”
Tech jumps up and courageously puts himself between his feuding brothers. “We should do a quiet, group activity.”
“Like what?” Crosshair asks dubiously, rolling over and pushing himself up.
“We could play sabaac!” Wrecker suggests excitedly.
Tech casts a weary glance at Hunter’s bunk. “I don’t believe that game would qualify as quiet,” he says.
“What then?” Crosshair stands up and stretches his limbs.
Tech goes and gets the deck of cards. “I’ve been researching some other card games that are more appropriate to quiet environments. Allow me to teach you.”
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
“Tech, do you have any twos?”
“No. Go fish.”
Wrecker groans and picks up a card from the draw pile. He looks at the card and grins wildly. “Ha! This is the card I wanted. Take that, Tech!” He puts down the set of twos in front of him triumphantly.
“While we are playing individually, I am not actively seeking your demise, Wrecker. If I’d had a two, you would have received it with no argument,” Tech mutters.
Crosshair chuckles. “That’s not how I’ve been playing.”
Tech throws the nearly graduated sniper a look. “Yes, I know that you’ve been actively cheating. Despite the simplicity of the game.”
“It’s not cheating, it’s house rules,” Crosshair says.
“They can only be house rules if the whole house agrees, which Wrecker and I have not.”
“Yeah, Cross! Play right or we’ll kick you out of the game,” Wrecker scolds far too loudly, then claps a hand over his mouth.
The three cadets look apprehensively over at Hunter’s bunk and breathe a sigh of relief when the lump that is their sleeping brother doesn’t move.
Crosshair hisses, “Fine. I’ll play by the dumb rules.”
“Thank you, and your opinion is noted.”
They play three more rounds of the game before they become bored. Wrecker suggests some house rules to change up the game; however, his idea is immediately shot down when Tech and Crosshair realize he is basically describing sabaac.
“If you didn’t get so loud whenever we played, maybe Tech wouldn’t have banned it,” Crosshair says irritably.
“I did not ban it, I just recommend we not play it…” Cutting a glance to Hunter’s bunk, Tech lowers his voice to add, “under the circumstances.”
Wrecker fusses with the cards. “How much longer will we be stuck in our barracks?”
“I’m estimating until late meal,” says Tech.
“That’s not for hours!”
“Shh!”
Hunter shifts and sighs, but seems to remain asleep.
“Maker, Wrecker, why do you have to be so loud all the time?” Crosshair mutters.
Wrecker frowns. “I’m being as quiet as I can.”
“I believe that is accurate,” Tech agrees. “He has been several decibels quieter than his average levels.”
“See?” Wrecker crows.
Crosshair rolls his eyes. “We’re so proud of you.”
“What should we do now?” Wrecker asks. He takes two of the cards and leans them against each other, making a triangular structure.
Tech watches with interest, then smiles. “I have an idea.”
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
Hunter wakes to the soft chirp of a notification on his data pad. He blinks his eyes open, surprised by the quiet in the barracks. It is never this quiet unless his brothers are gone. Maybe he had slept through the mandatory lockdown, and they had gone to late meal without him. He wouldn’t put it past them, especially after threatening to send them to lockup. Not his finest moment of leadership.
He sits up, rolling his shoulders back to alleviate the stiffness. His migraine is mostly gone, just a lingering ache behind his left eye. He can live with that. Turning to swing his legs over the side of the bunk, Hunter freezes when he sees it: a tower of cards.
And he’s not alone after all.
Crosshair is sitting on Wrecker’s shoulders, reaching up with a card in each hand, poised to place them at the very top of the card palace that nearly reaches the ceiling. It is intricate in its design, with levels and pillars. Hunter is impressed.
“Just a little to the left, Wrecker,” Crosshair says, almost under his breath.
“Carefully,” Tech adds from where he stands across the table from them.
Wrecker shuffles to the left.
“There, good,” Crosshair whispers.
Hunter finds himself holding his breath as Crosshair reaches out and places the cards with the delicate care of an artist.
Hunter grins, reaching for his data pad and taking a holopic. This will be evidence the next time his brothers claim they can’t figure out how to play nice long enough to get anything done.
“That’s it, we did it,” Tech says, “We’ve used every card in our possession to make this structure.”
“We should take a holopic of it,” Wrecker says, almost softly.
“I did,” Hunter says.
He honestly didn’t mean to startle them. He thought that the trained soldiers had seen him sitting up, known they were being observed – even if they hadn’t acknowledged him. He supposes, in hindsight, he shouldn’t have made any such assumptions.
Wrecker nearly jumps out of his skin, which sends Crosshair, still perched on the giant’s shoulders, flailing to keep his balance. Tech whirls around to face Hunter, eyes wide. And all the sudden, combined, swift movements are the house of cards’ demise.
They all watch in devastated anguish as the cards tumble and flutter in soundless destruction. The silence continues long after the last card lands.
Hunter has never felt so small in his entire life.
Tech recovers first. “We knew it was a short-lived endeavor when we undertook the challenge,” he says bravely, but the assurance is thin.
“Would’ve been nice if it lasted longer than two seconds after we finished it though,” Crosshair grumbles, finally slipping down from Wrecker’s shoulders to loom over the carnage.
“I am so sorry,” Hunter says, standing up. “I really didn’t mean to scare you.”
Three sets of eyes look at him, conflicting emotions dancing across their faces.
“We weren’t scared!” Wrecker protests.
Tech averts his gaze. “Correct. We just thought we had inadvertently woken you. We were…surprised.”
Crosshair folds his arms over his chest. “I knew you were awake.”
“Right,” Hunter says, shifting uncomfortably. He holds up the data pad. “I really did get a holopic though.” He looks down at the screen, a notification symbol in the corner. He clicks on it. “And hey, the mandate has been lifted! We can leave the barracks now!”
“Yes, it was lifted two hours ago,” Tech says dismissively, kneeling to begin picking up the scattered remains of what might as well have been their hopes and dreams.
Hunter puts his data pad aside and begins to help gather the cards. “Maybe we can build another one?”
His brothers sigh in unison.
“It will simply not be the same,” Tech verbalizes.
END
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A/N: If you squint, you can see where I sprinkled the whump in this story XD If you need specifics, I'll just say this: migraine & devastation over lost card tower.
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