Whumptober 2020: Day 23

She could practically feel the eyes of her crewmates on her. The look Doc gave her as he studied the bags under her eyes, the way Kira would glance at her whenever she thought the Cathar wasn’t looking, Rusk frowning more than usual when their eyes met, and… and then there was Lord Scourge. Every time she looked at him—at her brand new, Sith Lord, crewmate—her mind went back to her time on the station, under the Emperor’s control, and… It made her stomach churn, thinking of the things she’d done.

Deep breaths, head bowed low as she meditated. Or tried to, at least. Her muscles were too tense and mind wandering far too much to meditate.

Leo jumped at the questioning trill at her side. Taking a moment to let her heart rate slow again, she turned toward the droid who’d somehow managed to get in her room without alerting her.

“Hey there, buddy,” she murmured, patting him affectionately.

Teeseven rocked back-and-forth, beeping at her all the while. “Master Vetiko = lacking adequate sleep // T7 = can help?”

It was impossible not to smile a little at that. Her hand ran over his topper, over chipped paint and tiny scratches from decades of runtime and serving the Jedi even before she’d been born.

“I’m okay—promise. Thank you.”

There was nothing decipherable from the following chirps, but she could describe them only as “cross.” Teeseven moved forward—slowly, carefully, ever watchful not to run over her tail that she swiped out of his way—to gently bump against her shoulder. “Master Vetiko = not a good liar.”

He didn’t move—didn’t roll back to where he’d been, didn’t rock excitedly—just stayed right there when Leo leaned forward to lean her forehead against him. She closed her eyes to the purring of his engine, the soft chirping that began to sound like total nonsense to her exhausted mind…

And it was there that she finally drifted to sleep.