Difference

Ritz hears so much about his batcher that it lost its hilarity.

The 501st captain has been on the lips of every vod in the GAR ever since Rex started showing up with the two Jetti. Not that Ritz is jealous, don't get him wrong he loves his batcher dearly. It's just that people forget that Rex isn't actually part of the command batch Kote pulled him into. It hurts seeing his baby bro so far away and yet so close. And it hurts worse that he forgot about the rest of his real batch. Ritz sits with his own drink among the rest of the guard in 79's.

The blonde tries not to stare at his little brother too often, but seeing the other here on Coruscant is giving Ritz flash backs of Kamino. Back when Rex still cared about the batch he was Decanted with. Ritz looks away the moment one of the Command batchers notice him looking at them. He focuses on Sevens and Error as they talk about their next planned prank for Guard morale. This too makes Ritz flinch as he thinks about the Domino twins, and by extension, Rex. It hurts more thinking about what was taken from him.

But, as Sevens looks over at him with a gleeful expression, Ritz can feel bits of that hurt begin to melt away. He knows it will always hurt when he thinks about his batch. The ones who were decommissioned anyway. They were the first ones Ritz would mourn each day. Craze, Flack, and Coin never got off Kamino. They never will.

Ritz is pulled out of his spiral by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He smiles faintly at Fox as the gray-haired clone looks at him with concern. Out of the Command Batch, Fox was the only one who understood the feelings Ritz felt. He knows what it feels like to be replaced and forgotten. But then again, so does every other guardsman. No one has been spared from the feelings as new shinies appear to take the place of those 'lost'.

Ritz nods at Fox and sighs shakily as he takes a drink from his glass. Ritz has gotten many nicknames over the course of the war. Copycat, Pretender, Fake, etc. None of those names bother him, because the ones who call him those things don't know Ritz at all. Everyone outside the two batches is under the impression that Rex never had a batch outside of the Command Batch. And yet if his actual batchers had lived to get off Kamino, they would have told and shown people otherwise.

Ritz stares at the liquid swirling in his glass and decides that he's had enough for one night. It's better to get out of here while people are less likely to cause trouble. He knocks back the rest of his drink and taps the table to let his Ori'vod and ade know he is leaving. Sevens and Error, as usual, stand up when he does while Fox stays behind to stay with Stone. Ritz is hoping he can leave this night behind him and get some sleep in before his shift at the prison and then the Senate Dome.

But that seems to be wishful thinking as his rank is called by an unfamiliar clone. He stops just outside of 79's and his twins move out of the way to stand on either side of him. A clone in grey armor walks up to them and smiles this smile full of teeth. And Ritz knows that he's going to have to break up a fight between them and Sevens if this gets out of hand. Because Ritz recognizes one of Wolffe's boys just by posture alone. Ritz tries to clear his throat to get his voice to work.

"Something I can help you with, Trooper?" He asks and he can sense the tension in his twin's bodies without turning to even look at them. "Yeah, was wondering when you were ever going to let your hair go back its natural shade. Ya know, like the rest of us." The trooper says snidely, and Ritz is quick to grab Sevens' arm before the younger one can do anything. Ritz snatches a look at Wolffe and sees that he's paying very close attention to this conversation. The blonde just sighs, tired.

"I really don't give a shit whether you think my hair is bleached or natural. Right now, I just want to go home and sleep for an hour. I have prison duty and senate duty today and tomorrow, so I'd like to have some energy left for both." Ritz doesn't give the other clone time to reply before he's dragging Sevens and Error away to the hidden route to HQ. He wants to curl up in his Riduur's office just for an hour. Let Stitches deal with the Terror Twins for a while.