Heyo, human beings from outer space!
This story was really super enjoyable to write. I got the idea from @KassandraofSparta47 so thank you so much for that idea!
I don't want to spoil it, so,
Read on if you dare.
"What are you drinking?"
Anakin startled, still acclimating to having a little padawan around. She'd only been there for three days– or four, Anakin was too lazy to count and too tired to remember off the top of his head. He glanced up at her. She looked exhausted, yet as curious as a baby convor.
"It's called caf. It has caffeine, which helps you feel not-so-tired for a while," Anakin explained.
"I know what caffeine does," Ahsoka said, "but I've never had caf before. Can I try some?"
What harm could it do? Anakin thought to himself. "Sure, the caf dispenser is right over there. Start with a smaller cup and fill it up. You can add sweetener and cream if you want."
Ahsoka scampered over to the caf dispenser. Anakin didn't bother watching how much sweetener or cream she added. He turned back and stared at his reflection in the dark liquid.
"Whoah, this is really good," Ahsoka appeared at his side, plopping down on the bench next to him.
"I know," Anakin grinned. Then he puffed out a sigh. He was so tired. Not even this caf was waking him up. He'd have to give in to sleep until they got out of transit. Once he finished his caf, if he still felt like this, he'd go to his quarters.
"Whoah," Ahsoka cooed beside him again. "Why have I never eaten this stuff before? It's so good!"
"You don't eat caf, Ahsoka. You drink it."
"Same difference. But why have I never eaten this before?" Ahsoka squealed. "It's so extremely awesomely amazing!!"
"Maybe because the Jedi temple doesn't offer adult drinks to younglings," Anakin shrugged. "Caf isn't good for young people."
"So I'm not a young person anymore? I'm basically an adult now, aren't I?" Ahsoka grinned. "That makes me so so so so so so so so happy! I like being all mature and grown-up! It's so awesomely amazingly awesomely wizardly awesomely greatly exuberating! See, I even used a big word. I'm so mature I have great, awesome, amazing vocabulary!"
Anakin's sluggish, sleepy brain just then began registering Ahsoka's sudden change of energy. He poked a wary eye at her and watched her loudly slurp her small cup of caf.
"This. Is. So. Good," Ahsoka huffed. "I'm going to eat this for every meal from now on."
"You drink caf," Anakin corrected.
"I don't care!" Ahsoka snapped, though she didn't sound angry. "I love this stuff and I will consume it forever and ever and ever and ever and–" she stopped to tip the cup and slurp more caf. "--EVER!"
"Hey, Snips, maybe you should slow down on that..." Anakin suggested hesitantly.
"Already done!" Ahsoka dumped the last swallow of caf in her mouth. She grinned like a maniac. "Watch me crush this cup!"
Before Anakin could stop her, Ahsoka tightened her fist around the disposable cup, pounded her chest, and let out a loud bellow. She then proceeded to rip the cup to shreds and throw it over her head like it was confetti. Ahsoka spun and danced as the light material fluttered to the ground around her.
"Can I have summore? I want summore!" Ahsoka cheered, pumping her fists in the air.
"No, I think you've had enough–"
"I'm gonna go talk to Rex. Has he eaten caf before? I'm going to go tell him to eat some caf! This stuff is GREAT!" Ahsoka raced out of the mess hall like a little tornado. Anakin groaned and reached his hand after her as if he could reach across the mess and grab her to pull her back.
Begrudgingly, Anakin dragged himself to his feet and out of the mess hall in the direction he knew Rex would be. He found Rex right where he expected. Ahsoka pelleted the poor clone captain with hyper sentences, demanding to know if he'd ever had caf before and insisting he tried some at that very moment.
"I just had caf and it's so so so so so so so so so so super awesomely amazingly wizardly, great!" Ahsoka ranted. "You should eat it some time it's so good and I want some more!"
"Commander, I think you've had plenty of–"
"Hyperspace looks so cool! Have you ever thought that hyperspace looks so cool? It's like a bunch of finger paint! What if I jump out of the ship right now? Can I touch the hyperspace tunnel? Will it paint my fingers? Will I die? Will it feel like I'm flying? Will I turn into a black hole?" Ahsoka ranted on and on and on, running circles around the bridge.
"General, how much caf did she have?" Rex questioned in bewilderment.
"The extra small cup. The smallest one. I don't think I'm ever going to let her have caf again," Anakin groaned.
"That might be wise." Rex dragged his palms down his face.
"What do we do? Can we make Kix sedate her?" Anakin asked.
Rex shook his head. "That might not be the best idea."
"Okay, fine. What do we do?"
"What if I put the little mouse droid thingies on my feet? Could I rollerskate on them? How fast could I go? I'm going to go find Hardcase!" Ahsoka raced out of the room.
Rex and Anakin exchanged a look.
"This isn't going to end well."
Anakin and Rex simultaneously dashed out of the bridge to find Ahsoka. But they didn't find her until it was too late.
The two rushed into the training room in time to see Ahsoka go flying across the floor with two mouse droids tied to her feet.
"THIS IS SO AMAZING!" Ahsoka shrieked giddily just before crashing into a pile of punching bags. Anakin clasped his hands over his mouth, Rex rushed to her side, and Hardcase almost died from laughter.
Ahsoka's head popped out from the pile of punching bags. "Let's do it again!"
"YES!" Hardcase cheered.
"No!" Anakin shouted.
Ahsoka climbed out of the punching bag pile and walked over to Anakin. She got very close to his face and stared attentively at him for several beats of silence.
Anakin stared back. "What are you–"
"Shh!" Ahsoka silenced him. "I'm studying your face shape."
Another few beats of silence passed. Anakin looked into her eyes.
"You have human fur on your man face," Ahsoka said.
"Are you tired? Your eye is twitching," Anakin frowned.
"My eye isn't twitching!" Ahsoka shoved him away. "I'm not tired I'm exhilarated!"
Ahsoka turned around to run out of the room, but Anakin managed to catch her arm.
"Hardcase, go to the barracks and don't come out until I say you can," Rex ordered.
"You're putting me in time-out?" Hardcase pouted.
"Just go," Rex ordered.
Hardcase sulked and shuffled out of the room.
"Ahsoka, we have a challenge for you," Anakin grinned.
"Oooh!"
Good. He had her attention.
"You need to win a spar of hand-to-hand combat with Rex," Anakin challenged.
Ahsoka's face lit up. "You got it, Master!" She threw him a sloppy salute and skipped to the sparring mat.
Rex lined up and struck the starting pose in front of her. Ahsoka grinned like a maniac.
"Go!" Anakin signalled.
This should keep her occupied for a while. Rex was very experienced with hand-to-hand, and if Ahsoka didn't use the Force, he could outweigh her and get her down. If she did this for long enough, she'd get tired out and–
Thud! Rex thumped to the floor. Ahsoka stood over him, still grinning like a lunatic. "Done, Master!"
"How did you–?" Anakin cut himself off, gaping at Ahsoka.
"Now what, Master? Can I go find Hardcase again? We had so many fun things planned!" Ahsoka squealed.
"Yeah, I'm sure you did. But no. You have to spar with Rex again. Best out of five wins," Anakin challenged.
"You got it!" Ahsoka cheered, rushing back to the sparring mat.
Well, only a few minutes later, five matches passed, all of which Ahsoka came out victorious.
"I win!" Ahsoka jumped up and down in glee. "What's next? Can I go find Hardcase?"
"No," Anakin wracked his brain for ideas. "You, uh, have to do an obstacle course!"
"Yay!" Ahsoka squealed. "What's the course? Am I going to jump off a really high spot? Do I get to run? Is it timed?"
Anakin and Rex quickly formed a makeshift obstacle course to occupy Ahsoka. To complete the course, Ahsoka had to do a lot of running and working with the punching bag. Hopefully, that would tire her out.
"Maybe we should just give her a nice, large cup of caf before every battle," Rex chuckled dryly, grunting as he sat down next to Anakin and rubbed his arm. "The droid army wouldn't stand a chance."
"If she has some sort of caffeine hangover in the morning, I'm going to lose it," Anakin groaned, watching Ahsoka attack the punching bag. "Is she ever going to slow down?"
"Hopefully this will at least occupy her until we get back to Coruscant."
"How long until then?" Anakin raised his brow.
"About four hours, Sir," Rex sighed. "Too long if you ask me."
"If I was sleeping, it wouldn't be. But with this insane youngling here, it's way too long." Anakin jabbed his thumb at Ahsoka.
"You're telling me," Rex muttered.
The two sat in silence, watching Ahsoka move around at the speed of light. Anakin figured she was already hyper-active, and the caffeine just enhanced that.
Anakin dozed off several times as he monitored Ahsoka. He was pretty sure Rex was nodding off, too. Just watching her let out all that energy made him tired.
Ahsoka ended up destroying a punching bag and making a good-sized hole in another. After who-knows-how-long passed, Ahsoka finally started slowing down. Forever and a half later, she breathlessly jogged over to Anakin and Rex.
"I-I'm getting kinda tired," Ahsoka huffed, resting her hands on her knees and leaning forward. "I want more... more caf... I like... eating... caf..." Ahsoka flopped down on the ground, not even attempting to catch herself. She continued mumbling something incoherent under her breath as her eyes slid shut and her muscles relaxed.
"Took you long enough," Anakin chuckled, pushing himself to his feet. He kicked her lightly. "You dead yet?"
Ahsoka waved her hand sloppily, making a feeble attempt to push his foot away. Rex and Anakin shared a chuckle.
"Well, I'm going to take speedy here to bed. See you after transit, Rex," Anakin hoisted Ahsoka onto his back so her arms draped over either of his shoulders and her chin rested on one of her arms.
"Sure, General," Rex soluted. "Get some rest. You deserve it."
"If I don't wake up before she does, just make sure she stays out of the caf."
"Will do, General. Will do."
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Word Count: 1,877
Published: Jun. 25, 2022
Sorry, Anakin. Sorry, Rex.
I like hyper Ahsoka. She'd probably be indestructible if she drank enough caf.
Requests are open, feel free to message me or make a comment if you have any ideas/suggestions/constructive criticism.
Bye, peoples!