🐺 ~PROJECT SAC-1~ ⚔️

Chapter 39 - 'Shereshoy' 💜

A/N:

Pronounced [sheh-REYSH-oy]

Sorry it took so long for a new chapter to be written... just been a real bad depression month.

Buckle up, sweet peas, it's gonna be a doozy

🚫 TRIGGER WARNING 🚫

some gore

🎁PRESENTS🎁

🎵 fluff, fluff, family fluff 🎶

(/≧▽≦)/

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The feast may have been late, but it went without a hitch, though Talla could have gone her whole life without seeing what the gruesome fate was for some of these admittedly cute livestock the Lawquanes raised. For her personally, it was a whole different experience buying an already dead animal carcass from a market that was ready to be cooked as opposed to watching the poor creature's life be cruelly cut short before her eyes - LITERALLY! When the Bad Batch camped out on a planet, Talla found herself gravitating more towards gathering firewood with Wrecker than watching Hunter and Crosshair hunt and slay an animal to be roasted over their campfire, which Tech would prepare at the campsite knowing a poor, unsuspecting creature would face such a fiery fate.

This and the fact that Talla saw people made hides of certain animals into decorative and disturbing rugs, well, during the meal she found much difficulty swallowing the savory and unfortunately DELICIOUS roasted nuna she'd watched Suu chop the head off of, and had scampered away before getting to see the squeamish gutting process.

After the Battle for Kamino, Talla didn't actually see much of the bodies for the hundreds of fallen soldiers, and upon later research of the city's schematics learned that the Bad Batch had taken a few shortcuts to ensure not running into too many regs when quietly making their unfortunately intercepted escape. So at this point despite being in the war for six months and only having solo missions with the Bad Batch after Silva, the Kamino invasion, and V'Hiina destruction where there were no troop fatalities, the Agent had yet to personally witness firsthand a bloody death of any organic being. But by the statistical reports and news articles she tended to skim through, Talla knew it was only a matter of time before another huge part of her diminishing innocence would be taken, but hoped it'd be pushed off as long as possible. She may have been trained for fighting in the war, but as learned long ago the Kaminoans had not prepared Talla for how to deal with much else. Watching bloody fight scenes in holos frustratingly made her uneasy, when SAC-1 was supposed to be a formidable super soldier...

Since he was incapable of effectively doing the night check due to his allergies, Hunter helped with the more domestic chores and had dragged dramatically groaning Crosshair by the ear to help wash all the dishes, and even better Crosshair had to scrub because Hunter couldn't ruin his bandaging by getting it soaked, what with them being out of the cloth wraps and all.

It was later, with a friendly game of sabacc at the dining table played between him, the Lawquane couple, and the Sarge that alleviated much of the Snipers annoyance, and it was a given Crosshair was fully planning to clean Hunter out of all his spare change, the two of them deciding to place a modest wager in cash while Cut and Suu chose to gamble with the few unsavory chores that rustic farm life required, and everyone hated doing.

It started out as a lovely evening in the fireplace warmed family/dining room, bathed in the dull glow of the soft lantern light. Wafting through the air was the soul-soothing scent of the warm spices flavoring the delicious pie baking, made up of sugary canned jogans from the Lawquanes stockpile. The dull pops of orange flames flickering in the hearth definitely aided in this calming effect, filling Talla's sensitive nostrils with the intoxicating earthy fragrance from the smoldering logs, so different from the lung burning variety too frequently experienced, mixed with the deadly chemicals needed to make a primed bomb that would wipe out multiple enemies in one swing, bathing everything in a cruel charred black scar instead of this cheerful, healing glow. Factoring in the quiet laughs of the children whom Wrecker with a relaxed grin told yet another fascinating, exaggerated, and euphemized tale of the squads exploits, the low chatter from the card-playing table mixed with Crosshair's snickers when sneering Hunter made yet another stupid mistake on his turn, and the radio brought from the Marauder softly playing calm tunes in the background, it created such a relaxing atmosphere that Talla had never known before and could find herself getting used to very quickly and very happily. For the first time since arriving on Saleucami, she didn't feel so out of place - she felt herself becoming more adjusted to the children's hyperactive ways instead of wanting to rip her hair out, and the family dinner was actually pleasant instead of filled with forced conversation.