MoM IC inbox;

[myownprice]

[No cute away message here. Just a single sentence, slightly muffled by his helmet.]

Leave a message.

Comments

text

[myownprice]

[Some time has passed since Boba’s confrontation with the clones. He’s past the point of fearing that Rex and 622 may have been lying—that they’d called their Jedi the second he was out their door. If they’d done so, Boba knows something would’ve happened by now. But even if the clones aren’t going to rat him out, they still can’t ever go back to the way things were. He’s not one of them and now they know it.

Which is why he’s so surprised when he gets a text from Rex.]

Late for what?

text

[ct_7567]

Lessons. Do you want to catch up with 622 or not?

Re: text

[myownprice]

[In all honesty, Boba had thought that he was done with Mando’a lessons, having burned bridges with the only two people here capable of providing them. But rather than feel relieved, his first reaction to Rex’s offer is suspicion. He hasn’t forgotten what Rex pulled last “lesson.”]

Why? What have you found out this time?

text

[ct_7567]

Don't be ridiculous. The only reason I fell for your last farce is because the odds of you being who you are were literal millions to one.

I'm not enough of a fool to trap you the same way twice. If I wanted to trap you, I'd damn well trap you a different way. I didn't write up all these lessons for my own health.

[myownprice]

Then why are you inviting me? You already know I’m not Lucky. Or any other cadet.

[ct_7567]

You're Jango's son. That makes you a Mandalorian, doesn't it?

[myownprice]

[The mention of his father catches Boba off-guard, ashamed as he would be to admit it. He didn’t know that clones actually knew anything about the man whose DNA they shared and aside from that—it’s been a long time since anyone knew Boba as someone’s son.

But that’s not the issue here. The issue is the offer itself. It doesn't make sense.]

Why are you still trying to help me?

[ct_7567]

Because it's not right that you don't know Mando'a. And I'm the only one here that can teach you.

[myownprice]

[Without the tempering influence of the “Lucky” facade, Boba’s response to Rex’s phrasing is immediate.]

You don’t get to decide what’s right and wrong for me.

[He’s not a clone cadet. He won’t allow himself to be shaped into one—and maybe that’s why Rex still seems intent to have him around. Maybe he thinks he can turn Boba into Lucky again with enough effort.

...Unfortunately, he’s right that Boba should learn Mando’a and that he’s the only one who can teach him.]

I’ll go, if it’s my own choice. Not because you ordered me to.

[ct_7567]

And when exactly did I order you to do anything? You asked for my opinion. I gave it. That's on you, kid.

[myownprice]

I wasn’t asking for your opinion.

[He wasn’t, at least not to his thinking. He’d been asking about Rex’s motivations—what he stood to gain by helping Boba, what ultimate end goal was being served. To Boba, such things are as solid as steel, far beyond the realm of opinion and belief.

But Rex isn’t ordering him. At least he knows that much now.]

I’ll be there.

[ct_7567]

Fine.

Next time, don't be late.