Deviation Actions
Description
“Ironic, isn’t it, Snowflake? The sole reason we’re here and not droids is our creativity,” Overkill noted as he leaned back to examine his handiwork, watching the light bouncing off his gutting knife flicker about the underside of the bunk above his own, illuminating a cluster of freshly etched tally-marks that had been altered to resemble little skulls with tallies for teeth, “So, in a sense, our free thought is what enslaved us. A pity, really, my talent is so stifled here.”
He sighed despondently then continued with a hint of melodrama.
“As long as that sad fact holds true we’ll never reach our true potential. How can we truly make the most of every page if we’re bound to such a futile fate?”
“Pages?” inquired Snowflake, a jolt of panic slicing through his mucky despair as he caught the hint.
“Aye, pages.”
Overkill’s thin lips curled into a devious sneer as he drew Snow’s stained journal from the crevice betwixt his meager sleeping pad and the wall and started leafing thoughtfully through the pages.
“I thought I’d lost it back on Umbara! When -” he began before Overkill cut him off.
“I have my ways. Being a sneaky bastard has its perks.”
He turned to Snowflake.
“You, however, are quite the opposite. Thoughts are contraband of the most dangerous kind – and no one can confiscate them. Good thing I nicked this before the GAR did. That’s twice now you owe me, thought-criminal.”
“I’m grateful on both accounts. I’d be even more so if you’d return my book.”
“No ‘please’? Flash-learning’s gone to osik these days.”
“Please.”
“Ah-ah, finders, keepers. Unless of course you plan to arm-wrestle for it.”
“That book was a gift from my Kamino squad. It was a joke. They said I was too scatter-brained, that I ought to put my daydreaming to good use and write poetry or something. It’s…all I have left of them.”
No response.
It was then that a disheartening realization dawned on Snowflake. For Overkill this was just a game. His act of charity was mere strategy. The book was collateral. For what purpose, Snowflake knew not, but he knew appealing to a non-existent sense of compassion from a sociopath was a fruitless endeavor. Overkill’s callous embitterment toward fellow clones and sadism inflicted upon hostiles were proof enough. Still, the priceless book held sway over him. Snow swallowed the lump rising in his throat and continued coldly.
“Name your price,” he demanded.
Overkill’s arrogant smirk faded, his eyes narrowed on one of the many still blank pages. Blood from Snow’s wound had seeped into the book and dried there, turning the affected sienna portion brittle and crinkly. He stared at it for a time and yet seemed to be looking past it, a crease forming on his brow. At last he spoke.
“You should know,” he added with an air of utmost stateliness, “I only filch things of value. I snatched your sorry shebs from death. Don’t make me regret it.”
He quietly shut the book.
“Presently, I have no use for this,” he said dismissively and tossed the book to Snowflake, who caught it deftly with his unbound arm. Snow eyed his rival warily as he tucked the book back under his shirt, still unsure what to make of this recent development.
All manner of ill rumors surrounded the man currently etching even more kill-tallies into the bunk across from him with childlike glee; it was hard to decipher fact from fiction. Some said they tortured the sanity out of him back on Geonosis and he was out for blood, while others maintained he was a deserter from another legion who was reconditioned then reintroduced into the ranks as a shiny, and the brainwashing accidentally bleached away his conscience. Other rumors were worse still.
Unlike Ewok and Headshot (the latter of which brazenly claiming that Overkill feasted upon the flesh of shinies and Separatists alike) who seemed undaunted by the clone’s malice, the other troopers perpetuated and genuinely believed the foul hype. Of course he could be over-analyzing it all – perhaps he’d been spared a premature demise on a serendipitous whim rather than something sinister, but only time would tell.
