#margn rambles

[margindoodles2407]

Soooo @seeking-elsewhither I am continuing to work on my Clones and Music post for HFSW (don't know WHY it's taking so long but it is for some reason) BUT. I did manage to finish my stuff about the Baddest of Batches and thought, Hey. I should talk about this before I run out of steam. So enjoy

Clones and Music, Bonus Content: The Bad Batch

Wrecker, who is a Bass, would be so disappointed if I didn't let him play percussion, so really I had no choice. He has amassed a small collection of almost every different kind of percussion instrument known to the Archipelago; he's got a tradition of managing to get his hands on at least one from every island they visit. The pride and joy of his collection, though, is a xylophone built from the bones of Battle Droids he's bested (this concerns Hunter, perplexes Tech, amuses Crosshair, and utterly fascinates Omega).

Echo, when he was young, played the flute on board the RSS Resolute. But a skeleton hand can't fit quite right on the keys of a traditional pipe. So, in Clone Force 99, he picks up the pan flute. It's not as elegant as his former instrument; it's quite simple, really. Privately, though, Echo's glad for the simplicity. It's been far too long since he had any of it in his life.

Tech, a tenor, built a whole kriffing piano into the lower deck of the Marauder. It's quite literally mounted into the wall, and its creation and upkeep is one of his pet projects. He's also teaching Omega to play. (After his death, the mere sight of it is something his brothers' broken hearts can't bear, and they cover it with a bolt of black cloth like a shroud. The sound of piano music isn't heard again until about a year after Hunter, Wrecker, Cross and Omega finally settle down on Pabu. While the Batch was away to Tantiss, the citizens of the island- led by Phee- managed to salvage parts of the wreck of the Marauder, and used those pieces to construct a new piano, to give to them as a gift in gratitude for everything they'd done. Omega's out of practice, but she almost immediately takes her lessons back up again and within months, she can be heard playing almost every night.)

Hunter's a Baritone and plays the mandolin. Due to his advanced hearing, he's able to pick up even the slightest sour notes in his playing, so whenever he plays it's like, a level of sound unknown to man. Combine this with Cross's perfectionistic skill, as is often the case in the lower decks of the Marauder, and you get perhaps the most hauntingly beautiful music you've ever heard. He's also the most prolific composer of the Batch, and can often be found on deck late at night picking out melodies with only the moon and stars and a single stump of a candle for light. It helps him relax. (He… doesn't play much, after Crosshair splinters. Sure, he half-heartedly strums out a few simple tunes to try to keep his family's spirits up, but without his brother's accompaniment, something just isn't right. It's only after Omega starts playing the piano again that he really takes it up again with the same passion as before.)

Crosshair. Ohohoho. Crosshair is a tenor, like Tech. Unlike Tech, Crosshair plays the fiddle. And he's karking good at it. Crosshair Bad Batch is a man who does nothing halfway and his music is absolutely no exception; he's learned and mastered almost every style of fiddling in the Archipelago, and with his steady hands and nimble fingers, he's perfectly suited to playing rapid-fire, overly-complicated pieces. That is… until the Empire. As it disbands the Clone Choir and Orchestra, and as he left his fiddle on the Marauder, he spends months out of practice (he used to practice every night)-- and, by the time he finally comes to his senses and escapes Tantiss with Omega, his hand shakes so badly that every note he tries to play turns sour. It's too much for his proud, perfectionistic heart to take. It comes to pass that one day, in the wee hours of the morning on Pabu, Omega can't sleep and realizes that he's nowhere to be found. She goes to find him and is horrified to discover he's snuck out to the shore to burn the kriffing thing in a fit of rage, frustration, and self-loathing. Distraught, Omega tries to fish it from the flames, but when he begs her to stop for fear she'll burn herself, she simply sits with him in silence till the fire dies away. (Unfortunately, his ability to play the fiddle is something Crosshair never recovers. When he loses his hand on Tantiss, his fate is sealed, and even with a prosthetic his fingers are too clumsy for him to ever take it back up again. But he starts to write music. Music for Omega to play on her piano. Hunter helps him with his composition- and even though they can't play their strings together anymore, the hours upon hours of sitting picking out harmonies in their small home's front room helps to heal their broken relationship in ways they never thought it could.)