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If someone had told Isaac that he would end up in a different universe after the Ishimura, he’s not sure if he would’ve believed it, but after what happened with the Necromorphs and Aegis VII, he didn’t know what to think. Honestly, if someone would’ve told him that he would be helping a Mandalorian raise a green child while trying to return him to his people, he would believe that even less. Not just because the closest thing to an alien he had ever met was the Necromorphs, who constantly tried to kill him, but also because he wouldn’t have known what the child and the Mandalorian were. Over his time in this new galaxy though, he has learned a bunch of things, he doesn’t know much but enough to get him by at times.
Maybe if he had gotten here before the Ishimura happened he would’ve liked to learn about this galaxy and how it worked. Now though, he couldn’t care less, he just needed to survive until he could get back to earth but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He had been doing a bunch of different jobs during his time in the galaxy and picked up on how things worked, some somewhat similar to things he worked with back in his world, but, more often than not, different and new. Despite what happened on the Ishimura, he was still an engineer, he wasn’t the best when it came to fighting, he only did it to survive. He had limited resources so he couldn’t just shoot something with his Plasma Cutter or Stasis module, he had to find supplies to remake them.
Point was that Isaac was very out of his depth when he arrived in this galaxy but that’s been happening a lot lately so he’s getting used to it. When he had met the Mandalorian, he didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know what a Mandalorian or Jedi was, he was confused and apparently wasn’t what the man was looking for. It was during this time he had seen the child the Mandalorian had with him. He looked to be smaller than the Lurkers on the Ishimura but looked nothing like any of the species he had seen during his time here. When Isaac and the child locked eyes, he saw the child reach out for and felt a pull of sorts, he had wondered for a brief moment if it was what it felt like to be pulled with the Kinesis module.
It was at this point that both parties had become silent, the Mandalorian watching closely as Isaac got closer to the two. For a second, Isaac had reached out a little to the child before the pulling sensation stopped and the child whined, startling both Isaac and the Mandalorian. He didn’t know what to do but backed away just as the other brought up the child and attempted to comfort the little one. Isaac had no clue what happened but he seemed to have agitated the child somehow.
It was a rocky start for the three of them but somehow he had managed to get himself roped in whatever it was the two were doing. It’s because of this he learned more about the two, like how the Mandalorian never took off his helmet in front of anyone, he did the same but for different reasons than him. He also learned the little green kid was a Jedi and could apparently do something similar to Kinesis without the module, one difference is that he could use it on anything, including living creatures.
He thought it wouldn’t be too out of place to use the Kinesis and Stasis module seeing as the Jedi had something similar but the Mandalorian failed to mention that they’re pretty much non-existent. Imagine his surprise when the Mandalorian questioned why he didn’t say he was a Jedi and take the child in the middle of a firefight. After the battle they had to be more discreet since now people thought there was a Jedi nearby. This led to a conversation between the two which led to what Isaac was trying to do now.
Sitting on the floor of the Razor Crest, Isaac looked at the child in front of him as he tried to explain what he was about to do, but how do you explain tech to someone who could do something naturally, it was different. “Kinesis is used to move objects of different kinds, I’ve used it to move objects like…”
Now that he thought about it, nothing he really used Kinesis on would be known. How the hell did you explain what a Power Cell was to a baby that had no frame of reference? Sometimes he would use it on containers if they were out of reach of floating around but he couldn’t exactly do that here. He would use the claws of dead Necromorphs but he didn’t like to think about them and there was no way in hell he would ever explain what a Necromorph was to a child. Does Z-Ball exist in this galaxy? Fuck it, he’ll just use the Kinesis module.
“Okay, so just watch what I do.” Taking out some unused plasma energy for his Plasma Cutter, Isaac activated his Kinesis module and used it to move the plasma towards himself. The kid watched him do this before looking up at him as Isaac held the plasma in his hand. “Now, try and take the plasma from my hand using your force.”
The child looked back down towards the plasma in his hand before reaching out towards the plasma, after a while he managed to lift it before getting tired. Seeing this, Isaac wondered how hard something that is so easy with Kinesis would be to do when it’s part of who you are. Isaac thought about what he should do, what he knows about the kid, what might motivate him. The child liked a certain metal ball but he didn’t have it, the Mandalorian did. The child liked getting treats and frogs, the only problem was that he couldn’t just go out and get any at the moment. He could try and find something as a snack but he’s pretty sure it would just be more rations and they pretty much eat them all the time. While Isaac was thinking, the child walked up to him and climbed into his lap, looking up at him, the child reached out again. Snapping out of his thoughts, Isaac realized what the child was doing and got an idea to help motivate the child.
Looking down at the child, Isaac pushed down his helmet that the kid had tried to remove, frustrating the child and causing him to pout. “If you can take the plasma from me a few times without passing out, I’ll take off my helmet for you.”
This got the child’s attention fast, visibly perking up and moving to return to his previous position across from Isaac, excited at the idea. Isaac once again used his Kinesis to bring the plasma, that was discarded when the child climbed his lap, to him and placed it on his palm. The child took his time this time, before slowly reaching out until the plasma eventually floated from Isaac’s hand. Slowly but surely, the container floated away from Isaac and towards the child until it eventually reached the child’s hands. The container for the plasma was noticeably big in the child’s hands as he held onto it with both hands. The child held out the plasma towards Isaac as he started to use Kinetic to take back the plasma from the child.
The two of them continued with this a few times, taking as much time as the child needed and slowly got fast over time as the child got used to it. Over time, Isaac noticed that the child was getting exhausted and started slumping over. It was because of this that he decided to stop the lesson for the day and continue another time. The child held out the container to Isaac so he took it back before speaking to the child. “Hey little guy, that’s enough for the day. Hey, don’t sleep now, I thought you wanted to see my face.”
The child who was starting to fall asleep at that moment, perked up a little to look at Isaac as he put the plasma away. The child started to move again, climbing onto his lap as Isaac reached for his helmet while looking down at the child. Slowly, Isaac reaches for his helmet. Parts shift upwards as clicks are heard until eventually the sound of air releasing is heard. Isaac lifts his helmet upwards and looks at the child in his lap, all tiredness seemingly vanishing as he stares wide eyed at him. The child reached out to his face, wanting to get closer, to touch it, and so Isaac picked up the child and leaned down towards him.
The child touched his face for a while, not wanting to stop at any point, like it was the most interesting moment in his life, a big mystery solved. The child couldn’t stay awake forever though, still drained from the lesson, he fell asleep in Isaac’s arms with one of his hands still touching his face. Isaac stayed there, carrying the child in his arms, and kept him to his chest as the child started to curl towards his neck. Isaac could understand why the child was tired, he was himself with all the chaos he’d been dragged into ever since he got to this galaxy. Isaac didn’t know how long he stayed in place for but he himself had apparently fallen asleep as well, it wasn’t till he heard the Mandalorian approaching that he realized this.
As Isaac started to shift the child to rest on his lap, the Mandalorian entered the cargo hold, turning to look at him. All of a sudden, the Mandalorian snapped his head away from Isaac, looking anywhere but him and the child. “You removed your helmet.”
It took Isaac a moment to register what the Mandalorian had meant. Why did he look away? It’s not like he has to wear his helmet all the time, he just chooses to. It’s not like it’s the first time he’s done it, he just doesn’t do it around others, he can’t risk letting his guard down. Actually, this might be the first time he had taken it off in front of someone. The last time he did, it was he met up with Hammond at the escape pods and that seemed like ages at this point.
Isaac suddenly remembered a previous conversation the two had about the Mandalorian’s way. He remembered what the other man had said, that he couldn’t take off his helmet in front of others because of his creed. Thinking back to it, he might have implied he didn’t take his off either for somewhat similar reasons. That might be the reason that he was no longer looking at Isaac and was currently standing awkwardly by the exit.
Retrieving his discarded helmet, Isaac quickly placed it back on his head and clicked it back into place. Upon hearing this the Mandalorian turned back around to face him as an uncomfortable silence filled the air. It was then that Isaac knew he would have to make a choice eventually. Either get comfortable taking off his helmet around both the Mandalorian and child or deny the child, leaving only a fleeting memory of the entirety of who Isaac was.
It was at this point he had already made his choice.