Disclaimer: This is free fanfiction for legal adults. The author claims no ownership of any copyrighted material.
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"I'm glad you've found something to entertain yourself," Luke Skywalker said to the droid, stopping down and propping him up from the ground, cocking a grin at his friend. Artoo whistled back at him, in a mixture of condensation and frustration, rocking back and forth in the watery mud and marshland that covered the planet. The droid certainly teased him enough – why couldn't he enjoy a joke or two at his expense?
"I'm sorry that I made a joke about the lake monster," he said, giving in to the demands of his friend as he finished setting up camp. "Droids are just extra tasty to them. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Luke knew he must have sounded completely absurd – here he was, talking to a bucket of bolts, as if it were a real person. But for all intents and purposes, Artoo was a person. The little droid was actually one of his closest friends.
"At least you don't have to worry about personal hygiene," Luke muttered as he pushed along a crate filled with emergency provisions. He wiped sweat off his brow and clenched his wet hair with his free hand, wiping dirt up and down his face. "I swear that I probably smell worse than this mudhole with all this work I've been doing."
The droid whistled at him, making mention of the fact that this was a swamp planet, perfect for bathing. Luke thought about the droids words, nodding as he scratched his chin. The last time he had taken a bath, he was drugged up and hanging inside a bacta tank. The combination of that sweet substance with his sweat couldn't have smelled good at all. "You may be right," agreed Luke, looking around for a perfect place to change and bathe. "It isn't like this Yoda character is going anywhere any time soon."
Both man and droid stumbled away from the safety of their camp sight, heading toward a shallow bank of water that would be safe of any monsters. It wasn't long before they made their way to the bank, where his boots nearly sunk into the muddy hill that overlooked it. The youth looked to his friend, watching him as he struggled and whistled about from behind.
"Uhm," Luke huffed to himself, turning around at the painful reminder of his company. The droid whistled back at him curiously as it bustled back and forth, trying to get near his friend as he approached the water. He blushed at his little companion before flashing a reassuring smile. "That's okay, Artoo. You don't need to come over here. I'm going to be a minute. I have some.. personal.. things I need to do over here. Like change and take a bath. Why don't you just deactivate yourself for a little while until I'm done?"
The droid cried at him, bouncing up and down like a child.
"No, you can trust me. Nothing is going to happen while I'm out here. The swamp monsters like tasty droids, remember? They don't want anything to do with me," he joked to Artoo, hoping that that would be enough to finally comfort him. The droid was silent and wobbled curiously before the Jedi. Luke frowned as he crossed his arms, trying to come up with a compromise that would satisfy him. "Alright, fine. If you hear a really loud noise, like me screaming for my life, I give you permission to reactivate yourself."