spncentral | When Sith Beat Jedi To The Prize (Of The Chosen One)

It doesn't take Garth'zel too long to check on things; nothing's come up as it turns out. After stretching out with the Force to check on Anakin's location, he decides to leave the boy alone to get himself settled and just sits in the pilot's seat with his arms folded across his chest to watch the streaks the stars make as they travel through hyperspace and to think about what to do with the rest of the day.

He eventually has to shake himself out of the half-trance watching the starlines left him in to go look for Anakin. Time to see what he's up to and maybe work on something.

Given there was no other crew, and enough bunks, Anakin had taken a risk - calculated to him, and seemed reasonable - taking a middle bunk, but using some of his few tools to carefully work a couple screws loose on either side, and had sat down with a small knife, some wire, cutters, and pliers, making small loops to attach to a spare sheet. Just in case, it would at least keep him from pitching to the floor. He'd seen some foot lockers, and planned to ask for one to keep the rest of his belongings in.

It was actually simple work, if repetitive, and Anakin was being careful to bend each end of the wire back into its own twists so it was smooth and didn't leave sharp points to catch on him or his clothing. He'd gotten a small pile of them made and was continuing to work, making enough to string along the bottom edge as well, almost in a trance-like state himself as he worked. As his hands worked, his mind worked ahead, the next steps of the project shaping in his mind, seeing it spilling out ahead of him. Metal loops to attach to the screws, clasps to attach to the sheets, links to connect them.

Garth'zel watches with raised eyebrows for a few minutes before clearing his throat. "Should I even ask?"

He can decide on his reaction once he knows what Anakin is actually doing.

"Making chain link. These are the attachment ends. I still need to make the links and the clasp ends, but it won't take me long." His hands didn't stop working as he answered, nor did he look up, eyes mostly unfocused - he could do this by feel in all honesty.

"Let me rephrase. Why are you doing this?" He sees you decided to partly take apart one of the bunks, child.

He only took it apart a little. "Some of the pilots put netting up on bunks, so they don't get tossed out. I decided to make something like that with a sheet." Anakin picked up the loops, counting them out in his palm and replacing them in a small neat pile before adding the one he had finished.

"Ah." Thank you for the more useful answer, kid.

He shrugs after a moment. "Seems reasonable enough. Come find me when you're done."

He'll just... go read or something. Something interrupted easily enough. This probably isn't a good time to interrupt the kid, lest he later finds a pointy bit of metal by sitting on it or something.

"Do you care if I take one of the foot lockers?" There was some faint hesitation to Anakin's voice, a tension in the set of his shoulders, even if he didn't stop working.

Garth'zel was tempted to make a smartass comment but restrains himself and simply nods instead. "Yes. You do need somewhere to keep your things, after all."

The tension eases from his shoulders as he hears the answer. "Thank you Sir." Anakin picks up the spool of wire and cuts off a longer length wire and starts on the links. "Do you want me to come find you?"

"I believe that's what I said," Garth'zel says in an amused tone. It probably didn't register, given Anakin's focus on his work. "I'll most likely be in the lounge reading something."

Making it easier for Anakin to find him. Maybe after what he plans to work on first, he can teach Anakin how to sense the presence of others to make locating him easier. (Along with helping with an awareness of his surroundings.)

He hadn't fully heard and he lifts his chin just a little to watch Garth'zel as he works. It's a brilliant little link - a smooth hinge type coil so there's some give on impact. These are clearly going to take him some time. "Ok. I'll find you then."

"Alright," Garth'zel says with a nod as he turns to leave. Time to go find his latest bit of reading to catch himself up with the important events he's missed since his time.

Hopefully, the kid will put in an appearance in an hour or so.

Anakin continues to work, the links taking much longer than the loops. They took more wire, more time, more attention. Not that Anakin noticed the time it took, just quietly sitting still other than his hands as he worked. An hours passed, two, three. He was finally finished with the links, and starting to cut the wire to make the clasps that would connect to the sheets.

By then, Garth'zel's made a reappearance. He was expecting you well before now, child.

"Do you realize it's been three hours?" he asks mildly. The rest of Anakin's personal project can be saved for when Garth'zel isn't waiting on him.

As Garth'zel approaches, Anakin starts feeling anxious, though he isn't sure why until he hears Garth'zel's voice. However mild the question, it's still a reprimand in Anakin's experience. It's enough to make him jerk, the clasp falling from his hand along with his pilers, making a loud thump on the floor as Anakin jumps from the bunk to stand.

"No." But his hands are cramping, fingers almost numb, legs like lead from heel to hip and he's not sure they are actually going to hold him. And his back is screaming from his hunched posture. Maybe it had been hours. But he hadn't realized it. And for all his discomfort, he barely makes a face at it.

"Put things away and come out to the lounge. I'd been expecting you at least an hour and a half ago." Garth'zel isn't terribly amused at being kept waiting for so long. Sure, he needed to catch up on his reading, but he had other things he wanted to do as well.

"Yes Sir." Anakin scrambled to pick up and put away his tools - hard with his body objecting to what he'd put it through. It made him slow and clumsy, when he wasn't either normally.

So Anakin takes longer than he would normally have to get to the lounge, his legs burning as the blood rushes back them, flexing and extending his fingers, trying to get the feeling back in them. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize how late it was." He was also already apologizing. "I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

"You need to learn to keep track of the time when you're working on things. I can't keep coming to find you every time I'm expecting you within a certain timeframe," Garth'zel says, motioning for Anakin to sit across from him at the dejarik table. Not that it's getting turned on. They weren't there to play the game.

"I was wanting to teach you something my mother taught me. It was mostly to help with my anger issues although it came in useful for when other emotions were bothering me. Or I needed to settle down enough to get to sleep. It's also occurred to me that it'll be helpful as a sort of prelude to something else I'll eventually be teaching you." He'll probably save meditation for when Anakin's older and hopefully will be more likely to have the patience to actually have some sort of success at it instead of just failing.

"I didn't know there was a timeframe." It's not a protest, it's too quiet and unsure for that - just an explanation. He'd been told to come find his new master when he was finished, so 'timeframe' hadn't filtered into his understanding. "I'm sorry." It's a little stronger, louder, but Anakin is still watching Garth'zel with his head ducked before sliding into the seat, still pumping the blood into his fingers and subtly flexing his aching joints.

Needing help to settled down to sleep wasn't something he was overly familiar with - he was normally worked to hard to not be exhausted to sleep easily. But the rest made him curious. "What is it?"

"True, I didn't actually give a certain amount of time," Garth'zel has to concede. "But three hours is just a little excessive."

Two hours would have left him a little grumpy but still been acceptable. Barely.

"Mmm, before I answer that, is there anyplace in particular you felt safe? You don't need to tell me where, just if there was such a thing." Depending on the answer, Garth'zel may need to try to modify things.

"Making chain is fiddly." It doesn't dawn on him that his new master might not know that, but he can realize now he was working at it too long - there's thick red lines on his fingers from the wire and the tools and his legs still burn as the blood returns to them. "I didn't mean to make you wait. I'm sorry." He is, a plaintive tone in his voice. Please don't be mad at me, he wants to beg. But pride keeps him from it, especially at this juncture.

Anakin stopped to think about the answer, because he started to say 'no', his mouth almost forming the word before he ducked his chin and thought about it. "I'm not sure. Does it matter if it's real? 'Cause I think I remember something. But I might have made it up."

He isn't mad. Just. Irritated.

Garth'zel shakes his head. "Imaginary works, too. Considering this is stuff that's going to be going on in your head. I asked because needing to come up with a place would have added an extra step."

That's a finer shade of emotion than he currently has the understanding of.

"Okay. Now what?" He didn't really understand why that mattered, why he needed a place he felt safe in. But if it didn't matter if it was real or not...well.

"I want you to picture that place; get it firmly in your mind," Garth'zel instructs. "First what it looks like, then add in things like sounds and smells."

He wouldn't be surprised if Anakin closes his eyes to make it easier to do said picturing.

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