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

"Then he can figure out how to get help in the shop. I think he knows better than to do... anything overt, lest he answer to me." At which point, Garth'zel's Sith training will very much come to the fore. With the Jedi getting their proof that 'yep, definitely a Sith' with a side of 'why would a Sith care about this?!'.

He raises an eyebrow at him. "I've said nothing about holocalls, but yes, they are. It's not like they're the only way to keep in touch though."

Anakin shrugged. "All he cares about is money, gaming, and drinking." And the shop was a way get money, nothing else. Anakin understand that, having seen other shops compete with Watto.

"The deep-space pilots talk about them, being able to see their families or friends." See them, instead of just ping text off of them - and he knew the holonet outpost had only recently been installed on Tatooine.

"With those three things, he needs to be content with having one for certain, possibly two. Not all three," Garth'zel says tartly. Considering the latter two tend to make the first one vanish. Sometimes very quickly.

"Anakin, enough," he says firmly. "I know you miss her already, but holocalls are not going to be a regular thing."

He checks his chrono. "I should already get started on figuring out what I want to fix for us to eat." He actually already had a fairly good idea of what he wanted to do, he just needed to double-check he had everything.

Anakin just shrugs. He doesn't know, just that those are what Watto wants, and when he didn't get what he wanted, he grew cross, and Anakin and Shmi tended to end up bruised or without.

But Garth'zel's firm tone is enough to make Anakin sit up straight and pull back - protecting himself against the seat. "Ok." It's meekly said.

Anakin continues to watch, unsure what he's supposed to do now.

"You may as well go back to your personal project while I'm busy," Garth'zel says as he stands. "Calling you can be used as an exercise in you sensing things through the Force."

In the form of Garth'zel sending a non-verbal summons Anakin's way to see how long it takes him to notice.

"Ok!" Anakin jumps to his feet - youth granting him a quick rebound from his being stiff from not moving while he was working. Of course, he was going to end up that way again, not that he cared.

He'd just happy go back to work, only partly aware he was supposed to be paying attention for something to happen.

Garth'zel isn't really surprised that Anakin wasn't really paying attention to anything after that. At least he'll know where to find him, even without using the Force to sense him.

It's almost an hour later when he sends an insistent 'come here' kind of feeling. Time to see if Anakin's paying enough attention to notice or if he'll have to collect him in person.

At first it takes Anakin several minutes to notice the feeling, and a minute longer sitting up and focusing on it before poking at it a little in acknowledgement before hopping out of his bunk and going to look for Garth'zel. It takes him a wandering down the corridor wondering where he is before he realizes, oh right, he taught Anakin to feel for him. And a couple minutes after that to really focus in on Garth'zel presence and start walking towards him.

Garth'zel looks over from where he was setting out glasses of water. "I was starting to wonder if I'd need to come collect you."

He did sense Anakin's awareness of his call once the boy figured it out, but he took longer to appear than he thought he would.

Anakin grinds his toes into the floor, looking down. "I forgot how to find you for a couple minutes. And then I had to find you." He'd figured it out, clearly, but he needed practise.

"You'll learn. Eventually, you won't even need to think about it, it'll just be automatic," Garth'zel assures him as he dishes up what was basically chili. With some extra in the way of vegetables than he usually does, keeping in mind that Anakin needed the extra.

"There's enough for us to both have seconds." So no need to try to draw things out beyond the amount needed to give it time to cool enough to not burn the inside of their mouths.

"I'm sorry Sir, I don't mean to be trouble." It's genuinely apologetic, Anakin wanted to be good, wanted to learn. It was just so very strange.

But he took the bowl gratefully - and for more than the food. Space was shockingly cold, and his hands greedily stole the heat from the dish into his body, leading him to cradle it against his chest. Letting it cool was really just him using it to warm him up. Not that he really realized he was hungry - he was told it was time to eat, so he'd eat. "Is there water?"

Garth'zel cocks an eyebrow at Anakin. "I wasn't scolding you, just stating a fact. It takes time to learn how to use the Force properly."

His answer to Anakin's question was simply to nod in the direction of Anakin's glass. Use your eyeballs, boy.

Anakin was still cradling the bowl, leeching the warmth from it. "My memory is very good. It's probably what I can do best, remember things. So I tend to learn things quickly." He wasn't bragging, he was more upset he wasn't catching onto something as quickly as he wants.

But he followed Garth'zel's motion, licking his lips at the sight of the water, shifting his grip on the bowl to continue to hold it close while freeing a hand to grab it. He settles on using the table to support the bowl while keeping it close - his hand is pale but pinking where it's warming - and takes the glass, pulling a deep swallow from it.

"You're also learning something entirely new to you," Garth'zel points out. "Would you expect someone's whose main focus is raising and breeding banthas to understand the things you do about building things on their first day?"

Anakin finishes half his water before picking up his spoon and testing if his food was cool enough to eat - and decided it still needed a few minutes. "We never had the choice of doing anything but learning fast and perfect." At least with his friends - all the friends he had, at least the ones who were people and not droids - were slaves as well. And he was one of the very few who had been what he was his entire life - he didn't really know how other people, or normal children, adapted to new situations.

Garth'zel's eyebrows just slowly go up. Try to remember who you're talking to, child.

He finally takes a bite of his own food, deciding it had cooled off enough. Mouthful finished, "I think one of the first things we're doing when we're on a planet again is to buy you some warmer clothes."

Because yes, he sees that Anakin's cold.

He does, that's why he's a little confused about being asked.

Anakin pokes his spoon at his food, then takes a small bite. It's cool enough to eat, he decides and takes several bites before answering. "Space is a lot colder than I thought it would be." He also has a very off meter for 'cold', given Tatooine. But at least the food was warming him up - his hands and his insides, curling into him.

Garth'zel was trying to make the point that Anakin didn't need to stress himself out too much about being slow on the uptake regarding something entirely new to him.

"You'll eventually mostly adjust, I think. But even after, you'll still need warmer clothes than what you needed for Tatooine." So, clothes and schooling materials shopping are on the mental list of things he needs to do regarding Anakin so far.

He'd learn, eventually. But it was going to take time to deprogram him from what slavery had done to him. But for right now, he's glad to have Garth'zel, who seemed patient enough, fed him, and didn't ride him too hard.

"Where are we going? I might have heard of it." And he might have things he wants to poke at if he does.

"Right now, the plan is Bothawui. Although there's other planets along the hyperlane to get there, so there may end up being a brief stop at one of them along the way." Depending on factors like if he misjudged when the ship needed a refuel or if he decides it would be better to get Anakin new clothes and so on sooner.

"Could we see a race while we are there?" If there's one thing he'll know about any planet, it's if there are races there. And if so, what kind of races.

And odds are, he'd want to see one.

"I can't say I'd been planning on seeing any," Garth'zel comments after finishing his mouthful of food. "For that matter, I'm unaware of any that are of interest for anyone who isn't a local."

"There really aren't, and they are on urban tracks instead of open ones like on Tatooine. It's not pod racing, but they are still neat to watch - everyone has a different way of building and pilots like to brag on their builds. It's a small gig, but there was this one pilot who said that due to the wilderness there and the wildlife, they are more like sprints than real races-" Anakin would continue to babble on about the details he's heard and ease dropped on - between eating, sometimes barely finishing his swallow before talking - until Garth'zel interrupted him.

Garth'zel gives Anakin a long look. "How much of this is you wanting new racers to bug with questions about their rigs?"

Because he's noticing where the majority of Anakin's focus seems to be during this ramble and it's not the races themselves as such.

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