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

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel had intended never to go to Tatooine again. The entire experience the first time he was there was hot and miserable. The only good point, so far as he was concerned, was meeting Andronikos. But as luck would have it, his ship ended up deciding to need minor repairs. Nothing too bad, but it did require him to land somewhere to get the parts he needed, because of course, the bit that went was something he didn't have spare parts for. The only planet within reasonable range? Tatooine.

It didn't take long for a Force-sensitive boy to catch his attention. One strong enough that he was surprised the Jedi didn't already find him. Well, their loss was his gain. ...Once he pried him loose from Watto, anyway. He suspects he actually had an easier time of it than a Jedi would, although he's not going to hang around and give one the chance to give it a shot. At least, unlike them, he's willing to come to Tatooine from time to time so Anakin could see his mother. Probably not more than a couple times a year or so, due to it being best to go there when they're at least vaguely in that part of the galaxy anyway, but it's far better than 'sorry kid, we're never bringing you back'.

Of course, there is one tiny problem with this whole thing. He's never had to raise children before and doesn't know what he's doing. With the ship safely in hyperspace and not due to come out of it for a good long while, enabling him to do things that didn't involve sitting in the pilot's seat of the ship, he's in the lounge area. Time to figure out what he's doing. "Have you managed to get any kind of schooling? Like from someone you know, sitting down with you for an hour here and there as time permitted to teach you things like how to write?"

May as well figure out what he needs to teach besides how to use the Force consciously instead of unconsciously drawing on it.

Comments

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Probably less actual playing at first and more learning how to do so," Garth'zel points out in an amused tone. "But yes."

[imaperson]

"It's still a game." And games were something he didn't get much of.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Mm-hmm. I think by now, you should know where to find it?" Given the game table isn't going anywhere unless it was unbolted from the floor.

[imaperson]

"Yes?" Congratulation Garth'zel you managed to really confuse Anakin.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"That was my way of telling you to get moving," Garth'zel points out dryly. The kid'll figure these things out eventually.

[imaperson]

"Oh." He slides to his feet, starting to walk in that direction, wondering if Garth'zel is going to do something else first.

[neverwantedtobesith]

The only thing Garth'zel's going to do is finish his own water before following Anakin to claim what seems to have become his preferred seat at the dejarik table, turning it on.

"Okay, first we'll go over the controls..."

[imaperson]

Anakin had started out paying rapt attention - but eventually his over-full stomach had him feeling sleepy, and he blinks slowly as he has a harder time focusing and playing attention.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Eventually, Garth'zel comes to a stop. "Another consequence of stuffing yourself too full of food is getting sleepy. I think you'd best go take a nap. We can get back to this later."

Possibly starting at an earlier point, in case Anakin doesn't manage to retain what information's been shared at this point.

[imaperson]

"I guess." He'd certainly never felt sleepy after eating before. Anakin pulls himself to his feet, turning just a little grey at the sudden movement. "I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep..."

[neverwantedtobesith]

"I told you," Garth'zel scolds gently. "Just take it easy while getting back to your room and be careful about laying down. When you're settled, you should be able to fall asleep."

[imaperson]

"I'm sorry." He paws at the floor with toes, but at least listens and takes it easy to get back to his bunk.

Not that he can really fall asleep much once he does - he drifts a little, but isn't really comfortable enough to fall deeply asleep for some time. Once he does, dreams are uneasy and disturbing, enough that he starts to whimper and toss.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel eventually notices Anakin's dream issues and pauses what he's working on to send soothing feelings at him to get him settled down enough to sleep properly.

[imaperson]

There's some resistance from Anakin to settle back to sleep - it's not just the dreams, but also simply not really wanting to sleep - however, he's young and doesn't have much of a reserve sleep wise, so sleep claims him again.

But even that only buys a couple of hours before he's waking again, this time not trying to push himself back into sleep. Instead he gets up - still carefully, and feels out where Garth'zel is, going looking for him.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Child, you need to recover from what you tried to do to yourself.

Garth'zel looks up from his reading when Anakin reappears in the lounge. "Feeling better?"

[imaperson]

Sleeping during awake time is making him feel bad.

"I think so." His stomach still ached, but he doesn't feel like he's going to be ill.

"Do you have a droid flying or are we stopped?" Because this was a grander ship than most of the pilots he talked to, but most still stayed in the cockpit most of the time - and he hadn't thought to ask before.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"We're in hyperspace. There's nothing for me to do right now in the cockpit except stare at starlines and try not to fall asleep." Hence, not being in there. There are more interesting things to do elsewhere.

[imaperson]

"How do you know when to head back?" Anakin walks over, pulling himself up to sit near Garth'zel. "And were are we going?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Through knowing approximately how much time needs to be spent in hyperspace. Although I do check things in there every so often in case something's come up. And if there's something I really need to know or deal with, an alarm goes off to tell me to get back there ASAP." Not that he's entirely sure Anakin knows that acronym.

"As I said before, the plan is Bothawui, although I'm not ruling out stopping at a planet along the route if I decide it's needed."

[imaperson]

"Is that from navigating experience or does the navisystem tell you?" He isn't sure what ASAP means, thinking over what he knew that might match those sounds. Finally he looks up from his lap. "I don't know letters."

"And can I see the cockpit when you go next?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Mmm, both. The navicom does give an ETA, that is, estimated time of arrival. But I've also had years of space travel to help tell me how long it generally takes to get from point a to point b."

Then, "As soon as possible," Garth'zel explains. "I looked in on things while you were napping, so it'll be awhile yet before I go back, but yes."

[imaperson]

Anakin mouths 'ETA' and then 'estimated time of arrival', committing them to memory, and then 'a-sap' and 'as soon as possible'. His memory is very good, and it never takes him long to learn new things or to make himself remember. Part simple aptitude, part Masters not liking to repeat themselves.

"So you're just going to read until then?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"We're going to be in hyperspace for a few days. I'd like to do things besides read. Like sleep," Garth'zel points out, amused. If he did nothing but read in that entire time, he'd be very hungry and sleep-deprived. Not a helpful combination.

[imaperson]

Several days didn't seem so long to not eat to him - he had gone that long before. It was a bit long to go without sleeping, but he could manage for a while, if he had to. But he knew it was better not to have to. "So what else is to be done while the ship is in hyperspace?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Mmm, there's ship maintenance, of course. Reading--for me, at least, until you learn how--, playing dejarik, your schoolwork once you have it, me training you in the ways of the Force, me practicing with the training remote--which you'll also be doing eventually--, and that's just the things that come to mind immediately." So there's a decent variety of things to do. Just not really things Anakin's used to doing.