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]

"There's seeing if you can manipulate objects using the Force. Providing I'm not trying to move too fast there," Garth'zel says with a shrug before rising from his seat. "Give me a few minutes to bring back a few things to use for this."

[imaperson]

Anakin nods and moves out of his way, only returning to his seat when Garth'zel's out of room, mostly feeling odd just standing there alone. But he's sitting still and alert when Garth'zel returns.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel sets down the assortment of things from the galley he'd gotten that shouldn't break if they got dropped.

"Try with the fork, first," he says, nodding towards it. "Picture it rising into the air and want it to do so."

[imaperson]

Anakin watches, eyeing each item. At Garth'zel's prompting, he focuses his attention on the fork, picturing, imagining it rising from the others and tries to will it up. But it couldn't be that simple, he thinks, and for a while nothing happens. He tilts his head a little, looking at Garth'zel. "Am I doing something wrong?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"It's normal to fail at first, since you don't know what you're doing," Garth'zel assures him. "I just didn't say so, because then you would have gone in expecting to fail. And that's fun for no one."

Along with removing the possibility the person trying may actually succeed on the first try. After all, if they're just going to fail, why bother trying?

"On that note, don't forget to draw on the Force. Wanting it to move does no good if you aren't using the Force."

[imaperson]

While one could say him never having finished a pod race, much less having won one could count as a failure, given no other human was supposed to be able to do it, he didn't count those as failures. He wasn't used to failing. He might not have full success, but failure was new.

He isn't going to fail at this, so he listens, jaw set stubbornly. Attempt two, he imagines the fork rising into the air, wills it to do so, and reaches inside himself for that star inside him. The fork rises, wobbling but it does rise.

A couple inches. Until Anakin realizes what he's doing and gasps excitedly which breaks his focus, leading to it dropping loudly back down. "Dammit."

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Don't swear," Garth'zel admonishes without any real heat.

"Not bad for your first successful attempt. Try again with a little less wobble. Although I'll settle for more height if you can't manage to avoid that wobble yet."

[imaperson]

Guess who is just giving you a very strange look Garth'zel. Guess. Because what?

Anakin swallows but he did it once, he can do it again, willing the fork in the air, steady, he tells it, steady but it still wobbles some between periods of stillness. Anakin isn't surprised by his own actions however so he doesn't drop it again, but when he unthinkingly reaches his hand out to motion 'stop' at a wobble, he sends it flying as if thrown sideways, to have it clatter to the floor some ten feet away. "I didn't mean to do that." He starts to rise to go get it.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel just ignores the look.

"I didn't think you did," he says, stretching out one hand and calling the fork to it, putting it back on the table after. "Again. Hopefully without flinging it across the room this time. Or at me."

[imaperson]

Despite having just tossed it, it didn't occur to Anakin to try to pull it back the same way. But that would be helpful when he was working on things. He focuses again, putting his hands on his thighs to remind himself not to reach, finally gets the fork a good distance off the table. It still wobbles just a little from time to time however.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"All right, that's better," Garth'zel notes. "Set it back down the same way you picked it up."

As opposed to just letting it fall back to the table.

[imaperson]

Anakin tries to lower it, making it more wobbly, so he stops were he has it until he make it stop doing that. Once he has the fork steady again, he starts to lower it again slower but more smoothly until it thunks a little hard on the tabletop.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"You'll improve with practice," Garth'zel says before nodding at the bowl. "The bowl next."

Time to work upwards in terms of size.

[imaperson]

Anakin exhales. Not a success, not in his mind. But not a failure either, even if there had been a false start. Failure would have been not being able to manage in his task at all during this lesson.

The bowl is larger, but he's sure now he can in fact lift it, and he focuses less on if he can lift it and more on trying to lift it steadily, smoothly, without it wobbling. He doesn't quite manage it would any wobble, but it's better.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"The same principle of what you're doing applies to whatever you're lifting, no matter the size," Garth'zel says, falling into his 'instructor' voice without really noticing it. "Now that you understand how to do this, you'll be able to lift larger things such as boulders with about the same amount of effort. That said, something large enough is likely to need to be a group effort."

"I once lifted a large starship from the swamp it had been rusting in for centuries with a couple of other people. It took all three of us. Once it was in the air, someone else kept it there, since he was waiting in the cockpit for us to pull it free from the ground to make sure the muck had time to get out of places it wasn't helpful to be in." Of course, then they had an interesting time getting in the ship, given its distance from the ground.

[imaperson]

Anakin hears the change in voice but he doesn't understand the meaning behind it. And what Garth'zel is saying is very neat but he doesn't see much use in just being able to lift things up and down.

Instead, remember his accidental throw, he tries to push the bowl to one side, being partly successful, but also tumbling it over so it's upside down. Anakin glares at the bowl as if it is the bowl's fault, not his, for a long moment before managing to flip it back over and pull it back to were it had been, then puts it down. Smoother. Less hard.

"Why did you need to get the ship?" Talking now that he's not concentrating.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"The shuttle that had been our ride crashed. Hard. There was fire." He shakes his head a moment later. "It was a good thing for us that other ship was out there in the swamp. We would have had a hell of a time getting off the planet without it. And the size meant we could take some refugees with us without things becoming cramped."

[imaperson]

"Did the pilot crash it or did someone shoot you down?" Because that was a hard crash. He was curious about Garth'zel's life, wondered if any of the refugees had stayed with him, but he doesn't ask. Maybe later.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Both," he says dryly. "We'd been shot at, resulting in taking damage, but Koth and I managed to keep it in the air long enough to make it to the swamp."

[imaperson]

"Lucky for you the swamp was there." Anakin looks back at the table, and settles on the bowl, turning it upside down, then starts trying get the fork to stand up on it. It's tricky, trying to balance the fork upright on it's tines when forks don't easy balance that way, and he ends up spinning it like a top a couple times before getting it to stand up.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"We were," Garth'zel agrees. "That swamp made for a good place to lose pursuers long enough to get the ship we found fixed up enough to get out of there."

[imaperson]

"What is a swamp really?" He's assuming water because Garth'zel mentioned rust but otherwise, he didn't know what it was. And water didn't seem like a place to lose people trying to find you.

Once he gets the fork balanced, he puts it back and he scans the table for something else to play with. There's a pot lid he starts trying to balance on it's side next.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"A mess," Garth'zel deadpans. "There's a lot of water. And mud. Various plants suited to that amount of water. Along with animals that do well in that environment. Unfortunately."

Damn arachnids.

[imaperson]

Garth'zel seems to not like swamps but Anakin thinks he'd like to see one, full of water and mud. He's never seen mud either.

The pot lid is easier to get onto it's side, and he tries to make it spin, finding it easier to motion with his fingers to imagine how he wants the lid to go.

"How long did it take you to fix up the ship?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

He's spent entirely too much time in them to be very fond of them at this point.

"A few days. It was a good-sized one." He makes a face. "The hyperdrive worked all of one time. And the main weapon did the same. At least both did what they needed to long enough for us to get out of there. Once we got somewhere, Koth was able to have his crew finish getting it fixed up properly."