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

[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."

[imaperson]

"Sometimes you only have to get it to work once." He's got the the lid spinning at a good clip, enjoying being able to get it going.

"So you kept the ship?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel quirks an eyebrow at the pot lid but doesn't say anything.

"We did, yes. Once the Omnicannon was fixed, it was very helpful for fighting the Eternal Fleet. As in Koth started counting how many ships it took out and gave up at about twenty. That was with one shot"

[imaperson]

It's not like he has toys on board.

"Wow. Wizard." He was going to have to remember to tell Kit if he saw him again. "I've never heard of a cannon like that."

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel hopes to change that. Hopefully, the kid will at least attempt to play with them like a normal human child.

"I hadn't either. Apparently, it's something that was unique to that ship specifically for fighting that fleet."

[imaperson]

It depends on the kind of toy, really. Although educational toys he'd actually like.

"Probably good I haven't heard of it, isn't it?" People fighting in space and slavers using threats of it to force surrender...

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Probably," Garth'zel says with a nod. "Although at this point in time, I would be... very surprised if it still existed. Although I'm not sure how that cannon would have worked against regular ships. It would destroy one hit by it directly for sure, but I'm not sure its effects would expand like that with them."

[imaperson]

"What made those ships different?" He slows the lid until he has it steady, frowning at it, before making it roll forward a little, then motions it forward more.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"They were some sort of advanced technology that no one's seen before. I honestly don't know how modern technology would compare to them. One would hope that after over three thousand years, ships that could counter them what weren't the Gravestone would have been built." Seriously, he has no idea where they're from; those ships came from nowhere so far as everyone was concerned.

[imaperson]

"Huh. That's weird. None of you were worried about were it came from?" Because that was just spooky. Very spooky.

The lid runs an object, stopping and Anakin tries to push it to roll over the thing, but he can't quite get it to, and he makes a face at it.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Considering the Empire of Zakuul used the Eternal Fleet to crush both the Republic and the Sith Empire in less than a year, we wanted to know where they came from very much," Garth'zel says dryly. "Given the Gravestone was the only thing we found that was remotely even a match, we had to make ourselves not worry too much about its origins. Even if we did want to know that. But it was overall a problem we could set aside."

Given they had a war to fight.

"What are you doing?"

[imaperson]

"Still a creepy thing."

He rolls the lid back a little and tries to roll it forward again but it only bounces. "Um..." Playing really. "Practicing?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Try not to send that bouncing off something it shouldn't. Like me," Garth'zel says dryly. "I need to get you real toys to play with, not things that belong in the galley."

[imaperson]

"I'm just rolling it." He finally gets it to roll over the object and continues pushing it around the table, rolling it like a wheel. "I've never really had many toys." The ones he did, he made, or Shmi had.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"I know. I'm also not sure what you'd want." Anakin may want to try taking the hint.

[imaperson]

"I dunno. I like to make things. I can carve a little too. I made Mom some jewelry once, it was nice to see her smile like that." He doesn't have the space to turn the lid around, so he just starts rolling it backwards.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel covers his eyes with one hand for a moment. "So looking for two or three things I think a normal human child would be interested in, then."

Along with one or two extra to do double-duty as being both fun and educational.

[imaperson]

"We had a couple of balls we could kick around or throw, but it's not a lot of fun by yourself." Anakin shrugs. "I worked on my pod racer or my droid or stuff like that. Made stuff." So he didn't honestly know.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"We'll figure out something for you to occupy yourself with when you don't have anything you need to work on, don't worry." Best not to give the kid a chance to get bored. For the sake of his own sanity, if nothing else.

[imaperson]

"Ok." He works the lid back to where it had started and puts it down, then studies the table for something else to play with. He turns the bowl back over, meaning to start putting things inside it.

Probably a good idea to plot him out physical activity too, because he's used to moving. A lot.