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]

"I'm thinking of practicing with the remote, which means I'll eventually need the towels after my own turn at cleaning up. I'd like to be able to get dry," he points out.

[imaperson]

"Oh. Um. How do you do laundry on this ship, by the way?" This is completely unrelated, he promises!

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel blinks slowly at Anakin before covering his face with his hand. "How did I remember to show you the medbay but forget to show you the laundry room?"

No, he's not honestly expecting an answer. "The relevant room is just one door away from the 'fresher."

[imaperson]

"Do you do your wash or does a droid?" In Anakin's experience, droids tended to do that, if you could afford one.

But he'd also go put the used towels in to dry once he could, just to be sure.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Back when I had one, he did it, but these days, I do my own laundry." Like everybody else Toovee is millennia in the past.

[imaperson]

"Are you used to parents doing all the laundry?" He's trying to puzzle out why Garth'zel may have forgotten. "But if you want a droid again, just find one. Even broken. I'll fix it up." There's an almost 'please' unspoken, Anakin wants him to get something broken to leave Anakin to fix, since he isn't trusted with working on the ship.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Showing the kid the laundry room just slipped his mind, that's all!

Garth'zel's eyebrow goes up again. "Child, I'm perfectly capable of doing my own laundry, as seen by the fact I do it myself these days."

...Child, what do you think you've been doing this morning?! Playing make believe?

[imaperson]

"Droids are useful to have around." And he wants to have one to play with.

...Doing stuff he's been able to do for years without supervision?

[neverwantedtobesith]

Give him a break, a course he's going to want to keep an eye on the nine-year-old at first.

"Mm-hmm. And I had one when I had too much to do and not enough time to do tasks like cook and clean as well."

If he does get another one, it'll probably be an astromech droid, rather than another one like Toovee or Threepio.

[imaperson]

"Most ships this size have an astromech droid or two, even when they have a bigger crew. A lot of the pilots used them to help navigate." He's not really arguing, he just finds it odd that there is only Garth'zel for crew.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Most ships also aren't owned by people who lost everyone that mattered to them, including their droids," Garth'zel says tartly.

Anakin may want to take this as a hint that the man's patience is wearing thin.

[imaperson]

Anakin tenses at the tone, pausing just briefly, just long enough to be noticeable, with his fork midair and mouth hanging open before shoving it into his mouth. And falls silent, shoulders slight hunched. He hadn't meant to poke at anything, he'd been commenting on crews and what he knew was normal, not what Garth'zel did or didn't have anymore.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel soon finishes his own food and rises to put his plate and fork in to be washed when he runs the cleaning unit later. "I'm going to go practice with the training remote. You can watch later if you feel like it."

Just give him time to work his temper off first.

[imaperson]

"Yes Sir. I'll come later." Anakin is quiet, subdued even.

After Garth'zel leaves, Anakin finishes his food and cleans up the kitchen quietly, then puts the towels in the wash to wash and dry - and just busies himself with tidying up for a while until wandering towards the practice area, hoping Garth'zel is in a better mood.

[neverwantedtobesith]

Said practice area is the hold, because really, where else is one going to do this sort of thing without potentially getting something shot that shouldn't be? By the time Anakin shows up, Garth'zel isn't even thinking about the earlier conversation, just batting bolts from the remote back in its direction with his lightsaber, mostly going for near misses. The hum of the lightsaber overrides the sound of Anakin's approach, but Garth'zel can still sense it. "When I think you're ready for this, you'll practice with the remote and lightsaber both on lower settings," he says, tone considerably more relaxed than earlier. "My setting for the remote would take you down in seconds, and as my lightsaber is a lethal weapon, best to lower the intensity of the blade to where getting hit with it will just hurt rather than remove a limb or worse."

[imaperson]

Anakin had stopped and listened to the hum of the lightsaber before approaching but staying well back as he watches. It very much looks like a game and a fun one at that. He isn't going to argue about not being able handle it right now, but he wants to at least hold the lightsaber.

"I didn't know you could make them less powerful."

[neverwantedtobesith]

"It's a good idea to be able to adjust the blade if needed," Garth'zel comments, next deflected bolt whizzing right below the remote--if it was aimed at an average human-sized person, it would have just hit them in the throat. "Like when you're just practicing and don't actually want to kill or maim your opponent."

[imaperson]

Anakin whistles at the impact, staying back at his distance. Given they can still talk and Garth'zel hadn't shouted at him to back up, he is going to assume he's at a good distance for safety.

"When it's less powerful, is it shorter?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"It can be shorter if you want it to be, it doesn't become shorter by default when lowering the intensity of the blade, no. I am not going to let you take mine apart to figure out how it works. You can build your own to tinker with when I think you're old enough for one and have a good enough handle on using mine." Although proper training spars are going to need to wait until after they both have lightsabers.

"While lightsabers generally have the same components such as power supply and so on, there is individual variation," he adds a moment later.

[imaperson]

"Can you tell by looking at it what intensity it's set on?" That seemed very important to know. "Won't I need to know how one works to build one? How do you learn?" The left him confused.

"What kind of variation?"

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Hold on, at this point trying to talk and do this is asking to get shot." Due to Anakin wanting actual detail about things.

"Cancel," he instructs the remote, not lowering his lightsaber until the remote obediently hovers in place without moving. A moment of stretching his hand out and calling it to him later, he's switching it off and putting it away.

"To get back to your question, through looking at what your settings on your lightsaber are. Looking at the blade itself, no. You're a few years off from needing to know how to build your own lightsaber, so don't worry about it for now."

Garth'zel holds out his lightsaber--safely turned off so Anakin could see how it fit into his hand. "According to what the best size for someone's hands is, for example. There's a fighting style that the practitioner needs curved hilts to be more effective at it, as another. Then there's things that are more about personal taste, like the color of the hilt or any decoration. I built this using parts provided from someone, and the hilt is one that had been part of an older lightsaber of hers, so this pattern is entirely her own design."

[imaperson]

Garth'zel is going to learn it's going to be a long time before Anakin won't ask for details about something, and that's only going to lessen as be becomes more experienced and educated.

Anakin watches, filing away his commands and movements, waiting until Garth'zel is walking over to him to to step away from the wall and walking over to meet him. "What if you are using someone else's, and their settings are different?" He's listening as he leans in to study the hilt, eyes moving slowly over the hilt and all it's details. His fingers twitch at his side. "Can I touch it?" Not take it, just touch - he wants to feel the texture of the metal.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Barring you using mine to practice with, you're likely using someone else's in a combat situation, so it's likely already at the right settings needed to kill someone," Garth'zel says dryly.

"You can, yes."

[imaperson]

Anakin reaches out, lightly running his fingertips down the length of the hilt, his fingers slightly out of line so he can feel it with different parts of his calloused fingers. At first he's focus on the textural details and crafting of the metals that he doesn't pay attention to anything else.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Ideally, you'd only need to ever make one or two, but well, things happen. Like someone cutting through the hilt to render the person with the lightsaber weaponless." Not that he's sure how much the kid is taking in that isn't his lightsaber.