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

Entry tags:

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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah. Amiee's owners sent their kids when they um. Four or five for lessons." He didn't know really how old those kids were, just that the oldest was roughly twice Amiee's age, the middle two roughly her age, and they have just had a baby when he'd left. Amiee's job was to keep the nursery and children's rooms clean and she like it when the kids were in lessons - it made her job easier.

"I'll try." He thinks he won't be annoyed but really how can he be sure?

"Mmm. Some of whatever they were learning was probably preparatory for proper school, but some was likely just keeping them occupied so their parents could work or have some time to theirselves." He didn't know them, he couldn't say for certain.

Time for another turn to get onto the proper street and to keep an eye out for the correct building.

Anakin shrugged. "They bought people to take care of them, from what I heard." And saw, but he'd keep that to himself. He knew how many slaves that household had. But he also didn't understand 'busywork' in that sense. He understood it in Watto's, largely.

He stepped quickly to keep up, but as he didn't know what he was looking for, he was no help.

Garth'zel twitches slightly. "So maybe not in terms of letting the parents go to work in peace."

Right, that's enough of that. He spots the shopfront he was looking for and starts heading in. "If you see anything you think you might need that I either haven't thought of or simply hadn't gotten to yet, let me know."

Not. That he has much confidence that Anakin would know what those things might be, but may as well give him a chance to feel involved.

Anakin doesn't have the faintest idea of what he might need but he does gravitate towards the technical looking things. Items meant for trade schools and even if he doesn't read he recognizes some of the manuals on repairs his mother had and by process looking through them in the order they were stacked finds the ones which are more advanced. As well as on racers and such. Its only four volumes. And he's carrying them carefully over to Garth'zel.

"What about these?"

"Um." Give him a moment to finish with what he's doing. His own picks for Anakin piled in a convention spot later, he snags the top of Anakin's choices so he could see what had been brought to him. "Well, they'll be useful once you can actually read them."

He was hoping for something with less advanced vocabulary. Oh, well.

He shrugs slightly. "Add them to what I've got for you so far."

"There are diagrams too, I double-checked." Because the ones before these did, which he'd used and his mom had taught him from. And he'd checked these because he often used the diagrams and technical drawings. And Anakin knew most of the definitions of the words - even if he couldn't read them.

He obediently adds them and takes a step back to look at the stack prepared. Not that he can read the titles but he can appreciate the stack. As well as try to sus out any other supplies.

It takes Garth'zel about twenty minutes or so to find what he figures is enough to start with. It's not like he can't get more sometime later if he's missed something. Or alternatively, if it's just time to move on to more advanced things.

"Find anything else you think you need?"

Anakin isn't even sure what he'll need so he's little help there, other than the merchant making sure the instruments and styluses weren't too large for his hands. Thus satisfied, Anakin was too.

"No. I don't think so anyway."

Edited 2022-06-12 08:05 (UTC)

"All right. If there's anything we missed, we can always get the missing items another time," Garth'zel says with a nod. Everything gets piled up so they could be accounted for. Along with paid for.

This bag, Garth'zel carries, leading the way out. "Time to leave everything in the ship, maybe take some time to let lunch settle, and then we can head out to see how the city's changed since the last time I was here."

Edited 2022-06-14 08:48 (UTC)

Anakin nods, as if he really had a say, about the educational plan.

"You need to let your lunch settle?" Has Garth'zel not yet realized Anakin had almost a pathological need to move and he's on a new planet and he's supposed to hang out aboard the SHIP for while?

He might be considering just grabbing and dragging.

"Not particularly, but you may end up needing to go into a bit of a food coma if you ate enough for your body to decide it's sleep time now," he says drily as he heads in the direction of the spaceport. Because yes, that's an actual thing.

It may an actual thing but it's a thing Anakin is yet to experience and he's...quite eager to explore. Not that he's not pushed pasted exhaustion to work, he's done that many times and even, occasionally for his own goals and pleasure. He's sure he can manage it now.

"I'll be ok. I want to see the city."

"Uh-huh. If you end up needing to be carried because you've fallen asleep, there will be an incoming 'I told you so'." So Anakin can't say he hadn't been warned.

Does he see the offended look Anakin shoots him? It wouldn't matter if he was so tired he couldn't see, couldn't feel his feet, there was not a chance he'd end up needing to be carried. He'd simply refuse.

"Where do you want to go looking first?"

"Mmm, don't actually know yet. From what I saw while flying in, things have actually changed quite a bit. I may see if the route to a particular cantina still works." Never mind that even if the building said cantina was in still exists, it's likely to have a completely different name and possibly even different decor, for all he knows.

Anakin was quiet for several moments, clearly mulling over what he's said, what's implied, and what Anakin knows.

"Did Tattooine change a great deal?" How was he to know? No one who lived long enough to really know would have been someone Anakin would have access to.

Garth'zel snorts. "It's still a sand-covered hellscape. Some new towns, but for the most part it seems pretty much the same. Some larger towns from my time being more like small cities now, I suppose."

On some level, it's really comforting to hear that. If it had once been better or something, eh he didn't know. He disliked Tattooine and it was nice having someone else disliking it too.

"What about your ship?"

If Tatooine was ever worth living on, it'll be news to him.

Garth'zel blinks at him. "What about it?"

"Your ship. How different is it? The hyperdrive, the handling, the landing gear, everything. Has that changed a lot?" While he could tell the difference in parts sometimes and generally with intact things like engines or entire ships, and droids tended to be pretty easy, the differences were more aesthetic than most people realized, with older pieces that survived having been better made in general. Which he guessed what just cheap things breaking and being torn apart.

"Ah. Most things are the same, actually. Ships are faster than back then. Granted, only hours or a couple of days have been cut off of trips I'm used to taking a certain amount of time, but that adds up." He skips a beat. "Of course, less time in hyperspace going to one location simply means being back in hyperspace to go somewhere else sooner."

Anakin thought about it, quiet for a bit as he took that in and applied it to what he'd heard the deep space pilots talk about, and their travels. Applied hours or days and how that would hit profits, prices, and what made things available to places like Tatooine.

"I wonder how fast we can make hyperdrive go? Like, if there's a limit. Hyperspace lanes are a factor, of course, and there's plenty of places without them, and that limits things." Garth'zel might want to make damn sure Anakin couldn't get into the engineering bay for a while.

Garth'zel gives him a weary look. "We are not finding out. Because that risks damaging the hyperdrive and I'd rather not get stuck in hyperspace for eternity. Among other options."

He'd rather not find out what happens if they push it too much, thanks.

"I wouldn't put us in it! A pilot droid or an astromech. It's not hard to find one - or even ships - in slag heaps, you just have to put them together." The likelihood of Anakin letting go of that idea anytime soon was almost zero, but it wasn't something Anakin thought would be an easy project - it took him years to build a pod racer and those were simple.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject