spncentral | 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.

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Garth'zel takes the bowl and puts it away to be kept cold for until Anakin was ready to finish it, at which point, he'll heat it back up.

"I can teach you how to play dejarik if you don't already know." It'll serve to both get Anakin to learn something fun to do (that can be used to covertly teach him strategy later) and something stationary to give his stomach time to recover from what he just tried to do to it.

Anakin watches as Garth'zel takes away his bowl, despite him having said it was ok, despite his stomach hurting in a way it never had before, he isn't actually sure he wants to leave food behind.

But he's being asked a question, so he looks back to Garth'zel instead of the cold storage unit, and shakes his head no. "I don't know how. I've seen it, a couple times but not enough to learn it."

"I can teach you, then. Assuming you don't need a break to use the 'fresher." Then more quietly. "Trust me, finding out the hard way what happens when you try to eat too much at once isn't fun. I'm pretty sure I tried to give you more than your stomach can handle. Once you're used to being given a decent amount of food on a regular basis, having two servings of whatever I've made won't bother you."

"No, I'm ok." Food was staying down. He might have to swallow hard, but he's going to keep it down. "We never had that much food at once, no." What he alone had had, not what Garth'zel had cooked.

"Does it take long to get used to it?" Not that he knew anyone who would know.

"It'll probably take you a few weeks, at least," Garth'zel admits. "If you feel you're getting too full, don't try to force it, just leave the rest for later. Your stomach will thank you."

Anakin huffs, annoyed. He barely noticed his stomach, he doesn't like the idea of having to pay attention to it. "Can we play now?" He'd rather change the topic and do something else. He'd even be happy to clean, when normally, cleaning was lower on his list of chores he enjoys.

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

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

Edited Date: 2019-02-04 08:52 am (UTC)

"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.

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

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

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

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..."

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.

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.

"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..."

"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."

"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.

Edited Date: 2019-02-07 07:16 am (UTC)

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.

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.

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?"

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.

"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.

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

"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."