Office hours [all day (and night, but he doesn't know that...)]

[sith_happened]

The annoying thing about Fandom, Anakin reflected sourly as he made his way past the new bog (Really? a bog?) and into his office, was that things could change drastically in just five days.

He checked his robe carefully for any spatters---Force forbid that smell linger in here--and sat down behind his desk, trying unsuccessfully to text Rory about what he'd found on his way into the office.

Fifteen attempts later and he finally figured it out. "Fantastic," he grumbled. "Must be that time of year."

The door was open.

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[trigons_child]

Raven hadn't been sure if Anakin would be able to get to the school that morning, but she checked on her way to the library after the reserves meeting just in case. She was relieved to see he was there, but displeased as well, because as these things went he probably wouldn't be able to leave, and that would cause distress to his family.

She still had her hood up when she stepped into the doorway, but her greeting of "Professor Skywalker" wasn't nearly as cheerful as it usually was.

[sith_happened]

"Hello, Raven," Anakin said, glancing up. "I was just catching up on the radio to figure out what's going on. Perhaps you're an easier person to ask."

[trigons_child]

"Several students have been taken," Raven said, fighting to keep her voice calm. "Including Karla. And whatever has taken them has been transforming the island. Walls have appeared, but I cannot fly over them, nor teleport inside."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "There are dead spaces in my Force-sense, like traveling too closely to a black hole. How many students is 'several'?"

[trigons_child]

"Ten that I know of," Raven said. "Karla, Bobby, Emma and Ender." She had to pause to remember the list of names Tara had written down. "Elle, Blackagar, Puck, Squall, Cara, and Helen. I saw some of them last night, in some sort of dream, and they seemed physically well, but they are controlled."

[sith_happened]

"Premonition, or a dream that was just because you're worried?" Anakin asked.

[trigons_child]

"A dream that was mystically induced," Raven said. The anger simmering inside her started to churn again, and she ducked her head to hide her eyes. "I think many of us may have been poisoned." Peach wine, peach cobbler -- too much of a coincidence.

"It felt like I belonged there," she explained. "I had no cares, and no thoughts of my life here. But something happened to restore my memories, though whatever it was, it did not affect Karla. Perhaps she had been there too long."

[sith_happened]

"I sense your anger," Anakin commented quietly. "Perhaps the draw of belonging was stronger for Karla than it is for you?"

He was still trying to wrap his mind around anything the students who were taken might have in common.

[trigons_child]

Raven tried to choke down her anger, twisting one of her rings, her last connection to Azar. "Perhaps," she said. "But Karla's home is important to her, as are her friends. She would not turn her back on them if she had any choice. She seemed happy there, though, and fought me when I regained my senses and tried to take her away from there."

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

Cassidy had only left the library to get some materials from her room, but when she saw that Professor Skywalker had made it in to his office, she couldn't help the feeling of hope that it gave her.

She knocked lightly on the door.

Look, even if he wasn't in the mood for visitors, his presence gave Cassidy the belief that they would get through this.

[sith_happened]

"It's open," Anakin called back.

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

Cassidy poked her head into his office. "Hello, sir. I wasn't sure..." She swallowed. "I wasn't sure if you would make it in today."

[sith_happened]

"We'll see if I'll be making it home," Anakin said a little dryly, "but I'm here now."

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

She inched further in. "They took Elle," she said quietly. "We tried to fight but they hurt us... her..." She shook her head. "Small biting things with no manners and lots of teeth and claws." And rocks to the head. "This thing... it's destroyed places before. I found one of the stories in the library."

No, she didn't go as far as to ask him to fix it all, but she was close.

[sith_happened]

"Not gremlins?" Anakin asked, being familiar with rude things with teeth and claws. "Can you sketch one?"

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

"I don't believe so. They look nothing like the pictures I have seen of them here." At his question, she nodded.

She pulled out a notepad and a pencil and sketched in silence for a few minutes. When she was satisfied that it had enough detail to show one of what she was attacked by, she handed the notebook to him.

[sith_happened]

Anakin frowned. Though it wasn't a species he recognized, there was something vaguely Yoda-esque about the mischief in its eyes.

"Nice hat," he commented instead. "How many of them attacked you? How tall are they? Why was Elle taken and not you?"

[solo_sword]

After making sure no one was going to her class today, Jaina poked her head into her grandfather's office. "I know I said I'd visit this week, but there's a thing happening."

She totally made a special trip, bog and all, for this. She figured it was a good show after last week.

[sith_happened]

"I'd noticed," Anakin said with a small smile. "Want to help me build a bridge? The one across the bog is terrible."

[solo_sword]

"That's what Force leaps are for," Jaina said, and added in a clipped tone, "If those still work." Not that she was frustrated or anything.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's lips quirked up again. "Feeling a little out of sorts, Jedi Solo?" he asked, not unsympathetically.

[solo_sword]

"This is worse than ysalamiri," she complained, sticking her hands on her hips. "At least with that, it's not trial and error on what you can and can't do. With a ysalamiri, it's 'Oh look, a Force bubble, guess I'm not doing anything fancy for a while.' With this it's more 'Oh, look, some powers work but not all of them.'"

And then she added, totally unnecessarily, "It's making me mad."

[sith_happened]

"Hadn't noticed," Anakin teased. "Sit down. What have you figured out about this mess so far? I'm playing catch-up."

[solo_sword]

"Not enough," she said, taking a seat despite the crankiness. "Kids have been getting snatched the past couple days. Parts of the island itself are changing, there are creatures hanging around along with a smell I'm sure I'm never getting off of me, and my powers are iffy. I wanted to get out a bit, see if I can find out more by exploring."

[sith_happened]

"It smells like summer on Nal Hutta," Anakin said, wrinkling his nose up. "Raven was by and gave me a list of names, but she wasn't sure it was comprehensive. Frustration seems to be running high."