sith_happened | Office hours [all day]

Office hours [all day]

Despite it being a break week between session, Anakin was in his office, reviewing Katniss's Hunger Games footage and putting the final touches on the technology that would help him hack into her world's communication feeds.

Cheerful, right?

The door was open for anyone else who might be needing advice today as well.

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The sounds emanating from the office were a little too familiar for Katniss. She stopped in the hallway outside Anakin's offce, frozen in place, as she listened.

This reaction, she knew, wouldn't do, particularly when she was heading back into the arena in a matter of weeks. Letting herself get overruled by memories of now-dead tributes wouldn't do, so she peeked in carefully. "Movie day?" she asked lightly, trying for levity.

"I just to make sure I'm not missing anything," Anakin replied. "Come in!"

"What do you think?" she asked, nodding at the screen as she wandered in, wrapping her arms around herself.

Anakin thought it was easily one of the more barbaric and inhuman things he'd ever witnessed.

"I think you did extremely well under ridiculous circumstances," he said.

He paused for a moment and added, "And I'm sorry about your friend."

She shrugged, trying not to let it show how Rue had affected her. "I'm surprised they included her. They don't like what I did with her, with the flowers. You don't bury your dead in the arena."

"Whyever not?" Anakin asked.

"The hovercraft gets there first," Katniss explained. "They send your body home to your district after that. And most people don't care if the other tributes die. It's kind of the point. Rue was just...special."

Anakin frowned. "And here I thought it was the Capital trying to make it so the deaths didn't seem to be a lasting consequence. I hate your government, Katniss."

"You and me both," she said with a humorless little smile. "She was twelve, Professor Skywalker. Twelve. Rue's the reason Peeta has to make it home, to stop it. Seventy-four years' of Rues."

He nodded. "The Jedi believe that the mission is more important than our individual lives, but it's a difficult mindset to explain to others."

"Do you think Peeta can do it, from what you've seen?" she asked curiously. "He came up with all of our strategies. He's the charming one."

"I've seen revolutions work with a lot less," he said finally, nodding. He didn't add that he thought she would do a good job at it too. There was no need to add to the pressure she'd already placed on herself.

Katniss nodded carefully, biting the inside of her cheek. "Any tips on my combat? I'm training with someone new before I go -- Jaina, actually -- and anything I can give her to work with will be helpful."

Anakin looked briefly regretful. "I should have thought to send you to her much sooner," he said. "I think the major lesson is to not overthink things. View all of this new training as new arrows in your quiver--don't try to become a different sort of tribute to compensate for who you guess you might be facing. Let the Gamekeepers worry about compelling television. You concentrate on keeping Peeta and yourself alive for as long as you can."

He paused, then added, "and keep your center protected. Injuries to the extremities can be dealt with later. A gut wound will fester."

Katniss nodded, glancing at the screen. "Peeta lost that leg," she said softly. "But he's alive. That's what matters. My head and torso are what I need to protect. And playing to my strength is what I need to do, because the Gamemakers will. They put a bow and arrows in there for me before. They'll do it again, because that's what people need to see from me."

"Have Jaina work with you on learning to fight with limited senses," he said. "She lost her vision for a time. Without your hearing, you were vulnerable for a while in the last Game. They'll remember that."

Katniss frowned a little, hearing that. "I can't work without my sight, at all," she admitted quietly. "Hearing is one thing. I have to be able to see, though. I'll ask her how she managed."

"Some of it was probably through the Force," Anakin admitted, "but not all of it. Jaina is very adamant about not using the Force as an easy out."

"Is the Force like magic? One of my friends," and that was weird, having friends, still, "put magic on my blankets and in some tea so I could sleep, and we were sort of wondering whether there'd be a way to take her magic in with me. She doesn't think it's possible," Katniss admitted ruefully. "But it'd be handy."

"It's not magic," Anakin said, "it's the energy of the universe that surrounds and binds us together. A Jedi can tap into that energy and manipulate it."

So...kind of like magic.

"It sounds like magic," she said with a small smile. "Like Karla's Craft. Everyone has different names for it, but I think it might all be the same thing."

Anakin nodded. "That makes a certain amount of sense to me, though the mechanics seem to work differently from universe to universe. Jedi don't need Jewels, for instance."

"That part I don't quite understand," Katniss admitted. "But she's helped, with her Craft, and she'll be watching the Games. I might ask one or two more people, but as of right now, I have a fairly complete list."

"Good," Anakin said. "I've jacked into your world's communication system, but I'm trying not to test it too much in case they notice my intrusion."

"Does the feed work well?" she asked quietly. "Haymitch understands that some of the people watching here might want to contribute sponsorships, so he'll be standing by for the wired financial contributions. You'll all just need to make sure it's anonymous."

Anakin made a mental note to check the family finances and see how much he and Rory might be able to spare. "We can do that," he assured her. "You're not going into this thing completely unprepared."

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Office hours [all day]

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