Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

Anakin had Juliet with him today to help out in Deadpool's class, so watching Hunger Games footage was out and the little girl with the monkey and goddamn Swiper was in.

"No swiping!" Juliet proclaimed happily, banging on a makeshift drum made from one of Anakin's pens and his trashcan.

Please, please distract him.

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[solo_sword]

It was early where Jaina was, and knowing she had at least an hour before setting out today, she took the opportunity to make a call. Guess who she was calling. Just guess.

[sith_happened]

"Skywalker," Anakin answered immediately.

"PHONE!" Juliet yelled behind him.

[solo_sword]

She had been all set with a normal greeting, but upon hearing Juliet she said, "Someone has a visitor."

[sith_happened]

"Deadpool is doing a childcare class, Force help the students, and needed Juliet to demonstrate how to change a diaper," Anakin explained.

[solo_sword]

Jaina was silent a moment. "Deadpool? The guy in the red pajamas? The one I'm pretty sure needs a psych evaluation?" Though it did make him extremely entertaining to talk to.

[sith_happened]

"That's the one," Anakin agreed. "He keeps insisting--wrongly--that he's the better parent of the two of us."

Though Deadpool had not cut off any of Jan's limbs, so he might have Anakin there.

[solo_sword]

He also probably hadn't used any interrogation droids on her, either, so. "Please tell me today's class didn't become a competition."

[sith_happened]

Bet he'd want a cut of the encasing people in carbonite market in a few years...

"I restrained myself," Anakin said, "even though he was being very annoying."

[solo_sword]

"Would Juliet back you up on that?" she asked teasingly.

[sith_happened]

"She was being bought off with a puppet show," Anakin griped. "How are you doing?"

[solo_sword]

"I'm okay," she said. "Working. Actually trying to make a point to call people when I have the slightest bit of free time, which is new." The idea of not spending every second focused on a mission was still taking some getting used to, too. But she was trying!

[sith_happened]

"I appreciate hearing from you," he said with a smile. "It's been a long month."

[solo_sword]

"It can't have been that long," she said, though thinking back, it almost had. "What's been going on?"

[sith_happened]

"Two students died--one of them has even stayed deceased--and Katniss was in her Games' Opening Ceremony yesterday," Anakin said.

[solo_sword]

Wow. She had not been expecting that.

First things first. "Who died? How?"

[sith_happened]

"Triela--something that sounded degenerative, possibly related to her cybernetic implants--and Raven is beating herself up over not being able to save her, and Nathan--the one who worked at Caritas on Wednesdays? No idea on how he died, but he's back and apparently not a zombie or a vampire."

Anakin's tone was very "these things happen" about Nathan.

[solo_sword]

"I never mdt Nathan. Getting served by a student was too weird for me," she admitted. That was actually why she had frequented the Devil's Nest that night. "Triela was in my class. At least once she asked to sit out because she wasn't feeling well. I didn't know it was an ongoing problem."

[sith_happened]

"I don't think she wanted it to be public knowledge," Anakin replied.

[solo_sword]

"You weren't kidding about it being a long month," she said, wishing she had more to say on that. Sometimes being so used to death made it hard to converse about it. "What about the Games?"

[sith_happened]

"The competition itself starts on Saturday," Anakin said. "We've gotten to see the Reaping--no surprise that Katniss and Peeta were the ones from District 12--and then some opening ceremonies that would give Palpatine ideas. The entire thing is sickening." He blew out a breath. "Fortunately, I have Ghanima and Alex Cabot watching with me so that all of Katniss's friends will have three adults to lean on."

When the inevitable happened, Anakin didn't add.

[solo_sword]

"Good." And now she felt like she had to say something, because after all that she was sort of frustrated with things in general. What came out was, "I can't believe they would have opening ceremonies for something like that."

[sith_happened]

"It's one of the sickest things I've ever seen," Anakin said flatly.

And given his past, that was saying quite a lot.

"There's a woman who must be at least 80 in the Quell, along with a few who look like spice addicts."

He couldn't bring himself to mention the mother with children.

[solo_sword]

Jaina set her jaw. "That's a cheap way to whittle down the competition. An eighty-year-old? Really? That's as bad as the twelve-year-old!"

[trigons_child]

Raven had had an awful weekend. Well, compared to some weekends, it was relatively calm and peaceful, but still. She hadn't been a vampire for any of those weekends, after all.

At least everything had been back to normal come Monday. And seeing Juliet banging away as she stepped into the doorway of Anakin's office did bring a smile to her face. "Good morning, Professor Skywalker," she said. "Hello, Juliet."

[sith_happened]

"She stepped in for a younger woman," he said softly. "It was an incredible act of bravery."