Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

Anakin was in his office sketching something out on what appeared to be almost an entire ream of paper.

Every now and again his attention would wander and he'd stare out the window and watch the rain fall, lost in thought.

[OOC: Open like an open thing...contents of conversation with Sam C. NFB]

Buttercup's Lament (Princess Bride) - Marc Gunn

Comments

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I think I might have?" Sam frowned and looked at the plans, but only partially understood what she was looking at. "Where do you want to do this?"

That she was offering to help should have been evident when she grabbed a pencil and started making little notes on the plans in a shorthand only she understood.

[sith_happened]

"It projected every star in the galaxy three dimensionally and could be programmed to change colors based on different criteria," Anakin said, then went into even more technical specifics on how the mechanics worked. "I was thinking of using it as decoration in here."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"We might be able to base it on the holographic imaging equipment in the Danger Shop," Sam mused, adapting Anakin's specifics to what she knew of Earth's existing power supply, "and I like that idea. Be both a sense of home and a reminder what else is out there."

Or what used to be out there, not that Sam was going to beat Anakin over the head more than he seemed to be doing already.

[sith_happened]

Anakin was already planning out a coding system that would make sense only to him to commemorate that, yes.

"That could work," Anakin said with a businesslike nod.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

She flashed a grin at him. "You doubted? You have been away too long."

[sith_happened]

"Forgive me," Anakin deadpanned. "You know how it is...the brain just starts to go."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Then it's a good thing you've got new knees now, so you can run away faster."

[sith_happened]

"This is actually the first time I've been this age with all of my limbs intact," Anakin admitted. "It's kind of strange."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"My back and ankles were just starting to twinge when the weather changed," Sam said, "and I can't say that I miss it. And wait, you didn't have your limbs last semester?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin shook his head. "The suit wasn't for show. I'd lost all of my limbs in a lightsaber duel."

And Sam knew how good he'd been.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Holy hannah," Sam stared at him. "How weren't you dead?"

[sith_happened]

"The suit," Anakin said, grimacing. "I couldn't live without it."

For a man who'd been as independent as he'd been, that had been its own version of hell.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam grimaced. No one deserved that kind of non-life. "I'm sorry."

[sith_happened]

Anakin let out a deep breath, then admitted something he'd been holding back for years. "Obi-Wan didn't want to do it to me. I was completely out of control--his or anyone else's."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Then I'm sorry for both of you," Sam said quietly, almost reaching out to put a comforting hand on Anakin's shoulder, but not sure how it would be received. "You've found control again, though?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "Almost twenty years of regret and I finally took my head out of my ass," he said.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

She smiled slightly. "Must have been quite a relief."

[sith_happened]

"Some days are better than others," Anakin said with a small smile. "Now it's just trying to get a handle on everything I've done and not getting eaten alive by the guilt."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I wish I had some useful advice to give you," she sighed, shoving her bangs out of the way, "but some days it's enough of a challenge being a teenager."

[sith_happened]

Anakin leaned forward. "How does it work, looking younger than you feel?" he asked. "Does it break your brain some days?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Most days, actually," Sam mused, "but then there are other days when I completely forget. Dating was...complicated for a while. It's the mental and experience component that's the toughest to align. Luckily, we've got a lot of mature students and we get attacked regularly," she shrugged, "so the combat experience comes in handy."

[sith_happened]

Anakin found a pen to fiddle with. "I don't think I'll be dating, you know, ever again," he said. "It ended in tears and pain and galactic destruction the last time."

Sadly he wasn't exaggerrating.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I didn't have galactic destruction," Sam offered, taking him at his word, "but six of the men who loved me I was involved with as an adult died horrible deaths. Then, when I got here, Jack ran off for parts unknown and Lee went back to Caprica. No one was more surprised by my successfully dating Jack than me, trust me. Life may surprise you."

[sith_happened]

Anakin shrugged, unconvinced. "Maybe," he said. "I think I'll have my hands full getting to know my son. I'll teach him to be a better Jedi than I was."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"That's a worthwhile goal," Sam nodded, "assuming Luke has a high tolerance for overprotectiveness. Er, not that you would do that, of course."