sith_happened | Office hours [all day]

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Office hours [all day]

Anakin opened his office door.

And stared.

Someone had redecorated.

Anakin stomped around the office examining streamers on the ceiling and paint on the wall, then the glitter-bestrewned Farrah Fawcett poster, and finally flounced over to sit in his chair.

With its pink boa.

He waved a hand and started up his little galaxy of stars, then picked up a pen that had been decorated with feathers--all of his pens had been decorated with feathers, what the hell?--and hoped no one visited today.

Though that didn't seem very likely.

[OOC: Door's closed, post is open!]

I Am What I Am - John Barrowman

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Anakin held his gaze for another long heartbeat, then nodded, satisfied in what he saw in Dean. "When Obi-Wan taught me," he began, "he told me to imagine building a wall around all of those parts of you you didn't want anyone else to touch."

Obi-Wan had been amazed at how quick a study Anakin had been on it. Anakin had just had a lot of things he didn't want to share.

"My job is to try to knock that wall down. Yours is to keep blocking. Ready to try?"

Dean took a deep breath, closing his eyes to better visualise the image of a wall that Anakin described. When he felt he was ready as he was ever going to be, he nodded.

Anakin took a deep breath of his own. As Vader, he'd had absolutely no problem rooting around in other people's minds.

This was the first time he'd done something similar in a month.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on Dean's mind, giving a gentle push at a part that Dean seemed anxious to hide.

Even though he thought he was prepared for it, the feel of someone else in his mind basically threw Dean into a panic. The wall he'd envisioned dissolved at Anakin's first touch and Dean found himself pressed into the back of the chair he was sitting in, halfway hyperventilating.

Anakin stopped immediately, eyes flying open.

"They really did a number on you," he commented quietly. "Deep breaths. You're fine."

A little voice he tried not to listen to added Manticore to a list of smiteable places and people.

Dean concentrated on breathing for a long moment and slowly managed to get the urge to run and hide back under control.

"Sorry," he managed finally.

Anakin scooted his desk chair around to the side where Dean was sitting. "You have nothing to apologize for," he said firmly. "Truly. Do you need a glass of water? Something to hold onto?"

Dean laughed weakly. "Like a security blanket or a teddy bear?" he joked.

"I'm fresh out of both," Anakin said with a faint smile, "but I have a charming pink boa..." He shrugged. "Gripping the chair helps, too. It reminds you where you are." He met Dean's eyes. "And where you're not. I won't do anything to hurt you."

"I know," Dean said immediately. "I wouldn't have asked for your help if I wasn't absolutely sure of that." He considered Anakin's advice. He'd been gripping the chair he'd been tied in when the Manticore psychic had taken a stroll through his mind so he suspected that wouldn't help much at all. But...

Dean reached up and closed a hand around his amulet, feeling its edges pressing into his palm. Yeah. That'll do.

Anakin watched him. "Are you ready to try again?" he asked quietly.

"No," Dean answered honestly. "But I don't know if I ever will be so let's give it a try."

"All right," Anakin said, blowing out a breath and reaching back towards Dean's memories, carefully reading the Force for any signs of the panic Dean has shown the last time.

Dean clutched at his amulet harder and the wall he was trying to envision was more like wavery smoke than a wall, but he managed not to freak out this time.

"Better," Anakin said soothingly. "I'm here," he said, nudging at a memory. "Build that wall up."

Dean frowned in concentration and focused on making the wall more solid. Steel, he thought. Tantanium. Stuff that you couldn't even burn through.

"Good," Anakin praised. "I'm going to push a little harder now," he said.

He hadn't really been putting much effort behind it to start. He'd wanted Dean to feel as comfortable as it was possible to, given the situation.

The wall held for a few seconds this time before it started to bend inward under Anakin's attack, seeming to stretch like plastic wrap before ripping altogether. Dean felt another surge of fear at that, but tightened his grip on his amulet in response and managed to keep from outright panicking this time.

Anakin backed up again. "Good," he said, smiling softly. "It'll come easier, and in a few months you won't even think about it."

Dean took a deep breath and let it out. "That's what I want," he said. "Do we keep going?"

"Sure," Anakin said. "Tell me when this gets to be too tiring. You're not really moving, but you're expending a lot of energy."

"I don't have anything else to do today so I can always go back to my room and crash after this if I need to," Dean said. He closed his eyes and carefully rebuilt the wall in his mind's eye. The way it had felt like it was stretching had given him an idea and this time he envisioned something more like rubber. Something that would move with an attack and, hopefully rebound back.

At least that was the theory. Though he wondered if maybe he was putting too much thought into this now.

"I'm going to put a little more push behind this," Anakin warned, then gave Dean's mind a not-so-gentle nudge.

Dean gritted his teeth as Anakin's attack bent the wall inward much easier this time, but he held firm to the image of elastic, rubber. So while Anakin kept pushing the wall inward, it didn't actually break this time.

"Very good," Anakin said, smiling. "I'm going to try a little faster, okay? Tell me when this gets too hard to keep up with."

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