Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

Anakin arrived a little late to work today: traffic coming through town had been a mess, and he'd almost had to start fights with three different little old ladies aggravating shoppers.

He put down his bag of decorations--lights and tinsel (stupid tinsel), bows and greenery--and began decorating his office.

And then taking pictures to send to Rory's phone. He had a promise to keep, after all.

The door was open. Holiday music was definitely not playing.

Comments

[sith_happened]

"I had someone like that," Anakin commented. "He was my partner, my teacher, my best friend. He died a few years ago."

Because Anakin killed him. Details.

[intraspective]

"He's... I don't know. My brother," Ino shrugged a bit. "I can't call him my partner, or my best friend, because he's not either of them, but he's on a level where... anything else would be just a lie. I'm sorry about your loss."

[sith_happened]

"He still shows up," Anakin said, looking a bit puzzled by her explanation. "Death won't stop Obi-Wan from lecturing me when he thinks I need it."

[intraspective]

"Like, a ghost or something?"

Ino had weird ways of classifying people, really.

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled and nodded. "Just like that. Kind of blue tinted."

[intraspective]

"Is that common where you're wrong?" Ino asked. "Ghosts aren't around in my world 'cept in stories."

[sith_happened]

"Not very," Anakin said. "Obi-Wan's the only I know that does it. I think it might be a Jedi thing."

[intraspective]

"With all that mental discipline? You become a ghost?" Ino hung another bow and considered that. "That'd be a bit weird, I think."

[sith_happened]

"I'm not planning on looking into how it works for a couple of decades," Anakin declared, "but I might bug Obi-Wan about it the next time he decides to show up."

Anakin's eyes lit up at the thought. Bugging Obi-Wan was still one of his favorite hobbies.

[intraspective]

"If you get an answer, I wouldn't mind knowing," she said, amused.

[sith_happened]

"If it's even remotely helpful, I'll pass it along," Anakin promised, looking slightly panicked at the tinsel. It was so shiny. "Obi-Wan speaks useless platitudes fluently when he doesn't want to tell something."

[intraspective]

Ino ducked her head to hide a giggle at his expression. "It would be fun to bug someone like that, yes." Just a bit.

[sith_happened]

"He was the best negotiator the Order has ever had, but I was very, very good at getting under his skin," Anakin said. "Of course, that was a long time ago. I wasn't a very good apprentice."

[intraspective]

"It's boring being good," Ino said, adding a bow to the side of his desk. "And if you got under his skin, doesn't that mean he cared 'bout you?"

[sith_happened]

"You can be good without being annoyingly perky about it," Anakin replied. "And I got under his skin so he'd have to prove he cared about me. It was tremendously immature."

[intraspective]

"And you can be bad while being annoyingly perky too." Speaking from experience here, yes. "And people're good at immature, I think."

[sith_happened]

"Those are the ones I enjoyed taking down the most," Anakin admitted. "I think that's why the Council gave me the galaxy's most chipper apprentice. They never really liked me."

[OOC: Pressing "post comment" helps, omg]

[intraspective]

"Did your apprentice turn out good?" Ino asked, grinning a bit at that. "It's fun being chirpy and bad."

[Heeeee, just a bit! ^^ ]

[sith_happened]

"She was good," Anakin admitted grudgingly, "but Force was she irritating."

[intraspective]

She considered that, while hanging a few more bows. "Do you find teaching people here irritating?"

Which, she figured, was better than asking 'do you find me irritating?' out loud.

[sith_happened]

"Different kind of irritating," Anakin said, avoiding the tinsel some more. "The way I taught her, we were together all day, every day. Even the most patient teacher would get annoyed. And I was far from the most patient."

[intraspective]

Ino eyed him. And his tinsel avoidance.

Before stealthily snagging it for her to put up for him. "I don't think that'd be much fun for a student either," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Ugh."

[sith_happened]

"I was apprenticed like that--except for the year-long break I took here--for more than ten years. And most Jedi were apprenticed for much longer."

[intraspective]

"Sorry," she said, with a bit of a shrug as she started putting up the tinsel. "I still, ow, that makes me feel bad for all of you. I don't think I could spend that much time with anyone and get along with them."

[solo_sword]

After class, Jaina made her way to Anakin's office as promised.

And upon looking inside, she greeted him with, "Seriously?"