Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

After his oh-so-handwavy spar with Ben, Anakin was cleaning his office in preparation for Parents Weekend.

Where he would get to meet his son. Who was at least ten years old than he was.

Anakin didn't spend time thinking about that because he like his head unexploded.

The door was open.

Comments

[trigons_child]

Raven, sadly, did not have any outward sign of what Aeryn's class had been today, since it had merely been discussion. She did, however, have a chaotic week's worth of issues to share. Yay?

"Good morning, Professor Skywalker," she greeted him when she arrived at his office.

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled as he looked away from the framed holos he was dusting. "Good morning, Raven. Good class?"

[trigons_child]

"We discussed Parents Weekend," Raven said as she took a seat. "Many of the other students in class were anxious about it. We tried to come up with how to explain Fandom's peculiarities to family members who would not understand."

[sith_happened]

"My wife's coming to visit," Anakin said, beaming, "but she already knows all about Fandom. Explaining certain things to my teacher took some...finesse...when I was a student."

[trigons_child]

"Perhaps I will be able to meet her," Raven said. "I have no one coming to visit me."

Ha.

[sith_happened]

"I think she'd really like that," Anakin said. "She appreciated the phone call you made so much."

[trigons_child]

"I knew she would be worried and was not certain if anyone had thought to tell her what was happening," Raven said. "If I were in her place, I know I would have wanted to know you were all right."

[sith_happened]

"There was a plague a while back when communication went out entirely between the island and everywhere else," Anakin said. "I think that drove her a little crazy, not knowing what was happening."

[trigons_child]

"I can imagine," Raven said. "How awful for her. She must have been so relieved when you were finally able to contact her."

[sith_happened]

"There was some yelling, but generally yes," Anakin said, smiling.

[trigons_child]

"Was there no one who could magically transport themselves from the island, as I can?" Raven asked. "And bring word that way?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin shook his head. "No way in or out. The island quarantined itself."

[trigons_child]

"Like the other Fandom," Raven murmured. "No one could leave there, either."

[sith_happened]

"The island has ways to protect itself, and others from it," Anakin said, nodding. "It didn't do our people any good, but it protected the world from an influx of vampires."

[trigons_child]

"That is wise," Raven said. "Though I hope such a thing never happens here. I wish to never see a vampire again." Except she was taking a class with one. Oops.

[sith_happened]

"There are different types," Anakin said, "but I do know what you mean."

[trigons_child]

"I think" -- well, thinking wasn't exactly correct, it was more knowing -- "that I am still having difficulties in moving on from what happened in the other Fandom," Raven confessed. "This past week proved somewhat troubling."

[sith_happened]

"Tell me about it?" Anakin asked quietly.

[trigons_child]

She took a breath and tried to figure out how to begin. "Last week I accidentally interrupted an intimate moment between Professor Maximus and Lady Aphrodite. It unsettled me enough that when I later met with Professor Maximus, I lost my temper with him." She paused a moment, then added, "And I turned into a boy, and found that glitter does cause girls to kiss like it does boys, though for awhile I had feared I done it with my powers unknowingly."

[sith_happened]

"What happened when you lost your temper?" Anakin asked, setting aside the glitter problem for the moment.

[trigons_child]

"I was able to repeat to myself your words on fear and anger," Raven said, "and I calmed myself. But I think I was in part successful because Professor Maximus did not engage me. He only said my name and refused to react."

[sith_happened]

Anakin made a mental note to go speak with Max. "Okay," he said, blowing out a breath. "And was it because it was him specifically that you caught in a compromising position, or would the experience in general rocked your equilibrium?"

[trigons_child]

"I am certain it is him specifically," Raven said. "I think...perhaps I have been waiting for an excuse to attack him."

[sith_happened]

"Because you have anger you don't want to acknowledge about what happened in the other Fandom?" Anakin guessed.

[trigons_child]

"I thought I had acknowledged it," Raven said. "But I have been denying that I felt a need for vengeance. I know in my head that Professor Maximus and the vampire are not the same man, but I think I am afraid that they could easily be."

She bit at her lip and hesitated, not wanting to confess what the encounter with Max had forced her to face. But she did not want to hide anything for Anakin, either. "I also think that I may have wanted to goad Professor Maximus into attacking me, not just as an excuse for taking revenge, but because I wished for him to use his abilities on me. Ever since what happened, I have found myself sometimes craving intense sensation. I am usually able to ignore it, but...perhaps not always."

[sith_happened]

Anakin rubbed his hand along his chin, thinking rapidly. "A Jedi uses his power for knowledge and defense," he said finally, "so I'm a bit of an expert in making the other person make the first move so I can get what I wanted. It's a dangerous habit to fall into. How do you propose we fix it?"

[trigons_child]

"I am not certain," Raven admitted. "I am hoping it will be an isolated incident, but I thought that you should know...just in case. I do not want to fall into that trap again."

[sith_happened]

"Repressing an emotion tends to lead to an explosion later on," said the poster man for Do as I Say, Not As I Do. "It's much healthier to acknowledge the feeling and then move on rather than decide it's bad and ignore it until later."

Somewhere a ghost Obi-Wan just hurt himself rolling his eyes that hard.

[solo_sword]

Jaina- clearly- didn't want to be here, but she was like a good girl. "I'm only here for a minute," she said.

[sith_happened]

"So asking you to take a seat would be pointless," Anakin replied evenly, moving a holo of Luke back onto his desk. "What's on your mind?"

[solo_sword]

"Jacen's coming here this weekend," she said simply.

[sith_happened]

And that would be the holo tipping over. Whoops. "Does Ben know?"

[solo_sword]

"He knows. And Jacen would staying away if that's what Ben wants," Jaina said. "I want to make sure you're not going to traumatize Jacen."

[sith_happened]

Anakin glanced at the door he had tossed the last Jacen through. "I don't plan on it," he said a little waspishly. "I taught Qui-Gon for almost a year without mentioning his horrible death to him."

[solo_sword]

"I mean it," she said. "No threatening to drag him back from the dark side by his hair or anything like that. He knows the very basics, he hasn't done anything, I just want you to treat him like you don't already hate him." Jaina was maybe hugely protective on this subject, yes.

[sith_happened]

"This is why nothing good ever comes of knowing the future," Anakin said flatly. "He's my daughter's son, and I'll treat him as such."

[solo_sword]

Jaina actually exercised restraint in not biting out that in that case he could pretend he was glad Jacen was alive. It'd certainly make things easier on her. "He's a good guy. He deserves better than that," she said instead, already turning towards the door. "But it's a start."

[sith_happened]

Anakin knew that saying he would try would probably get Yoda's phrase tossed back at him, so he refrained.

"We'll see," he said instead.