Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

After lightsaber practice with Ben, where Anakin had thumped his grandson around the gym because the boy wouldn't stop smirking about the weekend's sparring session with Luke, Anakin hobbled stalked slowly (stupid knee injury) back to his office.

He'd listened to his messages, so he was a little anxious to see if Raven came in today.

The door was open. The Jedi was grumpy. Just an average Tuesday.

Comments

[solo_sword]

"Oh, I believe that. You just do anyway. And it's not that I'm not listening, it's just blindingly obvious we're never going to agree. I dealt with it on my own without you, and I'm not going to apologize for dealing with my problems my way," she told him. "No, seriously, answer my question. Would you have me not show up?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin reached up to rub the space between his eyes. He was naming this headache Jaina.

"You're my granddaughter and I love you," he said, sounding completely exhausted. "But you don't talk to me, don't value any of my experiences, and have mentioned numerous times in this conversation what a chore it is to see me. My door is always open to you, but I don't think you want it to be."

[solo_sword]

"I've been showing up here despite all the things I've just said. Despite the fact that in me telling you how I feel about all this, I can't even get a 'I'm sorry you feel that way,' just you explaining why you don't feel you're wrong," Jaina said. "I don't even ask for you to be the one to reach out to me ever because you never have and that's fine. You're family and I've been trying. I can just do without being put down and not listened to all the time or no, I'm not going to want to talk to you."

[sith_happened]

Anakin banged his head into his desk. Twice. "I'm sorry you don't think that I'm listening," he said, looking up. "I'm sorry that my reiteration that I'm trying doesn't make you think that it's true. I'm sorry that I can help other students and can't seem to reach you."

And if that wasn't enough apology, fine. Anakin had his pride, too, and he'd swallowed an awful lot of it today.

[solo_sword]

And once they'd moved onto literal headdesking, there was nothing more to say here. She'd tried explaining and they didn't understand each other and she could really only care so much after pouring her heart out. "I'm done for today," she said, standing.

[sith_happened]

"I figured," Anakin said. "Goodbye, Jaina."

He really hoped it wasn't permanent, but had absolutely no idea where to go from here.