Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

After his weekly sparring session with Ben, Anakin was in his office with his class syllabus, rewriting lessons that used examples Leia shouldn't know about quite yet.

...this was going to take a while.

The door was open.

[OOC: Hello, squirrel! Please to be making the specifics of what Anakin and Jaina talked about NFB. TY! *leaves rum*]

Comments

[solo_sword]

"I actually can't argue with that reasoning," Jaina said after a moment. Bail definitely ruled that decision, and she had to think that's the same call her mother would have made. "It'd probably mean more to hear about Luke from you, but I probably stand a better chance of explaining why she can't find him. Okay. That works."

[sith_happened]

"I'm not doing this to save my own ass," Anakin said a little dryly. "It's only been three years since the Emperor died for me, and I remember very well how I used to think. I'm trying to outsmart another me and keep both of my children safe. My concern is Leia doing something and inadvertently tripping an alarm higher up. I didn't know I had a son until the debriefing after the first Death Star blew, and learning about Leia came much later, and I'd rather like to keep it that way."

[solo_sword]

"She's not dumb, though," she pointed out. "I know this Leia isn't exactly the same as the woman I've known for twenty-one years, but I have to believe the same principles apply here. I've had like three conversations with her and two involved her asking me questions because someone else wouldn't tell her the answer. If she doesn't know enough of what's going on, she'll try to find out. If she knows and knows why, that's another story. Not to mention teasing her with information and giving her nothing is probably going to blow up in someone's face and I for one do not want to see that."

She highly doubted she'd be the one on the receiving end of it, but wow, there'd potentially be carnage.

[sith_happened]

"As you pointed out, I don't know her at all," Anakin said. "And telling her all of why gets into some very thorny issues that she is not yet ready to hear about. If she isn't satisfied with the very real threat the the Empire would kill her without a second thought, which I have already told her--and you know how often we tried--there is nothing else I'm prepared to offer."

[solo_sword]

"I'm not trying to make it nearly that complicated with the why. I mean that it might not hurt to tell her there's a reason why some things can't come out yet, even if you don't get specific," she clarified. "Look, my mom and uncle Luke are still missing huge chunks of their past, and what they do hear has to come from me. All the secrets is what screwed this family up to begin with. I'm just not on board with making that worse."

It really was another thing that went on Jaina's mental list of Things I Will Not Do With My Own Family. She actually found it really sad that that list was as long as it was.

[sith_happened]

"And you don't think her next question will be why?" Anakin replied. "She can handle being annoyed with me. She can't handle being dead. I can't handle her being dead. She'll be here a few years. She doesn't need to hear everything in the first two weeks."

[solo_sword]

"I'll tell you I'm pretty annoyed by this, and I'm reminding myself I only have to be here another thirteen weeks." It was becoming a mantra, actually. "You opened the door for this by telling her who you are the first week. If you're not ready to answer the questions that follow, you shouldn't have told her," Jaina said.

[sith_happened]

Anakin rolled his eyes. "And you won't be looking back, good riddance to all of us, yes, I've gotten that message loud and clear." It was easier to be angry than to be hurt. "What do you want me to tell her? 'Oh, you'll meet your brother when he rescues you from a detention block on a giant planet-destroying weapon after it blows up Alderaan?' 'Your mother was a Senator who was friends with Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, so don't be shocked that the Empire will know where to look for Rebel leaders?' 'Welcome to your life of constant warfare?'"

[solo_sword]

"I'm not asking that you tell her every little detail, just that you stop stonewalling on stuff that makes no sense to keep from her. Let's lessen the largely unnecessary drama and complications, not add to it," Jaina said with an eyeroll of her own.

"And for the record, I've tried explaining my reasoning for wanting to leave more than once, and you're apparently set on receiving whatever message lets you sulk more," she said. "Who's 'good riddance to all of us' supposed to include, anyway? Usually you only include yourself in that."

[sith_happened]

Anakin took a throttle hold on his temper. "This entire island, and yes, I'm going to take that personally. It's my home. And you're not giving me specifics. I'll tell her about Luke, if you aren't going to, when I receive an assurance that she isn't going to rush off to find him at home. Everything else, as far as I see it, isn't something she needs to know yet."

[solo_sword]

"It's your home, not mine. My home is currently being rebuilt after a very long war where the second half was more than a little dedicated to killing me specifically. I kind of want to go back to it, and to my newly-reunited family there, yes. If I'm actually excited about going back to it and seeing what happens next for once, I'm not going to feel bad about it," she shrugged. And considering some of the things she'd been thinking about lately, she was looking even more forward to whatever happened after graduation than she was letting on. "As for tiny Mom, I told you where I stand."

[sith_happened]

"You told me to stop stonewalling on 'stuff', which is hardly illuminating," Anakin replied. "What else do you think she cannot live without knowing immediately?"

[solo_sword]

"Stuff she asks, I don't know. I'm not quite prescient enough to be able to tell you what her next question will be. Just don't automatically shut her down whenever she gets curious, and maybe stop assuming you're right when all you're doing so far is frustrating people." And Jaina was definitely winding down here, dreading week thirteen's visit.

[sith_happened]

"Take that second part under advisement for yourself, too," Anakin replied. "Goodbye, Jaina."

[solo_sword]

If there were reasons Jaina wanted away from him, this was definitely among them. "Do better with her than you did with me," she advised, standing to go. That was the same thing as goodbye, right?