Office hours- Friday

[solo_sword]

After getting to freak out all weekend over looking like Jacen, Jaina really, really didn't like all the dead people wandering around. She'd done this before, when Anakin had come back from the dead, but that had been good. She'd been able to talk to him and let her family say goodbye and it'd helped.

She had no such hopes for Jacen, if he was out there.

And she didn't think he was, exactly. The automatic assumption was that he was, but she knew that was because she was already freaked out and sad from before. She'd hardly been able to sense him in life at the end there, but not seeing or hearing from him yet meant she was probably in the clear. Because after having one traumatic weekend that led to having to replace a mirror, she really didn't think her head or her heart could take more right now. So it was to the office to work on class and keep herself busy, because dealing with things was for other people.


[Open!]

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[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

Kol had grown impatient waiting for his son to come back to him, so he, like a good Jedi, decided to do some recon on his own.

First stop--the first Force signature he could track down.

He reached out to rap on the door and stopped.

"...Jaina?"

[solo_sword]

What, Jaina, happy for a distraction? Surely you jest.

Of course, she still wasn't used to people knowing her already. "Yes?"

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"You look so young," Kol said, frowning slightly, "and what are you doing here?"

[solo_sword]

She nodded slightly, saying, "Sorry, this happens sometimes. Timelines are all messed up here. I'm guessing you're someone I meet in the future sometime."

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"Cade didn't tell you?"

[solo_sword]

"Cade's not really a talker," Jaina told him, waving him in.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"I'd say I was surprised to hear that, but--" Kol said, coming in further. "Hello, I'm Kol. Ben's son."

[solo_sword]

...Yes, of course he was.

"I'd say I'm surprised to hear that, but I've been here a while," she said after a moment. "Want to sit?"

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"Sure," Kol replied. "I have a little bit of time. Tell me about Cade."

[solo_sword]

"I don't know a ton," she admitted. "I've had him in a couple of my classes. I gave him detention that never happened so he could uphold his reputation."

Shh, she actually really liked Cade. That kind of thing was why.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"...what kind of reputation does he have?"

[solo_sword]

"I think he'd like to say it's not a great one, but I haven't heard of him doing anything terrible," she said.

This was probably largely because she'd missed spring break, to be fair.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"He had a tattoo here--" Kol pointed to his arm because of course Cade hadn't been wearing a coat in January because he was smart that way, "--a modified one of a pirate gang that preys the Outer Rim. That was new."

[solo_sword]

"The bright side is if he's not here, he's not doing that," Jaina said rationally. "When was the last time you saw him?"

Not that she wanted details. If Ben's kid was walking around dead, there were definitely things she didn't want to know.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"Just before the Sith overran the Jedi academy on Ossus," Kol replied. "I bought him time to take the rest of the apprentices away."

Typical Skywalker.

[solo_sword]

"That definitely explains some things," she frowned. Because that was typical Skywalker, too: have something bad happen, avoid it altogether as much as humanly possible.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

They were a singularly healthy group of people.

"Maybe a bit," Kol admitted. "It wasn't what I'd planned for the boy."

[solo_sword]

"I hear that happens in parenting," Jaina said, a touch wryly. "So you've seen him already?"

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"Briefly," Kol said, just as wryly. "He wasn't exactly thrilled to see me."

[solo_sword]

While she didn't expect Cade to be all fuzzy and sentimental about much, Jaina had to front a little. "Why not?"

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"He's angry," Kol said. "Angry enough that even though I've tried, I haven't been able to show myself to him until now. He completely blocks me out."

[solo_sword]

"Then he probably just needs time," Jaina said. "Sometimes you need to be angry for a while before you can get some sense knocked into you and start dealing."

Not that she knew anything about that.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"He's had almost three years," Kol replied.

[solo_sword]

"It's hard to put a time limit on grief. Especially when it's traumatic, and there's a long history of repression," she pointed out, because she knew how her family was.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"True," Kol admitted. "I didn't think he'd choose drinking and piracy as coping mechanisms, though."

[solo_sword]

"I went with Force lightning. We surprise people sometimes," she told him.

...Actually drinking and piracy was probably preferable to that.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"I remember hearing something about that," Kol admitted. "Our family has a history of anger management issues."

[solo_sword]

"And we always seem to get it together in the end," she said.

And remembered the brother she was hoping not to see. "Most of the time."

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

Kol's lips quirked up humorlessly. "Is he here too?"

[solo_sword]

"No," she said quickly. "My grandfather is, though."

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

Kol choked. "Vader?"

[solo_sword]

"Anakin Skywalker. He's reformed," she said.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"Uh huh," Kol replied dryly. "What is this place?"

[solo_sword]

"Something like an interdimensional hub," Jaina told him. "A lot of different timelines and universes all line up here to make sure we never go without a headache."

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a real dream come true," Kol said.

[solo_sword]

"It keeps things interesting," she said. "But it means I get to meet you and Cade, so I can't say I'm sorry for it."

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure Cade feels the same way," Kol replied.

[solo_sword]

"I didn't feel this way at his age, either. And it sounds like he's had it pretty rough," she said.

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

Kol nodded once. "The One Sith are ruthless, and we didn't see it coming."

He frowned.

"Again."

[solo_sword]

"Well, at least we know to see it coming now." That was totally helpful, right?

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"Why do we ever stop looking for them?" Kol asked rhetorically. "They're always out there."

[solo_sword]

"Because there was supposed to be that Rule of Two thing and then that turned out to not be a thing," she said. "It kind of blindsides you when you're not expecting it."

[notamerrysoul.livejournal.com]

"There's more than two," Kol said. "Surprise."