En route to Bastion- Monday

[solo_sword]

If she was being really fair about it, Jaina knew that she'd had it surprisingly easy, considering everything she was juggling, and she'd taken it all on in a relatively short amount of time. It also had to be said that she had a lot of help and didn't do any of it alone.

Except when it came to her headstrong teenage padawan who didn't really have a sense of his own mortality yet. Since leaving Coruscant they'd been on the trail of at least some of the One Sith, had a couple skirmishes before they vanished, and there had been a few fights about how to handle oneself in a situation like this when your Master was terrifying in a fight and you were just still learning. At the moment he was probably sulking in the cabin he'd claimed on the ship they'd borrowed, and Jaina was in the pilot's seat, wondering if it'd be wrong to make the Imperial-based Darkmeld Jedi go drinking with her just to commiserate once she got home.

At least for now, she just sent a text. Sometimes I want to apologize for my teen years.

Which was not actually an apology.


[open for replies! If you think you got it, you did.]

Comments

[sith_happened]

Been there. Both as master and apprentice.

A beat.

Which is probably not helpful, huh.

[solo_sword]

How do you make it stop??? All the things Aunt Mara told me about being smarter aren't working here.

[sith_happened]

Generally speaking? A close call or a bacta bath. They have to learn on their own that they aren't invincible.</i

[solo_sword]

Did that already, right after I left Fandom last time. I'm starting to wonder if I'm not a terrible example to follow.

Because Jaina was a nightmare to face off against, and she didn't know how to stop for injuries anymore.

[sith_happened]

You are not a terrible example, Anakin wrote, then called to follow up.

"You are not a terrible example," he said.

[solo_sword]

"I do the stuff he thinks he can get away with," Jaina explained. "He's not thinking that it took several wars and Sith invasions to be able to get to this point, so why can't he do it if he just tried harder?"

[sith_happened]

"Arrogance of youth," Anakin said. "You make it look easy, so it must be easy."

[solo_sword]

"It wasn't easy for me when I was his age. Hell, it wasn't easy for me at 32," she said. "I guess I can have Jag sit him down and tell him what I looked like when he found me after that."

[sith_happened]

"That might work," Anakin said, "if he's not hearing what you're saying."

[solo_sword]

"It's just frustrating. I'm the one the Council should be sending out to do this stuff. But I also feel like it's a mistake to make him think I'm trying to hold him back. I just need moderation," she said.

[sith_happened]

"And that's basically impossible to teach a teenager," Anakin said. "Having taught at a school where teenagers throw themselves into invasions and other ridiculousness three times a year--"

[solo_sword]

"And where everyone eventually just accepted that they were going to go out and fight monkeyponies or whatever?"

Not that she'd done that. Specifically.

(She had.)

[sith_happened]

Anakin laughed. "Something like that. Telling a teenager this is for their own good is basically daring them to do something much stupider."

[solo_sword]

"Have you ever had it work where you can tell them something to at least be safe about it?" Jaina wondered. "What's a gentle way to say 'I'd like you to not take a lightsaber to the face, here's how to avoid it?'"

[sith_happened]

"I wouldn't be that gentle about it," Anakin said. "Teach him how to avoid a lightsaber to the face and tell him that if he won't listen to your good advice, he better get a lot better about ducking."

[solo_sword]

Jaina paused. "That might actually be a good way to do it. Focus on defense and evasion until he can use it correctly."

[sith_happened]

"See? Sometimes I can actually be helpful," Anakin said, sounding pleased.

[solo_sword]

"You know what they say about stopped chronos twice a day," Jaina teased, smiling. "Thanks. This actually makes me feel better."

[sith_happened]

"You're quite welcome," Anakin said. "Make sure to step at least once on his instep while you're fighting. It hurts like anything."

[solo_sword]

"Yeah, but when he uses it on me I'm going to be really annoyed," she admitted. "I'll do it, but ugh."

[sith_happened]

"That's the real reason behind the Jedi boots," Anakin said. "Plus they look really great."

[solo_sword]

"And they're comfortable. Perfect for extended amounts of time running either after someone or for your life." Shed dome both.

[sith_happened]

"Good arch support, too," Anakin said, then laughed. "We could go into advertising."

[solo_sword]

"Unfortunately that would probably be a conflict of interest for me."

You know. The Empress running a Jedi school in Imperial territory.

[sith_happened]

Anakin laughed. "We can call them the Jainas," he said. "When you need a good boot up your ass."