fandomhigh | BWI Airport, Portalocity Lounge, Friday Morning [12/30]

Anakin still thought that getting sent off to school at some place he'd never heard of (and he'd been trying to memorize star maps practically since he was old enough to read) was one of Uncle Luke's stranger decisions. He'd graduated from the Academy, he wasn't a little kid any more, but as his uncle's apprentice he didn't have much room to argue. He'd much rather have been back in the thick of things if it were up to him, but it wasn't and Luke had sent him here, so he'd trust Luke's judgment even if he didn't understand it. Sending him to Dantooine with Aunt Mara had been weird at the time, too, and turned out to be a valuable learning experience.

The large Fandom High banner in the Portalocity lounge left little doubt that he was in the right place. With a tiny sigh, Anakin set his single bag down on the floor, tugged at the hem of his tunic. and brushed his fingertips against the hilt of the lightsaber hanging from his belt. That, at least, was something familiar in a completely unfamiliar environment.

He never liked waiting around for things to happen, but since he couldn't be home helping the Jedi with the war effort waiting for the shuttle to show up was the only thing to do right now. Well, that and finding out what the other new students would be like, and he supposed that part would happen soon enough.

[OOC: You will wait for the OCD. *Jedi mind-tricks* Shuttle post is goooooooooo!]

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Oh sure, Anakin, go for the easy questions.

"I've been teaching at this school for years," Anakin replied. "There's not a lot that surprises me."

This, though, surprised him, and all of the Obi-Wan vagueness in the galaxy wouldn't hide that.

The easy questions were no fun. Besides, he was used to asking the more complicated questions after Tahiri had already hit the questionee with a barrage of the easy ones.

"Uncle Luke didn't say anything about you being here," Anakin half protested; he was more flustered than he'd have liked, but this was making him nervous. "He would have known about that."

He hadn't quite grown out of the notion that Luke knew pretty much everything.

"Besides, that still doesn't explain how you know who I am."

"He might have known and just not passed it along," Anakin offered.

Testing young Jedi by tossing them into situations without proper preparation was the prerogative of the older, more annoying Jedi.

"And I've taught your sister Jaina. Well, a version of her, anyway. She told me about you."

There. That was truthful and yet evasive.

"He didn't tell me much. It's probably his idea of a lesson," Anakin had to concede; he was still a little tense but trying visibly to calm himself down.

His eyes lit up with hopeful surprise. "Jaina's here?" No, Anakin, pay attention to verb tenses.

Anakin shook his head. "She graduated a few years ago, but she comes back pretty frequently to visit."

He was not mentioning the blond vampire she was normally visiting. Anakin looked freaked enough.

"Oh." Anakin would be hard put to hide his disappointment and yes, he was still young enough that anyone perceptive enough might even see his lower lip quiver just for a fraction of a second.

"You said 'a version' of her," he went on, perceptive even if he was freaked out. "Not the same Jaina I know back home, then?"

Anakin noticed the lip quiver but didn't want to address it. He was pretty sure that the former Darth Vader offering comfort would break Anakin's brain.

"Not unless your sister's close to 30," he said.

The 'former' part, once he got to that, was likely to break Anakin's brain at this point.

As was 'close to 30,' which had his eyes nearly bugging out of his head. "I don't think I can even imagine her being that old."

"Don't call her old," Anakin said quickly. "She hasn't changed that much."

"I wouldn't say it to her," Anakin exclaimed, then scowled slightly.

"I still don't understand how you and I can both be here at the same time. I have a lot of questions, but --" He took a breath. "Not now."

Not where everyone could hear them -- he hadn't come all this way to have complete strangers give him grief about his name.

Anakin nodded. "I'll be around," he said.

He chewed his lower lip, then added, "I'm not the only relative you have on the island."

The kid looked kind of shaky already--it couldn't hurt to give him some time to prepare himself.

Anakin nodded, still working on keeping his composure, but a worried look crossed his face.

"It's not my dad, is it?"

Anakin was very proud of himself for not snorting.

"No, it's not your dad. It's your cousin."

Anakin liked to think he was pretty quick on the uptake, but . . .

"I have a cousin?"

This wasn't some heretofore unknown relation to Thrackan, was it? Because ick.

Anakin stared at him blankly.

"Oh, stang, you're so young..." he murmured. "Luke and Mara have a son. Or will."

You mean she's going to find a way to beat this disease?" That was a good thing, that was a reason to hope, because he'd seen how tired and worn down she was, but -- torn between years of nightmares and wanting to believe Mom had been right about the good man her father had been once -- he hesitated, and reached out in the Force to see if he could sense any deception.

It seemed wrong to do that to someone wearing Jedi robes just like he was.

Anakin being Anakin, caught it immediately and guessed the reason why.

"What would be the point in lying to you?" he asked.

About this, anyway.

"I don't know. What would be the point?"

Maybe it wasn't fair of Anakin to sound that dubious, but he had a very limited frame of reference to work with, and only about five minutes' worth of getting accustomed to the idea of his grandfather being alive. And here. And not, as far as he could tell, evil.

"On something you'll be able to verify with your own eyes in less than an hour? Very little," Anakin replied. "I'm not out to trick you, young one."

BWI Airport, Portalocity Lounge, Friday Morning [12/30]

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