fandomhigh | Pay It Forward: Making a Big Difference in Little Ways, Friday, Period 3

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making a difference

Pay It Forward: Making a Big Difference in Little Ways, Friday, Period 3

Since it seemed to be the in thing this semester, and since one of their students was roughly the size of a large hovercar, it had seemed prudent to denude yet another classroom of its desks and seats in favor of comfortable cushions on the floor.

... Kanan was kneeling directly on the floor, however. Sitting on a cushion seemed like cheating to him, somehow.

Hera was using a cushion. It was soft, and she saw no reason not to.

"Hey, guys," Kanan said, nodding toward the group once it looked like they had settled in. "I see you've all made it through your first week of the semester. We're going to do that most dreaded of back-to-class-week traditions today, the introductions, but on the plus side, you know this'll be the last time until the spring."

Because this was literally the last class of the week.

"I'm Hera," Hera said, waving. "Those of you not from our galaxy, I'm a twi'lek. I've been here in Fandom...almost two years now, and I run the scrapyard and docking pads. Back home, I'm a pilot and I ship a lot of goods." She was a smuggler and a revolutionary. And not saying that in front of a Sith, thanks.

"And I'm Kanan," Kanan greeted with another bow of his head. "I've been on the island roughly a full year longer than Hera here, which mostly means I'm used to being chased out of bed by squirrels on Monday mornings. Back home I generally do odd jobs. Hauling industrial goods, machine repairs, heavy lifting. I joined Hera's crew around the time she showed up here, so I guess shipping goods with her is the most steady job I've had in a while, now."

And maybe two, three other people in the room would be able to call him on that poodoo. At least it wasn't an outright lie?

"We decided to have this class as a way of making a difference for people on the island and maybe off," Hera said, "and more than that, just showing you what you can do to help out. Sometimes even if you want to help, you might not know what you can do. Hopefully this will give you some ideas."

"For those who might not be certain why they wound up in this particular class," not that Kanan had anyone in particular in mind, "or what the purpose of something like this is..." He spread his hands a little. "There's a lot to be said for the benefits of doing good for the people around you. Treat people well, and they'll do their best. People who are doing poorly worry more about how poorly they're doing than they do about much else. Or they worry about changing that. People can only suffer for so long before they want the suffering to stop." This was all a... weirdly pragmatic outlook for him to lean into, here. But, look, not everyone on the island was a philanthropist. Some people were possibly predisposed to be very much the opposite. "When people are treated right, when they're given every opportunity to do well, most are inclined to take that opportunity, maybe even present it to others."

Maybe, say, do what it took to liberate a galaxy. But perhaps he was getting ahead of himself.

Hera smiled at him. "Eventually it might even come back to you. If you're nice to people, if you help them do better, maybe they'll be there when you need them. Or someone else will."

"So," Kanan said, smiling back at Hera, "that's what we're going to focus on to start. Introductions. Name, why you took this class, and one nice thing you intend to do for somebody this week."

Because yes, you had to, it was homework now.

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Kanan? Still here. Still kneeling on the floor.

Absolutely around if anybody wanted to talk to him.

"You wished to speak with me, Instructor Jarrus?"

Was she certain of his title? No. Was she going for 'as respectful as possible in case I'm in trouble'? Absolutely.

"Yeah," Kanan confirmed. And then paused. "It's just Kanan, no need to stand on formality in this class. Hera and I are just two people who have some things to teach, don't worry too much about that, okay?"

... Stop hedging, Instructor Jarrus.

"If you say so, Kanan." Lana nodded. "What did you wish to speak to me about?"

Kanan tilted his head a little, considering how the hell he wanted to approach this.

"So... Sith, huh?" Great start. Gold star. "You mentioned something about the island being neutral territory and didn't seem too concerned about the Jedi I mentioned were here. Is that a common thing where you came from?"

"That depends upon where it is and how neutral you mean," Lana said.

"We have a treaty with the Republic, and most honor it. That doesn't mean there aren't problems, or that anybody is very friendly with the other side. I've never met any Jedi personally, and I'm not entirely sure I trust them, but I'm reasonably certain no-one wants to start the war up again just yet."

Kanan nodded slowly, listening carefully, considering that.

"Here," he noted, "there isn't any such treaty. Different galaxy, different time, different rules. The handful of Jedi who are here don't have any interest in leaping back into another war, as far as I can tell." He paused. "Some of us are just too damn tired to bother."

Just slipping that in there, one hand twitching at his side, half-regretting that his lightsaber was in pieces, just in case.

Lana frowned. "I hadn't considered that the treaty might not be in effect at all," she confessed.

Then she gave him a look, because yes, she had caught that. "Us?"

"Us." He leaned his head back a little. Lifted a shoulder. "It's possible some are easier to spot than others."

Since he kind of looked nothing like a Jedi. And the empty blaster holster on his belt probably gave the wrong impression, too. Or the right one.

"Well, most Jedi don't use blasters, from what I understand," Lana said. Hey, Jedi in her time dressed pretty much any way they wanted to.

Now that she knew, she could sense him in the Force - strongly. "You were hiding before, too."

"I was being cautious," Kanan replied. "Can you blame me?"

Come on, Lana. You knew better than anybody what Sith were typically like. Kanan only had the stories.

"You knew what I was," Lana pointed out. "The fact you not only didn't kill me on the spot but warned me makes me want to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'd still like to know what this is all about."

She was a little twitchy now, too. Sure, she'd said she'd love to talk to a Jedi, but still - Jedi were Jedi. Could even this one be trusted?

Kanan crossed his arms over his chest, brow furrowed faintly. Kill her on the spot? What did she think the Jedi were? Some kind of...

He nearly winced when his brain filled that blank in with 'Sith.'

Ah.

"I've never met a Sith before," he said, after a moment's pause. "Not in person. You were the stories they'd tell Jedi younglings to make them behave. The monsters they warned us never to become. But..." He frowned a little, looking down, trying to piece something together. "... You weren't any of that. There's darkness to you. Around you, through you, a creeping cold in the Force. But you're nothing like I expected."

Re: Talk to the Teachers!

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Re: Talk to the Teachers!

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Re: Talk to the Teachers!

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Re: Talk to the Teachers!

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Re: Talk to the Teachers!

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Re: Talk to the Teachers!

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Toward the end of the class, a certain redhead showed up, carrying a carrier with what looked like three to-go coffees from the Perk.

They were not, in fact, three to-go coffees from the Perk, but rather three to-go cups of caf that Summer had brought in specifically to look like three to-go coffees from the Perk. One of her leads pulled through and got her a supply just in time for Hera and Kanan's class, and, even though Summer wasn't sure if she'd even made it right (she'd made it just like coffee, how else?), she figured it would be interesting to see if he notice.

Honestly, she couldn't taste much of a difference herself. So, either her taste buds had been brutally murdered by pumpkin spice, or BDG was totally just a caf snob.

"I come bearing gifts!"

"Coffee gifts?" For coffee gifts, Kanan would totally pull himself to his feet again, grinning. "Hey, Summer. I see you finally made it into one of my classrooms."

This was new and unprecedented territory they were treading, now.

"Coffee gifts," Summer said, though technically speaking, that was a lie. Didn't stop her from carefully removing a cup and handing it over, as she made a point of looking the room over. "I like what you've done with that place. How'd it go?"

"Eh, mostly okay," Kanan replied, grinning and taking the drink in hand. "Had to ask a student to stay after class, but that was less about anything she did during the lesson and more to make certain we weren't going to try to murder one another later on."

Because of that thing he'd mentioned last weekend.

He shrugged and took a mouthful.

And then looked thoughtfully at the cup.

"Huh."

Summer was going to ask if it was the one student with the one thing, but with a reaction like that, she could easily leave that train of thought to the wind, because, duh, obviously, who else would it be?

Trying to keep down a knowing smirk, Summer tilted her head. "What's the matter, BDG?" she asked innocently. "Something wrong with the coffee?"

Kanan squinted at Summer.

And then he squinted at the coffee.

And then he took another sip.

"... Well, I know you didn't get this at the Perk."

They didn't love him enough at the Perk to stock caf.

But guess who did love him enough to stock it at her store?

The girl who couldn't keep a straight face and was laughing now, shaking her head.

"Ohmygod, you are such a snob."

"What! It tastes completely different," Kanan protested, giving a little laugh of his own. "I can't possibly be the only one who can tell!"

"I honestly can't tell," Summer admitted. "I was worried I made it wrong or something, but maybe you just have some magical space tongue," not dirty, "that's more sensitive to it or something. But I am glad you could tell. Surprise! We got it in the store now! Well, a little. Now that I'm in touch with someone, I'm hoping to expand the options a little, but, you know, one step at a time."

"Maybe I'm just a caf drinker and you're not," Kanan replied, smirking faintly and shrugging. "But you got it! There's my day, made. You came through for me on caf, Summer. You realize this means I'm going to start placing increasingly more ridiculous orders to see what else you can get, right?"

And also to encourage her to spread that net of contacts throughout the galaxy. That too.

"Bring it," said Summer with a cocky grin. "I gotta have something to do around here, right? Besides, the caf thing was easy, turns out the guy used to supply the stuff here ages ago, seemed really interested to get back into the market. I swear, I like her, she's really great, but man, did Amaya really drop the ball on the whole special orders stuff at that place. And I haven't even touched the idea of bringing in some of the weird shit my grampa would bring in from different dimensions, although I do remember being pleasantly surprised to find Strawberry Smiggles here when I first got here."

"I have no idea what those are," Kanan noted, "but you said strawberry. I'm in."

So hard to please, that Kanan.