fandomhigh | Exit Strategies, Monday, Period 2

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escape artistry

Exit Strategies, Monday, Period 2

Your teacher was back in front of the class. Yay. Complete with a very dubious tween beside her. Yay?

"So there are some things you actually can't escape from," Aphra said. "Not without being a terrible person." Which some people were actually okay with, just so you knew.

"But just because you can't escape from those responsibilities doesn't mean you can't find ways to discharge them that aren't going to lead you to soul-crushing despair. Sometimes the right solution is to recognise that you aren't the kind of person who should be taking on those responsibilities and instead find a better person and place for them."

"I'm not going to visit grandpa," Nebitu said. "And I told you Dad's place is too noisy."

"Oh, c'mon."

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Responsible!

Liberty Hazlett

Tahani al-Jamil

Guillermo de la Cruz

Illyana Rasputin

Look, sometimes the right things to do is dump your smartass impossible child on your dad. Just saying.

Edited 2022-04-04 10:04 (UTC)

Nebitu was not the only judgemental child in the class.

"She's kind of a terrible teacher."

Vi smothered a laugh behind her hand to at least pretend to be a good example. "This is actually better than last week's class."

The entirety of last week had been a lot for Libby, so she felt as if she was just coming out of a bewildering, confusing, maybe even enlightening fog for the past few days. When she hadn't been sleeping uncharacteristically late or just staring endlessly at her still-too-blank ceiling above her bed, she was disappearing into the wood or the library, for answers and distractions, respectively.

So when she got to class, noticed the additional new kids, and tried to make sense of today's 'lecture'....she was....really feeling like she may have kind of missed something...

"Hey, Libs." Vi scooted over, dragging Cerise with her with a proprietary arm around her shoulders. "I want you to meet Cerise. She's my kid. Might be my kid. In the future." Which was still a weird as fuck thing to say.

Libby blinked at Vi. She blinked at Cerise. Then back at Vi again.

Yeah, okay. She had definitely, miraculously, managed to miss something this weekend.

Still, trying to make sense of maybe-might-be kids from the future was no excuse to be rude.

"Hello, Cerise," she said. "I'm Libby. Liberty. I'm...erm, Vi's roommate. It's very nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Libby was maybe getting a tiny side-eye, but nothing compared to what Cerise had given Steph.

Vi ruffled her hair affectionately. "I've got a second one too, but Amber's been with her other mom."

Libby's bewildered expression was clearly not going anywhere. "You...have two?"

So, if people were having kids from the future, and she didn't even know about it until just this moment, did that mean...she didn't have...any?

When you'd spent your whole life being told that the most righteous and most important thing for a woman on this Earth to do was to be fruitful and multiply, this revelation felt like a kick to the stomach.

Libby was trying to push past that, though, her attention seeming to go now to Vi with determination.

"Who's her other mom?"

"Yeah, I know, surprised me too," Vi said. "Steph, from in town. Someone's being tight-lipped about her other mom though."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Libby, turning her attention more toward Cerise now, with a small smile. Focusing maybe on Vi's kids could help distract her from some of the finer details, and, well, you weren't the oldest of seven without having picked up (or so she thought) a few tricks here and there. "And why's that?"

"They haven't met yet," Cerise told her, just like she'd told Mom. From what she'd heard it had been fraught enough without her messing with it one way or the other.

Libby looked over to Vi for a moment before asking Cerise, "Not even a little bit of a hint? I'll admit, I don't know much about how this being from the future thing is supposed to work, but I can't imagine, if you're here now, that'd it make too much of a difference. Or maybe you could just tell me about her. What's she like?"

"She's my mother." Cerise weighed her answers carefully, both her mothers were excellent at interrogations, even if they rarely pushed things with her. "Mom's crazy about her."

Well, now, an answer like that as just going to cause Libby to grin over at Vi, looking both impressed and clearly excited for her and this mysterious future woman.

"With good reason, too, I'm sure," she then said to Cerise. "If you had to pick just one thing...that you think is Vi's favorite thing about your other mother, what do you think it would be?"

Cerise thought about the soft, hesitant way Mom talked about how her mum had reminded her what it was like to hope for better.

"I'm quite certain I'm not supposed to discuss that in public," she replied instead with false primness. "But they're very enthusiastic."

Mean, Cerise.

It was a pretty good indication that, while the pollen was gone, it still had left an effect on Libby, the way her face started to slowly turn from its slightly sun-touched pallor to a rather rosy shade of pink, and the hand almost immediately going to her mouth as if she didn't trust it not to say something inappropriate.

"Well," she eventually managed to get out, "there you go." She sucked in a little bit of a breath. "Enthusiasm."

"Be nice," Vi said, smothering a laugh and aiming a gentle swat that turned into a hair ruffle at Cerise. "Libs is good people."

Aphra hit a random control and an obstacle course appeared. Just like she totally meant it to.

Kids liked obstacle courses, right?

Or her somewhat judgemental child.

Was Anakin stopping by to make sure everyone was still alive?

Maaaaaaaaybe.

"Hey, Dad!" Nebitu announced loudly in case anyone had missed his entrance.

Anakin sighed heavily. "Nebitu. Still alive, I see."

"And I didn't even apprentice her to the circus," Aphra said. "Don't think they weren't interested."

"What skills does she have, other than the pickpocketing thing?"

Anakin was getting twin eyerolls, one a lot more affectionate than the other. "She got my good looks, guess what she got from you."

Bad hair choices didn't count.

"Don't use Force abilities to get into the circus," Anakin told Nebitu.

#fatheroftheyear

"But Uncle Hondo-" Because, yes, Hondo was somehow an influence in her life, even odds who was to blame. "-once told me about the time he ran a circus full of Jedi younglings."

Beat.

"Then Auntie Ahsoka told me what actually happened." Which was still far too exciting and tempting a tale.

You could watch Anakin's brain break in real time.

"Uncle HONDO?!"

"Honorary uncle on account of your 'deep friendship'." And by the time her dad had had a chance to protest, it'd stuck. "Also did he date Master Obi-Wan, because he definitely talks like he used to date Master Obi-Wan?"

Maybe this version of her dad could give her an answer without that weird eye-twitch.

How about horrible choking noises? Was that better or worse?

Don't mind Aphra, she'd just be over here, taking holos of this wonderful bonding moment.

Anakin hated you just so much right now, Aphra.

"No, they didn't date," he finally wheezed.

...

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Exit Strategies, Monday, Period 2

SIgn In - ES [13]

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Listen to Aphra - ES [13]

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Class Activity - ES [13]

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