fandomhigh | Earth Tourism, Tuesday 5th period

Lana greeted them all at Portalocity with a huge smile and a huge crate. "Since you all seem to have no problem with heights, we're going to extremes today, so rather than have you all purchase ridiculous amounts of Earth equipment, I've brought some from home. I hope you all wore comfortable shirts and trousers to go under it, as I ~~handwavily~~ suggested."

She opened the crate and started passing out hooded jumpsuits of a dirty white colour with straps to secure them everywhere. Everyone also got a face mask equipped with breathing apparatus and comm unit. "These will keep us warm and alive and let us communicate more easily." She put on her own to demonstrate how it worked for those of the students who hadn't been to Hoth before. When they were all done, she nodded to the gnomes, and their portal opened up. Lana stepped through.

"Welcome to the highest location on Earth, Mount Everest. It's almost 9,000 meters above sea level, and is normally only accessible by experienced climbers with a lot of specialized equipment and a month or two to spare. And quite a few of them still die," she noted. "So please be careful. But it is a spectacular view, isn't it?"

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"Next time, you'll have to be sneakier," Lana said. "What's a jiangshi?"

"Is there a sneaky way to climb towers?" Arden asked.

...Maybe climbing it fully in dark and seeing the sunrise from the top? Hmm. Let's not start thinking that way while we still have detention to serve.

"It's a hopping vampire from China," she added. "You know, mythological and stuff." Because whose world had magic and supernatural shit? Not Arden's, honest!

"Cloaking screens," Lana answered. "Or using the Force to hide yourself. I've no idea if Cal can do that."

"I, uh, don't really have access to either on my own," Arden said, a little flatly. "So I guess I'll just...depend on Cal, then?"

Lana raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you know you don't have access to them? Use your resources."

By which she meant her.

Assuming Lana was a resource for anything beyond offering an education in her particular classes was not something Arden would ever have considered. That smacked of entitlement on Arden's part (expecting Lana to be willing and able) and also trust that such a gift could possibly come without strings. Because why would she want to offer assistance to Arden? That didn't make sense.

"...Do we have some through the school?" she asked.

"That's actually a good question," Lana said. "I don't know. But I have access to them, and I'm honestly inclined toward anything harmless that the Dean doesn't like."

Because Anakin.

"Although in fairness I should mention, if you did get caught anyway, knowing you had my help isn't likely to endear you to him."

"So, you'd loan me one to spite the Dean?" Arden asked. Still pretty sus.

Not because of Lana just...look, she, like everyone else on the island, had a tragic backstory.

"Absolutely," Lana agreed. "Also, it just seems like the sort of fun students ought to be having, and he's being ridiculous."

Her first school was the Korriban Academy. It's possible she had a skewed definition of fun.

"Does he come in another flavor?" Arden asked because well...

Anakin.

"Not in my experience," Lana answered. She shook her head. "The people who raised him and the people who raised me are long-time hereditary enemies, and he seems to be unable to look past that." She shrugged. "It's possible I'm not seeing him at his best."

It was more depressing that she suspected she was, but she wasn't actually here to sow hatred.

"Siiiiith?" Arden said, trying to remember if that was the right word. And a suddenly concerned glance at Cal, to see if he knew that.

"Sith, yes." Lana smiled at her and caught that glance. "Don't worry, Cal knows. Where and when I come from, I work with Jedi, Sith, and a lot of other groups. Also, my first teacher when I came to Fandom was a Jedi. I won't pretend I'm much inclined that way, but I do have respect for them."

Well. Most of them.

Were you not inclined that way because their Code was stupid? Because as far as Arden could tell, their Code is stupid.

"They seem to be very complicated," was her diplomatic response.

Parts of their code were definitely stupid, yes!

"Like any group, some are more complicated than others," Lana answered. "It doesn't help that every one I've met seems to have been through at least one war. That tends to complicate a lot of things."

"Yeah," Arden said, sneaking another Very Subtle glance at Cal. "Any luck in getting them to sit down and take a break from feeling guilty about things beyond their control?"

"Very little," Lana said. "They all seem to have been raised with the weight of the galaxy on their shoulders. For a group that eschews feelings, they're very bad at letting that go."

Arden blew out a long breath. "Yeah, that fuckin' tracks," she muttered. "Why try to deny emotions? They're a part of life? They make people people."

Lana shook her head. "It's never made sense to me, either. The best I've been able to grasp is that they believe strong feelings can lead you to make selfish decisions, or allow others to use those feelings against you. And it seems to vary over the centuries - the current Grandmaster of the Jedi Order felt the need to hide that she'd had an affair and a child, but she's descended from a long line of Jedi, who presumably also had children, some of them very famous."

Make it make sense!

"I don't know enough of it to even really have an opinion on it," Arden said, that had stopped her from doing so. "Never mind debating it. And I can't push on it really hard, because it's such a raw wound."

"As I said, war makes everything more difficult," Lana answered softly. "I'll answer any questions you have, but I have only an academic and second-hand knowledge of Jedi thoughts."

She looked at Arden. "Though I've offered to Cal that he can visit my home with me if he likes, and there are more Jedi there. You'd be welcome as well."

"Oh, I, uh--" She ducked her head again. "I mean if--I wouldn't wanna intrude--but maybe if--"

She sputtered a bit longer. "Umm. Maybe some time?" she said, to both offers.

Lana held up her hands. "No pressure at all. It's just an offer I've made to several of my friends and students over the years. And it stands; there's no time frame."

Arden nodded. "Thanks for the offer no matter what," she said, unable to keep the caution out of her tone. But that was just because she was Arden, really.

Lana could respect that. She nodded back. "You're welcome."

Earth Tourism, Tuesday 5th period

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