The training warehouse- Friday afternoon

[thatwaslucky]

Last week had been one of those weeks where everything went wrong and it resulted in her easily doing insane stuff she'd been having a problem with when she tried it. She was trying to be in that mindset today as she ran the training course, adding in things like jumps when she didn't have to, just to see if she could in the moment.

And she could? And it was actually really fun?

Maybe someday she'd figure out what mental block stopped her from doing this other times.


[Open!]

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[sith_happened]

"You're getting better," Anakin called up as he entered.

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm trying some things," she said, and bit down on the impulse to not show off, launching herself over the swinging things that almost knocked her off the course half the time.

[sith_happened]

"It's working for you," Anakin said with a little smile.

[thatwaslucky]

"Thanks," she said, rushing through the rest of the course, though instead of the normal ending, she used her own momentum to jump off the side and land neatly not far from him. "It took a while, apparently."

[sith_happened]

"It doesn't matter how long it took," Anakin said. "Just that you get there."

[thatwaslucky]

"It should probably matter a little."

But then, she was hard on herself.

[sith_happened]

"Well, if you were still struggling five years from now, yes," Anakin said, "but you're fine."

[thatwaslucky]

"It's been months," Rey frowned. "I only just figured out how to do it right."

[sith_happened]

"I didn't make it easy," Anakin pointed out.

[thatwaslucky]

"It's not just you," Rey admitted. "I've been having issues with some of this since I got here. But I'm working on it."

[sith_happened]

"Impatience was always one of my apparent failings, too," Anakin said. "I like to think of it as being driven."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey paused.

"Leia has some words for me on that."

[sith_happened]

"Oh?" Anakin replied, smiling. "What did she say?"

[thatwaslucky]

"That I need to stop rushing into situations that are dangerous just because I'm sure I can handle it if I don't have all the information first. That if I don't have all the information I don't know if I can handle it right."

She really did pay a lot of attention to anything Leia told her.

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "So you'd rather go in and trust you'll figure it out than learn just enough to get paralyzed by the enormity of it all?"

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm never paralyzed," Rey protested, and thought about it. "If something doesn't outwardly seem safe and I don't know I can get through it, I don't do it. But I guess I'm not used to having to see a bigger picture."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded again. "It's a strange adjustment," he admitted, "thinking beyond just you."

[thatwaslucky]

"Shouldn't I be over that by now, too?"

Like Rey had a problem thinking about others or something.

[sith_happened]

Anakin gave her a tiny smile. "Of course not."

[thatwaslucky]

"Hmm." She was still going to be hard on herself anyway. "I just keep feeling so often like I'm doing everything wrong, or not fast enough."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "That's why the masters kept yelling at us to meditate. We need to center ourselves before the responsibility either overwhelms us or goes to our heads as the only beings who can possibly fix everything."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey thought about that. "I actually like the thought of that."

[sith_happened]

"Good," Anakin said, smiling. "We wouldn't have kept doing it for thousands of years if it was entirely pointless."

[thatwaslucky]

"I don't think it's pointless," Rey assured him. "I think I just got a new way of looking at it."

[sith_happened]

Anakin looked pleased. "Do you want to try it now, then?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Yeah. What better way to follow up that?" she said brightly, gesturing vaguely to the i stacks course.

[sith_happened]

Anakin laughed. "Exactly. If that workout can't quiet your mind, it means I have to increase its difficulty."

[thatwaslucky]

"I was thinking during that," Rey protested. "Kind if."

[sith_happened]

"Kind of?" Anakin repeated, smiling.

[thatwaslucky]

"I knew what mindset I wanted to be in, and I tried to keep to that. Mostly it was autopilot, but not really quieting," she said.

[sith_happened]

"Good job," Anakin praised. "Now the trick is to stay in that feeling."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey smiled a little. "That was exactly what I was trying to do when I was getting into that feeling."

So, right track?

[sith_happened]

Anakin's smile widened. "Well done."

[thatwaslucky]

"Thanks." She loved praise, so much. "I guess it worked."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "It did. I always found it easy to sink into during combat situations because it made me a more effective fighter. When you're listening to the Force, you're safe."

[thatwaslucky]

"...Yeah," she said. "Like when I'm that focused I can do anything."

[sith_happened]

"If you can stay in that moment for longer than a moment, then you're ready to fight against me," Anakin said.

[thatwaslucky]

"Wait, really?"

Maybe she was looking forward to trying.

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled. "You ready for it?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Yeah," she said, smiling a little.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's grin widened. "With the training lightsabers at first. But then no."

[thatwaslucky]

"Of course. Understood." She wasn't that great yet.

[sith_happened]

Anakin reached for a training lightsaber from a box that was totally there shhhhh. "Whenever you're ready, then. Form II."

[thatwaslucky]

"Form II," she repeated, igniting her own practice saber to get into the ready position.

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled and stood across from her, lightsaber igniting. "When you're ready."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey, naturally, was already moving to strike before he'd finished talking, because that was just how she did things.

[sith_happened]

"Good," Anakin praised, moving to meet her. "Not everyone will give you time to dump your cloak in a puddle."

Obi-Wan.

[thatwaslucky]

"I don't wear one, anyway," she said, moving for another swing, and trying to focus on on that feeling from before, get back into that headspace.

[sith_happened]

"You should, they're very handy," Anakin said. "Except during lightsaber duels."