Rey's warehouse- Friday afternoon

[thatwaslucky]

Maybe it was last week's chaos, but the woodchucks were being on their best behavior, to the point that Rey wouldn't have been sure they were here if she hadn't been able to feel them in the Force.

But they'd kind of been such pains lately that she didn't really trust it, which meant she was kind of testing it with a meditation day where she kept herself open to anticipate anything like a piece of wood flying at her or something. There was nothing, and she still didn't trust it.


[Open!]

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[sith_happened]

"Rey?" Anakin called, stepping inside. "No one's an angry animal this week?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Not so far," she said, frowning with her eyes closed because she still fully expected it.

[sith_happened]

"You don't trust it either, do you?" Anakin asked.

[thatwaslucky]

"I think they're being on their best behavior but I know it won't last," she said, but quietly, so they didn't overhear if she was wrong.

[sith_happened]

"Maybe they're apologizing for the party, too?" Anakin guessed.

[thatwaslucky]

"Maybe. Or they don't want to be associated with werecreatures," she said.

[sith_happened]

"Could be both," Anakin agreed.

[thatwaslucky]

"I'll take it while we can get it..." But.

[sith_happened]

"You're still waiting for the bad part to happen," Anakin guessed.

[thatwaslucky]

"For good reasons," she said.

[sith_happened]

"It makes you wise," Anakin agreed, smiling.

[thatwaslucky]

"I should give them the benefit of the doubt." But that sort of thing did usually lead to her getting screwed, even if it was just a beam to the head.

[sith_happened]

"But experience tells you otherwise," Anakin said.

[thatwaslucky]

"A lifetime of it," she nodded.

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled. "Well, let's meditate quickly in case they change their minds."

[thatwaslucky]

"You can meditate quickly?" Rey asked.

[sith_happened]

"I don't love meditation in general," Anakin admitted. "I learned how to get to that mind space quickly."

[thatwaslucky]

"I suppose that's a plus overall," she said. "Better than fighting it."

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled. "Finding my way to the Force was never my problem," he said. "Calmness...that was a struggle."

[thatwaslucky]

"Is it easier now?" she asked.

[sith_happened]

"It is," Anakin said with another smile. "It took some time to grow comfortable in my own skin."

[thatwaslucky]

"I hear that's hard for a lot of people," she said.

[sith_happened]

"I looked at the darkness inside me and I was terrified."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey paused. "When did that change?"

[sith_happened]

"Not for years," Anakin said. "I had to fall and be redeemed first."

[thatwaslucky]

"And it probably doesn't happen quickly once the redemption happens," she mused.

[sith_happened]

"Not at all," Anakin agreed. "There are still moments when I don't particularly like myself."

[thatwaslucky]

"Oh," she said, like that had never really occurred to her.

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled. "Leia's visit, for instance. I was fine while she was here--I needed to be, so she wouldn't think she'd caused me distress--but there were some long nights after."

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Rey said, frowning.

[sith_happened]

"I didn't want you to," Anakin said with a smile.

[thatwaslucky]

"But me knowing now is okay?" she checked.

[sith_happened]

"I've worked through some of it now," Anakin said.

[thatwaslucky]

"Good," she said. "I know this sort of thing is part of the process."

But it sucked to hear about when she liked him so much.

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "I don't enjoying dwelling on my many past errors, but no one really does."

[thatwaslucky]

"I'd be concerned about anyone who did," Rey agreed.

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled as he nodded again. "In any case, I don't enjoy recalling my past, but I've learned through experience that trying to ignore it just makes it worse."

[thatwaslucky]

"Yeah," she said with a frown, since she'd kind of learned that much smaller lesson herself. "At least if you address it you're doing something about it."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "It's really the only way forward."

[thatwaslucky]

"Sucks, though," she said.

[sith_happened]

"Oh, it definitely does," Anakin agreed.

[thatwaslucky]

"If it helps at all," Rey said, "I quite like you."

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled. "That does help. Thank you."

[thatwaslucky]

"It's what I'm here for."

It was not. It was a perk.

[sith_happened]

"That's nice to hear," Anakin said with another smile.