*Bang*
Anakin slowly pulled his metalic fist back as an indent was left in the wall from his anger. Anakin tried to reign that in as he paced in his quarters. It had been a tough 2 weeks; the campaign had been a shit show like usual. The separatists seemed to know they were coming, as usual, it was a combination of smart tactics, calculated risks and Jedi intervention that let them come out on top.
That wasn't why Anakin was angry, at this point he was starting to get used to the constant war that they thought, not so reveling in it, but accepting it as a part of life.
No, what he was angry at was himself.
He was distracted.
The CONSOL app had been taking up his thoughts more and more as the campaign went on. He had decided not to immediately go in for a session as whatever said could affect his performance in the coming battles.
That was a mistake.
His distraction had led to more of HIS men being injured, many more never coming back.
Even worse, Ashoka had been hurt.
It was a stupid mistake on his part, a slip in concentration when fighting a battalion of droids. Ashoka had been there to cover his back, but she still wasn't good enough to reflect every blaster bolt. When she had gone down, he had torn through the lines like a lightsaber through concrete. Nothing could stop his charge as he let the force flow through him.
He was her master!
He was supposed to protect her, not the other way around!
He hadn't been certain about being a master at the start, especially with how snippy Ashoka had been when they first met, but these days he was growing quite attached to his young padawan. So, this latest incident had set his anger and self-blame off a deep end.
It was all he could do to not show any of these emotions on the way back to medical to get Ashoka treated. But now in the confines of his room he could finally let out some of the frustrations he had at himself.
Calming himself down marginally Anakin let out a sigh of resignation as he brought up his data consol. Logging in and finding the CONSOL App, his eyes quickly skimmed over a few messages that were being sent in the chat.
With the campaign ongoing he hadn't been able to check in with the app much. From what he could see, [Phoenix] and [Ruin Princess] had been chatting a lot to one another. They were talking about small things, trading a few pieces of information, describing the small few differences on some planet they both called home.
Earth was an interesting name for a planet. Within galactic basic alone Anakin could think of a few alternatives to such a broad name. It was like calling a planet dirt. It was weird, but seemed to be accepted where those two were from.
Anakin's assertion that [Ruin Princess] was like Ashoka was pretty on point. Though it looked like she may have been even younger. She was mostly complaining about how her brother still hadn't believed her and now she was going to have to see some type of healer to get checked out.
If Anakin was being honest, if he ever had kids that suddenly started talking about some type of holo-chat that no one else could see, and that she was talking to them about multidimensional information... well he would also send them to be looked at by a mind healer.
Actually, knowing she wasn't insane was the cherry on top of such a thought.
It was one of the main reasons he had told no one about this situation, though he was considering informing Padme.
She would believe him, he knew that.
And if all the information from [Pheonix] was true, they might even be able to use this information to end the war early, maybe find where Dooku was and send a full Jedi strike team after him. Though this time with better results than Geonosis.
Other than those two talking, [Dark Knight] popped into conversation every now and then but.... Anakin narrowed his eyes. Looking at the conversation logs over the last two weeks, his strategic brain kicked into gear unexpectedly.
Every time the conversations between [Ruin princess] and [Pheonix] cooled off and around 2 days had passed with no one messaging [Dark Knight] would start a new conversation and after 1-2 reply's stop all together, letting the other two carry on.
Looking over the logs Anakin was quick to note that while the other two had been dropping small bits about their universe and problems in the chat, [Dark Knight] was rather tight lipped about his own universe.
Anakin's mind quickly came to an idea.
'He's fishing for information'.
The thought quickly sprung to mind as Anakin reassessed the Consol App. He had of course been warry about the app at the start, but truth be told with everything that had been spoken about, his mind had rather slipped the idea that one of the other people pulled into the chat might be more... adversarial in nature.
The real question though was. What would the [Dark Knight] use the information for?
Any idea that sprung to Anakin's mind wasn't good. He contemplated telling the others about his conjecture for only a few moments before dismissing it. There was no specific reason he should inform the other two about his worries.
The information provided shouldn't be of much use, seeing as they themselves can't dimension hop.
Or was that a possibility in the future?
Anakin shook his head; he would just have to be more careful with the information he dropped into the chat. With this new revelation he wasn't inclined to make it easy for the [Dark Knight] though. A small smile appeared on Anakin's lips as he navigated to the function of the Consol App he wanted.
As Anakin booked his first session with [The counselor], he started to think of ways to annoy the [Dark Knight] and his search for knowledge.
"Obi-wan always did say I had a knack for pissing off people."
Suddenly he wasn't so angry anymore.
*********************
Jacob relaxed in his new apartment.
It had been a long 2 weeks of packing and moving into a new place. Not to say his old apartment was bad, it just was leagues worse than what he could now afford.
When the topic of winning the lottery came up, one's thoughts always turned to what you would do with so much money.
Jacob was now in this position.
With the amount he had made off his last session he could honestly live like a king, go to a penthouse or even buy a mansion!
But he didn't do any of that.
He wasn't looking for a mansion and though he liked the idea of a penthouse he didn't want to make that his living situation. So instead, he had moved to a nice apartment with a view, bigger space and anything else that met his small needs.
Jacob wasn't sure if this gig could go on forever, so it was a better idea to instead save most of the money. The bank he worked with had been very... very accommodating once his money had shown up.
It was probably the best experience he had ever had in a bank. Once he entered the branch and said his name, he was instantly moved into another room to talk about the investments he could do with his money, why he should keep it in their accounts, the whole nine yards.
Jacob saw no particular reason to change banks, though he was contemplating getting some type of lawyer or consultant that could help with these types of decisions.
That being said he was just glad he could now relax.
Suddenly moving into a better apartment had been a shock for his Parents. They had been the ones to help him move. He didn't let anything slip about his new money to his close friends or acquaintances. But he had told his dad about it. At the same time, he had given him enough money to pay off their debts and mortgage.
His dad was of course against it, but it was his money, he could do with it what he will. He trusted his dad wouldn't tell anyone he was suddenly rich. He didn't want to deal with all that baggage. The reason he didn't tell his mom about it was the plain and simple fact that she liked to brag to her friends. Maybe not overtly, but Jacob knew that in some conversation she would let it slip. Once that happened, he would be getting calls from every Tom, Sally and Rebecca that he knew from high school looking to catch up.
For now, he would play it safe and see where everything went, making the life of himself and his parents a bit better. If he could keep this job long term, he was planning on maybe doing some other things such as buying a stupid expensive car.
He was already going to buy a house, there was no question about that, but he could wait a while before that happened.
He had always wanted to build a dream house. Now he could make that dream come true. He just needed to find a good place, a good builder and well.... whatever else building a house entailed. At his age he hadn't really thought deeply about such subjects.
As Jacob lost himself in those fantasies a notification from his phone drew his attention. One from the CONSOL app.
Rasing his eyebrow and opening it up, he quickly moved to the chat. These days he was used to the notifications coming from there. When he saw that no new message had been sent though... well that was when Jacob realized what was going on.
Going back to the menu Jacob slowly looked down.
[1 on 1 Appointments]
Pressing down the familiar table appeared with the, [Appointment Requests].
[User ID] [Booking Status] [Confirmation]
[Darth Vader] [Pending] [Approved] [Cancel]
Jacob stared down at the booking for only a moment before letting out a long..... long sigh.
This was going to be a tough one, he already knew.
But even though he sighed, his finger still pressed down on the approved button.
With a flash the information changed.
[User ID] [Booking status]
[Darth Vader] [Approved]
The now green [Approved] stared back at Jacob as he contemplated his next steps. He almost faced palmed as he realized that he should have waited to accept the booking. He was dead tired from moving boxes all day, mentally speaking he was not prepared to talk to and try to speak reason with Anakin freaking Skywalker!
Hell, he wasn't even sure how close he was to turning into Darth Vader, making it that much more difficult depending on where in the timeline he was.
At least Jacob was pretty certain from the small few chats Anakin had sent that he hadn't turned to the dark side yet. The world had a few small mercies.
As if responding to his thoughts a new direct message appeared in the chat. Jacob quickly flipped over to it.
Admin: ([1 on 1 Appointment] Booking Confirmed.)
Admin: (Session set for 24 hours)
Admin: (Sending confirmation to user [Darth Vader])
Admin: (First time appointment privileges, [Free], [Time allocated 6 hours])
Admin: ([Dossier Anakin Skywalker] generation and perusal set for 12 hours)
Admin: (4:1 time displacement allowed for Dossier Perusal [Time allocated 1 hour (Real time)])
Jacob let out a small breath of air as he looked at the messages. It was a bit different from last time, but he could understand what it was telling him. He had 24 hours before the session would start between him and Anakin, an almost answer to his prayers.
This would give him enough time to sleep, rest and prepare for the session. It also seemed that the Dossier, one like Jean's, would take 12 hours to generate before he could look it over. It was a bit weird that it would take so long, but Jacob didn't have to worry as he was given 4 hours to look it over.
If Jacob was reading this right, that would take 1 hour of real time, which would be nice. He had already noted the time displacing effects of his last session, so it made sense he would have extra time to read through the Dossier.
4 hours was the same amount of time he was given for Jean's.
'So should I read the dossier an hour before the session time, or a bit before and have a break?'
As he thought about that question Jacob started to dial the number of his nearest pizza place. He will be having takeout tonight. He couldn't be stuffed cooking.
Once his belly was full, it was about time he got to sleep. He would need all the rest he could get for tomorrow.
******************
Notes: So just a small correction that some may noticed I changed the messages the admin sent to Jacob. I needed to make it clearer than the first time with Jean. This will be a standard format for every session going forward.
For those that noticed that means that the session will be 6 hours. Something I was pretty sure I said about Jean's session, but looking back she was only allotted 4 hours for her session. So, 6 hours is now the norm for the first sessions.
On another note, though I have a few talking points to bring up with for Anakin, I am asking you, the viewers, what you think should be brought up during his session!
Please reply in these paragraph comments here, it just makes it easier for me to find all the suggestions. Though I may see some in the normal comments I could lose them later.
Please note I may only choose a few, I may already have been thinking about something that is suggested as well, and in the end, I will probably only talk about 4-5 topics in Anakin's session, which can branch out in weird ways. For example, I could talk to him about his obvious anger issues which have a lot of examples and bring a lot of talking points for chapters.
I would of course like to bring up some information that may be vaguer about the character, like with Jean. Say things such as how he was bullied as a padawan because of 'factors' (Which I believe is cannon, will have to check) etc, etc.
Finally, what did you think of the time skip? I thought it was needed, and it gives a sense of time to the goings on in the universe.