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[neverjedi]

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[justasmallfry]

"Ya," Anakin said. He paused and frowned and grew introspective, though his answer probably did nothing to ease any sane adult's mind.

"I've never finished a race yet." As if that wasn't some inhuman experience Watto forced on him every few months. "Sebulba always manages to knock me out of the competition. But," he brightened, for all the wrong reasons, "I get better each race! One day I'm gonna not only finish, I'm gonna win!"

[neverjedi]

He really wanted to protest the inhuman experience pressed on an 8 year old, especially when people died doing this, but he wasn't going to.

Because he couldn't stop it, anyway.

He did however narrow his eyes slightly because.

There were things he could do and... probably would.

God he was never going to have skin on his back again. If Sebulba figured anything out and that - well he had ways. He had been trained by Jedi for a while.

"Yes," he said, with a smile that was only a little strained. "I am sure you are."

[justasmallfry]

Anakin studied Obi-Wan for a moment. Clearly he was trying to work something out. But it wasn't trying to find the hidden meaning of Obi-Wan's agreement. No, Anakin was too guileless still for that.

He was deciding how much he trusted Obi-Wan.

And he decided that for whatever reason, he didn't question it, he trusted the man implicitly. Anakin was good about listening to his instincts.

But he still lowered his voice.

"I'm making my own pod-racer," he said. "Watto doesn't know. But when it's ready, I'm gonna win a race and win mom and my's freedom. Cuz it'll be my pod-racer and Watto won't be able to claim the prize."

[neverjedi]

Ouch.

He had so many things he wanted to say there, but he didn't say any of them. He just rested his forearms on his bent legs and leaned forward a bit, studied a part and then looked back up at Anakin once he was more sure he could keep his outward mood steady.

"Oh yeah? What comes after that?"

[justasmallfry]

For the first time in the conversation, Anakin is stumped. But he sat, ankles tucked under him, frown on his face, trying to work it out.

"Well..."

He knew he hated Tatooine. His first memory of the place upon arrival was of watching a slave, also newly arrived, try to run away, and the slave master activating the slave chip and the man blowing up.

But there were too many people in his and his mom, and Obi-Wan's position for him to want to abandon everyone.

"I guess... I've always wanted to make something that can find and deactivate the slave chips so I can help everyone else. They don't ever show us slaves that device and I don't remember when mine was put in so I can't make it from memory. But when I buy mom and my's freedom, then I'll see it, and then I can figure it out."

[neverjedi]

"That's a good idea."

It was a terrible idea and it didn't matter right now. What mattered right now was listening to Anakin and what he had to say and letting him have his hope. Hope on Tatooine was rare. So was hope in a slave. Combine the two, and well-

"I don't remember my chip being put in either," he said, like he was confiding. In reality he was just... talking.

[justasmallfry]

Anakin pushed up his sleeve, showing his forearm. "This scar," it was a thin line less than half a centimeter long, "that's where mom says they put it in when I was born." He looked studiously at his arm, like it was any kind of math problem or philosophical quandary. "But it's not there in my arm... I can tell."

[neverjedi]

"They migrate," he said, absently, because there was something more pressing here. "How can you tell it isn't there anymore?"

[justasmallfry]

"Mmm..." Anakin thought about how to explain it. His mom knew what he could do. So could Watto. His mom only encouraged him. Watto exploited him.

"I don't really know... but I just know things about machines and electronics... like, they tell me what's wrong with them and how to fix them. Even things I've never seen before. Like- Oh! I haven't shown you Threepio!"

[neverjedi]

"Just machines?" he asked, though he was getting a pretty good idea in a hurry. And if he'd wanted to help this sweet kid before, he wanted to help even more now. Even though the idea made him tired.

"You haven't. What's Threepio?"

[justasmallfry]

"Threepio is the droid I'm rebuilding," he said shooting to his feet. He held his hand out for Obi-Wan.

"Come, I'll show you! I found his parts in the gutter and mom and I picked up as much as we could before other scavengers got to him and carried him home. And I've been putting him back together. I have to wait for parts to come into Watto's shop before I can finish him, but I'm getting there."

[neverjedi]

He took the small hand offered to him, but he pushed himself up to stand without help and with only a minor tightening of his jaw. "What are you going to do with him when he's done?" Just keep talking about stuff you love, Anakin.

Better yet? Keep loving it.

[justasmallfry]

Anakin dragged at Obi-Wan's hand, anxious to show him his prize project. He pulled him into the room Anakin slept in, and there, laid out on the table was the protocol droid. Or the inner workings of one. Anakin hadn't found many shell parts yet, and besides, he was still working on the insides.

"I'm rebuilding him to help mom because she has to do everything for Watto and there's no one to help her."

[neverjedi]

He looked over what was there. He was not particularly force gifted with mechanics but he'd been decent once upon a time - just like once upon a time he'd enjoyed flying.

"That's really kind, Anakin, and you're doing a really good job with him." Real pride, there, and a lot of encouragement, he hoped. "Does anything besides machines talk to you?"

[justasmallfry]

Anakin beamed up at Obi-Wan, pleased that Obi-Wan thought he was doing well.

"Umm..." he thought about the question. He did have something to add but it was weird saying it like this.

"Pod-racing is kinda like it, too. Humans can't usually do it, but I just... know what to do. .. Sometimes before I should know."

[neverjedi]

That is a pretty good description of using the force. He crouches down in front of Anakin, and this time manages not to wince at all.

"Who else knows you can do that? Does your Mom?"

[justasmallfry]

"Mmm... Mom... And Watto-" Anakin said. "That's why he has me pod-race. He knows I can do it."

He looked at Obi-Wan curiously, the man had gone awfully serious all of a sudden.

[neverjedi]

"I just want you to be careful." Why? How to explain without being doom and gloom with a kid who was more sunshine and light than his circumstances should have allowed. "Do you know what a force inhibitor collar is?"

[justasmallfry]

Anakin had grown solemn. He didn't like the sound of what Obi-Wan talking about, even if he had no idea what it was. He shook his head. "Uh-uh."

[neverjedi]

"There are some people who can sense something called the force. It can be used for lots of things, but one of the things it can be used for is knowing something that's about to happen right before it does. It scares some people, especially when a slave can do it, so they came up with a way to take it away." He's calm and steady about it, because he - Okay he does want to scare Anakin enough to make him careful. Not enough to terrify him.

[justasmallfry]

Had Obi-Wan missed the part of the conversation where Anakin excitedly talked about risking his life on a regular basis? Scared into 'careful' was not a concept easily applied to the child.

But he still remained more sober.

"What's the Force?" he asked, "That's what the collar takes away?"

[neverjedi]

Risking your life was one thing. Risking loss of more liberty when you were already a slave was something else.

"The Force is an energy field that binds everything together. Some people can feel it and use it." He paused and gently lifted the protocol droid Anakin was putting together off the table a few inches before settling it back down. "Being aware of it or using it is what the collar takes away."

[justasmallfry]

Anakin's eyes went wide and he cursed in Huttese in surprise.

"How did you do that?" he said. It was taking him a moment to catch up and process what Obi-Wan was saying.

[neverjedi]

Huttese cursing coming out of a tiny blonde child was both jarring and strangely endearing.

"The same way you know what's going to happen in a pod-race before you should know. The Force."

This kid better not get Obi-Wan put back in a collar.

[justasmallfry]

Anakin's eyes stayed wide.

"I could do that?"

He'll get back to the seriousness of what Obi-Wan was showing and telling him, he just needed to get over how awesome this very much was. He didn't have a lot of good in his life, so when it came along, he took hold of it with all his might.