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"Talent you have naturally. Skill is developed through hours and hours of work."
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" Osik !" Ahsoka frowned and huffed air out of her nose like a bantha as the holocam in her lap made a small spark and then died.
"Snips!" Anakin's mouth opened comically in a little O of shock. "You have a Ryl test tomorrow, stop using Mando'a."
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. " Kaka ."
"Good girl." Anakin snickered and took the holocam from her. "Now, let's see here." He unfolded his long legs and started to slowly pace around his bunkroom on The Resolute as he took it apart, humming as he went. "Ah. Okay. Yep, you pulled the power supply out of the cryopack. Instantly melted the motherboard."
"Ughhhh." Ahsoka flopped back dramatically onto her Master's rack and kicked her feet for good measure. "This is impossible."
"It's not impossible, it just takes practice." He tossed the cam in the garbage chute and pulled a new one out of the bulk box he'd requisitioned. "Try again."
"Why do I need to learn how to slice with the Force?" Ahsoka whined, still flat on her back. "I've got a kit."
"Well, what if you need to loop a cam while you're being watched on it? Or what if it's just out of reach for you, shortie?" Anakin tossed the new holocam onto her belly and flickered with golden humor when she made a little oof! noise on impact. "Come on. This is important."
"I'd rather practice getting shot in the hangar," she grouched.
"We'll do that later." He booped her nose and grinned at her. "Tell you what. If you can slice a cam three times in a row, I'll let you watch the first episode of House of Akul ."
Ahsoka's eyes snapped open and met her Master's. "Obi-Wan's gonna be maaaaad ," she sang, but immediately sat up and adjusted herself so she could work.
"I downloaded the 15+ version, he can't complain." Anakin fished out an open bag of cheese-dusted locusts from a cubby in his headboard and shoved a handful in his mouth.
"He's seen it anyway. I know Cody did because he was talking about the King getting executed halfway through the season, which means Obi-Wan was definitely lurking in the back of the rec room pretending not to watch every time it was conveniently on." Ahsoka closed her eyes and visualized the inside of the cam. It began to gently hover in her lap as she started over.
"He really thinks he's invisible once he puts his hood up, doesn't he?" Anakin poked a locust between her lips.
"He kind of is, to be fair." Ahsoka sucked it in and crunched the locust with a small hum of appreciation. "I can't tell you how many times I've been in a room with him and not realized it."
Anakin snickered. "Then you hear Hello there from behind you and jump out of your skin."
"Exactly! I think he does it on purpose." Ahsoka carefully unplugged the streaming wires, crossed them, then plugged them back in opposite to how they'd started. "So annoying."
"You're telling me. He did that all the time to me as a kid." Ahsoka heard her Master reach back into another cubby, rustle around, then pull out something that clinked. "Can you have tartro or is that too much sugar?"
"I can have it," Ahsoka lied smoothly.
She heard a beeping noise. "Kix, come in."
Her eyes snapped open. "Noooooo, Master!" He was hunched over his commlink with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, two blue-violet bottles of fizz lying sealed in his lap.
"What can I do for you, General?" Kix replied after a few seconds.
"I can have a little tartro, right?" Ahsoka pleaded.
"You absolutely cannot have tartro."
"You are such a buir , Sarge-"
"And you are going to be diabetic by the time you're eighteen if you don't stop trying to eat like an omnivore, Commander. Tartro is just sugar water, citric acid, and dye."
She blew a snozzberry at the commlink and closed her eyes, pouting.
"Thanks, Kix."
"Of course, General. Commander."
Anakin closed the channel with a shrug. "Sorry, Snips. You heard him."
"This ship is a prison," Ahsoka mumbled. She closed her eyes and focused on not accidentally unplugging the stupid cryopack again.
Anakin popped open the bottle of tartro with a hiss. "Mmmmm. So good when it's icy."
"How is it icy? You just pulled it out of your headboard."
"I rigged up a cryopack for my drinks," he snickered. "I don't like going all the way to the mess in the middle of the night."
"Of course you did." Ahsoka gently rotated the memory chip inside of the cam. She'd just made it to the processor when she heard giggling and felt the heat of Anakin's hand in front of her face.
"Do you want some motivation?" he asked, his aura shining with yellow comedy .
Ahsoka cracked one eyelid. Anakin had filled the bottle cap with a few drops of tartro and was holding it in front of her face, biting his lips with the effort of holding in his laughter.
She accepted the sip with an eye roll, then gasped. " Arraioa !"
"You can have more if you finish this cam without frying it." Anakin took a smug swig from his bottle. "Just this one though. If you have to start over, no tartro."
Ahsoka harrumphed and started untwisting the crimp connectors. Her Master continued to loudly crunch and slurp his snacks like a puffer pig.
"You know I am trying to concentrate, Master," she seethed.
"Tactile manipulation while suffering distractions is an important skill, little one," he said easily, and shoved another handful of locusts into his mouth. "Hunry up befo I ee em all."
Ahsoka sighed and retwisted the crimps. There was just the relay to adjust now, and it had the tiniest wires that would easily break if she wasn't careful. Suddenly she felt nervous; she'd never made it this far before.
"Hey now, you've almost got it," her Master assured her, the teasing gone from his voice. She felt a tendril of confidence brush up against her aura. "Just go slow. Twist clockwise so you have enough room."
She held her breath as she turned the relay, feeling it click into place without a single broken wire.
She opened her eyes. "Did I-"
"You did it!" Anakin whooped. "Well done, Snips!" He handed her the bottle of the tartro with a proud grin and a celebratory fist bump.
Ahsoka's jaw dropped. "Are you sure?" she asked, holding the cold glass with both hands.
"It's not even half a bottle, you'll be fine." He leaned over the side of his rack, pulled out a holoprojector from the drawer underneath, and laid back down. He patted the sheets beside him.
She took a swig of the sweet, indigo fizz and settled into the crook of his arm. "I thought you said I had to do it three times."
The holoprojector powered up and dramatic string music began to boom out of the speaker. "We'll split it up into fifteen-minute sections," he shrugged and fed her another locust. "It's only forty-five minutes anyway since they edited out all the dirty bits."
She tried to hide her grin. Her Master was such a softie, even if he'd deny it until his last breath.
"We still probably shouldn't tell Obi-Wan you let me watch it," she said with a smirk.
Anakin shook the last of the locust crumbs into his mouth. "Agreed."
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