Learning to Live (COMPLETE)

8.2.1

Leslie and one of her colleagues, Anton Jackson, were finally finishing inventory. Leslie had delayed starting it until Jackson had showed up, right after lunch, but the two of them had barreled through it in two hours. They were finishing the form Fuller wanted from them when Leslie mentioned the girl she had met in the sim room.

"You remember anything about Ahsoka Tano?" she asked him, turning to look in his direction.

Jackson, as the others called him, paused typing on the keyboard and met Leslie's eyes. "That girl from the news? The Jedi Gone something-or-other?"

"Jedi Gone Rogue," she corrected him, rolling her eyes. "But do you remember her?"

"Sure, why?"

Leslie stole a glance out the door to make sure no one else was listening, then leaned in close to whisper to Jackson. "She's applying for Frand's workbench."

"Shut up," he admonished her. "For real?"

"She's working the sim right now!"

"No way," he said, and he abandoned his form in favor of seeking out the Togruta. He and Leslie stole quietly to the sim room, where Ahsoka was still working on the hyperdrive (by this time, she hadn't stopped to realize how long she had been working).

"She started at, like 8 this morning," she explained. "I went in there to give her a glass of water before she started, but she hasn't left all morning. I didn't even see her take a lunch break."

"Well maybe she doesn't eat lunch," Jackson whispered, peeking through the window in the door. Ahsoka had her back turned to them, so all they saw was her back, her montrals and a lekku. "She's a Jedi, maybe they don't need food."

Leslie smacked him. "Don't be ridiculous, Jedi eat food."

"Maybe Togruta don't, then. Or maybe just Jedi Togruta."

"She probably just ate when no one was looking. Besides, she's not technically a Jedi anymore. Come on, before she sees us spying!"

"Hang on, I want to watch her for a bit."

Leslie groaned before responding. "As long as Fuller doesn't catch us."

Jackson pressed his nose against the glass, trying to see if there was anything interesting or different about the ex-Jedi, but it was hard to tell when Ahsoka was facing the other direction.

Leslie piped up from his shoulder. "Do you think she can use the Force still? She didn't when I went in and talked to her."

A thought occurred to Jackson, and he started scurrying back to their office, where they had left their inventory forms. "Do you think when Jedi leave the Order, that they lose their power?"

Her eyes widened, and she looked back behind them. "I hope not, I want to see her lift something with her mind. Preferably Granger."

Jackson laughed, imagining Granger, one of the mechanics, floating in the air, flailing his arms and screaming. He had a 'thing' about heights, but he always denied it.

They returned to their desks and resumed the inventory while also keeping up their conversation about Ahsoka. A few minutes later, Mr. Fuller walked in through the door and knocked. Leslie and Jackson fell silent and looked at their employer.

"How's that form coming?"

"Almost done," Jackson reported, as he was the one who was typing in the information, and Leslie was just reading it off. "Just formatting it now. Five minutes, maybe."

"Good, because we need to find room for those shipments coming in soon." Fuller walked over next to Jackson and skimmed over the screen, although he trusted him. Jackson normally did the best with paperwork.