"I still can't believe you started a pillow fight in meditation class." Anakin said. "Even I wouldn't do that."
"Yeah, right." Carmine said. "But at least I know how to have fun."
"I know how to have fun. I just don't mess around in class."
"Are you saying you never once had a pillow fight?"
"I probably would've gotten kicked out of the order if I had."
Carmine picked up a pillow and whacked Anakin with it.
"Like that?" Carmine teased.
"Real mature, Carmine." Anakin said, starting to walk away.
But Carmine just threw the pillow at his brother and crossed his arms with a smirk.
"Looks like we know which of us Gabby inherits most of her personality from."
"Excuse me?" Anakin glared at his brother.
"I'm just saying, she's energetic and fun-loving, I'm energetic and fun-loving. The genes spread."
"Gabby gets most of her personality from me. I am a lot of fun."
"Prove it then."
Anakin whacked Carmine with a pillow. Carmine grabbed another and whacked Anakin with it. The twins kept hitting each other with pillows like crazy until feathers were flying all over the place.
"Okay, so you do know how to have fun."
"The most fun things I got to do as a kid was race pods or play ball."
"There are other great ways to race." Carmine said. "Like running to the commissary for a snack!"
Anakin ran after Carmine, and they raced right to the commissary, rushing past a few other Jedi.
And the twins looked for a snack but found there was only one apple strudel left.
"I call dibs!" They said at the same time.
So, the twins started rock-paper-scissors for it but got a tie five times. And Gabby grabbed the strudel and pulled it in half.
"Did both of you forget that you taught your daughters to share?" Gabby said, leaving each of the twins half a strudel.
So, Anakin and Carmine decided to get to know each other a little better. They'd missed over twenty years of each other's lives, and had a lot of time to make up.
They got to know a lot about each other.
Carmine's favorite color was orange, his favorite childhood toy was a plush rabbit named Fluffy that their grandmother made for him (and he still kept it), he knew a lot about fashion thanks to his grandmother, whose whole power was making clothes.
"So that's where Gabby inherited that power from." Anakin hypothesized.
"It's very possible." Carmine said. "She taught me everything I know about clothes and hair care. You gotta know those things in my line of work. So, tell me about you. What's it like for you being the Hero with No Fear?"
"Well, it's not always easy, I'll tell you that." Anakin said. "I'm pretty much a celebrity, and women are still attracted to me despite that I'm married."
"I bet that must be annoying. But to be fair, no one knows who I really am or anything about my personal life. And things really have changed a lot here since I last saw the Temple."
"Wait, you've actually been here before?" Anakin sounded shocked.
Carmine nodded and told Anakin how once when he was five years old, he snuck away from his grandmother and made his way to the Temple. At the time, he was struggling at school because all the other kids picked on him, especially once he got his glasses. And he thought if he went to the Temple, he could go to school there and be with his father. But that didn't go as planned.
"Luckily, Dad found me and took me back home safe and sound. After losing Grandma, I didn't think I could come back here. Even if I were willing to accept the old no attachment rules, I felt pretty sure they wouldn't take me in because I was already a teenager. But then I discovered the Musical Education League of Dynamic Youths Academy, a.k.a. M.E.L.O.D.Y Academy. Unfortunately, I didn't have the funds to attend as a student. But, they needed a cleaning assistant, and I got the job. And for a while, sometimes I got to watch all the different things the students learned there, and I dreamed of going to school there as a student. And then one day, that wish came true, and I finally had a loving foster mom too."
"What was it like in music school?" Anakin asked.
"Well, it started out pretty rough, to be honest." said Carmine. "Kids still made fun of my glasses and I was still grieving at the time. But my roommate was nice enough. And I met the girl of my dreams there too."
"At least you didn't have to hide your feelings for her." Anakin said.
"Oh, it was harder than you'd think. Caroline comes from a long line of great dancers. And she's the best dancer I'd ever seen. And getting into Melody Academy is a real challenge. One teacher liking my piano playing wasn't enough. I had to pass a really hard entrance exam filled with auditions of many songs, dances, and I showed off at least ten of the many instruments I play."
"How many instruments do you play?"
"I've lost count. But to put it simply, give me any instrument, I can play it."
"No way."
"Way." Carmine smiled.
Anakin decided he had to see it for himself, so he called out for someone.
"Gabby, do we have any books on musical instruments?"
Carmine showed off his musical skills by playing Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on the piano, which impressed Gabby greatly. Lamenta wasn't surprised her father mastered that tune. She lived through his musical career with him.
"Play another song, Uncle Carmine!" Gabby smiled, clapping.
"Maybe later." Carmine said. "I got a few more instruments to play."
"You said you play the guitar too, right?" Anakin said.
Carmine played the guitar, playing part of the song You Belong With Me (Taylor Swift), and tossing his hair back and forth to the rhythm, and looking so confident doing it.
"I bet you can't play an entire drum set." Anakin said.
But Carmine played the drums, and played them very well.
Gabby, using her book jumping power, brought out different musical instruments from a book that named every musical instrument ever created.
"Okay. What about violin?"
Carmine could play that too. So could Lamenta.
"Daddy taught me how to play." Lamenta smiled, playing a sweet little tune on her violin.
"Okay, uh... trumpet." Anakin said.
Carmine could play that too. So, Anakin named pretty much every instrument he could think of. Gabby joined in on that too, so did Boba, Carousella, and Remix
Xylophone, flute, clarinet, tuba, timpani, bongos, sitar, didgeridoo, accordion, steel drums, cello, harp, glockenspiel, trombone, harmonica, maracas, tambourine, ukulele, saxophone, mandolin, banjo, organ, triangle, bagpipes, calliope, French horn, bassoon, fiddle, lute, oboe, panpipes, recorder, zither. Any instrument you could name, Carmine could play it.
"Where'd you find the time to learn so many instruments?" Boba asked.
"It might have to do with the fact that I have music magic that it comes naturally." Carmine shrugged. "But I gotta practice just like any musician to keep my skills sharp."
Boba looked at the guitar he got for his birthday and then at his uncle.
"Do you think you can teach me to play guitar?" Boba asked.
"For family, I'll teach anything you want about music. All ya gotta do is ask." Carmine smiled.
It was no surprise to Anakin that Carmine was an excellent dancer; he'd seen him perform as Count Crescendo not that long ago.
And Carmine proved to be very popular with the Jedi younglings as he showed off his dance moves while Remix dropped a beat.
Right now, Carmine was showing off his skills in hip-hop as he danced with Remix, and looked very cool doing it. Every pop and lock, every turn, and when he did a backflip and finished in a split, it was all so perfect and left the kids cheering.
"Can you show us how to do that?" asked one boy.
"Sure. But there's a lot to learn before you can do that stuff. Dancing is fun, but it's serious business. You need not just music to do it, you need coordination, technique, and a strong body."
"How hard can it be?" Anakin said.
Anakin tried doing some of the movements Carmine did, but he fell down after a jump, and when he tried to do a split, he could only get about halfway down.
"Okay! That was a bad idea!" Anakin winced as Carmine carefully helped him up.
"See? You gotta practice, and most importantly, stretch before you do the intense stuff, or something like this could happen. Or worse." Carmine said.
Carmine began showing the kids some different stretches they could do to strengthen their bodies for dancing. Stretched that could increase flexibility, mobility, and coordination, as well as breathing exercises to help them stay balanced.
"Remember, never hold your breath." Carmine said. "It feels hard to do at first, but you'll get the hang of it."
Anakin found himself unable to believe that he was related to such a skilled dancer, yet he had some trouble learning some of the advanced movements. Carmine made it look so easy.
Later, Carmine gave Anakin a private dance lesson.
"First position. Second position." Carmine instructed, guiding Anakin through the five positions of ballet.
Carmine showed Anakin different stretches to practice at the barre, and different exercises that would help up his skills, like special jumps called sautés, which would make his legs stronger.
Since Anakin already knew martial arts, Carmine had the idea that all he had to do was think of the dance like a battle, but with music and graceful movements.
Anakin tried a pirouette, but fell down as he got dizzy.
"How do you do that without getting dizzy?" Anakin said, his eyes spinning around.
Carmine helped his brother up and said, "You gotta spot when you turn. Find a particular spot to focus on, and quickly make sure your head turns first before the rest of your body. If when you turn you spot, then become dizzy you will not. Ms. Susy used to teach me all kinds of rhymes to help me remember the most challenging tricks in song and dance."
Carmine offered to be Gabby's ballet teacher, but Anakin said they did just fine learning it themselves. Anakin didn't have much dance experience. Most of what he practiced with Gabby was from what he could find in holo-net videos, which did not give feedback as well as an in-person teacher.
"It wouldn't be any trouble." Carmine said. "Caroline and I taught Lamenta to dance, and you should see her now."
"Still, Gabby is my daughter. Padme and I decide how she's raised."
"I never said I was gonna raise your kids for you. But, I would like to be able to catch up with them. And hey, it might be nice if you caught up with your niece."
Anakin thought about that. Carmine did have a point. He missed out on seeing Gabby grow up and being there for Boba's adoption, and Anakin never got to meet Lamenta as a baby.
And then, the twins had an idea. Switch children for a day and take some time to get to know each other.
Carmine always wanted to have more kids, and spending time with his newfound niece and nephew would give him a taste of what that could be like someday. And Anakin saw that Lamenta was still a little shy around him, but then again, she was always shy with new people, given that she never stayed anywhere long enough to make real friends until now. The last thing Anakin wanted was for his niece to feel uncomfortable around him, especially now that they were living together.