Before - Legends Fragments of Illusion - drabbles - Update 4/3/10

When he turned to me, he had a worried little smile, quite unlike him, and his eyes were suspiciously bright. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was fighting tears.

Such foolish Jedi holding back their emotions. Obi can see the formation of tears in his Masters eyes, but can't believe Qui-Gon would cry over him.
Of course he would he loves you like a son.

lovely.

 

Crime and Punishment ? Poor Obi-Wan.

Home ? This was absolutely beautiful. Such powerful emotions underneath their little banter, spot on.

More of the same, please.

 

Worrying Qui-Gon....aaaaah, not a good beginning - or a great homecoming - for Obi-Wan. But he certainly knows how to reach his master.

 

LE - thanks so much. RL has been very odd lately so any writing at this point is all to the good.

Gkilkenny - Of course Qui-Gon loves Obi-Wan like a son. It's just sometimes it takes a bit of a problem to make him see that he needs to show it once in a while. Thanks.

azizah - Thanks. Glad you liked them.

ardavenport - Poor worrying Qui-Gon. But at least Obi-Wan knows that his master cares. Thanks.

Everyone - sorry I haven't been updating in a while. RL has been real. Thanks for being patient.

---

[b]Title:[/b] Hero
[b]characters:[/b] OCs
[b]Timeperiod:[/b] post-Episode 3
[b]Summary:[/b] the choices you make determine who you are
************************

Shouts, the rapid-fire ping of blasters, crowds scrambling for escape. Overhead, the drone of clone-trooper ships phased in and out as they passed overhead. Tight formations dirtied the sky.

They were looking for someone, Jedi or one of those so-called rebels, heroic types that often got themselves and everyone else killed.

Behind me, the slap-slap of running boots, young voice pleading for sanctuary, whispering thanks when I pointed down the alleyway.

Moments later, I turned, found a dozen blasters in my face. "Where'd he go?"

"That way."

I wasn't no hero.

So why'd betrayal have to hurt so damn much?

 

Ouch - a killer last line! The OC found his conscience, too late.

 

You're back! I loved the new drabble. Thanks for sharing!

 

I would imagine a dozen blasters in his face would make him do that.

Very good.

 

Val - Thanks so much. I liked the last line myself.

dimyavie - I'm back for a little while. I've discovered another fandom and it's been taking up all my time. But thanks!

Gkilkenny - Yes, I think it would. Thanks!

---

[b]Title:[/b] What I would give
[b]Characters:[/b] Obi-Wan, mention of Qui-Gon
[b]Ratings:[/b] G
[b]Summary:[/b] Ceremonies in a Jedi's life
************************

There are ever only two ceremonies in a Jedi's life.

We give ourselves to others in the endless turmoil of selfless duty and infinite compassion. In those ideals, there is little room for celebration.

But there are times when a Jedi rejoices with friends, savors the passage from one role to another.

I never did.

Accepted as a Learner in the field, there was no time for ritual. That I could understand.

But I lost more than celebration in the hurried, furtive affair of my Knighting day. I lost Qui-Gon Jinn - friend, mentor, almost-father.

And no ceremony was worth that.
[hr]


[b]Title:[/b] Lies we tell ourselves
[b]Rating:[/b] G
[b]Summary:[/b] There are a thousand disguises. Some are even from ourselves.
******************************

There are many ways to lie.

Hiding behind glitter, full skirts or a mage's staff, beads and shaggy hair, armor, weapons, naked flesh.

Princely virtue. Smiles. Tears.

Masks shrouded in golden cloth, shimmering jewels and paint.

The galaxy held a myriad of disguises, a thousand, thousand ways of hiding the truth.

Never a Jedi. A Jedi was always a stoic face and a straight back, homespun robes and linen. A lightsaber gleaming at their side, polished boots clattering down Senate hallways. Rigid, duty-bound, powerful.

Unknowable, untouchable or so they had told themselves.

And that was the greatest lie of all.

 

Indeed, no ceremony was worth that. Great job, Diane!

 

Thanks Val. I put up another one in the post above! I'm on a roll.

 

Very sad for Obi-Wan for the first one. All of his milestones as a Jedi have been so hard, but losing Qui-Gon was one of the hardest --- though I guess he did get Qui-Gon back later.

And the second has a very dark view of the Jedi -- or maybe just a very experienced one.

 

well, these are all just brilliant!

I loved prison, and envy. i guess i'm an angsty-type.

home, hero, give, and lies: also gems.

 

His life seemed so sad in these recollections of his journey and even in his death he still had to guide Luke.
His work was never done. I know why I like Obi so much.
To me he was the chosen one.

just brilliant.

 

ardavenport - yes, poor Obi-Wan. His was a hard life. Yes, the second one was an experienced view of Jedi. Too bad they didn't see their own downfall. Thanks!

ratna - thanks. I loved prison, too. The picture that prompted it was just brilliant. Glad you liked the rest.

Gkilkenny - Yes, poor Obi-Wan. He had such a hard life even as a kid. I would agree with you. Obi is the chosen one! Thanks.

---

One last one and then I'll stop for a while.


[b]Title:[/b] Symphony
[b]Summary:[/b] what is music, after all, to a Sith?
[b]Rating:[/b] PG
[b]Characters: [/b] OCs
*****************************

There is music in agony's fine-wire cries: bass notes of desperation, trebles of throats shattered, high-pitched screams for mercy that would never come.

Songs pure with fear and death.

Unfortunately, sometimes there are flat notes.

My latest plaything had sprayed crimson discord, life-blood staining the air. With gaping mouth and eyes bursting black, shredded bone and skin half-torn, he'd died too quickly.

A pity. I'd just gotten started. Now there was nothing left but disappointment and a body to dump.

No matter. I had a dozen more terrified, frantic beings waiting to sing for me.

Symphonies for a Sith Lord.

 

I loved them all, even this last disturbing little piece.

I have been admiring your closing lines. They are all brilliant.

 

Trust a Sith to think of the possibilities.

No matter. I had a dozen more terrified, frantic beings waiting to sing for me.

At least the last one, even though dead can rest in peace now.

 

Another one I have to catch up on. I love drabbles. Will post review soon.

Okay - I've read all these and they are awesome. Such variety, too, with angst, humour and also horror.

I liked "Reading Aloud" a lot with its quirky humour; and yet at the same time it showed Jedi being "normal" and having each other on. You have a great sense of timing with your punch lines, in fact the rhythms in all these drabbles are great and make them satisfying to read.

"Anniversary" is heartrending, especially these lines:
Then the shattered cup was remade; we became more than distant Master and pathetic Padawan. We became family.

I learned to relax into dry wit, he into smiles.

Inseparable, balanced, loved.

Until?.

"I take Anakin Skywalker as my Padawan Learner."

Twelve years gone in a single breath.

Now I am the Unchosen one.

Again.

The descriptions in "Cleaning Day" are amazing:
One flick of soft cloth and dust swirled away from the rancid husk. Ignoring the greasy stench, he brushed past silvered hair, lifted lids hiding chalky-blue eyes, and smoothed the matted beard. The grinning face was glued tight but had begun to droop.
So visceral and unsettling - but great!

I especially liked the ones exploring Obi's and Qui's relationship.

This line in "Letting Go" really struck me:
"You should have let me go," his voice softens into black silk and contempt, "Master."
There's something really unsettling and threatening in that image of soft, black silk when it's juxtaposed with "contempt". The tone of the speaker's voice comes through strongly in that line.

And then there's that lovely - equally threatening - bit at the end:
Young fool. Death cannot stop me.

I'll never let him go.
He who laughs last . . . A great sense of revenge and ever-lasting torment there. Yummy.

"Broken" is also a favourite:
Now there is a green-eyed child who might repair the broken man, bring a shattered and lost fool back into life again.

Or he might destroy what's left.

Dare I risk my heart a second time?

I'm about to find out.
Yes, yes, risk your heart, you must.

"Jealousy does not become him" also hit a chord with me - poor Obi. So much human truth in that one. Of course the poor guy must have been affected by his Master's semi-obsession with Anakin.

LOL at "Crime and Punishment" Brilliant, but twisted.

And "Symphony" - wow! I love the extended metaphor of the music, but oh boy was that a disturbing look into the Sith psyche. Great stuff.

A wonderful series, Diane. I'm so glad I finally caught up on all of them. You are the drabble meister.

 

azizah - thanks so much. I'm glad you liked them!

Gkilkenny - the Sith are a nasty bunch!

Tahi - hello there. Haven't seen you in this section for a while. I'm glad you liked them. I'm having problems with writing - still but I'm hoping to do more drabbles at least. Thanks so much for reading!

---

[b]Title: [/b] The thin line of laughter
[b]Summary:[/b] The ghosts of choices
[b]Rating:[/b] G
[b]Character: [/b] Anakin Skywalker
*************************************


A thin line of laughter echoed the empty halls - joyous, carefree and alive, so alive that it hurt the back of his throat and the place where his heart once lived.

It was all illusion. There was nothing here but brittle bones and shredded cloth. He told himself the dead don't rise to play games in the crumbling ruins.

And yet the swell of giggles, high-pitched glee of children's dreams, of playtimes and friendships and bright futures, kept hammering him, reminding him of choices he'd made so long ago.

What was left of Anakin Skywalker mourned what could have been.
[hr]

[b]Title:[/b] A sneeze and a dance
[b]Challenge: [/b] TPM-100 (in sickness and in health)
[b]Summary:[/b] Obi-Wan is sick and not happy about it
[b]Rating:[/b] G
[b]Characters:[/b] Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn
***********************************

Obi-Wan hates being sick.

He has more important things to do. He should be saving lives, not laid up in his room feeling miserable. It is an affront to the Jedi Order, the Code, and everything else.

Blasted sickness - disgusting, embarrassing. With side-effects.

Especially side-effects.

He tries to control them. He does. But every sneeze, his bed flies; coughing and things begin to dive-bomb him. When his fever spiked earlier, apparently the furniture had all danced into a messy pile in the middle of the room.

"Never be sick again," he vows and sneezes.

Blasted flying bed!

Qui-Gon just smiles.

 

Wow Master! I finally caught up on them. So much power and intensity in so few words...you must teach me how to do that sometime!! Be sure that you PM me when you update these...you know how crazy my life has been! LOL

 

jedidas3 - thanks. I really like doing drabbles because they are faster than longer things. I know how crazy your life has been! Mine has, too. I've added another one above!

 

Poor sick Obi - against the Code, eh?

Just let Qui-Gon, Jedidas3 and myself nurse you back to health.

 

Oooooooh, for 'The ghosts of choices'. I think that drabbles force you to concentrate and minimize the most emotional parts of story description. Very nice and very sad for Anakin. No way to undo what he did. We never suspected what the tragedy would turn out to be for Vader when we first saw ANH.

And wow, when Obi-Wan gets sick, he doesn't fool around, eh? I guess since Qui-Gon is smiling, he knows how to handle it.

 

The thin lines of laughter.

There's not much of a heart left in Anakin. For destroying his family.


A sneeze and a dance.

Poor Obi hates being sick and his Master smiles at him.
There ought to be a law against smiling, by ones Master when your so sick.

 

Val - LOL. Thanks. I think Obi-Wan could use some nursing.

ardavenport - drabbles do force you to pare things down to their elements. I think I like them because they don't take a lot of words. Glad you liked them.

Gkilkenny - Anakin lost himself and it took his son to find him again. As for Obi-Wan, he's just too adorable for words. Thanks.


Apparently while I thought I was done with writing Star Wars (except for the things I am determined to finish), it wasn't done with me.

---

[b]Title:[/b] Just another day in CoCo Town.
[b]Summary:[/b] A shop owner finds something he'd rather not.
[b]Challenge:[/b] TPM100 ? Jedi cloak
****************

The fabric, all browns and wet-black, spills across the entryway.

He looks around, annoyed that it had been left behind, tossed aside like trash. One more thing to clean up. A daily occurrence in this part of town, collecting garbage left by the night's crowd. The bane of every shop owner.

He reaches down, touches cloth, jerks back, his hand slimy-red. The cloak is soaked with blood, torn, almost shredded in places. Blaster-scorched, too.

He wonders ? briefly - if the being survived, then picks up the cloak, tosses it into the recycler, and turns away.

Just another day in CoCo Town.

[hr]
[b]Title:[/b] A Jedi's weapon is his life
[b]Summary:[/b] in a Jedi's last moments, sometimes it's better not to know.
[b]Challenge:[/b] TPM100 ? lightsabers
***************************

The air was thick with silence. There was no spill of light to ease his terror; the cloying black was suffocating, pressing down until it seemed the universe was crashing into darkness.

Hands chained, head throbbing, he knew his end had come; he longed for a word, a lifting of shadow, for the Force to comfort him in his final moments.

Instead, light flared and?.

On the wall, hanging like macabre trophies of Jedi dead, were dozens of lightsabers: melted, crushed. Desecrated.

Horrified, he started to turn, saw his saber in Sith hands.

Saw molten fire slicing down.

Then? black.

[hr]
[b]Title:[/b] Sheer torture
[b]Summary:[/b] Non-con is such an ugly word.
[b]Challenge:[/b] TPM 100 ? non-con
[b]Notes:[/b] Okay I took it way out there.
**************************

"Stop, please." It hurt to breathe. Curled up, his hands clutching his abdomen, he took great gulps of air, tried not to pass out. "Please!"

A wicked chuckle. "What's the matter, Jedi? Can't take it? I thought you were trained to ignore little things like discomfort."

Anakin panted, "Discomfort? Is that what you call it? It's sheer torture."

"Not from where I'm sitting."

"How about we change places, see how long before you scream." If looks could kill, she'd be dead by now.

"Not happening, Ani." Padme smiled and waved the feather his way. "Who knew you'd be so ticklish?"

 

Yikes to the Jedi's weapon is his life - in this case, his/her/its death.

As to the tickling - as a non-ticklish person, I found that funny. So did Padme, it seems.