Time and Again (Obi/Qui/Ani/Xani) [Post 84 April 11] (Completed!)

Okay, the next few Obi posts are some of my absolutely favorite ones - I haven't written them yet, but I know they're going to be fun to write (unlike the rest of the story).

This post is probably weak - I don't really like it, myself - and it's a little on the shorter side, but I've already written and rewritten it a thousand times.

You tell me what you think.

EDIT: We're ~ 1/2 - 2/3 way done through the story.

Aunecah
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Anakin winced as a sharp flare erupted in the back of his mind, and then subdued a moment later. This had been happening a lot, ever since he and Qui-Gon had felt several thousands of deaths, on Coruscant (according to Qui-Gon), many days ago.
Qui-Gon had told him that these physical effects were due to the magnitude of destruction. He had assured Anakin that the effects would wear off after a while, but Anakin wasn't so sure. The headaches that attacked his brain now were no less intense than a couple of days ago. At least he didn't think so.

He and Qui-Gon were in a bar, the Dancing Jawas. It was an ugly name, for an ugly bar, thought Anakin in disgust as he leaned back on his chair and folded his arms.
The tables were dirty, and the entire bar reeked of banthas. Not that all the customers were banthas, of course, but with so many species concentrated in such small place, it had roughly the same effect. And Qui-Gon, telling Anakin to stay at the table and pretend to drink some vile drink he had ordered, had exited the bar a long time ago.

Almost an hour had passed since Qui-Gon had gone, and Anakin was starting to get worried himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust his Master to not be able to take care of himself, but Tatooine was one of the worst pockets of civilization in the entire galaxy. Even Qui-Gon agreed with Anakin about that one. (Everybody did.)

What Anakin really wanted to do, and wasn't sure if it was in his best interests, was to go out and search for Qui-Gon.

The only problem with that was that Qui-Gon would almost certainly be enraged that Anakin didn't follow his orders. (Qui-Gon didn't order Anakin to do anything often, but when he did, he expected the order to be followed.)

A Twi'lek waiter-girl slapped a glass on his table and headed without a second glance toward another table, where three or four Dugs were gambling in particularly loud voices.

Anakin remembered a Dug named Sebulba from when he had been a slave and been living with his mother. Mother.

His eyes filled with tears. Qui-Gon had said that Lars said something about Mother being taken away by the white-clad men. Or at least, that was what Qui-Gon interpreted Lars's statements to be. Anakin wasn't so sure about it, but he didn't see any point in saying that in front of Qui-Gon.

Familiar blasts of anger and jealousy twisted his stomach, making him feel as if he had eaten too much or taken a sip of some noxious drink.

He was almost happy - no, he was happy that that Lars man was dead. He hoped that the rest of the Lars were dead as well. They didn't deserve Mother's love; she had only one son, and that was Anakin. She didn't love anybody else.

He sighed, placing his elbows on the edge of the dirty table, touching the glass with his fingertips.

Was wanting Mother's love the path of Dark Side? Was being angry because of Mother's death the Dark Side? Was he, Anakin, turning?

No. He wasn't. Anakin hadn't killed anybody, had he? He was still a Jedi.

Nobody could fault him for being angry! His Mother - most likely died!

Feeling Qui-Gon's presence re-enter the bar, Anakin looked up.

Qui-Gon seemed extremely miffed and more than a little bothered. Anakin didn't know why. Even through the long days in which they had scrounged Tatooine's pockets of civilization, searching for information on who exactly these white-clad men (and women) were, Qui-Gon's façade of Jedi serenity had never wavered.

Whatever it was bothering him ...

Anakin's eyes widened as he saw who entered the bar after Qui-G

 

YAY! Now Obi has a chance to show those bastards what he's made of.

 

So Obi had reached Tatooin, only a bit late.

Vadey

 

I like it - Obi's finally into action! And I am really looking forward to the next few posts, where I bet that Anakin and his master will have to set aside their differences and work with Obi and his new master to solve the mystery! I am happy to see that you are fleshing out Anakin, Aunecah.

Qui-Gon seemed extremely miffed and more than a little bothered.

I do hope that away from Xan's Sithly influence, Qui-Gon starts to look beyond the obvious.

I have the feeling that with all of Sadin's powers and scheming, he never really understood Obi's power and strength, even in ten years with him. Xan did. hopefully, this will lead to Sadin's downfall.

 

UP!!!

 

These past couple of posts have been quite heavy and depressing, but intriguing. Xan seems to have covered up his tracks quite well. Can we assume that Lumi's datapad is lost? And where have they gotten off to?

Good to know that Shmi is alive, at least for now. She's headed for the black hole, right?

And I'm so looking forward to seeing what goes down on Tatooine here. Will Obi finally spill the beans and clear his name? I suppose it's too much to hope for...yet.

Someone above mentioned Ani's shiny new speeder; I assume that it was destroyed when Coruscant was attacked? What a shame.

 

*steps up to microphone*

*clears throat*

I HATE CLIFFYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Up you go!

 

EverythingInside: Pretty much...

VadeyFan2002: Uh-huh ...

fj: Thanks! Characterization is my big thing, but I have to admit that I don't pay as much attention to it as I should. I'm trying to improve though.

jacen20015: Thanks for the up!

Happy_Hobbit_Padawan: The next post will be fairly light-hearted - a welcome change, I'm sure.

Agent_Jaid: No cliffies in the next post.

Thanks for the up fj.

Aunecah

---------------------
" ? It's quite likely that Shmi's being held as a captive."

"She could be dead too."

"Quite unlikely. All biological relatives share a bond through the Force, and Anakin would have felt it if Shmi had died."

"He could have felt it."

"Are you implying that he's lying?"

"Of course not. I was merely saying that it's possible that he had felt it but didn't register it completely. Grief tends to do that to you."

The two Padawans, one of them old enough to be, and in an ideal situation should have been, a Knight, remained absolutely quiet as their Masters bickered at each other. Both of them saw the stupidity in the conversation, but they didn't actually dare to correct their Masters, especially in front of those they perceived as "outsiders."

Well, that was why Anakin stayed quiet, anyway. He wasn't quite sure why Kenobi kept his mouth firmly shut, but maybe it was because he didn't feel very comfortable talking in front of Qui-Gon.

If Anakin had been in his shoes, he wouldn't have said much either.

An uncomfortable silence fell over all of them. Qui-Gon and Gordin seemed to have run out of new ideas to fight at and were now seemingly incredibly taken by inconsequential things like their shoes or hair strands on their robes. Kenobi, for his part, had been swirling his mug of hot chocolate since even before the bickering had started and didn't look he was going to take his eyes off it anytime soon.

"How can you drink hot chocolate on a day like this?" Anakin blurted out, not able to hold himself back any longer.

"It's the taste that matters," Kenobi answered wryly. "I debated about putting it in the 'freezer, but decided against it."

"Why?" asked Anakin with narrowed eyes.

The four Jedi ? the two Masters and the two Padawans ? had come back to Gordin's ship, mainly because it had been landed closer to Mos Espa than Qui-Gon's. Outside, the twin suns were just starting to set, but the day was hot enough to be noon on a high-time summer day on Coruscant. Well, Anakin would say even hotter.

"Water is scarce here," Obi-Wan said as if he thought the answer were obvious. "You never know when you're going to need it. It's a bad idea to use it all up to keep the freezer cool."

"Good call. Why not the Force then?"

"You shouldn't use the Force for trivial purposes."

"Is that your philosophy?"

"It should be all Jedi's."

"I don't see why."

"Most people don't."

"I'm interested in philosophy."

"Most people are."

"I learn things pretty fast. Why don't you tell me why we shouldn't use the Force for trivial purposes?"

"Maybe sometime later."

"When?"

"I don't know."

"How do you define 'trivial'?"

"As something that you can't put into words."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

"Can we get back on topic now?" Qui-Gon's voice was strained and stern. He looked as if the only thing he ever wanted to do was go to Hoth and sleep on ice. The day was hot ? and his long hair wasn't helping the matters much.

"Get a life, Jinn. Just because you aren't in the mood for talking doesn't mean others aren't."

"I never said that." Qui-Gon stared hard at Gordin. "Lives are at risk here. We need to get the situation resolved as quickly as possible."

"So you keep reminding me," Gordin said dryly. "I'm open to suggestions."

Utter silence greeted him.

Even though this mission had been assigned to Qui-Gon and Anakin, Gordin, being the senior master, got the final say on what they were an

 

That are the kind of answers, which drive Anakin mad, ain't they.

Vadey

 

Loved that interchange! He looked as if the only thing he ever wanted to do was go to Hoth and sleep on ice. LOL! And Obi-Wan drinking his hot chocolate!

Interesting interaction between Anakin and Obi-Wan. And I can clearly see that Gordin is completely mad with Qui-Gon and rightly so!

Can we have some more today?

 

Wow, cool chapter. It didn't seem like Anakin had a lot of hatred towards Obi-Wan....in fact, he seems, well, nice. I don't think Ani's all bad, yet.

The thing with Gordin overriding Qui was awesome. I like how the senior master gets authority.

Nice to see Anakin has some feelings. And, hey....the little bastard's gonna get his due when he finds out Shmi's on the ship going to the black hole----going, because of HIM!

Hehe. I can't wait to see it.

Please update again soon! This chapter was great!

 

I think I will update again today. Thanks to all those who are replying (and also to those who're reading but not replying ).

No time for responses - I'm cramming in some 100 Calc. problems with Physics homework and that's just terrible. Two very fun subjects that, however, probably shouldn't be crammed together in one night with three hours to spare.

Oh well, it's not due tomorrow. I can work on it later.

Aunecah

 

So Bratikin has no people skills of which to speak?



Of COURSE Obi is better suited to judging thier characters!!!

He's better at everything!!!!

 

Not quite sure about this one ...

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"It's called Garrmorl."

Obi-Wan swirled his mug of the murky brown liquid somewhat absent-mindedly as he waited in the bar. Over the years, in which he was often found awake at two hundred standard hours, working on sleep-deprived neurons, Obi-Wan had developed a habit of having at least one drink or another in his hand. Most of the time, it was a non-alcoholic drink, like hot chocolate or Fruit Fizz, but ordering either of the two would look suspicious in a bar.

Anakin, himself, was too young to drink alcohol. Hence, he had stared for a long time at the considerably short list of non-alcoholic beverages in the holomenu, and had finally chosen the only thing in there that didn't include words such as "fizz" and "fruit": Grub-tea. He was waiting for his own drink to arrive, and he was doing so by explaining the origins and making of each drink in the holomenu to Obi-Wan.

"It's created by the Wookiees, I think."

Obi-Wan, who had just been thinking about taking a sip from his mug, instantly pulled it back as far away from his mouth as possible. He stared at Anakin. "You knew that and you didn't tell me when I ordered?"

Others might have been playful, and Anakin certainly seemed to think that Obi-Wan was being unoffended-ly sarcastic. But Obi-Wan's past ten years didn't allow for light-hearted sarcasm. It took him three long moments to realize that Anakin had probably meant it to be a humorous prank.

"Don't worry, Obi-Wan," Anakin said with a grin. "They make it mild enough here for it to be okay for humans."

"Thank the Force."

Still eyeing the drink distastefully, Obi-Wan took an experimental sip from it. The drink wasn't that bad, but he had had better.

"Ever drank Alderaanian ale?"

Obi-Wan flinched as if he had been struck. Alderaanian ale ... Alderaan. He drew in a sharp breath. Something must have shown on his face because Anakin suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything - "

"No, don't worry, Anakin," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. He smiled tightly. "It wasn't your fault." He eyed the Garrmorl again. "Yes, I did have Alderaanian ale once."

"How did it taste?"

"It was ... good," said Obi-Wan for the lack of a better word. "My friends pushed me into drinking it, actually. I've never really been much of a drinker myself."

"Your friends?" asked Anakin seemingly in surprise.

Yes, Obi-Wan supposed he would be surprised at hearing that Obi-Wan had friends - a lifetime ago.

"Siri and Luminara."

"Siri's the one ... ?" Anakin broke off abruptly as if he realized with whom he was talking. His cheeks flamed.

"Yes, she's the one who died," Obi-Wan said in a low voice.

"She's the one who ... died?" Anakin seemed somewhat perplexed.

Obi-Wan nodded slowly.

Anakin didn't answer immediately. He stared at Obi-Wan long and hard as if trying to figure out something about him, like his character, or his personality.

"Is it also in your philosophy to shoulder other people's crimes?" he asked abruptly.

Obi-Wan drew back, startled. "What?"

"Did you really kill Siri Tachi?"

Obi-Wan didn't answer.

"Did you really rape her?"

Again Obi-Wan didn't answer.

"I heard that you never said 'no' to the Council," said Anakin slowly. "But you never said 'yes' either, did you?"

Obi-Wan stared transfixed at the tabletop.

"They just assumed that you did it because you didn't defend yourself?"

Obi-Wan rubbed the blurred table with his finger, as if trying to rub off a stain. "Are you always this open with everybody?" he asked softly.

"Sometimes. Maybe. I don't know. Am I right?"

"About what?"

"About Siri Tachi?"

"I don't know Anakin. Look, there's your Master. I think we should go now."

--------------------

 

Ankin really needs to learn when not to say something and when he should say something.

 

DRAT!!!!!



I was all set up to hate Bratikin and now you have to make me start to like him!!!!


*looks around*


Where in the world are all of the other readers?????



Am I the only one on????????



Well I liked that post.............




Well Done Goddess!!!!

 

Hey Aunecah. I promise I have not been lurking, just been out of town since Friday. I drove over 6 hours today to get home and I am beat. I caught up on your posts. They were great as usual. I am too tired to review properly but I thought I would let you know I am still here. I will probably be missing for the most of the week because I have company coming tomorrow. When they leave I will catch up on your story again. Have a great week.

 

I'm with Anakin on this point, cause I want to know who Obi's protecting, and why, was he protecting Siri's memory? or Jinn's former apprentices reputation. Why would he just let the Council ship him off to that god forsaken planet, with that jedi who they know is a sadistic darksider, without saying anything, not a "I didn't do it", or "I'm guilty as sin, I did it". I want to know! 7

 

There goes Anakin, acting all damn innocent again. Euk.

I do like to see the 'human kid' side of Anakin, though. It's cool...how old is he in this again? I never remember.

Great post! You have nothing to worry about, it fit perfectly. It's funny how familiar Anakin seems with his environment.

Please update again soon!

 

Being on Tatooine must bring out the child in Anakin again, not the greedy young thing, lured by a shiny new speeder. This camaraderie between Qui-Gon's former and present apprentices is highly unexpected, but quite nice. Who knew that Anakin could teach Qui-Gon a thing or two about people?

 

Just Upping!

Blade

 

Post? Hmmm?

 

It's comimg, it's coming - DRL has been a pain in the neck today. I didn't have ANY free time at all today, so you're going to have to wait a little bit longer.



Aunecah

 

*is waiting*



*is waiting impatiently*



*sighes and walks out of thread*



*thought drifts back into thread*



Maybe Goddess has updated her Jacen/TenelKa fic...................