Obligatory
Disclaimer: Well… I don't own the movies or the characters… Frankly, I don't
think that good ol' George would sue me anyway. He's a decent kinda guy. J
Discord:
Okay--
Kosk:
Must you do this every time you write something?
Discord:
Yup.
Kosk:
::sighs heavily:: Fine. Carry on.
Discord:
If you've read any other bits from my Jedi Chronicles, then you'll already know
what I'll tell you; gratuitous swearing. Some sexual innuendo, too, but nothing graphic. But don't read this if the combination of
that makes you sick, or something.
Neevik:
This can be a stand-alone… Okay, not really. This is almost a direct sequal to Jedi Chronicles #1- Another Day In
Hell. But, yeah. That's it.
Obi-Wan:
Read on.
Jedi
Chronicles # 3
Petals
From The Same Flower
Recorded by Discord
Obi-Wan dragged his sore, bleeding body across an
onyx plain. His whole world was ebony;
there didn't seem to be an end to it.
He looked down, squinted through the blood that was
running through his eyes, his breath coming in heaves.
A single green flower grew in his path.
Even as he watched, the petals to it were tugged,
ripped from the stem and carried away by a non-existent wind.
Obi-Wan raised his eyes to the dainty bits of
confetti. The green petals swirled,
then suddenly crashed against a sickly yellow wave of petals. The clashing colors formed into two lines,
and almost seemed to solidify--
Obi-Wan jerked upward with a shout, sweat flying off
his forehead.
Qui-Gon was by his side in an instant. "Obi-Wan, you were tossing and turning
all night. What did you dream? Did you have a vision?"
Obi-Wan looked up, breathing heavily, still seeing
petals dancing fleetingly before his eyes.
***
"These yellow petals swirled
into them, and they almost seemed to solidify."
Qui-Gon leaned forward. "Then?"
Obi-Wan gave him a wry look. "Then I woke up."
"Oh."
Obi-Wan's brow furrowed. "But, throughout the whole thing, I had
a horrible feeling. Like my soul was
being ripped apart."
Qui-Gon steepled his fingers. "Hmm."
"Hmm? Hmm what? Whaddaya mean,
hmm?"
"Your dream sounds
obscure. If it's a vision, then we
should stay alert for signs. Otherwise,
I don't know what do make of it. Dream
translating is Master Yoda's talent, not mine."
"Okay." Obi-Wan yawned. "When do we get back to the Temple?" The two Jedi were returning to the Temple to
train and meditate.
"We'll be there in, ah, around
a half-hour. Stay away from
freezers," Qui-Gon cracked feebly, referring to an encounter Obi-Wan had
had with a Shadow Jedi.
The teen narrowed his eyes at him in
a classic "I'm a rebellious teen so don't fuck with me unless you want a
fat lip" look.
Qui-Gon retaliated with the raised
eyebrow and the dignified "I'm the almighty adult so don't fuck with me
because I'm the one who controls your allowance" look.
Obi-Wan slunk to the back of the
ship, knowing when he's beat and not willing to risk money.
***
The two Jedi walked out of the
Council chamber after their briefing. Obi-Wan swiped sweat from his upper lip and forehead with his
sleeve. "That was
humiliating."
"How so?"
"You described the prison thing
and they all wanted to know if I was okay."
"If anything, that's
flattering."
"Blah."
Qui-Gon smirked. "They wouldn't have been so concerned
if they knew what kind of music you listened to."
Obi-Wan looked stricken.
"And how you sang
along."
The teenager glanced around before
holding his hands in front of his body in a gesture of defense. "You don't tell them that and I won't
tell them how you… uh… you, um… when, err…"
Obi-Wan swore under his breath. Qui-Gon's smirk grew.
Obi-Wan looked at his mentor,
sounding incredibly sarcastic. "You angel, you, O favorite of Yoda's, Holy Jedi Master, who sees
all and knows--"
Obi-Wan received a whack upside the
head. "Sonofabitch--" He
glared at Qui-Gon, who was busy hiding his hands in his cloak and looking
serene.
***
Obi-Wan stealthily poked his head
into his old quarters. The same mess,
music, and… smell greeted him warmly.
Perhaps a bit too warmly,
Obi-Wan thought, waving a hand under his nose.
He cupped his hands around his
mouth, giving his voice the impression of being deep. He took a breath and began speaking.
"Neevik… Kosk…"
Two unanimous "holy
shit!"s came from the other room.
"This is God."
A Rodian's voice replied, "Oh,
horse shit, Sonja, take the sock out of your mouth and get over here. Mankas."
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, lowering
his hands. Son'jai… he mouthed
to himself as he walked into the other room.
A Rodian and a Trandoshaan were seated
on a gray sofa next to a music cube that was hooked up to speakers so big that
they must have been illegal.
Obi-Wan was suddenly pelted with a
Rodian body that was closely followed by Kosk's in a double tackle. "Oof," Obi-Wan remarked.
"Obi-Wan! Brothah! Where ya been?"
"Scorekeeper, human! Where were you?"
"Wait up, guys!" Obi-Wan expostulated.
Neevik scowled. "You whatted?"
"Exclaimed, shouted… Wait, I
didn't even say 'expostulated' out loud."
"I still didn't understand
it."
Kosk rolled his eyes.
***
"Leelye, huh. Was she hot?" Neevik asked casually.
"She was hot," Obi-Wan
assured him.
"Enough of that." Kosk shuddered. "Human girls are disgusting."
Neevik did the Rodian equivalent of
raising an eyebrow. "You look like
living snot."
Kosk drew himself up. "I am a Trandoshaan, feared by all Jedi
student wussies."
Obi-Wan put his hands on his head
and threw himself down to his knees. "I shiver at your words, O Almighty One!"
Neevik was unimpressed. "Now you look like living snot with an
ego."
The swelling chorus around Kosk
died, and the holy light was snuffed as he scowled. "You look like a dinko. Aren't dinko's bloodsucking?"
"No, that's sentient
boogers," Neevik replied cheerfully.
***
The Trio walked into the Temple
cafeteria, laughing and joking all the way.
A pale Twi-Lek female leaped up from
the empty table that she'd been sitting at, waving at them. Kosk waved back, an unusual smile cursing
his features.
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"
Kosk turned to him, regaining his
natural scowl. "That's
Son'jai."
"Ah. I see."
***
"And he actually sat on
it. Dumb shit fell for one of the
oldest tricks in the book." Neevik
finished his tale of daring that involved Master Ookah and a thumbtack.
Kosk rolled his eyes. "Smooth move. Did he know it was you?"
"Of course not. I'm too good for that kind of bull."
"Of course you are," Kosk
told him reassuringly, and then coughed into his hand. The cough sounded remarkably like
"ego!"
"Coulda sworn that you were the
one with the ego five minutes ago."
"That was a righteous
ego."
"No such thing as a righteous
ego, motherfucker."
"Don't you start with me,
Rodian…"
Obi-Wan leaned over to Son'Jai,
holding out his hand and smiling. "Hi. I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Son'Jai's face immediately burst
into a delighted grin, as though she'd just gone for a joyride in a
speeder. "I'm Son'Jai Malika. Very nice to meet you!" She accepted his outstretched hand, still
beaming her honestly happy smile.
Her cheeriness was infectious. Obi-Wan felt a real smile start to creep
over the corners of his mouth. Son'Jai
Malika was very difficult to not like.
***
"By the gods!" The man threw his arms into the air. "What does it take to get some action
around this fucking place!" The
multiple women surrounding the seated man cooed and caressed his arms, chest,
legs, and… elsewhere.
The creature that was kneeling
before the man inclined its head. Its
gender and race was indeterminable through the thick cloak that the thing
wore. The shadows made it difficult to
impossible to see the being's features as well. It spoke. "The
object only came into a possible capture yesterday, sir. I will be moving as soon as possible."
The man leaned back, apparently
mollified. "Yes… You do
that."
The creature deepened it's bow
slightly before straightening and striding out of the darkened chamber.
The seated man leaned foreword, out
of the shadows, to reveal the face of Mallor Kinatai. He balanced his chin on his hands, placing his elbows on his
knees. "My tolerance of that man
will be my falling," he muttered to himself. The women crooned and massaged the tense muscles of his back
until he leaned backwards, staring at the nude, well-endowed women around
him. A rather nasty smile formed on his
face, and darkness dominated.
***
Son'Jai's fingers danced over the
strings of the wooden guitar. Her
extreme talent echoed in the commons hall. Deep, thrumming notes kept the time, accompanied by the tapping of her
foot on the floor, and mingled with notes higher up on the scale that ran
through the air like silk (AU: Just so you know, the song that she's playing is
"Sunburst", by Andrew York).
She completed her song with a
shimmering chord, and Obi-Wan, Kosk, and Neevik whooped and clapped. Son'Jai blushed furiously, casting her gaze
to the floor.
Obi-Wan smiled in amazement. "Son'Jai, that was incredible."
She blushed further and murmured a
"thank you".
Their claps were interrupted as a
siren wailed through the grassy indoor field. Son'Jai almost dropped her guitar in surprise.
Obi-Wan's smile vanished. "Those are warning klaxons." He closed his eyes momentarily. "Somebody's breached Temple security!" As soon as he voiced this, a group of men
burst into the artificial park, armed with blasters and glop grenades. They stopped for a moment, slightly stunned
at the sight of foliage inside a building, much less on Corascaunt, but raised
their weapons upon glimpsing the Jedi pupils.
Kosk gave them a withering
look. "Oh, honestly." He raised his hands into the air, and the
blasters rose with his gesture.
Obi-Wan gave him a sidelong
look. "You've been working on
that."
Kosk merely snickered.
The leader of the band had a long
scar across his cheek; it wrinkled as he scowled. Scar-cheek yanked a glop grenade from his belt and heaved it at
Son'Jai. Surprisingly, she wore an
expression similar to Kosk's as she telekinetically raised the grenade away
from herself; devilish. "Honestly," she echoed.
Master Ookah ran into the room. He breathed heavily, leaning onto his
knees. His belly flopped as he
gasped. The unarmed terrorists looked
at him, halfway between disgusted and elated. "Ookah. 'Bout time."
Ookah raised his hand, about to say
something, but shook his head and put the hand back on his knee, still panting.
The three students looked on with
wonder.
Neevik stepped foreword
cautiously. "Master Ookah? Do you need any help?"
Something flashed in Ookah's
eyes. He straightened. "No. I need no help."
The glop grenade finally exploded,
interrupting the ringing silence. Son'Jai broke her defensive stance to shield her sensitive lekku from
debris.
Ookah took the opening. He pulled his lightsaber from his belt and
ignited it. The blade bubbled out from
the hilt, a dead, pale yellow. He
snatched Son'Jai's left lek, which caused her to cry out in pain. Wrapping his arm around her neck, he held
his lightsaber close to her neck. "Stalemate now, eh?"
Neevik, Obi-Wan, and Kosk marched
down a dark corridor behind Ookah and his cronies. Kosk looked like a can of pop that somebody had just dropped down
the stairs.
Ookah chuckled, addressing Son'Jai,
who he still held. "Now, my dear…
I don't believe that I've seen you here at the Temple before. Care to enlighten me?"
Son'Jai's lekku twitched, but she
didn't answer.
Ookah's face twisted into a sadistic
smile. "I'll know you well enough
before the day is out." He rubbed
her cheek in a grotesque caress. Son'Jai shuddered.
Kosk leapt foreword, restrained by
the three men. "If you lay your
smutty fingers on Son'Jai, I'll make you eat them," he growled.
Ookah looked him over,
smirking. He imitated Yoda's odd way of
speech, mockingly. "Much anger I
sense in you…" He leaned close to Kosk, hissing his words. "You will be the first to turn."
Kosk stumbled back, horrified.
Neevik dropped his hand onto the
Trandoshan's shoulder, not bothering to grimace at the texture of his
skin. The dazed Kosk didn't refuse the
bit of comfort.
Obi-Wan shot a puzzled look at
Ookah. Ookah intercepted it and sent it
back. "What vexes you,
Kenobi?" He inquired casually.
"If you were a Darksider, the
Council would have sensed it."
Ookah chuckled. "Kenobi. I would expect you, of all people, to know that there are more
than two sides to walk."
Obi-Wan's mouth was suddenly dry,
and he stumbled. "You don't…
You're not working for…"
The Jedi-thing smiled. "Mallor Kinatai. He'll be… glad… that you remember him."