padawan_kat: Glad you approve!!! Thanks again! I am afraid *kyer* wouldn't like your characterization of Obi or Vos either !!!!LOL!!!! However I DO!!!!
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Kyer: you wrote: "I've yet to find one believable character and that's a shame. Try shooting for the middle instead of the extremes. Unless you are shooting for melodrama."
Sorry you didn't care for my characterization. Read Dark Horse with Vos and you will find him a beefy hunk and quite a bit tamer than I write him. Watson's Xanatos is close to himself and Qui and Obi?? I don't think there are not many FF writers around that doesn't give them more of a character than Lucas did. Have a good day!!!!.
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koriaena: in response to you. You wrote: "this is a good story line. you might want to mark where there's a change in scene though."
Thank you, any tips on how to write a better story is appreciated. Sometimes the reader even if they aren't a writer, can point out what makes a better read!!!
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BreathofNight : To you I want to tell you I do appreciate it when reader takes a few seconds to post. It really is feed for a writer. It keeps us motivated, no matter if we are a beginner or a seasoned writer. ewen
########## In the Crion/Skywalker living quarters#################
Qui-Gon had to admit Xanatos and Anakin both had done everything possible to keep him out of his melancholy state. The readily tolerance of him from both of them pleasantly shocked the big padawan-less master. He thought he had felt a little resentment from Ani in the beginning.
If it was resentment he felt when he first began to assert himself as a third wheel with the master padawan team, Crion and Skywalker he knew it derived from the fact that he hung around too much. What else did he have to do? All field missions for Master Jinn had been temporarily suspended.
He had a choice of always eating alone in his apartment where he now lived alone, to eat with Xani and Anakin, or go to the commissary and listen to the bustle that still continued among the initiates and padawans about the good looking rogue Jedi Quinlan Vos. Of course the knights and masters weren't above the gossip. They however were a little more discretionary about who they gossiped with and did it a little more discreetly amongst themselves.
It had gotten around the temple that Jinn had lost his apprentice Obi-Wan to Vos, although no one seemed to know or care why. In fact, no one in the temple bothered with the entire truth when they gossiped. By the time the twit headed little giggly girls finished with the story, Qui-Gon had been the great big mean master that abused his apprentice and Quinlan had become the savior that swooped in to rescue Obi-Wan from Bulenese and then from who had become through the grape vine, his beast of a master.
The opinions by others of the master and knight had suddenly become out of keel, seemingly flip flopped by the tale repeated and repeated of their fight for Obi-Wan Kenobi. 'Beast of a master', certainly not Qui-Gon. His demeanor of sterness but fairness was familiar to everyone or was before all this happened. The gossip that designated Quinlan Vos the gentle kind rescuer were not qualities that any of the council masters had ever witnessed from Knight Vos.
The younger Jedi and the knights and masters who had never worked with the rogue, knew little if anything of his character traits for certain. However, gossipers didn't care for the certainities or the truth. *They* wanted to be able to convey to others the most horrible of the gossip real or unreal.
Jinn would certainly not correct them. It was beneath him to show concern for idle lie-filled gossip. However, Qui could tell during last meal hour in the main commissary that Quinlan was getting a real delight out of the misconstrued stories. Especially when they made him come out the hero in all of it.
"Qui you really shouldn't let Quinlan Vos get under your skin the way you have. I have to say I was as shocked as you to see him and with Obi-Wan no less. If your little ingrate of a padawan wants to remain with him then so be it. I would think it was a load off your shoulders. Such lack of loyalty, blatant betrayal that is what it was."
"You shouldn't see it that way Xani. I know you have your 'outs' with Quinlan, but...."
"Me, have outs? Is there anyone around that can stand him? Ahh, I know the little females padawans drool over him and the males think he a lion of a warrior, but aside of that….. Everyone knows he is sent on missions others *won't* do."
There was an instant resentment for Xanatos' words about Quinlan. An unnamed desire to defend the knight, his former apprentice hit Jinn and he spoke before he even had time to hold himself back.
"Or can't? There is no Jedi; myself included who can do some of the remarkable diplomatic wheelings and dealings that Vos can do." //Where did that bit of praise for my former apprentice come from?//
Xani turned and glared at this former master. He thought in this one thing, their feelings for Quinlan Vos, they could both agree. Evidently by Jinn's last statement they couldn't.
"Qui-Gon Jinn, just what is that suppose to mean? Surely you haven't changed you mind about that snake, Quinlan Vos? I thought your opinions of him lay very closely to what mine are, what the entire temple's are, except the swooning little teenage girls and a few of the council masters who use his talents, hopefully at the expense of his life."
"Xanatos, the council would never do that."
"All right, let me rephrase, in spite of the expense of his life. I don't think they care what happens to him as long as he gets his missions completed. I think if he was killed today on a mission there wouldn't be much hubbub about it. Certainly not as much as is going on today and that are just the gossip mongers that fuel that."
Jinn ignored all the negative comments about Vos. He instead focused on the gossip which had little truth in it.
"I grant you that. The gossip has been rampant around here and all of it or most of it anyway is made up lies."
Ani walked in with a plate of cookies, a bag of chips, and a soda.
Qui-Gon raised one eyebrow and cocked his head up from his seated position to watch the boy force-balance the immense loaded down tray of food in his hand.
"Another snack Ani? I don't know how your master keeps the food pantry here stocked."
The humorous comment elicited a true smile from Anakin Skywalker; something seldom seen. Since he left his mother and arrived at the temple, honest happiness and good moments had been few and far between.
Ani had been a little nicer to Master Qui-Gon sir, as he called him. He didn't care for Vos, was even more jealous of him than he was of Obi-Wan and in turn Jinn became a victim instead of the nagging master. Anakin thought it never hurt to have another master, especially one as powerful within the Jedi order on your side and Master Jinn certainly gravitated to Xanatos and Anakin even more now with all the confusion over his apprentice.
"Master Qui-Gon sir, this is just my normal daily ration for my bedtime snack, nothing more."
Anakin plopped down on the floor next to where his own master, Xanatos sat; his tray of food still balanced with the use of the force. He shot an irresistible smile of innocence toward the Jedi master, Jinn and spoke again. He felt comfortable enough to comment on Obi-Wan and Vos.
"I tell you Master Jinn, the council showed their true colors when they sided with Vos and not you."
"They didn't side with anyone. How could they ignore Obi-Wan's feeling in all this?"
Xani jumped in with his unkind observation of Obi-Wan's actions.
"Come off it Jinn, you give both your former apprentices, Obi and Vos too much credit. Obi-Wan had to realize that what he watched that day, what the Bulenese people supplied him with was just a doctored up a holoview of the Bulenses leader and you deep in conversation. That you would never turn him over to them and leave him willingly."
"Now Xani, Obi had been injured, was confused. You put him the most critical light, as if all this is his fault and I don't see it that way."
"OH.. Well Qui-Gon let me tell you what I *didn't* see. I didn't notice a gaping hole in your apprentice's head and that is what he would have needed to be that confused. He would have needed an injury to his head where his brain had just oozed out. How could he possibly believe you would leave him in favor of Anakin's and my life."
"He did though, Xanatos. I have no doubts about that. You can't blame Vos either for this situation we are now in, not entirely at least. He just happened to be there at the right time. I should be eternally grateful to him. He did rescue my apprentice from the Bulenese and their planned medical experiments on the child. The only truly underhanded he did in all this was refusing to allow me to have my own apprentice back. I think he could have encouraged Obi-Wan to attempt to reunite with me and the child would have listened. Obi-Wan already seems to trust Vos a great deal." //Maybe too much for his own good.//
The statement thought by Jinn would remain unsaid. He did not want to cause any more problems than they already had.
Xanatos slammed the data pad; he had been attempting to go over, onto the sleep sofa of his small apartment.
"GRATEFUL? That's bull Jinn and you know it. Vos is a trouble maker. He may have brought Obi-Wan home, but he has caused you enough trouble throughout you connection with him to warrant having him brought up on charges himself. I contend that was his intention from the beginning, when he realized what a treasure he found on the Bulenese planet. That is what he considered when he found him there held captive for their studies on a force enhanced Jedi. You know that."
Xanatos shook his head in defiance of Jinn's 'grateful' opinion of Quinlan Vos.
"Why…. why do you make excuses for him, always for the infamous Knight Vos? I never heard too many of those lame excuses for me made up by you. As defiant as you may have thought I was at one time, I have a halo where Vos has horns…... Same with Obi-Wan. I thought you said just last week you could be satisfied overseeing the training of Anakin. Now you have become depressed again over the Kenobi boy."
"Xanatos you should have seen his face when Yoda got him pried from the tunic of Vos. Obi-Wan was terrified. He feared me. He literally clung to my other former padawan in sheer terror of his own master."
Jinn let the memory of Obi-Wan's fearful actions that day seep through and rerun like a bad holoview in his mind.
"The Bulenese showed him that doctored holoview at his weakest, when he was most vulnerable and mind suggestive. He had been injured, no force to help aid his healing and control the pain and he was so alone. He saw the holoview with me where it looked and sounded like I had made a bargain with the Bulenese; his life for Anakin's. Without the force to direct him and evidently his already pent-up insecurities where Anakin was concerned, what he watched, my apprentice *thought* was the truth."
Xani walked over and slouched back on the sofa, very nearly lying down when he did..
"Well, I think you are better off without him. How could he think you favored my apprentice over yours, that you would forfeit his life for ours? Not a bad idea to me if you had to do it or did it but you didn't. You are blameless."
"Yes, but I have to get the Obi-Wan to see that, as well as a couple of stubborn masters on the council who believe his quirky little tale, Vos included."
Xani sat back up, pulled the data pad back up and into his lap.
"No, no, no, I don't buy that. Your former apprentice knows you well enough to know you did not leave Obi in such a predicament. He brought Obi here only to get you in trouble. He doesn't believe for a second Obi-Wan's rants and raves that belie your betrayal of him. Vos sees it as a way to get back at you. You and he have never gotten along since he was knighted."
Master Jinn couldn't figure out how Xani had gotten so wise just in a short time but he had. Qui-Gon had begun to have a new found respect of his apprentice he once questioned.
"Listen Xanatos, I saw the raw fear in the boy's eyes and after Master Yoda explained why I understood more. The healers have been working with him. They say it could be days or weeks but the boy will one day understand that the Bulenese tricked him. The fake holoview was shown to him over and over repeatedly to pound into his head that I had willingly left him in favor of saving our lives. It was certainly a unique and different way to try to break the child's resistance to them. I can only imagine that after the tenth or fifteenth time of seeing what he thought was me in the process of bargaining for our lives with him as the bargaining chip, it left an indelible and negative impression on Obi-Wan's mind; one not easily, and contrary to what the healers say, if ever, erasable."
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Two weeks……. Two weeks at the temple and nothing had changed.
Obi-Wan dragged himself to the temple healers, mind healers that is, every single day and nothing. There was nothing they could say or he could think of that would erase the very vivid and to Obi-Wan, real memory of what he saw in the holoview. He had been told that nothing he saw was real, that Jinn had never abandoned him or that he never would have chosen him over Xanatos Crion's apprentice Anakin Skywalker, but nothing did anything to clear up the way he felt.
//I am not even sure how I feel.//
######meal time in the Vos apartment######
Obi sat and forked up a piece of the most unappetizing looking piece of meat he had ever seen. His hand quivered and that quivering matched his lips as he touched the blood-raw meat to them, only to withdraw it and place the meat back on his plate, uneaten and still very much *RAW*. Of course he made sure first that his present guardian, Quinlan Vos was not looking at him.
//I assume it is cooked… somewhat, but the blood still oozes from it. I suppose when Master …I mean Knight Quin said it was rare…boy was it *RARE*!!!! //
Obi-Wan glanced up again from his nearly if not at all cooked meat to see Knight Vos ravishingly consuming his.
The knight might have missed one bite of food when he used his fork to point to Obi-Wan, but never did he raise his eyes from the plate of already *half eaten*, *almost raw* bantha steak.
//Maybe he thinks his meat is still alive enough to jump up and run if he gives it a chance, // Obi thought humorously to himself before Vos spoke mumbling with his mouth stuffed full of uncooked and now un-chewed meat.
Jinn's apprentice watched disgustingly as the knight bunched the food up in one jaw like it was a pouch, like maybe a squirrel would store his nut to take home.
"Don't you like your food? Want something else? Sorry can't help you there. You eat what we have and this is what we both *have* tonight."
Obi didn't like the food, but he certainly wasn't going to complain about it. He had seen a side of Vos that not many were privy too, the human side. However, he had heard rumors and whispers between Master Mace and his master, Qui-Gon enough to know what he had thus far witnessed about this Quinlan Vos was not the 'norm' for him. Obi-Wan wanted to prolong seeing that much discussed normalcy in Quinlan Vos for as long as possible, maybe never if he was lucky.
"No master… I mean… no Knight Vos, this is fine, really."
Quin nodded his agreement about the food being *good*, but still did not take time away from his culinary delight to look at Obi-Wan.
"Good, then eat. I want to put you through some katas and then you have to meditate before bed."
This time Quin attacked the food with his fork and stuffed a too large of a piece in his mouth. As he spoke, the flowing haired knight let the oozy aujus, made mostly of the blood of the animal drip from the corners of his mouth. He took his tunic sleeve and wiped it off.
//Wow! He really has been living on the outer planets. He must have shared a great many meals with the Hutts to have table manners like this. //
Obi liked amusing his mind, his now very empty mind with something humorous or what he thought was funny. He had broken connection with his master, tightly shielded from him though he didn't admit to anyone that he knew why the connection was broken. He knew exactly why he and Jinn were not now connected mentally. Obi-Wan had stubbornly and surprisingly forceful stopped it by shielding with shields not normally so powerful for someone his age.
However, he had no intention of revealing why he could not connect with his master and the healers never once suspected it was his shields and for that matter neither had his master. His self confidence in not being found out was soon shattered. He watched as Quinlan Vos pushed his empty plate out of the way, leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs, which were very nearly as long as Qui-Gon's.
//Why do I keep thinking of Master Jinn? I want nothing more to do with him maybe that is why I can tolerate Vos, he is just like me and besides he is nice to me …well so far. //
Obi was just about to find out that there was something Vos was not nice about, his directness. He did have an uncanny and annoying knack of saying what he thought and telling anyone, Obi included, how he felt about things.
Obi-Wan struggled with another bite of blood-dripping meat when he looked up and saw a set of deep blue eyes nearly covered with locks of undone black-as-night hair watching him in serious earnest.
"How did it go at the *mind-pickers* today? Get anything out of you, did they?"
A touch of anger started to flair up before Obi-Wan banked it then checked to make sure his shields were up as tightly as they could be.
"I don't think I am to go there for them to "get" something out of me. They are to help me deal with the issues that I have with my master."
Quin nodded his agreement, but the dead stare right at the boy led Obi-Wan to believe Quinlan Vos didn't think a word that came from his mouth was the truth.
"Did they help you then.. With your *issues*… I mean…"
"Do you mean did we accomplish anything, find out why I can't make a bonding connection with my master again? If that is what you mean, then the answer is no."
Obi-Wan didn't even want to bring up the holoview of Jinn and the Bulenese leader. The horrible holoview, which in Obi's mind showed the two deep in discussion over what was Anakin Skywalker's safe return to the temple in favor of his being left behind as a scientific experiment.
The healers had been unsuccessful in their attempt to convince Obi-Wan that the tape he watched was not real. It still seemed too real for Obi-Wan to deal with. He thought Vos referred to the *issues* as being not lack of connection with his master. That was what the healers had focused on since they got nowhere in their attempt to convince Obi of the falsehood of the video tape.
The young Jedi apprentice tried not to sound curt, but he did, hoped he didn't sound rude, but he must have. He did make an attempt at civility but he just didn't like Quinlan casting aspersions on him and that dislike showed verbally in his spoken words to him. .
Obi thought he really had covered all bases and that no one was the wiser as to why the bond was dormant between him and Qui-Gon.
"Oh well I suppose that is what I mean. You know if you *accomplished* anything."
Silence, an eerie kind of silence that chilled Obi-Wan to the bone overtook the two until Quinlan, after what seemed like an eternity spoke again. This time in a bit harsher, more accusatory tone.
"You really think you have pulled the wool over everyone's eyes don't' you, kid? Oh and Kenobi you certainly have a mouth on you. If I was the prim and proper Jedi overseer that the rest of the knights and masters are around here, I might be offended, indignant, maybe even a little contrite with the way you spoke to me just now. However, I am not like those pompous asses, but mind you I could be. If I were…. say… in a grumpy mood, out of sorts the next time you show such blatant disrespect; there might just be repercussions for your disrespect. Punishment? Nay, I don't believe in it….. in the traditional Jedi ways of punishing a young one. However, you could expect some form of repercussions for your disrespect just the same."
Now Obi-Wan was a bit worried. If he was not to be punished for disrespect by this knight in the traditional ways padawans were reprimanded, what would be done to him? How did Knight Vos handle a situation where a padawan was rude to him?
Obi conjured up images of his left ear being painfully and unmercifully notched as a permanent reminder with the knight's saber, a large tattoo branded on his forehead that somehow denoted his incoercible behavior, hung up from the ceiling in chains, by only his thumbs, with his feet barely able to touch the floor, anything rogue-Jedi-like, he thought of. He just couldn't imagine what Knight Vos meant, but Kenobi knew he would never be rude or curt again to give the Jedi knight a reason to demonstrate what he meant.
Obi-Wan was startled back to the present when Quinlan spoke to him again.
"I don't' think you would want to see me in a bad mood, especially if it was because of something you had said or done."
Obi-Wan stirred the peas around on his plate. At least they were fairly edible, aside from them being unappetizingly raw.
//I managed to keep the blood from the bantha steak off of them.. Yeah, the peas I can eat.//
Obi-Wan thought of what he could eat as a way of keeping his mind off the more pressing problem at hand; Quinlan Vos across the table staring him down like Vos was the predator, Obi-Wan the prey.
"Uhn.. I don't think I understand what you mean Master Knight Vos."
It had worked plenty of times with his real master Qui-Gon Jinn so Obi-Wan thought he could pull it on Vos and stay out of trouble. He tried to the old *play dumb routine* about everything!!!!
"Knock it off kid, you are just not that stupid and I know it, whether Qui-ole-boy did or not. Another thing, quit with that *supposed* misnomer of calling me your master. I *ain't* your master. Sith's hell I am not even sure I ever want to take on the reasonability of a padawan. I certainly wouldn't take on one that can't be honest with others, and most importantly honest with himself. That "little man" is you. Nevertheless, I will see to your care until a master, one more suitable than Master Jinn is found. Another thing I wouldn't do is take a padawan if I couldn't be a better master than Qui-Gon is… was."
Obi-Wan did not like the knight condemning his master. He wasn't sure if the condemnations was because of how he perceived Jinn's treatment of Obi-Wan was or was the knights negative assessment of their shared master because of the way Qui-Gon trained Vos.
Obi-Wan didn't know and wasn't sure he wanted to know. He had so much to think about he couldn't think. He was worried about how much Vos knew and he suspected Quinlan knew a lot more than he admitted too. The apprentice was confused about the honesty bit with others and himself. Just everything confused him. He wasn't afraid now, he was just too mixed up to be scared about *ANYTHING*.
Quinlan landed a hard blow to the table top as he sat up and leaned over it as far as he could to look directly into Obi-Wan's eyes.
"Don't think you can fool me like you do the rest of them!! I will go along with your games, but only so far kid, only so far."
Obi-Wan fought to control his rapid breathing, tried hard to keep his eyes on Vos and not show fear. He was losing the battle that Vos had *already* won. The knight didn't move a muscle, blink an eye, just remained like a stone fixed there with his stare still on Obi-Wan. Obi had to think of something. It wasn't that he feared the man.
Obi-Wan had never felt any warning of true danger from the force to warn him of Vos. But he wanted the questions directed away from him. No, Obi-Wan Kenobi did not fear the man before him, he feared how much that man, Jinn's first apprentice knew as it pertained to him and his shielding to stop Jinn from forming another mental link with him again.
Obi knew he had to break up the confrontation between them and the direction the questioning was taking. Obi-Wan took a more direct approach with his question. An approach he hoped did not anger the knight and he spoke in his very most timid and respectful voice but the words spoken weren't all that timid.
"Do you really think Master Jinn is not a suitable master? Is that the real reason for your reluctance to hand me over to him, or is it your way of getting back at *OUR* master? Am I a *banner* to in some way carry on your vendetta against Master Jinn?"
Obi-Wan laid his fork to the side of his plate and stared at Vos. He waited for an answer. Quin stared back and didn't seem at all surprised by the question. He certainly didn't act like it bothered him to have it asked and Obi was a little surprised by Jinn's former apprentice's response, though it wasn't the one he wanted.
"Oh, I don't know kid. Which is it with you? You answer my question, I'll answer yours. You tell me if you really believe you can trick the council, Master Jinn, Master Yoda, and even me with your tale of not knowing what happened to make your bond with Qui-Gon go silent and I will tell you whether I took you in to in some way get back at Jinn or if I am honestly concerned for *your* well being."
Obi-Wan was truly shaken by the frankness of the knight. He still had not real fear of him, just of what he knew. There was no way he could stare this one down. He had been trained to never let an opponent, enemy or otherwise see fear in you, never break down, and never be the first to break eye contact. Obi couldn't help it. As the knight stood stoic and resolved to wait out Obi's silence, the boy dropped his hands along with his stare to his lap.
Suddenly Quinlan had a change of heart, a gentler change of heart. He felt sorry for the little one before him. For a split second he remembered how terrified Obi-Wan was when he found and rescued him from the Bulenese people.
Quinlan also remembered that Obi-Wan truly believed Jinn had betrayed him, left him in favor of keeping the "Chosen One" safe. Vos realized that what the boy did now to cause he and Jinn's bond to fail was done out of pure unadulterated fear and hurt over what he believed to be Jinn's actions!!!!
//What the Kenobi kid thought he saw on that doctored up holoview was unforgivable for a master to commit. The really sad part is Obi-Wan still believes it to be true and I am not sure that will ever change. //
He knew Obi was the reason the master/apprentice bond was nullified at the moment between Jinn and Obi. It went without saying there was mental anguish and actual physical pain for both from a split like that. More so for the less experienced padawan than for the seasoned master, self taught from previous experience in how to deal with broken bonds.
//To be as brazen as to tenure his bond with his master, Padawan Kenobi must truly, truly believe that what he saw on that holoview was his master's betrayal of him. Now Jinn is different. Xanatos and I both severed our bonds fast and horrifically. However we were both a good ten years older than this little kid is now. Jinn should know how to deal with an untrusting apprentice and their swiftly broken bonds.//
Knight Quinlan Vos remained quiet, finally. He stood and turned to go to the door.
Right as he started to leave, he felt he had to give the boy some reprieve from his state of misery and worry.
"Listen young one, you'll have to forgive me. I don't like being caged up like this, at the temple. Just over two weeks and I am circling like a crazed animal. I suppose I let my emotions get to me a little in all this because of that trapped feeling. Let's forget about the katas tonight. You meditate, study, and then go straight to bed. Hear me?"
Obi did not verbally answer but shook his head, yes. He knew it was not a way to address a knight or master in the Jedi, yet right now he wasn't able to speak. He was in too much turmoil to correct his mistake.
Had it been Jinn, he would have been furious with just a nod, but Quinlan didn't let it bother him, didn't even seem to realize Obi was expected to speak.
"Look I am going to the city, have a couple of drinks, relax a little. You do as I tell you. OK?"
Quinlan seemed honestly concerned for Obi-Wan now and it only confused the child more. Was he nice or was he the rogue-care-for-no-one-at-all person other Jedi said he was? Obi-Wan didn't know and right now he didn't really care. He just wanted out of the conversation, go to his room, and then think about his problems. Problems he realized only now he had brought on himself by his stubbornness to connect with his master.
//Maybe everyone has spoken the truth and Master Jinn did not leave me for Anakin. Maybe I should have opened the bond and given him a chance. Now it is too late. I am stuck here with Vos or admit to the council, Master Qui-Gon, and the healers that I basically lied to them all. I know exactly what happened to our bond. I would have to admit to them that it was me that broke our training bond and nothing magnanimously mysterious!! I think Quinlan already knows or suspects that. It may only be a manner of time before he *rats* on me, especially if I keep giving him so much grief!!//
He said nothing and hoped Quinlan Vos did not expect him too.
Obi-Wan did not raise his gaze from his lap until he heard the door to Quinlan's apartment shut.............
PEACE ewen
I can think of one other that might be stir crazy and go into the city for refreshment of an adult kind. Well maybe two people, Qui, Xani. Ani is a bit young and I think Obi is afraid to move from his spot sooooo…….
If I was a betting person, [and I am not] I would bet Quinlan might just meet up with one or the other, or possibly both and just maybe from lack of missions it wouldn't be hard to imagine a bar room brawl!!!!
L.A.T.E.R.
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Kyer: you wrote: "I've yet to find one believable character and that's a shame. Try shooting for the middle instead of the extremes. Unless you are shooting for melodrama."
Sorry you didn't care for my characterization. Read Dark Horse with Vos and you will find him a beefy hunk and quite a bit tamer than I write him. Watson's Xanatos is close to himself and Qui and Obi?? I don't think there are not many FF writers around that doesn't give them more of a character than Lucas did. Have a good day!!!!.
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koriaena: in response to you. You wrote: "this is a good story line. you might want to mark where there's a change in scene though."
Thank you, any tips on how to write a better story is appreciated. Sometimes the reader even if they aren't a writer, can point out what makes a better read!!!
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BreathofNight : To you I want to tell you I do appreciate it when reader takes a few seconds to post. It really is feed for a writer. It keeps us motivated, no matter if we are a beginner or a seasoned writer. ewen
########## In the Crion/Skywalker living quarters#################
Qui-Gon had to admit Xanatos and Anakin both had done everything possible to keep him out of his melancholy state. The readily tolerance of him from both of them pleasantly shocked the big padawan-less master. He thought he had felt a little resentment from Ani in the beginning.
If it was resentment he felt when he first began to assert himself as a third wheel with the master padawan team, Crion and Skywalker he knew it derived from the fact that he hung around too much. What else did he have to do? All field missions for Master Jinn had been temporarily suspended.
He had a choice of always eating alone in his apartment where he now lived alone, to eat with Xani and Anakin, or go to the commissary and listen to the bustle that still continued among the initiates and padawans about the good looking rogue Jedi Quinlan Vos. Of course the knights and masters weren't above the gossip. They however were a little more discretionary about who they gossiped with and did it a little more discreetly amongst themselves.
It had gotten around the temple that Jinn had lost his apprentice Obi-Wan to Vos, although no one seemed to know or care why. In fact, no one in the temple bothered with the entire truth when they gossiped. By the time the twit headed little giggly girls finished with the story, Qui-Gon had been the great big mean master that abused his apprentice and Quinlan had become the savior that swooped in to rescue Obi-Wan from Bulenese and then from who had become through the grape vine, his beast of a master.
The opinions by others of the master and knight had suddenly become out of keel, seemingly flip flopped by the tale repeated and repeated of their fight for Obi-Wan Kenobi. 'Beast of a master', certainly not Qui-Gon. His demeanor of sterness but fairness was familiar to everyone or was before all this happened. The gossip that designated Quinlan Vos the gentle kind rescuer were not qualities that any of the council masters had ever witnessed from Knight Vos.
The younger Jedi and the knights and masters who had never worked with the rogue, knew little if anything of his character traits for certain. However, gossipers didn't care for the certainities or the truth. *They* wanted to be able to convey to others the most horrible of the gossip real or unreal.
Jinn would certainly not correct them. It was beneath him to show concern for idle lie-filled gossip. However, Qui could tell during last meal hour in the main commissary that Quinlan was getting a real delight out of the misconstrued stories. Especially when they made him come out the hero in all of it.
"Qui you really shouldn't let Quinlan Vos get under your skin the way you have. I have to say I was as shocked as you to see him and with Obi-Wan no less. If your little ingrate of a padawan wants to remain with him then so be it. I would think it was a load off your shoulders. Such lack of loyalty, blatant betrayal that is what it was."
"You shouldn't see it that way Xani. I know you have your 'outs' with Quinlan, but...."
"Me, have outs? Is there anyone around that can stand him? Ahh, I know the little females padawans drool over him and the males think he a lion of a warrior, but aside of that….. Everyone knows he is sent on missions others *won't* do."
There was an instant resentment for Xanatos' words about Quinlan. An unnamed desire to defend the knight, his former apprentice hit Jinn and he spoke before he even had time to hold himself back.
"Or can't? There is no Jedi; myself included who can do some of the remarkable diplomatic wheelings and dealings that Vos can do." //Where did that bit of praise for my former apprentice come from?//
Xani turned and glared at this former master. He thought in this one thing, their feelings for Quinlan Vos, they could both agree. Evidently by Jinn's last statement they couldn't.
"Qui-Gon Jinn, just what is that suppose to mean? Surely you haven't changed you mind about that snake, Quinlan Vos? I thought your opinions of him lay very closely to what mine are, what the entire temple's are, except the swooning little teenage girls and a few of the council masters who use his talents, hopefully at the expense of his life."
"Xanatos, the council would never do that."
"All right, let me rephrase, in spite of the expense of his life. I don't think they care what happens to him as long as he gets his missions completed. I think if he was killed today on a mission there wouldn't be much hubbub about it. Certainly not as much as is going on today and that are just the gossip mongers that fuel that."
Jinn ignored all the negative comments about Vos. He instead focused on the gossip which had little truth in it.
"I grant you that. The gossip has been rampant around here and all of it or most of it anyway is made up lies."
Ani walked in with a plate of cookies, a bag of chips, and a soda.
Qui-Gon raised one eyebrow and cocked his head up from his seated position to watch the boy force-balance the immense loaded down tray of food in his hand.
"Another snack Ani? I don't know how your master keeps the food pantry here stocked."
The humorous comment elicited a true smile from Anakin Skywalker; something seldom seen. Since he left his mother and arrived at the temple, honest happiness and good moments had been few and far between.
Ani had been a little nicer to Master Qui-Gon sir, as he called him. He didn't care for Vos, was even more jealous of him than he was of Obi-Wan and in turn Jinn became a victim instead of the nagging master. Anakin thought it never hurt to have another master, especially one as powerful within the Jedi order on your side and Master Jinn certainly gravitated to Xanatos and Anakin even more now with all the confusion over his apprentice.
"Master Qui-Gon sir, this is just my normal daily ration for my bedtime snack, nothing more."
Anakin plopped down on the floor next to where his own master, Xanatos sat; his tray of food still balanced with the use of the force. He shot an irresistible smile of innocence toward the Jedi master, Jinn and spoke again. He felt comfortable enough to comment on Obi-Wan and Vos.
"I tell you Master Jinn, the council showed their true colors when they sided with Vos and not you."
"They didn't side with anyone. How could they ignore Obi-Wan's feeling in all this?"
Xani jumped in with his unkind observation of Obi-Wan's actions.
"Come off it Jinn, you give both your former apprentices, Obi and Vos too much credit. Obi-Wan had to realize that what he watched that day, what the Bulenese people supplied him with was just a doctored up a holoview of the Bulenses leader and you deep in conversation. That you would never turn him over to them and leave him willingly."
"Now Xani, Obi had been injured, was confused. You put him the most critical light, as if all this is his fault and I don't see it that way."
"OH.. Well Qui-Gon let me tell you what I *didn't* see. I didn't notice a gaping hole in your apprentice's head and that is what he would have needed to be that confused. He would have needed an injury to his head where his brain had just oozed out. How could he possibly believe you would leave him in favor of Anakin's and my life."
"He did though, Xanatos. I have no doubts about that. You can't blame Vos either for this situation we are now in, not entirely at least. He just happened to be there at the right time. I should be eternally grateful to him. He did rescue my apprentice from the Bulenese and their planned medical experiments on the child. The only truly underhanded he did in all this was refusing to allow me to have my own apprentice back. I think he could have encouraged Obi-Wan to attempt to reunite with me and the child would have listened. Obi-Wan already seems to trust Vos a great deal." //Maybe too much for his own good.//
The statement thought by Jinn would remain unsaid. He did not want to cause any more problems than they already had.
Xanatos slammed the data pad; he had been attempting to go over, onto the sleep sofa of his small apartment.
"GRATEFUL? That's bull Jinn and you know it. Vos is a trouble maker. He may have brought Obi-Wan home, but he has caused you enough trouble throughout you connection with him to warrant having him brought up on charges himself. I contend that was his intention from the beginning, when he realized what a treasure he found on the Bulenese planet. That is what he considered when he found him there held captive for their studies on a force enhanced Jedi. You know that."
Xanatos shook his head in defiance of Jinn's 'grateful' opinion of Quinlan Vos.
"Why…. why do you make excuses for him, always for the infamous Knight Vos? I never heard too many of those lame excuses for me made up by you. As defiant as you may have thought I was at one time, I have a halo where Vos has horns…... Same with Obi-Wan. I thought you said just last week you could be satisfied overseeing the training of Anakin. Now you have become depressed again over the Kenobi boy."
"Xanatos you should have seen his face when Yoda got him pried from the tunic of Vos. Obi-Wan was terrified. He feared me. He literally clung to my other former padawan in sheer terror of his own master."
Jinn let the memory of Obi-Wan's fearful actions that day seep through and rerun like a bad holoview in his mind.
"The Bulenese showed him that doctored holoview at his weakest, when he was most vulnerable and mind suggestive. He had been injured, no force to help aid his healing and control the pain and he was so alone. He saw the holoview with me where it looked and sounded like I had made a bargain with the Bulenese; his life for Anakin's. Without the force to direct him and evidently his already pent-up insecurities where Anakin was concerned, what he watched, my apprentice *thought* was the truth."
Xani walked over and slouched back on the sofa, very nearly lying down when he did..
"Well, I think you are better off without him. How could he think you favored my apprentice over yours, that you would forfeit his life for ours? Not a bad idea to me if you had to do it or did it but you didn't. You are blameless."
"Yes, but I have to get the Obi-Wan to see that, as well as a couple of stubborn masters on the council who believe his quirky little tale, Vos included."
Xani sat back up, pulled the data pad back up and into his lap.
"No, no, no, I don't buy that. Your former apprentice knows you well enough to know you did not leave Obi in such a predicament. He brought Obi here only to get you in trouble. He doesn't believe for a second Obi-Wan's rants and raves that belie your betrayal of him. Vos sees it as a way to get back at you. You and he have never gotten along since he was knighted."
Master Jinn couldn't figure out how Xani had gotten so wise just in a short time but he had. Qui-Gon had begun to have a new found respect of his apprentice he once questioned.
"Listen Xanatos, I saw the raw fear in the boy's eyes and after Master Yoda explained why I understood more. The healers have been working with him. They say it could be days or weeks but the boy will one day understand that the Bulenese tricked him. The fake holoview was shown to him over and over repeatedly to pound into his head that I had willingly left him in favor of saving our lives. It was certainly a unique and different way to try to break the child's resistance to them. I can only imagine that after the tenth or fifteenth time of seeing what he thought was me in the process of bargaining for our lives with him as the bargaining chip, it left an indelible and negative impression on Obi-Wan's mind; one not easily, and contrary to what the healers say, if ever, erasable."
##############
Two weeks……. Two weeks at the temple and nothing had changed.
Obi-Wan dragged himself to the temple healers, mind healers that is, every single day and nothing. There was nothing they could say or he could think of that would erase the very vivid and to Obi-Wan, real memory of what he saw in the holoview. He had been told that nothing he saw was real, that Jinn had never abandoned him or that he never would have chosen him over Xanatos Crion's apprentice Anakin Skywalker, but nothing did anything to clear up the way he felt.
//I am not even sure how I feel.//
######meal time in the Vos apartment######
Obi sat and forked up a piece of the most unappetizing looking piece of meat he had ever seen. His hand quivered and that quivering matched his lips as he touched the blood-raw meat to them, only to withdraw it and place the meat back on his plate, uneaten and still very much *RAW*. Of course he made sure first that his present guardian, Quinlan Vos was not looking at him.
//I assume it is cooked… somewhat, but the blood still oozes from it. I suppose when Master …I mean Knight Quin said it was rare…boy was it *RARE*!!!! //
Obi-Wan glanced up again from his nearly if not at all cooked meat to see Knight Vos ravishingly consuming his.
The knight might have missed one bite of food when he used his fork to point to Obi-Wan, but never did he raise his eyes from the plate of already *half eaten*, *almost raw* bantha steak.
//Maybe he thinks his meat is still alive enough to jump up and run if he gives it a chance, // Obi thought humorously to himself before Vos spoke mumbling with his mouth stuffed full of uncooked and now un-chewed meat.
Jinn's apprentice watched disgustingly as the knight bunched the food up in one jaw like it was a pouch, like maybe a squirrel would store his nut to take home.
"Don't you like your food? Want something else? Sorry can't help you there. You eat what we have and this is what we both *have* tonight."
Obi didn't like the food, but he certainly wasn't going to complain about it. He had seen a side of Vos that not many were privy too, the human side. However, he had heard rumors and whispers between Master Mace and his master, Qui-Gon enough to know what he had thus far witnessed about this Quinlan Vos was not the 'norm' for him. Obi-Wan wanted to prolong seeing that much discussed normalcy in Quinlan Vos for as long as possible, maybe never if he was lucky.
"No master… I mean… no Knight Vos, this is fine, really."
Quin nodded his agreement about the food being *good*, but still did not take time away from his culinary delight to look at Obi-Wan.
"Good, then eat. I want to put you through some katas and then you have to meditate before bed."
This time Quin attacked the food with his fork and stuffed a too large of a piece in his mouth. As he spoke, the flowing haired knight let the oozy aujus, made mostly of the blood of the animal drip from the corners of his mouth. He took his tunic sleeve and wiped it off.
//Wow! He really has been living on the outer planets. He must have shared a great many meals with the Hutts to have table manners like this. //
Obi liked amusing his mind, his now very empty mind with something humorous or what he thought was funny. He had broken connection with his master, tightly shielded from him though he didn't admit to anyone that he knew why the connection was broken. He knew exactly why he and Jinn were not now connected mentally. Obi-Wan had stubbornly and surprisingly forceful stopped it by shielding with shields not normally so powerful for someone his age.
However, he had no intention of revealing why he could not connect with his master and the healers never once suspected it was his shields and for that matter neither had his master. His self confidence in not being found out was soon shattered. He watched as Quinlan Vos pushed his empty plate out of the way, leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs, which were very nearly as long as Qui-Gon's.
//Why do I keep thinking of Master Jinn? I want nothing more to do with him maybe that is why I can tolerate Vos, he is just like me and besides he is nice to me …well so far. //
Obi was just about to find out that there was something Vos was not nice about, his directness. He did have an uncanny and annoying knack of saying what he thought and telling anyone, Obi included, how he felt about things.
Obi-Wan struggled with another bite of blood-dripping meat when he looked up and saw a set of deep blue eyes nearly covered with locks of undone black-as-night hair watching him in serious earnest.
"How did it go at the *mind-pickers* today? Get anything out of you, did they?"
A touch of anger started to flair up before Obi-Wan banked it then checked to make sure his shields were up as tightly as they could be.
"I don't think I am to go there for them to "get" something out of me. They are to help me deal with the issues that I have with my master."
Quin nodded his agreement, but the dead stare right at the boy led Obi-Wan to believe Quinlan Vos didn't think a word that came from his mouth was the truth.
"Did they help you then.. With your *issues*… I mean…"
"Do you mean did we accomplish anything, find out why I can't make a bonding connection with my master again? If that is what you mean, then the answer is no."
Obi-Wan didn't even want to bring up the holoview of Jinn and the Bulenese leader. The horrible holoview, which in Obi's mind showed the two deep in discussion over what was Anakin Skywalker's safe return to the temple in favor of his being left behind as a scientific experiment.
The healers had been unsuccessful in their attempt to convince Obi-Wan that the tape he watched was not real. It still seemed too real for Obi-Wan to deal with. He thought Vos referred to the *issues* as being not lack of connection with his master. That was what the healers had focused on since they got nowhere in their attempt to convince Obi of the falsehood of the video tape.
The young Jedi apprentice tried not to sound curt, but he did, hoped he didn't sound rude, but he must have. He did make an attempt at civility but he just didn't like Quinlan casting aspersions on him and that dislike showed verbally in his spoken words to him. .
Obi thought he really had covered all bases and that no one was the wiser as to why the bond was dormant between him and Qui-Gon.
"Oh well I suppose that is what I mean. You know if you *accomplished* anything."
Silence, an eerie kind of silence that chilled Obi-Wan to the bone overtook the two until Quinlan, after what seemed like an eternity spoke again. This time in a bit harsher, more accusatory tone.
"You really think you have pulled the wool over everyone's eyes don't' you, kid? Oh and Kenobi you certainly have a mouth on you. If I was the prim and proper Jedi overseer that the rest of the knights and masters are around here, I might be offended, indignant, maybe even a little contrite with the way you spoke to me just now. However, I am not like those pompous asses, but mind you I could be. If I were…. say… in a grumpy mood, out of sorts the next time you show such blatant disrespect; there might just be repercussions for your disrespect. Punishment? Nay, I don't believe in it….. in the traditional Jedi ways of punishing a young one. However, you could expect some form of repercussions for your disrespect just the same."
Now Obi-Wan was a bit worried. If he was not to be punished for disrespect by this knight in the traditional ways padawans were reprimanded, what would be done to him? How did Knight Vos handle a situation where a padawan was rude to him?
Obi conjured up images of his left ear being painfully and unmercifully notched as a permanent reminder with the knight's saber, a large tattoo branded on his forehead that somehow denoted his incoercible behavior, hung up from the ceiling in chains, by only his thumbs, with his feet barely able to touch the floor, anything rogue-Jedi-like, he thought of. He just couldn't imagine what Knight Vos meant, but Kenobi knew he would never be rude or curt again to give the Jedi knight a reason to demonstrate what he meant.
Obi-Wan was startled back to the present when Quinlan spoke to him again.
"I don't' think you would want to see me in a bad mood, especially if it was because of something you had said or done."
Obi-Wan stirred the peas around on his plate. At least they were fairly edible, aside from them being unappetizingly raw.
//I managed to keep the blood from the bantha steak off of them.. Yeah, the peas I can eat.//
Obi-Wan thought of what he could eat as a way of keeping his mind off the more pressing problem at hand; Quinlan Vos across the table staring him down like Vos was the predator, Obi-Wan the prey.
"Uhn.. I don't think I understand what you mean Master Knight Vos."
It had worked plenty of times with his real master Qui-Gon Jinn so Obi-Wan thought he could pull it on Vos and stay out of trouble. He tried to the old *play dumb routine* about everything!!!!
"Knock it off kid, you are just not that stupid and I know it, whether Qui-ole-boy did or not. Another thing, quit with that *supposed* misnomer of calling me your master. I *ain't* your master. Sith's hell I am not even sure I ever want to take on the reasonability of a padawan. I certainly wouldn't take on one that can't be honest with others, and most importantly honest with himself. That "little man" is you. Nevertheless, I will see to your care until a master, one more suitable than Master Jinn is found. Another thing I wouldn't do is take a padawan if I couldn't be a better master than Qui-Gon is… was."
Obi-Wan did not like the knight condemning his master. He wasn't sure if the condemnations was because of how he perceived Jinn's treatment of Obi-Wan was or was the knights negative assessment of their shared master because of the way Qui-Gon trained Vos.
Obi-Wan didn't know and wasn't sure he wanted to know. He had so much to think about he couldn't think. He was worried about how much Vos knew and he suspected Quinlan knew a lot more than he admitted too. The apprentice was confused about the honesty bit with others and himself. Just everything confused him. He wasn't afraid now, he was just too mixed up to be scared about *ANYTHING*.
Quinlan landed a hard blow to the table top as he sat up and leaned over it as far as he could to look directly into Obi-Wan's eyes.
"Don't think you can fool me like you do the rest of them!! I will go along with your games, but only so far kid, only so far."
Obi-Wan fought to control his rapid breathing, tried hard to keep his eyes on Vos and not show fear. He was losing the battle that Vos had *already* won. The knight didn't move a muscle, blink an eye, just remained like a stone fixed there with his stare still on Obi-Wan. Obi had to think of something. It wasn't that he feared the man.
Obi-Wan had never felt any warning of true danger from the force to warn him of Vos. But he wanted the questions directed away from him. No, Obi-Wan Kenobi did not fear the man before him, he feared how much that man, Jinn's first apprentice knew as it pertained to him and his shielding to stop Jinn from forming another mental link with him again.
Obi knew he had to break up the confrontation between them and the direction the questioning was taking. Obi-Wan took a more direct approach with his question. An approach he hoped did not anger the knight and he spoke in his very most timid and respectful voice but the words spoken weren't all that timid.
"Do you really think Master Jinn is not a suitable master? Is that the real reason for your reluctance to hand me over to him, or is it your way of getting back at *OUR* master? Am I a *banner* to in some way carry on your vendetta against Master Jinn?"
Obi-Wan laid his fork to the side of his plate and stared at Vos. He waited for an answer. Quin stared back and didn't seem at all surprised by the question. He certainly didn't act like it bothered him to have it asked and Obi was a little surprised by Jinn's former apprentice's response, though it wasn't the one he wanted.
"Oh, I don't know kid. Which is it with you? You answer my question, I'll answer yours. You tell me if you really believe you can trick the council, Master Jinn, Master Yoda, and even me with your tale of not knowing what happened to make your bond with Qui-Gon go silent and I will tell you whether I took you in to in some way get back at Jinn or if I am honestly concerned for *your* well being."
Obi-Wan was truly shaken by the frankness of the knight. He still had not real fear of him, just of what he knew. There was no way he could stare this one down. He had been trained to never let an opponent, enemy or otherwise see fear in you, never break down, and never be the first to break eye contact. Obi couldn't help it. As the knight stood stoic and resolved to wait out Obi's silence, the boy dropped his hands along with his stare to his lap.
Suddenly Quinlan had a change of heart, a gentler change of heart. He felt sorry for the little one before him. For a split second he remembered how terrified Obi-Wan was when he found and rescued him from the Bulenese people.
Quinlan also remembered that Obi-Wan truly believed Jinn had betrayed him, left him in favor of keeping the "Chosen One" safe. Vos realized that what the boy did now to cause he and Jinn's bond to fail was done out of pure unadulterated fear and hurt over what he believed to be Jinn's actions!!!!
//What the Kenobi kid thought he saw on that doctored up holoview was unforgivable for a master to commit. The really sad part is Obi-Wan still believes it to be true and I am not sure that will ever change. //
He knew Obi was the reason the master/apprentice bond was nullified at the moment between Jinn and Obi. It went without saying there was mental anguish and actual physical pain for both from a split like that. More so for the less experienced padawan than for the seasoned master, self taught from previous experience in how to deal with broken bonds.
//To be as brazen as to tenure his bond with his master, Padawan Kenobi must truly, truly believe that what he saw on that holoview was his master's betrayal of him. Now Jinn is different. Xanatos and I both severed our bonds fast and horrifically. However we were both a good ten years older than this little kid is now. Jinn should know how to deal with an untrusting apprentice and their swiftly broken bonds.//
Knight Quinlan Vos remained quiet, finally. He stood and turned to go to the door.
Right as he started to leave, he felt he had to give the boy some reprieve from his state of misery and worry.
"Listen young one, you'll have to forgive me. I don't like being caged up like this, at the temple. Just over two weeks and I am circling like a crazed animal. I suppose I let my emotions get to me a little in all this because of that trapped feeling. Let's forget about the katas tonight. You meditate, study, and then go straight to bed. Hear me?"
Obi did not verbally answer but shook his head, yes. He knew it was not a way to address a knight or master in the Jedi, yet right now he wasn't able to speak. He was in too much turmoil to correct his mistake.
Had it been Jinn, he would have been furious with just a nod, but Quinlan didn't let it bother him, didn't even seem to realize Obi was expected to speak.
"Look I am going to the city, have a couple of drinks, relax a little. You do as I tell you. OK?"
Quinlan seemed honestly concerned for Obi-Wan now and it only confused the child more. Was he nice or was he the rogue-care-for-no-one-at-all person other Jedi said he was? Obi-Wan didn't know and right now he didn't really care. He just wanted out of the conversation, go to his room, and then think about his problems. Problems he realized only now he had brought on himself by his stubbornness to connect with his master.
//Maybe everyone has spoken the truth and Master Jinn did not leave me for Anakin. Maybe I should have opened the bond and given him a chance. Now it is too late. I am stuck here with Vos or admit to the council, Master Qui-Gon, and the healers that I basically lied to them all. I know exactly what happened to our bond. I would have to admit to them that it was me that broke our training bond and nothing magnanimously mysterious!! I think Quinlan already knows or suspects that. It may only be a manner of time before he *rats* on me, especially if I keep giving him so much grief!!//
He said nothing and hoped Quinlan Vos did not expect him too.
Obi-Wan did not raise his gaze from his lap until he heard the door to Quinlan's apartment shut.............
PEACE ewen
I can think of one other that might be stir crazy and go into the city for refreshment of an adult kind. Well maybe two people, Qui, Xani. Ani is a bit young and I think Obi is afraid to move from his spot sooooo…….
If I was a betting person, [and I am not] I would bet Quinlan might just meet up with one or the other, or possibly both and just maybe from lack of missions it wouldn't be hard to imagine a bar room brawl!!!!
L.A.T.E.R.