A/N: Warning! This chapter is possibly the worst piece of crap I have ever written in my life, and that includes the JAG/Spice Girls crossover story I wrote when I was seven. And that had a flying bed in it. I just wanted to give ya'll something, since it's been so long since I updated. Sorry. But this boring chapter means we can now move onto interesting things! Things I will actually WANT to write!
"I'm bored."
"You know what, Anon? We kinda guessed after the twelfth time you said that."
"But An, I'm still bored! Why aren't you doing anything to rectify the situation?"
"Because I'm not your mother?"
"…Cale?"
"Yes Miili?"
"What's 'rectify'?"
"It means "to fix"."
"Oh."
"…I'm bored."
"We KNOW, Anon! We all are. Now shut up before I turn you into our entertainment by… I don't know, shooting the ground to make you dance?"
"Where would you get the blaster?"
"A guard, I guess."
"How would you get it off them?"
"A gladiatorial battle."
"Cale?"
"Yes Miili?"
"What's a gladiatorial battle?"
"It's an old Smashi tribe thing, don't worry."
"Oh, okay!"
"…I'm bor-"
"Anon!" Siri sat bolt upright from her reclining position on the plush chair. "I swear, if you finished that sentence I will get up, move over there, drag you up off your skinny behind…"
She paused to consider her words, and then settled back into the chair, "Bah, that's too much effort."
Obi-Wan snorted as he surreptitiously moved Miili's hand from his thigh (where she'd snuck it while he'd been distracted) to her own, gave it a friendly pat, and returned to his original position. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the pretty girl pout and fold her arms, snuggling back into the couch.
Over the past few days the four teenagers had become quite a tight knit group. Miili and Anon still traded barbs and glares, but they seemed content to put up with one another for An and Cale's sakes. The relationship dynamics were quickly established; Both Miili and Anon vied for Cale's attention – Miili by batting her eyelashes and using painfully over-the-top 'womanly charms', and Anon with unsubtle innuendo and blatant groping – while joking and gossiping with An. Cale politely rejected Miili's advances, and made it clear to Anon that – despite his joking – he wasn't interested, but this didn't stop either of them. Eventually, after an uncomfortable discussion with his Master during which Obi-Wan was sure Qui-Gon was trying not to laugh, he decided to play along more. He would toss wry quips to every joke that Anon threw his way, laugh at the double entendres, and just roll his eyes and step away if he felt a hand on his leg. He still was uncomfortable around Miili, however. He wasn't used to girly women, and didn't find her pouting and simpering at all attractive, just unnerving.
An watched the competition with unconcealed glee and amusement at Cale's discomfort, while just underneath Siri felt a constant burn of jealousy. She had quickly found a kindred spirit in Anon; they had the same blunt, sarcastic sense of humour, both took delight in seeing Cale blush, and gossiped terribly. She gossiped with Miili too; or at least, listened while Miili chattered. Despite herself Siri found herself enjoying Miili's company. She was stupid, it was true – she was constantly having to ask Cale for definitions, although that might have just been her wanting to whisper into his ear – but she was sweet and earnest, and quite hard to dislike after a while. Even Anon was warming up to her.
An and Cale's relationship mirrored Obi-Wan and Siri's in many ways. Siri still needled Obi-Wan as An, revelling in their arguments as mental exercise while enjoying the way his face flushed when he was annoyed. He still responded as he always had; getting annoyed at first, then recognising that she was teasing him and slipping into good humour and self-deprecating smiles. Siri was surprised by how easy it was to talk to him; she'd never realised how well their personalities complimented one another. Of course, that was making the whole 'getting over him' project she'd under taken more or less impossible; the fact that all of his clothes were somewhere between 'rather' and 'could-just-be-a-really-clever-tattoo' levels of tightness didn't help either.
"Perhaps we should get you a pointed stick?" Obi-Wan suggested to Siri as he stretched out on the couch, feeling Anon and Miili's eyes on him as he did so. "So you can poke Anon from your chair? All the fun of bodily harm with none of the effort of moving!"
Siri considered this, "Hmm… interesting idea. It has merit. Anon, I want a pointed stick for my next naming day."
"I'll get right on that."
The four teens were sitting sprawled out in one of the many lounges the ship provided. This particular lounge had been claimed by the teenagers of the ship, and it was full of comfortable chairs, couches, and large sitting pillows arranged to best facilitate conversation. Of course, the room had quickly become a shamble of noise, and the neat arrangements changed haphazardly as soon as the teenagers had decided it was theirs. In their little space Obi-Wan and Miili had claimed a long couch, Siri had slumped into a plush chair, and Anon had been assigned to the floor; someone had stolen his sitting pillow. They'd been there all day, talking about everything and nothing, before the discussion of Anon's boredom had come up.
"You would think," the blonde boy grumbled. "That on a ship this big, they'd have something for people to do."
"Well, we could go watch a holo in the Holo Room," Siri suggested as she yawned. Anon shook his head.
"They don't have any good ones."
"We could get some food in the Food Hall," Obi-Wan grinned hopefully. Siri snatched up a small pillow from the ground and threw it at him.
"That's always your first suggestion!"
"We could go do exercises in the Exercise Room," Miili piped up. While Anon muttered something about 'unoriginal names', Siri looked at her archly.
"You didn't do anything last time except watch Cale. You just like seeing him shirtless, don't you?"
"Well, yes."
"…Right, well, at least you're honest."
Anon grinned coyly at Obi-Wan, "Actually, that idea has merit-"
"Oh, no. If we go back in there, I'm wearing a rough-cloth robe over a barrel," Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as his cheeks turned red. "You and Miili are far too easily impressed."
"We were impressed," Anon purred, putting a hand on Obi-Wan's knee. Siri snickered as she watched Obi-Wan's blush darken, but the smirk was wiped off her face when Anon continued. "Seeing all your muscles working… naturally we were impressed. Almost as impressed as the boys watching An on the treadmill were."
Siri started and scowled at Anon. Miili giggled, "Well, sweetie, can you really blame them? You were wearing those tiny little pants…"
Siri groaned, "I didn't want to get to hot while I was exercising!"
"But of course!" Obi-Wan agreed innocently. "That was a real problem. You were just too hot while you were exercising."
"Oh, shut up!"
Miili and Anon giggled furiously as Obi-Wan smiled sweetly in response to Siri's glare. Siri felt her face burn, and she furiously ignored the little feeling of pleasure she got from hearing Obi-Wan call her 'hot'.
"That's pathetic," her inner voice snarled. "You spend your life trying to get people to take you seriously as something other then a pretty face, then fall over yourself because one man does? You're hopeless."
Something in her face must have shown the dark turn her thoughts had taken, because Obi-Wan stopped laughing and looked at her, concerned. Anon noticed as well, and glanced at the still-giggling Miili sternly.
"An? Are you okay?" Obi-Wan asked her. He leaned forward, looking a little guilty. Siri opened her mouth to reassure him, but another idea came to her in a flash.
Adi had told her that morning – well, what passed for morning in space, anyway - that they needed to speak to either Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon in their rooms, privately. The problem was that either of them asking for the other Jedi specifically was suspicious; both to the ever vigilant guards and to the friends they had made. Siri knew that any attempt on her part to invite Obi-Wan only into her rooms would be met with hurt at the very least; worst case scenario was outright jealousy.
But here, if she could manipulate the situation right, she might just be able to get him to follow her.
She twisted her face into an angry glare, and fought to get a few tears into her eyes. She got to her feet jerkily, and spoke in a tight voice, her eyes on the floor, "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
The three other teens looked at each other, both guilty and confused. Obi-Wan tried again, looking at her a little harder then Cale usually would have. When he spoke, she could hear the real questions behind his words, "Are you sure? ('What's going on?') I didn't mean to offend you or anything ('You know I didn't mean anything by that, so what are you trying to tell me?') You don't have to go ('Or, do you?')"
Siri sniffed and tossed her hair, "It's fine ('Really.'). Nothing's wrong." – here she glanced up at him, catching his eye and hoping he'd catch the hint, - "But Maman needed back at our rooms, soon. So I'm going to head back."
Before they could respond, Siri turned on her heel and stomped out of the room. She moved fast enough to seem angry, but not so fast that she missed Obi-Wan speaking to Anon and Miili, "Yeah, she's upset. I'll go talk to her, you two wait here. I think I need to apologise anyway."