#|| bleedingforce.

@bleedingforce said ;; ❛ planning on staying up for the foreseeable future? ❜

At another time, the rigorous repetition of maneuvers Obi-Wan guides himself through may have been a form of meditation: each form deliberate, each swing releasing his mounting frustration into the Force. Defend right, attack left; defend left, attack right - and repeat, again, but faster, and not so low this time. In his mind's eye he sees every opening left for his invisible opponent, acutely aware of each misstep that leads him to pause and begin from the top again. The cycle has done the very opposite of freeing him from his troubled preoccupations.

He doesn't notice the gradual emptying of the courtyard around him until Qui-Gon comments on it; though Obi-Wan hadn't heard ( or even sensed, his focus having withdrawn fully into his forms ) his approach, he's not surprised to have been tracked down. Even a padawan temporarily restricted from leaving the Temple still has duties to adhere to, and Obi-Wan has been remiss in not keeping tabs on what responsibilities Qui-Gon may have in mind for the day. He'd been left to his own devices hours ago, now.

@bleedingforce said ;; " CATCH. " FOLLOWED DIRECTLY BY A FUCKING SNOWBALL TO THE FACE FROM PADAQUI TO OBI 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

When Obi-Wan turns, he is expecting to be tossed either a lightsaber or a strange animal of some sort. What he receives instead is a blinding whack of snow to the face and down the front of his coat ( an accessory he sees Qui-Gon has failed to procure for himself, despite Obi-Wan's repeated urging as they were preparing to depart; how he is tolerating the cold well enough to be flinging snow around is anyone's guess ).

"Qui-Gon!" Spluttering and swiping snow out of his eyes, Obi-Wan flicks an arm in his direction - and, with it, a Force-propelled spattering of slush. It's only fair. They've not even been planetside all of twenty seconds, and if Obi-Wan has to spend the rest of the outing soaked and freezing, well, he'll not suffer alone. "If you must stick your hands in snowbanks like that at the very least put on a pair of gloves, you'll not be borrowing mine."

@bleedingforce said ;; " you'd better not have rabies. " from quiggs to babywan

@bleedingforce said ;; " you smell like a lawnmower. " from padaqui to pada-wan

Yes, well, the other padawan's hair looks like it was cut by a lawnmower— but it would be uncharitable for Obi-Wan to say so unprompted. He's only testy because he's being called out rightfully; he smells head-to-toe like fuel because he is, in fact, covered in fuel.

"My speeder crashed on the way here." He all but collapses into the seat opposite him, then stops to clarify, as though it matters. He's never crashed a speeder in his life before now. This is not a reflection of his piloting abilities. "One of the Temple's speeders. Those brakes should have been replaced years ago."

And, of course, it also means that a whole lot of Temple workers are going to be very upset with him when he gets back. Obi-Wan is trying diligently not to worry about that right now. He prioritized saving all his holobooks, at least - he's not looking to get into trouble with Master Jocasta, too - but the notion of studying is pushed far into the back of his mind by worry.

@bleedingforce said ;; ❛ we are ALL doomed by the narrative. it’s not that serious. have some fun with it. ❜ from lego quiggs to just normal ass obi-wan

That is not particularly good advice, given that there is very little fun to be had in the middle of a desert wasteland even if Obi-Wan were to earnestly try, but it is the sort of advice he expected from Qui-Gon. At least, this Qui-Gon, who is simultaneously exactly as Obi-Wan remembers him ( nearly to the degree of parody, really; perhaps something about death has magnified his most irritating traits ) and yet nothing at all like what he was expecting when Yoda advised him to seek Qui-Gon's advice during his exile.

For one, Obi-Wan was not anticipating that he would be such a highly throwable height. It's a shame that he isn't corporeal enough to be grabbed and tossed in his moments of callousness.

@bleedingforce said ;; " ( through tears ) and then they took the baby from me :( "

Obi-Wan won't admit that he was half-tuning out Qui-Gon's report on how his coursework is going, ( though he at least has been offering mhms at appropriate times and glancing up now and then from his datapad, ) but he will admit that he is fully caught off guard by what seems to be a very abrupt change in topic.

"I'm sorry?" He abandons his datapad fully this time, baffled. "They took the— oh. Oh, yes," now that he mentions it, Obi-Wan does remember that particular unit. A two-part lesson in both crèchework and, of course, attachment. Obi-Wan had to go through it, Anakin had to go through it ( the drama that had been involved that time around )... it is, in some way, reassuring to know that even during war the temple has hardly updated its curriculum. He leans back in his chair, arms folded and chin cupped thoughtfully.

"Actually I recall that assignment quite well. I'm afraid that's the point of it, Qui-Gon— you can't keep it with you forever." Though he points this out matter-of-factly, he does his best to keep his tone gentle despite the relative absurdity of this particular problem. "Where would we keep it during our missions, for one? A battleship is no place for an infant."

@bleedingforce said ;; ❛ i’m going to be honest with you I’m not going to be honest with you. ❜ from ghost qui

"Frankly I'm impressed you were honest enough to admit that," comes the dry response. "That must have been quite the struggle for you. Good job."

Is he surprised? Not in the slightest. Qui-Gon's unreliability is the most reliable part of his life. He is a thousand times more vague than he ever was in life and even then he had been the most bewildering, evasive person Obi-Wan had ever known. Now, with twenty years of death standing between his old master and any hope of communicating on a level that the living could appreciate, Obi-Wan finds that most conversations with Qui-Gon quickly wander out of his realm of understanding.

But beggars can't be choosers or whatever it is they say.

@bleedingforce said ;; “ although this passageway has the word ’ escape ’ written on it , the truth is at the end of this hall , you’ll meet your violent death . ” from qui-gon jinn from obi-wan (2001) — ( the stanley parable sentence starters )

Well, yes, Obi-Wan can see that, thank you. The veritable horde of armed droids might have tipped him off. What he doesn't understand is why Qui-Gon is informing him of this only now as though every passageway they've been running through for the last forty minutes ( in circles, lost ) hasn't promised an equal amount of violent death. Perhaps he should be more appreciative of the warning —

( He can't even call it a warning, actually, Qui-Gon doesn't do warnings, mostly just shouts at him to hurry up and - no, that's the bulk of it, really. More often than that he mostly runs off to attend to other business during missions such as these. )