DAY 20: LUNCH

[prisonerofdeath]

While Arts and Crafts wasn't all that bad, Gray Fox was greatly relieved when an intercom announced Lunch. He had almost reached the point where he was going to start eating more of the building materials

Comments

[braidless]

When Obi-Wan was escorted from the Arts and Crafts room and into the cafeteria, he couldn't deny the hunger he felt for a decent meal. His unexpected encounter with Qui-Gon at breakfast had distracted him from something so seemingly trivial as eating, but he'd come to regret that when he'd had nothing but foreign confections to tide him over until lunch time

[braidless]

On the other hand, it had been Qui-Gon's same preference for the living Force that had led him to say Anakin was the Chosen One. Everyone had told him that training the boy was a terrible idea, that he had too much fear and was a potential threat to both himself and the Jedi Order if he received any training. And, yet, Qui-Gon still insisted on teaching the boy. He even went as far as to use his dying breath to make Obi-Wan promise he'd do it in his stead.

It had always bothered Obi-Wan, perhaps a little more than he wanted to admit, especially when he had to see his Master get passed up for a seat on the Jedi Council. Twice. There was no question in Obi-Wan's mind that Qui-Gon was one of the greatest Jedi of his time; the Council respected him, he was a strong, brave warrior who always rose up to challenges he faced, and, most importantly, he was a good, kind man

[qui_gonjinn]

Obi-Wan looked concerned. In the recent years, he had fallen into the habit of always falling back on that expression, Qui-Gon observed, especially when his old Master was involved. It hadn't seemed too long ago that Qui-Gon had his hands full with his new teenage Padawan and their share of rocky starts. The Jedi almost smiled. Now Obi-Wan was in his twenties and had surpassed all his expectations, going above and beyond

[braidless]

Obi-Wan met the Jedi Master's gaze as soon as he sat down. He glanced at the strange, brown drink, but didn't comment, taking a sip of his own water instead. He was used to eating unusual foods, but he wasn't about to drink brown milk if he didn't have to

[qui_gonjinn]

Qui-Gon lowered his voice in response.

"Therapy seems to consist of us - as a "patient" - and another guard acting as some kind of behavior doctor, sitting together in a small room," Qui-Gon said, taking an experimental bite of the salad. Aside from a mysterious tangy taste, it was pretty much like every time of greens he'd had before. "The session is to reinforce that we are, indeed, delusional. My behavior medic seemed preoccupied with how much I 'remembered' and offered me a story that is surprisingly accurate, actually, to what we know is reality. But he mentioned nothing about Jedi or the Republic."

Nor had they mentioned the Force. Stegman admitted that Qui-Gon "had" been a teacher (of whatever this "yoga") was, yet he mentioned nothing about the Force, or even Obi-Wan's name. Taking another bite of the salad, Qui-Gon chewed and swallowed before continuing to answer the other Jedi's questions.

"They called me Liam, yes," Qui-Gon said, wondering just what kind of name Liam was anyway. "Another fake name, I'd assume."

[braidless]

Obi-Wan nodded, taking a bite of his own salad. Sitting alone with a doctor just to talk didn't sound too bad. He'd experienced much worse, like the time he'd been trapped in a Kegan learning center, locked away in solitary as he was forced to listen to their isolationist doctrine for hours on end. Even just a day of it had been enough to rattle him, though Obi-Wan knew he'd been rather young then, and he'd changed a lot since those early days as a Padawan.

"I suppose we're fortunate that it's not quite an interrogation, but I'm under the impression that the staff here goes out of their way to appear like a normal facility during the day time," Obi-Wan said softly. "Last night, I heard them give a list of names over their intercom, saying they were needed for some sort of experiment. I'm still not sure what that entails, but I have a feeling it isn't nearly as easy as this therapy

[qui_gonjinn]

Two lightsabers. That was better than Qui-Gon could have hoped, but then there was the issue of getting them from this droid. Perhaps they could combine there abilities in the Force, and work together - it would be difficult to work in such a close, intimate fashion, but Qui-Gon couldn't see it any other way. Fighting as one was one thing, but meshing abilities completely would be very challenging.

"I'm in M43, I believe," Qui-Gon said, coming back to the present. "That's down the hall - should be easy to find you once the lights go out."

The important thing was being cooperative during the day. There would be no reason to "disappear" if there was no dissent, and even the most strict guards tended to relax around prisoners they learned were peaceful. One of the biggest issues, really, was still finding out what planet they were on and what kind of communications they had. Qui-Gon was confident that if they could send out a hail to the Jedi Temple (he'd probably give Mace Windu a start once he saw Qui-Gon's signature). Once Jedi were

[braidless]

Obi-Wan was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Jedi Master's room was so close to his, but, at the same time, he was a little bothered that he hadn't been able to sense the man sooner. The facility appeared to be primitive, yet they'd obviously done something to limit his and Qui-Gon's Force abilities. Not to mention they were capable of raising people from the dead. That alone was proof enough that they probably had resources they were hiding

[qui_gonjinn]

"I'll try to stay healthy," Qui-Gon said, with a glimmer of his old twinkle back in eyes. It wasn't quite a promise - Qui-Gon couldn't make himself promise to stay behind, no matter the circumstances - but he didn't want to give his former Padawan undue worry. "But for the time being, I feel fine."

Besides, Qui-Gon needed to see for himself just what happened when the lights went off for the night. When did the other patients here sleep anyway? If they were up all night and up the following day, than it certainly explained the sea of exhausted, drained faces he was seeing surrounding him. Obi-Wan wasn't any exception. His Force signature, while weak to Qui-Gon's senses, was tired.

"How much rest have you had, Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon asked, brows furrowing together. He felt fine, for the most part, but then again he'd had a full night's sleep.

[braidless]

It was nice to see that familiar look in Qui-Gon's eyes, especially after the Jedi Master had suffered a fatal wound at the hands of the Sith creature. Obi-Wan supposed it was proof that the more things changed, the more some they stayed the same. The way Qui-Gon tried to assure him wasn't lost to Obi-Wan (he was more than familiar with his old Master's way of handling inquiries about his well-being), and he would have smiled if it weren't for the fact that his friend had died just the other day

[qui_gonjinn]

Oh, Qui-Gon had no intentions repeating the incident on Naboo if he could help it. Once was enough

[braidless]

Qui-Gon's larger hand felt heavy, yet reassuring, and Obi-Wan could faintly pick up on the other man's gratitude. It was more difficult than it would have been under normal circumstances, but with his focus turned to the other man like this, Obi-Wan felt more in tune with Qui-Gon than just a few moments before. It was actually rather nice to have at least one constant force here when everything else around them made so little sense.

Then again, Obi-Wan realized it would have been ideal to have Qui-Gon alive and outside of Landel's