Day 21 - Sun Room

[soul_defender]

Ichigo was only too eager to leave the cafeteria and its fresh memories behind when the softened chime of the intercome rang clear. What had begun as another ordinary meal, a rather agreeable one despite the lack of the proper utensils, quickly became somewhat unnerving. His conversation with...what was his name again?...took so many sharp turns,

Comments

[braidless]

"Like I said, then, I don't think I have anything that's new to you," Obi-Wan told him, his eyebrows furrowing. "Everything I've learned today mostly points to the fact that the prisoners here have a wide variety of abilities, and that it's going to be very difficult for everyone to get back to their respective homes. Something I'm sure you're well aware of." He could have elaborated, but he saw no reason to. Obi-Wan wasn't entirely sure what to think of this man, so he was playing it safe for now

[braidless]

Obi-Wan was visibly startled when the strange man laughed, of all things. The sudden weight from the older prisoner effectively pinned him against the cushions, and he immediately tried to push him off as tactfully as he could. Slightly unnerved, Obi-Wan glanced over at his former Master's chair, only to find Qui-Gon still meditating in peace.

"S-sure," the scarred fellow laughed, "go ahead and ask whoever. But man, oh man, if that's not the most adorable thing I've seen all day!"

Obi-Wan sharply looked down at him, taken aback. "E-excuse me?"

[numberii]

Priceless. That unnerved, startled expression was so hilarious that Xigbar thought his sides were going to split; the fact that Obi-Wan had looked towards someone else- and with the obvious hope of help- meant that it was time to play a little game of Mind Reader.

Namely, he patted the Jedi on the shoulder and promptly hopped up to his feet, letting his touch linger for a second longer before gesturing to the man. "That one of your pals? Go ahead, bother him; I'm sure he'll want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, and this'll be one of the few times I'm not going to be floating around."

Oh, if only he could mean that literally.

He left the 'adorable' comment right where it was. Honestly, the Jedi really needed to get a clue. Or, well, no, he didn't. He was far too much fun this way.

[braidless]

Obi-Wan tried not to look too relieved when the man got off of him, though he did subtly straighten his wrinkled clothing. There was no reason for him not to maintain what little dignity he had left. (He was, at least, thankful he hadn't elaborated on the adorable comment.)

"Unlike some people," Obi-Wan said with an even tone, "I don't go around interrupting others when they're meditating."

[numberii]

Yep, precious as a new-born kitten. Xigbar couldn't help but draw a parallel between Obi-Wan's straightening out and poor Namine's vain attempt to keep her hair in some semblance of order. Honestly, that was a hopeless gesture, if Xiggy was in the right mood. Now, though?

...now, he was in his usual bright mood, and he easily shrugged as he leaned back and gazed at the Jedi. "Hey, you want to spend more quality time with yours truly? Won't hear me complain~!"

Why did anyone ever see any point in meditating? Xigbar knew himself well enough, and it wasn't like anything ever got done by looking in. Outside, and in others, that was what was important.

[braidless]

"Actually," Obi-Wan said as he shifted to get more comfortable, "seeing that we don't have anything left to discuss for the time being, I was hoping to get back to what I was doing earlier." He deliberately closed his eyes and took in a slow, deep breath.

Even so, he got the feeling this was going to be a very, very unproductive meditation session.

[numberii]

...nuh-uh, nobody ignored Xigbar when he was thinking about maybe possibly sometime in the future considering to fix to commence to get started speaking. Nothing was more important than the unending flow of eloquence that streamed from Xigbar's lips like a freakin' fountain of wisdom.

So, with no warning, he snatched Obi-Wan's little ponytail tee-hee it was so tiny and cute~! and yanked it in time with his words. "Yes. We. Do."

He'd think about what they had to talk about later. For now, it was important to not let the Jedi think he'd won. Even if Xigbar wasn't quite sure which contest they were even in.

[braidless]

Obi-Wan felt the tug on his ponytail, and he barely grit his teeth in frustration. Instead of lashing out with some callous remark, however, he faintly muttered a Jedi mantra before opening his eyes and slowly turning towards the man.

Now that he thought about it, Obi-Was wasn't sure why he'd thought he'd be able to meditate in peace. Maybe it was because logic dictated that this conversation was over. Logic that, apparently, this man did not understand. As it stood now, the scarred prisoner, whose name he didn't even know, was bordering dangerously close to Jar Jar Binks levels of annoying. And that was saying something.

"What else could you possibly want to talk about?" he asked after a moment, almost helplessly.

[numberii]

What could they talk about? Um... hm... well, he hadn't really thought this part through. There had to be something, something to keep going just long enough for him to end the conversation on his terms...

...then he got it. And he grinned. "You were talking about darker dudes and people that weren't even in the Jedi Whatchamacallit, but didn't say more than that. You have me curious; I wanna know more."

Smooth. Smooooooooth, Xigbar. Nobody would ever suspect a thing.

[braidless]

"Oh." Obi-Wan frowned a little, settling back in the chair and folding his arms over his chest. Well, he supposed it was a valid question, especially since he'd basically implied the man's enemy could have ties to such groups

[numberii]

Huh... Xigbar was certainly at the edge of his seat armrest during the explanation, tapping his chin as he heard Obi-Wan describing what had gone on. And, more importantly, that the kid had bought his off-the-cuff answer.

It was that last bit, about the 'abilities and philosophies', that had Xigbar curious. Before he'd been a Nobody, Xemnas had been a researcher... but a researcher without his memories. Had his Superior been a member of one of those groups, or some equivalent? It would explain the severe attitude, at least.

"I'm listening; what kind of abilities and philosophies? I'm guessing they didn't gather around campfires and sing songs."

Xigbar was a little curious about the Sith, but that could wait for another time. For now he was just intrigued enough to keep listening.

[braidless]

Obi-Wan softly snorted at the older man's comment. "You could say that," he said. "They embraced a lot of the ideals Jedi reject. Used their emotions to manipulate the Force, often as a weapon to further their selfish agendas. To them, their own ends were far more important than the rest of the galaxy. Some even used their abilities to practice dark...sciences, I suppose you could say, sometimes at the expense of entire races."

[numberii]

Now, Xigbar was all for dark sciences and selfish agendas, but there was one little clause in there that negated any possibility whatsoever that Xemnas, and indeed the entire Organization, could have been a part of that bunch.

"Man, while I'm normally not someone to say this, we could really use one of those dudes right about now. Someone who could add a little bit of firepower to our side would be just peachy with me, and heck, it'd be refreshing to have someone who's used to being on the other end of the scalpel."

"But it doesn't sound like the dude I'm thinking of. Matter of fact, there's one extremely important reason that my guy couldn't be a part of all that, even if he'd love to massage the 'Force' into his own personal tool."

[braidless]

Obi-Wan turned to the scarred man, his mouth tightening into a thin frown. "Trust me," he said. "You don't want any of those people here. They have no interests except for their own, and most would not hesitate to stab you in the back if it suited them. Some orders are sparsely populated because their members ultimately turn against and betray one another." The Jedi wasn't quite sure what he'd do if a Dark Jedi (or worse, a Sith) showed up, and he wasn't particularly eager to find out.

What the older prisoner said next was a little intriguing, though. Obi-Wan couldn't help but be a little curious, especially since it was possible this "dude" could arrive at Landel's someday. "And what reason is that?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

[numberii]

"Hah! Dude, I'm a part of the Organization; back-stabbing is the order of the day." He laughed at that, rolling his eye and patting the Jedi on the head again. Wasn't it cute, when humans thought that betraying each other was reserved for the 'Dark Guys'? Heck, Xigbar had to put up with the backbiting all day long, and that was before he was told about the 'real' traitors.

But at that last question? Oh oh oh, finally, a good opening for him to close the conversation on his terms! With one last grin, he chimed out, "Wouldn't you like to know~?"

Then he hopped to his feet, waved, offered his usual "Be a good boy, now~!" and trotted off to find a warm little spot by himself. This had been a wonderful day.

[braidless]

Obi-Wan turned to watch him go, his eyebrows sharply furrowing. "Hey, where are you going?" he said, but it was too late - the scarred man had made his way towards the other side of the room, and the Jedi didn't feel like chasing after him