quigonejinn: (obi wan - look back look again)
[personal profile] quigonejinn
Completely random Quinlan Vos and Obi-Wan Kenobi fic. No Quin/Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan has a wee crush on his Master. AND UH, SIRI TACHI? SIRI TACHI WHO?



Quinlan Vos is the most heterosexual person that Obi-Wan Kenobi knows.

It's true. Maybe it had something to do with having Tholme as a master. There were plenty of people who thought that Qui-Gon was scary, what with the size and the face and the look of irritation that he always had when he was trapped at the Temple, but from what Quinlan had told Obi-Wan, Tholme's sense of humor involved stories about black-market arms deals that went wrong because someone farted at the wrong time.

It was, even Quinlan admitted, slightly scary, so yes, Obi-Wan supposed, maybe it was theoretically possible that having a male master who was like that could turn you off of men and/or keep you from having a crush on your master.

Maybe.

...

"So you don't think, say. Master Qui-Gon is attractive?"

Quinlan looked at him like Obi-Wan had just suggested licking in between a Hutt's wrinkles. "No."

"Not even a little bit?"

"No. Obi-Wan, he's all yours. You can keep him."

This was one of the many reasons that Obi-Wan liked Quinlan.

...

Another reason was that Quinlan had absolutely no fear of anything: fear was not something that Jedi were supposed to experience, but there were, as Obi-Wan saw it, an enormous number of timid Padawans. Padawans didn't meet each other all that much; there were too few Jedi for any but the most vital missions to have two full Jedi assigned to them, and thus, as Obi-Wan saw it, any time that two Padawans bumped into each other and had leisure time, there was almost a Code mandate to have a little fun.

But no, most Jedi Padawans spent their time skulking around the same corridors, trying to find edible bits in whatever space cafeteria junk they were being served or chewing over the same tired Temple gossip. Whenever Obi-Wan suggested anything in the least bit interesting -- exploring the local area, attending a native cultural festival, trying something from a planet-side restaurant, even going up on the deck of the ship to look at the stars -- they would shrink back and suddenly remember a kata they had to practice or an errand they had to run for their masters.

Quinlan, on the other hand, had guts. If Obi-Wan wanted to go hiking, Quinlan wanted an expedition up the side of the nearest mountain. If Obi-Wan proposed going swimming at a nearby waterfall, Quinlan wanted to play gymnastics on the sharp slippery rocks while the water thundered down all around them. As he put it, he had a master who liked to play Identify the Torture Implement! on long hyperspace journeys.

With the scars that they had left on his own, wrinkled body.

Each wrong answer would earn Quinlan an extra thirty-minute meditation period, so Quinlan had to actually look and remember, and as a result, he was more than happy to go match Obi-Wan, antic for antic.

After all, there was no terror left in the universe for a boy who had, for the better part of a year, accompanied his aged, ancient master on no fewer than five week-long hyperspace journeys.

...

"Does your master ever frighten you?"

Obi-Wan considered this for a moment while he sucked down a few more Harleen noodles. They were actually pretty good if you didn't look at them and realize that they looked remarkably like human fingers. And the soup was fantastic. Just the thing after two weeks of protein bars.

"Master Qui-Gon does really stupid things all the time, like offer himself up as a hostage or go charging into the middle of a fight. He likes to defy the Council a lot, too."

Quinlan looked down at his bowl. "That's different. I mean. Are you ever scared of him?"

Obi-Wan stared at him, wide-eyed, while he slurped down the rest of his noodles and then reached for Quinlan's untouched bowl.

...

Tholme would, every once in a while, drop Quinlan off with Qui-Gon for babysitting. There were missions where he could not take Quinlan; it might be particularly dangerous, or it might be such a sensitive situation that he could not bring another person.

Plus, from what Obi-Wan could figure out, Tholme also approved of Qui-Gon. Most other Jedi respected Obi-Wan's master and were deferential to him, but they were wary. They had heard of how Qui-Gon's master defied with the Council and of Qui-Gon's own heretical tendencies. While they would happily bow and chatter with him, there was always a distance. They always reserved judgement.

Tholme, on the other hand, could barely be bothered to hide his distaste for most of the rank-and-file. "You're less like those hra'dla sheep that make up most of the Order these days," Tholme had said once to Qui-Gon when Obi-Wan was within eavesdropping distance. "It's why I trust you to take care of Quinlan."

"Even though I can never be bothered to make a proper plan?" Qui-Gon's tone was amused. He liked Tholme, too.

"Even though you are incapable of making a proper plan. Or even dressing neatly."

Obi-Wan rather approved of Tholme's fondness for plans and detail. He had heard Tholme giving Quinlan his instructions for drills, and they were always remarkably methodical: spend so much time practicing this kata. Learn this other drill thoroughly, and if you have time, master these other two and prepare a form to show me. You should also know the systems and political regimes by the time I return. Forty-five minutes a day doing this, an hour doing that followed by fifteen minutes of this sort of cool down.

Qui-Gon's were far more vague. They would practice whatever Qui-Gon decided that Obi-Wan needed to learn that day, and while Obi-Wan knew that he was receiving an education that was as good or even better than most -- there was a reason he could spar most of his agemates into the ground, and it was thanks to Master's pathetic lifeforms that he could talk them into the ground when discussing xenobiology or the ecosystems of non-Corsucant planets -- he thought he'd rather like that sort of order in his life. And there was no denying that Master Tholme's work was fascinating. Spies and intrigue, secret negotiations. It was more interesting. Glamorous. Obi-Wan envied Quinlan in this.

And then, one night, when they were the Trandill VI space station, there was a muffled pounding on their door.

Obi-Wan turned over in his sleep, but he heard Quinlan sit up in the bunk next to him. Qui-Gon was down the hallway in a room of his own, and Obi-Wan heard Quinlan call out, softly, just loudly enough to be the ventilation systems, "Master?"

There was silence. The pounding had stopped, apparently, and Obi-Wan was about to roll towards the wall and go back to sleep when the door whooshed open, and some sort of figure stumbled through. It reached one hand up to the light-plate, tabbed it on and --

Obi-Wan and Quinlan were both standing on the floor, their lightsabers called into their hands, but what had come through the door didn't even look like a man. There blood dripping down his face and soaked into its clothes; it was hunched over, and it smelled like it had just rolled out of a garbage can. There was a blood smear on the lightplate where is fingers had touched.

It raised its head and made a gaspy noise. Blood bubbled on its lips, and Quinlan shoved Obi-Wan. "It's Master Tholme. Go, bring the medics. Get your master."

Quinlan dropped onto his knees to catch the man as he swayed and slumped to the floor. It looked like there were fingers missing from the man's right hand, and it didn't look like had a nose anymore, his face was so bashed out of all shape. Obi-Wan didn't move because he had just caught the sight of some white hair, hair that hadn't been stained with blood and looked like Master Tholme's.

There were tears in Quinlan's eyes. His master's blood was dripping down his arms, and he was trying to get a firm enough grip through the blood to power on his lightsaber.

Quinlan turned and screamed at Obi-Wan. "Go! If you don't want my master to die, go!"

...

"Is that what you meant when you said you were scared of him?"

"No."

"What did you mean?"

"A couple weeks ago, he told me that he was training me to take his pla --"

"That's fantastic, Quinlan. You were so worried las -- "

"We were in his quarters, and he was calling me 'Padawan Quinlan', so I knew I was in trouble, but then, he took out this box that I knew he kept in one of the locked drawers, and he showed me what was inside. He said that for Jedi like us, life could be a hard, ugly thing. We couldn't afford to be as removed and high-minded like the ones on the Council, but we were the ones who really kept the Republic going."

A pause.

"Obi-Wan, that box was where he kept all different sorts of things that you can use to torture people. The real things, not models, because I could see the blood stains and corrosion on some of them. I thought that he was going to ask me to put my hands on them and read their recent pasts. Learn how they had been used, which was bad enough, but then he went to one of the cabinets and brought out two full bacta packs and set them on the desk in front of me. He told me that we were going to learn what it was like to be interrogated with Antidarian bars, and he wanted to know whether I could be trusted to keep quiet during it or whether he would have to use the Force to keep me from screaming."

Another pause, and Obi-Wan thought that Quinlan would be crying, but he was completely dry-eyed, and his voice was absolutely steady.

"Those bacta packs were for me. It didn't really hurt all that bad because he talked me through it and told me how to resist that kind of pain, but Obi-Wan. He knew how to use each of the things. They were things that he'd used actually used himself, on people who weren't willing. On people who would have rather died than tell him some of the things that they ended up telling him."

...

Quinlan Vos was the most heterosexual person that Obi-Wan knew. He was also the Padawan that Obi-Wan grew to be the closest to, though in all truth that he was the only other Padawan that Obi-Wan had any chance to know while he was a Padawan.

Also. Long before Obi-Wan learned of Quinlan's past before he came to the Jedi and long before Quinlan fought his battles with the Dark Side and Obi-Wan was the only one who would vouch for him -- long before all that, Quinlan was also the person that Obi-Wan respected most in the universe after his own master, Qui-Gon.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 04:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rabidfangurl.livejournal.com
Mmmm, Quinlan love. Also, I love Obi-Wan in this, and you can totally see why he's all sneaky and organized. Because Qui-Gon wasn't, and Obi-Wan decided to be the opposite.

resist that kind of main

Did you mean 'pain'?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 04:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
*laughing* Yeaaaah. I kind of pounded this out in one sitting without moving from my seat, so uh. Furtively editing out typos over here. It's sort of a constant over here at Casa de la Rhod.

And oh, <3 Padawan Obi-Wan. He must have found it such a wretched trial at times to have Qui-Gon as a master.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 07:32 am (UTC)
ext_17864: (quinlan)
From: [identity profile] cupiscent.livejournal.com
Yes. Oh yes. This isn't just fabulous because it's the shaping of Quinlan and I love that, because there's so much behind the perfect badasses. This is fabulous because of what it says about Masters and Padawans, how they work together, on each other, the education, the relationship, everything. And ohGOD Quin. Tholme! *clutches*

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 04:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
*explodes in pride and omg at seeing a comment from omg the lady who wrote Bodyguard and On the Eve of Tomorrow and*

Tholme is a rock star, man, and it's fascinating to think about his role in turning little orphaned emo screaming Quinlan into a big bad motherfucker. 10,000 plebey little stories like this couldn't express the power of my <3 for their dynamic or the dynamic that Quinlan and Obi-Wan have.

Thanks for the FB.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 12:53 am (UTC)
ext_17864: (ladylike)
From: [identity profile] cupiscent.livejournal.com
Tholme is a rock star, man

AHAHAH I want that on a t-shirt. For, y'know, the three people who'll get it. Maybe on an icon instead. *G*

Way the hell word on all of that. The transformation of Quin, and love of dynamics. Fuckyeah.

(I wish people would stop it with the exploding. It's getting messy around here... omg eep! *bashful blushes; sidles into the corner*)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 07:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mozart.livejournal.com
Who is quinlon? is he this bloke I've been seeing in a few of the starwars comics at books a million?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 04:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
Quite possibly. Black rasta braids, yellow stripe across the nose, all kinds of hottie alien bitches hanging on him? XD

He's in the Star Wars Republic and Ongoing comics and is my best-beloved after Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 05:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_riz/
Oh, this is awesome. Fits in very well with the characters...

And personally I consider the comics to be canon while the Jude Watson books not so much, so "SIRI TACHI WHO?" is all good as far as I'm concerned. ;)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 05:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
God, I'd take the comics to be canon if only they didn't feature so much horrifically shitty dialogue. Some of the things that come out of Vos's mouth have me spasming on the floor, and when the nice medics come to take me away, I start to scream, "DO THEY EVEN BOTHER TO READ THE BUBBLES OUT LOUD? DO THEY HAVE ANY IDEA? DO THEY BOTHER?"

By the way. I actually came up with the ideas and stuff for this after reading your Pirates Quin/Obi-Wan piece. I got to thinking about their canon relationship and how Quin doesn't seem to have nearly the boycrush on Mastuh that Obi-Wan does, and uh. Yeah.

God, I love your icon.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-22 05:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_riz/
God, I'd take the comics to be canon if only they didn't feature so much horrifically shitty dialogue.

...you mean like the movies? XD Honestly, you've got to take ALL canon with the historian's "it's one depiction of this event, not a documentary recording" grain of salt. Otherwise your head will explode. The events in the comics and the character dynamics I just find way more plausible and movie-canon appropriate than anything I've read in the kids' series books.

Heh, but yay! I was sort of. Er. I didn't think anyone even READ that story. But yes, the Quin and Obi-Wan as foils thing is too good to ignore.

(The panel in this icon cracks me up because it was, like, the PERFECT example of their relationship at that point. They were both such boys about it. :D)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 12:54 am (UTC)
ext_17864: (fnord)
From: [identity profile] cupiscent.livejournal.com
...you mean like the movies?

ROFL. Snap! I was so about to say that. *G*

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 12:41 am (UTC)
bell: rory gilmore running in the snow in a fancy dress (smirk)
From: [personal profile] bell
You, like, tricked me! With the first couple of sections, I thought this was going to be humor, and then you went and pulled in all this (literal) torture!

Never read the comics, so hadn't ever heard of Tholme-- is that really how he goes? Or is that part of what you made up?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 07:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
Yeah. As one of the comments below says, it's canon that Tholme is motherfucking badass. If the Republic held a galactic contest for Baddest Motherfucker, Tholme would totally at least place in the money. And there's this hysterical bit in the later comics where Quinlan and Obi-Wan are swinging into action. Obi-Wan mutters about how Qui-Gon always tried to make him live in the moment, and Quinlan is like ".... Tholme woulda skinned me ALIVE if I didn't have a plan and just tried something like that."

So yes. <3 Tholme is hard and ruthless and a surprisingly, amazingly good Master to the little Kiffar orphan that he rescues from screaming catatonia. <3

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 03:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hlglne.livejournal.com
Tholme is like every kind of cool. He is a spymaster for the Jedi, and he took lil' Quin and showed him how to withstand the world. With layers. He has dark hair going white, and eyes as light as a wolf's and a craggy jaw, and a little ponytail. That is, when he isn't blending in.

It is so sad that Quin is the most heterosexual padawan Obi knows, because he's bi imho. But this fic is insightful, yes it is. The more Quin-delineation, the better for us all.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 07:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
I. Love. Tholme. OMG. He is so badass, and that is such a good description of him.

And yeah? Quinlan just strikes me as completely and OVERWHELMING heterosexual in everything -- the whole James Bond thing, what I see as a completely straight-boy relationship with Obi-Wan. What makes you think he's bi?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 07:15 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
My two dozen slashes of him, that's all. See my journal links page. Your Quin may be het, but mine ain't. Hey, it's all good... and I heard that Khaleen's expecting btw.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 07:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hlglne.livejournal.com
sorry, that's me with the Quinslash... the email didn't log me in like I thought it would.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 07:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
See, I'm just curious to see why you think Quinlan is bi. Like, the basis behind the fics, which I've seen? Any particular comics or bits of dialogue? I'm curious because I've read all the comics with him, I think, and he just bleeds Type A Supermale to me.

The Khaleen preggers moment was what prompted the subject for the original post. The last panel of that comic has Quinlan with his arm on the proud mama and Dooku beaming on them both and me screaming, "HOLY GOD WTF WHERE DID THE ALIENS TAKE THE WRITER'S BRAINS WTF WTF WTF!"

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 08:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hlglne.livejournal.com
There is Quin-Obi as student slash besides mine. And I think of the Jedi as a sort of armed forces, where they can be deployed together in harsh conditions for long periods, and have to satisfy themselves somehow. The most macho ones can be gay too, you know, not just the swish ones. And I don't believe they teach prejudice about sexual orientation at the Temple.
And he is just so damn pretty! perpetually pouting, like the Sirius Black of Star Wars! How could I help but have him shag everybody, except for Tholme! that would be way too incestuous.

is pretty really the right word for him? o.o

Date: 2005-09-23 10:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
Yeah, I think my use of the term Type A Supermale was more than a little misleading and bigoted-like.

What I meant to convey, instead, is that Quinlan's portrayal in the comics is focused on his badassery: sure, he messes with the ladies, but that's always secondary to his overwhelming asskickery and desire to get all the answers/get all the shinies/win everything. His character is, to me, fundamentally about power and asskicking. He has a tragic past, true, but in a way, it was another obstacle on his way to REAL ULTIMATE ASSKICKING POWER.

IMO, the authors of the comics have focused on that element of his personality to the exclusion of developing other elements -- including his sexuality beyond throwaway references to how much crazy virile Type A sex Quinlan is throwing to Khaleen and the 10,000 Alien Houris. I haven't seen any analogous references to him j0wning men that way, or really, any hints that he's sexually interested in something besides hot alien babes he can either leave or bend to his will.

I've seen an enormous amount of Quinlan slash out there, though, so apparently, lots and lots of other people see it. XD Will you open my eyes and point out what I've been missing?

As a random note. I know that there are gay men who don't swish, and that the Jedi probably aren't prejudiced against gays. Some of the most macho characters I've ever written have been the ones I've written the most explicit homosexual sex about. XD A friend of mine is perpetually irritated at how my style in most slash fic seems to be straight-guys-who-happen-to-love-cock-omg.

Re: is pretty really the right word for him? o.o

Date: 2005-09-24 12:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hlglne.livejournal.com
What makes Quin hot? let me count the ways.
One-- reads by touch. Extremely useful when touching some-one rather than some-thing.
Two- say it with me- the skin. Red, sweaty, tattoos in all the places you imagined besides the ones that show.
Three- predator eyes. Hypnotic.
Four- self-contained when not emoting. Many are drawn to the enigma.
Five- that hair!! a fabulous handle, privacy screen, etc.
six- the stubble. It would drive any lover wild to get beard-burn from that.
seven- the Energy-- because like all Jedi, he's an athlete.
eight- leather. Post-mindwipe Quin favors it.
nine-- built-in angst. is he good or evil? even he is not sure. save him with your love, girls...
ten-- he's not an idiot.
eleven-- exhibits tenderness when appropriate.
twelve- did I mention those great cheekbones?

All of the above are indices of attractiveness to either sex btw. And like a good spyboy, he would not be above seducing any subject to get information, if called upon to do so....it's SKILLZZZZZ!
hope that answers some of it.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 07:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hlglne.livejournal.com
Oh and I also know of some excellent james Bond slashes! would you read 'em?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 07:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
I'll be glad to have the link, but I don't know if my brain can wrap around the image. I mean, I just don't think of James Bond as having the depth to be slashed -- I mean, who do they slash him with? Q????
(deleted comment)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-23 10:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
Is that what you intended to link me to? Because as far as I can tell, that's O/A SW stuff.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-24 12:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hlglne.livejournal.com
http://www.livejournal.com/users/juonetar/24097.html#cutid1

sorry, wrong juonetar fic. Saw Bonded and thought Bond. This is it now

(no subject)

Date: 2005-10-15 06:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] a-blue-moon-cat.livejournal.com
I like your backstory. I haven't read any of the SW comix, nor have I read much in the way of the EU books, but this Quinlan I can see very clearly. And I like the fact that Obi and Quinlan are brave and bold, and really, the other Padawan learners should be more like them. It would seem that having a Master who doesn't always follow or believe in the dictates of the Council is perhaps a good thing.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-12-09 01:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] illstarred.livejournal.com
This is positively amazing. I wandered over to your journal because of Imadra Blue's rec and ended up picking this to read at random, as it were, and I adore it. Quinlan's character is alive for me now, where it wasn't before. Anyway, I'm friending you (because I'd still like to read that Obi-Wan/Anakin. insert a huge, ingratiating grin here) and I hope that's ok. :D

(no subject)

Date: 2007-11-10 04:31 pm (UTC)
pronker: barnabas and angelique vibing (Default)
From: [personal profile] pronker
I enjoyed this take on the Padawan life and the relationship emphasis given to Tholme/Quinlan. Tholme always reminds me of Billy Bob Thornton in the way that he was drawn at Republic, and I wonder if we'll see him and T'ra Saa now in the Dark Times comic. Or Quinlan himself, for that matter.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-11-10 06:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] quigonejinn.livejournal.com
Oh my God. Tholme really does look like Billy Bob, doesn't he? I'd never put it together before, but holy shit. XD

I need to get caught up on my SW comics. :D

(no subject)

Date: 2007-11-10 10:49 pm (UTC)
pronker: barnabas and angelique vibing (aninotok)
From: [personal profile] pronker
Dark Times is quite good and well-drawn, coming to the close of its first long story arc about now. And as for Billy Bob/Tholme, well, if anyone could make out with a tree (T'ra Saa), he could.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-03-31 10:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] polgarawolf.livejournal.com
Extremely good if rather dark character study for both Quinlan and Tholme as well as Obi-Wan and (in a roudabout way, through Obi-Wan) Qui-Gon. Though the thought that Tholme never really seems to care much for Qui in the comics kept trying to distract me, in the end the logic of Tholme respecting Qui for not being so much of a sheep won out.

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