A short little vignette with no apparent plot whatsoever.
Basically just a good excuse to have fun with my two favorite characters.
Takes place 10 years before TMP when Obi-Wan is 15.
Things bracketed by *'s are *italic*.
By: Cassia
Rated: G
Sometimes You Learn the Hard Way...
Obi-Wan winced and grimaced; pulling away
involuntarily as Qui-Gon cleaned and applied synth-flesh to
his raw back, arms and chest.
"Hold still," Qui-Gon remonstrated, pulling him back
and reaching for another strip of synth-flesh.
*"Easy for you to say,"* Obi-Wan couldn't help
thinking. "Ow!" he squirmed away again as the burning
cleanser set another one of his already painful lacerations
on fire.
Qui-Gon's firm hand once more pulled him back in his
seat. "For the last time, are you going to sit still, or
do I have to tie you down?" Qui-Gon's words were
exasperated, but his voice was amused.
Obi-Wan eyed his Master with a scowl. *"You are
enjoying this Qui-Gon Jinn, and don't you try to convince
me that you aren't!"*
Qui-Gon smiled slightly when his Padawan was not
looking. The boy could be so stubborn sometimes. This
really did serve him right.
"Ow!" Obi-Wan gasped again, unable to help himself.
He squirmed, but settled down quickly when Qui-Gon sent him
a mental picture of being tied to the chair.
He was trying to use the Force to dull his pain,
really he was, but every time Qui-Gon touched him the pain
flared up again, red hot and excruciating and he lost his
concentration.
"Well," Qui-Gon said cheerfully. "Maybe next time
you'll listen to me when I tell you not to tangle with a
Scorpiolissian." The Master applied a healthy dose of
antiseptic to another of the boy's many upraised, bloody,
poison-infected welts.
Obi-Wan shuddered and squirmed under his hands.
"I hope you've learned something from this," the
Master added. He slapped the synth-flesh on.
"Yes," Obi-Wan ground out through his teeth. He
jerked slightly and gasped again as Qui-Gon continued to
treat his injuries. "I've learned never to let you be my
doctor."
Qui-Gon actually laughed. "There you see?"
Obi-Wan bit his lip as his Master slathered more
cleanser on the infected injuries.
"You've learned one important lesson already." Swish,
clean, slap!
"Ow!" Obi-Wan was getting tired of saying that, but he
just couldn't stop himself. "You think this is funny,
don't you?" he said dryly, gripping the edges of the chair
tightly.
"No," Qui-Gon shook his head, moving over to a
particularly nasty welt on his apprentice's arm. "Watching
you get chewed up and spit out by that tentacled terror,
that was funny." Qui-Gon was being particularly
unsympathetic today. Of course, he hadn't *really* thought
it was funny. Well... maybe just a little bit, but only
after he knew Obi-Wan was going to be all right.
Obi-Wan grimaced. "You could have helped me."
"I *did* help you. I note that you are still alive,"
Qui-Gon pointed out. "Besides, he didn't really want to
kill you."
"No," Obi-Wan's knuckles turned white from his grip on
the chair. "Just maim me a little."
"I think he thought you needed a lesson." Qui-Gon
moved to his other arm.
"And you agreed." Obi-Wan was not really angry with
his Master. He knew what had happened to him had been
entirely his own fault, but he was still irritated, and
hurting.
"You asked for this Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon pointed out
calmly. "You cannot say I did not warn you."
Obi-Wan's scowl deepened. He had been waiting for
that. He knew his Master was right. He should have
listened to him in the first place. But did he have to rub
it in?
"Ow!" Obi-Wan jerked as a white-hot razor of pain shot
up his arm. The sudden intensity of it actually brought
tears to his eyes.
Qui-Gon's face turned serious as he paused to examine
this wound. Swollen red welts traced around the
apprentice's arm, twisting their way up from his wrist to
his shoulder like a tangle of confused serpents.
The injured flesh was hot to Qui-Gon's touch. He did
not doubt that Obi-Wan hurt quite badly.
He probed the injury gently with his mind. Something
about it had struck him as slightly different from the
others he had been dressing.
All of the creature's stingers left a certain amount
of poison in the injuries they inflicted, that's what the
cleanser he was using removed, but this one was a little
different. Part of one of the Scorpiolissian's gelatinous
tentacles had come off, as they were prone to do, and
lodged itself deep in the wound. It was going to have to
come out.
Qui-Gon winced a little in spite of himself. This was
going to hurt Obi-Wan quite severely.
"There's some matter in this one," he informed the
apprentice. "I need to remove it."
Obi-Wan had a nasty feeling that was going to mean
more pain.
"I'm sorry," Qui-Gon apologized as he picked up an
instrument to remove the tentacle remnant with. He
honestly did not like seeing his Padawan in pain. "I wish
I had something to give you..." they were woefully short of
any painkillers or anesthetics.
"Just get it over with." Obi-Wan grit his teeth and
hung on tightly to the seat of the chair with his other
hand. If Qui-Gon was actually apologizing for this, it
must be going to hurt pretty bad. He tried to center
himself within the Force. He knew he should be able to,
Qui-Gon could. But he was, after all, only 15 years old
and only two years into his apprenticeship.
Qui-Gon nodded. Holding Obi-Wan's left arm with one
hand, he worked quickly with the other. He tried to be as
gentle as he could and sent nerve-deadening messages to his
Padawan's body, but Obi-Wan still moaned in pain.
The tentacles had hundreds of microscopic barbs, each
one loaded with an ultimately non-fatal, but painfully
acidic poison. The barbs caught and clung to Obi-Wan's
flesh as Qui-Gon tried to remove it, releasing more of the
burning poison.
Obi-Wan's moan turned into a low cry. He bit his lip
hard and rocked back and forth quickly in his seat,
attempting to distract himself from the pain.
Qui-Gon gave him no hassle over it this time. He knew
the boy was being brave. One did not usually attempt to
remove Scorpiolissian tentacles without first being fully
sedated. The pain would have left most people screaming
like babies.
When Qui-Gon finally got it out, Obi-Wan's face was
very pale. His eyes glistened, but he had not allowed the
tears to fall, not in front of his Master! He breathed
rapidly, his aching chest rising and falling shakily with
his breathing.
"Okay, okay," Obi-Wan gasped, half joking. "I've
learned the lesson. Let's not over do it!"
Qui-Gon's lips twitched. He felt a little sorry for
the apprentice, but Obi-Wan was obviously bearing up quite
well. Sometime later he would let his Padawan know that he
knew how brave he truly had been. For right now however...
"Just making sure you don't forget it," Qui-Gon said
serenely, applying synth-flesh to the apprentice's last
injury.
Obi-Wan always found it hard to tell when his Master
was joking, and when he wasn't. However, he was not
fooled. He had felt Qui-Gon reach in to help him when the
pain got really bad and had touched the compassion that the
Master truly felt towards his Padawan. Obi-Wan knew his
Master was still giving him a hard time about this,
probably would for a while, but that was all it was.
Obi-Wan almost smiled despite everything. Most people
would not have considered his Master a tease. Many would
have been utterly shocked at the thought, but Obi-Wan knew
better.
"Don't worry Master," Obi-Wan said ruefully, able to
breathe easier now that his injuries were all cleaned and
dressed. "I won't," he promised with a dry smile. "I
won't."
They both laughed.
THE END