Author: nostalgia

Rated: PG-13

Categories: Kind of het, with a side serving Slashiness. Ooh, angst.

Summary: Obi-Wan's night.

Disclaim: George Lucas owns the Jedi.

Etc: What Obi-Wan got up to during 'Bringer of Darkness'.

Biscuits to anyone who gets the title.

_ stands in for italics.

Homepage: Tempt fate at
http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/monkeychild/nostalgia/index.htm

Feedback/Archive: Whatever sinks your starship. (Huh?)

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Ka Faraq Gatri was a nightmare of mirrors and pink neon. Legend had
it that the original architect - a man of awards and esteem - had
thrown himself from the highest window upon discovering that the
interior of the club had been aligned west-to-east rather than east- to-west. His replacement, paid over the odds to compensate for the
prevalent belief that the building was now cursed, had been expelled
from the Architect's Guild for bringing the profession into ill- repute. Ka Faraq Gatri had history.

It contrived to be exclusive, in that strange, Lower Levels meaning
of the word. The management used words like 'clienetele'
and 'corporate image', but then most people did, these days. 'Sleazy'
was the word others used to describe "That Place".

The bar - a thick, blue, thermoset monstrosity - was an 'o' in the
centre of the room. With eight hundred and thirty-seven forms of
alcohol (most of them legal) available, Ka Faraq Gatri could rival
the very best. Obi-Wan Kenobi was determined to get drunk as quickly
and as cheaply as possible. Tonight he dressed in civilian clothing
and paid in unmarked currency. _A Jedi walked into a bar and..._ he
tensed a little at the joke in case it was a warning, but no one said
anything to him, and he felt himself begin to relax. The smoke in the
air burned the back of his throat when he breathed, and the music was
too loud, but he could cope with these. He needed distractions.

After the second drink he had stopped worrying about what would
happen if Anakin woke up and realised he was missing.

Halfway through the third he started to admire the decor. It wasn't
that bad really, he mused, once you got used to it. He slid his
fingers back and forth along the edge of the bar, spun a little on
the barstool, which shook as his weight shifted on it.

He remembered coming here with Qui-Gon on his nineteenth birthday and
and throwing up outside as the alcohol churned in his bloodstream. He
remembered screaming and swearing and crying and wishing he was dead.
That wasn't going to happen to Anakin. Obi-Wan wasn't going to be
lectured about giving his Padawan alcohol poisoning. He was going to
be responsible and trustworthy. He was going to be a role-model. Just
not tonight.

He remembered sitting at one of the tables in the corner, a semi- expensive prostitute draping herself over him because Qui-Gon thought
that was a good way to teach his Apprentice about sex. He remembered
the perfume and the warmth and the blushes. He wasn't going to do
something like that to Anakin. Anakin wasn't supposed to be cheapened
like that. You couldn't just leave the Chosen One at the mercy of
some whore in Ka Faraq Gatri. Anakin was too good for that. He was
delicate and vulnerable and beautiful and... Drink. Now. He reached
for the nearest distraction.

She was cheaper than the last one, a little younger. She was laughing
and she had nice eyes and she didn't look too much like Anakin. _A
Jedi walked into a bar and..._ Obi-Wan laughed and let her lead him
to a back room, stumbling a little as he tried not to bump into too
many people. He leaned against the wall as she unlocked the door,
trying to tell her a joke about a priest and an astromech droid. He
got lost halfway to the punchline, but she giggled anyway and pulled
him through the doorway and onto the bed.

It was still dark when he felt distracted enough leave. He stepped
around the puddles that had formed outside the bar while he had been
inside and out of the rain. He looked down at his own reflection in
one of them, saw the bright pink letters glowing above and behind
him. The sign fizzed over his head and another one of the vowels went
dark. They should fix that, he thought absently, and headed home.