Anniversary

As they walked along Obi-Wan noticed for the first time the Qui-Gon seemed to attract a lot of female attention as well. He hadn't expected that for some reason. He was also become aware during dinner that his sleeves ended at his wrists and now as he walked, it felt odd to have his hands exposed; the sleeves of his robe always covered them. It made him feel compelled to wave or gesture in some way at everyone they passed.

It was a mild night and as they rounded the corner, Obi-Wan could see a large square that was filled with people. Couples and groups sat at tiny outdoor cafes, mingled by a large fountain, or danced to music provided by a live band. They stood watching the band when a woman approached and tapped Qui-Gon on the shoulder. She nodded towards the dancers and Qui-Gon took her hand.

"I'll be back." Qui-Gon said. Obi-Wan nodded and found a place to sit high on a wall over looking the whole scene.

Qui-Gon was hard to miss in a crowd and Obi-Wan watched his master whirling the woman expertly around the dance floor. She looked like she was enjoying herself. Obi-Wan made a mental note to ask Qui-Gon to teach him to dance. He thought of Bant, back at the temple. She'd told him that women found men who knew how to dance attractive. He'd definitely have to learn.

Qui-Gon had a few dances with the woman and then bowed and kissed her hand before going to collect Obi-Wan.

"Time to move on, don't you think." Qui-Gon said.

"It's your night." Obi-Wan agreed and hopped off the wall.

They walked for a while just looking at the people and the sights. When they were standing in front of a tavern. Obi-Wan could hear the music pumping through the closed doors. Above the door in six color flashing neon blazed the name, "Vito's Nipple Stew Lounge".

"This place looks lively." Qui-Gon said.

"Funny name. I don't think I'm allowed in here." Obi-Wan said.

"Nonsense. It won't be a problem." Qui-Gon threw open the door and the volume of the music turned up a few notches. Inside Obi-Wan could see it was crowded with all manner of questionable characters, human and not.

A burly man stopped them. "He can't come in here." He said pointing at Obi-Wan.

"He's old enough." Qui-Gon said waving his hand.

"Right, he's old enough. C'mon in, both of you."

Obi-Wan followed as Qui-Gon led them to a booth table in the back. Obi-Wan looked around. He never imagined he'd be in a place like this. Or at least not as a patron. It was like the stories he'd heard about. He imagined he was on Correllia and the place was crawling with smugglers, bounty hunters, and lowlifes. A second look made him realize his imagination wasn't that far off.

"I can't believe we're in here." Obi-Wan whispered.

Qui-Gon looked around as if seeing it for the first time. "It is interesting." He said. "I'll get us something to drink. What'll you have?"

"Not that humu-poopoo stuff."

"Humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua'a. All right. I'll get us something different."

Qui-Gon returned with two drinks and two women. He set Obi-Wan's down in front of him and motioned to the women.

"This is Sei-Sheigon and this is Algar. They're going to take us to a party later." Qui-Gon told Obi-Wan.

"Really." He said. He eyed his drink, which was in a tall glass bristling with sliced fruits, sculpted straws, and tiny umbrellas. Qui-Gon had a drink in a tall glass as well, but it wasn't nearly so adorned. "What is this?" he asked.

Qui-Gon was still standing, chatting with Algar who batted her hazel eyes at him. He looked down at Obi-Wan. "Where are your manners?" he asked.

"Oh, uh." Flustered Obi-Wan slid out of the booth. He bowed to the women. "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi." He said and held out his hand. Sei-Sheigon took it and on a whim, Obi-Wan kissed it as he had seen Qui-Gon do earlier. Sei-Sheigon giggled. He motioned to the booth and she slid in. Obi-Wan slid in after her and once again regarded his drink. He picked tentatively at one of the fruit slices.

"What is this?" he asked again.

"I don't know." Qui-Gon said grinning, "I asked for the most embarrassing drink they have."

"Next time I get to order then." Obi-Wan said.

"Deal."

Obi-Wan sipped his embarrassing drink, which wasn't bad and watched his master flirt with Algar. He seemed to have a thing for brunettes, Obi-Wan realized. The woman he'd danced with had been a brunette as well. Sei-Sheigon had hair that had been dyed an exotic shade of green. He tried to make small talk with her, but she seemed fairly intent on Qui-Gon's attention as well. Obi-Wan didn't mind, as Qui-Gon was certainly a much smoother operator than he was in this arena.

When Qui-Gon's glass was empty, Obi-Wan offered to get the next round. Qui-Gon counted some credits into his hand and Obi-Wan made his way through the crowd. Knowing that Qui-Gon was impossible to embarrass, Obi-Wan knew it would be pointless to try the same trick on him. He decided that he would get Qui-Gon the strongest drink in the bar. Then he decided against it. But, by the time Obi-Wan had elbowed his way to the bar, he couldn't think of a better plan.

"What's the strongest drink you have?" he asked.

The bartender considered for a moment. "It would have to be the triple overdrive hyper-cocktail."

"I'll have one of those and two sunbursts." Obi-Wan said, wondering why drinks had to have such odd names. Hyper-cocktail? Huku-nuku-whatever? He waited while the bartender worked.

"Here you go," he said handing over the drinks, "Hope she likes the triple overdrive. You'll get lucky tonight for sure." He grinned knowingly and winked.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Uh, right. Thanks" he said and turned around.

He returned to their table, which had several more people at it, mostly women, but a few men as well. Qui-Gon turned around when Obi-Wan arrived. "Excellent." He said and took his drink.

Qui-Gon tasted it and gasped. "What is this, some kind of toxic chemical spill?"

"It's a triple hyper overdrive or something." Obi-Wan said handing the girls their sunbursts.

Qui-Gon gave him a funny look and shrugged. He took another sip and grimaced.

Obi-Wan slid back into his place and picked up his embarrassing drink. It was getting harder to drink as the level of liquid got lower and the umbrellas and straws got in the way. Finally, he tossed them onto the table in a pile except for the tackiest of the umbrellas, which he reached over and carefully tucked into Qui-Gon's hair. He was so busy telling a joke that he didn't even notice. Sei-Sheigon picked out one that matched her hair and put it behind her ear and smiled at him. It actually looked kind of nice.

About half way through his drink Qui-Gon was starting to slur his words and Obi-Wan wondered if maybe they should go.

*Are you alright Master?* he asked.

In response, Qui-Gon turned around and grabbed him by his braid.

"Oww! Master!" Obi-Wan yelled.

"I have the most incredible idea Obi-Wan, for tonight we'll switch. You can be the master and I'll be your padawan learner." Qui-Gon said and let go of his braid.

"All right. Padawan, it's time to go home." Obi-Wan said narrowing his eyes in irritation.

Qui-Gon looked crushed. "Never mind. You're too stern. Nobody would want you as a master." He said and laughed. Obi-Wan felt his ears go red for the second time that night and he was glad the light was dim so no one could see it spread to his face. Everybody else laughed as well and Obi-Wan suddenly felt very alone. He tugged at his shirt collar and tried to turn invisible.

Obi-Wan was considering leaving and walking home when Qui-Gon slid into the booth beside him. "Did I make you that mad?" he asked.

Obi-Wan knitted his brow. Yes, he thought, but didn't answer.

"Do you really want to go home?"

Obi-Wan looked around. Their table was still packed with people drinking and flirting and clearly enjoying themselves. The music wasn't that bad, it was actually pretty good. And this was how Qui-Gon wanted to celebrate the anniversary of his knighthood ceremony. It seemed unfair to go home now. "No, I was just mad you pulled my hair. We can stay if you like." Obi-Wan said.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry, Master." Qui-Gon said. He smiled.

"That's alright Padawan." Obi-Wan said. He tried to suppress his smile, he couldn't stay mad. Not with that umbrella still stuck in Qui-Gon's hair.

Qui-Gon finished his hyper-cocktail drink and had another and then someone else at the table bought a round of something that was green and tasted very tart. Obi-Wan wondered about the party they were all supposed to be going to. Suddenly the music stopped and a man jumped up on a sort of stage in the corner.

"Who wants to sing?" He shouted.

Without skipping a beat Obi-Wan leapt onto his chair and pointed to Qui-Gon. "Qui-Gon knows a lot of songs. I'm sure he'd love to." He shouted back. Algar clapped and started chanting Qui-Gon's name. Within seconds the entire place had joined her and Obi-Wan thought he might have actually succeeded in publicly embarrassing his master.

Qui-Gon stood up without his usual grace. "I do have a song." He said, tightening his hand around Obi-Wan's arm "but it's a duet." And before Obi-Wan could protest, Qui-Gon pulled him off the chair and towed him toward the stage. Qui-Gon whispered to the master of ceremonies and then to Obi-Wan.

"Oh, no, not that one." Obi-Wan said. Before he could further object, the music started and Qui-Gon was singing.

"She was a fast machine. She kept her motor clean."

Obi-Wan leaned into the microphone; "She was the best damn woman I had ever seen"

"She had the sightless eyes. Telling me no lies."

"Knockin' me out with those Dantooine thighs."

"Taking more than her share. Had me fighting for air."

"She told me to come but I was already there."

Then Qui-Gon picked the microphone out of its stand. "'Cause the walls start shaking. The ground was quaking. My mind was aching. And we were making it and you -"

Sometime during the first verse, Algar, Sei-Sheigon and some of the other girls from their table had run up and joined them and now they all shouted the chorus together.

"Shook me all night long. Yeah, you shook me all night long."

Qui-Gon jumped into the crowd to sing the next verse. "Working double time. On the seduction line."

He held the microphone up for Obi-Wan to sing his verse from the stage. "She was one of a kind, she's just mine all mine."

"She wanted no applause. Just another course."

"Made a meal out of me and came back for more."

"Had to cool me down. To take another round."

"Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing."

Qui-Gon threw the microphone to Obi-Wan to sing the next part. "'Cause the walls were shaking. The ground was quaking. My mind was aching. And we were making it and you - "

Sei-Sheigon, who had started nibbling Obi-Wan's ear during his line about making a meal out of him, didn't stop to sing the chorus though the rest of the group shouted it out with vigor, "Shook me all night long. Yeah, you shook me all night long."

So many people had jumped on to the stage at this point that it was impossible to tell who was singing and who wasn't. Qui-Gon had grabbed the microphone back from Obi-Wan though and so he sang the last verse by himself with Algar's legs wrapped around his waist.

"And knocked me out and then you. Shook me all night long. You had me shakin' and you. Shook me all night long. Yeah, you shook me. Well, you took me."

Obi-Wan wasn't sure if those were the right words but they went with the music and no one seemed to care. Qui-Gon's grand finale was to drop Algar and dive into the crowd, which scattered with surprising speed to avoid being crushed. He didn't seem to mind hitting the floor and even took out one of the tables as well, reducing it to a pile of splintered wood.

The broken table did annoy the management however, who pointed to a large sign that said, "no stage diving" before sending the group back out on to the street.




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