Title: TRANSCRIPT
Author: Laura of Maychoria
Category: Drama
Timeframe: Pre-TPM
Characters: the usual
Summary: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are captured by bad guys yet again.
Notes: For the dare challenge at jelloanarchy dot com. Thanks for being so specific, Mousche! I think it did jump-start my writing.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. No, really, I own nothing. 'Cept a whole bunch of bills.

TRANSCRIPT

The cursor blinks white on a dark blue screen. A tapping of keys, and a document flares into existence, stuttered lines on the electronic stage. Slowly, a finger taps a button, scrolling downward.

Record of Surveillance Droid T1G-72, Level 24, Corridor 6

TIME STAMP: 788349129

The arrival of Prisoner 6564 occurred 5.3 minutes before the arrival of Prisoner 6565.

Prisoner 6564
Type: Human Male
Age: Approx. 45 standard years
Condition: Fit
Manner at arrival: Subject held head up while four guards escorted into Cell 24-6D. Did not struggle, and did not appear concerned. (TECH NOTE: T1G-72's emotion-detection software in need of upgrade.) Once in Cell 24-6D, subject sat in the approx. center of the room and closed eyes. Heartbeat and respiration indicated sleep, though data indicate that humans do not sleep sitting up. Record marked as anomalous and in need of review. (TECH NOTE: Modify T1G-72's data to account for Jedi. Make changes system-wide.)

Prisoner 6565
Type: Human Male
Age: Approx. 16 standard years
Condition: Undetermined
Manner at arrival: Subject's head was lowered while four guards escorted into Cell 24-6E. Did not struggle. Held arms folded across chest. Detection of blood smeared on garments over torso. Once in Cell 24-6E, subject sat on cot and leaned against wall. 9.8 minutes later, heartbeat and respiration indicated sleep.

4.67 hours after arrival, Prisoner 6564 opened eyes and looked toward wall adjoining Cell 24-6E.

TRANSCRIPT

6564: Obi-Wan? Are you there?

6565 (Roused himself, apparently with some difficulty. Leaned head back against wall. Voice slower than human standard.): I'm here, Master.

(2.3 seconds silence)

6565: You should have listened to me.

6564 (auditory exhalation): Are we going to continue this now, Obi-Wan?

6565: You should have listened.

6564: Rather, you should have listened to me. I told you stay in the rooms. I am your master. It was unfitting for you to defy me.

6565: You should have . . .

6564 (volume of voice raised): Stop. I will hear no more. Next you'll be complaining of all the other things you find dissatisfactory about me. Probably right down to the fact that I always over-mix the muja muffins.

(5.4 seconds silence)

6565 (volume of voice lowered): Well, you do.

6564: What?

6565: You do. If I want good muffins I have to go to the refectory or make them myself.

6564: I don't like your tone, young man.

6565: Then don't listen to me. You never do anyway.

6564: Enough!

(10.3 seconds silence)

6565 (voice modulation indicating emotional duress): You can shoot back, you know. Tell me all the things that are wrong with me. I know there are many.

(3.2 seconds silence)

6565: I'll get you started. Too bound by the rules. Too impulsive and headstrong. Too stubborn. Still unskilled at releasing emotions. Inappropriate rivalries with other Padawans, Siri Tachi being one example. Shall I go on, or can you take it from there?

6564: Stop, Obi-Wan. The only one I'm concerned with is your blatant disobedience.

(Prisoner 6565 stiffly laid down on the cot, closed eyes. As if aware of this movement, Prisoner 6564 stood and walked over to wall, leaning against it on one hand.)

6564: That's the one you don't want to discuss, isn't it? I don't understand. You've never been so foolish before. I commanded you to stay behind while I went to the meet. Why did you defy me?

6565 (voice quiet, slow): We've been over this too many times. I told you: I had to be there.

6564: No, you didn't. If you hadn't come—if you had listened to me—you wouldn't be here. You would be free. You'd be able to contact the Council for rescue. As it is, I am afraid we might be imprisoned here for some time.

6565 (voice nearly inaudible): If I had listened to you, you would be dead.

(4.3 minutes of silence. Prisoner 6564 turned his back to the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. Facial expression indicated shock.)

6565: I couldn't let that happen, Master. I'm sorry I insulted you with my disobedience, but I'm not sorry that I disobeyed.

6564 (volume of voice lowered): Why are you so sure?

6565: I saw it. That grenade? I saw it kill you.

6564: A vision? (auditory exhalation) A vision. You could have told me.

6565: You don't trust visions. I've tried before, remember? The stained glass cathedral on Hanai? You were right to ignore me—that time it wasn't true. This time I knew it was.

(1.4 minutes silence.)

6565: I couldn't let it happen.

(2.5 minutes silence. Prisoner 6564 leaned head back against wall. Prisoner 6565 shifted on cot, wrapping arms loosely about torso.)

6565 (voice gentle, almost wandering): It's funny . . . When I saw the terrorist pull the pin on that grenade, start to throw it, and I threw my lightsaber to block it . . . All I could think about was Madoni. You remember that mission, don't you? We had to flee the capital, and wound up hiding with a nomad tribe.

6564: I remember.

6565 (short laughter): That first night, while we were sleeping like the dead, a sandcat gave birth to a litter in your tunic, lying in a heap on the floor. And you didn't mind. You said the sandcat needed your tunic more than you did, and you cooed over the kits, and borrowed a poncho from a nomad. It wouldn't have been that hard to move the sandcat to a better nest, but you insisted that we leave them alone.

6564 (smiling): They were adorable little kits. They shone in the Living Force like a dozen tiny stars.

6565: And that's what I was thinking when the terrorist pulled the pin, and I threw my 'saber, and the grenade exploded anyway. I couldn't let it happen.

(15.6 seconds silence)

6565: And Master? I don't really care about the muja muffins. I'll eat over-mixed muffins every day, as long as you want to make them.

6564: I do. I do want to make them, Padawan. As soon we get back to the Temple, I'll fix up the biggest batch of muja muffins you've ever seen. Only this time, maybe you can help me, so they won't be over-mixed.

6565: I'd like that. If we ever get back to the Temple.

(16.4 minutes silence. Prisoner 6565 closed eyes, though rapid, irregular respiration did not indicate sleep. Prisoner 6564 looked at opposite wall, did not otherwise move.)

6565 (voice very low, should have been inaudible through wall): Master? Are these blocks Force-resistant? I can't feel you.

6564: No. I can feel you just fine. I thought you were blocking the bond because you were angry.

6565: No. I'm not angry. I can't feel the Force. I thought it was the cell.

6564: Not the cell. It must be something else.

(Prisoner 6565 shivered, curling up on the cot. Prisoner 6564 suddenly stood, placing both hands against the wall.)

6564 (volume of voice raised): Obi-Wan? Are you injured?

6565: It's not . . . it's not bad.

6564: Sithspawn! Why didn't I check on you before? Yes, I would say it's quite bad. That explosion caught you on the left side, didn't it? You've lost blood.

6565: Just a little.

6564: Be still, Padawan. We're not going to wait for any hypothetical rescue.

(Prisoner 6564 walked around the cell, looking at the walls. Movements were sharp and agitated, indicating distress. ADMIN NOTE: T1G-72 did not send an alert to the guards, judging no danger in this. Upgrade of data about Jedi needed immediately.)

6565: I'm fine, Master, really.

6564: Padawan, I can understand a bit of justified disobedience, but let's not have any lying.

6565: Yes, Master. Whatever you say, Master. I'm absolutely miserable and I want to go home, Master.

(Prisoner 6564 stopped pacing, looking up at the surveillance unit.)

6564: Don't worry. I'll get you back to the Temple. We have muffins waiting for us.

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(ADMIN NOTE: Record ends in gibberish, the droid equivalent of static. T1G-72 was disabled through a mechanism we could neither detect nor inhibit. Prisoners 6564 and 6565 disappeared without a trace. If we intend to keep Jedi imprisoned in the future, major system-wide changes must be effected.)

A tapping of keys, and the document winks out of existence, sent along to its next stop on the bureaucracy route. The finger taps the table next to the keypad for a moment, then flicks a switch. The dark blue screen disappears in black.

(End)

Dare from Mousche:

The scenario: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are imprisoned while on a mission. They are in separate, adjoining cells, and they can hear but not see one another. Both are frustrated at the turn things have taken and their heated debate has devolved into bickering. They are being watched by a droid who can see and hear what's going on in both cells.

Conditions:
- The vignette (not drabble) must be written from the POV of the droid (not necessarily first person, though), with its objective, non-emotional observations. The droid can still draw logical conclusions from what he/she/it sees, of course, but its function is mainly surveillance.

- The following must be mentioned: muja muffins, Siri, sandcats or some other kind of GFFA feline, stained glass and a grenade.

Other than that, go crazy. This can be AU or canon, any star system, any age, any mission. You can have them resolve their argument - or not. You can have them escape - or not. You could even have them use Force telepathy, but that wouldn't be very fun for us, now, would it.