Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

Xian looked up from where she sat cross-legged on the bed—hair still slightly wind-tossed, cheeks a little flushed from… well, flying away in a huff—and narrowed her eyes at the sight of Noriko rolling in with a cart big enough to feed a small army.

"You're back late," she said, folding her arms. "Did you get lost in the flowers? Or were you too busy flirting with every rider who so much as looked in your direction?"

She didn't stand yet. She just raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"And don't 'hello, dinner time' me."
Her tone dipped into mock accusation.
"I know exactly what you're doing. You jogged me into oblivion, abandoned me to my own thoughts, and now you're trying to bribe me with food."

She finally slid off the bed, padding toward the cart, eyeing the dishes with visible suspicion… and interest.

"…Is that sweetbread?"
A pause.
"…And fruit tarts?"

Her stomach betrayed her with a slight growl, and Xian made a face like it had personally betrayed the entire Atrisian people.

With a sigh far too dramatic for her petite frame, she plucked a tart from the tray, holding it between two fingers like she was making a point.

"For the record," she said, taking a bite, "I am still mad at you."

Another bite.

"And I absolutely did not miss you."

A third bite… and the smallest, reluctant shift of her mouth into something dangerously close to a smile.

"But dinner was a good idea."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Ah Xian... I totally always have good ideas and you should pay closer attention to how awesome I am." She had the food with raised eyebrows for the two of them and she walked around towards the teen with a laugh while she put her hand son her shoulders. "And yes there was fun had, I got to relax after your spiraling meltdown of defiance... so to cheer myself up I went out and found two of the horselords to violently rearrange my insides properly and now I am worried about sitting down." She said it with a laugh. "Oh looks like I overshared again.. I am going to go and take a nice soothing bath to relax a little more before bed."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at her, deadpan.
Three blinks. No movement. No sound. Just pure, Force-willed disbelief.

"…I don't even want to know what you did," she said flatly, lifting her hands as if physically warding off the details. "In fact—don't ever tell me. Ever. Please. My brain has already suffered enough today."

She pointed toward the fresher door as if banishing a demon.

"Go. Bathe. Recover. Never speak of this again."

Under her breath, barely audible, she muttered:

"…Force preserve me from adults."

And with that, Xian scooted herself and her plate of food as far across the room as possible, as though distance alone could protect her from the mental images she refused—absolutely refused—to form.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"It might ah be easier to tell you what I didn't do, which was brood and think about how to get out of exercise with my best buddy." She said it while laughing and changing the water to be just right and then she slipped in with a laugh to herself. She stretched out though while leaning her head back. She breathed in and then out allowing the force to sooth her body down to the muscles and bones. The running had been fun... as demanding as it was she didn't regret it and as a jedi let alone a force users it was the best way to go and stay fit. She would be able to do a lot more with it she was certain... plus benefit if Xian just did it to brood well she could keep relaxing as long as the girl wasn't just sitting on the lounge all day."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian froze mid-bite.

Slowly—painfully slowly—she lowered the fork, set it on the plate, and stared toward the fresher door, where Noriko's voice drifted through the steam, with absolutely unnecessary confidence.

"…I regret asking anything ever again."

Her tone was flat as a durasteel plate. Dry as Tatooine.

She dragged a hand down her face.
Then over her eyes.
Then just… left it there.

"Noriko," she called, voice muffled by her own palm, "the only thing I brooded about was whether murder is illegal on Atrisia if it's justified."

She glanced at the ceiling with a sigh that could have powered a small generator.

"And I did exercise. My exercise was flying away from you before you could traumatize me further."

Xian stabbed a piece of fruit with unnecessary force.

"But no, please, by all means—relax your… bones. Do whatever mystical Jedi muscle-melting ritual you're doing in there. I'm sure the horselords will sense the Force disturbance and show up at our door any minute."

She muttered into her cup, just loud enough:

"…I hate adults."

And then, louder:

"AND I DO NOT JUST SIT ALL DAY. I TRAIN. I PRACTICE. I DO THINGS. I AM VERY PRODUCTIVE IF I WANT TO BE."

A pause.

"…Also, stop calling me your best buddy. I'm reconsidering my life choices."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Bone melting.... more like bone swallowing. She thought it and didn't say it for the fun. relaxing there as Xian spoke and NOriko laughed a little more to herself. "Xian, if you are having a midlife crisis and contemplating yourr life choices remember one important thing... I totally had yourr back getting those crystals girl and am the cool one who doesn't judge you while you judge everyone else." She said it and stretched back out. "And if some of them arrive just point them my way, they certainly knowhow to make a girl feel wanted and appreciated for all of the hard work she puts into her figure, body and are all romantic like not once did they tell me I didn't look pretty after all of the work I do."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian pressed both hands over her ears like she could physically block out the words coming from behind the fresher door.

"Oh my stars, Noriko—please—PLEASE—stop talking."

She bolted upright on the lounge.

"You are NOT having a conversation with me while you're in there doing—whatever bone-melting, soul-ending nightmare you're doing. I do NOT want to know. I do NOT need to know. I am a CHILD. A PADAWAN. A PERSON WHO DESERVES PEACE."

She got up and started pacing.

"And I was NOT having a midlife crisis! I just—" A sharp gesture with her hands. "—I just questioned whether maybe I should go meditate in the mountains for six years so I don't have to hear about your… adventures!"

Another pointed gesture at the fresher.

"And I don't judge everyone! I judge YOU because every time you open your mouth, something horrifying comes out!"

She gave a helpless, exasperated noise.

"And the 'they made me feel wanted' thing—Noriko, if one of those horselords shows up at the door looking for ROUND TWO, I swear I'm going to launch myself into the upper atmosphere!"

A pause. A grumble.

"And yes, you helped me get the crystals. I remember. It was the only day you acted normal."

Then, muttering:

"I miss that version of you."

Finally louder again:

"And if you call yourself the cool one one more time, I'm throwing your clothes out the window!"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Sweetie she never left, you got super serious and acting like you are above most thing suddenly means got to have a little fun. Plus what reason should I have to lie or not tell you the truth?" She said it while laying there in the water and submerged herself for the moment to get her hair soaked as he felt the warm water everywhere just to relax. Coming up as she shook her hair off with a smile and stretch. She finished up as the water was drraining and walked out fo the room with towels on over her night wear but it was mostly for effect as she looked at Xian and went over to herr. "So come on, talk to me why don't you want to be a padawan anymore? I said I would teach after Sor-Jan disappeared and now suddenly you are opposed to the idea."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian's jaw worked once, twice, before anything came out. The sharp retort she wanted to throw died halfway up her throat, replaced with something heavier. She crossed her arms—not in defiance this time, but because she needed somewhere to put the feeling sitting in her chest.

When she finally met Noriko's eyes, the edge was still there… but softened, thinner.

"It's not about you."

Her voice cracked the tiniest bit, irritation covering the crack as she cleared her throat.

"It's… I just—"

She exhaled, a long, frustrated breath.

"I had one master. One. Sor-Jan. And he's gone. Disappeared. No warning. No goodbye. Just—"

She snapped her fingers sharply.

"Gone."

Her eyes flicked down and away, the admission suddenly feeling too big in the space between them.

"And I know it's not your fault. I know you're not him. I know you didn't choose to leave."

A beat.

"But he did."

She swallowed, the hurt tightening the words even as she tried to sound collected.

"And it felt like I got dropped back at the start again. Like all that work meant nothing. Like I meant nothing."

Her fingers curled into her sleeves, a small, grounding motion.

"So when you said you'd take me as your Padawan—yeah, I wanted that. I still want that. But then it hit me: what if it happens again? What if I call you Master, and you vanish too? What if I get attached and it just—"

Her voice thinned, but she forced the truth out anyway.

"I don't want to go through that again."

She lifted her gaze, trying to look braver than she felt.

"And if I don't call you Master, maybe… maybe it won't hurt as much if something happens."

A pause.

Then quieter, almost begrudging:

"I didn't stop wanting to learn from you. I just… stopped thinking I deserved to ask."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She sat there and listened wrapping an arm around her as Xian bared her soul... spoke from her heart and Noriko nodded her understanding with no humor or jokes... yet she was building something up maybe but she kept it at bay until she was done and wrapped her arm around the girls shoulders. "Oh Xian... padawan, sweetie. You're an idiot." She said it and remained there for the moment still holding her. "I am not Sor-Jan and not wanting to get attached or hurt again is fine and dandy but you got to realize. Pushing everyone away, eventually people just stop trying and will do exactly what you want. So I have no plans on leaving you on a longer term basis then a few hours... maybe several if I am feeling the need to get my back blown out." She said it "but just because I choose to have a little time for myself doesn't mean I am leaving you. That is why I try and include you in things, try to teach you. Yeah you can fly and zoom around... but if I grab your ankle you can also be swung it just makes it easier. Power without experience or thought and just for its own sake means little."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian tensed at the first "sweetie… you're an idiot," her whole spine going rigid—ready to snap back, ready to defend, ready to bristle.

But then Noriko's arm tightened around her shoulders.

And the rest of the words hit her like a slow, steady tide she couldn't push against.

Her breath stuttered once, not enough to be a sob, but enough to give her away.

"I—" she started, then stopped, her throat knotting. She stared at the floor, at the pattern of the tile, at anything that wasn't the warmth pressing against her side.

"I know I push people away," she muttered, voice low. "I know. I just… I don't know how to not do that. Every time I get close to someone—every time I trust—something happens. They leave. They vanish. They die."

Her jaw clenched.

"So I figured if I looked like I didn't care, if I acted like I didn't need anyone, then losing them would hurt less."
A pause.
"It doesn't work. It just makes me feel stupid on top of everything else."

Noriko's words about not leaving—about taking time for herself but still coming back—landed somewhere deep, somewhere Xian didn't let people touch.

She huffed out a breath, almost a laugh, but softer. "Only you could go from comforting me to talking about getting your back blown out in the same sentence."

And yet… the edge in her tone was gone. Something almost fond slipped in instead.

But then Noriko said the last part—Power without experience means little—and Xian swallowed hard.

"...I know." She didn't try to deny it. Didn't try to pretend she had it all figured out. "I know I need help. I know I need someone to show me how to do more than just… react to everything."

Finally, she turned her face just enough to glance up at Noriko—not fully facing her, but close.

"And I don't want you to stop trying," she admitted quietly. "Even if I act like I do."

Her fingers tightened briefly in the fabric of Noriko's sleeve.

"I don't want you to leave, even for a few hours of… whatever you were doing." Her cheeks flushed at having to acknowledge it. "But I'm trying to be better about that."

A beat.

Then, almost too soft to hear:

"So… if you still want a Padawan… I still want to be one."

But then she added, because she was still Xian:

"…And if you ever grab my ankle and try to swing me, I will electrify you."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

SHe looked at her and listened with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, I kind of have to... I am not going to have them come over here while you are here... even if I got you special headphones and a visor it would still be weird... but fine I won't leave you. I'll get some of my hand binders and we can use them so our hands and legs are bound together. We'll never be separated again... might make using the bathroom awkward... but Xian for you I am willing to make that sacrifice... also be really hard to take a bath.... might have to learn how to hold your breath." She said it as a joke but leaned back where she was with a laugh. "Come now, relax... and you can try and shock me but remember electric shocks are good for flexing and relaxing the muscles so I would be working out the very muscles I want to show off to all the people and thus would be spending private time away from you so every time you threaten to shock me... you are threatening me with a potentially future good time."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared.

There was a long, long moment where her brain simply refused to process the chain of unhinged logic Noriko had just unleashed. Her expression went flat, shoulders stiff, eyes slowly blinking like someone who'd just been handed a datapad full of equations written in another language.

"…Bind our hands and legs together?" she repeated, voice deadpan.
"You want us to share a bathroom? And a bath? And—what—shuffle everywhere like one giant four-legged creature?"

She rubbed her temple with two fingers.

"I—Noriko—I don't even know how to argue with you sometimes."

But the last part—the bit about shocking—
That actually made her snort, a sharp little exhale she tried (and failed) to hide.

"Okay. First," she lifted a finger like a teacher correcting a very poorly behaved student, "if I shock you hard enough, you're not getting toned muscles. You're getting a funeral. Or at best, twitching on the floor like a dying insect."

A second finger lifted.

"Second, I'm not trying to kill you. Most days."

A third.

"And third—don't ever make the mistake of thinking my lightning is a workout tool."

She paused, looking at her master—fresh from a bath, hair damp, wearing towels like armor made of chaos—and shook her head slowly.

"But… somehow your ridiculous logic… actually made me feel better."

Her voice softened just a fraction.

"And I don't really want to shock you," she admitted quietly. "Even when you deserve it."

Then, in true Xian fashion, she crossed her arms and added:

"Also, if you ever try to chain yourself to me, I will yell for the Atrisian authorities and file a kidnapping report."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at her and spoke. "You did say and I quote "I don't want you to leave, even for a few hours of… whatever you were doing."" Noriko looked at her. "So the best way to make sure of that is to use binders so that we are never separated again... we'll find a way to walk and sit... we'll make it work. It is a sacrifice I am willing to make so you'll be happy." She was laughing though while she sat there looking at the towels. "Who knows, a little shocky shock to the butt to contract the muscles could be nice.. tighten them up for when I want to drop it like its hot and shake that badinka donk as the kids like you are saying today."

She gave a nod of her head but listened to the last part of that as she looked almost sympathetically as Xian and spoke offering a smile and another pat to her shoulder. "Oh Xian.... you can't kidnap an orphan sweetie. No one wanted them anyways."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at her for a long moment, the kind of stare that said she was trying very, very hard not to explode. When she finally spoke, her voice came out tight but surprisingly steady.

"Noriko… if you ever, ever try to put binders on me, I swear by every star in the sky, I will electrocute you so fast you won't even have time to sing your terrible jogging songs."

She pointed a finger at her, cheeks flushed—not just with irritation, but that hot, flustered embarrassment only Noriko ever seemed capable of dragging out of her.

"And no, I'm not walking around the academy stuck to you like some… decorative parade float. I don't care how willing you are to 'sacrifice' for my happiness. I can be happy perfectly fine without being physically welded to your hip."

She folded her arms, but the defensiveness softened around the edges, her gaze flickering away for a second.

"And maybe I did say I didn't want you to leave," she muttered. "But I didn't mean forever. I wasn't asking you to give up baths and—"
A grimace.
"Whatever… those horselords did to you."

She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to push down the embarrassment, the insecurity, everything she hated showing.

"I just meant you didn't have to be gone for hours. Or leave without saying anything. Or… disappear like everyone else did."

Then Noriko said it—the orphan line—and something in Xian's expression shifted. Not angry. Not loud. Just suddenly, deeply still.

"That one isn't funny," she said quietly.

No theatrics. No spark-slinging. Just truth.

"You can joke about almost anything. I've learned to keep up. Fine."
Her voice wavered once, barely.
"But don't joke about nobody wanting me."

She swallowed, jaw tightening as she forced herself to meet Noriko's eyes.

"Because someone should have. And it… It shouldn't have been a punchline."

Her arms slowly uncrossed, her shoulders lowering just a little—not weakness, but honesty—something she rarely let anyone see.

"I don't need binders," she said softly. "Just… don't make me feel like I'm an afterthought."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

SHe gave a nod of her head and laid on the bed. "You are never an after thought and I always tell you where I am going, with gusto and detail... you choose to not listen like it is some unholy curse going to make you bald." She said it laying there and stretched out on Xians bed for the moment in the wet towel as she rolled to the side leaving the towel there wet while she stood in fresh workout gear for the morning with a nod of her head and back over to her bed sitting down with the cover. "Hmmm nice and warm." Her laugh was there but she also looked at Xian with a nod of her head. "But you are wanted, by me and you are family Xian like real blood tested family so now no one is every going to let you go or down even if you fly away.. you haven't seen some of the jedi masters in our family they are peak."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian wrinkled her nose as Noriko flopped across her bed, leaving a damp towel behind like some kind of soggy offering. She folded her arms, dark eyes narrowing just a little.

"A blood test doesn't magically make you my mom," she muttered, almost defensive in the way only a teenager could manage. "And it definitely didn't make you my sister. So—what? A cousin? A… distant something?"

She paused, face scrunching as she tried to make sense of it.

"Because you are not my mother." Her voice softened, not angry—just firm. "She's gone."

Xian shifted her weight, the heel of her foot dragging along the floor as she looked anywhere but directly at Noriko for a moment. The word family still made her chest tighten, even when she didn't want it to.

"And what does 'peak' even mean?" she added, genuinely confused. "Peak what? Like physical peak? Force peak? Social peak? Some weird Atrisian thing where you climb a mountain and become enlightened?"

Her brows drew in, irritation and confusion mixing.

"I don't understand half the things you say."

But then, quieter—just a fraction—her eyes flicked back toward Noriko.

"…But I heard that part."
A beat.
"The part where you said I'm wanted."

Xian didn't smile, but something in her posture loosened, the tension around her shoulders easing almost imperceptibly.

"So… fine." She exhaled, half a sigh, half surrender. "I guess if we're actually family, cousins or whatever, then you're stuck with me."

A tiny beat of silence.

"But you're still cleaning that towel off my bed."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"But sweetie, padawan, xian, favored student." Noriko said it tilting her head up as she pointed with her big toe. "That is your towel, mine is already folded in the fresher." She put herr head back on the bed and rrolled around to go to the middle of her bed with a small smile on her face. "But for you, I will take it. What good is family if you can't get them to clean up your messy toiletries and linen right?" SHe nodded her head though while moving off the bed and taking it. "As for peak... several of our family are active jedi masters, highly trrained, highed skilled and in charge of some of the most impressive technologies using the force and cutting edge sciences. It is how Atrisia has been able to develop as it has and several other worlds they worrrk on."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at her for a full second, mouth opening, closing, opening again like a fish tossed onto a boat.

"That— that is NOT my towel!" she sputtered, pointing accusingly at the damp heap Noriko had just scooped up. "You literally dripped across the entire room like some kind of soggy swamp creature! I wasn't even IN the fresher!"

Her voice cracked halfway between outrage and disbelief.

"And stop calling me sweetie— or padawan— or— or favorite anything!"
She ran a hand through her hair, tailing off in an incoherent noise of teenage frustration.
"I'm not cleaning up after YOU just because you think 'family' means— whatever you think it means!"

When Noriko started talking about "peak," Xian blinked at her like she'd suddenly grown three heads.

"What— what does— that's not even—"
She gestured wildly.
"'Peak' is not a normal word people use in conversation unless they're about to climb something or brag about their muscles!"

Noriko kept explaining, perfectly serene, and Xian just stood there, flailing internally and externally.

"So we're—"
She waved her hand vaguely.
"—genetically related to Jedi masters who are, like, super geniuses and Force-tech people and I'm supposed to just—just accept that?!"

Her voice pitched upward.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW STRESSFUL THAT IS?!"

She planted both hands on her hips, glaring without real heat.

"And for the record," she huffed, cheeks burning with mortification, "family does NOT mean I'm cleaning up anyone's towels! I'm not your servant, I'm not your maid, and I'm not—"

A beat.

"—your swamp-creature partner in crime!"

Another beat.

"But… ugh."
Her shoulders dropped just a hair.
"I guess it's… nice. That you said family."

Immediately followed by more sputtering:

"But STILL. Stop leaving towels on my bed!"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"I don't know Xian, the little cubbies we got with ourr names on them are clearly marked and mine has a folded fresh towel in it while yours is right there on your bed all wet." She said it looking at her with a grin. And I mean our family is family, that they are powerful force users with skills in technologies, date back and can be traced nearly one hundred thousand years to Atrisia and throughout the tens of thousands of years as part of great houses, orderrs and groups as they have expanded outwards from Atrisia. We have houses on nearly sixty planets, from Atrisia to Emberlene to now colonies in other galaxies." She said it all with some prride and she would be prroud while taking the towel to the hamper for their linens. "wait until you come to the next reunion several million family members, the palace we have here on Atrisia alone houses fourr hundred thousand family of our clan."