Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

Xian glanced over when she heard Noriko's triumphant shout echo through the lounge.

She paused mid-bite, watched her cousin mash buttons with dramatic intensity, then slowly shook her head.

"…You are so loud," Xian muttered, though there was no real bite in it.

One of the cousins snickered beside her, and Xian leaned back in her chair, arms crossing lightly.

"But," she added after a beat, eyes flicking back to the screen, "…that was kinda cool."

She quickly looked away again, pretending she hadn't said it.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

The guy looked at her for a moment. "You already said it, yu can't take it back. Someone else is going to tell her anyways." He saluted while walking away but spoke. "Just remember we all went through being new and around. There are many houses and this is just a small one compared to the main one." He said it while going and a few nodded their heads as the sounds of Noriko was there and she had found a new opponent. "Hax, I call hax." The voice came out as there was more laughter from all of them and the droids milled around. Refilling drinks for the others while they were socializing.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian rolled her eyes when he saluted, but there was a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"I wasn't taking it back," she called after him. "I was… reconsidering."

A couple of the cousins laughed, and she ducked her head slightly, pretending to be very interested in her drink.

When he mentioned the main house being even bigger, her eyes widened just a little.

"This is the small one?" she asked, glancing around at the high ceilings, the layered walkways, the sheer number of people. "That's a little terrifying."

She leaned back in her chair, listening to Noriko loudly accuse someone of cheating.

"She definitely cheats," Xian added casually, nodding toward the gaming area. "I don't know how yet. But she does."

Then she looked back at the cousin beside her, softer now.

"Thanks," she said quietly. "For saying that. About being new."

She picked up her drink again, feeling a little less like an outsider than she had an hour ago.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko finished up as with the others she embraced many of them and moved back stopping behind Xian as she spoke. "Making friends?" She looked down at the girl with her cleared food and drink while making it a grin. "Good you finished, now you have the fuel to burn when we get back to the grind of getting up to the palace." She was laughing but ruffled the girls hair for a moment before motioning to the droids for the plates and other dishes. Thanking cousins with hugs or fist bumps... one with her they even lept into the aair for a chest bump. "Oh yeah." She said it while looking over him but was prepared for anything now that they might have to about. "Come on Xian, we're the best around and no one is going to keep us down."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian had just started to relax when Noriko's voice appeared behind her.

She stiffened immediately.

"I was already making friends," she muttered, trying to smooth her hair back down where it had been ruffled. "You don't have to announce it like it's some big achievement."

Her eyes flicked toward the cousins she'd been talking to, a faint flush rising in her cheeks before she pushed herself up from the table.

"And I finished because I was hungry," she added quickly. "Not because I'm excited about running three million stairs again."

She shot Noriko a narrow look as the older girl chest-bumped one of their cousins like this was some kind of victory parade.

"We're not the best," Xian grumbled under her breath, though she still fell into step beside her. "We're just… loud."

A beat passed. Then, quieter, almost reluctant, "but I'm not falling behind."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She looked at her. "Of course I have to, your generation need like constant affirmation.. it is in all the books I am making up that I read so when you do something good I am going to praise you.. no I am going to get a picture, frame it and put it on the fridge in the ship with a gold star next to your name... you will be the most self esteemed padawan ever." Noiko said it whiole she was walking and spoke. "And you don't have to go up three million steps.. but you are going to look super awkward if there is three million and two steps and because you stopped short you aren't able to get off the staircase... can you imagine just standing there and seeing the top of the staircase, the end goal in sight to behold and not being aable to reach it. Like torture."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian walked beside her with her arms folded, listening to the increasingly elaborate nonsense with a look that slowly shifted from mild confusion to flat disbelief.

By the time Noriko got to the imaginary gold star on the ship's fridge, Xian had stopped walking entirely.

She just stared at her.

"…You're being weird again, Master Noriko."

The title came out with a very deliberate emphasis, the kind that made it clear she was only using it because she technically had to.

She started walking again a second later, shaking her head as if trying to physically dislodge whatever that speech had just been.

"And there are not three million and two steps," she added firmly. "That's not how staircases work."

A beat passed.

"…And if there were, I would just jump the last two," she muttered.

Then she glanced sideways at Noriko again, suspicion creeping back into her expression.

"You made that whole story up just to make me keep walking, didn't you?"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Padawan I am not just being... I was born this way." She said it while walking as she started up the stairs with a laugh. "And wouldn't you like to know if I am distracting you to keep walking and going up the stairs." She skipped up one and then two while moving quicker with many of the others as she went. Noriko stretched out after such a hearty meal, a glorious feast to behold and now she had her padawan at least willing to move and get active. "Come on, if you keep making a sour face it will eventually stay like that. You don't want to look like you are sucking on a lemon all the time. Terrible for being able to talk with people... and don't stop in the middle of the stairs to talk it will trip people... walk and talk. It is easier then chewing gum and rubbing your belly at the same time." She said it and spent the time to get up the stairs as reaching the top the end came to a massive shielded arch way looking out onto the palace. Clouds sweeping along the walkways while they were all moving. Noriko breathing in when she exited to cover the walk towards the palace.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian followed behind her up the stairs, her boots hitting each step with determined little thuds. Her expression stayed firmly sour, even as she kept climbing.

"I'm not making a face," she protested, though the way her eyebrows were pulled together said otherwise.

She huffed out a breath as Noriko skipped up ahead like the stairs were some kind of game.

"And I'm walking," Xian added, a little louder. "See? Walking and talking. Not tripping anyone."

Another few steps and she glanced up at the massive archway ahead, the clouds drifting along the palace walkways like something out of a storybook. For a moment, the irritation slipped from her face, replaced by quiet awe.

"…Okay," she admitted reluctantly.

Then she caught herself and quickly folded her arms again.

"But you're still weird, Master Noriko."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko was walking. "Everything I learned, I learned watching you padawan, now come on." She said it while she was moving towards the palace and the white staircase went up as there were a number of people. Dressed in finerry as well as presenting forr them drinks orr food. "These are the families attendants, do not confuse them with servants or slaves. They do work for us but they have chosen to do so, are able to leave and go wherever they want and have skills that are super refined." She said it while moving with her attention going to some other people who were there and at the top Sosakan-Sama Unaga Ike stood with a look as Noriko stopped and bowed. "Sosaka-Sama." She said it as the older woman came and stood tall above offering a small smile. "Proceed but do not rrun like uncultured heathens.. we must show dignity."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian slowed immediately when Noriko bowed.

She straightened her back, suddenly very aware of how loud her boots had sounded on the steps just moments ago. The palace attendants, the polished stairs, the way everyone here seemed to move with quiet purpose… it all made the place feel very different from the noisy halls below.

When Noriko addressed the older woman, Xian followed her lead a second later, dipping into a respectful bow that was just a little too quick, like she was making sure she got it right.

"Sosaka-Sama," she echoed, her voice softer now.

She stayed there for a moment before straightening again, hands folding neatly in front of her the way she'd been taught.

When the instruction about not running came, Xian glanced sideways at Noriko.

Just a little.

"…I wasn't running," she murmured under her breath.

But she did noticeably slow her pace as they began moving again, trying very hard to walk with the same calm dignity as everyone else around them.

Even if it took all of her concentration not to look like she was thinking about every single step.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at Xian and rose up as she was walking and remained there. The older woman leaving as she waited for a moment longer. "She doesn't like footprints in her home well all of our home but she is the third in command of the Commonwealth and in charge of investigating people, places and events... so when you annoy her she will do a background check that will make everyone hate you..... she is also the mother of the prince and princess." She said it while going and her family was here but she was going more towards the courtyard with a stretch of her arms. "Ah see we didn't arrive last and now we can enjoy the cloud gardens. A dozen terraced plots of different fruit trees among the clouds all perfectly controlled and the only place where kyber fruits have been cultivated outside of the Agora valley."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian listened quietly while Noriko explained, her eyes widening just a little more with every new detail. Third in command. Investigations. Prince and princess. By the time Noriko finished, Xian's shoulders had straightened even more than before.

"…So she can ruin someone's entire life if they annoy her," Xian summarized carefully.

She glanced back once toward where the older woman had disappeared, as if making absolutely sure she was well out of earshot.

"Good to know."

Then she followed Noriko toward the courtyard, the shift in scenery making her slow almost immediately.

The cloud gardens stretched out ahead of them, terraces drifting in pale mist with rows of trees that seemed to float between sky and stone. Soft light filtered through the branches, the air carrying the faint scent of fruit and clean wind.

Xian forgot to be suspicious for a moment.

"…Whoa." She stepped forward a little, looking out across the gardens with open amazement. "You didn't say it was going to look like this."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Ah I said this place was awesome, nothing good is without effort padawan. To get up here you just had to go up some stairs and you argued and tried to fight every step." She said it while standing there. "So I'll take that apology, plus the extra praise of how awesome a master I am... you don't have to worry I have a list of tallies for how many times I am awed... and one day I'll make the bill come due." Noriko said it while she was standing there as she went over and got a piece of fruit from a collection basin the smaller droids were filling up. She ate a piece fo the plum as the skin was soft with crystalline kyberite on it with a grrrin. "It is like having the sugar built into it."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian folded her arms the moment Noriko started talking about apologies.

"I did not fight every step," she protested, though the memory of her complaining all the way up the staircase was still very fresh.

She followed Noriko toward the fruit basin anyway, trying to look unimpressed while her eyes wandered over the strange, shimmering fruit piled inside.

"And I'm not apologizing," she added firmly. "You still made up the part about three million steps."

But when Noriko bit into the plum and described it, Xian's attention snapped right back to the fruit.

"Sugar built into it?" she repeated, skepticism battling curiosity.

She hesitated for a moment before reaching out and picking one up, turning it slowly in her fingers. The crystalline kyberite along the skin caught the light like tiny shards of glass.

"That sounds suspicious," Xian muttered.

Still… she took a cautious bite.

Her eyes widened immediately.

"…Okay," she admitted around the mouthful, trying not to sound impressed and failing.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"No sounds like kyberite in the water. The force crystals infuse the water, water goes up the roots and feeds into the fruits. Gives it a rich taste few can match and makes them incredibly healthy. Wines have been made supposedly that can make one live forever because drinking it makes you healthy rather then drunk." She said it while she was walking and holding up some more of it with a smile though. "There is plenty here and more.. the kyberite in the water makes things interesting but since the wall of light was formed at Jar'kai to purge it we were able to see a lot more... the lightside is infused around atrisia with the plants now which goes itno the water."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian walked beside her, still holding the half-eaten fruit in one hand while she listened. Her eyebrows slowly crept upward the longer Noriko talked.

"So… the fruit is basically drinking Force water," she said after a moment, trying to summarize it in a way that made sense in her head.

She took another bite, chewing thoughtfully while looking down at the shimmering skin of the plum.

"That explains why it tastes weirdly perfect."

Her black eyes flicked back up to Noriko.

"But if someone really made wine that lets you live forever," she added, suspicion creeping into her tone, "you would have already stolen a whole crate of it."

Another bite.

"…And probably tried to make me drink it."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at her as she spoke. "Padawan do you really think I would be so terrible that I would give an underage student wine to make her live forever as a child just so she is forever dependent upon me and can't run away cause I am her legal guardian? You make it sound like I do all of the terrible things when I have been teaching you the best way to be a jedi with style, grace and rub it in the losers face." She said it eating another piece of fruit though as she walked while offering it to Xian. "You have to trust me, I am cool and we are all aabout peer pressure here." She said it while offering the fruit with a look at her. "PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE PEER PRESSURE."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stopped walking.

She just stared at Noriko for a long, silent moment.

"…You just said all of that out loud," she said flatly.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, not entirely sure if she should be concerned or just tired.

"And that made it worse, not better."

She looked down at the offered fruit, then back up at Noriko, clearly debating her life choices.

"I do not trust you," Xian added, very matter-of-fact.

A beat.

Then she took the fruit anyway.

"…But I'm still taking it."

She bit into it with a small huff, shaking her head as she started walking again.

"And that's not peer pressure," she muttered. "That's just you yelling."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

NOriko looked at Xian as she spoke. "You don't trust me... you don't trust me? Wow that is harsh like really harsh and here I was going to show you where your bedroom was so you don't get lost and where the bathroom is but now.... since your don't trust me I guess I'll just go off and find my own room alone... lamenting my padaawan and master bond that has been broken. Hopefully my broken heart won't kill me." SHe said it grasping herself while she was walking off and went through the clouds and rows of trees faster for a moment. NOriko was looking at more of it though as she walked with a smile on her face so she couldn't be seen with a piece of fruit.