Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stood there for a second, blinking at Noriko like she was trying very hard to process all of that at once.

Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.

"I was not thinking that," she said quickly, a little too quickly, her cheeks already starting to warm. "At all. That is… ew. No."

She crossed her arms over her chest with a small huff, trying very hard to look serious and dignified and absolutely failing.

"And I do not clench," she added defensively. "I am just… focused. And alert. And prepared."

A pause.

"…Okay, maybe a little clenched," she admitted under her breath.

Her eyes flicked to Noriko's bowl, then back to her face, then back to the food again as her stomach betrayed her with a very quiet growl.

She sighed.

"I am trying to relax," Xian muttered. "It is just… There are a lot of people. And they are very loud. And everyone keeps touching my face."

Then, reluctantly, she shuffled over and sat down near her, picking up her own bowl.

"…But the food is really good," she added after her first bite, quietly, like she did not want to give Noriko the satisfaction.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She looked at her. "That is because they are all cute and puffy and squeezable. Just look at them." She said it and pointed from the table as she was there. "We should just have everyone line up so they can pinch them one after the other after the other... oh we could totally do that family bonding Xian. I am sure they would all let you hug them as well we are family." She said it with a grin on her face. "I'll let the others know you want them to all come and greet you... we'll make you so comfortable here you'll think you were in bed under the covers with sweet cream." Noriko's head shot up though while she was eating and had a plan now of what she could do with Xian. "But what is it you would like to do here?"

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian froze mid bite, her spoon hovering halfway to her mouth as her brain visibly stalled on the words line up, pinch, and everyone. After a second, she slowly lowered it again and looked at Noriko with wide, deeply concerned eyes.

"…No," she said quietly.

Then, a beat later, firmer,

"No. Absolutely not."

She hugged her arms around herself protectively, shoulders hunching as if she were already bracing for impact. "That is a nightmare," Xian insisted. "That is not bonding. That is organized torture. I do not want a line of people touching my face."

She shook her head quickly. "I will run. I will go back down all the stairs. I will live in the jungle if I have to."

A pause.

"…Okay, maybe not the jungle," she admitted, softer. "But still."

At Noriko's question, she hesitated, fidgeting with the edge of her bowl before answering.

"I kind of just want to walk around more," Xian said quietly. "Look at things. Maybe sit somewhere calm for a bit."

She glanced back up at Noriko, hopeful.

"And eat without being attacked."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She laughed to both and spoke while there. "You are always being attacked even now. You are being assaulted as you eat by the scents, sounds and taste of the superior family recipes. The only way to win is to eat and clear your plate too which then you shall be assaulted upon with the calories you must then run up and down the stairs to burn off." She said it with a laugh when she ate more. "You just got to do it Xiaaan, there is a lot of places to explore aand we still have the top of the mountain to get to. This is just the midpoint. The palace and temple portion is still up higher and where more of the clan is... and then there are the other places you could travel to. The trade palace at the forks in the river is just as large and beaautiful."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at Noriko for a long second, spoon paused halfway to her mouth again, trying very hard to follow that entire explanation.

She blinked once.

Then again.

"…You are very confusing," she said flatly.

She finally took the bite, chewing thoughtfully, then added, "Also, I feel like you just explained food like it's a battle plan."

Her shoulders slumped a little as she sighed. "First, I get attacked by smells, then by calories, then by stairs, then by more family. This place is dangerous."

But despite herself, the corner of her mouth twitched.

"…The food is really good though," Xian admitted quietly, taking another bite.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao
"A great bard in the galaxy once said that life like love is a battlefield." She closed her eyes and held a hand up in a closed fist to her chest as she said it. "Profound lyrics." Her laugh was there though as she looked at Xian. "And you are not wrong but there will always be more to it. The food it just stage one... we have sweet cream and you want to calorie load for running up the steps. It gives you something to burn off." She said it while she was eating though with a nod of her head. More food coming from a droid so that she would be able to eat it being there. She had a few more things and slid some onto Xians plate. "Eat up, it will make sure you get muscle in the right places for being a powerful jedi warrior."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian looked down at the extra food being slid onto her plate like it might suddenly start moving on its own.

Then she looked back up at Noriko, brows knitting together in mild alarm.

"Hey," she protested softly, nudging one of the pieces back with her fork, "I was already eating. You don't have to feed me like I'm… like I'm in training for a war."

She took another bite anyway, because it was good, but she did it while squinting at Noriko.

"And also," Xian added firmly, cheeks a little pink, "I am never going to fall in love. Ever. So you don't have to talk about life and love and battlefields and stuff."

She crossed her arms for half a second in emphasis, then immediately uncrossed them so she could keep eating.

"I'm going to be a Jedi," she said seriously. "And run stairs. And not be weird about romance. That's the plan."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She laughed again as Xian took everything literally at times... it was fun and how it never ceased to be an endless source of good amusement. "Fine fine fine, finish your plate." She started eating more of her food when she looked around. "But it is good you have accepted you will be running stairs, next will be the hard stuff and then the real training can begin once you are ready for it. Can't have you being winded after a saber swing after all of hurting yourself." She gave a nod of her head though before stretching out when she managed to finish the food with a small lean back. "Oh that was good, maybe a little more dessert... cake... no sweet cream... no cookiee's with sweet cream in the middle encased in spongy cake."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian watched her spiral into dessert ideas with slow, growing disbelief. Her fork paused halfway to her mouth.

"…Why do you have to be so weird?" she asked flatly.

Then she slumped forward a little over her plate, letting out an exaggerated sigh.

"Ugh," Xian muttered, poking at her food. "I don't want to run."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"You keep saying that... just think of it as walking fast with style." She looked at her as she was motioning for the droid and speaking. "Okay, we are going to want a dessert, sweet cream in a cookie sandwich and wrapped in a cake so we can eat it like a rice ball." She said it with a laugh as the droid was moving off. Noriko looked at her food as she finally finished it and gave the plate to another droid while getting a refill on her drink. "If you keep stopping every ten seconds to stare at me, I am going to get all self conscious and wonder if I have something in my teeth and you are not going to finish your plate... and then you won't get your dessert and then you won't get to run it all off on the stairs. Thus causing a series of domino's to fall that has us being the last ones to arrive at the palace."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian gave her a look, halfway between exhausted and unimpressed.

"It's a good thing I don't care about style," she muttered.

Then, after a beat, she added stubbornly, "And who cares if we're last? Somebody has to be."

She picked up her fork again with exaggerated determination and started eating, shoulders hunched slightly as she sulked over her plate, taking big, slightly grumpy bites while pointedly not looking at Noriko.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"But we want to be first, as the saying goes Xian. If you aren't first then you are last." She looked at the girl but was finished with her food while she just had a drink now. Even the dessert. Xian was at least eating and not dainty so that was a plus even if she made pulling teeth seem wonderfully quick. She was looking at some of their cousins who were watching as she spoke to a few of them for laugh. "What, we are having fun and my padawan, my methods. At least for now I might change things up when she is older and not a day before. Need to instill discipline within her." She gave a nod of her head while taking a drink with her one arm on the table.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian paused mid-bite, cheeks slightly puffed out as she chewed, then swallowed and shot Noriko a narrow look.

"That saying is dumb," she said flatly. "If you're last, you're still there. That counts."

She took another stubborn bite, then added under her breath, clearly sulking but not actually mad, "And I already have discipline. I just… don't like stairs or running."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Being last only is beneficial when you are going through a minefield." Noriko said it and got a look but she smiled. "It is true, everyone else will have set them off so you know where it is safe to step." She listened to Xian while staying there for the moment to have a longer look. "Yes we know, now finish you food every time you stop to remind us you dislike stairs, running, exercise, love, relationships... the force gods make another sith who you will have to face in the future... or something like that." Noriko said it when she stood up though and was moving to talk with a few of the others to let Xian eat.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian froze with her spoon halfway to her mouth and stared after Noriko, eyes wide.

"Hey!" she protested, then huffed and dropped the spoon back into the bowl with a soft clink.

"I don't hate everything," she muttered, slouching a little in her seat. "I just hate… most of the things you like."

She took another bite anyway, chewing stubbornly before calling after her, "And I'm not making Sith by complaining about stairs!"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko was moving and talking with a few of the others as she turned back to look at the girl. "You have no proof I have wrong." She winked more while going off to sit and talk with a few of the others as the droid came over and looked with a small moment and then presented a plate of food. "Master Noriko said you require more sustenance intake to motivate you aand to not let you refuse." The droid said it as the face was just looking at her but the others around looked over with some encouragement. "You can do it cousin."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at the plate for a long second before shifting her gaze to the droid and then to Noriko's retreating back, her expression narrowing with growing suspicion. "You are trying to make me fat," she said flatly, pointing accusingly in Noriko's direction as if presenting evidence to a jury.

She crossed her arms for half a heartbeat in protest, then sighed dramatically and slumped a little in her seat, already defeated by the inevitability of the situation. "This is unfair," Xian muttered. "I run a million stairs, I complain a completely reasonable amount, and this is my reward."

Still, she picked up her fork.

She glanced around at the cousins watching her with far too much encouragement, all of them smiling like they were in on some grand conspiracy, and she groaned softly. "You are all conspiring," she added, resigned. "I know it."

But she took a bite anyway.

After chewing, she let out a grudging breath. "Alright. It is really good."

She shot another look toward where Noriko had disappeared. "I am still blaming you when I cannot move tomorrow."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko could feel Xian talking and accusing her of something. She found herself among the throng of cousins who were showing her different things that they had all been working on and there was a lot of it. Many were in the Wukong jedi and some were being assigned to the dream and black guard. They were glad to see it and it was a point of pride in what they were doing as they continued to move forward. She was listening to more though as she went to another table where they were showing some of the younger children who were eating finally and celebrating. Some of the food droids were cleaning as she made sure he had given plenty of food to Xian.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian watched Noriko disappear into the crowd of cousins with a narrow look that promised future retaliation.

Then she deliberately turned the other direction.

If Noriko was going to ignore her accusations, then fine. Xian could ignore her back.

She shifted in her seat and looked at the cousins nearby, offering a small, tentative smile instead of the sulking expression she had worn moments ago.

"So," she said, gesturing lightly with her fork toward one of them. "You're in the Wukong Order, right? What's that like?"

Her tone wasn't defensive anymore. It was curious. Careful, but genuine.

She listened as they answered, nodding thoughtfully, asking small follow-up questions, letting herself be pulled into the conversation. When one of the younger children looked at her shyly, she smiled and held up her spoon like a salute.

"You should eat," she told them in mock seriousness. "Apparently, it's very important. For… reasons."

A few of them laughed.

She laughed too.

When someone mentioned the Dream Guard, her eyes lit up just slightly.

"That sounds intense," Xian said, leaning forward a little. "Do you get to travel much? Or is it mostly local?"

She asked about training, assignments, and what they liked and didn't. She complimented one cousin's armor modifications, genuinely impressed, and listened closely when another spoke about protecting the valley's outer defenses.

All the while, she did not look in Noriko's direction once.

Not even when she could feel her nearby through the Force.

Instead, she stayed engaged, smiling, eating steadily, nodding along, making herself part of the table as if she had always belonged there.

And when one of the cousins nudged her plate slightly closer and said, "You're doing good, cousin," she straightened just a little.

"I know," she replied with quiet confidence.

Still pointedly ignoring Noriko.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

The cousins continued to mill around and Noriko took the moment to get to relax. There was plenty to do on every level and here well here was home so they had all of the different trade halls, recreation rooms. One of the lounges showing the latest games from Corellian digitals holostation five as she sat down for a battle royale game.. they could have a local party with several monitors and controllers when they were all going against each other. She was listening and feeling Xian starting to get along which was helpful... take her somewhere she could socialize with her own family and get to know people.. awesome idea... Noriko almost distracted herself as she combo'd and looked at the one cousin. "Oh yeah, whose house... Noriko's house noob."