Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

Xian looked at Noriko for a long moment, her expression perfectly neutral despite the lecture. Somewhere between being told she stomped her feet and being reminded that she hadn't learned everyone's names yet, she had arrived at what she believed was the only logical conclusion.

She straightened her posture slightly and folded her hands neatly behind her back.

"Yes, Master."

The words were delivered with complete sincerity.

"I understand now."

She gave a small nod, as though she had reached a profound revelation.

"From this point forward, I will simply do everything you ask of me."

Her face remained perfectly composed for another second before the faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"I'm sure absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"OKay." She said it with a look while she was there and enjoying herself though for the moment. WIth a look over at it all though when she was waiting for the next part. "You make it sound like I am going to throw you intentionally into danger. Everything I have shown you, everywhere I take you there is controlled challenge. Danger to push you but not harm you. You really will eventually just have to learn I do know what I am doing the old fashioned way. By being awesome and now come, we can drop water balloons from the top of the palace to the jungle below. when they pop they explode and no one knows who did it. A great lesson on awareness and timing to get someone while guiding it with the force."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian regarded her master for a moment before letting out the smallest sigh. She wasn't entirely convinced that dropping water balloons from the top of a palace qualified as Jedi training, but after spending enough time with Noriko, she had learned that arguing usually accomplished little besides encouraging an even more elaborate explanation.

"...Yes, Master."

The words came with quiet resignation rather than enthusiasm as she rose from her chair and fell into step behind Noriko. Her hands folded neatly behind her back while she followed along, accepting that whatever came next was apparently another lesson she was meant to learn.

"I'll trust you."

She glanced up at the towering palace for a moment before looking back toward her master.

"Though I have a feeling this is going to end with someone asking why they're suddenly wet."

Despite herself, the faintest smile found its way onto her face as she continued after Noriko. At this point, she wasn't entirely sure where the lesson ended and the adventure began.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Thats assuming the temperature in the air doesn't freeze the water and make them mini missiles that will splat their heads. Makes danger sense and learning how to dodge essential skills for a force user to have." She said it while being there but was looking at more of the cousins around tem. "Besides, we aren't the ones who would be getting wet, we are the ones using the force to focus and figure out where we are aiming it. The ones having to dodge it are the ones takign the risk of getting wet."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian looked at Noriko for a long moment, trying to decide whether her master genuinely believed that explanation or had simply worked backward from the conclusion until it somehow sounded reasonable.

"I feel like that is exactly the sort of detail you should have started with," she said quietly. "The possibility of accidentally inventing frozen water projectiles seems... important."

She glanced upward toward the towering palace where, apparently, this lesson was going to take place before letting out a small sigh of resignation.

"So the lesson is precision," she concluded. "Learn to guide the balloon accurately, and if someone notices it coming, they also get to practice dodging."

Another thoughtful pause followed.

"...I still have questions."

Even so, she dutifully continued following after her master, already suspecting the answers would somehow lead to even more questions.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Padawan we didn't invent the frozen water, the frozen water has always been there. It is like the jam between your toes or the ingrown hair on the back of your leg... Always there, always waiting." SHe said it with a nod of her head though as she started to walk and she could answer questions. "But ask your questions padawan, I have a thounsad aand one answers to all of your questions." SHe raised an eyebrow for a moment before she was moving quickly and able to check on some other cousins who were around them.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian followed a step behind Noriko, listening carefully as her master explained that frozen water had apparently existed all along. She wasn't entirely convinced the comparison to jam between her toes had helped clarify the lesson, but she had learned that asking for further explanation sometimes resulted in an even stranger one.

"...Yes, Master."

She nodded obediently, folding her hands behind her back as she continued walking.

"I think... I only have one question right now."

Her eyes lifted toward Noriko with the quiet uncertainty that still appeared from time to time whenever Atrisian customs surprised her.

"How do you always have an answer for everything?"

There was no challenge in the question, only genuine curiosity. After spending months with Noriko, Xian had yet to discover a subject her master couldn't answer, whether the answer made perfect sense or somehow raised three more questions.

She glanced toward the cousins Noriko had gone to check on before quietly adding, almost to herself,

"I'll probably think of the other thousand questions later."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"It is the burden one faces when they are awesome and a jedi master and pretty." She said it with a smile though while she was walking and leading the way through the palace towards the more beautiful and serene outer walls as the palace looked out on the clouds and below between them the jungle and areas of the mountain could be seen. "See we are so high up, the air will both move what we drop and chill it plenty. It is practice for us and for others and we are awesome therefore we shall pass."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian followed Noriko toward the outer walls, growing noticeably quieter when the view opened before them. The palace had seemed impossibly high from below, but standing at its edge and looking across the clouds gave her an entirely different appreciation for exactly how far they were from the jungle beneath. She cautiously leaned forward enough to look down before immediately deciding she had seen quite enough and straightening again.

"Yes, Master," she replied meekly, accepting Noriko's explanation without attempting to find another potential flaw in the plan. At this point, she suspected that doing so would only result in learning about some entirely new danger she hadn't considered.

She looked toward whatever collection of water balloons awaited them, then back toward the distant jungle below. "Just tell me what you want me to do." After a moment, she added with complete seriousness, "I'll try to be awesome enough to pass."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Alright." SHe spoke with a laugh for a moment. "Good see you are having fun, now the secret is all in the wind up. You want to get a good twist as you throw and then you keep the focus on it with the force as if it is an extension of yourself." She said it while she was looking at it and shaped the water into a balloon with a grin that inflated it for a moment. Then she was tying it loosely so that it wouldn't be so massive to be unthrowable. Noriko tested one experimentally before she was allowing the force to extend from herself as she threw it and launched out outwards with the force to arc up and then go further and further.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian watched the balloon sail away from them, following its path until it became little more than a speck against the clouds. She understood what Noriko was asking well enough. Treating something as an extension of herself through the Force wasn't particularly different from exercises she had done before, but there was one obvious complication that made her considerably less confident about trying it herself.

"I don't work well with water..." she admitted quietly.

Air came naturally to her. Fire did too, though in a very different way. Water had always felt stubborn and awkward whenever she tried interacting with it directly through the Force, as though it refused to behave in any sensible fashion. Still, Xian stepped forward and took one of the balloons rather than using that as an excuse not to try. She held it carefully between both hands, eyeing the shifting water inside with mild suspicion before looking toward the distant jungle.

"But I'll try."

Remembering Noriko's demonstration, Xian shifted her stance and attempted the same winding motion. Her first instinct was to concentrate on the water itself, but she quickly abandoned that idea and focused instead on something she understood far better. The air surrounding the balloon stirred subtly as she twisted and threw, sending it outward from the palace while extending her awareness after it through the Force.

"There."

Xian leaned forward slightly as she watched its flight, trying to catch the balloon with currents of air and guide it farther rather than controlling the water directly.

"That's not cheating, is it?"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"And yet your body is comprised of more water then anything else." She said it when she was looking at her do it with a clap. "See you are a water shaping master as long as you are still guiding it and connected with your mind being able to make smaller adjustments to aim it towards whoever you are targeting down there." Noriko said it with a wider and wider grin forming on her face when she was looking over at everything that was there. She wanted to really check some parts of it where she could go and where they could try with the next one. "Now we stand over here and do it again."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian followed Noriko to the new position without arguing, though her expression suggested the explanation had raised more questions than it answered. Being made mostly of water did not, in her mind, automatically make her skilled at controlling it, but she had already learned that challenging Noriko's logic usually resulted in an even stranger lesson.

"Yes, Master," she said obediently as she picked up another balloon and settled it carefully in her hands. She adjusted her stance, focused on the air around it rather than the water inside, and prepared to throw again while quietly accepting that she had apparently become a water-shaping master without understanding how.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked upon her and grinned. "You are so good at it in point of fact padawan, look at what you are able to do. You are using the water in your body to control an organic meat suit, with full thoughts and articulation and capabilities. It is an impressive feat only rivaled by me, I do it with style and cuteness that is adorable." Noriko said it all with a stright face as she had a second balloon with a wider grin on her face and pulled back before launching it and directing it a little bit with the force in areas.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian listened carefully, her expression remaining thoughtful as Noriko explained it with complete confidence. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was fairly certain her brain deserved more credit than the water inside her body for making her arms and legs move. The explanation didn't quite fit together the way she understood biology.

She kept that observation to herself.

Experience had taught her that questioning Noriko's logic usually led to an even more elaborate explanation that somehow made less sense while still ending with her learning something useful.

"Yes, Master."

She accepted another balloon and gave it an experimental toss in one hand before settling into her stance. This time she concentrated less on the water itself and more on the movement around it, extending her awareness through the surrounding air as she wound up and threw. The balloon arced out across the open sky, and she gently nudged its path with the breeze, making small corrections rather than trying to force it into a completely different direction.

When it finally disappeared into the distance, Xian lowered her hand and looked back toward Noriko.

"I think that one went farther." There was a small hint of satisfaction in her voice before she added, "I still don't think I'm controlling the water, though. Just... everything around it."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Do not worry, we have plenty to practice with and can make as many as you need to learn how to do this lesson." She said it with a nod of her head while she was going over some of it and released a third balloon that she would be able to check. The force was there in her hand when she launched the balloon into the air and was guiding it to the sides with an arc and curve instead of it just dropping to have more distance. The breeze lifting it up in the air for a moment a little longer but she held her hand out to guide it when she was following. "There we go, nice and controlled, guided and precise."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian watched Noriko's third balloon sail gracefully across the open sky, her master's guidance so subtle that it almost looked effortless. She wasn't fooled. Every tiny adjustment had purpose behind it, each movement made long before the wind could carry the balloon off course. Taking a slow breath, Xian picked up another water balloon and settled into the same stance, remembering the feeling rather than trying to copy the exact motion.

"Alright..."

With a careful twist she threw it into the air, extending her awareness after it. Instead of trying to command the water inside, she reached for the currents surrounding it, coaxing the breeze to cradle the balloon as it arced away from the palace. It wobbled once, dipped farther than she intended, then steadied as she made another small correction. The balloon continued sailing outward, shrinking into the distance while Xian followed it with narrowed eyes, making tiny adjustments whenever the wind threatened to pull it off course.

For several long moments nothing happened. The balloon became little more than a colored speck drifting somewhere below the cloud line, and Xian began to wonder if it had simply disappeared into the jungle without ever finding a target.

Then, faintly from somewhere far below, a voice echoed upward. "HEY!"Another beat passed. "WHO THREW THAT?!"

Xian slowly lowered her hand and looked over at Noriko.

"...I think my aim is improving."

There wasn't the slightest hint of guilt in her voice, only quiet satisfaction that, apparently, the lesson had worked.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

NOriko looked down when she heard the voice and she shouted. "YOU JUST GOT BALLOONED BY THE COOLEST CLAN MEMBER, XIAN DUDE.... WIRSHIP HER PEASENT." Noriko said it when she was looking and looked at Xian. "There you go, you are getting it and now people shall remember your name. It will be a day long remembered when you threw water balloons on the heads of your cousins. I am so proud of you, like if you could feel it my heart is speeding up from excitement and all excited to clap and jump up and down." Noriko was looking at her and placed her hands on the girls shoulders with a nod. "You have done well Xian. now do it again, this time get another."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian's eyes widened slightly when Noriko announced her name to what felt like half the mountain. Apparently anonymously dropping water balloons on unsuspecting cousins had lasted for exactly one successful throw. She stood there with Noriko's hands on her shoulders, enduring the declaration of pride with the patient expression she had slowly perfected since becoming her Padawan. "Thank you, Master," she said meekly. "I'm glad I've made you proud."

She reached for another balloon as instructed, cradling it carefully between her hands while Noriko encouraged her to find another target. Xian looked over the edge toward the distant figures below, then slowly turned her head toward Noriko instead. Her expression remained perfectly innocent as an entirely different possibility occurred to her.

Without warning, Xian twisted and hurled the balloon directly at her master.

At least, that had been the plan.

The balloon sailed neatly past Noriko's shoulder, missing her by an embarrassing distance before continuing straight over the edge of the palace. Xian stared after it for a moment, then looked back at Noriko as though nothing unusual had happened.

"I need more practice."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked aat her and was about to compliment and thank her.... then she was dodging. As Xian missed while Noriko looked at her and remained there. "Padawan, I just got done saying how awesoome you are and you try and get me all wet. That is the job of shirtless muscled men not you." NOriko said it and looked at her while she wagged her finger like she was disciplining a pet. "Bad Xian, very very bad now try throwing it back the other way. Practice makes perfect and when you are good we shall announe it to the worlds... Xian is awesome and part of the team."