Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

Xian looked at Noriko, then down at herself, and finally back at her Master as though another inspection might somehow reveal the resemblance Noriko was describing. Petite, she would concede. Cute was apparently being decided for her. Atrisian was more complicated considering she hadn't grown up here, but Xian was beginning to understand that being Noriko's Padawan meant occasionally accepting things that made considerably more sense to Noriko than they did to her.

"But my hair is red," she pointed out, reaching up to catch a strand between her fingers as evidence. "And yours is black. I think people are going to notice that before they decide we're the same person." Xian paused, considering Noriko's argument about everyone in the galaxy thinking Atrisians looked alike. "Also, if everyone thinks Atrisians look the same, wouldn't they just think I'm Atrisian? That doesn't mean they'll think I'm specifically you." There was enough genuine curiosity in the question that she seemed to be trying to understand the logic despite suspecting there might not actually be any.

The last part quieted her, though. Beneath all the talk about being awesome, pretty, cool, and somehow sharing Noriko's praise by resemblance, Xian understood much better. Noriko was telling her that if someone came for her, she wouldn't have to face them alone. Xian wasn't accustomed to assuming someone would be there when she needed them, and she still wasn't entirely sure how to respond whenever Noriko said something that made it sound so simple. A small smile eventually appeared. "I don't think looking like you is necessary for you to send somebody to the moon if they come after me, Master." She reached for another water balloon, then added a little more softly, "But I like that part anyway."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"It is just a saying Xian, when someone is driving you crazy say you will send them to the moon with a closed fist. Totally funny, amazingly catchy and it makes everyone think twice." She said it though but was looking aat Xian and she shrugged. "And people see what they want to see, they will look at us and see aa face before they pay attention to hair ninety percent of the time." She said it while she was walking and there were no more balloons to toss as she looked down. "Well we are out of ammo so now we can head back in."

 

[Xian Xiao]

"Oh." Xian's expression shifted as she realized she'd taken Noriko's threat considerably more literally than intended. She curled one hand into a fist and looked at it for a moment, apparently testing the saying in her head. "I'll send you to the moon." It didn't sound particularly threatening coming from the thirteen-year-old, and the doubtful look she gave her own fist suggested she knew it. "I think I'd rather just use the Force. I could probably actually send someone pretty far that way."

She still wasn't convinced about the resemblance either, but Noriko seemed very certain about the way people noticed faces before anything else. Xian reached up once more to touch her red hair before giving a small shrug. "I guess I'll have to believe you about that, Master. But if somebody mistakes me for you and expects me to know something you know, I'm telling them immediately that I'm Xian." There were already enough things about being a Jedi that she didn't understand without accidentally inheriting Noriko's responsibilities too.

Finding the supply of balloons empty, Xian peered down into it as though one might have somehow escaped notice at the bottom. "We went through all of those?" Considering how many they'd sent sailing over the palace walls, she probably shouldn't have been surprised. She fell into step beside Noriko as they headed back inside, casting one last glance toward the edge. "Do you think anyone figured out where they were coming from?" A moment later, she reconsidered. "Actually, maybe I don't want to know."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Are you working under the impression that I give people my real name? Now there are three of them. Xian one, Xian two and Xian three... Xianception." She said it with a look while she was thinking about it. " Noriko was moving now and she had a grin. "ANd they might or might not.. I wouldn't want to be around here when they come looking. I'd run away." She said it with a wink and started jogging with a laugh and a cackle for a moment before she was moving off. "Come on running time, to work off the stiffness and standing around."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stopped for half a second as she tried to follow that explanation. Apparently, Noriko wasn't Noriko, Xian might not be Xian, and there were now three separate Xians wandering around somewhere. Her expression settled into the familiar look she tended to develop whenever her Master's reasoning had gone somewhere she wasn't entirely prepared to follow. "Xianception..." she repeated under her breath. "I'm not sure I want to know which Xian I am anymore."

The suggestion that they probably shouldn't be around when their victims came looking made considerably more sense. Xian glanced back toward the wall and the direction from which any particularly determined, soaking-wet Atrisian might eventually appear. "You know, running away right after throwing water balloons at people makes this feel a lot less like training and a lot more like we're escaping before we get caught." She wasn't entirely convinced that it hadn't been Noriko's plan from the beginning.

Noriko was already jogging away before Xian could get an answer. With a small sigh that didn't quite hide her amusement, Xian took off after her. At least running was something she understood without needing to decipher any strange explanations. "I'm still telling them it was your idea, Master!" she called after Noriko as she picked up her pace. "Even if you're pretending to be Xian when they find us!"

Noriko Ike