Faction Knock Knock Knockin' On the Temple Door (GA/Character Introduction)

[Starlin Rand]

Jedi Temple, Coruscant

The boy was small in stature, dressed in hand-me-downs that didn’t fit him properly, and pale as a ghost. A black cap rested on his head, dark curls spilling out from underneath the brim. His boots were dirty and his hands were empty, but he had a determined look in his eyes as he marched up the steps of the Temple.

The section that was open to the public, that is.

One of the guards nonetheless stopped him at the door. “No weapons allowed,” the warrior said, gesturing to the lightsaber clipped to the boy’s belt.

“Whaddya mean, no weapons allowed?” the boy protested. “This is the Jedi Temple, and this is a Jedi weapon!”

“Where did you get this?” another guard asked, still referring to the lightsaber.

“I made it,” the boy replied, his brow furrowing. “I’m a Jedi Padawan.”

“I don’t recognize you as one of the students at the Academy,” the guard said, still not budging. “I have a photographic memory, I know everybody who comes here on a regular basis. I’ve never seen you before, kid.”

“Well, that’s just it,” the boy insisted. “I’m a new student coming here to see about, uh, training and stuff.”

“How did you make a lightsaber without training?”

“Well, you see, I did get training… but I’m not getting training right now. I want to be trained now, but my master isn’t here, so… I’m coming here for training.”

The two guards exchanged glances. One headed through the Temple doors, while the other remained with the boy, who groaned and popped a piece of gum into his mouth, chewing it loudly.

“Kid, how old are you?”

“Fourteen.”

“You got a name?”

“Starlin Rand.” The boy heaved a sigh and launched into a full spiel, chomping his gum with an open mouth all the while. “I live here on Coruscant with my momma and my stepfather. I’m an only child. My master’s name is Syd Celsius , she’s with the Silvers. I also work for this guy named Jacen Nimdok sometimes, I think he knows some of you people…? Anyway, I got nothing better to do.”

“Isn’t today a school day?”

Starlin grinned. “Class is always in session for all good little Jedi.”

 

[Syd Celsius]

Wearing: Fire-Proof Silk Gown

Armed with: Wind and Fire Wheels (Orange Bladed Split-Saber)


While Starlin Rand argued with the gate guard a figure in a fiery red, almost skintight floor length gown of armorweave with the symbol of the Jedi subtly woven into a repeating pattern across the fabric, which was ultra-reflective, like chromium.

It was a living furnace in the shape of a woman with an athlete's figure and exotic bronze skinned features hinting at an Atrisian origin, voluminous fiery orange hair flapping in the wind as she glided a few inches off the ground and hovered the rest of the way. A self aware weapon, responsible for the deaths of countless Dark Adepts, but having never visited the temple before today.

Syd Celsius occasionally needed to be seperate from her organic emotions. So on this day she had chosen not to wear what normally made her flesh and blood, to guide her Padawan on his very first day into the temple, for she could not have let him do it alone and still called herself his master. This was one of the most important days of his life. He would need new gear, of course, but that could be fixed easily. Syd was, in fact, working on just such a project at the moment...

"He's with me, guard." She said in an almost emotionless voice, the sun glinting off her ultra-reflective gown, as well as her split saber, which was barely over the length of a standard saber, but with twin emitters. The hilt had a subtle flame pattern inscribed on it.

She flashed him her Saber Squadron I.D. as well as her diplomatic pass. She then managed a smile for Starlin, despite barely being able to feel pride in this state.

Still, Starlin warranted it. She was impressed with his blade, and actually relieved it did not look a thing like hers. Perhaps he would not make the same mistakes she did.

"You didn't think I would not show for your first day in the temple, did you?" she asked, mimicking a joking manner, but it was stunted, like nearly every emotional expression in this form.

Still, the very least he could have done was not chew gum. Syd didn't have the energy as of yet to try guiding him on etiquette however...Starlin had quit the death sticks. That was enough for the moment.

"Well, are we cleared?" She inquired of the guard.


OOC: I didn't think it would make sense if she didn't show for such an important day, so I erred on the side of caution.

 

[Starlin Rand]

Inventory: Starlin Rand’s lightsaber
Tags: Syd Celsius | Open

Starlin sensed Syd’s presence approaching behind him and for once he closed his mouth as she flashed her credentials at the stubborn guard. “Nice. I gotta get me one of those badges.”

Unlike Nimdok, who was probably committing grand theft artifact somewhere on the outermost edge of the galaxy, Syd had insisted upon coming regardless of how much trouble she had to go through to be there. The boy didn’t really understand the full significance of his entry into the Temple, but then he rarely understood the significance of anything formal. Wasn’t this just like signing up for extra school courses so he could skip ahead of everybody else? But everyone acted proud, like he had really done something special. What am I, Luke and Han at the Rebellion awards ceremony? I didn't blow a giant space station up. Not yet, anyway...

Ah, well. It was better than his mother holding his hand as if he were a little kid on his first day of kindergarten. Force knew Jen Rand would have tried it if he had told her the truth rather than lying and saying he was going to summer camp…

The guard grimaced at the sight of Syd’s I.D. and pass. The strange fire-walking woman wasn’t merely totally qualified, she was more or less a VIP under current regulations. And he had held up her Padawan on the grounds that the kid, well, didn’t look like a Jedi. He was never going to hear the end of this in the break room.

“Yeah, you’re cleared,” he muttered, stepping aside and waving them through.

Starlin started walking through the gates, aware of Syd following closely by his side. “All right,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “I'm in. What next? Do I gotta fill out some forms? Talk to the person in charge? Prove myself in single combat with the Temple champion?...”

 

[Jarael Belaerys]

​

Well this was new. She barely remembered the time she had to a place like that, a class so she could learn, filled with the brilliant minds of tomorrow that would take their places on the future as the new light siders of the galaxy and therefore future Jedi council, it was a long time or her that she was at the side of those that would shape the days yet to come. Jarael was astonished to be part of this, maybe it was the time when the Silver Jedi were still her home in the days of the First Order when ruled over with a iron fist. ​

That memory took her to places she did not wanted to go, at night she still remembered the invasion of Batuu, when all the soldiers took over the streets massacrating its people, when ships blaze the skies with hellish fire, buildings exploding, she remembered their screams as if it just happened. The smell of blasters filled her nostrils every time she dreamed of that, but that wasn’t the worst, too many times she was tossed on darkness and found a way to survive. She envied all the people that went on with their lives without caring about the galaxy, not that she cared, but at least she wished her heart was still free of all that sadness regarding what the past took it away from her when she was but young and free. Odacer-Faustin, Kuat, Balmorra and Batuu were now in her past and all Jarael could do was hope for a better day. ​

She was doing her part for this dream of spring of hers, perhaps she could finish her training and ascend even more, become more connected to the Force, the only thing that gave her any peace. Her legs moved on their own, even if she never paid any attention on them, now she knew she was in control of her actions and that gave her some level of relief, she chose a corner to crawl and wait like most, but unlike them, the arkanian had a smile on her lips, her instinct dictated to her for lowering her face to allow a vast amount of pale silky hair to fall down her face to cover the eye-patch, class was now in session. ​

"Now I wait."

​

​

 

[Syd Celsius]

"The first thing you will do, Padawan, is to offer your assistance with tasks around the temple after you train. Being a Jedi isn't all lightsabers. Much of a Jedi's existence consists of being ready to aid others in need." Syd explained calmly and patiently to Starlin Rand as she floated alongside him for a second before landing on her feet and striding next to him.

"The first thing we will do is get you some new threads. The Order is nowhere near as strict as it used to be, but you must at least look the part...most of the time..." she added, trying to joke at the end as she led him into the quarter-master section of the temple. Syd's psychic shell wriggled everywhere disgustingly for a few seconds as she passed by all the Force-touched fabrics, adjusting to how it flowed in this room.

"Plenty of robes to choose from, Starlin. Find me when you are done and we'll start your training in telekinesis." She spoke, floating off and waiting for him, in a large chamber filled with stones.

Once he found her, she instructed him to go to the center of the chamber, sit on the floor, surrounded by everything from pebbles to heavy stones.

"The size does not matter. Whether it is one stone the size of a sand grain, or a boulder as large as a house, they only have as much weight as you ascribe. This may sound paradoxical but do not try to 'move' a stone with your mind. That's impossible. Instead, try only to recognize the truth. It's not the stone you are moving...it's yourself..."

Starlin did well--very well--under duress. But it was in a calm setting that got the better of some students. Some just did fantastic in the field. Others were better at research.

She wasn't yet sure what type of Jedi Starlin would become. She wasn't even sure what kind of Jedi she herself was. She didn't fit neatly into the main Jedi Paths. She suspected neither would Starlin. She was too aggressive to be a Consular or Sentinel, yet used way more arcane forces than your ordinary guardian.

All she knew was...she didn't want Starlin to turn into another Phyre. As ill as it made her, even in this state of being, to actually contemplate it, she could understand how Phyre would have approached his training. Cruelty would have been the order of the day. Sickening, gruesome cruelty.

Syd shut out the memories of the dead Sith. She wasn't Phyre anymore, and she would train Starlin into the best Jedi she could as a way of rebuking her evil self.

She waited to see how Starlin did...

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Oh, community service. Great.” Starlin tried not to sound disappointed, but helping out around the Temple hardly sounded exciting. He supposed even the coolest jobs in the galaxy had their downsides, an occasional lull in the action…

"The first thing we will do is get you some new threads. The Order is nowhere near as strict as it used to be, but you must at least look the part… most of the time..."

Starlin looked down at his clothes and smirked grimly. Yeah, he could use some new threads. New shoes, too. New everything.

As Syd left him, he surveyed the wide array of Jedi garments. They had traditional robes, fashionable robes, multicultural robes, robes to suit the anatomy of various species. Brown robes, tan robes, khaki robes, robes in every single fethin’ color on the full spectrum of light, including colors that he couldn’t even see. Apple-bottom robes and boots with the fur.

Throwing his hands in the air, he picked out a suit of trad robes that looked comfortable and hassle-free. His black cap didn’t match. Hesitating, he clutched it in his hands, torn between wearing it anyway or bowing to the lords of fashion. He finally tossed it in the pile with the rest of his old clothes, muttering, “All this better still be here when I get back…”

After changing, he emerged from the quarter-master section and located Syd in what could best be described as a room full of rocks. Wordlessly, his master directed him to sit at the center of the Rock Room.

"The size does not matter. Whether it is one stone the size of a sand grain, or a boulder as large as a house, they only have as much weight as you ascribe. This may sound paradoxical but do not try to 'move' a stone with your mind. That's impossible. Instead, try only to recognize the truth. It's not the stone you are moving… it's yourself..."

Starlin considered Syd’s lesson for a moment, then perched his head on his hands and closed his eyes. The words themselves might be paradoxical, but he sort of knew what she was referring to. The Force might be an energy field, a web, a series of threads connecting everything and everyone in the galaxy, so on and so forth, et cetera, but the space magic really did boil down to somebody exercising a muscle. A muscle they had that most other people didn’t. An extra muscle.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t completely accurate, but he was on the right track, wasn’t he? He stretched out, sensing the dimensions of the Rock Room and each rock within it, their sizes and shapes. Finding a stone roughly the size of his fist, he envisioned his hand picking it up off the floor—though he was obviously much too far away to physically do such a thing. The rock started to wobble, then to vibrate rapidly, rattling across the tiles.

Finally, Starlin managed to get it up off the floor and hold it in midair. Starlin sat perfectly still, not even daring to breathe, certain that if he did, the tiny gust of wind would send the rock crashing to the—

Thud!

...floor.

“Ah, chit!” Starlin grumbled, opening his eyes. “I hope that didn’t crack the tile…”

Syd Celsius

 

[Syd Celsius]

"Don't worry. It happens." Syd assured him. "You almost had it. Failure is part of the journey."

Syd lifted out her hand, and her psychic shell shuddered as she lifted a boulder.

"This is inherently no different to picking up a grain of sand with your fingers save in manner and scale." Syd explained. "But you did almost have it. Clear your mind of all distractions and try again."

Syd floated back to her previous position, waiting for him to do it. Starlin absolutely needed this type of fine honing on his training. It didn't seem like much, but apprentices were often killed in the field due to not having a firm grasp of even the basics. Idly, Syd once more wondered what had ever happened to Phyre's first apprentice. She hoped he had given up the Darkness in the end. She remembered the terrible things she had put him through to forge him into the best apprentice possible. Starlin Rand didn't know how much her hopes rested on him to have some good come out of a horrific, evil legacy.

She wanted him to respect her. But all that might shatter should he learn the truth. The full truth. Syd wasn't sure she wanted to tell him.