First Reply What Surviving Looks Like [Open to Jedi Masters or GA medical!]

[Pinacia Stark]

Planet: Tython
Location: Jedi Temple

IT became evident - first in a tiny corner of her mind, and then blossoming out like a virus - that Ms. Stark had been called here for a reason.

Here was the newly-christened Jedi Temple of Tython, safely squared away in the hills and valleys of this fruitful planet, its hallways and gardens abuzz with new life as scores of Jedi made the journey from Coruscant.

As she walked with trepidation through the gleaming temple, she thought of her own tiny little kiosk set up a dozen meters away on the slopes. She had stashed what few belongings she had into a bag and brought it aboard the first flight out of the Core - and now that bag lay discarded somewhere in a flimsy little corner, waiting for her to unpack.

There was no point to settling planetside, she had been told, because the Navy would have her brought up to orbit within a day. From there she would begin the most basic training required for service within the GA’s naval forces.


There was a tiny little matter - the Colonel had muttered something about a psychiatric eval, and “deeming you fit” and then coughed as he handed her the paperwork to fly down.

She considered herself, privately, to be in great shape; not too narrow, but not overweight, either, and it was true that she felt at least a little excitement about running around a giant cruiser, helping to map out new hyperlanes as the Alliance scrambled to deal with the cataclysmic changes that had just been thrust upon the edges of their stars.


So, it stood only to reason - that the problem lay, perhaps, in her background.

In her mind.

Dr. Stark smoothed the dark blue hair that framed her round face and opened the door to the medical bay that she had been directed to by a Jedi guard.

Inside, the - perhaps it was an office, or a chamber - was so clean the floors were like a mirror. In the Jedi way, it was devoid of clutter or personal touches - at least for now. The Jedi had only settled mere days ago, and she could hear a couple of them laughing to one another as they gripped a fountain of some sort and walked it further down the hallway.

Then the door closed shut, and she was left alone again, in this quiet, minimalist chamber. With only her thoughts again.

She folded one arm around the other behind her back and moved softly from the door. Her off-duty scrubs swished with the patient roll of her hips.

She stopped by a very square, very small window.

The only window in the room.

She took a deep breath, and blinked once, and waited.

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

The soft sound of boots echoed gently against polished stone as Valery rounded the corner of the hall. Her dark hair swayed slightly with each step, the quiet strength in her stride mirrored in the calm, watchful set of her gaze. Amid the steady buzz of activity within the newly settled Jedi Temple, it didn't take long for her to notice the anomaly.

Someone was here who wasn't Jedi.

Not a student. Not a Knight. Someone who didn't move like she'd spent a lifetime under the weight of the Code or the hum of a lightsaber. And that alone was enough for Valery to investigate. She paused at the threshold of the chamber, amber eyes settling on the woman by the window. Her navy-blue hair, the slightly restless set of her posture, the uniform that wasn't military, nor Jedi. Valery tilted her head slightly, curious — but not unkind.

"Didn't expect to find someone without a lightsaber in this wing," she said gently, voice carrying that familiar low strength, tempered with warmth. She stepped into the room fully, hands resting loosely at her sides.

"I'm Valery Noble," she offered after a pause, her tone even but not too formal. "I'm the Grandmaster here. And you… don't look like one of my Jedi." There was no accusation in her voice — only interest. A soft glint of amusement flickered in her eyes.

She glanced to the window, then back. "So. What brings you to Tython?"

Pinacia Stark ​

 

[Pinacia Stark]

Pinacia was still waiting by the window when the door opened. She turned her feet in the direction of the entrance, her hands folded behind her in a moment of introspection.

The woman that entered had long dark hair that swept down past her hips, and she wore a near-black suit that snapped to her abdomen and stretched all the way up, almost to her jaw. At once, she was the picture of lithe precision.

Pinacia's lips turned upward briefly in a smile that contained only the right amount of politeness needed for a social interaction. Then she heard the woman introduce herself as the Grandmaster of the Temple here.

Her lips turned downward in first confusion, and then slight embarrassment.

After a second of internal logic - the Jedi would not squander their Grandmaster on a simple evaluation, especially not when they were just getting settled - she blinked and turned to leave the room.

"I am not one of yours," she agreed with a polite nod. "I have the wrong room." It was a statement of confidence, not a question. "My apologies, Grandmaster. I was sent in to be…evaluated…orders from up above. But, clearly I need to find another Jedi. Should I just go back down the way I came in…or?"

She hesitated. Her blue fingers rested on the handle of the door.

Her eyes looked into the flame-like eyes of this Valery Noble, perhaps asking her to direct her elsewhere.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery didn't stop her — not immediately. She let the woman reach the door, hand resting on the frame, before speaking again.

"We usually don't do evaluations like that here," she said, her tone calm, honest. "This Temple is… meant to be a sanctuary. A place for Jedi to train, to heal, to reconnect with the Force. Most who walk these halls have spent their lives under its guidance." She took a few slow steps forward, though her posture remained unthreatening, open.

"But," she added, a small pause giving weight to the shift in her tone, "You were sent here. That means someone thought this place — or someone in it — could help you. And I won't turn someone away just because they don't wear a robe or carry a lightsaber." Her amber gaze softened, the fire dimming just enough to allow something else through: understanding.

"You're not wrong to be cautious," she continued. "But neither are you in the wrong place. If what you're looking for is clarity, or… something steadier to stand on — I can give you that. Or at least, try." Valery tilted her head slightly, a quiet gesture of invitation. "You can walk out that door, if you'd prefer. Or you can sit with me, and we figure things out together."

She offered a faint smile and awaited her answer.

Pinacia Stark ​

 

[Pinacia Stark]

Her eyes followed the ones belonging to the Jedi Master, carefully absorbing the words she said and then reshaping them to make sense through her own darker lense.

Her eyes moved slightly downward to watch the faint smile appear and then slip just as quickly from Valery’s face. Her fingers squeezed briefly around the door handle.

But the Jedi’s final remark left a heavy impression and hung in the silence that followed - heavy enough to prevent her from pulling on the door.

Figure things out…together….? It had been a long time since she had considered enlisting someone else to help pick apart the webs that stretched across her mind, and even longer since someone had freely offered.

If she was offering something - say, perhaps even a tiny boat to stand on, one that might last a day in the raging sea that was her mind - at least it was an offer.

And her remark was an offer, not an order, given with a directness and warmth that left no room for anything other than sincerity. The purity of it caught her a little off-guard. She blinked, and released a breath she hadn’t meant to hold.

Her hand slipped from the door, and she folded them over one another hesitantly as she turned to face the Jedi, pressing her ankles close together.

“Alright,” Pinacia said slowly. She swallowed past the unexpected lump in her throat and nodded deliberately.

“Alright, that sounds just fine. But I’m not sure how to start. I…” She touched her chest with her palm briefly. “I suppose I should start by introducing myself, then, shouldn’t I? I’m Dr. Stark. Dr. Pinacia Stark.”

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery watched the door handle slip from Pinacia's grasp, a subtle motion, but telling. And when the woman turned back, folding her hands and giving her name with that quiet flicker of hesitation, Valery smiled — not faintly this time, but genuinely, "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Stark," she said, her tone still soft, but threaded with something grounded. "And thank you — for trusting me enough to stay."

She took a few slow steps toward her, then turned slightly and gestured down the hall with a tilt of her head.

"Walk with me?" She didn't wait for formality. Just began to lead, her pace easy and unhurried, letting Pinacia fall in step beside her if she chose.

"This Temple," she continued as they moved, "It's sacred to us. But sometimes, the best place to talk isn't within four walls at all." She guided them through the hall and out one of the side entrances, the cool air of Tython brushing against her skin as the canopy of the surrounding forest stretched ahead. Tall trees whispered with the wind, and the path beneath their feet was worn more by nature than boots.

"I find the Force speaks more clearly out here. And people tend to breathe a little easier when the weight of ceilings isn't pressing down on them."She looked over at Pinacia again, her amber eyes warm, unreadable only in their depth.

"No need to start with anything complicated. We've got time. Let's just walk. And talk, when you're ready."

Pinacia Stark ​

 

[Pinacia Stark]

It was a little surprising that Valery offered to go outside, only because the thought of a psychiatric takedown brought up images of darkened scan rooms, glowing sterile fields, and white bed linens pulled backward.

But this was not that. As they strolled along an unmarked path, the wind blew in one gust and tugged at both of their heads. The Jedi's longer hair billowed over both of them briefly, while her own looser scrubs flapped just a little around her waist and sleeves.

As she thought of somewhere to start, her mouth pushed back into a tiny show of amusement. They probably looked a strange pair, she and this woman.

"Well," Pinacia said at length. Her sensitive eyes squinted into the balmy sun. She waited a moment to watch a very strange, multi-colored bird spiral in lazy circles a little over 40 meters over their heads. Her heart continued to beat, pumping the blood to her brain to find what she wanted to show.

"I suppose we start with the navy. I cleaned out my apartment on Coruscant and came all the way over just to start over. I was studying gene mutation at Coruscant Medical…you don't just walk away from a spot like that."

She paused and turned one eye on Valery before grinning a little. "There were Jedi on that flight. I remember them. How calm they looked. How separately they stood apart…from the rest."

She sighed and continued her story. "Finding a place up there could be possible. It could be possible to actually help the Alliance and…set down this weight that I feel. But it's heavy, and it's been with me for so long."

I don't know how, she wanted to say out loud, but didn't. She had read that Jedi could sometimes pick up on the barely perceptible. If that were true, the Grandmaster would be able to feel it.

She went quiet and listened to the crunch of gravel under her dark blue boots.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery walked beside her in silence for a few steps after Pinacia finished, letting the wind carry away the last words rather than rushing to fill the space. The forest around them whispered — leaves shifting overhead, the occasional birdcall threading through the quiet. She glanced at Pinacia, her expression soft but not pitying — just present. Attentive.

"I remember that feeling," she said finally, voice low, warm. "The weight. The way it settles into you so deeply you start to think it's a part of who you are." Her hands slipped into the folds of her robes, her steps steady on the gravel.

"But it isn't." She looked toward the sky, following the flight of the bird for a moment before her gaze returned to the path ahead.

"You walked away from something most people spend their whole lives chasing. Not because you failed, but because something in you knew you needed a different kind of peace. That takes strength." Valery's voice stayed even, never pressing, but each word carried a quiet conviction.

"And you're right — Jedi do stand apart sometimes. But not above. Just… steady. Rooted. It's not something we're born with. It's something we learn — usually the hard way."

She smiled slightly, a side-glance at Pinacia.

"I think you already know how to stand steady. You've just been carrying too much to realize it." She let the silence return then — not to end the conversation, but to give it room to breathe.

Pinacia Stark ​