revivalproject | Jedi Temple Tour

Entry tags:

Jedi Temple Tour

WHO: Anyone that wants to come!
WHERE: Jedi Temple on Coruscant
WHAT: A tour of the temple!
WHEN: During the event.
WARNINGS: None. Label your threads accordingly!

It had taken some talks with members of the High Council, but Obi-Wan has delivered and managed to arrange limited access to the temple for the travelers from Agra 10. This included a guided tour! A network post is put out, inviting anyone that wanted to come. A day and time also being with the meeting place being at the steps of the temple.

Before going in, everyone is instructed to behave their best. That means staying in designated areas and not going anywhere off-limits. Also to be respectful and not get too rowdy. This is a home and a place of peace! Anyone causing a raucous and not following the rules will certainly be kicked out. There will be Jedi watching all of them at all times, and there is most definitely a security system in the temple that records everything too.

Weapons are not permitted on temple grounds! Unless you are a Jedi with a lightsaber. If anyone is carrying any they will be taken at the entrance and returned to them when they leave. Beskar armor is not allowed either (sorry Mando!). The temple has been attacked and looted in the past, plus there are children here, so they are simply being cautious with these strangers.

((OOC: This is a mingle log! Feel free to thread with whoever you want! It doesn't have to be Obi-Wan! I will be posting top levels, with descriptions, for everyone to respond to. A few will be closed to Jedi only, but for the most part its completely open! If you have any questions about anything feel free to PM me or contact me on the discord group or on Plurk.

blackpidgeot

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She nodded in understanding and let her eyes wander around, taking in wherever he was leading her. She didn't have much to say in addition about the Corps, and they walked in silence for a moment before another question came to mind.

"You said you're from nine hundred years from now," she said quietly, careful not to attract the attention of anyone around them. "Is the Temple very different then?"

“Some things are,” he admits as they walk. “Details mostly. It’s largely very much the same. I believe the last major additions to the temple were added not long ago.”

As they go they come near where the academy is and there’s a group of younglings passing by on the way to their lessons, chatting happily with each other.

"Wow. So you're seeing things you would view as relics or artifacts as brand new. That's ... that's a treasure in itself," she remarks, only imagining what Hannibal's reaction would be to seeing the Duomo not long after its last stones were laid and its final frescoes were painted.

A twinge of homesickness runs through her, in as much as one can be homesick for the presence of a person, but it is disturbed like a pond hit by a skipping stone as the younglings pass. She turns her head to follow them, and her eyes widen.

"I'm not always great with age, but that little boy couldn't have been more than three...!"

"Yes, actually. And it is. It gives me a whole new perspective on the temple than I had before. Going back in time and seeing all of this is something no other Jedi will have the opportunity to do. Well... except one perhaps. Master Yoda is old enough to have seen this."

They must have come to a point just before the old Jedi Master was brought here. He's seen no other students that look like Grogu, but he was certain it wouldn't be long. Speaking of younglings though, he smiles as she takes notice.

"Yes. I was about that age when I was brought here. Though most come as infants."

Whoever this Yoda was, Kenobi clearly held him in high, fond regard from the way he spoke his name. Starling knew how important it was to have a touchstone to a mentor: unconsciously, her hand reached for her hip, to the place where she usually kept Brigham's pistol. She'd left it behind out of respect and trust for the Jedi, but she still thought of him. A place of knowledge and honor with respect for life ... he would have liked it here.

"Infants? You can tell they'd be good Jedi that young? ... Well ... I suppose, since it's reverence for life, it could make sense. But I'm not sure how. Is that a taboo thing to ask?"

"There is nothing taboo in asking questions," Obi-Wan says. "Seeking knowledge is a part of what we do here. If we are unable to answer such simple things, then that is a failure on our part."

The subject of younglings has come up several times though. Many reactions having been negative to his explanations. Would it be the same with her?

"Every infant in the Republic has their blood tested when they are born. A high midichlorian count is how we can tell that one has the potential for being a Jedi. Whether they are good at it or not depends on their talents as they grow and learn here."

She liked his attitude about knowledge - it was refreshing to not be told something Just Wasn't Talked About In These Parts, or beyond her jurisdiction, or ... really, any other dumb excuse that just meant We Don't Want To Tell You.

"I see. ... Does that mean this ... blood count -" She wasn't sure she could say the word properly after only having heard it once - "is a rare thing?"

If it was, she could understand them screening for it. Certain traditions and abilities needed to be taught, or they could disappear, and the cultural loss would be priceless. Depending on his answer, though, she did have a follow-up question. She continued to follow him as they spoke, drawing what insight she could from her surroundings, along with the serenity the building had clearly been designed to evoke. Had she been born on Coruscant, she thought, she would have liked to live here.

"Midichlorians are in all living cells," he explained as they continued to walk. "They are what link everything to the Force. Having a count high enough to tap into the Force is what's rare. To put it into perspective, there are only about ten thousand Jedi in a galaxy of trillions of sentient beings."

So yes, they are quite rare indeed in the grand scheme of things. Each force sensitive child is treasured as they are the future of the order. Training has to always continue to keep the Jedi order alive and flourishing with enough members to keep things going. Especially considering that almost none of them had children of their own.

She immediately stores the strange word in the section of her mind palace she is building for Coruscant: accessible from the foyer of it through an archway shaped like a crescent roll with lightsabers crossed over it. There's an alcove she's slowly building for the Jedi temple specifically, but it likely won't be finished until tonight, when she's home in her hotel room and has the time to sort it all out. Midichlorians is easy, though: a bottle of pool chlorine tablets with a picture of a woman in a midriff-baring top. She'll set it somewhere on a shelf, likely.

But she doesn't want to spend too much time in her mind when there's so much to see right there in the moment. "That's ... definitely an impressive ratio," she decides. It's not hard for her to make the correlation between knighthood and priesthood, with the way the other Jedi around her act toward one another. There is familiarity between colleagues, but it is always cloaked in reverence and respect, nothing that would hint at anything more emotional. "So these children, they grow up knowing that they have a place in the world. A vital one. ... But if they feel their calling is elsewhere, what do you do? I understand the depth and the importance of training the traditions, but ... I admit, my culture puts some very high value on free will, so that's a place I'm coming from."

She says it with her hands spread, an open offering, no offense, simply a path to understanding each other.

That's definitely some interesting mental imagery there Clarice, but a clever way to word associate. Though its a good thing Obi-Wan is too polite to peek into her mind. If he did he would be very confused.

There's no offense at what Clarice says, instead his lips pull back in a bit of a smile. "Remember, this is a Republic," Obi-Wan says. "We value free will as well. No one is forced to stay here. A Jedi can choose to leave at any time they wish, and some do if they decide the order is not for them."

They were not jailers as Master Yoda had so eloquently put it once when Anakin had been considering leaving the Order himself. Obi-Wan had decided he would go with him if that was the path the boy wanted to take. However, it never happened as he had changed his mind.

If it ever comes up in conversation, she'll gladly explain it to him: it seems like the sort of thing a Jedi might find useful, especially with a whole galaxy to mind. His answer, however, is a relief, and her smile returns for a brief moment.

"This place seems almost perfect, on the surface," she says, lowering her voice. "But I spoke with one of the other Jedi, yesterday. A young man named Ezra. ... He told me what happens to all of this, in your time. I'm so sorry."

His smile quickly faded as Clarice rather suddenly and unexpectedly shifted the topic. Being as new as she was he didn’t think she would know about that. He froze in place, his face paling a bit as she had caught him off guard. Terrible memories flashing through his mind. The typical Jedi calm he normally displayed cracking just a bit.

“Oh,” he says softly, his eyes looking distant even as his mind scrambled to fight back the onset of what had happened when they first arrived. The Jedi breathing in deeply and trying to settle his nerves.

“Yes. ... Thank you.”

"I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I don't want to dwell on it, but ... what I was trying to lead in to was that I'm so glad you get more time here. That you get to see it this way, to show people you're friends with now, to educate those of us who don't know. Firsthand. It must mean so much."

Swallowing hard, Obi-Wan needed a moment, but he recognized what Clarice was trying to say. So after a moment he nodded and forced a smile even as emotion swelled within him.

“It does mean a lot,” he admitted, trying to keep the shakiness from his voice. “My people are often misunderstood even by those within my galaxy, let alone outside of it. Showing everyone first hand where we come from has been a pleasure.” As he made himself speak, he felt the feelings and tension begin to subside.

She nodded, giving him a moment to compose himself, then had a spark of inspiration as to something that might help him shed the sorrow a bit more.

"If it's possible for a visitor to go there... would you show me your favorite place in the Temple?"

The question does seem to get a response and he felt the dread melting away as he looked up to answer. “My favorite place in the temple?”

He has to consider that for a moment as there are many places in the temple he enjoyed. But he has an idea of where to take her. A small smile coming to his face at last.

“Yes, come this way.”

He motioned for her to follow him as he led Clarice to a turbolift. That would take them up several levels to a sunlit hall. Walking through there he brought her out into a courtyard. Despite being on Coruscant there was a feeling of peace. The soft tinkling of wind chimes in the breeze and the chirping of song sparrows. The birds flitting about and perching in a single tree. Its golden leaves shimmering in the light.

"Wow," she says, keeping her voice as soft as she can so as not to disturb the peace of the place. Looking up at the sky, she wonders if the flight patterns of speeders and craft just avoid this area by chance, or out of respect for the Temple.

"I can certainly see why this is your favorite spot. If I lived here, it'd be mine, too. Especially if I could curl up with my back to that tree and read a good book with a cold drink."

The tall spires probably have something to do with it, but also because it is the temple. The main air lanes are purposely not near it. That fact kept the peaceful atmosphere around the temple, even when they were outdoors.

“You wouldn’t be the first with such an idea,” Obi-Wan admitted. A smile on his face as he breathed in the air and closed his eyes. Taking in the tranquil sounds and the feeling of peace in the Force.

“But often I’ve come here to meditate, or spend time with my peers.”

"Little bit of both at the same time, sometimes, I'd wager."

She walks slowly up to the tree and tilts her head back, closing her eyes as well to listen to the breeze filter through the leaves. The soft hiss of wind on foliage takes her back to the days on her uncle's ranch on Bozeman before its fragile peace was shattered ... when she would lie on her back, hear the rustling, and watch the sunlight dapple through the branches to play and make strange shadows on the pages of whatever she was reading. It had been Beverly Cleary, she remembered with a small smile. She could almost hear Hannah and the other horses whickering softly nearby as they grazed, smell the warmth of the sun and the earth. If the Force was life, it was granting her a memory of comfort to hold on to, something she might need, whether she had the midichlorians to work with it or not.

"Do you want to sit here for a little while, now? With me?"

Yes a little of both. She wasn’t wrong about that. Opening his eyes again, Obi-Wan gazed at the great tree with a warm fondness. Poe had asked for a cutting of that tree, which he had managed to get due to the generosity of the council. They would be able to plant it back in Temba, and have a piece of this place there with them.

As the question from Clarice, the Jedi blinked and looked at her questioningly. A smile them coming to his face again. “I would like that very much.”

He then motioned for her to go ahead before he followed and took a seat at the foot of the tree. Reaching out he gently touched the trunk before settling into a meditative posture. Closing his eyes once more and seeking peace of mind.

She waited until he had settled before closing her eyes again. This time it was the scents of the plaza she noticed first: the slight tang of pollen, the distinct smell that came from sun-warmed stone, and - now that Obi-Wan was a little closer - the faintest hint of sweat and cloth. The cloth in the Jedi robes wasn't quite cotton, not quite wool - whatever fibers they used to weave with fell somewhere in between. Unbidden, her mind slipped to the blankets her mother had folded and unfolded over her time as a chambermaid: not the sheets or the thin quilts, but the standard cotton thick middle layer that had always reminded her, as a child, of Triscuits. They'd been the color of butter, with a thick satin bias ribbon at the top. Whenever her mother wasn't looking, she'd liked to reach out and worry the satin between her fingers, enjoying the slick coolness of it even on a hot Texas day.

They had been hard times, trying ones, and her mother had worked until her back and feet were sore in the evenings, but for Clarice, they had been times of a strange, tenuous solace. Her father may have been gone, but her mother remained, and there was a routine to be followed. Hard work to do.

Her life was behind her, but the sense of self she had finally found remained, even with all of Temba in its ruin ahead of her. Hard work to do, indeed.

As Clarice settled beside him, Obi-Wan let himself submerge into the Force. His senses open and feeling the life around him. The tree behind them was bright and thriving, it’s life source a steady pulse that was both brilliant and comforting. Clarice’s own signature, while not as bright, was warm and peaceful. He could sense her drifting thoughts and the emotion that flowed from them.

The pinpoints of life that fluttered in the branches were the bird, and he could feel the brightness of the Jedi in the temple. It all brought him back. To the same place but another time. The same tinkling of wind chimes, the laughter of younglings as they ran past, the click of Yoda’s stick on the stone. Anakin’s voice along with Ahsoka’s as they teased each other. Faint echos of the past that were present only in his mind. And a dull heartache at how much he missed it. This place was home, but it was only half that as those he loved were not here.

Since she couldn't sense his emotions, herself, Clarice was content to sit in silence and contemplate her own. It would be hard to set her old life behind, but she set about doing it carefully: packing up pieces of emotion and rearranging her mind palace to suit.

While Obi-Wan remembered his halcyon days with his padawan, Starling arranged a new wing of her palace to mimic the home she'd shared with Hannibal in Buenos Aires, right down to the upstairs suite they'd kept off-limits to the staff after dinner had been served. Off its halls she branched doorways that made quick shortcuts to places she'd already preserved: Quantico, the duplex she'd shared with her best friend Ardelia, her childhood home, her little corner of the orphanage in Bozeman, Montana. Earth and all its memories within easy, quick reach. Once the halls were built, she walked them slowly but with purpose, telling every thing there that she wasn't going to forget them, that she would visit often to keep them all bright. It wasn't until she reached the foyer of the suite and found Hannibal waiting for her that she felt tears prick her eyes. How often had they come calling in each other's memories, only to find each other again in the flesh moments later to share what they had been remembering?

"I'm so sorry, darlin'," she said, unable to stop herself from crying even in her mind. And even there, he was cordial, tender, and unapologetic.

"This is beyond your control, Clarice," he said, though there was steel sparking in his eyes. Whether it was anger at her circumstance or for being left alone himself, she could not say. Perhaps both. "Just remember that you can find me here whenever you have a need, and until your return, I have the comfort and the luxury of doing the same. You are still and will always be a warrior. Just remember to pull up before you hit the ground, my deep roller."

His warm hands, smelling as always like broadcloth, one with the tiny surgical scar on the side, reach up to cup her cheeks, and he kisses her tears away. She closes her eyes to savor the moment, and when she opens them again, the spell of the meditation is broken, and she is in the garden with the tears still unkissed.

More often than not, she is reminded, reality is cruel.

Edited 2021-04-13 20:05 (UTC)

He could see them standing there in his mind’s eye. Anakin’s smiling face turning to look at him with those beautiful clear blue eyes of his. Ahsoka too with that childish smirk on her lips. ”Master,” they called out to him, with Anakin holding out his hand.

Oh but then he felt Clarice. He couldn’t tell exactly what she was seeing but he had an idea from her emotions alone. A lost love perhaps? He knew that all too well. And then there was Satine, with her hand touching his face. Teasing him about his beard even as her fingers brushed through it. ”I have always loved you, Obi-Wan. And I always will.”

When Clarice opened her eyes, she would find Obi-Wan’s hand resting on her shoulder. His eyes were looking straight ahead, the ghosts of his loved ones having vanished from his mind. Yet those eyes were also brimming with unshed tears. Having such mental capabilities could be both a blessing and a curse.

She glanced down at his hand first, then traced her eyes along his arm up to his face.

"Oh," she said softly.

Reaching out, she gently laid her hand over his. "Was that ... I hope you didn't pick up on me or anything. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make this sad for you, not in your favorite place."

Jedi Temple Tour

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/waves hand. This is a mostly complete thread... ;D