OK, before Star Wars day is done, here's the backstory for Xilif (ZILL-if), my Kushiban Jedi.
For reference, this campaign is set is between Episode 3 and 4, right after the Empire came into power.
******
A young girl darted through wide, marble halls of silver and blue, past columns half carved into majestic figures in various poses of martial forms and meditation stances. Her hands tightly clutched a small box. The girl's hazel eyes alight with excitement, her bright green braids bounced behind her with matching exuberance as she ducked and weaved her way past the adults milling around the halls. Several other figures in pure white heavy armor with painted markings barely have time to spot the darting girl. She hears them scold her as she passes out of view, but right now she doesn't care. She is a girl on a mission, and nothing is going to get in her way-
"Whoa, kid! Where's the fire?"
A heavy armored hand suddenly grabs her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks and causing her to crane her little neck upwards. The undeniable visage of a Clone Trooper loomed behind her, a helmet with the number 23SK1D0 held loosely by his side.
"Not now, Skidoo!" the girl snaps. "I got something important to do!"
"Oh really?" Skidoo raises an eyebrow at her, not even trying to hide his bemused smile. "How important?"
"SUPER important!" she insisted in a huff. "Like, the fate of the galaxy is at stake important!"
"Sure, kid. Whatever you say." Skidoo said dismissively without a hint of malice in his tone. He gently removed his hand from her shoulder and gave her a playful shove forward. "Go on, get
lost. Go save the galaxy or whatever."
The girl rushed off again, shouting a cheerful "Bye, Skidoo!" as she barreled down the hallway.
Skidoo just shook his head as another trooper moves up to him as she disappeared out of sight. "Mari Jarlub is quite a handful, isn't she?"
"Yeah, at times… nevertheless, at this age, these padawans are so inspiring, so hopeful..." Skidoo's voice drifts off as a warm smile crosses his face.
"Heh. Yeah they really grow on ya," said the other. The two troopers turned around, continuing their patrol route, but as they turn the corner, a gnarled, wizened voice hissed over their comms:
"Execute Order 66."
The small, barren meditation chamber stood silent, it's only occupant a single small bed with an oversized blanket hanging over on all sides. The door to the chamber slid open as Mari raced in, panting. She quickly glanced back to see if anyone else was around. Seeing the coast is clear, she closed the door and finally lets the small box she'd been carrying in her hands settle on the bed. Then, placing her thumb and forefinger to her lips, she let out a short, shrill whistle.
"Mari!"
From underneath the bed, a small, fluffy rabbit-like creature emerged. The creature scurried out and up onto the mattress, bouncing around with barely-contained excitement. "So? So? What happened? How'd it go??" the creature asked excitedly.
Mari puffed her chest out with pride and a confident chuckle. "You're looking at Master Jin-eh's newest apprentice!"
"Wahoo!" the creature cheered, performing a backflip in his excitement before leaping onto the girl's head.
"Xilif! Cut it out!" She tried to scold him, but her giggles betray her too much for her to be intimidating. The two friends twirl around happily for a moment before Xilif finally jumps back off her head and lands on the mattress with a solid fwump.
"That's amazing, Mari! You're a real Padawan now!" Xilif exclaims, scurrying gleefully around the mattress.
"Yup!" Mari agrees with a firm nod and big smile. "And that's not all! I have a surprise for you, Xilif! Close your eyes, OK?"
Xilif nods and closes his eyes, still vibrating with excitement. But he stills as he feels a small item being placed into his paws. Xilif opens his eyes, and is shocked at what he sees.
"Every Jedi needs a lightsaber." Mari says, the excitement in her voice replaced with warm affection "And this one's yours."
In his hands sits a tiny lightsaber, exactly like the one his friend wears on her belt. He holds it up and presses the switch. A small blade of blue energy suddenly appears with a soft hum. Xilif's
eyes light up with wonder and his fur ripples in various color shades of emotion.
"M...my own lightsaber..." Xilif manages, unable to believe he is actually holding such a powerful instrument. "But, how?"
"Remember when I got my Kyber Crystal? I stashed a tiny one away so I could make one for you too!" Mari explained.
Xilif remembered, of course. Mari had been sent out with other Younglings to retrieve the crystals necessary to create their lightsabers. She had told him it was a ritual of some kind, and he
definitely remembered Mari worrying about how scary everyone said it was going to be, and how difficult it would be for her. But seeing how happy she was when she returned with a
lightsaber of her own made it all worth it. He was happy for his friend, if not a teensy bit jealous at the time. And in this moment, he knew why she was so worried. She wasn't just making one
lightsaber, she was making two.
"Mari...this is...it's perfect!" Xilif chirps as he takes a few harmless test swings with the lightsaber before turning it off and jumping into his friend's arms. "Thank you, thank you!"
"You're my best friend, Xilif." Mari replies, her voice still oddly warm and subdued. "When I first came to this academy, I didn't have a single friend at all...but then the Force led you here. I was lonely. You were scared. We both had these weird powers we didn't know what to do with. I promised you I'd become a Jedi Master and teach you everything about the Force, and now...now we can really do it..." She pulls back suddenly and grins, her trademark energy returning to her. "Now we can train together and become Jedi together!"
"Yeah! We'll be the best Jedi ever!"
Mari hopped onto her bed and struck a heroic pose with her lightsaber, "Jedi Master Mari Jarlub, the greatest Jedi in the galaxy!"
"And Xilif, the SECOND greatest Jedi in the galaxy!" Xilif added, scampering up her back and striking an equally heroic pose on top of her head. The two then collapsed onto the mattress in a fit of delighted giggles.
The Force was such a mysterious thing, Xilif mused. It allowed him to jump further and farther than all the other Kushibans. It allowed him to reach for things that were just out of his grasp, floating into his hand as if my magic. It allowed his friend Mari to move things around the room with just a wave of her hand. And somehow, it had also brought the two of them together. There was still so much he didn't understand, but with his friend Mari by his side, there was nothing to worry about. They'd figure it all out and become proper Jedi together. The best pair the galaxy had ever seen.
Xilif's musing were interrupted by the sound of blaster fire outside the door.
Mari bolted upright. "Did you hear that?"
"Wait here. I'll check it out!" Xilif whispered as he bounced off the bed, scurried up the wall and leapt up into the vent. He scuttled to the vent in the hallway, just above the door of the meditation chamber.
His blood ran cold.
A clone trooper was standing over the body of a Jedi, his blaster still smoking.
He knew that trooper.
"Skidoo...?"
Before Xilif could react, he watched as Skidoo turned around and fired at another Jedi, bringing him to his knees before shooting him point blank in the head. He then took off running down the hall, firing his blaster at another unknown target. Xilif shook violently. Skidoo was kind of a jerk sometimes, but he'd never, ever raise a weapon at someone unless they were a threat. His first thought was the academy was under attack. But if that were true, why did Skiddoo gun down a Jedi?
He knew there was no time to question this. If the academy really was under attack, he had to make sure Mari was safe.
Xilif scurried back into the chamber in a panic. "We got trouble!" he cried as he jumped down from the vent.
"What's the matter?"
"The academy's under attack!"
"What??" Mari jumped to her feet in an instant. "We...we gotta find Master Jin-eh! And the other Younglings!" She grabbed her lightsaber and made her way to the door.
"Mari! Wait!" Xilif scurried over in between Mari and the door. "Are you nuts? You can't just run out there!"
"Come on, Xilif!" Mari pouted. "We're Jedi now! And our home is under attack!"
"And you just became a Padawan five minutes ago!" Xilif shouted. "What, you think you'll just suddenly turn into Master Yoda or something out there?"
"Maybe!" Mari sneered and stuck her tongue out at him. Xilif bristled with annoyance. Usually he'd be right by her side for whatever mischief she got up to. But this was serious, and now was NOT the time for her to be strong-willed and snarky.
"Listen, Mari. This isn't training anymore, this is the real deal. And right now, things are a little too crazy for us to go barging down the halls. Just...stay here and stay hidden for now. I'll scuttle around the vents and see if I can find Master Jin-eh and the others, OK? And once I do, we'll go together, I promise!"
Mari pouted, but finally gave a dramatic sigh and put her Lightsaber away. "OK, OK...I guess you're right."
"I won't be long!" Xilif shouted as he scurried back up the wall and into the vent again.
"Be careful!" Mari shouted back.
As he made his way through the ventilation system, sounds of a vicious battle rose from below him. Gun shots. Lightsabers swinging. People yelling. Screaming. He tried to block it all out, completely focused on his objective. It was way too difficult to spot Master Jin-eh in the midst of battle, so he focused on where the other Younglings were hiding. Surely they'd be in a safe spot, and Mari would be safer with them than isolated on her own in the meditation room. After much running, he finally found the spot where the other Younglings were being held. From his position high above it all, he could see them, cowering in their hiding spots. Then, the doors opened, and he watched as a robed figure walked inside.
He recognized the figure in an instant. And for a brief moment, he was relieved. But then, he froze.
Something felt...wrong.
Very wrong.
Xilif kept his eyes on the figure as one of the braver Younglings came out of his hiding spot and approached him.
"Master Skywalker, there's too many of them!" the boy said. "What are we going to do?"
The figure said nothing. His only response, the sudden hum of a green blade coming to life.
Xilif wanted to run. He wanted to scream. He wanted to jump down there and stop him. He wanted to turn his back and block it all out of his mind. But he was frozen, he couldn't even blink. He could only watch helplessly as Master Skywalker slaughtered them all.
His body finally caught up to his brain and he recoiled in horror. He backed up as far as he could and curled in on himself, his fur rapidly shifting colors in a flurry of emotions. White. Shock. Black. Disgust. Grey. Anger. Confusion. Fear. There was simply no way to process what he just saw. Master Skywalker, one of the strongest Jedi he'd ever seen, had just killed a room full of innocent Younglings.
No one could be trusted now. Not the clones, not the Jedi.
Nowhere in the Academy was safe.
Only one thing was certain: he had to get out of here.
...no.
He had to get Mari out of here.
With that single thought running through his head, he dashed away from the scene, not caring about staying hidden anymore, not noticing the yellowing eyes following him. Mari was thankfully still waiting for him inside the meditation room.
"Xil-"
"We gotta get out of here, Mari!"
"But what about Master-"
"It's not safe here! We gotta...we gotta go! Right now!" Xilif pulled at Mari's tunic with all his might, trying to get her to move. But Mari simply grabbed his shoulders.
"Xilif, cut it out!" Mari said firmly, trying to calm her frantic friend down. "Did you find Master Jin-eh? Or the other Younglings?"
"It's too late!"
"Huh?"
"...it's...it's too late. They're already..." his voice trailed off, unable to finish.
"...!" Mari's face went pale as he realization of Xilif's words settled in. Her tiny body shook with sobs as she sunk to the floor, burying her head between her knees. "No...no, no...there's no way..."
"Mari, I'm really sorry. But we can't stay here."
Mari didn't respond. She just kept sobbing.
"Please, Mari. I know you're upset. I know none of this makes sense, but... but we've really gotta go!"
"...go?" Mari's tiny muffled voice piped up. "...go where?"
"I...I don't know. Somewhere, anywhere but here." Xilif placed his paws on Mari's knees and tried to look her in the eyes. It's gonna be OK, Mari. We're Jedi now. We can protect one another! We're gonna be OK!"
"But..."
"Mari...the Force brought us together, didn't it? It's not gonna abandon us now. As long as we stick together, everything will be all right." Mari raised her head slightly at Xilif's encouragement. He took it as a good sign. "Hey, Jedi Master Mari Jarlub's story isn't gonna end here, is it?"
Mari finally looked up and smiled at him. "*sniff* No..."
"C'mon, let's move. I'll watch your back, you'll watch mine." Xilif smiled as Mari rose to her feet. Clutching her lightsaber in her right hand, she pressed her other hand against the console to to open the door. Nervously, she looked down at her tiny friend, who had his own lightsaber at the ready, clutched in both paws. He looked up at her and nodded. With a deep exhale, she pressed the button on thr console and opened the door.
Bodies of clone troopers and Jedi greeted them as the exited the chamber. Mari froze. She had seen dead creatures before, when Master Jin-eh slayed a Nexu that nearly attacked Mari when she got too close to its nest. But this...this was person. A dead person...
"OK, if we can make it down that hall, we can get to the elevator that'll take us down to the landing bay. Form there, we can sneak onto a ship and-" Xilif stopped when he saw Mari trembling, her eyes fixated on the dead Jedi in front of her.
"Mari-"
Xilif was cut off by the sound of a shout from the end of the hall. They both looked to see a chilling sight: a green lightsaber suddenly run through a Jedi. The Jedi collapsed in a heap, and a robed figure turned the corner.
"That's..."
"Go! GO!" Xilif shouted and took off running, Mari quickly following after. The two ran as fast as their legs could carry them down the hall, blocking out the sounds of other Jedi screaming and running past them. They finally made it to the elevator. Xilif frantically slammed on the console, but the elevator refused to open.
"Come on, come on! What's with this stupid thing??" Xilif shouted, panic in his voice. Mari turned back. The robed figure was steadily approaching them, cutting down the other Jedi in his way. Xilif was right. This was...this was too much. There was no way they were going to survive.
Not as long as they were together.
Before Xilif could react, Mari grabbed him by his vest and stuffed him into a nearby trash chute.
"M-Mari?! What are you-"
"Run, Xilif." Mari said. "Run and keep running. Don't ever stop running, no matter what."
"Mari-!"
"I'm so glad we were friends, Xilif. May the Force be with you."
Her bright smile was the last thing he saw before she closed the hatch and sent him plummeting into the darkness, the faint sound of a lightsaber and a scream echoing in his ears as he fell deeper and deeper into the dark.
3 notes
·
View notes
Okay so on Coruscant there are very few people that don’t actually go out into the streets (I’m thinking politicians and Jedi might be some of the few who don’t have to go outside very often if at all because the senate and the temple are both the size of a small city) which means that 1: they NEED to have vitamin D lights on the streets of Coruscant because otherwise everyone would be depressed like in the deepest winter at all times. And 2: that means I think the Jedi temple and the senate themselves also are just full of Vitamin D lights.
Also y’all need to stop writing fics where kids are afraid of ‘getting caught sneaking around after dark’ or something because the temple is literally so full of species that you have no idea of that kid is nocturnal or whatever. They very well could be. Tbh I wanna write a fic where someone catches Obi-Wan sneaking around at night to play a prank with Quin or something and he’s all ‘bruh my eyes glow in the dark I’m obviously meant to be awake at this hour’ and no one can argue with him. Stuff like that.
Also I think the temple neeeeeeeds multiple healing halls (once more. It is the size of a small city) one in the aquatic center of the temple (which canonically exists) one in the temple main (which should span over like four levels and act as it’s own building okay) and one in the creche. This is the MINIMUM amount of healing halls I think they should have.
A tram system should be inside the walls. Places in the temple that act as sideways lifts and also a subway system because believe it or not, there are species in the temple as small as one foot tall, and I’m not just talking about Grogu, I’m talking about others like Kushiban and others similar. Once more. It is the size of a small city. They should have both subway type stations (that take you certain places like the main healing halls or the biggest canteen or the supply sector of the temple things like that) because oh my god imagine how many hours the commute to your workstation could take if you didn’t have that shit. Annoying af.
They gotta have names for all the different canteens okay. Like ‘meet me in the cafeteria’ in a temple the size of a small city is bullshit cause even in the books they have multiple cafeterias.
A… let’s call it a Mall Section of the temple. A place where you can pick up groceries (the temple makes their own food and I assume most of it is cooked in careens but also not letting people cook their own food is a recipe for a Jedi starving to death on a mission lmao) but they also have a salon (skin care and hair care are very important and if you let all these babies cut their own hair they gonna turn out like me no one wants that) and a clothing ‘store’ where you can get certain size clothes and robes from, or even undercover mission clothes. There need to be Jedi in these places too!!! Imagine going to the salon with your master and having a gossip talk about your new lineage member!!! It’s important to society!!!
A Jedi movie theater where the masters send their kiddos on the weekend so they can enjoy a glass of wine and not be sneezed on for three hours.
I’ve actually seen a few mentions in fics and posts about tea salons so that is def also a thing. It’s the Jedi version of a cafe. I think people who like baking take turns working there and everyone chips in for tea selections and stuff.
Droid Ubers. They need to get somewhere but feel sick as heck and it’s not near any good lifts or the subway trams??? Call a droid Uber lmao. It shouldn’t be unusual either lol just grandmaster on his way to bother his kid while not aggravating his hip after hip surgery.
Remember that Jedi who are like 10 foot tall also exist so remember there ARE apartments in the temple that could fit Kenobi’s Dino-Horse girl Boga.
There should also be apartments with like 10 bedrooms and bathrooms (or even one giant communal bathroom) around a singular living/cooking space!!! Let Jedi live in communes!!!!
The aquatic levels of the creche are def the cutest place in the temple you can’t argue with me on the idea of water babies swimming and cuddling under water.
On another note to the fact that species like Kushiban exist???? Imagine tiny doors and corridors that used to be used by mouse droids but they became so useful to tiny Jedi so they got taken over. Just imagine that.
Bartering markets where Jedi trade things, mostly things they get on missions or are given to them as gifts, nothing goes to waste so they find a proper place for all gifts and extras here.
Cooking classes. Obi-Wan has been kicked out of all of them his cooking is so bad. Anakin claims bullshit he loves Master’s cooking! But then, he also eats worms…
Anyways. Y’all too single minded with this shit. It just be all ‘cafeteria, living quarters, healing halls and archives’ with you guys. Where is the culture. Where is the acknowledgment of multiple species all living in the same area taking place in a culture of peace and galactic exploration???? Give them a liquor store idgaf.
639 notes
·
View notes