Fic: A Day in the Life of a Jedi Master
So, I've written a lot of fanfic in my time, not that this journal really reflects that. And most of it is Star Wars fanfic. Now, recently I've been feeling like I want to write Star Wars fic again, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to go back to posting on theforce.net. Partly because the likelihood of me just fading out on everyone again is pretty high, and partly because of other reasons. But whatever. The upshot of this is, I'm going to start posting my old fic on this journal. I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing, but hey. If anyone wants to read some Star Wars--or even if you don't :P . . . . okay, just kidding.
Anyway, I'm not sure what order to post these in, but I think I'm going to start with my original character Star Wars fics. And the first one I'm going to post of those is the first that I wrote, involving one Jedi Master Ren Kar and his Padawan Zad Sa-han, in the years leading up to the rise of the Empire and the fall of the Republic (in other words, the same time period as the prequel movies).
Section 1 below.
Title: A Day in the Life of a Jedi Master
AUTHOR: SakuraTsukikage
TIMEFRAME: About three years before AotC.
CHARACTERS: Ren Kar (OC), Zad Sa-Han (OC), and random others, OC and not.
GENRE: Slice of life?
SUMMARY: What the title says.
DISCLAIMER: Star Wars doesn't belong to me, but Ren and Zad belong to me and my brother. Other than that, the Flanneled One owns all.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So, the grand intro of an a few OCs I've written about off and on for a while. This is a random story I started writing while exploring my thoughts and feelings on the Jedi Order, and a way for me to explore one of my great interests--everyday life in the GFFA. So here we go. This might not be for everyone, but I hope some people will enjoy it. I've tried to make the titular Jedi Master an interesting character--talented in some areas, not in others, with his own issues and feelings. The posts will be in chapter-like segments, separated by hour, throughout the day. And I guess this is where the fun begins.
--0600 hours
Morning in the Jedi Temple was a quiet time, a peaceful time. There was nothing to drag Jedi Master Ren Kar out of bed-nothing except his own instincts, the ones that wouldn’t allow him to sleep past six hours in the morning. Ren groaned as he rolled out of bed, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
He’d thought that waking up early in the morning would get easier as he became a Jedi Knight and master. Apparently he’d had no such luck.
Of course, as his own master would have reminded him, the Jedi didn’t believe in luck.
Ren yawned and winced as his bare feet came in contact with the chill stone floor of his quarters. Jedi or not, Ren Kar was a Corellian by both birth and blood, and he couldn’t quite help the occasional thought that perhaps there was an element of chance in the galaxy, Force or no Force.
Ren pulled his sleep-tunic off over his head and tossed it onto the bed behind him, then grabbed a simple gray undershirt from the pile of clothes at the foot of it and shrugged into it, following it by tugging on his trousers and boots. He grabbed his lightsaber from its place hanging on his wall and keyed open the door to his quarters to start on his way to one of the nearby practice rooms, still yawning, tying his hair in a ponytail back with one of the loose cords he kept lying around his quarters for exactly that purpose. He hated getting up this early, which was precisely why he forced himself to do it every morning. Force, he got up even earlier than his Padawan, who was disturbingly cheerful and energetic in the morning as far as Ren was concerned.
The light beside the door of Ren’s chosen practice room was green-it was empty. Though most Jedi rose early, the halls of the Temple were still nearly deserted at this hour. Ren yawned again as he entered the room. He was counting on his morning workout to wake him up; it always did.
He moved out onto the center of the mat and depressed the power button of his lightsaber as he settled into an Ataro ready stance. The glowing orange blade ignited with a snap-hiss, casting a bright gold light over the morning dimness of the room. The glowpanels would be set to low until 0800 hours that morning, as was routine in the Temple. The dimness hardly bothered Ren, however. He had long since worked that into his morning workout.
He started slow, as he always did, with a series of easy moves and beginner’s exercises designed to warm and limber him up. Ren was, as always, in incredible shape, just like most Jedi, but there was no reason to risk an injury in practice because of stupidity or impatience. The low buzz of his lightsaber, its changing intonation as he swung it in the graceful arcs that characterized the simpler lightsaber forms, was a pleasantly familiar counterpoint to his actions.
His warm-ups finished, Ren moved into a series of more difficult moves. His personal lightsaber style was a combination of his former Master Mace Windu’s Form VII, Juyo, though Ren had never had the inclination to attempt to master the form completely, and his own self-refined version of Form IV, or Ataro. Despite his unconventional technique, Ren knew he was considered one of the most skilled of the younger masters of the Jedi Order in lightsaber combat. Certainly one of the most original, he thought with a mental grin. Ren intended to keep it that way. He knew he was well known for his interest in lightsaber training and practice and his willingness to participate in the dangerous reenactments known as kai-kan, and he wanted to keep his skills as sharp as possible.
The humming of his lightsaber grew louder, sharper, more intense, as he stepped up the speed and difficult of his techniques, and Ren could feel his focus sharpening with it, the last clouds of sleepy fog burning away before the fiery blade of his weapon. The light shed by the blade lit up the dim corners of the small practice room as he ducked and rolled and swung. Ren pushed himself to the edge of his abilities, as he always did in practice, nearly singing the undertunic he wore once or twice in dangerous moves that brought the mandarin light of his blade close to his own body. Only when his muscles began to ache and burn and he could feel sweat trickling downward into his eyes did Ren begin to slow down, gradually easing out of the state of heightened focus needed to achieve the more difficult moves he had been practicing. Finally, he came to a stop and deactivated his lightsaber. He took a few deep breaths where he stood in the center of the room as he let go of his concentration. After a moment, he reached up to rub sweat out of his eyes and brushed his damp hair off his forehead.
He could hear the sounds of a continuing lightsaber practice from the practice room next to the one he was using, and he wondered if his apprentice, Zad Sa-Han, had also awakened and was completing his own morning workout. Zad was generally far more alert and cheerful in the morning than Ren on his best day, but Ren was feeling far more awake now. He left the practice room and headed back to the quarters he shared with his Padawan. “Zad?” he called, replacing his lightsaber in its place on the wall and untying the cord from his hair so it swung loose and curled around his face, damp with sweat as it was. He glanced into Zad’s room. As he had expected, the room was empty. His apprentice was indeed at practice, then. Ren tugged his loose undertunic off over his head and tossed it on the bed with his sleep-tunic. He could take them to the cleaners’ later with the rest of his dirty laundry.
Ren headed for the refresher, undressing as he went. He was looking forward to a nice hot shower.
Anyway, I'm not sure what order to post these in, but I think I'm going to start with my original character Star Wars fics. And the first one I'm going to post of those is the first that I wrote, involving one Jedi Master Ren Kar and his Padawan Zad Sa-han, in the years leading up to the rise of the Empire and the fall of the Republic (in other words, the same time period as the prequel movies).
Section 1 below.
Title: A Day in the Life of a Jedi Master
AUTHOR: SakuraTsukikage
TIMEFRAME: About three years before AotC.
CHARACTERS: Ren Kar (OC), Zad Sa-Han (OC), and random others, OC and not.
GENRE: Slice of life?
SUMMARY: What the title says.
DISCLAIMER: Star Wars doesn't belong to me, but Ren and Zad belong to me and my brother. Other than that, the Flanneled One owns all.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So, the grand intro of an a few OCs I've written about off and on for a while. This is a random story I started writing while exploring my thoughts and feelings on the Jedi Order, and a way for me to explore one of my great interests--everyday life in the GFFA. So here we go. This might not be for everyone, but I hope some people will enjoy it. I've tried to make the titular Jedi Master an interesting character--talented in some areas, not in others, with his own issues and feelings. The posts will be in chapter-like segments, separated by hour, throughout the day. And I guess this is where the fun begins.
--0600 hours
Morning in the Jedi Temple was a quiet time, a peaceful time. There was nothing to drag Jedi Master Ren Kar out of bed-nothing except his own instincts, the ones that wouldn’t allow him to sleep past six hours in the morning. Ren groaned as he rolled out of bed, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
He’d thought that waking up early in the morning would get easier as he became a Jedi Knight and master. Apparently he’d had no such luck.
Of course, as his own master would have reminded him, the Jedi didn’t believe in luck.
Ren yawned and winced as his bare feet came in contact with the chill stone floor of his quarters. Jedi or not, Ren Kar was a Corellian by both birth and blood, and he couldn’t quite help the occasional thought that perhaps there was an element of chance in the galaxy, Force or no Force.
Ren pulled his sleep-tunic off over his head and tossed it onto the bed behind him, then grabbed a simple gray undershirt from the pile of clothes at the foot of it and shrugged into it, following it by tugging on his trousers and boots. He grabbed his lightsaber from its place hanging on his wall and keyed open the door to his quarters to start on his way to one of the nearby practice rooms, still yawning, tying his hair in a ponytail back with one of the loose cords he kept lying around his quarters for exactly that purpose. He hated getting up this early, which was precisely why he forced himself to do it every morning. Force, he got up even earlier than his Padawan, who was disturbingly cheerful and energetic in the morning as far as Ren was concerned.
The light beside the door of Ren’s chosen practice room was green-it was empty. Though most Jedi rose early, the halls of the Temple were still nearly deserted at this hour. Ren yawned again as he entered the room. He was counting on his morning workout to wake him up; it always did.
He moved out onto the center of the mat and depressed the power button of his lightsaber as he settled into an Ataro ready stance. The glowing orange blade ignited with a snap-hiss, casting a bright gold light over the morning dimness of the room. The glowpanels would be set to low until 0800 hours that morning, as was routine in the Temple. The dimness hardly bothered Ren, however. He had long since worked that into his morning workout.
He started slow, as he always did, with a series of easy moves and beginner’s exercises designed to warm and limber him up. Ren was, as always, in incredible shape, just like most Jedi, but there was no reason to risk an injury in practice because of stupidity or impatience. The low buzz of his lightsaber, its changing intonation as he swung it in the graceful arcs that characterized the simpler lightsaber forms, was a pleasantly familiar counterpoint to his actions.
His warm-ups finished, Ren moved into a series of more difficult moves. His personal lightsaber style was a combination of his former Master Mace Windu’s Form VII, Juyo, though Ren had never had the inclination to attempt to master the form completely, and his own self-refined version of Form IV, or Ataro. Despite his unconventional technique, Ren knew he was considered one of the most skilled of the younger masters of the Jedi Order in lightsaber combat. Certainly one of the most original, he thought with a mental grin. Ren intended to keep it that way. He knew he was well known for his interest in lightsaber training and practice and his willingness to participate in the dangerous reenactments known as kai-kan, and he wanted to keep his skills as sharp as possible.
The humming of his lightsaber grew louder, sharper, more intense, as he stepped up the speed and difficult of his techniques, and Ren could feel his focus sharpening with it, the last clouds of sleepy fog burning away before the fiery blade of his weapon. The light shed by the blade lit up the dim corners of the small practice room as he ducked and rolled and swung. Ren pushed himself to the edge of his abilities, as he always did in practice, nearly singing the undertunic he wore once or twice in dangerous moves that brought the mandarin light of his blade close to his own body. Only when his muscles began to ache and burn and he could feel sweat trickling downward into his eyes did Ren begin to slow down, gradually easing out of the state of heightened focus needed to achieve the more difficult moves he had been practicing. Finally, he came to a stop and deactivated his lightsaber. He took a few deep breaths where he stood in the center of the room as he let go of his concentration. After a moment, he reached up to rub sweat out of his eyes and brushed his damp hair off his forehead.
He could hear the sounds of a continuing lightsaber practice from the practice room next to the one he was using, and he wondered if his apprentice, Zad Sa-Han, had also awakened and was completing his own morning workout. Zad was generally far more alert and cheerful in the morning than Ren on his best day, but Ren was feeling far more awake now. He left the practice room and headed back to the quarters he shared with his Padawan. “Zad?” he called, replacing his lightsaber in its place on the wall and untying the cord from his hair so it swung loose and curled around his face, damp with sweat as it was. He glanced into Zad’s room. As he had expected, the room was empty. His apprentice was indeed at practice, then. Ren tugged his loose undertunic off over his head and tossed it on the bed with his sleep-tunic. He could take them to the cleaners’ later with the rest of his dirty laundry.
Ren headed for the refresher, undressing as he went. He was looking forward to a nice hot shower.