TwinHits

@@therfiles Thanks a lot! That means a lot to me =). Thank you for reading all of it too (It's my longest chapter, and I cut as much as I could before I posted it.) Any chance you can point out to me a place where the viewpoint jumps that might be confusing? I don't actually know what you are referring too, but that is probably because I am too close to the writing. I'll post the next chapter tonight!

@@Mysterious Stranger I will! I will post the second chapter tonight. @@Jango40 My paragraphs will be exactly as long as they need to be.

Thanks for reading, @@eezstreet! Thanks for your good comments, all the things you said were all the things that I hoped for. The comment I've gotten the most often is about the dialogue, which is something I'm not that good at. I never pinned down the Iced Tea as part of the problem but I think you are totally right. I'll take another pass at it! I'm sure there's a word for words like 'said' and such, but I don't like them. I do use the structure you described frequently, but in this case it's on purpose in the first half of the chapter. I feel like it creates a weird separation between his mind and what he is doing and goes a long way towards building the tension you desceibed. I'm going to go back and reread though to make sure that its not causing problems though. As for your final point, well, if I told you all that in the first half of the first chapter, I wouldn't have much of a plot. But, I think nearly all those questions get answered in the second half of the chapter, but far more interesting ones quickly arise . But, seriously, thank you for reading!

"Good morning, everyone." The pre-class conversation slowly ground to a stop. This was no one's favorite class. The professor was old, tired, and had clearly taught this class too many times before. "Before we begin the lecture, I have an announcement to make. I have never really been interested in foreign and domestic policy and for the fourth year in a row I have requested permission to teach on my favored subject, the Jedi Knight." The class was silent and very confused. They had all heard of the Jedi, both through the popular Hollywood movies and in reference to a sort of mythical order of sword-wielding evil-fighting warriors. "I was again refused, for the dean does not believe them worthy of study. I proceeded to tender my resignation effective at the end of the week. That means we have two more sessions of this class which we will be spending discussing something far more interesting. Any questions so far?" There continued to be silence. One hand slowly rose into the air. "Will this be on the final?" The professor smiled. "Probably not. But it would do you well to listen because this is actually important. I guarantee you that what you think you know about the Jedi is fable and what you've seen portrayed in Hollywood movies is actually surprisingly accurate. Thus, we must begin at the beginning." The professor tapped the keyboard and the projector screen behind him changed from black to a strange symbol. It was silver, glossy, and formed a circle surrounding a cross between a temple and a fist. "Now, what is The Order?" ~ The world is a cesspool, he thought. Disgust poured off of him in waves. The world is a broken, sinful place, and he hated it. But, it's what made him strive to become something better. Maybe, just maybe, every good act he did would make the world a little bit brighter. Hope for a better world, he always told himself, maybe we can make tomorrow a better day. Though in reality, it just felt like they were delaying the inevitable. He was tracking something, something different. The use of the Force always left a trail distinctive to that person, but what made this different was that he did not recognize the trail. For example, Ashley's trail smelled like flowers freshly cut and shampooed hair, felt like comfortable trustworthy shoes, or sounded like a song you've heard before but were trying to remember. This one was different, it was just malevolence. Nothing special or symbolic linking back to the personality of the owner, nothing as complex as what he was used to. It was just simply malevolence. Evil was terribly predictable, he had heard someone say. It was his job to know every trail and who they belonged to and there were no Force users outside of The Order. Well, maybe that's just what they told themselves. If this trail led to what it felt like, finding a name for it wouldn't be hard, Hollywood movies had already provided a name for them to borrow. He followed the trail into one of countless unnamed office buildings and made his way towards the top. He always started at the top, it seemed to him like everything important happened on the top floor. Easy access to the roof, probably. A moment later, he was at a pair of glass doors that looked into a large conference room. In it was a large table surrounded by high powered chairs and at the end, a figure, looking out the windows at the cityscape around them. Jaster opened the door and stepped inside. Unsurprisingly, the door closed behind him and the figure turned around perfectly on cue. It was only then that Jaster realized that the figure was gigantic, nearly seven feet tall. His hands and feet hinted at jet black matte armor but his massive cloak hid everything save for his hooded face, shrouded by a pitch black darkness instead. Jaster did not move, he stayed where he had the most room to maneuver and an easy escape route. It's just, the giant in front of him seemed so empty. It felt like nothing but malevolence yet still this glowering being still stood in front of him. He only assumed it was glowering, it didn't appear to be anything but glower. "Who are you?" Jaster asked cautiously. No answer. Then again, it seemed to consider its own existence an answer. To say that it emanated darkness would be too romantic. It was darkness. It did not need to answer, every answer would be the same thing. Just darkness. Jaster stepped further into the room and spoke louder, "Do you know who I am?" Contempt filled the air. Darkness does not care. "I am a Jedi Knight. I exist to bring peace to the world, to serve and protect, I guard the guards, I watch the watchmen." Darkness still did not move, yet in the back of Gibb's mind, someone was laughing. Laughing at him. "I am the most powerful being you have ever set eyes on!" The laughter stopped, instead Jaster was certain Darkness was raising his eyebrows. Darkness is not impressed. Finally, Darkness began to move. Slowly it raised its massive head until the room's light began to sneak through the shadows. As they parted, they revealed a face Jaster knew far too well. A face formerly familiar now worn, angry, corrupted, and dark, torn apart from years of destruction and violence. No, he thought, and he understood. Fear gripped him, he had to end Darkness and end it now. Nothing else matters. ~ "Would you like a drink, Master Jedi?" "No, thank you." Twin was in an interrogation room. Swinging light bulb, one way glass, table and chairs, the works. Across from him sat an older man, just past middle aged, with a dark business suit and black tie with a clip. They had been staring at each other for the past several minutes. Twin was good at staring back at people. "You know Jedi can read minds." Twin lied, hoping to sense a surge of panicked emotion. The suited man simply continued to stare. "Well, it was worth a shot, I guess." The door opened, and one of the armored officers from the bar entered with a small cup with dark liquid in it and placed it in front of Twin. "I hear you are a fan of unsweetened ice tea. Please, partake." Twin ignored the patronizing comment about his age. Something has gone terribly wrong, the suited man knew far more than he should. Twin chose to respond with a single blink, conceding the staring contest and hopefully signaling that it was time to move on. A folder seemed to appear in front of the suited man. He opened it, leaned it up so that Twin could not see into it, and began to nod and read. "Jedi Master TwinHits, no other name on record apparently. Born 1993 now age eighteen years old, knighted at age twelve, appointed Jedi Master at age fourteen-" Now something wasn't just wrong, but confusingly wrong. None of this made any sense at all. The suited man could not possibly know all this. Suddenly against the suited man's will, the folder tore itself from his hands and flattened against the table. The papers inside flew up and arrayed themselves midair in front of Twin. He turned them around, flipped them back around again, and then upside down before returning them back to the folder and back into the suited man's waiting hands. They were blank. The suited man continued to read as if nothing miraculous and amazing to the average viewer had happened. "In the last year since Rosslyn, TwinHits has been a frequent visitor to the White House, trying to find a way to integrate the Order into today's world. Rumored to have a close personal relationship with President Bartlet." This was basically true and it also made this suited man one of the most informed people in the world. He put down the folder and folded his hands on the table. TwinHits mimicked, leaned forward, then spoke. "You are not law enforcement." The suited man did not object. "Since you are not law enforcement, you cannot hold me here. But, since you have been nice enough to bring me iced tea, I will hear you out." "To make it simple and straightforward, I, and those I represent, want you to lay down your weapons, give up any attempts to make yourself relevant, disappear, and tell your masters to do the same. There is no place in this world for the Jedi." The scene must have looked ridiculous. A middle aged man in a suit and an eighteen year old in an untucked collared shirt staring at each other with identical looks and identical postures. "If you refuse, we will, regrettably, have to force the issue. It's for the greater good. The Jedi are far too dangerous to run loose in the world." Twin's eyes narrowed. "The Jedi are self controlling by nature, I appreciate the effort but your services will not be needed. We know our place in the world." "Yet, you seek to change it. If you wish to be accepted by the world, you must accept the world's rules. Who will guard the guards, yes?" The suited man paused for effect as if this statement trumped all responses. That was the thing about old sayings and adages, you said them and no one could say anything back. Twin hated them. "The Jedi only need the will of the Force to guide them." "The will of the Force, of course. So when a Jedi finds what he thinks is evil, then what does he do? Charge in and beat it up?" "The Force defines good and evil and decides what action we must take." The suited man leaned off the desk and sat back up straight, smiling. "Ah, so some mystical power that only few feel or even believe exists defines good and evil? The Jedi are the judge, the jury, and the executioner of their own brand of justice." "I will happily discuss with you the philosophy of the Jedi, but I'm afraid you haven't shared your name." "It is impolite to ask for a name without offering one." "You already know my name, it really is TwinHits. If we're friends now though, you can call me Twin." "Your friend was much more willing to give us hers, yet not so willing to tell us anything else about The Order." "Let her go, she doesn't know anything." Twin felt himself grow angry and knew that he had just revealed his hand. The suited man stood. "Perhaps there is still more for us to learn from, I would very much like to speak to your fellow Jedi." He turned to leave taking the folder and began to open the door. "Knowing as much as you think you do, do you really think that you can keep me here?" The suited man paused for a moment, before turning back to Twin's still angry face. "No." Then he opened the door, and left. ~ Twin hated the time between classes. Technically, he hated school, but he was supposed to blend in. He was a few days in and he was still just wandering around aimlessly when he wasn't supposed to be somewhere. He could be using this time to train, but that would just make him stick out. The whole idea was that he was supposed to understand how the world really worked, taking some time to be someone other than a Jedi. This leg of his wandering always brought him through the music department. This time, however, he was greeted by an open practice room complete with a full band setup, and more importantly, a very lonely looking electric guitar. It would be a shame to leave it there alone, and playing the guitar would be considered pretty normal by others, or even be considered "cool" by random passerbyers. Twin loved the guitar, it was a sacred refuge in his life for a lot of reasons so it was easy to walk in, turn on the amp, and begin to play. When you think of an ancient order of warrior-monks you generally imagine them meditating in front of a fig tree or practicing kung fu underneath a waterfall, not rocking out in their room on an electric guitar. Soon enough, his eyes were closed, his mind was open, and his fingers moved by themselves. It was so much simpler than fighting. There were rules, constraints, and much less maneuvering room on the strings. When you played a song you were building something up, not tearing something down. Slowly, Twin became aware that he had an audience. Once he was, he immediately stopped, feeling ashamed. He looked up to see that two boys had entered the room and were staring at him with their jaws somewhere near the floor. ~ As soon as the door shut behind the suited man, he rose and proceeded straight to it. He planted his palm in the center and it sprang open with a sudden yelp and a sickening crunch from the other side. An armored and helmeted officer turned into the doorframe with his sidearm already half way to his aim. Twin brought his forearm up to deflect his aim before bringing his other elbow up to the side of his head and throwing him back into the interrogation room. The officer stumbled to the floor as the door slammed shut, causing the other crushed and unconscious officer to fall to the floor in a heap from behind it. Ahead of him was only one door and a hallway offshoot. He quickly walked towards it, one objective foremost in his mind. Having heard the commotion, two more similarly armored officers turned the corner with their pistols raised. Already there, he brought his fist to the face of the first officer and spun around leading with the other to knock him down before dropping to the floor for a leg sweep against the second officer. He continued towards the door, put his hand on the handle and took a deep breath. He turned the handle and the door opened to reveal a open cubicle bullpen with officers in cover behind office furniture and around corners framing an identical interrogation room to his own. Inside that room, he felt one strong and terrified presence. A memory came to him, from just earlier that evening and seeming a lifetime previously. He was standing in front of the crowd, now the three of them: bass, drums, and guitar. His fingers were moving, guided by the Force, with Kyle's gruff voice cutting through the air. "Beyond the boundaries of your city's lights, stand the heroes waiting for your cry. So many times you did not bring this on yourself. But when that moment finally comes, I'll be there to help." This is one of those moments where everything changes. Destiny forks here with one option to turn around and to continue going forward. To Twin though, there was now no more question. He dropped his right hand to his side and relaxed once again into the Force. "And on that day, when you need a brother, a sister to care." A long, slightly curved metal hilt appeared as if it had always been clipped to his belt, just the looker had always failed to notice it. Without a sound it unclipped, spun in his hand, and snap-hissed into a silver-white blade. "I'll be right here!" At the sight of the ancient Jedi lightsaber, the officers opened fire. Twin stepped in, turning, his eyes closed in concentration. His saber spun about him in an intricate pattern turning life-seeking bullets into grey dust with a slight puff of evaporating gunpowder. As he came around again to face the front again, he let his body do the dodging, only using his saber to block the true threats as he slowly walked towards his attackers, their shock and awe rolling off them in waves. Now it was his turn to sing. "And the people crying in the streets, when they're sobbing for a meal to eat. For when they simply need a place to make their beds, right here underneath my wings, you can rest your head." Jaster ran the length of the table, flipping sideways halfway across to conceal the drawing of his green lightsaber before bringing it up for an overhead slash down aimed at his opponent's chest. To his shock and surprise, Darkness threw his arm behind his back and spun into existence his own crimson red blade emitting from an enormous hilt. The dark figure brought it up to deflect the overhead blow then down low to stop the follow up swing at his legs. Darkness brought his blade back up for a vicious side-sweep, but it was caught by Jaster's elegant parry from behind the back. Jaster stepped back and lunged pressing his blade into his opponent. Darkness sidestepped, brought his fist down on the inside of Jaster's elbow before planting a thrust kick into his chest that sent him sailing across the room into the overly large chairs around the conference room table. "Citizen/Soldier, holding the life of the ones that we guide from the dark of despair. Standing on guard for the ones that we shelter, we'll always be ready because we will always be there." "There..." The song was over and he was sweating. For all the countless hours he had spent playing, for all the love he had poured into his art, he had never played before an audience before. No one had ever cheered for him or encouraged him for his music had been for him and him alone. Now, it seemed the whole world had turned to him, full on in their attention. The crowd roared and cheered while a heavy hand clapped on his shoulder. It belonged to Kyle who said something back the bartender and owing Twin a drink. "There..." Watching himself in the memory, he turned to see across the club a girl, at first just as nervous as he had been, make her way across the dance floor and seat herself at the bar next to him. Strange such a small choice would lead him here. "There..." That memory was all that seemed important to him as he danced through the room amidst a storm of gunfire. Each step was farther down a path that he could not take back. Violence begets violence, an endless cycle of destruction. "Hope and pray that you never need me, but rest assured I will not let you down. I walk besides you but you may not see me the strongest among you may not wear a crown!" A break in the gunfire, and it was over. Twin brought a hand up and one of the officers flew backwards into the reloading officer behind him. A chair he was hiding flew up and hit another while a small cabinet flew into orbit around Twin and began absorbing incoming shots. Twin deactivated his lightsaber and began to rise slowly off the floor. His eyes closed as he let the Force flow through him, directing his every move. Furniture flew around him like a shield, breaking apart from the shots. Office supplies rose into the air and peppered their former masters while their bodies were thrown about before being slammed unconscious against the walls. Soon the room was silent. "Citizen/Solider. Holding the life of the ones that we guide from the dark of despair." Darkness was several heads taller than he was and had an much longer reach. Jaster bounced from chair to table and wall to land blows from every angle, but the giant pale blue blade was always there. Jaster paused for a moment to reconsider his strategy, to which Darkness responded by flicking a chair at him. Jaster dropped to dodge, allowing the chair to fly over him and crash through the window, and launched himself head first with his blade spinning before him. He was suddenly stopped as Darkness caught his arms, blade still lit, and slammed him to the table, pinning him against it. He brought his weapon up to behead him, but a free leg bounced against his armored kidney. Distracted by the satisfying dong, Jaster used the moment to wrench himself free, duck under the restraining arm and leap up to deliver and fierce spinning kick against his opponent's head. But Darkness's elbow was already there in Jaster's chest, throwing him back into the chairs. Instead of veering for another attack, Jaster bounded out the broken window, grabbed the sill and leapt to the roof. Bounding to the next building over, Jaster hazarded a look behind him. Darkness was gone. "Citizen/Solider. Standing on guard for the ones that we shelter." The office was a waste, Twin strode forward. Deep down he knew that he was not in control, he knew that he had made the choice to enter this room for one reason. He knew that he was acting on instinct, on a primal urge he could not explain. But now there was nothing more important to him than opening that door and seeing the tall brown haired girl with the face, her eyes swollen from the tears and filled with fright. Nothing seemed more urgent then to offer his hand, take hers, and run to safety. He told himself he was doing his duty, saving an innocent from injustice and resisting the suited man in the name of the Force. Deep down though, he knew it simply because a single girl had seen him play, seen him across the dance floor, sat down next to him, and deemed him worthy enough to talk to. "Cause we will always be there."

~The Strongest Among You ~ Maybe this is what normal is like. It's like one of those nights where you see a young couples walking down the street laughing or a group of friends headed out for a night of fun they probably won't remember. Everyone seems happy and nothing could possibly be expected to go wrong. Normal people don't expect things to go wrong, only people like policeman, military commanders, disaster relief, and superheroes. Then again, those were the people that were needed on far more and far different nights than this one. They certainly weren't needed here in the college club. While lots happens on the dance floor, none of it is truly dangerous. It was a new place, nothing extraordinary and nothing expected to be around in a few years. Soon enough, everyone will forget about this place. Just like all the others, they begin to close down save the extraordinarily lucky. This one was trying to break out of the pack by focusing on underage college coeds. The idea was that if you had a high cover charge and not care about people already drunk, lots of young college students would flock to the music in order to get away with stuff they would prefer others not be there to witness. It was also, he noted, another place for young people to feel awkward. He hated feeling awkward, it was such a new experience for him after an unusual life. He knew he was the same age as them, had roughly the similar interests, and had a certain amount of their respect. Yet, they still seemed so far away, like he was a stranger to a culture he was suddenly thrust into. They seemed so much more experienced, clam, and brave. They knew what they were doing, ordering drinks and dancing scary close to each other on the dance floor. Ashley would feel right at home here, he bet, she had skills they could appreciate. All he could do that they might appreciate was play guitar and sing, but he had already done that. That, and unrelated skills, was all he had. He turned back from the dance floor and returned to the confusing conundrum of exactly how to properly order a drink from a bar. The bartender finally turned to him, looking expectant. "Um, right, can I get unsweetened iced tea please?" The bartender blinked a bit, turned around, and tapped on his bartending computer screen. Twin felt like this was a step closer to success, but felt like the bartender had judged him for his choice of drink. It was a strange feeling being judged, it wasn't something many people did to him. Twin made a mental note not to order from this bartender next time, lest he be remembered and judged again. "May I join you?" Oh God, he thought, someone is talking to me. This was also a strange feeling for him, being scared to talk to someone. He guessed that came from being so out of his element. Suddenly, a more immediate concern occurred to him. Oh God, a girl is talking to me. He had no problem with girls, he had known some all his life, like Ashley. The only problem was that they were the only girls he had ever known. He rarely encountered other girls his age and when he did flirting was not exactly an immediate goal. He finally turned and faced the arrival. "Yeah, I guess." He said, sudden unexplained instinct told him to be annoyed. So he did. Maybe it would make him look less awkward. He had not been trained for this. She was an unusual sight. She was one of those girls who you didn't usually notice walking around campus. She was a little taller than average with a generous amount of rich brown hair. What was fascinating was her face. At first you may not notice her as special, but a moment's careful consideration showed her to be incredibly beautiful. Classy, was the word he picked for it, an inexplicable power to turn beauty on and off at will. The ability to be the center of the room or quietly away in the corner simply by how she held herself. "Thanks, may I have whatever he's having please?" He suspected he was going to be expected to pay for this drink, although he decided he did not mind. Money was not a concern that he had. The drinks quickly found their way to their hand and they took sips in sync. She subsequently made a face and looked at him in question. "It's unsweetened iced tea, it's a long story." She smiled and reached for the sweetener box and a lemon slice. "So tell me, who are you?" A million images flooded into his mind all at once, some he held fondly and others that caused him to twitch when he remembered them. What a complex question, he thought, and with an appreciation for the rare, he figured a simple answer was called for. "I'm TwinHits." He said somewhat flatly, knowing exactly what was coming next and preparing his answer. "TwinHits. That's a strange name." "I have strange parents," He paused while she smiled. "I get that a lot." She nodded. "My name is Sarah. My name isn't nearly as interesting as yours." "I've never met a Sarah before." She laughed. "You must not get around a lot." "Not really...Well, no, I don't get around a lot." They both took another drink. Sarah looked up at him while his mind desperately looked for another topic. He wished he was more interesting. To his relief, she came to the rescue. " I saw you play today, with Kyle, you certainly stole the show." "Oh," He reddened a little more. 'I didn't mean to, I was just doing what Kyle told me to." He looked over to the corner where the bass player was standing talking to a shorter generously endowed girl with long black hair. He saw him, raised his glass, and winked. The girl turned around and waved before they returned to their conversation. "I think that was the point, you are very good, much better than me." Twin felt a raise of hope, something they have in common! He was pretty sure that's what normal people talked about. "You play too?" "Not very well, I sing too. Nothing compared to what you guys just played. I think it's awesome that this club invites local groups to play. Why did you pick that song? I didn't think anyone liked that song but the way you played it made it seem like so much more." "Oh, yeah, well," He reddened even more, "Kyle said it was special to him, something about-" "Well, the man of the hour!" Kyle and the long black haired girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Kyle threw his arm around Twin and the smell of pregame rum crinkled Twin's nose. "This guy, I mean...yeah! This guy!" Now that he was closer, he recognized the girl from the group that performed before his just half an hour earlier. She seemed to notice his widened eyes because she stuck out her hand. "I'm Arielle, by the way." "Yeah, you sang today." He said, thinking back to the performance. She blinked. "Um, why, yes, I did." "You were very good, that's what I meant." "So's this guy!" Kyle said again, turning the conversation back to how awesome he thought Twin was, and by extension how awesome Kyle thought Kyle was. "You're awesome!" He said before they left the two of them alone again. Twin turned again around towards Sarah, hoping his mind would catch up with him before he got there and find something he could say. Preferably something intelligent, funny, and with a nod towards how attractive he hoped he appeared. Instead, something else happened. Instead, the pit of his stomach filled with dread, a feeling of dread that felt all too familiar. A danger sense. His training kicked in immediately so much so that by the time his head had turned to face Sarah, he was standing with a slightly puzzled look on his face with his eyes searching the room for whatever it was that he sensed. She looked up at him and matched his puzzled expression. "What's wrong?" In an instant, they both knew. The door to the club slammed open and seven figures armored in black unlabeled police SWAT gear entered, each holding a rifle and scanning the room. The lights instantly went on and the music stopped. Several people screamed, someone began crying. The officer in front put down his rifle, pulled out his sidearm, and shot the ceiling. Everyone hit the floor, save Twin, and everything was silent. He felt a sudden calm replace the dread. He, of all people, knew evil existed in the world. He knew exactly what was going on. These men were not evil, but an evil force had directed them here. Evil was terribly predictable, but this was going to be a messy situation because of it. He was probably going to have to switch colleges barely a week into his normal life experiment. He slowly turned back around, sat in his barstool, and stared down into his half filled drink. The thought of switching didn't bother him, he had prepared for that when he started. There just probably wouldn't be a pretty brown haired girl willing to talk to him there though. The armored officers noticed his behavior and immediately spread out in a large semi circle around him. The officer with the pistol put his gun down and addressed the crowd. "Alright, everyone get out and go home. This place is closed." Twin sighed with relief, now he didn't have to change schools, just come up with a convincing story. It would probably make him seem pretty badass. "Not you." He saw Sarah sit down again quickly, a look of terror in her eyes. Twin sighed, maybe not so easy. They got the wrong message about who she was. The semi circle had closed in around them as terrified coeds streamed out the door trying to stay as far away from the guns as they could. As soon as they were alone, the rifles dropped and small handheld tasers came out and aimed at Twin. "Who are you." The question the leader asked burned into his mind, both because of how it echoed the question he had just answered, and for how much more important the answer he gave this one would be. This time, a complicated question called for a complicated answer. Continuing to stare down at his drink, his answer echoed through the silent and empty room. "My name is TwinHits, I'm a Jedi Knight in service of The Order." He felt, rather than saw, the shock in Sarah's eyes and her jaw drop open. The officer simply smiled. "Good. Now, I'm afraid you will have to come with me. If you refuse, we will restrain you then drag you along with us." He continued to not look up. "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm afraid I don't go home with strangers." "Well, I'm afraid that I must insist." Afraid. What a strange word. A moment ago he felt fear when simply talking to a girl out of his element. Now, all the fear was in her and none of it in him. He was now where he was meant to be, where he was born to be, and what he had trained all his life to be. He slowly turned his head towards Sarah and met her eyes with his. "Forgive me." Twin stood, spun with his arm and knocked the officers helmet sideways obscuring his vision, his other hand curled into a fist which met the officer's stomach. Twin heard the sound of six tasers firing at him, but he had already summoned the Force to send his barstool up and around to stop five of the shots while his cup intercepted the shot of the officer with slightly slower reflexes. The half dozen remaining officers dropped their now useless weapons and prepared to restrain their target physically. But by the time the first weapon was halfway to the floor, he was already in the closest officer's face. He kneed the officer in the stomach and slammed his elbow into the back of his neck while he was doubled over. He then shifted his head and let a punch fly over his shoulder before grabbing the owner's arm, pulling it over his own shoulder, and sending it and its owner flying into a third officer. Fueled by a telekinetically charged attack, both sailed across the room and slammed into the wall and collapsed in a heap. The remaining three were two steps away from him, which he took as if climbing an invisible staircase five feet into the air. He snapped out with each leg, kicking the first two in the face before spinning and landing a third kick on the side of the last officer's head with such force that he spun horizontally and slammed his head on the bar top. "Stop." The chilling voice came just as he landed. he slowly turned around to find the initial officer had gotten up, removed his twisted helmet, and now held a terrified Sarah in a headlock with his sidearm to her head. Twin adopted a proper hand-to-hand combat stance and stared straight into his eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before Twin stopped and held out his arms. "Fine." ~

Alright, so this is an art form I haven't seen on JKhub yet. It's simply writing, it's a story that I want to share. Before you groan and roll your eyes about some random guy's novel that he thinks is the greatest thing ever, take a moment to read this post. I've always been a Star Wars kid, and I remember when I was really young making up huge fights and battles in my mind when I was supposed to be trying to sleep. When I started listening to music, these fights became choreography to the music. Characters began to emerge and a story began to build. Over the last five years, I've begun to fill in the plot holes, flesh out the characters, and write a story. This is not your normal Star Wars story, I like to think of it as kind of a gritty reboot. It asks the question of "What if the Jedi were real?" and takes the idea of the Jedi and throws it at real life and sees what happens. Kinda like what the Transformers movies did. What I got was a story about Jedi and their struggles with themselves, with their duty, and with their seemingly contradictory nature. There's guns and lightsabers, club dancing and sweet guitar riffs, governments and secret powers, drugs and sex, faith and doubt, Jedi and Sith. Oh, also, it's a musical. The songs that inspired the characters and the story are still in there. I've linked the appropriate starting point where the lyrics become dialogue and the highs, lows, and beat of the music govern the action. I have posted the first chapter, the longest one. (and I've only posted the first cause I'm actually still kind of embarrassed). If you read it, which I definitely think you should, please leave a comment asking questions, telling me what you thought was confusing, or what you think is going to happen next. A great comment to leave would be one saying what you liked or did not like and what you think is going to happen next. That lets me know what kind of impressions I'm giving. In addition, almost all the names in this story are borrowed without notice or permission, They do not in any way reflect that person, it's just when I came up with these characters, they reminded me of some people that I knew and now I can't think of them any other way. I do want to change the name of the character TwinHits though, because its not a good idea to name a main character after yourself =X. Anyway, without further ado, I would like to present to you a story about Star Wars, and not one like any you have read before. On Rose's Wings This story is dedicated to every member of The Order {TO}, past and present, for the inspiration they have given me day in and day out for nine years.

I would be the most useful in preproduction, so in the beginning!

I think that Nar Shaddaa and some Bioshock themes would go great together! Especially if we could capture that sense of a recent epic yet unknown disaster that Bioshock pulls off so well.

I'm not sure we are quite ready for a vote yet, can people post reference photos that they like and we can pick using those? That way, we all have the same image in our mind when we say "Archy/curvy/fantasy" instead of dozens. Then, Exonimus can use those photos to do a vote then we can start preproduction!

Hey, I can help out with GTKRadient Brushwork, but I think I would be more helpful as a concept artist! I can post some pictures of past stuff if you'd like.

Haha, I'm sorry, can you give me a more detailed instruction? Is this through run, or modifying the .exe? Which .exe?

How do you compile a map with -notjunc? I want to see what happens.

Yes, please send it to me, that looks great! And yes, I have a huge amount of tiny triangles in one room. What's quadsoup?

I want to learn 3ds Max, I have a copy (legal) and I'm doing research on how to learn. My big focus in on level design, but I want to learn other uses along the way. How did you learn?

I got a strange error, MAX_ORIGINAL_EDGES, when compiling. Anyone know what this means and what I can do about it?

Can you tell us a bit about your design process and preproduction for this map? Do you draw?

I think that this is really interesting and, in the long run, good. Face it now though, a lot of people won't like what they make because it won't be the original Star Wars movies. I'm for expanding the universe in any direction (except for that black mandolorian lightsaber, screw that shit), so this makes me really excited.

The mini ties in Force Council were one of the most amazing things ever in JKA. Need to get to the other side of the map? Might as well fly through the corridors in a tiny TIE Fighter!

I've made a lot of progress on this map. A lot of new rooms, some re-dos, and some general improvements. I've tried to implement as many suggestions that I got as I could, and keep them coming! A lot of the observations that were made earlier in this thread were incredibly good, stuff I never would have thought of, so keep them coming as you look at these screenshots! No matter how big or small the suggestion, please tell me. I want this to be a very high quality map, and to do that I need more than just my own eyes. Here's the chasm as it stands. There's a lot of glitches because I thickened the walls of the hallways (big improvement, thank you @@MUG) so the angle is weird. There's another broken hallway below the one in the foreground, and one behind the camera. This room is the new platform dueling room. Someone made the observation that the room did not make sense because it did not appear to have a purpose before it got ruined. I rebuilt the room so it was one type of dueling room, and then the ceiling collapsed causing it to become a different kind of room. The windows, which in the test version were temporary, now look down into a much larger room. Excuse the lighting, it needs to be fixed. Look familiar? Its the academy ceremony room from the game! I ported it over and changed the textures cause I really liked the idea of being able to look down into the ceremony hall from other rooms. I chose to port it over because its a room I have many fond memories of, and one that The Order uses regularly for ceremonies. Here's the view looking up at those two rooms. The top is the platform room, the bottom one is this jar room. This was a fun room to build, the idea is that the black/shiny parts of the map are protected by the force and have not decayed. These columns and the statues are what power the force field around the jar that is raised and lowered by using the columns. A special thanks to @@Kaela for her work in designing the columns and the statue bases. This next room is the council room. The first part is the anteroom, it's built based on the Nero vs Seraph fight from the Matrix Reloaded. The idea is that a single person can sit at the head of the table and defend the council doors. There are going to be some kind of locking mechanisms, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. I'm thinking a button on the seat that closes both doors, locking the combatants inside. And here's the council room. There's a lot of anti-centralism, anti-power, and pro-people symbolism. The player enters above the council, and has to walk down the stairs to met it, as opposed to the more normal vice-versa. In addition, the chairs are arranged into a circle and walking into the circle is not confrontation, it's becoming part of a whole. There's also no center chair, so no natural point of power. Finally, above the chairs is a sword hanging from a chain, the Sword of Damocles. This is the jump test room, I call it the old entry hall, and like the council room it's got a lot of symbolism going on. It's a large classic entry hallway where the entrance is across a large span of space to a raised entrance to the academy, much like GCX. Rooms like these are designed to show that the power is in the academy and that the visitor is entering into their space. By showing opulence and wealth, you show your power. Except that in this case, it's shattered and broken, and no longer used as the main entrance. Meaning, academies and clans should not think that way. Last, but not least, the water damaged room. I was kind of against it at first, but then I got over it and it looks quite awesome. This room is important to me because I really like the water room in GCX, which holds a special place in my heart because I was invited into my first clan in JK2 in the water room of JediCouncilGC. I have lots of lighting problems, I'm slowly adding in light sources, and I understand that they are important. They just haven't happened yet =). Let me know your suggestions and thoughts!

4) Any useful threads here that I have clearly missed?

Hello! There's some threads about this topic, but I'm having trouble getting through them because I'm not extremely technically literate =). I'm doing research of server providers, here's my criteria: 1) New York/DC Location 2) 32 players 3) Good support 4) Highly secure Right now I'm looking at LowPingGameServers and Art of War Central, based off of offering New York locations. I'm open to any suggestions of providers, other things I should look for, and also answering some questions! 1) Any other providers that you suggest from your personal experience? 2) Does it really matter if it's a linux or windows server? 3) I've read Caelum's serve security thread, but is there stuff that I need to look for on the server provider's side to help keep our server secure? Thank you!

I think this is a really good idea, finding custom textures that work well in JKA is hard and a community built resource would be a huge help to everyone.

I threw it down as a temporary water shader, I'll fix it when I finish getting the fx_runners to work. I'm still having trouble with them, I have no idea why part of the effect is way over there on the left. Deleting the angle didn't solve the problem. As I understand it, the fxFile effects/world/waterfall.efx when targeted to an info_null is supposed to draw the effect from the fx_runner to the info_null, but apparently its not working, am I still missing something?

Thanks for the answers to those questions! Here's another one, I'm working with fx_runner and it's not working quite right and I can't find a very good tutorial for it. The waterfall's effect for hitting the water appears to be all the way over there, not at the target_null I've created. The target_null is a little to the left of where the waterfall is currently hitting. Here are the properties for the fx_runner: angle -1 classname fx_runner fxFile effects/world/waterfall.efx Origin -1260 68 692 target water (target_null's targetname is water)