Wandering Coruscant at Night

[James Prent]

She'd been so tired James had managed to sleep through all the important bits of the day already. It was going on eight o'clock at night, and she'd just rolled out of bed in the room she'd been given in the Jedi living quarters.

Jedi Knight Oriadin had also suggested Yoghurt's bar and Grill to the girl, so she'd hunted down the neon signed establishment. She was still wearing the uniform from the diner she'd recently been fired at, although she'd left the apron in her room.

The name tag, unfortunately, was still attatched to her loosened collar. James, it read, last names were not priveledged information for the average customer. Kept crazies from finding your comm number. Or, at least, most of them.

James yawned and found a booth, snuggling into the slightly padded seat, and picking up a menu.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei was bored. And when Wei got bored, he got ideas. Wei burst into the Bar and Grill, jumping form table to table when he saw someone sitting in an empty booth looking at a menu.

"What a place for a landing," and with that said, Wei jumped and slopped down onto the table before rolling off into the empty seat.

"I hate being bored."

[James Prent]

She jumped from the sudden appearance of a man on her table, and then in her booth. The menu dropped to the table as she jerked with surprise, and James sat there a moment, not saying a word.

"I hate being bored."

She looked at him, her heart still pounding, and managed a few words. "Who are you?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Wei Wu Wei," the Padawan said nochalantly, raising a hand to wave lazily at James.

"Who are you?" he asked, staring at the cieling.

[James Prent]

She blinked. "M'name is James." She tore her eyes away from the spectacled man, and fumbled with picking up her menu. It had been a while since her last cigarrette, and her hands were a little shaky.

"Do you...d'you know what's good to eat here?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Root stew. That is what the place is known for. "

Wei sat up and noticed her hands shaking. "You know, my grandmother used to do that. But that was only during the last year of her life."

[James Prent]

"Yeah, well we all gotta die some time." She looked at the menu, and then back to the young man. "I'm sorry, I just woke up and you scared the frell outta me. So if I'm rude, please, I don't mean t'be."

The server droid trundled up, and she pointed at the menu. "I'll have some root stew, please." James fumbled in her pockets for a cigarrette, and then remembered she didn't have any. She wrapped her hands around her water glass instead.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei raised an eyebrow. "You are an addict, aren;t you?" the question bore no malice, not hate or contempt. It was like if a little kid had asked the question. Just innocent curiosity.

[James Prent]

"If you're talking illegal drugs, then no." James sucked on her teeth, and looked at the man. Not unattractive, either. She smiled a little, "Just a bad habit I picked up from my job. I'm a..or, I was a waitress at an all night diner..."

She fell silent, and sipped her water. "So...you're a Jedi? I think I'm going to be trained as a padawan, but I'm not sure. I don't remember much from last night..I was just so tired.."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smled. "One thing a Jedi does not need are bad habits. You can get rid of those habits here. Working at an all-night diner makes a person tired. But so does being a Jedi. But once you learn Force rejuvenation, you oughta be just fine."

Wei smiled. Wei was best at Force boosting and rejuvenation.He could not heal wounds, but when he was fatigued he could get reserves of energy from the Force and feel refreshed. He was getting better at it everyday.

[James Prent]

She shot him a sideways glance. "Look, I just got here this morning, so -"

The droid arrived with the stew, saving Wei from a verbal beating. James shut her mouth, and reined in her temper, reaching for the steaming bowl. She poked it with the provided eating utensil, and raised an eyebrow. "This is good?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shrugged. "It is hot. I know. My wife dumped a bowl of it on my head one morning when we were still dating."

Wei rested his chin on the table and looked at James. "What were you about to say?"

[James Prent]

She eyed him as he rested his head on the table, and tried the stew. It was rich, and surprisingly spicy...but not too hot. "Your wife?" She avoided his question, not wanting to have to go back and repeat words she shouldn't have started to say in the first place.

"Is she here?" The last thing I need is a jealous wife with me in her sights. She sipped from her spoon.

[Marcus Telcontar]

At the other end of the bar, a new figure appeared, taking a seat in a corner. This was not the place he was used to on Arcan IV, but a new place - Coruscant. And a new buidling.

Dive more like it. He preferred Arcan IV to this shithole.

Boots came up onto the table, while he pulled a pipe out, the eyes not looking at that, but out at the large dining area. He lit a match off a no smoking sign and began to puf.

"Hey! You cant do that here!" said an outraged patron

"**** off" was the reply

"I'll teach you to...to.... emmm... sorry. It's okay, I'll move tables" simpered the suddenly contrite patron. Amazing what a quick drawn Rail Gun could do

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan coughed a bit louder than discreetly.

"Just because you can walk through the door with rail gun doesn't give you a right to smoke." He coughed again, getting too much of a lungfull of the stuff. Vile, whatever it was. Morgan would have crossed his arms but his left one was still healing and therefore in a splint.

A loud sneeze went into a black-gloved hand, and he looked down at the smoker.

[James Prent]

James looked up from her companion towards the rough words across the way. Her fingers stopped fidgiting, and she watched them carefully. She'd dealt with drunks and other miserable sorts at the diner, and knew how to diffuse a tense situation.

She carefully took another spoonful of stew to her lips, and kept an eye on the two men across the room.

[Marcus Telcontar]

A raised eyebrow and a familiar smile was part of Marcus' answer. The ghost of something from the past, when things were different. Very different, when names were changed even.

"Well, I could say that I really dont give a rats, Mister Jedi, because I remember I used to love infuriating the lot of you. But..."

The hair was longer, the beard was new

"I think I'll settle for quoting myself. You can go do something biologically unplesant to yourself, Jedi"

But the bad attitude had never really gone away, even if he had smothered it. What had he been thinking, being caught up in all the Jedi philisopical crap, when he hardly knew the word's meaning? The smile turned into a pure Tohmahawk look of grinning maniac challenge.

"Well? What are you waiting for Morgan? Sit down, your making the place look untidy."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan sneezed again, hard. The little bit of stuff in his nasal cavity gave way to fantastic backpressure, and the Jedi Master visibly flinched.

He slid across from the gun toting maniac, and sneezed again, harder still.

"Whatever that vile stuff is, put it out already. Is it a byproduct of cat dren? My nose is ready to leap out and strangle you." Again, a hurricane sneeze. "Krassst."

[Marcus Telcontar]

"Oh all right... spoil all my fun you do"

He tapped out the pipe, before flicking the ashes away in the general vacinity of some new woman he had never seen before, the sign of someone who was incredibly rude - or so sure of his place in life, others didnt matter. Or it could have been simply be he was a poodoo head.

"Never seen a Jedi's nose strangle someone before... sounds like a rather interesting power. How does it work? And you should know me better - I make other people smoke cat dren. Or drink it. Come to think of it, been a while since I made someone drink a Jedi Toliet Drink at the point of a gun. So, tell me, how did you end up with the arm like that? Fell out of a tree while trying to peep at the Ladies dorm?"

[James Prent]

James looked down at her arm, where a bit of ash settled, and then quickly waved away the rest from her stew. "If you'll excuse me, thank you for the suggestion for my meal." She nodded to Wei wu Wei, and slid out from the booth, noticing her name tag at the last minute. Reaching up, she yanked it off her collar, and concealed it in the hand holding the bowl of stew.

"Excuse me, but I think you lost something." She stood in front of the two men at the table, and held out her bowl. "I'm afraid the ash is all wet now, y'know? But, it is yours."

[Marcus Telcontar]

He eyed off the brunette who had arrived, before the smile came back to his face.

"That maybe so, but I believe it will still taste good. You should sit down and eat your meal"

And the full effect of a mind trick came into play, his words becoming the stuff of reason and also reality.

"Come on, sit with us and eat your soup"

[James Prent]

I think I'll sit down and eat my soup.

She sat quietly, and picked up her spoon, and lifted it to her mouth. Then she put it down again, and corrected the man, "It's stew, not soup." James carefully picked up the spoon again and ate a mouthful before pulling a face and swallowing hard.

The spoon clattered into the bowl, and she glared at the smoking man's companion, black gloves and only one good arm. "What is going on here?"

[Marcus Telcontar]

"I dont know... you tell me?"

Again, the words became quasi reality.

"What's your name and what are you dong here?"

[James Prent]

She blinked and looked at the man with the pipe. "M'name is James Prent and I'm eating breakfast." No matter that it was pushing nine o'clock at night, truth was truth. The two men exchanged a look as she informed them of her name, but she didn't understand that either.

James blinked again, and looked down at her bowl, confused. Her fingers traced a pattern on the table, the paint on her nails chipped and old.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Prent? That name was not one Marcus liked, it was too well associated with Sanis. And usually meant trouble. But no matter on that....

"Odd time for beakfast. And an odd place to actually come for breakfast. What made you pick this place?"

[James Prent]

She glanced over at Wei, still in her old booth, and waved him over. If he was still bored, and willing to talk to strangers, might as well bring him over. "It was reccommended to me by the Jedi Oridian."

James put her spoon down into the stew, and then pushed the bowl away. "I don't think I like the food, if y'know what I mean." She adjusted her uniform, and sighed sleepily.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei had been contemplating Jame's question and hand not notice her get up until she waved him over from another booth.

Wei got p and sat down at the other place, onceagain keeping his chin on the table.

"Hi Master Marcus, Master Morgan." Wei said. He had spoken with Marcus only once before, and Morgan not at all that he could remember, but Wei cold recognize Morgan easily enough from all the stories he had heard.

"All the Jedi recommend this place. Master Yoghurt is a legendary Jedi. What Jedi would not want to eat at his establishment?"

[Morgan Evanar]

"Hi Wei." Morgan looked up at the Padawan briefly. He hadn't really talked to him much, but knew most everyone in the order by sight.
"Nice to meet you James."

Morgan returned his attention to Marcus, whom had a terrible tendency to dissapear and re-appear at the most random times. He also had a terrible tendency to smoke and harrass patrons.

"This" he glanced down at the left arm, "my speeder blew up. The R33 with the Novalatec SR 232a engines and uprated power core." Morgan's tone was one of dissapointment: he had done a lot of work on the speeder, and was pretty fond of it. "Turns out I'm a wanted man. Wanted enough for someone to hire a Sith to kill me. So I rode the shockwave from the blast into a nice sturdy pine. Decided to hit it with my arm instead of my head."

[James Prent]

James pushed her bowl aside, and quietly ordered a sandwich from the server droid. It collected the ashed in bowl of stew, and trundled away, whistling to itself.

She looked up at the Jedi called 'Morgan' and commented, "Novalatec SR 232a? You musta been packing quite a bit of speed in that baby. Did you do the work yourself, or get a garage around here?" James tilted her head to the side a little as she talked, making her slightly lopsided smile straight.

[Marcus Telcontar]

He winced in sympathy a tthe accident - but what was more compelling to him was the idea a Sith was after Evanar. There was certainly a few who would love to have a crack at the Jedi sitting opposite... for personal reasons if he understood correctly. Marcus decided to stay quiet to hear what else Morgan had to say.

[Morgan Evanar]

"Yup, the a's. Did it myself while the Jedi were on Arcan. It was too fast to be safe. R33 Cabriolet, too. Original had Genning 13s, but I managed to dig up a set of R232a's." Green eyes grew vacant and detached for a moment. "I need to stop talking about that speeder. Where was I?"

"Marcus, do you remember the Krinsy Syndicate? 11 years ago, that smoking gun document turned up, the one that put Onio Haffage away, and someone said that it was an internal job? Well, they were half right. I frelled the balance of power between the criminal underground in the Coruscant sector. I've no idea how they put it together after all this time, but I'm worth 'alf a mil alive, and 75 dead." He sighed, thinking about the mess he was now in, and Rie.

"Best and worst date I've ever had, wrapped up in a day."

[Marcus Telcontar]

"Yeah, I remember that situation pretty well.... and Half a million alive? Frell Morgan, thats one of the biggest contrats I've heard of - where the frell does anyone get that much free credits? I didn't think it was possible for anyone to be more annoying than I can be"

Morgan he knew well - Wei less so, but he had had the chane to meet him. This James.... as as his habit with never seen beings, he was using the Force to see their thoughts, to read intentions. Probably was quite a surprise when the Jedi Master spoke directly to James.

"If you want to be a Jedi miss, you might end up wearing a price like that.... I've had up to 100 thousand credits for my death a few years ago. That type of money sends quite a different level of scum after you. Would you be ready for that? Although I have to admit, 500 big ones is frelling huge. I presume your taking a few extra precautions Morgan?

[James Prent]

She looked at the man who'd ashed in her stew, and settled back in her seat. "If that happens, I trust I'll recieve the training to be able to handle it, y'know?" James looked back to Morgan, "The only crime syndicate that I know of that could put a bounty like that out is ...Black Sun, is that who is funding this?" Her voice dropped to a whisper at the mention of the infamous organization.

James reached up and adjusted the shoulders of her uniform, and sighed, still a little sleepy.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei listened and noticed that Marcus was smoking his pipe. Wei had a hard time breathing around people that smoked, so he used the Force to keep the smoke around Marcus. It was not too hard, all things considering.

"No bounties on my head yet, I think."

Wei looked at the three people and raised an eyebrow. "So what is going on here? I'm afraid I don't quite follow."-+

[AmazonBabe]

:: AB wandered into the B&G, exhausted, but not quite able to rest after what had happened. It wasn't so much that the events had disturbed her. Had she been the intended target, she would have been sleeping like a baby right now. But the fact that it had been Morgan who had been targeted had her on edge. It was the oddest thing. But she was genuinely worried. Worried enough where it frazzled her nerves. ::

:: And this made her angry with herself. She was supposed to keep calm. To think clearly. But with the recent events, lack of rest, and constant worry for Morgan, it was starting to take a toll on her physically. ::

:: Sighing, she b-lined it straight for the bar, not noticing much of any patron in the building. Sitting herself on a bar stool, she ordered an herbal tea... one she hoped would induce sleep upon her. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts and pulled in towards herself, she didn't even notice Morgan sitting at a booth in the corner, speaking with some beings. ::

[James Prent]

James shrugged at Wei's question, and the droid trundled up once more, with a ham and swiss sandwich. It looked delicious. She made a face and paid the balance with the droid, dropping a few of her scant credit chits onto it's serving tray. A manipulator hand reached out and gathered up the creds as the droid wheeled away.

She sat quietly, amongst friendly strangers, and started eating.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shifted in his seat. "I want a sandwitch too." Wei got a droids attention and ordered a grilled cheese sandwitch. "If the bred is too crunchy, it will be a sad thing," he said before letting the droid go.

[Marcus Telcontar]

"Droid.... hand the credits back. They are with me"

The droid turned and did so.

"I really have to make sure those droids are reprogrammed. They should know anyone with me eats for free in this place. Actually, I really dont think they should be charging Jedi at all - It's not like this plac would go broke doing that"

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan sort of shrugged about the comments regarding food. In all honesty, his mind was elsewhere.

"Wei, I used to be a slicer. I unwittingly pulled a job for the New Republic that made a large, powerful criminal orginization collapse. This put a lot of people in very uncomfortable postions, and now they'd like me to be in very uncomfortable postions. I have no idea how they figured it out after 11 years, but they have."

[James Prent]

James flushed as the man on her left paid for her meal, and timidly accepted the credits back. "Thanks..."

She listened to the conversation between Morgan and Wei, and chewed thoughtfully. "Mebbe you made a recent enemy who's sold you out to them..?" James considered that probably she should just keep her mouth shut, but working the late shift in an all night diner made you start thinking out loud after a while. She sipped her water, and then sneezed. "Excuse me!"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Bless you," Wei said.

"Is that all. They are mad cause you made their organization collapse. Well, don;t you think it would be a better way to spend their time by rebuilding their organization than to spend time and money and resources going after you?"

Wei let out a quick breath through his nostrils. "Then once they had stable money and resources, they could go after you."