Just another day (again)

[Brielle Acaana]

The mirror had lied. There was no way she could feel this bad and not look like death warmed over. Her head throbbed with every breath she took and her eyelids felt like weights had been hung from them.

Off duty Watch officer Brielle Acaana had stumbled into Yog's around 3:00 am that morning and with some help from the bartender, had managed to stay propped up in a corner booth. To his credit, the man had tried to get her to go home but that was where she had just come from and the last thing she wanted was to be alone again. 'Alone' was how and why she had gone off on this bender.

Brielle sipped slowly from the coffee mug in front of her - how many this made now, she hadnt a clue. The cup seemed to miraculously refill itself once it got low and Brielle was in no condition to question the unexplained.

Twice she had staggered her way to the ladies room and found her way back to the booth unaided. Either she was beginning to sober up or had just gotten lucky. Acaana was suspecting that it was similar to the coffee genie.

It was now 6:00 am and the first stream of early morning workers was starting to trickle in. The sounds they made reached her ears but she didnt turn around to look. A small part of her mind knew there was a good chance of running into other Watch personel - maybe if she didnt move, they wouldnt see her.

Brielle hunkered down over her mug.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The door to the bar and grill swung open and in walked Dasquian. He had been a morning person all of his life, and would wake up around five o’clock every morning to have a quick work out before heading to Yogs to get a breakfast. By now the staff knew what to make him – he would have a full breakfast, with bacon, eggs, toasted bread- the full works. In fact unusually it was just being served up as he entered, just as it was today.

“Thanks,” he smiled and tipped the tender before picking up his tray and heading out to sit down.

There weren’t many people in at this time of the morning, just a few early birds like himself. He slid down into a chair and noticed someone sitting a table across, who didn’t look too good. Dasquian leant out to the side a little and asked:

“Are you alright?”

[Brielle Acaana]

In the time it took the sound waves of his voice to reach her ears and for her brain to unscramble those waves and right them into something understandable almost a full minute had passed.

Blinking weary eyes, Brielle turned her head slowly in the direction of the voice. Long, blonde hair was the first object to come into view and from there a face took shape.

Gentle and serene, it peered kindly at her from the next table.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded slowly. Bri had alreay discovered that too much movement wasnt good and that less was indeed better.

".....yeah....Im just...........great..."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Oh really?”

Dasquian glanced to the bar tender, who gave a little shake of his head – it was quiet enough for him to hear the conversation, even if it was hushed.

“Are you sure about that?” he sat back in his chair.

“I don’t mean to intrude of course, just trying to be helpful,” the Knight added, smiling reassuringly.

[Brielle Acaana]

"Im ...peachy. Dont...I look peachy?"

Brielle attempted a smile. From his end, the Jedi couldnt be sure what it was and looked at the bartender again. The 'keep shrugged - hell if he knew.

"....not bothering me. Thanks."

Again, the smile/snarl twisted at her lips as she tried to open her eyes wider.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“If you say so.”

As much as he was curious, the aroma of his breakfast was calling to him. He inhaled deeply and picked up his knife and fork, digging happily into the delicious mix. Every so often, though, in-between bites, he would look over to see the woman. The ‘tender would come over with his coffee pot and fill her up and mutter something about the tab getting larger.

I wonder who she is.

It wasn’t often you got non-Jedi in the bar, and if you did they were usually regulars. Dasquian knew all the new recruits, because of the simple fact that he was usually the one to welcome them – and she was not part of this group. Perhaps he was staring a little longer than he should have been, because she was giving him an awkward look now.

[Brielle Acaana]

Somehow, her muddled mind picked up on what the bartender said and gingerly, Brielle began picking out assorted items from her leather pouch.

A lipstick, a compact, a small hairbrush, a toothbrush, credit chits, several sealable plastic bags, tweezers.......

"I....I have credits........"

......a personal comm unit, drivers license, Watch badge and ID, key cards - where did the gun go?

"Oooohhh...Im gonna be...be in trouble. My issue is gone.."

Brielle looked over at Dasquian's puzzled expression and put her fingers over her mouth, laughing softly

[Dasquian Belargic]

Issue of what exactly, Dasquian wondered. He leant to the side once more, to see if anything had been dropped on the floor – no, there was nothing there. He was about to ask when he realized that it really wasn’t any of his business, so he set himself back onto the eggs … at least for a few seconds.

“Issue of what?”

[Brielle Acaana]

"My issue. Watch issue....my gun."

Opening her pouch wider, she bent her head down over the mouth, peering into the bag.

"Nope. Its not here."

Brielle patted her pockets, a frown tugging on her lips as they came up empty.

"The commander is gonna be so....so mad at me."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“The Watch, ah,” Dasquian said aloud, without realizing it.

“The guards will have taken it when you came in, officer. No weapons aloud for non-Jedi.”

[Brielle Acaana]

"What guards?"

Sober, she would have understood. This wasnt her first time at the bar and grill but it was her first time being there while thoroughly intoxicated.

Brielle didnt remember how she even got to Yog's, much less leaving her penthouse. Now, this man was telling her that she had willingly given up her gun. Acaana wasnt too sure she believed him.

"Maybe I ought to go see."

Sliding across the booth's seat, she grabbed onto the edge of the table, pulling herself unsteadily onto her feet.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Over there,” Dasquian nodded to where two burly men stood by the door.

“You won’t get it back until you leave though,” he added, as he forked another scoop of eggs into his mouth, watching the Watch office wobble precariously.

“Maybe you should sit down until you are feeling a bit more … clear headed.”

[Brielle Acaana]

The curly blonde waved a hand, brushing his words aside. One step......two steps...

"Nonsense. I can mak - umphf!"

An ankle turned and down she went, her hands grabbing for purchase. What they found were Dasquian's hand holding the fork, along with a goodly amount of his cloak.

Up, up into the air went his forkful of eggs and down, down they came, sliding off of his forehead and nose.

[Dasquian Belargic]

blink blink

Dasquian looked up, eyes crossing, and peeled the eggs away from his face. He looked down at the watch officer, who was still face down, and felt a grin trying to creepy onto his face.

“Here,” he got up and knelt down by her, slowly trying to help her up to her feet.

“I think you should head on home, Miss.”

[Brielle Acaana]

Grasping his forearms, she clung tightly as the Knight gently hauled her up and held her steady until she had some semblance of balance.

"Thank you."

Her wobbling gradually stilled as she leaned against him. Admitting defeat, Brielle nodded briefly.

"I probably should go...home."

Releasing the clutch she had on his arms, she stood up straighter.

"Thats the door to leave, right?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Yes,” Dasquian nodded and slowly began to walk forward, making sure that Brielle wasn’t about to topple again.

“Will you be alright getting home, Miss?” he added as an afterthought, not wanting to have to go out later on in the day and find her passed out in the middle of a street of some such thing.

[Brielle Acaana]

"Oh, sure, sure. I'll make it jus' fine. You dont have to worry about me!"

This time when her lips curled, Dasquian knew it to be a smile. A drunken smile but nevertheless she had managed it.

Bouncing one shoulder off the door frame as the Jedi escorted her out of the bar and grill, Brielle winced but through her hand out to hail an air taxi.

"Thanks again for helping me."

Taking a tentative step on her own, Brielle moved toward the curb to wait for the first available taxi that stopped.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The Jedi decided to wait – and it was a good job he did because less than thirty seconds later Brielle almost waved out into the line of a passing speeder. He smiled at Brielle as she gave another drunken grin, and carefully ushered her into the speeder cab when it arrived.

“You be careful now,” he said, before leaning to the side to speak to the driver.

“She might need a little help,” he paused and handed the man a credit chit, “Here’s some extra credits. Give her a hand.”

[Brielle Acaana]

Maybe luck was on her side or it could have been that Jedi Knight Belargic knew what he was doing when he chose that particular taxi.

Which ever the case, Brielle made it safely home, helped along by the cab driver as had been asked.

Once inside the expensive, tastefully decorated suites, the young Watch officer bumbled her way into the bedroom and crawled up onto the bed. Pulling one of the spare pillows up to her, Brielle quickly feel into a deep sleep.....one haunted by a gravel-toned man with with dark eyes and a lazy smile.

[Dasquian Belargic]

When Dasquian had returned to Yogs, he had realized that the officer had left all of her belongings spilled out onto the table. Luckily enough there was an ID card – Brielle Acaana. He smiled at the mug shot before packing the things carefully away and retrieving her gun from the guards. It was then just a matter of making his way to the address inside – how convenient that it was in there.

He arrived at the suite and gave a light knock on the door.

[Brielle Acaana]

Snug and warm on the bed, wrapped in her impossible dreams of a man she couldnt have, Brielle slept on. The incessant buzzing of the doorbell did nothing to rouse her.

The Jedi Knight hesitated on what to do next. Should he enter to make sure that the young Watch officer had even arrived? Glancing back down the hall at the empty elevator he had just ascended in, Dasquian reached for the door handle.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The door, surprisingly, slid open. All was quiet inside, and though Dasquian could not see Brielle, he could feel her. He tiptoed across to a table by the door and set the Watchman’s things down. On the table also was a note pad, but the phone. He picked up a pen and scribbled a short note:

Brielle.

You forgot this at the Bar and Grill. Hope you’re head doesn’t hurt too much in the morning.

-Dasquian
Your friendly neighborhood Jedi

And then slipped out as though he had never been there.

[Brielle Acaana]

It was late, past dinner time, when Brielle finally stired to life. Glancing at the clock beside her bed, she groaned and sat up - and groaned again.

Her eyeballs felt twice their normal size and her mouth was dry, as if she had been eating handfuls of sand. Her tongue was thick and had a coating of....she shuddered. Time to get up and brush her teeth...and maybe her tongue as well.

Stumbling out of bed, she flips on the light switch, blinking furiously at the assault on her optical senses. Squinting, Bri makes her way to the bathroom, hanging onto the walls and doorframes along the way.

After brushing her teeth, a face wash was in order and after that came the thought of why not just be clean all over, so into the 'fresher she went and came out feeling semi-revived.

Her stomach was grumbling and at least now she felt like eating something solid instead of the liquid diet she guzzled the night before.

Turning on the kitchens lights, Brielle sighed. It was a wreck - empty bottles everywhere, an overturned cannister was lying on its side on the countertop, its contents spilled out helter skelter.

Acaana made short work of the mess she left behind and soon had an omeltte cooking on the stove. Taking a glass of juice into the sunken living room, she engaged the fireplace and got ready to settle down in her favorite chair - when her meal was ready - and noticed the piece of paper propped up by the comm system.

Walking over to it, Brielle read the note - glanced at her pouch sitting in its usual spot and re-read the note once more. She had gone out?? Try as she might, no memory of the previous evening was forthcoming but there was proof in black and white and signed by a Jedi Knight, no less.

If she had forgotten her bag, which she never did and had gone out without a memory of it, what else had she done? One more read of the note and Bri tucked it away.

Tomorrow she would have to go to Yoghurt's and try to find this 'Dasquian'.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian didn't expect any sort of reward, he never did. He was just one of those ‘your happiness is all the thanks I need’ kind of guys. He’d headed back away from the apartment feeling better for himself, even if he had sort of trespassed.

He didn’t have many doings with the Watch, didn’t know much about them really. They seemed like unsung hero types too. Lots of work and not much reward. People probably bad mouthed them too, although they probably didn’t have to deal with Darksiders. Often.

He mused on this as he sat in Yogs the next morning, finishing off an identical breakfast of champions to the one he’d had yesterday.

[Brielle Acaana]

As the forensics officer for the Coco district of Coruscant Watch, Brielle had the luxury of pretty much being able to set her own hours though a steady schedule of 8 am to 5 pm was the norm.

Today she would be running a bit later. Her first stop of the day was going to be Yoghurts' bar and grill. She had taken extra effort with her appearance this morning simply to help dispell any preconceived notions that anyone might have developed from her visit there the night before.

Turning over her gun to the NR officer, she looked at the several people already seated before leaning over and quietly inquiring if one of them could be the Jedi she sought.

"Could you point out someone named 'Dasquian' for me, if hes here, please?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

They did, and one indicated a man dressed in Jedi robes with braided blonde hair in one of the booths on the far side of the bar. He had an empty plate and half-full glass by a news spread which he was quietly reading over. He had a warm welcoming aura about him.

[Brielle Acaana]

A deep breath to steele herself for the disapproving look she might receive, then Brielle walked quietly over to stand beside the man.

"Excuse me. The NR officer said that youre Dasquian?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian looked up, at the sound of a familiar voice, into a familiar face.

“Officer Acaana, good to see you again. I hope you’re feeling better,” his last words were said with a somewhat impish smile.

[Brielle Acaana]

The flush started low on her neck and quickly traveled up to her face. She lifted a palm and placed it against one cheek, as if to stem the rise of blood.

"Im so very sorry for any trouble that I caused last night. Thats not - I mean - Ive never done anything like that before in my life. Im so terribly embarrassed right now."

Brielle had been looking the Jedi in the eye but now cut her gaze away and gripped the strap of her leather pouch with both hands.

"Nomething happened - no, two somethings have happened recently and I....its been difficult to.....please, what can I do to repay you?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Oh,” Dasquian’s eyes moved down and away for a moment.

“No I don’t want repaying. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t end up in some trouble. We can remove people’s weapons at the door but we have a much harder time stopping them from acting up.”

He looked back up, “Not that you ‘acted up’. You didn’t cause any trouble,” the Jedi smiled slightly.

“I hope you don’t mind that I came into your apartment… I thought about taking your things to the Watch yard but then I thought that might get you into trouble.”

[Brielle Acaana]

He hadnt asked her to sit but she slid into the opposite seat anyway, relief flooding her features.

"Are you positive I didnt cause any trouble? Or do anything incredibly stupid like getting up on a table?"

Bri had been dreading hearing that she had been outrageous and out of control. As it was, she was still hoping a large hole would swallow her up right now.

"Yes, that might have gotten me into some trouble with my commander. Thank you for not doing that! Just 'thank you' for all of it. Wait - you would have had to take a taxi to my apartment...let me pay you back the cab fare. Its the least I can do....and I'll buy your breakfast, even thought its gone."

Acaana smiled sheepishly at him.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Alright, if it’ll ease your conscience,” Dasquian smiled, “and I suppose I could use the company.”

He folded up his newspaper and pushed it aside.

“If you don’t mind my asking, was everything alright yesterday? You looked like you could have done with cheering up.”

[Brielle Acaana]

Slipping the strap of the pouch over her head, she sets it the bag beside her then looks across at Dasquian, her skin tone still brighter than normal.

"Its not much to tell, really. Im sure to your ears, it will sound foolish. It was the typical girl meets boy, girl wants boy, boy doesnt want girl, boy goes home."

Summing it up in that manner, it did sound silly and trivial to the ear, but it felt something way more to the heart.

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Ah. I see.”

Dasquian understood- there was empathy in his voice. He smiled sadly.

“How does the saying go… ‘There’s plenty more fish in the sea’ and well, you don’t get any bigger sea’s than Coruscant.”

[Brielle Acaana]

Brielle's smile matched the Jedi's.

"I dont think so. I mean, I wont be fishing for a while, if ever. This came out of the blue...so unexpected...I never....Im sorry, so sorry. Im sure this is not how you want to spend your morning..by listening to the lovesick ranting of a drunken bimbo."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“I’m sure there’s worse things to spend you time on.”

Again, he smiled.

“I like to think of myself as a good listener, so by all means, rant away. Perhaps I can be of some help.”

[Brielle Acaana]

Brielle shook her head 'no' to the Jedi's offer but just moments later found herself pouring out the whole story.

"Ive never fallen for anyone that quickly. Its like ... I just knew he was the one and I still feel that. And I know he was very attracted to me as well. Maybe its because Im a cop or that he just never comes this way...I dont know. I sure wish I had answer.....it would make it easier if I knew."

While she was talking, one of her hands had inched its way up to her hair and was now idley twirling it around and around one finger. Chewing on her bottom lip, she waited to see if Dasquian could give her any ideas on the situation.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian cleared his throat and spread his hands on the table.

“I don’t think there is a ‘one’… at least not in my experience. I was married once to a woman I believed was the one, but even after her death I managed to find someone who I could love, not that she would ever replace Eiphos.”

[Brielle Acaana]

Brielle placed her hands on her lap and sighed.

"It just never happened so fast before. No, thats not really true. Its never happened before. I had a boyfriend when I went into the Academy and he resented the time I put in, so he gave me an ultimatum...him or school. I have no idea what hes doing now."

His face bore a wistful expression and Brielle felt bad that she had put Dasquian in the position to speak about someone he still obviously cared so much about. Yet, she had to ask.

"Who is Eiphos?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

“She was my wife. We courted before I became a Jedi student and we married a little while after I joined the Order. I loved her very much but rarely got the chance to see her... she was killed in an attack by a Sith.”

Dasquian said all of this with little discernable emotion. He had done his grieving for Eiphos and had long ago learnt not to dwell on such things. It only welcomed the darkside.

“That isn’t exactly a very good example for me to give to prove that I can help is it?” he asked with a tiny smile.

[Brielle Acaana]

"Not really."

Brielle smiled back. It rather surprised her that Jedi got married. She had always thought of them in the most celibate of terms and told him so.

"I would think as much time as is devoted to your continuing studies and learning, that you would have little time left to give to someone."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“That’s true, but equally I would imagine as a law enforcement officer you would have a schedule such that not much time is left for socializing… and even then the hours available could be at the crack of dawn. Not the best time for meeting people.”

[Brielle Acaana]

Blonde curls bobbed in agreement.

"Its difficult enough when youre on a regular schedule but working forensics, the hours can be even worse. But, I love my work. Theres always something different to discover under a microscope or at a crime scene."

She wore a thoughtful look as she studied the man before her.

"I suppose that our 'jobs's are a lot alike, in many ways."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“We’re not always liked or appreciated by those who we help, even though what we’re doing is right. It’s quite sad actually.”

Dasquian took a moment to contemplate this in silence.

“But then it probably wouldn’t be worth doing if it was easy.”

[Brielle Acaana]

"There are days Id kill for 'easy'!"

She grinned at his expression.

"Figuratively speaking, of course."

Glancing at her chrono, Bri was shocked. Had she really sat there for over an hour? Opening up her bag, she withdrew several credits and laid them on the table.

"Will that cover the taxi, your breakfast and the tip?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Oh um,” Dasquian glanced down, a little taken aback at the sudden change of conversation.

“Yes I think so,” he said, lying perfectly convincingly, and then asked:

“Are you going already?”

[Brielle Acaana]

"I need to get to work, yes. I hadnt realized it was as late as it is. I...Dasquian, thank you so much, for everything youve done for me. It was so nice of you to do so. I owe you one. If you ever need anything, dont hesitate to call.....here, let me give you my card."

Rifling through her pouch, Brielle withdrew a small, thin plastic card and laid it on the table in front of him.

"It has everything on it. Call day or night, it doesnt matter. Thanks again."

Sliding to the edge, she stood up and with a last smile to him, walked off to collect her weapon. Glancing back, she waved, then slipped out the door.