The Diner Things in Life

Posted on Tue Nov 27th, 2012 @ 12:11am by Berry & Bomoor Thort

1,816 words; about a 9 minute read

Chapter: Chapter II: Era's Dawn
Location: Café Diathim, Coruscant
Timeline: 1230 (Local Time), Day Six

The padded leathery seat squelched as Bomoor brought his weight down upon it. The little dining cubicle was a bit cramped for his frame but he managed to settle in once the seat accepted the new pressure put upon it. He put his arms down on the metallic table and gave a sigh, "Well Berry," he spoke to the part-Aquar now seated opposite him, "This is the Café Diathim, named after the fabled Angels of Iego. Can't say they'd be too pleased to be named after this greasy old place but it certainly draws in the spacers."

An old model waiting droid jolted about the restaurant floor, balancing a serving tray atop its hand. While the droid was clearly designed to hold the tray in balance, it was rather painful to look at for too long as it looked ready to fall down at the slightest motion. The machine had not reached their table yet and was busy placing down a drink for a weathered-looking man sitting in the corner. Hopefully, they would be served shortly.

"So..." Bomoor Began, manipulating his face to raise an eye stalk quizzically, "You say you've made a new friend. Can I ask who that might be?" Bomoor had horrible visions of some dirty old street scum, hyped up on Death Sticks.

Berry's eyes widened at his movements, and she stared, smiling excitedly. Not only had he two mouths but his eyes could move around like that?? That was so cool! "Uh, what?" she asked, a bit distracted. Friend...oh, right. "Oh yeah, I saved this guy from getting his hand smushed to bits last night and so they let me eat their food." She grinned at Boomy with some kind of pride, probably because free food was so hard to get.

Bomoor sat back, if he didn't know Berry, the vague events she described would have been rather concerning but he couldn't quite bring himself to question further, particularly given the morning he had had. In fact, the girl's cheerful demeanour was actually quite pleasing.

"Well, as long as you didn't eat too much," Bomoor hummed, "Because I thought we could have some lunch here. They don't make the finest of foods but it certainly fills you up, certainly more than the meals at the Jedi temple."

The part-Aquar's eyebrows shot up in interest. "The temple?? What was it like there?" She leaned forward. "What food do they have? not good, huh, if it doesn't fill you up." She already prepared herself for disappointment.

"Oh, it's not too bad but it's hardly exciting," Bomoor thought back to the great dining hall and the selection that was laid out for them every day, "It's supposed to be a specially tailored selection to 'stimulate the mind and rejuvenate the body' but it is a very bland affair. But, as you can see, there's nothing to stop us coming out and eating in the city."

The waiter droid ground to a halt next to them, "Can I take your order, hun?"

Bomoor sighed at the 'friendly' AI that had been installed in the droid. He could see the manufacturer's intention to create a more natural, non-threatening serving droid but he felt that the end result was a bit tacky, "Yes, I'll have your spicy sprout soup and Berry, what would you like?"

Berry's eyes widened as she stared at him, then at the droid. Were they actually asking her what she wanted? Didn't they know that she wanted...

"Everything," Berry breathed, her eyes darting back and forth between the droid and Boomy as if waiting to see if her wishes could come true but still with a little doubt...like she was waiting for a magic trick.

"Uhh, you can't have everything Bería!" Bomoor looked to the droid to ensure her order hadn't been taken, "How about you just choose one really nice meal. Like you said, you've already had a nice breakfast today!"

A pout immediately formed on her lips. "Fine, how about the yummiest salad with lots of fish."

The droid appeared to hum slightly before replying, "We're doing a smoked Crawlfish special today and I can give you a side salad, that sound good?"

Berry nodded furiously. "Yeah, that sounds great!" Then she turned to stare at Boomy as the droid moved off. "So how're you doing? Do anything fun at the Temple? Is Pale Guy still pale?" She chuckled to herself as she probably knew the answer to that.

Bomoor retracted slightly and looked away as the memory of his audience with the Council was brought back into the foreground, "Not the best of visits I'm afraid. The council is..." he paused and looked back to the girl, "...very mean. They may not let us go after Axion, particularly Thane. I'm not sure what would happen to us then...whether I would stay..."

The serving droid had moved away by this point and a few more patrons had entered the café as the lunch rush was about to start. Café Diathim was situated between the spaceport and the central senate district. It was frequented by many captains and their crews, most of them in the cargo industry but most with an interesting story or two to tell, whether it was their tale or not.

Bomoor watched a rowdy group wander over to one of the larger tables, "I bet Duncan won't even finish the bloody set!" droned one, "Admit it, he doesn't have the reflexes he used to!"

Bomoor assumed they were referring to Duncan "Dodger" Reed, the famed human swoop bike racer. Well known for his fast reflexes on his bike - one of the only racers to run a full set on the Taris lower track. Bomoor had heard of his recent run of bad luck in the new season. Many were saying it was time for him to retire from the game. Despite that, he was running in the semi-finals on the Coruscant track this afternoon.

"Ever been to a Swoop bike race, Bería?" asked the Ithorian, suddenly interested in the races. While a fairly apathetic being by nature, Bomoor was rather keen on the races. It was one of the most fast-paced sports in the galaxy, requiring lightning-fast reflexes - something Bomoor could not hope to match even when drawing heavily on the force. He admired the racers talent and, while he did not always keenly follow the current events of the sport, he got a certain thrill from watching the bikes dodge and weave their way past the track's obstacles.

One leaf, two, three fish, four...Berry paused in the middle of imagining how she would eat the salad and stared blankly at the Ithorian. Then light quickly illuminated her eyes as they twinkled, and she grinned widely. "Nope! The closest things to games I've been in was when I had to beat up this captain 'cause he won my crew members in a match and I had to win them back." She smiled curiously at him. "But no races. What's it like? It sounds familiar....I think someone was talking to me about them, but I forget..." Her brows briefly furrowed in thought, but quickly disappeared. Food was a first priority.

Bomoor struggled to keep up with the spoken train of thought from Beríá but he caught her question, "Well, the arrangement of Swoop Racing has changed many times over the years but the officially recognised competition today has every driver racing independently, trying to get their best time. Swoop tracks vary in length but most are fairly short and all of them contain obstacles that will slow down or stop the racers. Some track's have obstacles built in but many just use the debris naturally (and sometimes unnaturally) occurring on the land used."

The ithorian ran his long ebony finger over the greasy table as if pointing out the motion of a bike along the track, "While a driver can race at any time, the only officially recognised times are recorded in the Official Galactic Swoop Bike Races. The racers are given three attempts at running the track and the best time is recorded. Since every Swoop track is different, it is difficult to determine the overall best Swoop Racer but, once a year, there is a competition across all the officially-recognised tracks in the Galaxy. Racers are eliminated if their times are not good enough until eventually only the best racers are left to compete in the final."

Bomoor looked over to see Bería giving him a quizzical look. He couldn't tell whether any of what he said had sunk in but he rather enjoyed talking about it, it made him rather keen to see another race, "You really have to see a race to get the feel for it. Perhaps there are some spaces left for the semi-final today. Would you be interested in going with me?"

"Would I?!" Berry shouted, grinning excitedly. "Of course!" She smiled happily at him. Boomy never struck her as the daring type, but being a knight with cool light stick was pretty daring. "Yeah, that's what they keep telling me, you gotta be there to actually know what it's all about." She sat back, casting her bright-eyed gaze around the place. "Maybe it'll help you take your mind off how hopeless it is to get Thrane to be unpaled. Heh." She chuckled to herself.

"Uuh, fantastic then," Bomoor bobbed his neck, "We'll head down to the stadium after lunch. Speaking of which..."

The droid had returned carrying two steaming meals, "Here's your order, darlin'. Take your ticket to the payment point when you're ready. Enjoy!" chirped the machine as it placed them down and then carried on its business. Bomoor's Spicy Sprout Soup was a very watery dish with bean sprouts soaked in a slightly tangy soup. It was a favourite of his, a vegetable dish with a bit of a kick. Bomoor looked over to Berry's meal - the smoked crawlfish had been cooked to an auburn-red colour and gave off a rich scent. Her side-salad was not so lush, but seemed tasty enough. The chef at Café Diathim was not a gourmet but they knew how to make a hearty meal to suit almost any type of spacer than came through those doors.

Bomoor made an approving resonance in his throats, "Well lets eat our food and then get going. We don't want to miss out!"

He was actually rather excited about seeing the race now. While he still carried the weight of the council's words, Swoop Racing seemed adequate distraction for both himself and the highly-excitable Bería.

Berry couldn't laugh in agreement as her face was stuffed with steaming fish, but she bobbed her head furiously and chewed. Yeah, they told her not to be late...although she kind of forgot why now. Something about food.

~TBC~

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