Not the Heroes You Were Looking For

The Uscru Entertainment District was one of those amusing little tells on society as a whole when you stopped and thought about it, much like the rest of Coruscant itself. The upper levels catering to the rich, prestigious, and famous while the lower levels were left for well...scum in all its various forms. It was for that reason alone that Emelie had chosen the location of her little home away from home. Somewhere about mid level of the district stood the Bastelraum von Dieben usually just called "The Bastel" by it's usual clients: A bar, a hostel, a warehouse, and a headquarters. The vast majority that walked into the place only knew of the first and that was fine and well as far as the employees were concerned. The rest was on a need-to-know basis and well, most didn't need to know the fact that it wasn't a little back room the door marked "employees only" lead to but rather a decent sized warehouse, a small firing range, and a staircase that led to two other floors. The first housed the dorms of the various employees who wished to stay there as well as others that could be and often were rented out. Finally the top floor was a loft very few ever saw, it was here that Emelie had called home until her recent move to Silenus' headquarters on an asteroid in the Ruusan system. Despite her leaving, some of her personal furniture had remained behind...just enough to leave the place feeling homey if she ever needed to stay there for a period of time.

The elegant party cut short by meteor storm at the Russard Estate had left her feeling... drained. And it didn't take long for her begging of Xavier to let them stay on Coruscant a few days to stick (She suspected he might even have planned for it). Trina, Emelie's assistant, arrived the next day with some of their personal belongings, just enough for a small "vacation". The first day had been spent relaxing, getting rid of the brown coloring in her hair, drinking (She'd been insanely disappointed to learn that D'Kor wasn't in the area), and catching up with usuals she knew on a first name basis. The next however was a mix of similar escapades...and checking up with how her other business ventures were managing.

Emelie current found herself lounging on the over-sized bed, casually inputting some calculations into a datapad with one hand while the other set down the remains of a mixed fruity tasting cocktail onto the bed-side table. The display on the pad was complete with a small survalance screen of the bar below that she only occasionally had been glancing at, this time however it was enough to allow her to spot something she hadn't before. More specifically someone.

A curious sort of smile came over her as she sat up, gently pushing off of Xavier, whom she'd been leaning against as he worked on what she guessed was the details of the new association with Russard Industries, though part of her wanted to think he was just reading a decent novel. A quick kiss was delivered before she left the bed and let her partner know she was just going to be downstairs.

The drink on the table was picked up before she headed out of her loft and down the spiral staircase and back to the lowest level of the building. The door to the bar slid open and instantly the normal ruckus of music and voices met her. She liked that sound, some part of it was overly comforting in its strange way. The person she had spotting on the display was easily enough seen in person and keeping the moderately mischievous smirk that always seemed to find its way on her features, Emelie made her way to him.

"Why Mister Aidán, I figured you to be a better man than the kind to normally hang out in a place like this."

As he was taking a sip of his drink a rather familiar voice made its way to his ears.

'Who the frak...?' To say the voice had caught him by surprise was an understatement. He was trying to hide, to run away from everything he had known, from everyone he had consider family and from what he had always called home. Then as he placed his drink down on the bar and before he could turn his head to see who the sourceof the voice was it hit him: 'Emelie?'

It was like something inside him just knew. A tingling up and down his spine that he couldn't explain nor could he understand nor control...and it bothered him. It always had ever since he had first experienced it, which was as long as he could remember, a sort of sixth sense that as handy as it had come more often than not, it was beyond his comprehension and he rather disliked anything and everything he couldn't understand. He simply didn't like it. Not. One. Bit.

"Why Miss Shadowstar," Said he in a playful manner, speaking from the side of his mouth with his half-smirk out in full force. "And what kind is that? Yours?" A light laugh followed as soon as the joke-question crossed his lips.

"Funny you should put it that way..."

Without invitation or asking she took up the seat to Daunte, putting her elbow on the bar so as to use a hand on her cheek to prop her head up. The other hand placed the near empty glass on the bar top which was rather quickly refilled by the elder of the two bartenders. The subtle glance that passed between Emelie and the man hinted at some unspoken joke that ended with the young woman sticking her tongue out for just an instant at him before he wandered off again. Durnik did so love to taunt her some days when it came to talking with men, especially since he was fully aware of the one she'd left upstairs.

All silliness with the barkeep aside she returned her gaze back to Daunte and let the smirk turn into a rather genuine smile.

"It's good to see you though. Alive especially. I take it Coruscant hasn't been treating you too horribly, then?"

A light laugh escaped Daunte's lips. No Coruscant hadn't treated him horribly, at least not yet; then again, he had only been in the planet for so long.

"Why, I must say the feeling is mutual Emelie. It most certainly is nice to see a familiar face such as yours."

His half smirk turned into a full smile. With a nod of his head and his gaze going from the barkeep's eyes to her half-empty glass he told the barkeep without words to refill her drink.

After taking a sip of his own glass, he inquired.

"What brings you to this side of the galaxy?"

The barkeep gave her a bit of a look as he set about refilling the drink once more. His own version of a silent reprimand to girl for draining the last so fast, or perhaps her leading the other man on to believe she was just another patron. Emelie, for once, took the hint. The little charade was fun, but out of everyone she knew, Daunte was perhaps the least deserving of her games.

"Business. Nothing else makes me go anywhere. Though I do need to try and make a habit of getting back to this particular little hole more often. It is mine after all. Can't have the aid thinking I've gone and died and they now run the joint."

She allowed herself a wink at Daunte before giving a mock salute with her glass to the aged barkeep who rolled his eyes at her before going to attend one of the patrons.

So this was her joint. He should’ve known. Just like he should’ve been surprised but he wasn’t.

Emelie Shadowstar had stricken him as more than resourceful, even in her weakened state when they first met, so the fact that she owned a bar in Coruscant should be anything but a surprise. Daunte couldn’t help but chuckle at her teasing of the barkeep, he was obviously more than a simple employee, now in what capacity the former Imperial couldn’t quite tell, but it was obvious he wasn’t just a regular bartender.

“Yours, huh? I should’ve known the minute I walked through the door.” Another chuckle followed but he was only half-joking. Even it had only been no more than a couple minutes since the old friends got reacquainted in conversation but in such a short lapse of time, Daunte’s former instincts had kicked in and he had taken in his surroundings. The place screamed of her, at first glance or to the untrained eye, it really didn’t but the more he looked around the more traits of her were there. Perhaps not in direct fashion, but quite the opposite, which would be exactly what he’d do to throw people off. Maybe the two weren’t as different as he originally thought.

“Does that mean I get a discount?” He returned her wink and smiled a warm genuine smile.

"Hmm...discount..."

For a moment she allowed a mildly contemplative look to cross her as she placed the glass back down on the bar and leaned her back up against it.

"That's certainly a new thought."

While her mannerisms seemed to hold some semblance of seriousness towards her words, the air in which they were spoken made the mockery plain. She propped her elbows up against the bartop as she rested against it allowing only her fingertips to touch each other as she seemed to contemplate the suggestion even further.

"But what ever would I put it down on the books as? And what sort of example would that set? If I gave a discount to everyone who managed to talk me out of a very bad idea, I don't think I'd be able to break even."

Unable to hold to her own charade any longer she began to laugh and rolled her eyes, her head shaking just in the slightest, her tone returning to her usual.

"Yes, you get a discount. Though only if you tell me what brings you about these parts. Don't tell me you've been stuck on Coruscant since we last saw each other."