| abstract
| - It was unlike any ocean on any other planet...settled on the cityscape by some unknown designers it seemed out of place and at the same time exactly where it should be. There was little wonder that the park, nestled near it was one of the more popular locations on the planet. Busy from dusk til dawn and even beyond the blanket of night. Visitors lined the walkways and dotted the beach. One such visitor sits perched upon one of the lower lying dunes, the rush of waves rolling in and casting foam just centimeters from the edge of where she sits. Knees drawn up and arms draped loosely about her legs, Sabrina stares out into the incoming surf lost to thought. It was little wonder she even heard the shout of warning at all, but she reacted to it too late. Finding a wayward shockball careening toward her from the game just down the beach, she flinches, throwing up a protective arm to shield herself at least partially. There wasn't enough time for her to get up and run. Brandis comes here for the relative serenity of boundless water, stretching out and parting the city with liquid shoulders. Though the park is a tourist attraction of sorts, this is the busiest he's ever seen it, since coming to Coruscant as a resident, and not just a visitor. He has opened himself up again, as Aurejin instructed, sensing the life in those around him, feeling the weave and flow of emotions as a backdrop from which to learn something new. The scarlet flash of red alarm draws his attention from where he's sitting, eyes closed, seemingly meditative, looking in the direction it came from as the shockball strikes the young woman who was redolently minding her own business on the fine white sand beach. Rising fluidly to his feet with the practice of a trained acrobat, Brandis moves toward her, to make sure she's unharmed. "Hey now, are you alright?" he asks, offering her a hand up. The shockball hits with a loud *THUD* knocking Sabrina over onto the sand relatively unharmed. The impact had been mainly to her arm, and Sabrina was thankful at least that she had had enough time and wit about her to react in that small measure of defense. Still, hitting the sand abruptly wasn't her idea of a good recovery either. The ball bounces then rolls into the incoming surf, bobbing on the water as it spins and then carries it back out towards the sea. This is met of course with shouts and protests by the players who rush into the water after it with nary a glance towards the woman. Figures, Sabrina muses but her mental tirade is left as someone does in fact come to check on her. "Yeah...I'm fine." She manages, accepting the offered hand with a somewhat sandy one of her own. Brandis smiles at Sabrina, and brushes his hand clean of sand after she's righted once more. Dropping down in a crouch near her, he tilts his head. "You sure you're okay? I can stick around and make sure your arm doesn't burst a blood vessel or something alarming, after being hit with that ball." a wink follows, clearly he's trying to lift her spirits by combining teasing with flirting. "I'm a doctor, trust me, I know how these things work." of course, he looks far too young to be a practicing doctor, so her disbelief is expected, even searched for by Brandis. He's learning what each emotion looks like, through the senses of the Force, and deliberately cultivating a feeling has been instrumental to his learning curve. "Yes, I can assure you I am just fine." Desbelief? Perhaps, perhaps not. Sabrina had known enough healers of varying ages that to think that this young man could be a doctor wasn't as preposterous as some might thing. She turns watching the group still trying to recover their ball as it gets pulled further and further out to sea. Ah well, more's the pitty. Turning back to Brandis as she dusts sand from her hands and clothing she smiles in appreciation. "But thanks all the same. I suppose I'll think twice next time before deciding to meditate so close to a shockball game." A light musical chuckle escapes her now and she bends down to gather her boots which she had removed and put aside. Granted they were quite covered in sand now since she had practically landed on them when she had been toppled. Brandis makes a soft mockery of a pout. "Ahh, shame that. I was enjoying the view." though he doesn't explain that her own serenity was aiding in his own, as he opened himself up to the Force. She can assume what she likes, considering the circumstances of their meeting. Still, he offers his hand once more, as he never made proper introductions. "Brandis Finian, at your service." He takes the boots gently, if she lets him, and shakes them out, since it's quite simple for him to rise from his crouch and achieve the height that makes the maneuver effective. "Military issue boots. Which division are you with, then?" "Right now? Marines...though who knows where I may wander next. Perhaps I may throw my hat in and retire. We'll see what time brings." Sabrina remarks with a grin, letting Brandis to the boot dusting. She wasn't so uptight that she wouldn't allow a gallant act from others from time to time. Retreiving her boots now nicely shaken free of silicone irritants, she drops back down onto the bunker to put them on, careful to keep more sand from escaping into them. "Sabrina Rheatis." comes the reciprocal introduction as she peers up at him. Brandis cocks his head to the side, much like a curious bird would, and his eyes are sharp enough to mimic one. "Lucky me, I've stumbled across a planetbound marine. So tell me, how would you best go about capturing and restraining a shock ball attacker? Are there any special protocols for entrapment, or do you just pounce and sieze?" After he's returned the boots to their proper owner, he can't help but investigate her bare feet, while she's dressing them again. "You have some very pretty toes, you should let them out to play more often." He settles down on his bum on the sand, picking up a handful and letting it trickle through his fingers. The effect is almost hypnotic, as he lets his gaze focus inward seeming to see each sparkling grain of sand as a flashing brilliant star just barely out of reach. The quizzical look she gives Brandis is a classic one, brows furrowed and expression somewhere between consideration for the socially insane and disbelief at the utterly bizarre. She looks at her own feet, or at least the remaining one that's not already shod then pulls the other boot on. Ah which issue to address first...."Well," she begins, her head tilted to an angle as she considers the possibilites "Pounce and seize would be acceptable so long as you have the element of surprise working for you. Otherwise, the whole thing needs some serious planning a great deal of reconnaisance and some heavy artillery back up." She grins, flashing a rather mischievious smile towards the doctor. She lets the toes comment go unanswered as yet, simply because she'd never had the opportunity to be complimented on her feet. Indeed of all the things to pick! Brandis holds out both hands. "Clearly, I'm a bit lacking in armaments, so I suppose it's going to have to be a surprise attack." he turns and looks out toward the ocean, where the surf is carrying the ball farther than any of the players have dared to go. He still hasn't gotten very good at it, but maybe he can impress the girl by making the ball come back. Even as he thinks it, he flushes scarlet. It's a stupid idea, and Aurejin would probably be ashamed of him for even considering it. But then again, that one player does look like he *really* wants that ball back, so Brandis endeavors. He looks for all the world as though he's simply staring at the ball floating on the water, when in fact he's bending every ounce of his will toward it. Slowly, surprisingly, even to himself, the ball begins to reverse it's course out to the great unknown depths of the Corusca sea, and starts floating back toward shore. His control isn't fine enough that he can actually lift the ball free of the water and simply return it to desperately reaching hands, but the oddity doesn't go unnoticed by those attempting to retrieve their ball. "What the...hey! It's coming back!" A delicate brow rises slowly though not by any means out of shock. In fact one might venture to say that such "odd" endeavours were something that Sabrina was all to familiar with. "Can't lift it, eh?" She inquires leaning a bit to get a better view of where the ball is going as the suprised players dash back towards shore surrounding the floating ball as though it were some iconic treasure. One of them finally has enough gumptuion to reach for it, expecting it to be tethered or some other such notion to find with surprise that it lifts far too easily out of the water. As he had anticipated meeting the resistance of a string or plantlife or even an over achieving sea creature as the explanation for the ball's inland travles, he pulls too hard and ends up flying backwards to land with a splash in the water. His mates, letting surprise and wonder wear off in exchange for amusment at their now soaked compatriot. Sabrina grins a bit at this turn of events finding light humor in the comedy that has just unfolded. Brandis finally releases his hold on the ball, and shakes his head. "Not yet... not yet. I am assured that with practice, it will all become less difficult." he smiles a little at her, that blush still coloring his cheeks, though the riot has begun to fade again. "I didn't want them to drown themselves trying to get it back." who knows what foolery lies in the hearts of men? Brandis, if he concentrates hard enough, but he doesn't like to do that, it feels too much like spying. "Sabrina is a pretty name, means from the border land, if I recall correctly." chalk it up to a brilliant mind all too eager to learn, but Brandis read anything that would hold still long enough, when he was a child. "So where are you from, Sabrina?" "You mean where was I born or where was I before ending up on Coruscant?" There's a quiet pause that always seemed to come to her when she reflected on her past. Time was supposed to be the healer of all wounds, but some wounds were greater than others. Still, why put a damper on things when she was apparently so enjoying the rise of color in the man's cheeks. Certainly not the day she'd planned thinking and clearing her mind on the beach. The shockball players having now moved their game a good distance down the beach, Sabrina leans back against the sand, arms outstretched and supporting her weight. She had no fear of a wayward shockball again and was glad for it. She never did care much for the game. Brandis tucks his lower lip between his teeth thoughtfully, an unconscious habit that makes him seem both more boyish, and yet to some former female admirers, more appealing. "Well, whichever works for you, I guess. I mean, you don't seem like military, but I imagine if you're a Marine, you're a lot more military than I could possibly get. I mean... I don't even know how to shoot a blaster straight, so I gotta hand it to you for having the guts to not only learn how to fire one, but to fire one in combat." Finally, he stretches out, seemingly comfortable in her presence. He can sense no malice in her, though she was apparently quite quick to draw the conclusion that he was the one that 'pulled' the ball back ashore. "I can just fob it off as practice, if asked about it later," he muses aloud, without really thinking about it. "Say...would you like to get something to eat? I'm suddenly starving." Sabrina smirks a bit then shakes her head "Perhaps a drink for me, not a meal." Comes her initial reply. "No believe me, I had to learn to fire in combat, it wasn't much of my own choice." She sits forward, dusting her hands again, a dusting of white sand on her blouse from the action as the wind picks up and carries the particles toward her instead of away from her. "Well if you must know I was born on Alderaan...and through a great many obstacles, turns of fate, and otherwise events I had absolutely no control over, here I am on Coruscant, waiting oh so patiently for the Alderaan memorial museum to open up before I have to rush back to Calamari to report back for duty." Short summary but it seemed to do the trick for now. "And precisely what would you pass of as training?" Her eyes flicker towards the shockball game now in full swing again down the beach before her gaze resettles on the doctor beside her. "Mmmm, moving the ball, of course. I'd never hear the end of it if I told Master Aurejin I'd done it to impress a girl." that Brandis can so easily mock his own intentions speaks well of his self-confidence and self-image. "Tell me, though...are you military because of what happened to Alderaan, or were you always something of a spitfire, before the Empire destroyed your planet?" Brandis asks out of genuine curiosity, because her personality perplexes him. She seems to be rather carefree, for all she talks of being posted on a planet she's never been to before. Ah but see there's the crux. Sabrina never said she hadn't been to Coruscant before. Memories flash of a time long before Alderaan was destroyed. Political functions, senatorial duties...all days of yore. A slow smile touches Sabrina's features and she in turn scoops up some sand letting it fliter to the ground between her fingers. "In a round about way yes. If truth be told I was on a path to political boredom or worse yet, the type of gilded cage that the women of higher society echelons are sentenced to. You could say I was forced into the Rebellion when Alderaan was destroyed and over time and circumstance, here I am." She lifts her hands letting them wave out palms upward and out to her sides as though encompassing something grander than herself. Brandis quirks a smile. "Well then, there was this talk of a drink, so I heard. I was thinking that I know this place nearby, a quiet little cantina that would be just the place to go..." he looks out over the ocean, then...his shyness actually coming into play. She's pretty, and he can't deny he's interested, and that shockball was the best thing that ever happened to him, but he doesn't know how to go about it properly. Investing the formative years of his life first in learning everything he ever wanted to know about being an acrobat in a circus, then the rigors of medical training have kept him from learning any true social graces, he just fakes it very well. "And who knows, maybe I can talk you into dinner yet..." "I did mention a drink didn't I?" Sabrina concedes, tucking her hands back to either side of her. She peers sidelong at Brandis, studying him with no attempt to hide it under a guise of coquettery. It was as though she were trying to read his soul with a mere glance, and perhaps despite a lack of force ability herself, she had. Where his shyness ended her brazen-ness began. But something told her that he was geunine in his words and there was something all together too familiar to her about him. A reminder of someone she had lost all too suddenly. "Alright, Doctor Finian, a drink. But don't expect too much in regards to dinner.." The last she adds with a wink, moving to stand from the small sand bunker.
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