Barriss Offee has a complaint to file (barriss) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-03-21 13:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | ahsoka tano, barriss offee |
Who: Barriss and Ahsoka
What: First date
When: Backdated to January
Where: At a restaurant
Rating/Warnings: Low/Family friendly
Lunch and dinner. It was just lunch and a movie. It wasn’t anything special and yet it was actually kind of special. For one thing, Ahsoka hadn’t exactly dated all that much since Li had died. A coffee date or two, and one or two nights with someone she’d met at a club.
But she hadn’t actually dated.
Plus, it was Barriss. Even after years (both awake and not) to absorb what had happened during her last days as a Jedi, Ahsoka’s feelings were complicated at best. Not knowing how Barriss would handle the dreams, how the Dark Side might affect her, how pissed she’d be that Ahsoka had known. Ahsoka wanted to let Barriss ask the questions, to handle it more organically than she had with Anakin. But then, Barriss’s fall wasn’t the same thing.
Right now, Ahsoka preferred to focus on pretty girl, lunch and a movie. It had taken her all morning to figure out what to wear (shut up Anakin) and she showed up in her newest pair of jeans, a button up red shirt under a maroon vest.
She thought it brought out her eyes and the color of her lekku, and looked good in her human form too.
Pulling out her phone, she checked what movies were available. Romantic? Exciting? Scary? Preferably one of the latter two but she’d see anything Barriss wanted.
***
Barriss had not had a date since… well, she was practically married to her work, so did yesterday’s shift count?
She didn’t agonize over what to wear, but she was down to the last shirt Ahsoka had yet to see her in. She didn’t have a lot of outfits that weren’t scrubs. This was probably an indication she needed more clothes. And that she needed to get out more.
Which was half the goal here.
The other half - was a lunch with a pretty internet stranger who was so much more than Barriss could ever find on a dating app.
She was sure anyone on a dating app claiming to be an alien was definitely a swipe left situation.
So she figured lunch first (she’d sent the address to a great sushi place). She arrived first and was seated at a booth. She was looking over the menu when she saw Ahsoka arrive from over the top of the menu. She set it down and waved, scooting out of the booth to greet Ahsoka.
***
“Barriss! Hey!” Ahsoka grinned at her as she approached. There was an awkward few seconds where she wasn’t sure if Barriss was open for a hug or what so she just kind of stuck out her hand in greeting. “Uhm. You look really nice. Were you waiting long?”
Was Ahsoka on time? Late? She didn’t want Barriss to feel embarrassed if she’d gotten her early, though she was now wondering if she should have gotten here early herself or not.
Did that matter?
***
And the in person awkwardness had begun.
First, Barriss didn’t know what to do with Ahsoka’s hand. She laughed, hoped it didn’t sound too nervous, and shook Ahsoka’s hand. And said, “Oh! You look really nice, too- Really, I’m not just saying that because you said it.”
Okay, she closed her eyes and inwardly cringed. Did that come out wrong.
“I mean, yes, you really do look great.”
Okay, sitting down quickly.
“I haven’t been here long, I just asked for water because I didn’t know what you would want.”
***
“Thanks,” Ahsoka said, meaning it, and hoping suddenly her hand hadn’t been too clammy, clammy hands were so unpleasant and… Breathe.
Breathe.
Right.
Ahsoka sat down, and after a quick glance at the menu decided water would be fine.
“I think you picked a great place.” She said, putting the menu back down. As long as she stuck to sashimi and meat tempura, she’d be fine. And there was a nice variety which was very, very welcome. She was pretty sure she could handle the soup, too.
Honestly she could kiss Barriss for being this thoughtful but instead she added, “The decor is nice.”
***
“Ya, they have the best unagi out of everywhere in LA,” Barriss said from over her menu, eyes smiling. “This is the one place I feel comfortable ordering sushi from Uber Eats.”
***
“I’ll have to keep that in mind,” Ahsoka said. She could probably end up spending her entire eating out budget at a place like this if she could uber eats it. “Anything you’d care to recommend? I’m a big fan of fish.”
***
“Can I recommend everything?” Barriss asked, smiling. Okay, she looked more at the menu.
“I’m definitely going to get an order of maguro and salmon nigiri… and. One more. Do you want to share a roll?”
***
“Then I’d have to eat everything,” Ahsoka said, looking at Barriss for a brief moment as if Barriss was on the menu.
Then she caught herself and stared at her menu. “The salmon sounds great so I think I’ll get that too. And I’m willing to share a roll!”
Good recovery, Ahsoka!
***
Barriss, unfortunately missed the stare. Maybe that was for the best. They were both so painfully awkward right now, they didn’t need more. They deserved to at least get their food before the date went south, right?
“What roll would like? I like their Dragon Roll - eel, crab, avocado, cucumber, eel sauce. And this is wild and not totally seafood, but the Surf and Turf roll with beef tataki over lobster and shitake mushrooms is actually really good here.”
***
Ahsoka thought about it. “I can do mushrooms better than I can handle avocado, so lets try the surf and turf? I haven’t had lobster in forever.”
She hated her diet, sometimes, but was grateful she could at least handle some level of seasoning. “Besides, we have to go wild sometimes, right?”
***
Barriss grinned, and she was surprised that she was pleased to see Ahsoka was open to trying something new and out of the ordinary.
When the server came, they took their order and then…
Oh, more awkwardness, because now they were left with just water and anticipation. And what did they talk about? Every topic idea that came to mind suddenly sounded dumb to Barriss.
“How’s… work going for you?” Barriss asked, a bit hesitant.
***
“Great, actually.” Ahsoka straightened, smiling at her. “It’s nice to help people, even when it can be very emotionally draining. But I’m sure you experience that sometimes. I can imagine healing people physically can be as draining.”
She leaned forward, “So aside from that, how is your bedside manner research going?”
***
Barriss almost choked on water, because she heard that wrong, though she heard it just fine. Her brain just went to the wrong place first. (A good place, but not the right time.)
“Fine,” she said quickly, too quickly.
Wow. She was good - ie bad - at this.
“I mean, I’m still terrible at it. I just - I get focused on giving accurate information, I just don’t know how to tell it in a way that accounts for the listeners emotions. And I’m not saying it’s wrong that they are emotional - hospitals are very emotional places - but… I don’t know, I just don’t get the art of explaining medical terms and procedures to people.”
She dared to take another sip of water.
“You don’t expect me to practice right now, do you?”
***
“So I used to do over the phone customer service. Tech support mostly.” It was a clear path to the dark side and she was glad she’d gotten out of it. “You did have to do a lot of soft skills even when you either didn’t care, which I don’t think is a problem for you, or you’re just the type of person to be focused on finding a solution.” She shifted into her customer service voice, which was a little higher pitched and had more up lilts to it, “I’m so sorry, I’m afraid you’re incurable!”
Ahsoka made a face, “Okay maybe not like that.” She laughed and took a drink, “And of course not, I was just… well it wasn’t small talk, I’m genuinely interested in how you’re doing?”
***