Darker than Coffee (Dances With Derp and Bailey)

Dai hoped he hadn't kept Bo waiting too terribly long by the time he reached the restaurant. If Bo was even still there. His chest was still rising and falling steadily from running, trying to catch his breath as he walked toward the hostess. "Bo, I'm looking for a bender named Bo." He exclaimed, his voice rushed and face still flushed. The hostess turned and pointed toward one of the tables where Bo sat. Had he been there long? Dai couldn't even remember if they had set a time to meet up or if they were just coming on their own time. Still, Daisuke had ran, with bag in tow, for the restaurant. It wasn't really that far away form his hotel, so it shouldn't have made him that breathless, if he hadn't pushed himself three times harder to get there faster.

Once he was able to breathe, Daisuke walked over to the table Bo sat at. "Mind if I join you?" he asked, resting his hand on the chair across from the gentleman. Even though Dai had been invited, he still wanted to give him the honor of asking again. Just in case Bo had changed his mind over the night and refused Daisuke's company that morning.

The sight of Daisuke was delightful. Bo knew he would have someone to talk to this morning instead of his regular silence.
"Mind if I join you?" He asked very politely. Even though Bo had invited Dai to join him for breakfast, he still asked if he could join. Bo chuckled and gestured at the seat Dai's hand was already resting on. The steam from Bo's coffee floated peacefully. Bo enjoyed the peaceful, small things in life while still seeing the bigger picture. Contrary to that peacefulness, Daisuke had pulled the chair back and sat heavily, out of breath. He looked as if his pants were on fire and was late for the most important meeting of his life.

The waitress walked over to their table, refilled Bo's cup and looked judgmentally at the almost poor mannered man slumped in the chair. "He'll have a cup too." Bo pointed at Daisuke. Bo grinned with utmost insincerity, counteracting the waitress's poor customer service. She poured the remainder of the coffee that was in the kettle, into Dai's cup. She then walked off, clearly aggravated. Bo straightened his posture and clear his throat. He had no clue how to start off their conversation. Should he just hit it off with bringing up last night and his bad mood? Or should he ask how he's doing now? Without much thought, Bo blurted out, "So what was the deal, with details, about why you were so pissy?" Bo knew that Dai had seen a boy die, but there needed to be more clarity in that story.

As Daisuke began to relax with Bo, the waitress came to check in on them. Her manners, as a waitress, would need some refining before she would ever see the rest of the world around her. Dai wasn't quite awake, so he wasn't going to deny Bo the privilege of ordering the coffee for him. Plus, Coffee was what he needed. As Dai began to relax, something told him to be careful. A shift in Bo's attitude and next thing Dai realized, he was spitting a small bit of the coffee onto the floor. What was the deal? Daisuke took a deep breath before looking back up at Bo. It was probably 7 o'clock in the morning, and the first question across the table was how a child had died in Dai's presence. Yep, this was going to be a totally normal morning.

Dai couldn't help but look at Bo straight in the face. "Sir, to begin, I'm going to have to let you know that what I tell you. Everything that I tell you, must remain between us. For the safety of others that we know, and the safety of the Realm." Daisuke tried to talk just over a whisper, his voice loud enough to be heard, but not light enough to travel to anyone else's tables. He had spoken this way before, it was part of his tricks, part of the lure the empire had on hiring him. Dai took a bit of darkness that he kept with him and mad a cone around them so sheer that only a dark bender would notice it was there, there Dai started his story.

"I had no clue why this happened, or what caused it. I only know what I had seen as I was spying for the Empire. The report will be turned in when I reach the Mainland again, but here it goes." Daisuke started, taking a breath before he continued:

A band of guards marching down the main streets of a nearby town, all in brand new armour that I've never seen before. I know the Vermillion Empire loves to armour up their men, but I was not aware that they would be changing the uniforms as well. The black armour covered up the uniforms so well that it was difficult to see what faction or city they had come from. It was so well made that Dai couldn't even make out what kind of soldiers were there, or if any of them could bend at all.

Daisuke had looked around at the guards just long enough to catch sight of a little blue ball running into the roadway. A boy, about the age of 7 if Dai had to guess, was running after it, clothed in the green and tan colors of the Earth nations. Daisuke smiled as he noticed the boy. He was far enough in front of the army that he wasn't going to cause them to stop, if he grabbed the ball and ran back as soon as he met with it. However, the boy didn't grab it right away. The ball rolled farther forward as the commander called for the march to halt, his voice trembling with rage and destruction. As the boy moved to pick up the ball, the officer found himself placed dead line and sinker with the boy's head. Before Dai could move or even speak, before a beat in his heart could release and pulse red hot blood through his viens; the soldier snapped his fingers and bits and pieces of the boy's body sprayed across the alleyway. Flesh splashed up against the walls of the buildings, an eye flew past Daisuke's head and landed in a pie in someone's window. The ball, the boy, it was all gone in an instant. All because the officer had to halt his men.

"It's the most devastating thing I've ever seen so far and I cant get the image of the boy's eye sitting in the rice pie. The boy never saw it coming, I doubt he even knew he stopped the army, but he did, and it did." Daisuke looked at Bo as he removed the shadow cone from them and sipped the last of his coffee. "So, that's what was the deal last night. That's why I was so pissy, and that's why I tried to get drunk before you got there."