[Lyseil Panteer]

Lyseil sat down with her tray of food, for a very belated breakfast. Her trouble sleeping had made her sleep in and she had skipped breakfast to get to her station on time. So when lunch hour finally rolled around, her stomach felt like it was trying to devour her food directly without waiting for the mouth to get around to the business of passing it down.

Sandwiches and kaff again, though she had saved a small box of chocolates from home for just this kind of day!

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Even a doctor needed to eat sometime, and he'd had nothing that morning but kaff. Collecting a tray of questionable rations, he looked around the crowded mess hall for a relatively quiet spot to sit.

[Lyseil Panteer]

Ever alert, Lyseil spotted the curly-haired doctor as she was picking up her sandwich. Putting the food back down, she energetically waved to Cole, stopping short of calling out to him from across the room.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Resigning himself to the opposite of a quiet lunch, Cole sat opposite the bouncy Alderaanian woman and ran a hand through his hair, "good afternoon, Sergeant."

[Lyseil Panteer]

"Good afternoon, captain!" the greeting was as energetic as could be expected, though thankfully the buzz of the mess hall seemed to tune it down a few notches somehow. "Feels like a long day already, huh?"

Lyseil was tearing open a couple of packs of sugar as Cole joined her. Maybe the young woman consisted on a diet of kaff, sugar, and pixie dust to keep up such thrilling levels of cheerfulness.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Watching as she began pouring sugar into her kaff, Cole moved to intercept her, "I think three is plenty, unless you want to crash - hard - in two hours from now."

[Lyseil Panteer]

"Huh? Oh..." she looked down at the packs in her hands, still with some content left in them. "I know, I..."

Lyseil sighed, her voice actually dropping a few levels to something like a soft tone. "You know, I actually can't stand the taste of kaff - I always try to hide it with sugar and cream to make it palatable."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"My suggestion would be to stop drinking it, then," he said seriously, "I doubt you need the caffeine. Once you get it out of your system, you won't have those peaks and crashes."

[Lyseil Panteer]

"Haha, peaks and crashes?" she chuckled mirthfully and shook her head. "Sorry, but the kaff helps me keep concentrated when doing my morning-paperwork. It's.. *sigh* well, after yesterday, the reports today were particularly heavy."

Lyseil's lips pursed and her manicured fingers curled around the packets. "May I ask something, captain?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole was about to offer his unsolicited opinion that Methylphenidate would be much better for her, but when he paused, she asked her question. "I'm listening, Sergeant."

[Lyseil Panteer]

"How do you... deal when you lose someone? Like, a patient, I mean." Her lips pressed together for a few moments as she tensed. "Not that I have that kind of responsibility like you do, but... seeing the reports of yesterday's event - with the prisoners - it's just really hard."

For once, she actually didn't seem that overly cheerful or chipper.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole's pale eyes were sombre, "it," he adjusted his spectacles, "it's not the same. To lose a patient on the table, when you've done everything you can? It's disappointing, heartbreaking, but..." he struggled to explain. "To watch those prisoners being shot down, at least you were able to do something."

[Lyseil Panteer]

"I don't know... I feel now I could have done so much more. Been a little bit braver. Two of our Mandalorian allies reportedly gave their lives to ensure safe passage for twenty prisoners. That alone made up for about a third of the people rescued." She gulped and folded her hands together on the table in front of her. "I'm not that brave. I don't think I could've done what they did, but I keep questioning what more I could have done."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Sighing softly, "they saved some prisoners, yes, but what more could they have done for Bankor if they alive here, now?" Cole ran a hand through his hair, "you did more than I, should I in turn feel guilty?" He did, in fact feel exactly that. Cowering in safety while others were gunned down.

[Lyseil Panteer]

She wasn't sure what to say about that, since she felt that Cole was doing an incredibly important job of keeping everyone alive.

"I... guess we all feel like there's always more we could do. Or should have done. Sorry... I shouldn't have burdened you with it, captain."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"It's no burden," he assured. "Think about the briefing last night, we give all we have and it's still never enough. Focus on what you can do, not what you didn't." Cole ran a hand through his curls, "remember to keep looking forward."

[Lyseil Panteer]

The young woman seemed to take assurance from Cole's words, straightening a little in her seat and smiling again. "I will, captain. Thank you." It was a touch softer than her usual excited tone. "You too, yes-yes? It's important that we all support eachother too out here."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

"Of course, Sergeant," he finally poked at his meal somewhat disinterestedly, taking a mouthful.

[Lyseil Panteer]

Falling silent for a while, Lyseil silently had a few bites of her sandwich before eyeing the box of Alderaanian chocolate truffles.

"... Do you like chocolate? These are really-really amazing," she offered to Cole after removing the lid.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Thinking for a moment, "I don't mind chocolate, I haven't had any in a while."

[Lyseil Panteer]

"Mother sent them to me for this trip," she chuckled with warmth. "So while it's tempting to gorge on them, I ration them out for occassional days. I'm more than happy to share some!"

She gave him a wry smile. "Just don't eat them all."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Politely waving off the chocolates, "I wouldn't want to mess with your rationing. Better to be safe, anyway, I'm not sure anything that rich will agree with me."

[Lyseil Panteer]

"Just one piece each will be fine," she grinned mischeviously.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“You could be right,” and he didn’t want to be insulting and refuse. He took out his hip flask and set it on the table before plucking a chocolate from the box with long, slender fingers. “Thank you.”

[Lyseil Panteer]

The chocolate truffles were rich and high-quality, sprinkled with tiny bits of chopped almond, and filled with some lovely nougat.

Lyseil had one too, and closed the lid so she wouldn't be tempted to dig in at another one. "Mmm... sooo good. I hope the Mandalorians never set out bait that's made chocolate. Or fine wine. I'd be so doomed."