.･ ̣ ✵ ･ *.
⠀⠀⠀ THE CANTINA IS warm and bright and colorful. It is the opposite of the blizzard just outside, and Cyi is trying to figure out a way she can stay here for the night. Maybe if she hides somewhere? But where? Or perhaps, if-
trAcking fob detected.
⠀⠀⠀She chokes on her spotchka as the red letters string across her vision.
> come again?
trAcking fob detected.
⠀⠀⠀ "Crik," she sighs. So much for spending the night someplace warm.
⠀⠀⠀ Her eyes sweep across the cantina, looking for the basics: exit, transportation, and warmth.
⠀⠀⠀ The woman on her left is drunk and distracted by one of the waitresses, a tall, gray-eyed girl barely older than Cyi. But much as she agrees with the woman's taste, Cyi is more interested in the thick jacket on the back of her chair. It looks warm.
chAnces of success Are significAntly higher if confrontAtion is Avoided; i recommend getting on the move.
⠀⠀⠀ "Yeah, go ahead and recommend it," Cyi mutters.
⠀⠀⠀ She slips the coat off the back of the woman's chair and shrugs it on. It's a little too big for her small frame, but blissfully warm.
get on the move.
> i'm working on it, you stupid robot.
work on it fAster.
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi downs the rest of her spotchka and stands, not bothering to leave a credit on the table - she'll need the money later - and begins to slip through the crowd toward the exit.
⠀⠀⠀ "Where you goin' Miss?"
⠀⠀⠀ The harsh voice stops Cyi in her tracks. She breathes out her frustration, then spins on her heel. Incredulously raised eyebrows, too big coat. She hopes she looks innocent. The bartender, a burly Twi-lek, is glaring at her, hands on hips.
⠀⠀⠀ "Yeah, you," he snaps. "Unless I missed something, you didn' pay."
⠀⠀⠀ Mentally, Cyi is howling curses at the Twi-lek and all his mortal descendants. But she smiles brightly, and his expression eases somewhat.
⠀⠀⠀ "Oh, you're right," she says. There is laughter in her voice. "I'm so sorry, here."
⠀⠀⠀ One of the many downsides of drinking alone at a bar is that folks assume you're old enough to do so. And the older you look, the less sympathy you get from people.
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi knows this. She tosses him a credit, and he does not check to see whether it's counterfeit. She wonders when he'll realize that it is.
⠀⠀⠀ She slips back into the bustle of patrons, keeping an eye on her target. He's a cocky looking fellow with a pair of goggles resting around his neck.
⠀⠀⠀ Then she's mimicking the people she's seen all her life. Uneven gait, sparkling dazed eyes, drunk grin. She's a bit more than tipsy.
⠀⠀⠀ Several of the cantina's more colorful patrons pass between her and the man, and for a long second, she can see nothing but green and yellow shoulders swirled with vibrant tattoo ink. They're very nice looking shoulders, but they're blocking her view.
⠀⠀⠀ The moment she can see again, Cyi's eyes dart frantically across the cantina. She cannot find the man, and her eyes sweep the cantina a second time. Where the everliving crik is this chu-
⠀⠀⠀ Ah, bliss.
⠀⠀⠀ It's his jacket that gives him away, dusted with sand and entirely out of place on an ice planet. His back is turned towards her, but Cyi's moving in the right direction again. The distance begins to close.
⠀⠀⠀ A few cubits away.
⠀⠀⠀ One.
⠀⠀⠀ A step away.
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi staggers, and, as the man turns, falls against him, then to the floor.
⠀⠀⠀ "Watch it! he snaps.
⠀⠀⠀ Then he sees her, and his annoyance vanishes. He helps her up, raising an eyebrow when she sways on her feet. Cyi does not like him.
⠀⠀⠀ "S-Sorry," she slurs.
you Are tAking too long.
> yes, i know.
⠀⠀⠀ "Nothing to worry about," he says. "My name's T-"
⠀⠀⠀ "Got to go," Cyi interrupts. She really doesn't like the way he's talking.
⠀⠀⠀ With another sloppy grin, she stumbles away from him and staggers toward the cantina's door. Her hand is in a fist.
⠀⠀⠀ "Hey, it's kinda nasty out there!" the man calls after her. "Wait it out?" Cyi dismisses his concern with a drunk wave of her hand.
⠀⠀⠀ "I'll buy you a drink!"
⠀⠀⠀ And when I'm nice and drunk, convince me to make decisions I'll regret later? Crik no.
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi replies with a time saving gesture and stumbles out the cantina. Her inebriated demeanor is gone with the heat, and she glances down at the small disk in her hand.
⠀⠀⠀ Success.
⠀⠀⠀ Shame, the thing is so new. How proud that chum must be. Then again, he seemed pretty sleazy, so maybe the universe was just passing him a message through her. She's happy to comply. Still, she almost feels a little bad for stealing his speeder.
⠀⠀⠀Almost.
⠀⠀⠀ HOOD UP AND goggles down, Cyi speeds across the snow, parallel to the town. The wind buffets her shivering body, shoving her toward walls and hurling snow and hail into her face. She leans forward and presses on.
> there. on the move. happy?
i am incapAble of being hAppy.
> you're cheerf-
but your chAnces of Avoiding confrontAtion hAve improved.
so yes, i Am "hAppy."
> bliss.
> keep me posted, alright?
⠀⠀⠀ The computer part of her brain telling the brain part of her brain what to do is annoying sometimes, but that part of her usually knows what's going on. So, Cyi drives like her life depends on it. Which it very well might. She doesn't want to find out.
⠀⠀⠀ "Of all planets," she mutters.
⠀⠀⠀ She could have landed on some nice, beachy planet. Or in the mountains. Cyi loves the mountains, because they are so vastly different from plains and deserts, but still feel like home. But no, she's on some freezing rock with no clue where in the crikking galaxy she is.
⠀⠀⠀ On the bright side, she thinks, whoever's chasing me is probably suffering as wel-
updAte: trAcking fob ApproAching At high speed.
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi hollers a curse into the blowing wind, because there's nothing else she can do, because she is desperate, and because there is no one to reprimand her language.
cArrier is mounted.
⠀⠀⠀ "Course he is."
> track fob to max limit and make it snappy.
trAcking fob to 50 cubit rAdius.
> bliss. give me a visual.
⠀⠀⠀ A series of four concentric circles with a blue dot in the center appear in her vision. A second dot is edging its way into the furthest ring. The hunter is less than 50 cubits away, and he's gaining.
> keep me updated.
⠀⠀⠀ Not that there's much point to that; she can track the hunter's progress perfectly well without Cyi 2.0 narrating it. She'll get caught either way, judging from the way that second dot is closing in. Unless...
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi's gaze falls on the ice to her left. The dot is nearing the third ring. Time to make things truly miserable for us all, she thinks.
⠀⠀⠀ She jerks the speeder away from the safety of the shore, and shoots out across the ice. The wind is a living thing out here, a vicious beast with tearing claws and a piercing howl. She pushes on.
⠀⠀⠀ It's a risky thing; there are creatures beneath the ice that she shudders to imagine. But she'll take her chances and hope that the hunter runs out of luck before she does.
updAte: trAcking fob is gAining. expect collision in t - 1:00.
⠀⠀⠀ The dot is in the second to last ring, and she is out of options.
> give me a countdown.
countdown engAged. you hAve ApproximAtely 52 seconds until collision.
.51
.50
.49
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi watches the literal seconds of her freedom tick away. Hopelessness and frustration and resignation and bitterness are cold fingers pushing at the lump in her throat and the ache between her eyes. She needs a way out, and there is nothing but ice and snow around her.
.47
⠀⠀⠀ She has always needed a way out. And she's always made one.
⠀⠀⠀ So why does everything feel so helpless?
.44
.43
⠀⠀⠀ Maybe it's the chill that's wormed itself into her bones, that makes the seams where metal meets flesh burn with cold. Or maybe it's the nothingness in front of her, behind her, above and below her. Nothingness outside and nothingness inside.
.41
⠀⠀⠀ There's nothing she can do about that. But if there is one thing she's learned, it's that there's always a way out.
.39
.38
⠀⠀⠀ You just have to be brave enough to take it.
.36
⠀⠀⠀ Gritting her teeth, Cyi swerves and accelerates toward the hunter.
wArning: cArrier hAs AccelerAted.
you hAve ApproximAtely 16 seconds until collision.
.15
.14
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi wonders briefly if this is really the best idea.
.12
⠀⠀⠀ Probably not.
.09
.08
⠀⠀⠀ The second dot is a hair's breadth from her own.
.05
⠀⠀⠀ Now it's touching hers.
.04
⠀⠀⠀ A figure materializes out of the blizzard, a soldier on a speeder.
.03
⠀⠀⠀ Definitely not.
.02
⠀⠀⠀ Cyi remains on course, refusing to close her eyes.
.01
.00
⠀⠀⠀ An inch away from her, the hunter yanks his speeder away. From the corner of her eye, Cyi sees him fly through the air. Then he vanishes into the snow behind her.
⠀⠀⠀ For a fleeting second, she wonders if he is dead. Then she shakes her head, disgusted. If he's dead, it's his own sweet fault for chasing her.
⠀⠀⠀ Her lips twitch, because she has a chance now. Even if he hasn't broken is neck, she can still lose the hunte-
⠀⠀⠀ Wait. The hunter.
⠀⠀⠀ She's been so caught up in almost crashing that she hadn't realized, hadn't understood. Her stomach drops.
⠀⠀⠀ A t-shaped visor. Beskar armor. They sent a mandalorian after her.
⠀⠀⠀ A crikking mandalorian.
⠀⠀⠀ She glances at the display again. The second dot has fallen back to the third ring, and still isn't moving. For now, she has the advantage.
⠀⠀⠀ But her hunter is a mandal- no, she can still make it. She will make it. She will not accept anything else.
⠀⠀⠀ Mandalorian or not, she isn't about to get caught.
⠀⠀⠀ ABOUT THIRTY MINUTES later, Cyi's been caught. But to her credit, she hasn't made it easy for the hunter.
.･ ̣ ✵ ･ *.
first chapter of the revamp!
let me know what y'all think
of the new style,
and the formatting!