11-20-2017, 08:47 PM
Quote:Continuation of this post.
It was back into the depths of Coruscant. Stein took a different elevator, taking almost an extra hour of wondering around Tier 2 to find. The hero could not bear to see the mess he had helped create. By the time he made it back to Tier 3 it was almost five in the evening. He did not have
Wondering around left him lost. He had no idea what he was doing. There were many who gave the man a look, but he ignored them. For now, he was not trying to pick a fight today. His first fight ended very poorly. “C’mon, Stein… What are you doing here?” He mumbled the words under his breath. In truth he had not a damn clue what he was doing. He felt like shit for what he did, even in self-preservation.
His entire magic was around protecting the innocence of others, but he might have just ruined the innocence of a would-be mugger. For all he knew, the poor man had never done something like that before. A tough life might have driven him to crime, and he hoped just holding the gun would be enough. It was not hard to imagine, after all, considering how rough Tier 3 was and that all the tiers below were supposedly much worse.
Realization hit… He had no idea what tier this man was from. Tier 3 was quite large, but there were what – seven tiers? Searching for this man might be like looking for a needle in a haystack. He stopped at a street corner, brain working a mile a minute. Nothing came up. All he could think of was how bad he had screwed up.
He dropped down onto a decapitated bus stop bench. Not five minutes, a woman approached. He could hear the clicking of heals and the moment he looked up, he immediately sighed. “Hey, honey! What brings a slick cat like you down to the third tier?”
“What brings a hard working woman like you up to Third Tier?” The bleach blond woman’s attire, a fur coat and fishnet stockings extended from a very short mini-skirt had all the signs of a 90’s prostitute…
She just smiled, blew a pink bubble and sucked it back in with a sharp pop. Not the bubblegum too! “Good eye… Tier 3 has better paying customers than Tier 5… Thought I’d try my luck dodging Troopers for a nice payout… You interested?”
With a heavy sigh, the hero shook his head. “Sorry, but I doubt I could keep it up right now. Lot of shit on my mind.” She gave him an odd look. “Not saying anything about you, I’m just not in the mood. Plus, I might have a girlfriend… I think. I donno.” He was not quite sure what would come of that little party last night.
“So…? What’s a little affair now and then, huh? Heck, invite her, I don’t mind a bit of carp—“
“I SAID NO.” His voice was like thunder. Stein rarely ever rose his voice to such a degree, much less to a woman. He had stood, balled up his fists and took on what she felt to be an intimidating stance. The woman backed away. “Hey, I… I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me…” He reached into his pocket for his empty wallet. Though it lacked any identification, for now, he had put at least a few bills in it. He pulls a to twenties and hands it to the woman.
“Well jeeze, if you’re going to pay this much just for yelling at me, I’ll break out the ballgag and a paddle!” Now Stein was the one to give her a look. “Hey, just kid’n with you buddy… So what did ya want, a blow or a quickie? There’s a little hotel…”
Stein held a hand up, a silent request for her to stop. “That was an apology for wasting your time, not payment for a service…” Stein stated. “I’m going home.” He did not offer a goodbye, much like the lack of a greeting. He could hear the woman take a few steps after him but stop. She did not pursue and he did not look back.
The entire walk back home, Stein was brooding. It was not exactly depression, more of an anger at himself. At least by the time he made the trip back he would have dinner. Stein could always look forward to the comfort of food.