Her mood hadn’t improved by the time she disembarked the elevator from the port and, as she pushed her way through the throngs of people milling around in the streets below, a pall of anger and frustration had descended upon her, so potent it almost audibly crackled and roiled. Her mind was full of static. She had no idea whether to cry or scream or simply stop altogether. A man uttered an indignant exclamation as she shoved past him almost sending him toppling forward. If she heard, she was in no mood to engage. She flipped the collar of her oil-stained leather coat around her ears and pushed on.
She finally arrived at The Down and Out and ducked inside.

[color=98AFC7] “A tall glass with something strong and a large plate of something that might kill me, please, Mani.”[/color] She said to the cyclopean barman as she slung her bag and tool kit down in front of the bar.

[color=ed1c24]“With the greatest of respect, Tes, what the fuck are you doing here?”[/color] The hulking, scarred man responded. “I thought you had a junk ready to whisk you off somewhere?” He added.

[color=98AFC7] “That wart-faced waster, Bravus went and backed out of our contract!”[/color] She began, venom dripping from every word. She felt her fists clench within her fingerless gloves. [color=98AFC7] “Claimed that the Omniwide contract he’d secured wasn’t going to [i][b]cover all the expenses[/b][/i].”[/color] She made ironic, emphasised air quotes with one hand.[color=98AFC7] “The stupid bastard obviously doesn’t see an engineer as a necessary requirement.”[/color] A narrow glass filled with a honey coloured liquid was placed down on the counter top in front of her. Two long swigs saw it emptied and set back down. [color=98AFC7] “I hope he kept enough in the kitty for a medic anyway.”[/color]

Mani sighed. [color=ed1c24]“Put him on his arse, did ya?”[/color]

[color=98AFC7] “He’ll be alright.”[/color] She replied. [color=98AFC7] “Maybe a broken nose will add a level of intrigue to the pudgy fuckwit’s face.”[/color]

[color=ed1c24]“You gotta be more careful, Tes. I’ve never known a woman who calculates every damn move she makes, be able to make such piss-poor decisions sometimes.[/color]” He smiled.

[color=98AFC7] “He welched on a fucking deal, Mani!”[/color] She snapped before sighing. It wasn’t Mani’s fault and he was right. She was wired to take a Newtonian approach to everything yet she loses her cool and risks everything she has spent so long constructing. Closing her blue/grey, heterochromatic eyes, she rubbed her temples with her fingertips.[color=98AFC7] “I’m sorry...”[/color] She said. [color=98AFC7]“You’ve always been good to me and I like it here…”[/color] She gestured around the crowded bar.

[color=ed1c24]“But you want less Down and Out and more Up and Away?”[/color] The bald man finished her sentence for her in a way that surprised her, both in its poetry and accuracy. He smiled and broken, lacerated smile at her and she threw him one back. He placed another glass of the swirling amber nectar down on the bar and nodded to a table at the back. [color=ed1c24]“Grab a seat. I’ll keep ‘em coming, eh?”[/color]

Crying suddenly seemed like the perfect option but there was no way she was going to give that away in public.

[color=98AFC7] “You’re the best, Mani.”[/color] She smiled before picking up her things and walking over to the table. Her boots thudded across the floor as she approached her seat and sank heavily into it.