Decompressing in Chicago

Em’s taken her bike out for a spin to clear her head. As she feels the thundering motor beneath her, she reflects on the past few days. They’ve been intense, made even more so by the massive Long Haul crash. Thank god Stafford’s van had that mattress in the back because she’d rather stay at some shady Chicago motel than with the neo anarchists. Bunch of self-righteous terrorists who think their violence is doing the world a favour when really they just wish they were nearly as influential as even some random C-grade subsidiary of one of the corps. But, the Professor seemed to be so sentimental about them because they raised him so she bit her tongue around him. She had to remind herself that not everyone’s family was like her dad. Most people liked their family, she thought, smiling sardonically. As she rides, her mind drifts in and out, relaxing her.

Heading back to the neo-anarchist camp, she sees a little coffee shop with a young elf couple holding hands and laughing, entering. It makes her smile reflexively under her helmet. These weird little blips of life that seemed to be so unusual in their world always caught her eye. And she knew how much it meant to people… which is kind of how she got the things she wanted. She pulls up outside the coffee shop, orders a soykaf-mocha for herself and sits down at a table near the back, watching the crowd. The young elves are whispering and laughing over drinks at a table near the front. A tired-looking human woman is looking at her commlink and absently drinking her drink. The shop is being tended to by a young ork with a friendly grin and long brown hair, obviously uncomfortable in a too-small apron bearing the shop’s logo.

On an impulse, she grabs her commlink and shoots a message to the Professor, asking him to join her. As an immediate afterthought, she adds, “Come alone.”

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