"The world slows down for no one. Listen well and learn fast, or you'll get yourself killed out there."
•••

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the emerging night market became a thief's hunting ground.

An oblivious Neimoidian, an elderly Lasat, a Twi'lek far too distracted by her datapad to notice that her pockets were now twelve credits lighter... these were ideal targets in your eyes. If they wouldn't notice you or were unlikely to retaliate if they did, you could get away with your thievery without consequences.

Most of the time.

"Get back here, you little shit!"

You ignored the gasps and shouts of surprised market-goers as you shoved past them, a pouch of stolen jewels clutched in your hand. Behind you, the vendor and his goons gave chase, each armed with a blaster. You were lighter and therefore faster, but there were plenty of obstacles in your path to slow you down.

After weaving through another crowd, you vaulted over a small wagon and darted to the right as soon as your feet hit the ground. Adrenaline coursed through your veins as your eyes frantically scanned ahead for the next avenue of escape. More people were beginning to notice the commotion and with some of them having been victimized by you in the past, they were more than willing to help stop a thief.

You dodged a slicing dagger and twisted away from grabbing arms, ducking into a narrow alleyway in an attempt to get the heat off your back. You paused to catch your breath, leaning forward on your knees, but in that moment caught a glimpse of the vendor's goons shoving their way into the alley.

As you turned to run, something wrapped around your ankles and swept your feet out from under you. You hit the cobblestone road hard, a cry tearing itself from your throat as pain fired up your right side. Frantically, you pulled a knife from your belt and tried to cut through the cord, but the vendor kicked it out of your hand and pointed his blaster at you.

"I finally caught you... you bitch!" He snarled between breaths, his chest heaving. "Give me my property before I put a shot between your eyes!"

"Fuck you! I ain't givin' you a thing!" You spat.

He bent down and grabbed you by your shirt, yanking you to your feet with ease due to your small frame. His foul breath was hot on your face as he leaned in far too close for comfort.

"Listen here..." He growled, baring his crooked, yellowed teeth. "A lot of people, me included, would love to hang your body out on the street as a message that we don't tolerate thieves. You're a lousy, good-for-nothing piece of bantha shit! People like you deserve to die!"

"Go ahead and kill me, then! It's not like I have much to live for!" You shouted in his face.

It was true, unfortunately—at least from your perspective. You'd been living on the streets for two years now, barely scraping along by stealing food or things of value that you could sell.

Every day was a fight. Every day was a near-death experience. Every day, you woke up and wondered what the fuck you did to deserve this.

You wouldn't say you were suicidal—at least not now. You wanted to live due to the possibility of things somehow getting better, but the past few months had shown you that it just wasn't happening. And why continue living a life of violence, pain, and misery if there wasn't anything to look forward to?

You saw the hesitation in the vendor's eyes despite the rage on his face. You knew he had never actually killed someone before, let alone a kid. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and his arm began to tremble as the thought of pulling the trigger got to him.

"Do it!" You screamed at him. "You think you're hot shit with that fucking pistol, huh? Go on, big man... kill me!"

He licked his lips and clenched his jaw, trying to force his body to do the thing his mind didn't want to do. He stared you down for several seconds before the metallic clink of something light hitting the ground caught his attention.

You looked over your shoulder in time to see a round object laying on the stones. Suddenly, smoke erupted from little slits in its plating and filled the alleyway with suffocating white clouds.

The vendor dropped you and brought his arm to his face, hacking and coughing. You tucked your nose into your elbow to keep yourself from breathing in the smoke and cut yourself free from the cord.

Moments later, you heard the approaching roar of a speederbike. You lifted your head and saw someone swing around on a speederbike, clearing the smoke in their immediate vicinity.

"Get on!" A gruff voice barked.

You don't have to tell me twice.

Without a second thought, you surged to your feet and ran over to the stranger, practically throwing yourself onto his bike. He gunned it the moment you were on, leaving your pursuers quite literally in the dust.

•
•
•

The stranger took you into the sketchier, more vacant part of town. His speederbike slowed with a low rumble near a dilapidated building and he glanced over his shoulder.

"This is where you get off." He said with a huff.

You caught a glimpse of his face before he turned away and frowned. "You're a clone?"

"I said get off."

You rolled your eyes as you slid off of his bike, pouch of jewels in hand. You stuffed it into a pocket and rested your hands on your belt.

"Thanks for the ride, old man." You smirked. "Maybe I'll give you a piece of whatever I get from selling these."

He worked his jaw for a moment, then spat something in the dirt and wiped his grizzled chin on the back of his hand.

"Keep it." He grumbled, revving the growling engine of his speederbike before he took off.

You waved the stinging clouds of dust out of your face while coughing. When it finally cleared, he was gone. You rolled your eyes again and swiveled around on your heel to head down a worn path.

"Weird old bastard..."