The streets of Fandom, Saturday morning

[intotheout]

Tip was just a token bookworm typical student, making her way into town that morning to go find some breakfast, her nose buried in a thick, luridly covered romance novel. You would think the way she bumped shoulders with nearly every NPC passerby she met would make her look up from the book, but no, all she did was murmur a distracted "excuse me," her voice low and painfully shy, and turn the page.

She was halfway across a street when she suddenly paused, pressing her hand to her mouth.

"Oh my god," she whispered. "They were roommates!"

She never saw the rickshaw coming.

[for one, but potentially open after that thread!]

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[justice_undone]

Breq, luckily, saw the rickshaw coming. She ran, ancillary fast, pushing a few people aside while calling "Stop!" to the driver. It had no effect other than confusion, and it was a good thing that Breq activated her armour before pushing Tip out of the way. While the young reader got out of the way, the wheels passed over her body that was now covered with a metallic shimmer.

[intotheout]

"Omigosh!" Shy, retiring bookworms did not as a rule curse. "My book!" She grabbed her novel and checked the pages. It was battered and bent, a little muddy, but not ripped. Which left her room to think about "Breq!"

[justice_undone]

Breq, taking no offense to Tip's priorities, pushed herself to her feet. The armour had taken most of the impact, but her lower rins still hurt a little.

The rickshaw driver, whose vehicle had turned over, stood up and looked worriedly at Breq.

[intotheout]

"Are you okay?!" Tip shoved her book into her back pocket. "I read a medical textbook last week, and that totally should have broken bones!"

[justice_undone]

"I'm fine," Breq said. "The armour took most of the impact." She deactivated it, doing her best to stand straight. Was one of her ribs broken? That would have to wait.

[intotheout]

"Most," Tip said. "You should let me check to make sure you're okay."

[justice_undone]

"There's no need," Breq said, wincing slightly. "Are you ok?"

[intotheout]

"Me?" Tip's eyelashes fluttered in surprise. "I'm not the one who just got run over!" She looked over at the rickshaw driver, her eyes going wide. "Omigosh!" she squeaked again, and looked back at Breq. "This is all my fault!"

Damn her foolish bookworm tendencies!

[justice_undone]

"It's ok."

Breq took a few slow steps to lean against a nearby wall and began digging through her pockets for a medkit.

"Just be careful in the future."

[intotheout]

Tip nodded, tearing up. "I will. I totally will." Everyone was always telling her to get her nose out of a book, her head out of the clouds, but this time she'd listen! "Thank you. You're a hero."

[justice_undone]

"Oh, I'm not a hero," Breq replied, turning to head down the street. A painkiller would be enough to deal with those ribs for now.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat's directive was clear: go back in time to find the rogue spaceship Justice of Toren, calling itself Breq, and terminate her before it had the chance to kill the Lord of the Radch. And it wasn't difficult to locate her target at all. The real trick would be to find just the right moment to send a bullet into its ancillary skull and end this nonsense before it even had the chance to make a mess of things back where Tisarwat was coming from.

Wearing her specialized glasses that not only hid her lilac-colored eyes but also allowed her to communicate with the other Anaanders, she skulked around the town, stalking the ancillary, waiting, waiting....and finally, she almost thought she had it, from a spot on a nearby roof, leveling out her gun and preparing to pull the trigger...

Just as an innocent bystander started to cross the street, a rickshaw hurtling toward her, and then there was Breq, of course, jumping out to save her, pulling up her armor. Aatr's tits! A perfectly good shot, wasted! And now there would be a witness! Glowering behind her sunglasses, Tisarwat pulled back, already trying to map out another opportunity to succeed in her mission.

But, then again, if she was lucky, Breq might actually manage to just get killed even without any help from Tisarwat and her gun.