I grew up in Vera Vedra. My dad was the kind of Nakunan military official that never actually had to live on a base. So I went to a shitty rich private school full of shitty rich private school kids. I got picked on when I was little, then I got huge and everyone left me alone. My parents always got mad at me because they wanted excuses to get close to the other rich parents, but those kids fucking sucked! I don't care if Ricardo might get to run his father's pill factory in twenty years, right now he's a boring asshole and you couldn't pay me to pretend to be his friend.

At least it wasn't a religious private school so when all the trans stuff started happening they couldn't do anything about it. Obviously my parents weren't happy but by that point I knew they sucked and I hated them so I just made it very clear that if they tried to stop me there was nowhere they could send me that I wouldn't embarrass them.

That's the one upside of having vapid ladder-climbers as parents: once you realize how easy it is for you to shake that ladder they finally start taking you seriously.

I wanted to study Ethnobotany but my parents said they wouldn't pay for college if I didn't pick a "real" degree. I wasn't going to pass up a few years of living on their dime so I decided to go for Organic Materials Engineering since that's still plant-adjacent. I didn't get my degree, but I learned a lot and I expanded my mind a whole bunch and my parents paid for the whole thing.

I got really into left-wing politics in college, I didn't make many friends on campus but on the pseudonet I was something of a very minor celebrity in the community I was a part of. People liked the jokes I would make about whatever politician was fucking up at the moment and they even raised money to send me to this political event that was happening on campus. After spending my whole life being an outcast (partially by choice) it was nice to have a place that I felt like I fit in. You'd think my parents being high-ranking military officials would be a problem but everyone loves a class traitor!

That community is where I met Alia. She's way more serious than me, but in a good way. We've been friends for years and dating long-distance for most of those. When I flunked out of college we figured the gravy train with my parents was ending. So instead of moving back in with them, why not use my savings to charter a flight over to her planet and start my new life there?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Problem is, I got too confident. I figured why blow all my money when I can just charge it to my parents' card? They won't notice 'til I'm long gone, right?

They noticed. And then they had my passport revoked to try and keep me from fleeing.

So I only have a few days before my parents are going to arrive to pick me up, and I've been completely cut off. Alia floats the idea of using a smuggler to fly me over without a passport; she's more involved with the serious political stuff so she knows people who knows people. I'm desperate so I figure fuck it, better than letting my parents take me. They were really pissed about all that money they wasted on my college even before I tried to run away.

Alia organizes everything, she even splits the cost. I take a shuttle to this independent spaceport, there's this cute little ship with a bovine pilot who tells me he usually deals in contraband and not much else. I lay down in a special box in the cargo bay, a couple hours later we're in deep space and I can get out and stretch my legs.

From what I understand, we were supposed to refuel at Big Zig and then from here we'd be able to make it to Alia in about a day. We touch down at the spaceport, I go to get lunch, I come back early and the pilot and ship are both gone. All I have on me is my purse and my communicator, and I can't get in touch with anyone because apparently you need some kind of modification to use the pseudonet around here? I've been listening to the same two albums for days because it's all I had downloaded, it fucking sucks!

That was five days ago. I've only ever lived with my parents or on campus so I have no idea what to do out here in the badlands. In vidcons there would be some kind of quest board I could use to make money, here nobody will talk to you and you can't get in anywhere without money. There's a bunch of other vagrants and homeless people but they're too busy watching their own asses to try and help a complete stranger. Even the scammers wouldn't talk to me once it became obvious that all I had on me was the change from buying lunch.

I don't know what happened with my ride. I don't know if Alia thinks that I abandoned her. I haven't eaten a hot meal since I arrived here. My parents are losing their shit and I can't go back to them.

You're the only person who's helped me since I got here. And I'm hoping you can help me some more, because I need a lot of help right now.