A whole year. Not even an earth year...this fucking planets year. This was 422 days of separation. It had been a lesson in perseverance in a way that landing in Providence hadn't been. There was no yellow man to coddle him. There had been no bennie house. No Isabel wiping his mouth when he'd had too much Tikka Masala. It was just him and his determination.
When Floyd arrived, he had been street spit. A rat that hadn't two pennies to rub together. All he had was an enchanted necklace and extremely comical medieval clothing. He'd slept in the gutters, made friends with an Arconan named Mitch and started fighting the pits, quickly becoming a favorite of a Huttese Princess name Shwukpa.
In six months he had made money, achieved fame and had started to assemble his own fighting team. All of this was put on the line when he gambled triple of nothing against Shwukpa and because of his abilities had won a fortune and the fighting pit he had come up in.
Not bad for a kid with nothing.
It was all a distraction, something to do while he waited and hoped, tried to believe that this was all just temporary.
It was on the 423 day that the billboard went up and Nicki's face was emblazoned in the skyline with her purple hair and chipmunk smile.
He was in the casino that very hour prowling the floor, trying to find her. He may have been a little insane. His stomach was in knots. The red mark he'd tattooed into his face burned. Around his neck was the necklace. The necklace he hoped to give to his wife.