[D3LM] Lonely Man

[Manny Donos]

"Huh." Manny said, frowning thoughtfully. "I guess I thought it was all plunder and booty and wenches. But maybe you're right."

He shrugged, scuffing his feet in the dirt again. "I don't know. I guess I'm not really a badass like Mandos are supposed to be. Although can handle myself. I'm a pretty good shot with a blaster, in fact." Smiling, he aimed a finger gun at her, making a 'pew' sound as he pulled an imaginary trigger.

Twirling his imaginary blaster, and replacing it in his imaginary hip holster, Manny shrugged again. "But you guys seem cool. A big group looking out for each other. If one of you gets in trouble, the others all get your back, right?"

[Raven Cadera]

The slight movement of her head indicated she watching his imaginery gun-show.

"That is the way," she confirmed with a nod.

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah!" Manny nodded enthusiastically. There was a short pause.

"Wait, what?" He looked at her. "What's 'the way'?"

[Raven Cadera]

Raven realised she'd been hanging around too much with the other Mandalorians the past days and was starting to sound a lot like them now.

"I mean..." she cleared her throat, "that's our way. You look after the group and protect one another. So that means everyone also need to be able to fight for the group, and everyone must be able to contribute."

[Manny Donos]

"Huh." Manny considered that. "Well, that makes sense. I mean, a group's supposed to look out for each other. No matter what kind of trouble the other one gets into. Like that time that I fell into the sewer, and Munchfronta helped me out. Or when Munchfronta fell into the sewer, and I helped him out. Basically, whenever one of us fell into the sewer."

He gave her a curious look. "Less fighting, though. Why is fighting so important to Mandalorians? Do you have Mandalorians who, like, just want to talk, or come up with clever plans or anything like that?"

[Raven Cadera]

"It is our culture, which is the bonds all Mandalorians share, since we're not defined by birth or nationality, but by our shared culture. The original Mando'ade, the Taung, were a great warrior civilization." There was more depth to it than that, but Raven suspected that Manny didn't care too much about the religious beliefs that had laid the groundwork for this warrior culture.

She shrugged a little. "But yeah, there are some who don't participate actively in the fighting all the time. Maybe not so much the clever plans, but... lots is in flux these days, who knows, maybe there could be such place for someone in a clan. Usually, the noncombatants are those who tend to the homeplaces and do regular work on our homeworlds. Of course... it was different under the New Mandalorians."

[Manny Donos]

Manny was smiling blankly at her. He'd lost her at Mando'ade.

"I was wondering how you'd have people who, like, cook and stuff. Or serve alcohol. No offense, but Mandalorians seem like drinkers." He frowned. "New Mandalorians?" It wasn't clear if he was interested, or if, as the last thing she'd said, it was just something to desperately cling onto, conversationally.

[Raven Cadera]

Raven sighed a little. "I... guess this is all a bit much? Ugh... I'm really bad at explaining this type of stuff. And not the best conversation partner." She looked around sheepishly for a few moments.

"Maybe go sit down and eat somewhere? If you wanna know more, I can try to explain it better."

[Manny Donos]

"Nah, it's okay. You're fine." Manny sighed. "I'm just... going through a lot right now, you know? No home..."

He brightened instantly. "Hey, yeah, that sounds great. I know a place that does a great bantha wing platter. You wanna go there? The sauce is great."

[Raven Cadera]

"Sure," it was good to see it improved his mood at least. "That sounds neat. Don't think I've tried that before either."

Maybe they could try to think of a place for him to stay as they ate too.

[Manny Donos]

Manny started leading the way, his heavy backpack bobbing along as he did.

At Raven's declaration, though, he turned around to stare at her incredulously, even as he kept walking. "You've never had bantha wings before? They're only the best food in the galaxy! Well, you're in for a treat." After flashing her one more grin, he turned around to lead the way properly once more.

It was a few twists and turns; for all that Manny declared he didn't know the people around here, he did seem to know the streets. "Here we are!" He declared suddenly. It was a diner in the classic Kamda style, cramped and a little run-down. A crooked sign above the door read All Wings Report In.

[Raven Cadera]

Raven narrowed her eyes at the sign, feeling that it was some kind of joke she wasn't getting. "I didn't even know banthas had wings..." she murmured in a remark about her ignorance on the subject.

[Manny Donos]

Manny laughed. "They don't have wings. They're from birds. Usually chickens, but other things, too. I've heard of mynock wings, but..." He shuddered. "Those sound weird."

Passing through the door, a bored looking Mirialan waiter led them to a table and handed them two menus. The inside of the diner was a little on the dark and dingy side, but there were good smells coming from the kitchen, anyway. "I'd recommend the classic wings." Manny said, setting his backpack on the seat next to him.

[Raven Cadera]

Why did they call it bantha wings then? Outsiders were weird...

She looked around them, noticing that the place looked pretty quiet considering it was still pretty early. The chance of any Imps or Saxons around was low, she decided, so the helmet came off.

The raven locks were given a toss once free of the helmet, and she put it down near herself on the table.

"What's the difference on all of these...?" There seemed to be a wide selection.

[Manny Donos]

Manny grinned as the helmet came off. "You know, I was pretty sure it was you, but I was a little worried that you were some other Mandalorian woman who recognized me."

Looking back at the overlarge menu, Manny shrugged. "Dunno. I've only tried about half of them. Mostly it's different sauces. I think classic's the best..." He narrowed his eyes, giving her a knowing look. "But on second thought, maybe you should go with classic spicy. I feel like that'd be more your style."

[Raven Cadera]

"You didn't recognize my voice?" Raven chided him with a light-hearted tone.

She knew she had enjoyed what she thought was spicy food, but she also knew that levels of spicy varied greatly across worlds.

"So how long you been on Kamda?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny grinned. "I was pretty sure. But the helmet disguises your voice a bit too. I mean, I knew it was you... but there was just this little worry in the back of my head..." He held up thumb and forefinger a centimeter apart, indicating just how small of a worry.

Relaxing, Manny leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head on the back of the booth. "All my life." He said. "Never even took a trip off Kamda. I want to someday, when I make it big. Go to Coruscant, or Corellia, or Corseccia, or something." Corseccia was not a real place; Manny just thought he'd heard of it. And that it was the third world to make up the Cor Worlds. "I just... haven't made it big, yet." He shrugged.

[Raven Cadera]

For someone like her that had been skipping planets for years, just staying in one place seemed very different. "And you've been with this... Chewfront for how long?"

Did the Chew also need a place to stay?

[Manny Donos]

"Munchfronta." Manny corrected. "But you can call him munch. Munchfronta is his father's name, he always says." He shook his head with a chuckle.

"But it's been... wow, five years. Feels like forever." Manny sighed pleasantly. "But yeah. We met during business. I had a bunch of watches. He knew how to clean them up a bit. We worked together, made a killing... well, sort of." Manny grimaced. "Actually, there's not too much money in selling stolen refurbished watches, you know? But we've been together ever sense."

Manny blinked. "Oh yeah, you wanna buy any watches?" Reaching down, Manny opened his vest, revealing a number of watches hanging from the inner lining. And a few pairs of socks. "Buy two, get one free!"

[Raven Cadera]

She just kind of stared at the offer of watches, unable to hide her confusion now without the helmet on.

"No... no thanks," she kind of murmured and put down her menu as she had decided.

"So that and magic is what you do for a living?"