[D3LM] Lonely Man

[Manny Donos]

Manny smiled sadly, and shrugged. "You can ask. But your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that my parents gave me up for adoption. Only... I didn't get adopted either."

He looked across the table at Raven. "What about you?" He asked gently.

[Raven Cadera]

"They died," she said, her voice a little strained. "Killed."

Raven pressed her lips together as she inhaled sharply through her nose. "Not sure which one is worse, I suppose. Being abandoned, or... losing what you had."

[Manny Donos]

"Oh." Manny said in a small voice. He swallowed. "I'm sorry."

He sighed. "That sounds worse, for sure." He chewed his lip a moment. "What happened?"

[Raven Cadera]

There was a moment of silence as she chewed through another wing, as the burning of her mouth was a distraction from darker thoughts. "... I'd rather not talk about it," was the reply in the end.

"Kriff the Empire."

[Manny Donos]

Manny nodded quietly, acknowledging both her wishes, and the bit she did say. "... yeah." He said, his voice heavy.

"Here." He suddenly had a handkerchief in his hand, offering it to her. "Go on, take it. I don't care if you need it. I insist." His lips twitched, just a little, as he tried to conceal a smile.

[Raven Cadera]

"Uh... ok?" Chewing on the meat, Raven dropped the stripped chicken bone down on her plate and accepted the handkerchief. They had napkins, so why was he offering this...?

[Manny Donos]

Naturally, when Raven tugged on the handkerchief, it turned out to be two handkerchiefs, of different colors, attached together. And then a third, on up to eight if she kept tugging.

Manny smiled. "Tell me you've seen this trick before, at least."

[Raven Cadera]

At first there was confusion, and then there was curiosity as she kept on pulling out more colored cloth.

"How... where do you even keep all this stuff?!" Raven seemed somewhat frustrated that she couldn't understand how Manny was doing this magic.

[Manny Donos]

"In the vest. Or the jacket, or my sleeves." Manny said, chuckling gently. "Being a magician requires a lot of prep work. I gotta make sure that everything is right where I need it, and can get it out easily."

He grimaced. "Right now, it's a little messed up, 'cause I've got other stuff in there. I just stuffed everything I could in my pockets when I left my place. But hey, it's not easy to lose that much handkerchief."

[Raven Cadera]

"Right," she chuckled but with a sympathetic understanding. "Sorry... got sauce on your stuff now."

"And no, I haven't seen that trick before. Honestly, not sure where I'm supposed to have seen this kind of stuff?"

[Manny Donos]

"Eh, no problem." Manny shrugged. "You eat bantha wings, you get sauce on you. It's what happens." In fact, there was already some fresh sauce on the long handkerchief.

He sat back, drinking from his soda. "I don't know. Do Mandalorians not have magicians?" His eyebrows went up. "Right, weren't you gonna tell me some stuff about Mandalorians?"

[Raven Cadera]

"I've never seen a Mandalorian 'magician'." But she liked Manny's tricks better than the cheatsy powers of the Jedi of old - although they had been most worthy opponents for the Mandalorians to test their mettle against.

"Right... uh..." she was trying to remember what that was and chewed thoughtfully on another bantha wing. Now that she had gotten used to the spicyness it was much better. "Right. New Mandalorians."

"So... sometime before the Clone Wars, the Mandalorians had a civil war. Pretty bloody stuff. A disagreement about the future of the Mandalorians... some wanted to wage another war against the Jedi and the Republic, as the strongest opponents for us to face - others said that we should not, because our numbers were low, and we needed to preserve the lives of our people first. The New Mandalorians won out, ushering in the first age of peace on the world of Mandalore, under Duchess Satine Kryze. Since they wouldn't kill their opponents, as they were Mandalorians too, they were banished to Concordia... and well, from there, they eventually started up with terrorist attacks to bring down the peaceful government."

[Manny Donos]

Manny grinned. "Maybe I could show you a thing or two sometime. You could become the first one."

He listened as Raven explained, his eyes only glazing over a little. "Okay, so... the New Mandalorians won. But the others were still around, attacking people." He frowned, studying her. "So you're one of the New Mandalorians?"

[Raven Cadera]

"Guess you could say I was... sort of." She sighed, picking up a wing but kind of idly turning it between her fingers.

"My family was part of the Protectors. Kind of like... royal guard, or something, if you will, of the leader of the New Mandalorians. However, those who were exiled to Concordia, the terrorists known as the Death Watch, killed Satine Kryze, the leader of the New Mandalorians at the end of the Clone Wars and took over control. Now their leader, Gar Saxon, claims himself to be the new leader of all Mandalorians, and has joined with the Empire."

It wasn't... the full picture, but the broad strokes of it. And Raven herself didn't really know all the details, and her snippets were also colored by her own view. "Not everyone agrees on Mandalorians bowing to the Imps."

[Manny Donos]

"I bet not." Manny said, his tone serious.

"So... how'd you end up here?" He devoured another wing. He seemed to have eating wings down to a science.

[Raven Cadera]

"Heard some rumors about a Mandalorian out here who doesn't like the Saxons either. Came to check it out." Raven spoke casually though with a low tone, finishing up another wing.

"Also a place to earn some credits. I was running low."

[Manny Donos]

"Oh." Manny said. He considered that. "That sounds... big. Like, putting together a crew big."

He took a sip from his soda. Based on the burbling sound, he was basically out. "So... were the rumors true?"

[Raven Cadera]

"... Maybe." Raven was a terrible liar, but it seemed she was wary of confirming it with potential listeners around, judging by her gaze shifting around them.

[Manny Donos]

Slowly, Manny nodded. "Yeah, okay." He picked up a wing, but didn't eat it.

Instead, after a few moments, Manny leaned forward. "Hey, look... if you ever need something, like really need something..." He shrugged. "You and me and Varina aren't exactly a crew, not like me and Munch. But we're not exactly not, either. So... yeah." He shrugged.

[Raven Cadera]

"... What's that supposed to mean? Where you going with this, Manny?" she looked quite confused as she lifted her gaze from the food and stared straight at him.