[D6LM] You're the Best

[Manny Donos]

"Okay, great! But oh." Manny's shoulder's sagged. "My harmonica was at my old place. I guess I'll need to get a new one." He sighed, then nodded to Raven. "Okay, let me hit the thing a few more times."

He took up something like a fighting stance again. "Well, that's pretty cool. And I think you will. You and Varina are some of the toughest people I know, even though you're both basically teen girls." He cleared his throat. "I mean, you're obviously older than she is. She reminds me of some of the girls from the homes, or maybe from my gang." Manny shook his head with a chuckle. "You know, I think she was trying to get me to look cool in front of that brainy lady, Jyvress, from the meeting. You know her?"

[Raven Cadera]

"Alright." Raven picked the bag back up, readying it once more to see if Manny would have better luck this time.

"It takes more than just being tough to survive though... at least something like this. The Jedi were pretty tough, and they're gone now." A shame, really. She grew up with stories of the Jedi and their legendary feats, and now she'd probably never have the chance to test her skill against one.

She could really understand why the Mandalorians of old had wanted to fight Jedi - they were the biggest contenders for strongest warriors in the galaxy.

"Jyrvess the librarian? Yeah, I know her. Taught her how to shoot not too long ago either. Varina was... trying to set you up with her?"

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah, huh." Manny frowned. "I'd heard of the Jedi, but I'd never seen one up close. Now I guess I won't. They sounded cool, but I guess they were bad? Of course, if that's what the Empire says..." He shook his head with a smirk.

He took up his stance, getting ready to strike, but paused. "Well... I don't know. She was trying to do something. Maybe set us up? This is why you work out your plans with your partner ahead of time, so they can back your play. Varina... tried to extort money from her, but then gave it back when I asked. And she kept, like, nodding at me." He chuckled. "I'm guessing that's a Varina thing, not a Mando thing."

[Raven Cadera]

"Yeah... I'd hoped I'd get to face a Jedi some day myself, but that probably won't happen," Raven gave a wistful sigh. It would've been awesome to test herself against one.

"Wait, what?" Raven did a double-take as Manny told her of what Varina had been doing. She stood dumbstruck for a few moments before shaking her head and chuckling. "She got some weird ideas that one..."

The bag was ready for Manny to give it another go. "So? Did it work?"

[Manny Donos]

"Really?" Manny frowned. "Why do you want to fight a Jedi?"

He shook his head. "But, well, I don't know. Sorta? Maybe? We're gonna hang out sometime. I don't know. I think she'd be a better match for someone from one of the Cor worlds. Or maybe Alderaan. Someone with a bit more..." brains "-education." Manny finished.

Taking a deep breath, Manny struck... a reasonably solid blow, grunting as he did so. "Hey, that one felt good!" He said, grinning.

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Time to see if Manny learned. 1b last, 1b instruction: 2eA+2eD+2eB 1 success, 1 advantage

[Raven Cadera]

"I dunno... they're supposed to be some of the greatest warriors in the galaxy. I'd like to see how well I'd fare against one." Raven shrugged and braced herself.

And this time Manny actually did a good job. "Kandosii! Well done. Now you just need to practice that every day and make every punch as good as that."

She offered him a high-five at least for finally pulling it off.

"As for the librarian, who knows, maybe she likes magicians or something?"

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah!" Manny was always up for a high-five. He clapped his against hers enthusiastically, following up with a shoulder-bump. "I guess that makes sense. You wanna know if you're the best. But, uh, do you have to kill the other guy? Or can you just mix it up a bit, and then get drinks after?"

Smiling, he shook his head. "No, I don't think she does." He looked at Raven, frowning thoughtfully. "You know, I've noticed something. Doing a magic trick is good for impressing the ladies. But once you tell them that you do it for a living, a lot of them seem less impressed. It's really weird!"

[Raven Cadera]

After the shoulder-bump, Raven gave Manny's shoulder a pat.

"Duels don't have to be to the death, no. Only duels of honor." And she didn't have a reason to fight a Jedi to the death. Yet.

"Huh..." was her first reaction to Manny's observation, then she thought about it. "Maybe... well, it's not a job that pays well, does it?"

[Manny Donos]

"Oh, yeah, honor, well, that makes sense." Manny nodded confidently. "Magicians have a code of honor too, you know. Don't steal another magician's trick, don't give away secrets to a non-magician, that sort of thing. I'm gonna guess that it's not all all the same as for you."

Manny laughed. "Yeah, it really doesn't. Really, really doesn't. But it's something to do until I've made it big. Uh, if I do that." He shrugged. "And it's fun. People like it."

[Raven Cadera]

"Not really the same, no..." she cocked her head to the side. "Didn't you say you were going to teach me a magic trick? So aren't you then breaching the code of honor if you do that?"

And there he want talking about making it big again. Which was weird since he'd decided not to be a criminal anymore.

[Manny Donos]

"Well, there's exceptions in the code." Manny said, giving her a wink. "The big one is, if the person who you're showing the trick to promises that they won't teach it to anyone that they don't get the same promise from, that they can trust."

He reached for his pocket, but the gloves made actually getting into it impossible. "Oh, right. But yeah, I can show you. I mean, Mando honor and the Magician's Code aren't the same, but I bet you'd keep it secret, right?"

[Raven Cadera]

She chuckled and shook her head as the gloves seemed to get in the way of Manny's deftness. "Sure. If it's important to you, I can keep a secret. You deserve that much, Manny."

And she was pretty sure no one would ask her about how to do a magic trick anyway.

[Manny Donos]

"It is important." Manny said, pointing the glove at her with a smile. "If I don't follow the magician's code, I'm just... some guy with a bunch of eggs."

He hit the bag one more time. "Do you think I could make it as a bounty hunter? You saw me shoot. Do bounty hunters have crews?"

[Raven Cadera]

She chuckled. "I didn't know eggs were such a vital part of magic..." there was a slight shake of her head as she recalled the events of him last night pulling out eggs instead of stims.

"Hm, maybe? Some bounty hunters work in teams, or have support crews - a lot goes into bounty hunting except fighting, after all. Like knowing who to talk to, how to track someone, someone to treat injuries too I suppose. You're a decent shot and can keep yourself together in a fight, I'll give you that, but... do you think you could do that for a living, Manny? Kill for credits?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny's shoulders sagged. "I don't know. Maybe not. I mean, I'm good at some of those things. I'm good at crime too. Well... sorta." He made a face. "But I know who to talk to, and I can find people. I can look for things. And like you said, I am a good shot." He upgraded her compliment.

He shrugged, spreading his arms. "But it's not because I'm not good that I don't think I can be a crime boss anymore. Same thing with hunting bounties. Shooting people." He looked at Raven, his youthful features strained. "What can I do, if I'm good at these things, but I don't actually want to do most of them?"

[Raven Cadera]

"Not everyone is cut out for killing, Manny. There's no shame in admitting that," Raven reassured him. "But you can certainly make a living out of being a man who can find people, or track down people, without having to do the killing part. Not all of it needs to be bounty hunting either."

She saw the strain in his features, and for a moment she saw some of herself in there. Though for different reasons. "Is it money that's your motivation?"

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah..." Manny's head bobbed back and forth. "I don't know. I mean, it was kinda freaky, killing those guys in the club last night. But I think I can do it if I need to. Like, maybe they're holding someone hostage, and he's like 'I'm gonna kill her', and then I'm like 'not today, bro!', and then I'm like PEW!" Manny mimed firing a blaster.

He sighed. "But... no it's not about the money. It's about being my own man, and being able to hang out with my crew, and not having to answer to people that I don't want to. I guess." Manny chuckled. "I guess I thought crime boss would have all that, but maybe there's more. Something else I want, too."

[Raven Cadera]

"Lots of other things to do that could let you do that. Smuggling, drifter, explorer, tomb raiding even... it's a big galaxy with lots of possibilities." Saying this, Raven held out a hand to get her gloves back.

[Manny Donos]

Manny slipped out of the gloves easily, handing them back to Raven. "Drifter... isn't that just a fancy word for being homeless? I'm basically homeless now." He sighed. "Well, I'm staying with a friend."

Hands resting on his hips, Manny considered the others. "Explorer and tomb raider... I dunno. I like being with people. I mean, sure, I'd have my crew, but what if we wanted to go out and party? Smuggler, though..." Manny nodded, his expression interested. "Yeah, that sounds interesting. Maybe I should do that!"

[Raven Cadera]

"I... suppose that's what drifters are, yeah," she said, taking back her gloves and began putting them back on.

"But if you're gonna be a smuggler, you're gonna need a ship to start with."