[D6LM] You're the Best

[Manny Donos]

"Huh. I guess that makes sense." Manny was grunting too, as he exerted himself. "Although I feel like I hadn't learned a thing by the time I was nine. Well... a few things. How to stay quiet. It didn't stick." He shot Raven a quick smirk.

Taking his eyes off the bag may have been a mistake, as his next punch was noticeably short; Manny stumbled, as the miss threw his balance off. Reddening, he straightened, trying again.

"Mentor, huh? Oh yeah, that guy you were talking about? The one who came here, with the thing?" Manny nodded. "How's that going?"

[Raven Cadera]

Maybe there was a difference in parenting for Mandalorian children and outsiders, Raven figured, since she didn't doubt for a second that Manny hadn't learned much by the time he was nine.

"Jesus Toboga, you're really bad at this..." she sighed a little, and figured maybe it was time for a change in instruction. "Ok, you hold the bag, and I'll try to show you how it's done."

At Manny's "summary" of her mentor, Raven kind of just... stared back at him, and blinked a few times. Is he mixing it up with someone else? "It's going fine," she just settled on, as she wasn't sure it was going to be productive to try to make sense of Manny's babbling.

"Anyway. Watch." Once again, Raven showed him how she closed her fist, and assumed her stance - it seemed very aggressive, with little thought of guarding herself or looking flashy, but more ready to just beat the shit out of someone. A solid punch connected with the bag, and probably would've even hurt Manny a bit if not for the punch being cushioned by the bag.

[Manny Donos]

"Hey." Manny objected, giving a sheepish shrug. "It's not my fault no one was training me to be a murder machine since I was a baby. Geez, from the way you describe it, sounds like they give you a big ol' knife to perform your own cesarean."

In fact, he grunted as she hit the bag. "Wow. Okay." He was silent a moment. "Do that a few more times."

He nodded. "I mean... he is the same guy, right? The one who's on your side against the, uh, bad Mandalorians?"

[Raven Cadera]

"I suppose to you outsiders, our ways must seem strange. But Mandalorians didn't get the reputation of being the toughest and strongest warriors in the galaxy for thousands of years by being... soft." Still, something about how Manny said it made her wonder about what it must've been like, if the New Mandalorians hadn't been undone by the Death Watch.

She readied herself for a few more strikes. "Alright, but keep focused on my technique and how I'm doing it."

Manny's words kind of distracted her, and the punch connected poorly. Her knuckles were spared from the same fate as his, having been hardened and toughened for years, but she still felt the sting.

"Mandalore, our leader? No. No, he's not my mentor. His brother, Praxton, is. He's teaching me and helping me hone my skills."

[Manny Donos]

"Strange? I dunno. Just different." Manny shrugged. "What's normal, anyway?"

He did study as she struck the bag a few times. He did smirk when her strike went astray, but he didn't say anything.

"Mandalore... and you're a Mandalorian..." Manny blinked. "Are you saying the boss of all of you is here on Kamda? And his brother?"

[Raven Cadera]

"Yeah. Kinda. Look, it's kind of complicated. Our people is still kind of divided on things, including this. The bad Mandalorians, as you call it, are on the side of the Empire. We are not."

She gave the bag another solid punch.

"It's not easy to explain all this to an outsider."

[Manny Donos]

Even as he braced himself, Manny frowned. "Huh. I guess that makes sense." He considered that. "Because it's too hard? Or is it a trust thing? Like, you're not supposed to talk about it with an outsider?"

"Okay." He grunted, handing the bag back to her. "Lemme give it another try."

[Raven Cadera]

"It's... more like that there's a lot of factors going on. Many that I assume naturally that a Mandalorian would know..." she gave a shrug. There was also a matter of trust, but she had fought alongside Manny now, so his trust-level had been significantly increased.

Catching the bag, she readed herself. "Ok. Remember, don't try to be fancy."

[Manny Donos]

"Okay." Manny flashed her a quick grin. "Just like I wouldn't tell you a bunch of magician stuff, huh? Although I guess I could show how I do one or two of my tricks sometime..."

He punched the bag again. It was okay. Clearly he still needed practice.

"I've been thinking about what you said. About maybe trying a different line of work." Manny grunted again as he punched the bag.

[Raven Cadera]

"I'm... not sure if I can do magic like you can," she hesitated a little as it was something she had never done before. She also didn't think that it was quite the same like Manny did.

Watching him figure out the punching, she said nothing on his form for now.

"What kind of work you thinking of?"

[Manny Donos]

"Hey," Manny smiled. "If you can show me punching, I can show you magic. Whatever you want, huh?" Of course, it was somewhat debatable as to whether she was successfully teaching him punching.

"Whew, this is hard work." Manny groaned as he punched again. He paused a moment, taking a deep breath. "But I don't know. I mean, I don't have a whole lot of things I can do. I'm good with my hands, but not in a handy way, if that makes sense. I can shoot, apparently. But I think maybe crime stuff isn't for me, after all. I think it finally clicked that crime bosses aren't nice people."

[Raven Cadera]

"Hmm... still not answering what you're planning on doing though. Only what you know you won't be doing."

Putting the bag down, she let him catch a breather.

[Manny Donos]

"Whewwwwwwww..." Manny breathed heavily. "How do you do that all day? Practice, I bet." He answered his own question. "Well... just gimme a minute, and then I'll do some more."

He shrugged. "I dunno. It's not an easy question. I mean, what if you decided you couldn't be a..." He waved a hand vaguely at Raven, "-a galactic badass anymore, and you had to be something else?"

Resting with his hands on his knees, he looked up at Raven, smirking. "Being a freedom fighter or whatever doesn't pay very well, does it?"

[Raven Cadera]

"Practice. Training. If you started a good training regiment yourself, you'll be able to do it too. I could give you some pointers on that, if you like," she offered easily. Raven did seem like a fitness enthusiast, all things considered.

"Hmmm..." She carefully considered an answer to Manny's question. "I don't know. I guess 'galactic badass' would also include things like a bounty hunter, or mercenary... right? Maybe... maybe I'd try to be a musician, or something? I dunno. It's not something I've thought about, to be honest, but I don't think I could live like... you know, a normal life. Work a deskjob or something."

[Manny Donos]

Manny shook his head. "Yeah. I couldn't do that either. I'd just make all the spreadsheets disappear." He was pretty sure desk jobs involved spreadsheets.

"Okay, you can give me some pointers. And we can talk about what I could do. But Raven..." He gave her a look, one eyebrow going up. "We're gonna talk about how your second plan is musician. Do you play an instrument, or do you just dig the rockstar lifestyle?" He grinned at her, decidedly impudently.

[Raven Cadera]

Raven wasn't sure what she'd do with spreadsheets, but she imagined it would involve a knife and some fire.

As Manny grinned at her, her face smushed up a little as she resisted the urge to slap him in the back of the head. "Why do we need to talk about it? I know how to play some music, but I'm not gonna say I'm particularly good at it... just one of the few things I know of outside of being, uh badass as you put it."

"Besides," she shrugged, tilting her chin up a little, which made the height difference between them a bit more noticeable, "music is an important part of our culture too."

[Manny Donos]

Manny looked up at Raven. Then he straightened... and was still looking up at Raven. Geez, it was like when one of the older girls was picking on him in one of the homes. Except instead of being slightly younger, he was almost six years older...

Still, both of Manny's eyebrows went up in obvious interest. "Really? Wow. What do you play? I mean, you you, and Mandalorians you. I don't play anything really. Well, a little harmonica. And I went through a Dee Jay phase, but who doesn't, right?"

[Raven Cadera]

"I play the harmonica a little too. Small instrument, so it makes easy for travel. I know how to play the guitar, but... haven't played it in a while, since I don't have one." A shrug. "Drums are popular among Mandalorians, but singing is more important than playing instruments. Some songs that are still sung today are thousands of years old."

It had been a while since she had heard it performed as it should. Perhaps she would soon enough.

"Since Mandalorians can come from all walks of life, it is the adopted culture that binds us together. Learning the language, the history, and the songs is a part of being a Mandalorian."

[Manny Donos]

"No way! We gotta play sometime!" Manny grinned, his eyes wide. "Maybe even get a band together. I could do harmonica. You could be lead, I guess. I could do some magic sometime. Munch on the keyboard. I wonder if Leah or Lysa play anything..."

With an effort, Manny got his excitement under control. "That sounds really cool, actually. So, wherever you go, if you meet another Mandalorian, you can have something in common with him. Even if you're not from the same place. But if I go somewhere else, I'm probably not gonna run into another Manka Cats fan, even though they're totally the best team in the entire galaxy."

[Raven Cadera]

"I... uh... maybe?" When she threw out the idea 'musician', she hadn't thought it would mean actually getting together with others and play. "Sure. I guess we can do that..."

Talking about Mandalorian culture was much easier! "Yeah, it's kind of the point of our ways. To be united in actions and traditions, rather than race, or location. It's what has allowed us to endure for as long as we have. And it's why we'll survive even this Empire." As long as Gar Saxon doesn't kriff everything over.