Gratitude (D8, EA)

[Jyrvess Ertil]

"Well...yes...." Jyrvess was a taken aback by Manny's enthusiasm. Against her better judgment she began, "One of the other Intelligence services employed a major stage magician....I mean think about what you do Manny. You misdirect your audience, draw their attention away from what you are actually doing so that can you surprise them."

"Few things are more surprising then an army appearing no where near where it was expected."

[Manny Donos]

"Wait..." Manny let his spoon settle into his fresh bowl; he had taken seconds after all. "I mean, I get what I do. But how do you do that with an army?"

His tone was incredulous, but then Manny's frown turned thoughtful. "Hmmm. How do you do that with a whole army? Hmmm. You could do something that had the appearance of an army, without actually being one. Lots of things you could do with automated systems. I wonder if you could make smaller repulsorlifts show up as vehicles on sensors?" Idly, he twirled the spoon in his fingers as he thought.

[Raven Cadera]

"It's possible to mess with sensors, but that's more of a slicer-thing than a magician-thing, no?" Raven looked between the two of them.

"But I think what Jyvress means is that you can easily pick-pocket datapads, comms, keycards, and stuff like that."

[Jyrvess Ertil]

"Well that is more a Manny thing yeah...." Jyrvess added with a chuckle, "As for disappearing an army...mmm well it was more fabricating the things around an army. Making a show of 'stockpiling' supplies in one area, having radio teams fake messages from transmitters were the army was suppose to be. Combine that with playing to the enemy's expectations and you have an army just appear were it was never meant to be in the enemy's mind."

[Manny Donos]

"Well, sure, I can easily do that. I've done that, in fact." Manny smirked. "Got some good stuff, too."

"But that other stuff..." Manny idly twirled his spoon with his fingers. "Yeah, I could think up some good stuff for that sort of thing, I bet." He looked at Jyrvess, smiling. "And maybe you could think up some good magic tricks, too. That'd be pretty fun."

He looked back and forth at the two of them. "How do the two of you feel about being sawed in half?"

[Raven Cadera]

Raven blinked and stared at Manny in confusion.

"... What?"

[Jyrvess Ertil]

"I am...well kind of attached to my lower half at the moment," Jyrvess replies with a sort of deadpan seriousness that might make someone think she actually believes Manny would saw her in half.

[Manny Donos]

Grinning, Manny shook his head. "It's not real, guys. It's an illusion!" He made a dramatic gesture, waving his arms.

He went on. "It's a two person thing. It looks like I'm cutting one of you in half, but really, I'm just using the top half of one person, and the bottom half of another person. Don't worry, your other halves would still be okay." He nodded reassuringly.

[Raven Cadera]

Raven looked sceptical. "But my legs are much longer than Jyrvess'... how would that even work? Besides, I'm not too keen on going on stage again..."

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah..." Manny compared their legs, and then sighed. "You're right. It wouldn't work."

He shook his head. "Why don't any of the ladies I know have similar size and color of legs? Ughhhh...!" He took a big bite of the stew, blinking at the heat.

[Jyrvess Ertil]

"Hmm, seeing as you have been checking out mine and Miss Raven's legs," Jyrvess took a bite of her own stew and gave the sweetest, gentlest, most loving smile in the universe. Her words were like the sweetest syrup dribbling over the spongiest most succulent of cakes. "Maybe we should break yours."

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah." Manny chuckled. There was a pause. "Wait, what?"

He looked up, smiling sheepishly. "Hey, I wasn't... not like... it's not... look." He raised his hands. "In the magic business, you have to notice certain things. I happen to need to notice legs. I promise, my mind was all about important, high-minded stuff." He nodded. "Magic, I mean."

[Raven Cadera]

"Hmmm..." Raven cocked a smirk. "I did think I would break at least one of your legs as revenge for pulling me on stage... You need your hands to do magic, but you could survive a limp for a while."

She chuckled. "Am I not merciful?"

[Jyrvess Ertil]

"Miss Raven is indeed merciful," Jyrvess added still in her sweet sing-song voice, "Most merciful indeed."

"A magician needs only his hands and face...all else is fair game."

[Manny Donos]

"Aha... ha..." Manny laughed nervously. He shifted, crossing his legs almost protectively.

"You know, I had almost exactly this reoccurring nightmare when I was a kid?" He shuddered. "It was when all of the girls had an early growth spurt, and I had a late growth spurt."