Varina gave her knife one more twirl before stuffing it into her jacket. She flexed her fingers, wondering if she'd actually get into some sort of brawl over this. Mother is a warrior. She has to have had some sort of exploits that people heard of... unless she's dead. That possibility had never struck her before now. It didn't distress her, though, due to her gut feeling that that wasn't true, wasn't possible.

If she's been here, then she's probably run into the Gonk at some point...

Children rushed by her as they laughed and cheered in some game they were playing. A piece of grime falling from the wall above her as she caught the knife on the way down, the slump splattering a bit against the dirt already on the ground. Given a few thoughtless seconds to settle the grime seemed to meld into the rest of the dirt into the street. Across the way an old metal bin contained a fire which burned from within granting warmth and light to a few huddled individuals, one group of two sharing a blanket.

Down the road a bit more a Devaronian moved his arms erratically, seemingly making some kind of deal or having an argument with the nearby Sullustan. Varina's journey had brought her to a place with many different individuals trying to live out their existence.

Kids were so naive... which could definitely work in the teenager's favor. She was much smarter with how old she was. But most importantly, she was sure they wouldn't be the type to conceal anything about seeing her mom.

"Hey!" she called out to them. She tapped her chest twice and pulled out a picture on her datapad of Mandalorians. "You've heard of these guys, right? Do you think I'm tough enough to be one of them?"

Most of the kids didn't seem to hear and almost kept on running but the one trailing at the back skidded to a stop. When she turned around, revealing red lekku from underneath, she approached and this caught the attention of the others. Each of them wore heavy cloaks, especially for children, seemingly with the intent to keep them clean and safe from falling grime.

Now with a small cadre of four kids around the young twi'lek girl stepped up to take a hold of the datapad. Looking between the image and Varina her grime covered fingers made small smear marks on the screen, "Uh-.. I guess? Most people can wear armor can't they?" she said with a little smile. "They're warriors of some kind?"

From behind the twi'lek girl another child, this one speaking huttese, shouted out, "They're wearing armor! Mama said troopers wear armor, they troopers?"

Another boy, also in huttese, "Troopers wear white armor, idiot. They're wearin' somethin' else!"

Dirtying up the screen wasn't too big of a deal. It'd seen better days outside of the hands of a camping enthusiast. "So none of you have seen this armor before? I heard I could find them around here.

"And I'm not looking for the guys in white. Those guys are everywhere in the galaxy. Try to stay out of trouble around them, alright?"

"Oh, we will!" both of the boys directly behind the central girl chimed in, in huttese, at the same time. As the girl spoke up their voices didn't so much as stop but drift into the background, droning on about how their parents told them not to and how they planned out what they'd do if they got into trouble.

"There was this one a couple days ago.. maybe? She had this armor, like the one here," she prodded the screen to indicate it. "But it was purple in a couple places, like.." she reached down to her shirt and dragged her fingers along the hem. "The outside of the metal parts."

Best she could guess, it was possible the kid was describing Soleene's armor from what Varina could recall.

"Did she ever take off her helmet?" That was one way to try to confirm if it was someone she already knew.

She also loaded up a picture of her mother. A scenic shot after one of her victories, helmet tucked under her arm as the light gleamed off her glistening sweat. Might have fit better for a holovid than an actual war. "What about her?"

The girl took a really good look at the image but shook her head. Looking up to Varina she shook her head, "No, sorry. Lady I saw didn't take off her helmet but- I didn't really look all too long," she said, looking down to hide her face a little. Digging the front of her shoe into the grime on the ground a bit behind her.

"It's fine. Again, stay out of trouble, you lot." They weren't nearly big enough to go around stabbing people, that was for sure. "Thanks for your time, by the way." Always good to teach them manners when they were young... not that she usually cared about that.

Next she went up to the huddled masses. "I'm looking for this woman. Have any of you seen her?" They didn't seem like the type to be super conversational so it was straight to the point, like her rapier.

Oh she hoped there wouldn't have to be any throat stabbing today.

Most of the kids gave a quick nod and ran off. The twi'lek girl however took a few steps away before turning back, with a bright smile she waved to Varina, "Hope you find her!" and then ran off to catch up with her friends.

Folk around the fire were far more timid than the kids. Looking between each one of the others at least a few times before someone finally spoke up. A middle-aged male Cerean. Waving her over to get a closer look at the image he matched and leaned in as well and covered his mouth, "Sorry, haven't seen anyone like that," he said after a second, shaking her head.

"Haven't seen any Mandalorians on this planet..." he tried to think back but shrugged. "Only one's I've ever seen were from before during the war and they weren't all that close. Doubt folk like that would have much interest in a place like this," he coughed into the blanket.

Varina gave a thumbs up to the kids. Hopefully they weren't the sort to need more help...

She did her best to remain patient with the new group. Being told no repeatedly was annoying but realistic. "Where would folk like that go on this planet then?"

They all looked around one another, shrugging. However the initial individual spoke up again, "Folk like that tend to have personal business, best I figure. Not many folk have a stake in things down here unless.." he glanced around, gave her a look. Seeming to suggest the lower city wasn't a place that most folk seemed to care about unless they found themselves down here. A place more often forgotten by the galaxy than not.

"I think you guys are talking too lowly about yourselves and your part of town. If anything, the Gonk are something people would be very interested in, right?"

"Much as anyone's interested in a bunch of psychotic bandits," one of the other men at the fire chimes in, grimacing as he shakes his head.

"Some people like the challenge, most of all Mandalorians." Varina took her datapad back and glanced back at the arguing pair. It was her last hope and, while she was feeling a bit hot-headed, she found a small solace in all this: her mother seemingly wasn't getting involved with this stuff. The thought of her being a random Lower City superheroine was even less realistic now. "Thanks for your time."

The teen kept her distance from the Devaronian and the Sullustan, hoping to catch a little more about what they were talking about. If it wasn't the right sort of talk, then she could head home or something.

As she parted the group nodded their heads. Looking amongst one another with a few shrugs and few words.

[Perception at Average for eavesdropping.]

Varina did her classic "lean against the wall with hands in her jacket pockets, pretending not to care" routine. Heck, sometimes she really didn't care at all!

---

D3 LM Perception at Average: 2eP+1eA+2eD 3 successes, 1 threat

This was likely one of those times, as when she leaned in to listen she could make out the tones of the male sullustan's voice, exasperation. While the Devaronian started to list a whole string of reasons why it 'wasn't what it looked like' last time he and another fellow had been spending time together. To which the sullustun suggested that maybe he should have thought about how it would look before he took off his clothes.

Interspecies homosexuality? Varina closed her eyes and tried to picture it. Were their bodies similar to humans as well? Sullustans were particularly weird with their face... so who could say about the rest of them? She could look it up on the street but that'd probably be weird.

Besides, she needed to internalize the very concept of interspecies sexuality and sexuality among two people. What if she was destined to have a wife and not a husband? Was she even going to have a Mandalorian wedding? If they were both Mandalorians, then they'd both wear armor, that was how that was going to work regardless. But she and an outsider, would she wear the armor still? What if she wanted to wear the dress for just that one time?

The teen marched up to them and announced, "Have you seen any Mandalorians?!" What were they going to do, beat her up? Maybe she was saving the Devaronian some grief too.

They both looked to Varina, each taking a step back at the sudden question and appearance of the teen terror. Despite arguing just moments before they each looked to one another. It was the Devaronian who first spoke up, "U-uh, no. Sorry- who are you?"