After a few comms messages between the two, Leah had agreed to come by the ship. In truth she wanted to see Manny anyway; he was a dear friend to her, and he'd just been at a Mandalorian wedding so she feared for his health a little.

Arriving at the hanger and immediately spotting the ship (the paint job gives it away) she approached and pressed the button to the door of the ship...

The door to the Manka Cats Rule slid open.

Manny actually kept a reasonably clean ship, so long as you didn't mind posters on the wall. He didn't want any of his collectables damaged, he explained. So when the door opened up into the main entrance, and there was a large plastic packing crate sitting there, that was immediately unusual. It had an electronic notepad on it, with "FOR LEAH" written on it.

"Hee hee..." A quiet chuckle came from the crate.

...

What?

Leah stood there a little confused, staring at the package. She didn't know what to do about it, so she just...pressed a button on the notepad.

The top of the package opened, revealing... Manny of course. He stood up rapidly.

"Ayyyyyy!" He said enthusiastically, tossing a handful of confetti with one hand, and juggling a pair of eggs with the other. "Welcome back, Leah!" He grinned at her, obviously thrilled for any number of reasons.

Leah stood there surprised for a few moments before shaking her head and sighing.

"You know I can sense you in there right?" she lied, before slipping past the box "now how do I get you out of that so I can give you a hug? I've missed you."

Manny did a double-take. "You can? Really?" He considered a moment, scratching at the side of his head. "That's pretty cool! And hey, I wasn't thinking about anything bad this time!" Boobs. "Uh oh." Manny glanced at her sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah, hold on. It took me like three tries to get in." Gripping the sides of the box, Manny rocked it one way, and then the other, and then back the other one last time. It tipped over, spilling out Manny and a bunch of packing peanuts. He rolled semi-gracefully to his feet, rising with a grin.

"Alriiiight!" He said, spreading his arms invitingly.

"I can. Well, maybe in time I could" Leah laughed, stepping back as Manny rocked himself out before moving quickly over and hugging him.

"I'm glad you're ok, and seemingly missing no limbs or bones. I heard Mandalorian weddings are almost identical in bloodshed as mandalorian wars" she muttered quietly into the hug

"Hey, you know me." Manny said softly. "I can always wiggle out of trouble." Still hugging her, Manny playfully wiggled a bit.

He settled down, taking a deep breath. "Actually, it got a bit scary. Someone stabbed Raven's husband! At the wedding! He's okay, but still, I feel super bad for Raven." He sighed mournfully. "I bet they didn't even get to do it."

"Wait what for real? Someone attacked the groom on his wedding? Who would be crazy enough to attack a Mandalorian during their own weddding?" Leah leant back and looked at Manny in surprise "you weren't hurt? What about Raven?"

"Yeah, I'm totally good." Manny held on a few moments longer, then stepped back. "I'm fine, she's fine..." He shook his head. "But she's not in the mood for any messing around. Like, at all. On the other hand, maybe a magic trick would make her laugh..." He stroked his chin, a thoughtful (for him) expression on his eternally youthful features.

He smiled crookedly. "So, who's crazy enough to attack a Mandalorian during their own wedding? Other Mandalorians, of course. Those guys are crazy!" He shrugged. "Raven told me about how there's different kinds of Mandalorians. These must be the kind that, uh, aren't the same kind as her." He wasn't really clear on what the different groups were, actually.

"Unless you can make his wounds disappear, this might not even be a time for magic" Leah shook her head "so there's some kind of Mandalorian civil war going on and it's coming here too? That's...great. I don't suppose you're in danger because you're friends with one side of this fight right?"

Leah frowned a little more.

"There's a lot going on without getting into some Mandalorian fight ya know!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Manny sighed, brushing a hand back through his slightly mussed hair. He'd actually been trying to look more respectable since becoming a captain. He had limited success. "There's all of Jyr's stuff. Bellionas is a big place for that. We're gonna be pretty busy." He smiled at her. "Guess we gotta get the act going again, eh?" He playfully nudged her elbow with his.

He sighed. "But... if she does need my help, I gotta help. Raven's one of my bros. My ladybros." He nodded. "I gotta have her back."

He looked at Leah. "How about your stuff? Any more about... you know..." He made a vague sort of twisty gesture with his right hand that was supposed to look mystical.

"I know she's a good friend of yours, so if she needs help and you're needed well...I can help. I think Phroth knows her too right? So I guess by proxy she can't hate me?" Leah laughed "even if I'm pretty much the opposite of a Mandalorian."

She paused when he made the hand gestures.

"It's...going well. I'm learning a lot, and I think I understand it and myself better. Also I likely wouldn't accidentally kill myself with one of those...you know>"

"Totally!" Manny said enthusiastically. "I mean, all my friends are cool people, so it makes sense that they'd all like each other." If they didn't, it was news to Manny.

"One of those... oh yeahhhhhhhh..." Manny grinned. "That is so cool. You're basically living a childhood dream of mine." His hands twitched; the desire to pretend to swing an imaginary lightsaber was strong. But he wouldn't even take small chances at exposing Leah.

"But that's really great, Leah." Crossing his arms, he leaned casually against the wall, grinning at her. "I always knew there was something special about you. Maybe you really were reading my mind that first time we met!"

"One of your dreams? Really?" Leah was surprised "I hadn't ever thought of well...using one, or owning one. I guess my childhood was more going with parents, then losing parents and ending up working off parents debt rather unsuccessfully, so the whole go to space and be a Je...one of those was kinda beyond me."

She shrugged.

"And maybe i did. Magic Manny inspired me before I knew I was even me" she chuckled, smiling at him.

"Hey, want to know a secret about the...you know" she made a moving motion with her as if swinging a saber."

Manny shrugged. "I mean, I always that that having some sort of flaming space sword would be cool. Or like a giant spinning flaming space... axe, or something. I don't know. You know, stuff that you think is awesome until you turn twenty-three and grow out of it." Manny was twenty-five, of course.

He gave her a sad look as she talked about her parents. "Leah, if you ever need anything... and I mean anything..."

But then he grinned. "Yeah I do! Tell me about it!" He rubbed his hands eagerly. Hearing about awesome stuff like that was fun!

"They do look cool from a distance. Less so dangled in front of your face" Leah said quietly, before shaking her head and adding "and really, it's fine. My parents died when I was small. Like, even smaller than I am now! But thank you" she placed a hand on his arm, and smiled warmly "you're the best."

She paused, before leaning in and whispering "lightsabers are really...really...really light. Like, it feels like waving a feather around except for how hot the blades are. It's kinda scary."

Manny smiled at her. "You aren't very big. I bet even I could pick you up." He let that smile linger a few more moments, gentle and warm.

"Huh." Manny tilted his head, thinking about that. "I guess that makes sense. They're really light so you can block stuff and stuff and swing them all over the place without even trying. But why scary? Oh... because you can swing them all over the place without even trying. I get it." He nodded.

He smiled again. "Well, I know you'll get it. Look how fast you got good at magic!" He gave a start, suddenly remembering. "Oh yeah, that reminds me, I have a present for you!"

"Don't you dare pick me up" Leah said with a laugh, nodding "and yeah. There are some like...way bigger and heavier versions, but for me it's simple and light. They also like...adapt to the person? I guess? It's weird, it sometimes feels like they're a living thing but I guess they are part of something alive. It's kinda hard to explain."

She tilted her head.

"I thought I had my gift?" She pointed at the fallen over box.

Grinning, Manny briefly advanced on her with hands making grabby-lifty motions, but he did not, in fact, pick her up.

"That sounds really neat." Manny said, nodding at her. "So, it's like your sword, but also your bro? That... wow, Leah." He smiled at her fondly, not really having the words to express his admiration.

Manny looked at the box. "Actually, it's still in there. No problem, I got it." Bending down, he dove back into the box. There were some rustling sounds, and some more packing peanuts spilled out. It was perhaps fifteen seconds later that he spilled out again.

"Ta-da!" Grinning from the floor, Manny held up a small box wrapped in blue paper. It was actually wrapped very nicely; whatever else one could say about Manny, he was good with his hands.