Manny had not actually escorted the ladies to his ship. Instead, he'd provided accurate, if strange instructions. Take a left at Officer Grumpyface had proven enlightening when they saw the fellow manning the customs station. It took a bit of walking, but before long, they were in the hangar, and looking at Manny's ship.



If Manny's goofy attitude affected anything with the ship, it wasn't the exterior. It seemed to be in good condition. There were no decals of gravballs or scantily clad ladies or anything like that applied to the exterior. So far, it just seemed like a standard HWK-1000 owned by a non-magician.

The front ramp was open.

Dhel has no problem with the directions. Plenty of locals give that sort of thing to places all over the city. Lugging a middling large bag over one shoulder, and an armload of brightly-colored dresses, she nods at officer grumpyface before dumping the pile of clothing on the counter so she can dig out her "I am a legal person and stuff" papers.

He definitely doesn't look *less* grumpy after having to look through the jumbled bag of personal belongings and tangle of clothing for contraband. Dhel keeps a cheery smile and 'helps' often by digging stuff out of the bag with "this is fine, right?" and dropping it back in. Nothing's explosive though, so she gets waved on, eventually.

Unsure of the protocol for non-commercial ship boarding, she tramps up the ramp, bangs twice on the side of the ship in lieu of knocking and heads in. "Hello? You in here Manny?"

The spaceport was far from her favourite places to be, but Manny seemed a definite catch for now, and she considered her last crash place to be busted now after the meeting with Cartess and her clique. So she wandered in, carrying a decent sized bag of belongings. Proving who she was ended up being slightly easier than making excuses for the blaster and sword, but eventually she was let through. After all, how much damage can a silly sword do to a starship?

"Careful Honey, he's probably got a magic trick lined up as a welcome."

The view inside is much the same as the outside; standard construction, nothing damaged or weird, or covered with eggs.

Just inside the entrance is a moderate-sized light shipping crate. An electronic stencil was attached to the front of it, with "FOR SHOLUA AND DHEL" written on it.

"Hee hee..." A soft laugh came from inside the box.

Sholua looked at the box and then raised an eyebrow at Dhel. She dropped her bag lightly on the ramp and unbuckled her sword to lay on top of the bag.

"Shall we?"

She said pointing at the crate.

Dhel drops her bag, and the pile of clothes on top of it. Shaking her head, she debates sitting on the box and having a conversation, but in the end moves to one side of the box lid. "Seems like we should, yeah?" Her foot quietly, but visibly taps the 1, 2, 3 before she flings back the lid.

On '3' Sholua grinned, drew her pistol, and pointed it at the crate. The safety was still on, but the crate couldn't see that.

As the lid flips open, Manny pops up, grinning. One hand tossed confetti, the other was juggling... colored balls for once, not eggs.

"Ayyyyyyy! Welc..." He froze, staring, eyes wide at the pistol. Well, froze, except he did continue to juggle, tossing the balls in the air and catching them with as little movement as possible.

Sholua grinned at the least movement juggling.

"Impressive. Pew!"

She blew the imaginary smoke off the barrel of her blaster and holstered it again.

"Sorry Cutey, can't be too careful opening unexpected packages."

Dhel is having trouble containing her laughter at Manny's response, and finally sets it free as Sholua holsters her pistol. "Right? Someone tried hiding under one of the tables to jump me after closing once. I practically teleported behind the bar before he'd finished his 'c'mere!'"

She lets the crate top drop behind the crate, stepping back to give Manny some room if he's getting out of the box anytime soon.

Once he confirmed that this wasn't the weirdest robbery ever (the heartbreak!), Manny joined them in laughing. He caught the two balls, tucking them away. "Yeah, okay! Fair enough. I just wanted to give you a proper Manka Cats Rule welcome."

Frowning, he considered. "Okay, hang on." Grunting, he threw himself against one side of the box, then the other. It tipped over, spilling him and a fair number of packing materials onto the floor.

He rose nimbly to his feet, still grinning. "So! Welcome aboard! You want the tour?"

Dhel doubles over as the box tips, starts to offer a hand, then takes a half step back as Manny pops to his feet. "Never seen anyone juggling while holding that still. Very nice!"

"Is the box really how everyone's welcomed aboard?" She wouldn't doubt it at all. "Tour is important though. Need to know where to stow stuff and sleep and all." In a few steps, she's beside him, ignoring the spilled packing peanuts and taking his arm. "Lead on then, Captain!"

Manny considered that for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, pretty much everyone."

He offered an arm to Sholua as well, then led the way to the front of the ship. The cockpit was a little tight; the HWK-1000 was a little on the sleek side for a cargo ship. There were two comfy looking seats for controls, side by side. Also, there were a few more signs of Manny, with a sabaac card hanging decoration, a bobblehead gravball player, and a poster of a (scantily clad) lady magician.

"This is where we fly the ship!" Manny said. "I sit there." He pointed to the pilot's seat. "But, you know, when I'm not, you can give it a try."

Sholua took the arm and followed along. When they got to the cockpit it was immediately apparent she was checking out the flight controls.

"Done any upgrades yet? Shielding looks to be standard and any weapons installed? If I remember right these things come unarmed but with hard points."

Then she saw the lady magician poster.

"Anyone we know? Or should know?"

"Nothing yet." Manny sighed, shaking his head. "Ship stuff is *expensive*, y'know? But I plan to. Sometimes people shoot at us, so... " He shrugged.

Then he smiled. " And that's Magic Mika. One of the best magicians on Kamda! And, uh... " he shrugged, " y'know, super hot."

He jerked a thumb back towards the entrance. "Crew rooms next?"

"Magic Mika . . . right."

Sholua gave the poster a 'your days are numbered' look and followed Manny.

"I'd recommend a turret mount. Either heavy blasters or maybe an ion cannon. Maybe think about some ordnance bays as well. With a crate like this you've either gotta distract them so you can run, or trash them quickly. You don't have the agility of an Aethersprite or an Eta II here, but you can outgun one."

Manny might be old enough to remember who used the Aethersprite and Eta II fighters. Dhel might know as well.

"Aethersprite?" Manny paused, frowning. "That's some sort of Jedi fighter, right?"

He shrugged. "I've never actually seen one. I just watched this cartoon where the Jedi character flew one." He frowned at Sholua curiously. "Did you fly one?"

Dhel definitely did not know. Having never considered herself likely to leave the planet, or fly anything planetside, she'd paid about zero attention to anything to do with ships. She was pretty sure all of that part of the conversation were actual words, she recognized a lot of them! They just didn't mean much in that order and context. She'd been a kid through the entirety of the war, for that matter.

As for the poster... The pose was purely performance, and Dhel did admire that craft at least. Indicating the poster with a thumb over her shoulder, she asked, "you ever do any posters like that? Be hard to hide any eggs, but you really don't have to for a photo, right? Fancy hat and not a lot else kind of thing?"

"There were some here after the war."

A lame excuse, technically true, but very lame. Luckily Dhel may have saved early exposure, with a very pertinent question.

"Might do wonders for your act with that kind of advertising."

"Haha, what, me?" Laughing a bit sheepishly, Manny looked back at them, brushing a hand through his tousled hair. "I mean, she's famous. I saw her on vid shows sometimes. I'm, y'know, Manny. I do clubs and stuff."

He led the way to a section with a series of doors, three on each side. "That one's mine." He pointed to the first door one the right, with a magic wand stenciled on it. "That one's Leah's." He pointed to the opposite side.

He waved his hand down the hall. "The others... well... I guess you just pick whichever one you like!"