The Manka Cats Rule, like so many ships, had a hatch up top to allow easy access to the exterior of the ship for repairs. Manny liked to use it as a hangout spot. And hey, bringing a girl up there was something he'd always wanted to do! Girls loved looking up at the stars and making out with whoever was looking up at the stars with them. Actually, Manny liked looking up at the stars too, and imagining he could see all the Cor worlds.

Only... it was raining. Like, a lot. And so, instead of looking up at the stars, they would look up at the hangar ceiling. Still, Manny had laid out a blanket, and put a bottle of Green on ice; he'd really developed a taste for the stuff.

"Huh." He said, climbing out onto the topside hull. "If you squint, the hangar lights look kinda like stars, right? Or maybe a few weird moons?" The rain sounded nice, anyway, the gentle rhythm of it audible through the hangar ceiling.

A glance up at the ceiling was exactly what she expected to see.

"That's going to need quite a squint. Or maybe a Miraluka costume to pull off."

"Miraluka, Miraluka..." Manny scratched his head. "Which ones are the Miraluka? Are those the ones with the hair that's thingies?" He held both hands up by his head, waggling his fingers.

Actually, he thought there was like a 20% chance Sholua was a Miraluka. Why were there so many species whose names started with Mi?

"Mikkian for the hair thingies. Miraluka are the blind ones."

She didn't elaborate any further, waiting to see how he processed that.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... okay." Manny nodded. Then he looked at her a moment, nodding with a smile, as he was able to confirm that she was a Miralian by process of elimination. Well... he was pretty sure, anyway.

"Still, I mean, it's kinda nice, huh?" Manny grinned at her. "C'mon, I got this blanket we can lie down on. You know what the best part of rain is, sometimes? Hearing it, but not being in it." He sat down on the blanket himself, feet going down the gentle slope of the hull.

"The smell as well. Always different on every planet, a distinct smell. On Coruscant it was . . . manufactured, a uniqueness all of it's own from the weather sats knocking the humidity out of the air. Here . . . well you get a fair whack of the swamp, but also a hint of what's to come when the heat breaks for good . . . "

She kinda spaced out a little.

". . . and now it smells like danger."

"Wow, Coruscant!" Manny said. "I can almost imagine that smell. I wanna go there someday, or at least one of the Cor worlds. Never been..." He sighed.

"Yeah, totally." He nodded agreement. There was a brief pause. "Wait, what?" He did a double-take. "Smells like danger? What do you mean?"

"This planet is moving towards a pivotal moment. Much like Kamda did, and I think you know a lot more about that than I do."

She sat down beside him, staring up at the . . . metal roof.

Manny put his arm around her waist, looking up with her. It was an alright hangar ceiling, as they went. "Yeah, a lot of stuff happened. A lot of fighting. Even I did some of it." He chuckled, shaking his head. "I actually got to the point where I don't throw up after I shot someone." Still, some of that discomfort was in his voice. "And it got pretty rough, there. I got hit a few times, and passed out..."

He shook his head again. "But we got 'em." He looked at her. "And you think that's gonna happen here? Soon?"

"Word is that the Big Shot Imperial Doctor is leaving, and I think you know who we think she's leaving with. We have to do something about that, ready or not."

She thought about other commitments for a second, realising they would probably act as well.

"And there's whatever that dark thing in the swamp is. Not the Beast, the thing that's creating the Beasts."

"Yeah." Manny nodded. "Well, that's not gonna happen. Not if I have something to say about it!" It wasn't clear whether he'd have something to say about it or not. But he'd try!

"... Nara?" He asked, frowning. "No, she's not creating beasts. And she's a woman. Uh... wait, what's this all about? Is this, y'know, vwoom vwoom stuff?" He waved a hand around as though wielding a sword. Maybe a glowy one.

She gave him an absolutely straight face and monotone voice.

"Yes, it's vwoom vwoom stuff."

Before returning to her normal voice and mannerisms.

"Phroth and I have been meditating on a darkness in the swamp. And no, not Nara. She's a bright spot of unbound, unrestricted life to be honest. This is far older and darker and I've probably known about it all my years here, without actually knowing what it was."

She laid back to stare at the roof properly.

"And I have a vwoom vwoom now."

"Yeah, Nara's cool." Manny agreed with a nod. "And if there's something out there, she should probably know about it. Especially if it's scary."

He tilted his head, regarding her curiously as she spoke. He didn't understand everything, but, well, that was okay. He'd listen all the same.

He kept regarding her, propping up on one elbow. "Oh? Ohhhh..." Manny chewed his lip a moment. "So, uh... are you gonna go fight... things? The Imperials? The darkness?"

"Only if I need to."

She patted him on the chest.

"Don't worry. I didn't survive ten years of hiding here by leaping out and attacking every little thing that went wrong. If something does need fighting though, then I'll fight it."

"Phew!" Manny let out a breath, grinning. "I mean, I get that you're all, like, enormous awesome heroes or whatever. And I know you've got moves!"

His grin faded. "Just... I mean, I'm not an enormous awesome hero. I mean, I'm wiry..." He nudged her with a playful elbow. "But I guess what I mean is that, like, well... be careful? I don't like it when people I like get hurt. It's hard enough with Raven. And Varina, ugh! This is scary stuff for me is what I mean." Manny made a face. It was hard to put feelings into words!

"I have no plans to get horribly wounded on purpose, Cutey. But we're fighting an insurrection here. At some point there's going to be risks. Tschad, I shot two stormtroopers a few weeks back, and that hasn't come back to haunt me."

Yet.

"And don't forget that landmine you stood on. I haven't."

"Yeah, I know." Manny sighed. "Just... stick around. Y'know. If you want to." She'd said she would, but... so had others. Manny glanced away, then back with a smile.

And then his eyes widened. "Wait, landmine? No, I was really careful when I visited Nara. Walked all around them. They're kinda pretty, if you like orange. It's okay, I guess." He shrugged. "I wonder where she got all those landmines, anyway?"

"Nara is resourceful. I think she'd find a spare Venator cruiser lying around if there was one."

She paused.

"Did you see her dress last night?"

Manny shook his head. "No, I uh..." He cleared his throat. "So, I know we were supposed to go to that thing last night. But I kinda... got lost?"

He cleared his throat again. "So... what was it? I'm imagining a dress, but it's like a giant gun. Is that right? Tell me I'm right."

"Well it did involve the word 'guns'."

And what he'd said got processed.

"Lost? Saph's is enormous, how could you get lost . . . did the Imps not let you in?"