A Meeting of Magicians [D4EE]

[Manny Donos]

"Here she is!" Manny said cheerfully as he and his companion walked into the hangar. "The Manka Cats Rule. My pride and job." He looked thoughtful (well, kinda) for a moment. "Of course, I had to leave my cutting women in half box at my third to last apartment when imps locked me out. But still, this is probably it."

He looked at his newest friend. "Also, all ships are she, right? 'Cause I dunno, my ship kinda feels more like a bro. Like, you know, he's there for me, and I'm there for him. You get it, right?"

He looked at her expectantly.

[Tyllia Demici]

"I..." she had to blink a few times as he had launched into his explanation.

To be honest, she'd half expected his ship to be a rubber dinghy rather than an actual spaceworthy vessel. The other half of her expectation had her imagining the ship to be some sort of ode to eggs. A giant egg-shaped ship would've been the most likely possibility, though there were many ways the ship could've been egg-themed.

That it turned out to be an actual, normal looking, ship was... either a relief, a dissappointment, or *both*.

Of course, the name ruined everything.

"...you can't name a ship like that. Manka Cats Rule isn't a name, it's a statement."

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah it is! It's an awesome statement! Manka Cats Rule!" Manny pumped a fist in the air. It seemed he'd entirely missed everything she'd said involving the word can't.



He looked at Tyllia, grinning. "So, you wanna check it out? I mean, it's your basic HWK-1000, but I put up some cool posters and stuff, too."

[Tyllia Demici]

"Yes but..."

She gave up on trying to correct him.

"...sure. Let's see the inside. I..."

And she blinked again.

"...posters? I mean, never mind. How's your uh... fuel efficiency?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny looked at her blankly. "... normal?" He ventured hesitantly. "I mean, you know, the usual amount. Not too much, not too little!"

He stared at her a moment, and then walked up the ramp.

Inside, the first thing Tyllia would see, besides a usual spaceship entryway was a banner reading "WELCOME FRIENDS".

Manny turned to look at her. "Oh hey! You wanna watch a movie tonight? I'm having a few people over. Like, two or three. No big thing. But you could come."

[Tyllia Demici]

"Hmmm," she followed him along and considered the question. It would not hurt to make friends with the guy who owned a ship, after all. That was the whole point of this exercise in the first place.

But one could not seem overly eager.

"...what kind of movie?"

[Manny Donos]

"Martial arts movie!" Manny grinned. "Wookiee Teras Kasi Master! It's awesome. There's the one bit where the wookiee punches a guy, and his skeleton falls off!"

He shrugged. "I mean... I'm pretty sure that couldn't really happen. I mean, not the whole skeleton." He frowned. "Well, maybe a Wookiee. They are super strong."

[Tyllia Demici]

She blinked. Again.

"Is this... a guy whose species has an exoskeleton? Otherwise how would it fall *off*..."

And again, a blink.

"...I should not analyze this too much, should I?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny grinned. "Nope! You just enjoy the special effects."

He started to lead the way to the cockpit, but then paused, looking back at Tyllia with raised eyebrows. "So is that a yes? You coming? I promise lots of Wookiee punching fun. I mean, the Wookiee punches... you know what I mean."

[Tyllia Demici]

"Sure," she said with a shrug, "could be fun."

To be honest, she could use the distraction too. If she was going to beat the nightmares tonight, she might need something like this. Although maybe the violence of the movie would just make it worse. Eh, probably not.

"How's a... magician... get himself a ship like this, anyway?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny gave her a blank smile. "It's a long story." After a few moments, he shrugged. "But it had to do with that meeting where we meet. Oh yeah..." He grinned at her. "You're gonna have to show me how you did that illusion you did. But hey, tour first." He lead the way up to the cockpit.

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.

"Not bad, huh?" He asked.

[Tyllia Demici]

"Soo, long story short, resistence just gave you a ship? Or did I get it wrong?"

She asked her questions as they walked to the cockpit; upon entering which she took note of all the things that were there to take note of. Like that poster.

There was a sigh before she turned her gaze from it.

"Not bad, I guess."

[Manny Donos]

"Helped me get it." He said. "It's a bit more complicated than that... it's kinda hard to explain." Manny scratched his head awkwardly. Actually, some of the details were kinda confusing to him...

"Psh, not bad? You guess?" Manny grinned at her. "Go on, try out one of the seats. It's super comfy."

[Tyllia Demici]

She raised a brow; then took the pilot's seat, putting her hands on the controls with an attitude to her that suggested she might be about to shipjack him.

"Not afraid I'll start her up and blast my way out of this hangar?"

[Manny Donos]

"With what?" Manny chuckled. "Just got it. No modifications, so no guns yet." He shrugged. "I wanna put some in, but ship stuff is expensive."

He gave her a serious nod. "Besides... magician's code, right? I trust you." Another nod, his smile as blankly affable as ever.

[Tyllia Demici]

"Well, that's nice I suppose," she said, pressing random buttons as if she was hoping to find a hidden cannon anyway.

"But why would you run a ship like this without guns on it? Outer Rim's a dangerous place, you know."

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah, believe me, I know." Manny sighed. "But it's fast, and handles well. And hey, I'm a pretty good pilot, y'know."

The air conditioning turned on. "You do any flying?" Manny asked, all evidence to the contrary.

[Tyllia Demici]

From the way she was carrying herself; it might seem like she was a crackshot pilot. Continuing to press buttons.

Of course, she had no idea what the hell she was doing.

"I've flown, let's see..." she wondered if she could make an alarm sound by pressing the right combination of buttons.

"...on a bunch of freighters. And a few yachts. Mostly freighters. A cruise liner or two, also."

[Manny Donos]

There was the sound of metal sliding against metal somewhere back in the ship.

"Haha..." Manny rubbed his head awkwardly. "Maybe don't press those buttons? I don't think you can make the escape pods shoot out or anything, but I don't wanna find out by accident, y'know?"

[Tyllia Demici]

"Just checking the bulkhead separator seals," she said, throwing out some fake techno-babble, "the metallo-cyanoid composite layering gets a little iffy on the HWK-1000 series, but it sounds as if your ship may have gotten the HWK-1050 midlife upgrade. Or maybe yours was later in the original production run, when they had sorted out those kinks."

It was all complete bullshit.