A Meeting of Magicians [D4EE]

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah... uh..." Manny scratched his head. "I'll ask Jyr about the metally-cyberoid composite. She knows about that sort of thing."

Wincing he jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. "You wanna see the rest of it?" The wince seemed to be remaining, at lest for the moment.

[Tyllia Demici]

"...sure!" She said, putting in a little too much 'chipper' for her own taste.

[Manny Donos]

Manny grinned. "Great!"

He lead the way back to the crew quarters; six of them, three to a side in a narrow hallway. "Most of these are occupied now." He frowned at her. "Do you need a place to stay, too?"

[Tyllia Demici]

"Uhm... are you offering?"

That sounded almost *too* easy. Unneccesary too; as she was all paid up at the motel.

[Manny Donos]

"I mean..." Manny brushed a hand back through his hair. "If you need a place, and it's cool with the others!"

He gave her a direct look. "And if we're part of the same crew. I mean... not ship crew. Crew crew. You know, right?"

[Tyllia Demici]

"Right," she said, looking into one of the overly cramped rooms. Privacy would be a problem.

"I appreciate the offer, but I actually have a room at the Rebyk. It's not great, but it's a bit bigger than these rooms. Affords a bit more solitude and privacy too. Besides, you probably shouldn't invite relative strangers to come live with you the second time you meet them."

She looked into another room.

"But, if I suddenly have to run and hide from the cartel or something, I reserve the right to change my mind."

[Manny Donos]

Manny looked at her curiously. "Do you think you might need to? I've never been in trouble with a cartel before. Just Vex. Maybe she's a cartel? I don't know."

He shrugged. "And that wasn't so much 'trouble' as she just had her guards rough me up a little. You know, kinda how you do when you're a crimelord, and this guy is a really cool friend, but maybe you're just busy?"

[Tyllia Demici]

"I've heard that name before," she said. "Some regional cartel player on a nearby world. Sounds like you were lucky that whatever you did wasn't serious enough to warrant anything more."

She shrugged, and gave a weak smile. "The Hutts and those that work for them don't exactly do the whole 'friends' thing."

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah..." Manny said, smiling sadly. "I used to want to be a big time crime boss. But then I learned that, well, crime bosses are pretty much jerks!" He shrugged. "Luckily, I got my ship not long after I figured that out, so now I'm doing other things instead."

He lead the way a bit deeper into the ship, to the rec room, with a few sofas, a vidplayer, and a kitchen. "Sounds like you've had some trouble with the Hutts, huh?"

[Tyllia Demici]

"I wouldn't say trouble," she said, "I haven't been beaten up by their goons, at least. It's just that if you want to make it by yourself on the outer rim, well, the Hutts provide work."

[Manny Donos]

"Ah, I gotcha." Manny nodded, smiling. "And they don't appreciate magic, am I right?" He grinned at her, spreading his arms.

He waved a hand around. "This is where we're gonna watch the movie later tonight. Drinks in here." He slapped the fridge. "You got work now, or you still looking?"

[Tyllia Demici]

He was suprisingly on the mark for a change when it came to 'magic', not that she was about to tell him that. No, instead he said something else she could respond to.

"I'm always looking for more work," she said, watching him slap the fridge as if it had somehow deserved such a fate.

[Manny Donos]

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out. Don't worry, I got your back. Wink." Manny winked.

He lead the way down the left hallway. "This is the cargo bay. Huh." It wasn't very spacious; the HWK-1000 was built more for speed than for mass. But it could definitely hold some things. The cargo bay door was open, revealing the hangar floor below.

[Tyllia Demici]

"What do you mean, huh?" She blinked. Surely he had known this was the cargo bay and wasn't surprised by the revelation?

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah, but it's not supposed to be open. Here..." A few steps, and he pushed a button on a console. The bay door slowly closed, with the sound of metal sliding against metal.

"Ohhhhh... that's what that was." Manny nodded, then looked at Tyllia. "Hey, did you open that on purpose? As part of an illusion, maybe?" He looked at her, smiling, eyes wide.

[Tyllia Demici]

She shrugged. "I thought I told you I'm not a magician? Besides, if I was a magician, I wouldn't reveal my tricks like that, would I?"

So, apparently one of those gazillion buttons she'd pressed opened that door. A completely useless bit of trivia given how many buttons she'd pressed. It'd be impossible to know which one. Unless it was labelled somehow. It was probably labelled.

[Manny Donos]

Manny scratched his head. "Good point. But, you know, it's okay to reveal your secrets to another magician. That's what the magician's code is for."

He pulled out his sabaac deck with a flourish. "So... you wanna show me how you did that one? You must have the same deck as me, right? And you did a fast swap." He shook his head, grinning. "Geez, I didn't even see it. I'm impressed. You've got some moves!"

[Tyllia Demici]

"I've never heard of this magician's code," she said, turning away and casually looking around. Maybe she was wondering if there were more of those posters in here.

"Besides, I shouldn't have done that trick in the first place. It was a terrible waste of... magic."

[Manny Donos]

"No way, it was cool." Manny said, shaking his head. "Besides, what's a waste of magic? It's all about trying to make people happy, right? Show 'em a good time?"

Manny shrugged. "I mean, I try to make enough money to get by with it, but you know what?" He looked at her, frowning. "Magicians don't actually make a lot of money!"

[Tyllia Demici]

"Hate to break it to you Manny, but juggling eggs on the street was never going to bring home the bacon. As far as most people's concerned? That's just real-life spam."