The Show Must Go On (D6EA, Manka Cats Rule)

[Manny Donos]

While Manny was a carefree sort of guy, the things that he did actually took a fair amount of practice. And so, Manny put in the practice. After all, what was even cooler than being pretty good at magic? Being really good at magic!

He sat at the table in the common room of the Manka Cats Rule, shuffling his sabaac deck again and again, the clatter of cards audible down the hallway. He's shuffle, then cup his hand, using pressure to propel the cards into his other hand. Sometimes he'd pick them up, look at them from the side, and smile or frown.

Whatever he was doing, he was clearly concentrating very hard on it.

[Sholua Tempes]

Fortunately for Manny, Sholua hadn't noticed him when she exited the refresher in just a towel, so it was a fully clothed Mirialan that sauntered into the common room and stopped to observe what he was doing. A few minutes of quiet appraisal and then . . .

"Really? No eggs in this one?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny's eyes flickered from the cards to Sholua. He smiled, his hands slowing a moment before he finished one last shuffle and then set them down.

"It's not all eggs." He said, grinning. "Maybe I should get some other food, huh? But nah, this is just a tricky one."

He held the cards up, showing them to Sholua. Then, carefully, he pulled on the two short ends of the sides. The deck came apart in two evenly distributed piles, alternating cards going to alternating piles... mostly. At the top and bottom especially, the cards seemed to clump. "I'm trying to see if I can shuffle so that half of the cards are a little bit up, and half of them are a little bit down. I can kinda get it, but not all the way, see?"

[Sholua Tempes]

She continued the paused saunter to the table and took an opposite side seat. She looked at how he had shuffled the cards and raised an eyebrow.

"First off Cutey, where are you going with this? Is it a new trick, or a way to play sabacc that some might call . . . . cheating?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny flashed her a grin; he often did when she called him Cutey. "New trick. You could use it to cheat, but... here, let me try."

He pulled a few cards out, and flipped them over, tucking them into the deck so that for a stretch, cards alternated between face up and face down. "Now, see, when I do this..." He propelled the cards into his other hand, and then pulled the two halves apart, "-I can get all the face up on one side, and all the face down on the other."

He spread the cards out... a few were on the wrong side. "Mostly." Manny sighed, smiling. "This one is really hard."

[Sholua Tempes]

Another raised eyebrow greeted the almost successful trick.

"I wouldn't try that one in a real game. Likely to get more than eggs thrown at you."

[Manny Donos]

Manny grinned. "Yeah, I wouldn't try it there. I can catch eggs, but I can't catch blaster bolts. I've been shot before. It really hurts!"

Still smiling, he tilted his head, looking at her. "So how are you doing, Sholua? Like your quarters? You can put stuff in them if you like. Like, more posters." He chuckled. "Like those hot guys that one of you put in the cockpit. Was that you, or Dhel?" He figured it probably wasn't Phroth.

[Sholua Tempes]

She grinned at him.

"Well that one is for you to figure out, Cutey. Mighty fine set of boys though, neh?"

She tapped a finger on the table.

"So, you're happy with me being here I take it? Have to say I like it here. I did think the way certain things were going I might have to move on quickly, but if Too Many is here as well then I don't think so."

An appraising look.

"What do you know about Too Many, anyway?"

[Manny Donos]

"Totally!" Manny nodded, smiling. "I mean, you're awesome, and, y'know, hot, and you appreciate great things. Like Wookiee Teras Kasi Master!" His smile became a grin. "I think you could get a bunk on this ship just for that."

His forehead creased, just a little. "I'm glad you decided to stay, though."

"Uh... too many... too many..." Manny frowned, his forehead creasing further. "Is that a joke setup? Too Many what?" He said obediently, giving her a look that was both cheerful and expectant, waiting for a punchline.

[Sholua Tempes]

Surely she'd heard her call Phroth that before? Ok, maybe not.

"Our shark friend, Too Many. As in too many teeth. What do you know about him?"

[Manny Donos]

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Manny said. "Yeah, he does have a lot of teeth, huh?"

He frowned. "Ummm. Not too much. We actually don't hang out too much. But he's cool. Pretty chill. He's Leah's boyfriend. He's, uh, super strong..." Manny trailed off. "He's a shark?" He shrugged. "Like I said, we don't talk all that much. Just kinda hang sometimes. You know. Like guys do."

[Sholua Tempes]

Oh, how to put this.

"So is he a fists man, or does he likes specific weapons? Religious?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny considered his answer for a few moments.

"He eats a lot of seafood. That's why our freezer is like one-quarter fish." He made a face. "Another quarter is just eggs. That's my bad, though."

[Sholua Tempes]

"Well yes . . . not surprised there. Just hope he doesn't develop a taste for Aqualish. They stink. Even when frozen."

Maybe a more direct approach was required.

"Can't always tell but he's about my age. You're a bit younger. Do you remember the war?"

[Manny Donos]

Manny sat back in his seat, folding the cards back into a single stack, his expression more serious.

"Yeah, a bit. It was a pretty scary time. There was actually fighting on Kamda, y'know? Clones and droids. I never actually saw any of it; I just kept my head down. But still, it was there. I remember seeing soldiers go around, and we could get news on this really old vidplayer we'd scrounged up." He made a face. "I mostly wanted to watch cartoons. It's funny, being like that as a kid, and now, well, good crime."

He looked at Sholua curiously. "Something happen to Phroth in the war?"

[Sholua Tempes]

"That's his story to tell. Mine though. Well that's mine to tell."

She leaned forward.

"I was here, on Belionnas for a good bit of the war. And there was a lot more fighting here than on Kamda. That orbital shipyard up there, it built Separatist ships, so this place was crawling with clankers."

[Manny Donos]

"Oh." Manny said, his eyes wide.

After a few moments, he swallowed. "Was it scary? It sounds like it was scary." He tilted his head. "Is that why you didn't like that robot? That makes sense. I'm sorry. I don't know how he showed up here."

[Sholua Tempes]

"It was scary yes, but we had to ignore that and get the job done. The old Republic was relying on us. We didn't have the luxury to be scared."

It would probably occur to him that Sholua must have been just a teenager . . . even still a child at that time.

[Manny Donos]

"Yeah..." Manny nodded. There was a brief pause. "Wait, what?"

He looked at her, frowning gently. "But... you would have just been a kid then. What job...?" He shook his head. "Were you, like, a kid spy or something? That'd be cool, but scary. But cool."

[Sholua Tempes]

"I was fighting the clankers, Cutey. The droids . . . with my Master and the Clones."

She gauged his reaction.