[Day 1 ME] Outcasts on the Outskirts (Expecting)

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

"Ah." Mayrelli takes a deep breath of evening air, or as deep as you can in a air tight helmet, it sounds a little like a blocked vacuum cleaner.
"Clean air, the great outdoors and doing good work. Isn't this better than practicing your knife throwing or brooding or something? I dunno what kids do these days."

May had spent a fair chunk of the day nagging Varina into a patrol of New Hope's outskirts to make sure that everything was well. Also she just really wanted a chance to stretch her legs and relax when shooting people wasn't involved.

[Varina Ordo]

"What is wrong with you?" Varina asked then sighed at herself. Dignifying any of that with a response... Hmpf! She went outside all the time! She was the primo camping person around these parts, the primo scout too! If it weren't for the fact that having backup was a good idea, then she could have totally handled this by herself! "What are you hoping to find? Heard you and the others killed some of them already... They'll notice the missing bodies eventually."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Wrong with me? Well my liver is kinda shot, but that just means you've lived a little. Sounds like you were definitely brooding. Man, been there."
May keeps her scatter gun held at the ready as they walk, the occasional sound of laughter or raised voices carrying from the town itself.

"Just keeping my eyes open is all. Can't be too careful with imperial scouts everywhere, gotta make sure the New Hope is alright."
Glancing over at Varina.
"Yeah, we killed a bunch. It was kinda awesome, but also kind of terrible. I mean those guys did not stand a chance It was just all, ka-pop."
She dramatically racks her weapon and a perfectly good shell is shot out.
"Ahh shit, where'd that go?"
A few moments are spent retrieving it from the grass.

[Varina Ordo]

"You drank a lot last night," Varina said. Afterwards, she considered how dry her tone had been. Brooding was, well, like walking on a tightrope. Could be cool one moment then topple into being pathetic the very next. All in all, it was a lot to think about for her...

Not anymore than war was, though. "Well then, you're already getting started on killing them all. They won't be scared by a few grunts dying, however. We gotta kill more in a straight fight." Her credentials on psychology weren't ever supposed to be questioned.

The same could maybe be said about the scattergun shell. Varina didn't help look for two reasons. The first was obvious: too cool for that. Second was that that would be the perfect time to ambush them. "You realize that killing people with that thing is super brutal, right?"

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Pffft, this?"
She holds up the gun.
"They just die instantly, never feel a thing. If anything it's humane, you don't want someone to suffer, right? This is the weapon of a hero, who's also good-looking and a skilled plot, duh."
Mayrelli very nearly ends up expelling another shell but restrains herself.
"Kill someone with a knife is way worse, they're all gurgling and stuff. That sucks."
She shudders.
"Not doing that again."

[Varina Ordo]

"What if you hit them in the wrong spots though? People survive all sorts of things, even for a bit." Varina kicked over a rock for the heck of it. Maybe there could be a deep meaning found behind that gesture. "Blasters are kind of generic, I guess. But they do kind of make people fall over dead. No blood to clean up."

Not like swords and knives. "Alright, alright. It might be a little more humane if I just decapitated a guy instead. I don't really have the leverage for that usually, though." Stabbing people in the neck all the time was super gross... Even she knew that.

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Where's the fun in that? I take your point though, blow someone's arm off and they might suffer for a bit. Good thing I always hit centre mass."
Varina is shot a cocky thumbs up as they continue along the dirt path
"Decapitation is actually crazy difficult if you don't get perfectly between the vertebrae. It's not just your short arms, there's no way a combat knife is gonna take a head off in one swing, not unless a mecha-wampa is holding it or something."
Mayrelli rubs the back of her neck.

"Man, this got dark, you're always so morbid. We need to lighten things up. You still seeing that girl? The one with the thing?"

[Varina Ordo]

"Oh yeah? What if they move their arm in the way or something? Some people use shields or whatever. Looks ridiculous." Maybe if it was made out of beskar... But then they could wear it. A range advantage was nice though...

Wait. She used a freaking rapier instead of a rifle nowadays. What?!

Existential crisis doubly so with her short arms. "Hey I've been fighting since before, well, you would have been!" She patted her main weapon on the hilt. "Earned this myself. But anyways, what I meant is like a big axe or whatever. That'll probably cleave people up instead of leaving holes in them."

Varina sighed. "I don't get why it's morbid to talk about the truth. And what, Rezzie? The thing? She's still tagging along. I'm sure I'll follow her somewhere after this whole thing."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

May's eyes briefly move to the shield slung over her shoulder before flicking back to Varina.
"...Shields have a unique aesthetic only appreciated by the truly great combatants amongst us."
She sniffs loudly in her helmet.

"Even if you were fighting the day you were born I beat you, so neh! I'm a vet, I've seen it all! Or at least a representative sample! I've seen things you wouldn't believe, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Oboas-skai. I watched turbolasers glitter in the dark near the Taurian gate. Stuff like that. Was pretty neat actually."

She kicks a stone of her own, fist pumping as it flies off into the approaching night.
"Jeez, you gotta be more upbeat about Rezzie. I dunno if it's the rage to not let people know what you're feeling anymore. But life's short, isn't it? Well unless you're a hutt or a wookie...stupid hutts and wookies. Don't tell Madclaw I said that. Anyway, it's good to be open about positive emotions and stuff. You follow?"

[Varina Ordo]

"I bet it helps you sleep at night," Varina said. "Do you prop it up to cover you?" Maybe this was going too far... But it was also hilarious.

Especially when she was talking about stuff that most certainly would be forgotten someday. Heck, it was already washing over Varina's brain, like tears in rain. "Alright, alright. Glad to hear you're not just some weirdo pilot. Maybe you'll intercept their shuttles and blow them all up so the rest of us don't have to do anything." Other than put down the stragglers, of course. But hey, sometimes Varina wasn't going to bring up the grim stuff.

"I am open about stuff with Rezzie. I enjoy my time with her and she enjoys me." The euphemism definitely never occurred to her. "I'm not just some rolling ball of rage either," she added, fists tightened.

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Pffft, shows what you know. It would just fall over. I hang it above my cot for protection, like a normal person."
Mayrelli scoffs wisely.

"I would absolutely intercept the shuttles and blow those hunks of junk out of the sky! But also that's like our one ship so if the hyperdrive got damaged we'd be stuck and all die. So no dogfighting. Not yet at least. Just you wait until the dramatic escape though, that will be all- or at least 70% Mayrelli."
Varina gets a long look as the other Mandalorian explains the situation.
"Right, so you're just taking it slow. Nothing wrong with that." She looks down at the fists. "Well, nobody is all a ball of rage. You got other qualities, Rezzie thinks so at least. And sometimes it's good to be angry. Angry folk get stuff done. The problem is they sometimes get the wrong stuff done, or do things they regret. So you have to be angry at the right time. If you're just randomly getting angry you're gonna be randomly getting weird stuff done."

Shifting the grip on her longarm.
"I was pretty mad for a while. But I was mad at things I couldn't change, so I would have just been angry all the time. And that's just boring and tiring. You know you can actually go to therapy if you're always angry?"

[Varina Ordo]

"How do we... There has to be some ships to commandeer then. Plenty of pirates who don't need them." Stealing from thieves was totally justified, especially when they usually had ships loaded with weaponry. That or taking from the Empire itself.

What Rezzie saw in Varina... Well, that baffled her, but she was never going to admit that out loud. "You're right about one thing. I get stuff done. I'm a menace, really. Well, Rezzie and I both."

Varina kicked over a rock with her metallic foot. "Yeah? What therapist would I go to?"

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Oh that's actually a really good idea. Hey, if you seen any pirates with ships let me know and we'll take 'em. Pirates usually have bounties on them too. We could two-for-one."
There's a little more swagger in her step as she imagines being at the helm of a suitably swanky pirate raider.

"Uhh, like, on planet?"
Mayrelli considers this in silence for a few moments.
"Don't think we have anyone licensed, but you never know. Lots of folks take the helmet. But once we move off we can probably find you a professional. You know they have couches and sweets and you can just say whatever you want to them and they can't say anything back. I'm a big fan. You could be as mad as you want with them and talk about all the stuff you'd never tell anyone else. Think that would be up your alley?"

[Varina Ordo]

"There's a whole town of them. Some of them definitely have bounties. Or loot." As long as they weren't planning on sticking around too long, then burning all sorts of bridges didn't seem too bad of an idea. Killing them all was also an option.

Damn. She really had become grim all the time.

"I wasn't serious. Therapy isn't all that anyways." It didn't occur to her that her father sending her in her younger years a sign that, well, she was really weird. "I say whatever I want to say all the time."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"We'll put them on the to-do list then. But only if they really are bad folk, I guess if they're good people but just anti-empire then we can't rob 'em, would be a little hypocritical."
Raising her eyebrow, a gesture completely lost belief the helmet.
"Uhh, well I think saying whatever you want all the time, that's definitely a disorder. If you don't have a filter you're just gonna be rambling. Sometimes you can't say what you want to say. I mean, when I'm sneaking up on someone I wanna say 'gotcha!' or 'eat this!' But I don't else they'll hear me."

Trying to sound authoritative.
"So maybe some therapy would do you good there. Hey, you think it could be because your family is all weird?"

[Varina Ordo]

"Yeah, yeah. Would be good to do some research. That being said, there're bound to be some among them that straight-up suck." Varina shook her head. Even if she agreed with the moralism, it was still annoying and lame!

More annoying was being taken too literally. "I don't announce everything all the time. I'm perfectly capable of sneaking up on a guy and slitting his throat without saying something silly." Her hand brushed over one of her knives. She really was a violent person...

"Don't talk about my family like that," she said half-heartedly. "My father is more normal than any of us. I wish I was more normal like him... Well, less lame, but still."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"You and your throats. I ain't judging, got one myself. But still."
May makes a point of rubbing her own.
"Well, parents are complicated. Sounds like your dad is a good guy though...and your mom is uh, complicated. I always wanted to be more like my dad too, sometimes that's how it goes."

She cracks her neck for a moment and takes a second to roll her shoulders.
"Yup, he was a good guy. Still dead though. So I think you got more hope than most of us. You want to be more normal though? Can I ask why?"

[Varina Ordo]

"Hey! The throat is a vulnerable place and therefore an effective target." Varina, of course, slyly eyed Mayrelli's throat. Like any good renegade, she always formulated a backup plan... Not that she ever thought she needed to use one against Mayrelli.

As long as she didn't delve too deep into family matters, that was. "My mom is complicated, yeah. I hope you see past that for what she can accomplish." Her expression betrayed doubt, though, some of which would soon be explained. "Think about this: we're doomed to keep fighting because of who we are, right? We'll either kill all of our enemies, die ourselves, or be unable to fight anymore due to being too old or injured." The cybernetic leg whirred at that, though its owner's face remained impassive. "It's in our blood."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Girl, you need a vacation."
May gestures at the small village.
"Ain't none of them got murder or something in their blood, and most of the Rebuilders are adopted, so I don't think there's much there either. Now, I'm definitely not destined to to fight forever, I'm waaaay too talented and lazy for that. What, I'm gonna spend the next thirty years shooting people then retire to a home for the criminally incapable?"

Firm headshake.
"No M'am. You fight when you gotta fight. Someone who fights to protect others, that's a hero. Someone who goes looking for a fight, that's a bully. After all this I'm gonna ask Mandalore if we can send you to a beach planet with Rezzie for a bit, let you sit in the sun with a cocktail and your girlfriend and still try to be glum."
Chuckling.
"Me, I'm gonna save Mandalore's life, win the Boonta 500, buy a luxury yacht and then just retire. I'll even invite you along every to see every now and then."

[Varina Ordo]

"I do go on vacation. All the time." Though she wouldn't say it out loud, most of that vacationing involved breaking into places after stealing stuff on behalf of her cause. "And yeah, when you can fight, you fight," she continued, though without as much conviction. It was kind of awkward defending herself when she even knew she sounded like a lunatic.

"But hey, I'm not a bully." Total lie, though she had been dedicated to fighting the Empire. "And she's not my girlfriend! We can go to the beach anytime anyways. Nothing special."