Day 0 Forging Ahead (Expecting)

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

"Gaaaaaaren. Oh Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaren???"
Mayrelli sticks her head in through the forge's door, her head quickly twisting this way and that like a bird's.
"I've got a bottle of that whiskey you like, and there's absolutely no strings attached if you drink it while fixing my utility arm servos."
The pilot does her best to let her eyes adjust to the interior as she peers around for the Forge Apprentice.

[Garen Saxon]

Garen wasn't always in the forge; pretty much just when the Forgemaster was willing to have another Mandalorian around, even one as well-mannered as Garen. Still, he'd shown enough promise (and politeness) to be allowed down there from time to time, during certain hours of certain days.

This was one of those times. Armored but helmetless, Garen leaned over a set of tools, his weathered brow noticeably creased as he frowned at a datapad. The scowl deepened as he looked back and forth between the tools and whatever it was that he read. The arrival of a visitor made the scowl... shift. But finally it settled on something of an ironic smile. Turning towards the door, he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh? Is that so? I guess it must be my lucky day." His chuckle was like rough gravel. "Yet somehow, I don't feel so lucky. I wonder if there's anything in the old ways about bewaring those who come bearing gifts."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Probably, or they'd all be dead. I don't trust anyone who gives me anything, my birthday parties are terrible."
With a grin and a wink she nonchalantly tosses the bottle to the armoured Mandalorian as she saunters inside, definitely not ready to duck behind a pillar if the fore master turned up.

"But weapons and armour they're a part of our religion, right? Sort of, I think I read something about there being differing views. But differing views are often resolved by weapons and armour soooooo."
She shrugs at Garen.

"My arm servos have been playing up like you wouldn't believe, maybe related to crashing through that tree, maybe not, I don't judge. But I can't get the damned things to work right again and that's coming from the be-, se- a top five mechanic on this base."

[Garen Saxon]

The joke got a dry chuckle; from Garen, that was pretty good. He was cheerful enough, just not very expressive.

"I suppose the New Mandalorians disagreed about the weapons and armor." Garen shrugged, heavy shoulders rising and falling, pauldrons shifting. "If any of the old ones disagreed on that, it must have been resolved, and not in their favor." He winced as he caught the tossed bottle a bit awkwardly, flipping it around in his hand to read the label. Thick eyebrows went up, impressed.

Grey eyes turned thoughtful. "Huh. You want me to take a look? Forgemaster's meditating." He smiled. "If you don't mind the fourth best mechanic on the base giving it a try."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Hey now, don't sell yourself short. You're equal third, easy."
With some pained sounds from its engine the mechanical arm extends out from Mayrelli's armour and sort of flops onto a nearby table. Kinda strange it even made a wheezing sound.

"I have tried everything, I was born to make junk semi-work and he's not even semi-working. You've got that fancy forge training and mystical arts and probably a bunch of stuff. So I figured you could help."
Lowering her voice.
"And I can't ask the forgemaster, last time I bothered them while they were meditating I got flung clean out the door. And I mean clean, didn't hit the dirt for a full meter out the threshold. I have never been so impressed with a bloody nose."

[Garen Saxon]

"That sounds about right." Garen said, chuckling softly. "For myself, it takes some effort to lift a man my size over your head and toss them, but..." He chuckled again, shaking his head.

The thoughtful frown returned as he leaned over the table, gauntleted hands resting on the edge. "That doesn't sound good." He said mildly. "I don't think it's an issue with the metal. May I?" It seemed given, but it was still polite to ask a fellow Mandalorian before touching their gear.

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

The arm makes a very shaking 'by your leave' gesture as Mayrelli nods.
"Metal's fine, mostly. Maybe a little dinged, a little singed. Could do with a polish, but who has the time, really?"
She leans over with mild interest to watch Garen work.

"Just figured it needs to be at peak efficiency for the whole fighting the entire empire thing. I don't think anyone with two arms can fight the whole empire but with three, maybe? You seem to be taking the news rather well? But you take most news rather well."

[Garen Saxon]

Studying the arm for a moment, pulled out a small hydrospanner from a nearby toolbox, setting the whiskey next to it. His big hands moved with practiced care as he began to unbolt the necessary components. "I'll polish it for you if you like." He offered. "That bottle'll last me for a while, after all."

Setting one bolt on the side of the table, he shrugged, looking at May. "I suppose I do." He said, his tone as even as ever. A few moments of consideration, and then he shrugged again. "I've seen the Empire fight, and I've seen us fight. This is the sort of thing the Mandalorians of old would have loved."

He started on the next bolt. "And you're taking it well enough?"

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

Mayrelli peers left and she peers right, she even peers up because Forge Masters could be up there if they wanted.
"Garen, I am freaking out right now. Last time I saw the empire fight they were dropping turbolasers on hablocks. I can hold my own but much like a hablock I will be disintegrated down to my base molecules if I get hit by something like that. There's like, two dozen of us and we're supposed to beat up the empire."

Blowing some air out her cheeks.
"It's crazy, right? I think it's a little crazy. I mean, I'll do it because I promised Mandalore and I'm a little crazy myself. But you agree with me, right?"

[Garen Saxon]

Garen studied her a few moments, his grey eyes concerned.

"If they bring a Star Destroyer, and they know exactly where our camp is, that'd be a problem. But that's not how it is yet." He gave her a gently reassuring smile. "They'll probably drop off a company or two in one of those transports, and go making a lot of noise to draw us out. We'll give them a good thrashing, they'll call for support, but it'll be too late."

He shrugged. "Or maybe not. I suppose we'll just have to see." Garen didn't sound terribly worried about it either way.

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Euuggh. Mr Calmness here."
Still, she does take a breath and nod in thanks.
"Yeah, that's totally doable a couple companies, 8.5 or 17 people each, easy. Then we just leave. Right. Easy. Could do that in my sleep."
She glances around for the forge for a moment before looking back at Garen.
"You think the colonists will be okay? They're just sort of around. I don't think they can handle themselves like we can."

[Garen Saxon]

Chuckling softly, Garen gave her a slow nod. "I don't doubt it." He said, his tone as low and steady as ever.

His expression grew more serious, the lines in his face standing out. "No. And the Empire's not above targeting civilians. In fact, it could very well be a strategy of theirs." He nodded. "We'll have to look out for them."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Yeah, Exactly! I knew you'd agree with me. We've got a responsibility, even if responsibilities are terrible. It's our, and by our I mean 'not mine but Mandalore's' fault that they're in the firing line. So we have to make sure they don't get shot. I was thinking maybe we evacuate some of them? But they won't want to leave because they're stubborn. And I know stubborn, I could live in a house without walls and the roof would stay up. But colonists always got that frontier spirit."

Mayrelli continues talking animatedly as she starts idly going through the various tools around the forge, pausing to coo admiringly at any particularly large hammers
"So we need someone to convince them. And I don't think I can because it's always so obvious what the right thing to do is but people never seem to understand that no matter how often I tell them. So we need someone who's good with people. But most of us are Mandalorians because we're bad with people. I mean, if you were good with people would you want to wear a helmet all day?"

[Garen Saxon]

Eyebrows going up, Garen gave her a quick glance. He smiled as his attention went back to the arm, finally managing to pop off all the bolts, the panel opening up. "That's quite the image." He took a deep breath. "Mandalore is our leader. And we're all in this together, for better or for worse."

"Careful." He said casually, even as he began a minute inspection of the insides. "Forgemaster could come back any minute..." Garen frowned, but whether it was because of what May was saying, or what he saw was unclear. "I don't know if anyone can convince them. And we're fine with people. Some better than others." He started to reach out, then, grimacing, pulled one gauntlet off. "Did you have someone in mind?" He asked, very carefully touching some of the internal components.

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Yeah yeah, he tells me that all the time. Although weirdly it's usually after I complain, wonder if they're linked. Could be he's just getting forgetful in his old age."
She pulls back her hand from a pair of tongues with a start at the mention of the forgemaster. Better to be safe than sorry before she hurries back to the table and peers at the internal workings.
"Fine isn't good, fine is what I tell someone when saying 'bad' would be rude. Like 'Oh that holo was fine'."
She squints a little, pondering the last question.
"What about Praxton? He's sensible, and the boss man will respect his reports."

[Garen Saxon]

Slowly, Garen nodded. "It's a good thought. He's good with people." He chuckled softly. "And not just fine, like you say." He looked at her, eyebrows going up. "Next time I pick the holo, I'm paying extra attention to what you say about it."

He shrugged again. "But I think there won't be any convincing them, not before the Empire shows up." His lips were a grim line, even as he fiddled with the insides of the arm."

"Aha." He said suddenly, even as he grimaces. "Found it. Tiny split in this hose. Leaking air, so you can't see anything, you have to feel it. See, right back here..." He nodded towards the hose, his hand still holding the damaged component as best he could within the device.

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"I'm not much of a critic. Well, actually I'm really good at criticising things - being honest with folk. But I think holo critiquing you have to really know your stuff. You can't just say 'that's bad' you have to mention something about trends and symbolism and whether it meets the prime directive. It's really tricky."

She raises an eyebrow before sticking her hand over the component and feeling the telltale air leak.
"Well I'll be. I completely missed that. Probably someone else's fault, I'll think on who later. But I knew you'd get to the bottom of it."
She grins and slaps him on the back.
"You gonna spot weld or just patch it?"

[Garen Saxon]

"That's all very well and good." Garen chuckled. "But believe me, some holos are just bad. I saw one with some sort of martial arts Wookiee... when he punched someone hard enough, their skeleton flew out. Perhaps I just wasn't the right audience for it."

He chuckled again at the slap on his back, the impact mostly sounding on the armor he still wore. "We've got some time. Might as well do it right. Besides, it's no good if it fails when you really need it." Moving to a nearby wall, he pulled down two sets of goggles, tossing one to May. "You do fight with that thing, right? I expect that's challenging."

[Mayrelli Fayedd]

Snip

"Uhhh, paw of the north tree is freaking awesome. That five claw death punch is sah-weet! Wish I could do that."
She mimes a punch before catching the goggles in mid air and sliding them on.
"We can definitely take our time, right. It would kind of suck to die because it failed." She nods, stepping back to demonstrate the three armed fighting technique.
"So like, I'm using a rifle, right? And they're great but they need two hands, can you believe it? So what happens if I need a third hand to hold a shield or drive a speeder." She taps her forehead. "So I get to thinking and boom! Three arms! Still not on the level of those four armed species, guys are totally badass, but it works great. It can even easily reach that spot on your back when you need a scratch."
Which was crucial.

"You're a hammer guy, right? Must be pretty sweet, do you think it defines you or it's just sort of a tool you use?"

[Garen Saxon]

Another rumbling chuckle. "If you ever learn, you'll have to teach me."

As Garen listened, he pulled out a small welding torch, fiddling with it for a few moments, adjusting the controls. "I can see how a third arm could be useful. I just can't imagine controlling it." His approving nod was slightly spoiled by the goggles he pulled over his eyes. "I don't know what that takes, but you clearly have it."

He moved back to the table, but didn't begin just yet. "I'd use something else. I don't think it defines me. Well, hmmm." Garen straightened again. "A hammer's more comfortable in my hands because it's the tool I use the most. Maybe that does make me a hammer guy." He tilted up his goggles, the better to give her a look. "What are you, then? A third-arm gal?"