tritanopia | The Mandalorian

twenty-two

"What kind of name is Fae? You got a last name?"

The mechanic had decided that the best way to spend their brief time together, for whatever reason, was to attempt to teach Fae how to play some obscure card game; which she still didn't understand despite the fact that they had been playing for well over half an hour.

The Child had been busy entertaining himself at the beginning — developing some sort of fascination with the endearingly clumsy droids, which pottered about the place aimlessly — before eventually falling asleep in Peli's arm. Him doing so left Fae completely alone to absorb all of the woman's attention. Specifically, all of her questions; and there was a lot of them, to the point where it felt not too dissimilar to an interrogation.

Fae frowned at the most recent inquiry, eyes flickering up from the cheap cards of gibberish she held in both hands, and replied, "Yeah...I-I hate it, too. And I don't have a last name."

"Hey, I ain't ever said I hated it, just never heard it before is all," Peli responded with a defensive raise of her hand, "Don't your dad have a last name?"

"My what- oh, right. Um, not really, no," She fumbled. The strange look, and the brief yet doubtful silence which followed, led Fae to add on, "Y'know, Mandalorians and their ways."

An unconvinced noise of acknowledgement was all the girl recieved for a reply -- which, to an extent, sounded as though Peli was scarcely listening and had lost interest. But in all fairness, Fae hoped that was the case since she found the conversation rather uncomfortable. After all, it's not like she could exactly tell the truth without being forced into an even more uncomfortable conversation.

The game continued in silence for the most part, Peli occasionally having to explain certian rules again as they went. In all fairness, it was somewhat enjoyable despite the fact that Fae ended up losing every single round they played, and found herself actually praying that Mando would return from whatever mess he had inevitably forced himself into in the time he was gone. But, apart from that, the time spent in the older woman's office wasn't too-

"So where's your mom?"

Fae, having previously thought that the topic was six feet under, now sent the mechanic a sharp look and replied, "Are we playing a game or are we swapping life stories?"

"Hey, missy, I was just askin'."

"And yet you don't find me asking you about the, frankly abhorrent, amount of alcohol stashed in that cupboard over there -- do you?" Fae had clocked the slightly askew cabinet door the moment she stepped foot in the room; she even concidered swiping a bottle if she ever got the chance to. Of course, being somewhat of a substance abuser herself, she didn't judge the older woman in the slightest...she just wanted Peli to shut the fuck up.

The tiniest blip of embarassment flashed across Peli's face, before it was replaced by her usual, half-unbothered-and-yet-somehow-half-annoyed, expression. Her lips parted to make another snide comment herself, but was intterupted by forcefull noise coming from the hanger -- which was probably for the best, with both individuals involved having an equally sharp tongue, they would have been there for a while.

"Hey!"

The Child jumped from his slumber like a bat out of hell, and practically immedietly began crying from the disturbance. While Peli began cooeing at him, Fae turned her attention to the voice which continued to filter in from outside.

"Where are they?" The infamously modulated voice demanded, directed at the tiny driod which was running around frantically at his feet. Said driod then collapsed in on itself without a second thought. Mando was likely dangerously close to booting the rusty thing against the wall as if it were a proffesional sport, but didnt follow through with it once he finally heard a response.