Unmasked Love | The Mandalorian

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"I already fucking hate this place," I mutter, snuggling into my thin jacket as my muscles tensed up from the freezing air that had been whipping around us for the past five minutes. Mando shakes his head and gently pulls the elastic band from my hair, letting my raven hair pool around my shivering shoulders. My thick hair retains some of my body heat, but I still shiver. 

"You've said the same thing about the last three planets," Mando scoffs at me, shaking his head some more while holding the elastic band out to me. "Actually, I think you've been saying that about every planet we've gone to for the past five years."

"Yeah, well, it's been five long years since we started working together and we haven't gotten a single bounty on a planet with decent weather," I mutter, rolling my eyes and take the small elastic band from him, then shoving my hands into the pockets of my jacket in an attempt to keep my fingers from freezing off. "Karga just likes to see us suffer."

He holds the tracking fob up so we can both see it. The small hunk of metal continues to beep, slowly getting faster and faster. Mando starts walking at a decent pace and I follow closely, attempting not to slip on the icy path we are taking. 

Within a few minutes, we're stepping up to a cantina with an overly drab sign perched above the doorway. I perk a brow at my partner, wondering if we really have to go into a place that looks so gauche for an almost barren ice planet. But instead of looking back down at me, he steps forward and the automatic door immediately slides open. Cold air rushes around our standing figures, easily swallowing the warm air that the cantina offers. 

"Stay close, Mae," Mando mutters as the door swirls shut behind us. A hum of faux agreement reverberates from the bottom of my throat before I start walking further into the cantina without him by my side. I take a seat on one of the empty barstools, smirking as Mando huffs loudly before taking a seat next to me. "So much for staying close."

I snort out a quiet laugh and nod my head at his quiet comment. Ragged shouts start to fill the cantina and I guess we've both collectively agreed to ignore the harsh shouts because neither of us cares to even glance back at the guy. Either way, the guy that's shouting seems to be speaking more to Mando; pretty much ignoring my entire presence. 

Typical. 

Most people don't see me as the bounty hunting type, and that's usually what gets them caught... or killed.

I hold up one of my pointer fingers to the bartender, asking for a drink as I lean my forearms against the warm, polished bar set in front of me. As long as I'm here, I'm going to get a drink in my system. I hate to say it, but it helps me handle the bullshit we have to experience on a daily for this shit show of a job. 

Is alcohol the best resort? 

Of course not, but it's currently the most accessible. 

I'm pretty sure that this is the fifth job that we've taken on in the past week and unlike my Mandalorian companion, I actually feel exhausted. Though I have a feeling that he's secretly starting to feel the fatigue of the job, but he's too stubborn to actually admit it. He hasn't been doing too well with trying to hide the way he drags his boots while trudging off to his room after a hard day of hunting.

The man behind the bar quickly places a tall cup in front of me, but his eyes are glued to the men that are slowly creeping up behind Mando and me. I send him a quick smile as I take a small sip of the warm ale he had placed in front of me moments prior. My body slowly starts to heat up and the feeling in my fingers seeps back in. 

My brown eyes steal a glance at Mando and I can tell that he's annoyed by the fact that I'm drinking on the job... again. His helmet tilts to the side and I send him a small wink, making him shake his head and look away. He's just jealous that he can't get one for himself too.