Mischief Is The Child's Way (Open)

[Ginnie Dib]

"Dear Diary, I found Isley! My brother and I connected on some space station place, when he saved me from prison. These people tried to steal my knapsack and there's no way any Mandalorian lets someone take their weapons and stuff so I fought them and the guy ended up tripping on my hearing aides and falling to his death. It was traumatic, but I'm okay! The officials found me Isley and all was right with the Galaxy. Except he didn't bring me home. We didn't go immediately back to Mandalore, so I'm trying to figure out how to get back there with my brother in tow. Maybe if I make him even more of a hero!

Or maybe if I cause enough trouble he'll come back with me. Anyway, I'm walking through this place and I don't even know where it is, but we came here 'cause Isley had business. This is Ginnie Verd, signing off."

Slipping the little recording unit into her combat trouser pocket, Ginnie peered around the corner of the hallway she found herself in and uncrammed herself from the air vac hidey-hole she'd made for herself. "Now, to adventure!"

Skipping down the halls, the half-pint Mando looked for adventure, or a snack. Whichever came first.

 

[Siqa]

I was just on my way out of the kitchen, having enjoyed a nice and big enough meal while also chewing on an apple as a after-snack, when I turned one corner only to have @[member="Ginnie Verd"] run into me. I stumbled back a bit, knocking over an expensive looking vase in the process. Luckily I used the force to catch it before it could hit the ground and shatter. I took a deep sigh of relief, putting it back as I did, before looking back to Ginnie.

"Ginnie, you know you should be more careful. You can't just go skipping around without looking or slowing down a least. Otherwise this could happen and next time I won't catch it in time."

I didn't fully realize I was playing big sister for a moment to her until after I spoke. That felt weird.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Slamming straight into @[member="Siqa"], I plough into the side wall and watch her magic the vase back onto its shelf. "Woa. I gotta learn how to do that. Think Phoebe or Isley'll teach me?"

Grinning like a fox, the young Mando hopped up and down. "Sneaking! We can sneak-practice! Go all incognito and and it'll be fun! Let's start!" Slamming her back against the wall, Ginnie grabbed Siqa's arm and started slowly sliding toward the next corner. Trying to whisper, the deaf girl didn't have a clue how loud she was actually getting.

"You leer around the corner and I'll sneak against the other side! The vases are on NOTICE!"

 

[Siqa]

"Look, Ginnie, I-" I began to say before she pulled me around the corner. I could tell this was something of a game for her, making me sigh and bite my tongue. Better to just play along for now until she got bored, hopefully. I turned my head down one corner, as if I was actually undercover from a fire fight, before looking back and calmly saying "Clear."

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

The girl nodded, a bright grin on her face as she plastered herself loudly to the far wall. Sliding around the corner with her hands in the shape of a 'gun', and rushed the next hall. Giving @[member="Siqa"] her all clear, Ginnie crept to the next corner, poked her head and smacked it back, her hand slapping on the wall loudly.

"Marks!" Ginnie attempted a whisper, but it came back a yell. There were boots coming, Ginnie could see them!

 

[Siqa]

I followed Ginnie, though not exactly playing along that much in terms of sneaking against the walls or anything like that. When she shouted marks I just smiled and shook my head before she made it clear to hide. I stood against the wall and watched her as she played spy or commando or whichever it was. I never really had a playful childhood like she did.

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

The little Mando was in her element being able to play Commando in the middle of the large spaceship. Hopping up and down, she squealed and laughed. Ginnie couldn't tell how loud she was, her hearing loss was so great noise itself didn't make much of a mark. But, Ginnie raced back to @[member="Siqa"] and grabbed her hand. "Come on! There's a monster coming! It's going to eat us, we have to get to a defensible area then kill it! With fire!"

Running off, she raced round a corner then splatted back from whence she came. "THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE COMING! QUICK! HIDE!" She yelled.

 

[Siqa]

Hearing the whole "monster" coming thing made me laugh in my throat before saying "That'll ruin our day if he eats us." Next thing I knew she was yelling to hide when someone was coming. I quickly ducked to where she hide and, looking over her shoulder, watched as whoever it was passed by. When they passed I, starting to give into the nature of the game, smiled and said "That was close. We could've been captured and tourtured for information. Couldn't let that happen, could we, ma'am?" I asked, amking her the leader of this made-up squade she was leading.

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

The officer stopped short and glared at @[member="Siqa"]. Then, gleaning the necessary intel, he nodded and shook his head, covering a laugh. "Wouldn't want that, no. Don't want to know what we'd do to little Mando's and their compatriots." He walked off, glancing behind and Ginnie still pretended to be part of the wall. After he was gone, she gasped an exhale. "That was close! Good thinking, Siqa! You're right! Can't let that happen. We Mando's are brave!"

Racing off own the corridor, Ginnie stopped near an unused storage bay and tapped at the entrance code (which she'd seen someone use before). The door swooshed open, and she scampered inside. Inside the storage bay, a conglomerate of storage containers and boxes had been arranged in the shape of a poorly made krayt dragon. Ginnie had gone so far as to draw goggly eyes on the 'monster' with a marker she'd gotten. It was purple. "Ruin our day and make Mandalore cry in our honour. Let's not die. Isley said he wanted me back for dinner and you know how big brothers (@[member="Darth Metus"]) are!" she huffed, sighing dramatically.

"FOR MANDALOOOOOOORE!" Ginnie raced over to the side of the dragon, where several boxes had been arranged with the word 'Fortification' misspelled on its side, again in purple marker.

 

[Siqa]

I couldn't help but smile the whole time I was part of Ginnie's fantasy. I followed her to where the "krayt dragon" waited before she shouted her battle cry. I, joining in after, rasied my fist and said "For Mandlore!" before following her to the "fortification". I kneeled down near Ginnie before peeking up at the dragon boxes. I looked back to her before asking "Whats the plan, captain? Full frontal assult or sneak in from behind?"

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Dragons smell funny. I ain't going in from behind." Ginnie held her nose and peeked over the edge of the boxes before hurtling back down into the safety of cardboard barricades. Grinning like a fox, Ginnie was vibrating with glee. She peered over again and jumped down.

"Side. We take it from the side. Here! You need your blaster carbine!" Reaching into one of the boxes, Ginnie brought out a poorly constructed slingshot (Two pens and a couple of elastic bands), and some ammo (rolled up balls of paper) and handed them over to @[member="Siqa"]. "Use your ammo well! I couldn't find more pa--I ah, I mean, there's an ammo shortage, Commander!"

Ginnie grabbed herself a little slingshot and some 'ammo' and snuck around the side, propping herself up on boxes to fire one at the 'enemy'.

 

[Siqa]

"Roger that." I whsipered before sneaking to the side of the dragon. I aimed the slingshot and, after Ginnie fired, I rose from where I hide and started firing as well. I tried a volly at one point, putting three peices of ammo in before firing, all of them scattering about when they hit the dragon boxes. I started to laugh a little at how fun this almost seemed.

That's when it started to hit me. My life before all this. Fun to the Sith was training and learning in the darkside. No time for games, not unless they involved ensalving someone else or proving you were stronger than the rest. Force games of power or saber combat that tended to get rough. That was my childhood. I thought on it so much I didn't realize I'd stopped and was just standing there blanky.

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Fiiiiire!!!" Ginnie yelped, firing into the boxes. A couple of them shifted an inch, maybe wiggled but to the teenager they were major hits of victory! The beast was on the run! The Krayt Dragon would release its pearls! @[member="Siqa"] and Ginnie would be triumphant over the foe!

Siqa was standing blankly. Ginnie knew that sort of blank stare. Isley had it after their Dad would beat him around for not being a tough enough Mando, when Isley was younger he'd fight through it, or get quiet then later she'd catch him trying it again or trying not to cry. The Consummate Little Sister walked over to Siqa and took her hand, putting more of the tiny ammo in it and closing Siqa's fingers.

"It's alright. The dragons don't seem so big once we've walked away from them." Was she wise beyond her years, or still in a childish dreamland? Perhaps both? "For Mandalore," Ginnie wound her arm around Siqa's, gave the Pureblood arm a hug then went back to her slingshot. "And Castle Ne'tra"

 

[Siqa]

Reality snapped back to me when I felt Ginnie hugging my arm. To be honest I didn't know what to do. No one did that for me before, at least no one who actually just "hug" me and nothing else. It felt odd...like I was lost or something. I just nodded as she told me to basically keep playing, at which point I loaded the ammo and fired more at the dragon. The whole time I kept glacing back at Ginnie to see what she wanted to do next.

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Ginnie had moved around the side of the box dragon, and hop-hop-hopped her way across a suddenly opened pit of lava (of which she barked and shouted over quite efficiently), then teetered onto a stack of chairs. "For @[member="Siqa"]! And Mandaloooooooooooore!"

She shouted, leaping from the stacked chairs to the boxes. Landing in a pile of boxes, the entire dragon came tumbling down. Giggles burst from the wreckage of the 'beast' as Ginnie crawled away and kicked at a box with her foot. "See? We got it! We hit the dragon and now it's gone. Gone like our troubles, now all we've got to do is look to the future, right Siqa?"

Kicking away another box, Ginnie laughed and ran over to grab Siqa's hand. "Come on! Kicking boxes is fun!" And off she kicked!

 

[Siqa]

I could tell she knew what I was going through, no matter how much she tried to hide it under that childish attitude of hers. This kid was smart, a lot smarter than most her age. I couldn't help but smile at that, knowing that with a mind like that she had a bigger step up than most in her position. Maybe it was her brother, my master. I could see it given how he tended to be. When she started kicking boxes I shrugged and kicked a few myself before saying "You know what.....it is fun."

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"See? Kicking boxes, making dragons and defeating them, it helps!" Ginnie smashed another box with her foot, kicked another into the bulkhead and giggled the whole time. Life was hard, fighting came early and death earlier still. Both she and @[member="Siqa"] needed to remind themselves about being child-like, if not a child.

Time would just make it harder, but Ginnie was sure. She could save them all! Each one of them, all she had to do was stay positive, and keep them smiling. Keep teaching them through being. "Best part is, there's always boxes. They're a never ending supply of kicking targets."

She flopped over onto the wreckage, and rested her head on her hands. "Wanna go try and scam a snack from the Galley?"

 

[Siqa]

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]

I'd been kicking and stomping on more boxes with Ginnie before she said we should try and grab a snack out of the gallery. The way she made it sound however was more like trying to steal some, either way I was up for it. "Why not. I'll make a distraction and you grab what you can get. Easy, right?"

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Yus!" Ginnie flexed both arms high above her head, stomping boxes all the way out of the storage room and rushed out to the corridors. She plastered herself against a wall and 'creeped' to the edge, peering beyond it, then motioning @[member="Siqa"] to rush the next wall. "Go, go, go!"

Onward she would 'stalk' with her ungainly volume and stomping feet until the galley came in sight. "Quick! Hide!" She yelped, as the Head Cook poked his head out with a tray of fresh cakes. Diving behind a gigantic box labelled 'Canned bread', Ginnie shushed the air and waited for her newest playmate.

 

[Siqa]

I felt like a kid again when we did all these things together. It was nice to feel like that again. I followed suit and waited until she gave the signal for me to handle the head chef. It was easy really. I walked up and said "Hey, cooking master. I think I'm in the mood for something special tonight. You got any grade A pieces of meat we can fry?"

@[member="Ginnie Verd"]