Babysitting the Half Pint (Mia Monroe)

[Ginnie Dib]

Daddy [member="Ordo"] and Mommy [member="Rianna Ordo"] had been the saviours of little Ginnie's young life. They'd given her a place to live, a family to love her and a brand new rifle she named 'Am'alii'gai' 'Change of Colours', affectionately dubbed Am'a for short. She spent days on the Ordo Ranch with the animals and working on her survival skills, rushing to help with every possible chore she could get her young hands on. This was all a positive and wonderful thing, but today... well, today was a day for her new parents to spend together. "Family and spousal alone time is important in every marriage!" Ginnie had lectured the Nexu kitten that lived in the barn, she threw nerd treats at the predatory creature when the Nexu sat pretty like she wanted and deserved positive reinforcement. "So you be good while I'm gone and I'll give you more treats later. No bugging new Daddy and new Mommy."

It was good to be positive with younglings, Ginnie had read it in one of Mommy Rianna's books. Off Ginnie went, dropped into the recovering bastion of [member="Mia Monroe"] with nothing but a backpack full of snacks, a book and a data pad (amongst other useful things the twelve year old thought she'd need) and her Beskar'gam.

Ginnie'd refused to leave the house without wearing her Beskar'gam. Standing in the front hall, the 4'11 Mando'ad glanced upward at Mia and offered a salute. "Ginnie Ordo, at your service Ma'am!"

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia didn't have much of a front hall. Her home consisted of one large room on the ground floor and a small room on the second that served as her bedroom. The 'front hall' in which Ginnie was standing in was more of an alcove that opened up into the large room. At one end a long couch rested before a low table that was littered with datapads and holoprojectors. Behind the couch, the wall was lined from floor to ceiling with shelves, every inch of its surface littered with artefacts, ornaments and random objects Mia had collected over the years. The other end held the kitchen, its wooden hewn surfaces more or less immaculate. Mia wasn't much of a cook, but if you pulled open a cupboard, you would likely find an unhealthy amount of alcohol tucked away behind them. A large wooden table was set just aside of the kitchen area, its surface littered with droid parts. An old hobby of Mia's was collecting and fixing droids.

The Liberator regarded Giinie with her only eye like she was something to be feared. She had never been great with kids, even as a half pint herself she had preferred the company of adults. "Wayii." she muttered "Boots off inside, helmet off." she said finally before turning her back on the girl and moving stiffly back into the centre of the room and settling herself at the table. She was till learning to deal with the pain, it was constantly there, at the edge of her mind thrumming away. Golden prosthetic hands took up the tool she had set down to open the door and got back to work on the driods mother board.

An MSE droid whizzed out from under the table and growled at Ginne, circling her feet rapidly.

[member="Ginnie Ordo"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

[member="Mia Monroe"] wanted her to take her helmet off? Ginnie balked, she shuffled into the place and tried her hardest to think up an excuse. Maybe she had head rash! Maybe! Maybe her helmet didn't come off and she was locked away forever but that was a terrible idea and how could she think of doing that to herself? "Y-yes Ma'am. . . can we go outside then? I wouldn't have to take my helmet off outside would I?" Something about the way Mia held herself told the girl to listen up, buck up and do what the petite yet deadly Mando'ad said.

Ginnie was about to think up another elaborate reason she couldn't take her helmet off, when the MSE droid came frothing at the proverbial mouth toward her.

"Aw you're so cute! Hello little droid!" Ginnie bent down to get a closer look at the MSE droid, taking off her crushgaunts and unbolting her boots. Stepping out of them, Ginnie put them tidily to the side by the door and started to unlatch her helmet. "You sure are a tiny fighting machine, I bet you're great in battle. Is he? Is he great in battle, Auntie Mia? Can I call you Auntie Mia, or! Or I could call you Ma'am... but Daddy told me I needed to start getting comfortable in my surroundings 'cause I'm not gonna get thrown away."

Lifting off her pink buy'ce, Ginnie revealed herself as a bright but worried faced little girl with warm skin and her braids pulled back in a ponytail. Her ears and left jaw were another story: One a Mandalorian probably recognized. The girl's left ear was a mangled collection of scar tissue down to the jaw, the likely culprit some form of napalm. The right ear faired better, but the scarring continued down her neck. Her eyes darted around but stuck on Mia's face. Ginnie padded over to the table.

"Whatcha doing?"

 

[Lina Djo]

The MSE droid didn't appreciate being called cute, letting out a loud BLAAT in protest, before whizzing back to Mia with a series of shrill beeps, moving to quickly it slammed into Mia's foot. Mia let out a cry, and gave the little box a sharp kick. "No, he's terrible in battle. Wires are crossed and he couldn't shoot straight if he tried, but he does make good company when he's not wailing about intruders." As she spoke she watched the girl remove her helmet, aware in the corner of her eye that the MSE droid was having a fit of sorts, crashing into various objects seemingly unable to orientate himself. "He's also at least fifty years old."

Her attention snapped from the droid to Ginnie, her eye running along the scars that marred her ears, jaw and neck. For a moment she said nothing, unsure how to answer the question of being called 'Auntie'. She remembered the Battle of Keldabe, and the bomb that flattened a third of the city. She'd seen a hundred scars like it before, and she would see a thousand scars like it forever more. Images etched into her brain. They might have won that battle, but in Mia's mind, she had failed her people as Mandalore that day. Too many had died, men women and children alike. Blood on her hands.

She blinked, tensing slightly as Ginnie came near, the tightening of muscles invisible to an untrained eye. Ordo would have chided her, but she couldn't help it. The thickness in the girls speech told Mia all she needed to know about those scars, and about the girls keenness to keep her helmet on. Deaf, or at least partially so. The question flew over Mia's head as she relaxed slightly and reached forward to take Ginnie's chin gently in her hands, turning the girls head so she could see the scar properly. Letting go she studied the girl hard. "How much can you hear?"

[member="Ginnie Ordo"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Unable to experience more than the MSE's spastic moving around, Ginnie continued to giggle and stare. The droid was so fun she wanted to name it and give it an obstacle course to play through. "Woa, fifty? That's ancient. . . It's okay little guy. I'm sure you can help in other ways. Like bringing ammo clips to people, or being a distraction to the enemy. Right, Auntie Mia?"

Ginnie tensed, gasping as [member="Mia Monroe"] touched her and took a better look at her scars. Her hands balled and she pushed her lips together in hopes that Mia wouldn't mind, wouldn't find her useless - that for once life would play fair and let her have this too. Seemed this time, the Force had listened and little Ginnie deflated, sitting down with a huff in the nearest chair.

"Sometime I get noises in my right ear. Scuffly sounds like somebody's scratching at a board. Thats it. Got caught in a compression explosion in an ammo vault when I was seven. I got my Mommy out but the vault closed and I don't hear nothing. But! But I'm not useless! I'm not! I can still do things! I can! I can prove it too, I'm a right Mando'ad! I've been in battle, lots of times."

The little girl's face pleaded to be validated, to be cared for and needed. She wouldn't become another shadow in Clan Verd's forgotten ages. She wouldn't get tossed out or left behind. The girl balled her fists, trying to look as tough as possible.

 

[Lina Djo]

Udesiir, verd'ika. Mia's telepathic communication was gentle, despite the rigidity of the woman herself. No one said you were useless.

She winced suddenly as pain rippled through her body. She hadn't used any other force power besides crucitorn and the sudden split in concentration took its toll. Closing her eyes she sat back in the chair, a hand covering her face as she brought the pain back under control. Her hand lowered. "What battle have you been in verd'ika? Hmm?" she shook her head and rose picking up the MSE droid, and setting him upside down on the table where his wheels continued to roll and he whined insessecently. "Keep still, Mouse."

She popped open his casing, and examined the wiring within. Something had disconnected somewhere and after a minute or two she'd found it and reconnected it. Closing the panelling she up righted him and set him back on the floor. Orientated again he began to buzz around Ginnie's feet. "A mando'ade should always where their armour, but there are times when you are not going to be able to wear your helmet. You need something else." Her eye swept over the droid part on the table before her and she began rummaging through them.

[member="Ginnie Ordo"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

The voice that spoke in her head calmed the girl, Ginnie relaxed and hazarded a bit of a smile - as much as she could muster. Still, [member="Mia Monroe"] looked like she was in pain and the child didn't know why. Weren't adults supposed to be tough? "My father used to. It's why I ran away, he said he didn't have another daughter to take care of a deformed wretch. But it's okay now, he's dead and Daddy Ordo found me! So I'm good, right?"

She watched Mia's hands as the woman fixed Mouse, wondering if maybe someday she'd be old enough to try. "I was in the Battle of Torolis, and I fought in the Dominions of Kween and Aduba III and Dirha, oh! And I fought in the Coluseum on Geonosis and won! But I was eleven then. So I've been in battles. I've killed Akk Dogs and monsters larger than starships and I blasted back a Zombie hoard. I'm a real Mando'ade."

Ginnie gulped and looked to the floor then back up at Mia. "Well, I did have some hearing aides when I was younger, but I sold them to buy my ticket to Serenno, where I met Daddy Ordo. We cleansed a Death Camp together! It was really necessary and he paid me to do it, so I could buy my ticket to Mandalore, but then I didn't need to 'cause he took me home and now I have one, and . . . and I don't like going anywhere without my armour. It feels funny to be so . . . so exposed and unsafe. Do you ever not feel afraid?"

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia chuckled as Ginnie reeled off her battle list. "That you are. But its not all about battle, there is more to being mando'ade than fighting verd'ika." Mia decided that Ginnie spoke to much, and her answers were too long, but she didn't voice it, she merely pursed her lips as she picked at different mechanisms, pooling them in the space in front of her so she cold tinker with them. It wouldn't be quite so dainty as a hearing aid but it would do.
Her head snapped up at Ginnie's last question. "You don't get to live a life like mine and not be afraid, Ginnie. You understand what a hut'uun is? Someone who runs from their fear. Mando'ade...we face our fears. No man woman or child is without fear."
[member="Ginnie Ordo"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"What else is there?" Ginnie asked, tapping her feet on the ground as she sat at the table. There were tons of parts everywhere and they must have been important, cockpit on a ship important so Ginnie didn't dare touch anything. She learned her lesson back when she crash-landed an entire Squad on a jungle planet. Ginnie hadn't been taught about more than fighting or preparing to fight and now it seemed she was lacking in every respect.

"You mean you're afraid too?" Her eyes went wide as she watched Mia work. "What happens if we face them and we're too little?" [member="Mia Monroe"]

 

[Lina Djo]

[I am so so so sorry, i totally forgot about this thread]

So many questions, why did kids have so many questions. She pinched the bridge of her nose and wished she's not said anything. "Family and honour. That is what else there is. That is what we fight for. If there is no reason behind the fight, then the fight means nothing." She fell silent at Ginnie's last questions, turning over the pieces in her hands. "Aye, verd'ika, I am afriad, but not of anything this galaxy can throw at me. They've already given me their worst." she picked up the tools again and set to work, small lines of smoke rising from the metal as she melded pieces together.

"You are never too young to face your fears." she peered up at Ginnie. "What are you afraid of?"

[member="Ginnie Ordo"]