[Oddyn Vizsla]

Odd didn't care to remove his armour around here; nor was he really separating from his Sidewinder, strapped diagonally at his back. He had just put his helmet over his handle as he had picked up his portion of daily food and headed toward the rows of stools and tables. He took some care not to bump into anyone as he instinctively was picking out Mandalorians in the crowd. Those were likely all of Crusader breed, but he was not sure where his own allegiances lay at this point so it was not a big issue all things considered.

There was a girl without her baskar'gam, but with a blade he could recognise. The big man dropped on a stool before her an put the tray on the table.

"Su cuy'gar. Naritir cuyir mav?" He asked if the place was free not out of courtesy but to learn how much time he had to eat up and vacate it. His own clanhood was hard to mistake. Blue-orange armour and a shriek-hawk on the shoulder.

[Sabine Kelborn]

Sabine was busy shoveling her goop in, wearing only fatigues and her faithful blade by her side, when the armored Mandalorian arrived. She looked up at him.

"Suy cu'gar." She frowned, her limited understanding of Mando'a shining through. "Take a place, no one is in a hurry. Sergeant Sabine Kryze." She said by way of introduction.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Kryze?" He froze, looking at her with sudden flash of alertness. His gloves clenched on the rim of the table away from his own goop as his pale eyes focused on her. "Why here?" The irony of a Vizsla asking a question like that was not lost on him, but he decided not to speak out outright. He needed to know more.

[Sabine Kelborn]

"For duty." Was her terse response. She eyed him up and down. "Republic military." She stated for added measure.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Oddyn Vizsla." He finally said. Her terseness met with his confusion. "Doesn't matter it's your clan you're fighting?"

[Sabine Kelborn]

Sabine shrugged. "Never knew them. Dad was exiled. Don't know any of them, and they seem like a bunch of assholes. Vizsla? That's like another clan, right?" She put her spoon down, for now.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"It is indeed."

So then name meant little to her. She was wearing it like a dress. The blade too? He shrugged mentally. Not his place to judge. He'd had his own portion of self-important Mandoa who wanted to tell him how to live, or how he should understand the Six Principles. And yet, here he was. If a Vizsla could fight alongside the Republic, a Kryze could fight Kryze.

"They're a bunch of besom. So you don't mind if I be killing them?" He said coolly.

[Sabine Kelborn]

Sabine nodded simply, then gestured to the mostly empty table. "Want to sit?" The man seemed to wear intensity like a... beard. Wait, he already had a beard. A huge one.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Elek." He conceded, then leaned down and back, the orange-metallic helmet rattling slightly on the handle of his minigun. "Aliit ori'shya tal'din." He said to himself as much to her. This fitted both of them in different ways. Family is more than blood. "Have you crossed fire with any other Kryze already?"

[Sabine Kelborn]

Sabine scooted a bit to allow more space for the man. "No. Met a Toboga, who had second thoughts. You seem you know about the clan?"

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"The Toboga swore to the Vizsla once, but they can't be trusted." He released the table and took off the armoured gloves, careful not to trigger vamblades to spring out. Then he reached for the spork. "About the Kryze? I know enough. I've fought with and against many a Mando over the years." There was more to it, but he didn't speak out. Gesturing toward the meals, he smiled faintly. "Haili cetare." (Fill your boots - Eat up).

[Sabine Kelborn]

"The Toboga swore to the Vizsla once, but they can't be trusted." He released the table and took off the armoured gloves, careful not to trigger vamblades to spring out. Then he reached for the spork. "About the Kryze? I know enough. I've fought with and against many a Mando over the years." There was more to it, but he didn't speak out. Gesturing toward the meals, he smiled faintly. "Haili cetare." (Fill your boots - Eat up).

Sabine listened. "So I assume they broke off from your clan." She started to eat some of her goop, eyeing the gloves and weapons. "Any particular reason for fighting the other Mando-s?" She took another spoonful of nutritious goop. "Haili cetare."

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"They've scattered and wasted themselves? I don't know what Papa Vizsla or Shae think about them. Knowing Shae, probably nothing good." He mused between bites. "Sometimes it's just one employ versus another. Last time was last year, when we retook Mandalore. Not relishing it usually, when there's no father to train sons and daughters strong. But you know how it is, mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore." (Pressure makes gems, ease breeds decay).

[Sabine Kelborn]

Sabine continued spooning her goop. "Hm... I see. No other Vizsla joined you?" She asked between bites. "How is Mandalore doing?" She thought of it, and she felt a great divide, mentally. She gently shook her head, and continued eating.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Here? No. I have a personal business here. In fact, I doubt my kin approves." He sighed and pursed his lips for a moment, washing them with water with some nutrient dissolved in it. "Corso's doing a good job, I guess. The system is controlled, and that Kryze could launch this attack is a good indicator that we're gaining strength. The worry is always the same. To unify Mando'ade you have to coax the Mandoa to not do what they want. Some stragglers from Ordo, Cadera or Kelborn are unlikely to sign up. And there are guys like me who need to do their own thing from time to time." He stroked his beard, looking at her. "Just like you, I guess. Republic military, huh. That's like giving up on the idea of an independent Mando'ade wholesale from where I look at things." He observed her more attentively. "But I am no politician nor your father to tell you what's right."

[Sabine Kelborn]

"By stragglers you mean the Schism?" She asked as she took a sip of water from a plastic cup she had. "My dad tried to tell me what's good for me. Didn't work." She shrugged. "Way I see it, Kryze and at least some other Mando-s are fighting to fight. To gain glory." She made air quotes around glory. "Those are not things worth fighting over, in my opinion."

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Yeah, but I don't like that capital letter I am hearing. It's like admitting outsiders can cleave a permanent wound in the Mando'ade that is never gonna heal." He frowned. "To be a father is a hard job. Raise your boys strong, but girls stronger. Many fail at this key precept, and I am not surprised yours have." He took a deeper sip of semi-clear liquid. "Hence I've not sired children yet. Raising them is one thing I don't want to fail at, and I need to settle some things before I can focus on that."

He pondered. "If they wanted to add Bankor to the Mando'ade, i'd understand that. But for that you need to govern better than what we're seeing. So what are the things worth fighting over for you? If your family suddenly got more patriotic than destructive, how you'd feel about that?"

[Sabine Kelborn]

"They mentioned an oath to fight for the Republic they are keeping to." She stated simply, taking another spoon, then looked him in the eye. "I have no idea. I don't know them. I don't know what they would stand for, besides themselves. Here? I am fighting for those who cannot. Those who make the galaxy a better place in another way. I am fighting so that others won't suffer." She shrugged. "I fight because I don't know nothing else, but want them to know something else."

She took another spoon. "So you're saying Mandalorians are terrible fathers." That one seemed to fit the bill.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Everyone needs to know how to fight for themselves. If you do it for the people here, you are taking away their instinct to defend their families. Once they believe there'll always be some savior coming from the interstellar space when they screw up, they're done with. I don't know if a father who gives up defending their child is any better than one that fights for the sake of fighting." He took another bite. "That's what Resol'nare is for, to know when to stop and focus on the next generation. I have little love for dar'manda."

"I am not saying that though, that all Mandoa are poor fathers. My father has brought me up well, and I want to do no less for my own." He looked at her blade at the hip. "But you have a beskar'gam to care for?"

[Sabine Kelborn]

"Surprising it may seem, there's more to this galaxy than fighting." She took another sip of water. "I'm glad for you. I really am. Doesn't mean there aren't more bad parents out there." She put the cup down, and eyed her goop, but didn't take another spoon. "Aye, one inherited from my father." She pushed her food around a bit, then looked up at him, eyeing his weapons, but didn't respond yet.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"So it isn't all bad. Maybe he hasn't done a terrific job, but hasn't screwed up everything either, leaving his beskar'gam behind for you. Raising progeny as Mandalorians is the baseline. Do you feel you are one in principle, all things considered? Commitment matters more than blood." He, on the other hand, eyed her curiously, smiling faintly when she said she was glad for him. There were many unpleasant memories in him, but the purposeful hardship Papa Vizsla subjected him to was infinitely better than purposeless, hopeless plight of his earlier years. "If so, what kind of? What's beyond fighting for you? Some legacy you'd like to leave behind?"

[Sabine Kelborn]

"So it isn't all bad. Maybe he hasn't done a terrific job, but hasn't screwed up everything either, leaving his beskar'gam behind for you. Raising progeny as Mandalorians is the baseline. Do you feel you are one in principle, all things considered? Commitment matters more than blood." He, on the other hand, eyed her curiously, smiling faintly when she said she was glad for him. There were many unpleasant memories in him, but the purposeful hardship Papa Vizsla subjected him to was infinitely better than purposeless, hopeless plight of his earlier years. "If so, what kind of? What's beyond fighting for you? Some legacy you'd like to leave behind?"

Sabine poked at her goop. I honestly do not know." She replied. "Sometimes... other times I want to be far away from you guys." She shrugged. "Still familiarizing himself. As for legacy... I want to leave people happy. I want to know that my actions made their lives actively better, that when I die, people will remember me fondly, rather than in derision." She looked up at him. "What about you? What's your desired legacy?"

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Who are those people you'd like to make happy? Random people? People on your way? What makes them more deserving of your help than those on paths you didn't take? You can't mean all people, that would be ridiculous. If you want to help some people, that's fair. But you need to answer two big questions: who and how. And with them the most important one, why."

He stroked his beard in thought. "I get where the doubt is coming from. It's hard to feel Mandalorian without living the culture, seeing its precepts at work in the right way. Maybe you should visit the system, Sundari, Concordia, Kalevala, see for yourself what Mando'ade stands for, and then make up your might if you're part of that, or not. You won't get the truth about Mandalore through Republic lens. The Republic is not interested in an independent Mandalore."

He met her gaze. "I want to settle some old scores. Then to marry and have children, and raise them as Mandalorians. If marriage with children is not my fate, I'll adopt a child and raise him or her all the same. Individually, that's the greatest virtue a Mandoa can pursue, to ensure that the culture lasts through the next generation. That my beskar'gam is not junk after I die. Ideally, I'd like to do it in a free Mando'ade. So if by the time I march away into manda Mando'ade stands independent, that'll be good enough for me."

[Sabine Kelborn]

"Who are those people you'd like to make happy? Random people? People on your way? What makes them more deserving of your help than those on paths you didn't take? You can't mean all people, that would be ridiculous. If you want to help some people, that's fair. But you need to answer two big questions: who and how. And with them the most important one, why."

He stroked his beard in thought. "I get where the doubt is coming from. It's hard to feel Mandalorian without living the culture, seeing its precepts at work in the right way. Maybe you should visit the system, Sundari, Concordia, Kalevala, see for yourself what Mando'ade stands for, and then make up your might if you're part of that, or not. You won't get the truth about Mandalore through Republic lens. The Republic is not interested in an independent Mandalore."

He met her gaze. "I want to settle some old scores. Then to marry and have children, and raise them as Mandalorians. If marriage with children is not my fate, I'll adopt a child and raise him or her all the same. Individually, that's the greatest virtue a Mandoa can pursue, to ensure that the culture lasts through the next generation. That my beskar'gam is not junk after I die. Ideally, I'd like to do it in a free Mando'ade. So if by the time I march away into manda Mando'ade stands independent, that'll be good enough for me."

"All people. My life wasn't good. If someone else's better, I'll be happy, even if I don't even know they exist." She shrugged, once again. "Will I get the truth about Mandalore from the Mandalorians though? We all like to lie to ourselves, is my general impression." She took a spoonful of delicious, delicious goop, then took a sip of water. "If Mandalore goes independant, what then?" She pointed the question at him before moving in.

"Those seem noble goals." She stated simply, first. She remembered her dad. "I think my father was more concerned of me avenging his shame." Her mood sombered, and she looked away from the man for a moment, before returning her gaze. "Well, here's hoping both of our dreams come true."

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Yeah, we do that a lot, lying to ourselves. But listening to others is a hard bargain too, or watching them. I try to stick to my guns most of the time, especially when someone tries to sell me a story about a better world than the one I've seen so far." He chuckled. "And yes, the irony of this conversation is not lost on me. I guess the glorious Republic, the independent Mando'ade, the liberation of Bankor, are all such stories we choose or choose not to believe in. I believe a sector-wide Mando'ade would be just enough to preserve our ways regardless of what the Republic or the Empire might think of it. A place I can call home rather than pretend that a hypothetical abode on Nar Shaddaa I get back to having whored myself in Hutt employ is one. Or barracks like these." He sighed, taking a sip, then looking at her as if he tried to guess her thoughts. "I'd like to cheer your ideals but I really can't. You can't help everyone, Sabine. First because knowing how to help requires time and learning and you're just one person who doesn't have all the time in the world. Just doing things you feel are helpful may be very destructive. Second if you choose to make someone's position better you empower them against their enemies. You can't erase the history of animosity between various sentients. Third, if you help all, you will also help those who are greedy, murderous and abusive and will use their betterment in ugly ways." He titled his head. "I get you want to make a difference, leave a positive mark. To be humanitarian. To remove some bad guys so that good guys have better lives. But do you think those are the calls you can make and be right just like that?"