Calamity || The Mandalorian

forty-six

Kasia hummed cheerfully as she made her way up to the bookie taking bets for the upcoming fight, slamming a stack of credits on the table with a loud clank.

"100 credits on the wom-"

"What are you doing?" Din's voice was unamused as he appeared at her side, the child on his heels, and grabbed her hand, evidently not very pleased with her attempts to lose them in the crowded cantina. To be fair, she had done so only because she had known he would stare down at her with this very look of disapproval.

Kasia turned to face him with an innocent smile, not bothering to remove her hand as she instead laced her fingers through his, absentmindedly running her thumb down the back of his hand. "Gambling," she informed him in a very matter-of-fact manner. "You know. My profession."

Really? I thought cheating was your profession.

She rolled her eyes, unperturbed by the jest, "Same thing."

At the utter nonchalance of her tone, Din stifled the chuckle that rose in his chest. Instead, he forced a small sigh. "We don't have the money to waste any on chance," he reminded her dryly, still slightly irritated by their lack of funds. In all his years of bounty hunting, he had rarely had so little money—though he supposed it was to be expected with two extra mouths to feed and an uncollected bounty.

At the reminder, however, Kasia merely made a face at him, her beautiful features contorting in confusion. "Who the fuck said anything about chance?" Not giving Din a chance to respond—or chastise her for swearing in front of the kid again—she nodded over towards where Cara Dune stood stretching with a smirk on her face, readying for her impending fight. Kas's voice was quiet when she spoke, lowered to ensure that the bookie wouldn't be able to overhear. "Cara is completely confident that she can beat him—in fact, she knows she can. And honestly, he seems to know it too, despite his own shows of, erm, confidence."

Indeed, the crowd gave a large whoop right at that moment as Cara's opponent flexed his muscles, a snarling grin on his face as he stared down the ex-shock trooper he was about to fight. Kasia rolled her eyes at the show, knowing full-well the male's true trepidation regarding the fight.

Despite her murmured words, Din couldn't help but stare down at Kas in slight incredulity. "Cara's a great fighter, but he's two times her size."

"I can literally read their minds, Di- Mando," she retorted with a low snort, smirking as she stared up at him, nonplussed. "Can you?"

Din said nothing for a moment as he continued to stare down at her, reading the confidence in her eyes and stance. Finally he sighed, relenting as he recognized the futility of continuing the argument; Kas wasn't going to budge anytime soon, and she did seem fairly certain.

Grinning widely, Kasia squeezed her Mandalorian's hand once before turning back to the bookie with a bright smile and placing her bet.

Five minutes later, after watching Cara absolutely annihilate the alien's ass, a smug Kasia made her way back through the crowd to the bookie to collect her winnings, the child in her arms, while a sulking Din sought out Cara.

"Looking for some work?" Din asked in greeting, the modulated words grabbing Cara's attention.

Surprise momentarily flitted across the woman's face at the unexpected visitor before she chuckled softly. "Mando," she greeted him, her voice wary but friendly, and she pocketed her hard-earned money as she sauntered over to a nearby table, "I wasn't expecting to see you in these parts again so soon." The woman paused for a moment, a thought occurring to her. "Where ar-"

"In. Your. Face," Kasia grinned widely as she slid into the chair next to Mando, thrusting her sack of winnings in front of his helmet. From her lap, the child babbled happily, giggling as he too pointed up at the Mandalorian.