#<- quote from that one mando who thought it was gross that echani barely wear any still remains in my mind

[eorzeashan]

Shae and Eight are a funny pair to me bc I absolutely think Shae stomped up to the Alliance and went give me all your best warriors and every head turned to Eight in the middle of eating a sandwich who then proceeds to make this face bc he was so close to having a long break from work

Also, since Echani are historically Mandalorian rivals, I feel as if the move to take on an Echani as an ally in the middle of a Mandalorian civil war looks very controversial as if Shae is willing to use help from anyone even if it's shameful because she's so desperate to win/have overwhelming strength on her side, even if it means selling out to old enemies. Shae however, is rather contemporary, so she doesn't care about how it looks traditionally--he's one of the most skilled of their ilk, incredibly effective against other Mandos, and from the Alliance and that's all that matters to her.

Eight on the other hand, does feel a bit out of place, but he gets to make his ancestors proud and slaughter a bunch of bucketheads, so he's more than willing to finally fight an enemy that wants to die like warriors. He's not doing it out of his own interest though--Lana definitely sent him to keep an eye on those "predators" and possibly assassinate either Mandalore if needed, but that's not a high priority on his list and he deferred to Shae mostly since she made it clear she just wanted a good hunting dog to accompany her. And that's what he does best: kill who he's asked to, and protect.

Even more dog motif! Funnily enough, Vizla is the name of a bloodhound breed. So they're both just barking at each other, wolfdog and bloodhound. This is why Eight hates talking though. Every time he speaks up, someone goes "I'm not listening".

As charged as it feels to have her as his temporary leader, they work well together, especially since Eight prefers a no-nonsense make-myself-clear person of authority to just use him without frills attached. The posturing and social game of the usual Sith back home was more than a headache, and her directness makes it easier for him to not have to make decisions where they're not asked for or needed. Unlike Lana, who makes so much effort to try to appeal to him that it annoys him that she'd pretend to be his friend instead of getting to the point. Which isn't her fault for wanting to be close to her right hand, but to him it feels very mixed-- that she can't decide whether to treat him like a person or a weapon.

On a tangential note, I really like the idea of Eight interacting with Mandos a bit more than I did my first run; I feel as if the shared history between them and his own people makes for mutual curiosity and his odd appearance really uh, shone in the midst of all the armor.

In other words, I think Shae's mando camp all started petting him en masse.