Warnings: Minor Character Death (Corpses), Child Death
Characters: Marvin the Magnificent, Ferr Magniif (OC), Minor Background OCs
POV: Ferr Magniif

(( I wanted to write when Marv was found by his clan; it's from the leader's POV instead of his since he was pretty little at the time. This was partially just to do some study on his species and to give his clan a little more life (hah) ))

Keeping her blaster close and body low, Ferr's eyes scanned the settlement just beneath the ridge she was perched on.

There was nothing left. Just felled tents, destroyed crates, bodies. Bodies everywhere. Bodies of pirates, and bodies of the Cathar villagers. Men, women, and, god… She felt her stomach twist when she noticed even children laying down there, motionless.

She'd gotten in contact with the settlement to trade goods—some good blasters in return for ship parts that Clan Magniif needed. She'd never expected to arrive to…

"Sir?" One of her men—Mili—had the scope on his helmet down in front of his visor. He was shaking his head. "Only getting some small energy signatures—probably from droids or computers that managed to make it."

No smoke. Nothing was smoldering.

Ferr activated her jetpack; the four accompanying her followed suit. Down, down to the settlement, weapons poised, heads on swivels. Her boots crunched in the dirt when she landed, and when she toed at one of the dead pirates, the body was stiff. Stiff, and cold, and its eyes already decaying, and no smoke from anywhere, nothing.

She shook her head. "Happened a few days ago."

Simon snorted from her left. "I thought Cathar were warriors."

"They are." Mili was kneeling at another pirate's side, prodding at the obvious claw marks in his face. "And they clearly fought. But they wanted weapons for a reason."

"They were Bantha fodder just waitin' to be slaughtered." Sarla put her hands on her hips. Even with a helmet, Ferr could picture the sour expression on the older woman's face as she scanned the settlement. "Warriors or not, these people didn't have much a chance against armed pirates."

"I've never liked pirates," Mili growled as he pulled himself back to his feet, kicking one of the offending bodies for good measure.

Ferr couldn't agree more. "That makes two of us."

"Slippery bunch they are."

"Cowards, the lot of 'em."

Glancing back at the youngest member of their party, Ferr frowned. "Sisto, you're awfully quiet."

"I keep getting weird readings." They put their scope away, offering a shrug. "It's probably just broken again. Sorry."

"I'm surprised these people even agreed to trade with us." Simon had wandered off and found a broken…something, that he was tossing from hand-to-hand carelessly. "You know, after what our people did to theirs?"

Ferr and Sarla glanced at each other. It was the older woman to speak first, "Kid, the Mandalorian Wars were long before any of our times. Generations ago. If we can help each other out, then why not?"

"Hey, just saying. Our ancestors did almost make their entire damn species go extinct."

Mili just shoved past him to check under one of the fallen tents, while Sisto grumbled something mockingly under their breath. Ferr just felt a spark of irritation. "You complain an awful lot about our history," she noted. "I'd be careful about that."

He missed the chunk of metal in the next toss and it clattered off behind something. "That a threat?"

"I lead this clan. If I ever feel your loyalty wavers, I'll gladly remove you from it." The unspoken "one way or another" hung in the air between them.

Simon snorted, but said no more. They both knew which of the two would win in a fight, so now he'd tuck his tail and keep his head down for a while to avoid one. Ferr could only turn away and to start searching the rubble, but she could practically feel Sarla trying not to laugh in the man's face.

Mili had already broken the other man's jaw once before when he'd pressed just the right button. Ferr even had a bet going with her second on how long it would be before it happened again.

"'Ey, boss, what're we even lookin' for now?" Sarla picked up the remains of what looked like a glove, dropping it when she realized the hand was still inside. "Place is picked clean."

"Whatever—" Movement made her stop short and poise her blaster instead. When she turned to Simon—had he thrown something?—he threw his free hand up and shook his head. His blaster was also readied, and Sisto had their scope down again, the blinking light on the side telling Ferr that they had it in its infrared setting.

"Maybe it's not broken…" they mumbled. "Something's here. Didn't get a good look at it."

"Scavenger?" Mili suggested. He had both hands gripped tightly around his electrostaff, purple electricity sparking at its ends.

"It was pretty small. Animal, maybe."

"Womp rat?"

"Not everything is a womp rat, Sarla. …And aren't they big?"

"They aren't even on this planet, so what's that matter?"

"Keep your guard up," Ferr interrupted. "Look for anything useful we can take back."

Ferr managed to find a well-stocked toolbox. She nodded approvingly, but dropped it when Sarla and…someone else, she didn't recognize the voice, started shouting. Well, the new voice was really more shrieking.

"Aw, he's just a little tyke!"

"Sarla!"

The older woman was holding the child by the back of his shirt while he kicked and clawed and hissed at her. His eyes were wide—Ferr could see the whites even from where she stood—and, while her Catharese was poor, she could tell his vocabulary was limited. Kid couldn't be more than a few years old.

"Sarla!" she repeated, more forcefully that time. "You're scaring him!"

"I'm not doin' nothing! Kid's just a spitfire!"

Holstering her blaster, Ferr pulled her helmet off as she approached, keeping her body low. The kid only looked at her wide eyes as he curled in on himself, feet dangling uselessly as Sarla held him off the ground.

She had to wrack her brain for the language she didn't know well, and she knew it wouldn't sound right—she couldn't growl like the Cathar!—but the moment the words came out, the little guy relaxed a little.

"We won't hurt you. You're okay." Ferr opened the pouch at her hip, pulling out a nonperishable food stick that she held out. "Are you hungry?"

He snatched it up greedily as soon as he was set back on the ground. When she offered a second, it was gone just as quickly as the first. They didn't taste any good—poor guy must be starving.

"Sisto," she murmured softly, not wanting to startle the kid, "I thought Cathar had siblings?"

"Littermates," they agreed. "He likely has at least one other sibling his age."

Ferr didn't know the Catharese word for littermates, so she asked instead, "Brothers or sisters? Where are they?"

"Papa told us to hide." His voice was squeaky, so she wasn't surprised that the growl to accompany some of the words startled Simon. The kid had retracted his claws and started chewing on his fingers. "Mm… They didn't listen."

"Did the pirates take them?"

He shook his head and pointed at the body of a Cathar male—Ferr noticed that, like the child, he had a heart-shaped mark on his forehead. He was curled around two tiny bodies.

"The mean men made them sleep! They don't wanna wake up so they're sleepin' with Papa."

Poor kid didn't understand… Maybe that was for the better.

Ferr held out a hand and he grabbed it curiously. "My name is Ferr. What's yours?"

"Marvin." He giggled, swinging her hand and picking at her glove. "You talk funny. And look funny."

"Don't think he's seen a Human before," she said to her companions—the boy only tilted his head when he couldn't understand her switch to Mando'a. Then, in her sloppy Catharese, she answered, "That's a very nice name, Marvin. I don't know your language very well, but maybe you can teach me, and I'll teach you mine?"

"Really?"

Glancing back at the bodies of the kid's father and littermates, Ferr nodded. "Yeah. Your papa wants us to take you with us. We can train you, and teach you things, and those mean men will never hurt you. How does that sound?"

"What about them?"

"We'll let them keep sleeping." Ferr reached down for her helmet, slipping it back on while the kid tilted his head. She brought a hand up to ruffle his hair (mane? it was thicker than Human hair). "You'll get a helmet like this."

"I will!?" He was grinning.

Their armorer would really have to work to craft one to fit his bigger, pointier ears and flatter nose, but, "Of course you will! We'll make sure you feel right at home."

Their first foundling in some time—the last had been found a few years ago and had recently turned old enough to get her first helmet. Ferr stood, picking the kid up and holding him close—was he purring?

"He's not Human," Simon muttered.

"Our founders weren't Human," Sisto snipped back. "It's unusual these days, sure, but not impossible. As long as he embraces and respects our culture, he can be as much a Mandalorian as the rest of us."

"'Sides!" Sarla leaned in to inspect the kid—he'd tucked his face against Ferr's neck. "Only different between him an' us is he's got fur and—" she held up her gloved hands as if they had claws, "—built-in weapons. What Human Mando ain't gonna envy that?"

"As with any foundling, he'll be treated as our own." She rubbed her hand over his back and he started purring again, hugging his arms around her neck and playing with strands of hair that were loose from her helmet. "Mili, you've always wanted a kid, right? Why don't you take him under your wing?"

While she couldn't see his expression, she could certainly tell that the larger man had perked up at that.

When she activated her jetpack, his arms tightened, but she shushed him, held him securely. "It's all right. I've got you."

He was so young. Ferr wasn't sure he'd even remember what had happened to his tiny village when he got older. That didn't matter—he'd be treated just like any other member of Clan Magniif.

Marvin. Little Marvin Magniif.

That had a nice ring to it.

AN: at this point I think I'm taking bits of Mando culture from various places. This AU definitely isn't based in any one comic/show/the movies and is kinda it's own thing