Rian, who'd been reaching for the pitcher to refill his glass at exactly the wrong moment, refilled his glass and joined Sheila in a slightly late toast, looking faintly sheepish as he did.

Then he sat back, staring into the middle distance.
After a few moments of contemplative silence he suddenly said.
"Know what I've never tried? A jet-ski.  You think they have jet-skis here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:29, Sun 28 Apr 2013.

Kimy shrugs.  "The custom is to drink to the fallen companions.  Since we didn't know your family, it makes it a bit hollow, but I'll drink to you, Heigrin.  You might not be the smartest guy in a fight, but you're the scrappiest."

Without waiting, Kimy stands and holds up her glass towards Heirgrin and downs her (non-alcoholic) drink and sets it down with resolution.  "Now, who's going swoop riding with me?"

The air was getting a bit thick for her.  She was here to decompress from the recollections of their efforts, not dwell on them.  She certainly didn't want to add insult to injury to the others, but she wanted to go feel the wind in her face, not the tears in her eyes.

Arin slipped in, apparently having refreshed himself in his room before his appearance. "Ah, you guys started without me. Well, I'm pretty much up for getting all dirty again by riding a swoop, if anyone is willing - I'd love to get some more clothes on the way, though."

"You can keep your swoop bikes thanks, not my idea of fun.  Though what are these jet skis you speak of Rian?  I've never heard of such a thing."

"I might have to catch up to you later as I believe Janine wanted to buy me a private drink."  He knew the offer had initially be for him AND Arin but he'd be just as happy with the two of them alone.

"You knew the frog, though," Flash points out, nodding to pseudo-Kimy.  "He was one of us when he died.  That deserves a toast, even if you didn't know him long."  He shoots a look at Arin but, perhaps surprisingly, doesn't say anything.  Instead he raises his glass in silent toast (again) and drinks.  "Hey, kid," he calls, flagging down the Zabrak when he draws nearby.  "Swoop tracks.  Know of any around here?  They even legal on this planet?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:58, Mon 29 Apr 2013.

The glass-getting Zabrak stops short as Flash calls him.  He looks the group over a bit nervously but shakes his head, then nods, then shrugs.  "It, uh.  If you're after some swoop action it's gonna depend on what kind you want.  I mean there's legal businesses for it but the best swoop action's out in the southern suburbs.  Couple of gangs tore a big hole in the city a few years back," he says, warming to the subject, "mostly with bombs.  Gang warfare, right?  One gang came out on top, then the local law strolled in and pulled them apart bit by bit with rocket launchers 'n stuff.  So there's this big section of buildings that's come down.  Civil engineering's still trying to work out how to pull down the dangerous bits and salvage the good bits."  He shrugs.  Maybe he's pausing for breath.  The kid talks fast.

"Anyway," he adds, collecting two glasses from the next booth over, "there's a section that's got these big jagged chunks of building poking up in the sky like burnt metal talons.  They call it the Claws District now.  Well, people do.  The bureaucrats still call it Seventeenth Row.  But there's swoop races out around the Claws every now and then.  More swoop gangers than engineers out there but the law's given up trying to chase 'em out.  Long as they're only killing themselves the law's turning a blind eye."  He leans closer to the table and says sotto voce, "If you ask me, right, I reckon some of the higher-ups in the bureaucracy got bribed to turn that blind eye."

Then he leans back and nods slowly, meaningfully at the group, giving them a shrewd look, as if they've been initiated into some kind of conspiracy theory.  More likely he's just a bit weird.

Heigren looked at the kid with renewed interest.  Whilst he had no interest in actually racing, another possibility had raised itself.  He spoke quietly to the kid, conspiratorially.

"So if there's organised races, I assume there's somewhere one can bet on these races?  I'm no swoop jockey but I'm always up for a wager."

"Oh yeah," he nods, "real big wagers for the bigger races.  There's a few jocks got a lot riding on them."  He looks about ready to continue talking but the bartender calls him over and he gives a shrug.  "Gotta get working.  Have fun."

Kimy listens to the information from the waiter and then gets ready to leave.  To Arin, she adds, "Okay, let's get you some clothes then we'll go check out the Claw district."  To the rest, "Anyone else want to join us?"

It seems almost too coincidental for comfort, they're Talons and the torn up area is the Claw district....

"Hell yeah, I'll come." says Rian, enthusiastically. "I gotta educate Rathon here on why he's totally, utterly wrong for thinking the JR-4 is anything other than a pile of outdated junk...  the RT-7?  Now THAT is a classic."

And so spoke up another swoop enthusiast.  Or possibly just an engineer.  It was hard to tell the difference.  Either way, (friendly) battle lines were being drawn in the 'which swoop is best' war and it was obvious that Rian and Rathon were going to be on opposing sides...

Rian turned to Vyn and asks the zeltron.  "We're here for a while - Jet-skis later?      You know - if we're not busy arranging Rathons funeral after his JR-4 explodes underneath him..."

"No problems Rian.  I'm going to go and find some fun on this planet.  If you guys do find some races comm me and I might come watch you guys kill yourselves while I wager on which of you blows up the most spectacularly."

JAnine shook her head, Swoop bikes were not for her.  She didn't gamble much either.  She scrolled through ad pages on her padd, looking for something interesting.   Although she though maybe just for the first night, she might stay in, relax, catch up on all the holovids she'd missed while out there.    She looked at Vyn. "Looks like it just might be only us that don't go in for bugs in the teeth.  Anything you might like to do, nothings striking my fancy off the ads.  The rest of you have fun."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:39, Tue 30 Apr 2013.

Heigren flashes a killer smile towards Sheila.  "My dear Janine, I'm sure I can think of several entertaining things to do."

Janine started to laugh at Vyn, his grin showed so much promise.  "And you guys will come back to find us passed out from too many games of Monopoly.  A grin like that can only mean  a night of wild board games."  She winked at Vyn.

"Oh, come on, Rian. You can't compare the two. And sure, Air-2, Flare-S and Overracer might be faster than the venerable JR-4, but they lack the panache and the durability." Arin grinned. "And JR-4 just needs some tuning up and it's just as fast as the newer ones."

Heigren shakes his head and consults his datapad.  "What I was thinking was starting with hitting a local spa.  Haircut, full body massage, electrotherapy treatment.  Then to a local cafe for something called a. . ." consults his datapad again, "icecream sundae with hot fudge and Corellian vweilu nuts.  From there it's shopping at the best botiques on planet for some new clothes, dinner at the best seafood restaraunt I can find with a fine assortment of wines.  Still trying to pick a good show for this evening, there's so many things on.  I've narrowed it down to a Twi'lek ballet, Ithorian opera, a full symphony orchestra or a comedy act."

He looks mischeviously at Sheila.  "Of course if want to stay in and play this Monopole thing, I can go alone."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:47, Wed 01 May 2013.

Rian rolled his eyes theatrically. "the fates preserve me from people who think they know about swoops."   he said to no one in particular.

He began ticking off a list on his fingers. "The Air-2 goes rusty if you so much as have sweaty palms whilst riding, the Flare-S is the only bike I know that comes with a built in fire extinguisher as standard - cos they KNEW it would catch fire sooner or later and the Overracer has more in common with the TIE fighter than you might think - they're both built from tinfoil, made as cheaply as possible and need ejector seats."

He paused for a moment, thinking.  "Sure, I'll grant that the JR-4 can be as fast as any of them, but to make it stable at those speeds you're going to have to overclock the lateral repulsor coils.  And if you get that wrong, we're going to be burying whats left of you in a shoebox."

Rian turned to face the group in general and spread his hands.
"Anyone remember that film with the cyborg assassin in it?  The Storminator?  Remember that one line from it?  'Get on the bike if you want to live?'"  Getting a few nods in return, Rian pointed dramatically at Rathon "If it's HIM saying it, you're better off walking."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:18, Wed 01 May 2013.

"Ha. I'd like to see you race in some of the races, I flew in as a kid. And besides, I know how the repulsor engines work and how to tune them. And I also know how to compensate while flying after someone else has botched the job in tuning them." Arin was grinning. "Haven't buried me yet. But I agree with you on what you said of the newer ones. Perhaps I should just get parts for building a swoop and not bother with commercial models."

Janine downs the last of her drink.  She felt her eyes crossing from the current argument about swoops.  Although if she was going to move back into flying, she needed to learn more on the repair side of it.  Just because.   But building the things she flew had never really interested her.  FLying in space, that was her thing. "Spa sounds wonderful.  I could go for any of those shows."  She turned to the others.  "Enjoy yourselves, don't die, don't find yourselves on the wrong side of the law, you are all irreplacable,  your government needs you for your next job.  I'm going to go stay out of trouble with Vyn here, when he's done with his drink."

Kimy rolls her eyes.  "You boys sure are talking the talk, be interesting to see if any of you can walk the walk.  Maybe we ought to have a race, keep it in the family, find out who earns the bragging rights."

"I'm all for a little friendly race, sure", Arin said. "I know I'm good for my word - but what about Rian? You want to put your credits where your mouth is?"

Rian grinned and shrugged "Sure, after all - whoever looses can always claim they were riding a crappy bike.  Let's do it."

OOC: Whoever's heading to the Claws District, feel free to post there (Act 5.1) now.  The trip takes about ten minutes and there are both rented vehicles and public transport that one can take; being a devastated hulk of buildings that can't possibly be any kind of 'safe area' hasn't stopped the taxis going there, it seems.

Once they were alone, (and the original check was paid) Janine smiled at Vyn.  "Well, if I'm gonna buy you a drink, it should be what you prefer.   You can order something now, now or I can treat you later."

"Oh most definitely later.  I'm too eager to get going.  You know, I have never set foot in a salon, or a high class restaraunt in my life.  I've waited long enough I think."