Nathan chuckled at the light-hearted exchange between Dr. Bunny and Sunglasses Guy.  He flies over to a nearby small bar.  The lights are on, but the place has been evacuated.  Inside it looks like Chewbacca got his hands on a lightsaber and fought off four thugs.  Two were beheaded with a clean, burning cut, one has a caved-in face, and the last one has a poorly patched-up broken nose.  But he's still breathing.

---

OOC: Irony of ironies.  In Byron's custom-made d6 system, one cannot spend a force point to add damage dice to an energy weapon such a blaster or a lightsaber.  But one can add dice to their strength damage with a force point.  So in the SW game Nathan was in, he would one-shot bosses by smashing the butt of the lightsaber into their face.

"Nathan intends to knock out boss face with a butt-strike.  Spending force point.  42 damage.

"That's a difference of 18!  You killed the boss in one hit!  But you used the force to kill someone..."

"The intent was to knock him out."

"Fine.  No darkside points for caving a guy's face in while using the force."

Serenity simply gave Gib a bunny hug. No suplexes. She kisses his cheek. "Good to see you again, Gib." she says in a genuine tone. Then turns to Nathan and follows him.

When at the bar scene, Serenity looks around. "..." She goes to the caved-in face man to make sure it just looks worse than it ewww... yeah he's done. She then checks on broken nose man and quickly fixes the patch job, injects the guy with a sedative so he won't wake up from the pain, and sets the guy's nose bone.

Serenity proceeds to loot the bodies, check I.D.'s and take whatever cash the dead dudes had on hand. "As for why I called you, Gib... it had a dual purpose. One, I finally found you again after all these years, so I wanted an excuse to meet up with you. But the other reason is I'm chasing a guy and I figured, based off what I found out about you, that you might wanna tag along and help me."

  Gib doesn't blush, that would be crazy-wait, he is? Oh.

  He takes Serenity collecting her doctor bill in stride.  "I get the feeling you aren't chasing him just because of some debt dodging." "

  He looks over to bird boy, and comments ""I'm assuming they swung first." " and that it was the only swing they got.

  OOC: Sounds about right for The Force morality, yeah.

Bird Boy is a little surprised that his new aquaintences take the grizzly scene in stride much better than the person who made the mess in the first place.  But then, she is a doctor.  And he is a sunglasses guy.

The thugs have a decent amount of money on them, but little in the way of I.D., as one might expect from slum extortionists.

Nathan nods.  "I'm usually thicker skinned.  But today's the anniversary of...  the murder of a loved one.  So I answered their taunts.  They answered with weapons.  Now they're dead.  I'm such a screw-up.  What did master see in me?"

To Serenity he answers, "Thanks for helping.  I owe you one.  Sorry I don't have much to offer in repayment.  Um...  Except maybe advice?  I'll bet these guys' boss is going to try and have you killed for helping me.  Prolly best if you leave this area."

Serenity frowns, looking at the carnage before looking at Nathan. "Thanks for your concern, but I'm here looking for a fugitive and I intend to find him. If this boss somehow figures out you were responsible, he'll go after you. If he goes after me, well... tell you what. Why not stick with Gib and I? Strength in numbers, as they say."

She looks back to Gib. "...assuming you don't mind, that is."

   "They would have to know in the first place." He looks to the scattered limbs and one, unconscious, survivor.  "Or be in any position to know."  Which of course, isn't to say there won't be further people after them for being near the guy.

  "I can handle it for now, though some better details on just who we are dealing with would help.  'Fugitive' doesn't exactly narrow it down around here."

Nathan squirms bashfully.  "There were...  a lot of witnesses.  And the walls have eyes and ears down here.  So I'm sure someone saw you patch me up.  So yeah.  I'll be tagging along.  If for no other reason than to make sure you don't wind up killed just for being kind.  They'll probably attack from behind.  So I'll be bringing up the rear..."

He's sure to leave enough room between him and the others that they won't get caught in the blast radius of any grenades that get lobbed at him.

Serenity nods and looks at Nathan. "OK, sure. But let's play 'get to know you' while we head out. You tell us a bit more about yourself and then we'll share what we're after so you can help us. I'm Serenity. I'm an ex-gangster. Know my way around the streets and can hold my own in a fight. This is Gib, I'll let him describe what he is."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Thu 17 Dec 2015.

  Thermal Detonators are overrated if you can't manage installing a timer on a concussion grenade anyways... We think... it wildly varies from writer to writer whether or not you can blow up an entire fortress just by throwing it down the garbage chute.... what IS it with duct systems in Star Wars?

  "I'm sure Serenity has better overall medical experience, but keep me in mind if lose something they can't glue back on with bacta."   Well, that and the custom barely legal blaster business.

Nathan follows along.  He's a bit surprised by both Serenity and Gib.

"An ex-gangster named Serenity.  Who became a medic.  I wonder if a name change came with the change of occupation.

"And a prosthetics specialist who looks like a bodyguard.  It's a step up from the company I usually keep at least.

"I'm Nathan.  Today's the anniversary of the day when my Jedi teacher gave his tfe to rescue his sorry excuse for an apprentice.  Now I'm just a sorry excuse for a drunken sculptor."

Serenity says, "My parents named me Serenity. It's not a new name for me. I'm ex-gang because... well most of 'em died and the rest scattered. Starfall's my last name too. Me, my dad, my siblings... all of us have some form of shooting star pattern on our fur." she points at her ear. "I've got two m'self. One on the left ear and on on my right leg. Anyway, Gib and I are here tracking down a bad guy by the name of Sharidon Thornrage who's laying low in this area. I'm just about positive he is within a 5 mile radius of here. And I'm also positive he has little choice but to stay put for a bit. So I've got a window of opportunity to catch this guy."

Serenity pauses to face Nathan. "Sorry excuse? I dunno... you at least have the drunken part down. And I'd have to see some of your sculpting to judge that for m'self." She keeps walking. "So why say those things of yourself?"

  "Probably closer to 'you won't wake up with less body parts than you started' than specialist, but that's quite a high bar for around here."

  He does have some tact.  He's not making jokes about how talented he is carving, like at the bar.

  Why yes there is a distinct lack of personal details volunteered, go figure.

"Oh...  Sorry if I sounded rude.  You're um...  I appreciate your patience.  This Thornrage guy must be super terrible.  What'd he do?

"As for why I berate myself...  Master was a good man.  Devoted to protecting life.  Not exactly honoring his memory by putting myself in a situation where I wind up killing people."

He looks to Gib, confused.  "Huh?  So...  your occupation is to refrain from amputating?  Oh I get it.  You're a general surgeon who's good at saving damaged limbs.  Why so cryptic?"

Serenity nods to Nathan. "Acknowledging your failure is the first step to overcoming it."

She stops in her tracks and holds out an arm to the others, peering around a corner. "Zeta thugs..."

DC You Win If you Feel Like It, Zeta is a crime lord who lives in this area. His gang is all about cybernetics and showing how superior such is to organics. They usually just bully non-cyborgs (or poor cyborgs who can't afford better parts) and lord over them. But some of them can get too excited and go overboard, permanently maiming the people they bully. To which they usually say stuff like "now you can see how right we were when you get a robot limb to replace that now-useless one".

   "I just met you, and the only thing I know about you is that your body count makes you feel bad. I'm going to be vague even for me sharing personal information."

  Oh, Zeta Thugs.  Nathan probably won't feel as guilty chopping off their mechanical limbs, then. Convenient.

  "I'm assuming there is more to it than them just standing there. Are they working with Sharidon, or just in the way."

Nathan nods somberly to Serenity.  To Gib's answer he ohs, blushes in embarrassment, and humbly bows in apology, keeping quiet lest the thugs overhear.  He's heard the name Zeta before, but not the details.  Nathan readies his lightsaber and moves forward to take point for the doctors in case things get ugly.

Serenity says, "Wish I knew..."

One of the thugs chuckles and says, "Oh my. My inferior cybernetic audio receptors totally didn't catch any conversations coming from just around the corner. I'm completely unaware of people spying on us."

Serenity facepalms. Then steps out. "Well? Do you have anything to do with Sharidon Thornrage?"

The guy responds with, "Oh! Look! It's a bunny rabbit! Hey... we can test out those cybernetic legs against her barely-standing, wobbly organic legs."

  Could be worse.  Could be leet speak and hammer hands.

  "You grafted untested product?  It's a wonder you didn't get them put on backwards, if you're that trusting with your limbs."

Nathan stows the lightsaber.  These thugs haven't made any threats yet.  He steps out beside Serenity and tries to defuse the bomb Gib dropped.  "Your concern for their welfare is admirable, Doc.  But I get the feeling that they were challenging our champ to a vertical jump contest."

He addresses the thug.  "She's dead set on finding Sharidon ASAP.  I'd bet money she'll agree to your contest if you agree to tell what you know about him."

The thug and his buddies laugh and oooooo at Gib. "He just clowned you, man!" "I know, right?" The guy then looks back to Gib with a broad smile and says, "Haven't tested them against a leppi, dork-face. People rumor nothing jumps as high or as far as a leppi. Ha! Ha!"

Serenity says, "Nonsense. Anyone with half a brain knows that a machine designed for a specific purpose is going to out-do its biological counterpart at that specific function. But my friend here is right: Tell me where Sharidon is and I'll be happy to let you out-jump me and gloat all you like."

The thug laughs. "Let me?! Ha! I can out-jump you any time I want!"

Serenity says, "But you can't make me jump. In which case, you may as well only be bragging that your legs can move."

The thug looks annoyed. "Well... at least she acknowledged machines are superior..."

  Serenity's legs would clearly look better in either case, but Gib has just enough tact to not bring it up.

  "Though I am certainly better off than I was before, I prefer replacement as needed, rather than recreationaly."

Nathan is relieved things haven't gotten violent yet.  But he's looking a little lost.

"Woah.  You replaced your own legs with cybernetics?  Dang, Doc.  That's badass.  What happened?  Speeder accident?"

He looks back to the thugs.  "Even if your mod is well known to be better at jumping than the best athlete of your species when in top condition, there's other angles to look at.  Do they perform better than a leppi athlete?  Even if you allow for the height difference?  That'd be incredible if they can.  So your contest would be fun even though we all already agree cybernetics are better overall."

Thug face says, "....psssssh fine. Sharidon is trying to hide out with the Killwatchers. They apparently "owe him one", so he's cashing that in."

Competion ensues with cyberpunks cheering the guy on. Serenity leaps amazingly high (a good 4.5' into the air without a running start) and amazingly far (about 27 feet). These are olympic athlete levels for normal humans, but jumping is kind of one of the leppi things.

The cybernetics let the thug leap 7' into the air and 35' on the long-jump. He wins by quite a margin, but is sufficiently impressed with the leppi jumping capabilities.

  See Gib, this is what you get for being nonspecific even OOCly. Not like you've been used often enough for them to remember your entire 'LOL species with no eyes gets cyber eyes' gig anyways.  Though it's the price you pay for everyone not instantly knowing you're said species and openly stating it in Empire territory.

  He doesn't bother to correct Nathan either way.  "I wish they merely had a thing against timepieces, but that wouldn't be inconvenient enough."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:24, Fri 05 Feb 2016.

Nathan is surprised the thug knew anything, much less spill it before the contest.  He's very impressed with both Serenity and the thug's cybernetics.  "So now we know just how out-of-the-ballpark better cybernetics are.  Impressive.  I'm thinking flame detailing would be fitting.  And thanks for the tip.  Where would we find them?"

He chuckles at Gib's comment.  "Yeah.  Pretty much."
This message was last updated by the player at 19:08, Mon 08 Feb 2016.