Longest after Kyle horribleness

[alphatar]

[When the feed starts, Korra is sitting back against her spinny-chair with her hands dangling from the arm rests. Whether she's bored, tired, lost in thought, or all three is anyone's guess. Her armband is cut, exposing her skin underneath, and it's splattered with a dull red. She's chewing on a really small, but very thick strip of jerky.]

A lot's going on right now, it's kind of hard to keep up. There's a lot of new faces. Well, new to me anyway. [A simple hand wave.] Hi, I'm Korra; but I'm sure someone's probably told you that.

Anyway, I just wanted to say if anyone's freezer is too full or just having too hard of a time handling those tribble things I can help out. Or if you just need some ice, I’m selling bags of them, cheap.

[The living area behind her is surprisingly tribble free and there is a brown and white furry covering on the chair she's in. Taking another bite, she points at the screen and her lips turn into a thin line, eyes narrowing.]

And whoever keeps beating me at mahjong, THIS ISN'T OVER. [Seriously.]


[Video 30% Encryption; Mako]

I'm going up to the turtle's head soon, do you want to go?

Comments

[apologiesmyking]

I was not aware that such games could be played anonymously. [At least not games that do not involve keeping your eyes closed.]

[alphatar]

Sure, you can use whatever name you want when you play. So whoever keeps using "guest1337" as their name keeps winning against me. I always end up on the short end of the stick.

[And that's not what she's used to, so it's important.]

[apologiesmyking]

It is a difficult game to play? [He has never heard of mahjong before.] You sound very skilled to play it so competitively.

[alphatar]

Oh, mahjong’s easy to pick up after a game or two, but when it’s played competitively with time constraints on turns; puts a lot of pressure on your thinking.

[Korra chuckled.] That’s because it’s usually a small group of players on the network, so it’s pretty easy to look good. I didn’t even read the rules, just picked it up as I played.

[She pointed at him and playfully asked him.] Think of stepping into the arena?

[Of tiles, runs, high scores, and maybe even tears.]

[apologiesmyking]

Similar to chess then? [It's one of the more tactical games he's become aware of while living on the surface.] I do admit to enjoying games of time and strategy and having excess of time in which to occupy myself. But I would rather learn the rules before attempting.

[alphatar]

I don’t know? [Korra furrowed her brow trying to remember any game called chess, and nothing even came close.] But it has some luck, but strategy and quick thinking are what really counts.

[Only way to find out if it was like chess.]

Do you have to arrange tiles in a certain order to make a run? The bigger the run, the higher your score, and the first person to get rid of all their tiles wins. Extra points if it doesn’t take a lot of turns.

[apologiesmyking]

Ah, no. In chess, it is more like each player has a set of pieces designed to be like a military campaign and the purpose is to take as many pieces from your opponent using your own pieces and eventually capture their King. Each type of piece can only move in a certain way across the board.

[How curious.] For being games of strategy they sound quite different.

[alphatar]

Yeah, that one sounds a lot more serious, like some kind of war. This one’s more like a race and you’re using your tiles to outrun your opponents.

[Korra’s eyes widen as she looks at Kaldur.]

Hey, you’re a waterbender! [At least, that was her conclusion since he could manipulate water and use it to heal. He may have said sorcery, but she heard waterbending.]

Maybe you’d like to learn about pro-bending? [She was listing off possible players in her head. While she knew what Lin’s answer would likely be, Korra humored herself anyway by picturing it. And Mako, well she knew he would be all for it. Others not from her world, like Kaldur, had powers similar to bending. It may have been crazy enough to work.]

And maybe we could play a game if we got a couple of teams together!

[apologiesmyking]

[Her burst of enthusiasm throws him off a bit and he stares in confusing while trying to think of what she means. Did she mean professional bending?]

I did not realize that bending could also be used as a form of partnered competition that way. How does the game work?

[alphatar]

Oh yeah! [Her affirmation about the existence of pro-bending was in a deep, relished tone.]

It’s really popular back home. [When she heard the question about how the game works, her eyes widen and her cheeks bulged out by her smile.] You should write this down.

[Korra took a deep breath before plunging into her knowledge of pro-bending.]

Okay, so there’s three people on one team. It has to be an earthbender, firebender, and a waterbender. Two teams face off against each other in a long arena with ropes around it except for the ends and it has six zones. The teams start in the two zones in the middle.

The object of the game is to use bending to push all three of your opponents back into the other zones. That’s called gaining territory, because then your team advances in your new territory. If a player is knocked off the back of the arena, they’re out for that round and can’t come back until the next one.

There are four rounds and they’re three minutes each. The team with the most territory wins that round. If your team manages to knock all three opponents off the arena, that’s an instant win! All four rounds have to be played because that could happen even though it’s rare.

If you get a foul, or penalty, you have to move back a zone. Multiple fouls could get you thrown out of a round or even the whole game.

Water is provided for waterbenders under the grates that separate the zones. Waterbenders can only use water from the divider between their zone and the opponents. Using water from anywhere else results in a foul. Water can only be bended for one second. Any longer and it’s a foul. Waterbenders can only use water, ice/steam/mist is illegal and will result in a foul. Headshots are allowed with water.

Earth is provided for earthbenders by earth disks that are in each zone. Earthbenders can only use the disks in their current zone, using a disk, or earth, from anywhere else is a foul. Earth disks cannot be broken up before using them, that’ll end up as a foul. That includes using or creating dust. Once a disk is broken, it cannot be used. Doing so will be a foul. Metalbending isn’t allowed, that’ll be a foul. Headshots are illegal with earth disks, that’ll be a foul.

Firebenders cannot use fire for more than one second, any longer and it’s a foul. Headshots are illegal with fire and will be a foul.

Damaging the arena isn’t allowed and would be a foul. Knocking a player over the side of the arena instead of the end will result in a foul. Using bending against anyone other than the opposing team will result in a foul.

If there is a tie, one team decides on an element and benders of both element must face against each other. A coin flip determines which team gets to decide. There is a round platform large enough for only two benders, the first one to knock their opponent out of the platform wins.

[After she’s done, Korra purses her lips while still somehow managing to smile.]

Doesn’t that sound AWESOME???

[apologiesmyking]

[She reminds him a great deal of Wally and M'gann in how openly enthusiastic and engaging she is. She speaks with not only her voice, but her body and it is a little overwhelming for him, but he takes it in as much as he can, listening intently. This sport sounds very important to her. When she finishes explaining it, he thinks over how she described it and the different rules.]

Only a second seems rather fast to react properly, but intriguing. Time constraints do push us to meet our own potential faster. I would not mind observing one of these matches or participating once I'm sure I understand it well enough. Do you believe we have enough people here for one?

[alphatar]

I know my boyfriend and I can do a tie-breaker kind of set-up so you can see the basics of it. He and I were on the same team back home and we made it to the finals! I don’t think Mako would mind an exhibition match. It’ll be like when we would practice.

[Already Korra had gone through how and where she would get pro-bending gear made. Durable like the ones back home.]

I think I need to talk to him about helping me get that together. I think after we show it to other people who might be interested and having something similar to the powers needed, we could have enough to make some teams. Could you imagine if we had enough to make a little tournament with some kind of prize?

[Everything Korra missed about the sport could possibly happen here.]

[apologiesmyking]

A tournament would be interesting indeed, if others also show interest. If you would not mind, I would be honored to watch a match between you. [He had already been intrigued by her discussion of bending so this allows him to get a closer look at it and compare it to the sorcery of his own people.]

[alphatar]

Mind? No way! This is going to be great, you’re going to love it. When we get it set up, I’ll see about doing a network post and send you a message.

[As soon as she had finished her sentence, Korra was half out of her chair to head to the door and go to Mako’s suite. Luckily she managed to catch herself and look back at the console.]

Doing it right now, talk to you when it all happens!

[She waved at Kaldur before cutting the feed, eager to get the plan in motion.]

[apologiesmyking]

[Kaldur will just be silently chuckling to himself at her antics and wondering why he may have just agreed to.]