9360/WFTDA Meeting: Titan Edition

WFTDA Meeting: Titan Edition
Date of Scene:	30 December 2021
Location:	Metropolis Convention Center
Synopsis:	Hank gets more than expected on his first forray into the world organized Roller Derby. Next step. Making the team itself and perhaps getting some bona-fide talent, if he can manage to track down the Clown Princess.
Cast of Characters:	Hank Hall, Victor Stone, Emiko Queen, Cassandra Cain, Kaida Connolly, Damian Wayne, Terry O'Neil, Kian

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Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank is dressed in a pair of slacks and a dress shirt with a blue tie around his neck. It's a respectable look and he wears the outfit well despite his usual athletic look. But for the Titans the clothes might look a little out of place on him. They definitely look out of place in the meeting area of the large roller-rink where he's gathered those who answered his invite for this meeting.

    "Thank you for coming" he says to those gathered around the room. "This is the first meeting for the proposed WFTDA team of Metropolis. For those who don't know WFTDA stands for Women's Flat Track Derby Association. It's a really fancy name for Roller Derby." He lifts an rather official looking envelope. "Here I have confirmation fromt he League that as long as I can contain those with meta abilities and the physical requirements for team members can be met... we can form a team of Titans," he glances at Cass, "and associates."

    He smiles. "I've already registered the team itself with my name as the owner, but outside of that: name, colors, members... that's mostly what I want to get taken care of here. So... any questions?"

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic is sitting on a bench to one side, taking up most of it as he listens. He raises a brow as Hank lifts the envelope and explains their reason for meeting.

    "Limiters I can do, and most people can tone down the powers to /some/ extent, though I can already tell you Donna will protest. But, umm, /Women's/ Flat Track Derby Association?" He lifts his hands. "Got no problem with that, Hank, but most of the people here aren't women. Are the guys gonna be coaches? Or is the name outdated?"

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko is present and accounted for... and she brought a friend! Cass gets a quick grin as she offers, "Hank's pretty cool to be doing this, and I hope you like it. You'll be awesome at it, no doubt."

Then Vic is talking and raising a good point as she glances around the room before looking back to Hank. She motions for Cass to find somewhere she's comfortable with sitting, and Emiko will join her. Once the pair are settled, she'll focus in on Hank and ask, "With the obligations we have, do we know what the schedule of games is going to be like?"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Sitting to one side, Cassandra raises an eyebrow when she's singled out. She glances back at Hank, her gaze all kinds of pointed. It's really too bad she doesn't speak English, since much of what's just been said is actually pretty esoteric and hard to get from a body language read.

Still, she frowns at one point, then fishes in her pocket. Pulls out her ID, then flicks it across the room into Hank's hand, roughly. She's not THAT perfect; he might have to catch. A quick upnod suggests that it be glanced at.

Cassandra Cain. Home: China. Not Metropolis. If anything she's likely a Gothamite. She's worried that might be an issue?

She's right by Emi, of -course-. Because the girl impressed her, and there's that whole friends thing going on!

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Looking out at the roller rink and then at Hank before looking to Vic, Kaida sucks in a quick breath before sitting down and nodding.

"I will come, for the nachos and cheese." She nods her head, "I say that because I'm fairly certain there are no skates anywhere near in my size and my size is a real issue." She looks down at then up at Hank before shrugging.

"I kinda could only compete if I use powers and so, yeah." She shrugs again and then looks across the table and then looks back to Hank, "Also, where's the Nachos?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Almost immediately the kid in the domino mask raises his hand, a habit learned in his years at Happy Harbor, rather than blurting it out. "Yeah, about that..." Obviously he wanted to play, not coach. Robin had already started to show frustration with yet another avenue shut before it began.

  Look at that, Cass made a friend. A slight smirk lent towards the throw of the ID toward Hank.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"To hell with coaches," Vorpal says, arms crossed and leaning back on his chair with a grin, "Since I can't roll, I thought I would apply for the team mascot position. I volunteer Gar as cheerleader, though, because he is not here." He winks with a mischievous grin, "But if we're looking for coaches, we can always ask a certain Roller Derby superstar and former clown princess to see if she'd like to join the coach roster." He snap-points at Emiko, "Good point, we'll need to take that into consideration. Although I am /sure/ Nadia could make skates small enough for you, Kaida. But your size might make you the most unfair and best Jammer ever. You could just /zoom/ between people's legs before they even know what passed them."

Kian has posed:
    In the stands, Kian and and Kala sit watching.  He showed her a little of the one roller derby he saw with Harley, and that completely quashed any intentions Kala might have harbored about joining in.
    Still, she does have questions.  "Women's Flat Track Derby... you have different sports for men and women?"  She sounds almost offended.
    "Earth is weird," Kian explains, resorting to the all-purpose answer for why Earth does everything wrong.
    "Well, yes, but *really*--!"

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank catches the ID flicked by Cassandra. He looks at it and then at Emiko. "I admit this is going to come of sounding horribly racist... but can you facilitate translation for her of anything she does quite get?" he asks the Queen woman as he flicks the ID back to Cass. His aim is pretty true (years at the shooting range for Metro PD have given him a steady eye.) "You living in the area or not doesn't matter for team association. Trading does occur and contract negotiations are a thing. If you want to play for the team, you can play."

    He then moves on to the other questions posed. "There are a few co-ed teams out there actually. Six in the greater New England area, but the MADE--Modern Derby Athletic Endeavor--is still a subsection of the WFTDA so." He nods to Terry. "I was hoping to catch her for a coaching position but things just didn't work out. I will grab her at a later date if necessary."

    Kaida gets a soft snort. "I think there is a concession booth over there" he says pointing to a darkened booth. "But it's closed for the moment. Who told you there would be nachos at this meeting?" he asks curiously wondering if somewhere wires got crossed for the small, yet mighty, warrior.

Emiko Queen has posed:
"I'm not offended, but I'm afraid I can't help there. I'm Japanese. Buuuuuuuuuuut... I do know a little ASLand I definitely know Morse. So... I'm sure between those we'll work something out." Emiko flashes a grin towards Hank before turning to Cass. She'll try the morse code first, tapping out a basic greeting against Cass's plam, brows lifting, smile on her face. It wouldn't be the most expedient means of communication, but it allow them to talk!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The ID is plucked out of the air, then it goes back into Cass' tight pants. She wasn't looking at the time it was thrown though, she was staring at Damian and grinning wryly. She looks back to Hank though when he actually speaks, then nods as if she caught enough to get by.

However, when Emiko takes her hand to 'tap out' a message, she frowns and reclaims her hand with one eye kind of quirked into a 'wtf' expression. Then she reaches up to tap her knuckles on the other girl's skull, grinning mischieviously!

Victor Stone has posed:
    "Right, cool, so we can all play if we want." Vic grins at Cassandra and Damian both. "Though I think Vorpal would make a great mascot. What are the like... positions, and so on? Who should do what? Besides skating, of course."

    He glances over his shoulder toward Kian and Kala. "People get weird about gender stuff in sports. Back when most professional leagues started /everything/ was really segregated, so sports were too. Like, supposedly because women playing with men would get the women hurt, but honestly I think because a lot of guys couldn't handle getting their butts handed to them by a girl." He shrugs. "If they're willing to let the guys play, then I'm just grateful, although I'm gonna have to practice to be good on not-rocket skates."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "So...what? Can we play or not?" Damian quickly starting to lose his patience. "If I wanted another avenue to be sidelined, I would have stayed in Gotham, or the Tower." He quips, chip on his shoulder and everything, but as Vic adds in, it seems to be equal for all genders, which placates him.

  Then the talk about Cass' communication is mentioned, Damian hops up to his feet and walks over, sitting on the other side of Cass. He talks, but in Mandarin. "You put on skates, and knock into people. Sounds like fun. Without stabbing."

Emiko Queen has posed:
Laughing, Emi raises both hands up, palms out, "Okay okay! Point taken." Settling back down, she nudges Cass lightly with her shoulder and grins, then looks back towards the front where questions are being answered. She glances over when Damian sits down and starts speaking to her, then pulls out her phone to make a note and place an order.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"Excuse me but we are at a roller skating rink. That means there's supposed to be nachos. If roller skating rink, then default nachos." She looks around and then sighs, "If I had a white board, I'd show you how this works scientifically and mathematically but I assure you, a member of G.I.R.L, that I know that this is scientifically sound. There should be nachos." She nods her head before looks to Damian. She blinks at him slowly before looking over to Cassandra and staring at her briefly, her tail whips this way and that as she walks to the edge of the table, her ear twitching once before she looks to Damian.

"You wanna talk to someone about sidelining?" She pffts and laughs, "I mean, honestly, I'm here just for the nachos and there are no nachos."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal snorts, "Like how Victor Sandow couldn't stand being beaten for the title of the strongest person in the world by Katie Brumbach, which is why she rubbed it in his face by adopting the name Katie Sandwina?" he grins at Vic. "I can play for the co-ed matches, and provide mascot services for the other ones. I'm pretty good on skates. Harley made sure to train me on them when I lost my powers... I had to survive being chased by her Roller Derby pack as part of my training."

He laughs, "Of course, this is /after/ she had me try to outrun her two hyenas to train me in the art of evasion. The Harley Quinn School of Hard Knocks is a real experience, but man, I left half my skin behind in the curriculum."

Then the Cheshire raises an eyebrow. "You know. Kaida. Nadia /can/ make you larger. If she makes you about the size of one of us for a match, it isn't really cheating." He glances over at Hank, "What do /you/ think?"

Kian has posed:
    "I saw Harley play this game before, so I will sit and watch," Kian says flatly.  "I have no desire to be pulped."
    But--" Kala begins.
    "They don't have a 'no deliberate contact' rule."
    Kala stares at her fellow Akiar.  "They *what*?"
    "They can slam into each other deliberately."
    "I... but... they..." Kala tries.  "Well, this should be interesting," she finally says, settling in to watch.
    Kian meanwhile giggles at Terry.  "You didn't leave your skin behind.  You dove into a dumpster to get away from them.  I remember Gar hosing you down."

Hank Hall has posed:
    "I'm fine with the whole team being Co-ed. It might make scheduling easier in the long run to be honest" Hank replies. "The co-ed tourney is regional only and seasonal as well. If enough interest is garnered then maybe we give it an expansion. But baby steps."

    He nods to Vic, and notices that Damian is on translation duty. That suits him well enough. "There are really three main positions. You have five players: One Pivot Blocker, shorthanded to Pivot, who starts at the head of the pack. They are the oftentimes the leader of the pack and the last line to stop the opposing teams Jammer." He nods. "Which leads to another position. The Jammer. They line up at the second starting line and begins play at the second start whistle. The jammer's goal is to pass opposing blockers and emerge from the pack as quickly as possible. If they are the first of the two jammers to escape the pack without committing any penalties, they gain the strategic advantage of being able to stop the jam at any time by placing their hands on their hips. Once a jammer laps the pack, they begin scoring one point for every opposing blocker they pass legally. They can continue to lap the pack for additional scoring passes for the duration of the jam. Which for the record, a match is called a 'jam.'" He nods letting all that sink in. "The other three players on the team are Blockers. All blockers may all play offense and defense at any given time and frequently switch between offensive and defensive tasks. The rules do not differentiate the remaining three blocking positions from one another. But as with most team sports there are disgnations and areas of focus for strategic play. Which... to be frank is what my ultamite goal in this is. Team cohesion and strategy. Something I've noticed we could all do with some more of."

    He looks at Terry and then Kaida. "I mean, if you're not opposed to figuring out a limiting agent. I don't know if your strength, speed, and the rest would scale if Nadia inhanced your size. But if we can figure out the specifics... I'm all for it." He grins. "I did propose allowing a more power-focused aspect to things, but it's still in committee and who knows how long that shit will take to work out."

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic nods to Vorpal. "Exactly like that. Hmm... I wonder if my chrome's an inherent... well, no, derby players have elbows guards and shin guards and stuff, I just wouldn't have a lot of that." He listens to the rules and terms, nodding along; this stuff is important, and no less byzantine or strange than any of the other sports he knows. Less so, in a lot of ways. 'You get a point for lapping the track' makes /way/ more sense than, say, American football scoring rules.

    Seriously, why six points and three points and extra points and safeties? /Why/? Once you understand it all kinda makes sense, but /still/. Kinda weird.

    "Hmmm. Alright then. Is there anything that makes a good jammer or pivot blocker? Like, should they be smaller, faster, taller...? Or is it kind of 'you try and see who's good at it'?"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
For all of that, Cass is looking kind of blitzed over here. She glances to Damian and nods, but not in a way that suggests she's actually getting him entirely either. She kind of rubs the back of her head, and sighs to herself. Well, she thinks. This is fun. More wordstuff and mouthgabble.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko glances up with a grin at the question about who makes a good what, glancing at herself, Cass, and Damian, then quickly back down. She pulls out her phone and brings up a video of an actual roller derby match then nudges Cass so she can watch it too if she wants.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Kaida seems rather distracted for a moment longer by Cass before looking over to Emiko. She was about to say something but Emiko appears to be helping before Kaida clears her throat and looks to Hank.

"When I was bigger due to Angel Interference, I could throw a Honda like it were a toy." She nods her head, "So, yeah, I'm pretty sure a bigger me means a lot more power." She shrugs, "And speed." She looks to where Kian and Kala are before hmming and considering their words. She isn't sure just how much violence they'd be ok with but she instead settles back down and pulls around her pack, pulling out half a power bar and starting to eat on it.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I don't see why not- let Nadia figure out how to hinder Kaida's enormous force when super-sized, it'll give her a new project to work on!" Vorpal says, "And I agree, team cohesion is something we can work on, and if it's wrapped up in a game- all the better. Now- who is going to design the uniforms?"

He raises a hand, "Not it. I can already tell people will assume I will make them out of ninety percent glitter, which is slander and unlikely. And waste of good glitter." He glances at Vic.

"Also, Vic's roombas would kill me."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra Cain glances up at Kaida. Not so far up, certainly, but there is a way of doing it and she manages to do so. Then she's watching the little movie, finally starting to understand. Huh. She nods, she thinks. Or not.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian simply takes out his phone, then sends her the same video, sending it to her phone. "Watch that."

  The former short one one looks to the rest and nods, situation normal. At least he perceives. "And to those of us with identities to protect? Are they cool with letting us..." he gestures to his Robin mask, the only piece of his uniform he's wearing. Everything else is just streetwear for a young adult.

Kian has posed:
    "I think I understood blockers," Kala remarks, "although I bet you're going to tell me that it's not the same as in /qihar/."
    "It... kind of is, actually," Kian answers after a moment's reflection.  "Herd opposing players into a disadvantageous position."
    "Oh, well then maybe this *will* make some sense after all."
    Kian chuckles.  "You hold onto that thought.  Although I don't think you're going to get many tactics that will be useful back on Kyshan."
    "We'll see," she says absently, leaning forward to watch.

Victor Stone has posed:
    "Hey, as long as you promise /not/ to have glitter I think you'd be fine designing the uniforms," Vic notes to Terry. "But ohh... that's a good question," he says to Damian. "I mean, not /my/ worry, but it is a worry for some people."

    He reaches up to stroke his chin. "We need a name. And not 'the Titans' because we're already the Titans. Hmmm. The Metropolis... Capes?" That's a lame attempt and he knows it, but it's a start.

Hank Hall has posed:
    "Considering not many skaters use their actual names on the track I'm pretty sure that masks and psudonyms will be just fine" Hank replies with a smile. "How about we move to some actual skating so I can get a feel of how you guys move on the track and maybe get an idea of where you might best fit?" he suggests moving to a bench and slipping off his shoes to start fitting into some skates.

    He looks at Vic. "Getting skates fitted for you might be something we have to work on... unless you got rollers built into your feet." He pauses. "Do you?" he asks before looking at Terry. "Considering I've been working on this for about two months... I've already got uniform designs under consideration. Name, logo, and color are really the only missing things on my list--which obviously go into getting incorporated into the uniforms. But the basic design is taken care of."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"If the designs are all taken care of, then all we need is to do our tryouts and skate. I've got my own, if we're moving on to that phase." He raises an eyebrow, "But I will hear no rebukes about my fashion sense. No glam shaming. Even if they are a little... bright."

Victor Stone has posed:
    "Of /course/ I have rollers built into my feet, how else do you think I do rocket skates?" Vic grins at Hank. "Dunno if they'll be regulation or whatever, but we'll figure that out."

    He looks aside to Terry. "Eveything about you is bright, Terry. If we were gonna glam shame you, we'd just be shaming you."