Owner	Pose
Kian	Really, Kala has been pestering Kian about getting a game together almost since they first arrived on Earth.  And really, Kian has had no objection.  /Qihar/ has been an obsession of his since he first fledged.  But this was going to be something completely other -- the first match played with non-Akiar participants.     Gar counts as Akiar.  He's had his First Flight.     Since it's winter, and since they haven't got a proper safety net, the best thing to do was hold the game in the cavernous Da--uh, Practice Room.  The field generators are set to catch anyone in an uncontrolled fall, and sensors to indicate when anyone is flying outside the range of a normal Akiar.  Actually, they're set to have more forgiveness than Kian has let on and won't flag anyone until they get to about 120mph.     On the bird side: Kian, Gar (in Akiar form), Shiri, Keth and Kala, each with two blue ribbons clipped to their belts that will hang about half a meter past their feet in flight.  Representing Team Wingless, Diana, Donna, Vic, Jon, Nadia and Kaida, all with red ribbons.  On the floor, Vorpal to assist with catching anyone in an uncontrolled fall that the room might have missed, and almost certainly to provide commentary like a feline Howard Cosell.  Maybe more of a How Odd Cosell....     "I know I haf explained the rules before," Kian says.  Absent the translators, his accent has only marginally improved.  "But please remember -- no intentional contact, no powers except to fly, and no flyin' faster than a normal Akiar.  I can not use my /rhy'thar/ in the game, it iss an unfair advantage.  It was long ago decided that /rhy'thar'yw/ are not allowed in /qihar/.  I am not the first one with powers to want to play," he concludes with a small smile.     He waves Kala forwards.  With the translator Donna provided, she sounds more fluent than Kian.  "All right.  Decide among yourselves who's going to be the hunters, and who's going to be the blockers.  The most agile flyers should be the hunters; their job is to try to grab the ribbons.  Blockers are there to protect the hunters, and herd targets in their direction.  You want two hunters on your side.  Kian and I will be the hunters on our side."  She flicks a glance at Gar.  "Of course, if a blocker has a chance to grab a ribbon, that's fair game, but that's not your priority."  She has the bearing of a general commanding her troops -- she's been coaching /qihar/ for some time.     She faces Team Wingless.  "Any questions?"
Terry O'Neil	The Cheshire cat can't fly, of course, so he is on the floor, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest, and a grin. He is still pretty darned loopy from all of the holy magic, but he is doing his best to be on his best behavior. "... this is the point where someone hits me for asking where the golden snitch is, right?" he says quietly, fully expecting someone to throw /something/ at him.
Garfield Logan	The sight of Gar as an Akiar is not new to some, but it is to others. Back when Kian was first introduced to the Titans, it was Gar who helped break the ice by becoming one, helping to communicate with the alien and give him something that was at least familiar. Since then, he's spent a fair amount of time as one, flying with Kian, learning some of the Akiar ways and customs, even meeting others of his race - such as Shiri, Keth, and Kala. Playing /qihar/ with them, on their world, and impressing them as well? It was like a bonus. Green, feathered wings flex as they extend and tuck back in place, Gar's body type very similar to Kian's like this. He's of a more proper Akiar size, which makes him a little more than half a foot shorter than the Titans know him as, and he's dressed in matching fashion as they are. Rubbing his hands together, one finger less than a human's on each hand, he grins. "So, you guys ready to have some fun? Trust me, it's familiar but different with the flying and all that."
Donna Troy	"HUNTER!" Donna calls down from the air, where she's soon afterwards accompanied by a klaxon. Donna has spent the last several minutes testing out the speed limit tagger, and it has been noisy. About half her time in the air she has been accompanied by a floating red circle indicating an air-speed breach.     Thankfully she stops and drifts down to hover low over the ground. "So, hunter means I be fast and grab the ribbons from people, right?" She asks Kala. "Only not /too/ fast because you Akiar in Team Wings don't want us to play to our fullest ability and embarrass you all, right?" There's a broad, teasing grin. It isn't the first time and probably won't be remotely the last.     "And blockers are basically just to get in the way of the opposing team's hunters, and be twisting and turning on the spot to avoid their own ribbons being snagged? Is that about it? Is two hunters and three blockers the rule, or can we change that if we like? And how's it determined if a blocker is hunting, or a hunter blocking?"
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	Nadia has been limbering up, doing her stretches. She is surprisingly flexible if one doesn't know the history of where she grew up, though likely not surprising at all to the Titans who have seen her in action. Of late, ever since the adventure through Tartarus she has also been focusing on taking better care of her health and working out more, even quitting caffeine, rather than just leaning on the enhancements she was given as a baby to keep her in shape. "I should probably be a hunter." Nadia offers, looking at the other members of her team. "Everyone else is far better at taking a hit than I am and aerial acrobatics is one of my specialties." Even as she notes this, the bio-synthetic wasp wings extend from her back and she begins the next phase of warmups with some aerial acrobatics practice. Not being allowed to adjust her size is a distinct handicap, but that's far from the only trick up the young scientist's sleeve.
Jon Kent	"So they're hunters and blockers? And that's it. No ball?" That detail confuses Superboy (the Jon Kent one, from the future) who's tying his ribbon on one of the belt loops of his ripped jeans. He's also wearing a Superman hoodie. Donna's breakdown earns her a grateful smile. "Okay then. I can be a blocker unless someone else wants to."
Victor Stone	"Think I'm probably best as a blocker," Vic comments with a grin. "This seems like flag football without the ball. And flying." He's already done some testing of his own flight, and limited the rockets that let him fly to not exceed 120mph. Look, he's gonna push the limits as far as he can.     "I think it's diplomatic to give the visitors a chance, Donna," he adds as he hovers himself back into the air with his limiters engaged, checking on his ribbons. "We've got home field advantage and all."
Diana Prince	Diana appears in the doorway, wearing a red baseball jersey with a stylized 'Themysciran Eagles' logo on the chest, her hair tied back with a red baseball cap on her head, the same logo adorning it, with the number 1 on the back of the jersey and side of the hat. "Blocker!" Diana says, holding up a hand as she grins at everyone. The Princess strides in and lets her eyes roam over the others within the room. "I don't know the rules, but blocker sounds fun from what I overheard. I was only told 'come for sports'." She grins as her bag is dropped off her shoulder and set off to the corner of the room just past the entrance.
Kian	"You're overcomplicating things, Donna," Kala says with, it must be said, a somewhat condescending smile.  "Your role is your primary job on the team.  But if a hunter has a good opportunity to block, or a blocker a good opportunity to grab a ribbon, that's just smart play."     Kian grins at Vic.  "It may be the Titans' field, but it iss our game!"  He taps a button on the main console; a whistle blows, and Kala and Kian rocket towards opposing corners on their side of the room while Keth and Shiri take up defensive positions halfway up, ahead of their hunters.     "When the whistle blows again, the game begins!" Kian calls out, sounding unusually excited.
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan takes to the air as well, making a pass around the field of play to get himself familiar with the way it's laid out. "Just remember no intentional contact, hunters mainly chase other ribbons, blockers help protect them and can take ribbons too if they get a chance. You'll catch on quick!" he encourages. Passing by both Kian and Kala, he gives them a wide grin before they take up their spots, Shiri and Keth move into a guard-like position, and then Gar himself splits the difference more toward the middle, allowing him leeway to go toward either side. Waving down, he adds, "Hey, Princess!" to Diana herself, looking between the two Themyscirans as he notes Donna as well. Then he circles Vic once he's airborne and taunts, "Ready to get your butt whooped?" It's kind of their thing, trash talking and all that.
Donna Troy	Donna greets Diana with a huge smile and a wave. "Just in time Di! We're gonna play this crazy bird game. You have to fly /super/ slow, like no more than a hundred and twenty. Tie those ribbons to your belt. The aim is to snatch ribbons from the other team, and don't let them snatch your team."     She finger-guns Nadia. "Yeah! You and me as the hunters. We're gonna run rings around them. Put those wasp wings of yours on turbo and lets get at them!"     She launches herself up in the air to adopt a position in the 'court' roughly opposite Kian's, taking guidance from how the more experienced team are arraying themselves. The overspeed klaxon buzzes on her way up. This could be a slow game.
Diana Prince	Diana moves to the flags shown and she begins to hang them from her belt around her waist. She gets them all on one by one before looking up and waving to Gar with a smile. "Hey!" She says happily. Once the flags are on though, the Amazon Blocker lifts up to the air and floats upward to join her team mates, or who she assumes are her teammates! "This is fun. Like Barry Potter." She gets the name wrong... Donna is used to that with her and pop culture. When the whistle is blown though, the Princess just looks arounjd quickly as she tries to settle in to the new game here! "Oh gosh. Oh gosh..." She says nervously, following it with a melodic laugh.
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	Nadia finishes her warmup routine of aerial acrobatics and begins tying the ribbons to the utility belt of her Waspette armor. "Turbo? I can do turbo! Even air breaks!" When you can customize your ability to fly with SCIENCE! degree of maneuverability is a matter of choice. "Hi, Diana!" Wonder Woman gets an enthusiastic wave when she arrives. When the other team makes ready and takes their positions, Nadia too launches into the air loosely mirroring them. It's her first time playing and while several possible strategies are already turning over in her mind, for now it's probably best to mirror the experienced players. "Vic, let's show them the power of TEAM SCIENCE!"
Jon Kent	"Hey, Diana!" Jon waves down at WW, whooshing over to his position on the aerial court. He's a blocker, so he's behind Nadia and Donna. He holds out a fist for Cyborg. "It's great to finally meet you. I'm Jon."     Addressing the rest of the team, "We totally got this, guys!"
Bart Allen	Bart Allen come by to check on his friends to see whats going on, seeing they are in the practice room, playing a game, he will head to get some snacks, and puts his feet up from the control room, to watch them for a bit.
Victor Stone	"Ohhhh," Vic says when Kala explains how the roles work, "it's /basketball/. But with flags. And flying. Okay, that's way easier than I was thinking." He waves to Diana as she comes in. "Heeeey, Diana! And yeah, I vote we're Team SCIENCE! Instead of 'Wingless.'"     He aligns himself opposite Gar and gives his friend the kind of look he often gets when they're about to compete. "You're going /down/," he says, though it's more for the other team in general.
Kian	"Nobody iss going down!  No body slams!" Kian calls down.     Anything further he might have to say is cut off by a shrill whistle.     Kian and Kala immediately dive to the attack -- and if anyone wondered where Kian learned aerobatics, this is it.     Kian dives in a wide swoop towards Nadia, breaking off at the last second to come up behind Vic and make a grab for one of his ribbons.  Kala takes a more direct route towards Diana, assuming that the Earther she hasn't met before is going to be an easy mark.     Oh well, no one said the birds can't be overconfident either.     Keth sees where Kian is going, and flits upward to block Vic and hopefully keep him within reach of his brother; Shiri plays more of a waiting game, holding off to see where she's needed.
Terry O'Neil	The Cheshire Cat grins, "Hey, Bart, do you think body slams should be allowed in a modified version of the sport? Maybe we should play this game with full powers once Kian's family leaves... I already call team Donna for me." "Alright, let's see how good the pretty green bird actually /is/" he winks, "should we bet? Loser pays for the after-game pizza."
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	"I have wings, we can't be team Wingless." Nadia calls back to Vic, "That just makes no sense." She flashes a grin at Kian as he comes for her, "Body slams are far from the only way to send someone down, not when flight and air currents are involved." The Waspette initially flies backwards in reverse when Kian soars towards her, because that is something her SCIENCE! wings can do. When he changes direction to go after Vic though, she is quick to pounce! Twisting in the air and demonstrating an incredible level of acrobatic control, she races after Kian snatching at his ribbons even as he snatches at Vic's.
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan just grins at Vic and motions for him to 'bring it,' then he veers away. He knows that a hunter could be coming for anyone at any time, and that blockers need to keep other hunters off his hunters, but also that blockers can steal a shot at a ribbon whenever they see an opening. Doing so could leave a hunter unprotected, but could also turn the advantage toward your side. For the time being, he paces himself by keeping tabs on both Vic and Donna, expecting those two to be making moves of some kind. But, Nadia is also a capable flier, as is Donna, and..well, everyone in the air is good at it. Kian feints, Kala simply goes straight ahead.
Diana Prince	Diana observes the quickly approaching Kala, and it makes her laugh as she sweeps away from her at the last second! The Amazon does a tumbling roll in the air before she sweeps her body around to try and avoid the grasp for her ribbons! "No! I need these!" She says in a jovial tone. Her eyes sweep over to her own team mates as she tries to help guard them, chasing after them to block them from being attacked too! "This feels like a hive of crazy wasps!" Diana shouts then, with a smile sent Nadia's way.
Donna Troy	Donna holds her place for the longest time -- well about three seconds, but that's pretty good going for an impetuous Amazon. The she takes off, upwards. She's almost at the ceiling when she rolls and turns into a dive, aiming to come between Kala and Diana, intercepting Kala's approach from above to hurtle down a foot or so in front of the Akiar, head first.     The angle of descent is positioned so that she's coming from outside Kala's immediate field of vision, and Donna's trusting that the Akiar's focus on the 'easy mark' who's turning out not to be nearly so easy could be distracting. She's aiming to pass Kala at arm's length -- her arms, not the arms of the smaller alien.     Donna's timing is impeccable. The motion of her arm as she grabs one of the ribbons hanging from Kala's belt is a blur. But there's no cheer from the Amazon, rather there's a.... *WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!     And, indeed, the Red Circle of Shame is floating over Donna's head, with a speed readout in the middle showing she peaked at a hundred and sixty three during that dive.     "Oh come on!" Donna objects, grinning too wide for her objections to be as serious as she makes them sound. "This thing is far too sensitive. I can't have been going that fast for more than a second or two. It's a fix! Who programmed this thing anyway?"     She swoops back up, grinning, to hand Kala back the illegally taken ribbon.
Jon Kent	Jon joins the fray as soon as the whistle blows. It's a too-slow start, but he quickly readjusts to keep up with his teammates. He doesn't have the experience of the assembled fliers, but he's observant (is he allowed to use his super senses?) and can process the shifting positions of players well.     He blurs over to Kala and Diana, snapping his arm out to catch the attacker's ribbon before she can flee. If Diana won't go for the kill, he will!
Bart Allen	Bart Allen will see the foul and frown. He ended up coming down into the room, and with him is a couple lawn chairs, a grill, and a truck tailgate that he puts across two of the chairs, cause it is called tailgating after all. "Oh come on, if your going to play at slow motion, you should at least allow the body slams." He says as he is now wearing an apron that says Kiss the Cook, and has the grill heating up.
Victor Stone	"I just meant you're gonna lose!" Vic protests. The distraction is enough that he doesn't rocket away fast enough, and Kian manages to grab one of his ribbons. Ack!     He twists away, more agile in the air than his size might indicate, and follows Diana and Donna to try to hassle Kala, coming up behind her as Donna fouls and hands the ribbon back. "Too bad you don't have limiters, Donna! But yeah, how's /gravity/ count against us?!"
Kian	Kian does not gloat; he just keeps moving.  Taking time to savor a score is a good way to get scored against yourself.  He cants upward -- and then without warning plummets to get away from Nadia, fast enough that the room's safety protocols nearly come into play.  Instead he peels off and across the room, going up the far wall to choose his next target.     Kala re-fastens the ribbon and smiles back.  "You're not used to having to keep within our limits, Donna -- but now you know the computer is always watching!"  With the barest flick of her wings, she's away, going low and coming up behind Nadia in the hopes she's still pursuing Kian.     Keth peels off and joins his sister, and the both of them take up positions to cut off the back wall and limit escape routes...
Terry O'Neil	"It's no use, Bart, they are not going to hear our superior wisdom in entertainment. Mind you, I've neve rbeen good at the team sports thing. I was in the swim team at school, so there wasn't any of this coordinated stuff, just 'swim fast and get out of the way'." He peers at the grill, "What's on the menu? Should I bring some of the spare tiramisu I have in the fridge/"
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan could pass for one of the Akiar, not the least of which being the fact he looks like one, albeit a very green one. But, he also flies like one, wings shifting and moving and tucking this way or that for him to circle around and swoop in and seek to draw others away from his hunters, or force them to alter course. It's the kind of stuff that caused Kala to become immediately impressed when she saw him play, and the fact his Akiar self takes primarily after Kian's is a big reason why. With Donna in pursuit of Kala, Vic as well, he veers away from his current spot to see about keeping Vic from getting too close, then he dips under and up to make a grab at one of Donna's ribbons without warning!
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	It's a near thing when Kala tries to sneak up behind Nadia and lay claim to her ribbon and if the Red Room had been any less exhaustive in training her, she probably would have lost it. But she doesn't. Instead, noticing Kala's approach from below just in time, Nadia stops her ascent, almost on a dime, 'air breaks' as it were, and let's Kala shoot up past her.     It's like one of the dog fighting scenes from top gun as now on her opponent's six o'clock she advances on an attack vector from behind for an attack of her own. But it's not for Kala. Leaving Kian's sister to Donna and Vic, in a double feint worthy of an assassin, Nadia breaks off the attack at the last moment. Zipping around like a crazy wasp after the nest has been kicked, she closes within striking of Gar from an oblique angle as he targets Donna.
Donna Troy	Donna is still drifting away from Kala when Gar launches his attack, and she's entirely unprepared for it. Gar sails away with a ribbon in his hand, and Donna is outraged. "HEY! she calls out. "Time out! We need to rethink these rules. I was out of play! I just returned her ribbon to her!"     Regardless of having claimed a time out, Donna takes off after Gar, apparently determined for revenge. But this is a ruse -- she moves fast, just below the speed limit this time, but suddenly shows something that doesn't break the stated rules even if it's quite impossible for a winged flier - she reverses direction on a dime and flies feet-first, swapping targets with Nadia as she moves to intercept Kala again.     When she's almost in range, there's another dizzying change in direction as she starts flying sideways in an arc around Kala. This time she's keeping under the speed limit, relying on maneuvrability and surprise. Her hand darts out, and again she comes away with a ribbon! WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!     Once more, the Red Circle of Shame floats over her head. This time the speed readout shows 379mph. "What? Come on! I was barely moving. It was my ARM! My arm triggered it! This is ridiculous!"     Donna bursts out laughing as she once more returns a ribbon to Kala.
Bart Allen	Bart Allen says, "I got burgers and hotdogs, some veggie versions of both as well." He adds knowing that there are people who might appreciate it. I figured sports ball food was best, I thought about nachos but I would have had to figure out a way to keep the cheese hot." He grins and says "Anything you want to add I am sure they are working up an appatite.""
Kian	"You have to watch your body parts too, Donna!" Kala says, laughing as well.  She assumes that Donna really can't help herself, but she *is* trying.     And then Kian and Kala exchange glances -- well, everyone knows the birds are telepaths freely with each other.h This *is* a part of the game -- on Kian's world, the hard part is ensuring the other team doesn't overhear.     In any case, Kian peels off to go after Donna, while Kala pivots and dives at Vic, and Keth gets in Donna's way while Shiri gets in Vic's way.  Coordinated action, Akiar style.     And at the last second, Kian and Kala abruptly change targets, going for either side of Nadia, and one or both ribbons at the same time!     Congratulations, Nadia, you've made a genuine threat of yourself, and the "professionals" are going to try to deal with it now.
Terry O'Neil	"Some golden tofu, maybe- I'll bring it when it's closer to munch time!" the Cheshire comments, and then raises an eyebrow. "Uh oh... it looks like Nadia's got a target on her back- and Gar got Donna's ribbon." He gets a mischievous grin on his face and shouts, "Come on, Donna! Are you going to let him sass you like that? The audacity! The sheer audacity!"
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan actually trills or chirps or something after taking one of Donna's ribbons. He'd /meant/ for it to be a celebratory shout, but..being Akiar, it just came out like that and he laughs afterward. This helps leave him a beat or two slow for Nadia's opportunistic move, which follows his own, and it's a brief flurry of activity in claiming ribbons before he acks and flies back out of close range. "I'd say that wasn't fair, but that's how you do it!" he calls back toward her, and as he zips past Vorpal the ribbon drops over him as he looks at what Bart's cooking up, licking his lips. "That'll be good afterward." He's back into it, but trying to play the blocker role again. He got one of the hunters down a ribbon, but he also lost one in the process and can't make another mistake if he wants to keep the numbers game on their side. That is, until he sneaks his way closer to Diana and tries a forward arc from behind, over and down, a hand stretching out for one of her ribbons.
Donna Troy	Diana gives the impression she's enjoying herself immensely, and taking the game not seriously at all. As Gar approaches, she gives every indication that she is totally unaware of his sneaky dive from behind, and the first indication that GreenBirb gets that she may not be as blissfully unaware of his approach as he had hoped is her laugh. She twists her body around on its axis as he completes his dive, but the ribbon trails behind her movement and his fingers get just enough grip on the end to pull it lose!     Diana bobs in the air beside him "Oh well done!" she says with a happy smile. "Buuuut!" She raises her hand and gives the ribbon dangling from her own fingers a wiggle. "One-all!"     Donna meanwhile has drifted down to the ground to snaffle a dog from the Bart concession stand. Onions, mustard, ketchup, the lot. She takes her first bite and starts slowly drifting up into the air, her attention apparently firmly fixed on the dog. She lets herself drift sideways a little, takes another bite, and then suddenly accelerates.     This time, she avoids breaking the speed limit as she hurtles past Kian, but only just. Her hand snakes out slooooooowly, so slooooowly, not even fast enough to intercept a BB gun bullet, though still very fast by the standards of anyone in the room who isn't an Amazon or Bart. It's a good attack on Kian's ribbon -- but Kian's years of expertise on the /Qihar/ field come to the rescue, and his dodge is sublime! T"Good dodge, Kian!" Donna calls out, trailing fried onions behind her.
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan thought he had things all lined up to sneak a ribbon from Diana! He did, in fact, but it turns out she had him in her sights and the retaliation puts him out of this particular game. "/Ai, qokh!/" So Akiar is he at the moment, he's even expressing himself like one! Vorpal gets another Themysciran's ribbon draped over his head as Gar lands out of the field of play, then the next thing anyone sees of him, he's dual-wielding absolutely loaded hot dogs and burgers, one of each, and having himself quite the snack, the wings adjusting and settling behind him. That leaves Team Birb down a blocker, though he did get a hunter and a blocker on Team Science in trouble first. The more aggressive play wasn't quite the success he'd planned on in being.
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	Nadia seems to be having the time of her life and why shouldn't she be, /this is fun/! Physical competition not geared towards maiming your opponent is very novel and she likes it much better. So it is that she lets out a triumphant cheer as she snags Gar's ribbon. "Got one!" Nadia grins from ear to ear and does a brief victory pose. It is a short lived moment of celebration, you'd think she'd have learned from what she herself just did to Gar as both Kian and Kala both swoop in targeting her. "Oh wow! Hi guys!" She says with wide eyes as grasping hands reach for her ribbons. With only moments to react, Nadia's feet kick up light a gymnast on a bar, using her wings to create the counter-thrust necessary as she flips upward corkscrewing through the air and taking herself out of reach of both assailants. "Whew! That was close! You almost had me there!" She looks down to see Donna returning /another/ ribbon to Kala. "Think of it like restraint training Donna! You can do it!" Nadia shouts encouragingly, giving Donna a pep talk for a change. "Vic! Let's form up, Team Science Go!" She calls to her metal friend as she sets her sights on Kian again. He eluded her first attempt to get his ribbons, but she isn't out of tricks yet.
Victor Stone	Vic has been trying to avoid getting his second ribbon taken and trying to nudge one Akiar or another toward the more offensive-minded players--and Donna keeps fouling! He laughs in amusement at her /arm/ breaking the sensors and says, "Alright I am /in/ for a 'full powers' match!"     A nod is all he gives to Nadia, and then he breaks hard, turning almost on a dime in mid-air to set up a pincer move on their fellow Titan. If Nadia doesn't get a ribbon off him, Vic's gonna try!
Kian	"Kya!"  Kian flits out of the way of Vic's attack, not having really expected it since he's a blocker.  "Nice try, Vic!"  His tone is not sarcastic in the least -- it was a nice try.     Shiri and Keth do their best to get in Nadia's way while Kala has another go at the Titan's ribbon.  Something needs to be done about her, she's way too good for an Earther... but then, she has wings, so she should be better than most.  Even if they're not bird wings.
Donna Troy	"We'll do a full powers match... or at least high powers match... before these birds leave!" Donna promises Vic. "Just to show them how exciting this game /could/ be. Then we're gonna broadcast it on his homeworld. Those Akiar sports fans won't know what hit 'em. Nobody'll want to watch this slow, boring version ever again!"     Diana at last seems to have decided to take the game seriously. At first she seems to be keeping away from the action and just putting on a show of flying, swooping around in loops and circles with impressive speed and grace. It's a display to impress an Akiar.     And Donna is doing almost the exact opposite. For a few moments she seems to simply /stand/ on the air, taking another bite of her dog, before she sets off -- retaining her upright position. She goes through a sequence of rapid changes in direction with absolutely zero regard for aerodynamics, which just isn't a concern when you're flying so much more slowly than you can. Sometimes she doesn't even turn to face the direction she's travelling, just moving sideways through the air, still in that upright position. There is absolutely no hint given to what direction she's going to go next, and there's frankly little doubt the Akiar wouldn't have failed to ban this movement if they'd thought of it.     Then, in a moment, it becomes clear that the two Amazons have had the same idea, and are just approaching it in very different ways, With a swoop up from Diana and a sideways and downwards jerk from Donna, both close in on Shiri's ribbons as she moves to block Nadia.     It would have gone so well had they not timed things quite so impeccably. The two Amazons arrive almost at the same time, and Diana's swing intercepts not Shiri's ribbon, but the lace of Donna's boot. Donna suddenly finds herself pulled around by her laces as Diana swings her sideways. Donna's eyes shoot wide at the sudden change in direction. Her boot lace snaps at the end of the swing, and Donna hurtles towards the far wall with a "Aaaaaaah!"     *WHAM* "Ha ha ha ha ha!"     "Oh gods, sister I'm sorry!" Diana calls out, hovering in the air and covering her mouth with a hand in a failing attempt to stifle a laugh as loud as Donna's own.     If Amazons were birbs, there would be broken bones. Instead there's a pair of hysterically giggling Amazons, one floating in the air and one sliding down the wall.
Terry O'Neil	Terry walks up to Gar, having tied the ribbons around his tail for flair and fun. "You looked good up there, Gar," the Cheshire tells him, "It almost makes me wish I could actually fly so you could give me a few lessons." He grabs himself a hotdog and proceeds to munch. And he winces. "Man... Amazons play hard. Remind me to /never/ offer to participate in any sports if we ever come back to Themyscira again."
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	Vic may not succeed in his attack on Kian, but that was never really the idea. If he had that would have been wonderful, but the blocker does his job holding Kian's attention just enough for Nadia to dart forward zipping past Kian's own blockers.     Part of it is likely surprise factor and the strangeness of the way she flies, it is not avian but insectoid and allows for a very surprising amount of erratic maneuvering even when she isn't shrinking to bypass obstacles. Whatever the reason though, the Waspette is able to dart in and firmly grasp one of Kian's ribbons before shooting upward and banking away again. "Sorry, Kian! Thanks Vic! That was perfect! Let's do it again!" Not the /exact/ same thing of course, but more Team SCIENCE! teamwork.
Victor Stone	This is, of course, why Vic isn't remotely annoyed at having missed Kian. It was a setup, really, and he grins at Kian. "Thanks!" he says, as Nadia grabs the ribbon. For the compliment, and for the ribbon, both.     He's distracted by the giggling Amazons, and looks over that way. "Hah!" But then, too quick, the Akiar are ganging up on Nadia, and so he goes diving at Shiri--not trying to get a ribbon, but just trying to chase one of the Akiar off his teammate.     "Next target?" he calls out, presumably to Nadia or Donna.
Garfield Logan	Still stuffing his face, Gar bats a wing out at the ribbons that Terry now has around his tail. "Yeah, but maybe I was thinking a little too much like a hunter instead of a blocker this time," he admits with a shrug. "And you could, with that set of wings. Too bad they're back, uh, really far away." There's a grimace as the Amazons collide, leaving him to shake his head. "And I'm sure they barely even felt it." He steals a scritch at one of Vorpal's ears, then only realizes after he's begun that there is still mustard and ketchup on his fingers. "Oops. So, Nadia's kind of a natural at this so far."
Kian	"Ai, /QOKH/!"  Kian whips around, and the surprise is easy to read in his face, but he doesn't linger because that's the best way to lose his other ribbon.     "You're not paying attention, Kian!"     "Shut *UP*, Kala!  You haven't had any better luck with her!"     While Kala and Kian argue, though, Keth and Shiri set up their own respective attacks on Nadia and Vic... as Gar demonstrated, the line between hunter and blocker is blurry.
Donna Troy	Donna stops her slide down the wall, but not until she's almost on the ground, because it's /fun/. The two Amazons are still giggling their heads off when the birds launch their next attack. Shiri has a good line on Vic, and Diana's too busy laughing at first to respond in a timely fashion. When she catches it happening she darts up to block the attack, but this time it's Diana's turn. WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!     A second Amazon is caught by the Red Ring of Shame! Diana halts her advance when she realizes she accelerated too fast for the intercept, looking up to Vic with a polite "oops!". There will be no Wonder Interception of Shiri's attack on Vic.     Donna meanwhile is going for broke, in the silliest possible way, because she's having FUN. Having halted her slide down the wall, she starts to slide back /up/, launching herself away from it once she's close to the ceiling, and corkscrewing down on Kian in a mad dive. She's very close to the speed limit on her descent, but just avoids tipping the klaxon, looping back up before she hits the floor with inches to spare before a collision.     Donna gives a "Woohoo!" and waves her hand around, Kian's ribbon trailing in her fingers.
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	Let it never be said taking a ribbon from Kian was easy! Even as Nadia banks up and away, a hand closes on one of her ribbons and Keth accomplishes what Kian and Kala could not, preventing Nadia from getting away completely unscathed. "Wow! I did not expect that! Good job!" She compliments Keth. "This game is fun!" Though now she has turned again and her attention is on Keth, maybe it's a feint but she darts forward, head on after one of Keth's ribbons. Anyone expecting her to veer off at the last second will be disappointed though as she the idea that she likely would is a feint in and of itself, mind games, the Red Room's specialty.
Victor Stone	Vic dives at Shiri and, remembering at the last minute that this is no-contact--that bodychecking the delicate-boned Akiar would be a /very/ bad thing--he shifts himself to the side so he can avoid her. The last-minute shift lets her grab his remaining ribbon so easily he's 50 feet away before he notices.     When he does, he stops his flight and laughs good-naturedly. "Aww, man. Alright. Nadia, Donna, Diana! It's up to you! The guys are /out/."     And he heads down to see if Terry and Gar have left any food available. This is hard work.
Kian	How much of an Earth bird is Kian now?  Well, listen.     "Wha---*fuck* you, Donna!"     Even Kala is startled into an "Ai, /qokh/!" at Kian's elimination from the game.     Kian himself bolts for the ground, stomps over to the food, and grabs a hot dog with obvious displeasure -- in fact, he kind of squashed the first one he grabbed, and had to get another.  "Do you know what the wors' of that is?" he snaps, sounding genuinely angry.     "That was a *really* good grab."  And then he grins, and laughs, and tucks in to his hot dog.     Meanwhile Keth, emboldened by his successful attack on Nadia, has a go at Diana while Shiri gets in her way and Kala sizes up Donna -- but doesn't have a try yet.
Terry O'Neil	"I have been a good influence on you," Terry tells Kian and leans forward to give him a peck on the cheek, "Now you know how /I/ feel every time Donna throws me against the mat in training. Which happens almost every day." The Cheshire leans into Gar's scritching, and then frowns, sensing something awry. He sniffs. "Gar... did you just... mustard my ear?"
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan watches the proceedings, having secured a soda in hand, and when Kian is eliminated /and/ swears at Donna, he does, pretty much, a spit-take. "Kian!" he calls, before waving him closer. Vic as well, once he's out. "You're just in time." Sniffsniff. He doesn't have the enhanced sense of smell many other animals do, but he can see the result of what just happened. "It seems I mustarded /and/ ketchuped your ear." He ponders this, and does the only thing that comes to mind: he gets up on his toes, for he is still a shorter Akiar, and starts to clean the ear off. Like a cat would.
Donna Troy	Diana regards Keth's approach with a big smile and floats there waiting for him. When he's close she jigs around in the air, laughing softly as she does. She darts, she weaves, she wiggles, she has her ribbon snatched away. Keth is obviously not letting himself be distracted.     When she realizes she has lost her final ribbon, she gives a dramatic gasp. "Oh! I am undone!" She declares, grinning. "A fine snatch!" She breaks into a smile. "Well done, Keth. I can see you are very skilled at this game, and you make a fearsome opponent!"     The pair, Bird and Amazon, are gently rocked by the breeze of Donna passing at as close to the speed limit as she dares. Donna's hand reaches out but grabs only empty air. The word "Damn!" dopplers past the pair.
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	Perhaps it was beginners luck before and that luck has turned, or perhaps Keth is secretly better at this game than Kian lets on or possibly Keth got lucky deciding to go after Diana which was outside the scope of Nadia's predictions for him given past behavior so far. Whatever the reason, he is not there when she arrives and is instead off taking a ribbon from Diana! "Noooo Vic!" Nadia cries as she sees her Team SCIENCE! buddy tapped out of the game with no more ribbons. "I will avenge you!" She shouts after him, turning her gaze to Shiri. It is a ruse though, she isn't going to attack so straight forwardly again. Hesitation is how you die. That's what 'Mother' always used to say and while she was utterly sadistic in how she taught it, she wasn't really wrong. So it is that when Nadia sees Kala pause to size up Donna, she breaks off from Shiri and some sick aerial maneuvers later is there in a flash below Kala and after her ribbon!
Victor Stone	Vic turns to Nadia and calls, "Avenge me! I'll save you a hot dog!" He does, indeed, set aside a couple of hot dogs for Nadia before making his own and starting to eat.     "Okay so obviously we can't have the Akiar involved in the full powers match without padding or something, 'cause I think if I'd collided with Shiri I might've broken her," he says idly.
Kian	Kala's command of English is non-existent, so she falls back on "Ai, /qokh/!"     But Nadia is right: hesitation is... okay, not death, but being grounded.  So she whips around to settle the score with the wasp-girl!     Keth and Shiri, meanwhile, try sizing up Donna again.  Keth dives to Donna's left... and Shiri goes for the score.
Terry O'Neil	Terry gasps, "Gar, did you really ju-u--uuuuh." The feline closes his eyes and leans into the licking. And then he opens his eyes /wide/ and pulls away, "... not here, you crazy-- WHO WANTS MORE HOT DOGS?" He runs over to the grill to help Bart prepare a few more. And he grabs a few cold drinks. Very cold.
Donna Troy	It's coming down to the wire. Birbs have the numbers, and it's going to take quite something for Team Titans to pulls something out of the bag here. Donna waits, grinning with a predatory expression on her face as the Shiri and Keth close in on her. Big white teeth gleam, the kind of teeth that might wanna eat a nice tasty birb...     Donna makes no move to escape the trap closing on her, just hovers, eyes flicking from one to the other. She lets them come... and lets them move first. Keth feints! Shiri strikes!     They are targeting someone who is very new to qihar, but has trained hard for 20 years in combat. Trained to read micro-muscle movements of her opponents with an obsessive dedication. She reads the move correctly and as Keth pulls his feint to try to drive her towards Shiri, she twists her body out of the way of Shiri's grasp, then plummets suddenly downwards....     With Keth's final ribbon in her hand!
Nadia Pym-van Dyne	Nadia picked a fight and the battle is joined. Even as she snags a ribbon from Kala, the experienced Akiar whips around to return the favor. It is a dance through the air between the combatants, at least combatants is how Nadia's mind is processing it as she falls back on old muscle memory and tactical thinking. For all of Nadia's training and tactical acumen though, for all that her wings do some things natural wings can't, Kala is far more experienced at this game that she is. Finally they fly past each other in a manner not unlike Samurai in Kurosawa film and when they stop and turn to look, each of them is holding the other's ribbon and they both eliminated. "THAT WAS AMAZING!" Nadia informs Kala, shouting with excitement. "You're amazing! This game is super fun! Who knew sports could be so fun." She zips up to Kala beaming at her, not sure what is appropriate, does she hug her? Does she shake her hand? That hot dog Vic has waiting does look pretty tasty, but first things first!
Victor Stone	"I did," Vic says blandly. "Remember Roomba Football? Sports are /fun/, Nadia." He grins up at her. "Ohhh, we should totally think up flying rules for other games. Think of how cool a dunk in a 100-foot-tall basket would be!"     He eats the last of the hot dog and watches the last competitors closely. "Go Donna!" he shouts once his mouth is clear. "Go Team Science!"
Kian	Shiri's look is one of absolute concentration.  This is absolutely serious, and the honor of her whole world is on the line!  Well, okay, maybe it's not *that* serious, but Shiri would hate to lose to a wingless Earther.     Kian, Kala and Keth set up an unearthly trilling and keening in support of the last remaining Akiar holding the field; Kian wraps a wing around Gar's shoulders to bring him in to Team Bird's cheering.     And then, without any warning, Shiri stoops to the attack!
Terry O'Neil	"God you are loud!" Terry jokes, setting up more hot dogs with Bart for the celebration. Then, he mutters with a thoroughly mischievous look on his face, "... I wonder if I can get him to be /that/ loud..."
Donna Troy	And it's all over. Shiri and Donna aren't messing about. There's no bluffing, no feinting, just an out and out scramble for ribbons -- and here at last Shiri's expertise pays off. Of all the things that Donna has spent years of training for, catching ribbons from the waist of a bird while trying not to move too fast is certainly not one of them. The pair separate, and Shiri has Donna's final ribbon, while Donna has none.     Donna breaks into a huge grin, and bows her head to the last flier stand... flying. "Well played!" she calls out. "A solid win for Team Wings! It was a good match -- and a very enjoyable game that you birds play!"
Garfield Logan	Gar Logan doesn't look all that ashamed at Vorpal's response to what he did, and he shifts wings and this and that to settle in more for the last bits of the game. Once Donna's finally been vanquished, he lets out a cheer. He's not Team Titans or Team Science at the moment. He's Team Bird. "So...when do we play again?" he asks, grinning.