Fandom Gladiators; First Period [05/10].

[died8yearsago]

Well, Rosa had finally given in. She was having a class held in the Danger Shop, finally, though she spent a good portion of the time glaring at it, waiting for it to malfunction or stop working right or just generally be frustrating, because she had a bit of a tentative relationship with technology. The thing was suspiciously easy to use, really, and Rosa didn't trust it one bit.

....she didn't not trust it enough to prevent her from using it to make kids whale on each other, of course, but you know how it is. Either way, it was important that this whole thing be set up in a completely ridiculous stadium, after all. Today, the center area was set up with a row of round, raised platforms to one side, much higher platforms all the way on the other side, and ropes hanging down from them.

Rosa waited until it looked like everyone was there before getting started. "I'm pretty sure most of you don't get the reference and have no idea what you're about to get into," she started, "but welcome to Fandom Gladiators. This will be a competition class where I'm basically just pitting you against each other in a series of ridiculous and over-the-top activities for no other real purpose than that it's hilarious. I guess you could argue that it might help better your atheletic prowess, your skill, your stamina, but that arguement would be dumb.

"First things first," she gestured toward a collection of helmets, knee pads, and elbow pads. "Suit up. Yeah, I know it's the Danger Shop so no one gets hurt, but it's a traditional uniform for this kind of thing." Which was kind of true? "And if you were an idiot and didn't wear clothes that you can move easily in today, don't worry. We've got some great patriotic uniforms you can borrow."

She expected everyone in the class would dress appropriately from here on in.

"I know it's the first week, which usually means introductions, but here's the thing: I don't care who you are. Especially not in the class, because as soon as you enter this arena, you're going to be someone else. Before we get started, you have to pick your gladiator name. Something cool and intimidating, like Hawk or Nitro or Storm. Bonus points if you put together a backstory or gimmick, but choose wisely, because one you pick your gladiator name, you're going to be stuck with it.

"And once we're done with that, the real fun begins, though this week, I'm going easy on you. We're doing the Human Cannonball. Which is not as cool as it sounds, there are no cannons involved. But you will get to fly at each other and try to knock each other down, so...there's that."

[[ ocd on the way is up! Go forth in battle!! ]]

Comments

Sign In - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

Like a cannonball.

Re: Sign In - Gladiators, 05/10.

[chirpchirpchirp]

Vette

Re: Sign In - Gladiators, 05/10.

[reicicled]

Bobby Drake

Re: Sign In - Gladiators, 05/10.

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae Borowski

Listen to the Lecture - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

There really isn't much of one, but there's plenty of time for you to ask questions and/or wonder what the hell you've gotten yourself into. Or be excited about it. Rosa doesn't know. You're all weird, anyway.

Re: Listen to the Lecture - Gladiators, 05/10.

[chirpchirpchirp]

Vette? Was totally among the excited, yes. For starters, of course she wore clothing she could move in. Little sneaky thing like her? There was no way she'd be caught dead in those spangly tights.

And besides that?

She got to throw down with her classmates! YES!

Re: Listen to the Lecture - Gladiators, 05/10.

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae was totally into this whole thing. Except the padding. This place was apparently basically a scholastic version of her holosuites in town, so she knew the "you can't get hurt" thing was totally real.

In which case, why weren't the pads, like, 90% more bad ass?

Anyway. She needed to think of something properly metal for her new name. Like . . . Witchdagger! Only not Witchdagger, because then someone would probably figure out that she'd named herself after a band and hadn't come up with it herself.

Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

Don't, like, take forever with it or anything, it's not a big deal. Obviously, not a whole lot of thought went into Malibu or Gemini or Zap.

But give Rosa your new Gladiator name, and talk about why you picked it. If you have to. And that's who you are for the rest of the semester, so don't make it too lame.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[chirpchirpchirp]

Oh no, there were so many options here. The Rutian Rancor? The TarentaTwi'lek?

... Never mind that Vette was an alias in the first place. She couldn't have too many people just knowing that. She couldn't steal Taunt's name, that would be weird. Or Risha, definitely not Nok...

"Lylek," she announced. "It's a giant predator from my homeworld, feared by everything else on the planet."

... And it sounded unfortunately an awful lot like 'Lilac,' which maybe wasn't a great gladiator name.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

Yeah, no, Rosa was not looking too terribly convinced by tiny little Blue here trying to call up something fierce by picking a name that just made her think of tiny little flowers that lived for, like, a week tops.

But sure. She'll run with it. And hopefully remember not to start calling her Bluebell instead.

"Aright, then, Lilac," she said, and yes, that's how she was goimg to say it. It sounded the exact same to her. "I can already see your competitors shaking in their boots, too."

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[thishouseishaunted]

Blade. Shriek. Unholy Madam. (Killer.)

Mae was definitely overthinking this.

"Um," she said. ". . . Nightmare?"

Sure. That would do.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

"Yeah," said Rosa, "that's sort of how I feel about this whole class."

Which was a very Rosa way of saying not bad, Catface.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[crack_that_whip]

Look, his real name only worked on shitty vampires back home. And mostly just got angry mobs coming after him everywhere else.

So, this could work for him.

It wouldn't and shouldn't, but a guy could hope.

"Uh, how about Carpophorus." Well, he missed the point of this exercise and went fucking historical.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

"Carpophorus? Really? That's what you're going to go with?"

And yet, somehow, despite her words, Rosa was...not really that surprised.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[thishouseishaunted]

"I am absolutely calling you 'Carpet Horse' from here on out."

Best roommie ever.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[goldfishontherocks]

"Um." Keyleth had spent about five minutes trying to think of something cool, and when her turn came around all of those ideas went right out of her head, so all she had was a fleeting thought about picking something with a nod to her heritage, and -- "Hurricane?"

. . . sure. She could go with that.

Re: Pick your Gladiator Name - Gladiators, 05/10.

[unusual_sith]

Lana wasn't even planning on using a pretentious name when she was made a Lord or a Darth; why would she want one for this?

Vette maybe had the right idea, but...hm. She wasn't about to be "k'lor'slug". She wasn't really a "gundark" type of person. And she wasn't going "akk dog".

"Nexu," she decided. "It's a big cat with four eyes, spines, and a lot of teeth. They're really vicious."

Didn't she look vicious?

Human Cannonball - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

"I was going to pair everyone up, but we've got an uneven number, so we're doing a free-for-all, and that's better, anyway. Here's how this works: each of you are going to take a turn on that raised platform there. Take one of the cushioned shields to help you out. And then your fellow gladiators are going to swing from the rope from the higher platform and try to knock you off. Cannonballs, you just get one chance to swing and hit and knock the gladiator off the platform. Gladiators, once you're off, you're off. Whoever manages to stay on their platform the longest gets an advantage next week, as does the person who gets the most knock-offs. Whatever Trevor's name ends up being, you're up."

And the RNG has spoken! The rounds will go:

Trevor: Vette, Keyleth, Mae, Bobby, Lana, Janet. No one knocks Trevor off!
Lana: Vette goes first and succeeds!
Mae: Bobby, Janet, Keyleth, then Vette manages to knock her off!
Bobby: Janet goes first and succeeds!
Janet: Keyleth, followed by Vette who knocks her off!
Keyleth: Vette, followed by Bobby who knocks her off!
Vette: Mae goes first and succeeds!

Gladiators on the platform, ping in and get ready! Cannonballs, play it out however from there with respect to the all-knowing, all-saying RNG!

Re: Human Cannonball - Gladiators, 05/10.

[chirpchirpchirp]

Okay, Vette was so ready! Totally! She had this!

... She probably didn't have this. She was a bit of a waif and didn't have the solid heft that some other people might, or even the benefit of inertia on her side. But so help her, she was hell-bent on trying, and that had to count for something, right?

Re: Human Cannonball - Gladiators, 05/10.

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae stood on the platform holding her big padded thing and wishing it was more bat-like.

Was she allowed to try to dodge? Because she was tiny enough that she had at least a little room to move on this thing. . . .

Re: Human Cannonball - Gladiators, 05/10.

[goldfishontherocks]

You know, this would be a lot better if she could turn into an earth elemental or something but that was way beyond Keyleth's capabilities at the moment.

So she got up on the platform, all six feet of gangly half-elven arms and legs, kind of hiding behind her padded shield. She'd probably last longer if she at least opened her eyes every now and then, but no, she was pretty much just bracing for impact.

Re: Human Cannonball - Gladiators, 05/10.

[unusual_sith]

Lana had this! She was deadly! She had the Force on her side! She was going to win!

Re: Human Cannonball - Gladiators, 05/10.

[crack_that_whip]

It could be that Trevor had reflexes like a cat. Or that he'd slept in trees and had great balance out of sheer necessity.

Either way, he was not moving for any of y'all.

Talk to Rosa - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

Yup. She didn't need to have a bunch of kids flings themselves at each other on ropes to know this was the best class ever, but it sure helped to see it in action.

OOC - Gladiators, 05/10.

[died8yearsago]

I hope this method makes sense! It'll likely change based on the activity, but I figured the RNG would be a nice way to go with this one.