15594/Why Call It Football

Why Call It Football
Date of Scene:	12 September 2023
Location:	Cobble Hill, Old Gotham
Synopsis:	While on a mission, Cassandra receives an education on American Football. In the end? It's still a mystery.
Cast of Characters:	Nightwing, Batgirl (Cain), Oracle

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Nightwing has posed:
    "It's hard to explain,"
    Those are the words that float lightly between the two vigilantes as they settle upon the perch overlooking the Hudson River, the Holland Tunnel, and the trio of large shippnig vessels that are making their way slowly upriver, heading toward the docks where they likely intend to offload their goods, which according to a particular manifest are a heap of cheaply made Chinese goods. At least hopefully they should be those things...
    For Nightwing brings to his face a pair of trinoculars that are taking a measure of the sips as they sail up the river. The sensors in the device measuring the speed of the vessels, how low they ride in the water, and how long it takes them to make a particular turn along the harbor's route. Which ideally should feed them enough data so they can tell if the goods on their manifest are correct... or they might be transporting something illicit.
    Yet as they do this, a conversation continues. "They have four 'downs' in which to travel ten yards, they can do this by running the ball or passing it, throwing it through the air. But there are all sorts of rules governing how they go about this. Right?"
    The young pupil of the Dark Knight detective tries to elaborate as he gestuers to the side. "So once the ball is hiked, when it's picked up off the ground, it's in play. And once the person who is running with it is stopped, they measure how far they got it from where it started to where it ended up at. And if they make it ten yards they get four more tries. Until they end up scoring in the end zone or by kicking it through those goal posts."

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
Interestingly, this made sense in a way to Cassandra. She could understand sports very well. In theory. She got the competitiveness, she could read the movements of the people on the field and tell what they were doing before they even performed whatever play they were in the middle of. She could tell when players were in good spirits or bad, no matter how much they might to hide the latter to put on a good game face. The little nuances of humanity where played out there for all to see.

Yet, the rules of any such game were lost on her. Thus this attempt at education for Cassandra, the newest Batgirl. Perhaps she should just be called ScaryBat or the like. It would fit with that oddly stitched lower half of her cowl which covered her mouth entirely. Silent Bat? Not anymore really as she could and would talk, though still on a limited basis.

"I...think so. It is full contact? Should be easy to get a goal." Terminology might be limited obviously. Though her concept of Full Contact probably didn't match the rules of the game.

Nightwing has posed:
    "Full contact, but there are rules about impacting with other players, can't just punch or kick people." Dick smiles a little to himself, likely imagining Cass thinking it'd be easy to stop people might well involve her own particular way of doing so. His lips curl up under that domino mask as he brings the trinocs back to his eyes, the array on the device taking the measure of the second ship now as he looks across the distance.
    "You can run and avoid people, dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge around them. You can give a stiff arm to sort of try and keep them from tackling you. And bodily you can duck your head down and try to charge and run through people. But no punching or kicking." Nightwing rubs the stubble on his chin, frowning a little to himself.
    His voice lowers slightly as he comments. "I... totally forgot to shave today."
    Though likely the comms picked up those words. And in fairness all the words they had been sharing.

Oracle has posed:
<< It's not full contact. >> There comes a voice on comms barging in. Because Oracle is always there. Listening. Like a big brother. Or in this case a big sister. Ominous, present. Darkness incarnate. She is the nigh--- Ahem. Too many years as Batgirl.

Yet tonight she is simply Oracle, currently at the aerie and surveying the area by way of her drones and traffic cameras she conveniently has connected to her system, giving her a bird's eye view of the place. Like a true bird of prey. << And they all wear full plates, so they don't get hurt. Well, not as much as they would. >> Full plates. She has most likely been playing that new nerd game. The gates of Baldur of some such. She had been trying to explain it earlier to Cass.

<< Oh, and hello. This is your friendly Oracle chiming in. How are we doing tonight? >> Because manners are important too.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
"Not full contact." Because if she couldn't punch or kick someone, it wasn't full contact. It was limited contact. When Oracle chimed in, Cassandra gave a terse nod of her head as though that settled it all for her.

"Plates? Like the game?" Because /now/ she as imagining they had plate armor on under the jerseys they wore when she'd seen it on the tv being watched by some of the others at the manor or out and about in the city when she saw others watching. Especially in sports bars. Odd that such a thing even existed. What did one have to do with the other?

The whole concept of video games was still lost on her though she did try for Babs sake. Sadly, it just looked so...wrong!

Nightwing has posed:
    << Hey Oracle. >> Nightwing's response is light, but there's a warmth to it as he lowers those trinocs and looks at the data display on the front of it, taking the readings from the data stream and comparing it to the numbers they're expecting. That ship checked out at least.
    << Ok guys, the Matros Pozynich seems to have the right mass to depth ratio. >> Likely not human trafficking since transporting people under the guise of other cargo tends to end with a lighter haul, easy to discern if one has the manifest and the write data.
    << Starting the scan on the Carl D. Bradley. >> Which was the last ship.
    But as he holds the trinocs in place he continues the conversation. << Not plate armor, just pads. Their armor class is lower than 18. >> Though he smiles a little knowing full well how Babs has been spending her evenings with her video games.

Oracle has posed:
<< Sorta. Not steel plates. And .... yes, what Nightwing said. >> A pause before Oracle chimes in again, << Also 18 AC is for noobs. >> There. Though then the focus goes to the matter at hand which is the actual stake out by the Hudson River, Barbara spinning her chair over to another set of monitors that are 'bleeping' for her attention. Oracle can be so demanding for her sometimes.

<< Cargo manifest mentioned twenty tons on the pozy. Twenty five on the Carl D. >> she adds helpfully, clicking on a few keys of her keyboard, << Hmmm, weird that the manifesto was signed a day before than the Pozy's. And for a supposedly smaller trip. >> which may imply the ship didn't come from where it's announcing to be coming from.

<< The one thing you need to understand about football is this though. It's played with your hands, not your feet. >>

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
"Yes."

Because Dick had explained that previously. Though Cassandra had yet to understand it thus the question that every parent in the world hated to hear from their two year old. "Why? Football is feet. Handball is hand. Tackleball maybe fits."

Which again fed into something she could understand at least. She was taking in all the information about the shipment, the details. But she was leaving all the hard work to Nightwing. He had the viewers and could do the calculations. It put her in the unique position of just needing to be used like a gun. Aim her in the right direction and fire by sending her into the fray.

It's how Cassandra liked it really.

Nightwing has posed:
    << Well there's some feet play. With the kicking. >> Then he turns to look over at Cass and says with a slight smile, << Not like your kind of kicking. They kick the ball into the goal, so they get points for it. >>
    As Babs feeds him more datapoints, however, Dick's expression becomes a little more pensive. The eyelets of his mask narrow a little, the sensors within them augmenting his vision to enhance the image and bring it a little closer. He looks at the distant ship and then considers his readings, as well as the information on the manifest.
    << Alright, you guys know what I'm going to ask us to do. >> He starts to push himself onto his feet, rising up slowly as he tucks the trinocs into his utility belt, connecting them to the form fitting container on his hip.
    << We're going to take a look and make sure. Oracle, put us as en route to Gotham Docks, we'll rendezvous with the freighters there and then see if there's anything off about the shipment. >>

Oracle has posed:
<< Forget him. The points you get from kicking the ball pale in comparison to what you get from running to the other end of the field holding the ball in your HANDS. >> Nothing like putting some more confusion into what football actually is. << This can only be solved with a game. >> she finally says, << Next time we go to the beach. >>

As Dick then announces it's go time to go inspect the docks closer that kicks Oracle into motion. A quick brush over her ponytail as she slides back to the original position she was in, various monitors lighting up as she plots a waypoint for infiltrating the place. << The south side has a larger percentage of successful infiltration. Sending in the coordinates now." a few more keyboard strokes and their HUDs receiving the info of an approach angle to where they are.

<< ETA until the ships dock, ten minutes. >> She says of the time they have to get there. << And good luck. >>

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
There is a hint of a smile behind the mask of Batgirl. Which probably isn't unexpected since they both know she is more about action than standing around anyway. Thus as soon as she is told they are going closer, Cassandra is gone. Three steps and leaping off the side of the building. The pfft of displaced air from the grappling gun after she has fallen a story then she arcs gracefully through the air to the next rooftop.

Which is when she sees she went to the left of the best approach from that HUD display. Easy enough. She turns her feet, the soles silent on the rooftop as she races in the right direction.

One might think she was playing a game to see who could get there first.

One might be right in such a belief.

Nightwing has posed:
    << Hopefully it's just bad paperwork and nothing nefarious. >> Nightwing offers as he gets fully to his feet, a nod is given toward the latter Batgirl and then abruptly she's off!
    "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand..." Offered as he points at her hurtling form. Then when he gives her that little bit of a lead...
    For without another word he /leaps/ off the side of the building, twisting in mid-air like a swirling swan dive over the edge of the tower, dropping toward the streets so far below. Yet it's only a pair of seconds after that leap before the SNAP-HISS! of the grapple line being fired is heard, catching and wrapping around the extended flag pole off the side of the nearby building and giving him the focal point of his swing.
    The next moment his legs are scissoring sharply as he takes the corner with an elegance that belies his form even as he takes a slightly different path than Cassandra. On the comms his voice can be heard...
    << We're looking mainly for excessive personnel. A large welcome wagon or guards or firearms. >> Though he doesn't really /need/ to say that, they've done this all before. But like the Bat, he makes sure the entire team is focused and repetition creates habit.