Bending Tryouts IC for The Legend Continues.

[Xunthrae]

He obtained permission from the sponsor to form a new team himself, and had a good deal of flyers printed up to attract attention, naming the time and place. Thinking it might be interesting, you decided to try your luck.

The area of the try-out is a pro-bending practice ring, provided by the sponsor. The small group of prospective pro-benders is told to form a line; try-outs will be one at a time, waterbenders before earthbenders.

It isn't long before it's Hushi's turn to go. The person who went in before you comes out with a dejected look.

"Next!" The voice is not cheerful. Stepping inside you see a tall young man with unruly black hair pacing. He turns towards you as you enter and gives bends, touching his hands in the traditional Fire Nation greeting. Rather formal, perhaps, given the circumstances.

"My name is Vano. I'm the captain of the Monkey Bats, and I'll be conducting your try-out." He waits for you to speak.

Hushi is wearing one of his water nation style dancing outfits. It leaves most of his upper body bare, except for a large strip of cloth that circles his collar, up around his shoulders, making a ring around his neck. His lower body is draped in a layered skirt made of thin blue and white material, each movement sends ripples through the fabric.

The water bender wasn't sure what kind of man Vano was, but he was comfortable in these, they made him feel confidant. Though, he must look somewhat odd. He looked like a typical firebender, not a waterbender.

"I am Hushi Zhu. I'll be trying out to be your waterbender." Hushi waits. He usually gets a weird or surprised look from people when he tells them he's a waterbender. While he waits for a response, he glances around the room, taking stock of where the water is.


If you could give me a rough distance to where the water is, I'd appreciate it :smallsmile:

Also, here is the rolls thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?390270-Bending-Tryouts-IC-Rolls-for-The-Legend-Continues&p=18587194#post18587194) for me and you if you need to.

[Still_I_Rise]

The dominant feature of the room is a small circular arena, modeled after the standard pro-bending arena but only large enough for two people. As usual for pro-bending, the stores of earth disks and water are beneath the floor, but easily accessible to any bender standing within the arena.

We're about ten feet away from the practice arena now.

Vano's eyebrows raise up slightly at Hushi's odd garments, but he makes no comment.

"Well met Hushi. Do you have any experience with pro-bending itself? And what is your experience with waterbending in general?" As he speaks he moves over to a few racks upon the wall, looking through the pro-bending equipment and taking out a chest plate that looks to be your size. You see that Vano is already wearing one of these himself.

[Xunthrae]

"I do not have any with pro-bending itself, but I feel that I'm an accomplished bender. I am a mostly self-taught bender and a trained dancer. I just came from a performance, actually. That's why I'm wearing this to your try-out" Hushi gives a friendly laugh. He did wish he had time to change, but he had to go straight from his performance to here, or he'd of missed it.

[Still_I_Rise]

"What you're wearing now is of no concern; you'll need to put this on," Vano replies, handing him the chest plate.

"Pro-bending armor will keep you from being hurt, so long as your opponents stick to legal moves."

Vano then heads to the practice arena, though not to stay there himself. Instead, he sets up three targets on the opposite side.

"When you're ready, step into the arena and take down the targets. Remember that no blast may exceed a second in duration.

This should be an easy task; do it as quickly and accurately as you can."

Let's say that the three targets are each AC 10, and all you need to is strike them to knock them down. Vano hopes this won't be much more than a warm up and a way to weed out anyone not worth wasting time on/

[Xunthrae]

Hushi takes the armor, puts it on over his outfit and walks over to the arena. There here lowers his stance, into his waterbending pose. It felt weird wearing the armor, but he could adapt. Next, he draws water out of the floor before swiftly stepping forward, punching once at each target. Blasts of water rush towards each target. The first target gets blasted hard by the water, it is obvious if that hit a person, it would hurt quite a bit. That strike is followed by another, which again hits the target, but was off a bit and obviously wouldn't do nearly as much as his previous. The waterbender's third strike stays true, smacking into the target more accurately than his last.

The young man drops his stance, slowly lowering his excess water back into the grating in the floor. "How was that?" Hushi thought he did well. He was quick and accurate, even if his attacks were a bit weaker than he usually did.


First, He'd Manipulate up about a gallon of water

Then He'd quicken bending his first blast (DC:25, take 10, get 27)
Standard to blast again
Then standard to blast for the third time.

[Still_I_Rise]

"Better than what I've seen so far today, that's for sure."

I'm not sure if quickening the blast for an extra attack with it in the same round is legal. That'll be for ZootSuit to decide, but I think the max amount of blasts per round is determined by BAB, and can only be increased by Rapid Shot and/or Firestorm.

Vano removes the targets and steps into the ring himself.

"We're not actually going to spar, at least not yet. But I want to see how well you do landing hits on a normal opponent. Throw your blasts at me, and I'll block them. Land a few hits, and we'll switch roles."

As he speaks he takes a moment to ready himself.

[Xunthrae]

Whoops, you are correct, i just read through blast more carefully. My mistake, Atleast now I know hehe :smallsmile:

Also, do you want me to roll damage or just fluff it as i'm just trying to hit you, not hurt you?


"Alright." Hushi drops back into his waterbending stance and fires a blast at him once, seeing how he responds.

[Still_I_Rise]

No damage, although attack rolls would probably be a good idea. Maybe just roll a few to see how long it takes to land a hit/how many you make.

Deflect Attack rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Vano meets the blast head on, dissipating it with a spurt of fire. The water seeps back into grates on the floor.

"Not bad. Keep them coming."

[Xunthrae]

I've been making rolls in the rolls thread I made. Here it is again (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?390270-Bending-Tryouts-IC-Rolls-for-The-Legend-Continues&p=18589475#post18589475), but It's in the first post :smallbiggrin:

Oh, just for reference, I got a 25, 18, 25, and 26. Only the second one gets deflected.


Hushi puts some effort in his next attacks. He is on his game, each blast going right where he wants them to. His first attack is a hit, that made him smile a bit. Maybe he is cut out for this. His next one is deflected by Vano. "Nice deflection!" He refocuses, time to do this! Hushi slipped into his dance mind set, letting it guide his hands. He flows with the water blasts, sending one and then another, each slipping past the firebender's defenses and hitting him.

Hushi pauses after his four attacks, waiting for a queue to switch places or to continue from the man conducting the try-out.

[manwithaplan]

Standing outside of the try-out room, next in line to go in, Huran stood and listened. If he was going to pull this off he had to prove himself, which he supposed wouldn't be too hard. Put on some armour, shoot some targets, then throw a rock or two at the captain himself. The whole thing seemed easy enough, like a training exercise at the Ba Sing Se compound. His form was clothed in an unassuming orange and black outfit he had picked up at a store just a few blocks down, and it had cool fingerless gloves and everything, so he bet he looked the part even if he wasn't quite sure what the part looked like.

The entrant inside was doing well; he could hear the two of them complimenting each others' form. Perhaps he and the two in there could end up being the final team. Turning around, the Avatar looked over the competition; most of the people here looked like they were just trying to pay the bills, no confidence or strength to them. Huran liked the idea of having two people of his age on his team, confident people like him that he could relate to, and the only person of that type he'd seen today was the person who had just gone in. He was pretty sure that teams were made up of a Waterbender, Earthbender, and Firebender - if that was the case, he just had to find out which element they didn't have in the next room, and he'd hopefully be able to deliver.

[Still_I_Rise]

Vano's eyes widen as slightly as Hushi's next attacks break his defenses.

"Excellent!" Although surprised, he doesn't seem displeased at all.

Let's see how well you do on the defense, then!" He gives Hushi a moment to ready himself, then lets out some blasts of fire. After the first two blasts, he picks up the pace, firing off the flames twice as fast.

The first two blasts breach past Hushi's defenses. As the pace picks up, Hushi finds he cannot block all of the blasts, but manages to dodge the rest instead.

"Well done! It seems your dancing may be coming in handy - you've got a way with dodging."

"As soon as you're ready, we'll do a regular practice set. First to land three strikes 'wins,' as it were."

Vano's mood seems to have brightened considerably from the time you first walked in.

My mistake, I'm so used to using spoilers for rolls I forgot to check. :smallredface:

[Xunthrae]

This guy is good. That makes Hushi feel better about the team already. He then nods, "Thanks, You're pretty good yourself. I'm ready when you are."


Would you prefer me to make all my rolls here? I can, its not a problem, but its kinda nice having them serparated, especially things like Initiatives and the like.

[Still_I_Rise]

"Ready."

No, the practice rolls are fine. I subscribed so I'll have a reminder next time :smallsmile:

[Xunthrae]

They both move to opposite sides of the arena. Hushi gets ready to attack, focusing a moment before launching a blast at the firebender, before he can get the first attack in. Maybe he got a tad overeager, because he missed by a mile. It was bad, even he could tell.

He prepares for the counterattack, slowly circling to the right, reflexes taut, ready to pull water up to defend himself.

[Still_I_Rise]

"Don't lose your focus!" Vano says as Hushi's blast goes wide. He holds his stance and fires off two blasts.

Perhaps he should have taken his own advice, for both blasts disperse before making it to Hushi.

"Or maybe it's just something in the air around here," he grins, but then centers himself, taking a deep breath.

[Xunthrae]

Hushi grins, "That's probably it" He continues the circle, spinning on his heel, kicking a blast of water at Vano. It would have hit, if the other bender hadn't deflected it with a burst of flame.

[Still_I_Rise]

Vano again fires off two blasts, these ones much truer. The first connects, though the dancer just manages to dodge the second. That was more like it...

[Xunthrae]

Hushi keeps his calm, its just one hit. I can still come back. Hushi sends launches another blast, once again deflected by the other bender.

[Still_I_Rise]

This is a pretty even match, Vano thinks to himself as his next two blasts fail to connect. This may take awhile longer yet.

[Still_I_Rise]

The two benders go through a few more uneventful exchanges, neither managing to connect. As the spar wears on Vano keeps an eye on his opponent's defenses, looking for any potential break in Hushi's stance. Finally, he sees his chance as Hushi is a second too slow in readying himself to deflect Vano's counterattack. Sending two well placed bursts of fire, Vano ends the match.

He bows again in the same manner as when Hushi first entered. "Well done. Feel free to take a moment to cool off; don't forget to leave your armor in racks.

I'll post the results of the try out here tomorrow morning. Check it sometime in the next few days; if you make the team, our regular practice schedule will begin Monday."
Although he's speaking formally now, you have the distinct impression he expects to see you again then.

Vano carefully passes over his clothing with a small fire as Hushi puts away his armor, drying out the places where he was struck earlier.

[Xunthrae]

That was a lot more than than he expected. Hushi nods, acknowledging Vano's offer. "Thanks, That was a tough fight, Pro-bending is much more restrictive than I anticipated by just watching." He quiets a moment, letting the other man speak again.

Again, Hushi is nodding. "For sure, I will." He heads to the rack to take off his armor. "Feel free to call in the next person, I'll just cool off over here." He motions towards a bench in the corner with a bucket near it. Hushi is sweaty from the heat of Vano's fire. It wasn't very hot, but still made the waterbender a bit toasty on top of the physical exertion.

Hushi walks across the room, grabbing his bag from near the door and bringing about of gallon of water from the floor with him before depositing it in the bucket. He took a rag from the bag and began to cleanse his skin.

[manwithaplan]

Hearing the applicant mention him, Huran shrugged and stepped forward. He'd been waiting here for long enough anyway. The boy carelessly poked his head through into the next room with a grin on his face.

"Hey, you two nearly done?"

Sniffing at the air, he caught the bitter scent of smoke, revealing that one of these two was a Firebender. He couldn't tell which one, though - the one he had seen walk in had clothes on that give him a Firebender's look, but the other young man also had the appearance of a Firebender - he had the same look Huran always saw in the eyes of his Firebending masters.

[Still_I_Rise]

"We are. If you're next in line, you may come in." Vano's tone is quite neutral.

After Huran enters, Vano greets him in the same manner he did Hushi.

"My name is Vano. I'm the captain of the Monkey Bats, and I'll be conducting your try-out."

He waits for Huran to reply, then gestures to Hushi.

"Hushi will be taking a moment to cool off. If you don't mind an audience, we can start now, however.

What experience do you have with pro-bending, or earthbending in general?"

Would Vano recognize that Huran is the Avatar?

[manwithaplan]

Most definitely not, I'd say, since Huran just got to Republic City and isn't at all a public figure.
Huran was halfway to the armour rack when he was told to come in.

"Yeah, let's get right into it, Vano. Hushi can stay, too."

Grabbing a piece of armour that seemed fairly close to his size, he slipped it on over his head. He was struggling to get his arms into the sleeves as the captain asked him about his experience. The others couldn't see it, as Huran's face was obscured by the torso-sized piece of leather he was forcing himself into, but he raised an eyebrow. Was it so obvious that he was an Earthbender? He took a moment to weep for his ruined dreams of going undercover as a member of another nation.

The boy had just worked out the intricacies of the armour and gotten his limbs and head through as he spoke up, continuing to adjust the straps as his lips moved.

"I don't have any experience in the sport, but since I found out about it I've really wanted to get into it," he said, not mentioning the fact that this discovery had occurred no more than a week ago.

"Also, I Earthbend a lot. I mean, I spar people all the time, it's pretty much my job." Finally comfortable with his suit, he went to slip into a Firebender's stance for just a moment, then corrected himself with a traditional wide Earthbending stance.

"I could show you, if you want. I don't really know the try-out process, do we start with a warm-up or something?"

[Still_I_Rise]

Vano smiles thinly as Huran struggles into his armor.

"I see. I certainly hope this job of yours is legal. My former teammates "job" is the only reason I'm going through this process now.

We'll start with a few targets," Vano says, proceeding to the practice arena to set them up. Huran's initial firebending stance goes unseen as he places the three targets where they were for Hushi.

"That should suffice for warm up. Then we'll run through striking, blocking, and finish up with a practice spar.

Remember to bend only the regulation disks from your side of the arena. Head shots are prohibited."

[manwithaplan]

"Well, they're practice equipment, I don't think they actually have heads," Huran said, moving over so that he was in front of the three targets.

"And don't worry. I'm not part of a gang or anything." He quickly studied the area around him. He'd heard one match over the radio and had been a bit confused about where everything came from, but it looked like all of the ammunition he'd need was stored in nice little holes in the floor. He performed an experimental stomp, making a stone disk fly a metre up from its hole and then fall back down, landing softly on top of the pile. Nodding, he did the same thing again, this time making the disk spin in mid-air.

"Alright, I've got the hang of it."

A third time he stomped, allowing the disk to float up once again, but this time he pulled back an arm and punched forward with it, sending the disk flying forward towards the target on his left. Before the shot collided, however, Huran was already on the move. He made a powerful forward stepping motion, bringing his foot down with force so that another disk came floating up from a dispenser that was in front of him. The boy spun on the foot he had just stepped onto, turning so he had his back to the disk he had raised and then kicking out behind him with his right leg, sending it towards the target on his right.

As he finished his kick he jumped up, bending at the knees for height before coming down on the ground as hard as he could. The force of his landing brought up one more disk in front of him, and as it floated up Huran copied its motion by also jumping up again. This time he spun around in mid-air, performing a full rotation before extending his leg in a roundhouse kick towards the disk that sent it straight ahead. As he kicked it, the first disk he had launched landed on the left target, knocking it down. The Earthbender came back down to the ground, his feet making contact with the floor just as his second shot hit the target on the right. He stood where he was, facing away from the three targets, as his final attack knocked the last one down. Satisfied, he looked to Vano.

"Rate out of ten?"

[Still_I_Rise]

"I'm afraid I'm keeping my rating system private," Vano says. "But well done."

The earthbender's performance was impressive, but that much flashiness would get in the way of his ability to defend himself in the ring.

"Let's see how you do firing on an actual target, then," he says, removing the targets and stepping into the ring. He assumes his stance, breathing deeply. "You may fire when ready."

[manwithaplan]

"Alright, watch yourself," the Avatar said, grinning as he once again went on the offensive. He stomped down hard with one foot, sending one of the stone disks up high and then jumping up to meet it. He kicked outwards with a shout, sending the disk flying towards Vano's chest. He landed back on the ground with enough force to bring another disk up into his reach, at which point he punched forward to send it in another blast towards the captain.

"Hah!"

Huran is going to attack up to five times, though he will stop if he is told to.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

I'd also now suggest that we describe our attack, and leave it up to the defender to write whether or not this attack hits, and how much damage it does, etc. This is useful to prepare us for when we're playing the actual game, since we won't know our opponent's AC and will be forced to write in that sort of style anyway.

[Still_I_Rise]

Huran's first disk strike true, landing squarely in Vano's chest. He readies himself, the Huran's next disk is deflected wide. The next disk collides too, however, and Vano grunts, before shifting his stance slightly, recalling what he learned on Air Temple island. The next two disks are deflected as well.

Vano had to admit, the earthbender's style seemed to be effective. So long as his enthusiasm didn't get the better of him...

"Solid work. Let's see how well you do at blocking, then!" Vano gives Huran a moment to ready himself before opening fire.

[roll0]

[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[roll4]
[roll5]

That'll come up to two hits. You simply can't block the only attacks that made it past your AC :smallbiggrin:

Vano will stop firing after the critical, so ignore the last roll.

Huran's defenses hold up well at first. Vano's eyes flash for a moment as he begins to pick up his tempo, sending two shots through to him in a quick succession, the last striking more forcefully than even Vano had expected.

"Ah, sorry about that."

[manwithaplan]

Huran mocked his opponent's first few shots.

"Haha, I bet I could Firebend better than you!" He joked, using a raised stone disk to curve the fire away from him. He regretted his snarky comment, however, as immediately afterwards the Firebender picked up his game and knocked him to the ground in two shots.

"Oof!" Huran rolled along the floor of the ring, quickly getting back to his feet and returning to stance. Vano had good technique - despite the boy's earlier joke, those two shots confirmed that this captain was a better Firebender than him. Of course, the joke was a lot less literal for Vano than it was for Huran.

"Not bad, cap. Now can we spar for real?"

[Still_I_Rise]

"Certainly." Vano eyes his opponent carefully, ready to begin at any moment.

[manwithaplan]

His smile grey wider.

"Right, then."

Huran kicked at the ground to summon up a stone plate, which he immediately kicked towards his foe. He called back upon his four years of Earthbending training and his month of preliminary Firebending initiation, using his knowledge of both his own abilities and also Vano's to hopefully maintain both a solid offence and defence. He had done well so far, at least in his opinion, but this would be the worst moment to lose his cool and slip up.

Once again, let's just roll for 10 rounds of combat or so.

Round 1:
Attack [roll0]
Deflect [roll1] against the first attack that hits

Round 2:
Attack [roll2]
Deflect [roll3] against the first attack that hits

Round 3:
Attack [roll4]
Deflect [roll5] against the first attack that hits

Round 4:
Attack [roll6]
Deflect [roll7] against the first attack that hits

Round 5:
Attack [roll8]
Deflect [roll9] against the first attack that hits

Round 6:
Attack [roll10]
Deflect [roll11] against the first attack that hits

Round 7:
Attack [roll12]
Deflect [roll13] against the first attack that hits

Round 8:
Attack [roll14]
Deflect [roll15] against the first attack that hits

Round 9:
Attack [roll16]
Deflect [roll17] against the first attack that hits

Round 10:
Attack [roll18]
Deflect [roll19] against the first attack that hits
His first strike slammed nicely into Vano, doing some damage, but that was it for Huran's success on that day. He felt a searing burn as he was struck by Vano's fire yet again. With that hit, his confidence began to fade, and with it went his talent - the two continued to go back and forth, but for every shot that Huran could fire, Vano seemed able to duck out of the way and fire two more at him in retaliation. The boy was very quickly overwhelmed, one third blast knocking him off his feet once again.

'I can't believe some pro-bender beat me,' he thought to himself, his inner arrogance brought out by his defeat. 'But then again, this is the first time I've used this style with these disks...for him, this is just natural. He's probably been doing it for years. Yeah, on the street I could take him.'

Huran shook his head, dismissing the negative thoughts. It had been a fun session, if nothing else. Sitting up, he laughed.

"You're good. Do I make the team?"

[Still_I_Rise]

"I'll be posting the results of that here tomorrow morning. Check back sometime in the next few days. If you make the team, we'll begin practice on Monday.

You're quite talented yourself, Huran." Vano gives another bow, relaxing finally. The earthbender was good, even if he was a little cocky. Vano reflected that was a good thing he'd managed to keep his focus. He'd been challenged well by both of these prospective members. The Monkey Bats would be coming back with style.

"Feel free to cool off for a minute, but be sure to leave your armor back on the racks."

He waits for Huran to speak, then calls out to the few people outside. "Next!"

[manwithaplan]

Huran was back in his normal clothing and halfway to the exit when the next applicant was called in. He gave Vano a wave and a cheeky grin.

"See you on Monday."