They take a couple of class 1 and class 2 deathworlder friends to a human hockey game. The galactics are rather shocked at how violence features into what the humans call, a friendly exhibition match. -- The New Guy
[AN: I know bloody well present-day hockey has rules and procedures to prevent or de-escalate aggression. It's almost adorable]
There's entire comedy routines about Deathworlder sports, and how they symbolically boil down to various hunting activities. Kill the ball, kill the person with the ball... and, if you're talking about ice hockey, kill the people on the opposite team with the 'ball' as a thin excuse.
Well, that's how it used to be in the bloody, violent, and war-torn Pre-Shattering Era of Terra. Especially during their twentieth century.
Those spectacles were long gone. Unless you knew where to look.
Most start in the Greater Deregulations, well known to be hives of toxic gender roles. They find them in the colder planets or settlements. Arenas of blood, ice, and blades, where the testosterone is a thick miasma in the air. Or so they think.
The most murderous form of hockey, not just ice hockey... is women's hockey. Given the general atmosphere, they have a lot of anger to work out and what they work it on best is other players on the field.
Watching, in the Tourist Zone, were alien guests. Safely behind a partition that hid them from the more common throng. They were Deathworlders, so they could watch but not interfere. Lest they disturb the public with their appearance.
The people on this world largely believed that they were not only still on Earth, but it was also flat. There's no telling the truth to some people.
The spectacle on the ice was the education of the day. A bloody battle between Team Green and Team Blue, where the goals were incidental to the combat and blood on the ice or the players. Players were fully able to express 'beef' with fists, elbows, or hockey sticks.
And, because it was a Deregger world, they weren't wearing very much at all.
Even Deathworlders were shocked. "These warriors are less valued than the decorative females?"
"These people have a high aesthetic standard of beauty for their women. Warriors get scars, bruises, and missing teeth. Those aren't desirable to the people."
"These Dereggers are crazy," muttered a Deathworlder, tapping their temple.
[Photo by Chris DeSort on Unsplash]
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