etcelsior | PARTY AT MOM'S HOUSE

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping into MASK OR MENACE? Want to dip your toes into the setting and get a feel of whether your character will fit into it? Or maybe you're just cruising and want to play around? Then you've come to the right place!

Pick any of the following scenarios below or feel free to make up your own, but don't be afraid to throw yourself at anyone's thread, either!

And remember to have fun!

01. Your memory is hazy and you might feel increasingly frustrated or anxious, or maybe you're excited as soldiers march past, barely glimpsing you. One second you're somewhere underground, the next you're enveloped in blue light, and suddenly you find yourself directly under Flordia sun's bright and burning glare. A female soldier steps toward you with a wide smile on her face and directs you to a car, ready to debrief you. You realize you are not the only one, surrounded by equally confused or eager faces... and you're all sporting a digital tattoo on your wrist.

02. Welcome to Cape Canaveral, where the smell of the ocean is in the air and locals are more than pleased to see new imPorts roaming their streets. They wave, they cheer, they ask for pictures as politely as they can. The more inhuman you look, or if you're wearing a costume, the more likely locals are to approach. Hey, enjoy the moment! The popular malt shop is offering you a free drink if you need it.

03. The technology in this world is certainly something. The cars are clearly modeled after popular 50s cars, but they hover several feet above the ground as they drive down the street. There are digital jukeboxes in restaurants, motorcycles also hover through traffic, advertisements can be seen on a digital projector on the taller buildings. Even kids on skateboards appear to drift a safe ten feet off the ground while playing!

04. Wherever you are, you can hear the loud revving of an engine, distance at first before you finally see it: a hovercar bursting around the corner, going beyond the maximum speed limit and just barely making its sharp turn. It doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon, not with two police cars trailing it... and uh oh. Those skateboarding kids don't have much time to get out of the way as the car comes speeding down the road. You've been brought here for a reason Hero — so you better act fast.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The only good thing about this is that it's not bred from fear. I heard about the contempt from before—I wasn't there, of course, but anything that's a result of fear is bad. But I also don't like that they know what we're doing or have an idea of it. Even the faintest. That's a little too big brother for me.

[The lack of fear makes it at least marginally better. There aren't any attacks, any deaths, all at the hands of superheroes. There aren't skrulls (or there probably aren't skrulls) lurking within this population ensuring that this set up happens. Kate is sensible enough to realize that.

But she also doesn't think this is something they should be aligned with the government on. It's more than just the fear-mongering or lack of it; it lies in the greater principle of it all.]

It sounds like swinging too much in the opposite direction, but some people wouldn't know a better balance. [She rolls her shoulders back in a "well, this is how it is" gesture.] There's no place like home. [Which means she prefers home now. A couple years ago? No way. But things have changed. People have broadened their perspectives ... thankfully. The unfortunate part is the number of tragedies that had to lead to that point.]

[ And for some of them, they never really learn, or really, they're too stubborn to learn. They're stuck in a day and age where they knew everything, and they're still convinced it's the best way to operate. Convinced!

Then again, when you have groups of the smartest people in the world who all agree with their own calculations, of course it's going to look right. ]

Sometimes, there is no better balance. We'll see how it works, for sure. I think it'll be fine. They know what kind of things we can do, they wouldn't really want to go too far with us, after all. But pretend we don't exist, and we'll cause more trouble.

This is better. Not too bad so far.

[ 'Not too bad so far' he says. 'No cloned thor and infighting' is what he means. ]

"Not too bad so far." I'm sure they said the same thing when Norman Osborn was running around as Iron Patriot. [She's just pointing that out, because in her experience, that's the kind of thing you say right before things go badly. Before something like the fall of Asgard happens. It's casual, but also a little petty; then again, she's not willing to hold back.]

But look at it this way. One of us has rights to "I told you so" in a few months. I'm hoping that it's you. [Kate doesn't want things to be awful, after all.]

[ Other than the slightest twitches to his mouth, he doesn't react to that statement. It's still sore, because from when he comes from, he hasn't even had the chance to fight it. But he remembers Osborn in his suit, and if there was ever a sorespot for a man like Tony Stark, it's when he loses his technology.

It's not like he's gone off the deep end trying to keep people from having his tech before or anything. ]

You? Hoping I'm right? That's a change for the positive. I hope I'm right too.

It comes with conditions.

[Like the fact that he can be wrong. Like the fact that the situation isn't ideal. But Kate doesn't feel like she needs to point that out. She has a feeling he can grasp that much.]

But it's always better to hope for the best. [She'll take it.]

There are always conditions.

[ He shrugged. Especially with him. He always came with conditions. Rich and powerful, but favors from Tony Stark came with a price, he practically expected it from everyone else, and he was always disappointed when they didn't. ]

Honestly, if it's how it is, then I'm perfectly satisfied to help this government out.

I think we should be telling them what happened before so they can avoid the same mistakes. [Kate motions toward her arm, knowing full well that he has a tattoo in the same spot.] This is generally not how you start with something that down the line proves Tony Stark right.

[ His mouth forms into a tight line. For a moment he said nothing, wording things carefully in his head. ]

Extenuating circumstances. Things happened, but the core of it's important to remember. The history, and why we did what we had to do, and the options that were presented to us; and then we can figure out a way to move on, and work things out so that it works right. It's never going to be perfect, when you're dealing with unstable elements like human beings. They don't work the same that machines do, we can't predict for everything.

Despite how much he wished he could. It would make things easier.

[Extenuating circumstances. She's not buying it. She watches him carefully. In all of their rebel activities, they never went one on one like this. Cap was the one handling things, and it was Cap's orders they disobeyed. (Until, of course, what happened to him.

She shakes her head. It's not like she knows personally what Tony Stark feels when he's pushed about all of that, but it frustrates her to know he still feels this way.]

People will show up who don't like it. They'll take action against it. [It's said with certainty. No one's going to care about extenuating circumstances.] I would've preferred if they softened the landing more. [Just like she just softened what she said with that statement. Or she's trying to.]

PARTY AT MOM'S HOUSE

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