sure, jan

[maskormods]

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.

Comments

[microbrobotics]

[ Oh right, they're still on a street corner. And his bag of supplies is still sitting there on the ground. Reluctantly, he takes a step back to scoop up both the bag and the hoverboard, one under each arm. Still not entirely convinced he's not dreaming. ]

Yeah. They were giving them out a couple weeks ago. ImPorts are real popular around here.

[ A pause. ]

-- I can tell you more at my place. I'm in a house with some other guys in De Chima.

[tadeadshi]

Your place.

[He deadeyes his brother, shifting weight onto one foot watching him carefully. He'll get to the De Chima part in a minute but--]

You have your own place.

[microbrobotics]

[ God. Every time Tadashi does something - anything, really - Hiro just wants to burst back into tears again. It's been so long. He settles for his voice wavering a little as he picks up their old conversation rhythms. ]

I've been here for a month, stupid. No way am I living on the streets when they set up a nice house for you and some roommates.

[tadeadshi]

How-- How have you been here for a month. I've barely been here a day. [He doesn't disbelieve him but he has a hard time believing it all the same. Probably a scientific explanation if he had the chance to sit and think about it. For now, he'll start walking and hope Hiro leads them along in a minute.]

And I'd hope you wouldn't sleep on the streets, least you learned something.

[microbrobotics]

[ He does just that after a few steps. Tadashi was mostly heading in the right direction - Hiro just makes sure they're angling towards the Porter and not off in the middle of nowhere. ]

It's like Narnia or something. You spend all this time here but none passes back home.

[tadeadshi]

[Once Hiro's in the lead, Tadashi follows after him easily, folder under one arm and hands in his pockets. His mind's already trying to work out how that's possible with the possible theories.]

Maybe... Porter's definitely involved, so. Wormholes aren't a thing [are they?] and I don't think this is proper alternate universe protocol [He's trying to joke. Mostly.]. Time displacement has to come from somewhere, though...

[microbrobotics]

[ Ha ha wormholes. Hiro is not quite ready to tell Tadashi about the time he ended up on the other side of one. Just focusing on getting them back to the house for now. ]

Could be dilation. If this place is somehow stationary compared to other universes...

[tadeadshi]

[Better to not ever tell him about that.]

Maybe. A fourth dimension, maybe?

[That somehow feels more logical and real than anything like an alternate universe.]

[microbrobotics]

Fourth dimension is time, dummy. Fifth dimension is a tesseract.

[ Said in his usual know-it-all tone, but it's not like HE has any better ideas. Speaking of portals, though: they're drawing up in front of one now. The other side is beautiful (and unpleasantly snowy, at least for Californians) De Chima, Virginia. ]

[tadeadshi]

[You know what that tone gets?

Hair-ruffle! He had to test you, lil bro, make sure you were still up on your sci-fi game. But at the portal he stops and stares.]

Through there?

[Are you serious.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Oh. Head ruffles from Tadashi. He doesn't even make a face or duck his head away for once; instead, he just gets quiet. Yet another thing to add to the Hiro Is Acting Weird list. ]

Yeah. It's safe. People even commute through it.

[tadeadshi]

People just commute through a portal like it's totally normal. Unbelievable.

[And yet here they are about to do it, and here Tadashi is, taking note of every out-of-the-ordinary thing Hiro's doing. Like get quiet; Hiro doesn't do quiet unless he's working.

He gestures to the portal.]

Lead the way, Captain.

[microbrobotics]

[ He smiles a little at that. ]

Hold onto your hat.

[ The passage is anticlimactic in the end. One moment, they're in Florida; then once they step through, they're in De Chima. Simple enough. Hiro stands on the other side not a few feet away from Tadashi, and yet technically hundreds of miles away. ]

[tadeadshi]

[Tadashi watches, making sure there's no weird after effect or anything before stepping through himself. Once he's through, he stops to look himself over for any changes or mishaps, like did he leave half a butt back there? No? Good.]

Little tingly. Not bad.

[microbrobotics]

Right? You get used to it. You get used to a lot of things here.

[ And he is looking over Tadashi just as thoroughly to make sure he didn't, I dunno, spontaneously combust or something. He starts walking again, this time heading for his house. ]

[tadeadshi]

[He looks back at the portal with a grin, then back at Hiro. Seriously? This is cool. He's getting over the away from home and sworn to a military faction and joining the This Is Cool mindset as he follows him.]

I'll take your word for it. So who're these folks you're staying with?

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro, meanwhile, is relaxing a bit. Just a little bit. No way he won't be cagey and keeping an eye on Tadashi for a long, long time.

And wow, how to explain the Persona 3 crew ... ]

Uh ... they're all highschoolers. One's a sports nut and the other one cooks really well.

[ And also threatened him with an axe. ]

[tadeadshi]

[Okay, so Hiro making friends semi-close to his age and one that can cook, Tadashi'll take it. It's more than he had back home and he's glad for it, if a bit guilty that Hiro was here by himself. Not that he could've done anything to change it, but guilt all the same.]

Better than Aunt Cass?

[microbrobotics]

Pffft, no way. But he isn't bad.

[tadeadshi]

[He smiles at that, putting an arm around his shoulder and giving a quick little bro-hug before he pulls away once they get closer to the city proper. His tone lowers a bit as he talks again.]

Glad you didn't try to live alone.

[A beat.]

Probably would've burned the place down trying to cook ramen.

[microbrobotics]

[ The bro hug is nice. He's almost relaxed after that, like everything is normal and nothing hurts. And then Tadashi just has to make that poor wording decision. Hiro freezes up completely, abruptly blinking back tears. The calm brought on by having his brother here and alive again is awful fragile, especially when you say things like that. You monster.

Hiro swallows multiple times to try and get past the lump in his throat. But he still can't keep his voice from wavering badly. ]

Y-yeah. We don't ... don't want that.

[tadeadshi]

...Hey...

[ Okay, so something he just said struck a bad chord with Hiro, and Tadashi isn't sure which thing it was. Surely Hiro hadn't actually burned something that badly trying to cook had he? Oh his god what if he had and gotten hurt, crap.

He bends down to get eye-level with him with that comforting brotherly hand on his shoulder, apology knit in his brows watching Hiro. The kid looks like someone just died. ]

... What happened?

[microbrobotics]

[ Gee, I wonder. He'd kind of subconsciously figured out that Tadashi doesn't know the big spoiler of his own movie, but this is his first time realizing it. And realizing at the same time that he doesn't want to tell his brother. Maybe... Maybe if he doesn't, Tadashi will still be alive. That's how it works, right? ]

You don't know. [ that's all he can seem to manage to squeak out. His mouth has gone dry. ]

[tadeadshi]

No, that's... Kind of why I'm asking.

[ The want to fix whatever happened to his brother is burning in him and he can't fix it if Hiro doesn't tell him what it is. How is he supposed to know? He just got here and they've just found each other, haven't even gotten to the house Hiro stays at yet. It'd be impossible for him to know, really. ]

I can't know unless you fill me in.

oh my god you pun monster

[microbrobotics]

[ Tadashi 's right. He can't know if Hiro doesn't tell him. So... All he has to do is not tell him, right? Easy. No problem. ]

Nothing. Nothing happened. We just - [ He has to search his memory for the last safe point he can possibly tell Tadashi about. ] - we had the expo, right? And Aunt Cass was gonna treat us?