etcelsior | sure, jan

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 more he talks, the more Tadashi is interested from a scientific standpoint and that's dangerous for the stranger. He's leaning and squinting at him, trying to see anything different.]

There might be, but I just got here so I don't know about them yet. But I imagine it'd need its own tweaking. Nothing's perfect after all.

[And he can't find anything weird or unusual about this guy physically. Weird.]

[ He notices the squinting. It's hard to miss.

He looks amused, rather than offended. ]

I suppose not.

Is there anything you'd like to ask? I know I don't...act correctly. Like this. [ What the fuck is breathing for 200, alex ]

[He stops, standing back up straight and looking rightfully embarrassed and shamed. A lot of questions cross his mind and all of them rude. He opts instead for the polite one.]

How long have you been here?

[ That gets something like a laugh out of him. ]

Not long. Not long at all. I'm a recent arrival - same as you. I believe so. [ He breaks his phrases into chunks. Like he's just parsing each thought as it comes through. It may not be that far from the truth of what's happening in his head.

Talking is odd. ]

What was the squinting for? A power? Or just curious, maybe.

No, no power. Just curious.

[He covers his mouth with his hand in thought, still watching his face closely.]

D'you have a name? That I can call you.

Ah. [ He recalls - distantly. He hates lacking the clarity of perfect memory that he had as a navi. He has a suspicion, but he won't act on it until it becomes a certain fact.

He needs to be certain. ]

A name? [ The first thing that springs to mind is his operator's name, but that would feel wrong.

His own name will do. He's the same, though different. ] Magicman will do. It was my name as a netnavi, too.

[He smiles. He starts to hold his hand out for a shake, then remembers the guy he met earlier that kept getting punched and thinks better of it. Never know what someone's got going on.]

Magicman it is, then.

I've never heard of a netnavi before. Is that from here or your home...?

Netnavis are a term that exists in my home. I am one of them, normally. This body is...odd. [ Anyone who spends like five minutes just observing him will see how unnatural his movements are. ]

They - we - are AIs. With evolving personalities. We work and grow alongside human beings. As their partners.

[ Something twinges in him when he mentions partners, because. His operator isn't here. He would know if he was.

He's missing something vital. ]

That's incredible...

[Sorry, were you looking for a different response? A working AI now in a human body? Implications aside, that's like. Skipping three or four big steps in the future-technology scale and Tadashi is way more than interested.

But then that second bit gets his attention.]

Did you get separated from yours?

The machine that brought me here did this. Normally I am pure data. I would have preferred to keep it that way. It would limit my mobility, but. This is confusing.

[ oh, he noticed.

As muted as his emotions are, that gets a definite wince. ]

Yes, we are separated. He isn't here. I didn't see him.

[ There's a definite hint of panic. Subtle, but there. His emotions are just bouncing all over the place right now. ]

I am supposed to take care of him, like he does for me. Mutual partnership. I can't do that now.

[ This sounds weirdly familiar somehow ]

Something else I must get used to. [ Yeah, he's a bit upset. This is a little much to take in. ]

[ He definitely hears the panic coming; years of experience working with a passionate little brother who'd panic over little things, or an aunt that panics over ...well, them. On top of friends that are a little more high strung than he is sometimes-- Tadashi puts on the Big Brother Hat and carefully holds his hands out to him, his tone lower. ]

Hey, hey, it's all right. I'm sure they wouldn't mean to bring only one of you here. Your partner's gotta be around here somewhere, we just have to look, right? We can find him.

[ If he'd been a little less disoriented he would have scolded himself for acting so erratically. He kind of is, though it's lost in the clamour of being like this.

Nevertheless, Tadashi's comment gets a quick head twitch, a shake of the head from someone who hasn't quite worked out the subtleties of a human body. ]

Unlikely. If he was here, we would have found each other upon arrival. Like my teammate.

Your reassurance is appreciated. But it appears I will have to handle --this situation -- without operator assistance.

sure, jan

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