Mask or Menace | MODERATORS (
maskormods) wrote in
etcelsior2015-01-30 02:34 pm
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.

1 SCREAMS GENTLY HI
But then he looks up and sees who it is, and his eyes feel traitorous. No way. There's no way Alby is here. Alby is dead (but that didn't matter here, did it?). There's a lot of things that race through his mind, things he could do or say and it takes his brain too long to decide on one. Before he even realizes what he's doing, his balled fist is darting out in front of him, aimed straight for his face.]
You! What were you bloody thinking!?
[...Sorry, Alby.]
8D
newt.
oh.
the emotions sort of hit into him like a ton of bricks--regret, sadness, worry, something warm he never put a name to, anger as always percolating under the surface--and he sort of stands there like a shuckface for a minute before newt is throwing a punch at him. his hand jerks up quick as anything and he catches his wrist, but he definitely has to lean backwards to keep from getting socked.
and then, then the anger catches back up, because if everyone here's dead, then newt-- ] Newt-- [ he starts, and then more or less snaps back-- ] What 'm I thinking, what the hell are you thinking?! What the shuck are you doing here?!
[ alby doesn't care if paradise would be a lot better if newt was there, he doesn't care if he would've waited for him, newt should not be dead.
...he may be sorely misinformed about this situation. (but really, what else is new.) ]
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He glowers, mouth working, unsure what to say first. He's thought about how this encounter would go a lot, despite trying not to get his hopes up that he'd ever show up here. But now that Alby actually is here, anything he'd thought up suddenly seems miles away and he can't remember any of it. He's always been pretty good with words where his friends weren't, but right now they're failing him. It's been months, seeing Alby shouldn't feel like a wound being ripped back open, but that's exactly how it feels.]
I've been here! [That wasn't what he meant to say. He drags his fingers through his hair, hand shaking. He wasn't ready for this at all.] Just like Tommy and Minho, we've been here for months.
[He takes a deep breath, eyes softening from their glare to something much more sad.]
Why'd you do it, Alby?
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but it's not the anger he has troubles with--it's the look on his face. the sadness in newt's eyes breaks his heart.
he knew what he was giving up by leaving, he knew what sort of pain and suffering he was causing newt, too. "happily ever after", he'd said, but happily ever after had been the glade, after all, and newt wouldn't have been able to get that. alby had made up his mind from the moment he agreed to go. the future wasn't made for him--it wasn't made for newt, for thomas or chuck or minho or even the shank girl, or any of them--and he had no intentions of going to it. his sacrifice was noble, he guessed, but if he said that, newt would see right through him, and alby'd feel even more disgusting for lying to him.
he takes a deep breath and matches his gesture, pushing his big hand up and over the bristle of his hair. he still feels wild and twitchy, that creeping feeling of hopelessness somewhere deep in the back of his head, because even dying couldn't push the changing off of him completely. ]
Scared. [ he manages, eventually, choking on the words--alby is not one for feelings but if newt deserves anything in this life (he deserves everything in this life, everything that their world couldn't give him, everything alby tried for but could only reach half way) it's the honest to god truth. he meets his gaze eventually, something far away in his eyes--the same boy who went through the changing and came out a different person indeed. ] 'm still scared. Just-- shuck it, Newt, I know it was bad. Worst damn thing I could've done, but if it helped you...
[ if it helped all the gladers. there was everything wrong with it, but maybe his sacrifice was good for something besides his own cowardice. alby's voice breaks and he reigns it in. ] I'm sorry. Not that it makes up for klunk. [ because he knows it doesn't. ]
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[You died for nothing is what he wants to say, but can't bring himself to do it. The implication is there anyway.
But for all that he's angry at Alby for doing it, he can't... completely hold it against him. He'd been there before, and Alby had been the one to pull him out of it. Which was probably why it hurt so much that Alby was the one who gave up, out of the two of them. He'd fought to bring Newt out of the darkest place he'd been, but hadn't let Newt do the same for him. Some glue he is.]
We got out, ya know. Some of us. [His voice is softer now.] It wasn't any better, you were right about that. We just went from one shuck experiment into another, but we had each others' backs.
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he pinches his eyes shut for a second, frown thunderous on his face but not completely out of place. he still has so many questions, about this place and about everything that happened after he walked into the grievers like it was a shucking sunday morning stroll. who died? why are newt and thomas and minho all here? how many of them did they lose? those boys were his brothers, his responsibility--short of a time as he had as a leader--and his whole world, and he'd let them all down. he'd let newt down, and nothing hurt worse than that. alby takes his bitter laughter in stride. it's not the first time he's heard it, after all. ]
You and Minho? [ he's not hesitant, but alby's not as forward as ever, either. he's more concerned about them than anyone--chuck comes to mind, too, but he doesn't think of a reality where chuck didn't survive, tiny little shank he was. ]
This ain't another trial, else I'd still be dead. [ he says so bluntly. ] So what are you doin' here, Newt? Don't you dare tell me-- [ don't you dare tell me you gave up like i did. not again. ] Shuck.
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Newt shakes his head at Alby's next question, at the implication there.] I'm not dead, Alby. This place- as crazy as it sounds, it can bring people back that have died. It's not even our world.
[He remembers when he doubted that vehemently, how he was so sure this was just WICKED's doing again. He's come a long way. The fact that Alby is here now is even further proof that it can't be their world, where there's no cure for death. And as frustrating as the Porter is for pulling people in against their will, he's grateful every time Lachesis targets someone from his world.]
They gave you a file, yeah? Or did you not stick around long enough to get it?
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alby frowns, looking both angry and confused at the same time, a feat he has more or less mastered. ] You do sound out of your shuck mind. [ but, it's newt, and he also trusts newt with literally everything--he's about the only person in the world he does. ] But you've gotta be right. What I saw...ain't nothin' like this.
[ lots more fire and death and brimstone. maybe he was just foreseeing his own future, who knew. alby probably belonged in hell for what he did.
he says something about a file and alby pauses--he almost looks bashful for a second, frowning confusedly down at himself. ] Dropped it, I think. [ but newt knew him too well. seriously how did he ever actually function without newt in his life. ] I wasn't 'bout to just let them take me off again.
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With Alby here, he's starting to feel like hope is a possibility again. Like there's still a chance to bring everyone here, even all of the friends they'd lost. Even if it meant relying on Lachesis' whims for now while they tried to figure out how or why she pulled who she did, it was a hope that was hard to hold onto.]
Come on, then, let's go back and find the bloody thing. It's got a lot of information you're gonna need here and the rest you can get from me. I've been here long enough I can probably answer most of the newbie questions you've got. [This time he doesn't fight the smug smile.] How about it, Greenie?
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it doesn't really matter, anyway. not anymore.
what matters is that newt's smiling at him (even if he's a klunker about it) and they're alive, together. he reaches over and punches newt's shoulder, though it's not hard. ] Shuckhead. You call the greenie and Minho that when they showed up 'round here, too?
[ for once, he's happy to follow newt, instead of leading the way. working as a team has always been their forte, and alby's trust in him is so strong that he'd follow him straight back into hell if he had to. ]
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He knocks his shoulder against Alby's lightly while they're walking, Newt keeping any eye out for anywhere a folder might have fallen on Alby's mad dash away from the Porter. The likelihood the government picked it back up is pretty likely. They'd have another copy anyway.]
Minho got here before me. Trust me, he took great pleasure in callin' me the Greenie. I'm just passin' along the sentiment, ya feel me?
[He rubs at his neck where the tattoo shows starkly against his skin, glancing furtively over at Alby. Trying not to be too obvious about it, trying not to look at him too much at all. But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't afraid he'd look over and he'd just be gone again.]
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so, yeah, he returns the favor with the shoulder bump, and just like that, things start clicking back into place. ] Thanks for the treatment, I guess. [ grumpily, gruffly, though he's really not that mad. ] Far as I'm concerned, Thomas is still the shucking greenie, and it stays that way.
[ will he ever call thomas by his name? no. but thomas is the last thing he wants to talk about, especially when he spots something black on newt's neck. alby's eyebrows furrow and he pauses, reaching out to grab his forearm to get him to stop. ] What's this?
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Every few minutes he bumps his shoulder again, smiling towards the ground like a damn idiot. It's easy to forget how angry he was when he first saw him. Alby makes it easy to just fall back into old habits, things that always helped his comfort in the Glade that he doesn't really need here, but that he likes even without the necessity of it.]
Nah, Teresa's the Greenie now. She's showed up here la- [Newt pauses, looking over at Alby.]
Hm? What's what? Gonna have to be more specific than that, Alby.
[He's so focused on Alby that the branding seems miles away. At least this gives him a reason to look at Alby without trying to be a coy shit about it.]
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[ alby's stomach lurches with how disgustingly fitting that is; newt, as the glue that held them all together. of course they would know, right? he has no doubt that it was WICKED who put this here, and not the strange people who'd managed to bring him right out of the grave--this place may be weird as all shuck, but he's not got any tattoos he doesn't know about, at least not yet. for a brief moment, he looks shockingly vulnerable, and that changes to a thunderous, familiar frown as he considers the bastards that did this to them in the first place. none of the gladers were anything like subjects; they were his friends, his brothers, his so much more than that in the case of the person standing before him. it pisses him off to know that WICKED's gotten away with so much, it pisses him off to know that newt's got this marked on his skin, it pisses him off that they know newt so well, it just--
it starts to make his stomach churn, in a way that's a little unfamiliar.
alby shakes his head. ] We got a lot to talk about, huh?
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There's nothin' to bloody talk about.
[Snapped, harsher than he means it to be, and he cuts his gaze away. Won't look at Alby for it. He didn't want the reminders, there's enough of them there in the absence of his friends, in the tattoos he sees on Thomas and Minho and Teresa when they have their backs to him. That they might go back, did so before- that a hell awaits them they may not even survive.]
WICKED's idea of a sick joke before they sent us off to a trial that'd kill us quicker. All for a cure to a sickness they gave us.
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pulling his hand away, he's quiet for a while as always, trying to process the feeling of mostly wanting to punch a hole in a wall. whatever kind of trial they were sending them to--of course there were more. the maze couldn't have been the end. more boys would die, more people alby cared about wiped away, for some shuck something they'd never know the damn answer to anyway.
for a second, he glowers, feeling that weird heat bubble in his stomach again. it almost overtakes him for a second, the urge to get mad and just--
alby doesn't make reference to it as he reaches down and threads his fingers into newt's. no one's around to see them, to say anything, and if it's going to make him (newt, he'll tell himself that's what he means, but alby needs it as much as he does, if not more) feel better, then so be it. ]
Load of klunk. [ which is an understatement. ] If ya wanna tell me more, it can wait till we find this shucking file. [ the "if you don't, that's fine, too" isn't stated, but he doesn't have to say it. ]
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He'd be a liar if he said it didn't help, so he closes his eyes for a second and lets out a breath before squeezing his hand gently. He gives him a smile, but it doesn't quit reach his eyes like it had before. He has to be stronger, here. He's not the only one who's damaged anymore, something he feels like he always took for granted with Alby before. He's resolved that it won't be that way anymore. Here's a second chance they shouldn't have, and he's not going to shuck it all to hell just because he can't get over his own problems.
He dips his head in agreement and starts walking again, tugging Alby along where their hands are still joined. Small comforts, something he's not willing to let go of just yet.]
Tell you later. [Because he knows Alby gave him the option to not, but he won't accept it. It's not the time to shut him out, just because he didn't make it that far.]
Our best bet is just goin' back to the base- they've probably picked it up for you. I'm sure you're not the first slinthead's that bolted and left it and I'm sure you won't be the last.
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he'd never do that again, he'd told himself, and then alby turned right around and did it.
so here's his second chance, a way to make things right. if he can make up for being the shuck coward he was, he will. if he can catch newt's sadness and be intuitive to how he hurts, he will. though he's curious in sort of a morbid way about what could have happened to them in this second trial--though he needs to know, and he knows he does--he just nods his head. "tell you later" is an absolute truth, and he knows it.
if newt's not letting go, there's no way in hell alby will first. he never had the chance to miss him--was with newt right up until he died--but the absence of time between them is something he wonders if he'll ever be able to fill. if alby'll ever be satisfied enough to make up for the time he took away, if newt could ever forgive him for it. his thumb tracks slowly over the back of newt's hand, an absent, unthinking, and gentle gesture as they walk, and alby snorts, giving newt a look. ] Yeah? You were so cool coming in, I'm sure.
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Newt snickers, shrugging as he walks. He knows the way to the Cape Canaveral base like the back of his hand from coming every month since he arrived to check the new arrivals. Always hoping to see a Glader (deep down always wanting it to be Alby but that's selfish).]
I didn't turn tail and run if that's what you're implyin'. I took their tour nice and proper and they drove me to my housing. [But then he'd been a little too weak from three days of starvation to really properly resist. Avoiding mentioning that, though. He can tell him all about that later.]
Tommy ran into me too when he showed up, though. Think I must be a magnet for you klunkheads or somethin'.
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his head cranes around a little, finally, and he starts to look around. the weather's nice and the place is nice, if weird--kind of what he imagined a city was supposed to look like in his foggy memories. it's definitely a nice change from the glade, what with the lack of looming walls. the uneasy, skittish panic in his chest still left over from the changing is soothed a little by it, and by newt at his side, so he's fairly compliant as newt leads him along. ] Sounds like something the shank'd do. [ alby you literally did the same thing. ]
Housing's where they put you up to live? What's it like?
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Alby, dude, you straight up knocked Newt off his feet. What you did was worse. Newt's used to being swept up around him, but that's taking it a little far.]
Yeah, they've got housing in three cities for imPorts. It's really for the ones who register, but my roommates didn't kick me out when I decided not to. When I showed up I was the only guy in a house of girls. Talk about a bloody culture shock. But with Tommy and Min and Grey, it's about even now. Bit of a tight fit, though.
[Since they just shoved all the Gladers + 1 mute assassin into Newt's room nbd]
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Who's Grey? [ tweedledee and tweedledumb he at least recognizes. the two of them got real chummy before he had made his unfortunate exit from the glader's lives. ] You're gonna have to explain all this klunk eventually. What the hell is "register"?
And I don't give a shuck if they've got some stupid assignment, I'm staying by you. [ he doesn't even bother asking. newt he'll sleep in your backyard if he has to. ]
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[He's just giving him shit for the hell of it, and the smile is proof of it.] Government wants all the imPorts comin' in to register with them and be superheroes or some klunk. You get all kinds of benefits if you register - housing, jobs, monthly allowances. It's real nice if you wanna pledge allegiance to a government you know nothin' about.
[He doesn't even mention that none of the Gladers have. It's obvious enough that they wouldn't.]
As for living arrangements- we've been saving up to move out of the government housing cause Minho refuses to live in it on a permanent basis, the stubborn slinthead. But til then I think I've still got some space on my floor for ya.
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alby listens to his speech and it's all still making no sense, but, whatever. alby's not planning on "registering" anyway. the last sentence puts a bad taste in his mouth. still, there's at least something in there that caught his attention. ] Superheroes--that's what all that was about? I'm not gonna run 'round in a shucking cape.
[ though, that information is really interesting, and he pauses to look at newt, a little differently. newt the superhero. he doesn't remember much about superheroes--faint memories of klunkheads wearing their undies outside of their pants, but. ] Do you have those?
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[Newt grins, shaking his head. It's always like this with them. Alby's managed to get him back to a good place in just a few minutes again, and he's grateful for it. It lets him ignore all the things he'd rather not think about, things he can focus on later once he's let Alby settle properly.]
Nah, but I do have powers. You do too - they list 'em in that file you dropped. Not everybody does the whole secret identity thing - think it's bloody pointless if you ask me - but there's a whole lot of heroics goin' on around here most of the time, masked or not.
You didn't look at the file at all before you bolted? I wanna know what yours are. See if the Porter had a buggin' awful sense of humor with yours too.
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