etcelsior | sure, jan

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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.

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[He notices. And he wishes they were already somewhere less crowded to talk about this. He gently gets an arm around his shoulder and starts guiding him somewhere quieter. He keeps his voice even; he's got to be the strong support in this talk and he will, dang it. ]

So everyone got out but you had to start a semester late. What happened with the school?

[ Quieter is good. Better than trying to do this in the middle of the street. But Hiro isn't getting any less agitated - if anything, Tadashi's unconditional brother support is making his heart ache even worse. Lying to his brother, even for something like this, isn't easy. And already there's holes popping up. Because of course the expo hall burning down wouldn't stop classes; only the expo itself, and Tadashi knows Hiro cleared that. Think, Hiro. ]

I ... well, Callaghan was the one who got me the scholarship, right? He was the one who set the fire. To steal my microbots.

What.

[Years of experience tell Tadashi that Hiro is leaving something important out, but that statement right there is enough to get his thoughts to stop in their tracks. Way to know exactly what to say to stall his brain. He kneels down, wanting to be absolutely dead sure he heard Hiro right, looking his face over for any lie in that. Callaghan wouldn't, he's... He's a professor, he's Tadashi's mentor, closest thing to a ... Maybe not a 'father-figure' per se, but something similar to that in his own life. And one of the smartest men Tadashi's ever met...

... Which means if he did want that, he could find a way... He swallows past the lump in his own throat, his brain working in the opposite direction now, fire and potential conversation forgotten.]

Why would he steal your microbots? You were going to enroll anyway, that... That doesn't make sense.

[ Success for Hiro!! Kind of. Usually, when he lies, his eyes go all over the place, like he's searching for whatever he's saying next. But that part is the truth, so he meets Tadashi's gaze firmly. Almost angrily. Unlike Tadashi, he didn't have that mentor relationship beforehand; all he had was some idolism that quickly got overridden by this jerk accidentally killing his brother. No love lost for that man whatsoever. Just because he no longer wants to kill the professor doesn't mean he can't still hate him.

Hiro sets his jaw stubbornly. Now he's upset AND angry, good job. But at least the anger isn't directed at Tadashi this time. ]

There wasn't a good reason. I'd have given them to him if he asked! But he still - he didn't even care that he - [ And there go the eyes, because the thing on the tip of his tongue was "killed you"-- ] destroyed the expo hall. Krei had apparently gotten his daughter killed and he wanted revenge. I guess he thought it was still possible I'd change my mind and give the bots to him.

Edited 2015-01-31 17:40 (UTC)

[He's still watching his brother carefully. This is big. Not only because this was someone he was going to look up to for advice and guidance in school, someone he knew Hiro had admired already - but also that was a lot of hard, hard work and ingenuity destroyed for someone's own selfishness. And stalled him starting what he'd worked so hard for. Callaghan wanting revenge put some of the disagreement between he and Krei into a stronger context and it made sense; Callaghan had never really spoken much about his daughter and always in the past tense when he did.

His shoulders slack as the pieces start fitting into place, looking down and away from Hiro. It's hard realizing someone you looked up to could fall that low; more reason for Tadashi to be a better person for Hiro. When he looks back at him, he's all apologies and regret in his face. He knows there's still an integral piece missing that Hiro won't tell him, but he figures they'll talk about it given enough time. He makes a mental note that Hiro didn't say if Callaghan actually got out or not. That'd make sense why he'd be delayed starting school... ]

I'm sorry I don't remember it. [Time displacements and all. He gives his shoulder a little squeeze. ] Thanks for telling me.

[ The breath all rushes out of him in one relieved exhale. Everything else he can more or less stick to the truth on, as long as he ducks around that one thing. He won't even have to lie about the time gap. Right, he can do this. For once in his life, he'll protect his brother instead of the other way around. ]

It happens. A lot of people end up like that. With - with friends or family coming in missing pieces of their memory or just plain ol' getting pulled from a different spot in the timeline. And eight months isn't that bad compared to some of them.

Jeez, can't imagine how rough that'd be. But eight months.

[He's already a little lighter (if subdued, the shock hasn't quite hit and he won't let it until he's alone) and leading Hiro back to the main street. They've got somewhere to be!]

If I hadn't tried a few things already, I'd say I fell asleep watching one of your movies.

[ Oh right, they were walking back towards the house. Hiro drifts ahead a bit again so that he can keep them moving in the right direction. ]

If you haven't hit yourself already, I can help with that. But it's not a dream, I promise. And it really has been that long for me.

No, no, thanks I. Tried that. A few other things too.

[Like accidentally punching another guy who apparently knows it happens?? Wait eight months, does that mean he missed Hiro's birthday? Nooooo. But he really did try a bunch of things, a mental checklist of every movie he could think of that had a similar situation, including that awful Matrix movie. Thing made no sense, even if it looked kinda cool.]

Least there's stuff here to keep you busy. What were you buying anyway?

Didn't work, huh.

[ Wow, Tadashi. You're a winner already. Hiro brightens at the subject change - engineering is always his favorite topic, after all. ]

Soldering supplies. For work.

Nope. Looks like you're stuck with me.

Okay, I'll bite. Where do you work.

[ He sticks his tongue out a bit. God, now that he's past the whole "oh shit I have to lie to my brother" part, he's almost giddy. Talking with Tadashi about engineering projects! Something he thought he'd never get the chance to do ever again. ]

StarkTech. It's not too far up the road - Tony's got a sick lab. And there's other geniuses there, and I bet he'd hire you too. You'd be a little slow compared to the rest of us, but you can work hard to keep up, right?

[ He tries to keep that "he'd hire you too" part casual, but he can't hide a note of excitement in his voice at the thought of it. Working with Tadashi on engineering projects: ALSO something he never thought he'd do again. ]

Had to work hard to keep up with you, didn't I?

[He musses his hair a bit. There's no malice or jealousy in that, just up front observation. Maybe he'd been jealous when they were younger but what'd it matter? Hiro was smarter than him in a lot and Tadashi was smarter than him in other things. It worked out.]

What all do they do there? It's gotta be something good if it's keeping you in one place.

[ Hiro doesn't even fuss about the ruffling - he's too happy now. ]

All kinds of stuff. It's pretty free range as long a we've got some kind of project. Me, a programmer, and a biologist came up with a vaccine that reprograms our nanites to ward off false memory implantation. It's kind of been going around. And then I'm making helper bots to help me out in the lab.

Nanites?

[He glances down at his wrist. Oh right, the things in his wrist when he woke up. Good to know they can do other stuff, maybe he can do something else with them.

He is proud though. Look at his lil bro, using that brain of his for something big and important and helping people.]

How big are the bots?

They're in your bloodstream. Tracking mostly, I think, but there's some tricks to 'em.

[ Amazing what happens when someone lights a fire under his butt to get him moving. When they get to a small housing development, he jogs up to the first door of #1. From there he appears to ... do nothing? But there's the distinct sound of the key turning in the door from the other side, and then the door opens. ]

About six inches high. At least the prototypes are. Haven't decided if I want to go bigger or program better cooperation schema.

I'd go for programming. You can always go bigger later--

[Okay, hold up. That got his attention quick. There's no one waiting just on the other side. And he didn't see or hear anything like a retina or body scan, what the heck. He looks at Hiro quizzically and steps inside after him, taking one last look at the door from the inside and... Yep, still ordinary door as far as he can see.]

Okay, what's the trick.

[ It's a completely ordinary door. With no pneumatics, no gears, no nothing. Just a pair of keys in the lock and the darn thing apparently swinging open of its own accord. Hiro hops over the threshold with a positively wicked look on his face. ]

Oh, you know.

[ He opens his hand - and the keys pull themselves out of the lock and into his open palm like they were drawn there with a strong magnet. ]

The usual.

Edited 2015-01-31 19:41 (UTC)

[His eyes dart between the now-empty lock and the keys in his hands. This is obviously the superpower thing going on and he can't tell if it's telekinesis or concentrated magnetism. Has to be one of those two.]

What'd you get.

[Look, once he knows for sure what Hiro got, he will be rightfully impressed and geek out with him but he wants to know first.]

[ He figures as much, but he's sure gonna gloat a little anyway. ]

I'm calling it technokinesis. If it has moving parts - or it's a component of something that does - I can make it move. So technically, I don't even need a key. I can press the bits inside the lock manually. It's just easier to grab the key if it's there.

All right, that? That. That's cool. That's very cool.

How'd you even figure out you had it or-- Have you tested the lim-of course you have. [ And there he goes, running so many ideas and possible scenarios and RIGHT little brother. Little brother here, watching him. ]

What else do you know about it?

[ It's nice to see someone who immediately gets the implications of something like that. Most people call it telekinesis or second-class technopathy when really it's so much than either of those things. He grins up at his brother. ]

Come up to my room and I'll show you. I've had a whole month to practice. It's so ridiculously useful, you have no idea.

Oh, I'll believe it. Show me, I wanna see.

[He can think of a whole lot of things he could do with an ability like that. He's pretty much forgotten his own file in favor of investigating Hiro's abilities and his space. Actually now that he thinks about it, this would be the first time Hiro hasn't had to share a space at all. He's had a whole month like this. Way to make himself feel a little smaller in the grand scheme of things.]

C'mon then. I got a whole buch upstairs.

[ Hiro is great at that, don't you know? In case you'd forgotten how much your little brother demands on a daily basis, here's another one: the hallway in front of his room is peppered in bits of tech in front of the door. He's already molding his way into this setup too. ]

All right, I'm coming.

[If nothing else, he's glad for Hiro's enthusiasm. It's always good when Hiro's excited about something and actually wanting to show Tadashi. But he sees the bits of half-together mechanisms and smiles.]

Lemme guess. This one [he gestures to the poor door framed in metal at the floor] is yours, right.

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