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

[tadeadshi]

Mm, I dunno.

[He shrugs, filing the anger away for some other time. He'll deal with his frustration when Hiro doesn't sound like he's about to cry for some reason.]

It'd depend on the tech they used to pull us here and how they work, laws of world hopping, that kinda thing. But it might be.

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro's mind is racing. Even a chance would be worth it. Even if Tadashi's some kind of alternate universe that Hiro never gets to see himself - it's worth it for that other Hiro, right? To spare a version of himself all that pain and agony he went through. Is there anything else that would change? Callaghan would still steal the microbots ... But Hiro only went after him because of Tadashi's death. That leaves not only Krei dead, but also ... ]

-- Abigail. [ He blurts out the name without thinking. ]

[tadeadshi]

What?

[He'd taken to looking at one of the finished Bayminis - Hiro had almost replicated him perfectly in design, a few things lost to scale but he expected that.]

Abigail? [He knows he's heard the name but he can't place it...]

[microbrobotics]

[ That didn't make a lot of sense out of context, did it? Hiro forces himself to slow down, retrace his steps. ]

Callaghan's daughter. She's the key to all this. Why Callaghan stole my bots and tried to kill Krei in the first place. If - if we went back to the expo hall immediately, before the alarms go off, we could grab the transmitter before Callaghan does. And then we reassemble the portal the same way he did, except we go in there first and retrieve his daughter. He doesn't go to jail, Krei doesn't lose his lab, and nobody - [ dies ] - has to lose anything.

[ ... Okay, maybe that didn't make any more sense IN context. ]

[tadeadshi]

[So that's why his classes were delayed. Being in jail would do that. But he has to back up a little bit--]

Wait- You mean Abigail Callaghan, his daughter that died? What portal? Fill me in here.

[You now have Tadashi's complete attention. There's waaaay more at stake here than he originally thought. What was future-timeline him doing that all of this happened???]

[microbrobotics]

Krei built a portal, but it was unstable. And Abigail was the test pilot. So she went into this interdimensional thing but didn't come back. Callghan thought she was dead ... That's why he said that stuff about Krei cutting corners at the expo. He was already planning to find a way to get his revenge on Krei.

[tadeadshi]

[His face slacks with disbelief but there's no lie he can see. He shifts to lean against the headboard, still facing Hiro.]

And you're saying that-- eight months from my time, you know she's still alive through the portal.

[Wow okay so both Krei and his mentor are pretty despicable. His pool of "respectable, worth-admiring adults" is growing smaller by the topic.]

If I go back and do something different, that risks her... Right? Unless we do what you said.

[microbrobotics]

[ Not a single lie in all of that, nope. Or even him dodging around the truth. Earnest and thinking fast, as he is when his mind working overtime on something. He's so desperate to find another angle on this one.

After a moment, he nods.]

Krei probably dies too. He's not a real nice guy, but he doesn't deserve Callaghan shoving him into another dimension either. Abigail was only alive because she was in a ship - and I'd have been toast too if my suit hadn't had an oxygen supply.

[tadeadshi]

[He watches Hiro carefully. Taps his thumb against the side of his chin while he thinks.]

It would be you that gets us roped into some supervillain revenge plot.

All right! [He picks his feet up onto the bed and crosses them, leaning over to give him a playful shove.] When we finish whatever it is we're supposed to do here, we'll figure out if these ports let us do what I think they will and figure out a game plan from there. Whaddaya say?

[microbrobotics]

[ He can't help but laugh at that. A little teary, a little desperate. For the first time in months, he's feeling some real hope. ]

Yeah. Yeah, that sounds amazing.