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etcelsior2014-06-27 03:49 pm
maskormods) wrote in etcelsior2014-06-27 03:49 pm
Entry tags:
we're all reponsible here
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.
no subject
No, it's fine. I'm just used to native Russian speakers.
[He flips through the newspaper too, so that he also looks occupied. Isn't this what people always did in spy movies? Talk without looking at each other, pretending to read something else? He hopes no one will decide they're spies based on that. Can you get arrested in this America for speaking too much Russian, even? No one bothered to tell him about the laws during his briefing. That would be fitting, though. Arresting you for breaking laws you didn't even know about.
But at least he can find out if this world has the same sports teams as his old one.]
Sternbild? [That's kind of a dumb name. But then again, now that he thinks about it, so is New York City. He slouches in his seat, sneakered feet jutting out into the sidewalk. He flips a page loudly, somewhat attempting to mirror Yuri's far more proper motions. The sweat on his hands is making the newspaper ink leech onto his fingers.] Where I'm from, we don't have flying cars, either.
[That doesn't stop him from kind of wanting to try one out, though.
The next bit of info Yuri gives him stops his thoughts dead. Jayden sits up and stares at the older man, forgetting all of his previously applied spy tactics.]
What do you mean, no Soviet Union?
[Jayden's Russian history isn't that great; he was in America by the time he went to school, and they love focusing only on American history, like America is the only important country and everyone else is just background noise. If there was never a Soviet Union, what would there be? He has to think.]
Is there still a Tsar or something?
[Jayden's only exposure to Tsarist Russia came in the form of a children's animated movie about Grand Duchess Anastasia he'd seen when he was maybe eight or nine. The film had the murdered grand duchess survive the assassination but lose her memory until she was older, and then she had to go find her grandmother who had moved to Paris, or something like that. Jayden had still been young enough to like cheesy kid movies, and had come back from a birthday party chattering about it. His mother had laughed and laughed at his description of the plot, and then bent down to look him squarely in the eye. "That is a fairy tale," she told him. "It is not true. The Bolsheviks would never have let them live. Not the little girls, or the little boy. They are all dead. Don't go believing in such things. You are smarter than that."
That was the last time he had put much stock in Disneyesque movies.]
no subject
[Evidently, the pattern is one that can and will repeat itself here, that is if the mechanical sharks are anything to go by. Yuri considers himself fortunate not to have been present for that debacle, however.]
[He is silent for a moment as a mother and her young daughter pass, drawing no attention to himself beyond the usual whispers of an imPort that his appearance seems to warrant. When he and Jayden are alone once more, Yuri clears his throat politely and continues.]
Presently, the royal family of Russia is ruling strong, but the country has modernized in other ways. For example, there is also a Prime Minister whose duties are, if I am not mistaken, primarily administrative. On that note, I am forced to admit that I am not certain who currently occupies that government seat.
[Not that there is any real reason for him to know. Yuri's responsibilities are to Sternbild. The call for Justice beyond the city will hopefully be answered in time, but he is only one man. There are limits to the reach of the punishments he must deliver to sinners.]
In any case...relations between the United States of America and Russia are not strained as they appear to be here. Not yet, at least.
[After all, there is Ouroboros to consider, capable of causing trouble on a global scale.]
no subject
When the woman and her daughter pass by, Jayden takes Yuri's lead and goes silent. He sinks down a little more in his seat, and does a decent job in looking interested in the paper. The Red Sox are still a team, which means the fundamentals of this universe are intact.
Once Yuri speaks again, he closes the newspaper and listens, his eyes widening steadily. Finally, he can't stand it anymore and cuts in.]
The royal family wasn't all killed? No Bolshevik revolution, no communism? Nothing like that?
[His mind races, trying to imagine a Russia like that. It sounds like it's more like America, or at least other European countries. Would his parents have stayed in that Russia, if given the choice?]
What about Chechnya? Is it still part of Russia? Were there ever any wars? Is—
[He stops abruptly, remembering that Yuri said it was 1978 in his world. It might be too early for him to even know. Jayden shakes his head.]
Sorry. I'm being rude. I shouldn't expect you to know everything about world history.
[He smiles, but it's a little forced.]
no subject
[Distantly, Yuri considers these things, at least until Jayden interrupts his train of thought with very rapid and excited questions. Surprised, Yuri's eyes widen and he begins in English...]
They live. I...
[He frowns, looks away from the younger man, and shakes his head.]
Please refrain from any further outbursts. [It ruins his concentration.] As I was saying...the royal family lives. I am afraid that is all I can tell you, apart from Chechnya still existing as a part of Russia. If recollection serves me correctly, there haven't been any recent civil disputes or conflicts with other countries. Not at all like this...
[He flicks the page before him with a finger, this time not going to any length to hide his disgust.]
no subject
Sorry. Am I going too fast?
[He's not used to keeping pace for non-native speakers, and admittedly he was swept up by the implication of what Yuri was telling him. He sits for a few seconds, stunned by the revelation. He had never thought about history like this before, in terms of how things could have been different.]
I think I want to live in your world.
no subject
[As to the rest, Yuri is disappointed.]
It does not sound to me as though you are thinking at all, pardon my saying. [He flips a page of his paper and begins a new article. Something about a bank scandal and an imPort who saved the day. It leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.] It is the nature of man, their design to want what it is they do not have, but it is a blind desire. Only fools want what they know nothing about. Educate yourself...before you jump to conclusions. Elsewise, you may discover too late that you have bargained for more than you are prepared to handle.
no subject
I educate myself.
[Said with the defensive sullenness of a teenager.]
Russian military slaughtered thousands of Chechens in the wars. The civilian casualties were insane. The city where I was born was declared the most destroyed city in the world a few years back. They're finally rebuilding, but right now they don't even have a working airport. My parents came to America because they weren't just afraid war was coming, but what people would do on both sides when they saw the two of them, a Russian married to a Chechen, and me.
[He looks over at Yuri, his eyes narrowed.]
So forgive me if your story about a Russia where everybody gets along sounds so appealing.
no subject
[Yuri does not bother to return the youth's glare. He doesn't so much as look at him.]
It is not my intention to insult you, only to caution. There is a phrase that applies: not seeing the forest for the trees. Meaning, you see very clearly the little details, but the greater scheme of things is still obscure.
[Flicking a pale lock of hair out of his line of sight, the judge finally casts a look in the teenager's direction. His is an expression not of pity, but of impartial reflection. He understands the youth's tale, even accepts it as the truth, but he is not swayed one way or the other by the very transparent emotions saturating the surrender of that truth.]
Perhaps the Russia of the world I am from sounds more appealing, but what you have heard here barely scratches the surface, you see? Do not forget, I am not native to Russia. It is entirely possible that there are affairs taking place of which I know nothing. It is even more plausible with the global population of NEXT increasing.
no subject
It's not like him to be so heedless of authority, but it's been a long day. Getting dropped into an entirely new world where he doesn't know the rules has his nerves frayed. And this man has done absolutely nothing to earn his trust.]
You're not my father. You can't tell me what to do.
[Which is a part of the problem. If anyone could look at this insane situation with a level head, like a problem that just needs to be solved, it would be his dad. Is it possible he's still alive in this world? If he is, he's probably stuck somewhere beyond the Iron Curtain. It's not like Jayden can just go find him.
For a stupid, embarrassing moment, he's afraid he might cry. He looks away from Yuri, masking the emotion with a scowl. He doesn't want to show weakness; it's easier to show anger.]
It's not like it matters. Those idiots brought us here. I didn't hear anything about being able to leave.
no subject
[There isn't anything else that Jayden could say that would trouble Yuri more than that statement, and for a moment, it shows. His fingers curl into the newspaper and his eyes narrow. Is he upset at the reminder of his own father, or at himself for lecturing this boy he barely knows? Perhaps both. The teenager is ultimately none of his concern, regardless of what few similarities they share. He should not have allowed himself to become so interested.]
You are absolutely right.
[Folding shut his paper, Yuri rises from the bench abruptly.]
If you wish to despair, it is not my place to stop you.
no subject
Wait!
[Wait for what? For Jayden to continue being angry and rude? He'd wanted to drive the stranger away, and now he's upset that he's succeeded? What's the matter with him?]
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... [He takes a breath.] I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. I'd rather be angry about it than scared.
no subject
You might find that being honest with yourself is more constructive.
[Yuri would know. Holding onto lies for the sake of false comfort always comes back to haunt you in the end. Always.]
[And he nearly leaves it at that, so fixated is he on not getting too involved with a stranger, particularly one he has no obligation or desire to safeguard...but he finds himself speaking again before he can properly excuse himself and depart the teen's company.]
There is no shame in feeling fear, only in allowing that fear to control you.
no subject
Are you afraid, too? Of what they might do to us here?
no subject
We would be speaking more candidly if I was not afraid at all.
[Briefly, his gaze wanders across the street, eyes alighting upon the native citizen manning the newspaper stand where he and Jayden stood minutes earlier. The judgment of people like him is not what concerns Yuri the most, of course. Rather, it is the ever-present possibility that the people of this world may back him into a corner or, worse yet, out him for the vigilante that he is before he is able to make them repent for their sins.]
In any case, to bow to that fear is to admit defeat, and I am unwilling to do so. Can you say the same?
no subject
He looks back to Yuri. Despite having just met him, Jayden does not want to let him down.]
Yes, of course.