we're all reponsible here

[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

[purgation]

How many years had passed since Yuri had last heard his father say his name? Really heard him, that was. He had been only fourteen back then, so young in comparison to the full grown man he was today. Despite the number of years that had passed, that voice made him feel small again. It made him feel vulnerable and it made him feel weak, and those feelings were often the hardest of all to control when they bubbled to the surface.

"Don't," Yuri spat. Don't say my name. "I asked you a question and I demand an answer."

[i_am_legend]

It was a surprise to see his son grown, and while it seemed beyond impossible to him after he had seen his son so small and skinny before. Given the impossibility of what he had been told so far, was it such a stretch to see his son grown into a man? He looked a lot like Origa, but the sweet little boy was long, long gone it seemed.

He had never heard such vehemence in Yuri's tone, least of all directed at him. His expression hardened and his eyes flickered blue. "You don't demand answers, Yuri. You ask for them."

[purgation]

No, in this Yuri knew his demand was not an unreasonable one.

Often, when he was alone, he would question whether or not he had done the right thing by taking his father's life. It hadn't been intentional. He had only meant to stop his father from hurting his mother and hurting him, but when his old man had stopped moving on the floor of the garage, Yuri hadn't been sorry. He had felt a sickening, stomach-twisting sense of relief. It had filled him to bursting until his mother had screamed...and it was always her pain that seemed to amplify his own, to remind him that he felt any at all.

His father had died, and with him all the answers to the questions Yuri had, all the closure he might have found if things hadn't gotten so heated and fizzled out so quickly. Didn't Legend love his family? Weren't they more important than his fame? What about the justice he had taught his son all about when Yuri was still a knobby-kneed boy? The chance to ask those things had been robbed from Yuri years and years and years ago, even before Legend had met his demise. The chance to ask those questions had been stolen when Legend himself had changed, and for too long now Yuri thought he would never have the opportunity back again.

But here it was...and telling him he had no right.

"Do you believe yourself worthy of my asking?" Because it was clear Yuri did not.

[i_am_legend]

He had long ago set his affairs in order in some regards, and he had always felt like those matters were private. There were few who knew of his fall, the humiliation that came with having to pretend like he could still do the things that he had once had. They had agreed it was necessary at the time, that the sudden decline of his powers was not something that other NEXT could deal with because he was still setting down key legislation and bartering bitterly with the leading companies of Sternbild.

If they had known that he was on decline, they would have pulled the investments and NEXT would return to being nothing more than freaks to be shunned. He had fought too hard and too long under that stigma that he had dedicated his life not only to stopping criminal activity to planting the seed for NEXT to have equality. Most of all, he wanted that world for Yuri who would always be at risk for being a NEXT because of him, and he could not and would not allow his only child to grow up shunned.

So he pretended and he rotted inside for something so unexplained that only he and Albert knew the true extent of his degradation until he had retired and hidden away like he had some kind of disease. If only he could have prided himself on what he had done and forgotten all he had left undone.

Amazing... he hadn't thought so clearly in so long, but the pain was still as fresh as the last time he was sober enough to remember. He looked at Yuri seeming to swell with righteous anger, and it was so like his own that an expression of fondness flickered across his face. The tone should have angered him, but the serious expression was one he had seen too often on a much younger face.

"No, I'm not worthy," he said simply. He turned his face towards the people walking by, and the motions of their simple movements were more apparent to him than it had been before. It was generally in heat, but he sensed it. "However, I believe your mother and I raised you to have some respect still. Remember her lessons even if you refuse mine."

[purgation]

His mother...

She may only have been a fraction of what she once was, and he may have been filled to the brim with resentment for her delusions, but Yuri loved his mother. She was the only piece of him left in the world that he did love. Even now, not a day passed where he did not think of her, miss her, and wonder at how she was doing on her own. Without him, there was no one else to care for her anymore. But maybe she was happier that way.

Momentarily his grip upon the remnants of his father's collar loosened.

Origa was a kind woman, even gentle, or she had been until Yuri had pushed her over the edge, terrifying and traumatizing her. When he'd been a boy and his father had been away, it was always she who sat with him and told him stories of Mr. Legend, who made him feel safe, who took care of him day in and day out. She had helped to teach him right from wrong, had doted lovingly upon him and praised him for all his accomplishments even as he had grown in to a teenager. For however much Origa loved Legend...there had always been room for Yuri in her heart, as well. Never, not until the day his father had died, had Yuri been made to feel as though he was alone.

He felt alone without her now, but was grateful as well that she was far, far away. He didn't want for her to see he and his father as they were now, for fear of what little was left of her sanity crumbling into unrecoverable ruin.

He didn't want for her to ever see what he was about to do next.

Releasing his father, Yuri drew back his fist and struck the other clean across the jaw. It hurt, but the pain was a small price to pay.

"Do not think that by mentioning my mother to me you will have gained the upper hand or a shred of my forgiveness."