now don't be rude

[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

[enabeled]

[ Normal-looking she may be, but to those few faces from a very particular version of Baltimore, Abigail Hobbs is still a recognizable face.

Since his "accidents," Gideon does not venture out and about recklessly around the town; only local, only public spaces, and of course, only wheelchair accessible. It's not frequently he's out -- he's a dignified man who does not like advertising a vulnerability like being down one leg -- but occasionally the alternative is to stay inside and slowly go even madder.

He sits in the malt shop inconspicuously, people-watching and enjoying the views from the windows -- the ambiance -- more than he is a beverage, but when noticing Abigail Hobbs he very slowly stirs his milkshake by the straw before deciding to speak with her. ]

Rough day?

[lurings]

[ instead of answering right away, abigail hums an agreeable sounding noise. rough day, month, life. well, no, not the last part. she'd had an okay life until her day started murdering (and eating!) girls that looked just like her. regrettably, the past year has tarnished the golden idealism of the rest of her seemingly idyllic childhood.

he was a good dad until he wasn't.

story of her life.

after some silence, sipping her water, she verbalizes an answer. ] Could be worse.

[enabeled]

Could be.

[ He says it agreeably, although thinks to himself she may sing a different tune if she finds out Will Graham is here. Not that Gideon's in much of a position to give her the head's up there; those that get close to Will Graham may suffer, but Gideon has gotten involved enough in that area not to want to tempt fate any further.

Besides, he doesn't actually know Abigail, nor she him. It might seem strange. ]

It's Ms. Hobbs, isn't it? Abigail Hobbs? Or have I got the wrong person?

[lurings]

[ attention effectively captured, she turns to face him fully, cool blue eyes taking him in. it's disconcerting the way her mind immediately jumps to whether or not hannibal put him in the wheel chair. would be strange though, to have kept him alive. maybe he was useful. or maybe it had nothing to do with hannibal at all and she needs to train herself to stop thinking like that. ]

I'm Abigail Hobbs. [ he doesn't look overly familiar to her, turning her expression wary. maybe he was the pharmacist who tried to turn her into fertilizer when she was comatose.

stop. he could just be some ordinary person who saw her on tattlecrime.

but no, this is abigail, serial killer catnip. it's never just someone ordinary. ] Who are you?

[enabeled]

[ It's a good thing that even here, Gideon can't read minds. It'd be hard even for him to keep a straight face if he knew she was thinking about Hannibal Lecter.

He wheels himself back slightly so as better to face her, leaving his drink on the edge of the counter so he can rest his hands on his thighs. (Normally it would be the knees, but--) ]

Dr. Abel Gideon. I'm acquainted with Will Graham and Tattlecrime's Freddie Lounds... only ever read about you in passing, but I find it always nice to truly put a face to the name.

[lurings]

With both of them? [ they're not each other's biggest fans. ] That's a delicate balance.

[ his name is familiar to her, but without anymore context she doesn't connect it to the news stories. he hardly looks like he would be able to commit the murders he was known for. but when abigail broke out of port haven all those times, you can bet she trolled tattlecrime.

it'll come to her eventually. ] Many silent dinners.

[enabeled]

Well, fortunately for me, rarely ever at the same time.

[ He would mention Alana Bloom if he knew she was yet another in the sizable list of mutual acquaintances shared, but of course that just isn't how these things work. Never that simple.

Gideon inclines his head slightly, as if amending that thought (though he's really just adding to it): ]

Besides... don't know about you, but I'm not much a fan of dinner parties.

[ He still doesn't know what really became of the young Ms. Hobbs. Something relating to Dr. Lecter, if Will Graham really was innocent. But who could know for sure? ]

[lurings]

[ the last dinner party she went to she had to sit across from that creepy ass picture of leda getting some swan style oral while she ate the leftovers of a person and existed in the general state of awkward that cropped up because of hannibal's silent annoyance that freddie is a vegetarian and he couldn't secretly feed her another human being.

it was the most fun ever.

her mouth slides up into the tiniest smile, more of a smirk than anything. ] No. I've never been much of a fan either.

[enabeled]

[ Oh Gideon has his own critiques of that fucked up painting, too -- starting with why is it in the dining room of all places but, you know, Hannibal Lecter is obsessed with proving how eccentric he is.

It's tempting to tell her something more, something that may bring their conversation to the especially relevant, but how to even approach such a thing? Abigail and himself may have both fallen prey to the same beast, but their circumstances are miles apart.

Time to go the blunt route: ]

The most recent word on you was that you'd been eaten by Will Graham. Isn't true, is it?

[lurings]

Of course not. [ she even rolls her eyes lest anyone forget that she is still actually a teenager. a judgy teenager, crossing her arms in a petulant, huffy manner, hips shifting to just that pose. her eyebrows lift, the straw poking out of the cover of her drink poking her arm. ]

It was hardly his design. He's no more the Copycat Killer than you're the Chesapeake Ripper.

[ give her a second.

she startles, forehead wrinkling in thought, like that snapped something on in her brain and she glances down, studying the sleeve of her sweater to fucus, lips slowly mouthing his name. that is why his name sounded so familiar. it was all over the newspapers, not to mention tattlecrime. a murdered nurse in a chesapeake ripper death tableau was not something that was going to go unwritten about in baltimore. even in port haven -- where getting the newspaper involved climbing out your window and over the fence to escape into town -- the news spread. mostly in the "hope my patients aren't that batshit" kind of way. ] Oh. [ of course. she's shouldn't be surprised. she's basically catnip for serial killers.

her head lifts again and she looks at him with new understanding in her eyes. her comment was still accurate. ] Wouldn't you agree?

[enabeled]

[ Abigail is lucky she's not saying that to the Abel Gideon of months past, who would not take the accusation -- however unintentional -- gracefully. Right now, he simply holds her gaze, expression drawn but neutral.

The silence holds as well for a span of seconds, nearly a minute, though his fingers drum very slowly on the armrests of his chair. Then, he repeats: ]

Oh is right.

[ He is, to her credit, mildly surprised by the direct answer. ]

I would agree that the spotlight on my brief career as the Chesapeake Ripper has faded. Some things... never meant to last. Does that make them any less real, Ms. Hobbs?

Will Graham's design is more complicated than even he knows. Including, I would suspect, his designs for you.

[ And Hannibal Lecter. But let's leave him out of the conversation as much as possible, thinks Gideon. ]

[lurings]

So far his design is three for three in saving my life, not ending it. [ she wants beverly. they'd barely interacted, spoken maybe twice, but beverly would be on abigail's side and abigail wouldn't have to explain anything because beverly had seen it all. ] Is it really so hard to grasp that Will didn't kill me?[ sigh, she fidgets uncomfortably. it's always going to be too hard to explain, four for you hannibal coco, four for you. a+ evidence planting.

rude. ]

[enabeled]

If you're asking... then yes. Wouldn't accuse him of such by intention, necessarily, but Will Graham is mixed up with some unsavory and possessive company. Dangerous person to know, even more dangerous person to assist.

If you weren't yet aware.

[ His lips tighten slightly, one eyebrow raising as he tilts his head. Beverely Katz can't save anyone now!! ]

[lurings]

[ BEVERLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! /pines for.

reflexively, abigail unfolds her arm to tuck her hair behind her ear, but her hand stills because... no ear. it's like phantom limb syndrome, she knows it's not there, but muscle memory doesn't know it yet. her hand falls. ]

I am aware.

[enabeled]

[ EVERYONE NEEDS YOU, BEVERLY.

Gideon watches Abigail carefully, taking in little details of her movements without even intending to -- it just comes naturally with the way he tends to observe, especially these days. Observe, overthink, obsess; all important in keeping one's self out of harm's way. ]

Thought you might be. Certain patterns become difficult to ignore except to those keeping themselves deliberately blind, but then there's also those who'll know better.

[lurings]

Deliberate blindness is dangerous. [ it ends in losing ears and defenestrations. ] I'd rather know what I'm getting into, even if that's dangerous too.

[ and she's beginning to think she knows a lot more than most people when it comes to hannibal -- especially because she knows she wasn't dead and that's just a little bit more than the rest of the world knew. she's no alana or will or jack crawford, but she knows that and they didn't. and abigail will wrest any tiny bit of control from the world. ]

It feels less dangerous.

[enabeled]

While it may be dangerous, there's always benefit to knowing precisely what brand of monster you're dealing with.

[ He smirks mildly as he says it, but there's something bitter and restrained in the movement that calls for an accompanying glance upward to the ceiling. ]

Simply the way things are.

[lurings]

[ that makes sense, as logic often does. abigail finds control in knowledge, even if it's just a construct in her mind to make her feel better. ] But then again... Jack Crawford's guys are still alive and they don't know anything. [ she assumes based on the still living and breathing they were doing. ] Makes you wonder what Beverly knew that was important enough to kill for. [ her tone softens to simply curiosity, eyes losing some of that cold hardness, making her look more innocent as her head tips slightly to the side. ]

[enabeled]

Oh I think Jack Crawford knows a great deal more than he lets on. False sort of blindness... much more effective.

[ His fingers drum again on the armrests of his wheelchair as he wonders, had he trusted Jack Crawford just a bit more, if he'd had still succumbed to the fate he had. ]

Might not be about what she knew, but about how she knew it. Or-- [ He doesn't know Beverly, so he can only speculate from Hannibal's side of things... assuming the two people are related. ] What she did with it.

[lurings]

[ she had meant price and zeller specifically, she just didn't remember/care about their names. but he made a good point about jack crawford. she's not entirely sure how he fared, but as hannibal was alive and she didn't see jack she could only assumed he'd bled out somewhere in the house.

she looks off to the side, mind momentarily lost in thought of what beverly could have done. ] You're right.

[enabeled]

[ Gideon is quiet for a moment, lips pursed mildly in thought. He looks at Abigail with his same cautious scrutiny. ]

He's around here too, you know.

Hannibal Lecter.

[lurings]

[ of course. she continues looking away, eyes falling shut as she fights against bile seering her throat. he's inescapable, like her nightmares come true. her shoulders stiffen as she struggles to keep her breathing in control, to not succumb to frustrated tears. not even death could free her.

he was right, too, when he said it could be worse.

it is worse.

her hair is pushed aside enough to give a glimpse of her ear as her hand curls against her neck, scar pressed against her palm familiar. her nails dig into the back of her neck to force her to focus, grounding her in the present as her eyes open. ]

Could be worse.

[ could be her dad! ]

[enabeled]

Could be. Would argue not by much, yet we are alive, whole... equipped with strange and new abilities.

So it isn't as if we're helpless.

[ All he knows about her is what's been in the papers or Tattlecrime, which is to say not a whole lot. But any victim of Hannibal's should appreciate having extra means to defend themselves, he imagines. Who wouldn't?

Gideon observes her (lack of ear), her scar, and returns to his quiet thought. To comment would only invite similar comments upon himself. ]