maskormenace | 003 ✿ Video

[ The video is of Raina. At work. On a Sunday evening. Lit by the glow of her computer screen, and even as the feed begins -- she's finishing off her typing. Workaholic, much?

But she does give her attention to the communicator then, offering a sweet, charming smile. ]

Hello, fellow imPorts. I just have a few questions for the community as a whole -- a curiosity, if you will.

[ Her fingers lace in front of herself on her desk. ]

How many of you are satisfied with the power set you received upon arrival? For some of us, powers are new and strange, things we have never encountered in our own world. But for others, we're used to having far more. Abilities that were lost in translation either because they were far too strong or far too destructive. Some abilities may seem relatively useless. Some may be uncontrollable. Some require more thought, practice, and skill than others. While some seem like almost something of a joke on the porter's behalf.

All of this to say, these abilities of ours don't really share a common pattern. But they have become part of our identity as a whole and something that has branded us all as imPorts. And like our identity, there may be things about them we dislike -- things we wish we could make different. So if you had the opportunity to change your powers or alter them in some way, would you? If you could enhance them and make them stronger, would you do that as well?

Please consider my questions something of a survey to measure who may or may not be interested in my next leg of research. Thank you for your time.

[ With a friendly wave, she cuts the feed. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[So, regardless of whether or not the imPort community as a whole is on board with this idea of hers, she still intends to research it. But if they aren't backing her, she'll be forced to handle her research much more carefully, possibly even completely behind the scenes.

Yeah. Doesn't sound sketchy at all.]

Gotta say...

[Josuke rubs the back of his neck and grins.]

...you've got me interested. I'd kinda like to see where you could go with this!

[He lowers his hand then and adopts an expression that looks like a cross between curious and concerned.]

Have you got a lot of supporters, people who wanna see this thing through? And...what happens to those of us who are interested if you don't get a lot of people who consider this line of research something worth giving a lick about? Do we just have to sit around on the sidelines and wait forever?

[ Oh, she positively grins as Josuke expresses his interest. ]

That makes me happy to hear! But as for others? Oh yes. It seems, so far, there are a lot of interested parties. Mostly interested about the possibilities and if I believe I could accomplish something like this rather than volunteering.

If there's only a handful of interested individuals, then what I learn and discover through cellular research will be available to them -- my reports, my studies and my findings. It's harmless, really, to research. But experimentation? Actually altering powers in an individual? I would have to be a hundred percent positive of the possibilities and outcomes before I even attempted something so invasive.

And such things do take money, I'm afraid. It may turn out that I'm only able to get as far as to say 'yes, it's possible to change someone's powers, but no I can't actually create the tailored formula for it because we don't have the funding.'

[The bullshit is strong in these two.]

Yeah but...you don't really seem like the type who'll go to all these lengths to research something that could so hugely benefit imPorts only to be stopped by something dumb like a budget problem. "I have all this awesome research and no way to do anything with it, oh well!" Not seeing that happening.

What I'm saying is, what you're working on? It could maybe even be key to something like...I dunno. Getting the Porter to work for us, sending people home if they wanna go back. That's epic. You gotta have somebody wanting to sponsor that, right?

[Scientists always got something up their lab coat sleeves, right? Like creepy magicians.]

[ This is said with the sweetest smile possible: ]

What do you think I am versus what do you think I'm capable of? While it's flattering to hear how much faith you have in my abilities to progress in my research, I hate to be the bearer of bad news to reiterate the point that I am unfortunately limited in my capabilities by things beyond my control.

And what you're suggesting sounds an awful lot like blackmail.

[ And oh. What a horrifying thought that is! Raina would never, ever think to blackmail anyone!!! .....as she blackmails Crocodile in her office. ]

[The face Josuke makes is 100% natural this time and one of confusion.]

Whoa, wait...what? I'm not sure where you're getting blackmail from, but that's not what I meant at all.

It sounded that way. Saying that I could be on the verge of something groundbreaking and using it as a means to get the porter to work for us. Isn't that a bit like blackmail?

No, no, no!

[Josuke waves his hands before the camera.]

I meant that people'd probably wanna support that kind of work themselves! That's...kinda why I said 'sponsor'? I wasn't trying to imply you or anyone else would be into blackmail.

I should hope not. I should hope you're not so rude.

[ She smiles sweetly, even though the words are edged with a hint of ice. ]