maskormenace

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[ Good evening, Mask or Menace! Jaime's back, and while he doesn't look any older, he certainly looks tired and a little sour to boot, like someone just fed him a ~~nintendo switch cartridge~~ real bitter pill. It was a long month. ]

So, um... hey! I'm back. That was definitely the longest I've been ported out for, but I gotta ask: what happened while I was gone? Because I got back, and all of a sudden, like, half of the people I know are gone. Dick's gone, Tadashi's gone again, Fuu's gone, Sarissa's gone, so's my Mom...

Was this just the Porter, or what?

[ It probably is - people tend to leave in waves - but it's left him feeling a little shellshocked, and it's worth searching for answers at the very least. He raises a hand to rub at the back of his neck, playing a little with the hair at the nape. ]

Um, anyway. Good to see you guys who are still here. And for all the newbies, I'm Jaime. Nice to meet you.

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Damn, Jaime. That's a long list. I'm sorry to hear it- especially about your Mom.

[He'd liked Bianca, even if they'd only really spoken at Thanksgiving.]

Is there anything I can do to help?

I appreciate the thought, but I'm pretty sure the only way to get over this kind of stuff is just to suck it up, [ Jaime says with a wry little smile, not entirely genuine, but it's not entirely false either. ] You've been here long enough to know how that one goes. If there's nothing we can do about it yet, then that's that, y'know?

Yeah. Yeah, I know how that goes.

[Jacob half-smiles, half-grimaces, as though he's trying to suppress a wince. There used to be so many more familiar faces from the Normandy around...]

But the more people we lose, the more important it gets to hold on to whoever's still here. So for what it's worth, I'm glad you're back.

Thanks. Glad to see you around too -- you and the rest of the Normandy that's left.

[ He remembers most of them, was friends with most of them, but at least three of them are still around. As long as they have each other, he figures they'll be okay. ]

We used to have a memorial for everyone, didn't we? Man, I wonder what happened to it. The guy running it probably got ported out.

Thanks, Jacob. I'm glad to see you're still here too -- you and Kaidan and Shepard.

[ He remembers the rest of the Normandy crew being here. He'd been friends with some of them and not with others, but the camaraderie had always been nice to see. Some people seemed to arrive for mere moments and others - like Kasumi - stung a little more. ]

There used to be a memorial for all the people who got ported out, right? I wonder whatever happened to that. The guy running it probably got ported out.

[That gets a morbid chuckle out of him.]

He probably did, yeah. Or he just gave up from how many names he would have needed to add.

Thanks, though. I hope we stick around for a while yet. I'm not done with this place.

[And it surprises him to hear himself say that, and to realize how deeply he feels it. When Jacob first was Ported in, he wanted nothing more than to get back to his world and face what was coming with the Reapers. But now? He's invested in the fate of the imPorts, and in the survival of the divided Earth they dwell in. And Jacob doesn't like leaving things half-finished.]

Yeah?

[ He raises a brow at that. He knows Kaidan and Shep don't feel the same way -- they feel like they have a job at home to complete, even if that means leaving this place, even temporarily. ]

I would've thought you'd be raring to get back home, especially after so much of your crew went back home too. Why would you want to stay here?

[Jacob shrugs.]

I want to help. The people here- they deserve better than all the bullshit they keep getting caught up in. I think I can make a difference. Guess I've lived here long enough to give a damn.

Besides, I know now that things back home aren't going anywhere while I'm here. Believe me, if I thought I was going to be stuck here while the Reapers tore through the Galaxy, I'd be kicking down the door to the Porter within the day.

Yeah, I get that. I mean, I'd rather be here too, honestly, but -- most people dealing with stuff as important as you guys are raring to go back, no matter what's happening here. A lot of people just feel like even if they care while they're here, it's not their world. Never will be, either.

[That gets a nod.]

I know that feeling. I've been here for years, and there are still days I miss the extranet... and space. But I've also gotten involved in things that are bigger than myself. I don't like walking away from half-finished.

What about you? Why would you rather be here than back home?

[Please don't be yet another sad postapocalyptic teen imPort Jaime.]

I mean, part of it is that it'd feel rotten to get out of here while everyone else is still stuck, but...

[ He offers Jacob a small smile, eyes crinkling at the corners, something nostalgic in his expression. ]

I'd forget everything here. I graduated high school, graduated a college program, got a full-time job, learned to drive and cook and how to balance my books. And I'd forget all of the people I met here too, all of these people who're a part of me now. The me here ain't the same as the one I was. I'd rather not have to go back.

[ Finishing grade 12 again? Yeesh. ]

[Jacob chuckles again.]

That's a good point. A lot's happened for you the last few years, hasn't it? I hadn't thought about that.

[For Jacob, being an imPort has meant going from his late twenties to his early thirties. Which isn't half as big of a change as going from a teenager in high school to a working young adult.]

You've accomplished a lot, Jaime. I'm impressed.

[And that's all without him knowing he's a superhero on the side.]

Heh, thanks! It's all stuff I wanted to do back home, though. I mean, learning to drive? Graduating high school? That was always the plan. I'm not about to let a little universe jump stop me from doing that.

Yeah, but back home you probably didn't have Russians and terrorists coming after you as often as here.

I mean, I hope you didn't.

[Jacob recalls hearing that Jaime's superhero-packed universe can be kind of wild. But being a regular civilian like him must not be the same as being a frequently-targeted imPort 'hero' here, right?]

Oh god, no. [ Alien attacks? Attacks by the pets of old, senile supervillains? More aliens? Robots? Check, check, check, and check. But terrorists that aren't extraterrestrial in nature don't make much of an appearance. ]

We got a few gangs, I guess? But that's about it. El Paso's pretty peaceful, compared to here. Compared to a lot of places where I'm from.

Sounds like a good place to grow up. Peace can be hard to come by- in any universe.

But we have places like that here too, I suppose. Nonah doesn't get attacked that often, from what I know.

We could just go live in a non-imPort city, and everything would be fine, right? But it's not worth giving up the community for. I can't imagine not living around any other imPorts.

Exactly. I'd miss the company too.

Besides, these are the only cities we get free houses in. That's a lot to give up, unless you've really made it big here.

After you've been around as long as us, it'd be easy. Go South, to where housing's cheap, make sure you got a job waiting for you... if you got skills, I bet you could even get someone to provide some temp lodging for you. But I think there's a bigger reason than finances that we all stick around here.

You mean the free food at the Swear-Ins, right?

[Jacob smiles at his little joke for a moment.]

Ya caught me. Without those I'd starve, probably.

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