maskormenace | 01. Video. Before the swear-in

[ You guys have no idea how long it took Toboe to work with the communicator. He is a wolf, not a tech-savvy human! The pup watched others working with it and after he bit the device, threw it against a tree and poked every button, he finally figured out which one allowed him to post to the network. When the video comes up, you see a human boy around 14, brown hair and four silver bracelets on his right wrist. And wow, he is excited. Because he managed to turn the feed on; go Toboe! ] Ah! It's working! Finally!!

[ Okay, you can do this, Toboe. Act cool. ]

I was told I can talk to other people through this thing. My name is Toboe and I just arrived so I thought I should say hi and get to know you. [ because people, he loves people. And yes, he wants to talk to you all ]

Oh, and there is a big dog [ it's totally a wolf ] around, a red one with four silver bracelets on his wrist. [ like the ones Toboe has, why yes, indeed. That is not suspicious at all ] He is very nice and you don't need to be scared of him, so you don't need to hurt him. He just walks around, looking for food, and he will like it if you pet him. [ really, please don't hurt him and pet him forever. Toboe will claim to be the "dog"'s owner, so hopefully there won't be any issues. Certainly, he is not the best at lying but this is the best thing he could come up with so nobody would try to hunt Toboe down if they saw him. ]

And- [ he pauses because he realized what he was just about to ask. How can he ask? "Did you all die, that's why you are here?" or "Is it normal to bring dead people here?". Toboe doesn't want to think about his death, but he doesn't understand how they brought him to this world. He also wants to ask about his pack, if they reached Paradise or if they were here, but he is afraid to hear "no" just like he is afraid to hear "yes".

He can't ask any of that.

For a moment he looks worried, but he puts up a smile (tries to, though it's a sad one. Toboe doesn't hide his emotions) and finally he asks something completely different: ] Can you tell me about super-heroes? We didn't have that in my world, I think.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please do not be taken in by this term, "superhero." It is widely applied, but I fear that it is fundamentally meaningless.

Meaningless? What do you mean?

I mean that it's a blanket term that's thrown around with no real definition of what it means. Some people call all of us superheroes, merely because we have been given powers.

Others call the people who go out to combat crime superheroes, which at least is a little bit clearer and more logical - yet they exclude the police, even super-powered ones, from being called by that label. And I find that both absurd and insulting, as the implication is that the police are less heroic - when nothing could be further from the truth.

Ultimately, I suppose I find fault primarily with the word "hero." When someone applies it to himself, the natural assumption is that he is someone who has others' best interests at heart, who will only do good for those around them. And someone who wants to cause others to think that he is virtuous...He is someone who is vulnerable to being corrupted by his own ego and arrogance.

[ he wasn't given anything. rather, he kept everything that he was. And Toboe doesn't consider his powers actual powers since all the wolves could do it. it's nothing new or special ~~yes it is~~

But he listens in silence and forgive him if he gets a bit lost.

Police... like guards, he remembers that. Virtuous, ego, arrogance... what. Toboe opens his mouth but he nods after ]

Then... there is no difference between those who were brought here and those who were already here. But everyone is staring and smiling and some even followed me because they said I was a "hero". [ HE IS JUST A WOLF. he loves people and is thankful they sort of flocked around him, but no, really, he is just a wolf ]

Indeed.

[A slight frown.]

There are people who will...see that you can bring them some advantage. They will try to manipulate you into believing that being "heroic" is fighting for their side. I would...advise caution when people begin to praise you without even knowing you.

I'm not going to fight for any side, though. It doesn't matter what they say.

I'm glad to hear it. Wars would come to a much swifter end if everyone took such an attitude.

But we were brought here to fight right? Won't they be mad as us?

They claim that they don't know why we were brought here. If they want to continue to maintain that story, then they have no grounds for anger at all.

They don't know? But they knew things about me and they asked me to help them.

And don't they control that weird machine?

They say that they do not.

Then... who decided to bring me here?

They say they don't know. That they had some machine that was hijacked by an artificial intelligence and began bringing us here.

[ that is very confusing and makes little sense to toboe ]

Artificial... intelligence?

Quite so. [A hesitation - ] Are you unfamiliar with the term?

I know what intelligence is. And what artificial is. So... fake... intelligence? [ YEAH NO he doesn't get it ]

...A computer program that is intelligent. Just - Do you know what a robot is?

[ a very small nod. yes, he does. He was attacked by one, once ]

Quite so. Well. It is the intelligence that animates creatures such as robots.

So the machine that brought us here is like... a robot?

Yes. Quite so. Very much like one.

And we can't talk to it to ask why?

We cannot.

If it has intelligence it should be able to tell us something.......

Unfortunately, it is not around to talk to. Or so they say.

[video]

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[Video]

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