maskormenace | 1 🎙 voice

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[ The audio function on this is remarkably similar to her show, with just a more limited audience. But this is Trish's element. This is where she shines. ]

Those of you who didn't have powers before coming here -- is it something that you dreamed of back home? Did... [ She pauses to find the right word. ] ..."gifted" people exist where you're from? I always tried to convince my best friend that she should put on a costume and save others. I guess I was trying to live vicariously through her that way.

There's something that happened. We call it "The Incident" because, well... "The Day Aliens Poured Out of the Sky" is a bit of a mouthful. A good portion of New York was destroyed and a lot of lives were lost, but it could have been worse. Unimaginably worse. But there were people who stepped in. Stepped up.

Do you think those who have the power should use it for the betterment of society? Share your thoughts.

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[ oh. my. god. ]

[ oh. my. god. she can hardly believe her ears, though that familiar voice is unmistakable. so is the name attached to her network post. jessica jones would recognize her anywhere. trish. she's here. she's actually here.

a part of jess longed to see her sister again, every goddamn day. trish walker is the only person she truly trusts, in any universe — the one piece of her life that has been missing since her arrival. however, she suppressed that selfish thought. this world is far too dangerous, even more than what they were used to back home.

still... trish. she's here, and that's all that matters. ]

[ it occurs to her, a fraction of a second too late, that trish has abilities as well. it's what she's always wanted, and the knowledge leaves a bittersweet taste in her mouth. her best friend would love to pull on a cape and save every dumbass here, which only causes her concern to grow.

swallowing hard, jess pushes that realization from her mind. they'll worry about that later. finding her right now is much more important.

with the press of a button, her face appears on the screen. ]

Trish. Hey. Where are you?

[ Trish gapes for a moment, clearly caught off-guard. That's a face she isn't expecting to see here. Does she feel bad for obliquely referring to Jess? Not at all. ]

In general, or specifically? Because... [ She glances over her shoulder, giving Jess a look at her surroundings. ] Coffee. But in general, it's a place called... Maurtia Falls?

[ there's a dry snort of surprise as she squints at the screen. ]

Shit. [ of course she is. for once, jess feels mildly grateful to this hellhole. ] Just stay there. I'm on my way.

[It's not very often Daisy finds someone she hasn't seen before coming here from her world. Of course she responds as soon as New York is mentioned.]

I think what happened back home kind of proved that. I mean, what the Avengers did to help New York City during and after everything that went down...

I mean, we saw large-scale events, like the Hulk destroying Harlem and the Stark Expo. But the Incident was the first time we were pretty much completely up a creek.

[ Pause. ]

So, we're from the same place.

[ Because from the same world sounds a little too sci-fi for her. ]

Seems like it. You're the second person this month to show up from back home.

[She was desperate to see the people she knew, but at the same time, Daisy wouldn't want any of them to be subjected to this place.]

Did you have powers back home?

Power is relative. The empathy of a superhero is no different than yours or mine, but people like talking about the kind that allows you to fly or fire beams from your eyes because it's spectacular. But I suppose that's the long way around saying yes to your question.

You sound like you have some experience with this.

I come from a world like yours. But costumes and superpowers don't preclude things like crime and heroism. We all have a responsibility to make the world better.

People didn't have these kinds of powers where I'm from.

I don't know if they should. I've helped a few people. But there's the question of who decides what makes society better. Different imports might have different ideas about that. And if there's any damage done by an import, even if it's to help someone - we all get blamed.

Edited 2017-09-05 02:17 (UTC)

That's a growing question back home: who shoulders the cost of the "heroes" and their work?

What were your first thoughts when you arrived? Essentially thrown in the thick of all this.

I was really overwhelmed, maybe even in shock, when I first got here. They brought me back from the dead. It's a hard thing to believe. I don't think the having powers thing really sunk in until later.

Something like that is...well, the aliens are already on my Earth, but the attack hasn't started yet.

But yeah, I think people who have the power to stop something like that should.

Okay, let me expand on that then. Should it be an obligation? Like first responders. Or should it be on a voluntary basis?

I guess so. It's really hard to say. I mean, it feels weird to me to say that people are obligated to stop an invasion like that when I was originally part of one.

I went rogue, though.

I remember back before I got my... [A pause. Even now, she still finds it strange to call that side of herself this.] ...power. I didn't know any of that stuff existed, but I wanted to be special. To go on exciting adventures.

Now I kind of wish I could go back to before, but since that's not really possible, I try to make the best of the hand I have. Including helping people when I can, though I'm no superhero going out of my way for it every day.

[She laughs, somewhat nervously, and runs a hand through her hair.]

As for the question, "should" is a strong word, but I do hope most people with powers choose to use them to help people. And when some use them for the other thing, I also hope there are people like that around to stop them.

There's a saying; it's so cliche that I almost shudder to say it. "May you live in interesting times." We wish for things, but generally lack the forethough to understand what they really mean.

[ She nods knowingly. ] There will always be people who use their abilities to take advantage and harm and destroy. They get off on having power over others, on the pain they cause.

Yeah. It really makes you wonder about the plans of whatever it is that's bringing us here, huh?

You too, huh? [A pause, then, clarifying:] You're from the same world as me, I mean. Unless there's another New York that got torn up in a battle with aliens pouring from a giant hole in the sky.

[Probably not, but nothing's out of the realm of possibility these days, is it.]

Besides that? I always kind of wanted to fly when I was a kid, but that's not the power I got. [Lie detection and fog manipulation, that's so useful. Not.] I think they should. But [and here there's a moment's hesitation] I think they need to work within the law to do it, there's a lot of ways vigilantism could go horribly, horribly wrong.

[It's not a lie, it's just—

The weight of Matt's secret sits heavy in his stomach, even a universe away.]

I'm beginning to think there are dozens of us here.

[ A little bit of levity before digging into the heavier things. ]

No one's saying they should become judge, jury, and executioner. But there's a lot of red tape that comes with working inside the laws. Bureaucrats hindering, even derailing, justice and progress.

There's another New York where it's a regular thing—incidents kinda like the capital-I Incident, I mean. It gets a little confusing.

[Ah, right. That. Foggy huffs out a breath—he knows that much, at least, knows that the law has limits and that sometimes it can be used to hurt, instead of help.]

Of course not, but the possibility's still there. What's stopping them, after all? [Daredevil wouldn't, he knows that, Matt's maybe the most ethical person Foggy has ever known (besides the dressing up in a devil costume and beating people up in backalleys part), but what if somebody else who's not quite as ethical looks at Daredevil and thinks, I could do that?] I know that intimately, trust me on that. I can't and won't say it's a perfect method, but if you want betterment of society, you're gonna have to play by that society's rules, and you're in a better position to change things in the long run from the inside.

[They took down Fisk that way. Well. Mostly that way, fine.]

If you work outside of the law, any change you can make is short-term, a stopgap measure, and there's nothing that can keep you from being judge, jury and executioner, besides your own sense of right and wrong. And what happens if that's screwed up? You're not working for the betterment of society anymore, then.

People with power do improve society. They just don't improve society for everyone.

Should that be the case? A better world for a select few and damn everyone else?

It's a matter of some debate.

( She sounds a little wry. This is not an easy topic for her to discuss. Her father's humiliation, the undermining of the name Croft so that, in academic circles, some considered it a joke. A great mind that was perhaps pushed too far in a desperate search and love of history.

Being lost in thought won't answer the question. )

Magic, the supernatural, they aren't considered real in my world. There are, of course, myths and legends, and more often than I'd like, women holding a lot of power carried with them tales of abilities beyond what was normal. Himiko, the Sun Queen, for example, was rumoured to have shamanistic abilities, which enabled her to control a vast empire. For a long time, I... believed that simple sexism: men incredulous that a woman could be so capable without being something beyond human, as though that were some explanation for it.

( She pauses, for long moments. ) I have been led to reconsider what I define as "possible" and "impossible." And while I might believe those with power should act a certain way, power can corrupt quite thoroughly even without being supernatural.

It isn't an incorrect belief, necessarily. Women have been deified and vilified for merely defying men's control. For daring to wield any bit of power.

[ Off topic, Trish. Focus. ]

Power corrupting has almost become an absolute of the universe. Like death and taxes.

Mm. Although, admittedly, in this instance the woman in question may have had control of the weather.

( She's still a little uncertain, truthfully. Being here makes something that once seemed far fetched suddenly rather more easy to process - for a given value of "easy." )

But, of course, a woman found to be corrupt would become far more notorious than a man doing the same thing. I think... Amelia Earheart something similar about flying, once.

New York got invaded by aliens? What happened?

[Sorry Trish, Jacob's more interested in that detail than answering your actual questions.]

As in why or are you looking for a general play-by-play?

Whatever you feel like sharing. We've fought aliens where I'm from, but Earth's never been seriously invaded... at least, not yet.

Nobody had superpowers where I come from. I would daydream about it sometimes, but it was just idle thoughts, you know? Not something I ever seriously thought would happen to me.

Of course, the powers I got aren't for fighting or heroics anyway...

What powers did you get? If you don't mind my asking.

I can become intangible- pass though things- but I hardly use it. Also, I'm a good cook. If I follow directions or a recipe, anything I cook comes out tasting delicious.

I don't see it as a should, rather than something people want. And not everyone wants that and they should not be thrown into a moral discussion because someone holds a different viewpoint.

Each person is different. Each person lived through different things. Each person sees the world differently.

And I can respect that. But why would someone not want to make the world better?

Well - you don't always make it better. Sometimes you do mistakes can be a lot worse, no matter how much of good intentions you have. Sometimes those mistakes can be so big, that's not worth risking it.

It's good to know how far your powers go. Your limits. And the consequences. And sometimes we just don't know those things.

I think people should generally use their gifts for good, yes. Helping people instead of hurting.
[Et cetera.]

Aliens in New York, though? That happened in my world too. You're not speaking of the Avengers by chance? [If she is, she'll ask her if there's a Sokovia in her world too.]

I am, actually! Though, wouldn't it be extremely weird if there was more than one world where the Avengers first came together to defeat an invading alien army?

Why would you be given powers if you weren't supposed to use them?

[Okay that's returning a question with another question, but it's meant to be rhetorical. Maybe.]

Quirk of biology? Terrible accident?

there had been a group of people who had a version of what people might consider "powers" here, but they'd been (supposedly) wiped out by the time i'd been born. i don't think anyone has the responsibility to save the universe or whatever it might be if they'd rather not (that leads to resentment which leads to those powers being used in destructive ways), but it'd be nice, if they chose to do good instead of the opposite.

I think we all use our powers the best we can. Sometimes that's for the best, but a lot of times it's not. Not everyone has the same vision for the world.

Stepping up in an emergency is one thing, but saying that anyone has an obligation to do so because of how they were born or some unlucky accident is a bit much.

That said, I've always tried to do right with what I was given. I'm just hopeful that some day that will mean scientific discoveries about the Earth's magnetic field instead of trying to save the planet from the bad guy of the week.

Nobody in my world was a superhero, no. That was fiction.

But regardless of whether you have a superpower, or whatever other "gifts" someone might have, I don't think anyone owes society anything because of an accident of birth - or of the porter, for that matter.

I totally and unabashedly wished for superpowers as a kid and ... through most of my adult life. I kind of .. got them, in a roundabout way, and not the way that I was expecting. No radioactive spiders needed! Which was kind of a plus.

But heck yeah, I think that we should be doing what we can to better the world around us, you know? I mean, I don't think my powers are really all that useful in that regard, and I haven't given either of them a shot yet because they feel kinda creepypasta, but if I can figure out a way to use them for good, I'm def gonna do that. Makes no sense not to.

Also ... hi. I think we're, uh. Housemates? Maurtia Falls #007? (Admittedly have always wanted to make some sorta James Bond ref to the housing number, but haven't found the right way to do so yet).

Edited 2017-09-06 01:37 (UTC)

Yeah, they did. But ain't no one I know ever considered it a "gift."

[ Then he pauses, having to really think about how to answer the last question, what he really believes. But even after what Diablo himself has been through with a somewhat similar incident, what he still believes is: ]

Not society, no. I mean they can, yeah, but that ain't always possible-- for some people, the betterment of their own lives might be more important.

Nobody should feel like they have to do something just because they were born with powers - or given them against their will. I think everyone deserves the right to just... try to have a normal life. If they choose to do it and accept it's a dangerous job, then it's a good thing to do, don't get me wrong! But a lot of people who choose to put on costumes aren't exactly safe, superpowers or not.

Not the way I got them... it's, eh, hard to explain the powers that existed back home. Humans didn't typically have any unless they were Psychic based.

[he shrugs.]

It's all in the animals.

Hmph. We had Psychics back home, but otherwise, no.

[He's silent for a bit, before shrugging.]

Yea. This world is backwards in a lot of things; working together with those who have powers, like Psychics, or using pokemon to help... It just is.

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