Happy New All Skate!

[raptorcanaria]

"You know what, let's have a party."

Dinah threw her platinum card (thanks, Oracle) on the Bar and as a result there is free flowing champagne for everyone whose culture, age and religion permits champagne - and top quality soft alternatives for the rest. There are bar snacks doing the rounds around the tables, and delicate winter flower arrangements on each surface.

And most importantly, on the TV screen is a lot of dancing, a giant countdown, and a big ball ready to drop.

...and when the ball drops, something happens.



Welcome to another Milliways All-Skate!
All welcome - yes, that means all. Whether they're retired, deleted, AU, original or already being played by someone else, bring 'em along.

Usual all-skate rules apply:
1. Everyone's stressed out of their mind right now, so have fun!
2. Communication is key.
3. Gratuitous behaviour (either of a violent or sexual nature) will not be tolerated in the bar proper. Take that to an OOM, and then Content Warning the hell out of it before you link it.
4. Much like Vegas, what happens in All Skates, stays in All Skates (in most cases)
5. Please don't be a dick.

Comments

[52_dropoff]

"Ah. So you remember what it was like before. That's..." It's got to be painful. "Hard to imagine living with that."

[twoforce]

Warlock lets his expression fall neutral, acknowledging the sympathy while also declining the temptation to fall too far into his painful history.

"We all live with our past. If you don't mind the observation, you seem to have memories of your own."

[52_dropoff]

"You can read my face through my mask. Either you're good or I am slipping. I used to have the best poker face.

"But not so much memory as the sensation of memory. A New Year's Eve when bad things happened but when I was dying and in no condition to clearly pay attention to them."

[twoforce]

"I can read your emotions, not your face."

It's dangerous to admit it, but it's a safe place and he's going to exploit that. "Your mask is still perfectly intact, don't worry."

[52_dropoff]

Can't say he loves that.

"Empath? Telepath? Or just a very good therapist?"

[twoforce]

He's... okay he's not sorry, it's not like you can turn this stuff off.

"Empath would be closer," he says. "I can't read thoughts, I just... feel things."

[52_dropoff]

"Less disturbing than thoughts, I suppose. Most people can't really hide their emotions anyway. And I don't wear the mask to do that."

Odds are the man feels just a bit of distaste but not much in the way of anger.

[twoforce]

"Plenty of reasons a man would conceal his face," Warlock muses. "Your mask is just a very creative way of doing that."

[52_dropoff]

"It serves to unnerve people. It serves to hide my true identity." It also serves as something a totem and a representation of what some think it his TRUE face, but that is getting too deep to share with a stranger. "Far more effective than a domino mask around my eyes."

[twoforce]

Warlock gives a small chuckle, "that wouldn't be effective at all, surely?"

[52_dropoff]

"And yet, a rather high number of costumed crimefighters, vigilantes, and superheroes think that works." Though being able to see most of the second Green Lantern's face doesn't mean he has any idea who the man is. Is there some other scheme at work there to hide his real name?

[twoforce]

"Vigilantes, I know," Warlock muses. "'Superheroes?'"

[52_dropoff]

"People with superhuman abilities or access to magic or advanced science, who serve as an unofficial police, or national guard, or international peacekeeping force, or planetary defense. They tend to dress like circus performers or characters in bad horror films." He's never going to get Batman's outfit, scary or not. Not that Batman is superhuman. "My world has, I don't know, maybe 300 such people and another 200 without powers allied with them."

[twoforce]

"Ah," Warlock says, thoughtfully. He raises his head again and looks out of the window, "yes I think we used to have something similar."

Except that Jedi didn't dress that badly, by comparison.

[52_dropoff]

"I can't be too critical of them, since I count as one of their allies, but sometimes I wonder how much good they are doing. And as a whole, our penchant for doing things on the sly is probably not a great idea." Says the man wearing a mask to a New Year's Eve party.

[twoforce]

"Better to do things openly?" he asks, "And with the backing of whichever government rules at the time?"

[52_dropoff]

"Better to have the backing of the people. I wouldn't necessarily trust even the best of governments, even lacking an empire.

"Though the likelihood is that if I didn't have the mask, I would lose a fighting advantage. Unlike most of the super-heroes." Everyone already knows Superman's weakness is Kryptonite. Knowing he's Clark Kent doesn't create more of that rock.

[twoforce]

"Livng in secret helps you fight?" he repeats back, just to check that he understands

[52_dropoff]

"Unnerving my enemies helps me fight. I don't have any powers, and I am not as good a fighter as I pretend I am."

[twoforce]

"Then if you don't mind my asking," Warlock asks, "why fight? What are you fighting for?"

[52_dropoff]

He pauses to think of a good answer.

"I have a thing about solving mysteries. Answering questions. Unraveling conspiracies. It wasn't why I started being a crimefighter, but I tried to stop doing it and the need to get to the truth kept gnawing at me. So I quit trying to quit. I would be happier if I could get to the answers without ending up in a cage match, but such is my fate."

[twoforce]

"Mysteries can be dangerous to follow," Warlock muses. "Not that you don't know this, of course."

But more dangerous than a man with no natural fighting advantage should face.

[52_dropoff]

"Mysteries are less dangerous than fighting with armed men, fighting with insane martial artists who think that killing is an art, and cancer. I will take a chance with mysteries." Under the mask he smiles slyly.

[twoforce]

"I've experience with two of those, not the third," Warlock confesses. "At least I know what to expect with Sith warriors."

For a given value of 'expect.'

[52_dropoff]

"You're a fighter? A martial artist?" It fits, given the way the man holds his body.