Category: Masks: A New Generation RPG: Fan Made Content

Just for fun: for NaNoWriMo this year, I’m writing the story of a Janus character I never quite got to play. I’ll try and post occasional updates here in November if this is a copacetic venue for that kind of thing. Wish me luck!

Originally shared by Jamie Frost

“So, inquiring minds want to know.” Gemini dismissed the hologram and turned to Erin, leaning back into the dusty couch with a practiced ease. “Who are you protecting?”

“Protecting?” Erin’s brow wrinkled in confusion.

“Yeah, you know, with…” she waved a hand in the general direction of her face. “This whole situation.”

“This whole… oh.” Erin’s brow relaxed, and she raised a hand to brush the side of her mask. “This isn’t to protect anyone.”

“Really?” Gemini cocked her head to the side. “That’s new. Usually you secret identity types lean on the whole ‘keep my loved ones safe’ thing pretty hard.”

“Not really a concern for me.” Erin half-smiled, staring down at the floor between her feet. “And I don’t see how lying to is supposed to keep anybody safe, anyway.”

Gemini leaned forward. “So why the mask? You know, if you don’t mind sharing… Bearing in mind I’ve saved your life twice now, just sayin’.”

Erin was quiet for a long moment before looking up. “I’ve done… some pretty bad stuff. To other people. And I didn’t even give it a second thought before, but after that thing with the Medusa…”

Her voice trembled for a moment, and her hands tightened into fists in her lap. After a moment, she continued, her voice steady. “After that, I got a taste of what being helpless felt like. So I’m trying to do better. To be better. And if people knew who I was–”

“It would sully your heroic reputation?” Gemini cut in.

Erin half-shrugged. “Well, yeah, that too. But the big thing is that if I want to make up for all the stuff I’ve done, I have to do it as me. As Erin, not as The Golem. And if people knew we were the same person, they might think that the stuff I do out here somehow absolves me of all the stuff I did back there. And then, I might start to think that, too.”

“I just…” She rubbed the back of her neck, looking for the words. “I want this part of my life to be a choice, not a ‘get out of responsibility free’ card. You know?”

Gemini stared back at her for a long moment, then leaned back into the couch with a satisfied nod. “Yeah, I think that settles it.”

Erin raised an eyebrow. “Settles what?”

“I was all prepped to talk you into going home. Had this whole speech planned out.” She puffed out her chest and put on a stern voice. “‘You really want to keep your loved ones safe, don’t go out and pick fights with supervillains.'”

“…And now?”

“Now,” Gemini smirked, her eyes twinkling. “I can see you’re too broody to go home no matter what anyone tells you. So I’m going to teach you everything I know about this life… and maybe next time you can handle a bush-league bank robbery on your own.”

She leaned forward, offering her hand. “Deal?”

Erin stared across at her, and after a moment’s hesitation, shook her hand. “Deal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prepping for #NaNoWriMo. Don’t know if this scene will play out exactly like this, but I’m trying to get into the characters’ heads. I’m going to try and prep instead of pants this year, we’ll see how it goes!

I don’t have a title yet, but the story is about a high school bully who gets abducted by a supervillain and ends up with powers as a result. The experience makes her reevaluate and try to redeem herself, and as she’s reforging her identity her freshman superhero efforts also get her involved in an intricate web of villainy.

For posterity, she’s based on a Masks character I never got to play: a Janus whose mundane obligations and opportunities were focused on that path of redemption rather than just being a way to complicate her superhero actions. The villain who abducted her turned her to stone, and she was eventually able to turn herself back when her powers manifested; now she can turn to stone and back at will, as well as speak to earth and stone.

Gemini is also a character I didn’t get to play much, though she’s a bit older and was in the Valiant system. She’s kind of a mix of Firestorm and Green Lantern; she’s psychically and physiologically bonded with an alien creature of living light and has a variety of light-based powers as a result. She is laid back bordering on lazy, and may or may not be a terrible role model for our young heroine.

I’m still cementing the cast, but there may be a few more unplayed and barely-played characters among them. They need a home!