look around there's another mask behind you

[sleeplessinalternia]

Who| Karkat, Terezi, and YOU
What| Karkat and Terezi learn exactly how the masks work when her Seer powers kick in and proceed to game the hell out of them.
Where| A certain mask exhibit, then all over the museum
When| Sometime during the first week or two for the initial thread at least.
Warnings/Notes| Karkat and Terezi's thread happens first chronologically, all the others follow later. You can mention in your subject line if you want your tribute to run into a specific one.

[Closed to Terezi]

In the days since the Arena started, Karkat and Terezi have shed their bright red animal footie pajamas for darker clothing, taken from a combination of museum displays and gift shop raids. Thanks to the pre-modern weapons exhibit, they've even got weapons for their strife specibus: a sickle for Karkat and a three-sectioned staff for Terezi. Despite Karkat only currently being able to use one of his arms thanks to Eren's stab wound, the two of them are doing relatively well so far. Well enough that they're taking a moment to just marvel at some of the weird shit the littering the museum.

"Holy fuck," says Karkat, staring up at a particular mask. "Just look at that shitty rainbow-striped hoofbeast. It looks Equius and Gamzee were locked in a room with an alchemiter together." He looks back over at Terezi and nudges her with his good elbow. "Dare you to put it on."

[Open]

Armed with a second mask for Karkat and a wristwatch for each of them, Karkat and Terezi stalk the halls both together and individually. Dare you chance meeting them?

Comments

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi gives Karkat the most skeptical look imaginable. First of all for the mention of Gamzee--he should know by know that she doesn't want to hear that name, and secondly for the juvenile dare.

"We are in an arena, risking our lives with things that could possibly be booby-trapped or lying in wait all around us... And you want me to try on a dumb mask." Her expression says it all. That is the dumbest, most ridiculous thing she's ever heard. There's absolutely no way that she's ever going to--

"Watch my bag," she says, practically dropping the thing at his feet. It was either that or her weapon. How else does he expect her to grab the thing off its display rack?

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Will do," says Karkat, attempting to keep his face deliberately blank and failing, because he fucking knew she'd do it if he dared her, he fucking knew it. "Anyway, who the fuck would want to booby-trap a hoofbeast-shape decorative face-obscurement facade?"

Well, maybe Equius. But Karkat was fairly sure the mask would be covered in sweat in that case.

[pythianjudgment]

"Karkat, do you know these people at all? After all this time?" Okay, there is a very real possibility that this thing might actually be booby-trapped, but Terezi is fairly certain that they wouldn't resort to cheap shit like that just yet. Even so, she's really careful to sniff all around the display before she very gently lifts the mask off the stand. She waits, making sure there's no alarms or sudden attacks before taking a step back from the display, mask in hand.

She exhales a breath. "Stupidly dangerous retrieval of weird cultural mask, achieved." She checks the edge of the mask, feeling around for anything dangerous that might pop out. Needles, blades, or toxic gas... Who knows? But if there's anything there, she doesn't find it. "No booby-traps detected. Proceeding with the donning of ridiculous--"

Terezi stops completely, as soon as the mask touches her face. Her shoulders go rigid with surprise, her blind eyes widening. She's not sure if she should even breath, lest she disturb whatever strange event is going on here. Because for the first time in an arena, she can See.

The future stretches out in front of her, like a million connected points. Like the synapse of neurons, one firing off another and another and another in a chain. Not whole scenes, but flashes of events that could be triggered with the right choices made. In the near future, she Sees the mask cutting barbs into her face, and she nearly yanks the thing back off--but not yet. It won't happen yet, she still has time to use this.

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat is about to retort that nothing else wearable had been booby-trapped and anyway why would they booby-trap something that nobody would ever really want to wear--but then Terezi cuts off in mid-sentence and holy shit it really was booby-trapped.

"Fuck!" he snarls, and tries to pull the mask off one-handedly because holy shit, something's happened to Terezi and it's his fucking fault, he dared her.

"Shit, Terezi, hold tight, I'll get this off you. I shouldn't have fucking doubted you, shit."

Oh sweet Troll Jegus what if it's that weird neurotoxin stuff like in his vial. What if Terezi is being neurotoxined?

[pythianjudgment]

Karkat reaches for the mask, and Terezi suddenly grips it tighter, backing away from him. "No! Wait! It's okay!" She wards him back with her free hand, trying to keep him away from the mask that she's only holding to her face. She doesn't want him to pull it off.

"It's not booby-trapped, it's just..." She doesn't know what exactly it's doing, but it's not a bad thing. It can't possibly be, not after she's waited this long for a chance to use her abilities again. "I can See. I can use my Mind powers again."

[sleeplessinalternia]

"Oh," Karkat says, stepping back a little. "Oh holy shit. I think I get it. I think I fucking get it. It's like how there were these areas in my first arena where people could use their weird power shit again. The Helmsman, like, got his psionic brain lasers back and blew up himself and this weird honeybeast muttation. So here... here, it's with the masks."

He breathes a long sigh of relief. "Fuck, this is perfect. You'll See and I'll plan and it'll be just like old times. What else can you See? Does the mask do anything else?"

[pythianjudgment]

Like old times. That's what she's afraid of. Terezi forces a small smile behind the mask before realizing he can't see it anyway. Thank goodness for small miracles.

"Yeah. It digs claws into your face if you leave it on too long." That's a lovely image to mull over. Torn flesh, teal running in rivulets down her cheeks and neck, wounds painful to touch and prime to fester with infection... She shifts to something else, before she gives herself more daymare fodder.

"There's something else... Something strange." She frowns, brow furrowing at the images she's Seeing now. "Get another mask. Try one on."

around the end of week 2 work for you guys?

[privilegecheck]

The first week, Kankri was chafing at having to stay in the hiding spot he and Venus had staked out all the time. This week, he'd almost rather be hiding. The Sponsor gifts are pouring in, but Venus's health is getting worse each day, and her moods are erratic now. He has to handle figuring out what to do a lot of the time, and he feels so lost and scared and miserable all the time, not to mention weak from his scant diet of stale pastries. But he has to keep it together, so he does his best.

Today he's on the second floor again. He hates coming here, there are too many other Tributes prowling the halls with all the resources available, but he needs to get some of the plants Julian pointed out to him (and that still makes him freak out, that he met Julian and he was so kind and looked after them and then the next thing he knew Julian's death announcement came on the intercom) for Venus to eat, and he's hoping to scavenge whatever clothes are remaining in the gift shop to use for bandages. They may have no less than three first aid kits, but already having to change the dressings on Venus's leg is taking a chunk out of that, and it's not going to be finished healing anytime soon.

He flips up the hood of the red sweatshirt Venus found for him - she's warned him that he's an obvious target, so the less recognizable he is the better, and there aren't very many people with horns - and clutches his crowbar and bag close as he heads into the plant exhibit.

awesome

[sleeplessinalternia]

This would be a little easier if the masks also healed his fucking bad arm, but hey, Karkat can't fault the whole enhanced strength and speed thing.

Which is why Kankri is hardly a more than a dozen feet into the plants exhibit when someone troll-shaped in a weird-ass mask comes out of nowhere and grabs him by the front of his shirt and growls, "So, nookstain, do you want to give me your shit or get your viscera woven into a fucking braided fiber cord? Because I am fine either fucking way."

[privilegecheck]

Kankri stiffens, thinking this is it, his luck has finally run out, Venus is going to be so disappointed in him-

And then his assailant speaks, and all of that morphs into sheer fucking annoyance. He jabs the blunt curve of his crowbar against Karkat's chest, turning to look him straight in the face. "Must we do this, really? I suppose I can hardly expect better treatment from a ruffian, even if you are my- descendant, or ancestor, or whatever we are to each other."

It's almost a relief, talking about little things instead of life or death situations. Even if this is technically a life or death situation.

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat groans, lets go of the other troll's shirt, and peels off his mask with the same hand. "Aw, fuck, Kankri?" Great. Just wonderful. Here he was in the perfect situation to mug another tribute and who was it? His fucking Beforan descendent-ancestor. "I didn't think you'd last a day, much less two weeks."

[pythianjudgment]

"I think the bigger surprise is how he managed to be less injured than you," Terezi chimes in, approaching the two boys. She's got a mask of her own on, which she leaves in place for this meeting. She's still got a few minutes left, and she likes being able to See.

"Did you enjoy your moment of badass-ery? It was really cute. It's too bad you ditched the crab jammies. That could have been downright precious~."

[privilegecheck]

"Thank you ever so much for the vote of confidence," Kankri grouses. "It certainly wasn't as if you could, I don't know, listen to the daily death toll. If you're going to murder me, then please get it over with. If not, let me get back to what I was doing, my- friend requires more than a little assistance. Some of us have come out here with a purpose besides threats and thievery."

Still, his tone isn't as acerbic as it could be. He still remembers the footage he's seen, Signless and Karkat together, so pale and vulnerable to each other, and it's hard to think of Karkat as someone thoroughly unpleasant after that.

When Terezi speaks, though, he can't help perking up a little. "Oh, Terezi! It's good to see you well. Why are you both wearing masks? It's not as if they conceal our horns."

Oh look, an easy target.

[callmecharles]

There were a few good things about this arena.

One of them was the drinking fountains. All the fresh water Charles could drink. He didn't used to be a fan of fresh water but living in the FAYZ helps you appreciate the little things. Then the various horrible arenas that followed made him appreciate it even more.

Of course they were all made for someone with a right hand that wasn't broken. But Charles found if he used his thumb he could put just enough pressure on the button to make water come out without sending stabbing jolts of pain through his hand.

Unfortunately he was very visible standing in front of this fountain near the bathrooms.

looks like it's just actually karkat vs orc actually

[sleeplessinalternia]

Karkat can sympathize about only having one good hand. Since he was stabbed in the shoulder at the cornucopia, he's hardly been about to lift the arm on that side. Luckily, the whole masks giving you superspeed and superstrength is helping him hold his own a little better.

So there's going to be a five-foot-tall brick of adolescent troll coming out of nowhere and slamming you hard against that drinking fountain, Orc. That is certainly a thing which is happening.

No worries

[callmecharles]

Orc didn't even get time to cry out as his face smashed into the fountain and his gut doubled over it from the impact. He fell to his knees wheezing as he tried to both refill is crumbled lungs, and try not to throw up the water that was just choked down. Blood streamed from his nose and he looked around wildly trying to see who had just struck him.

awesome

[sleeplessinalternia]

Yeah, there's a short person in a creepy mask with a sling on one arm and a sickle in the other who's standing over you, Orc. He's got the curve of that sickle hooking around your throat now, too. Fuck, he moves fast.

"Hey bulgebitch," creepy mask guy growls. "Got any shit worth saving your life?"

[callmecharles]

A quiver of actual fear surges through Orc and his first instinct is to lash out. But he's all too aware that his neck is fleshy and soft now and not covered in stone. So instead he offers up his only real possessions other then a club. A loose netted bag of rubber bouncing balls colored like different planets in the solar system.

"These are kinda fun?" He offered in a gravely voice that came out much tougher then he felt right now with blood dripping off his chin.

[sleeplessinalternia]

"No food?" The jerk in the mask snorts. "Fine, whatever. I want you to set those down as far away from you as you can reach without slicing your throat on my blade. Or you can slice your throat if you want. It'll get you back to the capitol and I'll get my cull money out of you."

Terezi?

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

The Disciple is quiet, stealthy, and most uninjured. She had a few scrapes and bruises from the Cornucopia, mostly healed by this point and all her worldly possessions, a first aid kit, some rope and thirty or forty utterly stale pastries, sit in a bag at her feet. She hadn't changed out of her lion pajamas but the feet, hands and tail are torn off and the lion head is mostly being used as a pouch for a messy tangled braid. She hadn't been comfortable enough on any other floor to grab new clothing, and it makes her easy to see, she's sure. She sits in the shadows of a massive skeleton, peering into the darkness.

There had been a ding of the elevator a few minutes ago--or was it hours. Time stretched on in a room covered in dim darkness and the thunderstorms hadn't made time any easier to track. Her ears prick at the soft sounds of footsteps, perhaps near or perhaps on the floor above. She's fairly sure she doesn't live on this floor alone, but she hasn't met them and they haven't met her. Perhaps whomever the elevator tolled for, they would be distracted by the possibilities of others.

Despite that vague assurance, she immediately swings up into the rib cage, eyes sweeping the shadows of the hall, watching for any person trying to use them as cover.

[pythianjudgment]

The footprints slow as they continue, but they don't fade. They stop for a moment, disappearing into uneasy silence before continuing again, growing louder this time. Whoever it is, they're moving closer--right towards where the Disciple happens to be hiding.

The footsteps slow again as they approach the Disciple's hiding spot. A figure comes into view, small and lithe with a mask covering her face. She stops a short distance from the skeletal animal, a backpack slung over one shoulder and a three-sectioned staff hanging from the other.

"I hope you're not planning on ambushing me from up there," a familiar voice calls quietly up to the adult troll. "I'd be really upset if I had to cut you."

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

She almost drops down immediately, relief clouding her judgement for a moment. Someone she knew, Terezi, it was okay. But she stays up there, clinging to dead bones just in case this is like the last arena, with people who aren't there.

Not that they'd be stupid enough to use the same trick twice but she can worry.

"It doesn't even look like you have a knife." She grins, trying to keep her voice even, "And I doubt you'd actually let me ambush you if you actually knew I was already here."

[pythianjudgment]

"Thinking that I need a knife to cut you would be severely underestimating my abilities!" Terezi calls quietly up at the Disciple from behind her mask, a grin visibly stretched across her mouth.

"But you're right. I wouldn't let you ambush me at this point. In fact, there's pretty much no possible way that you're going to do that, unless I start verbally harassing you into it. I'm a little touched by your level of trust." She would waggle her eyebrows at the other troll, but that part is actually obscured by the mask, so she doesn't bother.

"Are you going to come down?"

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

"I'm not sure how you know that, perhaps I had a sudden change of heart about our friendship. Or I think you're a fake like last arena," But her smile gives away her obvious denial of any such possibilies.

"I'm coming down, give me a moment" She lowers herself down slowly. Of course it's not a trap but who's to say someone else might not be watching them, waiting for an opportune moment. She certainly can't guarantee that and their surroundings are full of places to hide. It's a slow progression of movements, precise and always ready to shift violent, before she's standing in front of Terezi.

"I'm glad you're doing alright. More than alright it seems." She pauses, "Why the mask?"

[pythianjudgment]

"They had fakes in the last arena? I must have missed that."Maybe she was too busy avoiding just about everyone, after that disaster with Fraysong and Karkat. She doesn't really want to think about that, though. "I'd be really insulted if they made a fake of me. That is practically copyright infringement. Ten years in the stocks. No trial."

Terezi lifts the mask, pulling it off of her face and tossing it in the Disciple's direction. She was almost out of time anyway--eight and a half minutes used up, by her count. But she knows well enough that it resets for every person.

"And the answer to Why Masks is Because! Haven't you tried one on yet? You really should."