Description: Johnny Cage is walking through the park, when he's accosted by a strange masked person - TIGER MASK! He thinks she's a beggar, she questions his movie star lifestyle, until they end up finding a common interest in JUSTICE.
Late evening, and the last edge of the sun is lazily retreating over the horizon.
Tiger Mask is sitting on a branch high in one tree, wearing a white Karate uniform. She's wearing a white tiger mask, appropriately enough, and has an eagle feather stuck in the leatherbinding of her black ponytail. She looks down upon the park below, but it's dissapointingly tranquil.
She reaches for the water bottle next to her, loosens the lower strap on the back of her mask a little, slides the straw up under it, and rehydrates a little, her eyes scanning further towrds the horizon.
It's beginning to look like there'll be no opportunity to be a Hero at all tonight.
Johnny Cage is in Southtown today. Ever since he had his talk with Raiden and Nightwolf at the Shrine, he's been here checking out the town and scouting for locations in case a movie idea strikes him. Plus, he's got plenty of fans out here, and he likes the attention. So, clad in an expensive designer tracksuit and a high tech music player with earbuds pumping workout music into his ears, Johnny jogs around the park. Occasionally, he stops to sign an autograph or take a picture with someone who recognizes him. He treats them well, even doing some flips or other tricks for the kids if they want.
Tiger Mask blinks, seeing the tracksuited man run around, and after a moment, seeing one of his demonstrations to a kid. She waits until he gets a little closer and isn't near anyone else, then leaps out of the tree, does a flip in the air, and lands on the ground about ten feet away from him in a kneeling position. She slowly pushes off the ground with one hand, rising to standing, where she's only a good foot shorter than him. She snaps a finger up at his face.
"You must be Johnny Cage! Tell me: why do you fight in movies for entertainment, instead of in the real world, for JUSTICE? What do you hope to accomplish?"
Johnny stops to take a drink from his fancy water bottle, before he is suddenly accosted by TIGER MASK. He stares at the young woman. "Uh, what? Listen, I don't have any cash on me, just my card, so buzz off, huh?" he says, taking her for a beggar.
Tiger Mask blinks behind that mask, slowly lowers the finger. After a moment, she gathers her composure. "I'm... actually... not trying to rob you. I'm Tiger Mask, an ally of Justice. I was questioning your path in this world because I was curious what your motivation was." Another pause, and she leans in a little closer, staring back at him, then nods slightly. "However, I think I more or less get it now." She starts to turn away.
"Rob me? Ha, yeah right," Johnny says. "I thought you were a beggar." He sees her walk away and looks confused. "Okay, what? Hold on a second. Who are you to question what I do with my life, huh? I work for a living, you know, I bring joy to a lot of people with my movies." Something dawns on him. "Oh wait, you're one of those vigilantes, huh? I get it. You tell me, how's that pay the bills, huh?"
Tiger Mask looks back at Johnny. "So you do it to make money to live." She glances down at the tracksuit. "...extravagantly." A nod. "I wasn't saying you were wrong for doing so - as long as you aren't hurting people to advance your own ends, I have no problem with you. I just wanted to know why." A short pause. "While I do have enough income to cover my expenses, I don't have the luxury to be a vigilante all day yet - for you are correct in that it pays nothing."
JOhnny hehs, rubbing his track suit with his knuckles. "Hey, I like the good life. Especially when you come up from less. Look, sorry to dissapoint you or whatever, but fighting crime? That's not who I am except on the screen." He falls into silence for a bit, then gets an odd thought. He reaches into his pocket, and produces the feather Nightwolf gave him. He holds it out at her, not saying a word.
A slight shrug of Tiger Mask's shoulders as he says he's not a vigilante too. If she's dissapointed, she's hiding it well, although the mask would probably help with that. As he produces the feather however, she blinks. "...The Full Moon Society." She turns back to face Johnny fully, tilts her head a bit to one side, then makes a dramatic sweeping gesture with her arm. "You don't think of the Society as fighting for JUSTICE?"
"Maybe I'm still figuring out my place in the world," Johnny says. "Raiden and Nightwolf, those two made pretty good salesman on this fighting evil stuff. They told me to show this thing for proof of this whole Darkstalker...Outworld...stuff." He approaches her, sunglasses reflecting her image. "Tell me straight up: is all that legit?"
"I don't know about the Darkstalker... Outworld stuff. My sister is slowly turning more and more feral because of the Tiger Clan spirit inside her, which unlike me, seems to master her rather than her mastering it. Does that make her a Darkstalker, and me not one? I'm not sure. But!" Tiger Mask pauses dramatically. "I have fought the person who was involved in the attack on the United Nations recently - who was at some point in the past turned into something... more than human in power. He won, of course, but he told me that the people who created him..." She lowers her head slightly. "...were the United Nations themselves, that they had planned to use him as a weapon, and would create more like him again. It worries me."
Johnny remains tight lipped as Tiger Mask explains her story. "Okay, I'll pretend that first part made complete sense. Second, what exactly was this 'more than something' this guy turned into and...did I hear you right? There's government conspiracies too?"
Tiger Mask ticks off on her fingers. "Very high martial arts skills, turning into blood and reforming, summoning a portal and a giant skull flying out of it... That sort of thing." She clenches her fingers she was counting off on into a fist decisively. "Those two incidents are all I know, but I just joined, and I just met up with the turning-into-blood guy recently. Nightwolf is the only one in the organization I've talked to before you. It's possible Testament - that's the name of the guy who can turn into blood - was trying to mislead me, but he didn't seem like a liar. I think it's a lead that's worth checking out."
Johnny paces back and forth taking this new information in. "Alright," he says. "So uh, I guess...anything I can do to help?"
Tiger Mask nods. "Yes, there is something only you can do, Mister Cage!" She's pointing at him dramatically again. It's almost like it's a /reflex/ for her or something. "Use your connections to investigate the UN! Also, buy a burner phone!" She reaches into her karate uniform, pulls out a piece of paper with a phone number scrawled on it. "This is the number to my burner phone! I might not be able to answer it all the time, but feel free to call any time on society matters. Be sure to only use a burner phone to call it, however - if we're investigating the government..." She turns her head to look off into the distance. "...we can't be too careful."
"I..." Johnny starts. "Wow, that's some big stuff, you know. First off, what do I even call you? We haven't even been properly introduced."
Tiger Mask nods, and places a hand on her chest. "As I was saying earlier - ally of Justice, Tiger Mask of the Tiger Clan! I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Johnny Cage!" A pause. "I haven't watched many of your movies, but I'm a fan of anyone who sides with... Justice."
Johnny wonders if the woman under the mask is attractive. "I think you ought to rectify that pretty quick. I got a big library." He flashes her a grin. "Alright, so...I just need to get a drug dealer phone and I'll be set, huh?"
Tiger Mask's body looks rather muscular, but it's hard to see anything about her face. "Maybe once we've defeated this evil, I'll be able to watch some more of them." A short pause. "And... the other evil I'm working on. And that third evil." A longer pause. "I have a lot of vigilante activities, even outside of the Full Moon Society. But one day, Justice will definitely win, and all evil will be defeated!"
Johnny folds his arms. "Great, glad to hear it," he says, mostly humoring the strange masked person. "So, uh, if there's anything else, I'll be continuing my jog."
Tiger Mask puts her hands on her hips and laughs. "No, there's not anything else. Get back to your training, and I will get back to mine!" And with that, she crouches slightly, then leaps up into a nearby tree.
Log created on 21:55:02 01/25/2015 by Miki, and last modified on 00:16:14 01/26/2015.