etcelsior | TIME TO GET READYYYYYY

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test drive

TIME TO GET READYYYYYY

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping into MASK OR MENACE? Want to dip your toes into the setting and get a feel of whether your character will fit into it? Or maybe you're just cruising and want to play around? Then you've come to the right place!

Pick any of the following scenarios below or feel free to make up your own, but don't be afraid to throw yourself at someone else's thread, either!

And remember there's only one rule in Test Drive Meme Club: have fun!

01. The city of Heropa is what one might expect from a small, bright and cheery place, where locals are friendly enough and local shop owners might offer a free drink to welcome you to their fair city. Some of the locals might thank you for always lending your service to the nation, while others might not say anything -- but if you have something nasty to say, better not say anything at all, right?

In the wake of the recent blackout, neighborhoods are coming together to repair damage done by miscreants and share resources. In one of the commercial areas, retailers are taking advantage of the mild weather to hold a sidewalk sale. New arrivals and long-settled imPorts alike will receive a small discount at most stores, and while a few locals give them envious looks, many are just interested in what they might buy. You could set a trend, hero!

02. De Chima, Virginia, is a large city with a healthy economy, and though it's quieter than Heropa, there are still large numbers of citizens to be awed at your very presence. Look at you! Organic wonder! Science and technology are the lifeblood of this city, so you're likely to come across a good many locals taking your picture with the newest of devices. The imPort craze remains high here, and you may find yourself cornered by overzealous imPort fans, media wannabes and opportunists alike, shoving cameras in your face.

Their questions are likely to be fairly mundane, however; get ready for an interview about your taste in romantic partners, personal underwear choices, favorite foods, and more!

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has had its ups and downs since imPorts started reappearing. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while others have swooped in to help the criminal industry thrive. More so here than the streets of any other imPort city, the battle between good and evil looks more like a war of escalation than a heroic tale. That might make the less than warm welcome imPorts are given in the city a little more understandable. The emergence of locals with superpowers is hardly helping. While some of these individuals have turned to crime, many locals seem more inclined to defend their native powered drug dealer than help the non-native hero bring them to justice. Who are you to tell them how to live?

There's still snow on the ground in Maurtia Falls, and some locals have decided to hold an impromptu snowman-sculpting contest. But...wait. That one looks familiar! Some of the snow people are definitely meant to be imPorts, but they aren't exactly flattering likenesses.

04. Nonah, North Carolina, is the liveliest of all cities; loud, busy and there's some kind of energy in the air that gets everyone buzzing with excitement. To be American is to be part of a melting pot, and that there’s more money to be made by the thriving local industries hardly hurts.

Go wander and get your shopping in, folks. Any imPort willing to be interviewed about how their New Year Resolution is going is instantly surrounded by a small gaggle of people.

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Arya didn’t trust any of it. The people who all seemed so delighted to see her, even with the direwolf trotting along at her side, one of the shopkeepers even offering her a drink to try and coax her into their shop though she simply pretended not to see or hear them. It was too… friendly. She could see the dichotomy there, the ones who seemed excited to see her versus those who kept their opinions to themselves, wondered what it was that kept them from speaking their minds. She highly doubted that she would get much from them at the moment though. Instead she continued to wander, startling more than one resident as she passed by without so much as a single echo of footfalls to herald her approach.

Coming across a street where it seemed so many had decided to set up tents and peddle wares in the nice weather was a bit comforting in its familiarity, but it was the potential for information that had her moving into the crowds, a light hand against Nymeria’s back reminding her companion to stay close. She still drew attention as she walked, but that didn’t matter. Not everyone was paying her mind, so she could simply drift from stall to stall, pretending to peruse the wares offered as she listened to the other shoppers, the conversations that went on all around. Sooner or later someone would come along with a bigger mouth, and she’d get whatever information she could.

It would take patience, but she was learning that these days. Patience and silence seemed to make others want to talk more to fill the void, and surely she’d learn something about the true mood of the city through that.

It was something that he had difficulty to adjust to, even after near a month in this world. Jon had never been one for crowds and the adulation was far different than anything he was used to. There was no derision, only an adulation that he could never feel comfortable with. It wasn't for him, but for being an imPort. He at least could lose himself at the market within the crowds, or as much as a man could with the style of the north and a white direwolf at his side.

There were a number of supplies he needed for the farmhouse he had been given, but before he could even begin purchasing what was on his list, Ghost was already bounding away. Jon gave a small sigh, concerned that the direwolf had found someone or a cat to chase. He followed, barely able to catch up.

But thoughts of Ghost disappeared the moment he spied the young girl that had been on his mind for sometime. At the Wall, she was never far from his mind and since reclaiming Winterfell, she occupied more of his worries. "Arya?"

Nymeria of course knew Jon and Ghost were there before Arya did, and despite the hand on her back, she seemed to perk and go darting off towards her packmate like a beeline, no matter if she bowled over some poor local in the process. Already turning on her heel to call and chase after her, Arya's attention was drawn by the call of her own name, eyes widening in delight when she spotted her brother.

"Jon!" So much for being unnoticed, though even as she moved closer at a quick pace, barely keeping from simply darting to him, she wondered if it really was him. Would the gods be so cruel?

Of course they would. But at the same time she let herself have that hope. Not so out there- he was safe from what she could get from Frey's missives and reports, so it was entirely possible that he was here.

Whatever composure he had, he lost it at the sight of his sister. He darted forward and grabbed hold of her, pulling her into a tight hug. She was taller than when he last saw her and far from the lady that Lady Catelyn had hoped she would become. She looked as wild as ever, but safe and healthy.

"When did you get here?" He asked her, not bothering to let her go. It was the first time that he had seen her since he left for the Wall. Their lives had twisted away from the paths that they had hoped to follow. There was little left of their pack, but in this strange world, they seemed to find one another again.

"Are you all right?"

She should have been more wary, not let herself be caught up. But he was there and arms were tight around her, and it was just like she remembered his hugs to be, enough that she simply threw her own arms around him in turn, hugging tightly back.

"Just today." If he wasn't letting go, neither was she; after so long apart from her family she was desperate for the contact, as if should they release each other he'd simply vanish.

"Not sure what to make of this place, but I'm alright."

It seemed so long since he had seen her last. While Sansa had told him that Arya was safe and had been seen by Brienne, it wasn't the same as seeing her face to face. That same wild spirit and dark features she always had were there, as fresh and strong as he remembered.

"Good, then you haven't been here alone." He wouldn't have known, but it wouldn't be enough to stop his guilt. Rickon had died before his eyes and the battle against Ramsay had almost ended in defeat. He didn't want to fail his family again.

"There's a lot to take in, but you don't have to do it alone. Sansa is here too."

She felt a stir of relief at the news that Sansa was also there. That their sister was safe after all that had happened. So many others dead, so much of their family lost that each one preserved was that much more precious in Arya's eyes, and she'd fight all the fiercer for their continued safety.

"Of course not, I've been with Nymeria." She knew what he meant, but she had to tease, a small little smile creeping onto her face. She wasn't the same young girl she'd been, she'd grown into something new, something that... she wasn't sure what her younger self would think if she knew all she'd become. But in this moment, she almost felt she was that girl again, if only for the moment.

He didn't really know very much of what became to his sister's wolf, but it seemed remarkable that Nymeria was with her. Ghost seemed calmer with the presence of one of his litter mates. It had been so long since they were last together, as long as it had been for Jon and Arya. The pack was always stronger when they were together.

Jon snorted in amusement. "As wild as you. I hate to think what would happen to this place if I left the two of you alone." Even before she left Winterfell, she had been a chaotic creature. How did her life in the wilderness change her?

"Come on," he pulled at her arm. "I have something to show you."

Arya herself certainly hadn't been expecting it either, no matter how welcome the sight of Nymeria had been to her when she first arrived in this place.

"It would be a great deal more entertaining, and you know it." She replied with a playful affect of a noblewoman, enjoying the easy air of their interactions. Almost like none of the horrors had happened, like they were back home and everything was still summer naivete for all she knew it wasn't true. To say nothing of what her younger self would think of the things she'd done, the young woman she was becoming, what would Jon think?

"A surprise already?" She let out a short laugh but fell in at his side easily enough, trusting that Nymeria would follow along once they started moving.

They had each been through a great deal of trouble and seen their share of violence. Even Sansa, the one that they never would believe would witness the darkness that existed in the world. There was a weariness about each of them now, a mutual struggle that they could each recognize.

Perhaps in time, he would tell Arya of his struggles as well. It was no great hardship to tell her what was weighing on his mind or that he had died. Much like Sansa, he imagined she'd believe him.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Not exactly a surprise. It's where Sansa and I are staying. Where you are staying too."

In the time away from her, Arya had come to appreciate her sister. They might never see eye to eye on some things, but at the same time, those differences could be strengths, were strengths on the sheer proof that they both yet lived.

And with all she's seen? The idea of her brother returning from the dead was not something she'd doubt, even if the idea that he would have to die to return wouldn't sit well with her.

"You've been here a while then?" She guessed as much anyways, to have found a place for he and Sansa, and now for her as well. Not that she would complain, it was a relief to know someone who might have even a bit better an idea of what was happening than she did. "Won't Sansa be surprised to see what you've brought home today."

However they treated each other as children, so much time had passed and so much pain had been afflicted on them that they would never behave the same as before. They were family, the only family that they had left. They had to trust each other and stay together.

They each had stories to tell. While he was afraid to tell Sansa the full future waiting for her, there were some things that she and Arya would want to hear. The Boltons were dead and Winterfell was theirs again.

"Not so long, only a month." Or thereabout. "Sansa only recently arrived too." Before that, he had been nothing but alone. The story of his life. "So long as you don't pull her hair, she'll be excited to see you." More than excited. Sansa had been by herself for so long.

"No hair pulling?" She scoffed at the idea, even though she knew that they were both well aware that at this point she'd never do that to her sister, not after everything that had happened to them all.

"Honestly Jon, next you'll be telling me I can't be leaving spiders in her sewing kit." She smiled sideways towards him, feeling a bit more grounded with Jon at her side. "How am I going to show her my affection then?"

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Arya Stark | Game Of Thrones

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