PARTY AT MOM'S HOUSE

[maskormods]

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 anyone's thread, either!

And remember to have fun!

01. Your memory is hazy and you might feel increasingly frustrated or anxious, or maybe you're excited as soldiers march past, barely glimpsing you. One second you're somewhere underground, the next you're enveloped in blue light, and suddenly you find yourself directly under Flordia sun's bright and burning glare. A female soldier steps toward you with a wide smile on her face and directs you to a car, ready to debrief you. You realize you are not the only one, surrounded by equally confused or eager faces... and you're all sporting a digital tattoo on your wrist.

02. Welcome to Cape Canaveral, where the smell of the ocean is in the air and locals are more than pleased to see new imPorts roaming their streets. They wave, they cheer, they ask for pictures as politely as they can. The more inhuman you look, or if you're wearing a costume, the more likely locals are to approach. Hey, enjoy the moment! The popular malt shop is offering you a free drink if you need it.

03. The technology in this world is certainly something. The cars are clearly modeled after popular 50s cars, but they hover several feet above the ground as they drive down the street. There are digital jukeboxes in restaurants, motorcycles also hover through traffic, advertisements can be seen on a digital projector on the taller buildings. Even kids on skateboards appear to drift a safe ten feet off the ground while playing!

04. Wherever you are, you can hear the loud revving of an engine, distance at first before you finally see it: a hovercar bursting around the corner, going beyond the maximum speed limit and just barely making its sharp turn. It doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon, not with two police cars trailing it... and uh oh. Those skateboarding kids don't have much time to get out of the way as the car comes speeding down the road. You've been brought here for a reason Hero — so you better act fast.

Comments

[prearcadian]

Partly. [still scrutinizing her. machine people...] The other part would be whether or not you want to learn a bit more about this machine. Hands-on.

[heartlessglitch]

[ in turn, robosquinting. ]

Are you inviting me to illegally take and drive this vehicle with you?

[prearcadian]

Yes.

[PIRATESQUINT PLUS A SMIRK. let's see what kind of bolts you're made out of, robolady.]

[heartlessglitch]

[ if she were in her human-like body, she'd be pursing her lips at him. but since she's not, her expression is just vaguely somewhere between pensive and slightly judgmental.

well. fine. she'd like to see some human cops try and arrest her anyway. ]

Very well. [ challenge accepted. ]
Shall I allow you the opportunity to attempt bypassing the security mechanisms?

[prearcadian]

Might go faster if you just did it, since you got the know-how. But I'll leave it up to you. [also, excuse you, he doesn't feel the need to give any machine an excuse to laugh at him.]

[heartlessglitch]

[ it's okay, pirate-senpai, she never laughs. or smiles. she's creepy like that. but she is an amazing engineer and able to basically override any inferior machine. which is most machines. so after about 3.442 seconds, she has the alarms disabled and the car unlocked, with the engine running.

she slides into the passenger's seat. the car does squeak a little with her weight. ]

I assume you wish to drive.

[prearcadian]

[he's not missing a beat, climbing into the driver's side, his mouth twitching with a grin he can't suppress, so why bother?]

You assume right. Pretty good guess for having just met. [Harlock you are not the least bit enigmatic but ok.

he's giving the controls and dashboard panel the once-over, but isn't too absorbed not to remark:] So, if I assumed you had an advanced navigation system on top of all this and could point me which way's out of this town toward open road...

[heartlessglitch]

That would be a fair assumption.
But such a basic capability is not terribly creative of you to ask about.

[ still, it probably is helpful to have a gps sitting in the passenger's seat. even if she'll probably come with more attitude than most. ]

Might I also advise that if you drive recklessly and cause us to crash, there is only one of us here that will potentially sustain life-threatening damage.
Hint: It is not me.

[prearcadian]

[he laughs.] I'm pretty aware of that. You're not the first mechanized man I've seen. [pretty resilient! but not to lasers, he's found, through pleasant and unpleasant experience.

he tests a gear change or two before making up his mind about it and pulling out of the spot; the actual effort here is to not just peel out and damage everything along the way. he is trying very hard.]

That direction, then–?

[heartlessglitch]

You will make a left onto the main street ahead.
Then proceed for approximately 3.48 miles before making an additional left turn.

[ she responds promptly, eying the first of several traffic lights on the path before them. not much of a challenge for a sophisticated machine like her-- hacking those things, even remotely, would be like taking candy from a baby, as human say. ]

Accelerate at your leisure.
I will take care of clearing the way.

[prearcadian]

[that's the kind of thing he likes to hear, and it's something he doesn't need telling twice. sure, he coasts off a particular burst of speed when there's people too close too the road or maybe a little too old to startle...but it's only enough to keep him from blasting down the road.

but when he catches on, when he sees every light green, every car abruptly halted, well...

GIANT VROOM COMIC BOOK BUBBLE TEXT.

and him, grinning like a fool as he rounds that corner and blazes down the road.]

[heartlessglitch]

[ she, on the other hand, might seem outwardly a little underwhelmed-- probably because her own body can transform into a vehicle that goes at least five times faster-- but at least the organic is having a good time. she only interrupts his fun to offer the occasional Left or Right.

after a while: ]

Are you entertained?

[prearcadian]

[she's like a less energetic Battlyzer, if Tochiro's word is to be taken on the matter. Harlock doesn't really know, considering how his typical relations with mechanized people are...you know.

not very good.

he'd shrug off all of his apprehension entirely if it weren't for said relations and the very obvious role she's playing in the activities of the other vehicles. this one isn't even his, so he can't get too cocky.

still, he looks in good spirits, and it's hard to deny the pleasure in controlling something rare and new.]

Beats the hell out of walking.

[heartlessglitch]

I suppose for an organic, it would.

[ that's more or less agreement anyway, and if she sounds condescending towards the fact that he's made of flesh, it isn't purposeful-- probably something more innate in the mechanical quality of her voice, the distance in her posture and passive metal face. ]

This activity seems to come naturally to you, regardless.

[prearcadian]

It does. [his attention splits between the road and the fancy LED control panel. he wants to see what it's for.] I'm always moving forward, one way or the other.

[heartlessglitch]

[ hopefully his divided attention doesn't cause them to CRASH OR ANYTHING... ]

I suppose that is admirable.

[ a brief pause, before she goes on a bit curiously: ]

You never did identify yourself to me, organic.

[prearcadian]

You never asked. [robotic.]

It's Harlock.

[heartlessglitch]

Acknowledged.
I am pleased to meet you, Harlock.

[ that seems to be more a statement of politeness than one that is especially sincere-- if only because she's really rarely ever genuinely pleased with anything. ]

My name is Danger.

[prearcadian]

Is that the name you had before you were a machine, or... [glancing sidelong.] Or maybe you were always a machine.

[heartlessglitch]

It is the name my father gave me when he created me.
I have always been artificial.
Is that unusual to you?

[prearcadian]

Not that unusual. Robots aren't anything new.

But where I'm from, people too scared to die go to great lengths to keep themselves alive.

[heartlessglitch]

[ she pauses almost curiously, tilting her head to get a better look at him as he drives. ]

You are implying that organics willingly undergo procedures in order to become mechanical?

[prearcadian]

[Harlock's eyes stay fixed forward, his mouth taut, wearing a stern, hard-to-read expression.]

Desperately, sometimes. People spend their fortunes to trade their natural bodies for metal and circuits.

[heartlessglitch]

[ at length, she remarks simply: ]

How wasteful.

[prearcadian]

[he glances her way, easing off the accelerator to coast toward a turn.]

That's not something I expected you to say.