sure, jan

[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

Legolas / LotR

[cuor]

II

[As a child, Legolas had sat on the borders of his father's realm and looked across the wide expanse of the world. He had dreamed one day of travelling beyond what he saw there, to explore and to know of the many wonders that were to be found in this wide land that Iluvatar had made for them. When he had grown, he had done so; going forth as a messenger for his father to see great towers and wide forests.

Yet here was a land no tale had fortold, and no dream could have predicted.

It was unknown, and therefore wondrous to his eyes. He gazed upon all he saw with curiosity, interested in learning all he could. He greeted the men around him cheerfully, learning quickly that these camras of their were devices which required one to stand quite motionless and smile and the bearer. For what purpose he was not yet certain.

After yet another ritual with a camras, he turned to the one beside him.]

Tell me, what is the purpose of this? What magic do their devices contain that we must stand immobile and smile at them so?

OTHERWISE

[When night fell and the crowds of men returned home, Legolas sought out an area of trees to spend the night in. He did not require sleep, and he wished to be alone for a time to think on all he had seen.

The stars were dimmer here, he noted sadly. Foreign stars whose names and songs he did not know. Perhaps on the morrow he would seek out a man who could tell him of them.

Resting, he sat in the bows of a great oak. He sang to himself a travelling song, which spoke of long paths and new sights. Any entering the park would be sure to hear him, even if it took them some time to find him hidden in the tree.]

2

[hypnotherapy]

[ He's not really paying attention - he's reading through the information he was given, again - and he only looks up when he's addressed. ]

Magic devices? [ He holds up a gloved hand to thwart someone trying to take a picture of him, momentarily. He has to gather his thoughts after the combination of sudden movement and sudden brighter-than-usual light. ] Oh. The camera. It takes a picture of you. But if you move, it blurs. So you're supposed to stand still.

[cuor]

[The answer, not strangely, raises more questions about the nature of the device and where the picture is stored (and what about paint and so on), but perhaps those questions are best left to another time. He knows its purpose now.]

It seems a wondrous thing then. I thank you, stranger.

[hypnotherapy]

[ That actually gets a smile. A little one, anyway. ]

Technology can be used to produce...what we would call miracles. It really is interesting. This world is interesting.

Your world does not have these things, I assume.

[cuor]

[A laugh.] No. I have known a wizard capable of great and fearsome wizardry, but these small things...

Pictures and portraits are made by those of my people who have long studied colour and light. It is often many months before they finish a great mural or work. Seeing that done in seconds. [He shakes his head, still amazed.]

forest

[wonk]

[The park is above all things quiet, and Roxy appreciates that. She's not used to this many people ever being alive, never mind in the same place. This place is a welcome reprieve, and she'd spent the better part of the evening rush hiding here.

The song is soothing, pleasant on her mind after a noisy day of life in a world that actually has people in it, and she appreciates that, wandering her way to the tree.

She stands there for a minute, then floats up to find the singer. She crosses her legs in midair, sits, and tilts her head at him in greeting.]

[cuor]

[Noting the approaching footsteps, Legolas readies himself to greet whoever hails him from the base of the tree. When a creature, supported by nothing more than air, rises up beside him, his song falters and he stares at it in amazement.]

Are you a wizard? Or the spirit of a tree that you sit so easily supported by the winds?

[wonk]

Oh dude I wish I was a wizard that would be the coolest thing ever. [She doesn't pause between phrases like most people should, plowing straight through each sentence without breath.] Nah though, I'm just a god. Or — more like a demigod, I guess? Anyway I just got flying superpowers, that's all.

[cuor]

[There was a lot in that sentence that Legolas missed. Her speech and mannerisms were quite unique.]

Then you are well met, lady demigod. I am Legolas, a Silvan Elf of the Woodland Realm..

2!

[friendshiprocks]

[ Holy mess, that guy is pretty. He's so pretty, in fact, that Hime's just kind of BLATANTLY STARING at Legolas as he gets his picture taken.

Because oh my gosh. Hime (or, at least, her fourteen-year-old tastes with her fourteen-year-old brain) is so in love. She likes the look of this long-haired really pretty guy and she can just stare at him forever.

Which is a problem, because Legolas is asking her a question (he's talking to her!!!). Thankfully, Hime manages to gain her composure and responds with an eloquent, perfect rebuttal, guaranteed to make this guy get her attention and think that she's the most wonderful gorgeous princess on Earth. ]

Huh?

[ ...A for effort, buddy. ]

[cuor]

[For his part, Legolas look a little concerned. This girl's hair was a shade unusual to mortals, true. Perhaps-]

Do you speak Westron, my lady? The common tongue?

[friendshiprocks]

The common tongue here is English, I'm afraid. You don't need to worry about that, though. [ He looks old-fashioned. Would it make sense if she explained how the translator function works on the communicator, or would it just leave everybody more confused?

Wisely, Hime's decided to wait out and see. But she's still staring at Legolas like he's the best thing in the universe. ]

[cuor]

Very well. [A second attempt at the question is made.] I had asked if the function of these camras were know to you. I have never before seen their like.

[belegurth]

[A newly arrived Elf doesn't escape Melkor's notice. He skirted the crowd around Legolas, attempting to see if he recognized him but the elf was unfamiliar to him. But he would wait, biding his time. He had no interest pushing through the crowds when he was already starting to get stares of his own for his pointed ears and imposing stature.

Instead Melkor is patient, it was not difficult to follow Legolas into the trees that night. They are alone, the humans require sleep so it is quiet aside from the sound of song.

Melkor doesn't introduce himself but instead begins to singing the ancient Elvish tongue, letting the music fill the space between the trees and the dull stars. A song of distant shores of home, beauty not known to this world. Hopefully Legolas would think him another of the Eldar, lost in this world as he was.]

[cuor]

[Having heard no footsteps approach, Legolas is at first on his guard when he hears another voice join his in the darkness. But when he understands the words and the songs it sings, his heart rises within him. That is not the voice of Lord Elrond Halfelven. It is another Eldar, here in these small woods.

Legolas joins his voice to the song, mingling their voices in the light of the dim stars. As he sings, he drops out of the tree, seeking the singer with bright eyes.]

[belegurth]

[Melkor didn't conceal himself as he knew Legolas would be seeking him out. Instead he continued to sing, songs of the ancient, undying lands beyond the sea. The other elf knows the song which encourages Melkor, a smile upon his face as he catches sight of Legolas.

The last notes of the song fade into the darkness, allowing a moment of silence under the stars. Melkor at least has the appearance of one of the Eldar to begin gaining the other elf's trust.]

To hear the songs of home, you have made my heart truly glad. To be here without another of the Eldar has been difficult. By what name is that you are called?

[cuor]

Greetings, friend! It has been long years since I have heard that song sung, and my heart is the gladder to have sung it again. I am Legolas, of the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood. [He bows to the new elf, one hand on his heart.]

[pariya]

[Pariya has not had a great day.

She was excited at first, overwhelmed by all the modern marvels and flying contraptions and buildings that reached to the sky.

But now that the sun has set, she feels distinctly overwhelmed. Everything here is so alien. The city is so large, the people are so different. There are no horses, and lights fill every window she passes by. Where are the trees? The grass? She misses not being stared at, she's sick of local children pulling on her long braids, or people remarking on her different clothes. She's never felt so much an outsider.

So it's not surprising that she can't sleep. She gets dressed and slips out of the house she was told was assigned to her to stay and finds the park nearby that she'd spotted earlier in the day. She isn't sure what she's hoping to accomplish, but anything's better than tossing and turning.

So when she hears Legolas singing, Pariya follows the sound until she finds him. Stares up at him from the bottom of a tree with a frown-- not angry, just confused. But she doesn't interrupt. It's a nice song, after all. It would be rude to cut him off.]

[cuor]

[There are many more verses to the song, but that is usual for elven songs. It is not uncommon for elves to take up nights and days in singing, if the mood is upon them.

Legolas, having travelled with mortal companions, knows that man's appetite for singing is more quickly sated. He ends his singing, and looks down at who it is who has joined him on this night.]

Hail, friend. You have my apologies if my song roused you too early from your bed.

[pariya]

[She shakes her head slightly-- her braids flipping this way and that.]

I couldn't sleep. This place is too noisy at night.

Why are you in a tree?

[cuor]

[It was true, there was noise everywhere in this great human city. That has contributed to his decision not to go to his appointed dwelling place and try instead of be surrounded by sounds a little more comforting.]

Why are you on the ground? [A playful smile accompanied his words.]

in the treeees

[bloodyantivan]

[There's mud in Zevran's boots.

He is not fond of the wilderness at the best of times, though he knows how to make his way. It was on a strange flight of fancy that he decided to see just how far the city extended, and found himself outside after dark. And that's when he heard singing, the language sounding familiar and yet he could not make out the words right.

He thinks perhaps it is elvhen, that these woods are still frequented by the People. He spent some time with the Dalish, but every tribe is different, every dialect. Even attitudes about outsiders vary differently.

Zevran keeps his daggers on his back as he approaches the tree, hands up, and hopes he doesn't get shot full of arrows.]

Hello, friend! Please excuse my intrusion!

[cuor]

[Still singing, his gaze travels to see who the newcomer is. When another Eldar is revealed (one perhaps shorter than most) Legolas drops lightly from the tree, abandoning his song in favour of warm greeting.]

Ai! Êl síla erin lû e-govaned vîn, mellonamin.

[bloodyantivan]

[Zevran bows respectfully, not sure how else to respond to melodic words that sound as they should, yet makes no sense to him. The man seems very much like a Dalish hunter or scout, his bow seems to confirm it, but at his age, no vallaslin? Any adult should by now have earned his blood writing tattoos. His clothes are quite fine and well-made, suggesting wealth and craftsmanship, but most surprising of all, the elf is tall.

Intriguing. And gorgeous.] A good evening to you. I apologize for my disrespect, but do you speak the common tongue? Or Antivan?

[cuor]

Pedil edhellen?

[This is a curious thing indeed, for there is no light of understanding in the Eldar's eyes.]

You do not speak Eldarin, my friend?