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

[icy]

[ He chokes on the last dregs of his milkshake, hooking an arm around the back of the booth's pleather seating to turn and get a better look at whoever just called him a fairy. ]

What? No. [ Thumping his chest, Jack clears his throat hoarsely. ] Why do you ask?

[deosil]

[ She flushed slightly at his reaction and wanted more than anything to sink back into her own seat. Or under a rock. ]

You look like an elemental. [ Her answer was said a bit more flatly without stammering through the response. Fairies typically liked to yank her chain so if her hunch was an accurate one she needed to shore up a little more backbone. ]

[icy]

I'm Jack Frost, nice to meet you. Not a fairy. Hi.

[ Finding a napkin, it gets crumpled over his sticky lips as he wipes off the last of the shake. Finally giving her his full attention, he squints because how on earth he resembles anything fairylike is beyond him, what. ]

Do you usually see grown men without wings and get curious, kid? You're gonna offend the wrong person doing that, you should be more careful.

[deosil]

The Jack Frost?

[ She sounded less surprised than one might expect when told they were face to face with the personification of winter itself. At least she's no longer wringer her hands; that she more or less confirmed his supernatural origins put her at ease, in fact. ]

Oberon is a grown man. He has horns, not wings. Older fairies tend to look like people and not at the same time. I didn't mean to offend.

[ Something about Jack was definitely uncanny. He looked cold. Not that he felt it just that he was cold itself. ]

[icy]

Oh, well. You see spirits normally, huh? [ He gives a nod and smiles when she confirms who he is. Oberon, though? Bit far fetched. ] Shakespeare wrote about the real thing in your world, I'm guessing. Never met a king of any fairies, they're nasty little things. Fast as lightning and hot.

[deosil]

Shakespeare was referencing pre-Christian myth - you might know him as Alberich. [ Elias had her burning the midnight oil training and some of it included old myths and legends that were mostly humans trying to make sense of what little they knew about the magic world. ]

Fairies are terrible, but helpful when they're not trying to lure you into their kingdom. [ She agreed with him there, nodding. ]

Spirits and anything with ambient magic. I'm sorry if I was rude earlier.

[icy]

Nope, never heard of him. Sorry, I don't travel in social circles.

[ Because he prefers not to, sure. Let's go with that. He waves a hand dismissively, taking up his staff and standing. The door gets a nod. ]

C'mon, let's take a walk. You didn't offend me, it was ... It came out of left-field, that's all. You are?

[deosil]

[ She nods, tentatively grabbing her bag and heading towards the door with him. She's followed weirder. Walking abreast with Jack is actually rather pleasant. Keeps the stifling heat even in January common to Florida away. ]

Chise. I guess I'm a witch, but more of an apprentice.

[icy]

No warts or broomsticks? That's frankly disappointing.

[ Teasing her with a chuckle. ]

[deosil]

The man I live with training me has an animals' skull with horns for a face. But no brooms. Sorry.

[ Chise actually smiled at that. ]

[icy]

Well, who doesn't have an animal skull with horns for a face in this day and age? I've seen scarier at Korn concerts. Meanwhile, the classics never die.

[ Laughing it off, he flashes her an answering smile. ]

When did you decide you wanted to be a witch, Chise?

[deosil]

[ Chise laughed this time, finding Jack a bit disarming. Any other magical creature found Elias frightening. His response was refreshing, even heartening. ]

You don't, really. When did you decide to be Jack Frost?

[icy]

Touche! Game, set and match. [ Clever cookie, this one! ] How many spells do you know?

[deosil]

Aha. [ Chise laughed, knowingly. Taking note how he answered without answering like she had and let it drop there. ] Healing potions, mostly. It's a bit difficult - like writing code for a computer program. We take in ambient magic around us.

It was how I knew you weren't just another boy in the malt shop.

[icy]

[ Two sneaky magical pals, that's what they are. ]

Good job I don't drink, otherwise I'd have kicked up a fuss over being way over the age limit in there. [ He tilts his head curiously. ] Are you any good with actual computers, because of your healing magic-slash-programming?

[deosil]

I'm assuming you mean alcohol - after I just saw you wolf down that milkshake. [ She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from asking if he could get brain freeze. ] No, not really. I live in the English countryside where we're lucky if the land lines work. It's just how it was explain to me.

[icy]

Obviously, I'm practically ninety-nine percent water. Whiskey would have me on the floor in minutes.

[ He isn't but he really wouldn't like to chance it. There was an incident in 1895 that Jack would prefer never to revisit, involving three bottles of wine and too many tall buildings in London that needed 'blessing' inside the same night. ]

England, land of the frost. Best holiday spot, if you ask me, even the summer there is like a blip on the radar.

[deosil]

You're definitely not a fairy, then.

[ His not trying to lead her into another world or obsessing over how she absorbed ambient magic around her were also good indicators. At the very least it allowed her to thaw out, so to speak. ]

I'm from Japan, but Elias brought me there. [ Her smile waned ever so slightly at his name. ] It's as cold as it is suffused with old magic and I think for both reasons I really like it. Are you from England, Jack?

[icy]

I did say so, although some people still seem to think I'm an elf in poems and things.

[ 'Pardon-Me Pete'. Never forgive, never forget. ]

No, I'm from Pennsylvania, across the pond.

[deosil]

Come to think of it, I'm not actually sure if elves are real.

[ Stop-motion Rankin-Bass will haunt us for all time. ]

Pennsylvania is close, isn't it?

[ Admittedly, she isn't up to par on North American geography but the same coast counts as close, right? ]

You could go home.

[icy]

I wouldn't call it home, I'm happy enough flying wherever I want. [ The lake isn't really homely, as much as he feels safest there, and he doesn't even know if Jamie will be in Burgess. ] That's what I do, I take winter around the world, chase it about, have fun with it. Go places it shouldn't even be, sometimes!

[ His smile turns slightly awkward, strained and lopsided. ]

It's a pain that I can't fly over to Russia because of the imPort thing, I love it over there.

[deosil]

Must be nice. [ She says without a hint of envy and more of an understanding. The idea of not being tethered can be as attractive as finding a place to nest with a sense of permanence, depending on the person. ]

I'm sorry. [ It wasn't her place to apologize, but she was more empathetic to mythical creatures than other people. ] Not being able to go somewhere you want is an awful feeling.

[icy]

Felt it often? You sound like you want to travel.

[ Or at least get on the move, she seems the type. Discontent when tethered, etc. ]