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etcelsior2015-01-30 02:34 pm
maskormods) wrote in etcelsior2015-01-30 02:34 pm
sure, jan
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.
sabetha belacoros | gentleman bastard sequence
[ In her line of work, it pays to be adaptable. And while Sabetha Belacoros prides herself on many things —adaptability definitely being one of them—she hadn't imagined it would extend to something like this. The only familiarity here is the smell of the ocean. The irritating residents offering her free drinks and waving at her, on the other hand? Well, it's not half as fun when marks are so willing.
And then there's everything else. The cars, for one thing. And the... other vehicles. It's quite a bit harder to move around in her preferred style with those gods-damned contraptions hovering everywhere. The rooftops don't seem like such a safe bet if one wants to remain inconspicuous.
For this reason, other imPorts may notice Sabetha nimbly climbing down from an aforementioned rooftop and only narrowly avoiding a hovering motorcycle that rounds the corner at a remarkable speed and zooms past her. Her expression is something akin to calmly murderous. ]
Gods. What is wrong with this place?
WILDCARD.
[ Wildcard!?! Have you noticed your pockets are suddenly lighter after a redheaded stranger walks past you? Quick—she's just disappearing around a corner now. ]
wildcard
— Hey! Stop!
omg excellent
Thief vs spy, who will win. ]
no subject
[ She lets a reasonable amount of time elapse before giving chase again. ]
Hey, you!
no subject
It's about this point that it hits her, more so than the initial lecture upon her arrival did—she's out of her element, in more ways than one. What she needs is more information on how this place works. Once she has that, she'll have a game plan, and she'll have proper marks. Stealing away people's plastic cards isn't much use when you've no idea what they're for. Evidently the woman she'd stolen from was more adapted to this place. And she'd noticed sooner than was usual for Sabetha's quick fingers. Not a target after all, perhaps.
Sabetha slips in between a crowd of shoppers as Nikita begins to chase after her, and as she draws nearer, Sabetha moves alongside her and replaces the wallet much in the same way she'd taken it to begin with. If it's back, no one can rightly say it was gone in the first place, can they? A question for the philosophers.
She steps back, arms folded. The crowd moves away and they're out of earshot of all passersby. ] It seems that wasn't worth the effort in the first place. You can have your cards and paper.
[ The words are a challenge, maybe. Or an improvisation. That's something the Gentleman Bastards excel at. ]
no subject
You're lucky I'm not going to take you to the station. [ she keeps her tone brusque, but low, not loud enough for a stray passerby to hear ] What are you even doing on the street, young lady?
[ Give Sabetha weakness to exploit. ]
no subject
She bites back several comments at the "young lady", instead fixing Nikita with an amused look. She matches the volume of Nikita's tone, but her own is all nonchalance with an edge of sweetness. ] The station? Where you'll tell a fascinating story about your possessions reappearing in your pocket as if by magic? That sounds like an excellent bit of theatre.
[ With that said, the sweetness fades into a more subdued politeness. Sabetha knows how to act, and she knows how to seem demure, even if she's normally anything but. In this instance, it's really more to gauge the reaction she'll get. ] As for your question: gaining my bearings. Arriving in a strange new city is a shock to anyone's senses.
no subject
[ Cards and paper. She sympathises with being out of depth, but Sabetha'll adapt with or without Nikita's help. ]
Shock enough to lift my wallet? [ she carefully matches Sabetha's own amusement, then softens the edges of her mouth and tone into something more maternal ] Look, if you're in trouble - or someone is making you do this —
[ She trails off. ]
slams hands on the keyboard and hopes it's right
Sabetha. Merely thinking her name stills the beating of his heart. How long had it been? Three years? Five? Ages? Eons? Too long since he saw her last. Too long to make seeing her now feel real. Surely it was a trick. Maybe the Falconer was in the city, maybe this was just another secret the Grey King had managed to catch hold of, maybe-
She moves to the sidewalk and that cements it. Makes his heart return to a race he had no hopes of winning. She's real. She's well and truly there. All he needs to do is reach out and touch her.
The motorcycle comes all too quickly. Locke finds the strength to move, running forward with her name caught in his throat. But she dodges it. Of course she dodges it. Does it with all the grace and skill that trapped him all those years ago.
It takes him a few minutes of composure before he finds himself fit to speak.]
I don't know. I think I'm revising my opinion. Maybe I should start singing praises if it delivered me to you.
fgjkggj quiet screaming
She turns towards him, her face sifting through several expressions before settling decisively on shock. She supposes she shouldn't be surprised, not when she was so unceremoniously brought here herself. Would the others be here too? Jean, Calo, Galdo? Did she want to be reunited with the Gentleman Bastards again, as if nothing had changed in the years between?
For now, it's just Locke here in front of her—and against her better judgment, she'd allowed him to capture her full attention once, and he hadn't exactly relinquished the better part of it since. This isn't how things were supposed to play out, not even close, but Sabetha has always been able to deal with being caught unawares. ]
Locke. [ She regards him carefully, not moving closer but not moving away, either. ] You're trying to be charming so soon?
i am sorry in advance for any and all sappy writing
Gods, if she isn't beautiful. The sharpness of her gaze, the way she looks at him as if he were some punitive thing she could crush under the heel of her boot and hoping that behind that hard stare there's something softer. A love, a care reserved just for him after all these years. If there ever was one to begin with.
No, he won't get to thinking like that.
He smiles and it's nervous, flinching at the edges.]
Sabetha. You and I both know that's entirely dependent on if it's working. [Damn, too serious. He shrugs.] Though I do have a quota I've got to fill. It seems my brand of charm is in high demand.
i am 100% okay with it
They must have decided they had a use for the both of us here. [ She takes a moment to look at him, really look at him, to see what's changed since she last saw him. She wants to ask, but refrains for now. No need to lay out their past and history so soon. ] I can't say I blame them for their choice, but it's rather inconvenient.
no subject
Did my ears deceive me or did I just hear a compliment? [He leans back and tries not to let that stare seize him. It threatens to, just as her changes-closely observed-threaten to betray his every effort of restraint.] "Can't blame them for their choice"?
[Giddy as a child who's gotten their first bit of money, Locke attempts to swallow it down with a light cough and a broadening smile.] It is rather inconvenient though. Were you also, ah, occupied with pressing concerns? Before they took you, that is. Which, by the way, where exactly were you?
no subject
[ Besides, she'll give credit to Locke's inventiveness... at least on the occasions it doesn't end in spectacular flames. These days, she's not exactly one to talk in that regard, either. Her arms fold across her chest and her smirk fades with his question. ] The Kingdom of the Marrows, for the most part. Some business in Emberlain and Vintila—rich noblemen with more coin than sense, that is.
[ She purses her lips. ] Although I'd just travelled elsewhere for the beginning of a new scheme. And now here I am. Were your own affairs going well, Locke?
[ She'd heard troubling news from Camorr, after all. But if anyone can extricate themselves from trouble, it's Locke. ]
no subject
It gave him little comfort.
Coughing, he straightened the position of his fanny pack and set to tidying up the rest of his tourist disguise.] Yes, well. You know how things are in Camorr. The nobles are still dense enough to look beyond my little fingers.
[He thinks of Nazca and hesitates, knowing he should tell her and yet not compelled to; telling her would only lead to the Grey King and he'd rather stray from that subject as long as possible.] Things... are twisting rather unpleasantly now, though. If that's what you mean to ask. [Maybe there's a way to work around it. It should be simple enough to hide his own involvement. Sabetha deserves to know.]
3!! he has pheromone powers that you can play with or ignore completely, also
[Stepping up from beside the building, Zelos makes himself known with a joke and a laugh. He was just poking around here and there, trying to figure out more than what he already had. People were so agreeing when you stand out as someone gentle or beautiful or just oddly soothing. How convenient.
Right now, he's just being a little bit nosy. Talking to strangers, commenting where he wasn't asked to-- the usual.]
I hear the usual thing is to 'look both ways' first, by the way.
okay awesome!
First and foremost on the list being those. [ She gestures at the hovering cars, motorcycles, skateboards, etc. She does a good job not looking surprised, despite having no idea what they are and nothing resembling them in her own world. ] And their clearly dull-witted drivers.
[ Regardless, Zelos doesn't look like one of the locals here, so she turns to him, an eyebrow arched. ] Were you also lucky enough to be unwillingly brought here?
no subject
That aside, though, he turns to her more completely at the question, lifting one palm in something of a half shrug.]
That's right. An 'imPort' is what they call it, right? [So her, too. But he'd already realized that much from the comments on the usual technology.]
Talk about a nice way to phrase kidnapping. Machines don't just act on their own. [So, he's not buying the whole porter thing. Someone's gotta be behind a switch somewhere.] What do you think? About all this.
no subject
Their motives seem simple, which should be taken as a warning sign on its own. It only sounds simple if there's complication beneath the surface. [ In her experience, at least, nothing is ever that simple. ] And then there's the information they have on us. Not terribly detailed, but detailed enough.