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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.
Cullen | Dragon Age (Inquisition)
[The sight of a blond man walking down the sidewalk in any city in Florida probably wouldn't be enough to cause a stir, ordinarily. The sight of a blond man in full plate armor, surcoat, and fur pauldrons is... well, that's a different story altogether.
He's been pointed in the direction of a clothing store, given an address on a scrap of paper, but it still remains for him to actually find the bloody place. The city is so different from what he's used to (although navigating Val Royeaux springs to mind), the technology so completely alien, that he's becoming distracted at almost every turn. Children are flying past him on tiny boards and laughing about it--some sort of game? It's completely boggling, and Cullen finds himself wishing for the umpteenth time that he would just wake up already.
And so it happens that the first woman catches him completely off guard. She appears on the sidewalk beside him as he's turning back from watching a hover car pass by, and he has to come to a sudden stop to keep from crashing into her. He starts to apologize but he can barely get the words out before she's asking for a picture. And then her friend pipes up. And another.
And now Cullen is surrounded by a gaggle of people all wanting pictures, asking questions, reaching out to touch his armor, the fur on his shoulders. Asking his name. Asking who does his hair.
It's Halamshiral all over again. Someone save him.]
3.
[If he's thought it once, he's thought it a hundred times. This technology is baffling.
Cullen is currently sitting on a bench outside an ice cream parlor, staring intently down at a little rectangle of plastic and light and frustration in his hands. It's the communicator he was given upon his arrival, and though he was briefly shown how to use it, there's just nothing intuitive about this cursed thing. He flicks a finger across the screen and sneers as the contraption does the exact opposite of what he'd been trying to accomplish.
Is this really how these people live?
He tries again.]
What? No! Maker's breath, you horrid little piece of--
3.
[ Chise walked up to the bench with a melting ice cream cone held in one hand and her own smartphone in the other. After what little she picked up from the more tech-savvy imPorts she had gleaned a reasonable understanding of how they worked.
It was not like her to walk up to complete strangers in the least bit, but their all being in the same boat made her somewhat more sympathetic to her fellow man. ]
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But he really does need the help.]
I, ah... yes, actually. I would appreciate it. Do you... happen to know what a "Voice Mail" is?
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[ Chise lives with a skull headed demon that acts like her fiance in the English countryside full of fae folk and demons down to a Grim from the turn of the century. This would not be the first time she had to explain something mundane.
Sitting down beside him at with a respectable if a bit wary distance, Chise digs out her own phone and proceeds to go through a demonstration of which buttons went from the main screen to voice mail. ]
Phone calls are letters without the time delay. If I can find your name on my phone then I can hit this button here and talk to you from just about anywhere. It's not magic.
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At that last bit he snorts.]
It may not be considered magic here, but it certainly seems it to me. There's nothing like this in Thedas. No one would ever accomplish anything if we all had to figure these things out.
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2.
She slips her way around the crowd and manages to muscle in carefully, graceful as you please, and locks arms with him.]
There you are! I have been looking all over for you.
[Her smile is entirely fake as she looks up at him and she tugs him along, brushing past a few women with cell phones. A little tendril of magic is enough to gently nudge the passerby so they can walk. She shoots one of the taller women a glare.]
Excuse me, do you mind? You act like you haven't seen a model before. I could get your phone confiscated, you know-- My agent's going to give you hell if he catches you.
[The threat is threadbare but just enough to let them slip by, and she keeps tugging poor Cullen along in the hopes that he'll keep walking long enough so that they can get around the corner.]
Come on, we're going to be late. Scram, girls, we're busy.
[And once they're barely around the bend, with a few still following, she leans in and whispers:] You okay?
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He follows along dutifully, perhaps foolishly, given that he doesn't know this woman either. There are people in this world with powers he can't even begin to imagine, and not all of them friendly, but somehow all he can manage to feel is grateful. When they round the corner and she finally speaks directly to him, he lets out a sigh of relief.]
I... yes, thank you.
[He glances back over his shoulder, quickly turning to face forward once more as he catches sight of one of the stragglers behind them. Keeping his voice low:]
Sweet Andraste, is it always like that here? I don't think I can take much more of this.
02
From there, Sabriel finds herself attracting more and more attention, as people keep asking her to show them more spells, until Sabriel finds herself surrounded by glowing lights and smoke from several carefully cast fire spells.]
That's enough! Please, please, can one of you tell me where I can buy some clothes? I'd be happy to show you some other spells after that.
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The fact that she's a mage gives him slight pause--mages are risk enough in his own world, what might one from an entirely different world be capable of?--but he's willing to take a chance this time. Now using his tall, armored form to his advantage, Cullen carefully pushes through the crowd until he's close enough to the girl for her to hear him over the rest of the crowd. He offers a gloved hand, careful of the magical fire surrounding her.]
Would you care to join me?
[He jerks his head to the side in a "let's get the hell out of here" sort of gesture.]
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I thought they'd never leave me alone. At first it was nice for them to take an interest, but things got out of hand.
[Sabriel looks around, watching the people around them.]
We need to find different clothes. Armor attracts far too much attention.
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[He releases her hand as soon as they're past the majority of the throng, though even afterward he keeps an arm protectively close just in case. Judging by the magic and the armor there's a fair chance the girl can probably look after herself should trouble find them, but the urge to protect is instinctive.]
I have the address of a clothing shop, but I've had little luck finding it thus far. I was actually on my way there when...
[When his life turned into a One Direction concert.]
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3. so I heard you like calibrations
But, it could be worse. He could be that guy over there who seemed to have no idea how to use a basic comms device.
He tries not to laugh, as he walks up to the guy. Really, he could almost relate. After all, that was pretty much his reaction when he tried to button up his shirt that morning. ]
I take it you've never used one of those before?
[ Garrus might have not have the greatest idea on how to "blend in" as a human, but if there's one thing he knows, it's technology. ]
those trebuchets aren't going to calibrate themselves you know!
And he's utterly cowed by a piece of metal and plastic no bigger than the palm of his hand.]
Only this one, and not very well--as is no doubt painfully obvious. A woman attempted to show me the basics of the device after my arrival, but she seemed to assume I had some basic grasp of the thing in the first place.
[He shakes his head.]
Blood mages I can handle. Demons. Abominations. But this?
exactly! so few people understand the importance of calibrations ok?
Trust him, stranger things have happened this week. ]
I'm more than familiar with abominations [ though... not quite the same kind he's talking about, probably. ], but not the other two, so I'm going to make a wild guess and say that you're not from around here.
[ It was really less of a guess so much as a statement. To "break the ice", if you will (see? he was picking up human terms).]
Because I'm definitely not, either. Though, I've seen stuff way more advanced than this back where I come from. If you let me sit down, I might be able to help work it out for you.
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More "advanced" than this? I find that difficult to imagine.... I'm beginning to suspect that other worlds invent these sorts of things sheerly for the sake of needlessly complicating their lives. And now mine.
[Nevertheless, he scoots as far to one side of the bench as he can to give the man space to sit.]
I... would appreciate the help, regardless.
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It's tempting to smash it and be done, but it can be learned in time.
[It's nowhere near as good as ice cream, though.]
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Is it so obvious that I was considering it?
[He wouldn't have done it, not when this silly little thing is so clearly important, but oh Maker how satisfying would it be?]
They don't have these where you're from either, I take it?
You can't use that icon on me it's not fair
[Well...and because he didn't exactly have a face for cards. But she can afford to be charitable.]
It took me a while to learn to use mine—it's as if it has miniature paintings on it, but they respond to touch. That makes no sense at all.
I can and I will B)
Believe me, I couldn't agree more. I've spent the last half an hour trying to find this "Voice Mail" I'm supposed to have. I don't know how anyone in this world accomplishes anything if they're constantly staring down at these contraptions.
[As if to illustrate his point he glances back down at the screen of his communicator, lets out one final disgusted sigh, and holds it up.]
My apologies for imposing, but I don't suppose you...?
But but but
2
They were so weird about imports. And honestly, the way they gathered around new ones was...disconcerting, to say the least. He thought that maybe the government purposefully did it to shock people into being a little more compliant. That would make sense to him. Or maybe he was just being damn paranoid. It was difficult to tell these days.
It's probably just a touch too nice to intervene, wasn't it? Honestly, he should probably mind his own business, because what if the guy didn't want to get out of it?
But then he caught his eye. Oh yeah, he needed help. That was the look of a man who'd seen hell, and couldn't get out. He was trapped with the gaggle of people fawning over him, and -- did that person just pet his armor? ]
Hey! There you are! [ Come on, Kaidan, think. ] I've been looking all over for you --
[ Trying to shove through the crowd. He was here to help, come on, Cullen, don't look a gift horse in the mouth... ]
omg my two bioware boyfriends in one thread together
Play along, Cullen.]
Yes, I'm sorry, I-- what? No, I'm afraid I'm busy this evening, but thank you--
[He starts pushing ever so gently through the crowd as well, using his tall, armored frame to part the mass of bodies.]
I'm sorry, I completely lost track of the hour. If you all will excuse me?
[The look he shoots Kaidan is a mixture of gratitude and anxiety. Time to beat a hasty retreat.]
CACKLES!! Just as planned
Yeah, they tended to do that. Imports were celebrities -- and yes, handsome imports often got a lot of attention. He never understood it, but then again, Kaidan tried to avoid those sorts of things. Of course, the migraine excuse worked out pretty well for him, considering how insensitive they tended to be -- swarming someone who looked obviously confused like that. He felt (mostly) bad for the guy. ]
Hey, are you alright? Sorry about... the, ah, locals. They get a little excited about new people. They think they're going to get autographs from the "next big hero", if they catch them early enough.
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2.
He met Cullen once, briefly, during that nastiness in the Circle. He doubts Cullen would even remember one elf rogue in the presence of the Hero of Ferelden, especially considering what he'd been through at that time. Strangely, it seems this Cullen is many years older, and no longer wears the emblem of the flaming sword.
All questions that could be answered should the man receive proper rescue. So strange that men in heavy armor can sometimes be so feeble!]
Cullen! I cannot believe my luck, it is just who I wanted to see! Surely you have not forgotten your old friend Zevran. Come, we must have so much to talk about! No, no, my friend cannot speak with you right now. You must understand, I have not seen him in years and I have news of a mutual friend of ours that will interest him...
[Taking Cullen by the arm, Zevran begins to pull Cullen out of the crowd with charming grins and even a few empty promises, "I can tell you where I get my hair done, darling, at half the price he does! Find me later! Thank you!"]
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He doesn't recognize Zevran at a glance, no--it's been something like ten years since he briefly met the man, and he'd been in a bad way at the time. The sight of an elf in this world is jarring, however. And an elf he doesn't recognize, but somehow knows his name?
Still... whatever his motivations, the elf is actually succeeding at parting the crowd and extracting him, so for now he'll follow along. He doesn't have much choice, honestly. As soon as they've passed most of the gawkers he addresses the other man in a low voice:]
How do you know my name?
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I am guessing, somehow, that this was some time ago for you, though only months for me.