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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 someone else's thread, either!

And remember to have fun!

01. Your memory might be a haze still and you might even feel frustrated or anxious by the sudden news that you are no longer in your own world and that the Porter scientists and military cannot send you back. You don't get a chance to linger long in the underground Porter lab, but something is clearly amiss; light patches on the floor indicate something else used to sit in that spot in the room. Parts of the wall, floor and the tables look recently refurbished -- something happened in here not too long ago.

You're ushered out quickly and then suddenly, you're enveloped in a faint blue blue light before you find yourself under the bright Floridian sun. Another soldier steps toward you with a smile, directing your attention to a car near a large gate. She mentions she'll be debriefing you soon, handing out a brown folder. You don't see the digital tattoo on your wrist, but it's quickly explained on your way over to the car as you realize there are other confused faces nearby, all holding files of their own.

02. The small, cheery city of Heropa is finishing some downtown construction work following an attack some months ago. There are enough construction crews still around and on break to wave and raise a cup of coffee in a salute to the most obvious imPorts. You might even be thanked for playing a role in saving the city from whatever happened.

Wherever you go, locals are pleasant and courteous enough, sometimes stepping forward to ask for a quick photo or autograph. Every now and then, however, anyone who is so obviously an imPort will find a local backing away from them nervously, pulling their child back with them before closing a door.

03. De Chima, Virginia, is a large city with a healthy economy, and though it's quieter, there are just as many citizens awed at your presence. Heavy winds have people grasping at their newspapers and constantly brushing hair out of their faces, but that doesn't distract them from crowding you in excitement if you're obviously from a different time or world, or just let it slip that you're a newcomer. Children and young teenagers are especially likely to ask for an autograph and a photo.

Some locals seem less enthused to see you. They never make an approach, but they can be overheard scoffing and muttering something about cameras. "Who do they think they are?" or "I don't like it... it reminds me of the government corruption back in the eighties." What could they be talking about?

04. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania, is just fine as always. Ask the residents about their opinions on the recent two-block space that burned in a fire or the imPorts mixed up in the incident, and the locals will shrug. They're just not interested in talking politics. Try asking the local imPort Ambassador. What's his name? Ryan? Revan? They don't offer any more information. Naturally for a big city, the people are somewhat aloof in nature. You might even notice the police are just the same, turning their heads the other way when two shady figures exchange fat wads of cash at the street corner. Did the police just drive away in their hovervehicle without bothering to observe what those two were up to? They sure did.

05. Nonah, North Carolina, is the liveliest of all cities. It's loud, busy and there's some kind of energy in the air that gets everyone buzzing with excitement. Anyone who they come to determine an imPort is bombarded with all sorts of offers; job offers, advertising gigs, spokesperson for advocating children stay in school, etc. Anything and everything! You name it. Shops offer discounts for food and clothing, whatever they need. People flock in droves with questions, but they all say the same thing. Thank you for your service to this country, Hero. You saved a lot of lives. Wow, feels great to be a hero, doesn't it?

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To Tobias, the sun seems brighter and warmer than ever before. Actually, it's dangerously high and bright and warm, and before he even notices anything else, Tobias all but throws himself into the car. He gasps for breath before noticing other passengers with their brown folders, and the solder wordlessly thrusts Tobias' own folder into his hands before he could ask any questions. It isn't long before the car is packed, and then they're all on their merry way.

"Excuse me..." Tobias says as he glances around. "I didn't quite catch what was going on." He hesitates—most of the others seem just as confused as he feels. "I was just trying—what I means is, I have a condition and can't be in the sunlight, and so whatever they were saying before I got in the car... I missed it."

Azula sneared at Tobias.

"It's not contagious, is it?" Her power was strongest in the sun, and she couldn't risk coming down with something that might undermine her power. She knew getting in this wagon with all these commoners was a bad idea.

He shoots a defensive glare right back at the young lady.

"What? NO, it's not—it's not that sort of condition," he replies like a hasty backstep. "I know it isn't, I promise."

Only then does he realize he smells a little like cinders and ash, but it's a distinct odor, and a little can ultimately go a long way.

So he really would like to drop that topic, if he could. "Anyway, could you please, please catch me up with... whatever this is. What's going on?"

"Good luck with that, invalid. If you recall, we all came from the same place. Or is your brain feeble too?"

Azula was the best at making friends.

"I just thought—wait, did you just call me an invalid?" Tobias huffs, irritated. "Well, excuse me for trying to duck out of the sunlight, Your Highness, but I thought someone else might've caught what I'd missed."

"Just read your the stuff in your folder," she said, dismissively. Then she perked up.

"What does your folder say, anyway?"

That she could read whatever this strange language is was strange enough. The men had said something about 'nanites'? Azula was pretty sharp, but even she was having trouble grasping 'tiny machines' floating around in her body.

With a thoughtful hum, Tobias opens the folder and skims the paperwork inside. When he sees the information inside, his personal information, he takes care to discreetly shield it from prying eyes.

"...Where did they get all this?" He asks, trying to mask his shock with skepticism. But there are things here that Tobias has never told anyone, not even Dorian Gray. Writ on these papers are some of his darkest secrets—how could they possibly have learned about these things? It makes him feel vulnerable.

"Can we even trust the things they've put in these folders? They don't explain very much about how we got here, or what exactly we're doing here for that matter."

"I'd love to know that myself..."

She tries to get a glance at his papers, and gets annoyed when he wises up and starts to hide it from her.

"They seem trustworthy enough. Does it say on there that you can do anything that you couldn't before? Try it out."

Tobias doesn't know that he thinks them trustworthy, not with these sorts of secrets. Not with his life, at least. But accurate? Surprisingly (and horrifyingly), yes.

"I don't know, I haven't exactly gone over it in great length. Obviously." He glances back down to the details of his vampirism, trying to find notes of any other unusual abilities. "Why? Do you have something like that on yours?"

"No, but I've heard others tell me something along those lines," she said. A lie - but good luck to Tobias to figure that out.

"Perhaps you're already a very powerful individual, despite the illness." Could be useful, if so.

"Perhaps so." Tobias doesn't want to rise to the bait just yet, not so soon and when he doesn't have enough information to go by. He doesn't even know what's in her file, all the more reason not to rock the boat.

Complicated matters and discerning lies are hardly Tobias' strong points, so he puts the folder aside to pour over it when he hopefully is more settled down later. "Who's to say for now? The same could be said for you—minus the illness bit, though. So far as I know."

Glancing out the window and lamenting the daylight, he asks, "Anyway, do you know where they're taking us?"

"You really are hopeless, aren't you? They're taking us to some kind of housing facility, from what I gather."

"Really?" The question sounds more like a statement, but he continues, "So it's just like that then, is it? We all come from places other than here for no real reason, and they just have homes readily available for a boatload of strangers? This whole thing is... simply ridiculous."

"It doesn't make you curious?" Azula mused. "We arrive, get some papers, then get sent to the guest house. No instructions, barely an explanation."

"If you had the capability to pull people from other realms, how would you use it?"

"I admit, I'm a little curious. But I don't know how I'd use something like that. Not really, anyway." There's a decisiveness and finality in his voice, but after a quick pause, he goes on. "No, I think there might be something I'd use it for. Only I wouldn't go plucking people out of their worlds without warning or explanation."

"I don't think anyone would - if they actually had control of it, that is."

"So what you're saying is they probably don't know how to control it, and they've no choice but to carry on and keep us here. I suppose things could be worse; they're housing and taking care of us. Though I don't expect all these things are simple handouts, do you?"

"That depends how competent they are - I'm also rather curious about this trinket they gave us."

She holds up her network device. She rotates it in her hand and shakes it.

"It's rather dim and heavy for a simple hand mirror."

Tobias pats himself down to find the phone, studying it with some degree of awe when he takes it out.

"It's a telephone, a tiny one at that," he says. "We should be able to communicate with other people using it—that I know of. I've only seen a couple of this sort back at home..."

He lets that thought trail off. After all, Toby doesn't want to go on too much about something he's also just recently learning about.

A 'telephone'?

"Do you know how it works?"

She investigated the device more and eventually found a small circle inscribed. Her finger traced the button and the screen lit up.

"Intriguing."

"The older and bigger ones, yes. But these are somewhat more advanced than the ones I'm accustomed to."

He, too, tries experimenting with the device. It's worth trying to figure it out now that he actually has one of his own.

"With the older ones, you'd need to have someone's phone number in order to contact them—put the number into the phone, and it would ring up the recipient. This one surely must work in a similar fashion."

Azula frowned. She didn't like being ignorant in any situation, and she definitely didn't like that this person she'd been insulting was apparently more knowledgeable about things than her. At least he wasn't gloating about it - she'd have had to get nasty.

"So each of these crystals are assigned a number, and by telling it the number of another crystal you may communicate with it somehow? From a distance? How far away can it reach?"

"From what I recall, that's how they work. And I don't know exactly how far they might reach, but I'm guessing we'd be able to call people who are across the country. Maybe even abroad," Tobias says with some degree of certainty while trying to understand the various functions and menus at his disposal.

He adds, "It looks like these act as more than just telephones. There's a variety of options here, not that I know what they all do. But it's a start, and I don't think it should take all too long to figure it out."

'They act as more than the thing you never heard of already.' Lovely.

Azula follows Tobias' lead, tapping the screen to make things happen. She has no idea what anything does, but when you touch it, the lights change colors and shapes. Kind of neat, actually.

"Of course not," she lied. "What is the number of your crystal?"

"I've to see if I could find it first..." Tobias says in a low grumble. How fascinating is this device responded to his tapping words or numbers on the screen? But tapping some options leads to even more options Tobias doesn't know anything about. To say the least, it's rather confusing. "I hadn't realized there's so much to look at on these things. It's unbelievable how much changes in thirty years."

So Tobias comments, but he looks a young man barely over twenty.

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