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[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 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?

Comments

Heropa, vampire feeding

[hisheartsdesire]

The sun sets, casting shadows over alleys and construction areas alike. The sounds of a busy day gradually die down as people retreat home after another day of work, of rebuilding. It's from one of these fairly dark and isolated places that someone may hear sounds. Nothing strange, not at first—chatting up, it seems. It soon grows fainter, almost completely dying down before there's a gnash and what might be a dying scream. And if someone comes to investigate, they might find what looks like a young man with dirty blonde hair sinking his teeth into someone's neck.

Tell me if this is okay?

[bindsthedead]

[One benefit of being a necromancer- being able to sense the undead, and feel people dying. One downside of being a necromancer- see above. Sabriel has her bells, the leather bandolier slung rather improbably over a T-shirt and jeans.

She's not shocked or confused- but as she reaches for Saraneth, there's a grim expression on her too-pale face.]

It's good! Thanks. XD

[hisheartsdesire]

[Tobias hears something—no, someone—and turns, his expression a cross between being guarded and mortified. It's hard acclimating, not only to being in another country in a different world or universe or whatever one should call it. No, it's hard adjusting to being alive at all, especially after... Well, that doesn't matter anymore. Not here, anyway.

He's composed but still guarded when he sees her.]

...Please tell me you're also an imPort. I can explain, I promise. [There's an air of desperation, a plea, in his voice.]

I am so sorry

[bindsthedead]

I understand well enough.

[Much to her own frustration, the Dead who've been ported in will be revived if she kills them- so she's restricted herself to making it very clear what she's capable of, and what she'll do to them if they harm the living.

Pleading simply doesn't hold much sway with her when it comes from the Dead, and she pulls Saraneth- the second largest of her seven bells- out of its place on the bandolier. It chimes slightly- far too deeply for a bell of its size, before Sabriel wraps her fingers around the clapper.]

[hisheartsdesire]

[He swallows his alarm, eyes widening as he takes a defensive step back. Though he isn't sure exactly what this woman is doing, it doesn't look good.]

No. No, I don't think you do. [He sounds nervous.] You think you do, but I... don't have a choice. I didn't ask for this, I didn't ask to be this way, much like I didn't ask to be in this place. Not any more than you or anyone else did.

[Please, please, please, he begs. Can't we just talk this through?]

Please tell me if this is okay- and I am so sorry about Sabriel

[bindsthedead]

Did they ask to die?

[Sabriel tosses the bell into the air and catches it with a practiced motion, letting it sound out.

The tone is improbably deep and loud, and hangs in the air, booming and echoing as Sabriel presses her own iron will onto the Dead creature in front of her, aided by the bell's power.]

You will answer my questions.

Had to look up her power, but I'm still OK with what's going down. XD

[hisheartsdesire]

[Panic and fear and dread and fascination seem to all wash over Tobias at once. A small grunt escapes him when he feels the woman's will overpower his sense of control, and then he's terrified but doesn't know what to do other than—]

No, he didn't ask that.

[Tobias wants to explain that the man couldn't possibly have known, and that killing his victim was better than the alternative of siring him. But try as he might, he can't—she's asking the questions, she's in control, and Tobias is as helpless as any puppet might be.]

[bindsthedead]

Then why did you kill him?

[She already knows he was feeding but- was he simply unaware the government would provide him blood, or did he simply not care?

Sabriel adopts the expression she normally wears when dealing with the Dead- pitiless and stern, but devoid of malice.]

[hisheartsdesire]

Because I've been alive for so long and tried everything to wean off fresh human blood, but nothing ever worked. Because I've been staving off the hunger since my arrival and became overwhelmed.

[The fact that Tobias is revealing all of this right now terrifies him, but he's since stopped trying to fight back and overcome her will. Even though he'd killed himself in the past, thus solving all everyone's problems, the truth is he doesn't really want to die. Is that such a selfish thing, wanting to live on and having to kill things around him to survive?]

Because I didn't want him to turn and go through the same process of learning that nothing else has ever worked... and even turning it into a sport after living for so long. Those are all the reasons I have for killing him.

[glowsferatu]

[ it's the smell that gets her attention, after the scream, blood in the air is such a distinct scent when you're particularly inclined toward it. when she finds where it's coming from, it's not hard to guess what's going on. vampires always recognize their own. but some of them aren't so careless about it. just seeing him like this leaves her angry and embarrassed, who does this scrub think he is, just hunting and eating out in the open like this?

certainly no one she's going to let go uncontested.

she stomps her in and grabs his shoulder from behind. she has half a mind to just fight him then and there. well, he did just kill someone, didn't he? ]

Do you fucking mind? Have you no sense of discretion, or self control?

[hisheartsdesire]

[He turns to the girl, notes her horns and general complexion, and is actually surprised to the point that he drops his meal. His expression changes to that of dread, of horror, because he doesn't know what other imPorts might be capable of.]

More likely the latter, really. [He sounds far from confident, his voice almost miserable and pleading.] But if you must know, I never wanted this to happen.

[glowsferatu]

[ she rolls her eyes and groans, sometimes humans just make the worst vampires. having no mind whatsoever to manage their condition, and then when something like this inevitably happens, they pass the buck like it was an accident! giving the rest of them a bad name, she swears to god. ]

Oh, supposing he slipped and fell in your mouth, then! [ she grips his shoulder tighter, pulling him up. for her young age, she's surprisingly strong. but then, she's also a very tall alien, so maybe it isn't that surprising. ] If you didn't want it to happen, you shouldn't have done it. You do realize you've just killed a man?

[hisheartsdesire]

I know I did, and that I—get off me! [He shoves her arm to get her hand off his shoulder, and while he's somewhat stronger than a human, there's no way to gauge his exact strength from that quick move.]

What, does it look like I'm enjoying this? Is that it? [He looks and sounds both agitated and disgusted and somewhat disdained.] Because I'm not. I didn't ask to be this way, he's better off now than he would be turning, and none of that means I feel good about it.

[glowsferatu]

Oh, come off it! [ and with that, she finally does throw a punch, fist flying right at his nose. ] Do you think feeling bad makes this okay? Do you think any of us asked for it?

Whinging about how little you're enjoying it doesn't excuse you from doing it. If this isn't what you wanted, you find a better way to manage it, or you do yourself so you don't do in anyone else!

[ and she follows it up by aiming a kick between his legs. at this point, she'll beat the hell out of him if she isn't stopped. she's out of patience for weak-willed justifications, as if they somehow make everything better. ]

Stop acting like this is someone else's fault!

[hisheartsdesire]

Ugh—Go on, assume whatever you like!

[Tobias goes down hard, blocking and bracing himself for the incoming kick. Truth is, he doesn't want to fight, not really.]

I lived for so long, trying to make the best of a bad hand, and I even made sport of it! And then one day, one day thirty years ago, I ended it. Problem solved for everyone, or so I thought because I came back only days ago, and so much had changed, and that was only in the world I'm from. What more in a completely different world as this one? Do you really think someone who's been alive for centuries is capable of changing overnight?

[glowsferatu]

You're still making excuses! [ she throws another kick at his stomach. she honestly isn't sure if she'd dislike him more if he were unapologetic instead of sniveling, at least then he'd own what he is. but then, she also wouldn't hesitate to kill him instead of the beating she's giving now, however temporary it would be. ]

You can't change overnight, well bloody good for you! But you aren't going to change at all if you aren't even trying! So you don't revel in it anymore, but you haven't stopped, and that makes you no less a wretch. People like us, we don't have the right to be picky, because our lives aren't worth anything more than however many have died to keep you fed.

[ and she kicks him again, gritting her fangs and hissing her breaths through her teeth. ]

When you do this, you surrender your right to anything fresh from the vein. This isn't a morally ambiguous or defensible position, you find a safe source, or you starve!

[hisheartsdesire]

Oof—! [He manages to curl up, blocking his groin but taking the hit on his shin, the pain reverberating through his leg and quickly echoing up through his body.]

Do what, you mean arrive here? I only just got here, hiding from the sun all day, not coming out lest I burn up and turn to cinders! Or was I supposed to just know there's a 'safe source' as you say? That there was another way to do it without this?

[Feeding like this and killing his victims is the only way he's ever known to survive. If there were ever an alternative, he certainly never found it before.]

:D

[brushoff]

Dorian's too busy, too wrapped up in his own little world that he just STRAIGHT UP walks past Toby for a moment, only catching a glimpse of the man out of the corner of his eye...but really, a glimpse is all he needs. Because Dorian just stops what he's doing, almost instantly does an about face and practically sprints back to that alleyway. Because...it couldn't be. He was dead. He had watched Toby die. And yet, that little voice inside his head reminded him, the Porter could bring back the dead. Hell, the Porter brought him back from the dead. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that the Porter could bring back Toby, bring him Toby.

It just was a possibility that he never thought would happen.

Dorian's facing the alleyway now, taking a few cautious steps in. "Toby?" It's barely audible, voice cracking slightly as he walks further into the alley. "Toby...please tell me that's you."

/SCREAMING

[hisheartsdesire]

Toby is laying the corpse down and cleaning up after himself when he hears an all too familiar voice behind him. He freezes in place and quietly swallows, his mind racing because he couldn't possibly have expected...

"Dorian." Though his reply is curt, even cutting, Toby can't help wondering why Dorian sounds so surprised after their last exchange. He'd needed time to think, to process his heartbreak, and then he unexpectedly arrived here for what had seemed like an inadvertent, indefinite hiatus from the things that had happened.

Apparently not.

A moment goes by, or perhaps even two or three of them before Toby cautiously rises from the ground. But he doesn't turn to face Dorian, doesn't even bother glancing at him. "So you're here, too. You sound... surprised. For some reason."

Try as he might, he can't quite keep the hurt out of his voice.

[brushoff]

"Of course I sound surprised," Dorian remarked, walking towards Toby. Part of him could tell that something was wrong. Why wasn't Toby looking at him? Why did he sound like that? But Dorian was too wrapped up in the here and now, too wrapped up in Toby, his Toby, his precious wonderful Tobias Matthews actually alive and actually here, that he didn't dwell too long on just why Toby was acting so strange.

It didn't matter right now anyway.

"I never thought I'd see you again." He reached out towards Toby, intent on grabbing the man's hand, trying to lightly pull him around so he could see him face to face, so he could see his Toby, in the flesh, after oh so long.

[hisheartsdesire]

Toby quickly spins to face Dorian, pulling his hand out of Dorian's reach as he retorts bitterly, "Don't touch me. There's no reason to pretend anymore, now that the cat's finally out of the bag."

He sniffles as he remembers Dorian's stinging words, his expression tired and pained and miserable. Heartbroken.

"I'm sorry, all right? I can't tell whether what you said was a lie or not, but I don't know that it really matters right now. But what I do know is, when I said 'never again'... I meant it."

It brings tears to his eyes, saying those words once again to Dorian's face. He swallows before averting his gaze, looking down at nothing in particular in the ground. "So please... Please, if it all was a lie... Then I think maybe we shouldn't do this anymore."

[brushoff]

Pretend? What the hell was Toby talking about? For a brief moment, Dorian's left absolutely speechless as he listens to Toby. What could he be talking about? His words knock Dorian for a loop as he stands, dumbstruck, mouth slightly agape as he just listens.

"I don't understand," Dorian responded, a hint of exasperation in his voice. And then, because he knew that statement could be taken multiple ways, he quickly followed it up with a clarification. "I don't understand why you'd think it was all a lie to begin with." That last night, together, as they watched the sun rise, surely he made his feelings clear then. Why on Earth would Toby think that their relationship, his love was a lie?

All he knows is that something's wrong, Toby's crying, and it's somehow his fault. And Dorian'll be damned if he actually listens to Toby and leaves this conversation where it is. "What happened?"

[hisheartsdesire]

"Ugh, this is pathetic," Toby mutters with another sniffle as he wipes his face and takes a deep breath. He looks at Dorian again and tries to maintain his composure. "You're asking 'what happened'—you mean you don't remember?"

Dorian couldn't possibly have forgotten all the things he'd said, the way he'd broken Toby's heart only to turn around and beg him to listen once again. In spite of everything, Toby loved Dorian. Still does, actually.

So Toby relents... because he's nice like that.

"Here, I'll run it by you. I came back. And, stupidly thinking maybe you had something to do with it, I went to yours. When you got back, you threw a fit, didn't bother listening to me, and then drove me out. I came back to beg you for help to find an answer to why I came back... And when I didn't find it, you told me—" He chuckles bitterly. "—You told me that I'd come back because I was your heart's desire. Still, you wouldn't let sleep with you. It'd be better for both of us to take things slow. And there was something else you had to get sorted. I tried to help you, but..."

Toby tries to choke back the hurt as it comes flooding back. He looks down again and shakes his head. "Ugh, really... The coldness of my flesh. The deadness of my eyes. I'm a monster to you, and if I'd known that coming back was only going to break your heart, that you'd never wanted to see me again because I was the worst thing that had ever happened to you..."

[brushoff]

Dorian's face is pure deer in the headlights. He came back. Toby came back. He had to mean that he came back to life in their world, because how would he know where Dorian's apartment is here? Which was absolutely wonderful...but absolutely worrying. How on earth could the dead come back to life? And, more importantly, did Toby come back to life the same way he had...Dorian hoped not. He knew that eventually he would have to pay for the deal he made, that 'fire escape' that saved him from the portrait. Toby shouldn't have to suffer that.

But as he kept talking, Dorian's face grew paler and paler. The first part he could believe. He had absolutely no idea how he would have dealt with Toby coming back to life back home—the fact that there was precedent here, the fact that he came back to life himself, was the only thing keeping Dorian from utterly freaking out. But his other words. The deadness of his eyes, the coldness of his flesh...if he did say those words, what drove him to say them in the first place? And what could he do to make amends?

"Toby," he murmured, looking at the man, pleading tone in his voice. "You've got to believe me when I say that I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. You're...you're dead, back home. I watched it happen. We sat together as the sun rose." There's no denying the heart's desire bit, though. Even now, after being in this brave new world for coming up close to a year, he would drop everything and everyone in a heartbeat if Toby were to show up. Or, in this case, when Toby showed up.

It's Dorian's turn to try to regain composure, taking a deep breath as he continues to talk, continues to plead. "I don't remember because for me there's nothing to remember. When I came here from home, you were still dead."

[hisheartsdesire]

"Is that right? Well, maybe it's all for the better then," Toby replies quickly and coldly as he tries to shield his heart, to brace himself for any more hurtful words Dorian might think of sharing.

He glances at Dorian, studies his expression, and tries to puzzle out whether his words are truth or lies. Having gained some composure at last, his expression is guarded, defensive.

"Better yet, forget this meeting even happened. That should save us some trouble further on ahead."