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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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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?"

"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..."

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."

"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."

Oh like hell he's forgetting this meeting happened. Toby's here, he's alive, he's breathing, he's right in front of Dorian and he is not going to let that opportunity just waltz away.

"How little you must think of me if you believe I can just casually forget you." He's still pleading, still practically begging. "I don't know what I did to you but for me, it hasn't happened yet. I haven't done anything." Which is certainly not enough and Dorian knows it.

"Even if that's true..." Toby manages to cut off that train of thought before saying it aloud. ...that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. "It still is going to happen again one day."

His expression softens slightly before he continues.

"And I don't think I can deal with it happening a second time, not again. No, this—this is for the best. We might as well just cut it off at the pass. I'm sorry for disgusting you and wasting your time, Dorian."

"You can't just walk away and pretend none of this happened," Dorian remarks, a hint of anger creeping into that desperation. Because he couldn't. He wasn't going to lose Toby again, not here, not now. "I don't know what happened for me to call you disgusting, but it's not true. You know it's not true. And it's certainly not how I feel about you here and now."

He tries to grab Toby's hand again, to pull the man towards him. "I love you. Always have, always will."

Though he tries to build walls around his heart and deny Dorian access, he senses a familiar spark from the Dorian of old, the Dorian he'd left behind thirty years before, the Dorian who had let him die. Toby could hear it in the anger slowly creeping into Dorian's voice, could feel it in the way Dorian reaches for him and pulls him close. There it is, that old fire, in the way that Dorian professes his love.

Toby grows silent for a moment, taking his time to really study Dorian. His Dorian, the only person Toby has in the whole world—this one, as well as the one they're from.

"I... don't know what to say," he answers. But he thinks he might give Dorian a chance.

Edited 2015-05-25 12:34 (UTC)

Not knowing what to say isn't ideal. It's certainly not what Dorian wanted. But it was a start. And, right now, he would take starts over anything else. He gives Toby a weak smile, a smile that he hopes is calming and reassuring.

"I'll take uncertainty over actively trying to push me away," he says with a small little laugh. "We don't have to jump back into how things were when you...back in the eighties. We can take this slower if you want." If you want. Dorian's consciously putting the choices and decisions on Toby.

After sucking in a deep breath, Toby replies, "If it's all right with you, I think I'd like that. Thank you."

Wearing a tired expression, he looks into Dorian's eyes as if that allows him to read Dorian's mind. Then Toby closes his eyes and presses his forehead against Dorian's and relishes in the moment. This... is his Dorian. Like the one Toby had left back home, this one has changed somehow. He doesn't quite know how, but it's certainly not the same change. At least, that's what Toby decides.

"I'm sorry about earlier. Coming back has been... It's all been so hard. So much has changed, and I was trying to get acclimated. I've been through one ordeal after another without time to just... You know, to take it all in."

"It doesn't help that you went straight from coming back to life to this world," Dorian murmurs, not moving from the spot, letting Toby rest against him. Arriving here for anyone was an ordeal, he could only imagine the sort of emotional whiplash that Toby had to go through. Dead, then not dead, then in a new world.

That still bothered him, the fact that Toby was not dead and seemingly had no clue how he came back to life in the first place. But that was something he'd have to figure out later. Not here, not now, not in this moment. Now it was simply all about being with Toby and drinking in as much of the other man's presence as he can.

"I've been here close to a year, by the way. If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them."

"What? Almost a year?" Toby's eyes snap open in surprise, but he continues leaning his head on Dorian's and lets his gaze wander. The way they are now, how close they are, how Dorian wants to keep him close... Toby feels convinced that this is really his Dorian. Why, he must be—he understands and still wants to keep Toby. The other one used him and thinks him a monster...

You disgusted me and thrilled me all at once... Toby holds his Dorian closer still as his memory replays those cutting words. That... wasn't his Dorian, it couldn't be. His Dorian never could or would have said their love wasn't real, that he hadn't felt anything, that he'd never wanted to see Toby ever again.

Still, with that in mind, he can't help but wonder. "But how can that be? You're here, and you've been here, but you were also back at home?"

Dorian can't help but shrug. Truth be told, he has no idea how this works. The more he hears about this place, the more theories are proposed, he just can't help but shrug his shoulders and try to ignore it. He didn't know about time travel. He didn't care about time travel. All he cared about was the fact that Toby was here, Toby was with him, and he had thankfully managed to get Toby to stay.

"Don't ask me how it works—I haven't got a clue." And that's the honest truth.

"Ask you anything but that, then? All right," Toby says with a small chuckle before carefully prying himself away from Dorian. "I made a mess here. Got careless. Mind helping me clean it up?"

He turns his attention to the corpse at their feet that had been all but forgotten during their touching reunion.

"Of course. Between me, you, and this place, I've gotten quite adept at cleaning up blood!" said with a little laugh, as he looked down at the corpse. There's a pause as Dorian attempts to haul one of the corpse's arms over his shoulders, pushing the head downwards so that it looked more like someone helping his dead drunk friend then someone actually carrying a corpse.

"If you're still hungry, I wouldn't mind," Dorian murmured, moving his head to show Toby a flash of his neck.

Toby is doing the same, kneeling on one knee and taking the other arm over his shoulders when Dorian offers. With a pause, he glances over to Dorian, sees the exposed flesh of his neck, and he hungers. The corpse now slung between them had hardly been enough, and then of course Toby already knew that Dorian tasted so, so much better. Despite the distance, and the corpse between them, Toby could smell Dorian. Or so he thought he could.

"I... Dorian. It's not—I mean, I really want to, but if you found me here, who's to say no one else will."

"I'm not worried," Dorian responded, with a cavalier little shrug. "My little immortality secret was revealed a long time ago." But wait, Toby might not want to feed off of Dorian here because then his little secret would also be out of the bag. Duh, Dorian. Think about other people. He continues talking, in that same devil-may-care tone, barely missing a beat.

"You're not the first vampire this place has seen either. Some of them are...unorthodox, but people are used to the concept. Still, if you insist."

It's only after Toby breaks his longing gaze from Dorian's neck that he answers, "Even so, I think we should get this guy out of the way first. If I'd known you were here, I might not have been so reckless."

So as they work on dragging the corpse along as if helping a friend who'd gotten terribly pissed, Toby continues, "Other vampire imPorts, yeah? Does that mean to say there are no more secrets around here, what with imPorts being so public? Surely there are people who keep their... conditions, their powers or whatever they're called, to themselves?"

Still dragging that corpse, Dorian makes a little 'mmhmm' noise. It's not like he can shrug after all. "Some people are better at it than others, but yeah, there are some people who keep things to themselves. I tried to keep my portrait to myself until...circumstances forced my hand."

Like getting burned alive. Those kind of circumstances.

Mention of the portrait brings a frown to Toby's face, and he grows quiet and pensive for a moment or so.

"...Then you don't keep it at yours anymore? I can't imagine," he replies, surprise tinging his voice as much as some kind of hesitation. "Isn't there a higher risk that someone else might get their hands on it?"

Possibly bring it to life, perhaps? As the thought crosses his mind, Toby ducks his head, his expression tormented as he avoids looking at Dorian.

"No," Dorian remarked, with a frown. "I used to keep it in a safety deposit box back in the 90s, I've started taking that up again here." Because keeping it at his house was just a bad idea. After all, that was how Yuri found it, how he managed to kill him. Fool me once, and so on and so on.

"Aside from the bank, I'm the only one that's got the key."

"I see." There's some relief in his voice. "Sounds like something that works for you. Should keep Victoria out, at least—wait, is she even in this world? Or wait, what I should ask is if you even know who she is..."

"I've got no clue who she is." And really, he's kind of put out about that. It's hardly fair that Toby knows things about what happened back home while Dorian doesn't.

"Let me guess, she tried to steal my portrait or something like that."

"Ha! So you don't even know her, right now?" Toby chuckles, shaking his head as they move along. "Now that's just brilliant; I didn't know her either, not until you called out for her when I was waiting up at your place."

He sees a lidless oil drum in one of the nearby construction areas and comments, "There—let's see if anything's in it. Might be able to use it to take care of this fellow."

And as they make their way over, he adds, "Anyway, she set us up to take the fall whilst stealing an artifact at an exhibition. A stone that could bring your portrait to life."

Dorian's face pretty much just drains of all color at this point because what. He knows that bringing his portrait to life would be a bad idea. What on earth was this Victoria woman thinking? He continues to help move the body but his expression is purely 'what the ever living hell.'

"If she knows about my portrait, then surely she knows just how bad a decision that is."

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