etcelsior | The power is in your hands

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The power is in your hands

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 as if they have been refurbished in the past few months -- something happened in here some time ago. Something big.

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 and a pamphlet. 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 city of Heropa is what one might expect from a small, bright and cheery place. The locals are friendly enough and local shop owners might offer a free drink to help cool you down in this awfully nauseating heat. Some of the locals might thank you for always lending your service to the nation and others might not say anything. In fact, some people might back away from any imPort who quite obviously looks like they aren't from around the neighborhood. Once in a while there's a look of disdain on someone's face and hushed voices. Something about "the outbreak" and "the government's gotta crack down on their medical files". "Some of them can't be right in the head" says another.

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 normally known for being a little more on the apathetic side, but there's been tension in the atmosphere lately. Nobody will outright state what it is that's rustled their jimmies, though you might find a newsstand with articles on recent and aggressive vigilante behavior within the city. "ImPorts: loyal to the cause of their own?" reads one newspaper article.

People are not as friendly in this city and go out of their way to avoid walking down the same sidewalk as the more obvious looking imPorts pass through. Local cops say nothing, but they scowl at those imPorts and utter something about "no badges" and "acting like authority figures".

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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[ He's used to people looking at him like he's materialised from the shadows but mostly that's because he likes it that way. Usually. He doesn't actually want to terrify the boy and it's with some relief that he starts to speak. He nods in agreement. He doesn't understand it either. ]

They regard the imPorts as something like royalty, I'm afraid. [ But he's been grumpy enough that they tend to not approach him. He shakes his hand firmly. ]

Athos. Do you need assistance finding your rooms? That's the first thing most people want. If only to stop carrying the files around. [ He's probably too young for wine looking at him so he doesn't suggest a tavern. ]

[ His rooms. Oh. Yes, well, that probably is what most people want, in fairness. It had not actually occurred to Gansey until this moment. That's the reason why his expression turns politely puzzled, and then he shakes his head. ]

Ah. No, but thank you for that. I'm not very worried about my rooms, though I'm sure they're lovely. I'm quite happy to find them by myself, later.

[ How hard can it be? There's an address printed in his file. He'll just hail one of those remarkable hovering taxis and be taken straight there. That's if he decides to stay the night at all, and doesn't just hire a car himself and drive straight for Henrietta. He's still very tempted by that option, and it's only the sheer difference of this place that has stayed his hand so far. ]

I would very much like to discuss your experiences here, however. I really don't know what to expect. Everything here is quite elaborately different from my world, although I'd hazard a guess that it's even more different from yours.

[ Athos. He knows that name. Impossible, he thinks. But nothing is impossible, not really. As today has evidenced, even less is impossible than Gansey even knew. ]

Not many people carry a sword these days. They don't give you trouble for that?

It is. By many hundreds of years, so I am told. [ The boy doesn't seem as lost as he had moments ago. In fact there is a solidity to him now that he has gotten away from the curious groups of onlookers. ] I had never seen the Americas until I came here. It has been ... unusual.

[ It's been awful and he had to move into the country to stop himself stabbing everyone around him.

At Gansey's question, one eyebrow lifts and he looks vaguely smug as if confident about his abilities. ] They could try, Monsieur. But I do not think they would get very far.

[ Monsieur. So Athos is French, then, which just adds more weight to the suspicion (hope?) blossoming in Gansey's chest.

Of course, this presents another opportunity. He allows himself a moment to feel gratified that for once, it's not Latin that he's required to be fluent in. French is something he grew up with, something that always came far more easily to him. And so, without wasting a beat, he switches to it, suspecting that it might put Athos more at ease. ]

Please - it's just Gansey. Monsieur Gansey is my father, and he's not here to insist upon it.

I imagine this must have been difficult for you. Is it impolite to ask what year you're from? I would guess at the seventeenth century, based on the look of those pistols. That's not something I expected to see here, but given the nature of the place I suppose I shouldn't really expect anything. I've always known time was a fluid element on the line, but even so, this goes far beyond what I could have thought.

[ Ah.

Athos' face transforms the minute Gansey starts speaking his own language. He does not smile but he looks appreciative and assessing. Then the boy goes on to ask him about his pistols. He's been laughed out of several establishments recently for daring to try and get himself more gunpowder, to see someone actually match his year to them is impressive. ]

Are you a scholar in training perhaps? [ He's too young to be an actual scholar - he doesn't even have a beard.

Lifting his pistol free he holds it out with his fingers wrapped around the barrel. It's a trusting gesture but it's also confident. Athos doesn't imagine he could shoot before he got disarmed and if he wants to see it he may. ]

It was 1631 when I last saw Paris four months past. There are not many from my time save a friend of mine. But it would seem that is a plaything to whatever brings us here.

[ A scholar in training. Gansey smiles. He's not, not in any way that constitutes formal training. He is however, obsessed with scholarly pursuits. Research, investigation, hypothesis, analysis. All of these things are familiar to him, as familiar as the journal in his hand. ]

I'm in school, if that's what you mean. [ It's not. Gansey knows it's not. ] I'm sure my teachers would like to think so. World History is a great interest of mine, both curricular and extra-curricular.

1631. So during the reign of King Louis, the Thirteenth, is that right?

[ It is. But Athos is offering the pistol, and for a moment Gansey's mind flashes to another gun. One he'd broken his thumb on, and then later, seen used to shoot a bullet at one of his best friends. Gansey does not like guns.

But this is not just a gun. This is a gun from 1631, and thus he takes it, gingerly, holding the wheel and the barrel and going absolutely nowhere near the trigger. He glances at Athos, unable to hide his curiosity. ]

It's not loaded, I take it? I've never seen a specimen like this. It's perfect, naturally.

[ He turns it over in his hands, and continues talking as if it's entirely ordinary to discuss the dynamics of temporal displacement of an afternoon. Of course, for Gansey, it actually is. ]

I wouldn't call it a plaything. It seems to me that the porter has a way of tapping into the energy of the world, at a very basic level, wherein the concept of time isn't necessarily the linear approach that we take to it. It's more like a loop. Moving from one time to another, like moving from one place to another. Energy can exist across dimensions like that. We've just been allowed a glimpse of it.

[ He looks up again, offering the gun back, and smiling. ]

Which makes us very lucky men. Don't you think?

[ He'll assume he's right in some way. Not many boys this young man's age would still be learning. The time and money to do so is monumental in a world where people have to survive. He wonders if he's a noble and then wonders if they still have such things in the modern world. ]

That is correct.

[ He's glad he doesn't get a sneer for the King. Some have but they've been over the device and he hasn't had to challenge anyone yet. ] No. But I would be quick enough to do so were it needed. [ He touches a collection of pouches on his belt. Dwindling supplies. ] It's important to keep it clean and serviceable.

[ He doesn't feel very lucky. He also doesn't feel like he understands much of the conversation either. That's not unusual with this place. ] I'm sure. But I would still much prefer to be where I belong. I'm sure you can understand that.

I can understand that very well.

[ Gansey hands the pistol carefully back. One part of his brain is delighted to have examined something like that first hand; another part is just relieved he's no longer handling a gun. His expression betrays none of this, and now only looks sincere. In his mind, he has oriented Athos to his very particular point in time, and he's careful to keep his tone respectful as a result. A man like this would be used to good manners, and Gansey has no intention of alienating him with the lack of them. ]

I have been searching for something for a very long time, you see, and as fascinating as this place is, it's very far away from where I need to search. I need that energy I spoke of to work in reverse, and take me home.

[ A quick little smile. ]

But it's already clear that won't be as easy as it sounds. May I ask if you've been here very long?

[ Tucking the pistol back into his belt with the ease of a man who handles it every day. ]

Four months, I believe. [ And he is super unhappy about it. ] I have yet to find a way home and every person I have asked seems to believe it is impossible. But they simply haven't found the answer. It is somewhere. [ He still has to believe that, he cannot give in. ]

Have you arrived with any one from your own land?

Of course it's somewhere.

[ Gansey says that, even while the threat that it's not burns cold in his mind.

He has found many things that everyone else thought could not be found. Gansey is good at that, he has always been good at that. As a result, he is not the kind of person who can hear that something is impossible, and accept it can't be done.

He wants to do his own research. He wants to jump into it, right now. He will not, cannot accept that there is no way back to Henrietta. To his Henrietta. ]

I arrived alone, but I found others here. My friends: Ronan, Adam, Noah and Blue. We were all brought here, on the same day. Coincidence.

[ In the sort of tone that says it isn't. ]

I take it that it's normal, then? For people to find others they know.

[ Conviction is surprising in the modern young. Athos finds himself warming to this boy a little. He seems clever. He seems earnest. It's an appealing number of traits. ]

D'Artagnan and I arrived within hours of each other. However he is the only one from my world I have seen in four months. Sometimes I am not sure if I should wish the others here. Their companionship I miss but I would not wish it on them. Sometimes this place can be ... trying.

[ He's not going to beat around the bush. He wouldn't do that. ]

You'll be best to stick together.

We always do.

[ That's how Gansey likes it best - him and Ronan and Adam and Noah and Blue. The five of them together, as it ought to be. That's nothing but natural, so it's an easy promise to make. It's one Gansey will keep.

But he doesn't miss Athos' inflection, and he watches him with thoughtful sincerity. ]

What sort of trying do you mean?

I've heard a good deal about heroes since I've been here, and you're obviously a man who knows his way around a rapier. The most I've ever done with those is lift them out of a dig site.

[ And that's the way he'll keep it, actually, if at all possible. Violence is an infection he does not intend to catch. ]

How bad is it?

Just recently a fair amount of people here were affected by some kind of poison. [ Hopefully the young boy will accept Athos' blunt way of speaking. He doesn't have it in him to buffer it. ] It invaded their minds, made them afraid of the people around them whether stranger or brother. Many were hurt. This is just the latest of a long line of disasters.

[ He doesn't let his own guilt for the event creep into his voice. It's very controlled, very careful. ]

You're new. [ At least this in itself a little kinder. ] I would advise you to be wary of the people you meet. There are some here who would smile at you while sharpening the blade meant for your spine. [ Says the man carrying a sword. ] One even considers himself the Devil. He lies, but he is not a good man. Avoid him at all costs.

[ Something inside Gansey chills at Athos' words. The thought of the poison is at the tip of it. As always when faced with times like these, he buries his true reaction very deep down, and forces a veneer of logic and reason onto his face. Not a poison that killed, but one that drugged. Like a nerve agent. It doesn't make the thought any more pleasant. ]

An attack. A terrorist attack?

[ Gansey's world is one that he intentionally steeps in history, but that doesn't make him unaware of the living world. His politically minded parents are in his head, making him think of policies and stances. Who is in charge here, he wonders? What kind of world is this? What kind of America is this? ]

I'll be wary. I'm grateful for the warning. I'm not any kind of fighter, as I'm sure you can tell.

[ But at that last, Gansey does frown. A man who calls himself the Devil? ]

If he's not what he says, who is he really? Is he the one responsible for this attack you mentioned?

I assume so. Terror was their main aim, after all. [ Athos had been so beyond himself that he'd almost hurt a great many people. The knowledge that if he hadn't been stopped he would have sits heavily inside of him. ] Many have healing powers. W were lucky in a way that it was possible to reverse the affects quickly.

[ He gives Gansey a small appraising look. ] You can learn, if you care for it.

[ Some don't, but Athos has already had a fight with a pacifist before. He does not want to repeat that. ]

No, I do not believe so. If he were he would have claimed the prestige for it already. But I think he knows who is. I would not be surprised if he had a hand in it.

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The power is in your hands

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