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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[ Gansey's arms go tightly around Adam, responding both to his friend's relief and to his own. Some deep-seated worry settles in his chest. Adam is here. He's not alone, he doesn't have to work this out on his own and doesn't need to worry about what Adam might be doing in Henrietta without him. Gansey's eyes close, briefly, and then Adam is pulling back and rattling off information, and it's the last one that resounds the most.

He can't feel Cabeswater. Cabeswater isn't here.

Gansey's stomach feels suddenly cold, overwrought with emotion that's too unpleasant, too visceral, too terrible. No Cabeswater, no ley line. No Glendower.

He doesn't let it overtake him. He takes a breath, pushes that emotion down, and concentrates on what he knows. Reason is a wonderful filter, and besides that, Adam needs him now. Adam is stressed, and worried, and clearly his day has not been a pleasant one. Gansey briefly shakes his head. ]

No, of course you can't - because Cabeswater is still in our world. It's not gone, Adam, it's still there. We've just been disconnected from it, like a phone without a signal. You just need to get reception again, that's all.

That said, the only way any of this makes sense to me is if the ley line had something to do with it. Some surge of energy that connected us to the Porter here, that's my theory. It's a work in progress. We'll work it out.

[ A hand finds his friend's shoulder, Gansey's attempt to be strong and reassuring. His own questions about this place can wait. He needs Adam to be all right. ] Hungry?

[ He's ready for some kind of meltdown on Gansey's behalf but then realises how stupid that is. If anyone believes in the rightness of the situation, the optimism and hope of a thing, then it's his friend. Of course he won't let his worry show. Because he has answers and half formed solutions already and it's Adam who's the one feeling adrift because he can no longer feel trees whispering inside of his head, Adam who thinks they're doomed.

He is so glad he's no longer alone. ]

So like, the way lightning forks? This is just ... another prong. [ Better to think they're still bursting with energy and potential. They can find their way back.

Gansey asks him if he's hungry and it's familiar, makes his mouth twitch into a half smile. Is he hungry? Yes. Does he have enough change in his pocket to cover half No. Have they earned a reprieve from his awfulness? Probably. ] Yeah, okay. I think I saw a pizza place half a block away when I was walking. [ Because of course it's going to be pizza. It's Gansey and it's Adam. ]

[ A breath of relief leaves Gansey, and he realises he'd thought Adam might say no. Adam is not the kind of generally ever refuses to come somewhere with him, but money is a sticking point. It's always a sticking point, and he had been counting his change.

He's just glad it's not an issue for now - a feeling that increases once the prospect of pizza is on the table. ]

Perfect. Well, it's probably not Nino's, but that's a world away. I suppose I can't be too picky.

[ He moves off, striding confidently, even though he isn't the one who knows where the pizza place is. He takes a moment to pop a mint leaf into his mouth and then looks at Adam, curious and eager. His view of this world has already shifted to fit Adam into it alongside himself. There's no question in his mind that it will be the two of them now, seeking answers together. As it should be. Already, he feels better about all of this. ]

When did you arrive? Did they tell you anything beyond what's in these files? I couldn't get a rise out of them at all. Military precision gone mad, wouldn't stop talking about Russia. I took my leave shortly after that.

[ He had been counting his change. But he'd also been pretty much ready to hitch-hike into Virginia to try and get back to Gansey so all in all he's ready to sit in a warm booth away from the wind and just be thankful he's not about to be left on the roadside in pieces.

Gansey says the word picky and Adam's mouth quirks, life coming back into his face. ] I'm sure they know how to make pizza in De Chima. [ Except he's never heard of De Chima in the first place so maybe pizza is a foreign object to them. He hopes not. Gansey without his deep dish is a very sad sight. ]

A couple of hours ago. And no. I kind of didn't even get to the Russia part. [ He looks fretful and a little repentant because he didn't think to get answers out of them, he merely decided to get as far away as possible. It worked out in a way but still. ]

I've read the pamphlet though. It's weird.

[ Gansey sends a look in Adam's direction to convey his uncertainty about De Chima knowing how to make anything like pizza - this is the place that thinks cars ought to hover, after all. That looks turns more concerned at the admission about the soldiers. ]

What happened?

[ Had he gotten in trouble? Had they hurt him, had there been an altercation? The soldiers hadn't seemed cruel, to Gansey, but they also hadn't been all that helpful. It had been very clear that hustling new imports through the system is a tried and tested routine for them, and they're not keen to deviate from that. ]

They told me about things like registration, and were keen to press some point about loyalty. I've not given them an answer yet.

[ With some concern. ] Have you?

Nothing. [ Glancing down at his feet as he walks. ] I kind of maybe lost it a little. But they didn't hurt me or anything, just made it clear I had to go somewhere. [ Waving a little at the street around them. ] I thought this was the place to start getting information.

[ Adam makes a noise, shakes his head a little in response. ] If we're stuck here then I'll think about it. But I mean - I know superheroes. I read the comics. And if we hadn't known about Glendower then I would have thought I'd gone mad. I'm still kind of worried I'm hallucinating. But I don't think that's me.

[ Being a hero, he means. ]

You're not hallucinating.

[ Which is said with a certainty that Gansey doesn't quite feel. ]

Or if you are, I'm there with you. You're worried about what they said? About powers.

[ Superheroes. Gansey has, for a long time, been the boy who believed in things that other people thought were stories. Dead Welsh Kings. Magical ley lines. His belief in the impossible has been, he's sure, a large part of the reason why he's been able to find things that other people have not.

But Superheroes? That's stretching it, even for him. It's a lot easier for him to wrap his head around a centuries old sleeping King, who was capable of waking, than it is to imagine someone running around the streets in spandex fighting supervillains. ]

They can't force you to be anything you're not, I hope you know that. We don't belong here, and we are going to find our way home. I promise you that.

I can make a forcefield. [ He frowns a little as he says it. ] An electric one. Like a fence.

[ He'd almost knocked a poor boy out with it. Part of him is already trying to figure it out. Part of him is just thankful he now has something he can use to defend himself. ] Some other stuff too. I don't get it though. Like why give us powers in the first place? Why not just give them to the people already here?

[ Adam had been a big comic book fan as a child. He'd liked the idea that some random moment, some small thing could change a life, could make a person better. But now it's a reality he's not sure.

He huffs out a sigh and touches Gansey's arm, directing him down a street. ]

[ Gansey moves seamlessly, following Adam's lead. The streets don't seem to matter. Nothing here is home, anyway. His mind is still stuck on the idea of a forcefield.

Adam can make a forcefield. The way he says it isn't speculative, and Gansey knows Adam. He wouldn't say it like that if he wasn't sure, which means he's tested it. A frown populates Gansey's face. ]

I don't know. Perhaps that's not how it works, perhaps you have to come through the Porter to get them. That's my working theory, that it happens in transit, and that would exclude the people here already.

Adam.

[ Gansey touches his wrist, wanting his attention. His eyes are very focused. ]

The forcefield. Show me?

Transit. Great. I knew I should have had my booster shot.

[ He pauses when Gansey touches him, hesitance crossing over his face.

His first attempt hadn't gone so well. Billy had been trying to help and had been the one who unfortunately bore the brunt of it. Adam still feels bad, he hadn't really been hurt but he had been bodily forced off the bench. Adam doesn't like feeling unpredictable, it's what had made his rage so frightening in the end. He couldn't control himself. And here and now it's like the potential for violence and pain inside of him has been made realised and he's still terrified that he might be the one to harm Gansey in the end.

Still he knows he has no way to explain that away to his friend and so he sighs and take a few steps back. ] Okay. Okay hang on.

[ Nothing happens at first. Adam screws his eyes closed and tries to remember how he made it work. He doesn't feel anything. Not like he did when Cabeswater had claimed him. It's impotent and he feels his cheeks burning a little in frustration. Adam is failing and there's nothing he can do, Adam is --.

It bursts out of him suddenly with a crackle of sound. His eyes fly open and he thinks there's not enough room between them to protect Gansey. It's that feeling that makes his hands twitch, pausing the bubble of energy like a wall between them. Adam makes a noise like a laugh and watches him through it. ] See?

[ Gansey can see the open concentration on Adam's face, and accordingly, he steps back a bit. He stands with his hands in his pockets, watching and waiting, and not reacting when nothing happens. He can be patient; Adam wouldn't have said what he did if there was nothing to see.

Then it happens. It would be hard to miss; there's a sharp smell of ozone and a field of energy flies out of Adam. The shocking thing is that it's visible. Gansey is not sure that he expected it to be.

He remembers the day in school when Cheng's work had fallen around Adam in a cloud of dust, and Cabeswater had protected him with a shield. This is like that. Except that Gansey is not just looking at the effects. He's looking at something impossibly, beautifully, real. ]

Jesus.

[ It's unwise, but he's caught in the moment. He lifts his hand to touch it, lightly, and gets his arm jolted back with a little arc of lightning for his trouble. ]

Ah! Damn. No touching.

But Christ, Adam. [ Despite the pain (and resultant electrical burn), Gansey starts to laugh. He looks elated. ] You marvellous creature! You absolutely marvellous creature, you did it! That's incredible, Parrish.

[ Gansey reaches out to touch it and before Adam can warn him not to he's gone and got himself electrocuted. It's enough of a panic to snap the energy back inside of his body, leaving him feeling slightly winded and tingly. It doesn't matter though, Gansey laughs and Adam takes a step closer to him, taking his wrist to look at his fingers. ]

Are you okay?

[ Cool magical powers aside, hurting Gansey is still one of those things he worries about. Even accidentally. ]

From here on out you're not allowed to touch anything if you don't know what it is.

[ Gansey points sharply at him, with the hand that isn't being investigated. The one that is has some minor electrical burning. That's going to be painful later. Right now, Gansey couldn't care less. It's wildly unimportant in the face of what Adam is now capable of, and really, that's all he wants to talk about. ]

You can't make that rule. Half my life is spent touching things when I don't know what they are.

[ He flexes the burnt hand, just to prove that there's nothing wrong with it. ]

Adam, why are you looking at my hand? Look at what you just did! Look at what you're able to do. That's miraculous, you do know that? Brilliant. Absolutely and completely brilliant.

I burnt you. [ And no amount of magical power should be worth that. Adam frowns when Gansey flexes his fingers and then lets go. ]

I can do another thing. I just haven't had a chance to figure that out. But they should have given you something like this too, right? Have you read your file? [ He says it like of course Gansey's read his file. The only thing he doesn't read are receipts and bank statements. ]

What's your superpower?

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The power is in your hands

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