etcelsior | 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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's not really that Ronan believes Gansey, it's that Ronan respects Gansey. A subtle difference that means he'll do what Gansey says, because Gansey has his best interests at heart. If Ronan were more poetically-minded, he'd think something of kings and they're knights, but he's not, so he doesn't. He just glares at the couple, now making awkward excuses and trying to back away into the relative safety of the supermarket.]

Whatever.

[Said in a tone meant to imply various suggestions for where they could stick their organic zuccini.]

[And like that, he's forgotten them completely. He refocuses on Gansey, and the entire world reorients around him. Things are good now. They're right.] When'd you get here?

[ Thank God. Gansey sends a polite smile and a friendly wave in the couple's direction, seeing them on their way and trying to enforce the message that everything is just fine here.

Because it is, and will be. It's not the couple he's worried about. Ronan is always his focus. Now, he can allow himself that sense of relief. His whole expression changes once he's looking at his friend and not the couple; polite cheer gives way to a far more genuine, and open look. His half-smile has more of the real Gansey in it than anyone has seen thus far. He's never needed to wear a mask for Ronan. ]

This morning. Interesting way to start the day. I've seen Adam already, so it's starting to feel like a reunion. Coincidence. [ Because it's not. ] What about you?

[And it doesn't show, but there's something warming about someone being genuinely happy to see him-- him of all fucking people-- that Ronan would happily die for. That's what loyalty is. That's the happy cost of it.]

[It's the closest thing Ronan's felt to home since-]

[Whatever.]

No Noah? [There's a pause, like he's trying to remember the name, but he's not, because that's fucking unforgettable.] Blue?

No.

[ Gansey pauses, then reconsiders. ]

Not yet.

[ Because there's three of them already. Why not the rest? At this point, he's almost expecting it. Or maybe he's just hoping for it, that the other half of his group will find their way here too. Gansey would feel better if they were all together. The sense of rightness that comes with knowing Ronan and Adam are close would be magnified, then. ]

But this is bigger than us, far bigger. How much did the soldiers tell you? Anything at all?

Yeah, not yet. [Noah, at least, needs them. What would he do without them? He chose them. Blue can fend for herself, Ronan has absolute faith in that, but she's part of the prophecy or whatever. It was her face on the flag. She has to be here.]

[It's bigger than them, yeah, sure, but not that much bigger. Can't be.]

Uh, not much. [Ronan was mostly busy screaming obscenities at them. Whatever, next subject.] How much bigger than us? [He looks over his shoulder in the direction of the forest looming on the edge of town.]

[ Ronan believes in coincidence about as well as Gansey does, which is to say, they don't. Of course the others will be here. It'll be more disturbing if they're not.

He follows his friend's eyes, towards the trees. The forest. Of course, that's what draws the eye. De Chima is not Henrietta, and Virginia is not West Virginia, but it's close. Close enough that the difference from home is palpable to Gansey. ]

It's not here.

[ Cabeswater. He doesn't say the name, doesn't think he needs to say the name. ]

It's still in our world, and this is anything but that. But there has to be a connection. Space crosses here, and time. I met a man from seventeenth-century France. And a magician who feels ley lines, because he's connected to them.

[ Gansey cocks his head, brow raised. There's nothing that will convince him they're not here for a reason. ] Bigger than us.

[Ronan frowns, considers this.] It's gotta be somewhere.

[He feels like he'd know if he wasn't a Greywaren anymore. Chainsaw, at least, would certainly be affected... wouldn't she? Ronan has the ironclad certainty in the world that only the young can produce. Things are the way they are. There is a Heaven, an Earth and a Hell, and there is a Cabeswater.]

[He turns back to Gansey.] As big as sleeping kings? [Because it can't be bigger.]

[ Adam said he couldn't feel it anymore. Gansey considers mentioning at, and then doesn't, because it's clear to him that Ronan is already struggling with this.

Unconsciously, he rubs his thumb across his lip. His eyes are on the trees, but not really seeing them. ]

I don't necessarily think it's unconnected. We know the ley line can do strange things with time. This reminds me of that. This place, the Porter, the people who come through it. It's like a new chapter. Something I never thought to look for.

[ A pause, then, like he's realised he's in Lecture Mode, and he's winding it down. His hand drops away, and more quietly: ]

Not bigger than Glendower. Not for me.

[Yet this is a rare opportunity where Ronan would be in the mood to listen. He wants something to grasp on to, to keep and use to make sense of all this.]

Well, yeah. [Nothing's bigger than Glendower or Cabeswater or the twisting currents that makes the two energies one.]

I dunno. It's not right, but it's... it's not wrong, either. Feels like something's trying to keep us from the path. [It's a hunch, from Ronan's general feeling that everything is against them if it's not one of their direct allies. They were getting so close.] We just gotta figure out what that is.

[And punch it in the face.]

They say they don't control what their Porter does, or who it takes.

[ Gansey had listened to everything they said, filing it away. He hasn't decided whether he ultimately believes it all, but he's aware of the party line. ]

They didn't bring us here or make our files. They just deal with the consequences, which may or may not be true. But giving them the benefit of the doubt: if it is true, there must be something out there that chose us. Something, or someone.

We find who controls the Porter, we find our way back. That's what I plan to do.

The power is in your hands

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