The power is in your hands

[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 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?

Comments

[aberth]

Not really.

[ Finally his expression is a little penitent. He sees the hesitation in her steps and it reminds him of Blue and the way she looked when she was frightened of him. ]

Sorry. [ Ducking his head a little. ] About the shouting I mean.

[hands4healing]

Oh, it's all right. A lot of people shout when they first arrive here. [She flips her hand back and forth, waving off the apology. Even though she appreciates it.

Her expression shutters.]

Fear, though, that's something else.

[aberth]

[ He looks a little uncomfortable. He doesn't like people realising just how much of a mess of jagged edges and terror he is. His expression shutters and he breathes out but he doesn't try to escape out of the conversation like he might had he been somewhere he was familiar with. ]

I guess you get a lot of people panicked around here. [ Glancing back to the group of soldiers. ] Does it uh - does this kind of thing happen often?

[hands4healing]

As of recently? Yes. Someone - a man with a degree in some sort of medicine - used toxins on a lot of us ImPorts just a few days ago at the Swearing In ceremony. A lot of people are still fighting that poison in their system. It was designed to make people hallucinate their worst fears.

So anyone afraid...[She spreads her hands.]

It catches the eye right now.

[aberth]

[ Adam seems to pause as she gives her explanation, his mind ticking it over. He'd seen a lot of scary stuff when Cabeswater had been trying to get his attention - screaming women and branches that reached out for him - but his worst fear had been tucked away. Having that brought out of him without his consent would be enough to let him lose what strenuous control he has over his sanity. ]

Jesus Christ. Didn't anyone do something about it?

[ Like the CDC - they deal with toxins, don't they? ]

[hands4healing]

[Winry's taken aback at the reaction.]

I healed a lot of people to clear the toxins out of their systems. Other healers did, too. The man with the toxins escaped. The last I heard, he took refuge in a church but other ImPorts have made oaths to capture him and take him to trial,

[aberth]

But what about the cops? The national guard? Hell, even the FBI? Shouldn't they be trying to trap the asshole that did it in the first place.

[ Because to Adam that makes sense. You find a way to stop terrorists. ]

Wait, healers? [ That's an unusual word for an EMT. He hasn't had chance to read the files yet. ] What do you mean?

[hands4healing]

[A frown.]

That's my power - one of them. I heal wounds. Sickness. Sore muscles. Purge poisons.

[...]

The police...have a harder time dealing with someone with superpowers.

[aberth]

But it's their job!

[ Adam hasn't really clued in just how different this place is. ] They can't just expect a bunch of people who've never done anything like this in their life to figure it out.

[hands4healing]

Some of us have done this sort of thing back home.

[Not her exactly. But some of her friends.]

[aberth]

So it's like neighbourhood watch? Only much more deadly.

[hands4healing]

...I don't know that term. There are some military officers from various worlds who help out and others, too.

I'm probably explaining it badly.

[aberth]

It's okay, you're fine.

[ He doesn't want to be cruel to her just because he's having a hard time understanding things. ] I'm just not really sure what's happening right now. Half an hour ago I was at home trying to finish my Latin homework.

[hands4healing]

[Winry smiles gently.]

I was dying.

[Yes, she went there.]

No one expected to come here. We didn't have a chance to agree, no one asked us if we wanted to be in this world. A lot of people are trying to figure out a way home. No one has yet.

[aberth]

[ He's just going to end up assuming that Winry means that they have good doctors and nurses here. Not some sort of magical not dying thing. ]

So we just have to accept we're stuck?

[hands4healing]

Mmm, pretty much. But it is an interesting place!

[aberth]

I just wish interesting didn't also mean deadly.

[hands4healing]

Those two words seem to go hand in hand.

[Not just here, in her world, too.]

hey so i got accepted, do you mind having this as game canon?

[aberth]

[ In his too, but he doesn't really want to think about that when he's already pretty close to a breakdown. ]

So what am I supposed to do now? Just follow the rules? [ He indicates his file with a small, sharp gesture. ] Go wherever they've sent me?

Congrats! And you know me from BakerStreet as not_psychic. Nice to see you here.

[hands4healing]

Well...it depends. They ask you to help out with your powers but you don't have to if you don't want to. You could attend school or get a job. It's up to you what you want to do in this world.

omg i've known you for ages then because i am athos mun also.

[aberth]

School? [ But all of his efforts trying to make it in Aglionby and he'll be sent to a public school. Adam feels sick. ]

So basically just pretend this is normal life?

Grrnsker. Things go wild in RP?

[hands4healing]

There are the public schools and there's the one for ImPorts. Or whatever job...there are a lot of jobs.

No pretending. This is your normal life now. But when you go home - you will go home some day - it will be like the time in this world never happened. Whatever you have waiting for you there isn't going to change from your time here.

[aberth]

[ Lots of jobs he can do. He's going to need to. Especially if he's lost access to his meagre savings account.

Wait, so this place -- it's moving forward in time but Henrietta isn't? [ It's the first similarity to Cabeswater he has. He shouldn't want to hold on to that as desperately as he does. ]

[hands4healing]

I work for Tony Stark at StarkTech. When I first came here, I was an apprentice at a hovercar mechanic shop.

[...]

That's what I understand. I've known people who've gone away and returned weeks or months later. They said no time passed at all in their worlds from their arrival here to when the left. Sometimes people who vanish don't...when they come back, they might not remember what happened here.

[aberth]

[ Time, memory, things Adam can usually rely on. And here they don't matter at all. His life has always been about control, having it and keeping it, and yet here he doesn't think anyone is able to do that. ]

Oh.

[ He scrubs a palm against his cheek, his expression clearly concerned. ] That is a lot to take in.