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

adam parrish ; the raven cycle ; ota

[aberth]

❚❚❚❚❚ a. florida

[ Adam Parrish is terrified.

Of course he does his best not to show it, taking the folder they give him carefully as if trying to avoid transferring some kind of dirt on to the cardboard. His mind spins with questions: where is he? How did he get here? Why can't he remember? Do the others know? With each one it gets worse. He feels grubby, sweaty with terror and small inside. Cabeswater is gone. He can't feel it. And if it's gone then he doesn't know what to do. There's nothing to protect him. Avoiding the gaze of anyone with a gun, shoulders hunched in on himself, Adam only opens his mouth when when the woman addresses him. ] Listen, I don't know what I'm doing here. I know, I know, it's explained in the file. But I shouldn't be here. [ She tries ushering him to the car as she talks but he feels a sudden rush of defence, planting his feet into the ground. ] No, wait. You can't do this. I have rights.

[ Adam is a boy of eighteen, fair, freckled and delicate featured, dressed in faded jeans and a red coca-cola t-shirt. He looks like a normal boy. But he's fierce and prickly and afraid and that's not a good combination. ] I don't want to read the damn thing, I want to go home. [ Anger is explosive. It's a gift he got from his DNA and he throws an arm out, the papers rustling in his grip. The woman doesn't look worried, only looking to two other soldiers who take a step forward. She tells him he has no choice. She tells him he has to stay. Adam's gaze drifts from her to the fingers of one man lightly resting on the butt of what looks to be a tazer. She continues. Adam has choices. He has a name he can choose but doesn't. A job. A school. A home. She rattles them off but he feels dead inside. Florida, North Carolina, Vigini --. ]

Yes, yeah. I'll go there. [ He doesn't know where De Chima is and he can't remember Gansey's number but maybe he can look up his parents on the directory and they can call their son and send him or Ronan to come fetch him. That's a better idea. Better than being here waiting to be hurt anyway. They tell him to wait a minute and he finally looks around him, sees the same expression from his face on other people's. He doesn't feel bad about shouting. He doesn't have it in him. ]

❚❚❚❚❚ b. virginia.

[ Somehow this is worse. It feels the same but isn't and every one he speaks to asking about Henrietta looks at him blankly. One man had clutched him by the shoulder and said son, you're not home any more and he'd fled feeling ill and uncertain. The cell phone the soldiers had given him feels heavy in his pocket with wasted potential. He'd tried to call Fox Way and all he'd gotten was a dial tone. He'd tried the mechanics he worked at. The Factory. The school. All the same.

And then there are the people. The ones who stop him in the street and grin at him like he's something. It feels like a trick. The recognition he'd wanted for nothing he'd done. Has all his wishing and hoping brought this on?

Adam is thoroughly miserable. And cold. The wind cuts through him and he slumps into a bench, pulling change out of his pockets to rifle through it. He's probably got enough for a cup of coffee. He has keys to a room he doesn't know. There's probably rent to pay. His head hurts.

And then someone sits beside him and he jostles a little, apologising under his breath for no reason. ]

❚❚❚❚❚ c. wildcard.

Anything goes! If you need to plot something out with me pm me on this account or pp me at athosing !

[rathercommon]

Oh - sorry.

[ Kitty flashes the boy a puzzled, apologetic smile - one that turns a little bit gentler when she takes in his appearance. You can tell imPorts, especially new ones, by their clothes: this boy's fashions are just out of step with the times, his shoes a little clunkier than what's popular, his hair just a bit off. You can tell them by their misery, too, this time of the month, right after they've arrived, and this one seems miserable.

Poor thing. She wonders what sort of world he comes from. Is he so unhappy because he's thinking of some horror he's escaped, or is he miserable because he wants to go home?

He seems to be having a bit of trouble with the money in his pockets. So she leans over a bit, and asks as delicately as she can: ]

Do you need any help with figuring out how much those coins are worth?

[aberth]

[ He feels like he's been caught doing some dirty, counting change and penny pinching. He has to swallow that down quickly. This isn't affluent Henrietta. This is some place else and he doesn't know where or why he's here. At her question though he looks mildly alarmed. ]

Do they not take dollars here? [ Is what little money he has rendered utterly useless by a different currency? Is he going to have a nervous breakdown on this street bench like his body has been threatening to do for years? ]

[rathercommon]

Erm - no, they do.

[ Somehow, that just made him look even more miserable. And, somehow, guilty. She holds up a hand without really knowing why - a gesture like she's trying to soothe his frazzled nerves. Hold on, there, it's all right. ]

I just saw - You're an imPort, yeah? I thought maybe dollars and cents were new to you. You just looked really...worried.

[aberth]

[ Oh. Thank God. His heart can stop trying to burst out of his chest now.

Adam knows how his face must look, features arranged in an approximate amalgamation of abject misery. He tries to school it into something calmer and hopes it doesn't cause a Quasimodo effect. ] Yeah. I'm kind of having a moment. I think maybe it was the soldiers with guns. Or the being lost thing.

I kind of don't know what to do next?

B

[quaerit]

[ Gansey still isn't over how strange all of this is. It feels like Virginia weather, but that's about all that's the same. The very style and feel of this city is wrong, and would have felt wrong even if there was a De Chima in the Virginia he knows. This place looks like the 1950s ran smack into the 2030s and had a terrible, beautiful mongrel of a child. There are hover cars. He just walked by a floating Chevrolet.

That's another note for his journal. It's so evidently clear that this is a different world, brimming with so much that he doesn't know. And he wants to, oh yes, he wants to, but not quite as much as he wants to get home. His mind is thrumming with possibilities, not sure what to focus on next -

And then, of course, the decision is taken out of his hands, because there is absolutely nothing unfamiliar about that shape slumped on the park bench. That shape is wonderfully, terribly familiar. Gansey doesn't even need him to look up to be sure. He stands in front of him, folding his arms over his chest, and preparing a smile that is - for the first time today - more about relief than fascination. ]

Adam Parrish.

[ Adam is here. Adam is here. Thank God, thank God. Now, maybe, they can figure all of this out. ]

I might have known you'd find your way here. Coincidence. [ He says, because it's not. ]

[aberth]

[ There's never been a moment in his life where Adam hasn't responded to that voice. It certainly won't change now. Thankfully he's just shoved his change back into his pockets when he hears it ( thankfully because he'd have dropped it to reach Gansey and there would have been something humiliating about having to pick it up up again ) and his head jerks upwards, eyes wide and at once alarmed but so very grateful. Jumping to his feet is easy, pulling Gansey to him is easier. He hugs him like Adam's always been good with physical affection, hugs him like he doesn't want to let go, his heart hammering in his throat and his thoughts all revolving around one thing. It will be all right now. Because Gansey is here. ]

Fuck. [ Leaning back he looks his friend over just to make sure he's in one piece, accent deeper here and now because he's tired and stressed out. ] I didn't know how to find you. Your parents' number isn't in the phone book and every time I call some place I get this weird tone like it won't connect. I can't feel Cabeswater any more.

[ It's all a panicked rush but that's mostly due to the sense of rightness he feels now. He's not alone. ]

[quaerit]

[ 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?

[aberth]

[ 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. ]

[inmyothertights]

[Billy is here to meet Kitty, in De Chima, a city in which neither of them live, or some reason or another. He can't explain it, really. But whatever, it doesn't matter, because here he is.

He has two cups of coffee, because he knows it's easier to meet Kitty with caffeine in hand and if he doesn't have two, she'll just steal his. So he sits next to this boy (his brain provides "cute boy" without his permission, thanks brain) and looks him over when he apologizes.

He looks cold and miserable, so the first thing Billy does, without even thinking about it, is set up a little invisible magic bubble to block off the cold.]

Hey.

Do you want a coffee? I have an extra. I didn't drink out of it or anything.

[It still has the little stopper that the coffee shop put in it so it wouldn't leak.]

[aberth]

[ The wind chill dies down a little and Adam's relieved. It lasts for a second though because then a stranger is offering him coffee and he feels grubby and foolish, wonders if people can see the poorness all over him like a stain. ]

I'm okay. [ He could do with it, but Adam's pride is a monster that can't be tamed. ] Thanks though.

[ He doesn't want to be rude. He just doesn't want to be pitied either. ]

[inmyothertights]

Okay.

[Billy sort of...sets it awkwardly down on the bench between them. What if this guy thought he was flirting? Billy is gay, but he wasn't flirting, really, but isn't this how straight guys pick up girls? Does Billy know how to pick up anyone? The last person he picked up was Teddy and he's still not 90% sure how he accomplished that, and so he blurts out, suddenly, intensely-]

That wasn't a pick up, by the way. You just looked cold and I had coffee and my friend Kitty is late because she probably saw like, a squirrel being harassed by a cat and and she stopped to lecture the cat about equality and the people and it's not like she won't steal my coffee anyway.

[He realizes he was babbling.]

Uh.

Anyway.

Hi. I'm Billy, and I'm not usually a spaz.

[aberth]

Oh, I didn't --.

[ But Billy keeps going and Adam can feel a flush rising on his freckled cheeks, embarrassment maybe, or acknowledgement that he knows people won't want to pick him up on the street. Why would they? ]

It's okay. [ He offers something of a smile, ducking his head as he does so. ] I didn't think you were being a creep. I just didn't want to take your coffee. [ Because of pride but now he's panicked other teens with it. Good job, Parrish.

Then more conversationally -. ]

Seriously though, can cats get equality? Like as a concept?

B???? I GUESS??? weeps

[smudgedlife]

[Noah was never about the details, in life or death. Rather than getting wrapped up in the small things, he only notices them. Things that most don't. It's an easy thing when you're floating among everyone else, a cloud just grazing the ground.

It's a lot harder when you're suddenly tethered to the earth like every other person. Noah is alive, or he at least has a living body, and just that is enough to freak him out. He's experiencing everything at once, now, like he's forgotten how to block out the unimportant things. People whispering behind your back. The wind hitting his face and the minty scent of a particular bark that comes with it. The warmth of the Sun. A hand on his arm as a stranger stops him. Then ten more. Being approached by what feels like thousands of strangers is what blasts him miles out of his comfort zone. Naturally, he disappeared.

And accidentally left his sleeping body behind. Noah had spent all morning figuring out how to repossess it before one of those gaping faces called an ambulance. Then he ran, hid among some of Virginia's many trees, and followed them to the park.

It is this overstimulated Noah that glimpses a familiar face in this sea of strange. A beacon, Adam, seated in the park. Noah barely processes that he looks miserable; Adam usually does. The sight allows him to focus. He stumbles through the foliage, popping out of a bush beside the bench.

There are leaves in his hair. He's panting] Adam. [his eyes continue what he forgets to speak: You're here oh thank Christ.]

omg smol babe

[aberth]

[ He almost jumps out of his skin. That's not really new around Noah though, Adam's always flinching in some way or another when he appears in front of him. The bursting out of foliage and the panting is different though and it takes him a minute to realise how solid the boy in front of him is. ]

... Noah?

[ Noah, flushed and real looking. Noah with leaves in his hair and a pulse when Adam reaches for him, fingers wrapping around his wrist. ] Oh my God, what happened?

;w;

[smudgedlife]

I don't-- I-- [his free hand flutters out toward Adam's, then drops and wipes itself on Noah's pants] I woke up. Something made me sleep, and I woke up like this.

[He's talking entirely too fast, and he frowns at his own voice. His Adam's apple bobs as he tries to swallow it down. Was that how it worked? No, it only nudges the lump in his throat. A brief I remember that skips across his thoughts before his eyes refocus on Adam.

At a complete loss of how to explain what this means, he continues quietly] I don't know how.

[consequentially, his file will be of little help, as he's not holding it]

[aberth]

[ He's so very alive that Adam thinks he's dreaming. He watches Noah with muted horror and intrigue before the panic becomes a real thing and he's rising. ]

Okay, okay. Sit down. You look like you need it. [ He offers Noah the space of bench he just vacated, his hand running through his hair as he does his best to think. ]

This place gives people powers, right? So maybe they've ... given you a body.

A

[hands4healing]

[Winry comes to check out who might've arrived from the Porter, hoping someone from home will. The young man catches her eye - maybe it's his fear. It reminds her too much of everything they'd experienced at the last Swearing In. She hates seeing people confused or afraid - especially after Crane's gas - so so approaches him, the way one might a hurt animal.]

Hi. I'm Winry. Are you all right?

[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?

A, idek hi

[cicatrize]

[ the shouting is hard to miss. incredibly so. jack already went through all his processing, file reading, and digging up information on this place. honestly, he's perfectly happy being stuck here, given the place he was in was a dead end for him. but he can certainly understand someone being upset by being kidnapped across dimensions (that was a fun realization to have proved to him).

but this kid is about to get tased for it.

sliding in, shortly after the 'i'll go there' is said, jack's holding his hands out to the kid, clapping palms onto his shoulders like he's an old friend. ] Robert! I never thought I'd see you here, holy shit, man! [ things he'd heard others people say to new arrivals - happy to see friends from home, etc etc. an arm is slung around the kid's shoulders, and Jack turns out to address the military woman shortly. ] He's my cousin - I'll show him around, you guys take a load off.

[ and off jack's going with the kid dragged along next to him, glee from his tone dropping the second his back is turned to the officers. ] Do you usually try that hard to get tased into submission? You're not getting home any time soon if they throw you in jail first.

[aberth]

[ Robert.

It's just a name and yet Adam goes cold all over when he hears it. He wonders if he knows this man, if maybe he's from Henrietta too and he can see his father in the shape of his face. It's this fear that closes his anger down, that lets Jack pull him along and away from the soldiers without a word, that means he doesn't even tense when an arm is slung over his shoulders. ]

I --. [ Adam shakes his head and then he moves out of his reach, glancing at him with wide and wild eyes. ] I don't know you.

[ It's all right, it's all right. This is no one he knows. This is a stranger. ]

I just wanted them to send me home.

[cicatrize]

No shit.

[ Jack responds nonchalantly with a raised brow and a small chuckle. Kid, please. Robert is a terrible name. Only douchebags are named Robert. And Jonathan. That's why he goes by Jack, tbh. Conceals the douchery. jen is having a lot of coffee rn. He doesn't seem at all concerned or surprised at Adam getting his distance, and shoots a short glance over his shoulder to be sure the soldiers are out of sight, before returning his hand to his coat pocket. ]

They aren't going to send you home. From what the others have been saying-- [ Jack pulls his new phone out of his pocket, opening the network message board and holds it up for the kid to see. ] --I don't think they know how.

[ not something jack's that worried about, despite the sympathetic look he shoots at Adam. not something he feels that bad about either. bad shit happens. that's life. and in the grand scheme of things, this place isn't even that bad. ]

I'm Jack.

[aberth]

They have to know how.

[ It's short, sharp, Adam's hands coming to lift in front of him before they drop in defeat. ] You can't get some place and not know how to retrace your steps. [ When he speaks his accent gets stronger, a thick kind of Virginia country sound. Adam usually tries to hide it like he does everything else that proves he came from dirt, but he's unhappy and frightened and he can't tame it.

With a quick and restless glance at Jack's phone. ] They're just not telling us. They wouldn't want us to just say no thanks and go home so they're making up some bullshit about not being able.

[ Sorry Jack, angry teen gives no name. ]