etcelsior | SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS

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. A snippy voice wonders aloud: "My taxes are going to their parties and other expenses? When are they going to do something for us for a change?"

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 and an incident involving gas. "Biological warfare... we sure some of them haven't defected?"

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 mutter under their breaths resentfully about "vigilantes". However, not all locals turn the other way seeing imPorts; some of them will offer a polite enough smile and compliment them for quick thinking at the last Swear-In. They don't stop to clarify what they mean, though.

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. With Halloween fast on the approach, many of them are offering pumpkin-flavored foods and beverages, and others are trying to get the more obvious looking imPorts to consider allowing local businesses to sell costumes of them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There isn't a word to describe the look Ronan gives Greenmantle, but 'loathing' is close. He snaps another photo. Building a portfolio. Sending it to people so they know what why whatever will happen happened.]

Vescere mentula.

Edited (shhhh.) 2015-10-27 02:58 (UTC)

Now, there are two possibilities for how you made an error in that particular invitation. Possibility one is that you actually did remember that a deponent verb like vescor is going to take an ablative direct object, and you were just failing to pronounce mentula with the proper length on the final letter. Mentulaaaaaaaaa. [ He stretches out that final a far longer than the mora-and-a-half called for. ] Of course, I've seen your homework, and I've seen how you decline. Or, more accurately, how you frequently decline to decline. So I'm thinking more likely you've just used a nominative as a direct object, in which case, bad form, Mr. Lynch. Literally.

[ He grins very brightly, and then leans back and braces his back against that wall that he was climbing so that he can prop one heel up on the front fender of the S.S. Fuckwit. He'd add a comment about how it'd be a strange but not inappropriate use for an organ that appears to be vestigial in Ronan's case, but that's a weird thing to say to a teenager, and plus Greenmantle is well aware of the sexual harassment guidelines. No thanks.

Well. Step one is to make sure that Little Lynch doesn't put his fist through Greenmantle's head. So he continues: ]

Now, I'm thinking there's a question you should be asking yourself right now. I hope you are asking it, really. I hope it has occurred to you, though I wonder, given that bullish look you have there. There's a saying about how no one can punch and think at the same time, isn't there. Anyway. The question is this: In quo fortis sum?

[Ronan is recording all of this for the inevitable police report. He hates the Grey Man. But only an idiot doesn't see that the Grey Man knows how to win. If that's how Ronan Lynch learns subtlety, so be it.]

[When Greenmantle is done, Ronan quirks the side of his mouth in an echo of a long-dead smile.] Hic non fortis est.

Undique fortis sum.

[ The phone out and recording is cute. He's not being ironic there - it really is cute. Because he stands there, trying to look tough and thuggish and actually doing a fairly good job for a kid with a trust fund (if he does have a trust fund? Greenmantle half wonders, because Niall Lynch seemed like just the sort of asshole who would totally fail to set that sort of thing up for his kids. And really, when you were as big a dickbag as Niall Lynch, you really should anticipate having your face bashed in and your body left for your kids to find. Wouldn't that be funny. Not funny ha-ha, funny...Okay, sort of funny ha-ha). But that recording means he's scared. Steel-jawed and psychopath-eyed he might be, but he's shaken by Greenmantle. Because even in another world, the quick-witted and powerful ought to be feared.

Greenmantle leans on his foot, pushing at the fender of the car. ]

Sunt geminae Belli portae (sic nomine dicunt)
religione sacrae et saevi formidine Martis;
centum aerei claudunt vectes aeternaque ferri
robora, nec custos absistit limine Ianus.

What do you think the gates gave me? We all get shit, right. So guess.

Edited 2015-10-27 12:49 (UTC)

[Fear is right. Ronan is scared. Ronan is scared he'll have to chase Greenmantle down, bloody his hands, and disappear again, and his friends will have no idea what happened to him. Ronan isn't afraid of Greenmantle himself; his all-consuming rage at his existence burns away anything as fleshy and mortal as simple fear of another human being.]

[Ronan thinks about what Declan does, and then does the opposite.]

I don't give a shit, but you clearly fucking wanna tell me.

Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Lynch. That would be bad pedagogy. Giving a question and then giving the answer? No, certainly not. It's far more edifying for you to figure it out on your own.

[ Greenmantle just smiles at Ronan, and smiles, and smiles. ]

Do you need someone to look at your car, by the way? I assume you lost control of it. I was nearly hurt.

SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS

hover over latin for translation.

likewise and also pretend my latin is grammatically correct

yes professor.

and bring me some scotch

youre not my real dad.

less of a trash pile than your real dad