etcelsior | OH MY GOD YOU GUYS

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. The city of Heropa is what one might expect from a small, bright and cheery place, where locals are friendly enough and local shop owners might offer a free drink to welcome you to their fair city. 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. An upset voice wonders aloud: "More of them, when we already know they can't protect us? That's just painting a bigger target on the city's back!" However, they're quickly hushed with a judgmental: "They helped save the cities, and it's the Soviets you should be angry with anyway! The imPorts are here to protect us!"

02. 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. Many people are out and about taking care of their regular business, 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 spies. "How can we trust any of them now?"

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania, is not as friendly and its citizens tend to 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 thank them for their help in overthrowing the trespassers. They don't stop to clarify what they mean, though.

04. Nonah, North Carolina, is the liveliest of all cities; 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. Advertisements are abound for imPorts to make appearances at various, televised celebrations, luring them in with promises of free food, merchandise, and payment.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We can run tests to determine if it'll actually work or not.

[No way was he letting some science this guy couldn't even explain himself get applied to Mustang's face.]

I've watched it used on a good friend of mine any number of times. He's frequently injured. Admittedly we haven't had it done on anything as delicate as eyes.

What friend? Have you noticed any side effects with him?

Miles Naismith. I'm sure he'd speak with you about it if you liked. There weren't any side effects until an extended, repeated use caused his Porter-given abilities to be numbed, and harder to access.

We didn't really experiment with it; he decided to cease treatment.

Those sound like serious side effects . . . How much healing did he have to get to cause that?

[ Gregor has to think about that one. And about how much he wants to say.

He sounds a little grim despite himself as he says, ] Shattered wrist, cracked ribs, dislocated shoulder, blood loss, and the final nail in the coffin for healing was the exacerbation of all of the above.

[For the first time in the conversation Ed's expression falters. That was quite a list of injuries to rattle off.]

Maybe . . . Maybe it's something to do with the strain on on the body. All that energy for repair has to come from somewhere.

[ That's Miles for you. Gregor had almost wanted to start putting a leash on him by the end of that month.

He turns speculative now. ] That seems vaguely plausible. I have to imagine our supernatural abilities have some sort of energetic basis in our physical bodies. We've nothing like that at home.

Not even alchemy? [Another frown.] What the hell do you have instead?

Nothing. Technology?

[ A beat. Remembering Mustang's reaction: ] Space travel, [ he suggests. ]

Space travel? That's still just science fiction.

[At least it was a hundred years ago.]

I'm from the thirty-first century, [ he points out mildly. ]

["Time travel is also impossible," is what he really wishes he could say, but it's a liiiittle difficult to make that argument when you're fresh from the turn of the 20th century and there are hovercars passing overhead.]

. . . This place just gets weirder and weirder.

You've no idea. I spent the week before your arrival as a fourteen year old.

[WELP THAT'S ENOUGH FOR HIM.]

How the hell do I get home?!

You'll be Ported out eventually. Potentially tomorrow. Potentially next year.

[ Gregor sounds very droll and unaffected by his frustration. ]

Random chance isn't good enough.

[Much like his icon, one can almost feel the irritation rolling off of him in waves.]

I'm not about to discourage you from looking for an alternative. I'd be the first person to sign up for deliberate transportation between dimensions.

There has to be a way to do it deliberately. I just need to get a good look at how the random method they're using here works.

The military's rather protective of it, unsurprisingly. Especially after recent events, I'd imagine. Though I should add that although they have it in their possession, it is not actually in their control that we show up here.

I've dealt with shitty militaries before. This wouldn't be anything new.

I'm not sure I'd call them shitty. Properly morally gray, if anything, like most armed forces.

Shitty. The first thing they tried to do when I got here was recruit me into some stupid war. Then they drugged me.

[He'll just conveniently leave out the part where he was enraged and trying to take down anyone between him and a door.]

They do allow you to decline, [ he notes, because to Gregor that is a very key point to his sanguinity with the U.S. government.

He gives Ed something of an assessing look at that. All he says is: ] I've never heard of them doing that before. [ That does explain why he'd been passed out. ]

Amestris "allowed" us to decline too. Don't think that really meant much in the end. [Not for the people they really wanted, anyway.

Ed scowls and takes another swig of coffee, setting the cup down with a sharp clack.]

Guess I was just special!

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