OH MY GOD YOU GUYS

[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. 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.

Comments

[annihiliner]

[There's a shift of something at that. It's subtle but clearly present. Lexa frowns and her eyes narrow slightly, but conversely her posture relaxes.]

Is that why we're here? To be arbiters of fear?

[glowsferatu]

[ That raises both of her eyebrows, enough that show lowers her sunglasses a little, looking at her with pale green eyes, surrounded by yellow sclera. ]

I think setting ourselves up as arbiters would be a bit presumptuous. [ But she's also never been any kind of a leader, either. ] We are survivors of it, if anything. And that can sometimes demand not making enough of it that we're collectively run off.

Or worse.

[ She looks back down at Ashiah in her basket. The little grub seems restless, never fond of her mother having conversations that don't involve her getting attention. ]

[annihiliner]

[Lexa follows her gaze down to the... being in her care. She's not sure what to make of it, though there is clearly some sort of bond between the two.]

I'm told we have been given great power, and we are, if not forced then at the very least expected, to use it. For what purpose though, I still don't understand.

[Fear, at least, is something she knows well, whether she approves of it in this context or not.]

[glowsferatu]

It isn't really as simple as that, as far as who's given them, or why. You could ask people who've been here for years, but you'd get theories, at best. No real answers.

[ She presses her lips together, pausing for thought. Kanaya has plenty of theories herself, being one of those who's been around for years. But theories are hardly something to weigh on a fresh arrival. ]

We were brought here empowered to be heroes. What that actually means for anyone of else individually, and what was meant by it when it was first told? That's up for interpretation.

[annihiliner]

[A scowl is the only response for a moment.]

I would rather have answers than interpretations. I was meant to be somewhere else, doing something else. If this is now where I'm meant to be instead, I want to know why.

[She's never been this unsure of her identity or her purpose in her entire life. However she felt about it--or tried to interpret it--the path of Lexa's life has been laid clearly before her since the day she was born... Until now.]

[glowsferatu]

You and the other two hundred and fifty imPorts, I'm sure. I've been waiting five years for that answer, personally. After a point you just accept that it isn't coming.

If it's meaning you need, you'll have to define it for yourself.

[ That's when she actually lifts the basket enough to bring attention to it. The grub inside is very large, with shiny black eyes and small smiling lips. It's a giant bug with a face, blinking at Lexa as she lets out a few clicking noises. So, that's a thing. ]

If you need an example, she's mine.

[annihiliner]

[It's frustrating, the way Kanaya says it as if it's so clear and so easy, but Lexa tries to keep any of her emotion from showing. The anger, the fear, the feelings of doubt. She has felt loss and loneliness before, but this is the first time she has ever been truly lost and alone. Even the spirits that once were her guides have abandoned her.

She simply looks down at the grub with an impassive expression, her jaw working back and forth briefly.]

This is your... child?

[glowsferatu]

[ She puts down a hand to stroke the grub's forehead. Ashiah quickly nuzzles into her hand, letting out a satisfied chirp. ]

Adopted, yes. But no less perfect for it. I was born to raise her, she's always been the meaning my life was waiting for.

[ She looks back up at Lexa, her expression sobering. ] But it took five more years than I ever thought it would, when I was young. Five years where I thought she was dead, before she ever had the chance to hatch.

[ And five years can be a long time, from a relative perspective. It can be hard to judge with aliens, perhaps, but aside from a few premature creases around her eyes, Kanaya looks like she must be a few years younger than Lexa. How much younger must she have been when she first expected to become a mother? ]

I didn't have the option to simply stop being, because the purpose of my life was gone. There's always a hard road to travel before you come to your happy ending, if you even get one. You'll have to find what keeps you walking down it.

[annihiliner]

[So maybe it isn't the most mature response, but Lexa has to fight hard not to roll her eyes. Who is this girl to preach to her, when she knows nothing about her or her life? Her responsibilities? Her own adoptive children of a sort? They're the ones she's supposed to be fulfilling her duty to right now.]

This is no road. There has only ever been one road for me, and it did not lead here.

[She clenches her fists, looking down with a tight expression that could be bitterness or pain. Or both.]

Perhaps this place is my punishment for trying to alter it. For trying to walk a road not painted with blood, for once.

[glowsferatu]

[ Kanaya's never had any room to judge someone for eyerolling, being an expert at it herself. Not that it doesn't stop her from judging a little anyway. But for now, she just gives a smile that could be slightly condescending, instead. ]

You're an intense one, aren't you?

[ She snickers, a wholly inappropriate response to Lexa, yes, but when she takes it in context of where they're standing, there's something so discordant in it that she can't help being amused. She wonders if this is how she sounds to others when she's in a mood. ]

This place isn't punishment. If it's anything, it's like a waystation from our own roads. But, to perhaps stretch the metaphor beyond its comfort, it is its own road too. Nothing we do here will or can have any bearing on what happens at home, but we can't do nothing, can we?

[ She lets out a sigh and takes her bearings, considering what shops are around, and which ones she knows will be close. ]

Listen, you clearly just got here, so you'll need time to adjust, I'm sure. That isn't going to happen in the next hour, or possibly the next week. But I'm sure you could use a coffee.

[ Probably something stronger, honestly, but all the bars Kanaya's familiar with in the Falls aren't around anymore, and she's not quite old enough for the ones she isn't. So, coffee's the best she can offer. ]

[annihiliner]

[Whatever this place may be, if the spirits didn't want her here, she wouldn't be. At least that's the belief a few serviceable metaphors aren't going to rid Lexa of.

And to add to that whole "intense one" thing, she doesn't respond to the smile, the laugh, or the words for a long moment of charged silence...

Her voice is calm when she starts to speak again though.]

What is a coffee?

[glowsferatu]

[ Giving a lecture on the mechanics of interdimensional travel to someone only just dumped into it was Kanaya's mistake. At that point, no one really wants to hear it.

She should have led with coffee from the start. ]

It's a warm, bitter beverage, regularly consumed for its strong flavor, welcoming aroma, and mildly stimulating effects. There's a shop around the corner, we can go determine whether you'll enjoy it or not. On me, of course.

[ She catches herself, realizing there's something she's still forgotten to do. Yes, she absolutely has been informative over friendly in this exchange. She really ought to work on that, especially with new arrivals. ]

I'm Kanaya, by the way. And this, [ Gesturing to the bored grub in her basket. ] is Ashiah.

[annihiliner]

[Yeah, not everybody has exactly the same level of experience with alternate universe shenanigans. For example, some people don't even know what an "alternate universe" is, and other people have CRAFTED THEM FROM SCRATCH. It's whatever though. Easy mistake to make.]

...Lexa.

[There is a small, stiff nod of some sort of acknowledgement.]

And a beverage would be welcome.

[glowsferatu]

[ gosh it wasn't from scratch there were weeks of bullshit frog eugenics involved, gosh gosh

Still, the gulf in experience is worth keeping in mind. Their positions might be reversed if it were about post-apocalyptic tribal politics. But here they are, and Kanaya's gotta up her game. ]

Very well, Lexa. Good to properly meet you. Let's see if we can't put an at least slightly more positive spin on your first impression of this situation.

[annihiliner]

[At least they'll be on a similar page if the conversation ever gets around to weird prophetic dream stuff? Or rare blood colors maybe?

Also, enjoy this skeptical look.]

Sure.