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

[ A stratocratic government with a false draft that spurs such phrases as 'dog of the military'. It's sounding better and better to Gregor. Yet military governments are a fairly personal topic to him, so this is less abstract than it would be for most people. ]

There hasn't been any repercussions that I've seen for declining, but I'm very much of the view that there's no ducking war, if that's what you mean.

[ This flagrant grumpiness just makes Gregor look at him mildly. ] I'm sure you were the soul of cooperation upon arrival in a strange world surrounded by armed men.

[His expression sharpens in an instant, and he straightens up stiff in his chair.]

They yanked me out of the middle of the most important battle of my life, so no. I wasn't in a real cooperative mood.

[ There's no judgement on his face, or even implied, or concealed. Gregor is reserving that; merely listening. ]

Have you been informed yet that time passes differently?

[He relaxes—mostly due to confusion and dismay rearing their heads again, but he's relaxing.]

What are you talking about?

[ Good enough. ]

Ah. That would be distressing. I've been assured that time at home is not passing for us, and in fact if we are Ported home, we will forget everything that occurred here. So there's really no consequences to being here, apart from what happens here.

[ Not that Gregor is content to leave that state of affairs as it is, but that's how the situation presently stands. ]

So . . . if what you're saying is true, whoever's running this show gets to make themselves super soldiers without any lasting consequences? Convenient.

[It really sounded like some kind of ideal dream for a shady government as far as Ed was concerned.]

And how the hell do you know what people who go home do or don't remember?

Perhaps, [ he hedges. But that's a very complicated issue, and he focuses on the simple one he can answer immediately. ]

We know because people go, and forget, and come back, and remember. Or sometimes come back and don't remember, as the case may be.

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS

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