Lies a place that few have seen.

[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 there's only one rule in Test Drive Meme Club: 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, while others might not say anything -- but if you have something nasty to say, better not say anything at all, right? This month has been a rocky one, and locals are beginning to eye imPorts with renewed scrutiny; if people like them can get superpowers, are imPorts really that special, after all? Some people usher their children away from anyone clearly not 'from around here,' while other natives may be brave enough to directly approach obvious imPorts and ask their thoughts on the war with Russia and what the imPort ambassadors are planning to do about it.

ImPorts are a divisive issues, even in pretty Heropa.

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 very presence. Look at you! Organic wonder! Science and technology are the lifeblood of this city, so you're likely to come across a good many locals taking your picture with the newest of devices. The imPort craze is at an all-time high, and you may find yourself cornered by overzealous imPort fans, media wannabes and opportunists alike, shoving cameras in your face.

Their questions are likely to be fairly mundane, however; get ready for an interview about your taste in romantic partners, personal underwear choices, favourite foods, and more!

Also, as the Halloween craze is reaching a fevered pitched, more and more children are running around in costumes of their favorite imPorts! Do you recognize any of these masks? Perhaps one of these costumes mimics YOU!?

...

Isn't that kinda creepy?

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania is populated by a whole lot of people who are having awfully bad days. With the emergence of locals with superpowers, many seem to have latched onto their new supercharged identities with an incredible amount of gusto. As your character walks down the street, they may find themselves accosted by a large man in his mid-20s, dressed in an ill-fitting spandex suit of orange and yellow. As he thrusts his finger into an imPort's face, the spandex rides up, turning into more of a crop-top, which he duly tugs back down before shouting, "You're not the special ones anymore, imPorts! Feel the wrath of Heartburn!"

Stupid name aside, he does seem to have superpowers as he breathes a large plume of fire. His aim still isn't great, though; it could hit the imPort in question, or be sent in the direction of a nearby local, or even a particularly flammable building.

What will you do, Hero?

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. This fine day, pumpkin spice seems to be in style, to the point at which you happen to be crashing an open pumpkin spice festival. From drinks to sweet treats to some other things that really, really shouldn't be pumpkin spice flavoured (pumpkin spice flavoured vodka, anyone? It tastes like regret!), everyone seems to be in the mood for the upcoming season.

Taste test a few samples and take in the hustle and bustle of the city, everyone! And hey, if just gorging yourself isn't enough, why not try your hand at the pumpkin carving contest going on? The competition is fierce!

Comments

[shipmaster]

[The Betan looks down. they have to look down. They can't watch that. Bel stabs their fork into the salad a few times.]

Don't.

... The mission was good. I'd do it again. [A crouton gets snapped in half.] With a different plan, but I'd do it again.

[jacksonian]

[ Mark just stares morosely at his food. Slowly, mechanically, he picks up his fork and starts to eat - less because he's hungry, or he wants to taste it, than he just wants the comfort of fullness. Finally: ]

People don't usually care about them. Even Betans.

[voltics]

Will you stop yapping already? Come on, junior. I'm getting bored.

So why don't you entertain me?

[She says, clearly waiting for him to make the first move.]

[voltics]

Aw, but I loved your drawings. [They're getting a crowd. Ordinarily Larxene wouldn't care, but Namine's somehow gotten something of a spine it seems, so--

--there's a corridor suddenly opening up right next to them, and Larxene shoves Namine back, sending her through before stepping after her. It doesn't bring them far, a couple of blocks away, but it's to a rooftop.] Since when did you talk back to me, hmmm?

lucifer | the wicked + the divine

[sincendiary]

[A] DE CHIMA

[ Here's one experience she's used to. This is only the beginning, but she really has missed having a stage. She'll casually light her cigarette with a finger snap and adopt her Aloof Yet Alluring Star poses for the cameras a little while longer, spinning pretentious devil-related tangents when people start asking about her as a person. The love affair and underwear questions are a different story. Those definitely get a lively smirk out of her. ]

A real question for the philosophers. Just ask around in a few days, and you'll probably pull more details than that. If not pictures. Sorry, now where were we regarding back home? There was a certain cat goddess...

[ Abruptly she turns on her heel and strides along forward as she talks, because this calls for a change of scenery. Whoever wants to follow can do that very easily, for now. ]

[B] MAURITA FALLS

[ What will she do? She'll give him a light. If there's one thing Lucifer has a low threshold for, it's sanctimonious little fanatics with too much time to waste. Even lower when she finds herself caught up in their line of literal fire. Come on, now.

Mid-melodramatic eyeroll, she clicks her fingers and sends out her own flame to consume the other before it just catches on this guy's oversized cape. It takes a few seconds of him screeching and trailing smoke down the street like a homemade human rocket, but he does drop and roll and run off on his less than merry way. Whether her fellow imPort seems to approve or not, her shrug and dry response stays the same. ]

Oh, please, no need for thanks — our brave hero's so-called uniform was positively criminal even by Hell's standards. I should know.

[C] NONAH

[ It's not like Florida isn't basically Satan's real estate, quite the contrary, it's that right now she needed to be anywhere but the place some authority assigned her for safekeeping. Sure, it might be a silly illusion of agency. On the other hand, this all beats being dead any day of the week.

At least she can count on holiday consumerism to come through with free caffeine. G-o-d knows she needs one vice or another while she takes in this new chance, and absolutely has no trauma to deal with at all!! She's also going to need clothes shopping ASAP what with her white suit all covered in blood, but there could have been worse seasons to show up in it. Feel free to notice, though. ]

[voltics]

If they're us? Stab each other in the back, apparently.

[She says, taking a long, nonchalant sip of her drink.

I mean as far as she knows, you guys were planning a revolt.]

But that's what makes it fun.

B: Maurtia Falls

[pummelgranite]

[ Well one import is unimpressed. Who the fuck is this bitch. What the fuck is she trying to pull.

So said imPort is getting the fuck in her grill. Fast, like the briefest flickering shadow. Like a blink. And then darkness and blood-colored makeup and a splatter of freckles is right in her face. Skipping the thanks, skipping all pleasantries, the face and body of Laura FUCKING Wilson, but with distinctly inhuman eyes, and distinctly inhuman strength grabbing the lapels of that nice white suit.

She looks for a moment like she's going to tear Lucifer's head right back off. But then the look of rage breaks into something confused, and desperate. When she finally speaks it's croaked out. ]

. . . Luci?

[ettersberg]

( her treatment of heartburn is pragmatic, and nightingale watches it largely passively, though the corners of his mouth tighten briefly in disapproval when she mentions punching him out. there is no need for violence of that sort when there are magical solutions that constrain — though admittedly, nightingale may well feel less disapproving if heartburn wasn't so obviously human. peter has forced him to examine many of his preconceptions and to discard them, but he is not yet as open-minded as peter, some of the old empire still lingering on in his mind. )

And what makes government offensive, to you?

( nightingale has worked for or with the government all his life in one way or another, with the foreign office and the army before and during the war, as a police officer after. )

[ettersberg]

( given that his own behaviour, though unchanged, remains reserved, he doesn't mind that she seems a little less cheerful than before now. if anything, he prefers it, though whether that is because he realises at least subconsciously that it's more genuine or because it's simply closer to his own disposition, he wouldn't be able to say. )

Oh, I don't dislike it. ( he follows up that statement with another sip. ) But I am wary of anything in excess. ( for a moment, it may seem as though he is far away in thought; a moment later, he shakes himself out of it. ) Still, it does seem quite fitting for autumn. They are right about that.

( and, yet another moment later: ) Are you from around here? ( he'd guess that's a no, with her accent and all. )

[andaway]

[Clark is pretty used to alternate worlds by now. He’s known people from very, very different universes and gone though a lot of headaches trying to adapt. He thought he had the hang of it by now, but honestly… having his wife as a teenager who doesn’t recognize him?

Yeah. He definitely wasn’t ready for this.]

You have a point, but it’s just how everyone refers to us. [He shrugs.] You get used to it. You… probably noticed by now that we’re not exactly loved, around here. They respect our powers sometimes, but that’s the best case scenario.

Have you been shown where you’ll be living yet?

[dendarii]

[ Here's an expression they don't see every day: Miles looking incredibly jealous of Bel. ]

Seriously? Those are all good ... [ Though really, considering how much he loves two out of his three powers, can he complain much himself? ] And it's high time we had a teleporter in the group.

[santouryuu]

[...did...he.....

he sloooooowly turns his head in the opposite direction, balefully, as if the street itself has betrayed him.]

Tch, whatever. It's the big housing block place. Maurtia Falls #10's ours.

[WALKS DEFIANTLY IN THE DIRECTION NAMI POINTED OUT...!!! u comin or not]

[shipmaster]

[Now that is a good look. Bel's smile turns distinctly and overtly proud.]

Well, you've always tapped me when you needed the quick getaway. So, what do you have that's not as good?

[shipmaster]

I do. God, that place. I could-! [They snap their mouth closed, then determinedly picks up a forkful of salad and eats it first. When they continue, it's on an entirely different track.] Most Betans don't leave home. They're removed from actually looking at anything in the face. Say, "that's horrible" to the news, maybe answer a poll as "outraged" and go back to complaining about taxes.

[shipmaster]

[Bel gives an rolling shrug and picks up their own mug to drink first.]

I've studied it a while.

[rathercommon]

[ She shakes her head, a bit amused in spite of herself at just how polite that question is. Not where are you from, making no assumptions, but are you from around here. ]

London. [ And then - because if he's from London himself, this next question is inevitable - ] Balham. The Czech neighborhood. [ She says that with all confidence, as though there's a Czech neighborhood in all versions of Balham, which is very much not true. ] What about you? I can't quite tell where you're from.

[jacksonian]

[ He doesn't look up at Thorne. He stabs angrily at his meat, instead, and says - ]

Someone should shove it in their faces. If we could have gotten those kids to Beta, put in an asylum application - I bet Bharaputra would have been desperate enough over the loss of profits to try to go after them, and then they couldn't ignore it, could they...

[shipmaster]

[On the other hand, Bel gives an edged smile at that and a bark of laughter.] You were planning on Escobar. [They wave a hand, vaguely.] Or, at least that was what you told me.

Beta Colony would have been amazing too. You'd have to make sure you had a reporter at the bay so that the politicians couldn't hush it up. It would tangle in immigration for ages. I'd love to watch that one.

[jacksonian]

[ Mark looks up at them. He doesn't smile. His face looks desolate, instead, unhappy. Sure, yeah. Of course his other future self would think the same way. But fail. I fail...

Still, he's encouraged by Thorne's malicious humor. And his clear will to help. ]

I'm...trying here to...figure something out. Something that'll make the brain-transplant business obsolete.

[dendarii]

Well, they're mostly not terrible. I enjoy being able to turn into a bird, for example. And I have a telepathic link with most of the Barrayarans here.

[ To put it very simply. He trust Bel enough to tell them but doesn't want to get into details just yet. ]

The last is utterly pointless. I can shrink myself and anyone I'm touching. [ An annoyed huff. ]. As if I need to be any smaller.

[shipmaster]

Like 'Rejuvenation Therapy'?

[The sardonic edge ebbs immediately after into something thoughtful.] Here's the place to find it, I guess.

[shipmaster]

[A bird... telepathy... ... They'd be lying if they said they weren't picturing a psychic hummingbird right now. They'd be lying badly.]

... I don't know. I've grown rather fond of small things.

C: Nonah

[purple_reign]

[Feel free to notice indeed. As if the once crisp white suit hadn't been enough of an eye-catcher on its own.

Inanna steps out of a shimmering cloud of stardust beside Lucifer—much easier than trying to navigate his way through a crowd of people to get to her. There's something off about him. Maybe it's the bizarrely subdued and modest black outfit he's in. Maybe it's the distinctly uneasy discomfort in the way he's carrying himself at the moment. Maybe it's the fucking spray of blood ringing his neck and spilling down over those muted black clothes. There are a lot of options to pick from.

His mouth twitches uncertainly like he can't decide on an expression at first, but he settles on a miserable attempt at a smile.]

Glad I didn't have to wait ninety years to see you again.

[dendarii]

[ Rude, Bel. Totally rude. ]

You're entirely biased on that. I'd prefer to be a bit taller, thank you.

[shipmaster]

Well, no accounting for taste.