etcelsior | Lies a place that few have seen.

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ That long...Here, where Mark is so firmly - if not fully comfortably - integrated in amongst the Vorkosigans, it's strange to think about. It seems...difficult, from his current perspective, to conceive of resisting that siren's call of family. ]

I'm not going to apologize for that.

I wouldn't expect it there. Besides, I think I understand, even if I was put out at the time.

Uh...You do?

[ Since Mark doesn't. Not completely. ]

Well, not entirely, probably. But some of my best friends were clones growing up. Totally valid form of reproduction on Beta Colony, even if it's a totally different set of parenting classes.

[They roll a shrug.] Some choose to stay as far from their progenitor as they can. People are complicated and any kind of non-norm has expectations.

[ He sits there for a moment, mouth hanging slightly open. Thorne knew...clones? Of course he did, it's bloody Beta, isn't it - But it's hard to wrap his head around this concept of clones-as-equal-citizens. Miles had stressed that, of course, according to Betan law he's family - that had been the crux of Miles' argument to him, of course, but...That had all seemed so theoretical. But here, Thorne is talking about...actual people, actual clones who'd lived like people, and...

It's weird. It's really weird. He's just so used to the Jacksonian attitudes that he can't even wrap his head around a less brutal system. ]

They were your...friends?

[ He knows he sounds like an idiot. He wonders what he can say that will make him sound like less of an idiot, but...he doesn't really know. ]

[As much as they are trying to hold onto that edge, it softens a little. They are not done being mad, goddamn it, but... this? This they get.]

Arin and Nguen in my final year of Requireds. We took a lot of the same electives. Got into the same sort of trouble. [For a moment, Bel kind of wondered what they were up to now.]

... It's very different. The most you worry about is the usual off-comments. I can't say it's the way it should be. But it's a world closer.

Oh. Yeah.

[ He can barely choke that out. For a moment, he feels dizzy, his throat tight with tears. Get it together, Mark, he thinks fiercely, but for just a moment he wonders what he would have been like on Beta. No one's property, no one's prisoner, the victim of just a few off-comments...He thinks of his whole creche, all of them, on Beta. Imagines all of them alive. Dozens of friends, laughing and jostling and playing like they used to when they were all little together. He can almost feel all of them around him for just a moment, or the ghosts of them, filling in the spaces around him...

He lifts his napkin to his lips and tries to turn a choked half-sob into a cough. He breathes heavily as he can, slow, to swallow down his feelings. After a few moments, he coughs again, this time more successfully, and lowers the napkin. Change the topic, he needs to change the topic - ]

Uh. Your...work here. In this...world. What are you going to do?

[Goddamnit. Goddamnit. Goddamnit. GODDAMNIT. They'd do the whole stupid, idiotic.. noble plan all over again. Firebomb the whole wretched hell and be done with it. Under the table, their hands clench... and then deliberately relax.]

Delivery service, apparently. I can see why I was picked for it, [Bel smirks.] but I'm thinking I may be able to do better on the free market.

[ Thank god...Thank god. That's a safer topic. Another cough, and he almost has his self-control back. ]

Why, uh...Why were you picked for it?

Apparently, I can fold space here. So I could just drop you off somewhere after this, if you like.

Lies a place that few have seen.

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