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

[rathercommon]

Polish?

[ Kitty blinks slightly, a little startled by that. She knows better than to deny the truth of what he's said - after all, a multitude of worlds means a multitude of truths - but that's just bloody weird. Growing up surrounded by the Czechs had been so central to her life as a school. Her friends at school, her enemies - the psychological reality of living in a place subject to surveillance and raids when anti-immigrant sentiment was particularly high...She reaches up to tuck a bit of hair behind her ear, a gesture of uncertainty and discomfort.

Right. ]

Well. That's a strange thing to be different, isn't it. - But why are you afraid you're from the country? [ She settles her smile back into place. ] I'm not about to tease you for it, I promise.

[ettersberg]

Polish. [ the confirmation is immediate, not gentle but at least entirely neutral. nightingale has not tried to wrap his mind fully around the concept of multiple universes, he has simply accepted it as given and moved on. pragmatism has always been more his style than scientific curiosity. ]

Most Londoners aren't too fond of anything outside of London. [ though he has been in london so long now that there are times he thinks he knows the city better than even the people who have been born into it — and at the same time, it isn't as though he's spent the last decades exploring it, exactly. ]

[rathercommon]

[ She gives a little shake of her head in response to that confirmation - not denial, because she can't deny it, just a little bit of...distancing. A general indication of her inability to approach that. Then she takes a breath and forges right ahead, joking: ]

Yeah, but be fair: Most Londoners aren't too fond of London, either. We're just a very contrary lot. [ And then, abruptly, with a focus in her voice that makes it rather clear that this isn't small-talk: ] What's the government like where you're from?

[ettersberg]

[ it seems an odd question at first, to nightingale, but he realises almost as soon as he thinks about it that it isn't so odd at all. ]

It's a parliamentary monarchy. There's the Queen, and then there's Parliament, and of course the PM and his ministers. Oh, and the shadow cabinet, though they've not done much of influence as of late that I can tell.

[ and he almost doesn't want to ask, but — ] Are things different in your world, then?

[rathercommon]

[ A short nod. She watches him attentively as she speaks, no hint of a smile now. ]

No monarch. I've got to assume we had one at one point, but I don't know when that changed. Parliament was dissolved a long time ago - again, it's not completely clear when. We're ruled by the Council - headed up by the Prime Minister - and they still take titles like they were democratically elected, but in truth they're an oligarchy. The composition of the Council only really changes when someone's murdered or arrested. People do vote for the members of Parliament in your England, yeah?

[ettersberg]

[ that sounds rather frightening, and even nightingale with all his control and stiff upper lip is visibly taken aback by what she's saying. it isn't doubt, though — he believes her, he believes that it is perfectly possible for this to have happened in another universe, that it could have happened in his own, with only a number of seemingly small changes.

politics are a fickle thing, and too many people strive to maximise their own power, once they get a taste of it. ]

Yes. England is still a democracy, where I am from.

[rathercommon]

[ A short nod. Then, directly: ]

Have you got magic?

[ettersberg]

[ it's not strictly speaking a secret, really, and while nightingale doesn't want the existence of magic to become common knowledge, she asked outright, so surely she must already know it exists.

so he gives a nod. ] I do, yes. Do you? [ she hardly strikes him as the typical practitioner - too young, for one, at least to be anything but starting out - but then there are more types of magic than the newtonian. ]