throws thumbtack confetti everywhere

[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 anyone's thread, either!

And remember to have fun!

01. Your memory is hazy and you might feel increasingly frustrated or anxious, or maybe you're excited as soldiers march past, barely glimpsing you. One second you're somewhere underground, the next you're enveloped in blue light, and suddenly you find yourself directly under Flordia sun's bright and burning glare. A female soldier steps toward you with a wide smile on her face and directs you to a car, ready to debrief you. You realize you are not the only one, surrounded by equally confused or eager faces... and you're all sporting a digital tattoo on your wrist.

02. Welcome to Cape Canaveral, where the smell of the ocean is in the air and locals are more than pleased to see new imPorts roaming their streets. They wave, they cheer, they ask for pictures as politely as they can. The more inhuman you look, or if you're wearing a costume, the more likely locals are to approach. Hey, enjoy the moment! The popular malt shop is offering you a free drink if you need it.

03. The technology in this world is certainly something. The cars are clearly modeled after popular 50s cars, but they hover several feet above the ground as they drive down the street. There are digital jukeboxes in restaurants, motorcycles also hover through traffic, advertisements can be seen on a digital projector on the taller buildings. Even kids on skateboards appear to drift a safe ten feet off the ground while playing!

04. Wherever you are, you can hear the loud revving of an engine, distance at first before you finally see it: a hovercar bursting around the corner, going beyond the maximum speed limit and just barely making its sharp turn. It doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon, not with two police cars trailing it... and uh oh. Those skateboarding kids don't have much time to get out of the way as the car comes speeding down the road. You've been brought here for a reason Hero — so you better act fast.

Comments

[gottaswing]

Didn't really ask our opinion, huh? [But, yeah, he definitely follows her reasoning there and he's seen enough movies to think in a similar line, but that's the point. That kind of stuff happened in movies, not in real life and not to him.]

We don't, no. Just the significantly less cool type that drives on the road. How about your place? Everything here seems like... something out of a comic book, really.

[choreographics]

I didn't read a lot of them growing up. [Or, you know, any. He totally saw some of the X-Men movies though. Just don't ask him anything about them and it'll be fine.] This...is really weird to me. I kinda thought I was dreaming but usually my dreams feature less powers and more music. Actually that'd be a lot less weird than this.

[He pauses again, finally settling on a shrug which causes a strange sort of rippling effect without him meaning to.] Not that I've seen. I'm pretty sure I'm here by myself. [Which is also sort of disturbing considering the last thing he remembers from home is being with his parents and his sister.] And...you're here with her.

[choreographics]

Trust me, the last person I want to see is you, too. [The tone's a little clipped, a little annoyed and stressed but he's trying not to let it seep through.]

...elastic. Um. Elasticity. And it's not just my voice.

[gottaswing]

Hey, man, I didn't say that. [Normally he'd have added 'second to last', but he did catch on to that weirdness in Ryan's voice and the bottom line is that, really, even seeing the lesser of two evils is better than no one from home.]

Yeah? What else can you do?

[castellano]

See, so how could this all be in your head. [ Vivid imagination, maybe. ] Like what kind of music? [ Springsteen, perhaps? ]

Well, I'm not here with her. We're coworkers. Dr. Danny Castellano.

[exsithstential]

04: [It is but a simple thing, to move among the masses. Like a shadow, Revan glides through the evening bustle unnoticed, yet not unseen...

You'd be surprised how easily the mind can be... coaxed, lulled if you will, into apathy. To coerce the mind to ignore what it's eyes desperately try to capture. A gentle push of will to keep prying eyes away.

But this was a limited technique, completely ineffectual on the strong minded and other imports. So the specter kept to side roads, cloak pulled in tight and hood hung low to cover the metallic angles of his mask.

Like this he could move as he pleased, take in the sights of the strange, yet soothingly familiar sights. In a way the spired city reminded him of Coruscant and he mused that this could have been what the capital world of the Republic looked like in it's infancy.

But his brief reverie is cut short by the all to familiar wail of a siren, closing fast. For a moment he stops, tensed in the shadows as he stretchs outwards with his thoughts.

No. They weren't after him. There was a strong sense of hostility, but it was directed elsewhere, focused and returned by two distinct entities. Satisfied he pulls back, returning his attention to the world around. The pursuit would pass by on the nearby street and he would leave them to it unhindered.

Before he could take another step an impulse strikes him, and he recoils just as a swarm of kids zips out of nearby alley, cutting past him.

And straight into the path of the approaching vehicles.]

Wait-! STOP!

[But it wouldn't be enough to save them, and he knew it. His words were little more than reflex. With literally nothing more than a moment to react he reaches deep within, tapping into the swirl of power inside and around him.

The Force.

Gritting his teeth as he focuses, Revan focuses the power into a condensed field within his clutching hands before releasing it with a sound halfway between a grunt and a snarl. But not at the children. With how fast he had to force out the blast, the resulting impact would shatter them.

Instead he aims the kinetic burst at the leading car, the unmarked hover vehicle. With the shriek of twisting, wrenching metal the car slams to the side. All four windows explode in a shower of glittering shards, lacerating the man behind the wheel and sending the gravity defying vehicle into the wall of a nearby deli.

With grim satisfaction, Revan stood there street side, surveying his work. The car was totaled and the man driving it severely wounded. But the children where ok. In their shock, many of them had fallen from their boards and were sitting in awed silence at the scene that very nearly was of their deaths. Some skinned knees and, Reven was sure, one of them had a twisted ankle.

But they were alive.]

[dualcitizen]

The ones I've seen at home drive on the roads, too, and there aren't really that many. Or... any, in Deluxe. Guess that's why I don't know many people who know something about cars.

[She hasn't read any comic books, but she's hung around with the guys and seen enough of Dutch's art to know what Chad's getting at.] You're right about this place, though. If it wasn't so real it would feel like a set up or something.

[choreographics]

Well I did. [The words roll off of his tongue without a lot of thought behind it. He might apologize later, but for the most part he's not even thinking about Chad's feelings or anything. Chad can take care of himself.]

I'm not sure. I haven't really tried anything else yet. [He's been a little preoccupied exploring the city and also trying to find Sharpay.]

[gottaswing]

Deluxe is your city? I'm from Albuquerque. [Even as he talks, he's looking around, lifting a hand to rub his neck. She's right, this place looks like a film set or something, like this is all an elaborate prank.]

Yeah. I'm kinda waiting for the green screen effect to fail. But then there's the powers thing... Hard to deny it when you can actually do it, right?

[gottaswing]

[Chad just shrugs it off, literally, because his feelings aren't really invested in what Ryan Evans thinks of him, even if he's the only person he knows from back home. In fact, given he's an Evans, anything other but snide comments would be more confusing.]

Yeah, me neither. I just did that accidentally. Kinda. The second time was on purpose. And the other thing I can apparently do, I've no idea what that's even supposed to mean. Sounds like some yoga bullshit.

[choreographics]

You'd be surprised what can be in a person's head! [Thinking outside of the box is pretty much encouraged in the theatre. But maybe people don't actually get that. Wait. He sort of just blinks in response.] Like...like Broadway, mostly.

[Clarification was needed for that? Riiight.] Fair enough. I'm Ryan. Evans. [Not that that makes a huge difference here.] Wait you're not an OB/GYN too, are you?

[dualcitizen]

[When he says Albuquerque she's visibly surprised. Even though she's apparently in Florida, the idea that anything outside of Detroit is livable is still a shock she's not used to.] Detroit Deluxe. You're really from Albuquerque?

[She shakes her head slightly, focusing.] I wouldn't know-- I haven't exactly tried mine. Have you?

[choreographics]

[...you had him at yoga and lost him at bullshit, Danforth.]

Okay first? Yoga is not bullshit. Also what does that even mean?

[gottaswing]

Yeah, born and bred. Have you ever been there? [He sees the surprise on her face, but he has no idea what to make of it, really.]

And, yeah. I tried a bit, supposed to have superspeed and apparently I do. Not sure what the other thing even means though.

[gottaswing]

Not saying it is, dude. Just, this sounds like bullshit and reminds me of yoga. My mom does yoga, it's all cool.

[Touchy, touchy. Not surprising, but this is still the longest conversation he's ever had with Ryan. By far.]

It said 'Energy Manipulation' in the file.

[slightlyoffchilt]

And my name is Frederick Chilton. Doctor. Frederick Chilton.

What, ah, might your discipline be, Doctor Lahiri? Perhaps a more convenient discussion than power exchanges.

[choreographics]

[He just raises an eyebrow, staring at Chad for a moment with a look that definitely says 'You are such an idiot.' But he just takes a deep breath, leaning against the wall and folding his arms over his chest as he looks to the sky.]

...you're dating Taylor McKessie and you're telling me you can't figure out what that means?

[gottaswing]

It's dating. She doesn't make you take a test for it.

[Much. He's actually hurt for a moment, because that is going after insecurities he'd rather not have dragged to the surface, but then he reminds himself that this is Ryan Evans, nothing but a jerk from the drama department and he pushes it aside.]

I can figure out what it means, just not how do to anything with it yet.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[He takes a moment -- his wishes his perusal was briefer, because humoring the groans of alleyway deviants is hardly something to engage in routinely.

But something itches his frontal lobes. Something makes him pause, and listen; there was something in the tremor of her voice. Some flicker of memory in the contours of her face.]

Oh my god. Abigail Hobbs?

[Chilton's pulled from further down the timeline, past the trial dates that Will suffered. Past the scandal of an evidential ear in a manila folder. The odds of coming across the Hobbs girl now, when he had only known of her in presumed death, that chance seemed much too slim to merit anything beyond coincidental.

And yet he finds the coincidence unsettling.]

[dualcitizen]

No. [She debates whether or not to add "because your city's a wasteland where I'm from," but decides against it. A little too much for a first meeting.] I don't get out of Deluxe much.

[She looks suitably impressed.] Wow, superspeed! That's cool. But what's the other thing?

[gottaswing]

Not really much to write home about anyway, unless you really like the desert.

[Although despite those words, he kind of loves it, so, yes. Definitely a better choice to wait for a later conversation with that kind of reveal.]

Energy manipulation? I mean, don't get me wrong, I can kinda guess what it's supposed to do, I just don't really know how to. What about you?

[castellano]

Oh. [ Uh. Huh. Not... commenting on Broadway. ] Like - like your dreams are a musical?

[ Yep. Very needed. ] I am, yeah. You know guys can be OB's, too. In fact, we have more guys in the office, than women. Mindy's the only girl. And we have midwives upstairs. Both of them are guys. [ Hate them, though. ] Not that mid-wives are OB's. They are not OB's.

[assassinat]

That has to be the needle in the haystack. A task better suited for someone with plenty of free time and nothing else to entertain them with.

[assassinat]

[ It's no secret when he begins to approach her. Having spent so much time paying attention to the things around her, people moving out of the way suddenly with hushed murmurs is enough to catch her attention even in a busy city.

That name though. It isn't unfamiliar, but very few dare call her by it. A hint of the past is all it is. A few letters off from nostalgia and "current time" shouldn't catch her off-guard in this way, yet it somehow does.

No, that isn't right. What catches her off-guard is the voice and how the sanguine tone tugs at something within her. It isn't possible, a part of her insists while reality reminds her of the situation they're all in. Having been here for only a day, she's figured out that people arrive not only from different universes, but alternate points in time. There's no telling what he remembers and what he doesn't; a lifelong curse between the two. ]

James. [ The look in her eyes isn't as cold per the usual, but she's internally distant. ]

[assassinat]

[ A pause to consider what he means by that. Having heard from others that they were "missing" parts of them, is it possible he was inflicted with the same ailment? All this talk of superpowers and imPorts is nauseating enough without the thought that her allies were disabled in some way.

Disabled. Might not be the best word to use around him, the part of her that still has manners forces into her mind. ]

I've noticed. [ Heh. ]

No comment on the cheap perfume I've had to substitute with though I suppose it's better you didn't say anything related to that. You do know what's said about women who wear that kind of thing.

[ Old habits are hard to break and it's harder now to not fall back into playful banter with him. Makes everything else that's happened less suffocating and right now she needs all the room to breathe that she can get. Being out of her element is reinvigorating, but a nuisance all the same. ]