etcelsior | throws thumbtack confetti everywhere

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throws thumbtack confetti everywhere

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.

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Okay, they were on the same page. Or, at least, very close to the same page. At least they were in the same chapter. Since she hadn't seen Elsa after leaving the ice palace, it was harder to say how closely their times aligned. The relief was evident on Anna's face as her awkward expression quickly became a smile. She could have hugged him if she weren't too busy trying to get rid of the cloak she was boiling in.

"I did make it to Arendelle, thanks to you," she began.

The rest, clearly, he didn't remember and Anna wasn't sure how to proceed. Instead, she decided to go with what she knew about her apparently suspended freeze.

"It's still frozen, my heart that is. I don't know why it improved when I showed up here but it hasn't gotten any worse. I felt a lingering chill at first? But since I got up here, it hasn't gotten worse. The white hairs are even gone."

"Still--" Kristoff cut off the thought as she kept speaking, tilting his head up to give her a subtle once-over. She was right, of course. Like before, any signs that there was anything unusual going on were nowhere to be seen. She was right about that.

All he could do was offer a potential explanation. This place was still confusing on its best days, but at least a few set rules were in place. He started moving, walking just so that they weren't standing around in the heat. After another moment of gathering his thoughts, trying to think of the best order and words, he spoke.

"Everybody who comes here gets some sort of magic, or... I don't know if it's magic, but I don't know what else to call it. Here, look." And he reached his fingers into the sleeve of his t-shirt, withdrawing his hand after a moment. He now held the end of a rope in his hand, and he pulled, looping it from hand to elbow, until the other end fell free.

"See? I have ropes, and... I can talk to animals. So... I mean, before and now, maybe it's the magic that's keeping you from freezing."

Anna hardly noticed that she'd cut Kristoff's words off before he really got started. She needed some to talk at for a minute, someone who didn't make her feel like either a crazy person or an abductee. In that regard, Kristoff really was perfect. He managed to be a good listener on most occasions, this one being no exception. It helped that he didn't need the background filled in as a stranger might.

Throwing her cloak over an arm, Anna heaved a sigh of relief. It was still far too warm but at least she didn't find herself going faint. If she didn't know any better, Anna would have sworn she'd become some kind of sun magnet. The air had been stifling, practically sweltering, until she'd shed a layer.

"Magic? You mean like Elsa's?" she asked before Kristoff got to his demonstration.

Blinking, she followed. For the most part. She wouldn't have put it past Kristoff to have rope after his issues at Oaken's Trading Post and he pretty much already talked to animals. Still, she gave him the benefit of the doubt, even if her expression belied how skeptical she was.

"So you're telling me I probably have powers now? No more completely ordinary?"

Anna wasn't sure if she was excited or apprehensive.

"You'd be the only completely ordinary person here if you didn't have something going on."

Maybe it was different from the last time, but she was sure to have one thing or another. If that's what was keeping her warm so easily... Personally, he wasn't going to complain. More likely than not, there was time to figure these things out. What was important now, and easy to handle, was settling in for the ride.

"Should we catch up with your group, or..? I can take you to where the housing is, or we can find Elsa? Or Hans. They're here, by the way."

"That'd be my luck," Anna muttered.

Still, there was time to figure out all that later. Right now she needed to get herself familiarized the world. If the murmurs she'd heard since arriving were to be believed, there was a very good chance her time in this world was going to be long.

Putting on her get-to-business look that Kristoff had seen before, she righted her shoulders. Anna appeared confident, until he said her sister's name. Anna drooped significantly at the mention of Elsa.

"I already saw my sister..." she said quietly. "It went about as well as when you and I found her on the North Mountain. Okay, maybe a tiny bit better. But only barely."

"She didn't..?" Kristoff frowned and looked over to Anna again, as if double-checking for any sign that something was wrong. She was still fine, though. Maybe the bit that was marginally better was Anna's not getting hurt again, or... If nothing else, it wasn't showing. It was probably a non-issue, though. The last time he'd seen Elsa, she hadn't been as wild-eyed and frightened as she'd been at the palace.

"Well," he started again, adjusting his tone. He wanted to be more measured that on edge. "Maybe it's best to give her a little room, then. She'll either come around or she won't, but... You should think about your safety."

Kristoff didn't finish his question but he didn't have to for Anna to know exactly what he meant. There was concern plain in his eyes, the same he'd had the last time they'd been together. Her expression softened some and she tried to look upbeat. Kristoff was the only person in this strange, new place that Anna could be certain cared for her and she didn't want him worried.

"She didn't," Anna confirmed. "It was just her words that were cold."

Anna was being truthful too. While the sisters hadn't had a particularly loving or affectionate reunion, Elsa hadn't struck her again. If anything, Anna's condition had improved since coming to Florida. It made no sense but for now Anna was going to roll with it.

"I know, I know. The last time I saw her, she froze my heart and sent a huge snow monster after us but. I just. I just was so relieved to see her. I didn't think I'd know anyone here and then there she was." Anna's voice dropped, quieter when she went on. "And she acted like she didn't even see me until I was shouting and chasing after her."

Maybe Hans had been right. Maybe she was desperate for love. And dumb too.

" ...I guess I should have known better, huh?"

Kristoff didn't want to say that she should've known better, especially given the fact that she looked sort of sorry about it, but... Maybe she should've known better. Anna wasn't the type of person to consider the warning signs, though. She had a tendency to throw caution to the wind, to barrel forward without really thinking. She did it out of love, though, even if that clouded her judgement, and he was finding it harder and harder to fault her for that.

"No, you just... You care. That's fine, you just-- Not everybody's gonna respond the way you want. You just have to be careful."

He wanted to change the subject, then, because he was bad at these kinds of things. He wasn't suited to council anybody on any sort of relationship issues, given his near lifetime of isolation from other human beings. He'd never had a sister, if you didn't count the younger girls among the trolls, so he couldn't say how things were meant to be.

"Look, I can't-- I'm don't have an answers about the Elsa thing, but I'm around if you need me. We can get you settled, at least, if you want. I'll have to call my job, but... It's fine. They're fine."

Anna did care and some small part of her was resentful of that. Not that she had the capacity so much as she was too naive for her own good. There wasn't a real way to change that and Anna wasn't sure she wanted to, even if she could. It had its consequences but it left the world seeming to be a much more livable, forgiving place. Considering Kristoff's suggestion to be cautious, she sighed a bit dramatically but just managed to be agreeable about it.

"I guess your right about that. If my own sister doesn't care, it's probably pretty foolish of me to expect anyone else to."

That sounded more miserable than Anna intended and she quickly tried to amend it.

"Well, I mean, care in the sense that they're going to be someone I can trust," she said. "Not everyone will end up being as nice as you were."

The way her follow-up came out ended up being far more loaded than she meant for it to be. Sometimes that whole speaking before thinking thing really did trip Anna up. She just hoped that Kristoff took it as kindly, and sincerely, as she meant for it to be.

Glancing sideways, Anna tried to steer the topic to somewhere, anywhere, less awkward.

"Right. I mean I can't even explain my sister, I don't expect you or anyone else too. For now I'm just going to focus on getting used to this place. From what everyone says, it's a one way trip and I'm stuck here?"

Kristoff didn't have anything to offer while she spoke for a moment and amended herself. He just fixed her with something like a sympathetic look, a dash of fond amusement thrown into it. Geez, she could talk. If she wasn't troubled, he'd be tempted to see how long she could go without an answer. For now, however... She needed answers, and she'd just asked a question.

"You're stuck until you vanish again, at least, and... I can't really explain the details of that. It's weird."

Anna had already come and gone, after all, and didn't know it. Nobody could fully explain the mechanics of coming here and leaving here, and if they couldn't do it, what hope did he have?

He sighed and reached into his back pocket to pull out his communicator, which was one of a million things that would require an explanation. He'd take care of it in a moment, though. Right now... "Give me a second. I'll call my job. Then we can take care of everything else."

Though Kristoff wasn't trying to confuse her more, Anna had caught that 'again' and it left her wondering. Ultimately she decided it was best left alone for now. It was confusing enough being in a whole new world and trying to get her grasp on that. Really, she was just trying to take solace in finding the only person she knew, for certain, wanted her to stay safe. That had been the last thing Kristoff said before they'd parted ways at the castle gates.

That helped make everything just a bit more bearable.

Affixing on her 'I'll get through anything' smile, righting her skirts, and nodding to no one in particular, she waited for him to make his call. Whatever making a call was. She couldn't hide her fascination, especially when he started talking into the small rectangle he'd been pushing pictures on.

"What is it?" Anna mouthed silently, eyes going wide.

Kristoff opened his mouth to try and answer, but the ring kicked in on the other side of things. He set his index finger to his lips in a 'be quiet' sort of gesture, because these things were strange and required concentration. Midway into the third ring, there was an answer.

"Hi. I mean... Hello. Right. This is Kristoff." If any part of the other speaker's conversation was audible, it was the good-natured laugh after his clumsy introduction, not that the rest was any more graceful. He did manage to explain and excuse himself, however, with an apology and an assurance that he'd be back tomorrow and he's do twice the work, if it helped. After another brief struggle with hanging up, it was all a done deal.

He shrugged and passed his communicator to Anna. "It's, um... There's a lot of little machines, here. This one lets you talk to people that are far away."

It took all of her self control but Anna did a better job of being quiet more quickly than she had during the incident with the wolves. She was still staring, getting all up in Kristoff's personal space to get a better look at the strange device. The cars had been big and hard to miss but who knew there were little conveniences like the phone too?

When he handed it off, Anna wasted no time poking around on the phone. She managed to turn the volume up, vibrate setting on and off twice, and then accidentally pick some absolutely hideous ringtone that she couldn't figure out how to turn off.

"It makes music too?" she asked in awe, holding the phone out so Kristoff could fix the looping eight second melody she'd set off.

Oh, geez, that's-- It figured that Anna would find the most annoying, noisy thing that the phone could do. He winced when it went off, and frowned briefly at Anna as he reached out to take it back. It didn't take him too long to turn the thing off, and he returned it to his back pocket afterward. No more letting Anna play with things.

"The radio's better for music," he ultimately answered, regaining a more pleasant demeanor. He liked the radio. There'd been one in the ice rink, and there was one at the stable. He could leave it on while he worked. "They have something for everything, here."

Including refrigerators. And freezers. They were the worst.

"Well... I'm off for the rest of the afternoon. We should get your ducks in a row."

Anna didn't know what a radio was but she'd figure it out soon enough. Playing music at random would quickly grow to become her new favorite thing. Really, singing to herself for years and year wouldn't be half as enjoyable as having other people sing to her instead. For now though, the world was Anna's oyster and would probably remain as such for some time. There were nearly endless things to discover.

That suggestion that there was something for everything lit up her eyes. Anna had a wild imagination. The things she could dream up were exciting and that there was a chance they could be real was even more so.

"Okay. Well. I have this file. I guess we could start with that?" Kristoff was the only one Anna was sure she could trust with its contents. She handed it over to him. "Supposedly has my powers, if I really did get some. What did I get? Hopefully good ones?"

Kristoff was too late to protest properly as she handed the file to him, and he flipped it open to give it a curtesy once over. It was the same as his had been. There was her photo, her name, the section that he know listed medical information, the section that listed powers, and so on. In the end, he just huffed and passed it back over.

"You can read, can't you?" He asked, attempting a tone that implied his impatience, rather than his inability. He'd learned to read before he'd found a home in the Valley, and he'd never been particularly good at it. Given that and ages without anything resembling proper practice, and... Well. It wasn't his best skill by a pretty good margin.

Anna could probably read very well, though. She probably owned books and everything. She could read her own file better than he could.

While Anna could be slow on the uptake, she wasn't an idiot. Kristoff had used that tone before and yet she'd still managed to endear herself to him. Whatever his complaint was, there was probably some merit to it. Anyways, this was a whole new world. Anna was going to have to start doing her own lifting sooner or later and this was probably less frightening that Anna was internalizing it to be.

So, she took back the file, demurely, and willed herself to look at the contents. Anna opened the file almost gingerly and had to take a deep breath before she started reading.

"How would they even know that?" she demanded, not of Kristoff but of the area at large.

Skimming down the rest of the text, there were a few vague sounds before her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Chocolate?! REALLY?!!!" Oh she was positively thrilled. But wait. There was more. "Huh. I mean. It's useful. Oh. ...Oh! Okay that is great."

Well, all of that self-muttering doesn't actually tell him much of anything. It does earn her a raised eyebrow on his part, however, and he leans over her shoulder to look at the document again for himself, as if that might help. It didn't, so he finally shrugged and gave in.

"Alright. So what is it? Just chocolate something-or-other?"

Anna looks up, realizing only after the fact that she was talking to herself. It would take a long time before she broke the habit. Too much time alone and Anna didn't have a companion like Sven for her to play off of. Turning to look back at Kristoff, she gave him a big smile.

"Well, apparently! I can turn food into chocolate," Anna led with. "Which is kind of the best power ever, right? Also, it said something about empathy and absorbing the sun. I guess the second of those is why my heart isn't freezing right now?"

Really, she just wanted to get her hands on some food and make chocolate.

He doesn't know if he agrees to her sweets-related powers being the best. He wasn't entirely well-versed in chocolate, but sugary things tended to be a little overindulgent for his tastes, even now that he found them affordable. Empathy, though, and absorbing the sun... So, this time Anna was a leaf-like chocolatier with a talent for empathy. And that last bit implied what, exactly?

A little more wary about the prospect, he cleared his throat and shrugged it off, tucking his fingers into the pockets of his jeans just to have something to do with his hands.

"Well. Lucky for you, there's plenty of sunshine in Florida. I'm pretty sure you fry eggs without a fire, out here."

"It says that it will keep my "medical condition" under control and give me near limitless energy. What does that mean?"

Anna genuinely couldn't imagine having more energy than she already did. In the coming months she'd find that she rarely needed to sleep. There was a whole new world for her to experience and she had the endless time to do so.

For now though, she shrugged. If her heart was kept safe, that was all she could ask for.

"Have you tried going to the beach yet? Supposedly it make the hot weather more bearable."

Anna already had unlimited energy, if anybody cared for Kristoff's opinion on the matter. He was of a similar mind, though, when it came to her health. So long as it kept her from freezing over, the sun was free to lend her as much energy as it would.

That thought actually lead smoothly enough into an answer for her question. He snorted. "Yeah, I've been a couple of times. I keep getting sunburned."

"Bet you wish you had some of Wandering Oaken's sun balm now, don't you?"

Anna grinned a little, clearly finding herself to be rather clever.

For her, that time wasn't even a week ago. Time was a funny thing when people took different paths to get to the same present. She couldn't really imagine that Kristoff had actually been in Florida for months now.

"When we have free time, you should take me to the beach," she informed him, probably sounding like the bossy princess she was. Amending it, she tried to sound a little nicer about it all. "Please? I've never been to one."

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throws thumbtack confetti everywhere

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