TIME TO GET READYYYYYY

[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?

In the wake of the recent blackout, neighborhoods are coming together to repair damage done by miscreants and share resources. In one of the commercial areas, retailers are taking advantage of the mild weather to hold a sidewalk sale. New arrivals and long-settled imPorts alike will receive a small discount at most stores, and while a few locals give them envious looks, many are just interested in what they might buy. You could set a trend, hero!

02. De Chima, Virginia, is a large city with a healthy economy, and though it's quieter than Heropa, there are still large numbers of citizens to be 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 remains high here, 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, favorite foods, and more!

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has had its ups and downs since imPorts started reappearing. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while others have swooped in to help the criminal industry thrive. More so here than the streets of any other imPort city, the battle between good and evil looks more like a war of escalation than a heroic tale. That might make the less than warm welcome imPorts are given in the city a little more understandable. The emergence of locals with superpowers is hardly helping. While some of these individuals have turned to crime, many locals seem more inclined to defend their native powered drug dealer than help the non-native hero bring them to justice. Who are you to tell them how to live?

There's still snow on the ground in Maurtia Falls, and some locals have decided to hold an impromptu snowman-sculpting contest. But...wait. That one looks familiar! Some of the snow people are definitely meant to be imPorts, but they aren't exactly flattering likenesses.

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. To be American is to be part of a melting pot, and that there’s more money to be made by the thriving local industries hardly hurts.

Go wander and get your shopping in, folks. Any imPort willing to be interviewed about how their New Year Resolution is going is instantly surrounded by a small gaggle of people.

Comments

[outofthepast]

"Starting to think I'm a couple decades too early, yeah." Nick turned to the other man and gave him a quick once-over. He looked like he had at least some familiarity with the parts he was digging through, so he was probably worth chatting with.

"Luckily, I'm long past using the manufacturer's recommended parts. It's nothing urgent, but I figured I'd better see what I can collect before I end up in a scrapheap somewhere."

He turned to Mitchell. "Don't suppose you'd know where I could find 2mm titanium screws around here."

[viced]

"Probably," he said with a shrug, and looked back into the box of parts. "Probably not in a box of radio parts, but if you can't find them here, I'm sure there's a Radio Shack -- or something like it -- around here where you could get some," he paused, and he tipped his head.

"That's...oddly specific. What do you need them for? One of your...circuit boards you were talking about?"

He didn't think it was likely he needed them for himself -- not that his entire...everything wasn't a symphony of repairs needed, but he wasn't rude enough to point it out, either. That was just a one-way ticket to never making friends, and he knew better than that.

[outofthepast]

Nick held up his right hand, a skeletal metal frame where presumably, there had once been synthetic skin more like his other hand. "Arthritis," he said.

He paused just long enough for it to be clear that was a joke. "Joints get a little gummed up from time to time. The titanium screws will hold together better. The circuitboards, I take apart for the connectors and wiring. Fits decently with the rest of the parts I can run maintenance on."

He gestured up beneath his hat. "I'm not quite brave enough to go tinkering in my head or my inner workings too much. I stick to the bits that won't accidentally turn me into a toaster."

[viced]

Well.

That was morbid. He rubbed at the back of his neck, a little awkward, his head tipped down. "Well, we're the same way, so I won't blame you for not conducting brain surgery on yourself. I hear that can be...dangerous."

To put it mildly. "Really, I'm sure we could have something custom-made for you here... if whatever we find doesn't work. There are a lot of imports around who know a lot about technology. I'm just a..." person who builds laser guns from dreams. "I'm really just a tinkerer."

[outofthepast]

Nick cracked a smile at that reaction. Bit of an unfunny joke, really, given that he's a few hundred years behind anybody who could help him if he did need a major tune-up. Dr. Amari wouldn't exist for at least a hundred and fifty more years.

Though the guy's remark about having things custom-made does give him hope. "That makes two of us, then," he said. "A tinkerer by necessity."

He tucked his bare hand back into the pocket of his coat. "I don't suppose synths are a thing around here. But any kind of mechanical expert would be a big load off my mind, if you happen to have any friends, Mister...?"

[viced]

"Hundred," he replied automatically, and held out a hand like it was nothing. Despite the fact that he'd seen one hand that looked a lot more...skeletal in nature, it didn't bother him. Machines didn't, anyway. Probably a side-effect of that scarring. "Senator Hundred, actually," he grinned, and it was at least a touch genuine.

"Anyway, De Chima is the place to go for that. I know there's that one guy with the power armor," who's a dick. "There's also plenty of other super-science types that could probably get you going. You'd be surprised at some of the tech they can do here. I'm unfortunately just a...listener more than a builder these days."

To put it mildly. "But maybe one of them could help you stay in good, ah, repair? It's at least better than hoping for the best and duct-taping yourself together. And trust me, I've done it."

[outofthepast]

"Oh, excuse me. Senator Hundred." Wow. It's almost nostalgic hearing a title like that. Since he offered, Nick reached out and shook his hand regardless of any bits of hand he happened to be missing on the right.

"Pleased to meet you. Name's Valentine-- Nick Valentine."

Power armor in De Chima? Nick hoped the guy wasn't anything like the other guys with power armor that he was familiar with.

"Back where I'm from, you're even lucky to find duct tape. I'd settle for anybody who can tell which end of a screwdriver goes in the slot." That was accompanied by a wry little smirk. "Thanks for the tip, Senator."

[viced]

"That... probably made me sound like an ass, huh?" he rubbed at his neck, and shook his head. "I'm sure it doesn't mean much to you, if you're...looking for duct tape -- but sometimes people like to know who to look for when shit goes down."

Or maybe he just had to excuse himself for being full of himself.

One or the other. It wasn't like he'd admit to trying to cover for his own problems. Never.

"I mean, you'll find anything like that, Nick -- Nick's okay, right? I mean, the tech here is pretty complex. What did you have that's better -- I mean, other than robots. That's...not something we have at home." Kind of don't have.

[outofthepast]

"Don't let the pokerface fool you, Senator. I'm pretty difficult to offend," said Nick, gesturing to the not-quite-expressionless beaten-up excuse for an ugly mug under his hat. He offered him what passed for a slightly friendlier smile. "And Nick's more than fine."

Since showing up in the relatively oblivious Pre-War time, Nick had been trying to figure out exactly how to gently break it to people exactly what kind of nightmare future he'd been yanked out of. There really wasn't a nice way to put "picture this place, except it's a nuclear-winter hellscape full of death and mutant despair." Nick was going to attempt to, anyway.

"It might be hard to believe from the looks of me, but I'm pretty close to the top-of-the-line. Just a couple of model years and a century or so behind the cutting edge, so to speak." Okay. Time for that tact he'd been trying to practice.

"Tech's pretty far ahead where I'm used to. It's just... suffered a bit of an setback, let's say. An apocalyptic one." He folded his arms. "Duct tape and screwdrivers are about the best most can hope for. For all I know, you folks could be way ahead of back home."

[viced]

Oh.

The apocalypse.

Well, there was no shock on his face. If anything, he just looked at him with a studied, neutral face. Actually -- he looked through him for a moment, like he needed to stare him down, and needed to weather the data. He held a hand to his chin, before finally dropped it, and nodded.

"I see," he said, and rolled a shoulder. "Lots of worlds are like that," he added. Not his, of course. Not yet.

"So you're about as advanced as they can get?" he tipped his head, and then winced. "You'll be in good company. There are lots of... Artificial Intelligences here. Robots, cyborgs, the whole gamut," he grinned, although it was with little humor. "Sadly, I don't know if you'll be almost top of the line, anymore."

[outofthepast]

Nick shrugged, eyes darting off to the side in what would have been a slightly awkward expression, if not plastered on the face of a synth.

"Eh... that's a big 'about.' My newer-model cousins are about as human as you can get without being human." He smirked. "It's a bit of a touchy subject, and I'm sure you can guess why."

He gestured to himself. "I hope all your top-of-the-line models haven't been blown to bits and screwed back together a time or six. If I was the best anybody had to offer around here, I'd be pretty damn disappointed in this place."

[viced]

"Oh," he paused, and shoved a hand in his pocket. "Yeah. I can see why."

Says the man. With circuits on his face. Looking askance. He can't help it, politician he may be, but he may also be a semi-human disaster. There's a pause, before he nodded. "I'm pretty sure we don't have that problem, but what do you mean they're about as human as you can get? How does that work?"

Because he couldn't imagine it. "They're not flesh and bone, are they?" He didn't know if he could hear flesh and bone.

[outofthepast]

Nick may not be quite as expressive as an ordinary person, but the look on his face at that question said it all.

"Not sure how the Institute puts 'em together, if that's what you're asking. But a lot of 'em don't even realize what they are until it's suddenly revealed to them. So... yeah. That human."

He tucked his metal hand into the pocket of his tattered coat. "Pretty screwed up situation all around. Of course, 'screwed up' is a nice way to describe the Commonwealth. Best anybody can do is scrape by, try to lend a hand to their fellow man-- or ghoul, or synth, or whoever else needs it. That's always been my philosophy."

[viced]

"What, like a..." he waved a hand, searching for the word. "Some kind of good samaritan?" he finally finished, his lips quirking in a smile.

"Doesn't sound too bad, actually. Get an apocalypse, try to help people out. Sounds about like what people would need, right? At least...if things are as bad as I'm starting to....think they are?" he paused, even so.

People who didn't know they were robots sounded... well. It wasn't too close, but at the same time... "How do people figure out that they're...robots, anyway?"

[outofthepast]

"I'd say they're getting better, actually. Better than they used to be. Not for a lack of blood, sweat, and tears." Nick paused for a moment, vaguely gesturing at himself. "Or the non-flesh and blood equivalent, for some of us."

"If you listen to the gossip, the Institute snatches people in the night and replaces them with synth replicas that they can control. Can't say that never happens, unfortunately. But most of the free synths I've talked to seem to have just... realized one day that they weren't human. Some of 'em panic and run away. The Railroad tries to help them, even wipes their memories to hide them if they want to forget the truth. I can't say I blame them."

"As for me," Nick added. "I just looked down one day and realized I was made of metal."

[viced]

"Can't imagine that was hard to miss," he said, with a soft snort.

At least the guy was sarcastic enough, and self-depreciating enough. That was something at least the politician could understand. It was his language, so to speak. He shook his head, even still, curious about the idea of just...waking up one day and realizing you weren't human. It didn't settle right with him, but then again... Why would it?

"That's kind of fucked up, isn't it? One day just realizing you're...not? And if they're running away -- or having their memories wiped -- that's... it's not a good thing to figure out, is it? Even if it didn't fuck with your sense of self."

[outofthepast]

"No. It didn't take me being a detective to figure it out, let's say."

Nick turned his attention to a little bin of screws nearby, reaching in with his slightly more substantial hand and pulling out a handful to inspect more closely. His eyes darted back and forth as he examined them.

"The Institute takes 'em back, when they find out they've gone rogue. That's why the Railroad wipes their memories, gives 'em a new identity and somewhere to go. It's hard enough surviving in the Commonwealth without being afraid of what you are, and without people being afraid of you. They're just trying to get by like anybody else."

He dumped the screws back into their bucket. Too small.

"So it's good, I think, that this place hasn't quite dabbled into the playing God with human intelligent-synthetics yet. That's one more leg up it's got on the Commonwealth. I can't say I'm too sad to have ended up here, so far."