etcelsior | FROSTED TIPS ARE IN

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?

Unfortunately, tragedy has struck today. It seems like the entire Heropa PD is parked out of a local, popular grocery chain. A huge crowd is amassed in the parking lot despite the best efforts of officers to get them to leave. They whisper about excitement and shame, and you don't have to ask if you just listen in a bit...

"What do you think he'll do to the employees? He sounded so serious..." "He really wants that pussy, huh?" "If I left my man for cheating on me, I'd take the damn cat, too!" "How does he think taking her and her coworkers hostage is gonna make her change her mind about him being a bad boyfriend?" "My wife is pregnant, please - if I don't get her favorite deli sub I might as well not go home!"

Domestic disputes! Tragic. The police aren't too sure how to handle this hostage situation, claiming the man only has a box cutter and isn't actually waving it around at the moment, but...are you an imPort? They'd really appreciate the help, okay. Get in there and counsel the unhappy couple. Or not!

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?

Spring has sprung, and flowers are popping up—in the form of seven-foot sentient musclebound daisies! A local criminal known as Flower Power has set them on the city, and they're going on a rampage, but a number of citizens have taken advantage. Do you go after the bushwhacking blossoms or the local looters?

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.

Natives may gather around new arrivals and ask both personal and broad questions about life as an imPort, what they are looking forward to, what their favorite article of underwear is. A few night clubs offer free entrance - just this once! And they are bound to notice that a man has taken up a spot in a local street, eating pancakes off of a fold out table and holding up traffic. Many people are taking pictures and more interested in whether or not this is performance art than ushering him out of the way. He does have an extra chair and table, however, and will welcome and feed company, especially imPorts.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Half the town? You haven't been out much.

[Not even baby showers are safe in Riverdale. Actually, especially not baby showers, from what he's been told. It seems ludicrous, but in Joaquin's experience, the South side makes a lot more sense than everything on the supposedly right side of the tracks.]

But this isn't Riverdale. [Obviously. A beat, and then...]

Are you alone?

Oh, I get out plenty. But you have a point, I guess half is still pretty generous. My perspective must just be skewed by the fact I try not to hang out with psychopaths.

And what are you, deaf? I just said I was single, didn't I?

[ Because Reggie often just says the first thing that comes to mind out loud as he's still thinking of it. Then he pauses, realizing that's probably not what Joaquin meant.

Right. No, this isn't Riverdale... and Reggie's vaguely annoyed by the reminder even if it is obvious, and even if there's also some (conflicted) novelty to the freedom of actually being out of Riverdale. ]

Or... wait. You mean like-- [ He pauses again, lips tightening into a tense line, but then he shrugs as dismissively as he can muster. ] As far as I know. Are you?

That must be it.

[Good point actually, now that Reggie brings it up. Why hasn't he been at Jughead's birthday party? Most of the football team was there, cheerleaders, the crowd he'd expect. It doesn't matter much here, but he makes a note anyway.

His lips quirk at Reggie's assumption, but then he nods at the ultimate question.]

As far as I know. [Which makes the selection of the two of them very random.] Moose would make more sense, at least I've met him.

[ Whatever the reasons might be for why Reggie hadn't been at the party -- besides the fact it was for Jughead, that is -- or available to assist Archie and his dad, it's true that for the time being they're mostly irrelevant. And Reggie probably wouldn't be eager to discuss them with someone who's name he doesn't even know or remember yet, anyway.

So he just nods in wry acknowledgement at first, but then his eyebrows raise. How-- does Reggie even want to know how Moose might have met this guy? ]

Well don't sound so disappointed. [ He tilts his head slightly. ] How do you know Moose?

Wouldn't say I know him. Showed him around a bar once and watched him make out with Cheryl Blossom. [Also made out with the same boy, at different times, but he doubts that's really something worth mentioning, especially since he's not really in the business of outing anyone. That's Moose's deal, as long as he stays away from Kevin from hear on out.]

Ugh. What?

[ Cheryl Blossom???? How can there be so many things wrong in just two simple words? Cheryl Blossom, that's how. Reggie actually looks fairly annoyed by this news, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. ]

Great. I swear to God, that dude keeps a keeper or something-- every time I turn my back it's something else with him. But at least now I know that next time I see him, we need to have another talk about how we don't make out with hysterical, Stepford cheerleaders. Especially ones who are also the town's hot mess of the month.

[ And also especially when they're also the twin sister of your dead friend and teammate. Come on, Moose... are you #doingthistocope or what is it... that's got to at least be against some form of bro-code, right?

Not that it's actually a talk they've had before, Reggie's point is more that it seems like it should just be common sense not to make out with Cheryl Blossom. ]

You're a Southside Serpent, right?

Yeah. [Force of habit, but also the ridiculousness of their entire situation - who cares about the Southside here? - has Joaquin reach for his sleeve, turn his arm and show off the tattoo that marks him as an official member. Kevin's been the one to start making Harry Potter references about it, which has made the whole thing feel just a smidgen more ludicrous.]

Don't know if it helps, but from the looks of it, Moose wasn't quite sure what was happening. [Cheryl Blossom comes in like a wrecking ball.] Looked more likes she was trying to eat him.

[ The furrow to Reggie's brow does seem to ease slightly at that news, although it's only a subtle difference. He huffs out a breath, sounding vaguely exasperated.

He glances down at Joaquin's tattoo but only briefly, nodding in mild acknowledgement. He knew the guy was familiar in some way, but Reggie doesn't frequent the south side of Riverdale enough for the news to change much for him either-- he's just easygoing enough that most of the time, he can afford not to really care about things that don't directly affect him.

Living in a small town, though, that's a fairly loose standard. ]

Yeah, not so sure that's really much better. [ Except he does find it a little better. ] I mean sure, he's my best friend and I love the guy, but that's practically his natural state-- he has no idea what's actually good for him half the time. That won't end well.

[ Not that Reggie can do a damn thing about it now. He pauses, then asks: ]

Why were you guys in a bar together, anyway? You're not recruiting, are you?

[ He means in the gang-sense, but it's vague enough to be open to interpretation. ]

No. I got what I need.

[Meaning that he's in way over his head in the gang sense and - guiltily - has a lot more luck than he deserves in that other sense, even if that's all tied in with the gang stuff to really not be all that lucky.]

Someone beat him up and him and Archie wanted to find out if it was a Serpent, so Kevin asked me to take the three of them to the White Worm. I'm helpful that way.

[To this day he's not entirely sure whether he should have done that or not, but at least nothing bad happened to Kevin. So far.]

[ That draws a frown, though as vague of one as Reggie can manage. He isn't too clear what that's supposed to mean, obviously, and it all sounds ominous enough even before considering the fact that it's coming from a banger -- he tries to absorb each piece of information as it comes, and one at a time instead of letting himself react prematurely.

A feat he manages well enough, though his expression is stern, eyebrows still furrowed with silent, tense contemplation; Reggie doesn't speak for a few more seconds (almost a minute), biting the inside of his cheek as he turns over what Joaquin's saying in his head. ]

Yeah, though not for nothing, I bet. [ Why be helpful unless there was something in it for Joaquin, after all. That's Reggie's take, anyway. ] But then I take it he lived, at least.

[ His way of asking (well, checking) that Moose is okay. Too bad Reggie wasn't there! He's not necessarily desperate to be part of this Scooby gang investigation, but he's still curious in some ways, such as by association. What affects his friends... ]

Just don't let them stumble over any more dead bodies.

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