FROSTED TIPS ARE IN

[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?

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.

Comments

[couldbebeautiful]

[The first thing to break through Veronica's depressive haze in days, and it's fury, burning and boiling in her gut. She believes there is good in people, she still does even now, but Reggie is making it very, very hard for her to keep clinging on to the tatters of that conviction.

He's right, you know, Heather Chandler observes, the devil on her shoulder, the ghost in her head. I improved your life! You were nothing before you got in, you were even less than that when you got out, but in between, you were almost beautiful. And wasn't that all you ever wanted? Veronica imagines her, in her red, red dressing gown, smiling at her with that smug, knife-sharp grin, drain cleaner leaking from between perfect red lips.

Her gaze breaks away from the hallucination of her dead classmate, focuses back on Reggie.]

People can live their lives just fine without your improvement, you entitled ass. And usually that improvement rips them up from the inside, but they're so terrified of pissing you off that they'll keep ripping themselves up if it means you'll favor them for a little while longer.

[Her fists clench, unclench.] If I'm a miserable wreck, it's because of that. [Martha's unconscious face swims up in the forefront of her mind.] If I hate you and everyone else as entitled and smug as you, it's because of that.

[And also because she hates herself, and Reggie is right there, and it's too late to back down now.]

[bragnificent]

[ Once again Reggie finds himself narrowing his eyes, and not because he's offended by what she says but because he finds it... surreal, almost, though he can't place why. Maybe because he's rarely ever been the one to be shoved under this particular microscope lens -- mostly because compared to some of his friends, Reggie's regular behavior could almost be considered harmless.

Not that it is, of course, because for people like him it can never be entirely harmless, and maybe that's what Veronica is getting at. That Reggie can't always see or even know about every reaction and repercussion to his existence, his behavior, but just because he hates letting others affect him doesn't mean it applies the same way in reverse. Chuck, after all, never seemed to think twice about the rumors he spread, and that had built up and brought him down. Jason...

Well, shit. It was hard to say who couldn't have shot that guy... but may he rest in peace.

But Reggie didn't do the same shit as those two did, and what did he have to show for it? Jason's death promoted Chuck to football team captain, then Chuck's suspension and being cut from the team promoted Reggie... sort of. It promoted Archie who gave the position to Reggie -- same difference -- but even that outcome he'd ultimately been prepared to accept. He can be entitled, but also knows no one is really innately owed anything; it can all be taken away at any time.

Except for trust funds.

Cocking his head slightly, Reggie adjusts his hands on his hips and favors his weight on one leg, still squinting at her. ]

Uh huh. [ And for a few moments that's all he says, curt and dismissive. Then: ] So then what the hell did they do? Huh? Because whatever it is you might think I give a shit about, I can almost promise you that I couldn't care less.