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

[craftpunk]

When she pulled out his phone, he just waited, staring at her. Tapped his fingers on the couch, crossed one ankle over a knee, before he let it fall again. Persephone scared him shitless, honestly. Of all the gods, she was the one he didn't understand. He didn't get her, didn't get what she was doing, what she could do, and everything about her still terrified him. Power just added to the mix.

"So are you just going to hang around and babysit me?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest, a creak of leather and he covered the lights slightly, casting neon green in different directions. The shift managed to make his helmet light differently, cast in green, and he tipped it. "That's really not necessary."

[pummelgranite]

For all her power and experience here, she truly didn't know the extent of Woden's understanding (and indeed fear) of her own. One of those little timeline things. Sure, she had come at him all aggression and demand. But the fact that he actually seemed to be appeasing her. Well that was interesting. She makes up her mind to fuck with him a bit more, test the limits of that obedience.


"Uh huh." It comes out dismissive as she scrolls through her Bwitter feed.

[craftpunk]

"Waste of time," he said, and waited only a few minutes, silently tapping against his leg, waiting for Persephone to get bored. If he didn't move, maybe she wouldn't be all that interested in dealing with him, and he could get away quietly. But that didn't seem to be the case right now, and after a moment, he focused his helmet on her, and stood, abruptly.

"Alright, you're killing the mood. I guess I'm not going to enjoy all this. Might as well leave."

He started to walk away, although the saunter certainly suggested that he was in no hurry. He knew if he didn't give her a chance to follow, she'd be angrier later, and an angry Persephone was...

Well, he didn't know if there was an Underground to take him to here, but he didn't want to find out. Particularly not without someone logical and powerful enough to back him up. He couldn't believe he was actually missing Cassandra, of all people.

[pummelgranite]

Cowed. That was the word for it. He was cowed by her. It was like- like something out of a lion video or like wolves or cats or whatever. She'd just gone and loomed and the little rat had crawled away.

Holy fucking shit that's the best thing to happen in literal weeks. It kindles a faint ember inside her into something a little warmer and brighter as she just watches him walk away. Hey, she doesn't have to understand what this means to know that she likes it. There's an uncommonly genuine smile on her face when she drops into the spot Woden had now vacated. He had mentioned coke, right? Someone here had to be holding.

[craftpunk]

Woden, however, was Woden.

Which meant that just because Persephone had scared him -- and scared him good and well -- didn't mean that he was going to stop being... well, himself. It just meant that he would have to find ways around Persephone. He knew what would get him in trouble -- but he was starting to wonder how much she remembered. But if she didn't, maybe she wasn't completely keyed in on what she could do.

If she discovered things at the rate he did, if he watched, maybe he could find a way to mimic it, once he understood it. He just had to understand it, first. And that required observation. There was only one way to do that.

Woden didn't leave the club. He went to the floor -- the stage -- the boy who could make no music looked like he was about to do so -- and he tapped into their microphone system, without even picking one up. It was a simple thing to do. "Good evening, folks..."

Wasn't this how supervillain speeches started? Oh well, whatever, it would work.

[pummelgranite]

Persephone looked up from her line and wiped her nose. What in the fresh hell was he up to?

[craftpunk]

What in fresh hell, indeed. Woden stood in front of the quickly quieting crowd, but he waited until they went silent, before he continued, dead set on making sure they heard his words. He wasn't about to let this get wasted, and the eerie, reflective mask was enough to keep them quiet.

"I know most of you don't know about me yet, but I'm sure you've heard about our headliner tonight," he laughed, the digital voice enough to send them whispering. He looked up at Persephone's space, as if to taunt her. He might be cowed, he might be behaving, but he was a reject, he was the one they didn't like, and he had a damned reputation to consider.

He wasn't about to let Persephone get the upper hand, not without gathering plenty of dirt on her.

"So I know you've heard the queen of the underworld, right?" he asked, and the whispering increased, as if they weren't sure what to make of that introduction. "And you know, she's kind of shy, so you might just have to look that way," he pointed across the crowd, toward her. "And beg her to come up here."