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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

Good to know! [Duo chirps back down the aisle as he flits off; and even as he's moving down the aisles, he can glance back over-shoulder and see Erik bending posts, twisting metal around the guy (who is screaming, but Duo thinks he would probably be screaming too, if he was being twisted into a cage of metal. Maybe. If he was less used to this sort of thing, which is probably kinda screwed up, but anyway)--]

And people call me flashy... [He comments under his breath as he rounds an aisle and comes upon some 8-odd tied-up employees and customers, huddled and in varying states of panic and sobbing. He decloaks to them with a finger to his lips, letting the sight of the priest's collar hit them first in the hopes it would calm them down a little, and flashing them all the kind of sunny grin that could inspire hope, if one didn't know him better. With the gunman contained, he wouldn't even need to cloak them, which was a little relieving- cloaking 8 people at once? Not easy.] Alright, now that that's over with, let's get you guys out safely, okay?

[As he guides them out, offering cheery small-talk to take the edge off of the worst of them, he gives Erik a wink as he passes.] You're not such a bad guy, aside from the threat of maiming. Got a name?

[ Erik watches as Duo helps out the hostages and tries to reassure all of them. That's nice. Duo seems like a nice man. And the way that people respond to him, it seems that they really take to him, and really trust him right off the bat. He supposes it comes with how approachable he looks. ]

It's Erik.

[ He reaches out a hand, offering a shake. He figures Duo must be new, and maybe he'll want someone to explain what's going on now that things are calming down. But... he seems to be taking everything in stride so far. ]

And you are?

[A real name, huh? At least a realistic one. Duo wonders if things are safer, here, than they had been back in The City. The guy didn't seem the trusting sort, so that didn't really enter into it. Or maybe he'd just never come across that kind of power, the kind Duo knew existed that meant you had to know exactly who has seen your face, exactly who knows who you are.]

[It's hard to trust once you have that kind of knowledge. But Duo has never been the super trusting type, and it served him pretty well. Being guarded kept you alive, but it didn't mean that you couldn't seem approachable. Those sullen guys could complain about it all the time, but when it came down to it they knew Duo had that skill. And it was a skill. Knowing just the right way to seem open, to get people to talk to you, that right there was real useful.]

[He considers, carefully. In the City, he'd pretty much never consider giving out his real name, and although he couldn't have meant for it to, even back home that behavior had become necessary. Well, it was more correct to say that it wasn't his name anymore, not alone. But it was still a hint, still something someone could use to figure out who he was. He'd have to be careful again. Layers of codenames.]

[He'd have to become Shinigami again, wouldn't he? That wasn't his alone anymore, either. Nor was it something that was totally inconspicuous- he could use it, though, like a beacon. Find someone he might know, a friendly face. Or maybe an unfriendly one. It was a toss up, but he'd have to risk it.]

[It still made a grin quirk up on him when he decided it. He reached out, taking his hand with a kind of shrug to his shoulders that was easy, casual.]

Call me Shinigami. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie.

[ Wait and Duo thought Erik was dramatic?

He raises an eyebrow. ]

Kind of a strange name for a priest, don't you think?

[ Maybe it's a stage name. Maybe he's actually like an actor or a singer or something. Erik doesn't know. He doesn't really care, but the situation's mitigated, that's what's important. ]

[Well, he said he doesn't lie, he never said he wasn't a hypocrite. And half-truths and withholding information are, conveniently, not lies.]

It is, isn't it? [There's that flash again- of something a bit too sardonic for his station- before his expression brightens up again.] Good thing it's just a codename, right?

[He gives a little two-fingered salute as he sees the last victim out and into police custody, slipping past Erik as he does so.] Seeya around, Erik! Maybe on a lil' better terms, next time?

[Yeah, right. Like he ever met anyone on a good day. He melts back into the crowd of onlookers that still don't seem to see him, and soon he's out of Erik's sight, too.]

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