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etcelsior2017-05-25 08:16 pm
maskormods) wrote in etcelsior2017-05-25 08:16 pm
Entry tags:
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
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?
Today it's not just imPorts that are making a scene. Given the relatively high approval rating imPorts still pull in here, maybe it shouldn't shock locals and imPorted arrivals alike that new native metahumans are using the city to debute their new spandex and catch phrases while they try and take their own bite out of crime. You know what they say about those darn kids these days though, too much time watching TV instead of say, oh, learning about martial arts or surveillance techniques. Or that the world doesn't actually pause when they start their dramatic entrances like it does on the small screen. There are five teenagers today, each one dressed in elaborate costumes modeled after different birds of paradise (click one of these if you really need examples). And you better believe each one has a dramatic entrance speech concerning truth, Justice, and the American Way, a dramatic pose, and a polysyllabic name to go through before they all strike a team pose and shout 'Birds Of Prey, Uncaged!'
During this time the lone criminal they had swooped down to stop has long since stared running away. Early in the morning, they did this whole production to stop a litterer. Mid-afternoon, a jay walker. Finally, in the evening, they actually try stopping a mugging. Of course the thief and the stolen goods are busy getting away during their intros, a fact the robbed citizen keeps shouting at them through the whole two minute long affair.
It's up to you, dear imPort, to catch these escaping misdemeanors or thief and bring them to actual justice (or, if you're really kind, hand them over to the birds), to stop and tell these kids to get off your darn lawn, to give them hero-ing tips or a real villain to fight against, or to just keep walking and pretend this whole mess never happened. The choice is yours.
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!
These questions are better asked inside, however, as a tornado warning has been released for the county. No, they haven't had one here since the 90s, but you can never be too careful! With the torrential downpour currently hammering the city, some enterprising business people have taken to offering storm themed sales of food, drinks, and appliances. Is there any better way to send the rainy day than on nickle shot night at the local bar, where you cannot only get dangerously intoxicated but also ride the newest in fun and games, the Freudian Mechanical Bull? Come one come all and see how long you can stay clinging on as the bull bucks you physically and emotionally, spitting out catchy psychological phrases like 'do you think this will make your father love you?' or 'riding me for five minutes will never fix what you've done.' The bull will detect which sentences seem to get the best effect and keep barring down on that path. Sensitive about your mother? Better believe the whole bar is about to hear a lot about it.
Or if you're not up for that much fun, you can aid worried citizens in securing their homes and businesses against the possible storms. Help them board up holes in roofs, cast wards on their windows, or just point them towards the nearest insurance agent. Surely you wouldn't take advantage of them and sell them devices they don't need or learn where they keep their valuables and how to reach them at a time like this would you?...would you?
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?
Today is the semi-annual (that no one can quite seem to remember ever happening before) balloon festival. From dawn until well past midnight imPorts and natives alive can pay a small fee to ride in a beautifully colorful hot air balloon solo or in pairs. There is also wonder fried food and face-painting for the whole family. If this seems all a little too innocent and family friendly, don't worry. This being the Falls, there's always a chance for the morally flexible (or horribly naive) to make a little extra money. Some balloons are offering special, 100% totally free in no way catch-possessing deluxe rides to certain 'winners.' Strangely, it appears to 'win' all one has to do is agree to ride the hot air balloon over to another city, drop off one of the 'sand bags' attached to the side at a designated place, pick up a few new 'sand bags' and fly back! Those that can pilot their own balloon rather than needing a guide will be paid extra- they mean, win an extra special prize.
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!
But you'll have to excuse the mess. See, a little while ago the city was a real zoo. Animals running everywhere, smashing store windows, eating aquariums, you know how these things can go. In fact, there are still a few stay old world monkeys jumping around, and maybe a baby gator or two in the sewer or prairie dogs in the parks. A small reward is still being offered for their rounding up.
MARA JADE(-Skywalker) | A Star War
[ Staying on the bull was the easy part her. She'd often posed as a dancer for a reason, and her hair-trigger danger sense was always on point. Her hips often shifted at just the right angle, in just the right way. That wasn't the hard part. The hard part was... well... She may be an experienced Jedi Knight, but she was also a parent with no parents, trained killing machine, and...
She'd just died. Give her some slack. The bull was also...really good at spouting things off rather quickly. Things like: "Your son hates you," at the beginning, to: "Being hasty really did you well, huh?"
Her hands tighten on the bull, but she says nothing. At least that lightsaber on her belt is inactive, right? ]
[ 3. Maurtia Falls ]
[ It looks like Smuggling. Sounds like Smuggling. And if she had to guess? That's probably contraband in those "sandbags". Like this isn't even clever smuggling! If Talon Karrde got one look at this organization, he'd probably laugh his way all the way to the authorities, collect the reward money, start his own cartel. Jedi... weren't supposed to do that, were they?
Well, that didn't mean they couldn't "help". For old times sake. And maybe the prize credits -- money? Whatever it was. It would probably help out with a starter arsenal. She didn't need a pilot, something like this balloon? Rudimentary, but easy to figure out. ]
Hey! Want to split a shot at some credits?
[ She asked, sitting on the basket of one she'd "liberated" for that purpose. Yes, she was beckoning you over. ]
[ C. Wildcard! ]
[ Do whatever! ]
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And maybe it's just the fact that Han's own son hates him, at the moment. But Han calls out:]
Hey, lady, I've got some shots over here with your name on them! [It's only when the words leave his mouth that he realizes that they might be taken the wrong way. Well. Kriff.]
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Of course, it was anything but. She strode over, and leaned against the bar. ]
Solo.
[ She said, although, from the lack of age on his face... She was quite certain that he was... a bit young to know her.
Which really just made it fun. ]
What do you have?
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[He nods to the woman, gestures magnanimously to a stool next to him. He doesn't know just who she is right now, but she seems to know him, so it's a safe bet she's from his galaxy. When she's from, though—well, there's a lightsaber on her belt, so he'd say maybe she's a Jedi, but if she knows him then. Maybe she's a Jedi the Rebellion picks up, at some point?]
I think they called it a blowjob. [He holds up his shot.] It's pretty good, name aside.
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[ She corrected, and her eyebrow lifted, trying to figure out what was with this place? Did people really call them that?
Is that a word she wanted to hear from her brother-in-law? No. No it wasn't. ]
Let's call this something else... [ She said, and grabbed it, before she swiped the whipped cream off the top with a napkin, and drank it, before she made a face. ] Like...horrible!
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[And yes, that is what they call them. Han is just buzzed enough that he thinks it's kind of funny, if you're a human male of about twelve standard years and a really bad sense of humor.]
It's an acquired taste. [There's a sardonic note to his tone, and he swipes off the whipped cream before knocking his shot back.] So—where'd you get that lightsaber? [Subtle. Real subtle. Who are you and when did you come from? is the underlying question.]
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Oh, this old thing? [ She grinned.] A...very close friend of mine gave it to me. [ She didn't take it off her belt, but she did pat it. ] A long time ago, actually. He'd... already gotten a replacement, and it's an heirloom.
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Do you need help?
[ It was something to start, if lame. ]
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Or this was going to get complicated.
Oh boy. Her lips twitched, and she stopped the bull with a squeeze of whatever power button was around. ]
I think I have this. You don't want on, do you? [ Her thumb jutted behind her. At the mechanical bull as she slid off. Should she... say something? ]
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[ Luke hated the fact that was his first thought, and he had to fight to keep the blush off his face. He was pretty sure that would never work; she did seem older than him, after all, despite how fit she was. It took him a moment to pull himself together enough to shake his head; focus, Skywalker. ]
No thanks; I'm sure it'd have me chucked off in a few minutes.
[ He was pretty sure that thing would enjoy poking at his emotional issues at the moment, and he was in no mood to deal with it. ]
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[ She crossed her arms over her chest, and cocked her hip, rested her weight on one leg. She grinned, like she knew a joke that he wasn't privy to. ]
Not that its a fun ride, I think your winning out, personally. [ Sure, she didn't look it. She was a Jedi, but she was seething right about now. She gave him a look, before: ]
How about a drink instead?
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...already?
[ He felt a little dumb asking that, but all he could think was Han would be throwing his hands up at him just having a woman ask him to have drinks. ]
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Don't tell me nobody's ever asked you out for drinks before, Farmboy.
[ She waved a hand. ]
Your choice, but I figured you didn't just come up to me for no reason, right? Drinks are a better way to talk.
3
[Alfie arches an eyebrow, but does wander over. He's definitely not opposed to helping with smuggling as a general rule, but he can't say he's a fan of how this particular operation is being run. Recruiting random imPorts without vetting them? That's just sloppy.]
That's what you call money?
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[ She uncrossed her arms, and grinned. ]
And if I can earn some quick cash right after arriving, all the better, right? Especially because I'm pretty sure we could make more than the rest and evade any patrols that come through.
[ My. She was confident. ]
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These things are a little... ostentatious, but I guess that's the point. Make it look like an event.
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[He follows her gaze, shifting on his feet to lean a little more heavily on the cane he's carrying.]
The point is, right, that nobody's gonna be expecting these to be used for what they want to use them for. Act like there's nothing out of the ordinary going on, and they'll believe it.
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[3]
…besides catharsis. Seeking clarity. Doing penance/feeling masochistic. Wanting to hit bottom to start climbing top. …Actually, it was psychologically fascinating.
For anyone who didn't have an utter hardwired scorn reaction to giving away free information. Especially personal.
(Scorn, envy, depended on the mood and the company. Or—)
…Or perhaps disgust. At himself. For hearing about the thing and promptly deciding he had to stay in the room with it in case any of the people he was currently banging his head against walked in and, counter to every last iota of their respective natures, for some reason took a turn on it. It would be great to hear some things on Dooku that didn't come from his own mouth. —But augh again: though in the case of Dooku, or Hux or Grievous, would the bull really have much to say on the things Cassian would be most interested to hear, since its only metric was personal discomfort/shame/guilt…? Cassian's take on the worst things Hux had done might be Hux's own proudest…
So anyway. He hated everything about this thing. But found it too infuriatingly fascinating and fraught with potential not to be glued to its vicinity for hours.
But for all that witnessing, there's only person whose frankly stunning movement work, but possibly more her grim stoic gutsiness, inspired him to walk up to her after and hold out the extra drink he'd just bought, in offering.]
Not to be presumptuous. But… token of respect. That was impressive.
[(Somehow not seeming flirtatious. He didn't have a Cause to try and bring her in on, but it was nonetheless, to him, in association, more of a recruitment mode-type overture than a pickup. Really did seem to be about recognizing her skills.)]
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If anything, there was pride in the action, the decisiveness. Maybe not in how she conducted herself... or even that she lost, but... the fact that she'd done it to protect Ben? Oh yeah. Definitely pride.
She accepted the drink with a quirk of her lip. ]
Thank you. Although... I wasn't sure what to expect when it started to say those things. A little humiliating, isn't it?
[ A little. At least it didn't start talking about her past, too, but perhaps her recent-actions were more... fresh in her mind at this time.
She tipped her glass, and nodded. ]
Mara. You are?
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Giving his real name still wasn't the reflex.
Another truth he has to choose to give; the way others have to choose to lie.]
Cassian.
[He inclines his head slightly as he begins to move back to his seat.]
I've been watching for a while. I don't know if I've learned anything new. Beyond how odd an instinct shame is. So rarely corresponds with what others actually judge.
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Instead, she only nodded, and followed, feet light on the floor, nothing out of place. Even the lightsaber at her hip didn't even bounce. ]
That's true. It's also personal. Interesting that they would have something like this up for all the world to see. [ A pause. ] Not something you're interested in? [ She sat down, and curled a hand around the drink. ]
Dark past? [ It's said with a sharp smile, but her eyes were anything but joking. ]
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["Dark past?"
His face is impassive, even smiling a bit.
But his Force sense…
The vertiginous reverberation of a heavy object hitting water down a well. Far, far, far below. The deep, hollow aftershocks and echoes.
…Externally, he waves a careless hand around the room.]
Doesn't everyone?
[He, perhaps courteously, doesn't try to interpret anything the bull had had to say to her. Since everything was tailored specifically to the rider, it might be more arcane for the listener.]
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3. secret dark side henchman bros? y/n
She's light, but not noble or sanctimonious, not at all like the tales he'd heard from his master. There's something there reminding him too much of himself, being stuck in the dark until, one day, it all crumbles. Maybe a hole got punched in that wall of blackness suddenly, or maybe it was death by a thousand cuts. Either way, dangerous. The power pulsed underneath her skin, in opposition to the casual way she carried herself. A sleeping Rancor.
He realizes too late that he's gawking, and that she's just as likely to get the Force vibes from him. After a moment's consideration, he squares his jaw and plays along. ]
Depends on what you had in mind for transport.
[ Strange that Vader never mentioned you, he just barely resists the urge to add. ]
UH Y?????????????????????????????
It's true, she could sense him. Her fine-tuned danger sense had given her that creeping feeling at the back of her neck, like something both cold and warm slithered it's way up, leaving a trail of gooseflesh and hairs standing on end. It was similar -- too similar to far too many people that she'd known in her time. Everything from Kyp, to herself, to even the farmboy... but different.
Most Jedi had touched the dark side in one way or another. A lot more like Kam, someone who'd been steeped in it, believed in it, and then... Then things had changed -- and he was wild in a way that her or Solusar had never been. Then again, Mara had...never really had the power that the others had, not until she'd finally stepped out from that lingering shadow completely. ]
Well, I was thinking we play along with their little game. [ She jutted a finger upward, to the balloon.] See where it takes us.
[ Whose was he? Another hand, like Lumiya? Another hidden force user, waiting for orders, or a replacement?
She hated herself, but even now, the betrayal still made her heart beat a little faster, even if she schooled both herself and her force presence. Like a lion circling another, waiting for a sign to either attack or not. ]