WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

[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?

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.

Comments

bodhi rook / rogue one : star wars story

[onlydoubts]

heropa

[ When Bodhi had stared down a lone grenade inside the cargo hold, several thoughts had flashed through his mind - freezing him to the spot. Disappointment being one of them, knowing that without him and the ship, the chances of the others getting off the planet were slim. Although... maybe he already knew that they wouldn't make it back. But he'd done his part, the rebels above knew what to do, bring down that gate. Now it was up to Jyn and Cassian to get those plans out to them.

Regardless, after the heat and blinding flash of light, he doesn't expect to be waking up again.

Burned, and healing but alive.

After processing, he's sent out into this massively unfamiliar city. Loud, colorful and full of people. Still dressed in his grubby and tattered Imperial flightsuit, he may stand out for more than reason -- a nervous air around him, as he takes it all in with wide eyes. Even after the information he received, Bodhi is still highly unsure of what's going on or why he's here.

Right now he needs to find somewhere to sit down and process it all, or to sleep for a day. Or three. ]

[therewillbeorder]

[The small detail of the Imperial symbol was what caught his eye first. Normally he would have ignored someone like Bodhi but the symbol stood out even in the crowd.

The man certainly wasn't an officer but appeared to be some kind of grunt who most likely did maintenance on a base or larger destroyer. But, he would just have to make do with what he and this man may prove useful eventually. However, just because the man is an Imperial doesn't mean automatic trust, he's still wary as he approached.]

I never thought I would ever see someone else from the Empire here.

[onlydoubts]

[ He hasn't forgotten he's still wearing his uniform, but Bodhi isn't thinking of it, first and foremost. Right now, he's trying to wrap his head around his situation, and being approached by someone who recognizes it ... isn't what he's expecting.

Not that he really knows what he's expecting.

Bodhi stares up at the taller red haired man as he approaches, opening his mouth to say something, mind blanking, just as it had when he tried to give the troopers on the beach on excuse for his presence there.

Uh. ]

Who're you?

[therewillbeorder]

[Bodhi's reaction caught him off guard for a moment. He assumed most Imperials, even ones as lowly as this man, would observe proper protocol when greeting a superior officer.

Clearly not.

He wrinkled his nose a bit, looking Bodhi over. Just because he was a potential Imperial ally didn't mean that Hux wasn't going to observe proper etiquette.]

Where were you stationed? It must be a remote post if you are unaware of how to greet an officer.

[onlydoubts]

[ There's that familiar way of addressing him that gives this man away as a high ranking official as sure as his words or any uniform could. He's used to this. Bodhi feels a sinking feeling of disappointment, while part of him nearly snaps to attention with a salute and stutters out an apology out of habit.

After all, he's dead. Wherever they are -- it's not under rule of the Empire. Yet there's an officer here, looking at him with a certain expectation. It takes a moment to come up with an answer as he fights his nerves down. ]

Ah. I was on Eadu, before. But I'm not stationed anywhere, not anymore.

[ It's kind of a vague answer, he'll let Hux make of that what he will. ]

[therewillbeorder]

[Eadu- it wasn't a planet he was familiar with but he had heard a vague mention of it enough to know that it was an Imperial planet used for research. What research that was, he wasn't sure but he doubted someone like Bodhi would know the details of that.]

Not anymore? [That was a curious answer. Lapses in assignment were rare, the Empire never kept anyone idle. No one really retired either and he doubted that was the case here.]

What happened on Eadu then?

[reexamined]

[Upon seeing the familiar looking flightsuit, Kaytoo immediately gravitates toward the other. The chances of it being someone else, someone other than Bodhi, were too low. So there's Kay's dark and looming figure, staring downward unblinkingly in a way most might find unsettling. However, give that it's Kay...]

Bodhi Rook.

[And then, with the slightest hint of amusement-]

You made it.

[onlydoubts]

[ The massive figure is familiar, but being more familiar with the non-reprogrammed KX droids, Bodhi tenses up slightly to his approach. However, as he gets closer, and when he's not making a move to hurry him along, instead calling him by name, his shoulders relax. ]

Kaytoo? You -- you're here too? [ he nearly breathes a sigh of relief. He'd found the droid's presence a small comfort, another former Imperial in a Rebel occupied space. Reprogrammed. ]

I think I did. [ don't ask him where he's supposed to have made it too, or anything else that happened afterwards -- ] I'm not that sure, really. There was a grenade and then I was here.

[reexamined]

Yes. You died.

[Most likely by grenade, but if he somehow lived past that, at the very least, he didn't leave Scarif. None of them did. Also, sorry if you wanted this to go a little more gently.]

We all did.

[That sure is the opposite of "reassuring." He didn't think he was that bad at this.]

[onlydoubts]

[ There it is. Hearing it spoken out loud isn't all that comforting, at all but it confirms what he already figured, at least. There wasn't a good chance of getting out of the way or throwing it back in time -- and the proximity to him... yeah, it just wasn't likely. It wasn't that he wanted to die, just that if it meant that they did what they set out to do, then at least it meant something.

Good old Kaytoo. ]

I figured that, thank you. [ ...still doesn't explain how he's alive, now -- ] Wait, everyone? We didn't -- you mean it didn't work?

[ There's a high, panicked note to his voice as he looks up at the droid. All of them? ]

[reexamined]

[And there's that classic panicky voice he recalls hearing numerous times from Bodhi now. Well, maybe he owes it to the other to at least try to be a little less... unsympathetic. He liked Bodhi more than he had Jyn, during the mission.

He intentionally effects his vocoder to sound a little quieter, tries to sound a little less clipped.]

It worked. Jyn made it to the tower and was able to broadcast the plans. The fleet received them, and the Death Star was destroyed shortly after. It's over, now.

[candor1]

[a teenager accidentally brushes into Bodhi as she runs through the crowd. She spins back to blurt Bodhi an apology, before continuing her trajectory. Several other teenagers cut streaks in the pedestrian traffic in that one's wake. They appear not to be chasing one another but… all converging on something together. A hunting pack. Impression confirmed when they form a collective noose and close to make an empty space in the street, around their target. Who starts to fight them off.

The fighting looks intense… until it becomes obvious that no hits are being aimed to actually land. This is sparring. And another teenager, out of action due to having one foot in a cast, is hovering around the periphery to reassure any concerned onlookers of that fact.

The man they're attacking is probably their teacher. He appears much older than the rest of them. And his movements are surer, more fluid, more practiced. If it were a real fight, he would have managed to get away from them again before long. At which point, some signal is given that makes them all stop fighting, bow and nod to one another and any other onlookers who show an interest, and collect into a huddle. Their teacher's voice may reach where Bodhi stands:]

So, now you've been the predator. Takeaways that could help you if you're the prey?

[…and the voice is familiar… as is the face when a gap in the crowd allows sight of it. Cassian standing-there-also-somehow-alive-ndor.]

[onlydoubts]

[ The teenager running past him, startles him out of his thoughts, and Bodhi moves aside just as the others run up behind her. The scene is an odd one, he thinks it's some kind of game, perhaps? Hands shoved in his pockets, he remains standing where he was, looking around for -- oh, he doesn't know. Maybe to get out of the way before the crowd begins to appear and the reasoning behind the teenagers actions becomes clear.

A fight, of some kind. Vicious and powerful, but practiced and sure. At least that's what it looks like. He's not a fighter himself, that kind of training isn't wasted on a cargo pilot -- they're given a blaster and that's about it, expected to leave the fighting to ground troups and fighter pilots. But he can recognize skill.

Still, he stays off to the side of the onlookers, watching, considering what to do next. Bodhi is about to turn away and start off in another direction, find something to eat, when the voice catches his attention. That has him moving foward, quickly. Because, while he hadn't known Cassian for long, he remembers his voice.

Sure enough when the crowd parts enough, it's Cassian alright. Bodhi can only stand there, surprise etched on his features. He hadn't expected to see him again. Alive and well and here, just like he is.

Maybe it's not real? Maybe none of this is happening, and he's still in the middle of some created scenario of his while he sits in Saw's prison after his interrogation. ]

Cassian?

[ He blurts out the name, not particularly loud -- Cassian might see him standing there, over actually hearing him. ]

[candor1]

[The call is soft, but Cassian's head comes up anyway. If he were a loth-cat, his ears would be swiveling like transmission dishes. Maybe he heard, or maybe something caught his eye, or maybe Force-blindness can selectively lift…? He barely scans the crowd before his eyes fall on Bodhi.

A widening of eyes is the transition between normal brain shorting out and strategic brain taking over. It quickly dispatches the students, not unkindly but deferring further notes and discussion for next time; then has Cassian cutting through the crowd even more fluidly than his students had done.

Until he's reached Bodhi and… his hand flashes out as if to grab Bodhi's arm… but hesitates and hovers instead, a millimetre shy of contact. Not aversion, not even really disbelief… more… unsure Bodhi would want Cassian touching him. You know. Having gotten you presumably killed…?

…One would think there would be rituals for this. Especially in Cassian's line of work… reuniting with someone you thought was dead… Except it almost never happened. And one couldn't really prepare, allow oneself to hope for it. —Plus in this case: Cassian didn't know what had happened to Bodhi, but he knew Cassian had died…

Okay. It was subtle for other people, but pretty clearly flabbergasted for Cassian; there was no ritual so he clumsily approximated one. Probably terrible. Probably sounding so cold and impersonal. Aren't you supposed to be good at this…? But meant to invoke their first meeting.]

Hey, pilot.

[onlydoubts]

[ Bodhi waits, even after Cassian has seen him in the crowd. He waits until Cassian has finished speaking with his students, they leave and the other man approaches him.

He doesn't blame Cassian for his death, just like he doesn't blame Jyn. Or anyone else involved. He'd made the decision to go to Scarif, to go alongside them even though there was a high chance of failure and or death. He'd wanted to fight as much as they had. If anything, he's sorry he wasn't able to carry out his part of the mission -- getting everyone off the planet. That's what he'd stayed behind for, wasn't it? How they died, he doesn't know, he just knows that anyone finding in a ship in the fighting would have been a slim chance. He doesn't need to be Kaytoo to know the odds weren't good.

Cassian seems stunned, unsure of what to do. Hand hanging suspended in mid air over his shoulder, like he too wants to know he's real. And Bodhi isn't particularly -- well, he hasn't had many friends in his life, so if there's a certain way of handling this, he doesn't know either. Would he appreciate a hug? Would he get mad if that's what Bodhi did? He gives the other man a small smile, at the call back to their first meeting, reaching to clasp his shoulder. It's okay, he wants to say.. ]

Hey yourself.

[candor1]

[Cassian's focused in microsignals—whether there's a change to the dilation of Bodhi's pupils or nostrils, any flinch away from Cassian in eyelids or the rest of his body, breath rate, muscle tension—so Bodhi actually smiling and clasping his shoulder is like a bright light through infrared goggles.

Except the opposite of that because it isn't neuron-searingly painful, it's relief.

Taking the guidance with welcome, at once, whether it's something Cassian would have done much in the last life or not; Cassian does grab Bodhi in a hug.]

/lays down and sobs for ten hours

[kestreldawn]

[Jyn doesn't go to Heropa unless absolutely necessary. It isn't anything against the city itself, per se; it's more the crowds, the humidity that always vaguely reminds her of the stifling heat on Yavin IV, the busyness of it all. It's like Coruscant, only blatantly not - and she never adjusts well to things that are sort of like something but too different to ever be confused with the other. So the fact that she's made her way here this particular day has cast her in a sort of disgruntled mood. Nothing too terrible, but the flatness of her expression and the very obvious judgment in her stare would indicate her less-than-happy attitude towards being there.

She's shoving her way through the crowd when her shoulder hits into someone pretty roughly, enough to make her half-turn with a bit of fire in her eyes towards the source. As she's about to let loose a verbal assault, she stops - breath catching in her throat, right next to where her heart has seemingly leapt. She stammers for a few seconds, mouth robbed of its ability to speak until she finally manages:]

B-Bodhi?

cries with

[onlydoubts]

[ Bodhi isn't paying particular attention to where he's going. He's watching out enough to make sure he isn't walking headlong into anyone - and his feet, that he's not going to trip over anything. But the faces, their brightly colored clothing, or any odd looks they give the man in the dark uniform, with patches of still healing burns visible under his collar and up his neck -- are lost to him.

He isn't sure what to make of it all. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to what they'd been trying to tell him before when he'd arrived, but the shock of being blown up and suddenly whole, but burned and in pain, hadn't particularly faded. Now his body is healing and his mind is a little clearer, or clear as it would get. It's still a far cry from the way he was before Saw had imprisoned him and set a monster loose in his head.

Perhaps he's even doing a terrible job of watching out for people now, as someone hits his shoulder -- and Bodhi would be content to let it be, keep walking, but the woman clearly isn't, so when he looks at her -- just a few inches shorter than him, but radiating annoyance in familiar green eyes (so much like her father's, except his were usually sadder) he can only mirror her surprise. ]

Jyn... you're alive?

[kestreldawn]

[Jyn's face runs through a very quick burst of emotion:

First, her eyes widen, pupils dilating as though to take in every iota of information she can. They sweep across his features, looking for hints of any discrepancy she could find, to verify the sight of him in front of her.

Second, her lips twitch with the faintest hint of a smile, though it never quite breaks loose.

Third, her eyes flinch like they're expecting an open palm to the cheek to strike at any moment, and there's the distinct feeling of stinging at the backs of them as they threaten to burst into tears (they don't, because she clenches her jaw to keep them from escaping, but they get close).

Finally, her fingers twitch at her sides, resisting an overwhelming urge to fling her arms around him - partially in celebration, but also because she still can't quite believe the fact that he isn't a hallucination.]

I'm - Well, no - yes? Sort of. [She furrows her brows as her mind tries to catch up with itself.] I am here, yes, but - not - not back at home. We didn't make it off of Scarif before - [She stops, swirling stardust in her eyes not honed in on him like a sniper.] Are you really here, Bodhi?

[onlydoubts]

[ Bodhi watches the emotions that flicker across her face, in a way, still trying to process his own emotions. When he'd -- died, he didn't particularly have that strong of a belief in second chances or the Force like Chirrut had. He didn't have any expectations, and this is certainly far from what he'd thought would happen.

Not that he's complaining. If it's real. He feels real. Alive, barely different from before. ]

Oh. [ He didn't think they would have, but they're here. So that's... something? Isn't it? It'll be more when he understands this place better. ] I am. I mean, I think I am.

[ Of course, for all he knows -- this could be all in his head. Both him and her. It's difficult to say. ]

[kestreldawn]

[She catches the minutiae of his expressions, the little twitches and tremors that she'd already started to learn in the short while she knew him. The edges around her eyes soften, as do the muscles around her mouth.

Then, with a flaring of determination, she raises a hand from her side and holds it out to him. She doesn't breach the gap - more out of consideration for him than anything else - but allows him to make the choice, should he want to, to close it himself.

She won't be cross if he decides not to, and the gentle curling of her fingers as they grow towards the sky is indication enough of that.]

[carbonfrozen]

[There's a guy in an Imperial flightsuit wandering around in Heropa.

Han watches him for a second from his obnoxiously yellow trash can taxi car, the paranoia borne out of years in the Alliance kicking in first. But the guy doesn't seem like much of a threat, at least from afar, so Han checks the gun in easy reach and pulls over to the curb where Bodhi currently is.

He rolls his window down, sticks his head out, pushes his sunglasses up. If it weren't for the Corellian bloodstripes on his pants, he'd look like any other taxi driver.]

You're pretty far from home. [It's casual, neutral, a statement of observation instead of any real accusation.]

[onlydoubts]

[ Uh.

As the man in the odd looking bright yellow land speeder -- thing that he's not sure about yet pulls up next to him, Bodhi jerks back, up and out of his thoughts. He doesn't see anything that identifies him as someone from his own... galaxy? Home? So he doesn't know that it was the symbol on his uniform that brought him over.

Eventually, he's going to need to change his clothing. Getting recognized as an Imperial is not high on his list of things he wants to deal with. Ever again. ]

Isn't most everyone, though? That's about what I understand of this place.

[carbonfrozen]

Yeah, but you're at least a galaxy away from the Empire here. [At least.] You're new here, aren't you?

[Who'd walk around in an Imperial flightsuit in this heat except for someone who's so new they're still healing from whatever injuries they had before coming here? Han's demeanor is casual, even a little cocky, but underneath is the quiet calculation of a man who's spent much of his life trying to fly under the Empire's radar, for one reason or another.

He wonders if this guy's any threat. He kind of doubts it, honestly.]

[onlydoubts]

[ That's... well, that wasn't what he was hoping for. Bodhi's expression falls at the mention of the Empire -- probably not the reaction that one would expect from someone walking around in the uniform. The man doesn't seem like an Imperial or a threat himself, it doesn't really mean much -- and maybe announcing to a stranger that he's a defector isn't the wisest course of action since he doesn't know who he's talking to.

And yet.

There's no Empire here. Just scattered people from the same galaxy. Is there anything to lose by denouncing them? Bodhi doubts that he'll get anything worse than the last time.

There's a defiant glint in his eye, a shadow of the same one he'd had when staring up at Saw Gerrera as he tried to convince him he was who he says he was. ]

The farther away from them, the better. [ That should do it, shouldn't it? ]

Uh, yeah. I am new.