maskormods: (Default)
Mask or Menace | MODERATORS ([personal profile] maskormods) wrote in [community profile] etcelsior2017-08-25 07:25 pm
Entry tags:

KEMOSABE, JUMP ON IT!

 

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?

    No matter how you feel about imPorts, there is one thing the community all must suffer through together: the weather. And time. Two, two things the community must suffer through together. However many things there are, today is celebrating the Dog Days of Summer. Literally. There is an adoption fair for every kind of dog you can imagine, and a few that really take imagination to call them ‘a dog.’ Like cats that have had doggy ear-shaped hats placed on their unwilling heads, or fish with decorative dog art painted on their bowl. Or that baby alligator on a leash with fur (glued? It looks glued) on its back. So while it’s a fine day to come and meet a new friend- or drop one off and run, hoping someone else will take it- it may also be a good day to stop the smaller animals and some wandering children from getting eaten by some of the more carnivorous creatures a few of the local eccentrics have decided to try to pawn off on the public. Or grab a snack from the fried food and ice cream stands and watch the madness. Whatever your choice, welcome to Florida, heroes.


    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!

    Wasn’t the forgiveness day festival wonderful? What, you weren’t in this world yet to attend? Well, never mind that! There’s still time for those willing to part with a few dollars to show your love for this new world and sympathy for the natives and imPorts alike that have been harmed in it. How? Why with a flower festival, of course! An entire block has been closed off for the seemingly endless sale of flowers of every shape and color. Technically, all the flowers have meanings and a few wandering guides are more than happy to help you pick out the bunch that may speak your true feelings to your intended target. It has all the potential to be a nice, sweet smelling day where you can express your love or eternal hatred or total ambivalence with living flora.

    Of course, this is the science city. It can’t be something as simple as only normal, natural flowers. Some of the stands are nice enough to keep their technological wonders neatly labeled and separate from the rest of the foliage. Others aren’t so nice. The best way to get people to try a new thing is to spring it on an unsuspecting public, right? Right! Also for sale are roses that, if you prick your finger on the (oddly able to pierce through even superhuman strong, unbreakable skin) thorns you are compelled to spend the rest of the day with the first person you lay your eyes on. Never seen them before or hate their guts, it doesn’t matter. You simply feel awful when more than three feet away from them. To the point you will pass out if you’re away from them for more than five minutes. Hope you’re good at making quick bathroom runs. 

    There are also lilies that make birds flock to you and snap dragonsthat offer you supportive messages given in a squeaky voice every time you smell it. For those liking slightly more visibly engineered flowers, a multicolored daisy turns you into a Technicolor wonder, your clothes, hair, eyes, and skin changing rapidly from color to color without any apparent rhyme or reason (or respect for clashing). Putting the flower down will stop the changes, but you’re stuck in whatever random pattern it landed on until an hour passes and the effect wears off. Good luck with the festival!

    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? 

    To say all is not right in the streets of Maurtia Falls is to more or less state the obvious, but this time, the criminal nature of this foe is a little... sillier than usual.  One gentleman gifted with the powers of superspeed seems not to have grasped the true potential of his powers and instead of spending his time robbing banks or big businesses, he's decided to be the world's most efficient pickpocket.  He zips through the street, pushing people over at superspeed and picking their pockets and snatching their pockets, leaving only a brown blur in his wake, evidently having lost the memo that primary colours are all the rage for costumed heroes and villains.
    The more heroically minded among you may want to go after this villain or save a grandma or two that have been unintentionally pushed straight into traffic... but the guy has to stop to rest sometime, and he's really begging for a beatdown with this kind of behaviour.



    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!

    Today the word on everyone’s lips is branding. It’s not enough to slap on some spandex or hand stitch a mask these days. That’s so 80s. Now is the time not only to get your hero/villain costume professionally made, it’s time for sponsorship! Why should natives be limited to just having some registered imPorts actually working at their place of business? A cape is basically a big, open banner just waiting for a logo. Or ten. Now, they can’t really promise money up front for anyone agreeing to wear their logo and work their slogan into a witty quip during an arrest, but they can do one better: free products. Get all the free socks you can wear by only fighting crime in Jane’s Honey of the Earth socks, underwear, and bras. Or negotiate for free dinners for life if you wear the logo and agree to only appear on dates eating at Overweigh burger shack. 

    Of course, there’s nothing like an unlikely team up to really get the media spotlight on an imPort (and the brand they now represent). If you fall for the hype or even just get herded over to an audition station (if you are walking down the road today, chances are you’re going to get unwillingly pulled in at least once), get ready to meet your new partner: this random stranger! The company will give you 10 minutes to get to know each other, then it’s time to grin, bear it, and think of the free merchandise as they ask you to perform at least one heroic feat as a team for their cameras. What that is, exactly, is up to you.
 
snarkbot: (the brave and the gold)

[personal profile] snarkbot 2017-08-27 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ Perfectly normal volume: ]

No, sir, I'm from the future.

[ Because that's... better? Actually, since his world also has magic, he pretty much rolls with just about anything. Superhero universes, go figure. ]

But it's not a bad assumption to make considering Arthur C. Clarke's rule of "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
polkayoureyesout: (smile)

[personal profile] polkayoureyesout 2017-08-27 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
Ah. Of course you are. Because that's not weirder than anything else today. So if you tell me what happens, does it cause a paradox?

Yeah, okay. A robot just quoted Arthur C. Clarke at me! [His day is made.]
snarkbot: (goldmine of information)

[personal profile] snarkbot 2017-08-27 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
I can quote Asimov too, sir, if that's what you're into. As for possibly causing a paradox, allow me to clarify: I'm from the future in my home universe. This world follows an alternate timeline with significant historical divergences, so it's unlikely anything I could say to you now would be relevant.
polkayoureyesout: (read)

[personal profile] polkayoureyesout 2017-08-27 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
It's just cool, that's all.

Oh. So you wouldn't be changing your world at all? Is there any way to skip between timelines here?

[He absentmindedly runs his hands over his head, thinking hard.]
snarkbot: (struck gold)

[personal profile] snarkbot 2017-08-27 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
I've seen no evidence of time travel in this world outside of the Porter. Only the Porter is capable of returning imports to their proper timelines, where all anecdotal evidence of those who were sent back and returned indicates that their own universes and timeline will remain unchanged as they don't remember this place.

In other words, this timeline and your own are the only ones you're capable of travelling to and never at your own discretion.
polkayoureyesout: (look)

[personal profile] polkayoureyesout 2017-08-27 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
But you don't know how this Porter does it? Wait? People got sent back and forth?
[He stands a bit straighter.]

People actually get returned home again?
snarkbot: (good as gold)

[personal profile] snarkbot 2017-08-27 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
From what data I have been able to find it's possible to be returned home, continue your timeline, and later return to this world -- and this may happen several times to an import or not at all.

Quite a few imports appear to eventually sent home for good, though there isn't a consistent pattern to how long they stay here before they are, and a very small number haven't been sent home at all yet despite being here since the beginning.
Edited 2017-08-27 02:16 (UTC)
polkayoureyesout: (read)

[personal profile] polkayoureyesout 2017-08-27 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
If it doesn't work perfectly does that mean there's some way to skew things, jog the Porter's elbow? I know there have to be people working on that.
snarkbot: (gold digger)

[personal profile] snarkbot 2017-08-28 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
I've found no record of the Porter being convinced to do anything, sir.

[ He pauses, hovering in mid-air, considering it. ]

Perhaps if I were to get myself close enough to plug myself in...
Edited (well i just failed that html) 2017-08-28 01:36 (UTC)
polkayoureyesout: (look)

[personal profile] polkayoureyesout 2017-08-28 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
That's good to know.

Don't...just don't hurt yourself okay? I know that might be part of your programming but I feel the need to say it.