Mask or Menace | MODERATORS (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
maskormods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
etcelsior2017-08-25 07:25 pm
maskormods) wrote in 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.
no subject
Better we have something in between us to remember in case the evening goes a lot worse than we intended.
[ and he follows him back to the bar. does this make them friends now? how awkward. then again, giorno was perfectly willing to live for strangers and to get them killed and he'd called them friends all the same. maybe it's no different this time around. ]
no subject
At best, Giorno will curse him out and leave. Also fine. Jotaro wouldn't try to stop him and would silently make sure to never again contact Giorno, not unless an emergency was underway. Even then, maybe not. Of course there was always the option to not say anything. Leave Giorno in the dark, introduce himself as a fellow Stand user, and make that be all. ...Absolutely not. Even considering it makes his skin crawl.
They get back to the main bar, Jotaro going once again behind it, and carefully pours the milk into the espresso cup. The cup is placed onto a small plate with a spoon, which he puts on the bartop in front of Giorno.]
Let me know if it's horrible or not. [Just because he doesn't think it'd be good.]
no subject
but he does settle nicely on his seat, if only because with the way jotaro is talking, it sounds like he's in for a long night. ]
no subject
[He's not vain enough to take a compliment he doesn't quite deserve. Good, maybe. Best ever, absolutely not.]
First, let me introduce myself to you: Jotaro Kujo. Second, I asked you to come here because we share two connections to one another.
[For a moment he pauses, and then shrugs off this trench coat with fluid careful movements, laying it to the side of the bar in a dry area. He's wearing a black t-shirt underneath to suit the weather, which he pulls down part of the collar and turns his back to Giorno. What Giorno will see is the same star birthmark that he must surely be familiar with. The one he has, and the one his father has, the one any person who carries a piece of the Joestar lineage has.]
no subject
You sure know how to make an introduction. Normally people would just leave it with names.
First: I come from 2001, Mr. Kujo. Whatever it is that we share, I'm going to make you start chronologically considering you're quite older than me.
Second: my name is Giorno Giovanna. Whatever connections I have left, I chose them for myself.
Now that we've established that, explain to me how you fit in my life.
no subject
It concerns your father, Dio Brando. [May as well start with that.] Tell me, do you know what happened to him?
[He wants to check first how much Giorno does know. Obviously he did not grow up with Dio's presence in his life, but that doesn't necessarily equate to complete obliviousness.]
no subject
I never knew him. [ conveniently omitting the fact that he'd just asked to be his student before he met him, until he knows more about jotaro himself and the kind of person that he is. ] My mother told me he had blond hair and he died in Egypt.
Who is he to you?
no subject
Your mother is correct. His hair is blond like yours, and he died in Egypt, on a bridge in Cairo in December of 1988. [For a moment he is silent, knowing what he has to say. He's just bracing for the worst, before he looks straight at Giorno.] I'm the man who killed him.
[Stated and simple, no pride or anger in his voice. Just a fact from long ago.]
no subject
[ fantastic. his first day in this world and his father's killer is right in front of him with a confession. giorno looks at his face impassively, searching him for any emotional response, his fingers tapping on the side of the cup. what is he doing? he had already mentioned not wanting to fight him now, or ever - what does he gain from telling him?
.... and why would he kill his father? there is a greater story behind this, but he's not sure if he's ready to hear it. all this time, he'd never bothered with his blood relatives, but now a man who has the same birthmark as he is, and his father, is telling him that the two of them are somehow connected and he'd severed the only man whom he considers as his father a long time ago. should he be angry at it? family is family. he did not hesitate to leave the old life he'd had, especially considering it had been terrible to begin with, but this .... this is something else.
(and his father ... should he return ... would he come back to his death, then? it is a difficult situation to consider. he cannot allow him to die, he's only just met him. but with what little time he'd spent with him ....) ]
.... I don't want to know how or why he died. I'm sure it was - [ painful. his mother spoke highly of him, as far as he knows, and that's despite her marriage to his stepfather. giorno grits his teeth. a few days ago he had just promised narancia he'd take him home. he saw buccellati ascend. he nearly lost his friends. and now ... he feels a lot older than he had any right to be. ] - I never knew him. And now I have to mourn him.
Do you want my forgiveness, Jotaro? Is that what this is? [ a pause. ] Do you know what I am?
no subject
[He isn't going to ask forgiveness when he doesn't regret killing Dio. Maybe that's his real sin here - he's standing in front of the man's son and even then, he can't muster up a single dredge of remorse. Really, it's for the better that Dio died and never sunk his claws into Giorno. Giorno probably doesn't even know what he was spared. Likewise, he doesn't know very much about Giorno. Only affirmation that he is a good person. However, the people who told him that is why he approached instead of turning away from what he saw.]
I'm telling you this because I can't continue speaking with you here and pretend like I didn't take something away from you. [Even if that 'something' is a monster. More pressing though--] I'm also telling you this because he is in this world, alive.
no subject
[ dio also knows he exists, but he didn't recognize him. he'll leave that out of the table for now, because -
- because he feels hurt, that's why. because despite giorno being who he is, he has no reason to doubt jotaro when he has shown him no reason to doubt the honesty of his statements at all. he wants no forgiveness from him, which means he doesn't regret it. he wants to be able to say it to him honestly, because he feels he has a right to know. he offered him a drink when he knew full well he could possibly hate him for what he's done. but he did none of those things, and now the ball is in his court because giorno has to prove that he is worth all these gestures.
a very vicious, very afraid animal inside of him wants to protect his father nonetheless and weigh the facts before him against a photograph he keeps thinking of right now.
(but, more importantly: nobody told jotaro he was head of passione. so whomever his sources were .... ) ]
Any other time, your honesty wouldn't have saved you. [ he has to be pragmatic. practical. good god, he's only 15. ]
I will take you on your word, only on the conditions that under no circumstances should you ever take his place, as any sort of father figure, out of a misplaced sense of obligation after his death; and that, should there be a need to kill him again, you are not going to do it alone or without my knowledge.
Those are my terms. The reason why I'm not asking as to why or how he died is because I'm going to assume that the reasons are sufficient and compelling, until you give me reason to assume otherwise. I'm making a judgement on your character that could cost me. I want to thank you for your honesty, but I won't extend my gratitude just yet.
[ what else can he say. he wants to protect him? he has a right to get to know him? giorno decides to drink his coffee after that, too sad or frustrated to say anything else otherwise. in a quiet voice, very different from how he just spoke earlier - a practiced, cultivated formality he'd learned from watching better men, some dead, speak before him - he sets his cup on the counter, and murmurs, ]
.... I was really happy to see him alive. Even if he didn't know me at all.
no subject
... That's to be expected. [He has no idea what else to say to that. Though this means Giorno already had a run in with Dio. Good grief.] This was the first time you ever met him - what did you think?
[There's no way he can tell what Giorno expected, and he wouldn't ask, but he doesn't think anyone could picture a man like Dio as the ideal image of a father.]
no subject
as for his question, that's difficult to answer. giorno slumps on the counter, leaning his chin on the surface as he ponders his question. he cares a lot for him, but he did not go as far as imagine a future with him considering it was ... not practical to do so when his current circumstances were dire. he was a source of strength, more than anything else. inspiration. but he was not a catalyst or the source of his ambition. ]
He exceeded all expectations.
[ there. that seems like the right way to put it. ]
no subject
[That tells him very little. Well, he can understand why Giorno might want to be cagey in this moment.]
I was told in the past, by people I knew and trusted, that he could come off as quite charismatic. He had a natural energy to him that felt easy to settle with. [Jotaro never once thought that, but he has never known of Dio as anything but evil incarnate.] I ask because if he does realize who you are... I can't really predict how he will react. He may try to pull you in close and refuse to let go. He may shun you. You should be ready for anything with him.
no subject
I don't do charismatic. I have problems with authority. And, as is probably clear now, I have problems with family, too.
I guess what I'm saying is that he'll have his work cut out with me. As is fitting, considering I'm his son.
no subject
Good grief. If there is one thing I'm sorry about, is that you have that birthmark on your neck. You might have had a shot at a normal life if not. [Seriously he loves his family, and is proud of them, but he has plenty of reasons to resent his lineage at times.] Giorno... if you want nothing to do with me after tonight, I won't speak with you again unless absolutely necessary. I mean that sincerely.
[If Giorno wants an acceptable way 'out', this is it. He'll absolutely need to keep an eye on Giorno, but it would be in connection to his relation with Dio. He can't ignore that so long as Dio is here.]
no subject
I lived without knowledge of our connection and without his influence for the longest time. Suffice to say it had no effect on the outcomes of my choices later on, and even if it did, anything that gets in the way of my dream will be dealt with. Simple as that.
I don't mind the two of us maintaining contact. Where else would I get free coffee at this time? If nothing else, it's nice to have a place to go to in such a big city.
no subject
Deciding on free coffee just like that? Something tells me you're going to be a pain to deal with. [Well, what else could he expect from a Brando? Even if he has Joestar blood in him as well.] One more thing - I know you have a Stand. I do as well. Your Stand won't be seen as anything too strange in this world, but don't let that get to your head.
[What that could mean is up to Giorno to interpret.]
no subject
And I'm not too keen on showing off my Stand, unless I have to. You don't have to worry about that.
no subject
[Consider it "sorry I killed your dad" discount.]
no subject
That's reasonable. We wouldn't want you enabling any sort of bad habits on my behalf, I've already got them in spades.
no subject
no subject
Give me time, I'm sure I can come up with a list.
[ he'll be finishing his coffee then. ]
no subject
[Get used to hearing it Giorno, Jotaro only says it around five times a day on average.]
You can reach me by the communicator any time you want. Just don't do it for no reason.
[If Giorno did not yet realize this, Jotaro is an incredibly charming personality.]
no subject
[ he absolutely will use it for the most inconvenient messages ever. get ready for giorno after dark, jotaro. ]