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etcelsior2017-09-24 10:02 am
maskormods) wrote in etcelsior2017-09-24 10:02 am
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I PUT THEM TO BED, NOW THEY ARE DREAMS, AND WE GO --
T E S T D R I V E M E M E
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 ON THE TEST DRIVE MEME!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. Many of the locals might thank you for always lending your service to the nation and their local troubles, while others might not say anything -- but if you have something nasty to say, better not say anything at all, right? That's just the Heropan way.
But despite the relatively small size and mostly easy-going population, this here is not a city immune to the urbane ways of the world. And Heropa, like the rest of the world, adheres to the calendar of this universe. You, fine imPort, have just happened to land squarely on SING LIKE YOU'RE IN A MUSICAL DAY! Wowee! Locals and tourist natives alike will conspire to cajole you into singing your GREATEST WISHES and CLOSING ACT songs. And, oh, you don't feel like singing? Then BEWARE of anyone spritzing a sweet-smelling yellow perfume at you -- that's a lasting vestige from the crumbled HEAVEN SCENT corporation, still on the market, and it will COMPEL YOU TO SING. Even if it's for a few minutes, you'll be singing a few bars. It's nothing personal, the locals just want you to feel like you belong.
Happy Sing Like You're In A Musical Day!
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! Those words have meaning here. 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 or recently published PLoS papers. 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. Some of them MAY ask if you personally know the De Chima Ambassador, Sam Merlotte. Beware if you answer in the affirmative; anything from personal questions about romantic chances to bedroom habits to dietary queries might come up!
If you wander the clean streets beneath those chrome and glass skyscrapers, you'll come upon the limited greenery clearing that De Chima possesses. You'll see a live demonstration in the middle of small Newton Park. A live demonstration! Of what, you ask! Of the start-up company DeCRYPTO CANINE! You'll find a fenced little area in the park fitted for a low-rise stage. On that stage are lots of dogs -- terriers, labradors, dachshunds, huskies, even a great dane or two. Around the collar of every one of these dogs is a glowing blue band encapsulated in a silver framing. When the demonstration begins (at the push of a big red button on a remote control), the glowing blue changes to yellow, to green, or to red -- all depending on the dog.
"Communication with our good canine buds!" Says the woman on the stage with the microphone and the remote. "DeCRYPTO CANINE translates blood pressure and adrenaline into mood, and mood into limited speech! At long last!"
Who let the dogs out? This woman, because she opened the fencing floodgates and these dogs ran to greet the waiting audience. Wagging tails -- green! And a computerized voice says "YOU ARE NEW HELLO I SMELL YOUR BUTT NOW WE ARE FRIENDS".
Whimpering, lowered tails -- yellow! Concern! "YOUR CROTCH SMELLS BAD. ARE YOU SICK."
Tense shoulders, hunched posture -- red! "BAD MAN BAD MAN BAD MAN!"
What will these dogs reveal about you?
03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has carried a reputation for ups and downs ever since imPorts began reappearing again, just those few years prior. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while a handful of others had 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 -- but that war waging is taking a turning tide thanks to the order and regulation established by Ambassador Petyr Baelish. Locals know him best for his library and his hardline on containing the criminal element. Trustworthy guy, they'll tell you. But one man's leadership isn't enough to clean up a troubled city in a year's time; everything from the classic bank heist to brutal bloodbaths can happen around the corner. You have to keep your eyes open and your mind sharp when you live in Maurtia Falls.
Case in point: the two cars screeching down the bust, bustling streets of this noir-styled city. A green car and a red car, both sedan styled, dodging and weaving through midday traffic like they had learned to drive at a bumper car rally. Not too far behind is the wail of several police sirens. You know that the police are too far away, that these speeding vehicles might make it to the off-ramp freeway and get home-free -- what do you do about it? Huh, hero? What do you do?
NOTHING
Just go about your business. Crazy day, huh?
CHASE THE GREEN CAR
Going 79 MPH in a 35 MPH zone, that'll be some chase. Careful about the other vehicles, parked cars, pedestrians. But when you catch up to the fleeing vehicle, beware: the lady in the passenger side is armed. The lady in the driver's seat is armed. The guy tied up in the trunk is not armed. These sunglass-wearing bounty hunters will fire at you, they are armed and dangerous. They are mean. They will not humor your shit. And they are hauling tail trying to...
CATCH THE RED CAR
If you pursue the red car first, you will find a very angry Bonnie and Clyde type couple with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of diamonds and jewels in their backseat. They have a bazooka.
04. Nonah, North Carolina, has its own unique rhythm; it is 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. They probably already think they know what Ambassador Miles' favorite article of underwear is -- and it's probably a kinky assumption. Whoops!
If you prefer to dodge the unsavory bustle, take a walk downtown into the heartbeat district. There you can find the throbbing nightclubs and dazzling haute bars. And as a newly arrived imPort, you're invited to the VIP lounge of the hautest bar in town: THE TIPPING POINT. It is a very fancy affair, however, so if you're not dressed to the nines, you WILL be taken care of and given a designer suit or cocktail dress to borrow for the evening. All you have to do in return is smile for the cameras! And there WILL be cameras, along with B-List celebrities hobbing at your elbows. Lucky night for you if you're JUST at the legal drinking age, but not quite there -- this lounge doesn't card. So sit down, take your gin and tonic, and smile.
(nottalking)
Well, can't say it wasn't a good practice run to see just what he can do with these powers of his, right? Of course... he'll have to see everything he can do with them but now's obviously not the time.
The mention of school though? Yeah... that has Jr. here look up to Duo with a raised brow before he raises a hand as if to say not important. ]
Where the hell is Heero anyway? Is he still snoozing? [ he makes a bit of a face at that ] Sheesh, I didn't think he got hit that hard.
[ Cause Heero, his Gundam buddy, is totally here as well.
Right? ]
HMPH
[He certainly didn't expect it to be Jr. that showed up. But then, the Porter loved throwing curveballs.]
[He hated those. He grips Duo's shoulder just a little firmer as his own lack of planning comes back to remind him.] You didn't answer my question, squirt. Why aren't you in school? I know most of it is a load of shit, but you need at least some of those skills. Not every form of math and science is applicable to piloting, you know. And you should know what the propaganda is that they feed to people here, so you know what's real when you're coming up against it.
no subject
What? No lessons in that from Father of Shit here?
[ Coming to turn around so that he can face Duo as they walk, he jerks his thumb back over his shoulder. ]
Seriously? Was kinda stopping something back there.
no subject
[He glances down the kid as he turns to walk backwards, and glances half-heartedly towards the wreck where the robbers were now being arrested.] Yeah. In the worst possible way. Great goin'.
[He pauses for a minute, thoughtful, then shrug.] ...That junk's small beans. Don't worry about that, leave it to the street-level heroes.
no subject
[ Street-level hero, bogus priest, father of shit. It's all the same, right?
Jr. stuffs his hands into his pockets and turns back around to look forward as he walks, checking out the sights and everything now that he's got a chaperon here. Couldn't be Heero, huh?
Glancing down to a crumpled can, he kicks it down the sidewalk as they go before he glances over to his old man. ]
'sides. It's not like illusions are all I can do, y'know.
no subject
So don't sweat the smalltimers. We have more important things to worry about. [None of which Duo particularly wanted to get Jr. involved with. But he was sure he could find something for the kid.]
[He glances down, shrugs, nods.] I know. I read your file, remember? [A grin] A flashy power for a showoff little brat. Who's surprised?
no subject
Ch, remind me to never get myself a diary 'cause you'd probably go ahead and read that too, you nosy creep.
[ But, what Duo mentioned earlier catches Jr's attention and he glances over to his old man with a bit of curiosity in his blue eyes. ]
What kind of important things? This sure as Hell don't look like back home, y'know. Kinda doubt the same shit's going on here.
no subject
[He'd made sure that file was destroyed as soon as possible, of course.]
[As for this conversation... Duo keeps his face trained expertly, so he doesn't give away how little he wants Duo to get involved in this mess. Sure, he would have readily accepted his involvement in the political situation itself, but that would surely mean entanglement with the Constellation, and that...]
As you know, [He starts, heaving a sigh] This country has a democracy of sorts, but things only became that way a bit recently. Or rather, they were historically, then the tides were turned by war, and now things are restored to their former state. At least, on the surface... And the deeper you go, the less it seems that the stability of this country's politics are what they seem.
no subject
Ain't it like that with every government ever?
[ He asks that rather dryly, cocking his head to the side and seeming almost... bored with the idea. Adults suck and don't know what to do with power aside from abuse it, what else is new? ]
So, what? You on some stealth mission to try and bring the peace back to this place? That why we got ourselves pulled here in the first place? To clean up their mess?
[ There's a tch that falls from his lips as he glances off down the street. ]
Aren't ya a little past your prime for this, old man?