etcelsior | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It is hard to miss the woman in all white, unlike the small girl in head-to-toe black who moves through the night with a speed and grace that almost seems inhuman. The suit catches her eye as she darts between rooftops, and from her body language she can tell that she's itching for a fight. Cass changes course, leaping onto the same rooftop as Mother Panic.

She can be completely undetectable when she wants to be, but she makes a point of landing hard so that the other superhero can take notice of her arrival. Cass isn't one for caution, but there is a sense of danger in the costumed woman's body language, and she'd rather that be directed at criminals instead of herself.]

[ Cass is one sneaky person, but fortunately (for Mother Panic) her helmet is riddled with sensors to avoid precisely being taken by surprise. She operates in Gotham after all; not getting jumped on by the bat family is one of her priorities after wrecking the shit out of the people that wronged her.

So when Cass falls in front of her, Mother Panic isn't startled as much as she's pissed off. ]

Move, or be moved.

[ Pretty please? ]

[Cass raises her hands in front of her in a gesture to show that she's not there for a fistfight. At least not against Mother Panic. She points a thumb behind her, where some gunshots can be heard in the distance. Gang violence, no doubt.

Can they skip the obligatory hero vs. hero part of the teamup and skip straight to fighting the bad guys?]

[ God dammit she's not getting dragged into a team up. This is so stupid. ]

...

[ Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuu--- ]

Don't get any funny ideas.

[ And with that she darts past Cass. Uh, follow along? ]

[Cass tilts her head slightly, and then follows along. She's not sure what could be funny about fighting crime and saving lives, you strange costumed person.

The sound of gunfire grows closer, and soon there is a full-blown gang war occurring in the streets below them. Cass glances to her reluctant ally before smiling beneath her mask and leaping off the building into the fray.]

[ WE'RE NOT FRIENDS I DON'T LIKE YOU.

Basically.

Mother Panic is right next to Cass, darting down and landing squarely on a thug's head. Hard. She rolls away and does a leg swipe on another guy, dropping him flat on his face. Once on her feet, she turns to see where Cass landed. ]

You take that half.

[ And then she punches a guy twice her size against a car, leaving a visible dent on it. ]

[By the time Mother Panic glances over, Cass already has two of the thugs on the ground. She may not have the raw power of her ~~friend~~ acquaintance, but she makes up for it in speed and sheer skill. The way she weaves between the gang members and disabling them with precise blows before they even register what is happening is almost like a dance.

Cass isn't very good at following instructions when it comes to only fighting a specific group, though, and her battle might spill over into Mother Panic's half, especially if she thinks a thug might be trying to get the drop on her.]

[ Mother Panic's fighting style might initially look like she's simply flinging thugs around the street (which she is) but that's mainly because they're so weak in her eyes that she doesn't really need to try any harder. Her actual skills come into play whenever she swiftly dodges or intercepts an attack with ease.

But if/when Cass gets too close, she'll get a glare from Mother Panic. Not that it's obvious with that helmet of hers. ]

Watch it!

[Cass backs off, but she's almost finished with her half. Only two remain: a huge, hulking brute with bulging muscles and a smaller, lithe gang member. Before Cass can begin her attack, the bigger one rips a mailbox from the pavement and hurls it at her. She dodges it easily enough, but her other opponent darts in with superhuman speed and throws a series of quick jabs with enhanced reflexes. She avoids them without too much trouble, but clearly these aren't normal thugs. She backs up toward where Mother Panic is and speaks for the first time.]

Yours.

[She points toward the big one, and after a moment back to his smaller friend.]

Mine.

Edited 2017-09-25 20:30 (UTC)

[ MP drops the last thug before Cass backs away next to her. Turning around, she eyes the mailbox totting super thug for a moment before grunting. ]

Fine.

[ She can say or think whatever she wants about the girl clad in black, but MP has to admit she fights like nobody she's ever seen. Hell, she's better than her and that hurts to admit. It also means she can trust Cass to deal with the speedy one. So she basically stomps towards the strong one, hands balled into fists. The man rips a door off a car with ease and does an overhead slam, clearly intending to squish her against the pavement. Problem is, for all his raw power, the guy is slow to the point that MP can easily sidestep the attack.

Without wasting any time, she kicks one of his outstretched arms with all her strength, making it crack with a weird, wet noise as it bends unnaturally to the side. The man screams in pain, leaning forward, and his face is met with a fist that breaks his nose and sends some teeth flying about. And even then the man scrambles to his feet. ]

Sure, make my day.

I PUT THEM TO BED, NOW THEY ARE DREAMS, AND WE GO --

extra

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worst team-up ever!

come on, all white and all black... IT'S LIKE THEY WERE MEANT TO TEAM UP

color coordinated team ups are the best team ups, true

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