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etcelsior2017-09-24 10:02 am
maskormods) wrote in etcelsior2017-09-24 10:02 am
Entry tags:
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.
no subject
Ex-excuse me- me--
[ Ignoring the looks from the bartenders and any help anyone tries to offer, Leia waves them away. ]
Kriff--
[ Still hacking. ]
no subject
So she waits it out, though she does discreetly pause the bartender long enough to ask for a glass of water after Leia waves him away. ]
Forgive me, I could have timed that better. [ Sliding the glass of water closer to Leia. ] I know it's something that would come to as a surprise to many.
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The Jedi were forbidden to fall in love. They were forbidden to marry.
[ She finishes off the water and catches some about to spill at the corner of her mouth, finally bringing herself to look at Padmé again. This woman who is her...mother. ]
You married a monster.
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Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi's life.
[ She turns and meets Leia's gaze squarely, surely. ]
I will not pretend to understand how you view him, these many years after. I don't know what he did after I died. But I did not marry a monster. [ And the last part is very soft, very quiet. ] I married a man who feared for my life more than anything than in the galaxy.
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[ Okay, so it'd been vague as heck. But it couldn't be that hard to figure out. ]
He took everything away from me. He took away my parents, used a powerful weapon to destroy an entire planet— my home— wiped out the lives of millions— my people— and if it hadn't been for him then Kier—
[ Everything up to that point has been boiling to the breaking point. To add the cherry to the cake, her mother is standing before her, alive, warm flesh and blood. It doesn't make any sense how someone like her can marry a man like Anakin— like Vader.
She needs to stop thinking back on Kier; six years had gone by. That ship had long sailed, though the years didn't make it hurt any less.
The emotions are building too fast and too strong for her to think about pulling back in, the emotions feeding into something darker, something almost uncontrollable. With her hands shaking, her grip on her empty glass as tight as it is, the glass suddenly snaps in her hold. Only those nearby look over at the sound of shattering glass while the lancing pain in her palm promptly brings Leia back into focus.
The bartender is quick to react, once he realizes what's happened, hurriedly handing Padmé some fresh and clean bar towels while Leia's left in a daze and fumbling with an apology, finally looking to her bloodied hand to see the shards embedded and sharp.
Is this any different from the blood already on her hands of those who pledged to fight for her? The blood of the lives of her people, lost while she'd stood there helpless and forced to watch as they'd been suddenly slain. ]
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[ That first horror is unbidden, unchecked, but after that there there is only the very real pain of the daughter she has never known. Anakin has made his choices.
Leia - Leia has lost her world to them. (Bail and Breha, his own daughter -- how could you, Ani?).
She takes Leia's hand almost immediately after the glass shatters, the instincts of someone who has seen this more than once. ]
Forgive me. I know what to do for this. [ Her head is bowed over Leia's hand in the urgency, her fingers gentle. All that matters is her daughter's pain, in this moment, both the physical and the emotional. She helped cause that. ] Let me help.
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This is the first time this has happened. For me.
[ She would have no idea otherwise, what to do. She's still trying to wrap her head around the fact that the glass had so unexpectedly shattered. ]
no subject
Blood Padme is used to, but that it is her daughter's blood, that it was caused by the strength of Leia's anger at Anakin -- she feels sick to her stomach. ]
The first time? Well, let us hope it will also be the last. I think we've ruined the clothes they lent us.
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I don't think it will be that easy.
[ She looks back down then and watches Padmé work, watches the blood trickle free, feeling it slip down her forearm. Yes, their gowns are ruined, it is a shame considering how nice they are.
The bartender passes over a red cup of water,
not glass but plastic. For reasons. Leia's grateful and takes it, needing something to settle the alcohol in her system and the nausea. ]
He's claiming to be my father.
no subject