etcelsior | SEAS THE DAY

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.

Local residents are celebrating summer in full swing at the first-ever Chug Fest. On this sweltering June day, locals are gathered in the largest park downtown, where purveyors of craft sodas, homemade iced teas, astisanal milkshakes and (in the roped-off 21+ section) micro breweries are sharing their finest beverages. Why not quench your thirst, and buy some tasty treats from various food trucks to wash down?

There's just one problem—the tech-based super (...ish) villain team known as The Locksmiths have caused all bathroom ad port-a-john doors to be unopenable, and they're demanding one million dollars in cash before they'll reverse their evil deed! To maintain the anti-unlock field, they're circulating in the crowd, disguised as normal patrons. Do you seek them out to give people some relief, or are you too busy doing a little dance yourself?

02. De Chima, Virginia, is a large city with a healthy economy, with large numbers of citizens waiting to be awed by your very presence. Look at you! Organic wonder! Synthetic wonder! Whatever you might be, 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. If you let yourself get cornered, beware! Anything from personal questions about romantic chances to bedroom habits to dietary queries might be come up! Just be careful about insinuating anything about yourself and the De Chima Ambassador, Baal. A little innuendo will go a long, hard way.

De Chima is a city all about REMAKING YOURSELF. Sometimes it's about remaking a look, or an aesthetic. As part of a promotion for a new FABULOUS television show, one imPort will be giving another imPort a MAKEOVER. So step right up with your imPort victim/volunteer! You have a seemingly endless wardrobe to work with, a pair of scissors, and a Stephora make-up artist on hand. This is a chance for imPorts to redesign their fellow imPort's look to however they'd want it -- just be sure to clarify if you're the heroic SUBJECT to be makeover'd or the fabulous EXPERT who's doing the making over! And remember, it's all being filmed.

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, even with Ambassador Padme and imPort Mayor Baelish gracing the headlines. 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, and hostility against imPorts can spike. The emergence of locals with superpowers is hardly helping... #THANKS TONY STARK, #ya muffin.

In an effort to bring in more tourism to the Falls, a public works project focusing on the canal system has been recently finished! This includes a series of tours through the town, and has brought a new wave of guarded hope to nearby shopkeeps. So far, everything seems to be going as planned, and one can enjoy a nice boat ride down the canal with little issue! Maybe enjoy the nice breeze and bright sunshine, in a town that usually has frequent cloudy skies!

Or maybe, despite the carefulness of the Maurtia Falls Canal Corporation, there's a few snags along the way. As with all new programs, there's bound to be a few loose ends— ranging from boat trouble and a low-stakes rescue needing to be staged to get all passengers on dry land once again, all the way to a careless parent not watching as their child falls into the water below.

04. Nonah, North Carolina, is the liveliest of all cities; loud, busy and there's always some kind of energy in the air that gets everyone buzzing with excitement.

A few night clubs offer free entrance - just this once! And they are bound to notice that a man has taken up a spot in a local street, eating pancakes off of a fold out table and holding up traffic. Many people are taking pictures and more interested in whether or not this is performance art than ushering him out of the way. He does have an extra chair and table, however, and will welcome and feed company, especially imPorts.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She watches him with an incredibly critical eye, but then looks away when she feels she's gotten his answer. He's not lying to her. She takes a deep breath, lets it out.

"Right. Okay." It's not right, and it's not okay, but she's trying to make everything slot into her head. "I don't understand how that's possible, but I - I also have a fresh tattoo on my arm and a folder telling me how best to be a super hero so I - -"

Her shoulders sagged a little.

"Okay. Alright. What about the others? You said David was here, but what about the rest?"

"Not here. No connections to 'our' Earth. Yes. More than one. I even tried to summon Mac Lir- guess what didn't work?"

He lifts his now full glass and clinks it against hers.

"No Gods here, except for the ones also brought here by the Porter. I don't know how it's possible either, but I've given up trying. Might as well drink to that."

Aaaand more drinking.

"Oh- and there's a man here who goes by the name Doctor Chilton who looks identical here and hates me, so do us both a favor and don't mix us up."

She didn't know what to say, as she felt her heart fall through the floor. Instead she just slowly raised her glass to her lips, and drank it all. Wine was not supposed to go down that fast, but that's where they were.

She didn't even know what to say. What could she say?

She doesn't need to say anything. He accepts her silence for what it is, because it's what he wishes he had when he first came here. He just lets Takara take it in in peace, except when he calls over the waitress for a second bottle of wine.

"Oh, and the steamed clams. Clams, Takara? They also have mussels."

"Uh - yeah," She said, her voice sounding distracted. "... Clams. Mussels. It's fine."

She's silent for another few minutes, as she takes a deep breath, and then, slowly, quietly, she speaks again:

"A lot happened. We got the Staff. We went to see Thoth, in Memphis, we- David was there, the others, and - Everything happened really fast. Once second I was standing next to you, the next - I moved before I even knew who was attacking you, he - he snapped my neck and-" Breathe, Takara.

She closed her eyes, paused, and when she spoke again her voice was utterly calm.

"Then I was watching it. All of you. I tried to speak but I wasn't there, and then I was in the Du'at. In the sands."

"Clams it is," he says, handing the menu back and waiting for the waitress to leave.

He listens as Takara explain, the glass and a half of wine in his empty stomach doing well to dull the emotions he could be having over this, like more confusion, anger, and overall things that would ruin his day.

"So what you're saying is that David wasn't lying when he said you died." Yes, Chauncy, that's what she's saying. "He snapped your neck?" He being ... David??

"He wasn't lying." She frowned at the question, then shook her head quickly.

"No. No, not David." There was a pause, her stomach twisting. "Chauncy- you all should never have come after me. It was a set up, the entire time. Maybe you- maybe if I tell you what happened, you can stop it? Don't let David go after me. Don't let anyone go after me. Because it gets-- it got so much worse-- Apep--" The words stuck in her throat and she struggled around him.

"They think we are trying to end the world. The gods. It was all a set up, and if none of you had tried to come after me, it would never have happened."

"Takara."

He looks serious.

"Breathe."

She does. She pulls a deep breath in through her nose and let it out slowly, before turning her head to look back out over the canal.

"... It's - it's a lot. Chauncy. I can't decide if it's better to tell you or - or not burden you with it. We aren't there, anyway, right? The gods can't get to us here. We're safe. For - however long we're here."

"Which is unknown. It could be weeks, months, years. Or maybe the next five minutes."

He leans forward over the table.

"Which is why there's no point in thinking about it. There's nothing we can do about what's happening anywhere else, except here. I'm going to retake the bar exam, maybe join a law firm with another defense attorney ImPort here. I'm going to live my life, like none of this "god" business ever happened, for as long as I can."

He leans back, when he sees the waitress approach again, now with the tray of steamed clams.

"And you should do the same, because you're going to go crazy otherwise."

SEAS THE DAY

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