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etcelsior2018-12-15 11:19 am
maskormods) wrote in etcelsior2018-12-15 11:19 am
Entry tags:
walking in a winter wonderland
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.
Although even Florida can get chilly during the winter, a relative heat wave is sweeping through, resulting in an impromptu Beach Body Competition sponsored by a local gym. ImPorts who are the buffest of the buff all the way down to the super skinniest (competing in separate weight classes, of course) are likely to be urged to join in for some fun in the sun and the extra attention they garner from native fans.
Those who just aren't interested in competing might be called in to judge another competition down the beach: a youth sand-sculpting contest! Only one team can walk away with the grand prize of a laser tag package, but can you bring yourself to be harsh on those wide, hopeful eyes?
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.
With Christmas coming, the producers behind a guerilla new reality show are hard at work getting new footage—starring you! Areas of the city with the most foot traffic have been absolutely blanketed in mistletoe. If you happen to pass beneath a sprig, you might find a small camera crew jumping out of nowhere, urging you to give the person next to you a smooch—and thanks to the strange radio waves coming out of the unit on the executive producer's wrist, you'll feel a little compelled to do so!
...except the compulsion isn't that strong, so those who don't kiss on the first meet can easily break out of it. Your next choice: give the camera crew a piece of your mind, or ask the would-be kissee out for coffee? They are pretty cute...
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. 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...
The downtown mall is tilting the balance solidly toward welcoming to imPorts with a Winter Welcome Festival. All the storefronts and many temporary kiosks occupied by local vendors are holding special sales, and newly arrived imPorts are given a coupon book to make the most of them. The food court has some free goodies for participants to mix and mingle.
Unfortunately, a local rogue with the alias of Klone Kringle is here to spoil the fun. After a small boom echoes throughout the mall, everything dissolves into chaos as dozens of copies of a man dressed in a polyester Santa Claus costume begin looting the retailers! The guns they wield that shoot snow and ice might not be lethal, but they can certainly slow you down (and give you a cold). Will you be the hero and help take down Kringle(s), or will you seize the opportunity to do some theft of your own?
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.
Thanksgiving and Hanukkah have passed, Christmas and New Year's Eve are coming up, but what about holidays from home? This weekend, the Nonah Cultural Center is hosting a one-day event during which attendees can share stories of their traditions and celebrations (whether they are related to winter holidays or completely different ones) and sharing them with others, either on a small stage with a microphone or in individual recording booths, so that these tales of cultural traditions can be preserved for others to learn about. ImPorts from worlds that are not variants of Earth are particularly encouraged to attend. Small refreshment tables will also be open to those who speak.
05. Jeopardy, Nevada by all rights shouldn't exist. A glowing neon city smack in the middle of the desert, the only reason it's still here is that the central nuclear power plant has tapped half a mile down into a subterranean lake for its water supply. So though the desert around it may be barren, the occupants of this small city are happily self sufficient. Those weird figures you see out of the corner of your eyes? Don't worry too much. Probably just weird radiation after effects. Jeopardy has a lot of those.
Saturnalia is just around the corner and Jeopardy is in full festive swing! The seven-day marathon of festivities includes a parade, with a ((cw: arachnophobia)) very special float from the Web Mistress's church; a day long city-wide paintball game; an attempt to break the world record for largest bingo game with everyone playing in dead silence; and a feast!
The final feast, of course, comes with the main event: ritual sacrifice. Of course, no one actually wants to do anything quite so base, in 2018, so the sacrifice is more metaphorical than actual: the kids of North Jeopardy High have spent three months building a giant chocolate Santa tied up in ropes to be slaughtered and fed to the city at large! Bon appetit!
a!!!
[ He's lucky she's been looking for him anyway. She spotted him from afar when the moderator started riling up the crowd, pushing her way through to get to him. She's less concerned about what the moderator is talking about and more concerned with finally finding him.
And once she reaches him. ] There you are! I've been looking for you!
[ ... And then all the things the moderators been shouting up until now about some Beach Body Competition clicks. ]
— Wait, you're entering the competition?
[ ... Sorry, buddy, she didn't hear your previous protests. Riku's competitive, sure, but he's interested in this sort of thing ...? ]
no subject
Kairi!
[Given how large this world has turned out to be so far, it's really a relief to see her sound and safe.
Then she misunderstands the situation and his eyes stay wide for an entirely different reason before he sharply shakes his head.]
No! No, I'm not int–
[But the moderator sees his chance to net more than just that one prey!]
Your boyfriend really should, shouldn't he, young lady? And of course, you would also be a welcome addition – you have a smashing bikini body, I'm sure!
no subject
And now she's the one taken aback. ]
Wha — boyfriend? Bikini body? I think you've got the wrong idea —
[ And then she's being cut off by him announcing more about how the two of them should enter together, even grabbing her wrist to raise her hand like she's being shown off to the crowd of people watching this happen. ]
Hey — Riku, say something!
[ That's what he's been trying to do this whole time, too, Kairi ..... ]
no subject
He manages to get a grip of himself again just in time to catch the moderator grabbing Kairi's wrist, and yea no – this has gone beyond funny now. He spends a second grimacing at Kairi – what does she think he has been doing, before finally allowing for the more 'violent' solution of the problem.
He twists his arm out of the moderator's grip abruptly and makes a grab of his own, to grab the other's arm and… while not quite hurt him, catch his attention as he glares at him and says:]
Listen, I really don't want to hurt you – but neither of us wants to enter your ridiculous contest either. So how about you let us walk away and we all forget about this?
no subject
The moderator seems a bit thrown off by Riku's sudden aggression, as he mumbles something about ... 'roid rage. Not that Kairi would know anything about that in the first place. What kind of rage??
Still, it's a little awkward with all these people staring at the situation, and now that they're both free, she thinks it's best they not stick around any longer. Especially since Riku's given their answer to whether they'll enter the contest.
So she'll go ahead and place her hands on Riku's free arm. ]
C'mon, let's just go. Everyone's just staring now ...
no subject
But anyway, he feels the people staring uncomfortably at them and nods at Kairi's suggestion.]
Yea, let's.
[The crowd parts as they make their exit, and Riku wastes no time taking advantage of that. It's only once they've got some distance from the event and the moderator that he allows himself to sigh.]
Now, that was ridiculous.
[In more ways than one.]
no subject
Yeah. I mean, where'd he get all those ideas from? [ You know ... about them dating, or her bikini body. It's a little unsettling that he jumped to thinking about her way way, bleh. ] What a creep.
I'm just glad it's over.
no subject
No idea. I guess, he just assumed from the fact that we know each other.
[At least the dating thing. Apparently a guy cannot be best friends with a girl anymore.]
Me too.
[Aaaaanyway. He turns his frown into a small smile, head tilting at her as he asks:]
So… what were your plans for the rest of this afternoon?
[Clearly they don't involve weird body image competitions, but there's got to be something that drew Kairi to the beach, right?]
no subject
But that's a good question he's asking. ]
Mmm, I dunno. I was just trying to find you and Sora. But I haven't seen Sora yet. [ Which is disappointing, but if she's got one of her boys, the other can't be far. ] I was planning on looking for some seashells later though.
[ Look, she can't help it. That sort of thing is fun to her. ]
no subject
I haven't seen him either…
[Which, ironically, doesn't worry Riku nearly as much in this mostly unexplored world as it would back home. At least he is fairly certain that there's no Xehanort lurking here.]
He'll be fine, probably.
[As fine as he ever is when he's just on his own, at least. …Which doesn't say much, so maybe they should worry a little after all.]
Do you have any plans for those seashells yet?
no subject
I hope so.
[ You know he's useless without them, Riku. But she does believe in him, joking aside. They'll find him soon enough, probably doing something dumb. ]
Hmm. Not really. [ Smiling as she looks at him. ] I could make you a bracelet, if you want.
[ Clearly a seashell bracelet fits Riku's Look. She's half joking and half happy to do it if he actually wants it. ]
no subject
He laughs lightly at the idea of her making him a bracelet – he probably wouldn't wear it outside of special occasions, too afraid that it might end up damaged otherwise, but still…]
I'd certainly treasure it, if you made me one.
[Of course, he'd treasure any gift from Kairi – but something she made for him. That he'd be especially careful with. Though…]
You don't have to go through the trouble of it though, if you don't want to.
[Just leaving that here, in case she doesn't feel like making a bracelet.]
no subject
[ His answer was good enough for her — if he's going to treasure it, then she's going to do it. It sounds like fun anyway, and if he's with her, then he can give input on the shells she uses. Some white and yellow ones would probably look nice on him ... hmmm ...
She takes his arm and turns their walking direction toward the water's edge, where most of the shells would be found. ]
You can help me pick some out.
[ Looks like their next activity is officially decided. ]
no subject
Sure. You'll just have to tell me what size to look for.
[The last time he gathered shells for anything was years ago, so he's a bit out of practice.]
no subject
Hmm. We don't want it getting in the way all the time. So think small.
[ Riku's someone who needs to be able to move about, so she doesn't want this bracelet to hinder him in any way. Gotta think about her friend's needs! ]
no subject
Riku smiles when she laughs, pleased with how upbeat she is again already in spite of only having escaped awkwardness less than ten minutes ago.
He nods at her order.]
Makes sense.
[Maybe he can wear it then after all, if he is careful about what he's doing.]
no subject
And now that they've settled on the size, she needs to settle on the colors. With his input, of course. ]
How does ... white, black, and yellow sound? That way it'll match your clothing. And you've always seemed to like those colors.
[ Boy's been wearing them for as long as she can remember. It's kind of cute to think about. ]
no subject
Sounds exactly like my colors. Maybe we'll also find some blue to splash in.
[Can't forget the last of this very very important color code combination.]
no subject
And then she nods. ]
Yeah. It'll be harder to find that color, so look closely! [ She hasn't seen blue around here yet — mostly white, a little black here and there.
And now that they've reached peak seashell-searching area, she claps her hands together. ]
Okay! Ready to start looking?