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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!
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[Her eyes flare open wide, as if his reply is a morsel of gossip handed over at the beauty parlor between trusted friends. It's almost as if her eyes flare with something else, as well, a flicker of animated enjoyment or perhaps amusement. With more than just the situation at hand, for all her smile tells. She stares at him for a moment longer than she needs to before that sickly sweet smile grows ever wider, and she reaches to take his wrist.
It's a simple come with me gesture, right to the back of the room where coffee and refreshments are laid out. Sister Jude would've also slapped her hands for helping herself to what's supposed to laid out for those less fortunate, which is why she takes the largest eclair on the platter and drops it onto a napkin. For herself, of course. Sucking icing off her thumb, she speaks around it:]
Try one of those, they're to kill for.
[She then turns around, holding her plate as she leans back against the table. Michael's free to take her suggestion or linger as he wishes, because she's about to dive back into that gossip-like sweetness of a good conversation about the truth in religion.]
You can't have adoration and comfort if you don't have fear and pain. They all go hand in hand.
no subject
She reaches out for his wrist and Michael willingly offers it, and as she takes him away, he feels lighter in his steps. They make it to a presentation of snacks and food that even Michael realizes they're not supposed to have, and, again, there's a piercing cut to his gaze as he looks Mary Eunice up and down. Examining her, like he doesn't understand her. He's seen a lot that he doesn't understand, lately, but again, he's been to church. She's not acting the way she's supposed to. ]
From blood and pain comes perfection. That's what my grandma used to say.
[ Can't achieve anything if you don't suffer. Can't strive to be good if you're not afraid of what might happen when you're bad. Michael takes an eclair of his own, popping his thumb into his mouth and swiping away the icing just like Mary Eunice did, almost like he's imitating her. It really does taste good, and he smiles, even with the quick, furtive glance behind him, like he's making sure nobody can see. He's quiet, while he eats, but he doesn't blink the entire time. He feels good, every time she speaks to him like they're friends, but truthfully - he's wary of her. Afraid to let his guard down, in case she starts saying things that hurt his ears. ]
You're not like the other sisters I've met.
no subject
[She says that a little too carelessly, reveling in what she's just discovered. Like the ruby earrings that Arden had gifted to her, she's not sure - is this a test? Like the speakers on the altar right now, preaching to the diversely deafened crowd, is this just another let down waiting to happen? She feels something resonate from within Michael and it's the only reason she hasn't dismissed him. The contact, her fingers to his wrist, helped solidify it. A little push more and she'll have definite proof.
It's the guise of the nun he reminds her she's in, so after a messy bite of her baked good she lifts her brows in a fauxly innocent gesture and wipes her mouth with a handful of napkins. Oh what a mess. That's who she is, after all. Dumb, sweet, childish Sister Mary Eunice.]
I think I like your grandma. Was she Christian? Sounds Christian.
[She ignores the speakers, drowned out for the moment as she inclines her head and looks at Michael. Really digs in her gaze again, mapping out the features. Here she was, woefully lost after her last plan slipped through her fingers. And she's been gifted this beautiful potential to have this little bud blossom into something truly...]
You've met a lot of nuns?
no subject
Um. She had faith. Like you.
[ Which is a yes, or at least might as well be. There's something uncomfortable in how Mary Eunice stares at him, but for some reason, it doesn't crawl under his skin like it should. It's the same way he looks at people, after all; probing and intense like hearing what someone has to say is the moss important thing in the world. He leans back against the snack table and takes another bite of his dessert, throwing his neck to get blond curls out of his eyes.
And he doesn't like to lie. Michael doesn't like to lie, and he doesn't like avoiding direct questions, and he's getting better about doing both, especially after distancing himself from Ben, but it's still something he's dealing with. He eats to buy whatever time he can before he answers Mary Eunice's question, wondering how best to parse this. ]
But, um. I've met... a few.
[ Marking the cross on their chests, clutching their rosaries. They dreaded him, every Sunday, until Constance stopped taking him to church. The eclair is sugary sweet and glazed with rich chocolate, but Michael can only smell that priest's blood in the air. He went to church for help, after Constance threw him out on the street, and the nuns knew he was the one that did it. He could tell. ]
They didn't ever like me very much.
no subject
Now who could ever not like a face like yours?
[She stares into his eyes and it's almost tangible, the taste of him. The soul planted on earth, the very thing that could bring this world to it's knees. The potential, that's what she tastes like the crisp tang of a freshly picked apple. What she feels like salt to an open wound - a brilliant stinging, ringing bell of joy in her very own little heart. He is the one.
It's the touch, the contact, the way of drinking in his thoughts and feelings like she's leeching from him every morsel of his being bit by bit. It's not as potent, as powerful as it was before, and the Porter's likely to blame for it. That's not something she enjoys, accepting that not all the other religions and beings in this place are total bullshit. That she's been put down a peg.
She'll build her way back up. Now she's got a piece to accompany her.]
Some nuns are just crotchety old ladies, though. I knew one just like that. She was mean to me too. That's just not right, right? I promise I'm not like that. Not like them. At all.
no subject
She tilts his chin up and holds eye contact, and Michael does his best to stay glassy eyed and impenetrable. He lacks resistance but he's static, just letting her stare through him and examine him and learn the things about him that he doesn't even know himself. The rot that he's made of, the brimstone that boils him. The death that he smells of and the blood that he's shed. For a second, Michael succeeds, staying passive and expressionless as if trying to hide the thing in him that made the priest start chanting, but soon enough, he feels warmth in his cheeks and presses his lips tight like he's trying to hide a smile. She keeps looking at him like he's important. She keeps listening to him, being nice. He likes that. ]
You don't seem very crotchety.
[ Just don't start quoting latin at me sits on the very tip of his tongue, but he thinks better of saying it. Even if she's making him smile, this woman's a nun - having a free spirit and a willingness to break the rules a little doesn't change that. She probably learned how to lead an exorcism while popping hershey's kisses with the other nuns and giggling about how bad she was for not paying attention. Michael likes her, but he's still afraid of what she can do, and he doesn't want to give her any reason to treat him like something that needs to be burned away.
He pulls away from her, just a little, but he's still stuck in her orbit. He wanders back to the food and looks longingly at some of the desserts they have stacked on top of each other, and he looks at Mary Eunice like he's asking for permission to take something. He's - also curious, tilting his head again as he watches her, trying to ask what he wants to ask. ]
Why was she mean to you? Did you do something, or was that just who she was?
no subject
Oh, Sister Jude was a mean old biddy. She did some bad, bad things herself before she 'found God' [finger quotes from her hand holding the bottle] and decided to take out her conscience on everyone else. Didn't matter what you did, she'd find a way to tell you you did it wrong.
[She looks down to the desserts.]
Have a few more, I know you want to. I won't tell if you won't.