etcelsior | walking in a winter wonderland

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test drive

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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"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," he replied, actually tightening the hug for a second.

But he forced himself to let go, to take a step back, though his hands lingered on Finn's shoulders. He searched his face as if trying to memorize it.

"You a damn sight for sore eyes. Welcome to Earth, I guess."

Poe didn't seem worried, so he was going to aim to not worry either. Instead, Finn gave him a soft smile, more than relieved to see a familiar face out here. At the same time, he couldn't really ignore the obvious.

"Thanks. But it's... apparently not my first time? What's going on? How long have you been here?"

"It's- maybe we should sit down, first." He glanced around them, then gestured to a bench a little ways away. "Just let me grab my carpet--" he added, running backy to where he'd dropped it on the ground. As he rolled it up, BB-8 rolled up to Finn with a warm, if wistful, greeting, then led him over to the bench. Poe joined them a minute and a half later, rolled up carpet under his arm. (Back home, his groceries lay abandoned outside his door. )

"Okay, so- this'll be easier to explain in order. But I've been here for - Shit - for a year and a half, now, by the local calendar. You were too, but - you disappeared eight months ago."

Yeah, just let Poe go grab his carpet?

Thankfully, Finn took BB-8's distraction like a dying man to water and smiled down at the droid. "I'm glad to see you, too, Bee." He couldn't understand the beeps but he was still glad to see them both. So much so that he kept a hand on the droid's dome after sitting down.

Then Poe joined them with the very confusing carpet, but there were bigger problems. What was that? Nine months? Just an entire nine months, gone? He stared into the space between them, trying to bring it back somehow. Memory didn't vanish like that. He couldn't have vanished like that.

At least, not with very many explanations. Not with one that wouldn't keep him up at night.

"I can't remember," he eventually muttered, his head turning away to stare ahead of them, still trying to bring it back. Earth, Cape Canaveral, Poe's weird carpet thing- Something had to be in there... This was frustrating as hell. He frowned hard and kept trying. "I can't remember."

"Yeah." Poe's voice was heavy, but not surprised.

"That's, uh - that's more common than you think. Most of my friends who have left for any decent amount of time have forgotten everything when they've come back. Seems if you're gone for more than a month... Chances of you remembering anything drop nearly to zero." He spoke like they may as well be talking about the weather, and not something that had been torturing Poe for a year.

"So don't-- you can't force it. They just aren't there. You're not going to remember. Just - I told Cassian to think about like as if it just - was a slightly different version of you."

"Was it? Was I different?" Would Poe even know?

Finn didn't like this theory any more than the other one. Someone else who was him but not. Probably had all the same memories or something. Or maybe Finn wasn't the real... whoever he was.

This spiral was really deep.

He let out a sigh and leaned forward, rubbing hard at his eyes and not giving Poe a huge chance to answer his question. "Haven't been here for more than an hour and I hate this place." But this wasn't just about him either. He looked over at Poe. "Are you okay? You've been here so long. Are there others from home?"

"Well you're bound to be different now," was all he got in to the first question. Months worth of memories and experiences? Of course Finn had changed.

So had he.

But Finn needed him to be the man he knew and remembered, so he resisted the urge to slump.

"Sorry. I know the info dump is a lot. Haven't worked out a way to make it gentler on anyone, yet." He shrugged, rolling a shoulder, all easy bravado. "Yeah, I'm fine. And uh- sort of. Not really. Leia's here but she's-- well, time doesn't work properly with us. She's from the Galactic Civil War - as far as her timeline goes, I'm not even born yet. Luke Skywalker, of all people, is here, but same thing. You were the only one I really had of home." It was out before he could stop it, that fragment of weakness, and he swallowed before immediately cutting to the bad news: "But there are two others, from our time period. And you'd recognize them both, but you aren't going to be happy to hear it."

He didn't really know what that first statement meant. That he must be different now. Maybe?

Finn just pushed that aside again and shook his head. "It's not your fault this place is so weird. I mean, Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker but from forty years ago? This whole place is a mess." It was too confusing, and he hated it. He'd only just gotten used to be out of his element. This was way beyond his level.

"I'm sorry I left without you." Because that also sucked. The only one he had of home? And he left him here? This place was awful, and the news sounded like it was just going to get worse. He didn't even want to guess. "Who are the other two?"

He would have explained if he had the time. That he might have been the same when he'd first got here, but by the time he left... He pushed the thought from his mind.

"This place is - more of a mess than you realise, probably," he agreed. His heart clenched painfully hard, someone of that pain slipping into his expression before he managed to school it back to something more neutral. The number of times he'd wished the Porter had taken him, too. Or him, instead...

"General Hux and Kylo Ren." Bluntly. Just ignore everything else, Dameron. Just power through it. "I don't even know where to start, with those two. But - and this is the important part - there's a truce. We don't touch them. They don't touch us. Because the rules... They just don't make sense, here."

Finn did notice the change in expression. Even though it was quick and fleeting, he didn't doubt that it was genuine just from what he'd heard so far. Then the follow-up just confirmed it.

The most shocking part was the truce bit. They'd destroyed planets. They hurt both of them personally. They'd do it all again, but there's a truce...

He didn't even know how- They had to be planning something. They were always planning something. He couldn't imagine a point in time where either of those men wasn't actively trying to hurt someone just to feel powerful.

But Poe Dameron was in a truce with Hux and Ren because of rules. Forget everything else. That was the craziest thing yet.

"A truce." It was said flatly, like a response to the worst joke in the world. But then a really good reason why hit him. "... You were alone here with them."

"Not alone. Not exactly." He knew how it had to sound. He wet his lips as he tried to decide exactly how much to say. "But I'm the only one who really knows who and what they are."

"I have friends. Rebels, for the most part. And some of them- I don't know if the Battle of Scariff means anything to you, but." A breath. "He attacked one of us. Killed one of them. So me and Kay hunted him down and shot him in the head." He said it incredibly matter of factly. Because that's how you confessed murder. "But things don't work here. Death doesn't work here. So he came back."

He looked away. It felt surreal to be telling Finn all of this. Again. Like he was having a fever dream just to imagine him back into existence. "They always come back, even when the good ones don't. But it's not just them. We've had imperials - admirals, officers, troopers -- In the end you kind of have to leave the war back in our galaxy."

A pause, then quieter:

"It'll just drive you mad, otherwise."

He had heard of Scariff but couldn't really place it. Maybe not as a battle, but- That wasn't important right now.

Of course, death doesn't work in this insane place either. Nothing solid seemed to work here, nothing that should be real. Even worse, the toll it had taken on Poe was getting clearer and clearer.

He didn't want to ask anything else. There were so many questions, and he didn't want the answers to any of them anymore. He wanted this whole planet to stop spinning for a minute. "I'm sorry," he said in a low voice. Again. For what felt like the hundredth time in this conversation alone. What else was there to say?

The guilt hit hard. He let a couple seconds pass as he forced that feeling down and away with the others.

"It's not all bad." He said, the easy bravado slipping back into his voice as he abruptly stood up again. "You don't have to worry about our galaxy. When you get sent back, it's to the exactly second you came from. You won't remember anything about this place. So this is like- a weird forced vacation. Think of it that way. But there's things to enjoy."

He unrolled the carpet again and laid it out on the ground. "Come on. I'll take you home."

Well... maybe it was good that this was kind of a dream. But a vacation? He wasn't sure about that.

"Home..." He wanted to ask about that, too, but it was kinda obvious. Poe had a home here. And- This was- He was trying. Poe was like that. Always filled with light and energy and the will to just keep trying. At least he was still real.

And Finn decided he could try, too. He stood and gave a little smile. "Look, okay, before I get on that thing, I really need to know how it works. You're a great pilot and all, but, uh-" It's not like Finn didn't trust him (because he does, more than anything), but he really wanted to make sure Poe was okay first.

"Like I said. There's some things to enjoy." He motioned for BB-8, who rolled onto the carpet first, and then he stepped onto it.

"I can fly anything," he reminded Finn, with cocky assurance. Still standing, eyes kept on Finn's, the carpet suddenly leapt to life under him, and raised two feet off the ground, hovering in front of him.

"Just a touch more literal, here. Climb on." He held out a hand. "Just trust me, alright?"

Of course. Of course, this would be one of Poe Dameron's powers. He could fly anything.

With all of the insanity and stress this place had dumped on him, the flying carpet situation threatened to send Finn into a fit of laughing and hysterics. Instead, his smile was wide as he failed to stifle some giggles.

"'Course, I trust you." He grabbed Poe's hand and hopped aboard, trying to learn his balance on this thing. Yeah, he trusted Poe, but he was also suddenly reminded that the other man was a massive adrenaline junky and this probably wasn't the best idea. "Go easy on me, pilot."

The grin came so easily and so naturally that it actually hurt. Torn somewhere between relief, joy and grief. But he was doing his damned best to ignore the grief part. It was going to kill him, when he actually let it hit. When he acknowledged to himself that what he'd lost was lost forever. But he'd always been good at forcing himself to focus on the task at hand.

Deal with the battle in front of you. Mourn the casualties later.

He grasped Finn's hand with a firm grip, helping him up onto the carpet, and then, with that same grin, said: "It'll be easier if you take a seat. And hold on to BB-8, would you?"

That was about all the warning he was going to get, before they were quiet suddenly - and silently - rising vertically into the sky.

Finn didn't have to be told twice about either order. Between gravity and already trying to sit, Finn practically fell to the carpet, holding on to BB like a security blanket.

At least he knew better than to look over the edge and watch the ground fall beneath him. His eyes were more concerned with the ever clearer skyline, anyway. "This is incredible!" Poe definitely won the new power lottery. "How does any of this even work?"

Poe, mostly because he was showing off, stayed standing even as they rocketed into the sky. The air was quickly getting colder but he levelled off a few thousand feet above the city and then started making a beeline for home.

After a couple moments, he did sit down, mostly to make it easier to talk.

"No idea," he admitted. "So far, anything that's not attached to the ground and doesn't have a mind of its own is something I can fly. Even the latter is up for debate - I flew Riptide, once, but I think thats because he didn't fight me. Anyway - It's the only power I've had that's stayed with me this whole time. I've ported out twice - one for a week, once for three days, and my powers got changed up both times." Which, fuck, reminded him: "If-- if you ever suddenly feel really compelled to tell me something you didn't mean to, just punch me or something. It's uh - one of my powers just makes people tell me things at random. Secrets, feelings, thoughts they just wouldn't have voiced - you name it. I'm trying to work on being able to control it, but I can't, yet. It's already made my life just - really fucking awkward, so just punch me or something and I'll pretend I never heard it."

After losing Poe's jacket on the Supremacy and the officer's jacket in the mines of Crait, all he had was the borrowed long sleeve shirt to protect him from the cold. While Finn might have shivered, though, the temperature didn't register in the slightest. Earth was beautiful up here, and he was grateful for the rare occasion he could actually enjoy a flight.

And yes, he was very impressed with Poe's balance.

"I've got nothing to hide from you, Poe," he said easily, watching the trees and buildings zoom by. Though, he could see how a power like that could get annoying pretty fast and looked over to him. "But if it happens, I think punching you would just make it more awkward."

Finn suddenly realized how easily he just took that news. This place was doing weird things to him. It was a little disconcerting that they could be taken away and brought back with new powers, though.

Poe felt a very sudden flood of affection fill him, almost completely bitter-sweet. Bless Finn. Bless sweet, loyal Finn that wore his heart on his sleeve and wanted nothing else but to save his friends and keep them together. He had the sudden urge to reach out and touch his face, and it took all his will to hold back. There were so many little things - little motions, little touches - that were second nature to him. Eight months didn't dim them. It was like Finn had just been here yesterday--

Except he hadn't. And this Finn may as well never had.

You've got to move the hell on, Poe.

"Well, long as you're forewarned." He couldn't promise the same. There was a hell of a lot that he wanted to keep from Finn, at least for now. At least for a little while. He just hoped his power didn't ruin it, first.

"BB-8 here is a power, too. We don't talk about whether that means he is real or not because that conversation goes dark fast, doesn't it, buddy." BB-8 agreed in a mournful whistle. "It does mean that he deactivates if I get more than a kilometre away from him, though. So don't get worried if you're hanging out and he suddenly powers down."

How was a droid a power? Finn frowned down at BB-8, having not thought that hard about a droid's existence before. "You're real, Bee. I'm sorry you're tied down like that," he said, patting the dome a little gentler even if he was sure it made no difference to a droid.

Look at him, trying to comfort this little mischief maker. Though it made no sense why they had been tied together like that, why the droid wasn't here on his own merits. At least they were together, Finn supposed.

"I guess all this stuff about powers is real, though," he thought aloud to both of them. "I didn't really believe it when they handed over the folder." It was how the First Order operated to gain compliance, after all. A lot of truths (his name, his designation) and a couple of plausible lies. Then snowballing from there. That was half the reason he was glad these two were here. He could believe Poe and BB-8.

"Yeah, I didn't believe the folder when I got it, either. But they're real, alright."

The city was quickly vanishing behind them, swamps beneath them instead. It was the long way, to fly all the way back to base one, but Poe always liked being able to talk while up in the sky. Just made things easier, somehow. Private.

"Your last set was - uh - interesting." Like being able to duplicate himself into 10 Finns at once. "What'd you get saddled with this time?"

He wanted to ask what his last powers were and not know all at the same time. If this other Finn really was a different version, he didn't want to start off here trying to compare himself. That one can be saved for later.

"One is a weird sort of healing ability." The folder described it as an exchange of injuries and illnesses. The ally is healed while he gets hurt instead. But best not to go too deep into all of that, ~~especially since the mun was still thinking about it~~. "The other's teleporting. I haven't tried it out yet. Don't really know where to start anyway, but I probably shouldn't figure it out up here."

Edited (i can html) 2018-12-18 00:40 (UTC)

"Healing is definitely useful. And teleporting?" He shot an honestly surprised look back. "That's a new one. I mean, not totally new - that's basically what we do every time we use the porters to get between cities, but. Don't think I know anyone who can just do it."

He turned his head and flashed Finn a grin. "Well I mean, you could try it. I'd catch you."

No, Poe. That's a terrible idea, Poe.

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