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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They hadn't known each other for just three days. Jakku, while still incredibly fresh in his memory to the point that he could practically taste the sand, wasn't three days ago.

But Poe mentioned the General and Skywalker, that they were here from the past somehow. The Porter didn't seem to obey any laws of time, so maybe even they were- "What's the last thing you remember?" Maybe he should answer and not throw the question back, but he also had no idea where to begin. "I think I-... I might be from your future."

Poe blinked at him, and then suddenly was struck by incredible feeling of relief.

"Wait - you are? Finn - you were in a coma when I got pulled here. Does that mean you're okay? You came out of it? Is everyone else okay? Did the evacuation get away before the First Order showed up? Did Rey find Luke? Did she come back?" The questions come way too fast, that brief flash of hope completely setting aside everything else.

Suddenly, Finn was struck with a taste of the pressure Poe was under about knowing things the other didn't. Things that were too hard to just say. He couldn't keep this to himself, though. After all, he was on the other side of the argument just a few seconds ago.

But how could he tell Poe about their messed up plan, the failure with DJ, all of the people they lost, Skywalker-? How could he just sit there and tell him all of it like it wasn't a massive deal?

The entire time he thought it through, Finn just sort of gaped at him and moved his mouth like a fish, trying and failing to find the words for it. He had taken too long and couldn't just leave Poe hanging in suspense.

"We-... Um..." Right, okay. He spoke slowly, deliberately, trying to think it all through. "I woke up. I'm okay. They fixed my back, but I never got to-" All of the medical personnel had been a little too busy to tell him how he got back together. What were the other questions? "Rey found Luke... But he, um-"

He licked his lips, really wishing Poe hadn't seemed so damn hopeful for a minute there.

Right. Fuck it. He looked away and spoke calmly, almost like to an officer because it was just easier. "We didn't get away in time. A lot of people died. A lot of it was my fault." Because it had been his plan, right? Rose's, too, but she didn't know the schematics and details like he had. And Poe was wrangled in, just believing him blindly. "Skywalker's dead, too."

He somehow felt better back on the Falcon surrounded by the last twenty or so people left of the Resistance.

Poe's face fell, before his expression hardened and he let out a breath. Then he shook his head and turned his attention back to the horizon.

"Finn, you were in a coma. I really doubt you can take responsibility. We knew it was going to be damn close. We were already scrambling the fighters when I got brought here."

There was a long pause. Skywalker was dead. Everything he'd been trying so hard to achieve - what he'd been caught and tortured for--

He pushed it all down.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have asked. No one every feels good learning about the future. You survived. I'll take that. That's enough."

"I- I came up with a plan. It was stupid. We all knew it was stupid. I managed to mess it up even worse. Skywalker wouldn't have even-"

He didn't know why he was trying to put all the blame on his shoulders for this. Well, it was the first chance he had to think about it, for one. For another, he didn't want Poe to hurt more, for himself to be the bearer of his pain. It was better for Poe to be angry and place blame than try to reconcile something he hadn't even seen yet. Right?

Shouldn't have said anything.

He let out a breath through his nose, bowed his head against his propped arm, and just stayed quiet for once.

"Finn, your plan destroyed the Starkiller," he reminded him, voice a little hard. "And look - I love you - but I know the General. She would not have signed off on anything that she didn't think had a good chance of working. So stop trying to blame yourself."

The ground below them was changing over from swamps to forests, though Poe barely noticed.

"Just - don't worry about it. Put that on the list of shit we just shouldn't talk about. Neither of us can do anything about it while we're here, and trust me, you'll just drive yourself crazy if you obsess over what is happening back home." The pot said to the kettle. "... I'll get there eventually."

"But she-" No one signed off on it except Poe. But Finn was torn. Between the easily admitted affection and the order to put it away, he was inclined to do just that. How could he ignore it, though? How could he pretend he hadnt just told him that?

There were more selfish reasons he didn't want to press, though. He couldn't lose Poe immediatetly after coming here. He didn't want to. He also felt it too hard to give that affection back, like maybe Finn didn't really deserve it. From what he learned so far and all of the unknown still left lingering and everything back home, that was probably true.

He couldn't tell him to forget it. He couldn't apologize. Finn just reached out to hold on to Poe's arm, still afraid of losing him and worried that maybe it was for the best but not enough to just let it happen. Physically holding on made him feel a little better.

Poe kept his eyes trained on the horizon, but when Finn touched his arm he raised a hand and placed it over Finn's with an encouraging, reassuring squeeze. He didn't believe for one second that any of it was Finn's fault. Was he bothered by it? Of course. Would half formed visions of his future full of dead friends keep him up at night over the next few weeks? Damn straight it would. But the last thing he wanted was for Finn to feel burdened by that.

A selfish part of him was just so incredibly relieved that Finn woke up back home at all.

He gave Finn's hand another squeeze, his own far too warm for the chill of the air around them. (His blood always ran just a little too hot. ) But then he forced himself to let go and grip the carpet instead.

If he was going to get through this without breaking, he needed to keep more distance than instinct would allow him.

"I think you'll like the base," he murmured, trying to force the conversation. "I built it, but - you never actually got to see it."

Without Poe's hand, Finn somehow felt even colder than before. He took his own away, and held BB-8 a little closer, not even trying to make it not look like a hug. His eyes trailed away to watch the horizon again, the trees passing by beneath them.

He didn't want to give up on trying to talk, though. "You built your own place." Poe had roots here, settled. Finn felt like an intruder. "That's pretty cool. What makes it a base?"

"It was supposed to be for the rebels, basically. There were a lot of us at the time. I built it so that it could be easily defended - Hux was still a threat, and we get - well, weird things happen here, a lot. It was - -" He cut off, frowning as he tried to word it. "A lot of it was your idea. I mean - I wanted to build the base anyway, but you- you wanted a life here, so." It felt incredibly lame, put like that.

He pressed on.

"Anyway, it's built in detachable segments - each unit able to separate and move from the others. The idea was that way I could literally fly the units to another location, if we ever got attacked. A lot of the more permanent stuff - a lot of that stuff I built when I didn't know what else to do." He swallowed. He wanted so badly to be nothing but bravado and confidence and assurance - to be who Finn would remember and needed him to be - but the truth was he was just so tired.

"There's not a lot of us left. Skeets ported out a couple weeks ago. So it's me, Bodhi, Cassian, Kaytoo and Leia. They all have their own separate units, though. Skeets was living with Kaytoo before he disappeared." He really needed to stop talking, but his stupid ass power kept him going anyway. "Honestly, it feels like a ghost town, a lot, so if you decide you don't want to live there, I'll understand. But I planted a lot of damn tees."

A lot of that felt like a ramble, Finn only half knowing what he was talking about. He didn't know any of those names other than Leia and he was shocked that the base was built with Poe's power set in mind, but it had largely been his own idea? He'd wanted to settle here? In the face of no other options and no way to help out at home, that sounded about right. Damn shame he hadn't been able to see it before, whether he remembered or not.

"You planted trees?" Trees, nature, those weren't for a base. It sounded more like a homestead if that were the case.

The idea of trees was nice and he wanted to see this place, but none of that was the important part here. The government told him there was someplace in Heropa with his name on it if he bothered to go put himself in their system. While having a place away from everything was probably the smartest move he could make right now, he... didn't want that. Not that he'd even asked to move into this base with the trees. Poe just sort of tossed that one in his lap, probably out of obligation or something... Okay, that thought stung a little. "Would it be all right? If I wanted to, I mean?" Because this was a lot and not just for him.

"Yeah. Fruit trees. You--" The words caught in his throat and Poe had to swallow roughly around them. He was really skirting the line here, about what to say and what not to say, but he didn't want to lie.

"I didn't think it was worth it. I said that one or both of us would port out before the trees even started fruiting, but..." His voice got a little quieter. "You wanted them, so I planted them."

There was a quiet pause - no sound save the air whistling past them as they flew, before Finn spoke again, and Poe shot him a confused look.

"What? Why wouldn't it be alright? It's your home too, Finn." A beat, and then a slight hint of colour took his cheeks as he looked back out to the horizon. "Long as you want it, it's yours, memories or not."

Edited 2018-12-18 18:46 (UTC)

Fruit trees. Something useful, something people could use... Something even remotely permanent. That sounded a lot like what Finn would want at his own place someday, despite the fact he never had the chance to think about it before. Maybe he and this other Finn weren't so different, after all.

Then Poe had to go and be shocked that he wanted to double check on such a large and generous gift. There was still a little worry there about who Poe really wanted to share it with, but that was not a black hole he wanted to go down. For now, all he knew was that Poe was still trying to give him things.

A little smile slipped through. "Thank you," he said softly. "And thank you for the trees." Poe planted them even without him there. No matter what the other Finn might have thought, the gesture meant a lot to him.

He didn't catch the smile, gaze still stubbornly set on the horizon, but the soft tone made his cheeks feel a little warmer.

Dammit, Dameron. You need to let it go.

"Hey, like I said, gave me something to do," he said, rolling a shoulder in a shrug that was absolutely just him trying to play off how much it meant to him, too. How for the first time in six months those trees finally felt worth it.

"... But you're welcome."

Even if it was just something to do, he chose to do that. Finn didn't try to probe harder at it, though, not even considering it had anywhere near the same amount of meaning to Poe. In Finn's mind, it meant that he managed to leave a mark somewhere, that he made a little bit of a difference, and that someone remembered his name enough to do it in the first place. That was a lot. More than he dared believe he could have before Jakku.

He held BB-8 a little tighter, resting his chin on the dome while watching the sky go by. "How far away is this base with the trees?" Heropa was long gone, after all, and he was a little eager now.

BB-8 burbled something low and comforting that was obviously meant for Finn, so Poe didn't reply to it. He just replied to Finn, instead.

"Yeah, we're almost there. I took the long way since otherwise we'd have to Porter hop between cities, which means lines and checks and all that. Easier to get around this way."

But he wasn't lying, and a few minutes later he pointed to a patch of forest that, well, looked like any other patch of forest. But once they flew over it, Finn could finally see the base, below. Off to one side was a little field full of tiny, leafless trees all stacked in rows, between twenty and thirty of them. The orchard. The entire thing was surrounded by woods, and just a single road led off away from the base.

Poe flew down and then hovered a couple feet above the ground to let Finn off.

"Well? What do you think?"

Finn slowly got off of the carpet with not much thought to it, more drawn into the place than doing anything consciously. "You did all of this?" The buildings themselves looked incredible, all one structure but clearly separated into units, just like he said. Then there were the surrounding woods with one road leading in and out, accounting for privacy and peace. And the orchard was full of small trees, far more than Finn actually believed he'd planted.

"This is-..." He found himself more awestruck at this than the flying carpet. This was something he'd always halfway dreamed of, a notion of want but totally intangible. No matter what Poe said, it didn't really feel like his. But he could visit, be here, live here if he wanted. Make it his. "This is wonderful," he finally said, the words somewhere between hoarse and wistful. Then he smiled, not willing to get all serious again so soon, not with something so good as this. "It's nice."

He was still seated on the carpet, watching Finn too closely to be casual, and visibly relaxing when Finn expressed his appreciation. A lopsided smile slid to his lips and he stood up before finally letting the carpet settle on the ground. BB-8 rolled off with a cheerful whistle.

"Welcome to Base One," He said, still smiling, as he rolled up the carpet. "Uh - originally you and I were going to share a unit, but we've got plenty of spares, so you can take whatever one of those you want." He pointed to one on the ground floor. "That's the common mess for when you want to hang out with anyone else, or for shared meals or whatever. But otherwise you can have as much privacy as you want."

The Resistance didn't have a lot in the way of privacy, and he doubted the First Order did either. "Come on. I'll show you my place and drop this off, then I can give you the full tour."

He had only just been considering the pros and cons of staying on this base, but Finn still wanted to jump at the chance to share a unit. It was certainly preferable to being by himself, especially right now with all of the doubt and guilt and panic on the edge of his vision, but maybe his own space was better. He didn't really know, but if Poe just tossed him in one direction or the other, he'd live with the decision taken from him.

Maybe he shouldn't be okay with other people making decisions for him anymore, but he was exhausted so whatever. Not tired enough to not see Base One, though.

"I like the name," he said with his own smile, finally warming up again. "Any particular reason you picked this area? That's not a complaint, by the way." It was quiet out here.

Edited 2018-12-18 23:30 (UTC)

"We're just outside Nonah - we were both stationed there the first time. Me, then you a month later. But they put us in the same house anyway." He was walking while he talked, having relaxed a little bit. Maybe things would be okay. Finn had been his best friend, before everything else. Poe could still be that for him, right? He could try not to fuck that one up.

"Didn't want to go too far from the city, so I found this spot. We're about a fifteen minute drive from city limits, but it's only a five minute flight. It was convenient." He started the stairs, carpet bobbing a little ridiculously as he climbed. Usually, he didn't climb at all, but. Today was special. "The original idea was we didn't want it to be found. The truce hadn't really been solidified yet, we were half afraid that Kylo Ren might show up at any moment and wreck everything. So, secret base. I'd made a hell of a lot of money doing some very stupid things that you will likely be immediately bombarded with as soon as you take a look on the Internet - but this was the only thing I could think of to do with it. That or build an X-Wing, but they don't have anywhere near the tech required to even think about doing that."

The thought of Kylo Ren coming over and destroying this place was not a good one, but Poe seemed comfortable here so it must be safe from him. Finn was still reminded that he should be worried that he and Hux were here at all but pushed that aside, too. If there was a truce that even they were holding up, then what did it matter? Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

"You made enough money to build all this? Man, what did they have you doing?" He made a mental note to look it up later, kind of worried. Stunts? Smuggling? Something worse? Something better?

"Sorry about the X-Wing, though." Poe had said they didn't have things here that left atmo, right? Finn remembered that in one of the rougher conversations. At least Poe wasn't completely grounded.

"Television." He says it in the same way someone might say 'shovelling bantha dung'.

"And it's alright. Think it would just make me miss home more than it would help in the end, anyway."

They got to the top of the stairs, and Poe said a quiet "Shit--" as he saw he groceries that he had completely forgotten about just sitting outside his door. He stepped over to pick them up again. "Sorry, kind of ran off to get you before I even finished my previous thought. Gimme a sec."

Groceries in one arm, he startled fumbling around in his pocket for his key card, before swiping it over the pad. The door slid open with a satisfying woosh, and he stepped inside.

One thing of note was that despite living here for nearly eight months, his unit was still weirdly impersonal. There was a small kitchen off to the right, a living room to the left. The only real personal items in either were a half finished bottle of wine on the counter and a stack of DVDs near the TV. Straight ahead, a hallway led to three more doors, but Poe went into the kitchen, first.

"You're probably freezing, so feel free to grab a jacket - they're in the closet, there." He gestured as he set the groceries down. "Ah, damn, is the milk even going to be okay if I left it out this long..."

Finn squinted at him after he answered the question. Entertainment? ... Huh.

With the groceries and the carpet, Poe looked like he was juggling too many things but he had the door open before Finn could offer his help. That said, it was pretty endearing that Poe just put everything else aside to go meet him. Finn was getting a little overwhelmed in the face of Poe's affection and friendliness. A good overwhelmed. Not like the rest of this place.

Once getting inside, Finn realized he had expected something else, but not totally sure what. There weren't as many... things as he expected a home to have, but it was still pretty nice. Very own kitchen and everything.

His thoughts were interrupted by the offer, and he wasn't in the mood to argue the point in the least. He was cold and had at least managed to clean up a little on the Falcon after his misadventures in a burning Star Destroyer then Crait. "I lost the other jacket, you know," he said, raising his voice to carry from the closet to the kitchen. "Didn't have much choice at the time but still. I appreciate you giving it back to me, though." He had lost Poe's pants and boots, too, but the shirt was still hanging on to him. Finn grabbed a dark jacket at random and bundled up, not shocked that it fit him well. "Thanks for trusting me with another one." For now. He should give this one back before it got lost, too, somehow.

"It's just a jacket," Poe said, a little too casually. He'd literally been stabbing himself with staples trying to fix it when he got ported here, but he wasn't going to admit that. In the end it was really only because he wanted to fix Finn but couldn't.

"It probably looked terrible anyway. Can't sew to save my life."

He finished putting the food away and padded back into the living room, giving a sideways smile at Finn in the jacket. "Yeah, don't worry about it. What's mine is yours. Sometimes very literally, since we basically shared a closet for a while there. Anyway--" he gestured for Finn to follow him down the hall.

"Bathroom - with a real actual water shower, I will add -" Pointing at the first door. "Laundry room," pointing at the second, "Bedroom." Pointed at the third. He nudged the door open, and this apparently was where all of Poe's personality had gone. Little model planes hung from the ceiling, and one was not quite assembled on the desk. Even his sheets had jets on them. He had a pretty large closet, wide open, and with some very odd clothes, but most of them ran in his usual browns, blacks and creams. There was only one bed, and only one bedroom.

"You need any clothes or whatever, feel free to raid the closet."

"You said something like that last time. I thought it looked good, though." Made him look a little more badass, and he certainly had no concerns about walking around that casino with it... Damn, he missed that jacket.

Finn could have argued that he didn't have to share his clothes anymore, but then Poe mentioned the actual water showers and took his attention away again. He had to try that out.

At the sight of the bedroom, he smiled. Now this is what he had expected out of a home. And... wow, it fit Poe way too well. The model planes alone were an incredible touch, like Poe just couldn't help but be an absolute nerd. "Those are pretty cool," he admitted, pointing vaguely at the ones hanging from the ceiling. "And thank you. Again. Hopefully, I won't have to keep taking your stuff."

But Poe had said that they shared a closet once, probably alluding to the clothes he gave Finn after- Well, no. He didn't know about that, yet. They must have shared one while staying in the city. Speaking of, he blinked and wondered where Poe had planned to put him when designing this unit with them both in mind. There was only one bedroom, but surely if he thought it out beforehand he would have-

He blinked again. Recalling that Poe planted something like thirty trees and built an entire house for him after he was gone. The exceedingly long, hard hug when they met up. The unwillingness to tell him details about his life here before. How easily that I love you fell out of his mouth. But, uh- No. No, he was looking for something that wasn't there. Poe would never. Not with him. Maybe they'd just gotten closer. That was believable. That was nice enough.

But it was obvious after the smile swept from Finn's face that he was coming to a massive realization even if he didn't voice it or quite believe it.

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