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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!
no subject
"It's... approximately eight point seven two cubic meters, Lieutenant! And weighs an estimated--eight hundred kilograms. Don't try to move it! If you do, it could cause a collapse, crushing you both."
They're both a communication disaster, each working from a completely different base of facts. Connor abandons the small opening, regarding the pile again. If he's strategic, maybe he can shore up some of the rubble and build a secure opening for the Lieutenant and the boy to escape. Maybe he should...
no subject
"Hey smartass, just cause I haven't exercised for the past few days doesn't fucking mean I can't get out of here. I can still lift two thousand pounds without issue, remember?"
Like, come on Connor, get with the program.
no subject
He goes back to the tunnel. "Lieutenant, are you experiencing any dizziness, light-headedness, or memory loss? I think you may have a concussion!" Of course he would, the chances of him avoiding a head injury when he was standing right under the falling rubble are incredibly low. Good thing he already called that ambulance. Humans are fragile.
"Please describe your injuries to me, I'm compiling a list of things to tell EMTs when they arrive!"
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"Goddammit, I'm fucking fine Connor! Step away from the goddamn rubble and let me get out of here on my own! Just make sure no one else but me and the kid is under here!"
They were losing time and he didn't want the child to get even more stressed between the both of them arguing. Hank begins to stand upright, sending some of the rubble to the top sliding down the side. If Connor thought the man was out of his mind, well the rubble is either moving on its own or that really is one of his powers. Lucky him, Hank would probably say.
no subject
With an enormous shifting of splintering wood, creaking insulation, and heavy rubble, the mountain in front of him lifts up and tumbles around. Connor snatches himself back to avoid some of the falling pieces, and this gives him a perfect view to watch Hank free himself with his bare hands.
... Oh.
Congratulations, Hank, you've just sent him soft-rebooting several programs to check and double-check his own eyes. Yes, he's still getting the same input.
"I--should have realized," he murmurs, more to himself than anyone else. LED cycling a steady yellow, Connor shakes himself free from his temporary paralysis, reaching to pull a piece of rebar back. Hank doesn't need the help, apparently, but now leaving the rubble will be easier.
"We're both imPorts, so--you must have a power."
Both tone and words are doing nothing to capture how shocked he still is. It's only coming through in the form of his LED and the troubled expression he can't quite mask.
no subject
"You...didn't know."
He's heard from others that sometimes imPorts come back. Different ones. Not the same. This is Connor and yet...it's not the same Connor, as he watches the LED's color changed. The expression is...not quite the same the Connor he has known for three months would make. He tries to hide some of his disappointment, but it's new impossible to do so. So he concentrates on what is happening right now. So he does what he has gotten better at doing here.
"We can talk about this later." Push it aside for now, there's still some chaos afoot. "Let's get the kid out of here. Can you find his parents anywhere? What are your powers, Connor?"
There's briefly barking sounds nearby and Hank cranks his neck at the pet store. The dogs are still inside their cages.
"...we're stopping at the pet shop to free them."
no subject
(It doesn't seem like the type of thing the Lieutenant would be disappointed over. Annoyed, yes, but to have this strong a reaction?)
"I can track individuals to their current location, provided I have a physical object that has belonged to them first." It was in his file, and it was one of the few reasons he's been as willing to go with the explanations he's been given. Surprise modifications while he was offline are one thing; Surprise modifications that should technically make no sense?
Connor looks over his shoulder at the cages, eyeing them. There are a lot of dogs, and currently they are helpless. Of course he and the Lieutenant will rescue them. He looks back to the (crying) child, speaking directly to him.
"Excuse me..." The crying slows the tiniest bit, and the kid looks at him. "Are you carrying anything that belonged to your parents? Perhaps a cellphone, or keys, or loose change?"
no subject
"M-my mom gave me money to get a picture with Santa..." the boy sniffs, looking to Hank briefly before he nods, and then reaches into his pocket to give Connor the ten dollar bill. Silently, Hank wonders just how much it was expensive to take pictures with Santas even in this world's day and age, but he says nothing, just holding on to him and waiting for Connor to do his thing.