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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
He's gaining on the hooded figure and he's not about to lose...
He's not expecting them to stop. He's not expecting them to turn.
He's not expecting to come face to tip with a Keyblade pointed straight at him.
Sora skids to a halt, stunned and shocked by what he's seeing. His eyes go wide, his jaw drops and he takes a half step back before the end of Oblivion nearly takes his eye out.
Because he knows that Keyblade and he knows who wields it.]
Roxas?
no subject
That had only made him angrier, a very short time ago—that he'd lost everything so Sora could awaken, given up his life, and Sora didn't even know he existed. Fine, then, he'd leveraged that ignorance to be as intimidating as possible and gain an edge on his other half. It had worked, too.
Except now it seems they're equally shocked, for very different reasons. There's a beat more of silence before he speaks again.]
What?
no subject
You're... Roxas. You're really here?
[...is he dreaming again? Sora's pretty sure he's not, but then again he hadn't known what was real or made up when he'd been caught in his dream before.
But this is Roxas. He knows it has to be him. Who else could it be?]
Why are you here, I don't understand...
no subject
[And Sora doesn't seem inclined to answer—every word he speaks just gives Roxas more questions, makes him more confused. It's almost a total reversal of their positions before; in the depths of their heart, Roxas had seen...and understood, a little, what made Sora different from him. Why the universe deemed him the chosen one. What he'd do with that comprehension was something he'd decide later, and it hadn't taken away any of his determination as he'd hammered away at a confused, oblivious, weaker Sora, and waited to see what his next move would be.
And then he'd found himself here.
There's no particular reason to reveal his face, but there's apparently no more reason to hide it, either. Roxas yanks his hood down and glares, the expression watered down by uncertainty.]
How do you know my name?
no subject
But this is a Roxas he doesn't recognise. Every time he's looked into his Nobody's eyes, there's been understanding and acceptance in their familiar depths, but this time it's different. Roxas looks angry, frustrated and unsure and Sora would do anything to change that, but it's hard.
He doesn't understand how this is happening himself, either.]
Why wouldn't I know your name? You're Roxas. We're connected.
[He doesn't want to call him a Nobody. Ever since he learned that they had hearts, it seems like calling them that does a disservice to all that Roxas and Axel (and... well maybe the others too, he guesses) had suffered and been through in pursuit of a heart they didn't need to chase, no understanding that their own was all too close at hand.]
I'm here because of that porter thing but- Don't you... remember me?
no subject
I remember you. But you never met me before.
[The first time, he'd been asleep. The second...well, a duel for control hardly counts as meeting.
He lowers his Keyblade, but keeps a firm grip on it as he holds it to the side. He's ready, not relaxed.]
Don't tell me you want to go again. You were losing.
no subject
[Realisation dawns on Sora’s face rapidly. The only losing Sora had been in danger of doing when they’d last seen each other was losing himself down the dark path Xehanort had laid out at his feet like a path of cookie crumbs. There’s been nothing but quiet acceptance and resignation from the boy in front of him now, it had done nothing but fuel Sora’s desire to set right all the terrible wrongs that had been done to him in his name.
It doesn’t make sense to think they were fighting then, so Roxas has to be talking about some other time and maybe that makes sense, because if Roxas in the dream had been a dream, it stands to reason that he wouldn’t remember Sora in the waking world, right?
That has to be it.]
We were talking, and you shared your memories with me while I was dreaming. That’s what I remember. I don’t know why you don’t...
no subject
Roxas finds himself gritting his teeth, but his eyes go wide at Sora's next words. No, no, no. Not his memories...they're his memories, the only things that were ever his alone, and that's barely even true when they'd proved able to be manipulated so easily.]
You're lying.
[His Keyblade is back in Sora's face. He's not striking, not yet starting a fight, but part of him wants to. Combat is so much simpler in a lot of ways. Another part of him is whispering no, that won't solve anything; it remembers what he saw in their heart, why Sora is different from him, and why he's really not a bad option as original selves go.
Roxas pushes the thought away.]
no subject
[He stands very tall and straight and makes no effort to raise a hand or Keyblade in his defence. Instead he looks very calmly at Roxas, trying to search the other boy's face to try to understand what's going on. It's like that time when they fought, when Sora had had his back up against the wall and had been lucky to get out with all his teeth still in his head.
He doesn't know what's going on, he doesn't know what's made the other boy so angry, but if he can just show him that he's not playing games, that he's not trying to manipulate him or lie to him... maybe that could do some good?]
I wouldn't lie to you Roxas, why would I? I want to help you.
no subject
He meets his original self's eyes and for a moment, he wants very badly to believe him. That maybe he can be one of those connections, and there's still one person in the world who cares and will look out for him without wanting to use him in return.
But Roxas has never had a heart to connect.]
I don't believe you.
[He lowers the Keyblade. Before Sora can make a move of his own, though, he spins on his heel and dashes away, directly into the corridor of darkness he's called up behind him.]