etcelsior | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hey! Just because I'm old and creaky doesn't mean I'm out of touch." he pauses.

"No one says newb anymore, do they?" He sighs and shakes his head.

"Superheroing seems to be the order of the day. I'll stick to wizarding, thanks." he chuckles, but feels a thrill of adrenaline as he contemplates the woman who may well be another four-color hero.

"Did you practice back home?"

Wizarding. That's... huh. She's busy enough considering that that his question takes her off guard.

"Practice?"

He nods, waving a hand as they turn a corner.

"Superheroing, Magic, that sort of thing?" He grins at her then reaches out to open and hold the door for her.

"After you?" Its a small bar and grill/coffee shop/thing and nice enough, but not fancy. And thankfully lacking crowds or paparazzi.

She nods and steps into the shop. It looks nice enough, and she doesn't see any immediate threats, so that's something.

"I'd look pretty stupid in a cape." And she'd definitely end up getting blood on it. But no clothing is safe from blood in her presence.

It's not a real answer, of course, and not even subtly so, but it's what she's got for the moment. Secrecy's a long habit for her.

"You? You seem pretty casual about wizarding."

Harry chuckles, and accepts it for what it is. He nods. "I dunno, though. A cape might look good on you." He shrugs.

"I never really wanted or decided to be secret about what I was. I even advertised in the phone book. People being what they were, almost no one believed it, but occasionally, people who needed me, found me."

He nods, eyes intent as he surveys the menu, eyes also keeping tabs on other people in the cafe and on exits.

"Been around this crazy place long?"

Toby shakes her head, but she’s more focused on what he said than his question.

"And there were no repercussions? I don’t know about your world, but where I’m from, historically people who revealed magical abilities got very literally burned."

"No. Most people don't believe in magic, and actively disbelieve it even if it happens in front of them. Most who do believe, do so because are supernatural themselves." Harry grins.

He sobers at her ending words.

"It happened deep in the past of my world, too, but right now, no."

"Because of the disbelief? Or are mortals actually better now?"

It's not her experience, but honestly, she doesn't think much of fae either. Everyone kind of sucks regardless of species.

"Mostly disbelief. Some humans are better, and more accepting, but many just are far more oblivious, and more able to excuse anything they do not want to see."

Harry shakes his head as he nods to her. "Do you want to order something?"

"Just coffee for now." She plays with a spoon on the table, still watching him intently. Habits of secrecy are hard to break, but this isn't her world, and he clearly knows about magic. Even if it's a different sort of magic than she's used to.

"Maybe we don't give mortals enough credit. But no one wants to risk another war. Better to stay secret."

He waves for the waiter and nods to her, listening. She looks like she is thinking, so he waits for her to talk.

When she does, he listens more intently.

"Whatever works for your world and you. I just..." he sighs, rubbing his face. "I just can't live that way. I tried it early on. it didn't stick."

He smiles to her. "Will you try to do that here? Vanish into the shadows, so to speak?"

She shakes her head. "Wizard or not, you're human. It's different." People might be weirded out by the magic, but they're not going to strap him to a table and dissect him or go after him with iron.

His question, though, makes her frown thoughtfully. "For now. The existence of non-humans is pretty obviously known here, but it's not a decision I can make lightly. Once I reveal myself, there's no going back." A corner of her mouth quirks up. "Not without way more magic than I've got access to, anyway."

"I am, yes. But my kind was hunted and burned in my past. And worse." He smiles to her. "What kin are you?" he was curious if she would admit it.

"There is no reason you need to at all. It may be that you can live a life without being outed, and without anyone knowing your secrets... maybe."

He chuckles darkly. "Time alteration, and wish magic is... unwise, and always exacts a price worse than what was done." Or so it had always been in his world. He settles back again. "Perhaps you can live a quiet life here, until you get to go home."

That gets an actual snort of laughter. "A quiet life. Me. That seems likely."

She raises an eyebrow, stirring some sugar into her coffee. Something about his tone makes her frown.

"How old do you think I am?"

"20s or 30s, maybe, or older if you are fey or a wizard or something else." He spoke honestly. he wasn't sure he should say that, but oops.

"People always tell me not to tell women they look a certain age, but I generally don't listen to that sort of advice."

“Good, because I literally asked. What you think, not how I look.” She isn’t really one to be offended by that kind of thing. She’ll never look her real age. She hasn’t for decades.

“Going purely by chronology in the mortal realm, I’m pushing seventy.” She raises an eyebrow, stirring a spoon around idly in her coffee. “So maybe assume I’ve had enough life experience to be acutely aware of the toll magic can take?”

Edited 2019-02-21 23:19 (UTC)

He stares at her for a very long few moments, and sighs. It is a weary sigh, and it contains anger, and tiredness, and he speaks, then, and the tiredness is there, too.

"I never assume anything. In my world that gets you killed. I would rather offend you, than not speak about the thing that could end you."

He spread his hands, anger sparking in his eyes, but tamped down.

"I am sorry if I offended you. I know nothing of your world, or what does or does not cross over between them. But I would rather offend you than not speak. I would rather piss you off than let silence kill even more one goddamn..."

he ground his teeth together and bit it off, sorrow sparking in his eyes, then, and he looked down and took a long, weary breath. And then he looked up and fixed her with his look

"Be mad, be offended. But if I know a thing that might save your life and you're near me, you damn well will hear it."

walking in a winter wonderland

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject