etcelsior | ONE TWO CHA CHA CHA

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, Florida 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.

Unfortunately, tragedy has struck today. It seems like the entire Heropa PD is parked out of a local, popular grocery chain. A huge crowd is amassed in the parking lot despite the best efforts of officers to get them to leave. They whisper about excitement and shame, and you don't have to ask if you just listen in a bit...

"What do you think he'll do to the employees? He sounded so serious..." "He really wants that pussy, huh?" "If I left my man for cheating on me, I'd take the damn cat, too!" "How does he think taking her and her coworkers hostage is gonna make her change her mind about him being a bad boyfriend?" "My wife is pregnant, please - if I don't get her favorite deli sub I might as well not go home!"

Domestic disputes! Tragic. The police aren't too sure how to handle this hostage situation, claiming the man only has a box cutter and isn't actually waving it around at the moment, but...are you an imPort? They'd really appreciate the help, okay. Get in there and counsel the unhappy couple. Or not!

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! 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.

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. If you let yourself get cornered, beware! Anything from personal questions about romantic chances to bedroom habits to dietary queries might be come up!

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has had its ups and downs since imPorts started reappearing. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while others have 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.

As your character walks down the street, they may find themselves accosted by a large man in his mid-20s, dressed in an ill-fitting spandex suit of orange and yellow. As he thrusts his finger into an imPort's face, the spandex rides up, turning into more of a crop-top, which he duly tugs back down before shouting, "You're not the special ones anymore, imPorts! Feel the wrath of Heartburn!"

Stupid name aside, he does seem to have superpowers as he breathes a large plume of fire. His aim still isn't great, though; it could hit the imPort in question, or be sent in the direction of a nearby local, or even a particularly flammable building. What will you do, Hero?

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. You may find yourself in the midst of a few closed-off streets for some occasion or another - whether it be a food cart festival, no-car day, or something else! - and surrounded by the hum of people, the waft of food being served on the street, and plenty of attention

Look there -- someone's demoing a VR roller coaster! Won't you give it a shot?

Outside the barricades closing off those streets, you're still likely to attract attention. Natives may gather around new arrivals and ask both personal and broad questions about life as an imPort, what they are looking forward to, if they're looking for a sidekick. A few restaurants will offer a free appetizer (with the purchase of an entree), and you may be offered product samples from local businesses! Just be sure to speak to an agent before signing any endorsement deals.

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.

Despite the weird constant hum and the creepy cultish bingo, Jeopardy is usually a pretty calm place. A safe place. But not today. Today, someone has released a couple hundred tiny praying-mantis-like robots into the city, and the place is in chaos. Shops are closed up early because though these little destructive creatures don't have bullets, they do have some weird arm appendages that like to just crunch everything in existence. Like a locus swarm of cockatoos, anything made of wood or plastic is being crunched up and left for scrap. But at less than six inches high apiece, rounding them up is proving extremely difficult. Luckily, the mayor in her wisdom is giving out titanium nets to any imPort who wants to help round up the trouble makers. And, in the spirit of the city, she's offering the imPort that catches the most robots a free meal for two in the swanky Radiation Galley - Jeopardy's top tier, five star restaurant.

Get catchin', imPorts!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ His enthusiasm is almost endearing. While she's homesick and would do whatever she had to for a loaf of five blossom bread, he seems to embrace the options. Perhaps a stretch of small talk wouldn't kill her-

Sabé smiles and huffs out a short laugh at the comment about gaining weight from all the types of food readily available. ]

Not the worst advice. What's something you'd suggest?

Uhhhh...[He peruses the menu, then the items behind glass, like a assessor at a jewelry store.]

That one.

[He points out some kind of fried meat on a stick type substance. Carter's tastes were never discerning to begin with, and anything with grease and salt is a delicacy.]

[ Sabé peers at the item he points out- the look on her face half grimace and half like she's trying not to laugh. Everyone has differing tastes, but this looks like something she'd find in an outpost on Tatooine almost. ]

That one.

[ She repeats the words steadily, raising her brow at the food, then him. ]

It's hard to go wrong with something so universal, I think.

[Carter's eager to order for her. Most of his unit would see that as an in to flirt, because most of the men in his unit are very straight and not subtle about it, but Carter is just eager to share in the joy of New Cool Stuff with her. The man's basically an explosive golden retriever.]

Back at the, uh, back at the place where I used to be, we had a guy who was a French chef. Made all these neat dishes out of basically scraps and stuff from cans that we'd smuggle in. It really made you appreciate the art of cooking, y'know?

[The food truck owner hands over two sticks of fried meat substance, and Carter eagerly extends one to her.[

[ She has no clue what 'French' cooking is- but she could appreciate the scraping together meals from cans. ]

I get it. I spent a lot of time somewhere that I basically lived off rations... I never realized how much I missed good food until then.

[ She blinks as he hands one of the sticks to her, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips. ]

Thank you.

Cheers! [He raises the stick like it's a glass of wine and then takes a big ol' bite out of it. It's...fried on a stick. Some things are universal. The food holds no surprises.]

So where'd you come from? [He asks it through a full mouth.]

Cheers.

[ It's easy enough to mimic the action, and though she doesn't take a bite from her own stick simultaneously, she does give it a try as soon as she watches him take a big bite from his.

She waits until she finishes chewing before answering his question, however. ]

A planet called Naboo... from what I've learned, it's not well known at all around here. [ Probably an answer he wasn't expecting- she smiles a little. ] Yourself?

A planet? Like space? You're from space? [Carter stops mid-bite, eyes growing wide with wonder.] Wow-wee. I've never been to another planet before. What's it like? Wait, are you an alien?

[He looks her up and down, checking for antennae or somesuch.]

[ Like... space... She chews on her meat stick thoughtfully, trying to remain carefully neutral while faced with... possibly ridiculous questions. ]

I haven't known any different through my life. Interplanetary travel is as common from where I'm from as it is to go from city to city here.

[ A pause as she holds back a small laugh. ]

I'm humanoid- though there are many around my home that are not. It's not something I find out of the ordinary either... It just is.

What do they look like, if they don't look human-oid? [Carter chews frantically, stoked beyond belief because ALIENS!!]

ONE TWO CHA CHA CHA

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