ONE TWO CHA CHA CHA

[maskormods]

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!

Comments

[deadlycurves]

Diego has truly never understood anything about Klaus' sense of fashion-- if it can even be called such. He's not sure there's much sense about it at all, but somehow his obnoxious brother manages to make it all work for him. Diego stopped asking how a long time ago.

He just gives a lift of his eyebrows at the backwards attempt at getting a 'thanks' from him. Close enough, right? And the look works well for the reproachful glance at the case in his brother's hand. "Actually cigarettes?" His tone might be a little accusatory, there. "Too recently," is the vague answer he gets at that particular question. "How many of us are even here?" Because where one Hargreeves is, others follow, generally.

[hellogoodhigh]

"Small steps." Is all he says with a cheeky little smile as he pulls out a joint, quickly shoving the case back in his jacket before Diego can try to take it from him and throw it in the nearest storm drain.

There's a slight hum as he keeps his distance just out of step.

"You know, if they renamed us by order of getting here? You'd be number seven." Another grin as he fishes for a lighter this time.
"Because the rest of us have been here for a month or more."

And that includes Ben. Ben, who shouldn't be counted. Ben, who's been dead for 12 years time. Ben, who Diego is probably going to have a heart attack on seeing again.
"Mind you, I still keep my spot- Yaaay~"

[deadlycurves]

"That's not how staying sober works, Klaus." His tone is still a little snappy, annoyed as he watches Klaus tuck the pack away and light the joint. Probably the best call, though, because he definitely would have thrown it if he could have gotten his hands on it.

He rolls his eyes at the way Klaus keeps stepping just out of time with him and mutters, "Idiot," though he never really stops following him, or even actually tries to take the thing from him.

He frowns a little at that remark, pushing down and burying an insignificance that tries to claw its way into his chest-- it doesn't make it and instead he continues straight into confusion, instead. "Klaus... Ben only counts for you, not everyone else." Right? There's no way...

[hellogoodhigh]

"Well it was either this or get thrown in rehab, and I like this better." He sulks, focusing on the lighter until he's drawing in his first breath. He doesn't know how long he has until Diego just rips it out of his mouth- so he might as well enjoy it, right?

"Huh? Oh, yeah- You've missed a lot. Seriously what took you so long?" It's a tease, and he laughs at his own joke, fumbling for his communication device.

"The gang's all here. All seven of us. Including Ben." And he holds out the device, grinning ear to ear, showing Diego a picture gallery that has photos of the entire family in it.

[deadlycurves]

"Rehab is the better option for you, Klaus." And if there's still any judgment left in his voice, it's overshadowed by a more obvious edge of concern. He knows all about vices, his own are sharp and deadly and involve a lot of violence, but Klaus' own still scare him more. Maybe it's because that situation is completely out of his control, he's stuck watching his brother shove intoxicants in his body that kill him from the inside out in the most glacier-slow way, completely powerless to stop any of it.

"I guess I got lost." he quips in answer to that question with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

But all that semi-legit, semi-faux annoyance with Number Four drains completely the second those pictures are in his face. He snatches the phone from him and flips through the whole album in staunch disbelief. It's definitely Ben in these-- and not old photos that he could have managed to scrape together by some miracle, either. They're new photos, and that thought alone has the whole world tilting sideways, though Diego is firmly planted where he stands. "What the fuck, Klaus- how?" A beat. And more importantly, "Where is he?"

[hellogoodhigh]

“Yeah, okay.” He rolls his eyes to that comment. Because Diego’s never been through rehab. Through having to deny he is still seeing ghosts, through explaining all the problems in AA that no one can relate to, that makes people think he isn’t 30, 60, 90 days sober.
It’s why he’s crashed the program more times than he can count- because he needs to lie to get out and get his fix so he can drown all the ghosts- metaphorical and literal- that are haunting him.

But when he sees the surprise rocketing through Diego’s expression, falling into disbelief, all his half-joking irritation at the suggestion falls off and he smiles wide.
“I don’t know how, but he’s in Jeopardy. Same as me and Five.”

[deadlycurves]

Probably for the best Klaus let that lie where it did, because Diego would be having none of those piss-poor excuses if he knew them to exist.

"Then what are we waiting for?" He snaps, like this should have been the most obvious next leap for Klaus to make-- and really, it probably should have been, because unlike Klaus himself, Diego actually hasn't seen Ben for nearly half of his freaking life. He'd like to see his dead brother, alive and in the flesh, thanks.

[hellogoodhigh]

“And what am I, chopped liver?” Klaus laughs, clearly teasing Diego. Because he gets it- the excitement, of Ben being alive again. He himself had been thrilled, had honestly spun him around with happiness. And the distance between them was...well, Ben had been stuck seeing him drowning for nearly 13 years now. He deserved better than to have to witness it here.

Not when there was so much better waiting for him.

“Nah, come on, follow me. You used the Porter yet?”

[deadlycurves]

"Obviously," He quips right back at him without skipping a beat.

"Nope," he says, falling easily into step beside his brother. "I'm gonna hate it, aren't I?" He just has a feeling about it.

[hellogoodhigh]

“Oh yeah, it’s kinda like attaching a fishhook inside your belly button and pulling. You’ll love it!” He grins at him, wide, as he keeps smoking and walking through the city to the porter.
It feels... odd, having Diego at his side again. Missed him more than anyone who wasn’t already here. Because the even numbers had to stick together, right?

“You aren’t afraid of spiders, are you? Background radiation?”

[deadlycurves]

He grimaces at that description; it sounds downright awful and he's already not looking forward to this experience. "Spiders? No, why?" He frowns a little, giving Klaus a confused glance.

[hellogoodhigh]

"Because there's this cult- some spider goddess, blessed is she who weaves, yadda yadda..." He waves his hand away, because so far his only confirmation of any sort of deity is a 12 year old girl with an attitude problem.

"Anyway, here we are, hold on tight." He grins as he checks in with the porter, gets their information, and walks in. The next moment they'll be in Jeopardy, Nevada. Desert landscape, city lights, and the background feeling of being watched that comes with the one city in this world that seems to actually have ghosts.

Good to be home...

[deadlycurves]

"What the fuck?" He mutters, shaking his head. He makes a... very vague note to look more into that whole thing later, but there are far more important things to focus on right now, so he lets it go for the time being. The porter travel was pretty much exactly like Klaus described and Diego is not sure he wants to ever experience it again. He blinks against too-bright lights scattered around the city. "So, what is this, like their version of Vegas?"

[hellogoodhigh]

“It’s like if Vegas and Jonestown had a weird cult-y baby.” There’s a brief pause and,
“It’s also the only city where my powers work. Well. Powers from back home anyway.” Way to drop the whole thing about this city being haunted.
And part of him immediately wishes he hadn’t said it, because Diego might ask him to summon someone. Like the lady cop, who had recently haunted his nightmares of the room where he’d been imprisoned.

And he doesn’t think he has the heart to tell him that as far as he’s aware? No one from their universe ever existed.
Not Dave at any rate.

His hand reaches for the dog tags around his neck, and he bites his lip as he thinks.
“You know, Five’s here in Jeopardy, too. Probably playing hookey again, the little hooligan.”

[deadlycurves]

"Creepy." He lifts both eyebrows at that description. He tips his head a little toward his brother at that remark. "So there's not ghosts in the other places here?" That must be a huge relief off Klaus' shoulders, actually. Diego's eyes drop to the dog tags Klaus' fingers wrap around, but he doesn't comment on it. "Hookey?" He pulls another face at that. "They made him go to school?"

[hellogoodhigh]

"Yeah! Yeah, and they made him get a paper route!" Klaus laughs, grinning ear to ear.
"Guess the old man couldn't convince them he's really 58, given his boyish good looks- God, and BEN- do you know how weird it is to be buying drinks for two of my brothers? Who are the same-" He pauses, blinks, and counts on his fingers.

"-- Oh, well, I guess Five is the oldest brother. And I'm second oldest. And then there's the rest of you whippersnappers." A mischevious grin slides across his face.
"Oh, I remember when I was your age, Diego- my misguided youth~!"

[deadlycurves]

"Oh, I bet he loves that one." He snickers at the thought. But the focus is suddenly pulled back to Ben and he still can't quite wrap his head around all of this. The rest of what Klaus says falls on mostly deaf ears because Ben is somewhere in this damn city and he needs to see him with his own eyes. "Come on, let's go." he urges Klaus, looking at him expectantly.

[hellogoodhigh]

The smile slowly slides off his face as he realizes that Diego isn’t paying attention to him. Isn’t even listening to him, really. So he adjusts his jacket, pulls his collar up slightly, and jams his hands in whatever pockets he might have.
“This way’s housing.” He turns down another road, walking half a step ahead.

“Funnily enough, none of us are living together. Allison and Luther and Vanya are all in different cities.”

[deadlycurves]

If he weren't so singly focused, here, he might almost manage to feel bad about the way Klaus sort of just pulls back and shuts down. But as it is, he's stuck on one mission only at this point. He falls too easily into step with Klaus as they start moving again. "So, not that much different from the way things were--" There's a beat and he finally settles on the only word that makes sense, "before." Before Five came back. Before they knew the Apocalypse was coming. Before they realized Vanya has powers. Before their mousy sister cracked the moon. Before.

[hellogoodhigh]

"Yep, just like old times. Honestly surprised Luther isn't on the moon given that there's a whole base up there." And he himself has taken back to couch surfing and sleeping in beds that aren't his own. Some things never change.
At least he's frequenting some beds more than others.

"Five crashes with Vanya sometimes, and Ben. I usually end up at Allison's but that's sheer coincidence since she ended up living with my friends-" And here comes the interrogation he thinks as he turns down another street. His 'friends' are never good news. Wait until Diego finds out they're vampires...