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

[choosetruth]

[Georgia Mason is known, among other things, for staring the truth in the face and demanding others do the same.

Even she isn't cruel enough to force Shaun to finish that sentence. THey both know how it ends. How it always ends.]

Oh, Shaun.

[She puts her Coke down and walks around the table so she can drapw her arms around Shaun, clinging to him, not quite falling into his lap, but close. She somehow thinks he'll be okay with it.]

I never fucking liked that guy.

[Usually being right feels better than this.]

[irwins]

[Shaun looks up as she walks closer to him. He looks less like he's seen a ghost by now, but there's still that faint tinge of disbelief in his gaze, like he's sure he'll blink and she'll be gone. That is fading too, bit by bit, as time goes on.

He wraps his arms about her, tight and secure, and she may not have climbed into his lap, but he pulls her the rest of the way, holds her close. He ducks his head, leaning against her, ear to her chest. Like this he can her each beat of her heart and he has never in his life heard a sweeter sound.

A laugh escapes, surprising Shaun, at what she has to say.] Yeah. Yeah he really really sucked.

[And Shaun regrets only being able to kill him once.]

[choosetruth]

[She presses her lips to his hair. It's nice to hear his laugh, even if it's a lot more broken than she's used to. She gets the sense he hasn't laughed much lately.]

I always thought you'd be the one to leave me. I never thought--

[She swallows, and holds him tightly.]

But we got the truth out? We did our job?

[She always believed the truth was worth dying for. That didn't mean she wanted to demonstrate that belief. She never wanted to be a martyr.

Would getting the truth out make it worth it? Not for Shaun. She's not sure if it even makes it worth it for her. But she has to cling to what she still has. She did her job. They told their story. It's not much, but it's more than nothing.]

[irwins]

[Shaun never thought about it either. It was always so clear that he'd be the one to push too far, take one too many risks. He'd never considered a world without Georgia, how he'd ever live without her there. He still doesn't know, if he's being honest. But he doesn't say that, instead he nods at her question.]

We did our job.

[He agrees, and lifts his head to look at her. It wasn't even remotely worth it. Losing George... It would never be worth it, but it was what they had.]

The truth is out. The facts are out. Tate and whoever the hell backed him don't get to buy some fucked up fear-and-faith based nation with the blood they spilled.

[But Shaun still curls up in the silence of his apartment every night, nearly convincing himself he can hear George's voice in the quiet.]

[choosetruth]

[There's still more she needs to know, but she knows how much it'll hurt Shaun to talk about. How much even telling her this much has hurt him. Or maybe he just hasn't stopped hurting since he lost her.

She brushes another kiss against his forehead.]

And now you're here. With me. In a fucking comic book.

[irwins]

[Every little touch eases some of the pain, settles some of his broken pieces ever so slightly.

And now he's here. With her. And he doesn't care if it's a comic book. Georgia is here. It's almost startling how very little else matters because that one fact is true. God he's missed her so much. Shaun's arms tighten around her, and he smiles, honest to goodness smiles at her.]

Comic book doesn't seem so bad. I mean... I got rescued by this hot super hero. [He lifts his chin, brushes his lips to George's.] No spandex though. I feel sorta cheated on that one.

[choosetruth]

[That gets a little chuckle, and she whacks his shoulder lightly.]

Shaun! [She's missed him being a jerk.] You wouldn't even know what to do if you saw me in spandex.

[irwins]

[Hearing George laugh, even that small little chuckle, has to be the most beautiful sound that he's ever heard. So he lifts an eyebrow, a high and incredulous arch.]

Give me and my imagination come credit here.

[The weight of what they've spoken about still hangs in the air, but there's no way even that can dampen how ecstatic Shaun is that she's here and alive. So it's easy to smile, to fall into familiar patterns that he's missed so much.] First, I'd get a picture. As evidence for any potential exposé -- journalistic integrity and all, you know. And also maybe for personal reasons.

[choosetruth]

[She can tell what he's doing, but she can't blame him. She's missed him, but she knew she'd see him again. He didn't think he'd ever get this again.

His joy is infectious, but that doesn't stop her from rolling her eyes, tucking her head against his again.]

In what universe would I allow photographical evidence of any spandex experimentation to exist?

[She presses a kiss to his jaw.]

Even for you. You'll just have to satisfy yourself with the real thing.

[irwins]

[He never expected actually being able to hold her again, see that familiar exasperation (the kind where he can feel her eyes rolling at him, even if her sunglasses mean he can't really see it). He's missed it, missed her.

His arms tighten around her without his fully realizing he's doing it.]

Your ongoing vendetta against fun is noted.

[Shaun turns towards her, nuzzling his way in to touch a kiss to her cheek in turn.] But... I'm okay with the real thing. So okay with it.

[If it's a dream after all? He doesn't want to wake up.]

[choosetruth]

[It's not fair that his every word makes her heart twinge a little more. She left him. Not on purpose, of course, but she still can imagine how much it must have hurt. She has imagined it, every time she thought about inevitably losing him.

She runs a hand over his shoulder.] Shaun. [She drops another kiss to his temple.] There's a lot we need to talk about. You know that, right?

[irwins]

[Shaun is soaking up each little touch, simple and small as they may be. They mean so much, and he doesn't have the words for any of it. Bit by tiny bit it eases some of the ache that had taken up permanent residence in the hollow where his heart used to reside.

But he focuses on her question, and he nods.]

Yeah. I know. Whatever you need to hear, George. Whatever you need to tell me.

[He's here for it. But all he really needed to hear, to know, is that she's alive and okay and here.]

[choosetruth]

[She nods and rests her forehead against his, letting her eyes slip shut.]

Just wanted to make sure you knew. But it can happen later.

[She lifts her head and points at an open door.]

Bedroom's that way. Take me there.

[irwins]

[Shaun lets his gaze follow the way that she points. He doesn't need to be told twice though. At all. Later then can sort through everything, make sure they both know the pieces they're missing.

Right now he moves to stand, gathering George in his arms in the process and making his way to the bedroom. His lips press to her temple and he murmurs, quietly,]

Got it.

[choosetruth]

[She doesn't weigh as much as she should. She hasn't been eating well since she came here, hasn't been sleeping or taking care of herself at all without Shaun to remind her to do it. They were always better at taking care of each other than they were at taking care of themselves. Without him, she tries to use Coke to replace both food and sleep and ends up a mess.

She tucks her head against him, resting a hand on his chest.]

It's really good to have you back.

[irwins]

[It isn't lost on him, that she's lighter than she ought to be, and there's no fighting the concern that comes with that. But he's here now. He's here now, and he can make sure she's okay. And maybe he can sleep again too.

He turns his head enough to press a kiss to his forehead.]

Yeah. Same. So good.

[Beyond good. He makes his way to the bedroom, sitting himself on the edge of it, George still in his arms before he tips back towards the pillows, pulling her back and down along with him.]

I've got you now, George. [And he's not letting her go.]