BOOM GET OUT THE WAY

[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.

As spring segues into summer, it's tourist season! Heropa might not be as big and exciting as some cities, but as the home of many imPorts, it's still a popular destination. The crowds are even bigger this weekend, the demands for autographs more frequent, and plenty of enterprising vendors are taking advantage by offering imPort-themed food and drink from their kiosks. Why not try a Jacob-kabob or a Chill-ton Freeze Pop? Or even...hey, is that menu item based on you?

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!

Today, a company that manufactures tech-based educational toys—"Where Science Meets Fun!"—is running a demo of its latest project, Quincy the QuizBot. Filled with information taken from the curricula of many grade levels, Quincy is whirring through the streets to conduct pop quizzes! Answer a question right, win a prize, ranging from a coupon for a free soda at the local fast food joint to a $100 gift card, based on difficulty!

Except...something's gone wrong with Quincy's programming. An hour or two into the demo session, he starts to approach passersby and demand answers. "WHAT IS THE SQUARE ROOT OF 47284? CAN YOU LIST THE PHARAOHS OF EGYPT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER? ANSWER-ANSWER-ANSWER-ANSWER!"


03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has had its ups and downs since imPorts started disappearing. The city's political core now gutted with its mayor and supreme ambassador exported out, the streets have returned to the hands of the local people -- and incidental, the local criminal element. 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 thrust within what appears to be an organized protest and a smaller counter-protest. There's shouting, there are chants. You pick up rhythmic beats of THE END IS NEAR, GET THEM OUT OF HERE clashing against the clumsier counter-chants of IMPORTS ARE PART OF US. You probably don't know why, but there are sects of people who believe your kind is bringing about the end of the universe. You'll probably learn why, in due time. But given the scorching tension of the situation you have found yourself in, it's probably a good idea NOT to use your powers.

But even keeping your powers on the down low, you're of keen eye, or at least today you are, as fate would have it. You see a boring looking man, perhaps in his mid-20s, with a cluster of boring looking companions (three or four at most) wearing backpacks as they all uniformly step back and don black masks. The protests are crossing the street ahead of First National Bank. These men beeline towards the bank.

They are going to rob it, and people are going to get hurt, you're sure of that. They're probably armed, given their backpacks. What do you do?

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

Nadia Van Dyne | Marvel 616

[nauka]

Heropa

[ Nadia has never been to a place like Florida before. The beaches! The sunshine! The people offering free food and drink! Everything about this city has convinced Nadia that Florida is the greatest place on Earth. This or any other Earth. She buzzes around the food stalls, eagerly trying out the different offerings, only stopping when she comes across a stall selling items themed to her. Waspsicles! Van D'ice cream! This is a dream!

She stays at the stall, helping the shopkeeper sell his Nadia-themed products. ]

Hello! You there! Don't you want a nice, refreshing cold treat? These are the best ones, come and try them!

De Chima

Nadia is holding her own against Quincy the Quizbot, answering every question it has to ask her. She's much better with the math and science questions than she is with the history factoids, but alright she's not doing too badly.

"217.4488, approximately! No I cannot! Ask me something about chemical engineering, I'm much better at that than knowing about pharaohs!"

She doesn't seem bothered by the little robot. On the contrary, she keeps trying to get a closer look at its mechanisms, trying to see how it has been built, mentally reverse engineering its casing. This is much more interesting than answering reporters' questions about her love life.

Maurtia Falls

[ Nadia is easily distracted by the loud chanting of the protestors, however something doesn't feel right to her. So of course she notices right away when a group of masked men start heading for the bank across the street. Without thinking, she disappears, shrinking down and getting into her Wasp suit, flying over the heads of the protestors to reappear in front of the would be bank robbers. She grows back to her normal size, arms outstretched as though one teenage girl is enough to block four large men from getting past her and entering the bank. ]

Stop! You do not want to rob this place! Please do not make me have to stop you!

[ She doesn't look like she's capable of stopping anybody, petite as she is, and dressed in a weird red, winged outfit. But as soon as one of the thieves makes a move in her direction, she launches herself at him, locking her thighs around his neck and singing around, using her momentum to throw him off balance, sending him tumbling down the stairs to the sidewalk. Before he can recover, she's disappeared again, shrinking down toa size too small for the naked eye to see. The four criminals look around for her, dumbfounded. Will you help? Or just watch? ]

Network

hello everyone on alternate Earth! my name is Nadia, and I have a very important question to ask.

I need to know where I can get access to a state of the art scientific laboratory. I was in the middle of some very important work before I came here and I do not want to stop my research! if anyone can help me, I would be very very very grateful!

thank you! :)

[ will match brackets or prose. if you want a different starter come chat with me @ objectpermanence ]

@ network

[divaricate]

Hmm. Well, De Chima is probably your best bet for jobs like that. Depends what kind of research you want to do.

Lonnie | She-Ra (2018)

[hordinglife]

Heropa
[Lonnie has never been a beach before that wasn't on a river or sea with a strategic route that could be used by the Horde. It was never a vacation, always a mission. So she has no idea what do to with all the weird things these people seem to enjoy. Why are people being buried in the sand? What kind of practicality is that? Don't they know that if they were attacked, they are sitting ducks? How stupid can these people be?

Then she sees one of the "themed" foods that the vendors are showing.]

Grilled Catra-fish on a Stick?

[Yes, it is. Including two slices of red pepper stuck to the top with toothpicks in the shape of cat ears. Lonnie is sure she is imaging this because there is no way this food really exists. So she's going to of course buy some and continue on her way, because shut up that's why.]


De Chima
[When the little robot had asked her two simple math and science questions, Lonnie had answered hoping it would get the thing to go away. But then it wouldn't stop following her. Asking her questions about things she didn't even know about. "Name all signers of the Declaration of Independence! Longest serving monarch of the Kingdom of Denmark! The number of known amphibian species in the Amazon Rain Forest! ANSWER! ANSWER!".

She gets so fed up with the thing that she strikes out at it with the palm of her hand, not unlike slapping Kyle upside his head back home, but instead of it flying across the room into a wall, the little bot just--fell apart. All the pieces put together collapsing as if a screw came loose that held it together. The pieces go flying everywhere and people are ducking and jumping back to avoid being hit with them. Sorry if you were someone who got hit with something.

Lonnie blinks, staring down at her hand and then at the robot-that-was.]

It was defective and blew up on its own! [Great excuse, now time to get out of here.]


Nonah
[A virtual reality simulator that is purely for...fun? Not for training or fighting or strategizing. It's entertainment.

Who thought this was a good use of their time?

She steps back away, trying to get out of the large line even though the group as a whole is pushing forward so people can take their turns.]

No, no. I'm not staying. Could you get out of the way?

[If someone doesn't move, she is probably going to lose her cool at this rate or have to give in and get on the damn roller coaster just so she can make it out the other side.]

{OOC: I'm playing around with Lonnie have the powers of mechanical manipulation, object teleportation, and indestructible skin.}

Heropa!!

[plentystrong]

[ And here is Catra, skateboarding by! ]

Out the way, here I come, passing through... holy sh--

[ She skids to a halt when she spots Lonnie. ]

LONNIE? When did you get here?

oh gosh I'm so sorry, RL has been awful and I apologize for coming at this so late.

[swordsense]

Nonah

[Lonnie is not exactly someone that Adora's pleased to see. She's not...unhappy...to see someone from home, exactly, but they hadn't ever been the closest. And Lonnie was leaps and bounds lower on her priorities list than Catra, but she'd need to be dealt with at some point.

So, when she spots Lonnie pushing her way past the crowd, she weaves through the press of people and grabs her by the back of the shirt, hauling her towards the coaster pod.]

How about you just have a seat on the ride with me, Lonnie. We should talk.

Thor Odinson | MCU | Post-Avengers: Endgame - some minor spoilers in this comment

[thunderrising]

[ ooc: Lemme know if you do not want more spoilers in answer comments, and I will keep him from giving any save very vaguely. ]


01.The city of Heropa, Florida

Thor likes this welcoming spirit. He is not used to it, but he likes it. He is no longer used to cheers or crowds, and in truth, they make him a little uncomfortable. But it reminds him of his glory days, and on days when hi9s confidence is high, this is a good thing.

The crowds that demand his autograph are sometimes overwhelming, but sometime4s, it is just okay to let yourself enjoy being buffeted by people who, despite your doubts in yourself, think you are amazing. He gladly signs autographs, and gives kisses to beautiful women sometimes, even.

He has a large flagon in one hand, filled with a root beer, and he has a t-shirt on that proclaims him the one true god of thunder, and he is smiling as he sips his Thor-branded root beer, feeling rather understood that it was quickly provided when he to0ld the people at the store he did not want alcohol.

He can be found signing, smiling, walking, kissing, and generally looking like he is happy. Most of the time. Sometimes, he can be found on rooftops hiding, a little, and maybe calling down a rainstorm to drive people indoors so he can just have some peace.

***

02. De Chima, Virginia

Upon being cornered by his fans, Thor smiles, sighs a little, and begins answering the questions, however personal, that are asked of him. He has little in the way of shame, and little to hide, anymore, and so he answers honestly. Some of his answers disappoint fans, he knows, but even he could not have done all the things they seem to think he has already done in his life.

He is also confronted by a science guy who reminds him some of Stark, which memory pains him as he remembers his friend and battle comrade. This man, however, is lesser, and his toy seems wondrous, but also somewhat... annoying.

Quincy the QuizBot seems, by the time Thor meets him, to be completely going mad. And the flashbacks to Ultron make Thor wince, a lot. The robot's demands are growing more shrill, and Thor quickly finds himself defending a small crowd who are backing away from the shouting robot.

"Friend robot, these mortals are under my protection. Surely you are not wanting to cause them harm..." And his hand clenches into a fist, as electricity flickers over his eyes...

***

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania

A town at war, Maurtia most appeals to Thor, and so he ventures there to see what battles may await. And it does not disappoint. Spotting both the protestors and the would-be robbers, Thor finds himself smiling just a little. This? This is what he is made for. Thor runs fo0rward to put himself between the civilians and the villains...

"Ho, villains! seek not to harm those who walk without such harm in their thoughts. Lay down your weapons, or be lain down.."

And as soon as he speaks, of course, a rock hurls at hin from a protestor, even as the robbers dive for their weapons.

***

Wildcard!

[nauka]

The rock is hurtling towards Thor's head, until a red beam of light hits it and it shrinks down to the size of a small pebble, falling harmlessly out of the air. A small winged girl-- and we do mean small, it's hard to actually see her she's so tiny-- flies over to land on Thor's shoulder. When she speaks, it's with a slight Russian accent.

"I do not think this is the best place to fight them. We should try to talk them out of whatever they are trying to do."

@ 01

[divaricate]

Seeing the familiar face makes Wanda stop for a moment before approaching.

"Well, look who showed up." She says with a faint smile.

Billy Batson / Shazam | current DC??? what do we call it

[withoneword]

heropa.

[There are a lot of things that suck about not being able to say your own hero name. Currently, it's the fact he can't order a Shazamily Meal to eat by himself. Is Shazamily a thing? Darla's banner had said Shazam Family, but Billy gets the feeling she'd latch onto Shazamily in a second. He's spent this whole time in line trying to figure out a way to say it, or to convince himself he doesn't need that specific meal, but come on! It's his meal!]

Could I get, um... one of those family meals?

[he asks once he's at the front. "Which one? Superfamily, Batfamily... think there's a Jedi one too now," says the cashier.]

No, not those ones. Sorry, I just can't seem to remember the name. I'm really sorry, ma'am. I think it's the one with the lightning?

["The Flash?"]

de chima.

[Pop quizzes where you can earn money? Sounds like a job for the Wisdom of Solomon! Even if you were about to answer the question, Shazam swoops in in between whoever was passing by and the lil robot.]

217.448844559. Narmer, Hor-Aha, Djer, Djet, Den...

[And so on. When he finishes, he yawns, a little bored at this point.]

Anything else? Or are you guys gonna hand me an Xbox already or what?

jeopardy.

[Rounding up grasshoppers is a lot harder than it looks, especially with big adult hands. After several failed attempts to grab them, even using superspeed, Shazam sighs and zaps the next one he sees. And it... explodes. Rest in pieces.]

... too much?

[heliophilic]

[M had recognized the costume. It was too gaudy for him to have not. He might not know all of the superheroes of his home world, but he remembers guys with strength that would rival Apollo's or Superman's. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he says nothing... that is until the guy unexpectedly takes twenty years to order off the menu, dancing around saying his name in a display of curious gymnastics that even gets M to raise an eyebrow.

Growing impatient, he leans past Big Red to talk to the cashier.]

The word he's so humbly trying to avoid saying is "Shazam." He wants the Shazamily Meal.

Heropa

[mysterioisthetruth]

Having some trouble, kid?

[Beck looks at Billy with some sympathy. Kid may be just as awkward as Peter. Maybe he can't read?]

Did you mean the Thor meal? Lightning and all...

[The man is dressed in nearly full costume; light-up chestplate, cape and all. No helmet though.]

Guzma | Pokémon Sun & Moon

[golisolation]

Heropa; It's ya boi, Malasada!

[Well, Florida is no island, but hey! It's on the beach so that's almost as good. It's pretty weird how much it feels like Alola, tourists all over, the weather is practically the same, even the exhausting cheeriness and friendliness of the locals are hauntingly similar. It's like he never left, the only real difference (besides not being on an island) is the lack of Pokèmon. It's strange, even if this place has its own weird creatures that are decidedly dumb as shit.

Oh well, it doesn't matter too much when Guzma's enjoying a free drink as he walks through the crowd. He's an interesting looking dude, to put it nicely, white wild hair on top, while the under shave is black, big golden glasses on his forehead with asymmetrical lenses (one a full circle, the other more like a wide crescent moon), a gold chain with a golden S that's stylized to look like a skull. He has two lavender colored "tattoos" on each forearm that matches the emblem on his chain, as well as the back of his hoodie.

He's also a pretty big guy, while slouched over he's at 6', but he's by no means a scrawny man. Besides that, he's wearing a short-sleeved zip-up hoodie that's perpetually zipped down and open, baggy black sweats with a white X on each shin, and a white muscle shirt. Looking every bit of a thug, in style, posture, and attitude. He's got the manners one might expect of one too. When he comes across a kiosk that happens to be handing out malasadas, he stops rather abruptly to stare in surprise.]

Guz-Malasada? Ha!

[At least he's amused, and the kiosk now has his attention. The cashier seems relieved that he's amused, at least, and offers him one. To which he gladly takes, and here he thought he might have to go without!]

Damn right if y'all gonna be serving malasadas, it better be named after your boy, Guzma!

[Yeah, he's got... approximately no modesty at all, while he loudly exclaims such, before taking a big fat bite outta the fried confection.]

Maurtia Falls; Enter the Chaotic Dumbass

[Heropa, while very similar to Alola in a lot of ways, was a bit too reminiscent of the home he left behind. The home he was actively working to tear down, and so coming to a place like Maurtia Falls felt more his style. There's a lot of aggressive energy in the streets, people protesting, counter-protesting, nearly fighting. Contention and foulness pouring from the crowds. It's the kind of brewing chaotic mess that Guzma and his team had attempted to kick start on Alola, though maybe less so all this end of the world garbage, that was a little ridiculous, but he liked the fear behind it.

Anyone with more than a single brain cell would keep their powers in check, or if they had big hulking monsters at their command, they'd keep them in their balls. However, we are talking about Guzma here. So, while he stalks through the crowded and hostile streets, he's accompanied by a large white bipedal isopod looking monster. It's certainly gaining him attention, fear, and hostility. So much so, that he might even be drawing attention away from those dudes heading for the bank.

The very dudes he has no interest in stopping. That's none of his business, and if people get hurt because of his indifference, it's no skin off his back. He's got enough problems as it is! Particularly a bottle that gets hurled his way. One that might have cracked him right over the head, but Golisopod blocks it with his shield-like arm, before shooting a scathing glare at the culprit, his cross-shaped eyes flashing dangerously.]

You lookin' to get beat down, huh?! You don't know who you're crossing, punk!

[That certainly gets Guzma some looks, just as many fearful, as there are ones of hatred. Guzma sneers at them, crossing his arms over his chest as Golisopod steps forward with his long blade-like claws fully extended.]

What about the rest of ya? You wanna take on big bad Guzma?! I'll destroy all y'all!

[Oh yeah, he's riled, and he's down for smashing these punk protestors, and if someone doesn't stop him, he may very well do just that...]

[killtime]

[ Andy doesn't get paid enough to deal with this shit. The fact that she thinks so is pretty clearly written in the utterly deadpan expression on her face as she comes to intervene, all dressed up in her police officer's blues. The patch on the shoulder of her sleeve reads MFPD. But besides the uniform, she looks so unremarkable as to almost pass for a native. Tired, ambiguously somewhere between her thirties and forties, not particularly tall or strong — even the cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth is drooping, like it's about as fed up with this day as she is. ]

Hey. Hey. [ She barks as she steps in between the protestors and the man atop the giant crustacean, apparently not concerned about the bodily harm that those blade-like claws seem capable of. Or concerned about the beast at all. Must be all that time she spends with Archie — she could lay there letting Crobat gnaw on her arm and not give a shit. ] Break it the fuck up —

[ Whatever else she was going to say gets cut off as one of the protests throws another bottle — this one already broken, its gleaming edges a threat in the light. Either she doesn't see it or she doesn't care, because the glass catches her straight in the side of the head, hard enough to shatter. Her head jerks sharply away from the force of it. There's blood. Lots of it.

After a moment, she exhales deeply. Turns her head back towards the protestors and takes a long drag off her dwindling cigarette before plucking a larger shard of glass out of her temple. It drops to the ground with a clatter. She crushes it under her boot, grinding it into fine sparkly dust. Apparently unfazed by all the blood running down from the side of her face, she goes on a bit flatly: ]

Okay. Are we done now?

MF

[h2no]

[well. this is new. the end is near-- since when have the natives ever bought into that crap? archie's no longer on official aegis patrol and his intentions aren't such here, but he has a habit of just walking face first into shit like this. he sticks around for all of three seconds, deciding to get on crobat somewhere hidden and take to a flat rooftop to watch it go down. intervene if he has to.

it's not hard to slip away in a big group. unfortunately for archie, though, someone recognises him. hey! they shout. that's one of those aegis fuckers!

archie freezes. sighs. god damn it. before he can say anything, crobat and mightyena bust out of their balls, unwilling to even entertain the idea of archie being in danger. mightyena growls furiously, eyes flicking between the crowd and golisopod (oh, and there's a pokémon here, too? lord.) while crobat raises his wings and hisses dangerously, threatening a supersonic. archie raises his hands.]

Come on. Neither Big Bad Guzma or I am gonna start any fights!

[it's hard to give that guarantee when he has two huge pokémon standing in front of him, both looking ready to tear the closest person apart.]

Heropa - here have a Protag-chan

[moonlitpath]

And they are safe to feed to your pokemon.

[On one hand, Mizuki's English Alolan's gotten better. On the other hand, that sure is a tiny Champion protag with a big smile and wave. If Guzma's interesting, it's nothing compared to the attention she (well, her Alolan ninetails) is getting as it scarfs down a malasada.

She hasn't noticed the 'tattoos' yet.]

Did you get brought here too?

MF

[namesaquestion]

[There are days when Nikolai wishes he'd stayed in bed. Or at least stayed out of the Falls.

Today is both one of them and not. He's as nondescript as he can get as he slinks through the crowds doing a bit of pickpocketing here and there, even if there is a literal ghost in his shadow acting as a heat sink. Yes he gets money legally, but habits like stealing? Those are hard to break and it's not like the natives'll miss it.

Then he spies Guzma and an angry, fearful group-

He nearly walks away because even he's not stupid enough to get in over his head. But at the same time - New Trainer. Someone from his and Archie's worlds. Someone he has not battled until it's repetitive and exhaustive and not worth his time or effort.

Getting in over his head for that? Fuck yes he will please and thank you.

Cue this idiot literally pushing and shoving his way through until he's close enough to literally shout back:] Hmph! That all you got? One lousy pokemon?

[Says the one without any visible pokemon around...]

evan pettiwhisker tildrum | ni no kuni ii

[evanmore]

Heropa

[ Golly, this town is bright and cheerful. Full of really fun things to do and play and - oh boy, is that a Chief Counsel Curry? Forget everything he was going to do first; Evan wants to try that dish. Roland has like no spice tolerance, which just makes this dish all the more intriguing. (Did they create the mildest curry known to the universe?)

The small child weaves through the crowd, looking for that elusive food stall that sells his curry - ]

Come on, it has to be here somewhere...

[ Out of frustration, or maybe naivety, he pauses, trying to catch the attention of the first person he sees (though frankly, it may be fairly easy considering he has cat ears and a tail, both of which are twitching with anticipation) - ]

Um, excuse me! Do you know which stall sells the "Chief Counsel Curry?"

De Chima

[ Not another rogue robot! Evan flinches at the barrage of questions, first wondering - ]

I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch - [ he pauses, ] Egypt? Where's that?

[ "Error. ERRORERRORERROR..." The Quizbot turns a bright, furious red, and before Evan knows what he's doing, he jumps back, pulling his sword out of thin air and pointing it at poor Quincy. ]

Hang on! We'll get you rebooted in no time!

[ That's how they shut down every rogue robot back in Broadleaf. Fight it, wear it down, and then find someone to reboot it. The nearby crowd's actually stepping back as Quincy lunges towards Evan; fight? Drag him away? Maybe take pictures and watch as "small cat-boy fights robot" goes viral on Bluetube? ]

wildcard

[ want to do something I haven't thought of? slam it down and let's get going. ]

[consulinchief]

[Why can't a man just walk down the street in peace without something breaking out nearby? This is the predicament Roland finds himself in when he approaches a gathering crowed--more out of necessity as his destination is beyond it than curiosity.

He certainly didn't expect to see what he did at the center of said crowd.]

Evan?!

Rebecca "Becks" Atherton | Newsflesh

[insincerecharm]

[Just for fun/to feel out her fit here, 0 promises, people.] Network [The woman on the screen looks like... well, she looks like this is absolutely her element, somehow, despite the fact that she woke up in some new universe after being very, very dead. She's wearing a smile that's as bright as a million watts as she addresses the camera.] Hello, fellow imPorts. My name is Rebecca Atherton, and while I've got the basic run-down of what's going on, I'm still really confused about one thing-- [She holds up one finger for a moment before her hand drops on the level with her other one, both hands spreading out to either side.] How in the flying fuck do you pluck people out of death and make them alive again? That's insane. Like, really, well and truly batshit living-dead fucking bullshit. Can someone explain?! [Vague log is Vague - place it wherever you want~] Becks stares out at the people, bustling around on city streets in crowds bigger than anything she ever remembers really seeing. Especially not on anything like a normal basis. The way they just pass by each other like there's nothing to ever worry about is truly wild to her, but even more than that she's struck by the noise. The random cacophony of sounds coming everywhere from every side and just how alive everything sounded. Felt. So, so much more than she did, since waking up here. Sure, she knows on a logical level she is some kind of alive again. She doesn't understand it, she doesn't trust it, but she knows it as a fact. Remembers her name, and her friends, and everything that happened to her before she found herself in this place. Which means she isn't dead or undead either one. There's no symptoms of a change and she's been here for over a week now. No way in hell she could have lasted that long if she was mid-amplification. So for all intents and purposes? She's alive. But she sure doesn't feel it. She's fallen into moving through motions, but nothing about it feels right. She doesn't feel as here as she should. Instead she feels wrong and out of place and numb. She figures maybe that's just the way the world works after you die; everything dims and dulls and just means less, somehow. She forgot that she's standing on a street corner just outside a coffee shop and hasn't actually moved in longer than she could say, lost in her thoughts. She glances up when someone accidentally bumps into her, "Oh. Sorry." The smile that weaves across her face is easy and bright, reflecting nothing of the internal thoughts she'd just been having.

Vaguely Somewhere

[tusktough]

The aforementioned someone is a little taken aback. He's been wandering, wondering, and utterly bemused and confused by this world, and he has no idea what to make of the world of loud metal carriages and speaking metal amulets and technology that seems like magic. Frankly, he is startled that his powers work here at all.

But bumping into someone feels wrong, and so shge gets an apology, and a drawling smile, a warm one, with power behind it. Fjord may not be certain, but he has charisma in spades, and he tends to use it when he is less certain even more than when he is more so.

"My apologies, ma'am. I'm a little lost in this world. I'm afraid I was thinking of home, and not this..." He waves a hand at the crowded smelly mess around them, "world."

His accent sounds like somewhere between a Texas drawl and something utterly alien, and the green skin, the peek of tusks from his mouth, and alien outfit like something out of Ren Faire mark him as nonhuman and a stranger to this place.

Alex Kamal | The Expanse

[donkeyballs]

Heropa

Earth is terrible.

No, that ain't too fair to say. There's a lot about Earth that's gosh darned amazin', but it's hard to feel that way when you're standing under her giant oppressive blue sky and tryin' not to hurl.

He's only been on Earth a couple days, and he just ain't used to it, yet. He feels three times too heavy, for starters, but thankfully the government here saw fit to give him some bone density boosters and energy supplements so he don't just feel like he wants to collapse and die. He wishes he was inside. He wants to be inside. But he promised himself that he'd face his fears and thus face the crushing expanse of blue above him.

He tried not to look up, much.

But none of this was being helped by people shovin' food in his face every two seconds. He looked positively green when someone tried to give him an Apollo popsicle.

"No," he begged, raising a hand and stepping backward. "No, I really don't -- no thank yeh--"

He stumbled right into someone, and the vertigo suddenly hit hard, making him shut his eyes tightly. "Sorry -- damn, I'm sorry, I just- just need t' get back inside--"


Network

Alright, now I know this ain't gonna matter to most of you folks, but for those of us who ain't from around here, I gotta say: horses really ain't all they're cracked up to be.

One nearly kicked me right in the face, and that would have been a good old good night from this here cowboy, that's for sure.

Any of ya'll got any advice for gettin' along with those critters?

Or better yet, any of ya'll got any advice for getting myself something to ride that ain't gonna sneer those big old teeth at me?

A ship would be great, but from what I hear, Earth ain't even made them yet, so I ain't holdin' out any hope.

heropa

[killtime]

"Easy."

The hands that catch him are firm, steadying him readily. Through the faint haze of smoke wisping from the cigarette bobbing at the corner of her mouth, the woman he stumbled into gives him a skeptical little once over. He doesn't look too well.

"If you're going to throw up on my boots, give a girl a word of warning, would you?"

River Tam | Firefly

[problematical]

H E R O P A ;
It's a lot like Li Shen's Bazaar, River reflects, looking around at the crowd of happy people. For the moment, she doesn't feel threatened, probably due to the good cheer and effusive atmosphere taking the edge off her perpetual paranoia. She accepts an ice pop from a vendor who recognizes her as one of the new imPort arrivals -- it's less problematic than the Ice Planet treat she tried to eat at the aforementioned bazaar -- and takes a bite, savouring the crispness on her tongue.

"Are they always like this?" she asks another imPort getting the same treatment.

D E   C H I M A ;
At least one person is taking Quincy's malfunction as a welcome challenge, apparently not realizing that it wasn't supposed to be working like this. "The square root is 217.448844559. Do you want them chronologically from the First Dynasty as commonly established beginning with Narmer or are you counting Predynastic pharaohs too?"

J E O P A R D Y ;
River isn't really interested in the meal for two, but catching the buggy robots is proving to be a fun game in itself. And now that she's caught one, she's letting it wander over her fingers with a child-like fascination like it's some beautiful butterfly. Way to miss the point of the challenge, River.

W I L D C A R D ;
Anything else, or hmu at sojourney!

Jessika Pava | Star Wars

[arithmethodical]

De Chima

Jess is ninety-nine percent sure this is karma. The Great Destroyer, trapped on a planet called Earth, being hounded by an angry droid? An outraged, Basic-speaking droid asking her questions about Egyptian Pharaohs? She doesn't even know what Egyptian means.

Worse, the thing is drawing attention to her. People are pointing now, snapping pictures. She lifts her hand to hide her face as people start calling for her to smile and begin to crowd around her.

"I already answered you! The square root of 47284 is roughly 217.45, now go away!"

The droid is not going away. And her avenues of escape from people in general are closing fast.

She shoves past one person and ducks under another's arm, trying to ignore her own rising tension. This is not okay.


Network

Okay. I've done my reading. I've reviewed the pamphlets, I've gone to the classes, I get the whole situation.

You're telling me that a planet with teleportation capabilities doesn't have interstellar flight?

[flightforfreedom]

He wasn't paying any attention at all, just coming out of a grocery store with all intention of rolling out his carpet and flying off, when he spots a droid chattering down the street. He would have just smirked and gone about his day, but--

He knows that voice.

He knows that voice.

"Jess?" His own comes out way too high pictched, and then he's just dropping his groceries (rip eggs) and his carpet on the sidewalk and taking off in her direction, his eyes wide.

"Jess? Is it actually--" But he's already answered his question now that he's close enough to see her, so he cuts off, sucking in a hard breath and crossing the last few feet to her to immediately drag her into a tight, hard hug.

Explanations can come in a minute.

2 years without Black Squadron was two fucking years too long.

John Hancock | Hancock (2008)

[callmeasshole]

Heropa, Florida

[ There were a lot of things Hancock learned about the whole superhero gig while he lived in Los Angeles. Chief among them being that doing good was an uphill battle, and it didn't take much for people to hate you if you weren't absolutely perfect. It didn't matter if you saved someone, or stopped crime-- it only mattered if you did it perfectly, because otherwise you're a menace, or a monster, or blah blah blah.

So imagine his surprise when he stepped out into the street, and the people started cheering for him. Not because he actually did anything heroic, but because he just... was a superhero. They had no reason to like him-- honestly, he was kind of an asshole, really. But they didn't care. They just kept cheering.

It kind of left him frozen in place. Which was when they started swarming him, asking about him. And immediately, he was starting to regret letting them close in the first place. ]

Alright, look, just-- could you-- y'all, just gimme some-- [ Alright no this wasn't gonna fly. ] ALRIGHT EVERYONE JUST BACK THE HELL UP!

De Chima, Virginia

[ Hancock had been doing his best to better himself. Ever since leaving Los Angeles, it had been his top priority. He was staying clean, working on his anger, drinking a lot less. He was even learning how to actually talk to cops, instead of just saying 'good job' over and over, and hoping they didn't notice how he had no goddamn idea what to say.

Sometimes though, it was hard to not slip back into old habits. And when a robot comes up to you, and starts demanding answers to random questions, it's amazing how short someone's fuse could get. It started simple enough, with an unenthused Hancock telling the robot to leave. But about five demanding questions in... ]

ALRIGHT, SO, LISTEN UP Y'ALL! [ He called out in the middle of the street, holding up the absolutely mangled corpse of what one could only assume was the quizbot. ] I've got either good news, or bad news for you, depending on if you own this thing!

Wildcard

( ooc: Interested in something else? Just tag me with it or hit me up at megasquip if you wanna plot it out! )

DE CHIMA

[topmeup]

[Max sees the bot and can't help the shocked little laugh that escapes.]

Damn, bruh, I know they get annoying, but...wow. Just...wow.

Danny Fenton | Danny Phantom

[ordinarily]

Heropa, Florida

A Mozzarella Cheese Phantom.

[ He honestly wasn't sure if he was amazed or indignant. It was kind of a crap-shoot between the two, if he were completely honest. A part of him was amazed that people actually liked him enough to make merchandise out of him, since he only just barely got his hometown to start liking him. But the other half of him was completely stuck on how lazy this whole thing was. ]

It's literally just. Half a mozzarella stick. [ He inspected it in his hand, more than a little judgmental. ] With the cheese all swirled out and stuff. And it's hard. Who's gonna eat hard melted cheese?

[ Honestly, he would probably eat it. It sounded tasty as hell. But he already committed to complaining, so here he was. ]

Like, I'm not crazy, right? You're seeing this too?

De Chima, Virginia

Please just stop.

[ The robot had been charming sometime around seven questions ago. If anything, Danny couldn't help but be earnestly curious about it, since he'd never really seen a robot just... out in public, like technology this advanced was just normal. Normally it was in someone's basement, or trying to kill him. This was a nice change of pace.

Or, it was. Seven questions ago. ]

I don't care. I literally don't care.

[ He dragged his hands down his face, groaning audibly. Finally coming across someone else, and just flat out grabbing their arm: ]

HELP ME.

Wildcard

( ooc: Interested in something else? Just tag me with it or hit me up at megasquip if you wanna plot it out! )

Heropa

[blundergirl]

[So this is not the sort of thing she usually helps with as a hero. She's not in the spotlight like Wonder Woman and most of her hero work is done so far under the radar that not even that slime ball of an anchorman knows to report on it. Sure, it'd be nice to get some recognition from time to time but THIS...]

Oh, I'm seeing it, alright. What the fresh heck.

[She's also looking at that cheese, but she's also looking at a Wonder Girl themed lolipop.

Only it's apparently based on her lasso, so it's literally just a lemon flavored lolipop with yellow dyed sugar crystals to.... represent the way it glitters????]

I think they missed the flattery mark in favor of the Quick Buck approach.

Vanya Hargreeves | The Umbrella Academy

[gigue]

[Nonah]

The tattoo on her wrist glows. That was the first thing she really noticed, when she came to consciousness. That, and the blood dripping from her right ear. All the information she was given between then and the bus she finds herself on now has been circling her head like a poison; she's scratched her wrist raw, and though she can see the red of her skin beneath the tattoo, the words on it are unchanged from the moment she left the facility in Heropa. UNSETTLED HERO. It still makes her want to laugh, though she's much too afraid to give in to the temptation: if she does, she's afraid she'd never stop.

Vanya isn't handling this well, but she's still a Hargreeves. The bizarre shit was always on the outskirts of her consciousness - the occasional story about a mission, the fact that her mom was a robot, or that her closest companion was a talking chimp - but it was there. She'd never been kidnapped to another - world? But her brother spent four years on the moon. Her other brother talks to dead people. They all used to save the world on a semi-regular basis.

An announcement comes over the bus' speakers; they'll be arriving at the station in Nonah soon. Vanya curls forward in her seat, lacing her fingers behind her head. She doesn't have a plan, no resources, nowhere to go and a ticking time bomb beating in her chest.

She shifts her hands, presses them both over her ears. The right one still hurts, and she hasn't been able to hear out of it since she woke up. There was an offer to fix it, that she badly wanted to accept - but all the rest had been much more frightening. She's not a hero. Her, Number 7? She's the normal--

Her gut surges and it takes a lot not to just throw up on her legs. She couldn't even blame it on the bus: V is reasonably sure it's actually hovering, because she hasn't felt a single bump in the road.

Unsteady on her feet, Vanya makes her way out of the station a few short minutes later, hands jammed into her pants pockets, but her usual approach to any day - walking through it with her head down and her shoulders hunched - immediately fails her here.

"Hey! A new imPort!" "Sweet, what's her power?" "Are you looking for a sidekick? I'm a great sidekick!"

The attention is sudden and terrifying, and the panic is almost as immediate. She should have found clothes, asked for a change before she left: it had been easy to avoid any questioning looks on the bus, and frankly, she's in a haze about how she made it to the bus to begin with. Out here, there's no avoiding that she's still wearing the suit she wore to the Icarus, though now it's all white. Vanya starts to wonder when that happened, but it sends a shocking ache through her skull, an image of the theater, men with guns and something worse, no, she doesn't want to think about that.

"Please - I'm just--" She hates how meek her voice sounds, she's afraid of that hatred, that anger, because she is angry at having so many people crowd in to pelt question after question. It turns into a buzz, a terrible cacophony of noise that she can't differentiate. Her chest hurts, squeezing like a vice around her lungs.

And one stray thought, I wish I had my pills, makes her want to scream or just lay down in the road. Around the small crowd she's gathered, street lights start to creak and bend. "Just let me through!"

Kicks down door!!!

[hellogoodhigh]

Klaus supposes it's exciting, having new people come in. It wasn't so long ago that he was new, arriving in a desert town named Jeopardy. But there's a voice in this batch that is familiar and distant all the same.

Vanya.

He can hear her thought, her wish to have her pills, echoing like a discordant violin shriek across his ears, pulling through his mind. He moves through the crowds- so careful not to shove into anyone, making space with his sheer presence alone.
"Vanya-?" He sweeps over her, an umbrella to protect her from the storm of people trying to shower her with questions.
"Hey!" He smiles at the others, one arm loosely wrapped around Vanya- she doesn't want to be touched, not by him, and he respects that-
"You know, I think I saw Poe Dameron a couple streets over, you should check him out-"

When the others start to leave, exclaiming about such a famous imPort visiting their city, he's trying to usher Vanya to a side-street.
"Where have you been?"

Edward Nigma | DC mirrorverse

[inquizitive]

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania

The first thing Edward did after settling into his new lodgings — the first thing after realising he wouldn't be able to get back home without access to the Porter that he could only gain by registering with the government — was acquire a few changes of clothes. The stingy monthly stipend wasn't enough to cover much, but it was enough to get him a set of suits in dark bottle-green and indigo-purple instead of bright peridot. Nondescript at a casual glance.

He's grateful for it when he encounters the protests, and more so when he notices a small array of individuals step back and simultaneously don black masks. His first thought is terrorists, a spike of anxiety lancing through his heart at the thought of what little it would take to incite a riot, but instead they head in unison for the bank at the corner of the road.

People are going to get hurt. A bomb, gunshots, any sign of directionless violence could turn this currently fairly-organised crowd into a panicked mob. Don't these idiots know anything?

Ed ducks and weaves through the crowd, not bothering to apologise as he cuts into every available gap and passes by like a shadow. He makes it into the bank about five meters ahead of the group's leader. A moment to scan the walls, and — there. A fire alarm box a short distance from the door. Ed pulls it.

He calculates about a 50% chance that the robbers-to-be will take advantage of the bank emptying out to head straight for the vault; another 50% that they'll spook at the impending arrival of emergency services and come back later for another attempt. Neither option is Ed's problem unless the reprobates take hostages in the future. Paper money is nothing but government bonds, a promise of equivalent value; banks haven't relied on a cash stock since the Depression-era bank runs that bottomed out confidence in the real value of a dollar, at least in his world. Intangible money can be replaced. People can't.

The idea of remanding the robbers to the police never even crosses Ed's mind. He hasn't trusted the state to uphold law and order since he was too young to know how the world worked.

Re: Edward Nigma | DC mirrorverse

[by_candlelight]

So. Okay. She'd gone into the bank to get out of the way of the crowd. It wasn't that she disliked crowds, but the idea of them recognising her as an imPort seemed like it was in the 'less than ideal' category and she didn't want to have to deal with that.

So that's how she, technically a former terrorist, ended up in a bank with nothing to do but look a little suspicious. It never really occurred to her that she could just pretend she wanted to know how to open a checking account - partly because she didn't know what a checking account was - so she just stood awkwardly in a position that seemed like it would be out of the way.

Then this guy in a suit comes in, pulls the fire alarm without any warning, and people start pouring out of the building.

There was no fire - she was pretty sure of it - so she just gave in to her instincts and stomped up to the man, avoiding evacuating people. All less-than-five-feet of her.

She looked at him, the picture of annoyance, and then, with a pretty good (but not excessive) amount of volume shouted at him. "What the hell?"