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etcelsior2019-10-25 05:03 pm
maskormods) wrote in etcelsior2019-10-25 05:03 pm
Entry tags:
HERE I COME
NOTE: This is the final test drive of 2019 as apps will be closed in December.
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. Some of the locals might thank you for always lending your service to the nation, while others might not say anything -- but if you have something nasty to say, better not say anything at all, right?
The recent dimensional anomalies have disrupted people's daily business more than a little, but the latest danger is a herd of zombies shambling towards the annual Mister and Miss Corncob beauty pageant. Right in the middle of the swimsuit competition, too! Of course, who gets the crown is partially based on audience appreciation — are you going to take out some of the undead or cheer your favorite participant on to victory? Either way, you're (probably) a hero!
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! 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. Their questions are likely to be fairly mundane, however; get ready for an interview about your taste in romantic partners, personal underwear choices, favorite foods, and more!
It's nearly Halloween, and the annual city parade and costume contest are underway! You've got one, right? The locals just love it! If you don't, well, that's okay — just for imPorts, there's a special costume rummage bin at the start of the parade route. Try cobbling something together from costume shop donations and items left behind by ported-out heroes! Then strut your stuff and prepare to be cheered for!
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.
Despite the lack of gratitude that's in it for you, you may want to step in once you see a very, very sad supervillain wandering Maurtia Falls' streets. Dressed in a cape that appears to be a large swath of fabric purchased from a nearby sewing store, galaxy-themed leggings and no shirt is a man who runs right into your vicinity before striking a pose and yelling, "Everyone, stop before me and my wrath! I am Mister Mars, and provided you give me what I ask for, nobody needs to get hurt!"
At which point Mister Mars snatches an old woman's purse, loudly laughs in her face, and begins to float upwards. By the time he reaches the height of the tallest building in the area, he's beginning to look slightly panicked as he fails to really be able to move anywhere but up. Meanwhile, the old woman has begun shaking her cane at him and screaming quite an assortment of alarming expletives.
Maybe you should help one or the other out? If not, just lean back and enjoy the show.
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. To be American is to be part of a melting pot, and that there’s more money to be made by the thriving local industries hardly hurts.Natives may gather around new arrivals and ask both personal and broad questions about life as an imPort, what they are looking forward to, what their favorite article of underwear is. A few night clubs offer free entrance - just this once!
In the middle of the city's biggest park is an autumn tradition — a corn maze! Of course, it's not real corn, since there hasn't been time to grow it. But craft supplies store Mikey's is sponsoring a maze built with genuine imitation corn, and hundreds of locals have already enjoyed getting lost inside! Curiously, few of them have come out the exit, and those who venture inside will discover the maze is twistier and deeper than they ever could have anticipated. Somehow, it's bigger on the inside, thanks (no doubt) to some dastardly villain's powers. Will you try to navigate a way to the exit, forge your way through the stalks, or have a nap?
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.
Things are quiet in Jeopardy. Weirdly quiet. In fact, way, way too quiet. But if you ask any of the citizens of the city why they won't talk to you, they just raise a finger and make a shhhhing sound and then point down the street towards the church. If you try to shake them, they grit their teeth. WHY WILL NO ONE SPEAK TO YOU?
(The one who is silent the longest wins a new fridge.)
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"What?"
Bunnies, he said. "Oh, uh...does it?" He notices the beer and lifts an eyebrow, feeling the warm yellowish tickle of a gentle buzz settling in his blood. Caleb gives a lopsided smile. It feels better when it's just one person having a little drink than when he goes to a party and several people are drinking. Sam's birthday party had been rough. Thankfully, he doesn't get a hangover from someone else's drinking, so that's nice. If he weren't a lightweight, he might not even feel that at all. The other man might not notice it anymore, but it's there all the same. Good thing it's just a beer.
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All mutant or non-normal powers like that did, to Cable. But, nonetheless, "Bunnies, the motion, the study of them, engrosses the mind and the emotions, helps shield from external forces."
He pulled out a small orb, tossed it up in one hand, and then hurled it, one-handed and underarmed, toward the floating man. "Watch your eyes, friend." When it reached teh very sad villain, it popped with a crackling sound, and a bright light flared, and suddenly the man was falling, and fast. At the last second, it expanded, and the man landed on it, and bounced, thudding to the ground.
"There. Bad guy down. Not dead, and not screaming or radiating anymore." The man had passed out, really, but Cable didn't care. He was out, and the cops would handle him.
"Can I buy you a drink? This place is liable to get noisier soon." Cable's mind was racing several moves ahead. He forced himself to cope with the now, instead of what might be or what should have been. It was hard, because the whole world was full of motion, and he could feel it all.
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Caleb watches as the guy pulls out an orb and throws it up toward the floating guy and it pops with a red flash before the guy starts falling. Forgetting his upset stomach, he shoots up to his feet with panic — is that his panic or the falling man's? — but the orb expands out suddenly and the guy bounces off it before hitting the ground, the bounce clearly softening the blow by interrupting the fall.
The old lady's anger fades away a little in favor of a radiant teal puff of surprise. The fail villain's fear drops away with his lost consciousness. It feels better, actually. Less to focus on.
The other man's question catches his attention and he looks confused. "A drink? I'm seventeen..." he replies reflexively. That's his surprised way of saying no thanks, he guesses. Caleb has learned that he doesn't like the feeling of drunk and since he's never actually had an alcoholic beverage, he imagines it won't take much to get him there. "Uh, thanks anyway. What do you mean noisier?"
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"I was referring to a more prosaic kind of drink, as in welcome to the world, fellow traveler, sort of thing."
He shrugged. He was trying to people and it wasn't going well. How did one people? Nathan didn't know. He'd never been sure, really. He'd mostly warred his entire life.
Warring he knew, very well. Peopling? Not so much.
"Oh, er, and noisier? I meant that generally, more people come in and ask more questions, and get in our faces. It rarely stops. Also, more of the cops will be here with lots of questions, and there will be reporters, and..." he waved a hand. It would be a thing.
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He looks around when the other man gestures and Caleb sighs a little. More people means more feelings and more feelings means there's a possibility that this could get ten times worse. ...it could also get ten times better, though. The excitement of the reporters coming for a big story could help even out the nasty feeling coiled in the pit of his stomach.
Or, it could just add fuel to the already-burning fire.
"So you think we should go before the cops get here?" he asks, just to be certain he's understanding the suggestion. Last time, he managed to confuse himself.
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Cable nodded, standing again, and beckoned. "Your choice really. I am not a fan of crowds."
He really wasn't. He worked best alone or in small groups, in every aspect of his life, really.
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When beckoned, Caleb got to his feet, though, without argument. Apparently, some part of him went ahead and decided that the best course of action was not to gamble that the new rush of people would make things feel better rather than just making them muckier and, therefore, worse.
"Me either. It gets to be too much," he replies, nodding, "so please, lead on."
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"This way."
He fell into a steady stride, leading them toward a turn of the street, one that would take them out of the view of most of the crowd. "There's a quiet cafe where the owner makes sure no one is bothered, I scouted it earlier, before getting drawn into the situation."
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Caleb's used to having to hide a big part of himself: the fact that he's an Atypical. It isn't something that most people back home understand and while his parents have been overwhelmingly supportive and his kid sister also happens to be an Atypical, the prospect of someone taking the news really poorly and sending him off to the AM had always been too terrifying. Now, well...he guesses it wouldn't be so bad since Wadsworth isn't there anymore and Dr. Bright and Sam are changing things. He's just been so conditioned to only tell people he really trusts what he can do that he's really not actually sure what to do with the idea that he could be having a conversation with someone completely random at any given time and they could know his whole life story without him having told it.
Following the other man, Caleb realizes belatedly that he's failed to introduce himself in the midst of the conversation. "Thanks, that sounds kind of ideal right about now. It's just a lot," he replies. Without Adam to help him balance it, it's a lot. "I'm Caleb, by the way."
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But he was putting things together. Slowly.
"I understand. This sort of situation, this kind of chaos, is not what anyone is used to."
At the other man's words, he smiles. "And I am Cable. Caleb is a good name. I knew a Caleb once."
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As confused as he feels. Caleb is starting to feel his own feelings again, holy shit! Relief washes over him and he actually visibly relaxes as they walk. This guy is helping, whether he means to be or not. Caleb lets out a huff of a breath with that relief. It feels nice to be able to tell which emotions are his own again.
"Cable like TV?" he asks, making sure he heard right. "Cool name. And thanks, jury's out on whether I like my name. Sometimes I do. Sometimes it sounds lame. I can't ever make up my mind," he laughs.