etcelsior | SLAY BELLS RING

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 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.

Although even Florida can get chilly during the winter, they won't let that spoil the fun. It's not beach weather, but it's time for a palm tree decorating contest to bring everyone into the holiday spirit! Note that isn't technically Christmas decorating. Pick a theme, any theme, from holidays to puppies to capitalism and have at. The natives will judge and vote for their favorite- so really, there's nothing wrong with a little pandering. The winner will get both the honor of having defeated their rivals, and a free lifetime supply of Italian frozen ice and hot dogs from the sponsoring local stand.

Those who just aren't interested in competing might be called in to judge another competition down the beach: a youth sand-sculpting contest! Only one team can walk away with the grand prize of a laser tag package, but can you bring yourself to be harsh on those wide, hopeful eyes?

Speaking of that Italian ice, there are some free samples being offered to tempt you into competing for the prize. And, shocking to no experienced imPort, someone has meddled with it just a bit. Each of the three flavors will have a different effect and, fates help us, they can be stacked, though the effects only last about an hour. Strawberry with fill you with team spirit, encouraging you to decorate a tree in a group or spontaneously form a new rock group. Even those that usually Only Work Alone will want to form a team. Lemon will spike your competitive nature. You're not just going to win, you are going to wave the severed heads of your competitors before their weeping mothers-, er, that is, win by a lot. Finally, lime flavor with up your silliness factor. Everything's fun and happy at the Holiday season, right? Why not pull a prank or two while you're here, or just enjoy a nice knock-knock joke with friends. Hopefully you didn't get that lemon-lime mix and now must pull the most epic prank ever or show that you are the single happiest person on this or any other world. That could get complicated.

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! Synthetic wonder! Whatever you might be, 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 or recently published PLoS papers. 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.

With Christmas coming, the producers behind a guerilla new reality show are hard at work getting new footage—starring you! Areas of the city with the most foot traffic have been absolutely blanketed in mistletoe. If you happen to pass beneath a sprig, you might find a small camera crew jumping out of nowhere, urging you to give the person next to you a smooch—and thanks to the strange radio waves coming out of the unit on the executive producer's wrist, you'll feel a little compelled to do so!

...except the compulsion isn't that strong, so those who don't kiss on the first meet can easily break out of it. Your next choice: give the camera crew a piece of your mind, or ask the would-be kissee out for coffee? They are pretty cute...

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has carried a reputation for ups and downs ever since imPorts began reappearing again, just those few years prior. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while a handful of others had 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. Everything from the classic bank heist to brutal bloodbaths can happen around the corner. You have to keep your eyes open and your mind sharp when you live in Maurtia Falls, and hostility against imPorts can spike. The emergence of locals with superpowers is hardly helping...

The downtown mall is tilting the balance solidly toward welcoming to imPorts with a Winter Welcome Festival. All the storefronts and many temporary kiosks occupied by local vendors are holding special sales, and newly arrived imPorts are given a coupon book to make the most of them. The food court has some free goodies for participants to mix and mingle.

Unfortunately, a local rogue with the alias of Klone Kringle is here to spoil the fun. After a small boom echoes throughout the mall, everything dissolves into chaos as dozens of copies of a man dressed in a polyester Santa Claus costume begin looting the retailers! The guns they wield that shoot snow and ice might not be lethal, but they can certainly slow you down (and give you a cold). Will you be the hero and help take down Kringle(s), or will you seize the opportunity to do some theft of your own?

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.

Although Nonah sees milder winters than some imPort cities, it's strangely snowy today, with icicles hanging everywhere. They definitely weren't there this morning, and no storm has passed through, so what gives? A downtown disturbance makes it clear: a would-be supervillain calling himself THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN has attacked. Is he some kind of mutant, a scientifically modified human, or is there just a lot of arctic-tech stuffed into his snowsuit? Whatever its source, he's spraying ice and snow far and wide from his hands, turning the area into a winter wonderland and absolutely ruining sales for local businesses that depend on foot traffic! Also, some citizens have been frozen in blocks of ice. That's bad.

Come, heroes, and defeat this icy menace! That, or build a really cool snowman. It's your call.

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.

Saturnalia is just around the corner and Jeopardy is in full festive swing! The seven-day marathon of festivities includes a parade, with a ((cw: arachnophobia)) very special float from the Web Mistress's church; a day long city-wide paintball game; an attempt to break the world record for largest bingo game with everyone playing in dead silence; and a feast!

Usually the feast focuses on the symbolic ritual sacrifice of a giant chocolate Santa Claus, but this year is a little different. In an effort to display their gratitude for imPorts keeping their city from being ground zero of the apocalypse, they are making an entirely different set of effigies: you! Instead of one Big Chocolate Santa there are over a hundred 1/6th scale chocolate humans, each lovingly recreated in the visage of their favourite imports. Whether or not that loving visage is accurate may be up for debate, but... Hey, want to eat a chocolate rendition of your own head? Now you can!

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She laughed, "This one has spoken to a fair few Daedric Lords so do not worry about disbelief from her! Sheogorath had her hunting down books! Have you ever been to the Shivering Isles? This one does not recommend it as a vacation spot. The Chateau he has for guests houses too many rats."

Irabi waved her hand then, "And a demonstration if the Dunmer would like is up to him. She is sure she would be impressed, but is not sure how safe it is, no?"

Edited 2020-01-19 06:29 (UTC)

"Sheogorath had me fix the late Emperor Pelagius' mind. Wrap your head around that one. Then again, it's Sheogorath, so I guess it doesn't really have to be logical. Don't even get me started on the quest Peryite sent me on, that one was just nasty."

Finn took a moment to ponder. He had a few Shouts that were safe to use in a crowd, even if they weren't very flashy. Perhaps he could just give her a small demonstration.

"Feim!" Suddenly Finn was ghostly pale, and transparent. The crowd went 'ooh' and 'aah', making sure to record it.

She pulled back in surprise at the volume of the... well, not spell... but magic was certainly involved.

Once he was pale and transparent like many a spirit left to linger in the world that she had both helped and banished, she shuffled close enough to gingerly poke him with a cautious finger - very lightly so she did not cut him if he was not as inmaterial as he appeared to be.

"Has Finndarimus made himself as a ghost? Will Khajiit's hand pass through him?"

"Not quite, because a ghost is dead, and I'm still very much alive. I'm just ghost-like when I use this Shout," His voice had an echo to it. "I'm intangible like this too, but keep in mind you don't do it for too long, lest your hand get stuck in me."

She let her hand slide a little deeper past the edge of his form and then wiggled her fingers. She only did it for a few seconds before pulling her hand back and curling it under her breast with the other, once more ensuring her claws were no danger to anyone.

"That is very useful magic. This one has only done similar with the use of a very special potion that was difficult to make. And she did not make it."

"I encountered a man who had managed to brew a potion that did this too. This isn't all I can do. With the Thu'um, I can breathe fire, ice, create storms and cyclones, and all kinds of things."

He didn't really feel anything as she put her hand through him. The idea of it was more strange than anything else. "This shout is useful when I need to survive traps or falls from tall heights."

"Khajiit knows many a spell that can do the same. But quieter," she purred with a laugh. "But it is certainly far faster than most spells. And more useful for falling from great heights. There are still very few spells that deal with that problem. A shame for those who like to climb mountains, yes?"

Another purring chuckle, a bit lower, before she glanced back at their audience and then once more at Finn before down at her own hands where a small blue flame appeared. Hidden from the crowd. It danced for a moment before going out.

"This one is not sure where she learned, but she expects she had formal training from someone. Her form is too precise to be a hedge mage, no?"

"I'll say," The effects of the Shout faded and Finn was solid once more, watching the flame in her hands. "You don't remember where you learned?"

Was there magic that made a person forget something? Did it have something to do with her hatred of Mannimarco? Did she just suffer some sort of head injury that affected her memory, because Finn had read medical journals about that happening.

She shook her head and leaned in to murmur, "No. But this one is uncertain she should speak of it in the presence of so many. She is uncertain those of this world would understand."

Finn glanced over at the crowd. "Probably not. They eat up anything we do, and love it when we do magic and stuff, but it's more of a fan thing, really." The fanfiction people wrote about him could get downright wild, especially the more spicy stuff people wrote about him and his boyfriend.

Turning to the crowd, Finn raised his voice, "Okay, folks, nothing to see here. We'll just be on our way."

The moans of disappointment from the crowd said they felt there was still something to see. The human-sized bipedal cat, if not Finn himself.

She turned to face them and gave a polite, demure, half-bow, her body bending only slightly at the waist with her head deeply inclined, "Please forgive this one, new friends, but Khajiit needs to seek out some relief from the noise and smells. Her ears and nose pick up much more than most humans."

She was, in actuality, far too used to the excessive smells and noise that crowds brought. Not much could top the gore and din of a battlefield. But the Import fans didn't know that and so it was as good an excuse as any to pair herself up with Finn and extract herself more properly from the group.

Once they were on their way and had been walking for enough time to put distance between the onlookers who were truly interested and get into the 'everyday' hustlers and bustlers who didn't blink twice at an Import, she turned her head toward Finn and murmured in Tamrielic, putting effort into ensuring it was those words that came out, and not the forced language of the world she found herself in, "This one's memories were lost to her some time ago. She remembers only what has happened since... 'waking up' several months ago. In Coldharbor."

Finn's eyes widened and he stopped in place for a second, as if he couldn't believe what he just heard. "Coldharbor? Molag Bal's realm?" He wouldn't wish his worst enemy end up in that realm, enthralled to Molag himself.

"I... I don't know what to say. I mean, obviously you got out, which is good."

"Mmm... this is true," she agreed, nodding sagely, though still looking somewhat unsure of herself. "Although, Finndarimus must understand, there are only a few ways to get to Coldharbor. A portal created especially for the purpose, an accidental... detour, shall we say, when trying to get to another realm of Oblivion... and if one's soul is given to the Daedric Lord for his schemes and purposes. That last one kills the person, of course. And all that's left is the soul shriven husk that forms as a pale copy of who they had been in life."

She paused, then met his eyes, speaking plainly, "Khajiit's soul was sacrificed to Molag Bal by Mannimarco. When her soul was taken, so too, was her life and her memories of that life."

"Molag Bal isn't one to let his sacrifices go so easily, I imagine. Still, to have your very soul sacrificed, to escape that realm but have to leave your soul behind. That's rough."

There was a certain amount of irony between the two of them. Him, the man with the soul of a dragon, and her, the lady with no soul. Obviously she wasn't a lich, like the dragon priests. Finn had never heard of such things when it came to sacrificing others, but necromancy wasn't one of the schools of magic that Finn studied or practiced.

SLAY BELLS RING

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