etcelsior | WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

Entry tags:

test drive

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

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.

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! 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. 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.

Today in De Chima, there's the unveiling of a brand new invention in the convention centre park! With a simple scan, it will print out your Closest Love Match of the other individuals present, along with your percentage of compatibility and a free coupon to get lunch with your new date if you match 90% or higher!

A little odd that it seems that nearly every couple has 90% or higher, isn't it? What's the probability that the scanner is broken?

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...

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.

Today there's a big lemonade stand on one busy sidewalk, staffed by a group of industrious kids. Aww, isn't it sweet? Wait...is that a cookie stand a little ways down, also run by elementary-to-middle schoolers? Heck, the entire block is full of kid-run mini-businesses — a gathering of pint-sized entrepreneurs! And they have their eyes on you, hero, because as a celebrity imPort, your pockets are full of $$$, right?

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cloud Recesses? [ That was so long ago.

But she asked him a question. ]

Yourself and Cl-- [ He stops. Can he even call Jiang Cheng clan leader? If she is from so long ago, she wouldn't know about the Wen clan's slaughter of Lotus Pier. About her parents' deaths. About Jiang Cheng ascending to his role as clan leader. She wouldn't know anything about the Sunshot campaign, or all that followed, with regards to Wei Wuxian.

She wouldn't remember making him soup every day...

He clears his throat. Tries again. ]

Wei Wuxian is-- was-- living outside of Yiling. You went there to visit him one more time, before our... [ A pause. ] ...Before we were to be married.

[ He's probably coming off as far too familiar, if she remembers none of this. How foolish he must seem. ]

Much has happened, between what you last remember, and what I last remember.

Edited 2020-04-27 05:07 (UTC)

[He probably has no idea how warm that makes her feel, hearing that. Or maybe he does, if he's that close to them marrying. Especially after everything that had happened right before they left to return home.

She gives a look around for somewhere for them to sit, spotting a bench nearby and gesturing towards it in invitation.]

Would you like to sit while we talk?

[She'll pause for a moment and take a deep breath.]

I have learned a bit of what's to come and... I met a member of the Jin sect here. You would have been proud of him, I think.

[ He nods, following her to the bench and sitting down (but not before wiping any lingering dust away with the hem of his sleeve). ]

A member of the Jin sect? Who?

[ He hesitates to think what sort of trounle his cousin Zixun could get up to here, unsupervised. Even knowing that his and Yanli's times are so mismatched, it does not occur to him that the Jin clan member she is speaking of might be someone he doesn't know (yet). ]

[She does the same before settling, trying not to sit too close but she can't help it. Just a bit.

And then she just wishes that she had saved a few photos of Jin Ling while he'd been there. It's something she could ask her brothers or his friends for if she gets the urge or if Zixuan ends up more curious.]

His name is Jin Ling. He's... [Deep breath as she looks at her lap and wrings her hands together.]

He's our son.

[ There is an initial moment where Zixuan doesn't react, thinking too closely about the distance between them on the bench and how he wishes there were fewer people around so they could sit closer, but then the full weight of her words hits him like a full on attack. ]

Our... Our son!

[ He beams. Then stops smiling. Then decides to screw propriety and beams again. ]

You were with child, when you left for Yiling. You mean to say he is grown? And he is here? Where is he, I want to meet him.

Edited 2020-04-27 06:02 (UTC)

I was? [She lifts her head, blinking owlishly before smiling. He knows at least about their child, however early it was, and she can't help but be a little excited for the day she'll be able to properly share in that joy.]

I'm sorry- he's already been sent home. I may be able to find someone with pictures saved of him for you. [She'd just been happy to spend time with him, it hadn't occurred to her to use the phone to take any photos or videos with him.]

You're welcome to come and stay with us in Jeopardy, if you like. If he returns, he'll find us both then.

I would very much like to see that.

[ He doesn't even know about photographs. He's imagining someone drew a portrait of Jin Ling and Yanli has kept it somewhere.

But then she's inviting him to come stay with her, and suddenly all this is feeling far too intimate. His cheeks flush, and he stammers a bit in his reply. ]

I-I would not want to impose. After all, from your perspective, we're not even betrothed.

I'll contact some of his friends. [What friends she knows anyway. Which is mostly just the other cultivators from their world. Meng Yao, she thinks, may have some. Considering Jin Ling had still cared for the man despite everything.

But then the flush of his own cheeks make hers heat up again and she shakes her head, still smiling.]

I don't mean to suggest anything untoward. Several cultivators, myself included, have moved into a house together in Jeopardy. Zewu-Jun and Hanguang-Jun are there as well.

[ Zixuan smiles at that. It's nice to hear that A-Ling had friends. ]

Oh. Well... If it's a gathering of cultivators, there is nothing wrong with that.

[ It will be like Cloud Recesses all over again, only hopefully with less meddling Wei Wuxian. ]

[Somehow, his smile always manages to make her heartbeat stutter a little. And she'll be able to see him smile like that every day in their future.]

I'd be glad to show you before you make any decisions. And if nothing else, you'd know where most of us are if you need anything.

[Well, he'll still be there but she'll do her best to keep him... at least a little more in line. Cheng too.]

[ He nods, pulling his gaze away from Yanli to look out over the crowd gathered around the police blockade. ]

Yes, I have the feeling that this world will take some time to get used to. It is... Very different from home.

[She turns her head to look as well, frowning just a little and then looking to Zixuan.]

I'm much healthier here, with a stronger golden core. If you wanted, we can try to help. [She's not sure how much help she could be but no one can say she won't try.] I've mostly kept away from trouble so far.

[ That definitely peels his attention away from worrying over the crowd. Now he can worry over Yanli instead. ]

Your golden core is stronger? But how?

[ He stammers slightly, starts over. ] I mean, I am glad to hear that you're in better health. That is certainly good news.

Something from when I was ported in. This place can grant powers and it seems it preferred to improve on what I had. [What little she had, as it was.]

I'll at least be able to keep up with everyone now. And no one will have to fret over me so much now. I've a lot to learn now though.

Mm... That explains what I read in that letter, when I arrived.

[ He means his file. He just doesn't have the right terminology. ]

It mentioned some odd abilities that I haven't had the chance to put to the test just yet.

It does? What did yours say about you? You kept your ability to cultivate, I hope.

[It wouldn't change anything she thought or felt about him but it would be terrible if he lost it and decided to stay with everyone else who still could.]

I can also heal myself, and others, now. Along with my golden core.

Something about... Manipulating my density. I'm not sure what that means, or how to access the ability.

[ Over all, it didn't sound half as useful as the ability to heal others and oneself. ]

I'm afraid I don't quite understand it myself. I'm sure we'll figure it out though. I'll help however I can.

[It would be better than figuring it out on the fly and possibly getting hurt. And she'd hate to see anything happen to him.] Does it say anything else about it? We can get started awhile.

[ He nods, reaching for his qiankun pouch and withdrawing the file. He opens it, reading. ]

It says, the ability is a spectrum, with intangibility on one end, and extreme durability on the other. On the one hand, I should be able to pass through solid objects. On the other, no force can move me.

Oh! [It's odd but interesting at the same time. And probably meant he'd have to practice quite a bit to get used to it.]

It sounds much more useful than one of mine. I can learn and remember the recipe for any foods I see. I'll help you with yours, if you need.

Respectfully, I disagree. Being able to cook a wide variety of recipes sounds much more practical and useful than being able to pass through solid objects at will.

[ But then, he'd probably think Yanli's power was better no matter what it was. ]

It will at least keep things from getting boring for everyone. If I can keep my brothers from asking to sample anything new.

[It's not actually so bad as that but she can never help a gentle ribbing towards her brothers.]

Hm, you could probably surprise the people inside though. Although with hostages...

[ He makes a small noise of surprise. ]

Clan Leader Jiang and Young Master Wei are both here, then?

[ He supposes he shouldn't be surprised. Where Yanli goes, they will follow.

He glances from her, back to the market. ]

You're suggesting I use my new power to intervene in this crisis?

Mm, they were here for awhile before me. I don't think I was here an hour before they came to collect me.

[She looks to the police and the store, and she doesn't look too sure at the moment. The last thing she wants is for him to end up getting hurt or worse.]

It would be your choice, of course. And I would follow.

[ He'll address the matter of her brother later, because that is so like them, to come collect her so quickly. But first, he looks her square in the eyes, his face serious and full of concern. ]

No. I cannot guarantee your safety. You must not come with me.

[ ...If he goes in. Which, if Yanli wants him to, he doesn't really have a choice, does he? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I honestly forgot about the whole hostage situation....

same actually until this morning

no subject