etcelsior | 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

[ Sephiroth had approached Reno while they'd spoke and as he got closer he realized the redhead was covered in bruises. That was... unusual. He'd seen the redhead fight and knew he was a difficult target to hit. ]

Wise words indeed.

[ A glance confirmed his Cure materia was in his bracer and he looked at Reno. ]

I can cast Curaga on you if you'd like. [ The offer was a bit out of character for him, maybe Zack's kindness was rubbing off? ]

[ it's years of practice and conditioning that don't have Reno tensing like an animal the closer Sephiroth gets. he keeps it loose, just drags on his cigarette and—quite politely, for him—turns his head to blow the smoke elsewhere. truthfully, though, it's all he can do not to run for his fucking life. his eyes stay on Sephiroth's face. materia? oh shit, oh fuck— he can withstand a thundaga, but anything else? can't dodge that too good.

...oh. ]

Oh, uh...

[ he just goes for looking sheepish, like he'd hoped his injuries weren't that obvious. ]

Yeah, would you mind? Last night was rough.

[ The Turk hadn't taken his eyes off of him since Sephiroth had made his presence known, and it was a bit strange. He seemed almost... skittish. Perhaps his injuries were worse than he was letting on? ~~Genesis had tried to hide his injury's seriousness as well....~~

Sephiroth focused his energy on the materia in his bracer and released the spell. Wounds knit together in front of his eyes, bruises faded, and as far as Sephiroth could tell the other man should have been fully healed. However it was possible that the Turk was hiding something. ]

Is that better?

[ oh, much better. that about brings him up to par, save for maybe his head injury, but the concussion'll clear up on its own eventually. honestly, it's such a relief that Reno can't keep it off his face, which really says a lot about what kind of pain he must've actually been in. it's not like a Turk to show it. ]

Fuck—yeah, that's way better. Thanks.

[ it certainly alleviates a lot of the tension in his body. not just because of the injuries, though; because why on earth would someone that's a threat heal him to full? other than, maybe, to have him at his best so he can pose a better, proper challenge in a fight. it's fine, he's never truly got his guard down. if Sephiroth strikes, he'll be ready. he's got a good chance at dodging it now. and he's going to have to explain something about that, he's sure, but how statistically impossible is it that he'd know about something that happened after he died? how soon was it that he came back? man, he needs to establish a timeline here. ]

Don't suppose you heard the big crash last night, by any chance?

[ Finally Reno was acting more like the Turk Sephiroth remembered and he felt tension he hadn't realized he was carrying drain away. ]

I did not, I only arrived this morning. [ Unless.... ] What time was this crash?

It—no, not here. In Sector Seven. Last night, 'bout two in the morning.

[ if Sephiroth doesn't know what crash he's talking about, then that says all he really needs to know, right? that he couldn't have been around for the destruction of the sector. which means he really was still, you know, gone, right? dead and gone for five years. then that just means he needs to figure out what he does know. ]

[ Cat green eyes stay focused on Reno's face as Sephiroth stares at him ]

I was in Junon yesterday and only arrived back in Midgar shortly before nightfall at which point I informed Zack about our mission the next morning to Nibelheim.

Edited 2020-05-04 04:21 (UTC)

[ ah. so that's it, then: just before nibelheim. then the time fuckery continues—he almost wants to say that out loud. in fact, his mouth moves to form the first syllable before he thinks better of it and decides not. it's as rufus told him, but so completely and utterly incomprehensible to see happening in the flesh, right in front of him. sure, rufus looked older and had quite a tale to tell, but this—yeah, this seals it.

reno nods, like what sephiroth says makes perfect sense. ]

All the way to Nibelheim, huh? Yeah, I remember that.

[ ha ha ha hoooooooooo boy does he ever! nothing will quite diminish the mental image in his head of landing in a burned-out husk of a town, the embers still hot under his shoes, walking across the ashes of broken down buildings and human bones. ]

Listen, this is going to sound weird as fuck, but stay with me: that trip to Nibelheim was, like, five years in my past. I just figured you ought to hear it from me first, 'cause chances are shit's only gonna get weirder from here.

[ Sephiroth simply blinked at Reno. That confirmed what Rufus had told him and, while he wouldn't put it past all of them to have decided to hide something from him, he didn't see why they would have. ]

Rufus told me, and that Midgar and Shinra were destroyed by the planet. He didn't go into many details about what happened between my time and yours however, since he wasn't in Midgar.

Oh, good. You— oh.

[ wait, what the fuck? he talked to rufus? he talked to rufus?!?! was rude there?? shit, shit, shit! knew he shouldn't have left him be!! alright, okay, don't lose your head here. if he were going around murdering shinra suits one by one, he wouldn't have healed him. and just look at his face—he's really that clueless.

just... shaking his head. he can only guess what rufus would have told him, but he's got a good sense. ]

Alright, well, if you already talked to the Prez, then the weirdest shit is out of the way already. What happened in Midgar, basically, is a pest problem. Name of Avalanche. Sure you're familiar.

[ his lip curls in spite of his best efforts for it not to. fuck avalanche. fuck cloud strife!!! ]

I am.

[ Sephiroth didn't bother hiding the disgust he felt in regards to Avalanche. Not only were they a constant thorn in Shinra's side that he had to deal with, but they'd corrupted his SOLDIERs - turned them against each other and Zack had been the one to suffer for it. ]

They continued being a problem?

[ good. perfect. Reno nods, both in answer and in a sort of satisfaction at the immediate, visible response. that's what he likes to hear. ]

Blew up two Mako reactors—one and five. It was catastrophic. And in the middle of the day, one of 'em. At least the first one was late at night. Civvies they caught in the crossfire of that stunt went in their sleep; not so much the second time.

[ what he's not about to talk about, or couch in Shinra propaganda, is the sector seven plate, though. he just—can't. not right fucking now. he's not bringing it up at all, now that he knows he doesn't need to. ]

That'd only just happened recently for me. Can only fucking imagine how much worse it got in the next two years, right?

[ He absorbed the information and took a moment to think before he responded. A mako reactor exploding would have caused incalculable damage to the surrounding sectors and potentially have compromised the foundation of the plate. The number of lives lost would have been staggering.

The Turks didn't always have the most active of conscious's but they did care about people when not ordered to disregard them, and they all hated to lose. He could see why this would potentially weigh on the redhead. ]

Their actions have been consistently escalating for a while and fanatics rarely stop for any reason but death. I imagine fighting them wasn't dissimilar to fighting a war.

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

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