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 stopped around the corner from the street market and was leaning against the building.

Zack would eventually be able to extract himself from the crowd of children to rejoin him and in the meantime he was going to remove the ribbons and undo the braid. ]

[ It was awhile before Zack joined back up with him, trudging reluctantly around the corner, each individual spike of his hair tied up with bows and curly ribbons. He paused once he saw Sephiroth, the look on his face saying everything that needed to be said. ]

[ Sephiroth dropped the last ribbon from his hair and tossed it all behind his shoulder as he eyed Zack's hair. A small smile turned up the corners of his mouth and a faint chuckle escaped him. ]

That wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I supposed it worked out well enough.

It's going to take me forever to get all this out of my hair...

[ He didn't mean to whine, but... this totally wasn't what he had in mind when he offered to trade places with him. ]

[ Should have distracted them in some other way Zack. You have no one but yourself to blame. ]

Then perhaps you should get started. But not here, I don't want to risk them coming to find us.

[ He straightened from the wall and began walking, knowing Zack would follow. ]

How long have you been here?

[ Zack... well, he never was much of a listener, and he's already stubbornly starting to pull ribbons out of his hair. ]

An hour or two, I think? It's been a bit of a blur, with all the attention the locals give us.

You arrived not long after me then.

[ A beat, then: ]

I thought I'd caused more damage to their facilities.

Wha-- you attacked--?

[ He cut himself off before he could properly finish that sentence, staring at Sephiroth like he was expecting him to grow wings, before he let out a defeated sigh, deflating against the nearby building. ]

Of course you attacked the people there...

I woke up in a strange laboratory with strange people injecting an unknown substance in my arm. Of course I attacked.

[ They walk a bit farther before he clarifies. ]

I used the flat of my blade against the scientists. [ You should be proud, he restrained himself. ]

...yeah, that's fair.

[ Zack pushed himself off the building, starting to tug ribbons out of his spiky hair again as they continued on. ]

To be honest, I think the only reason I didn't is because I was too freaked out. That was nothing like when I joined SOLDIER.

Hmm. [ Anything else he said would reveal too much of his childhood, which he didn't want, so it was just easier to move on. ]

Have you encountered anyone else from home?

Yup! I ran into one of the Turks: Rude. He said Reno and the boss's son was here.

[ He paused, frowning a bit. ]

It's weird, though. He said that, uhhh... Ruffu? That he was the president now.

Rufus. [ The correction was given automatically as he led Zack through the streets back towards the Porter. ] I encountered him earlier, and if he keeps the promises made, I do believe I'll prefer him to his father.

[ It's not until they're about to go through the Porter that Sephiroth realizes he doesn't know where Zack assigned house is. ]

What city were you assigned to?

That sounds promising.

[ As a 1st, being familiar with the president was pretty much a given, but he hadn't had much of an opinion of the man. Besides, he rather keep his head in leading the others and protecting civilians than pay much attention to what corporate was doing. ]

[Zack didn't pay much attention to where they were going either; following Sephiroth around was something normal in the middle of all this, so it was almost comforting. His sudden question drew a confused noise out of him, and he paused a moment to check his communicator. ]

Uhhh... looks like De Chima number 5?

Really? [ His tone was amused as he slightly drew the word out. ] That's where I am assigned as well. Perhaps this place won't be all bad.

Come along, we should find this house we're assigned and speak privately. [ With that he led Zack towards the Porter ]

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN

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