etcelsior | TRICK OR TREAT

TEST DRIVE MEME
MENACE WITH YOUR MASKS

01. 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.

You'd think they'd have learned not to hold it by now - but there's once again there's a herd of zombies shambling towards the annual Mister and Miss Corncob beauty pageant. Right in the middle of the swimsuit competition, too! Have you ever wanted to fight zombies while wearing a bikini or speedo in the fall? No? Well this is your life now. Put on a good enough show and the judges might just award you some extra points!

And of course, the ImPorts in the audience are rushing up to help you. Better not get upstaged!

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. 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.

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. You’ll find someone all too eager to help you - in fact, they're so eager they've already picked something out for you.

Hopefully none of that gear actually works. It’d be crazy if your rocket boots suddenly kicked off, or that prop flamethrower shot some real flames!

03. MAURTIA FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA has carried a reputation for ups and downs ever since imPorts began appearing. 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...

Unfortunately Halloween in this city means a sharp jump in crime. Masked criminals are everywhere right now.

It feels like there’s a bank heist happening every other minute. Perhaps you’re rushing to heroically stop it and free the hostages, or maybe you’re the one wearing the mask looking to make out with a couple million more than you had before.

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.

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 in 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.

Those weird radiation effects seem to kick it up a notch in the month of October. The world is awash in bright and unnatural colors that have nothing to do with the neon and your ears seem to be faintly ringing. You may find the air bizarrely charged today, the people are acting even stranger than usual. The weird figures in the corner of your eye are more prevalent, seeming to inch closer, and closer, and closer...

But that’s probably nothing, right?

As the clock strikes midnight the weirdness crescendos. Suddenly people are gaining traits from their costumes. Those fake vampire teeth are real, and no amount of shaving is gonna get that fur off your face Mr. Werewolf!

06. The HEROIC HALL has just opened! It’s a state of the art combat dome in De Chima. Engineered by the best and brightest on the planet, its futuristic holograms are as real as they come. There are safety features in place to keep things from getting out of hand, and they usually work. Usually. But any scenario you could possibly dream of is at your disposal to use. There are a number of pre-programmed options for you to choose from, ranging from the mundane like saving a cat from a tree, to the extreme such as stopping the apocalypse. There are even convenient scripts so you don't have to come up with your own zingers, and every session is recorded so you can watch your own greatness!

Uncertain? Well, the hot ticket this month is SCENARIO 21. Have you ever wanted to save the world without dealing with those pesky stakes? Here’s your chance! Scenario 21 features the greatest hits. An all powerful villain hell-bent on ending the world, a (poorly programmed) love interest held hostage, and a (equally poorly programmed) mentor who believes in you! Of course can’t do this on your own, this script was written for two! Find your new teammate and save the world together!

Once it’s over, don’t be surprised if you’re approached by the eagle-eyed talent scouts that refuse to take not interested as an answer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

((there are spoilers for the current Hellions run))

[Maurtia Falls]
This feels oddly familiar but he's not been there before, just the situation. Mostly. Except this time there's no one expecting him to do anything. No one that knows what he actually is and can do. He is tempted this time to just keep walking. Someone else he is sure that can take care of the situation. Better than he can.

Here he isn't being punished for defending himself. He knows on one level he shouldn't have done what he did but... He lost control. He didn't know.

That's the trouble with Alex, he just can't walk on past. He has to try and help at least stop them from getting away. At least he's hoping there isn't going to be a rocket launcher being fired at him this time. He starts towards the general disorder that's happening, that most people seem to be taking as normal.

[Nonah]
A corn maze. He wonders how he ended up doing something so ridiculous. This isn't where he should be. He is also very aware that he could destroy it so easily. He wouldn't though. There seem to be people around him and kids running past that are actually enjoying this... whole experience. He'll just call it an experience and leave it at that.

He wanders the maze, not really caring about getting to the middle in a hurry. It's just a way of eating up some time in this strange place. He isn't really looking which way he's going so when he comes to a dead end, he stands just staring at the solid wall blocking his way, hand in the fake corn of the wall closest to him.

[ josh has long since decided he isn't cut out for mazes. you get lost enough times in the one on school grounds and you realize that maybe, just maybe, you could in fact be outsmarted by a hamster.

and yet he gets roped into it anyway. he's kind of been turning himself in circles trying to get out, and...

is that an x-gene? hold up. he pulls himself away from what is definitely the way he came and backtracks, blinking at the back of the mutant. eyes widening as he registers who exactly that is. ]

Havok?

[If Alex looks annoyed it's because he is as he looks over his shoulder to see exactly who is calling him that name. He of course recognises Josh. He was part of the problem that wouldn't bring Maddie back. Even if he shouldn't want her back, he of course does. Which is a problem in it's own right.]

I hate mazes, I could just blast my way out of this one you know.

[ there's the barest of pauses. the last time he'd seen havok, he'd been fresh from being healed from inversion and some wicked facial scars. josh tries not to wince at the thought of having to deal with an evil summers brother. ]

Dude, I hear you. Mazes blow.

[He isn't really... he's just having moments still. There's a disconnect. Dissociation. He just doesn't realise what he's doing at times. Which probably is worse. Because the person he is will regret it.]

Do you know the way out? I was just wandering. I don't really want to ruin it for everyone.

[There's a comment that drips with so much more behind it. Because there's no one to miss him there, he can take as long as he wants.]

[ oh boy.

josh scratches the side of his face, glancing the way he came and then back. ]

Nah, I suck at these too. But you can wander with me until we find our way out. Two heads are better than one, right?

[Alex doesn't think Josh sounds so sure about that. But he doesn't say anything. He wants to, but maybe it's better to just keep it all to himself.]

Maybe. Maybe we need Lorna.

Nah, we got this.

[ he offers a lopsided smile. ]

Besides, if we're SUPER lost I can call David and he'll come running.

That's good.

[Because he might as well make a comment on that... welcome.]

I know you weren't expecting to see me.

It's just a surprise is all.

[ he nods towards the path he thinks (???) he came from. ]

The last time I saw you I was nuking the Mothervine virus. So, like, I just had a minute where I wasn't sure if this was gonna drop straight into a fight, like, if you were from before that.

[Alex glances at him, sidelong a moment. At least that explains it.]

I don't remember things. I attacked a human, I'm paying for it. I don't remember doing that either, but I did.

[He shrugs.]

I'm not sure I want to fight any more.

[ watch all that relief instantly turn to 'oh fuck', shifting into something more sympathetic almost instantly. ]

Yeah... I know the feeling. [ he slides his hands into his hoodie pockets. ] You don't gotta fight here. You can just be, like, a guy, if you wanna.

[He gives a little laugh of disbelief, sorry Josh, it's not you. He's tried it and failed before.]

I'd like to believe that.

[Really, he would. He just isn't sure.]

How long have you been here?

Almost two years. David just passed the year mark, Laurie Collins is going on five or six.

So it could work here...

Totally. Dude, it's so relaxed here. We only have an apocalypse like, once a year, instead of like, once every week?

It felt more like every damn day sometimes.

But once a year at least sounds like something to do.

[He can at least laugh at that.]

TRICK OR TREAT

Alex Summers | X-Men

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