TRICK OR TREAT

[modormenace]

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.

Comments

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

At the former statement there is a raised eyebrow, and a quite thoughtful look. Then a smile spreads across his face, briefly, as he responded.

"Oh, I think that was already assured. A fellow dimensionally-displaced expatriate would have done it - but the roll continues to unfurl, hmm."

He reached out an open-palmed hand, holding it out for Sylvi to sniff.

"I thought she might be," he replied, "mythical, I thought. So, a lovely lady to show me around a mysterious place...who has a jackalope named Sylvi. Quite the picture being painted, I must say."

[cantgetanyworse]

"Oh, there are a number of animals here that one might term 'cryptids'," Jane says, happy to move on to this particular topic (it being one of her personal favourites). She watches fondly as the jackalope sniffs at John's hand and then looks at her for reassurance, before casually hopping off into one of the rooms up the hall.

Jane takes the laid back reaction as a positive sign. Animals often sense things that people don't.

"But we can talk about them more while I'm showing you around. Are you ready? Where would you like to go first?"

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

He watched the Jackalope for a moment long before standing, turning his attention back towards Jane.

"Well, well," he said, with an interested expression, "certainly a strange thing - but then again, strange was always rather my stock-in-trade, as it were."

He looks thoughtful at her latter statement, however.

"And born ready, Ms.Porter," he replied, "though I think I should rather leave that to you. A guiding hand, and all that."

[cantgetanyworse]

"I've never had a particularly normal life, either." She had told him a little - about her travels to the congo and her studies in zoology - but just having that kind of life in her time period was a strange thing, and stranger still for a woman to live so freely.

"Hmm, well, I dare say I know De Chima better than any other place, so we could start there."

Jane picks up her bag from the side of the couch and grabs her keys, then claps her hands together. "I do hope you wore some comfortable shoes."

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

She had, and it had been, truly, fascinating. The sort of tales one read about from the old days and a very different Britain. All the more remarkable, then, how she had adapted. Admirable.

“Oh I dare say I’ll manage, he replies, holding open the door, and returning the bowler to his head as they exit.

“And again, quite kind of you. I’m quite sure I didn’t expect such charming company under such circumstances.”

[cantgetanyworse]

She hadn't had much of a choice but to adapt, though there were still some things that she didn't really fit into her daily life. Her television remote was most often covered in dust, and she didn't own anything like a microwave or a coffee machine. The gas hob, however, was very well-loved.

"I dare say you shall," she replies, walking through the door and turning back to lock it once he's followed. She looks at him with an expression of clear amusement.

"I'm sure you could have found many an able tour guide," Jane tells him. "You don't need to flatter me, sir."

Sorry for the delay, work tossed me across a room all week.

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

"Assuredly," he replied, "but none of them would be you, would they?"

He walked beside her, umbrella clicking on the tile beneath.

"And I wouldn't dare, you know. Terrible at flattery, never quite got the knack. That middle ground between secrets and sincerity. So I go with the latter."

[cantgetanyworse]

Charmer. She'd blush if she wasn't trying very hard to maintain her self-control. Despite his claims to the contrary, she is quite sure that she is being aggressively complimented and she certainly isn't sure of how to handle it.

"Flattery is flattery, Mister Steed, no matter how one might try to dress it up," she tells him primly, though the smile around her eyes tells that she doesn't really mind it at all.

When they step out onto the street, she briefly plants her hands on her hips.

"We'll go this way, first. The library is this way, and my favourite café."

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

He smiled.

"Etymologist and cryptozoologist?" he replied. He cast his eyes around as they entered the street, old instincts looking for the potential for ambushes. Habit, really, by and large.

"Quite the sound start," he added, offering a crooked arm.

[cantgetanyworse]

"Oh, hardly," she retorts with a crooked smirk. Etymologist, indeed... She thinks she can see his game, though there may indeed be no game at all.

Jane takes his arm, noticing the way his eyes dart about in the same way she realises when other friends of hers do the same thing. She gives his forearm a light squeeze with her hand.

"Are you expecting trouble, John?" When she says his first name, it's with a somewhat more gentle tone than she'd been using his title.

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

Usually for him it's wheels within wheels, and all that. It's nice to be straightforward for a change. She is rather stunningly attractive, after all, the way clever women were, in his book. Her literal beauty was rather something of a bonus.

"Hmm-hmm," he replies, holding out a hand and waggling it gently to indicate a bit and also not much.

"Force of habit, I'm afraid. Being rather suddenly tossed into it, as it were...well. I don't expect anything, but a chap does look around."

[cantgetanyworse]

"I quite understand. It is hard to get used to things here."

She pats his arm as they walk. When she'd first arrived... well, she doesn't like to think about the number of times she almost got herself run over by not checking thoroughly enough before she crossed the street.

"But I'm sure you'll manage it."

One only needs to keep their wits about them...

"Can you drive?"

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

"Ah," he replies, "there I'm in better stead. Yes, I do as a matter of fact. Used to keep the old Bentley going, as a matter of family tradition if nothing else."

He pointed with the umbrella as one, very modern hybrid went past. "Those are a bit new, but I suspect I'd get the gist of it quickly enough. Really they just added computers, I'm given to understand. Other than that, pedals, shifter, wheels."

He smiled.

"Part of your experience?" he asked in response. "I'd be happy to teach, if not. Call it a small returned favor."

[cantgetanyworse]

She watches the hybrid drive by and nods. It's so quiet compared to the kinds of cars she's used to, and even other cars on the road here. When John asks the question she looks at him quickly, then offers the confusing combination of a shake of her head followed by a slightly less sure-looking nod.

"I was learning... some months ago. A friend I had made here was teaching me. He had a Bentley too, back home. He sounded terribly proud of it."

Jane huffs out a sigh. "But he's gone, now. Another friend and I have been learning to ride mopeds, though! That's terribly exciting."

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

He nodded approvingly.

"Ah, yes, very Roman Holiday. Under the right circumstances, they can make for the most delightful of excursions...given the right company, of course."

[cantgetanyworse]

"Is that a movie?"

Despite being terribly English, the odd word has slipped easily into Jane's vocabulary due to where she learned it. 'Movie' comes far more easily than 'film'. She looks at him curiously for a moment after her question, then purses her lips and gently taps his arm as if scolding him.

"And there you are, flattering me again."

[trubshaw_waistcoat]

"Mmhmm, a personal favorite as it happens. One of the best."

He puts on an affronted look at the latter.

"I'll have you know, before I was so incorrectly maligned, that I was speaking in a general sense. Everyone should have a proper date on a moped, at least once."