metamods: (Default)
meta moderators ([personal profile] metamods) wrote in [community profile] metamemes2022-03-04 04:33 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME #02




TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to [community profile] metaheroes! As the game is invite-only, please bear in mind that new players must have an invitation from a current player to apply. Interested players who do not know anyone in the game can reach out to the mod team HERE to request an invite for the March app round. These invitations will be processed the day before reserves open. However, no invitation is necessary to play on the this test drive.

Threads from this post can be made game canon if players agree upon it. To facilitate this, this log has no new arrival prompt. Please see the PREVIOUS CONFLUENCES for general ideas as to how characters may have arrived. New characters will be arriving with the March 27th arrival log.

For players who do not want to thread out an arrival, they may backdate their characters' arrival to a previous Confluence. These characters were not picked up by the transportation spell used by the Alliance. These characters will have been living on their own for the last few months, so please address this in the 'Brainstorming' section of the application.


01. METASTRAVAGANZA — everywhere.
Things haven't been the same since Confluences started again. The last two months have been more exciting than the last twenty years! The skies are full of new heroes, the day is saved and threatened by unfamiliar faces, the media is having a field day trying to report on every single new face while companies try to snag them for brand deals.

But not everything in this world centers around costumed combat. Today is a perfectly normal day and you're tasked with the most dangerous mission of all - leading an every day life. Maybe you go to a perfectly normal job to maintain your secret identity - or maybe you've already abandoned that, living full time as your metahuman self.

The sun is shining, and even in the early hours of the morning, parties in the DOWNTOWN STREETS of those CITIES STRUCK BY THE RECENT CONFLUENCES are disrupting the reconstruction efforts that have gotten well underway. These parties celebrate meta efforts to save the day! The streets are full of booths selling food and hastily made knock-off toys of the newest heroes who haven't yet put a copyright on their costume.

But not everyone looks so thrilled about this celebration. Many people look disgusted at this celebration of metahumans interrupting their commute to work, muttering under their breath about what a pain in the ass metahumans are and how much destruction they've wrought in these few short months.

Meanwhile, school-aged metas board the bus to LOFTY HEIGHTS META SCHOOL, hidden somewhere in the sky. There, in-between learning about grammar and punctuation, they are trained to use their new abilities ... Notably, when powers training arrives, the new arrivals outshine the metas native to this world. Very few seem to have any powers on par with the new comers.

Later in the day, the Student Council holds an assembly dedicated to the responsible use of powers. They award any students who have helped save the day with accolades — as well as detention for skipping class to help out as an unlicensed hero. Whoops!

Maybe you should just skip today.


02. SEEDY UNDERBELLY — central city.
Central City is a hard place to live. The city is in almost constant peril, with constant power vacuums in organized crime and city government being filled by worse and worse people. Despite having the Guardian Alliance stationed at its center and doing their best to uplift the people and their citizens, the city suffers from a corruption so deep that it seems to be baked into the very concrete.

The Alliance does what it can to make the city a better place but it's a bandaid over a bigger wound. Because the nigh constant metahuman-centered destruction is the source of so many of Central City's problems - meta organizations are often the last resort for its people. Still, the Alliance makes sure to keep heroes on hand to punch muggers as well as run soup kitchens. Their healers provide healing free of charge, and many of their psychics are trained therapists who use their powers to soothe the citizens' many traumas.

But the real power in the city is held by people like FRANK KAFKA, a crime lord with a finger in every pie. Both guilds leave Kafka to his own devices because he officially possesses no metahuman abilities and he avoids any dealings with them. Tonight, his goons are running their favorite extortion scheme with a twist. A group of them marches through a run-down street, shaking down vulnerable families and businesses for protection money. If an individual resists, the gang threatens to bring the spectre of newly created metahumans down upon their head. Though Kafka himself is not present, his goons will give up his location under enough pressure.


03. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM — excelsior.
With how often the city is destroyed, one wouldn't expect the MUSEUM OF EXCELSIOR to get much in the way of priceless artifacts, but the museum's basement vault is one of the most well guarded facilities in all the country. Practically impenetrable, it stores every conceivable relic of value. But today, thanks to some villainous meddling, there's a lapse in their security that aligns perfectly with the planned time for the changeover of an art exhibit, affording some enterprising thieves a chance at millions of dollars in priceless artwork.

Heroes affiliated with the Guardian Alliance are asked to patrol and keep these relics safe, while the members of the Society of Villainous Reformation are called upon to pay favors forward by getting in their way. As the untested new kids on the block, player characters draw the short straw and are sent in pairs to complete their task, regardless of whether it's to steal these artifacts or guard them.

Villains, now's the chance to get rich quick! Heroes, protect these treasures from falling into the wrong hands!


04. DINOTOPIA — excelsior.
Confluences are back.

And that means new unaffiliated supervillains are running rampant in the streets, causing the kind of directionless, clumsy chaos that the Guild typically frowns at. A little mischief is good if it serves as distraction for a heist, but this is...

Well...

This a very large velociraptor with human arms standing in the middle of Excelsior. If anyone asks, he calls himself DINO DAN. But why would you ask when he's busy transforming people into dinosaurs - or partially into dinosaurs - using his aptly named Dino-Ray? The people of Excelsior are used to a lot of chaotic shenanigans, but this is a little much even for them. The newly transformed dinosaur-people are losing themselves to their instincts and charging at bystanders. Of those that retain (or regain) their senses, some appear strangely delighted to have this new experience, while others wail in horror at their lost humanity.

As heroes line up to stop him, he'll tell anyone who listens about his displaced rage and the revenge he seeks on an unfair world that let him turn himself into a dinosaur. Not surprising, out of an Excelsior local. However, confronted by metas who can stop him, Dino Dan hooks the Dino-Ray on his belt and grabs a second ray-gun. Anyone he shoots with this one disappears with a comical POP!

Those unfortunate enough to be hit by this ray will find themselves standing in a land before time, right beside a research station. Those clever enough to pull out their cell phones will notice that they still have reception, and rule out time travel.

In addition to clippings of ancient and extinct plants, characters who venture inside will find a half dozen prehistoric humans have apparently been displaced through time and held captive in Dino Dan's remote island research station. If that wasn't obvious enough, his research notes suggest the use of time travel — though like all other dimensional travel, it stopped working in January.

Characters may trigger a trap in the research station and find themselves also temporarily transformed into reptiles, or they may take it upon themselves to rescue the poor folks this mesozoic maniac has been holding hostage! Whatever the plan: if he's causing havoc in the city, that has to mean there's there's a teleporter in his lab to get back. But there's no shortage of Guard T-Rexes blocking the path.
hevenly: (angled CU)

[personal profile] hevenly 2022-03-07 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The restaurant owner can tell he's intruding, so he promises to bring out a basket of breadsticks and disappears back into the kitchen.

Angela, for her part, stares at Loki's phone for a long minute, her face impassive, giving nothing away as to her thoughts.

Finally, she comments. ]


These latter two... They are in reference to your older self?
thecoolerloki: (03.)

[personal profile] thecoolerloki 2022-03-07 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes!

[And he's very proud of them.]

... don't tell him, though. For obvious reasons.
hevenly: (alas poor Yorick)

[personal profile] hevenly 2022-03-07 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She does not like the sound of that. At least in Ryslig, they had some idea of who was keeping them there. ]

And the local gods, you say they are hostile?
hevenly: (squint)

[personal profile] hevenly 2022-03-07 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Lies are your domain, not mine. Should he ask, I will not withhold the knowledge of their existence.

[ But, she won't actively bring it up. She'll give him that much. ]
ikols: you should see me in a crown (if you think i'm pretty)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-07 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Eros is, he's some knockoff from the Greek pantheon back home but wholly unlike the god he should be. He's out of control.

[ Loki is going to put some training wheels on that bitch if he can. ]
wordiness: (Default)

[personal profile] wordiness 2022-03-07 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ his face warms a little, his own fingers curling to brush loki's wrist in passing as the threads of their magic intertwine. it's so familiar and so missed, intimate in a way most people will never be able to understand. ]

Here I am, [ he agrees, finally allowing the magic to ebb away. the contact remains, though, as he flattens his hand against the bench, fingertips just brushing loki's thigh. ] I thought about trying to find you sometimes. [ if only because things had still felt so unfinished. loki had faded away into the night: no goodbye, no contact, nothing. ] I almost asked Thor once, but I wasn't sure what to tell him if he asked me why.

[ and.. well. he's not sure that teddy would have appreciated having loki around again, anyway. he's not even sure he would have been ready.. before. ]
thecoolerloki: (12.)

[personal profile] thecoolerloki 2022-03-07 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
In what possible situation would he ask you about my memes?
azulescarabajo: (Amicable)

Re: i

[personal profile] azulescarabajo 2022-03-07 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Aww, Kat-El?" Jaime laughs.

"Like Kon?" He reaches out to give the kitty a little scratch behind the ears.
kid_flash_found: (Default)

Re: i

[personal profile] kid_flash_found 2022-03-07 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"Technically, it's Kat-El Allen, a bit for both his dads, since Kon and were sharing a place in the world where we adopted him. Kinda like this one, but...not," Bart said, looking off. "Kon didn't show up here with me."

But then he realizes that's a bit odd. "You know, most people would go for Kal, not Kon. He came first, after all."

Kat-El accepts the scratch with only a little drawing back. He's not usually one to warm up to new people, but he also doesn't do well alone. Which Bart feels the need to explain.

"Little guy doesn't really go for strangers, but he also doesn't do well alone, so...he says with one of his emotional support humans."
ikols: i'll tear your city up (tie him up)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-07 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He stretches out his long legs, mindfully keeping close enough to maintain some casual contact. It means a lot, slight though it is, although it means more to hear Billy thought of seeking him out even if he couldn't (no one could, to be fair, if Loki didn't want to be found). ]

Ah, I was busy abroad the Ten Realms! Being famously heroic, in case you haven't heard.

[ He rests his hands in his lap, giving Billy a fleeting wink. ]

I am King of Jotunheim now, you know. Legit.
wordiness: (020)

[personal profile] wordiness 2022-03-07 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ billy glances at him in absolute dismay. is-- is he colorblind or just deeply unaesthetic? ]

Red is definitely not just red. There are dozens of shades of it. [ and not all spider-suits are made the same, just like his mom's red isn't the same as the red billy himself wears.

absolutely wild.

he sets the little toy back down, blowing a curl off his brow and then planting a fist on his hip. ]
Anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter. They're calling him Arachnaguy. [ knock-off merch is frequently extremely unfortunate, but.. you know, sometimes it's funny, too. ]
resurrxion: (000657)

[personal profile] resurrxion 2022-03-07 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, but like, Spider-Man has worn a dozen different shades of it?

[ what is the big deal why are superhero fans Like This. ]
azulescarabajo: (That's what she said)

Re: i

[personal profile] azulescarabajo 2022-03-07 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah, yeah--I guess so, huh? I just ran into Kon a few times. Haven't ever really talked with Kal-El directly." Jaime pauses, then adds:

"Also calling him Kal-El feels like calling my principal by his first name, you know?" As the cat withdraws, Jaime pulls his hand away with a little smile.

"I get it. Cats are like that. Glad he's got someone to take care of him." Wait.

"So you and Kon were on another world like this one before you got here?"
wordiness: (009)

[personal profile] wordiness 2022-03-07 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the arch of billy's brows says everything, probably: you? heroic? but his mouth is curling up at the corner a moment later. ] I hadn't heard, but I'm extremely interested in being told all about it. "King Loki."

[ it's hard to imagine, though maybe not for the same reason it would be hard for other people. he'd never felt like the sort of person to sit on a throne wearing a crown for very long.

on the other hand, his husband hadn't either, but now look at him. ]
.. Maybe that means Teddy and I will see you sometimes, after all.
kid_flash_found: (Default)

Re: i

[personal profile] kid_flash_found 2022-03-07 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, for over a year. But we were friends long before that," Bart said, grinning slightly. "I'm Bart. And yeah, I guess it does seem a little irreverent to refer to the big guy like that. Even if his parently practically adopted the whole lot of us when Kon went to live on the farm. Aunt Martha would never let me leave without making pie."
ikols: before my inevitable escape (and now)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-07 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Just Loki.

[ King Loki is someone else, his other self that he fought. When will he ever have a healthy relationship with all his selves? Never.

He arches a brow of his own. ]


Got hitched, didn't you? David told me. [ Teasing aside, he understands why no invite found him. Loki makes a show of rolling his eyes, a grin pushing through. ] Congratulations. I can pretend to be surprised, if you like.
wordiness: (017)

[personal profile] wordiness 2022-03-07 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
With a dozen different designs to go with it, [ he points out, ] though I'm admittedly rusty on it all, I haven't seen him in a while.

[ given how busy he and teddy have been with, you know, everything so much. ]
itsbetter: (This Will Go Well)

[personal profile] itsbetter 2022-03-07 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Like Selina Kyle would need to get a knife - as if she isn't wearing three with smaller, sharpened needles hidden throughout her clothes! For that insult alone, he must pay!

There's a flick of her hand at her side and suddenly, a switchblade!

She tosses it to him. ]


Don't break my knife. [ A warning. ] Outside of your forearm. Lightly.

[ Because people like him do moronic things like try to cut their palms. Why. ]
Edited 2022-03-07 23:46 (UTC)
wordiness: (028)

[personal profile] wordiness 2022-03-07 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he smiles helplessly, lifting his left hand so the ring is visible, his thumb brushing over the metal as he glances down at it. ] It all happened pretty quickly. The first time, we only had about thirty minutes, so we got married in Vegas.

[ he laughs, reaching up to push curls back, then leaning a little into loki's side. ]

.. Thank you. As a wedding gift, you can decide not to steal a bunch of stuff tonight and have breakfast with me in the morning.
ikols: & put me in my place (the gods will come)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-08 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ In some amorphous part of his chest that feels like it floats outside of himself he knows he is happy for them, unsurprised and pleased they have each other in a happily ever after that many only dream of. It suits them ... but Loki will never escape being a covetous magpie.

He leans into Billy's side in return, just a little. ]


I will buy you breakfast at my favourite supervillain cafe, it is both ridiculous and awesome.
dothelokimotion: (Your existence is not impossible)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-08 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ he sighs. children. ]

Why don't you run off and . . . play.
dothelokimotion: (Science was meant to be hard)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-08 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ he shakes his head. ]

Considering my end, I have very little to worry about.
dothelokimotion: (The sound of Night Vale fighting back)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-08 12:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ he blinks, a little surprised. ]

I do like parties.
thecoolerloki: (13.)

[personal profile] thecoolerloki 2022-03-08 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
You're not at all worried about Thor?
dothelokimotion: (You are indistinguishable from a fire)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-08 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ he is, but he's not going to admit that. ]

Thor will be fine. He'll have his Avenger friends and whatnot. I have no doubt he'll have everything well in hand.

[ and he'll move on. oh, sure, he'll mourn and whatnot, but he'll be fine. loki has seen that for himself. ]