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.
the_caped_crusader: (pic#15391026)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ..... ]

Do you really want to know?
mostdangerousbird: (010 meet me more than halfway up)

[personal profile] mostdangerousbird 2022-04-16 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I’m always grateful for less gods interfering on earth. Most of them are just trouble, and they’re not even the God of Mischief.

[ The tone is pleasant, but seriously, if this turns into Ragnarok, Tim’s going to be upset. After mentally checking that, no, they haven’t made any sort of agreement or bargain, he shakes Loki’s hand. ]

Nice to meet you. I’m Tim. Did you really make the horse out of garbage cans?
ikols: but we were so young (oh)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-16 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He can be awfully useful when he isn't freaking out over being in a steady loving relationship. ]

Do you want to do this in the street or over something to eat tonight? With Billy, obviously. And David, if he wants in.
ikols: & you'll be mine (one taste)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-16 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I did, I needed a ride in a hurry and I am nothing if not on-brand.

[ With an enigmatic wink! He does have a terrifically handsome thank you face that says Punch Me, Do Not Trust, so he couldn't blame Tim for suspecting the handshake of foul play but it is just that. A slightly cooler-than-human handshake. ]

Do you deal with gods often, Tim?
robintohood: ([D] Last to hurt)

[personal profile] robintohood 2022-04-16 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
We've gone this far already. You might as well tell me.
Edited 2022-04-16 21:28 (UTC)
the_caped_crusader: (pic#15391027)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ and then, without hesitation: ]

The Joker hid a toxin in his body triggered to release on his death. The purpose was so that even when he was gone, there would always be a Joker. For that world, it was their Batman.

[ ... ]

He killed the League before they knew anything was wrong. And after he was done with his world, he came for every other Bruce Wayne on every other world until he got to mine.
robintohood: ([D] The real me)

[personal profile] robintohood 2022-04-16 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[Jason just... stares in stunned silence. On one hand, the idea of one non-powered (or formerly non-powered?) human causing so much destruction in one world and then expanding that into other universes sounds absurd.

On the other hand, Bruce Wayne and the Joker are far from ordinary. Knowing both of them the way he does, Jason finds it disturbingly easy to imagine how it could've all gone down.

After what feels like a long moment, Jason finally finds the next words to say]

How'd you stop him?
the_caped_crusader: (pic#15390895)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't. He was me, Jason. Or... not me, but he thought like me.

[ he shakes his head. ]

He called himself the Batman Who Laughs, and brought a team with him. Other Batman, like him. Killed whoever refused. It took every one of us to win in a battle that easily could have ended the entire multiverse.
mostdangerousbird: (004 you’re so novel what a good idea)

[personal profile] mostdangerousbird 2022-04-16 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Tim’s not laughing, really. His shoulders are shaking because the cold has finally caught up to him. Scout’s honor. Ahem. To continue with the serious side of the situation. ]

It probably is; I don’t think there’s a government on any earth that wouldn’t abuse the situation. And then… the Society of Villainous Reformation. I don’t even need to go undercover to find out that’s a front, but I want to because it’s so blatant. I just want to know how far they’re willing to pretend. What’s the contract look like? “We promise we won’t rob banks no mores”?
the_caped_crusader: (pic#15390948)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not worried about them. Yet.

[ he's looked into them. read about their rules. it wasn't exactly hard to find, considering there were recruiters everywhere at the diadem, like they were scouting college athletes or something. ]

In fact, they seem to have pretty strict rules about casualties and non-engagement with Alliance metas. What I'm wondering is what it took for all of them to decide that it was a better idea to just stay petty criminals.
robintohood: ([D] Bittersweet)

[personal profile] robintohood 2022-04-16 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's sobering to learn how things could be worse after killing the Joker. It's not at all what Jason imagined. Let the Joker live as he continued to traumatize and kill people? Or kill him and risk the multiverse? It was a sick joke.

Jason looks away, at a loss for words]
thecoolerloki: (08.)

i also

[personal profile] thecoolerloki 2022-04-16 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Kind of?

[says the child dressed like a scene kid obsessed with green. At least he's not in his regular clothes, that'd probably be even more hypocritical.]

Suppose I could dress it up in different outfits if I bought it. But at that point perhaps I should buy a different figure to begin with.
corpuslingua: (75)

[personal profile] corpuslingua 2022-04-16 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
We probably shouldn't be having this conversation in public.

[It's the way he says B. She doesn't recognize him, doesn't remember Bruce adding another person to the family (or the family), but it's possible. ]

He wouldn't like it.

[If he was telling the truth, and from everything she can see he thinks he is, then he would know which He she means. ]

the_caped_crusader: (pic#15390894)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
A Batman with the power of a Green Lantern, one who wore the helm of Ares, another with Kryptonian DNA that became Doomsday. What drove all of them to that decision on their worlds?

[ he looks over, as jason looks away. ]

I won't lie and say I don't have thoughts like that. How easy it would be to access the kind of force necessary to stop people like the Joker for good. But I won't do it as long as I know I have the choice to spare a life rather than take one. Maybe in a lot of ways that's still naive of me, but you have to understand why I can't risk losing control because even the possibility that something like the Batman Who Laughs lives inside of me is something I can never allow.
robintohood: ([D] Last to hurt)

[personal profile] robintohood 2022-04-16 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[The words "his" Bruce said to Jason during their last fight still ring in Jason's mind]

I asked him if he couldn't do it because it's too hard to cross that line. He said "it'd be too damn easy." He said all he ever wanted to do was subject the Joker to every torture that monster has inflicted and then kill him. But what's stopping him is that he believes if he goes down that road, he'll never come back.
the_caped_crusader: (pic#15390925)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he sighs. ]

Justice is subjective, Jason. The both of us know intimately well that my version of justice and yours are not the same. I, for example, dress up like a giant bat at night. I think it's safe to say that this isn't true for everyone.

But what if my justice changed? Shifted just enough to move the scales of my moral compass. Maybe it starts small and I clean up Gotham, but crime exists all over the world. What sort of person would I need to become to make sure it never happened again? What kind of power would I decide is a reasonable enough sacrifice to keep true to my oath?
Edited (extra word i didn't like) 2022-04-16 22:37 (UTC)
robintohood: ([D] Bittersweet)

[personal profile] robintohood 2022-04-16 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[They're questions Jason hadn't thought about before. Or perhaps, they're the type of questions he's tried to avoid thinking about]

It's why I decided that you can't stop crime but better to control it instead.

[But Jason knows questions still linger with that approach]

Why does it all have to be on you?
the_caped_crusader: (pic#15391018)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I used to. I can't say I don't still slip sometimes, just like you.

[ the city is actually quiet right now. since the goons ran off earlier, there hasn't been a peep except for the sounds of the city itself-- living and breathing. ]

I used to say that I was vengeance, but vengeance is personal. Justice is better, Jason. Justice looks for the peace that vengeance can never find. Vengeance is lonely. I depend on all of you, even if I don't always have the words to say it.
Edited 2022-04-16 23:11 (UTC)
teekl: (pic#15582253)

[personal profile] teekl 2022-04-16 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Petulant.

[ He clicks his tongue at the word.

But he does pause to think seriously on the question. His eyes roll up to gaze at the sky; he thinks that maybe he could ask the other lords of chaos. There is kind of a camaraderie among them even in different dimensions. But if it is his luck, he'll only be able to snag those he doesn't get along with, so! ]


Well! If it is one of us, it'd need a lot of juice to make something like this. [ Yup, he'll use the same word. ] Isn't gonna be some amateur, either.

[ Ahem. ] It's something that'd need to be maintained, and also require a medium to channel it. So! You losers just need to find the source.
lowercase_el: (005)

[personal profile] lowercase_el 2022-04-16 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Less asking questions, more hitting!

[That's a yes on needing a hand.]

Also, bee-tee-dubs I am so glad you're here.

[He punctuates his words with more punches.]

You - know - I - hate - this - interdimensional - bullshit.

[And it's way less of a pain in the ass with a friend.]
teekl: (pic#15582254)

[personal profile] teekl 2022-04-16 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
It's fine. She's just jumpy due to being in a new dimension.

[ His tone is a little too matter-of-fact about her behavior. The cat, in turn, turns her head to let out a single meow. He shifts to look back at her. ]

Well, I know we didn't come here on our own, so it's different, but that doesn't mean that you should act like such a tourist. [ Klarion lets out a loud sigh before looking back to the young man. His shoulders give an exaggerated shrug that almost dislodges the cat from them. ]

Wait, split it? I'd be happy to split it! [ His voice fills with wonder, like he didn't realize that was an option. ] Sweet is the best. Actually, sweets are the best. I think it might be the only good thing that you humans ever made. Well, no, that's wrong.

I definitely like your war and violence a lot, too! [ But he hops closer so that they can go get the sorcerer funnel cake. ] Hmmm... sorcerer funnel cake. Do you think that it'll have actual magic in it? [ He asks like he didn't say something -- well, several somethings -- weird a few seconds ago. ]
kid_flash_found: (lightning)

[personal profile] kid_flash_found 2022-04-16 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Just remember she's technically an innocent bystander.

[Bart glances around, and soon zips off to come back with some heavy-duty cord that was being used to rig up stuff at a nearby construction site, and blurs back.]

Think I can lasso a raptor-lady in Prada?
robintohood: ([D] Taken from this world)

[personal profile] robintohood 2022-04-16 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's the part about vengeance being lonely that gets to Jason. After coming back from the dead and learning Bruce didn't avenge him, Jason knew his journey to becoming the Red Hood was going to be a lonely one. He knew most people weren't going to agree with him. He chose to be alone, didn't he?

He's still not looking at Bruce as he balls his hands into fists.]

I'm not doing this just for myself, you know.
lowercase_el: (005)

Re: get on the floor

[personal profile] lowercase_el 2022-04-16 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[When he sees her, his eyes widen. They haven't really hung out in a long time. Originally, Bats made it a little difficult but then a lot of other stuff had happened, Kon's death and resurrection, Gemworld, multiversal reboots, etc etc.]

[He throws up both hands in delight.]

'Eeeeey!

[When he puts his hands down again, he sends TTK along the ground to knock another raptor over.]

How are you? S'been a while! How's the alternate dimension treating you?

the_caped_crusader: (pic#15391026)

[personal profile] the_caped_crusader 2022-04-16 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I know. But it doesn't mean it's right.