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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.
dothelokimotion: (This is the fear that looms)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-06 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki eyes the arm tentatively before nodding and taking it politely. it feels strange to engage in contact. the last touch he felt was —

well. best to keep that out of his mind. ]


Have you settled yourself in this place?
ikols: you could be my cherry pie (hello pretty baby)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-06 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
They set me on fire last month, I'd say I'm pretty established.

[ A slip of his free hand steals one of his action figures in the market, bringing it up to dance on Loki's hand on his arm. ]
dothelokimotion: (Miscommunication leads to everything)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-06 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ it brings a smile to his lips without thinking. when thor and loki were young, loki used to animate the tin soldiers and they would enact fiercesome battles into the night. ]

Always with the burning with us.
ikols: like i do (they don't give a fk about you)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-06 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ His eye flinches a little, even through his smile. ]

You've been through a bit, haven't you? I don't meet many of us that aren't pint-size or ancient.

[ The action figure floats over his palm as they walk, slowly reforming itself into an approximation of the Loki at his side under Loki's watchful eye, keen on the details. ]
dothelokimotion: (You are indistinguishable from a fire)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-06 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki hesitates for a moment. his throat aches silently. ]

I suppose I have. A great deal changed in a short amount of time. And while I am adaptable, plenty of it sent me reeling.

[ the truth about his heritage, odin's secrets, ragnarok . . . it's wild to think how much occurred within a decade. ]
ikols: and you know i got a boy (and she's a real sweet girl)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-06 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
This world is a decent stop-gap, you can catch your breath here.

[ He stage-whispers, squeezing the hand looped on his arm. ]

The heroes are rather tragic at their business. Avengers, if you know of them, are thin on the ground.
dothelokimotion: (The concept of transitioning)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-06 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ he lets out a little bark of laughter at that. ]

Yes, I'm well-acquainted. But I'm not sure if I should stay. I should — [ he wets his lips momentarily, the old doubts creeping in. ] — I should be finding a way back to Thor.

[ he swore an oath. undying fidelity. and he meant it. he meant it. he didn't want to exist and have thor think he didn't. he couldn't bear to think that thor would believe he was . . . the worst. he'd claw out his heart first. ]
ikols: look easy (you make giving up)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-06 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I expect we'll have Thors raining down on us before long, there are three of us to speak of already, after all. As if our brothers wouldn't want in on this little adventure too.

[ He finishes the toy, floating it over to his counterpart. ]

What went on between the two of you before you arrived here, or should I just assume generally dire circumstances?
dothelokimotion: (Let my words wash over you)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-06 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki looks fairly reticent for a moment, expression twisted up before he lets it go in an exhale. it's not like he's ashamed of it and he's dead. what do the dead have to hold onto? ]

We were heading to Earth. Ragnarok had taken Asgard completely and all we were left with was a ship full of refugees. Which Thanos attacked and ripped through.

[ he pauses. his throat bobs and he nearly lets out a hiss from the lingering pain. ]

He was — would have killed Thor. So instead, I made sure it was me.
ikols: & other poison (safe from pain & truth)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-06 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Letting out a breath as he puffs hair from his eyes, he pulls a That's Rough, Buddy face. ]

One day, there will be a story where Thor dies for us.

[ One day, yes. His gaze falls to that working throat getting out difficult admissions and he thinks he spies some bruising there. ]

You did not die though, you are here. So, what will you do now?
dothelokimotion: (It was an alien carcass)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2022-03-06 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
Besides finding a way to leave? I don't like the idea of being stuck on one location.

[ it is inherently dangerous and loki feels there should always be an escape route at hand. something he's learned quite painfully. though . . . it's not as though he couldn't have. ]

But beyond that . . . [ loki gives a loose shrug. ] . . . I'll admit I haven't given it much thought.
ikols: & you'll be mine (one taste)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-03-07 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmm, no boxes.

[ He can never be held still too long, that appears true for this Loki as well. Vaguely reassuring to hear, if he needed any more proof this is a Loki. He tilts his head as if giving it some thought, then slides a sharp smile sidelong. ]

... Do you want to come to a party?
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.