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TEST DRIVE MEME #02
TEST DRIVE MEME
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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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
no subject
their wounds of it, like their memories, don't quite match. but all these years later, natasha can still look at her and know.
you look the same. as when she died. sad little social media posts on a private instagram that the world probably poured over because black widow wasn't allowed to keep any secrets — she had to turn out her pockets and empty them into the waiting hands of a public hungry for heroes.
because she did die — on a lonely little planet in the middle of nowhere, with wind in her hair and chipped yellow polish on her nails, a sacrifice, a love letter to the only people she's ever given the whole of her heart to. what would she truly have done, to bring back yelena? clint's family? sam?
and the answer, every time, is every thing. ）
Well, pockets are always good. You think it'll fit me too?
（ their eyes are almost exactly the same shade of blue-green-grey, natasha meets yelena's now in brief apology, there and gone. she carries on without waiting for an answer: ）
So I hear 2024's a pretty good year.
no subject
And then Natasha speaks again, and she can feel something in her break — just a little, just enough for her not to care that she's supposed to be some kind of hardened mercenary, or someone who travels the world freeing Widows still under the control of the Red Room's drug even if Dreykov himself no longer operates.
So she knows. Somehow she's back, Yelena doesn't know how, but she knows. What must it be like to have that kind of information? Does she know about Clint Barton?
She moves in to crush herself against her big sister, very barely remembering that she's still holding a nearly-full cup of bubble tea so she could move it out of the way. (She still wants to drink it later.) ]
You were not supposed to go.
no subject
instead, she just tucks herself in against yelena, cheek to cheek. it still amazes her, that her baby sister is now her height. ）
Hey, how many people get to die saving the universe, huh? I'd say I came out ahead of the game.
（ it's soft. playful. she feels curiously blank about it, numb on the matter of her own death. it's not peace, exactly, but it's as close as someone like her can ever get.
because it worked. yelena and all the rest — they get to live. that's what's important, that's what matters. dying is inevitable, and she's already spent a decade feeling like she was past her expiration date. all those second chances, all those near misses, all the things she walked away from. this way — it got to matter. ）
no subject
What she wants is selfish, sure, but she has never tried to align herself to any kind of moral code but her own. She just wants to be free to make her own decisions, to be her own person — to learn what the hell all of that even means.
(And, okay, if it means doing something nice once in a while, she can maybe be okay with that too.)
And more than that, she just wants more time with her family now that she's found them again. She just wanted more time with her sister; she wanted to smudge their cover stories away, to create real ones. And that was taken away from them too soon. Maybe not by Clint's hand, if she can believe him, but it was still too soon. ]
And how are you back now, then? [ She doesn't ask if Natasha is back for good. She isn't sure she wants to know the answer, if it's not the one she wants to hear. ] If you know what happened to you?
no subject
（ she caught the science. she just doesn't want to explain the science, and in any case, the how of it isn't really all that important, anyway. never one to look second chances and stolen moments in the... mouth of a gift horse? no, that's not right.
she pulls back just a little, brushes an errant strand of yelena's hair back behind her ear. ）
Been here for a couple months now. Laying low. Not a half bad world, if you can ignore the fact that there's a group of people running around calling themselves the Society of Villainous Reformation. I haven't seen advertising that bad since the nineties.
no subject
[ Which, okay yes, hasn't been that long, but that's whatever stretch of time between them spent apart when they could have, you know, not been. She's allowed to feel a little petulant about it, even if clinginess isn't especially in-character for her.
Things change when you've just arrived from facing down your sister's best friend in a fight to the death for some form of closure. Or retribution. Or both.
Speaking of which — ]
I met Clint Barton. Back home.
no subject
（ she kept the various parts of her life siloed for a reason — clint knew enough of her, and in many ways she had no desire to deepen his understanding of the widow's world. but given how everything went down on vormir, and yelena's own nature — clint's tendency to dramatize and mire himself in guilt... a half-dozen possibilities of what that single statement could be hiding flash through her mind, and her jaw juts thoughtfully off to one side. ）
How'd that go?
no subject
[ It was a whole thing, but mostly it was an assignment like any other assignment. She just had extra motive to get the job done and gain a little closure in the meantime.
Of course, life is always so much more complicated than she would have liked, and in the end they both walked away with their lives and maybe a feeling that Natasha would have been okay with this arrangement. ]
He’s okay now. I let him go.
no subject
（ she says that easily enough. casual. as if the thought of two of the people she cares most about in all the world fighting doesn't rip some empty, jagged tear in her right down to her soul. because it's anything you walk away from, right? anything you survive. that's how you get to the next step, and the next one, and the next after that. she doesn't even think clint would have begrudged yelena the attempt in the long run — he never held it against her. ）
He's surprisingly wily for a guy with a bow and arrow, huh?
no subject
It was their connection to Natasha that did it. If there was anything that might motivate Yelena to kill or offer mercy, it would be connected to Natasha. ]
He is. [ Her smile widens a touch. ] And for someone so old. But he told me ... that you talked to him about me. About us.