TEST DRIVE MEME #02

[metamods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to 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.

Comments

[mostdangerousbird]

This time, when Bart references nightmarish events to place himself on the timeline, Tim doesn't hesitate to put his hand on Bart's shoulder. He can't say it was okay, because it wasn't, but there are other ways to show that it's all right. "You weren't... gone right after that. Maybe there's some time travel involved, or maybe you're just from a world that's close enough."

Tim pokes his other hand at one of the netting panels of the chick enclosure. "I can't tell which, and close enough is good enough for me. As long as you don't plan on bringing in an entire army of evil multiverse Barts, I can deal with whatever you throw at me."

A pause. "Except for the whole farm thing. That's new."

[kid_flash_found]

If Tim weren't looking at the birds apprehensively, he might have partly unzipped the cover so the chicks could try to get up to the edge of the pen like they'd been starting to do. They were mostly up to barely fluttering hops, but they at least hadn't hit the half-feathered mop stage as the adult feathers started to come in.

"Spending too much time in Central City is depressing. Sunset Falls is all magical disasters, and, well, I guess I could have gone to Excelsior, but this feels...nice. I can just take things at the speed they come for a change," he tries to explain.

"I know I wasn't gone. It was one of the first things you realize. I mean, when I got there, Barbara took me under her wing in some ways. The last world. And Kon was there with me, only we didn't match up timewise. It doesn't really matter, because we're still...just us."

[mostdangerousbird]

The birds are going to peck his eyes out, infect him with avian flu, slash his wrists with their feet, etc etc etc. They are only a few rungs above sky rats, and that is only because they're cute and fuzzy.

"We let you alone in Alabama and Kansas too long, didn't we?" Tim had thought that moving to Los Angeles and then back to the Twin Cities with huge doses of San Francisco had meant that Bart was a city kid at heart, but everything's clearer now. That was all just for changes-of-scenery. "How many number ones does Toby Keith have?"

Tim doesn't know the answer to that question (Toby Keith is one of the few country musicians is aware of). "And... Babs is good people. It doesn't matter if we don't match up timewise either. Still just us. Now with chickens."

[kid_flash_found]

"Twenty, last I checked, but I'm not that bad," Bart said, shaking his head. "The charts are in the newspapers, after all."

He shakes his head, slightly. "Actually, I kinda just enjoy it. Something I can't rush. Doesn't mean I don't have a streaming den set up in one corner of my room for doing speedruns. But between that and school, I needed something simple."

Reaching to shift the cat on his shoulder and put him on the nearby couch, he starts to unzip the top of the hen pen, figuring he'd introduce the girls to his best friend. The more they get handled, the better they'd be about it.

"I figured since this place came with the space, a few animals and some organic heritage-breed produce wouldn't be a bad idea. I know even know a guy who will enjoy turning it into really amazing food."

[mostdangerousbird]

“You’re going to school here?” Tim has missed a lot, hasn’t he. Bart’s behind in his timeline, but he’s spent almost all that time living and growing somewhere else.

And the way he talks about it, he’s had more time than Tim has to actually live and grow as Bart Allen.

To the point where Tim feels left behind somewhere around heritage-bred produce. He pushes down the feeling - he can’t complain when Bart’s been doing for himself for a year. Almost for himself, with a mismatched Conner and Barbara. “So, what’s your friend’s name and when’s the farm-to-table dinner party?”

[kid_flash_found]

"Unfortunately. Managed to test out of almost everything, but they have this think about minors...at least in the Guild. So I've got to get some clearance for control of my powers and stuff, and sit through the usual boring lectures," Bart said, shaking his head slightly.

"I should be able to push to graduate early, I think? IF you can really call it early. They're treating my age as seventeen, which is about as close as we can get."

It's hard to even explain. The craziness, that he'd been sitting in college courses before, even graduate-level physics with Dr. Jane Foster, but none of that matters because it was another world.

"Well, there won't be eggs until probably September, and the crops are still going in. I hope to stagger it enough that I can get fresh most of the season, but I started a little late. But I can at least introduce you to David. He's also a tech genius, got a job working in prosthetics here."

[mostdangerousbird]

“You should’ve told them you were 18,” Tim is in favor of lying about ages in other universes, especially when it’s Bart. 17 is perhaps not wrong, but it’s also not necessarily right either. “What could they possibly teach you about being a speedster? The fact that you’re here, having a conversation with me about your chickens at a normal speed - it’s kinda obvious how good you are at this.”

Tim doesn’t make any move to disturb the birds, even if the pen is unzipped. “And David’s your cook, not the chick or your zucchini vine? And he’s not an idiot like “they” are, putting you back in training.”

[kid_flash_found]

"He's not my cook, he's a friend who likes to cook when he has the chance. It's a hobby to him," Bart says, leaning down to reach in and dangle a hand near some of the birds. One of them immediately headbutts the hand to invite petting, and he quickly picks her up to let her settle in his arms, gently stroking her neck and muff.

"I haven't lost control of my speed since, well, since before." Before he died, but not going there.

"Hey, you should come closer, they're friendly, and I'm working on getting the girls all used to being handled. Although I'm beginning to suspect one of them is a boy, so I'll have to find a way to keep him isolated if that's true. Thinking of calling this one Barbara, because she's smart and independant and a leader." The ball of fluff and feathers at least is looking to grow into a reddish hue, another reason he considered the name for her.

"Naming animals is hard."

[mostdangerousbird]

“Friend who likes to cook as a hobby when he has time takes longer to say.” Tim feels like he’s navigating without a map. He hasn’t meant for Bart to take offence at the shorthand, but there’s a year of this Bart that he’s missing. That’s comparatively a lot more of Bart’s life than the numbers would indicate.

As a sort of penance for the misstep, Tim not only obligingly moves closer but holds a hand out for the chick. He’s not sure if he wants to hold it or pet it, but whichever he’s allowed is fine. “What about Bawkara?”

He doesn’t have quite the same reverence for Babs, although she’s definitely all of the things Bart mentioned.

[kid_flash_found]

The bird in question reaches out her beak to gently nibble encouragingly at the fingertips, settles back, eyes half-closing as she chirps contentedly.

"That sounds like a silly chicken noise. I figured they should have names I don't feel totally stupid calling out in the yard," Bart said. "Just in case the neighbors hear. People will look at you funny if you start calling in Sprinkles, Coffee, and Doughnuts at dusk."

He shifts so that he can guide Tim's hand to her favorite scratching spots, and there's a breathy, contented sigh.

[mostdangerousbird]

“Barbara and I named Dick’s puppy ‘Bitewing’”, Tim shamelessly points out. He’s normally not one for being ridiculous, but a good pun is a good pun. Pets can have ridiculous names.

“Do you want them all to be people you know, or can someone like Ada Lovelace get a chicken heir?” He won’t suggest ‘Dinner’ though, even ironically.

Under Bart’s hand, he gives the chick a few cautious scritches. “I’m not going to hurt her, right? I don’t have long nails.”

[kid_flash_found]

"Well, obviously they shouldn't be names that might spoil identities or anything, but there's no reason there can't be an Ada Lovelace. She is pretty awesome. Remind the world that the first, best computers were all women."

Granted, some of that was that the men were stuck in wars, but it still means something, especially with the gender bias in tech industries.

"Martha?" He's thinking mostly of Ma Kent, but there's also Bruce's mom. Weird that they both had the same first name, but it had been more common in that generation.

[mostdangerousbird]

"Her civilian name is Haley." Because: of course the dog has a civilian name. Bitewing is the best girl who is absolutely not going to the pound. "But if I get to name one, I want to think about it for 24 hours to make sure it's the best name."

There's a pause, because Tim realizes immediately how casual he's talking about still being here in a day. He knows it's because Bart's settled presence demonstrates how long getting back to the correct 'verse could take, but Tim wasn't expecting to accept it so quickly.

"For Martha, I'm not going to stop you, but that one's not my permission to give."

[kid_flash_found]

"The dog has an alias. And people say my life is weird. Kat-El is just Kat-El. But sometimes I put a cape on his harness." The cape is adorable.

Bart doesn't even think about it, absently shifting to put the chicken in Tim's arms. "See, Barbara's a total sweetheart. She already thinks you're awesome."

He doesn't really know what to say about all of this. "Is there anything else you want to go over? I mean, about this place?"

[mostdangerousbird]

“The dog needs an alias. She’s already gone undercover with me, and your life is just as weird as mine.” Tim nudges Bart with an elbow and then blinks at this new escalation. “There’s a chicken in my lap.”

There was indeed, and Tim is trying to give the chicken space. Spooking a chicken on your lap seems like a good way to get chicken poo on your pants.

“And… I don’t know. Everything, in the end. Why don’t you start with what you think I should know, and we’ll build from there.”

[kid_flash_found]

Said chicken shifts a little, then tucks up her feet and fluffs her feathers out into a puddle of happy bird, although she does eye Tim when the scratching stops.

"So, pet her. That's what she wants. She's not going to do anything bad. Well, there might be some bodily functions, but she's not going to want to sit in her mess any more than you want it on you," Bart said, then frowned, trying to think.

"So, there are these...confluences. And people show up randomly because of them. Or vanish. Apparently at one point they were largely under control, or at least predictable, but things have changed. And there's three factions. The two official ones, and the unaligned."

[mostdangerousbird]

“These are the only real clothes I have here.” He’s not overly fond of them, but regardless of whether the chicken - he can think of it as Barbara in terms of bodily functions- would sit in its mess, Tim would have to borrow pants from Bart.

But he resumes petting the bird with one hand, the other hand bracing himself on the floor so he can lean back and get comfortable for what is going to be a long, intermingled briefing and Q&A session. “Three questions. Vanish - so this isn’t a permanent interdimensional transplant. Do natives from this universe also disappear during confluences? Two - has anyone explained why things changed? Three - how are the unaligned a faction? If they’re not aligned, they’re a series of people selecting the Other box.”

[kid_flash_found]

"We can hit the mall later. I mean, if you've been through the big arrival spiel, you know they're giving you a place to live and a way to buy basic needs," Bart said. "At least for a little while. Even a technopath I know couldn't trace the funds, though."

Which is partly why he doesn't trust the Alliance despite signing on. "As for the answers to your question, no, it's not necessarily permanent, but there's no way to actually get a ticket home that anyone has found. Not sure if natives vanish, though it wouldn't surprise me that if that's the case, they're keeping it quiet. Folks have enough things to get riled up about.

"And that is definitely a big question. Good luck getting a straight answer about anything having to do with the Confluences and the promises they've made to get everyone home. I am doing my best to play a low-tier guy with useful skills, but too flighty for anything serious. Like one of my Scouts. Actually, sometimes I sent one to the Alliance stuff just so I can put off being bored until I absorb the memories.

"And there's some elements of the unaligned that have organized, just not to the same level or with government involvement. This place is one of the perks of Guild membership. Although it's not meant to be just me here."

[mostdangerousbird]

“We can go to the mall and buy on their debit card, presumably so they can track everything I do and spend while not even a technopath can trace their side.” Well, now Tim’s just going to have to try to out hustle a technopath. “Can I meet the technopath, or are they one of the ‘I don’t do face-to-face’ ones?”

It doesn’t mean Tim wouldn’t trust them, but it’d be more on Bart’s endorsement. “And… okay, so they’re not forthcoming to the people they want to join them. How do they treat the ones who ask these kinds of questions, long-term? I kept my head down during the sales pitch.”

So no judgment on playing up the ditziness. It’s the smart move that has Tim nodding along.

Until.

“This is theirs?” His hand sort of hiccups on the petting motion, but his voice stays the same level of mildly inquisitive.

[kid_flash_found]

"You really think I'm not going to introduce you to my friends the first chance I get? He's good people, kicks my ass at strategy games the first few rounds, even," Bart said. It amuses him to have someone where potentially having near-infinite time between moves isn't a guaranteed advantage. And David is one of his people, or maybe the other way around. It's a little confusing.

"I, uh, already told him my Robin is here, texted as soon as I realized. He's heard stories from me and Kon. Don't worry, we were always careful about anyone who wasn't there. Identities that aren't yours to spill..."

He leaves it there. Then looks at Tim's reaction.

"I decided to sign up because someone needed to see if the story changed when folks were inside the clubhouse, so to speak. Given the choice between being a legitimate guy people can see doing things and having to skulk in the shadows, I'd prefer the light. It's just...me. That doesn't mean I agree with the whole deal or won't speak up. If I have to sever ties, I will. But right now, I'm not entirely above seeing just how the perks go. Besides, you know how my memory is."

So far the stories are consistent. But that just means they have the publicity side handled. They've all seen this kind of thing too often to really trust appearances.

"It's clean. I sweep pretty regularly, and, well, remember that technopath? He'd be able to know if there were any new devices."

[mostdangerousbird]

“Don’t worry. I didn’t think that the chickens meant you had suddenly gained total mastery of patience.” Tim tells himself that Bart doesn’t need Tim to vet his friends and that this is only for the protection of everyone’s identities, but… no, Tim definitely wants to belatedly vet these friends. Ugh. Maybe he is this paranoid. Bart said he’s been gone for more than a year. Tim can trust his judgment.

(No, but seriously vetting new Bart friends because Bart’s not suspicious enough and needs protecting.)

“Okay,” Tim says slowly after listening and tearing his eyes away from the walls. If there’s anything here, he’s already compromised. He would watch what he says about the guilds, but Bart isn’t holding back. “He gets to meet Robin, then. Maybe even in the light, if it won’t get me in trouble for unlicensed mask usage.”

He would’ve like to choose how he met this person after finding out more about him, but what’s done is done. Bart couldn’t have know that Tim would stroll in 15 months late with Starbucks. “The shadows aren’t so bad, you know, and I’m good at skulking. I won’t tell you what to do, though. I don’t even know what I’m doing except agreeing with your friend: money doesn’t grow on trees.”

[kid_flash_found]

"No, but I have had a lot of time to think about who Bart Allen is," he says, with frank honestly. "Still a work in progress. Kid Flash is easy to be, it's Bart who's hard."

Which isn't a new thing for any of them. "I guess we'll figure something out. I know there's a lot to take in. But he's...well, he has been a really good friend. And he knows what it's like to be both a teenaged hero and how to deal with the aftermath of that kind of life. Maybe we could start with a video chat or something."

[mostdangerousbird]

“I think that’s the way it always is.” Robin is easy; Red Robin only marginally more challenging, but equally more free. Tim Drake, on the other hand, is a mess and a constant uphill struggle. He’s picking away at working on that, but… he’s thrown away a few good ideas too. Like the possibility of starting university early.

But those problems for home, not here. And maybe not problems for Bart, until Tim has them all worked out. If he still can’t articulate what’s missing, then he can’t expect anyone else to solve it.

“Video chat sounds good.” They have to start somewhere. You can record a video chat, but you can plant cameras and record in person too. There has to be some leeway granted.

There’s one thing that stands out, though, and Tim almost doesn’t want to ask. He should leave well enough alone, but. It’s right there. “Why would you need to know about the aftermath of that kind of life?”

Aftermaths are for retired heroes.

[kid_flash_found]

"Because not everyone survives. And nobody keeps in this line of work because they're healthy, well-adjusted individuals," Bart said, sighing a little.

"Anyway, when you guys decide to actually share things, I'm sure Prodigy will give you some of his stories. Or even about the people from his world that are hear. There's more of them than our end of the multiverse."

[mostdangerousbird]

Ah, the quiet part that they’re not supposed to say out loud. Tim holds Barbara a little too tight and gets pecked. That’s fine. It lets him suck in a couple breaths that he needs if he has to steer around a minefield without commenting. Tim sets the chick down gently.

“I thought you were thinking about hanging up the tights,” he explains. He doesn’t even try to argue Bart’s stance, just admits the mistake and pushes past the implications of why Bart wants to know what comes next. Tim has less right to be afraid of that; this is where he needs to just listen. “Do we have to share things? I’m not good at sharing…”