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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
[ He does split hairs, many and varied. ]
I've not called you a limited flesh-sack, which is rather the equivalent.
no subject
I … didn’t call you confused? I said I only believed in gods once I met them.
[ He gestures at Loki. ]
Case in point.
And maybe I’m comparatively limited, but I don’t think that you can call a vertebrate a flesh-sack. Especially not when you are one - or look like one. It’s weirdly visceral.
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Vertebrates. Tim, the hairs are now so split they have ascended to a separate plane of reality.
no subject
[ Tim has bristled at this stance that Loki’s taking, and he gestures with the empty corn dog stick to punctuate his words. Even just as Tim, he almost never gets to be the Tim he wants to be anymore. ]
You act like ascending to another plane of reality is hard. We live in a multiverse, and that’s not the point. You’re the one making me split the hairs by calling me a limited flesh-sack when you know I’m going to argue that. Anyone would.
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[ He asks it mildly, gaze lingering on Tim sidelong as they walk. His empty snack-stick is tossed into a passing bin as Loki dusts his hands clean. ]
And I bought you the corndog you wanted because you're cute, for clarification.
no subject
[ Is. Is that a thing that people just do in real life? They just tell people that they met less than an hour ago that they’re cute.
Without it being some attention/media ploy, or else being some sort of self-confidence machine?
No, of course not. If Loki’s a god, then he’s not operating by a standard rulebook. Tim’s lucky he’s not being told he’s cute by a talking swan or something.
Or unlucky, because he wouldn’t be so confused and flattered if it was a talking swan. That would be ridiculous. ]
Hnh. You don’t get to call someone a flesh-sack like they’re nothing and then fix it by calling them cute.
[ Tim is going to remove himself mentally from the scenario and maybe his ears won’t feel so hot. ]
no subject
[ The poor guy, his ears are tomatoes. ]
Well, cute flesh-sack or not, you ought to tell me ... which way do you swing? [ There's a pause as if he forgot to clarify, then with the same serene gaze Loki amends, ] Alliance or Society?
no subject
[ To all of it. All of it because the implication smacks in the face. Tim’s not sure if he’s reading too much into it. Self-discovery’s been at the forefront of his mind. He could just be overly sensitive, right? Right.
He’s not okay with checking if he’s right, even if Loki did call him cute. Gods like you has to be a universal bad sign, maybe even a multiversal truth. ]
That’s a… lot of presumptions. I’m neither.
no subject
[ Poor guy. Loki dials back the flirting, lips pursing as he looks ahead. ]
I'm unaffiliated, you won't be able to reach me though either faction. If you need to, I can give you my phone number ... ooor [ the more Tim-like option that Loki thinks he will enjoy, ] you could set up a summoning circle and pray. I'll come by.
As long as it's not, you know, three in the morning or something. I do sleep.
no subject
[ He isn’t.
He’s also not currently affiliated, nor anywhere near close to making a decision in that regard. So that’s … interesting. Not joining wasn’t presented as much of an option. He will have questions, eventually- and whether or not Loki’s trustworthy (he purports to be the god of mischief after all) it doesn’t invalidate everything that he says or does. ]
I can memorize your phone number. I’m a night owl. If I want to text at 3 am, you can answer when you wake up.
[ Tim sleeps. Eventually. He actually looks like he hasn’t. ]
I’ll keep the summoning circle in mind, though, for when a massive EMP knocks out service or a solar flare bricks the entire hemisphere.
no subject
That happen a lot back home for you? All the electricity going out on half the continent?
no subject
Outside of a physics thought experiment? Not… exactly those two things, but I’m from Gotham. Weird stuff happens all the time.
no subject
[ BESTIE. ]
no subject
[ What in the. Okay, reasonably speaking the public knows Batman exists and not Manbat, so Tim is going to roll with that. ]
Do you mean Batman?
no subject
no subject
[ There’s a fine line between making an abrupt exit and a reasonable exit. Tim has to try for the latter, can’t walk off at the mention of Batman. Buuut he also probably shouldn’t outright lie to dismiss Batman’s entire existence. Can’t kid a kidder. ]
Why do you call him the Man of Bats? Your English is better than that.
no subject
[ His grin widens. ]
Forgive me my Asgardian colloquialisms, would you prefer more modern overtones? I can totes roll with that.
no subject
[ He says it like an agreement, but the word clearly doesn’t belong in his mouth.
God, he can’t exactly ask which Batman, can he? Not without explaining how he, normal teen Tim, knows about an entire dark multiverse of corrupted Batmen. ]
Did you really meet him, or did you just see a cape flutter around a corner?
no subject
[ That's ... technically true. ]
I’m so sorry
Tim takes a breath and goes full-on conspiracy theorist. ]
I wouldn’t have pegged those black ops, Star Chamber types as being the flirty type.
My friend Bernard would probably say that he was setting you up on behalf of the Shadow Cabinet, but I think if that were true, he’d have let you use his cape. It’s not a very good honeypot, unless he was trying to incorporate negging.
no subject
[ Loki drapes a companionable arm around Tim as they walk, resting it there. ]
Tip: calling someone a weirdo is neither charming nor endearing.
no subject
[ That would be interesting, not to mention helpful. Tim thinks he'd be able to weed out Definitely the Wrong Batmen from Maybe the Right Batmen based on what he would call someone as wild as Loki.
He glances at the hand on his shoulder and then at Loki. Decides to roll with it. ]
I'll try to avoid that when flirting, but I think it means that he wasn't.
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no subject
[ There’s a weirdo in this story, but, honestly? it’s probably not Loki. ]
no subject
[ Giving him a side-hug as they walk!! ]
What are your plans for this realm? Just getting by?
(no subject)