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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.
ikols: let my bed be made (o brother dear)

museum theft!!

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-21 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Sorry, Dick, Loki can't hear you, largely because he's on the ground and running toward a display as a fox. The russet, furry thief leaps through some alarm lasers and with an elegant series of hops lands on the top, sniffing the egg-shaped artefact there. Said fox also happens to be wearing a golden helm with horns, of some kind, and he knows what he's doing because none of the alarms actually go off.

In his defence, he has a very nice fluffy tail, and looks a little bit too ethereal to be a normal creature if one stares long enough ...

He pauses, sniffing in the direction of the rafters, then quickly (and delicately!) snatches up the egg between his teeth and vaults off the pillar toward the door. Gotta go fast! ]
forceforlight: (NW-Flying)

[personal profile] forceforlight 2022-04-21 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Foxes in the museum are definitely unusual, even for Nightwing. CATS, sure. Always a possibility with Selina around. Plants aren't out of the question, either. Or hyenas.]

[...Honestly, the longer he's away from Gotham, the more he realizes how weird it can be.]

[Still, fox in the museum gets his attention. Fox with a weird helmet, even more so. Grabbing the egg isn't unexpected (because fox), but Nightwing's already on the move before the fox jumps down. He'd planned out the best way to the exits from where he had been situated during the long wait, using a couple of light fixtures and one exhibit case that he knew could hold his weight for two seconds.]

[Though, foxes are fast. Whether he can hit the door in time is an entirely different question.]
ikols: let my bed be made (o brother dear)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-22 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Foxes are fast, and foxes can be very nimble, but Loki is also himself and he startles when he finds a shadow flinging itself after him through the museum.

And he chokes on the egg.

Oh, no.

The fox skids to an ungainly halt and hocks on the spot, wheezing as he tries to breathe. ]
forceforlight: (NW-Gearing up)

[personal profile] forceforlight 2022-04-23 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Okay. Nightwing was expecting a lot of things, but that wasn't one of them.]

[Still, he immediately drops down beside the fox, reaching immediately for the fox's jaws.]


Don't bite me. I've had my tetanus and a rabies course recently, but those records are back home, and I'd rather not have to go through them again.

[He's moving as he's talking, pulling the jaws open and sticking his fingers in to try to get the egg out. Not exactly the easiest thing in the world, maybe, but first port of call when an animal was choking.]

[...He started learning this when Damian decided to get a menagerie. Always be prepared.]
ikols: let my bed be made (o brother dear)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-23 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well, this isn't how he expected his dramatic exit to go but then again he never carried an egg in his mouth before. Wide green eyes watch the superhero pry his jaws open and he winces, pushing forward with his tongue to cough the egg up (with some effort) into a gloved hand.

It looks so nice and glittery-gold, even covered in Loki's spit. ]


Tha- Thanks.

[ Wheezing, the fox flops on his side and covers his snout with a paw as he groans. ]

Can you h-hold onto that for me?
forceforlight: (NW-Relieved)

[personal profile] forceforlight 2022-04-23 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I'll keep hold of it. But it's going back to the museum.

[Nightwing raises an eyebrow over his domino mask, but he sits down next to the fox. Absolutely not surprised at all by the animal speaking. Too long around Gar for that.]

This is why our parents always tell us not to run with anything in our mouths.
ikols: let my bed be made (o brother dear)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-23 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
The museum stole it from my fox ancestors, it's the Egg of Todd. Rightfully mine! Would I try to kill myself in the process of stealing it if it wasn't my property?

[ All of that is one big stinking lie but the way he lifts his head and blinks at the hero strains to put truth into it. ]

And ... I have no parents.

[ Currently in this realm, anyway. ]
forceforlight: (NW-Sassy)

[personal profile] forceforlight 2022-04-23 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[Somehow, even through the white lenses on his domino, Nightwing makes the disapproving gaze have weight to it.]

You do realize I looked over everything when I came in today and know what most everything in this room is?

[Did he need to know? No. But he's thorough like that.]

Though I am sorry to hear about your family.
ikols: let my bed be made (o brother dear)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-23 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ah. Shit. Still ... giving it his all, Loki sits up and places both forepaws on a human knee, lowering his ears. ]

No human has ever known the true history of that artefact, it would not be written down within these walls. I did not bite when you asked me to trust in you, so now I ask you to trust in me. That is an honourable trade. [ Tail swish!! He looks at the emblem the hero wears and cocks his head, perking an ear with interest. ] Will you not lend me your aid, bluebird?
forceforlight: (NW-Thinking)

[personal profile] forceforlight 2022-04-23 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[Nightwing's eyebrow goes higher before shaking his head.]

I may have been born at night, zorro, but it wasn't last night. [Falling back to Spanish because it's probably the best known word for 'fox' in the world.]
ikols: JOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF!! (HATEE-HATEE-HATEE-HO!)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-23 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Balls. (He can always come back another night ...) Dropping the Desperate Furry Prince act, he sits down and huffs with his tail curling around his legs, assessing the masked man with less guile than curiosity. ]

Fair. It was worth a try though, you seem the honourable type just from saving a wounded beast. Are you patrolling on shift here tonight?
forceforlight: (NW-Amused)

[personal profile] forceforlight 2022-04-23 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
In fairness, you'd probably have had a chance with somebody less experienced.

[Dick's been doing this since he was...well, way too young to actually have been doing it. But it does mean he's heard a lot of reasons and excuses, and he's harder to lie to than most.]

That said, I couldn't exactly let you choke to death. That's not the kind of person I am. And yeah. Apparently they have all the newbies pulling shifts.
ikols: JOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF!! (HATEE-HATEE-HATEE-HO!)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-23 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Museum shifts are the best! You get to see the mummies! Come along, bluebird, I'll introduce you to them if you like.

[ He hops up and trots toward a different archway, tail swishing in invitation. ]

I've renamed them all after pastries according to their level of rot.
forceforlight: (NW-Amused)

[personal profile] forceforlight 2022-04-23 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[He really shouldn't. But it's been a long shift, nothing else has happened, and his partner is presumably around somewhere. Assuming they haven't gone for a nap or something. So Nightwing tucks the egg away in a strange pocket on his uniform before getting back to his feet.]

All right. Sounds more interesting than sticking around here for the moment.

[Besides, he has a monitor in the room. He'll hear if somebody else comes in.]
ikols: JOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF!! (HATEE-HATEE-HATEE-HO!)

[personal profile] ikols 2022-04-23 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ One furry guide coming up! Loki chatters as he leads the hero along, occasionally glancing around. ]

First we will meet Croissant, he suffered some sort of head trauma and, well, the name becomes obvious. Then Eclair, Turnover, and finally Trifle who is, sadly, more of a stain than anything. [ Loki darts around the superhero's feet excitedly, weaving in between taking the lead. ] I doubt it as you had your fingers in my gullet, but I must ask: are you squeamish? If so, we can detour to the pots and pans.