TEST DRIVE MEME #3

[metamods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

A confluence is defined as the convergence of one or more forces. A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces.

Confluences have been mild ever since the Godfall Event occurred in the 1980s. The older generations tell their children of the confluences they remember as children, the earth-shaking events that transformed the landscape of the world (and the people) every time they occurred. Now they're largely inconveniences. An explosion of experimental ALIEN NANOBOTS here, a magical LIGHTNING STORM there, nothing particularly disruptive to day to day life.

ONLY SHOOTING STARS. CENTRAL CITY.

Awareness hits you in a rush. As does the sound of a town’s EMERGENCY ALARMS WAILING.  Just as you begin to register the sound, you realize how quickly the towering skyscrapers are coming up to meet you. You may throw your hands up to shield yourself from witnessing your own grisly demise. Not to worry - THREADS OF MYSTICAL ENERGY rush up to meet you, grabbing for limbs and catching you before you make landfall.  A NET MADE OF STARS has come up to cradle you, giving you a much gentler entry into this world than most others have received thus far. A smattering of exhausted looking people holding staves and wands peer up at you and attempt to smile, though they appear to be much more focused on keeping you held aloft.

Correction. They’re keeping MOST of you aloft. The mystical net made of stars doesn’t seem quite large enough to cover the entire sky. THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE FALLING. Perhaps you’re not spared the fall, plummeting through the gap in the net and straight into someone’s living room. Or car. Or straight into the sewer systems.

DIADEM HOTEL

You're not going home anytime soon. Hopefully, the LUXURY HOTEL they've put you up in will ease that sting.

The DIADEM HOTEL is usually reserved for the obscenely wealthy. Its rooms are enormous, the beds quite literally enchanted to offer the perfect night's sleep, and the food would usually cost your life savings just to sample. But given the circumstances, the Guilds feel its the least they can do to aid your transition into this world. EVERYTHING is complimentary, and everyone gets an ALLIANCE CREDIT CARD to spend on entertainment, clothing, and whatever other necessities they might need. The cards have an obscenely high limit and there doesn't seem to be an expectation for you to pay it back... though if they catch you abusing it, their accountant will be coming for your head.

There's a shopping center immediately across the street. It has an impressive array of outlets that cater to your every need. Food, clothing... and swords? If you can think of it, it's for sale. Although anything clearly supernatural or metahuman seems to be at a minimum and offered under the table. You can grab clothing made to withstand any superpower and a surprisingly mediocre Taco Bell order while you're at it. There's a Super Cinema in the shopping complex across the street that's showing the highly anticipated DROP DEAD GORGEOUS movie, a thriller wherein a fictional beauty queen accidentally swallows a fragment of the Necronomicon and becomes the world’s most powerful necromancer. Oh, and her boyfriend transforms into her chainsaw.

CENTRAL CITY isn't exactly the nicest place in the world. Wander too far from the shopping district and you'll find yourselves thick into territory controlled by the local non-meta crime syndicate... but maybe that's where you want to be. Maybe you're here to see just what this world is dealing with. If you're going to be stuck here you might as well make yourself useful, right?

Or perhaps you're NOT the heroic type. Maybe this is simply scoping out the competition.

Regardless, it won't take long for TROUBLE to find you. Test out your new powers, do a little thieving, stop a few muggings - this is your time to use as you see fit.

MAY FLIES AND FLOWERS. EXCELSIOR.

EXCELSIOR has just opened its very own BOTANICAL GARDEN! The facility is roughly the size of a city block, a modern monolith of steel and glass, specially equipped to prevent birds from flying into the many windows. There’s plants from all over the world growing inside, different rooms hosting rare and exotic specimens from different climates. Each mini-biome has animals native to the regions they mimic, of course - not a great many of them, but you’re likely to see some insects and birds flitting here and there.

To better protect the guests, all animals inside are man-made creations - be they mechanical or genetically engineered for a single purpose. The most notable of these projects is a MECHANICAL BUTTERFLY enjoying its first test flight. Researchers hope that these butterflies can be introduced into nature to aid the waning bee populations. These butterflies, beautiful creations spun from delicate metal wire, can be found in nearly any of the ecosystems present in the Botanical Garden. Aside from being hardy and efficient, they’re also equipped with a CHEMICAL ENHANCEMENT that makes the pollen they collect twelve times more potent. Everything’s getting pollinated in here! Best hope you don't have allergies.

This SPECIAL POLLEN also has the side-effect of making anyone in the vicinity feel quite lonely or loved. Theorized as a way to make dates more intimate, no more consideration was put into the ethical ramifications of subtly altering people’s mood for commercial benefit. It’s Excelsior, after all, hopefully someone warned you they view ethics as optional.

Should you have come to this beautiful slice of nature alone you may find yourself OVERWHELMED WITH LONELINESS as the flock fly overhead. Yet this loneliness comes with an edge of courage. Perhaps you’re emboldened to approach another lonely heart and ask if they would care to accompany you. 

If you’ve come with someone you all may find yourselves feeling much more WARM AND AFFECTIONATE towards them. Such a pretty place, such great company - let’s spend some real quality time!

WORKING ALL ANGLES. SUNSET FALLS.

Be you hero, villain, or unaligned - socialite KATHERINE WEST has a request for you. Miss West appears to be quite distressed. The weirdness of Sunset Falls has put her dear father in a bit of a pickle and she’s looking for strapping heroes (and villains, and unaligned, really anyone with two feet and a heartbeat) to help out. She states that she’s no metahuman and so she can’t offer you a team-up, but she can offer you a shoutout on her Instagram page.

The TASKS she’s issuing seem simple on the surface. Safe enough that you may be swayed by her sweet smile and the 15 million followers who might take a shine to you.

HUNT SOME WOLVES.

A shame she didn’t mention that these wolves are WEREWOLVES.

A pack of werewolves has been wreaking havoc in the PARK. They come out at night to grow their pack. Nearly a dozen locals have been conscripted by this infectious bite.

Luckily, there is a POTENTIAL SOLUTION! This particular brand of lycanthropy can be cured if you grievously wound them with a SILVER WEAPON. A quick google also tells you that curing the ALPHA – or killing him – will end the curse for the whole pack. She’s twice the size of a direwolf with jaws like a steel trap. 

Granted, killing them is the faster solution. There is a slight hitch in that plan. These wolves REVERT BACK TO HUMAN FORM upon death. It might look weird to find a bunch of bodies in the park so you’d best be prepared to clean up after yourself.

There’s always the risk you’ll get bit and JOIN THEM. Should this happen, the transformation will come on suddenly and painfully, your body distorting under the light of the moon. The ANIMAL INSTINCTS will come on just as powerfully - you’re part of a pack now, and you’re out on a hunt. Hopefully some kind soul can hit you with silver or take out your alpha, because you won't turn back on your own.

HERE KITTY KITTY.

Miss West has tasked you with finding all of the town’s TREED CATS. This one is an easy enough task, right? For the last four months there's been an absurd amount of cats getting stuck in trees.

Well, it seems two months of storing AMBIENT CHAOS MAGIC has made these cats more unpredictable than usual. Chaos magic isn't something you want to mess with, especially not when it's held in purrsnickety paws. It's easy to snatch them from the branches if they don't know you're coming, but if you approach under their watchful eye you'll begin to find the rules of reality start to bend. The ocean becomes a sky full of fish, and the grass beneath you a warm carpet warmed by a sunbeam. Your thoughts and feelings suddenly seem to be able to influence this space - so careful! You wouldn't want your worst fears to suddenly manifest.

Now would be a really bad time to remember that dream where all your teeth fall out.

DANCING SHADOWS.

This one is fairly simple. All Miss West wants is a PICTURE OF YOUR SHADOW. She gives you her best camera and asks you take the very best shot you can.

The ambient mystical energies of Sunset Falls are known to be chaotic. The LINGERING MAGIC of the spell that snatched you from the sky is ignited. Your shadow begins to glimmer faintly like the night sky itself. If you catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye, you could swear you spy your shadow smiling back. Its eyes appear to be bright, burning stars.

These stars grant it a RUDIMENTARY SENTIENCE. And with it, liberation! No longer is it bound to your feet.  Your shadow-self wants to live it's very best life and that means doing whatever impulsive thing strikes its brand new consciousness. CAUSING MAYHEM, infecting other shadows with its newly gained brilliance. Before long, the town is OVERRUN with dancing shadows. While their antics don't affect the physical space, if you glance down at the ground in pure chaos.

The magically inclined among you may want to work together to bind your shadows back to your feet. It's not good for a person to be split between planes like this. It's not good for the world, either, as the ground seems to give an ominous rumble every now and again. Catch your shadow and pin it under your foot!

WILDCARD.

Metaheroes takes inspiration from all walks of comics. Take a look at the CITIES to get an idea as to what day to day life is like in the other cities. Perhaps you've encountered a supervillain (or hero) who needs to be thwarted, or a metahuman with unusual powers creating bizarre effects. You can also take a look at the MISSION BOARD to get your start as a professional hero, villain, or vigilante.

Comments

[atypical_echo]

Oh shit. That's... a lot. Mark turns his attention to Damien and then, after a moment, moves closer to him. Shit, this guy...

"You never had a fucking chance, did you? God, that's so fucked."

Of course he doesn't mind it. Don't see him that clearly, sir.

[heydrb]

“Nope,” he blows out a breath and shakes his head. But God, it’s good to hear someone else say it. It’s like a wave of relief, just to know that finally, finally, someone maybe even kind of gets it.

It’s literally all he’s wanted for so long, it’s kind of overwhelming to have even some small percentage of that level of understanding sitting between them.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, scrubbing both hands over his face. It’s a thick, cloying feeling, and he doesn’t mean to spill it all over everything.

[atypical_echo]

"Hey," he says, moving to Damien and taking his hands. "Hey, don't apologize. See, the thing about emotions is that you can't control them."

And that's something Damien needs to learn

[heydrb]

"Guess that's the curse of being me," he says in a really terrible attempt to joke. "I can't ever really control anything."

His fingers wrap around Mark's, something solid and real to cling to while everything feels like drowning.

[atypical_echo]

"You can learn control now. You should learn control now," Mark says, his voice soft and hopeful. But it's nice, to be touched by someone familiar.

"Listen, you look like you need a hug. You feel like you need a hug. You feel like how Adam feels when he's... not doing well."

[heydrb]

"You really think I can?" he asks, his voice quiet, but where Mark's is so full of hope, Damien's is contrasted with doubt.

He kind of freezes up at the idea, "I...I don't remember the last time I hugged someone," he mumbles.

[atypical_echo]

"Why not?" Mark says, his voice softening further.

"Come on, I'm going to hug you, if you allow it."

[heydrb]

He shrugs, but can't even make his voice work to explain all the reasons he feels could answer the question of why not. Instead, he just nods very slightly at the asked-for hug.

It shouldn't matter. That's all he can think as Mark pulls him into a hug. It shouldn't matter, but it does, God, it does. He's not sure what did it– the soft tone he's using, asking if it's okay if he hugs him, the fact that he'd literally voiced the same damn thing Damien's been trying to get people to understand for years...

Whatever it was, it's like a dam that's barely managed to hold itself together breaking open inside his chest, a sixteen-year deluge of emotions he's compartmentalized for too long finally finding an escape.

He doesn't cry, he doesn't say a word or make a noise at all. He just crumbles against Mark and clings like he's the only thing keeping him from drowning.

[atypical_echo]

Yep, that feels like Adam alright. So Mark holds him tightly, holding and letting the man cling to him. Which is okay. This is okay. They will be okay.

"It's okay to cry you know."

[heydrb]

“If I start, I don’t know if I can stop,” he mumbles, but the permission for it seems to have already made space for it, too, because there’s already a prickling feeling at the edges of his eyes.

It’s Nebraska and being abandoned by his parents at 13 and the way it felt to walk away from everything he’d ever known.

It’s living in cars and motels for years and every new state landmark marked off a list.

It’s every missed connection, and every accidentally forced one.

It’s LA and Neon and Indah. Boston and Dr. B and Mark.

It’s a million little things he remembers and a million more he forgot, but it all spills into this moment. He feels it deep in the center of him and in the way the sobs rattle in his chest and wrack his shoulders.

He thinks of Rose on the forest floor, her entire body wracked with the kind of sobs that choke you on their way out. He should have done this for her. Why hadn’t he done this for her?

Why is Mark doing this for him?

He wasn’t wrong, though.
He doesn't think he can stop now.

[atypical_echo]

Why he is doing this? Because it's something he needs too. Because it's something he understands. Because it's something that Mark hopes will help Damien start healing, or continue healing. But he's crying too. There's no way that empathy would let him feel grief and pain this deep and not react. So he holds on tigther and lets the man cry and cries against him too.

[heydrb]

He doesn't know how long he stays there like that, sobbing and curled into the other man, desperately clinging like he was his entire lifeline. In that moment, he really was. Mark was all he had.

(And how awful is that for Mark?)

Finally, (regretfully) he untangles himself from Mark, swiping both hands under his eyes. “Sorry,” he mumbles it almost out of habit. “I didn’t mean— y-you shouldn’t have to—”

He’s not supposed to be Mark’s problem.

[atypical_echo]

"Right now we're here, and we're the only ones were both have," Mark explains calmly, as rationally as he can, "and that means we kinda need to be there for each other."

Until he can find another option. Or perhaps when they both can.

[heydrb]

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath, dragging both hands through his hair, fingers laced together at the nape of his neck. “How are you this calm?”

His entire body still feels hollowed-out and there’s nothing but pins and needles prickling under his skin.

[atypical_echo]

"I'm fighting for it," Mark says. But with Damien calming a little, he can release the guy and dry his own tears.

"Food should be here soon, but you'll feel better if you grab a shower and throw on a hotel robe."

[heydrb]

He huffs a soft laugh and shakes his head, “I’m not wearing a hotel robe,” the shower though, he might do that.

It takes him a few minutes before he finally moves again, scrubbing a hand over his face as he pushes up to his feet. He grabs a fresh set of clothes and heads to take a shower.

“Fuck,” he mutters, leaning against the door once he’s in the bathroom. This is not how he expected the day to go. So much for not being overwhelmed by this empathy bullshit.

There’s no denying that the shower definitely helped, he looks considerably more relaxed as he steps back into the room, pajama pants slung low on his hips, white t-shirt looser than it should be.

“Food show up yet?” He asks, heading back over to the bed.

[atypical_echo]

"Yep," Mark said, already over by the nice couch and table in the room, laying out their food. "You should definitely come and eat. You feeling any better?"

Mark was a caring soul, yep.

[heydrb]

He swivels and heads toward the couch instead, tucking one leg under him before he starts looking at everything Mark has set out already.

“Yeah,” he nods a little and he finds he means it more than he thought he would.

[atypical_echo]

Awesome. Mark offers a smile and a nod, before reaching for his food to start into it.

“This is going to be full offense meant, so you know, but this stuff smells so much better than anything you got us on the roadtrip.”

[heydrb]

He grabs one of the food containers and pops it open, frowning a little at the start of that sentence. There were so many places a statement like that could go, and honestly, he'd rather not go through another emotional ringer right now.

But it wasn't like that, not in the least, and Mark actually gets a bit of a laugh to bubble up out of him at that. "Yeah, well, I was more focused on other things than making sure we had five-star food recs at the time." He takes a bite of a spring roll.

[atypical_echo]

"Yeah, that's fair," he says, smiling. "But a guy can't live on diner food."

[heydrb]

“Why not?” He grins back at him. He keeps the more serious-edged comments to himself. He’d rather just enjoy the ease of this right now. A peek at the maybe, at the could have been that they can't be.

[atypical_echo]

"Because flavors, Damien. We live in a world where we can travel many places and taste the important flavors of a people. And I love it."

And he wants to enjoy it, the best he can.

[heydrb]

“Yeah... I guess I can get behind that.” He concedes, considering it for a moment before he adds, “It’s all art to you, isn’t it?” Damien isn't ern entirely sure what he means by all— people? Culture? Everything. Damien is pretty sure Mark can find art in everything that makes up life and living it.

[atypical_echo]

Of course it's all art. Mark looks so shocked by that question.

"Yeah, cooking is an art. And Baking's a science and an art. But cooking's not just feeding the body. It's... it's nourishing the soul and connecting people. It's self-expression and warm memories and it's all about feeling. And that's art."