metamemes | TEST DRIVE MEME

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!test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to

metaheroes! You do not need an invite in order to play on the test drive meme.

Test Drive threads can be used as game canon and can be treated as your character's arrival to the game. The first Arrival event differs from this Test Drive Meme and takes place a week later which also gives you the option to start fresh.

The first application round is closed to friends of the moderators. If you are interested in joining the game and do not know anyone involved, you can reach out to the mod team via here to request an invite for the February app round.

CRASH LANDING

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.

Bad ones still occur every now and again. Something big and bombastic that shatters the peace that the world has cultivated over the years. But it’s rare. Where there was once terror any time a psychic or a precognitive seer predicted the future, people often simply shrug and make mental note to ensure they've renewed their meta-anomaly insurance.

After all, the Guilds have always been good about reporting when something big was happening well before it actually happened.

And so imagine the surprise when the sky splits open over Little Love, Kansas in the early hours of the morning on January 4th.

No one sees it coming. Especially not smack dab in the middle of Kansas.

Little Love is a small town — really more a handful of connected streets than an actual city. A gas station and a water tower proudly welcome drivers into town off the interstate, and a statue of its greatest hero, Featherweight, stands proudly in the middle of its tiny central park. Crops and cows sprawl as far as the eye can see in every direction. This is the place people go to get away from it all, the kind of place where nothing is ever supposed to happen.

Awareness hits you in a rush. So does the ground. You barely register it hurtling towards you before you make impact. Whatever surface you strike - the pavement, the frozen fields, someone's shed - is pulverized, but somehow, you're unharmed.

You're not alone, either. All around you are others who fell picking themselves up from their own craters, equally and impossibly undamaged by the impact that should have pulverized you.

Perhaps they know what's happening. The town is still and quiet, there's a chance to speak now in what is surely the calm before the storm.

As you move through the sleepy town, it comes awake. Lights flick on. Townspeople step outside in their pajamas and nightgowns to find the source of the commotion. Some grab blankets to offer to the newcomers who clearly aren't dressed for a midwestern winter, but they won't go as far as to invite anyone inside and quickly step back once blankets are accepted. They appear quite apprehensive and seem to be keeping their distance.

TOO MUCH POWER

It's nothing personal: new metas rarely have full control of their abilities. The fact that you all just came tumbling down form the sky makes it pretty clear to them that something strange is afoot. Confluences almost always make for chaos, and newly powered people don't handle that kind of stress well.

Perhaps you're one of the lucky ones, who have already had powers or who are capable of taking this in stride.

But perhaps you're not. Perhaps energy crackles within you, and before you know what's happening, your new powers are activating. You don't know how to control these. Perhaps your new eyebeams suddenly blast from previously unpowered eyeballs, destroying the water tower. Perhaps your new ability to shift density has you stumbling back and disappearing into the walls of houses or dropping through the earth.

And it's not just those of you who fell from the sky. Some of the citizens appear to be experiencing similar problems. A scared preteen phases through you. A farmer who fused with one of his bulls rampages through Main Street, destroying cars and street lights and terrifying those he once named friends.

Cause problems, or step up as a hero and help minimized the damage, or do your very best to calm down and coach these new metahumans.

STRANGER THAN FICTION

As the energies fueling this Confluence reach their conclusion, something smashes through the local library's roof, gleaming in the moonlight. Smoke chokes the air, made thicker by magic. Perhaps that is why you struggle to process the cybernetic dragon clawing its way free of the wreckage. It lets out a mindbending scream and lurches skyward, and in its wake other impossible storybook creatures follow suit. Ghosts, goblins and - Pinnochio?

The frightened folks of Little Love freeze in place and the creatures careen towards them, intent on causing mischief and mayhem.

And as the dragon soars above your heads, each flap of its wings send a shower of glowing words falling down upon your heads. If one of these words touches your skin a digitized voice begins to speak — once upon a time — and the world around you flickers like static. The town falls away and is instead replaced with a watercolor landscape. As the narrator continues, the story takes the shape of a children's book of your choosing, and you've been thrust into the role of the protagonist.

Only it doesn't seem quite right. Did Hansel and Gretel's witch always wear form-fitting spandex? Did Little Red Riding Hood always have a plasma rifle? You're fairly certain The Little Mermaid didn't take place in outer space! Yet all around you, these modified, blockbuster versions of traditional tales spin to life out of voxels. The stories each follow their own winding tale, but one thing is consistent: it's a classic you know, but with a sharp sci-fi twist.

Mercifully, you're not alone. Whatever this is seems to have grabbed people in pairs, and so you've got a partner to work through this. Perhaps you can use your knowledge of the original tale to speedrun it to its conclusion, or perhaps you'd rather just blast your way to the end using your newfound abilities.

If you were lucky enough to be untouched by those letters, congratulations: you're left watching those unfortunate enough to be touched blink out of existence. This leaves you and whoever else got out unscathed standing before a horde of cartoony sci-fi villains intent on wrecking havoc on the already ravaged town. The townspeople don't seem to have any real defense against them, leaving it up to you and your fellow fallers to protect what little town they have left.

The dragon makes its way back to the library, landing with a thunderous boom and roaring again. Clutched in one of it's mighty clawed hands is a glowing book. If fairy tales have taught you anything, it should be that beating the dragon and grabbing its mcguffin is the only guaranteed way to save the day. Go forth, heroes!

AFTERMATH

All the monsters have been dealt with. The people who were caught under the book's spell stumble free as the illusion breaks, either because they finished the tale or because the dragon was felled. Those who helped save the day are celebrated. People cheer, eagerly shake hands and embrace you, expressing their gratitude at simply being alive.

Just when you think you’ve got a handle on your new situation, there's a flash, a rush of energy. You find yourself standing in a large white room. Around you are the other fallers and the townspeople who had just displayed a sudden burst of abilities. All look equally alarmed. Anyone injured in the library fight will find the injuries tingling as energies within the space begin to stabilize you.

A robed figure slumps against the outer side of the glass doors, their hand pressed to the surface and faintly glowing. A second later, a man materializes out of thin air and bends down to check on them. He straightens up and presses the intercom button:
"My name is Atomight, and you're at Alliance HQ. You were all caught in a Confluence and as a result, many of you have developed metahuman abilities. There are power nullifies in place so please don't worry about losing control. And the space is enchanted and will give you whatever comforts you ask of it.

"We won't keep you here long. I apologize for this, I truly do. This is not at all the way we want to welcome new metas. But we need to ensure that your condition is stable, and there are far more of you than we could ever have anticipated... This one wasn't on the books. I've got to go back to help, but I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise."
And then he's gone.

The room responds to sentient intent, materializing whatever you wish from thin air and rearranging the space to fit whatever is brought in. Before long, a massive spa-like bathroom fills the far corner. Rows and rows of doors spring up, leading to little cubbies sporting beds as soft as dreams. A chest of drawers spits out the most luxurious clothing you can imagine. Tables spring up groaning under incredible amounts of food.

Ask it and it provides. The only thing it won't give you is an exit.

The room will keep you safe from outside forces and put a cap on those new hard to control abilities. It will also stop you from killing each other, should that urge be one you struggle with. The room is attuned hostility and responds to the intent to harm. The moment you think to lash out at someone, you'll find yourself hauled away into a quiet time out corner.

Might as well grab a bite to eat and mingle a little. Ask the room for a magical puppy to pet so you can calm down a little, or ask a stranger for a nice warm hug to cope with a very strange and stressful day.

Atomight eventually returns. This time, he steps inside. Evidently, you're all safe. His smile is warm and apologetic, but he's here now to answer your questions and ask a few of his own to gain an understanding of what has happened.

WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE

You're not going home anytime soon. That becomes all too clear in the hours following your arrival. Reports are coming in from across the world - dimension hoppers can't open portals back home, time travellers are temporally locked to this point in time. Something is wrong and it's going to take a little longer to fix it. A week at most, they assure you, refusing any offers for your help.

And so 24 hours after your arrival, the Guardian Alliance makes arrangements for somewhere less... well, like their gym.

The Diadem Hotel is a luxury hotel usually reserved for the obscenely wealthy. It's 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 Alliance feels it only fair to offer you a little comfort on their dime. Everything is complimentary, and everyone gets an alliance credit card to spend on entertainment, clothing, and whatever other necessities they might need. The cards appear to have an obscenely high limit and there doesn't seem to be an expectation for you to pay it back.

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 latest Mystic Mike movie, a franchise wherein a fictional male stripper gets magical powers and begins fighting crime using a pole as a staff.

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.

CLIFFNOTES

Your character has been dropped into the farming city of Little Love, Kansas.

Characters may lose control of their powers. You're free to destroy as much of the town as you'd like.

A giant cybernetic dragon rips out of the library, freeing a ton of sci-fi infused storybook villains. The villains start destroying the already wrecked town. Characters can step up and stop them, or take advantage of the chaos to do something nefarious.

The cybernetic dragon holds a magical book that is the key to releasing the characters trapped in those twisted tales. We won't be threading this battle out, but please feel free to assume it falls and 'powers down' multiple times.

Characters may also get pulled into classic children's stories if they are hit with the word shower from the dragon's wings. These stories have a sci-fi twist to them. You're free to choose whichever classic tale you'd like and warp it as you go along. They'll be released from the story if they reach the proper conclusion (eg. Hanzel and Gretel escape the witch's candy spaceship) or break it in a fundamental way that means it cannot continue along the intended route (eg. you shoot the witch with a ray gun before she ever gets her hands on them). They need to get to the end of the story to escape it. Everyone will be released when the dragon is destroyed.

NPCs arrive on the scene just after the dragon falls. Player characters (and the residents of the town who have gained powers) are magically transported to the Guardian Alliance's headquarters. They will be held in a magical room for a period of about a day, and then will be transitioned to the Diadem Hotel.

Characters are given luxury suites at the hotel, and a credit card with an unlimited balance. They're free to mingle, eat, shop, and check out the world they've been dropped into.

You can talk with Atomight here. While we will not be directly threading the encounters out, we will summarize any answers and responses he will give.

The threads in this Test Drive Meme threads can/will be carried over into game canon. If you do not get a chance to tag into the test drive, don't worry! The game's opening event will be a Confluence taking place a week later.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I don't know, David, I think I heard about you having some costumes that put Disco-wing to shame," he said, but he softened, relaxing a little. "I guess even the Porter couldn't break the whole temporal resistance thing."

He doesn't step in to pick up the cat, not wanting to test David's powers and control with possible skin-to-skin contact.

"Should I even ask how much I've missed?"

"These are clearly lies and I will not accept them," David smiled. Then be pet the cat lightly.

"Well, I have a lot more control if you're worried about that. Things got weird for a while, and I spent a lot of time tightening my control."

"I wouldn't want to test whether migraine-free hugs are go unless there's a way to deal with the possible downsides," Bart pointed out. He always felt a little guilty about that, even though neither of them were really at fault. "Besides you can tell that little demon missed you.

"And things getting weird is pretty much normal for us. I don't remember much of anything between grabbing a port one day for a nice slow visit and suddenly, falling from the sky. I never quite appreciated how nice it was to have a convenient side of an office building to grab traction running down. I mean, I can manage, but that field isn't getting planted any time soon with the wind-damage."

"Bart, by the end of my tenure in that world I was wearing crop tops and sometimes even mesh shirts. Trust me, control is something Judd made sure I walked away with."

Aka get over here and hug him you punk.

"I know what you mean. The crash was unpleasant."

He smiled at that, and then he's burying his face against the taller hero in a rib-cracking hug. It just felt good, and sure, he made sure to get the fur-monster out of the way before getting too tight, but for most people, the movement was one of those blink-and-you-miss-it kind of things.

"I barely managed not to add tornado touching down to the disaster, but I did whip up a fair bit of wind." It was easier to go for an air cushion and use his powers, but he didn't have the time or warning to make it of the less damaging kind. "I don't think the guy who owns that farm will talk to me, but if he will, I'm totally going to see what I can do about getting it back in order. Unless that big guy gets there first. Atom-smasher or whatever."

As if Bart doesn't know EXACTLY what Atomight's name is.

Edited 2022-01-07 01:45 (UTC)

There it was. David smiled and wrapped his arms around Bart as well. As long as his friend was willign to stay there, David wasn't going to let him go. One of his best friends, and finally he was safe to touch.

"I'm sure we can figure out a way to help the person. I'll even help you."

The furball gets in on the action, climbing over to David's shoulder to rub his head against his cheek as Bart starts to pull back. He would stay longer, but talking is kinda silly like that.

"It's mostly that I know how much work goes into a farm, and how hard it can be. Hard not to, given one of my best friends. I'd never even seen a cow in person before that first trip to the family farm."

And you can probably imagine his first cowpie experience was something the team will never let him forget.

Awwww, good kitty. David smiles. This was all good.

"Well, I don't know it as much, but I can learn."

"There's nothing you can't do. At least if you want to," Bart points out with a smirk.

"So, want to read me in on what you've figured out?"

He smiles and pulls back, passing over the kitten, before moving to sit down.

"Been researching. There is WAY more active hero faction and villain faction here. Some sort of reformation group, but I don't know how much I believe that."

Kat-El makes a mrowl of displeasure at being removed and immediately hops back to reclaim David's shoulder when he's seated, and Bart can't help a chuckle.

"I think the little demon missed you."

But he sits as well, figuring if the kitten is going to cuddle and shed on someone else for a bit, he can relax some.

"They almost never stay that way, do they? Rotting from the inside if not actually corrupt from the start. Not sure anyone who chooses to become a supercriminal is really going to go for the crap that is being a real hero. Way more shit thrown at you than adoration."

Oh no, the kitty was definitely affectionate. And David smiled in delight at that realization. To be liked and welcomed was nice.

"I think he did. I missed him too. And you."

Still, he has a lot to think about.

"I really don't know. It's hard to say. For all we know it could be a polite public fiction."

Bart doesn't want to go into how he apparently came straight here, with no new experiences from home. That would be too painful. To admit there wasn't a world to go home to. Not for him. He'd suspected, but that pretty much clinched it.

"I guess I should be glad he hitched a ride with me, somehow."

A lot to think about is certain.

"You'll have to link me what you've found once I get...something. Never thought I'd miss the comms."

There was probably a world for him to go home to and he just hadn't yet. Sometimes people got pulled out of time.

"I can undersand that. I feel guilty because Ruby left me her dog, and sadly he didn't come along."

Still he offers a sad smile at that point from Bart. David missed it too.

"Secure communications was a plus."

"I'm sure we can probably figure something out. I mean, you're a genius and all."

He frowned a little at that. "Well, Kat-El was hitching a ride at the time, so that might be part of it. That's part of why I did the whirlwind landing. I didn't want either of us to go splat."

"You think highly of me. I'm not sure I've earned that, but okay."

Well, that's an interesting point. And David couldn't argue that it wasn't important to have caution.

"You're a really good cat-dad."

"Kon's the one who found him. It's not all on me. But with his issues he'd be overlooked in the system, or worse." While with the two of them, the kitten might be acting almost like a normal cat, they both knew he'd be a trembling mess or running for the nearest place to hide the instant anything changed.

Bart couldn't say no to the little guy any more than Kon had.

"And assuming tech is similar to what you've already learned, you can probably do things with it that are plenty secure. I'd help..." Learning 31st century science, math, and technology does help from time to time.

"Still a good cat-dad," David insists. He remembered Kon's want to use their space in people's minds to help stray animals and rescues. So he had respected it.

"I'm definitely going to adapt to the tech here. I'm a technopath now, in addition to the rest."

Bart drops the topic of the kitten. If they could use celebrity to broaden people's minds and show them new ways to be responsible, he felt obligated to try. Being a hero was a lot more than just saving the day.

"I hope it wasn't as difficult a talent to acquire as the psychometry," Bart said. "Should I ask how things have been? Sounds like I missed a fair bit."

Bart's not wrong. Without Judd the psychometry might well have killed David.

"I... would actually rather not talk a lot about how things have been. Bad. They were bad. Greater depth is probably beyond me today because I had a hand in a lot of the bad that happened to me, so I'm not pleased with myself."

That earns a sympathetic smile.

"I need to pick up things for me and the fur-monster there, anyway. Can't just pull clothes from the Speed Force, after all." Not the most graceful of subject changes, but it was better than nothing.

"Think he's going to let me walk away from you?"

Well, picking up things earns a smile. David rises to his feet.

"Let's find a pet store then. Just in case he can't handle being apart. It's nice to see friends after all. Really nice. You've always cared about me as a friend, and I like that, Bart."

"You're family, David. As close as." Which is all that matters. Especially given his complicated relationships with the people he's actually related to.

"I wonder if they'll have extra small harnesses. He probably shouldn't wear the same one all the time. And I guess I'll have to see about getting him certified as an emotional support animal or something so he can go more places."

Family. David smiles at that. Yeah, he'll happily take that. Speedsters (from his perspective) gave a ton of fuck about family. He'd wear that title gladly.

"If they don't, I can probably make one for you. And I can help with certification. Technopathy includes hacking after all. But you'd want to actually put him through a program too if you can. Make sure he can behave, because it's people abusing that system with poorly behaved 'support animals' that can lead to places banning them."

"You know he's the one needing emotional support, not giving it, right?" Bart teases. "Honestly, we've done a lot of training just because the halter and lead is not really optional if he wants to come along with one of us. Otherwise I think he'd just stay in some hole somewhere all day."

Being separated too early by getting trapped had done a number on the kitten, and he'd probably never be properly socialized despite spending time around people.

"But yeah, I totally get that. People slap a blanket on their dog without doing any of the miles of obedience required to keep their animal from being a nuisance."

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