metamemes | TEST DRIVE MEME: MAY EDITION

Entry tags:

!test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME: MAY EDITION

TEST DRIVE MEME

A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces. Typically, a Confluence only occurs in one place at any given time. Typically.

These are not typical times.

Most of the Starfallen will arrive in Excelsior, Washington, slipping from the sky one by one, needing to be helped as they come floating down. To many citizens in Excelsior – individuals who are far from fond of metahumans – their arrival is a sign of bad things to come. It’s always a sign of bad things to come. This time, however, the bad things don’t come in the typical sequence. Instead, they’re dealing with a problem when the Starfallen begin to unwittingly arrive. What’s that problem? Plants with a rather problematic taste for flesh.

While Excelsior is hoping for spring to actually stick on the horizon, they’re warding off plants left and right. At least none of the plants seem to be able to spit fire – uh, yet?

In the midwestern part of the country, a huge barrage of rain has begun to settle over the land. Rain like this isn’t normal. Stormfronts usually keep moving forward, but this isn’t. And while rain isn’t a bad thing, this rain … is a deluge. A flood upon floods. Some Starfallen individuals will be showing up in the middle of this, arriving in both Little Love and Central City. Hope they can keep their heads above water!

Making matters worse is that everything seems a bit – planned? No, that’s not the right word. Like it’s all happened before. Or happening again. People all over are definitely noticing a strange uptick in déjà vu. Most worrying is how it seems to be happening everywhere.

EXCELSIOR

Ah, Excelsior – the city that doesn’t ask “why” something should be explored, but how quickly it can be explored. If only someone there had developed a swift measure to deal with a sudden influx of killer plants! The good news is that these plants haven’t killed anyone – not yet, anyway – but there is all the time in the world for that to change.

As the Starfallen arrive, they’re unlikely to notice the plants, and instead will see technological marvels all around them. Although Excelsior isn’t fond of Starfallen, they like the idea of welcoming them and getting them the hell out as quickly as possible. This philosophy results in all of the Starfallen being guided down to the ground, with further instructions awaiting them once they’re on two feet. (Or four. No one’s judging!) But once they land, they’re likely to notice that things aren’t the way they’re meant to be.

After all, someone in Excelsior failed to ask “why it’s bad to create an incredibly unlikely strain of plants that is genetically inspired by snapdragons, the flowers from those plumber games, and piranhas,” and instead went ahead with “how quickly can I do it?” Their experiment proved to be far too successful, aided by cutting-edge bioengineering technology.

Even though all Starfallen are encouraged to depart for the Midwest after they receive their teleportation devices, it’s apparent that the people of Excelsior need help. Right now, their chilly reception can easily be written off as a symptom of what’s happening. Dealing with newcomers at a time like this? Preposterous! People are injured from wild, flesh-eating plants. Obviously!

So, kind Starfallen – whether you’ve just arrived or came by when you heard word of the Confluence of trouble – will you give these dour folk the hand they so desperately need?

THE MIDWEST

Elsewhere, both Little Love and Central City are experiencing a flood of problems. Most of the problems are the result of the flood. While Little Love is known to be the quieter of the cities in this Confluence-ridden world, it finds itself dealing with a torrential downpour that it’s never seen before. Meteorologists quickly note that this is unnatural. All the way from Kansas to Illinois to Michigan there is rain, rain for as far as the eye can see. Flood warnings have no end in sight, and the people in these cities have asked for help from outside. If this rain doesn’t stop, all summer crops will be at risk!

The source of these problems? A Confluence. More specifically: a five-year-old girl who was born in Little Love just got news that her father died in an accident. Combine that with the incoming Confluence and the girl unwittingly unleashed her sadness upon the land.

Anyone investigating would learn that the rain began in Little Love, right before it began to spread upward and outward from the little town. Soon, Kansas, and then the entire Midwest, would feel the impact of her grief. Even when she sleeps, it doesn’t go away – her pain is a constant, after all. Finding her is key. No one can truly prevent a child’s grief, but perhaps they can help her realize her impact on the world and get her newly-arrived power under control.

DIADEM HOTEL

Whether you’ve gone to investigate the rather moist trouble or you’re just looking for some shut-eye, you’ve got a place that’s waiting for you. Need to clean up some plant-induced wounds? It’s time to hit the LUXURY HOTEL to ease any concerns.

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 for just a small taste. 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 outlet shops 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 a film called BARKS OF THE DEAD, a story about a zombified dog who protects a small family during the zombie apocalypse. Despite its taste for other dogs’ brains, this dog is fiercely loyal and will do anything for its owners.

EVERYWHERE: DÉJÀ VU

Less obvious and more innocuous are the strange stints of déjà vu all over. At first, it might seem like it’s a familiar thing you’ve seen before, but then you’re certain that you’ve ordered those chicken tenders before. Wait, you haven’t even been to this city before, much less this restaurant.

The feeling of déjà vu isn’t just that. Whole days will begin to feel like they’re repeating – surely they’ve solved that rain problem? Or the plant problem? Didn’t you hear that it happened?

Anyone keen to take notes might want to – assuming you haven’t just gotten that you did and they’ve been lost to time.

CLIFF NOTES.

➢ New arrivals will be appearing in Excelsior, Little Love, or Central City – with the bulk of them arriving in Excelsior. Their arrival will be expected and handled by a number of odd pieces of technology that help them as they fall from the sky itself. None of the locals will be happy to see the arrivals, but they’ll be so frazzled that they won’t be able to give them their usual chilly welcome. Vicious plants are on the loose and it’s not a meta’s fault. This might be meaningless to newcomers, but anyone who’s old hat at this will know that Excelsior can cause its own problems just fine, thank you.

➢ Arrivals who land in Little Love or Central City will arrive to a lot of rain. This much rainfall can impact the climate, daily life, crops – you name it. Arrivals will also be very, very soggy. If they’d like, they can ignore the trouble in favor of getting answers or heading to the hotel. No one’s obligated to lend a hand.

➢ Current Players are welcome to treat this as a bonus event. These events are canonically happening within the game but can be largely ignored if you'd prefer to use the month for personal plots. You can tag into the TDM, reference these prompts in network posts, or use them in your own logs.

➢ As for the time stuff, feel free to treat it as a wobbly time event! Mess with memories, get a character caught in the same day, or even just make someone feel like they’ve suddenly acquired precognition as a power. The sky’s the limit!

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

𝐸𝑋𝐶𝐸𝐿𝑆𝐼𝑂𝑅

[ Midnighter's looked better. He has little of his original uniform intact outside the leather cowl, steel-tipped boots, and most of his trench coat. The rest has been reimagined (read: stolen) using a new pair of black denim jeans and an off-the-rack black shirt sporting a very cliche Hot Lips logo.

It has little to do with the herbal outbreak, but he's in no position to receive charity as he understands it. Even if a guild had picked him up, his response would have been the same—a middle finger. Not that a lack of clothes has ever stopped him. In fact, you'd never know he had recently escaped the jaws of death in the belly of a plane rigged to detonate. Outside some healing bruising along his jaw, he is whistling the opening number from Little Shop of Horrors while he squeezes a stolen can of turpentine all over several vines holding a one storey brick building hostage. ]

Got a light?

[ It's asked to anyone who comes within a few meters of his gardening. The plan is to set it on fire and let the flames lead him to their owner. Sure, he could track down the boss itself, but this'll be more entertaining. ]

𝑆𝑈𝑃𝐸𝑅 𝐶𝐼𝑁𝐸𝑀𝐴

[ He learned this trick from a kid of all people when he was still living on the streets early in his new life. Find a large fountain drink someone's tossed in the trash on their way out and get a free refill. And if you want to get spicy, pull out one of the popcorn buckets and complain to concessions that a kid knocked it over for a fresh batch.

That's how Midnighter's living large homeless in Central City watching a late night screening of Barks of the Dead. He's taken over one of the back rows, very long legs resting in the divot between two seats in front of him.

It's a terrible fucking movie, but that's where its charm lies. The gory practical effects are so entertaining in spite of the the shitty dialog that Midnighter is having a blast even if he already knows every beat this story is going to hit. ]

I have a new goal in life... [ It's said to no one in particular as he watches the dog in zombie make up lick one of the kids' faces. ]

𝐶𝐸𝑁𝑇𝑅𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝐼𝑇𝑌 𝐶𝐿𝐸𝐴𝑁 𝑈𝑃

[ Give a Dark Knight cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art artillery all you want; there is truly nothing so special as a heavy iron pipe gripped tight in a leather glove. Why reinvent the wheel, ladies and gentlemen?

It sings across the concrete of the sidewalk where Midnighter drags the curved head behind him. It's a good accompaniment to the screams and hollers of his prey. Some punk who tried to mug a civilian in front of a reformed psychopath on the prowl.

"I didn't take anything, man!" he hollers down the street, his voice echoing off alleyway walls. ]

Oh, I know.

[ "So, wh—Look, I'm done! I, I'm goin' home! Won't find me on the street again!" Try as he might, he's getting no further away from Midnighter no matter how he tries to disappear into the black of a back alley. ]

I think you've got the wrong idea here. I'm not a Santa Claus hero type, handing out coal and a disappointed parent face to the bad kids. Checking next year for a redemption arc. [ The mugger ends up trapping himself in a blocked alley as Midnighter knew he would. ] I'm more like... Krampus. A devil in black ready to slide my fist down your throat like a chimney and pull out your spine. Don't get hung up on the logistics, it'll work.

[ That's when he starts screaming harder for help, to which Midnighter raises his pipe to silence him. ]

𝑂𝑈𝑅𝑃𝑂𝑊𝐸𝑅𝑆

un: m
hey fb marketplace
m here looking for:
bactine
butterfly closures
razor (straight pref but im flexible)

would (and will likely) kill for:
black pants w 34-36 inseam

up for bartering or side quests (violence is 👍)

𝑊𝐼𝐿𝐷𝐶𝐴𝑅𝐷

[ In spite of his disadvantages as an Unaligned, Midnighter is no stranger to living on the streets, off the grid, and scrounging for what he needs. He'll find places he won't be disturbed when he needs to sleep, like the roofs of low traffic buildings, public parks, highway overpasses, and the like.

Feel free to find him resting or working the streets as a murderous vigilante with little need of a secret identity. Or ask me for something else on slanndalous ]

Edited 2023-07-13 22:58 (UTC)

( it's none of his business. it really, really isn't. because jason doesn't give a shit about a stupid mugger who doesn't even know how to steal shit off of people the right way without getting caught. he'd care more if he was smart about it, because it's the smart ones who become a real problem.

but he's also plenty bored. and a bored jason todd usually leads to making poor decisions. like getting in the middle of krampus here and his need to beat the hell out of some idiot with a metal rod. jason's not down in the alley, but he is up on the rooftops; there's the brown leather jacket, and under it a light cotton red hoodie he's got pulled over his head. because some asshole stole his name, his look, and the city that was declared as bat-turf. and then some idiot went and started a fight with the alliance, therefore burning his new id.

so stupid hoodie and a domino mask under it is the best he's got, until he pulls out something else.

one of the guns strapped to his thighs gets unholstered, barrel pointed straight for the shoulder of the idiot who can't steal shit to save his life, and jason fires. it's a rubber bullet, and he's fairly certain (read: knows) they're probably supposed to be ricocheted off of surfaces, but jason likes this way instead. especially when the guy drops hard with another wail, hand raising to clutch at his shoulder. which is when jason goes to fire another round, this time aimed for his calf.

sorry to interrupt your fun, leather cowl'd krampus. sometimes it's more fun to fuck with people fucking with other people. )

[ As soon as he hears the hammer released by a firearm, Midnighter stops to reassess just how this will all play out. Intervention wasn't a high outcome on his probability map, but it wasn't zero. The first bullet hits much to Midnighter's surprise, but the computer in his brain won't let the novelty stick around for long. It pulls in every new detail, trajectory, and intention as valuable input to be processed and output with a more accurate portrait of the new challenger that has entered the arena.

The spontaneity of the shot suggest a "wild card" vigilante who does't play by the rules; a punk. The ammunition used, though, that alone tells Midnighter he isn't a bad guy, or that he grew up under a strict moral code that he cannot fully separate from. A few names come to mind when the second bullet finds its target. ]

Of all the people that could use a handicap in our little game, it wasn't him.

Edited 2023-07-15 00:23 (UTC)

Oh, I know.

( but look at him now, so sad on the ground as he screams and yells and begs--not that it's much of a deterrent. if he was a big enough asshole, jason would kick him while he's down anyway. and from the looks of it, he's betting - midnighter doesn't give a shit either. cares even less, given the pipe and the idiot he was chasing after. jason doesn't shoot again, but drops down to sit on the edge of the building. casually, like he has all the time in the world to fuck around here.

because he does.

his gun raises, the side of the barrel knocking against the side of his head gently which would have fit a lot more if he was still wearing the hood. some habits die hard. )

You gonna keep fucking with him anyway, M? Think he's about done, if you ask me. I can pull out my other gun. Take out a kneecap.

Edited 2023-07-15 07:35 (UTC)

[ Now that certainly gets his attention. Violence is his love language, after all. From high above, a young man in a domino mask and a red hoodie sits. And he knows Midnighter, too. ]

I'd rather you save the foreplay for me.

[ He turns back to the man pushing himself away from the pair of them with little success since one calf was cramping from the impact. It takes him just a few long strides to catch up with him, and he carefully steps on his right hand with the sterile precision of a man stepping on a spider. Then with one powerful twist of his ankle, he breaks several metacarpals. ]

Now he's done.

If you wanted to play rough, sweetheart, you could've just called me. ( there's no voice modulator, so the teasing lilt to his voice is clear as day. jason stands, waits while midnighter chases down his prey and fucks up his hand. it's none of jason's business; if the guy's gonna waste time stealing, he may as well just not have a hand at all. and once midnighter has declared he's finished, jason tucks his gun back into it's holster, puts a hand on his hip.

he likes his perch, midnighter can come up here if he decides it's necessary. jason's not moving down. )

You know this is bat territory, don't you? You're gonna piss off the birds, pulling shit like that.

That easy, huh? [ Midnighter shrugs casually at the joke, but boy better hope he doesn't get your number. He's a hard man to shake when he's interested. ] We'll definitely be in touch.

[ For now he's content where they are, even if he doesn't have the higher ground. Looking up has been second nature to him since meeting his ex. The guy could lord above everyone, and he was well within his right. ]

Ohhh, [ It comes out as a heavy growl. ] don't threaten me with a good time. Seems like they could use a hand if I'm the only one out here cleaning up their streets.

[ His smug smile dares Red to prove him wrong. Sounds like he may not consider himself one of Batman's birds at all in this equation. Hard to keep up with that family. ]

Midnighter / DC Comics / Unaligned

central city.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

( central city )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

un: asterous

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Central City

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject