[ Meme ] August-September Test Drive Meme (TDM)

[st_aff]

It's that time again!

→ Comment with a new character you'd like to test out in the game's setting. (put character/canon in subject line pls!)
→ You don't have to be in the game to comment! HI NEW PEOPLE LET US ENABLE YOU.
→ Tag around with new and old characters.
→ App all those characters
→ ???
→ PROFIT!

Holds for current players are here. Current cast list is here. If you're a new player and you'd like to place a 2-week reserve, you can do so here.

* * *

Here, have a few helpful scenarios for test-driving. Feel free to ignore them and make your own.

I.
Wherever you were, you aren't any longer. You took a turn, a step, blinked and you're somewhere else entirely. A long dusty road leads from nowhere to an oasis (or a nightmare, depending on your taste) of pink and bright light in the midst of the scrub desert and there's nothing and no one else in sight. If you linger long enough on the road, one of the Inn's residents will find you, but you feel noticeably drawn to come inside.

The pink and gold lobby looks like a bunny puked Easter everywhere, and the guy at the reservation desk looks a sort of silly putty shade of pinkish grey. He knows you by name and has a room reserved for you, but other than offering you fresh towels, that's all he has to say. Chances are, one of the residents will intercept you before you talk to Darryl the shade. They'll give you a guest basket with toiletries and chocolates and whatever else Caroline thinks a newcomer needs, and explain (nicely) that you're stuck here, but hey, it's not so bad. It's pretty safe, anyway. At least... so far.

II.
The red, gold and gaudy pink of the Copper Cafe overflows with residents. It's morning, the one and only time nearly everyone finds themselves in the same space for a short window before going about their day. The scent of fresh coffee laces the air, mingling with the buttery aroma of fresh baked pastry. The shade who serves as a cook, Kahni, awaits any orders that include chicken (chicken, not eggs), and Carlos has staffed one of the residents who can cook to make anything else you'd like. Kitty's pouring drinks -- no reason not to drink bloody maries or mimosas on your permanent holiday. Grab a spot at the counter or take a seat at an empty table, now that you're a resident too, there's no better way to start your day.

III. Network
[ooc: Our network is text-based and magic journal. No computers yet. You see this suspiciously well-painted image appear in your network-journal. Uh-oh. Someone taught Lillith to meme.]

Comments

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_ripedfingers]

"Familiar?" Another day, Dick might be hurt, but today... well, she didn't look exactly like their Diana, did she, with that sword? But her armor was kickass. "Hm." It wouldn't be the first time there'd been different versions of any of them, especially the big three, around in the world.

"Let me ask you something. Does the name Bruce Wayne mean anything to you?" It was a calculated risk. If she knew Bruce was Bats, then she was all the way in wherever she was from. If she knew his name but didn't know he was Bats, it helped him find a place and time, and he could easily sacrifice his own identity. It didn't mean much here, and if they got out, well, she was Wonder Woman.

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_rongwoman]

Recognition showed on her face. The way the man asked the question was telling and Diana wanted to be careful. Everyone know who Bruce Wayne was, but there were few who knew him as Batman.

"I know of him and what he does," She answered back carefully. "I...occasionally come across his path."

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_ripedfingers]

"Great. Me too." It was Dick being careful when the last thing he wanted in the world was to be careful. "Why don't we take a little walk away from everyone, I'll get you something to cover up, and we can talk?"

He was pretty sure Diana didn't have any body image issues, but Dick... weird as it was, he didn't like the thought of everyone staring at her like a Victoria's Secret model.

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_rongwoman]

Her eyes roamed the lobby and assessed Dick once more. His familiar brought to her a sense of ease she was not sure she liked. She did not know him, and yet she felt as though she should.

"Alright," She said, sensing there was more to the request. "I'll let you lead the way."

Diana didn't think it was a trap, but she would still keep alert and let him lead in case anything funny were to happen.

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_ripedfingers]

"Thank you." He turned his gaze to meet hers and let her see the truth of who he was in his eyes. She'd never needed her lasso for that, and he doubted this version of her would either.

What he showed her in the moment before he turned to lead her toward the gift shop was that she had nothing to fear from him, not now or ever, and that he, at least, felt a kinship with her that ran nearly blood deep. His thank you wasn't arrogant or flippant, but simply itself his gratitude to her for trusting her just these few minutes so that he could do what was right by her.

He led her in quiet, letting her take her measure of their surroundings, and then into the gift shop. "Take whatever suits you," he offered with a broad gesture to take in everything, but he didn't stop talking there. No Diana would wait upon intel while seeing herself properly dressed.

"Our mutual friend raised me. Both as son and an heir. But if I seem familiar, it's probably less owing to what he's taught me than to what you and Clark have. Versions of you, anyway."

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_rongwoman]

Diana began to undress when she found a pastel pink blouse and a dark pencil skirt. It would have to do for now, but it suited her more than much of the other clothes she saw. She did not hide as she changed, but she turned around. She had learned over the years that men, especially, found it hard to be around the naked female body.

"You know Clark." She said. No one knows Clark unless they have reason to

She pulled her hair out of her blouse and began to button.

"So you fight, then," She said as a way to skirt the issue further.

Diana turned as she finished buttoning her blouse up.

"And what do you mean, 'versions of you'." She repeated. "Versions of me, you mean?"

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_ripedfingers]

Dick didn't find it hard to be around any naked bodies, especially beautiful female bodies. He also didn't find it hard to show 'eyes up here' respect when that beautiful body belonged to a friend, mentor, and fellow soldier. While she changed, he leaned against one of the display tables and continued the conversation.

"I know Clark, I know Bruce, I know Arthur... If you want, I can give you an entire list of Justice League names that you and I both probably know, but it's not going to answer the question of who I am and how I know you." Again, it was all said in the friendly manner of someone who knew her well and probably loved her almost as well. "So let's fix that, okay?"

When she turned, he offered her his hand. "I'm Dick Grayson. When I 'fight', I'm called Nightwing, after one of the heroes of Krypton. Bruce, Clark, and the Diana Prince that I know have been my mentors and teachers since I was eleven years old.

"And I haven't been here long enough to be sure, but I'd guess what's going on here is some kind of time distortion event. People are definitely being plucked from various alternate timelines to be in this place, so yes, versions of you."

For the moment, Dick declined to mention that the last time this happened, his best friend, Diana's sister-playmate-clone, had been trapped in a different bubble until Superboy punched it open. Somehow, he didn't think that was going to help her settle, and if they were stuck, there would be plenty of time to tell her.

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_rongwoman]

Diana decided to reach over for a souvenir pencil and she easily put her hair up with it to complete a more 'secretarial' look to her warrior image a moment ago. When she regarded him again, it was with a hint of melancholy. To be in front of someone who you had apparently mentored, but had not met yet or did not know was a complicated feeling.

"It is nice to meet you, Dick Grayson." She said, smiling. "I'm sorry I don't remember you, but I'd like to think maybe we just haven't met yet in my own time."

That Bruce saw something in Dick told Diana a lot.

"Are you part of the Justice League where you're from, then?" She asked.

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_ripedfingers]

"It's all right," Dick reassured her immediately as she apologized. "I don't think we'll have any trouble getting to know each other again." He smiled, his most charming smile, and his most welcoming. "And until then, if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to talk to me. Even if you don't know me yet, I know you, and there's very little I wouldn't do for you."

Which wasn't really an answer to her question, was it, Dick? But he wasn't the slightest bit sheepish about that.

"As to Justice League, I'm sort of a reserve member. I help when I'm needed. A few years ago, I had to step in to lead it, because a bunch of the regular Leaguers got trapped in Atlantis a millennium or so in the past.

"But most of the time, I lead my own team. The Titans. We're the second generation. Some of us started out as sidekicks, and the rest are relatives of the Leaguers or friends we made growing up."

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_rongwoman]

"Side-kicks." She said, testing the word out. "I would think to call you something else, if you were helping."

Side-kicks seems.. less than.

"I'm glad you have your own team," She continued. "But saddened to know there is such a need for two teams of people to fight the horrors in the world. Has it really gotten that bad?"

Re: Diana/Wonder Woman | DCU

[st_ripedfingers]

"Sidekicks is mostly what the villains called us or the newspapers, and sometimes it was what we called ourselves," he explained, because this was easier to answer than her other question. "It's something we called ourselves when we were together as a group, a way of expressing the frustrations that came with being the junior partner. Bruce expected a lot out of me, including one hundred percent absolute unwavering loyalty. Bemoaning 'sidekick syndrome' helped us keep going when praise was thin on the ground."

It was a strange thing to be explaining to Diana, but maybe if she ever had a chance to talk to Donna, she'd remember what he'd said. Of all of them Diana had always been the kindest, but... "And it's hard when the entire world is comparing you to someone like him, or you."

He shrugged easily, but his smile didn't return to its fullest wattage. "I don't regret a second of it. Without his training, I'd be dead hundreds of times over. Which probably tells you a lot about how much worse it's gotten. There aren't two teams, but ten or even more. When the League and the Society get together, we spend a lot of time talking about whether we haven't made the problem worse instead of better. Because the stronger and smarter we get, the better they get trying to beat us."