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TEST DRIVE MEME #0

A TIME VORTEX has opened in downtown LA! Some magic folks have been contacted to close it, but they haven't gotten here fast enough for the vortex not to spill out a HECK TON OF DINOSAURS – all kinds of dinosaurs of all kinds of sizes. There are theoretically gentle herbivores among the fierce predators, but they are all pretty pissed off about their sudden, startling relocation, and a lot of them have spikes.

(The vortex is both temporally and spatially unstable, which is why the dinosaurs emerging onto the streets of LA are constrained neither by specific prehistorical era nor geographical location.)

What you do is up to you. Here are some suggestions, though:

Fight some dinosaurs. You might be trying to herd them back to the vortex, or just trying to stop them by any means possible.

Flee or hide. If you're lucky the dinosaurs won't work out how to open doors and you can spend your entire thread hiding behind the bar in a Starbucks with some other hapless civilians without having to confront any of them.

Try to capture the dinosaurs on camera. If you can get some really good photos you might be able to sell them to the local paper in order to supplement your elderly aunt's meagre income. Or just use them to get a bunch of notes on Tumblr, either way.

Take advantage of the chaos to do crime. The forces of law enforcement are preoccupied with all these prehistoric reptiles.

Or pretty much anything else you think your character might be doing. Any location in LA is game, although there's no real need to meticulously look them up – you can just assume a generic street, rooftop, store, etc. (You don't have to look up the dinosaurs, either.)

If you have a character who you'd like to assume is part of a team, but that team hasn't been named or brainstormed OOC yet or anything, feel free to indicate in your opening post that you're assuming your character is operating alongside others and encourage others to tag in as if they are part of the same team! Or just handwave it and assume they got caught without their usual teammates or separated from them. Whatever way works best for you.

Events from this test drive are not automatically assumed game canon, but individual threads can be if you and the people who you thread with end up mutually wanting to keep them.

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Ammy huffs at him - godly dog breath is no better than regular dog breath - and drops back down to all four paws. She goes immediately to sniff at the semi-stunned Triceratops, licking at its muzzle to try and reassure it. This is how you dino-wrangle. Licking is not optional.

Ammy wags her entire body in delight, tongue lolling out of her mouth. Yes, you can pet her. You should definitely pet her. Yes, right there. It's good to be appreciated!

(The ashamed ambushers have vanished, presumably to escape Ammy's continued rebuke.)

Oh, she's trying to help with the dinosaurs! Gosh, what a smart dog.

He steps over to pat the dino's back, oblivious when the triceratops lets out a distressed roar at his presence. "Are you trying to assist?" he asks Ammy.

Oh, Will'o'Wisp is also an expert skritcher! And pet the dog she does. This furry friend is delightfully plush and wonderfully friendly!

"You're really good at this, aren't you," she coos, trying not to get too fond and failing utterly. "I could just do with a friend like you."

[If Cynthia isn't supposed to be here, then that fits, because Amane shouldn't either. Amane- uh... the Maiden- is just a member of Trailblazers who also happens to kind of be able to summon demons and use their powers.

Not exactly very helpless, but also a bit haphazard.]

Megidolaon. [She's giving commands to a weird golden bird demon thing called a Garuda, and doesn't seem to notice one of the said 'more harmless looking' ones have bitten onto the admittedly unsuitable trailing sleeve of her uniform. She doesn't seem to notice Cynthia too, just realizing her shirt is stuck when she jumps forward to try to push the dinosaurs back. Whoops.]

Stand back!

[She bursts in with a flash of light, and her entire body shines and explodes in brightness for a moment before Mami is left standing in a ring of little flowers. Her outfit is still shining slightly from the transformation, and the whole scene may have attracted some attention.]

I am Mami Tomoe, member of the Sis Puella Magica. Us Magical Girls are the warriors who keep wraiths and demons at bay; do not think that just because you are neither, you are exempt from our pursuits of justice!

[Is she yelling this at a bunch of dinosaurs? Yes, she is. When they hear her voice and start advancing, she suddenly jumps in the air and begins to spin, waving her hands- and whipping white guns out of absolutely nowhere, the weapons gaining color and materializing in her hand.

The flowers she spread on the floor during transformation begin to reveal tendrils, that rapidly latch onto the dinosaurs' feet and keep them in place as she blasts them back with guns. She may or may not be getting caught up in the heat of the moment- want to lend a hand?]

Edited 2014-01-18 03:44 (UTC)

Not that Neku doesn't appreciate the back up, but geez, is this girl presumptuous or what?

"I hope you're talking to the rubberneckers here and not me, lady", he grits out, slashing at a group of the aggressive lizards. Fortunately they know when prey isn't worth it, and a few break off and turn tail.

She just about barely notices Neku launching an attack, and blinks for a moment. Oh, so he did have powers... in which Amane didn't really show any reaction too. Her face stayed in the same deadpan expression.

"I see... if you fight, then, there is no reason you should flee." Garuda flies back a bit, swerving past one of the larger and bulkier herbivores.

Turning to the dinosaurs, she surveys the scene and begins to speak. "Direct me as you please."

You have a better idea, wise guy? I don't know about you, but I can't exactly go toe to toe with a stegosaurus.

Edited 2014-01-18 09:27 (UTC)

Jon has been fighting dinosaurs all day, stopping only to search through the rubble for sturdier weapons than his claws--currently he has a sand-filled mannequin hand on a post stuck through his belt loop--and he didn't bring a water bottle, mostly because he didn't have room in his black leather jacket. His black leather jacket is, actually, not optimal workout gear for downtown LA, even in the winter, and he is, consequently, extremely warm. This has led him to his current position outside a coffee shop (he has not yet located a drugstore), squinting through the window to see if they have water bottles. Perhaps they'll give him a cup of water without having to buy anything--was it LA or New York where you don't drink the tap water? It's probably filtered if it's a coffee shop--for fighting the dinosaurs. He has his wallet if they don't, and they probably have granola bars or something. He did bring a protein bar, but he ate it ages ago. If it weren't for his healing factor, he probably would have passed out by now.

A nice girl seems to be taking a picture of him through the window; he gives her a smile, momentarily forgetting his mouth and nose are covered by a black bandana. Instead he raises his arm in greeting, incidentally showing off quite a lot of dried blood on his fingers. He is not so much concerned with this as with whether or not it is legit for superheroes to go into coffee shops during missions.

[Cynthia, as another member of the Trailblazers, is certainly happy to see a familiar face. Not so happy to see a dinosaur chomping on Amane's sleeve, but that's fixable.

She swoops down toward the dinosaur, and she smacks it on the head with her staff a few times.] Hey! Knock that off, buddy! Sleeves aren't for chewing!

[The dinosaur isn't thrilled about being hit. It lets go of the sleeve, then looks at Cynthia. With great crunching power, it bites off the end of Cynthia's staff. Looks like that martial arts store isn't getting its product back intact.

A little bit distressed, Cynthia turns toward Amane.] Uh, could I please get a little help with this one?

It's fairly impressive anyway, at least, just because Karkat isn't very tall. Karkat is very determined not to be intimidated by this weirdo, though, and when he's dealing with humans it's easier not to worry that he doesn't have any weapons with him.

"Shit, really," he says, "you'd prefer literally to get torn apart by wild beasts than worrying about your car? Then it's basically my job to drag you out of here for your own good."

Karkat, whose reaction to having the car he was hiding behind removed was to yelp in surprise and cower even harder, now stares at her in disbelief.

"Lend a hand with what?" he yells, spreading his arms. "Does this look like superpowers to you??"

Edited 2014-01-18 18:02 (UTC)

[It's a mess of rookies all over the place, here! But at least they're getting the job done? Junpei, Ignition, is lending some backup - he's trying to herd the dinosaurs with his own energy pulses and snipe the odd flying one down as he goes.]

Booyah! These overgrown canaries don't stand a chance!

He would see the nice girl (gal, one might say; and she thinks herself very nice) begin to frown at him. She disappears briefly, and then reappears with a stack of freshly-opened paper towels and a bottle of hand sanitizer.

"Flora Poste," she says upon exiting the coffeeshop. "How do you do, Mr.--? Hold out your hands, please. Is that your blood? Have you been tested for bloodborne infection--? Never mind. The black leather is fetching, I must say, but for all you lot enjoy the aesthetics it is a chore to clean. Your dry cleaner must have strong words for you."

Dinosaur attack or no, Flora's clothes are of course perfect: vintage pencil skirt, cardigan set, sensible pumps. She had applied fresh lipstick while she was in the ladies' room. (Why waste a good mirror, after all?) It was with reluctance that she parted from Flickr--but here, this poor boy practically begged her for help, which nobody else is capable of providing so well as she. All this frantic running-about, just because of some giant animals ruining the city! Do they not have disaster plans in Los Angeles? Aren't they used to this sort of thing by now? Honestly.

Jon blinks and holds out his hands--no Stark man in all their illustrious history has ever been able to resist the command of a well-intentioned lady who seems to know what she's doing.

"Longclaw," he says. "I think my powers keep me from getting sick--some of it is dinosaur blood."

Feathers, apparently, can bleed a lot, if you slice through the rachis, which is patently unfair as it doesn't seem to slow down the dinosaur very much and consequently the blood gets everywhere. He'd thought the black would hide the stains, at least, but her mention of dry cleaning worries him--Sansa would be upset if he'd damaged her handiwork permanently.

As she is in possession of his hands, she might notice they do not currently have claws, long or otherwise. In fact, the nails are bitten rather short.

Cynthia! [Amane's a bit unnerved and surprised that another rookie is here- a bit hypocritical of her, but still.

She immediately taps away at her COMP- something shaped like a Nintendo DS- and summons Vidofnir, another giant golden bird thing.] Vidofnir. Tetanus Cut. [It obeys, sending a deep gash right across the dinosaur's face and possibly one of its eyes. Before any blood starts to pour on the floor, it runs away from the sudden pain. Tetanus Cut is called Tetanus Cut for a reason...]

Are you alright? [She turns back to Cynthia, surveying the mess all around]

Edited 2014-01-18 23:41 (UTC)

[Cynthia smiles wide when she hears Junpei nearby, then flies over to him. Though they're both rookies, he seems to be a lot better at this than she is. Her powers aren't that useful with her current level of training, she's realized...Well, no use moping about it.]

Hey, er, Ignition! [Can't be forgetting to use those codenames.] Do you need any help with these guys? I don't have much, but it's still something! [She waves the wooden staff, already with one end bitten off in some unfortunate dinosaur enounter.]

[Cynthia yelps at the sudden violence, which she's not sure is quite necessary. Hopefully that dinosaur can make it back to the vortex on its own, and no more harm is done to anything.

Somewhat concerned, she watches it go in the right direction, then she looks back at Amane with a smile.] Oh, yeah! Thanks a bunch for the help, seriously! But remember, it's Flourish out here, not... [She looks around for civilians or HIDDEN SUPERVILLAINS. Nobody in sight. Still, she whispers.] ...not Cynthia!

[So easy to forget the codenames, sometimes. But at least one of them's remembered in time... He shoots her a grin.]

Hey, I'm never goin' to complain at a hand. Come on! ...You think you can still hit them?

[It wasn't necessary, but Amane honestly can't give a damn to those hurting humans. She rips demons apart all the time, so she's kinda... desensitized.] It's alright, C-

[...Oh, yeah, codenames. That was a thing.

Wow, Americans are weird.]

-Flourish. Shall we drive back the dinosaurs together, then? [Now that Amane has a friend, no matter how strong/inept she is in comparison to herself, she's more than happy to be ordered around.] Direct me as you please.

Neku crosses his arms, huffy.

"Direct-- I'm not here to babysit. In fact I was just on my way out of the area before.... Before I got caught up in that mess."

Shoving his hands in his pockets he turns to leave. "There's plenty of other super powered freaks around here to handle the situation, they don't need my help."

It's really astounding that he hasn't lost his patience yet, but the last threads of it are snapping. Starscream stoops, leaning in dangerously close until he's face to face with Karkat. "I'd like to see you try," he growls.

"...If you plan on leaving, bear in mind that the destruction will be widespread. Stay alert." That's basically how she says you might not make it out alive. She's not used to the 'freak' sentiment, but doesn't really cringe all that much.

She turns back to the dinosaurs, and sends more holy magic to fend them off-

-until a pterosaur swoops by and gets its claws all over her trailing sleeves.

"Ah, yes," says Flora. "I have never been sick a day in my life. Though that is sheer obstinacy on my part, and well-preparedness. There." She relinquishes him. "I must call you 'Longclaw' I suppose. The codename could be worse. You must be very tired and thirsty. And hot, in that jacket. I've asked the barista to bring you out some water--there she is, thank you," she adds crisply, as the terrified teenager rolls out a couple of water bottles and dashes back for shelter.

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