Test Drive Meme

[etcircenses]

Welcome new Tributes!

The Capitol has gathered a good crop of you at once, and to help morale, and to ease you into Capitol society they are throwing a banquet, just for those who work with the Games. Stylists, Escorts, mentors, a few of the Capitol elite, and of course, you all, the Tributes.

Instead of waking up in the normal way, new Tributes awake in lush beds, in a very posh ski lodge. Elegant but simple clothes are laid out for them, in a warm grey, and a note to come down as soon as they are ready. And if they linger too long, a peacekeeper appears to escort them down.

Those from the Capitol, are brought in on chartered party buses, one for each District, which are about as posh as a bus can get. It's a roughly 45 minute drive, well out of the Capitol's city limits.

Although the party is "mellow" by Capitol standards, it is still pretty damn extravagant. Alcohol flows freely, and banquet tables are kept fully stocked by silent avoxes. The whole ski lodge has been cleared out, and guest can hit up an ice skating rink, or pick out a swim suit and jumped into the huge, natural hot springs tubs.

As the night drags on, however, all does not go as planned. Half way through the night, there is a tremendous roar, and the hotel is plunged into pitch blackness. There is chaos for roughly 10 minutes, till low power emergency lights flicker on. However the generators don't have the power to keep the heater going.

A first aid station is set up, and the avoxes start pulling in blankets to the main lobby, lighting a fire in the fireplace and doing what they can to keep everyone warm. It is quickly communicated that there was an avalanche, and although the hotel remains in good shape, the power and the road to the Capitol has been cut out.

It's going to be a long night.


OOC INFORMATION

Welcome to the test drive meme for thegames!

We are both a jamjar and a Hunger Games AU character game. You can choose to either have your character ported in from their world or AU them into Panem. Detailed knowledge of the Hunger Games is not required. We accept just about any character and character type that we can work into the world, including AUs, OCs, and up to 3 multiples (however, each versions of a character must be significantly different from the others.)

All the information you need can be found in this post, which can always be found at the top of the mod account. And if you don't find something you need, the FAQ is here, so drop us a line!

Welcome, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Comments

Re: Scenario 2

[atippleoftransparency]

"Oh you know he is," Lyle answers, making a show of rolling his eyes as he settles in with Brainy. "I keep telling him it's my turn, but he won't let me have a go."

That's the second half of the code -- all the Legionnaires knew that Lyle had no interest in running the entire team. The Espionage Squad was his baby, but the team as a whole was better left to the likes of almost anyone else.

This situation was sounding worse by the minute.

Re: Scenario 2

[googledox]

"He'll enjoy this whole mess then if he and the others ever find their way here. Thus far, we're the only members of the team that seem to have been abducted. I've kept the nature of our...organization somewhat vague, but it won't be difficult for them to realize what the Legion is and what we are. Supervillains aren't quite welcome in the social circles we'll be forced to walk in, even if we're not the worst in the multiverse."

This part was the tricky part, guiding Lyle into understanding the lies that had to be told and the truths that had to be understood here.

"The world itself isn't that bad. Gates would love the government here - you know how he gets, always whining about those ridiculous 'freedoms' and 'rights' on some of the worlds we visit. This world has none, it's a glorious example of how a government should control its people and the needs of the many are sacrificed for the needs of the few - of the strong."

Basically, it was a living hell and went against everything the Legionnaires believed in.

"To prove their strength, we've been brought here to fight to the death in a series of gladiatorial arenas - a clear demonstration of the Capitol's power and generosity. Most of the Tributes are revived from death each time - that's where their generosity comes in, and we were brought here from our home dimensions to fight in place of the children they usually select to fight to the death in the Arena - without a means of reviving them, I'm told. I suppose they decided they wanted their favorites to have more than one chance."

He tilted his head to the side slightly, glancing sidelong at Lyle, hoping he'd gathered up everything he'd needed to.

"We've been wandering the multiverse for so long since the destruction of our universe. There are ways to extricate oneself from the Arena, by virtue of winning or applying for release. I think we should keep our heads down and do what we do best. Eventually we can turn this to our advantage. This wouldn't be the worst world to settle on and we do have a variety of skills to offer the ruling government."

That part was him saying they needed to quietly and discreetly kick their ass. That part being the part they did best.

Re: Scenario 2

[atippleoftransparency]

It was so utterly bizarre hearing those words come out of Brainy's mouth that Lyle entertained for a moment the wild fantasy that this Brainy just happened to be from an alternate universe where Gim was still alive and in charge and Lyle actually wanted to lead the whole team, and all of them were evil. It'd almost be funny listening to Brainy talk about this world in terms of their teammates, if it wasn't so sick. Gladiatorial combat? With children?!

None of this showed on Lyle's face of course. Not until he digested it properly. Then he smiles and raises an eyebrow.

"Did you tell them anything about me, or do I get to surprise them?" he asked, like this was a totally normal conversation they were having.

[googledox]

"It's going to be a wonderful surprise to them, the things you're capable of."

His way of telling Lyle that he had to fake villainy with him and also do the things he was actually good at, ie spying.

"Just be prepared for the inevitable negativity you're going to face. There are an unfortunate number of individuals here that are naive do-gooders. Since they're completely ineffectual in the face of our captors, they like to pretend things are going to change someday and that goodness will overcome evil or some such nonsense."

People still wanted to fight. Lyle needed to know that was their primary objective: helping them do it.

The Legion didn't just save the day. They also did all they could to empower people so they could save themselves.

[atippleoftransparency]

The smile in answer to that actually reaches Lyle's eyes. People fighting back -- music to any Legionnaire's ears, that was for sure. He wasn't certain yet why Brainy had decided to go with a supervillain masquerade, but he was sure he had his reasons.

At least there would be something fun in all this horrible mess. Lyle could keep his head down with the best of them, invisibility or no invisibility, but he needed some kind of pressure valve or else things started blowing up. Like important buildings. And Lyle ought really to save that for when they could coordinate that and make it part of an actual plan.

"Speaking of the things I can do," he said absently, rolling his shoulders under the blanket. "I think they dosed me with something. I'm feeling a bit more...in the spotlight than usual. Know anything about that?"

He wasn't going to ask out loud about why he couldn't turn invisible, not yet. Not until he knew if they knew what they'd done.

[googledox]

"I've found certain abilities of mine dampened. My guess would be that they want to even the odds in the arena and prevent possible rebellion among the Tributes. Unfortunately, they took away my most important ability: my shield powers."

Haha, guess what they didn't realize was another thing they had to dampen, Lyle. Take a guess.

"They wanted us to be as baseline as possible, to avoid any unpleasant surprises. We'll simply have to cope with the fact that we're no different than the rest of the people here, other than our slightly heightened intelligence due to the time period and universe we were raised in."

That was why the supervillain routine. Hide what they are, hide that they're heroes, hide what they don't need powers to do.

Yes, Brainy did have his reasons and though the slight spark in his eyes would've been interpreted by most to be Brainy simply enjoying the company of a friend, Lyle knew what it was instead.

[atippleoftransparency]

"Tsk. That's a shame," Lyle said, shaking his head. "I guess the unpleasant surprises are all on us, then."

Or rather, all on them to stealthily and crushingly commit.

"I suppose if we were at full strength, the fights simply wouldn't be entertaining to watch," he mused, glancing around to see if anyone was listening in. "Still. Distasteful. Do you think if I bat my eyes prettily enough they'll let me play in a laboratory somewhere?"

[googledox]

"Unless you've turned batting your eyelashes into a superpower since the time I last saw you, and it's one they forgot to dampen, highly unlikely."

They were going to have to be discreet and it was going to be difficult obtaining the materials they needed.

[atippleoftransparency]

"You never know," Lyle drawled with a shrug of his shoulders. "People who aren't you often think I'm awfully charming."

Under the blanket, he ran a hand across Brainy's back to give him a shoulder squeeze. Brainy wasn't really one for physical contact in general, but it made Lyle feel better to do it. "So, anything else of note? Any time travelers that you've noticed? Hero types?"

Lyle had stayed in the 30th century when about half the Legion -- including Brainy -- spent some time in the 20th. Brainy was pretty recognizable in general. If someone might recognize him, the pair of them needed to find out quickly so they could keep that person in the loop re: their pretend villainy.

As for time travelers, well, they'd made more than one trip themselves. One never knew who they might have run into.

[googledox]

To his credit, while Brainy didn't hug Lyle back in any fashion, for once he also didn't squirm away, vaguely recognizing that his friend might need the physical contact for comfort himself. For all they were used to it, finding themselves in situations like this was still daunting, especially since, for once, they were going it alone.

"Yes, and I often wonder what illicit substances they're all somehow simultaneously on, since they're obviously all living in some kind of shared delusion," said Brainy back, his voice flat, but with an expression on his face that was more cheeky than genuinely hostile.

"As for our present company, there's only one person here that I've met so far that was familiar with the name Brainiac - and recognition of the name is a quick identifier. She doesn't seem to be a hero, though, yet made mention of the Batman. My best hypothesis would be that she's some kind of minor villain."

There was more, though. This part was the part where they would have to tread lightly.

"I have been -" His voice was hesitant. "I have been looking through past archives on the communicators to see who's been here. There were heroes we were familiar with that were here in the past and we're quite fortunate that they're gone now."

This was going to be difficult, saying the next words, and trying to sound as if he didn't care. "Chief among them were The Batman and a young man that may have been Robin." He drew in a deep breath. "And Superboy. I believe they all died in the arena and were either kept in captivity rather than being released after their revival or perhaps weren't revived at all."

Even if they weren't horrible across the board, for that alone, they had to do all in their power to try to bring the ruling regime to face justice.

Superboy had been Legion. They had counted him as a member of the team and, more importantly, as a friend.

"So it seems that they'll no longer be a threat and that for the most part superheroes don't last long here. Good fortune for us."

And all the more reason they had to hide what they were.