TEST DRIVE MEME #8

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you not with mirthful revelry, this time around dear friends. There is a seriousness in the air, though the food is still hearty and the imps still mischievous. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket! Be mindful, though -- the monarchs are watching and cross court communication should be done with the utmost secrecy.

Comments

1

[theincredibleherc]

[Being approached by someone and feeling a tap on his shoulder is pretty ordinary. But there's something about that tap that tells Herc he either really wants to turn around...or really, really doesn't. Maybe it's the chill? Maybe it's the odd familiarity to the voice, maybe it's the whole newcomers feast, or maybe it's just just a hunch that something strange is going to happen. It doesn't matter he supposes, not really.

Herc turns around and is promptly struck dumb. Because that's a young man. Covered in ice. And there is only one person in the whole world he knows like that. (Okay, well, that isn't a frost giant.)]

...Robert?

[chilledout]

... You must know the other me. [The response comes with a flip of his head to the side and an emphatic sigh. Bobby assumes that has to be it, at any rate. While he does stand out, he's had fairly ... limited contact with the outside world. Of course, there were those space adventures, but he's fairly certain this guy wasn't one of the Starjammers or running around with Star-Lord's really screwed up evil dad.

Though he kind of looks like Star-Lord's evil dad ... if you squint. Which he does.]

That's it, right? This will be embarrassing if I should know you otherwise. But I'm busy busy. [It's a pretty bald-faced lie.]

[theincredibleherc]

The other you? [Okay, no, he shakes his head and rubs his cheeks a bit before turning around fully to face the much younger Iceman. Definitely younger. Definitely not quite the Champion he'd remembered. And this is definitely embarrassing for him, which means that this isn't an uncommon occurrence for the boy.

Huh. Well...look at that.]

This is one of those...dimensional time travel things isn't it? [Sigh. Herc stands up.]

I am Hercules, Son of Zeus, Lion of Olympus and Prince of Power. One of the Avengers most mighty, and...a former teammate of a Robert Drake of the Champions of Los Angeles. Has that not happened for you yet? Or are you from another timeline?

[He stops himself short of clones, though. That was pushing the boundaries just a bit too far.]

[chilledout]

[That's ... impressive. He was on a team with Hercules? Bobby may not be the most well-read of individuals, but of course he knows who Hercules is. Or was. Now that he's here, he finds himself wishing that he had done the kind of homework that Hank was wont to do. That would certainly help him right now.

The idea of leaving for another team is odd to him. Bobby can't imagine himself being with another group. That's helped along by the fact that his older self is very much aligned with the X-Men—the mostly less sketchy X-Men at that. They may have chosen to go to older Scott's base, but facts are facts. (Wolverine almost trumped those facts, but he's ... gone now.)

As it is, he tries not to weigh it too long in his mind, even if it does make him a little uncomfortable to think about. Other Bobbys always make him squirm a little. But hey, explanation. He can give that, even if it's usually someone like Professor Kitty who's giving the explanation. He really wishes she was here right now. Or even Professor Illyana, who is also pretty good at taking care of things.]

Well, [he begins, putting out one hand.] The big furry Hank thought that he needed to bring us to the future to knock some sense into Scott, so he did, insisting that Scott, boring old Scott, was going to cause a mutant genocide. [He lowers his hand and raises the other one, as if he's moving on to another point.] He may have exaggerated a little, but we're stuck in the future, even if we've tried to go back. So, I've met my now-equally-translucent self with all the spikes.

[After another beat, Bobby drops his other hand and slouches his shoulders forward.]

Champions, though! That's a great name.

[theincredibleherc]

[Hercules takes that all in with his usual calm. Stories of Scott Summers being an idiot. Of Henry McCoy being...well...Henry McCoy. Irascible, always fiddling with timestreams and trying to fix what needed no fixing, and interfering drastically where a simple nudge or a call to Dr. Richards would have sufficed. It was something, though, that he was looking at a younger Bobby Drake, and that young lad seemed both happy, impressed, and keenly uncomfortable.

He also only understood about half of that, but he got the gist.]

Aye, it was. Myself, the Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Angel, and of course...your spiky, translucent...alternate. We had some good times fighting against Godzilla and cults of Ares and other nonsense, you know, but that was years ago.

[His right hand extends, offering a shake, while his other is planted firmly against his hip.]

I am glad to see you in any form, from any time and any universe, Robert Drake. Anyone familiar in this land is a blessing from Zeus himself and I would consider it an honor to get to know you. For you, and not as the man I knew.

[chilledout]

[That is a rather large hand. This close up, Bobby is fairly certain that Hercules is even bigger than Hank. When he slides his hand into Hercules' for a good shake, he decides that it's at least a little bigger. But he does wish Hank was here. Hank might explain this in a way that would completely go over Bobby's head, but the comfort of that explanation would be nice.

Actually, it's the comfort of his team that would be nice.

But Hercules being his friend and wanting to get to know him doesn't sound half bad, not at all. He perks up at the idea. Hercules isn't like Kitty, after all. He doesn't seem to be looking at him with a prepared sense of contempt that he ... likely deserves ... but doesn't want to be looked at with all the time. Sometimes, he can't help how he is! (Sometimes. Only sometimes.)]

I can definitely handle you getting to know me as the guy that I am. Besides, we sort of have to stick together if we know each other, right? [This second question is asked with a bit of hope in Bobby's eyes.]

[theincredibleherc]

[Hercules only holds certain people in contempt. And those people know who they are, and they probably deserve it if they've truly pissed off a god as laid back as this one. He squeezes the hand gently before releasing it and nodding in total agreement.]

Aye, we do. Sticking together is the safest thing in this place, with the war and all. We Avengers, X-Men, Champions, and all the rest? Well, we've done our level best to stay together.

[He looks around the feast hall for others, and spotting none in the immediate vicinity, he sit's back down and offers a place beside him for Bobby.]

Are you familiar with the Lady Medusa, Kamala Khan, or Captain Rogers?

[chilledout]

None of the others ring a bell, but yeah, I know who Captain America is. He was there when we met the Avengers a couple times. [Scott's brother had been there, and the whole scenario had been disorienting for Bobby. The biggest thing was this: he had been the one to vocalize that none of them knew each other all that well. Alex Summers, who actually didn't look a thing like Scott, seemed to represent the differences pretty well. He was a brother Scott failed to mention.

Bobby knows that it was with good reason, but things are how they are.]

Hey ... that means he's here, right?

[theincredibleherc]

Steven is here, yes. [That's a simple enough question to answer And this is a miserable tag, and Herc scans the hall one more time, but doesn't seem to find the man.] Probably around the feast somewhere, but I cannot say exactly where at the moment.

Regardless of all that, he's from an alternate version of our world. Where the Avengers have just formed. He's younger, perhaps a bit less jaded.

[chilledout]

So, maaaaybe a little less quick to lecture us and assume we're all bad? Yeah? Does that sound right? [His encounter with Steve Rogers hadn't been bad exactly. He got to meat Thor, and he was called something strange. But when it comes to Captain America, he's a pretty intimidating guy.

After that first question, he considers the other universe he went to, and that other Spider-Man. He frowns after a moment and leans in toward Hercules.]

Do you happen to know what his thoughts are on mutants? Or what this place makes of them? [The leap from "Steve Rogers" to "The Drabwurld" is quick, but he's worried. He's really worried.]

[theincredibleherc]

I...don't know if Steven really knows anything about mutants. I don't think this place, or he, really much mind though. I've never been given any impression to the contrary. William Kaplan seems to be getting on just fine, at least.

[Cap can be intimidating, yes, but only until you get to know him.]

I would fret not. Magic is commonplace here, and abilities are too. You'll fit right in. And if anyone gives you any grief about your gifts at all? Then I shall punch them. And that, my friend, is not a lesson any will be quick to forget!

[chilledout]

I'll have my very own punching guy? I've always wanted one of those. [In the last five seconds. Bobby has always wanted his "very own punching guy" within the amount of time it took to come up with that statement.

But still, the information that Hercules offers makes it easier for him to relax in this world. Bobby's always a little tightly wound (especially for someone who babbles and jokes as much as he does), but he he still likes knowing that. There are lots of powers here, and his powers won't stand out. As for the name Hercules mentions, "William Kaplan" is familiar, and he's pretty sure he met his older self that one time, but he can't say for sure.

Ah well.]

How hard do you punch?

[theincredibleherc]

[Herc laughs again, agreeing wholeheartedly with the statement about always wanting a punching guy. He was pretty happy to provide that, for anyone he liked really. It wasn't exactly like he ever minded sharing The Gift with anyone. It was more they minded him sharing it with them.

From Connecticut. Where they'd landed.]

...You know, I don't really think I've ever tried to think about it too hard. I punch hard enough. That's about as far as I've ever really let myself consider it. But I'm sure I'd break most scales used for it.

[That weren't, y'know, made of diamond.]

[chilledout]

So, what you're saying is that the demonstration I was cooking up in my head miiiight be a little dangerous ... [Bobby says, realizing that they can't really go around punching things and causing craters like he imagined in his head. Still, it's pretty cool to picture.]

But if there's fighting to be expected, I might see something soon, right? [There's a little bit of unease that creeps into his voice. He doesn't know if he's really looking forward to that, exactly. Or at all.

At all is about right.]

[theincredibleherc]

It might be. But if you find me a big rock, I'll break it just to make you feel better.

[A shrug at the comment, and Herc takes a swig of whatever he'd been drinking. Some sort of sweet juice, probably. It was cold, and that was what mattered.]

And you'd be surprised. I've had relatively little fighting since I arrived. A few villagers, an evil magical chicken, and Emperor Nero. But that at least was a spar.

[chilledout]

I don't know what sounds worse ... the violin playing emperor or the evil magical chicken. How did you come across an evil magical chicken? [After time traveling, Bobby has a few ideas about how Nero could have happened. So, he focuses on the chicken.]

[theincredibleherc]

Empress, actually. Apparently in that world Nero was a woman. [A lovely one.] And as for the most foul of fowl? He was marauding various farms, and I was asked by a friend to remove said chicken. So, I plucked him up, tied him to a reed raft, and set him adrift like Moses. Only feathered.

And evil.

[chilledout]

That's ... weird. [To both? Definitely to both. It's amazing how quickly he can label something weird, but lady emperor Nero is up there. They didn't go to the future and find that Scott Summers was a woman. They just found out that he was a weird revolutionary, but in the most boring way possible.

Which fits. Thanks for lying about that, Hank!]

Hey ... uh, if you need help with stuff like chickens again, call me. [It sounds like it involves a lot less death.]