Test Drive - 004

[ateratmods]

TEST DRIVE 004

Welcome to Aterat!

Here is our forth Test Drive Meme! There are a lot of areas of the city to explore, so please have a look around! In case you need a little help getting started, I've included a few prompts below, or feel free to start your own! Exploration and player initiative are the names of the game here!

Helpful Links to Get Started

Arrival & General Information | Locations & Bestiary | Residences & Housing Info | Businesses | Rules & FAQ (ask questions here!)

A. Crash into Me

Not exactly, but close enough. You have just arrived and received a strange satchel from a tiny, strange little man and are left more or less to your own devices (more information on what to expect upon arrival can be found here)! Follow directions to the north and check out the housing, or maybe have a look around the Historium and try to get some information from that giant glowing ball, see what you can waste your meager starter coin on in the Market District, or maybe just meet the neighbors.

B. A Winter's Ball

What brand new ballroom would be complete without a fancy new winter's ball to break it in? Things are a little strange at the ballroom (check the prompts) with mistletoe that traps you for a kiss with a random passerby, strange gray meringue that makes you willing to overshare, not to mention the fact that one of your strange possible overlords funded the whole thing. What's the worst that could happen?

C. We're all hanging out at the park, right?

The park near the Complex has become a glittering expanse of show! Children and adults alike build snowmen and even sled down some of the higher hills in the area. There are stands around the park selling hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and cider, as well as sweets and wrapped snacks for the day in the park. Speckling the park at regular intervals are standing fire pits designed to ward away the cold and allow for gatherings and conversation.

The pond in the park has frozen over as well, affording the abilities to ice skate as the ever-industrious Raimon is renting skates, and maybe even challenge people to a hockey game. How hard could it be to find some makeshift pucks and other accoutrements in order to play a game?

Tell Phone

The Tell Phones everyone are provided when they arrive are capable of voice transmission and texting as well and photo texts!

NAVIGATION

Comments

B

[doubled_speed]

There is a kid, without skates, on the ice. Good thing the guy coming up on him as he falls happens to have insane reflexes. The boy falls as Tommy is gliding toward him at an unreasonable speed, and the best way he can deal with that isn't to try and go around him. If he does he might hurt both of them. Instead he reaches down as he's approaching, carefully leaning forward, and scoops the strange kid up in his arms.

"Careful, kiddo," he said as he kept going forward at speed until he could find a safe bit of ice to twist and come to a stop. Thank god for the time at the Sphere for him to learn skating better.

"You know you shouldn't be out on the ice without skates, right?"

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"Woah-" Billy blinks in surprise, looking up at that face that's not quite familiar with a puzzled look, because he definitely recognizes that speed.

"...I didn't have enough coins left to rent a pair," he admits, still searching that face with a frown. The hair, the speed. Was this some other version of Uncle Pietro?

[doubled_speed]

No coins to rent one, huh? Well, that can be dealt with.

"Your parents didn't..."

WAit, Tommy takes a second look at the kid. No. Not a local. Those clothes weren't native to this city. Shit. An arrival. Which meant he spent all his money. What a mess.

"Listen, I feel like I'm obligated to say 'don't take money from strangers', but if you want I can probably rent you a pair."

If nothing else, he can flirt with the rental chick. She seemed to have been amused by him before and he can maybe get some money off if he tells her this is a kid brother who wasn't thinking and got distracted by sweets or something.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

He shakes his head, and for a moment that loss weighs heavily on him, but he tries to put on a brave face.

"No- it's just me."

Billy looks a little uncertain, "...Are you sure?" he asks, looking guilty about accepting money from a stranger.

[doubled_speed]

Poor kid. Well that was horrible. He really didn't like the people that brought them here now.

"I'm sure," he said when he saw that uncertainty, and he pushed off over the ice again, gliding slowly.

"So kid, what's your name? Figure if I'm doing you a solid here I should know who is thanking me."

[dorkasaurus_rex]

He laughs softly, and shifts in Tommy's arms, relaxing a little with the teasing.

"I'm Billy. Who am I thanking?"

[doubled_speed]

Billy huh? Fun coincidence there. Tommy has to chuckle. But it was a bit of a sad one. Hearing that name really made him miss his nerd.

"I'm Tommy. Good news is that I definitely won't forget your name. I have a brother named Billy back home."

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"Tommy?" Billy repeats with a comically arched brow. Tommy, who's fast...with a brother named Billy? How many Tommys can there be out there with all those stats lining up?

"...Tommy Maximoff?" he asks, looking confused but hopeful. This doesn't make any sense.

[doubled_speed]

Oh god. Tommy actually skids to a stop on the ice again. And, after a moment, decides to glide over to the edge. He lifts Billy onto solid ground and steps after him, crouching down near him to look the kid in the eyes.

Maximoff. Well fuck.

"William Maximoff, son of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. Sh--hucks B," don't swear in front of your kid brother, Mom would KILL you, "you're a bit small. Uh... This is going to be really really complicated. The answer is yes, and no. It's complicated. In a way, yes. In a way, no. I guess we have to start by making sure we've got this lined up. You are Wanda Maximoff's son, right?"

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Yeah. This is weird.

Though Billy still has time to spare a moment for an expression that says he knows what Tommy was going to say there.

He nods, frowning at Tommy's face for a moment. "Why is your hair white like Uncle Pietro's?" Apparently a far more pressing concern then why are you so much older than me?

[doubled_speed]

"Why wouldn't it be?" Tommy counters. "We're both speedsters."

He moves to sit down on the snowy edge of the frozen pond. He puts his feet off to the side so he won't catch anyone with the blades. Then he pulls Billy closer. It's cold out here and Tommy's body heat was pretty high, being what he was.

"To explain this right, I'm really going to need some context here. What can you tell me about Mom and Dad?"

He's got to figure out if this is a Billy from something like Wanda fucking with the world, or maybe something like the Sphere Wanda's world, or something closer to his own. Which would be weird given Billy shouldn't really ask about his hair then. Unless Tommy's hadn't gone white yet.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Billy gives him a look that should be obvious, but leans into his side almost as easily as he would've with the Tommy he's familiar with.

"Mm...we live in West View. Dad does something with computers, and Mom stays home with us. And she's got these super cool powers. But she's sad... She tries to act like she not, but I can feel it," he tries to explain.

[doubled_speed]

West View. Where the fuck is West View? Wanda, sad? Shit, he doesn't know at all. But the word Avengers sure didn't come up.

"Alright, have Mom or Dad ever read you bed time stories where kids go through doors and end up in other worlds?"

Shit, that's the best way he can think of to explain any of this. He's about to go all Narnia on Mini-B's ass.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"I guess?" Billy makes a face, not sure where that line of questioning is going, "Like how this place is another world?" Or how West View is. And isn't.

[doubled_speed]

"Like how this place is another world," Tommy answered. Good thing he has all this practice with little kids thanks to his Billy's little brothers. "Except sometimes there's like, other versions of Earth. Ones like yours but not yours. Sometimes, if the circumstances are right, you meet people from other Earths. They're like the people you know but they're different."

He doesn't doubt Billy's got where he's going. He still intends to give Billy a far gentler version of his own history. The gentlest.

"You and me? We're from two different Earths. In yours, Mom and Dad raised you in West View. In mine some things went weird and so we got separated when we were really, really little."

Retroreincarnation counts as really really little, right? Sub-particle or something.

"In my world, my name is Tommy Shepherd, and I don't meet my Billy until we're sixteen. But we're still brothers. And you and me? We're brothers too, even if you're littler and I'm bigger."

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Billy's heart aches at the thought of growing up without Tommy right there beside him, brows creasing with a horrified look. At least the multiverse part doesn't throw him through too much of a loop.

"Is your Billy here with you?"

[doubled_speed]

"No, I... I got taken to another place before here. I haven't seen him in a long time. I really miss him," Tommy admits. No reason to lie to a little kid. Especially not one who might be as emotional as Billy.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Billy offers a sympathetic look and leans into his side.

"...I miss Tommy," he commiserates, "We've never been apart before."

[doubled_speed]

Too bad Tommy can't say that he hasn't been apart from his own twin. Not by a long shot.

"Well, how about we make a plan, okay? I know I would want my Billy watching out for your Tommy if they were together, to make sure he didn't get into the sorts of trouble you know he's capable of. Meanwhile I know that your Tommy would want someone to watch out for you and protect you like a big brother should, right? And maybe call you a nerd from time to time. So I'll do that for him. And together, we'll get through this."

Because like hell he's leaving a kid witch alone in a new world, unable to even work to feed himself. That's just not Tommy's speed. Not at alll.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Billy snorts softly.

"It's dork," he corrects with a small smile, and he nods softly, "...I'd like that," he agrees. And he's right, Billy would want that for Tommy, and Tommy would want it for Billy. He puts on a brave face and sighs softly.

"This is all really weird."

[doubled_speed]

"You're only a dork because you haven't grown up enough to be a nerd yet," Tommy grinned. He'll totally be a nerd one day. Tommy's certain.

"Super weird. Like, the last time I was in a place like this that wasn't home? There was a version of our mom there, but Dad was gone, so she was all alone. And she didn't have us. It was so weird, having to explain stuff to her that to me just made sense. But we were a good family anyway."

If only he knew that Wanda was the mom Billy had known. It would have made him feel so good to have been right. To know she got to go home and have her family, even if it was all complicated.

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"Oh, is that how it works?" Billy rolled his eyes with an over exaggerated long suffering sigh. This was definitely a Tommy.

"Dad was gone?" Billy's brows creased with concern for his mother. No Dad. No twins.

[doubled_speed]

"That's totally how it works," Tommy Tommy grinned. Don't you give him that sigh, little bro. He reaches up to ruffle Billy's hair. SOmething he would absolutely get grief for with his own version of Billy.

"Well, he was never in that place I was," Tommy shrugged. "So it was just me and her and, surprisingly, Ultron. They got along, for my sake. It was pretty cool of them. Turns out our evil-robot grandfather? Not really so bad sometimes."

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"Nnn-" Billy tried to duck out of the touch with a laugh, trying to straighten his hair again.

"Ultron?" Billy blinked blankly, clearly never having heard that name before, and he frowned as Tommy continued. Evil-robot grandfather??

[doubled_speed]

Damn, he really is just a smol Billy. Tommy can't help how his heart aches at that. All that time at the Sphere without his brother, all the distance between them back home and Billy now being off in space being a Prince... This? This is nice.

"Vision is still dad, right? Geez, has no one talked to you about our heritage? I mean, I know it's always a mystery on Mom's side. Are we mutants? Are we not mutants? Is Magneto really our grandfather or some shit? Who knows. But Dad's side is pretty clear, if complex."