undyingcourt | Test Drive Meme

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Test Drive Meme - New Blood

DEC TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to the Undying Court Test Drive Meme! This post will allow players to test drive their AU characters in the setting, as well as meet fresh faces or even connect with those they have preexisting CR with. As with anything involved in the setting, this post will likely contain: violence, enthrallment, torture, and sexual content.

Regarding continuity, all TDM threads can be taken as in-game canon if desired. Please keep in mind that the game proper will begin in mid December, in the Winter Season, so Students/Novices should create their prompts under the assumption that the TDM takes place during the season prior to the one they will be apping as. This means that students planning to app as first season novices will be visiting Castle Courtsheart prior to their Beginning. In other words, if you plan to app a student as a second season, the TDM will take place during their first, and so on.

Feel free to brush up on the Premise, Vampire Powers, and head over to the FAQ/Game Info page if you have any questions!

Make sure you are aware of the Rules when posting your top-level. (Content warnings are always welcome!)
Please format your Top-level in this format: Character Name (AU Name if different) | Canon | Teacher/Student | Court
As a reminder, a Test Drive sample is required in order to app.
If you have any questions specific to the TDM, ask them in the Questions thread below!

Top-Level Directory:

Chat with NPC: Revar
Ace Attorney - Apollo Justice (Student)
Alice in the Country of Hearts - Alice Liddell (Student)
Attack On Titan - Erwin Smith (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Astarion (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Halsin (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Raphael (Teacher)
Batman - Bruce Wayne (Teacher)
Bridgerton (Netflix) - Anthony Bridgerton (Student)
Castlevania - Soma Cruz (Student)
Castlevania: Nocturne - Maria Renard (Student)
Cosmo Warrior Zero - Harlock (Student)
Critical Role - Percy DeRolo (Teacher)
Daria - Daria Morgendorffer (Teacher)
Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha XIV (Student)
Dragon Age - Fenris (Teacher)
D&D: Honor Amongst Thieves - Edgin Darvis (Teacher)
D&D: Honor Amongst Thieves - Xenk Yendar (Teacher)
Ensemble STars!! - Mayoi Ayase (Student)
Fate/Zero - Kariya Matou (Kariya Makiri) (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Hilda Goneril (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Lorenz Hellman Gloucester (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Marianne von Edmund (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Sylvain Gautier (Student)
Final Fantasy XIV - Estinien Varlineau (Teacher)
Frozen - Prince Hans (Student)
Genshin Impact - Diluc Ragnvindr (Teacher)
Genshin Impact - Tighnari (Teacher)
Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name - Conrad Achenleck (Teacher)
Hannibal (NBC) - Will Graham (Teacher)
Jujutsu Kaisen - Gojo Satoru (Teacher)
Jujutsu Kaisen - Toji Zen'in (Teacher)
Lucifer (Netflix) - Lucifer Morningstar (Teacher)
MCU - Loki Laufeyson (Teacher)
Original - Aurinn Laurentius (Student)
Original - Bellatrix Bakhar (Student)
Original - Christine Delacroix (Teacher)
Original - Hanako 'Rosalina' Nurumi (Teacher)
Original - Jisu (Eden Woods) (Student)
Original - Karma D'Auvergn (Teacher)
Our Flag Means Death - Edward Teach (Teacher)
Our Flag Means Death - Izzy Hands (Student)
Persona 3 Portable - Kotone Shiomi (Student)
Persona 5 R - Goro Akechi (Student)
Persona 5 - Haru Okumura (Student)
Persona 5 - Ren Amamiya (Student)
Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet (Student)
Return to Labrynth - Sarah Williams (Teacher)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Snow White (Student)
Stargate: Atlantis - John Sheppard (Teacher)
Star Trek: AOS - James T. Kirk (Student)
Star Wars - Darth Vader (Teacher)
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Trilla Suduri (Student)
The Adventure Zone: Balance - Kravitz (Teacher)
The Adventure Zone: Balance - Lydia (Teacher)
The Adventure Zone: Graduation - Fitzroy Maplecourt (Student)

NEW ARRIVALS

New arrivals will be starting their first season in the winter, but they're welcomed to the castle early, under the watchful eyes of the Silver Court. Upon arrival, they will be shown to a room by a human whose eyes glow softly from within, with vacant smiles. Thralls. There, the human thralls will draw them a bath and bring them new clothes to wear to their first meeting. These are rich, expensive things made of high quality fabric. Whether it's a silk dress and a heavy velvet cowl, or a fine pants and a vest made from a brocade, the servants will provide. The new initiate's old clothes will be burned after, in a symbol of the life they are leaving behind. If they are hungry, they will be provided food. If they need anything at all, they need only ask their new servants.

Later that night they are taken to a grand hall, with high arched ceilings and candles burning in chandeliers. There are figures painted overhead, beautiful and entwined. Some have their eyes are colored to match the courts, others are gracefully placed in their death, with blood dripping from necks and wrists.

Balconies line the hall behind a forest of pillars, and vampires all watch as the group walk through (some more hungrily than others).

"Welcome to your first undying season, initiates," a pale, silver-haired vampire calls. They have silver eyes are clad in silver robes, but command the attention of everyone in attendance. They have a beauty that seems neither male nor female. They are standing at the center of a wide semi-circle of other vampires, "As the Silver Court's acting voice at this end of the Autumn season, allow me to introduce you to the Houses that will be your new homes."

The vampire, Revar, gives the newcomers an overview of all of the courts—Blue, Red, Gold, Silver, and Black—and then invites those already claimed by their Courts to join the vampires who will be their Makers.

Revar offers the Foundlings who are left a gentle, knowing smile, and then allows them to be chosen. They are like the last sheep left at the auction, and the vampires who take them may not be the enthused about it. Nevertheless, Revar waits patiently until all have found a maker.

Now that they are paired up it is expected—indeed, required—that the initiate drink from their maker. That is their Beginning. Only once they have truly begun can they can be considered novices.

AUTUMN NOX

Silver Court is in season and for the Autumn Nox it holds a large symposium, inviting all the best vampire minds from around lands nearby and far. The whole castle is abuzz with new activity. The stables are packed full of horses, carriages litter the grounds, but somehow the castle has enough rooms to house all the new arrivals.

Novices will find that some of these vampires have not seen a human-novice in a very, very long time. These vampires might see the human-novices more like specimens, curious about their every move. They won't bite, but novices may find themselves observed as they wander the castle and its grounds.

The symposium itself is open to anyone at the castle. Scholars can present on any topic at all. Novices will find that these range from the incredibly mundane (you've always wanted to attend a history of bottom-feeding river fish, haven't you?) to the truly fascinating (new insights into how vampire hearts work) to the downright strange (the symposium has a range of lectures very close to dawn about the sharing of vampire...fluids). Seasoned novices with their own Autumn classes to attend are expected to keep up with their studies, but some teachers may let them out of a session to attend the lectures and workshops of the symposium.

The Silver Court vampires are incredibly busy between running the symposium and trying to help the new novices get settled in. They may need some volunteers to lend a hand with setting up rooms or helping scholars find their way around. In fact, volunteers might find themselves leading scholars down to the second kitchen for a bite to eat, a strong reminder that even these demure learners are still monsters who must drink blood.

PUMPKINS-GONE-WILD

The symposium isn't all that the autumn season brings. The Silver Court’s talents are on display in other ways—sometimes not in ways another had particularly hoped. An overly zealous youngblood in the Silver Court tried to grow a few extra pumpkins for the occasion and ended up with a few too many! The pumpkin vines break out of the green house and start sprouting pumpkins everywhere. These are no ordinary pumpkins, they will sprout and grow and become fully formed in the course of a night. Better keep an eye out for those vines or else your room might become full of pumpkins! Luckily, the pumpkins aren’t rotting any time soon (they’ll last until winter, or so the Silver Court vampires are saying), but it can be pretty inconvenient for them to grow everywhere. Start cutting those vines to pieces, and hope they don’t try to entangle you in the process.

LIBRARY CLEAN-UP

Meanwhile, with all the scholars in town are making a mess of the library, much to the Silver Court vampire’s dismay. Books are being checked out and not checked back in, passed around from scholar to scholar. You might find those lost books just about anywhere. Who was reading in a tree? Anyone who collects the books and returns them to the library is sure to get a little bit of favor with the librarians, and it’s never a bad thing to have a bit of an in with a Court. If you’re worried about failing Silver Court, it’s time to get searching! Although how you’re going to convince a 300 year old vampire that time is not fake and that deadlines are real (and in fact were two days ago) is anyone’s guess.

UNETHICAL EXPRIMENTS

[CW: Torture, experiments]

Those who venture towards the basement might hear something a little different than normal. The thralls who spend their time down there are normally quiet, commanded to keep silent and pleasant for the vampires they serve. But with the arrival of the new scholars comes disquieting, inhuman screams from the darker reaches of the basement. Novices trying to catch a glimpse will be chased away, but teachers might be invited to watch as these vampires experiment on one another, all in the name of science. What’s a little torture, when you’re undying?

Thanks for joining us for our first TDM! For any questions regarding the TDM prompts, please comment in the thread below. For general game questions, please check the FAQ/Game Info. Remember that the game proper will begin mid December, in the Winter Season, so Students/Novices should create their prompts under the assumption that the TDM takes place during the season prior to the one they will be apping as.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, okay. I'll make sure it gets back to the library then.

[That makes sense. He's a teacher, so he's probably busy. Although she does wonder if there's a small chance he might be fleeing the terrifying prospect of friendly conversation.

Well, either way...]

It was nice meeting you, Fenris.

The world doesn't need another Bruce Wayne.

[ he says that seriously. this is a truth that he knows, regardless of knowing his past or not. ]

But as long as they continue to pursue this world, I can at least try to keep it from eating them alive.

The simple approaches are often the most effective. [ Will agreed before he straightened and spun the question outwards in an address to the entire lecture hall. ]

Give them what they want, until they are vulnerable. This is the root foundation to any hunting or fishing theory, any time you are working with prey. No matter the risk associated with that prey. Whether the prey is naïve innocence, or the most ruthless of predators.

"Not until the Winter Season," Will responded to the question, easily moving with the change of subject.

The natural statement in return would be to ask if Conrad was hosting any lectures, but Will was rubbish at the whole social contract, give and take of small talk. He gave that change of a subject all of thirty seconds before he paused in his note shuffling, tilted his head, and lifted his eyes.

This time, his gaze remained on Conrad's face; most people found they liked it better when Will didn't watch them.

"What are you trying to avoid, Conrad?" 'Why are you in my lecture, and lingering?'

Fenris doesn't like to see Will like this, it usually meant whatever monster lurked in the man was stirring. He remembers the young days of being a Vampire when Will was still out there with his maker causing chaos. Remembers the older black court members talking about taking them out, but they decided it too late he remembers--

Will's words knock him from that memory as he listens. Of course the boy was asking about manipulation.. but why red in particular. What could be motivating the boy. It was something important, but what was questionable at the best of times.

"He knows his velvet smiles don't work on me, I see his darkness because he barely hides it from me, he tries to cut me with his knives. Perhaps because he thinks it gives him an edge.." It doesn't. If anything, it makes Fenris consider putting him down before he has a chance to 'come into himself' as Will puts it.

[There is no cry of pain, no pleading or thrashing, if anything watching the boy bear it makes him want to press harder, to push further until he reacts. Fight for your life, he wants to say, show me it's worth keeping... but instead with a blur of shadows, Fenris is on the other side of the area in a blink and leaving both weapons behind in his wake.

He killed Akechi twice. That was enough. Class hasn't even started afterall.]

Clean yourself and the blades.

[He sounds bored, broody, not like he's done the boy a mercy, but he stays keenly aware of Akechi, just in case he decides to attack him instead of doing what he's told. He wouldn't put it passed that injured pride.]

A figure of speech, I assure you.

[But he will choose his words wisely, he wasn't about to ruin the mettle as it were. Fenris doesn't know when he last felt fear, real fear, but it's been too long.. or not long enough. Still, he understands what Bruce means.

It wouldn't do to come off as soft or kind. He already has to deal with another student that mistook politeness as kindness. That's annoying enough as it is.]

[ He's not about to admit any reason other than he was too busy for errands.

But she gets a grunt in response before he's gone out the door.]

Though he did not have the depth of skill that was afforded a member of the Blue Court, Will did put a little effort into one bit of masking. He kept his eyes close to their original color back when he was human; a blue/green hazel. Except, even when he'd been human his eyes had also had the capacity to slip into a gun metal grey, which was closer to the black they had become when he'd first been turned.

Fellow vampires, like Fenris, who knew Will and knew of his history, might recognize that when his eyes slid to grey, the monster was cruising just beneath the surface. Usually it only happened when he was down in the Basement 'experimenting', but in the dim light of the library, on the subject of a potential Black novice like Akechi they were drifting towards grey.

"If you truly mean to take him on," Will was still soft-spoken, but his words weren't bitten off the way they got when he was in the basement. "Don't let him inventory everything that doesn't work. Like any child seeking the attention of their parent, he will get more and more creative until he can force a response. Provide him anchors, a genuine sense of belonging ... he might be salvageable."

A favor is about all I have.

[ Hans readies his sword and strikes at a vine -- he's really not so bad, but he obviously hasn't had to fight for his life or anything. ]

Gold. [ He says this proudly! That's totally not gonna change. ] You?

[ Reyson is peacefully having himself a nice gloomy dinner. He's been having stronger cravings for flesh, and more of it in general. This is in defiance of his usual constitution. Or his old constitution. This is normal now. He's quietly working himself into a snit over eating this greasy bird - it's not actually about the bird, it's about taking yet another step away from the person he used to be and what certain people would think of him now if they were alive -

And then a pumpkin drags his broody ass under the table. ]

Ah! Yaaaugh!

[ There is a sound as if someone who is unused to having supernatural strength has just punched a pumpkin and put his hand right through it. It sounds kind of like TkkSPLORCH. ]

Blast it.

[Yeah, Elias is certainly his sort of company. If Conrad did wander into a lecture that covered anything untoward, he's not going to bring it up out of nowhere. That's not the sort of thing he'd generally sit through, anyhow.]

Oh. Uhm. Well, mostly, they talked about how humans interpret concepts of abstraction in art opposite the ways a vampire could view it. It's intriguing to hear how someone perceived works of art before they were turned compared to after. I mean, I think it's fairly interesting, anyway. I always found certain aspects of non-objective art hard to master, so I find it compelling, but I know it's not for everyone.

[He gives the man a faintly curious glance then.] Soo... What exactly was it about the gyroscope that struck a chord with you? [He's going to try to hide whether or not he knows what that is.]

Nothing, don't worry about it.

[ Hans cringes at the sight. Just because he's setting himself up to be a vampire (and he'll do what he has to,) doesn't mean he's a huge fan of watching a vampire make a meal out of a guy.

So he turns his attention back to Sylvain. He seems... normal? But that's not normal here. Even just being in his first season, Hans can smell it on him. ]

You probably shouldn't stick around. Without a Maker, someone might think you're next on the menu.

[ Oh, blessed luck, to have granted him a kind, concerned ~~fool~~ person to come to his aid! ]

I, yes, I'm... I'll be fine.

[ He forces a tired smile, one that practically begs for sympathy. ]

I'm just not really used to seeing... you know.

[ He cocks his head towards the door to the "kitchens." It's really a mess in there, maybe don't look. ]

[ Bless you, Marianne. Maybe the pumpkins know you're worth it, whereas Hans is... well. He's having a bit of trouble, isn't he? But he's extremely relieved when Marianne doesn't just walk on by. Any help is appreciated, OK! ]

Thank you! Honestly, I'll take any help you can offer...

[ He slashes at more of the vines, really barely making a dent with how much is going on in his room. ]

I mean, do you think we could burn them? I might lose all my stuff, but at this rate I won't have much at all anyway...

[ "Hansy" is making me lose my mind because it's so perfect. Hans is shocked! Shocked that she would call him out like this. (He's not, he's just dramatic.) ]

I mean...! I don't want to see them, it's just -- you hear about a place your whole life, and you kind of start to picture it in your head, you know.

[ He had this whole image in his mind of thralls being everywhere, and getting their necks bit as like a welcome or something, who knows! It's not like the Gold Court parties are any different... They might even be worse. ]

[Eventually she will find that book, and when she returns it to the library, she makes sure to let them know that Fenris asked her to bring it back. He mentioned a favor, after all, so she wants to make sure whoever asked him to do it knows he saw it through.

OOC: Lovely thread btw, thank you.]

[ Wow!! The fact that it was a slight and Kirk is completely ignoring his really excellent remark is almost enough to make Hans' mask of a smile crack. But it doesn't, because he's really good at this. Metaphorical masking, not the magic kind, anyway. ]

Is that right? I didn't know plants were trying that hard.

[ Ugh, it's definitely a slight against him, isn't it? Hans will play dumb though, because he knows when to play his cards close to the chest. ]

How do they do that? Since you're the expert.

[ How very kind of her... Hans will remember that. ]

I guess at least that's something we won't have to worry about as vampires. Probably, right?

[ Do vampires get rashes? Well, not unless it's a really poisonous plant, probably. ]

I had no idea there were so many plants that were this dangerous...

[ He is a little sheltered, it's true. But also not a huge fan of Silver Court's subjects, so it's no surprise he wasn't paying a ton of attention in class. ]

Mm... One of the teachers said that skin damage isn't wholly unavoidable. They even still use skin creams. So it'll probably remain an irritant as long as the substance is around. You have to remove the source of the problem in order to heal.

[ She'll purposefully lean over the book that was being shown to Hans while flipping a few pages. Placing her hand over part of it, Eden shifted out of the way. It was two berry bushes, but the information on what they were about was being covered. ]

This part is more important to us, but usable for the purpose of potions I'm guessing. One is edible, but the other can cause a series of gastric issues, paralysis and more. So you go by how they're grouped together, and what the leaves and stalks look like. If we're ever tasked to survive out in the wild without anything but tools, you'd need to know.

[ Given there are classes where they're literally thrown to wolves, it stood to reason that a foraging class may force some survival on the students. After allowing a few more seconds, assuming Hans was the type to diligently check what the differences in the two figures were, she moved her hand away. One sketch was of belladonna, as the other was twinberry honeysuckle; the biggest different was that the safe one grew in pairs.

They may be from the same season, but when it came to these things, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Eden knew about both potions and poisons. ]

[ for a moment, tighnari looks curious, and then.. his expression melts into a warm, welcoming smile. ]

Ah. Thank you for thinking of me.

[ THESE TIMES ARE TRYING.. tighnari absolutely could use the liquid relaxation. setting down the book he had been carrying when he opened the door, tighnari closes it behind ed after he enters. there's a comfortable sitting area in the space near the fireplace, with a squashy sofa and an armchair bracketing in a low wooden table. with a heavy sigh, tighnari drops into the chair. ]

Lively is certainly a word for it.

I took an interest when I was very young, as well.

[ it's what he was bred for, after all, and he'd been drawn to the biological sciences from his early youth. it's easy to see that mirrored in her, as well. ]

I still have the field guide I wrote when I was a child, in fact. Good to know I won't have to worry about your scores.

Well, there's certainly no rush for you to decide.

[ tighnari smiles, his expression welcoming. ]

You'll have a season or two to figure yourself out, and find where your interests lie.

[Elias, who had been leaning against the wall outside the informally-named “experimentation hall”, startles to attention at the sound of the door swinging open. In the past Karma’s beauty and senior position would make him shy with nervousness; but today he has a job to do that has little allowance for tomfoolery. Wordlessly, he looks at the bloodied towel in his senior’s hands and fetches a clean one from the pushcart next to him, offering it out to her while stretching his free hand out to take the soiled towel.]

I'm on standby for healing in case the guest scholars become too… indisposed.

[He's not all too comfortable with the screams, but he’s trying to take it in stride.]

How are things inside, Lady D’Auvergn?

[ at her given answer, tighnari smiles. shadowheart has always been an excellent student, from the moment she first graced his class, and he certainly appreciates her presence and dedication to learning. she'll excel after her becoming, he just knows it. ]

Very good. Medusa mushrooms are easily identified by the distinctive brown scaling on their caps, and the way they usually grow together in fasciculate bunches, giving the appearance of a bundle of snakes.

[ the students scrawl their notes quickly. ]

It is a species that is declining in the wild, so gathering it is not advised, especially considering it has no useful alchemic properties.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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Test Drive Meme - New Blood

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Pumpkins

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unethical experiments (blanket warning for the same cws as the toplevel)

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