undyingcourt | Test Drive Meme

Entry tags:

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, oh he heard that? Josuke blinks slowly as he looks up, just watching him through those pumpkins out for a moment before he actually replies.]

Because we're going to learn about anatomy in classes anyway, aren't we? And I'm kind of curious if anything other than humans can be some kind of vampiric? [There's... there's a reason he's probably going to end up properly in Silver, if he's having thoughts like these.]

And also there's all kinds of different beetles and a lot of them are extremely useful for keeping other pests at bay?

You thought...

[ Alright, someone with sisters would definitely know better than to think a cute face meant complete innocence. That face goes quite perplexed at the logic, however. Now while she didn't have any right to call someone sheltered, it had her wonder about people being literally so. ]

You've never seen the way vines could completely cover a house or tree, have you?

[ Xenk quirks a brow. He has not bothered learning the rules either, he finds the whole thing to be a waste of time. ]

Perhaps. But you seem to be keeping track.

[ Plus you're supposed to encourage novices to be themselves or some nonsense, at least as long as it doesn't hurt their chances of passing. So he supports this, for all that it lets Anthony practice his leadership skills if nothing else.

His question is amusing on its own. Even with a simple voice in his head, Xenk projects that amusement -- at the fact that Anthony seems bothered by his presence, that is. ]

Does my presence bother you? You've nothing to hide from me, Anthony.

[It's hard to not do so when you don't really tend to have opinions on art otherwise, but he's always been a bit more... literal... than he really ought to be.]

Ohhhh, really? Where I grew up they were constantly around everywhere and didn't really make it a secret. [Gold lands be absolutely wildin' and that much he will say without a second thought if asked about it.]

Kind of glad that it doesn't seem to be the same here? A lot less... attitude.

It builds character.

[ Being outside. Not fighting pumpkins.

At least since the pumpkins are between him and the classroom, its an easy stroll out to outside. And it's still autumn so it's not snowing yet. He turns and beckons the students and heads towards the main door. ]

Sometimes you have to be able to improvise.

[ Xenk must admit, the last thing he expected was for a novice to show up and help with cleaning. Most people would rather lift furniture and carry things than clean up, so hey, respect. That's weird, but you do you, guy.

Xenk nods at the offending thrall and they resume their work. It's not like he was gonna punish them, he just likes being intimidating. ]

I would offer to have our thralls clean up the mess, but you seem to have it well in hand.

Sounds like you're volunteering to fix this problem.

[ Great! He slings his totally-normal-definitely-not-a-weapon lute back over his shoulder. ]

You have fun with that, Xenk.

[ She's not much better, having thought of pointing the art out in a 'look at the pretty stuff' kind of way. ]

Mhm. Things are pretty lax in vampire interactions. The lottery I was in was the first that I'd come across.

[ She also lived in the woods instead of a town or village or anything, so that decreased the experiences even further. ]

Less attitude, though?

[Excuse you, don't call her out like that. Except that usually it's plotting how to kill another vampire because, you know, that's more fun.

Beside the point.]

It's extremely strange. It's not exactly subtle given they seem to be increasing at the same rate each time as if we wouldn't notice? Not that I'm complaining about there being more thrall bait, but still...

[ You're off the hook from sheer "it's the rules," Sylvain. A less rule-abiding vampire might see about snacking on a prospective novice, but Xenk respects the rules of Castle Courtsheart far too much to cause problems. Even with capricious students. ]

Are they a friend of yours? You certainly seem... familiar with them.

[ Yeah, he heard all of that for sure, guy. ]

The man who appears to assist him may not be in good spirits, as the abundance of pumpkins is frazzling his last nerve, but he is here to help. He has a long-ish palate knife in hand and he quickly goes to stab the vine that's about to snare a leg.

"This is absolutely ridiculous," he hisses. "How are we expected to deal with this? The Silver Court should be doing something about it, since they're responsible for all of these things." And he kicks a pumpkin for emphasis.

"Do you want to listen to the Council bitching about it? I don't." She would rather deal with them as little as possible if it were up to her, because they are still, in fact, enemy number one in her book. Not even in a "would be fun to harass" way, which is how you know you've truly made her shitlist.

Is it somewhat demeaning to be pet like this? Eh, probably, but it's attention and quite frankly it feels good. She also has no business being this fluffy, but it doesn't matter when she's pushing her back into it with what is a momentary bit of a purr. Twenty years or whatever and she still isn't against the idea and there's still only a few select people she'll let see any of that kind of vulnerability.

His usual is always... still something compared to most. Especially when she's faintly curious about how much he's going to make the healers hate him this time around. "So what's the bets on how many are going to get hurt this time?" Best believe she means the combat classes, it's something her Court is technically known for, but it's not like she ever really cared much for it herself.

"Weirder things have happened, I found one of my own and I still don't know how I managed that even now." That poor novice is going to really find out if this was a good or bad idea. "I suppose some people might have lost a bet on how long it would take me~"

[ Gossip really is so much more fun! Edgin's paperwork is easily forgotten, too. ]

I've got my eye on a couple. I'd put my money on Eden for biggest surprise of the season.

If I must.

[ He shoots Edgin a look that says both "I thought better of you" but also "must I do everything myself," as if he had not volunteered specifically for this task.

But Xenk is never one to turn down a task that needs doing, so that look lasts less than a second. He draws his halberd and strikes down, crushing one of the larger vines. ]

I shall handle this while you proceed with your class.

In due time, of course.

In fact, she's grinning at her in turn and slowly shrugging. "Soon enough, darling, soon enough. There's ears and eyes everywhere at the moment so best to not tell-all here, hm?"

[ that sounds like the point?? but also, not something they can solve right now. much more interesting to figure out what the council has up its sleeve on this one. ]

Maybe they figure we won't notice classes getting bigger with all the new youngbloods teaching, too. But it's weird they keep insisting everyone stay here, too, isn't it? I'm not in any rush to go "home" but some of the youngbloods don't seem like teacher-material, really.

[It's no secret her distaste of the Council, unfortunately for everyone involved.]

I would think that the point if it weren't for the ceremony of seeing all the new faces, it's pretty obvious to see how large the groups are getting if they have them all in one spot? [It's so strange to her, because none of it is really adding up to her.]

... It is. I certainly wouldn't be going home, either, not that I have much of one to go back to. But I would prefer doing almost literally anything else other than being stuck here. And excuse you, Edgin, I resemble that remark. [She is not, in fact, at all mad about it.]

You know that they do not.

[ Xenk shakes his head. Oh, Astarion. So chaotic. ]

Indeed. You are ever generous with the subjects that interest you.

[ Even after all these years... ]

Well, if you are, the rest of us are, too. If that makes it any better.

[ He's not sure it does, but he always feels like even the darkest of things he needs to lighten with a little humor. ]

It just feels...weird. It feels weird. They've always tried to keep the population "balanced." I don't know. Something about it feels desperate.

[ Maybe he shouldn't be so open with his concerns. But there's something about Jaheira that just makes her feel safe. And really, what are they going to do? Kill him? ]

I think it depends on who you're dealing with? Because none of the ones I'd been around before were "lax". [They were kind of assholes, if he were to be honest.]

Yeah... They were always coming around the orchards and such acting like they owned the place and could do whatever they want and demand whatever they wanted. Not that any of them knew anything about what they were doing since, well, I'm sure they would've taken over way before then if they actually did. [Nah, it seemed that they needed the Higashikatas in order to help feed the rest of the people in that land, but he wouldn't put it past them to make it seem like they knew better.

Golds, man, Golds.]

[ At least he laughed! He gets points for that, and Edgin is left holding onto the book. ]

Thank you ever so much for coming down from the tree, Jim.

[ Is that better?? ]

[ Vampires were as absent as parental figures for Eden (the closest being the grandmother that found her.) So all of this information has Eden's eyes go a little wide.

This was certainly going to color her opinion of the court, at least a bit. When seeing the classes, she'll be even more wary past that. ]

I didn't realize there were places that they could be so controlling. What was the point; just keeping people in line or something?

So either they didn't think this nefarious plan through in the slightest, or we're really missing something here.

[ it really doesn't add up, but you know, at least they can just stand here and make up nefarious plans to attribute to them! ]

Hey! I didn't mean you. I think you're doing great.

[ Does he even know anything about her classes? Doubtful. ]

What would you do, if you could live out your undeath doing whatever?

[Should color her opinion of the ones that aren't here, at least. And he certainly will keep his opinions despite everything, but that's another thing entirely.]

I think so? The stuff they said was always threatening if we ever got ideas in our heads of trying to "get more power" than we were already afforded or something? Not that I think anyone was and just wanted them to leave us alone and let us do our thing?

Great, cool. We'll go play lutes on the lawn. If you manage to vanquish all the pumpkins, come see us.

[ yeah he's just...gonna inch away. ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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Test Drive Meme - New Blood

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Pumpkins~

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