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

I don't like how easy it is for the thralls to get caught by the vines...

[ Yet her eyebrows scrunch a bit in confusion. She could understand and accept that the dagger was meant for 'bloodier things' than processing animals, but that's a different way of looking at it. ]

I know its handle has some pretty details, but I didn't think it'd be considered fancy. I'm sure people from those higher classes that the gold court likes has way fancier.

[ Because otherwise you're making her think of things that she was told not to mind, and was very good at dismissing most of her life. Now that she's here, isn't it a little late for her to think about this???? ]

Ah, the good old I'll copy my notes for you. That brings him back. He never took his own notes as a novice, and just coasted off of being charming enough that people offered him their notes even if they found him annoying.

"Sure. I'm no good at sitting still, anyway," Satoru hums. In a rare, benevolent moment, Gojo Satoru has admitted that he'd just be a nuisance if he attended the lecture. But Tighnari raises a good point: he should be aware of any potential threats to the novices, and poison is one of those threats, so he has an opportunity to learn something useful here.

He pauses thoughtfully, frowning.

"Do you think it'd mostly be about the symptoms of the poisons, or would they go into how to heal them?"

"Tricksters. Foxes are funny little creatures but fitting for a shapeshift, I think. Hopefully you'll get what you desire but no matter the outcome, I look forward to helping you find that out. It's always satisfying to help a student discover who they are."

Loki had enjoyed the process for himself, naturally, but it has been more satisfying helping students over the years because they are so delighted about it (usually).

"It seems you have a strong sense of self, though. You'll find your shape easily."

Does Satoru want to listen to the Council bitching about it? No, of course not. But can he? Yes, absolutely. One thing that very few people know about Gojo Satoru is that he's an extraordinarily patient man when he wants to be, and is excellent at dealing with political bullshit.

"Define 'hurt'," he chuckles. He encourages the students to go absolutely apeshit on each other as part of their training, no holding back. It does result in some big injuries sometimes. The odd bruise is the least of their worries. "The Silver Court healers already hate me, I'm gonna go for a home run this year."

Satoru also doesn't know how Lydia managed to find a novice, but he thinks it's adorable. Maybe the novice will bring out of a new side of her. Or maybe she'll just get worse, who knows!

"Aww, Lydia and her little vampire baby," he coos, grinning, idly toying with one of Lydia's ears. "How are they? Already shaping them into a rapscallion, or are they rebelling against you like all good novices should?"

[His expression falters for a moment - a reminder that he's different now, before he fixes it up into a cocky smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes]

Something like "Did you blindfold yourself before you picked your outfit?"

[He gives a hum at the sight - either there is a passage, or other people had the same thought and were left disappointed. Harlock eventually moves back down, and approaches the portrait, his hands moving along the frame]

Leaning in to hear the whisper, Satoru nods very seriously, with the air of a man who has also very seriously getting werewolf costumes commissioned for the two of them before the next Gold Court gala happens.

"Justice needs to be dealt," he agrees solemnly. "Someone needs to think of those poor novices, and we can be their heroes in shining armor. Or capes. Whatever heroes wear these days."

(He doesn't actually care if the novices are being used to collect books. He does kind of care that someone in a position of power is being a dick, though.)

"Any suggestions? We could," Satoru counts off on his fingers, "give the librarian a wedgie so hard they'll feel it until next week, compel all of the novices to not be able to hear what the librarian's saying, steal all of the books ourselves and hide them..."

"Tch, so cold-hearted," Satoru chides, as if he hadn't just been talking about subjecting them to a gauntlet of swinging axes before they've even gotten breakfast. "You'd think we could be a little more civilized that the cold law of nature, but I guess not."

It's not unusual to have a few novices die every season. It's usually no skin off of his bones, either.

He helpfully gets out of the way of the thralls, and leans up against the doorframe instead. "I teach hand to hand combat, of course I make them fight each other," he says blithely. Because weapons may be under the domain of the Reds, but none of the Courts own hand to hand combat, so he's free to be a little creative about what he picks. All of his other usual subjects -- mind control, Gold Court history and politics, and being cool as fuck -- are all firmly in the realm of Gold Court. "What's the alternate; they fight me?" Satoru pulls a scandalized face. "Then they really would lose all their limbs. I'm not that cruel."

"I guess people learn a lot about themselves with their first shift," she says with a smile, looking forward to that time. Also taking what Loki said as a strong compliment. It would have to make sense in some way for everyone, whatever that first shape is.

"Why did you think you'd be a snake?" Look, they have time, as there was a demonstration of the Gold abilities being used. She'd seen it enough, and could only guess that the teacher was also wanting more about the hows and whys, as the detailed notes indicated.

"I'm a bit of a trickster myself," Loki says. "And I like to skulk around and listen to what's going on before I say anything. I imagine those are snake-like qualities. The panther turned out to be the same thing, truly, but I rather like the color green so I imagined it would always be a snake."

There is a strength and dignity to his primary form that the snake doesn't have, though, even if both are elegant. Loki suspects that's the difference.

"... Ah," was her initial response, which was a little telling. It was mostly the green thing that had her responding that way in the end of it. You could see that there's a moment of 'should I or not' before Eden cleared her throat.

"Green isn't exactly a common snake color. Those are the ones usually in, ah, trees I think? I mean, they can be a lot of different colors, but I usually see different kinds of browns, reds and blacks," though she was also in a specific area of the world and seeing anything past those were uncommon. "Though I suppose with shapeshifting, at some point you can be whatever color you'd like to be? So I suppose that's a little moot."

Yeah. Good job showing even more that you belong in silver. Nerd.

[Conrad is rather particular when it comes to being touched. Though, since becoming a vampire he has loosened up somewhat. Still, he is very selective when it comes to those he gets close to. But then he wouldn't shrug off a helping hand. He'd rather not fall on his face, after all, and have books cascading everywhere.]

Th-thanks. I'm good. And, yeah. I do. It's not like I took to a liquid diet right off the bat, myself. [He clears his throat with a soft humming sound, then. He has to figure other vamps got used to the whole thing far quicker than he did. For him, it was an... ordeal.]

Uhm. Oh. It's pretty much the same-old same-old. Though, now I have some somewhat interesting, and bothersome, still life to work with. Pumpkins get old pretty quickly, though.

"No kidding," he grouses, giving another vine a rather forceful jab. "I have pumpkins coming out of the woodwork in my classroom, how am I supposed to get any work done!?"

And he's kicking a few more pumpkins for good measure. It may not help the situation much, but it is therapeutic.

Took me a while too, I still miss some human food, but as the years pass I have forgotten what most of it tastes like. [When she says a while, she probably doesn't mean as long as it took him, but that's okay, Karma understands well enough.]

Oh! Did you not hear? The pumpkins are supposed to stay fresh til winter, so they should look good for a little while yet, though the solstice is right around the corner.

[He might not have heard yet since it's silver mostly is the ones talking about the strangeness of the pumpkins.

But she sounds excited for the change of season. Afterall, she loves the ball that comes with winter.]

Is that your specialty? Still lifes? Or do you draw nudes too? [Did her voice just dip down into something sultry? Absolutely.]

Well, the livestock, to keep the thralls in iron, could feed on them as well...

[Normally he's a little indignant when talking about thralls; today is no exception. He's a bit tired, but he's hiding it well, keeping pace with Halsin with relative ease.]

... Was that a real risk? Ripping the door off?

[He knows Halsin's strength. But he also knows alchemists' doors are built STRONG to keep in fire and explosions... He could not remove his own, but Halsin is a giant.]

"Ah. Hoping to not have to go down there to get a book, in point of fact." He offers a shaky grin that quickly fades.

"I'm... loath to be reminded of the cruelty of my clan." It's not exactly a lie - but he's more worked up than just that. It's like he's remembering something that hurts badly. A scarred trigger that'll never go away in an immortal mind.

Edited (SUBJECT LINE) 2023-12-09 03:19 (UTC)

"Haha... no, one of my court has a book on my list down there. I hate to imagine what stains it's gathering..." He hesitates, rubbing the side of his throat, where he has no scar now, but once did, as Jaheira would know.

"... I can't go down there." It's not a point to be argued, but it's a dangerous ultimatum for any member of the Silver court to be afraid of learning, even barbaric as this information-seeking is.

It's not right. Nothing here ever is. He bends down, pressing his forehead to hers. When he speaks, his voice is a whisper, only for her. "I understand. They... took me in the night. I almost died so many times. They threw me here because I wouldn't, and they wanted to break me. Don't break. They'll take you for fodder if you do."

He lets out the rest of his air in a soft sigh, and doesn't breathe immediately when it's done, but when he inhales, it's for only one sentence.

"I'm sorry but you need to drink." He pulls a clean knife, a herbalist's blade more than a dagger, out of his pocket.

[ Reyson clocks the twitch and politely ignores it. Only a fool would have no doubts at all about turning into a vampire - or worse, failing at turning into a vampire. The good outcome is death. He waves a hand dismissively - Harlock can't see him, but it's good to practice your dismissive gestures around here. ]

People here wear too many dark colors, or house colors. I might start wearing pastels; to be contrary. That will give the future generations something to talk about.

...What's this?

[ He might be referring to what Harlock is up to, or, if he has reached the conclusion that this thing can lift off some sort of peg arrangement, the genuine mysterious secret passage that is underneath it. ]

[The dismissive gesture earned a roll of his eyes, and he decided not to elaborate as he feeling the blond is much more comfortable about the situation than he is]

They had to go and burn my nicest clothes.

[Which is nowhere near the quality or nice-feel of what he's given, but still he was rather fond of it - it had a roguish panache that silks and brocades lacked in his opinion.]

I noticed there's some discoloration on the wall, as if this painting's been moved.

"Oh..." Conrad offers him a sympathetic glance and a troubled frown pulls at his lips. "I can understand that, I think. I don't want to be around, myself. It's all pretty, uhm... distasteful..." Maybe that's not the best word to use, but it basically sums things up.

There's a brief pause as Conrad goes over his options to help, here, and he lightly taps his foot on the stone floor. "How about I go-? Uhm. I could go look for it for you?" He's guessing the book is kind of important for Percy to be hanging around, subjecting himself to such misery and grief. He wouldn't be troubling himself otherwise, one would think.

Hm. I hope I don't forget everything completely. But, yeah, it does slip away after a while, doesn't it? [He has to sigh a little wistfully... God help him if he totally forgets the joy of a hot cup of tea and a scone.]

Well, that's just... great... [Conrad is obviously not thrilled with the longevity of the pumpkins, but his grumping is quickly diminished when the subject of his artworks is questioned. He's blushing, not just because she's asking about nudes, but it's the way she asks.]

I, uuuuuhm.... No. I mean, I do. I mean... I don't have a specialty drawing them. Or, well- They're just part of the curriculum. Having models in class, I mean. It's important to have a good grasp of anatomy. [He huffs faintly and grips the stack of books just a bit tighter.]

People burn a lot of nice things.

[ Oh, that sounded bitter. He has to stop being sensitive about. Certain things. This is exactly the kind of bullshit that means he has to focus on different, pettier bullshit. Like the library. ]

Well, there must be some reason for that. We'd better move it ourselves and find out.

[ He's coming over, this is more attention-grabbing than working out where these books about weird bugs go... and who knows, maybe weird bug books go in a secret shelf behind the beard painting. He doesn't know how these people file their books. ]

Would explain more how he deals with Gold Courts nonsense while she can't stand more than five minutes of it, if even that long. Political bullshit was never her forte and unless she has a reason to care, you can bet that she's zoned out.

"You already know I hear all about the bullshit you do when I go annoy one of my favorite toys." Of course she has some amusement in most of the Courts at this point, it wouldn't be fun or useful to hear the gossip otherwise. Especially if it's said to her while they're upset. "Given it's you, though, I think we're talking limb loss or perhaps broken bones. The big injuries they'll whine the most about." It's not as if they can't heal such things quickly, but it's supposedly a pain in the ass to put limbs back together from what she's heard.

If only she knew, though she's almost certain she will not be getting any better due to it. There's some things that just will never change.

So much for relaxing and accepting pets as she's lazily swatting at him, a bit of claw, but nothing that will actually cause anything more than scrapes at a surface level. "Shut up." Though she's quick to settle back down, rolling her eyes in turn. "This one is... different. Has quite a bit of potential and from what I've gained so far, quite willing to go as far as she needs to go in order to get what she wants. You better believe I'm curious about where she'll go~"

[Bah, as if she doesn't already have a reputation with playing with people from other Courts in more than one way by this point. Nor does she really care about the majority of her reputation when she's having fun. Especially when she knows she can take gossip and spin it her way or entirely refute it with relative ease, she does teach classes about how to do that nonsense for a reason.

She's also quite pleased to be right where she is, humming for a moment and just lightly clinging onto him in turn, making sure to not accidentally dig her nails into him through his clothing today. A thing of habit, really.]

Awww, but the only thing that would be hurt is their ego, probably. [Maybe more than that, she can't really make any promises if it came down to that. But it would certainly start verbally.]

... You do realize you're part of their experiments, right? If you weren't in this case, they wouldn't just shrug and say for as long as they need you. They would have a schedule in place and have someone else come take over at some point. [She shifts a little to actually look at him properly before poking a finger in his chest.] They are not your friends, darling.

Think of who you're speaking with for but a moment and tell me again why you think I should care about this task. And when I've ever been conducive to anything asked of me. Think real hard.

[The answer is: never. Unless she's going to get something out of it or it involves something she wanted to do. Torture, sadism, just general sensual things? Yes. Returning books or being a good influence? Nah, absolutely not.]

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Test Drive Meme - New Blood

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