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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Not really, but what's a romp between friends huh? Or a maker and novice. But Kirk liked to think of Edgin as a friend regardless.

Still, he laughs at the stupid joke before jumping down from the tree with an "Oof" not pretending to be ad graceful and perfect around the Vampire. There wasn't any reason to put up his facade around him.]

Was waiting for you to invite me down.

[He pushes the book to his Maker's chest with a pat.]

[ 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?? ]

[Much better.]

You're very welcome, Edgin, was my pleasure to get down for you.

[He pats the man on the shoulder.]

I know you're just being cheeky, but it still gets to me anyway. You sure you wouldn't fit in better in Red Court, after all?

[ he will begrudgingly admit this. he will not admit how much he likes it when jim calls him by his name, or how he's known him for one season and already cares way more for him than he should.

Instead, after a moment: ]

You doing okay? Eating enough?

Pretty sure there was some who think I would be, but.. naw, not for me. I don't look very good in red.

[He was being cheeky, grinning at the man. Sure, he would do great in Red, he killed his courses on seduction and weaponry, just like he killed his gold and blue court courses. Even Silver and Black were aced. He was pushing himself to be the best he could be, taking the max number of courses he could each season. Not only for himself and his goals, but also to make Edgin proud. To thank him.

So when he asks about if he's eating enough, if he's okay... well of course the man asked. He knows all about Kirk's history, about the famine that plagued his area of the blue court lands, about how he nearly starved to death, how he never really recovered from it til he came here. Now he can eat as much of whatever he wants and it was mind boggling to him, which was good because his appetite was getting more intense by the week. He was still kind of skinny, but he was bulking up slowly.]

Yeah.. yeah, I'm making sure to eat lots, never skipping meals. Had pumpkin pie for the first time... probably the last time too. [A Chuckle.] I'm... I'm doing good. [His voice goes a little soft as if saying thank you.]

You look good in everything.

[ A minor correction, gentle.

Edgin gets it. Those years where the winters got bad and the crops couldn't grow were horrible on his family. He hadn't had it as bad as Kirk, but he knows what it's like to wonder if there will even be any food to offer your family. When there wasn't enough, he'd always given his portions to his wife and daughter. So, sure, he'd tried to impress upon the servants that they needed to take extra good care of Kirk, but that was part of his job.

The mention of pumpkin pie gets him thinking. It's only been ten years since he'd had human food, but sometimes that seemed like an eternity. But it brings back memories of growing pumpkins (which easily come to mind, thanks to the Silver Court's rather zealous cultivating this season), and finding things to do with them. His wife had made a wonderful soup but one year they'd cobbled together the ingredients for a pie, mostly for their daughter. It wasn't long before he was caught. He'd had just enough money to start buying luxuries.

It hadn't lasted. ]

Good. Pie is good. [ He can't quite remember though. He says it like someone who knows what's what you're supposed to say about it. ] If you need anything, you can just ask for me. The servants, or me, or anyone, really. Some of the other youngbloods can be kinds of stupid, but I think everyone just wants to see the novices succeed.

[ citation needed. ]

You know flattery gets you everywhere.

[He grins at the correction. Part of him wants to say "Even in your bed?" but even he knows that it's not exactly the right moment for it. There is something softer going on here than just flirting. Part of him almost wants to say it to change the subject, to make this funny and light hearted again, but the words don't come to his lips.

Instead he nods at the fact that pie is good.]

Yeah... yeah I want to try everything before my diet gets limited, you know, might as well make these last few months mean something. [But with that he grins.]

And I'm not so sure about that, but yeah I know I can rely on you. Never doubted that.

[ They're supposed to treat vampirism like it's this wonderful thing, this gift that they are bestowing on the novices. But Edgin can't help but feel sad as he hears Kirk say it, "these last few months." As if he's dying, and they're just waiting around for it to happen.

Edgin looks down at the book in his hands and he picks at a fraying thread on the corner of it. The librarians might not appreciate that, but, oh well, he didn't make it fray in the first place. It's probably been doing that for years. ]

James, I...

[ He's been entirely too sentimental, using his name like that. What is he going to do? Apologize for turning him? Apologize for the existence of Castle Courtsheart? None of this was his fault, he was just doing his best to make it as comfortable for the novices as he can.

Edgin swallows thickly and shakes his head. No, the best thing he can do is make this positive. That's all he can do. He has to, for Kirk. He owes that much to him. So he looks back up at him and tries to smile. ]

I think that's a great idea. You know, really commit to it. I'll bet they'll make anything. Even stuff from far away. You ever had reindeer? We used to eat it back home. Makes a really good stew.

Edited 2023-12-17 02:59 (UTC)

[There is something about how he says his name like that... It makes his heart clench in a way he can't help but wonder if that too will go away one day. Kirk might think of a lot of people as stepping stones in his goals -- goals that Edgin knew about because Kirk didn't hide anything from him -- but Edgin wasn't one of them.

The vampire was to him like a father, one he never had. He can't stop how he looks down for a second to look at Edgin's hands. Watching them closely for a long moment, He felt close to tears and he's not sure why, but he takes a breath that one day he won't need, fortifying himself emotionally before meeting those blue eyes with his own. Would his be the same blue one day?

Hearing his voice again, he looks up at Edgin and nods, trying to smile right back.]

No, I haven't had a lot of meat in my life, maybe I should order some for dinner tonight. See if it's as good at you say. [He grins before it fades into something softer.] And..

[He pauses as he reaches over to rest a hand on Edgin's shoulder for a second, giving it a squeeze when really he wants to hug him. But that was too sentimental right? He was supposed to be flirting with him, not crying on his shoulder. ]

Edgin.. Well, thank you. For a lot of things. I'll do my best and make you proud.

[ He probably shouldn't intrude on Kirk's thoughts, but they're so loud now. It's a lot, to hear how he's like a father to him. He'd fumbled his own chance at fatherhood, before. He's afraid he'll just hurt Kirk in the same way. But he couldn't possibly deny him, either, when he can tell he's close to tears.

Edgin grabs him and pulls him into a hug, pulling him tight against his chest. He can hear that's what he wants, after all. There's time for flirting later. ]

I know you will.

[ One hand goes to cradle the back of his head, his words quiet for just the two of them. ]

You're doing great, son.

[Kirk hesitates for a second before he latches on to Edgin, hugging him tightly, burying his face against the vampire's shoulder. He doesn't cry, but it's a near thing, he can't remember the last time he was really hugged. Like just a hug with nothing else going on about it.

It feels nice.

And foreign. He's not sure how to start it or how to end it, but he will just lean on Edgin to do that. It's not like he minds the fact his maker likely read his thoughts, he doesn't really shield them around him anyway.

But when he gets called son of all things, he feels his eyes get teary in a way he can't stop, even if he's holding them back from actually crying. Shit, he really does care for this man. ]

Thanks... thank you.

It's okay.

[ As, in its okay he doesn't have to thank him. But also, it's okay, if he wants to cry. This is all a lot for him, too, but he can process those emotions later. Right now, he just wants to be there for Kirk. ]

Yeah. Yeah it is.

[He takes a couple deep breaths and keeps his trying at bay. Sure he's teary eyed but he's not going to cry. He promised himself he wouldn't let himself be vulnerable like that. Even if he can be with Edgin, he knows he's safe, they are also out in the middle of a courtyard, so better safe than sorry. Right?]

[ Edgin hangs on for a moment longer and then slowly pulls away. They are in a courtyard, and he doesn't want to embarrass him more than he needs to. ]

Come with me to turn this in. You should get the credit for finding it.

[Pulling away he nods, yep he can do that, just got to blink away these tears, nothing to see here.]

Sounds like a solid plan, might as well get the brownie points, right?

[He grins and slaps Edgin on the back, friendly.]

Not that you really need much in the way of favor with any of the courts.

[ He starts to walk them back towards the Castle all the same. ]

[There was no hiding it from his maker that he actually busts his ass to do the best he can in all his classes, that while still a genius, he worked just as hard. ]

Well.. every little big can't hurt. Especially, with Silver, since it's the one that I neglect the most.

I'm not sure "neglect" is a word I'd use to describe your approach to studying.

[ Even if he wants to pretend otherwise, sometimes. ]

Well.. I mean, I'm not really into plants. History sure, books yeah, but plants and healing? I'm trying but I have to say it's not my strong suit.

[He's being honest in this, he's good at a lot of things but plants and healing was something he was probably going to outsource in the future.]

I wasn't very good at healing either, if it makes you feel any better.

[ This is ironic because he's a bard. ]

[He gives Edgin a smile.]

What were your best courts? Other than Blue, obviously.

Uh, Red [ he's bad at seducing someone he likes, but he's pretty good at playing a role ] and Gold.

[ It obviously doesn't sit well with him, though. ]

I mean, I passed Silver, but only by doing the bare minimum of healing.

Red huh? [He takes a couple steps ahead and turns to walk backwards, grinning] Maybe you should help me with some of my seduction course work.

[And... Yeah a healing word is pretty bare minimum.]

No Black courses? I guess I don't see you fighting much or into that whole.. hunting business.

You just want an excuse to flirt with me.

[ he's just going to say it like it is. He steps around Kirk's backwards walking so he can get the door for him though. A gentleman! ]

Very few people took Black courses in my day. You younger folks seem more interested in diversity.

[Kirk almost backs into the door, but beams at his maker instead, saying a quick thank you before slipping inside. It wasn't really any warmer, but the wind-chill was gone now.]

You wound me, I don't need an excuse to flirt with you.

[He puts a hand over his heart like it hurt.]

And makes sense, I know it's dangerous but I want to learn to shadowstep. [Honestly, he wants to push himself in all the courts, even if it's dangerous.]

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cw: mention of famine and starvation

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