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

[ She had only just finished rescuing someone's ankles from a rogue set of vines when the new orders came from the nearby lounge chair. Straightening up, the second season student wiped her forehead with the back of the same hand that was holding the dagger she'd been using. One with a snake head embossed in the pommel.

It seems she's got enough situational awareness to move without being tripped up by the creeping vines.]

I'm fine with that, actually. It's the ones causing traffic issues that I'm catching as I go.

[ Which, if it were possible for this to propagate from cuttings, she genuinely must be fine with the rampant growth. Especially as she throws the cuttings she'd collected far off from the path and into other pushes. ]

We should at least get to see how big they get, right? Just so that the one who's project this was can have full results. They were so eager about seed conditioning and improving soils...

"Yeah, because I'm super interested in the growth rates of pumpkins," Satoru deadpans, dunking his cookie again before he takes a bite. The cookies don't taste like anything, which is about the best he can hope for with food. "The only interesting option is if they get as big as, I don't know, a house. Anything less than that, some farmer has probably already achieved."

Yeah, he reads the news sometimes. And sometimes the news is so slow that Local Farmer Grows 2,000 Pound Pumpkin is prominently featured. That's what counts as entertainment, he guesses, when you're stuck in a castle because the forests surrounding it are too dangerous to go through.

Good for Jisu, though, she's being totally helpful! Satoru's sure somebody will appreciate it.

Not him. Because he can't be bothered doing anything other than spectate for his own amusement and give advice. But somebody will!

"Cool dagger, though," he notes, peering over his sunglasses. "Is that strictly for decoration and plant cutting, or does it actually get some use?"

Well, some-

[ Eden had stopped herself, a rare trait in some older Silver Court members, understanding quite quickly that the teacher wasn't at all interested in hearing in any of it. She could take a hint. So instead of continuing, she took a moment to look over her dagger before wiping it clean against her clothes and putting it back into the sheath that was tucked into her belt. ]

I've used it for all kinds of harvesting. Plants and animals. Not much else I've needed it for. Though I don't know what else it'd get use in.

[ Given that it's clearly meant to be a concealed-style dagger, and not a harvest knife, someone more experienced would have plenty of ideas. ]

Satoru goes to grin at the funny joke, and the expression abruptly falters when he realizes she's being serious. He levels a baffled stare at her over the rim of his sunglasses.

"Plants and animals are the only think you can think of using a knife on?" he drawls. "I mean, discarding the fact that a knife isn't even the best tool for pruning-- my child. My oblivious little Silver Court baby. This castle has a basement for torture, and classes on how to more effectively stab people, and you've never used it for more than harvesting."

He pauses, and then laughs, obviously delighted.

"That's adorable," he says breezily. "That knife was meant for far bloodier errands than you know."

There's a difference between what I think a knife could be used for, and what I think I'd end up needing it for. It's just all I've had most of the time, aside from a hand hoe.

[ Let's at least get that part clear! She knew what blades could be used for; was actually doing quite well in her Blades class. Though she'd yet to come across the basement to discover the torture, she's already seen what could be done in her local villages. ]

Besides. If it was meant for bloodier things, then who would be dumb enough to leave it with a child?

[ She says it with a rolled shrug of a shoulder and one of those 'so there' faces, as if using his own words of calling her a baby before. Eden isn't really that subtle, having already been known as that classically and painfully direct type from the Red Court's lands. Why leave a dagger with an infant if that's what it was meant for, when leaving both in some isolated woods? This seemed like a good chance (for some reason) to try stepping out of her comfort zone... Though she already didn't like it. ]

"Maybe whoever left it with you figured you'd be in for a life of struggle," Satoru says thoughtfully, head tipped back. He can't see much of the stars, because of his umbrella. Shame. It means he completely misses her so there face, but he can hear it in her voice nonetheless.

Good. A little bit of attitude means she might actually survive her next few seasons.

By the time he looks back down, some of the pumpkin's vines have already shifted and grown, curling over a patch of the greenhouse glass that they hadn't covered before. Satoru might kind of admit it's interesting how fast they're growing, in a purely academic way, but he's mostly here because he's bored and had nothing better to do.

"I wonder if eating the seeds means you'd have a full grown pumpkin bursting out of your stomach the next night," he contemplates, eyeing one of the nearby pumpkins like he's considering trying it. Or convincing someone else to do it. "Who's the nerd that grew these? We might have to consider that it's an assassination plan gone wrong."

[ Well that was a thought she'd never had before. Yet she couldn't consider what she had as a life of struggle, though neither was it easy. It just was. That's how nature was. ]

Normally one would roast the seeds prior to eating them. That stops the germination process. Stomachs aren't really a viable source for growing either. Too much acid. That's like saying a melon will grow in your stomach if you eat the seeds.

[ The idea of it being considered an assassination attempt had Eden looking over at the vines. Even if she had remembered the student that was asking around for advice, she wasn't exactly a snitch. This wasn't done out of malice. Instead, she shrugged and focused her eyes towards the poor greenhouse. ]

I can't imagine this being an effective assassination on anyone. They probably just took all of the advice and put it all together without thinking of potential interactions.

[ Then, after realizing how this could all sound, she adds; ]

This isn't my project. I just recommended things like ash and chicken blood to enrich the soil.

Satoru blows back a disappointed sigh, flopping back in his chair. She's not wrong; stomach acid isn't exactly a good environment for growing seeds. But shit gets boring, and he'd hoped for half a second that someone enterprising Silver vampire might have found a way around that.

Probably not, though.

"And you also help clean up," he adds, "with a dagger that's way too fancy for the job."

He knows he's seen that serpent head somewhere. Some family crest. The memory's escaping him right now, though -- he usually has a pretty good head for inane politics despite all the complaining he does about it, but there's so many important families around here. It's easy to forget their specific crests.

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???? ]

"True, it's not encrusted with massive diamonds like some Gold Court weapons," Satoru hums, "but a little detail like that serpent's head costs time and effort for the blacksmith. It's not something they're going to churn out to sell to the masses."

In most cases, he'd simply indulge in a bit of mind reading and figure out the answer, but it sounds like Eden doesn't know the answer herself. Which means it's a mystery, at least until he manages to remember whose family crest had a serpent head.

It's not like he likes the politics of powerful families, but it kind of is his job. So. He's mildly curious.

[ Oh, she definitely doesn't know. Especially not after the 'who'd leave it with a child' comment earlier. That and it'll be clearer the more she talks about it, especially with the eyebrows scrunched a little. ]

So preparing me for a life of struggle, but also using something worth a good bit to do so. It sounds like there's cheaper ways to do that.

[ There's a momentary pause as Eden leans a bit off to the side. The details are logical enough, but now she's confused by why this was such a 'thing' now. No one had really questioned it so far. ]

If you're curious about where it came from or something else about it, I really don't know. It was just with me when I was found.

"Your context clues told me as much," Satoru says glibly, tipping his head back against his chair.

As much as he kind of hates to admit it, he's marginally invested now. He always did love figuring out puzzles, and while abandoned children aren't especially uncommon in these lands, most of them don't get left with a fancy knife.

He's going to guess: the circumstances of her birth were somehow embarrassing to a rich family and they decided to abandon her, but some empathetic party left her with a parting gift. Only time will tell if he's right.

"But you are going to get fussed at if some Silver gardening nerd sees you pruning with a knife and not proper pruning shears," he drawls, amused.

[ It won't be the most difficult puzzle to solve, once dug into. Yet now it was going to be this tiny and occasional itch at the back of Eden's mind. Revar did similar with putting a concern about making students too jealous and wrathful. Nothing to completely change her, but it was still there. ]

I would have to come across one that would stir up the fuss first.

[ Some had genuinely not minded at all. This was a unique enough situation that they were glad for anyone with a sharp enough cutting instrument to help clean the mess of vines up. ]

If I need to... I'll just switch when they do. I'm just already used to the pressure, angles and motions with this, so I'm in no rush to change things.

"Eh, fair enough," Satoru shrugs. It's really no skin off his nose if she chops at the pumpkin vines with pruning shears, knives, axes or the finest swords the Gold Court had to offer. Actually, he'd probably prefer the latter, just for the scandalized looks she'd get.

He finally levers himself off of his chair, hands in his pockets as he takes a few steps into the mass of vines crossing the path to the greenhouse. He peers down at them over the top of his sunglasses, idly stooping to pick up the end of a vine.

"I get a feeling you novices are going to be eating a lot of pumpkin over the next month," he chuckles. "For once I'm glad I don't have to eat."

Probably!

[ She doesn't move too much from where she is, as the mess to the greenhouse was easily seen from where they were. ]

Pumpkins are good for the body, and there's a lot of different things that can be made with it, so that's not going to really be a problem. Some will complain- I imagine those from the Gold Court will first, but it's only for a little bit of time. They have worse things to survive through.

[ She's not really thinking about who she's saying this dig towards gold court novices, but given her personality... That probably wouldn't have changed anything. ]

The dig at his court just makes his smile grow, amused. Because she's not exactly wrong. A lot of Gold Court vampires are prissy and prone to complaining, and they raise their novices the same way.

"If they can't handle a bit too much pumpkin in their diet for a bit, they probably couldn't handle anything else this castle throws at them," he says contemplatively, studying the vine he's got a hold of. They're growing fast enough that he could probably watch it grow if he looked long enough, but that sounds boring, so he just yanks it out by hand, tossing it over his shoulder.

He angles an amused glance at Eden. "Besides; enjoy it while you can. After your Becoming, everything will either taste like ash, or shit, or nothing at all."

Oh, Eden's noticed. Mostly by the way they order the thralls around, and what exactly those demands were. Always demands and orders it seemed like, and never requests.

"After being here for a bit, I thought that Gold and Black courts both had the most trouble successfully raising their novices," she mused, watching and tracking where the discarded vine went. Depending, it'll probably recover once reconnecting to the ground. It would depend on how strong the growth rate lingered.

"So that part's true? That's a shame," she'll nod with a bit of understanding. There were so many things she hadn't had a chance to try. The year here was her only shot then. "I never really enjoyed the taste of ash. Sometimes a strong wind would kick it up while cleaning the fires. Is bloodwine the same for you, then? Or would having blood change it enough to keep it appealing?"

"Bloodwine's okay-- something about the blood content makes the alcohol taste tolerable," Satoru shrugs. He's not a big fan of the stuff, personally. Possibly because he's a massive lightweight, but he'll forever insist that he just doesn't like the feeling of being drunk and sloppy. "Loads of vampires swear by the stuff."

Also, Red Court consumes enough wine to compensate for all of the other Courts, so.

"And any novice who willingly goes to Black Court is probably already all in, I doubt there's much trouble in teaching them how to be moody and complicated," he says glibly. "Lots of Gold Court novices come from noble lines, so they already know the politics and the social game. Every Court's novices have their own little weird struggles, and things they find easy."

That is interesting to consider. Enough for Eden to muse, "I wonder if it would be the same for blood sausage."

Obviously it would require using human blood instead of animal, but the rest- Unless, of course, it was about some kind of unique infusion. In Eden's logic, people felt the need to swear by it because it's all they had left in the memory of eating and drinking things that were enjoyable. She also sees what Satoru was saying about the Gold court thing. "I noticed that about the Black Court- the moodiness and tempers that some of them have. Their classes are all about accepting that the hunt is about survival and understanding that you're a predator, but it's like that weighs them down more. Maybe it's because we were all human before, seeing as those that were always predators can still play and enjoy their natures as well. Culling and filling their belly is just a part of it."

The teen however shakes her head a little, dismissing all of that. She was probably missing something, having more experience with the wildlife than anything else. "I'm probably overthinking it. They probably just need more nutrients than just iron-rich blood to balance themselves out."

Now that's a thought! Presumably it's been tried already, but Satoru might just have to try again. He misses food, honestly.

His smile grows in amusement at Eden's observations about Black Court. Moodiness and tempers is about right. His current favorite Black Court person, Bruce, is all about the moodiness. He even has a cape. "Some of them love being a predator," he confides. "Some of them take to it like a duck to water, like some part of themselves just got exposed to the sunlight. Metaphorically speaking."

As for himself, he's always taken pains to avoid killing people he drinks from, but it doesn't bother him that he has to be a predator. It is what it is. The strong feed on the weak.

Ah, so some of them love it. Too much, like the humans she's heart about going on killing sprees? There was a story about a string of murders that were committed by a single person. "Do you think they're moody because they want to hunt their own kind and novices as well? Or are they worried about getting that far? If they love it, then why act the way they do?"

Otherwise, what was the point of pushing people away with those attitudes? In some ways, the idea of it being a nutrition deficiency felt more 'right.' Maybe if the thralls had some desserts or something sweet more often, it'll improve their disposition... That was a guess she'd have to ask a teacher in her own court about, or her maker.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Meme - New Blood

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