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

"Ehh, I've seen stupider ideas," Satoru dismisses. "Feeding vampire blood to beetles probably only has one of two outcomes: the beetles die, or they mutate into really gross vampire beetles. Pretty obvious. I don't know why some guy thought he had to do a whole experiment to find that out."

Of course, he could attend the lecture just to find out which of those two options came true, but, like. Does he really need that knowledge in his life? No. No, he does not. He can use that neural storage for something way more interesting, like the latest song of his favorite boyband.

He listens as she valiantly tries to find something that sounds interesting, and smiles, amused.

"Good try!" he enthuses, giving her a thumbs up. Hey, she's clearly new, and probably needs some form of encouragement. Gojo Satoru is here to help! "Luminous lichen might actually be cool. Not their life cycles, but think how cool it would be to plaster a wall of your bedroom in that stuff!" He frowns, then, thoughtful, apparently giving this great consideration. "Hmmm. Does lichen actually grow on castle stone?"

Ugh...

[She wrinkles her nose in disgust. Dead beetles or monster beetles? She wants neither of those things.]

I'll keep my walls clean, thank you. But I suppose you could go to the lecture and ask. Or just wait for the inevitable lecture on "Fungal Accents in Interior Decorating."

[Which is not a thing. She hopes. Alice is not entirely sure that some of these scholars wouldn't consider that a viable lecture topic.]

"Giving the Silver Court nerd an academic thrill by introducing a new study topic for them seems like a great idea for them and a bad idea for me," Satoru ponders. "Hmm. Probably not."

(It's not actually a bad idea for him. He would lose nothing. Other than his cool points!!!)

He leans over to study her, looming, a silver of gold visible from behind his sunglasses. "Oh, you're new!" he enthuses. "You have that freshly arrived smell; they always use the same herbs in the bath they scrub you down with. Ahh, fond memories. Did you find your room yet? If not," his voice lowers conspiratorially, stage whispering, "I can give you secret inside tips on finding the best ones."

[She leans back as he leans over. Hasn't this guy ever heard of personal space?]

Do you always sniff people you just met?

[Yeah, she's new. She's getting as little tired of everybody being able to tell instantly that she is a fresh little foundling but what he says next is too interesting for her to really be irritated.]

I thought the rooms were assigned. Do we actually get a choice?

"Ehh, there's some wiggle room," Satoru confides. "It's early enough that a lot of the new arrivals haven't even been to see their rooms, so things can be switched around."

Or, if she's bold enough, she can bully someone into switching rooms with her. It's been known to happen. She doesn't seem like the type to be a bully, though, unfortunately for her. It's a useful quality here.

"Come on, I'll show you the way," he says grandly, and sweeps off, striding toward the hall where the novice rooms are with the expectation that she'll follow. "Your life's about to get real weird, so you might as well have the coolest room available to cry in at night!"

What makes you think I'd be crying?

[He's probably not wrong, but it's the assumption that irritates her. And she follows him anyway, curious about the prospect of free room upgrades.]

Are there any rules at all regarding which room you can take? Or is it really just a free for all?

"It's nothing personal. A lot of older novices cry. They just got yoinked from everything they knew and now they've been taken to this weird castle full of vampires that stare at them like they're a juicy steak," Satoru says idly, his pace quick as he leads them through the castle.

And she's, what? Fifteen? Sixteen? She's had a whole life somewhere that she's going to have to abandon. Sometimes, Satoru feels lucky that he was picked so young.

"Sometimes the nepotism babies get the best rooms reserved," he replies, not at all admitting that he'd benefited from such a thing as a novice, "but there's not many this season, so we can pick out one you like!"

Crying wouldn't do me any good. In fact, I'm willing to bet showing that kind of weakness is more likely to make me look like a steak.

[At this point she's being argumentative on principle alone.

But let's see, what does she want in a room....?]

Hmm, is it hard to get a room with windows?

[A view would be nice.]

"Almost certainly," Satoru replies glibly. "You're in a castle full of carnivores, and you're made of meat. Tears might dissuade some of them, though!"

Still, he remembers being a novice and hearing some of the others cry through the walls. Satoru hadn't bothered. Why waste energy on tears when it could be used to fuel his ambitions?

It doesn't take them long to get to the novice rooms; there's some nervous looking newbies hovering around, exploring the rooms, and Satoru leads Alice to one in particular. It's not a huge room -- none of them are -- but it does have multiple windows overlooking the forest and horizon beyond.

He gestures triumphantly. "The window will be a nuisance when you start to turn more and more into a vampire," he says cheerfully, "but until then, a view!"

The ones that care enough to be persuaded by tears are not the ones I'm worried about.

[And the others wouldn't respond to them anyway. She follows him into the room and looks around curiously. It is small, but not too bad. And she's not too concerned about the sun just yet.]

I'll get curtains.

[She peers out the window to take in the view. Oh, that is nice. She spends a minute or so just enjoying the landscape.]

Do I have to let someone know I'm taking this room?

[Because she is taking this room.]

As she takes the view in, Satoru leans against the doorway. It's night time now, but the view of the surrounding forest in the moonlight is still pretty spectacular. He's spent many a night admiring it himself.

"Nah, I'll let them know," he replies. "I should probably know your name, first. That might help."

He's not a person that particularly worries about the novices, not like some of the bigger bleeding hearts here. In the end, if they're weak, he doesn't really give much of a shit if they die. But it is nice to see that some of them, including the girl he's talking to, seem to be stronger than they look. He's got all of his hopes pinned on the next generation, after all.

[Not only the forest in the moonlight, but the stars too. Alice is already a big fan of this room. She turns around with a pleasantly surprised smile.]

Thanks, I'd appreciate that.

[Hmm, he seems a little irresponsible, but he's actually pretty considerate. Today is turning out to be a pretty good day after all.]

My name is Alice Liddell. I don't think I caught your name either...?

Satoru puts his hand up like he's answering a question in class, and rattles off: "Gojo Satoru, Gold Court teacher, voted Best Gold Court Teacher seven years in a row!"

(That's a lie. But he should have been! In his correct opinion!)

"You'll be expected to sign up to classes soon, but what you take in your first season doesn't lock you into anything," he imparts some cheerful wisdom. "Think of it as just figuring out what you'd like to study. You'll probably end up with at least one class that you thought you'd like but you actually hate."

Really? You seem more like a delinquent than a teacher.

[Of course that's just in her correct opinion.]

We have to spread our classes out over the different courts, right? I'd say that makes it very likely everyone has a class they hate.

Satoru just smiles widely, clearly pleased with the insult. "A lot of Gold Court would agree with you," he confides, amused. "You'll fit right in here."

Ah, life as the black sheep of his court. It's eternally funny.

"Yup. You have to take a minimum of four classes, at least one in each Court," he confirms. "Something about figuring out where you skills are, and what Court you fit into best. You might already have an idea of what Court you like better, though, some people just know straight away." His smile takes on a wry turn. "Other people aren't given a whole lot of choice."

[Alice wasn't even intending that as an insult. More of an observation from someone who really needs to invest in a mouth filter. She's skeptical about the idea of her fitting in though.]

We'll see...

[But she's aware that she'll have to find a way to fit in or else end up a thrall.]

I figured out some of the classes I'm taking already. The intro healing course definitely. And maybe if they have any history courses I'll take one of those. Do you teach any first season classes?

"I'm gonna be teaching three classes next season, and the first season one is How To Be Cool," Satoru says, with all the gravitas of a person being totally serious (and yet kind of not). "You won't believe how many novices come to us totally uncool. My class covers that. Also things like confidence building, public speaking, how to communicate your opinions clearly, that sort of thing."

He's not joking. That really is his first season class.

"Sometimes I do history; mostly political stuff. You won't believe the drama that comes out of Gold Court lawmaking sessions."

Yeah... no. I'll pass.

[How to be cool? Is he serious?]

Maybe I'll wait for one of the history courses.

[Ironically a class about gaining confidence is exactly what she needs. But she would be mad if anyone told her that.]

"Suit yourself," Satoru hums. His classes aren't for everyone, though a whole lot of people need a confidence class and don't even realize it. "For second seasons I usually do either history, or some specific aspect of entrancement, if you take one of the introductory courses on that."

He tips his head curiously. "What Court are you thinking you'll head for?"

Hmm, good question...

[She taps her chin with one finger thoughtfully.]

My maker is Red Court, but.... I don't know if that really fits me.

[Based on what she knows, it's likely Silver would fit her best. But she's also not one to give up on something without putting in any effort. So might as well give Red a try. She shrugs.]

I guess for now I'll just see how my classes go for the first season.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Meme - New Blood

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