Test Drive Meme - New Blood

[undyingmods]

DEC TEST DRIVE MEME

WELCOME, VAMPIRES!

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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

Comments

Fenris || Dragon Age || Teacher || Black Court

[unshod]

[Prose or Bracket Welcome]

I ||New Arrivals||

[Fenris doesn't plan to take on a novice, so he watches almost detachedly while the lambs stumble their way into the arms of their new makers. Part of him pities them, foundlings who were mostly unwanted and not here by choice, torn from their homes and lives. But mostly, he doesn't know what it's like to have a home and a life before becoming a vampire, what it would feel like to have that torn from him. No, he found freedom in this life. Even if his first maker almost seemed to want him to fail, was enjoying his struggles.

How he was livid when Fenris broke their claim and joined the black court instead.

That was neither here nor there this night. He was dressed in his nicer black clothes the ones that almost shown silver when it caught the light just right. A subtle hint at the season. The heels of his books are tall enough to give him a couple inches of height he normally doesn't have. His mask is up, making his hair long and messily put up, his body lined with black tattoos.

He doesn't approach anyone, instead his black eyes moving from each new lamb to their maker, assessing each one that is within the black court. More novices to test and scare away it seems.

With a sigh, he sips at his blood wine.

II ||Autumn Classes - locked to Autumn season students||

[CW: Possible violence]

He doesn't care that the symposium is going on, if you were in his courses then you were expected to attend class and give your all, anything less and he would fail you without hesitation. While perhaps not the most brutal of the teachers, he was up there in pushing until death was at his students' doorstep before pulling back, making sure only the very best students passed his courses.

If death scared someone, then they don't belong in the black court because everything they did was a dance with death.

A. Students can find him before class, warming up with some stretches and sword techniques, wielding a great-sword nearly the size of himself with ease. If you're not careful, you will get cut and he will not apologize for it. Just like he doesn't during class.

B. Fellow Teachers can find him after class when he's cleaning multi-colored blood off his great-sword with a cloth and oil, before sharpening it once more with a whet stone. He looks up when approached, his broody demeanor set on his face like an old friend. His mask is off now, what little skin that shows lined with thin whispy scars.

"If you're to tell me I was too hard on them, go elsewhere."

III ||Library Clean-Up||

[Since he was a novice, he's felt he owed the silver court a lot, if it weren't for their efforts with him and tutoring him, he might have flunked out and become a thrall all over again. But he squeaked by with tremendous effort. So when a Librarian approached him asking if he has seen some books, he makes it his goal to find those very books if possible and bring them back.

Unfortunately, he is struggling to find the said books. So he approaches the first person he's seen and asks:]

I am looking for the book, Horticulture of the Blue Court. Have you seen it?

IV ||Unethical Experiments||

[CW: Graphic Torture, experiments]

When he's invited in, he doesn't know what to expect, but this seems pretty par-for-the-course. The screams hardly affect him as he watches one vampire flaying the skin from the back of another vampire, inhuman blood spilling like liquid silver on to the table and ground around the body.

He hears some mention how surprised they are at the thickness of the skin on the back, how it doesn't cut as cleanly because of it. Fenris isn't surprised by that fact. No, he knows too much about the body and how there is a patch of skin on the back where the skin is thin, where if the arms are in the right position to move muscle and bone, you can stab straight through to the heart with your fingers alone.

But he keeps this to himself as he looks to the person next to him. Another teacher no doubt...

"He will need healing soon, at this rate he could almost become another court entirely with this much blood loss."

V ||WildCard||

[If you have other ideas you would like to play out with Kirk, Feel free to hit me up here, PM me, or @ ZodiacRockstar]

Library Clean up

[playing_hearts]

Horticulture of the Blue Court.... Hang on....

[Alice looks through the stack of books that she's holding. A few are related to horticulture, but none are the one he's looking for.]

No, but the room I found these in had mostly botany related books and there were too many for me to carry so the one you want may still be in there. I could show you after I drop these off, if you'd like.

[unshod]

[Fenris waits patiently for her to go through her stack before his shoulders slump ever so slightly. But she has a lead and he was willing to take it, so many books were checked out, maybe they can gather all the books from this room she found and turn them in.

Still, he doesn't know where it is so.. well, he takes half her stack from her, taking the larger half. ]

Then I shall accompany you to the library and back. This should allow us to make quick work of the books in the room you found.

[playing_hearts]

[ She smiles, relieved that someone around here is willing to pitch in without complaining.]

Oh, thanks. That would be a big help. I was worried I'd have to make several trips.

[And now with a lighter load she pick up her pace a bit as they head for the library.]

You'd think all these scholars would be more careful about how they treat books. I'd sure like to give some of them a piece of my mind.

ii. autumn classes

[bleakdecember]

[He might not mind wiggling out of paying attention to a Silver or Red class, but for his own Court? Absolutely not. He takes this seriously. He arrives to class early.

He's still feeling out all the teachers. Fenris, he's learned, is no-nonsense and isn't usually charmed by his pleasant boy act. A shame. At least it means he can drop the facade.

He eyes the blade, making sure to keep a ways away to avoid getting injured because class even starts.]

I don't suppose we get to use one that big?

[unshod]

[Akechi was someone he's kept an eye on. The student seemed to take the black court seriously, unlike so many others who wasted his and their own time. He was tired of getting pointless blood on his blade.

But this one, he seemed like perhaps someone who will push until he succeeds. Or dies trying. Either one wouldn't surprise him.

At least he was smart enough to keep clear of the blade Fenris was swinging around with practiced ease.]

Early as always. And no, my personal blade is not suited for student use.

[For harming them, yes, for them to use? No.]

[bleakdecember]

[Akechi's a walking tragedy. It's hard to say which outcome would be worse for him.]

Too bad.

[He'd love to use a weapon of such caliber. Though maybe it doesn't suit his style. Something a bit longer and lighter, maybe even serrated -- that sounds fun.]

Anyway, don't mind me. I figure I can learn something by just watching your form.

[He leans against the doorway, letting himself feel almost casual for once. He needs to learn to mimic his superiors, after all, if even only in their pre-battle stretches.]

New Arrivals

[serpendipity]

[ As the longer it took for all the Foundlings to be claimed, Eden kept looking around and pushing boundaries. It didn't seem like too big of a deal to move around, as long as she keeps it clear that no one had chosen her yet. Every time she's noticed one get chosen and brought to their new proper place, the teen moved back enough to make her status clear before continuing the exploration once more.

It seemed that nothing about the Black Court attire, or the teacher's appearance in general, stirred fear. The closest to being afraid was that lack of confidence when put in an entirely new environment. So instead she waited until Fenris finished a sip of his wine before softly asking anything. (Though it's easy to guess that her voice is being kept soft because this seemed a bit more like a ceremonial situation as anything else.) ]

Hi, I know you're busy drinking and waiting for things to finish. Do you mind if I ask you some things? I'm just a little curious, because it looks like no one really jumps at the chance to take a Foundling in.

[unshod]

[Fenris frowns when he's approached, because his pitch black eyes were on her before she even spotted him. It seems she's a curious one and unchosen as of yet. Still he will not choose her, most students weren't black court material, so he was very strict on himself on who he brought into the fold... if anyone.

Swirling his wine in his cup almost broodly, he looks at her - though it's hard to tell where he's looking. ]

Foundlings are a gamble. Should someone of the wrong court pick you, you will both pay a price in the end, it makes people cautious.

[Her candor and curiosity though makes him wonder if a Silver should grab her up. Still he nods his agreement to her questions. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do.]

[serpendipity]

That's kind of why I'm curious, actually.

[ The teen fully understood why it would be considered it a gamble, even if she hasn't yet learned what the price would be. Thing was, having watched gambling plenty of times (when going into town) and having only participated once, she knew being informed could help control those risks. Though she wasn't particularly in control. ]

Why the lotteries, when it seems so many are brought in chosen already? Is there some civic duty to try and make sure there's a certain amount of growth in all the courts? Unless vampires also read minds and they're just diving into each person, I can't imagine how these choices are being made.

[ She said that without knowing the extent of what a vampire could do. This could be stemmed from anxiety about the unknown, but with the eye contact she maintains and the way Eden slightly forgets why she was being soft in the first place as she continued talking, it could be that curiosity beat out all else. ]

II

[partybabysitter]

Far from it.

[ Xenk smiles, gold eyes approving. He'd be just as hard on his students if his classes involved physical violence. He's glad to see Fenris doing such good work. ]

You do your Court a service.

[ Is there disdain in his tone? No. It's. He's being normal! Totally. But he does give Fenris a wide berth, purposely out of striking range for all that he knows Fenris could kill him quite easily. ]

[unshod]

[Fenris is always aware of who is close enough to him and who is far. So even if he doesn't look up, he can feel how Xenk is giving him a wide berth. The disdain they hold for each other is far from unknown to him, so he would smirk if he had the desire to.

He waits for a long moment, focusing on cleaning his blade before he even acknowledges Xenk, part of him hoping that if he ignored him he would go away... but unfortunately most Vampires were patient.]

I do. Not everyone belongs in my court, those who try are often doing it for the wrong reasons.

[They think they can rebel or something by joining the black court. It would only get them killed.]

[partybabysitter]

We can agree on that.

[ Just because Xenk isn't fond of Fenris doesn't mean he can't have a conversation with him. And Xenk respects his strength if nothing else. The Black Court is dangerous, but it is necessary. As are many things. ]

We see far less pretenders in Gold Court, though being able to read their minds rather eliminates the need for spilled blood.

[ Which is better, BTW. Gold Court best court. ]

IV

[hauntedbyher]

Vader was there mostly to observe, his looming presence easily felt through the whole room, even as it was taken up by the screams of the tortured. He eyed the silvery blood on the floor at Fenris' comment, as if judging whether they truly had bled that much, before he folded his arms over his chest.

"He will survive," he replied dismissively.

[unshod]

"Of course he will, they aren't here to kill," he knows well enough what a killing intention feels like, just like he's sure Vader does. They are afterall both black court teachers and killing was something they specialized in. None of this was killing, just curiosity.

Still, Fenris feels bored watching it. The screams have long since become a drone to him and the waste of blood more an annoyance than anything.

"To think people say silver is the most benevolent of the courts, clearly they don't see this side of them."

[hauntedbyher]

"There are reasons healers know what they do," Vader replied.

He couldn't fault them for this kind of work. If someone didn't do these kind of experiments, then he would just be a helpless invalid, unable to walk. That would have been more devastating to him than watching someone have their back flayed off.

library clean up;

[veardant]

[ tighnari is quite noticeable to approach, what with his large furred ears and bushy greenish tail, despite the fact that he's also rather short. ]

Hm? Oh -

[ an easy smile, and tighnari nods. ]

Yes, I was using that book recently, one of my students checked it out. I take it it was never returned?

[ ooc; tighnari has been a silver court teacher for about 20 years, so feel free to have them know each other if you like!! ]

[unshod]

((OOC: Okay awesome! Fenris is a 25 year long Black Court Teacher, so they can totally know each other!))

[Yes, Tighnari and their strange mask. He thought it was a strange use of a mask, but he says nothing of it, never has, it was his business. Afterall, Fenris' mask gave him markings all over his body, black and swirling and longer hair. If asked, he has no real reason to use a mask like that, but if felt right.. well the long hair was a conscious effort.]

Yes, Silver court is looking for a number of books that have been checked out this season and yet to be returned. Seeing as it's your court, I will simply inform them you have it.

[veardant]

[ his mask certainly is odd, but if questioned, tighnari can only answer that it feels.. right in a way he cannot entirely explain. he'd never felt like he fit in his own skin before, but like this? everything feels correct. natural. ]

I see.. it seems like I'll need to discuss punctuality with him.

[ his tail flicks, and he shakes his head. ]

Apologies for the court's distractions right now, we certainly appreciate the help.

unethical experiments

[the_caped_crusader]

[ suddenly he's there besides fenris, watching. for as sneaky as the black court tended to be, he was still exceptional at it. the shadows loved him, and he loved them. his watchful black eyes are critical of the students below. ]

...and for a moment I thought the symposium would be the most boring thing I'd see all evening.

[unshod]

[Fenris was used to how the man just appeared out of the shadows like this. It happens enough that it's long stopped bothering him. It was like how the mists called to Fenris, wrapped him up in their incorporeal embrace...]

I have to agree. It's hardly worth note or attention, yet they act like it's the most fascinating thing.

[Ugh Scholars.]

[the_caped_crusader]

This is hardly better.

[ he gestures to the sometimes grotesque-without-method bloodletting below, though he can think of one student, currently absent, with some merit. he passes fenris a peripheral glance to measure his opinion. ]

That Akechi boy might last the season, though.

IV

[escherichia_coli]

A teacher, and the castle physician. The Doctor spends almost more time here than he does in the infirmary or any of his classes. He's mostly hands off with this particular experiment, instead making his own notes about technique rather than data from the experiment itself. These are upperclassmen, youngbloods.

"Don't give the game away," he admonishes Fenris lightly. "Their grade is affected by how much work I need to do to get the subject up and functioning again, and they know that."

[unshod]

Ah, another silver that liked to play games. He couldn't fault him, it wasn't like silver courses were all that dangerous. They could go any which way, but were usually... harmless to the overall student body. Unlike Black Court.

"Then they will push it til he's nearly dead, do make sure a scholar doesn't die on us, consensual or not, that's paperwork I rather not deal with." He says it in a rather bored tone. A scholar dying was different from a student dying after all. Different paperwork, more complicated paperwork.

[escherichia_coli]

"He won't die," Dottore says, with utmost confidence. "Either they will do a good job, or I will bring him back. I have high standards for my students."

The scholar's screaming has gone down some, but he's still clearly aware. The students have learned to back off every now and then to prevent him from going into shock. Doesn't make it easier on the subject, though.