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

Pumpkins Gone Wild

[ This is emphatically not the experience Trilla had anticipated when she came to the castle. She can be found cursing inventively under her breath while hacking away at pumpkin vines with a small dagger that feels wildly unsuited to the task and her own hands. She'd rather something more efficient, but this is what she's been permitted to procure and keep on her person as a first-season novice, so it will have to do.

Still, after some time of being unable to make her way through a particularly tough knot of vines that's blocking her way back to her own room, she starts ripping at them with her hands with a ferocity that's perhaps unbecoming of a young lady of the Courts. She can't find it in herself to care, since it's wildly more satisfying, but feel free to disapprove if you'd like her sharp tongue turned upon you instead. Or perhaps you'd like to offer her your assistance? ]

Library Cleanup

[ This time, Trilla can be found muttering under her breath about the sheer disrespect for knowledge that's being shown here. While she doesn't intend to join Silver, she had wanted to read up on the history of her preferred court -- Black -- only to find that the best volumes on the subject had been checked back in but never actually shelved again. She can be found amongst the stacks, perusing every shelf carefully in case it's been simply placed incorrectly, and occasionally stopping to yank a book out of an unsuspecting fellow novice's hand should it vaguely resemble one of those she seeks.

She's in quite the temper by the time she actually finds one such volume and parks herself in the nearest, plushest chair with a small huff before she begins to leaf through its pages, pausing to dart a wary glance at anyone who may be watching. Perhaps she ought to make her exit before anyone else decides to come looking for her hard-won reading material? ]

Wildcard

[ Got an idea? Hit me with it or ping me at speaksincolor ]

[ Something in the air feels wrong, and Cal means to find out what it is. It's the voices. He creeps near the basement door when he hears it; the screaming. It's awful and sends a thrill of fear down his spin. What could possibly be making that kind of noise? What are they doing down there to the thralls that could produce that kind of sound?

Before he's caught, he scurries away from the closed door, noise still ringing in his ears. What's he planning to do? On his own? Likely, not much. But maybe someone else knows what's going on. Cal is attempting to not look too suspect, like he hasn't just been wandering in places he's not supposed to be when he comes across another student. ]

Hey you, over here.

[ He beckons Trilla from around a corner, out of breath, a little wild eyed and nervous. ]

Keep quiet!

[ It's as sharp as a whisper can be, but she steps around the corner to stare down the other novice who's interrupted her perfectly legitimate sneaking around. At least, she thinks she has a good reason for it -- and therefore no one should judge her. ]

Do you want to be their next experiment? Come away from there.

[ He creeps around, skirting away from the corner closest to the door and towards Trilla, trying to remain as quiet as he can. Do the floors sound extra squeaky today or is it just him?

The door opens with a loud clang just as he makes it to her own sneak around hiding place, lowering his voice to a whisper. ]

What are they doing to them?

[ She presses herself flat against the wall and scarcely breathes for a few moments, until the footsteps proceed in another direction. Trilla may be good at talking her way out of things, but this heedless fool next to her seems like the sort to blunder directly into danger and try to fight rather than talk his way out.

He's never going to last, here. ]

If I knew, I wouldn't still be here listening to it. A punishment of some sort, perhaps.

[ Once the footsteps move away, Cal peers back around the bend at the figure retreating and back to the now heavily closed door, the awful sound muffled and cut off but still reverberating through the silence. Heart pounding in his chest, he lets out a deep, shaking breath. ]

Hm. I didn't think anything was capable of making a noise like that, whatever it is, punishment or not...

[ Cal shakes his head. ]

[ With the immediate threat of discovery past, Trilla takes a moment to look over her fellow novice with no small degree of disdain. There's something slightly familiar about him, she thinks, but dismisses it as having simply made herself aware of her classmates-to-be. ]

You're another Foundling, aren't you? You must realize we have to be better than the others. There's no room for naivety here.

[ Annoyance rises in his chest as Cal turns toward her, trying his best to keep his emotions in check. His voice of course, betrays him, as does the stubborn clench of his jaw. ]

I'm not stupid, I know how not to get caught.

[ Except for the one time that he did get caught, but he learned his lesson after that. ]

'm Cal.

[ She purses her lips critically and is quiet a moment, assessing. He's not one to back down from a challenge, then. It raises her approval of him ever so slightly. ]

Trilla.

[ It's not an offer of friendship, but she's not dismissing him entirely anymore. ]

Come on, then. Let's see if there's a better vantage point from which to see what's going in or coming out of that room.

[ Still silently grumbling to himself, Cal glances back towards the door with a slight nod. Trilla. He makes a mental note of that; though if it's a good or bad thing yet remains to be seen. She has the air of someone ... who thought highly of themselves, and the look she'd given him earlier wasn't doing anything to change his however brief impression of her.

Still, she wanted to know as much as he did, what was going on here. He chewed his lip. ]

We need some higher ground, that's what we need. It looked like there was another hall going off about halfway up the stairs, maybe we can use that.

[ Maybe there was a closet or something they could hide in? ]

You do realize they probably know full well we're out here?

[ She isn't certain whether it matters; whether courage or stealth is more valuable a skill to show off, or whether those performing whatever awful acts within even care for a pair of curious novices overhearing. Likely not. Still, she heads in the direction that Cal indicated, not wanting to hang around indecisively and be caught doing nothing much at all.

A bone-chillingly inhuman shriek stops her short about halfway up the stairs and she presses herself flat against the stairwell to keep from openly shuddering. She isn't scared, but Cal was right -- nothing ought to be capable of making that sound. ]

What if it's a test?

Yikes. Did the pumpkins do something to you? I mean, they're a nuisance, but...

[ But he should know better than to play the peanut gallery and yet here he is.

I mean, he'd been fighting off pumpkins too, but not like this. Destroy Hans for his bad opinions. ]

[ Trilla whirls around to stare at the newcomer with absolute incredulity. Is every other student in this place incapable of using their minds for anything at all? ]

Look at them! They're climbing the doors. If I don't clear the vines away I'll be smothered by them in my sleep at this rate.

[ Hans has a sword, which he raises to show off that he, uh, definitely is planning to help! He's just. Shocked. Because his masculinity is fragile and Trilla is very strong and scary right now. ]

I guess I'm not complaining... They were blocking my room earlier.

[ He is just standing there now, though. Useless. ]

Can I, uh... you seem to have this handled, but...

Edited (he's stupid) 2023-12-12 03:41 (UTC)

[ Trilla barely spares him a once-over glance before turning back to her task, viciously slicing through another vine. When he finally makes his offer she lets out a small huff of impatience. Is this guy for real? ]

Of course I have it handled; that doesn't mean you can't make yourself useful.

[ She's only a little bit envious that he's got a proper sword that he probably barely knows how to use. ]

[ Hans takes a tiny step back, slashing at a vine that happens to make it past her. He does know how to use a sword, but he's too busy being stupid and intimidated to step forward. Plus, he might get in the way, you know... ]

Right! I'll do that!

[ He's just going to keep slashing at whatever she can't reach. That seems helpful, right? ]

[ She just barely manages not to roll her eyes too intensely, though she is clearly less than impressed by his answer. At least he seems competent enough with a sword to avoid causing more problems than he solves. ]

This is ludicrous. Why pumpkins, of all things?

[ She stabs at one such small pumpkin to punctuate her own annoyance. She wasn't a particular fan of the things before she became a vampire; now they're an active nuisance. If this is a trial for the novices, she can't see the point. ]

Silver Court, apparently?

[ Her question may have been rhetorical, but Hans answers it anyway. He's at least good enough with his sword that he takes out a few more encroaching vines, but there really seems to be no end to these things. ]

Why they bother, I have no idea. I mean, they can't even eat these!

[ Soma was on his way to his own room when he heard the sound of something being torn to shreds. He frowned as he followed the noise, being cautious as he approached the... clearly infuriated woman. ]

Um... do you need help?

[ Trilla shoots a glare behind her at the newcomer who is clearly too meek to be here. Why even bother asking? ]

Need? No.

[Obviously. ]

But seeing as these things keep growing, I think it would be better for us all if we made short work of them.

[ Who wants pumpkins, of all things, growing in the castle halls? ]

Edited 2023-12-13 05:41 (UTC)

[ Meek, sure, but Soma wasn't exactly helpless. Without commenting further, he pulled a knife from his boot and went up to a branch, pulling it down to his level and stabbing into it, ripping into it and then pulling it off. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Meme - New Blood

Trilla Suduri | Jedi Fallen Order | Student

wildcard - unethical experiments.

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