undyingmods: (Default)
undyingmods ([personal profile] undyingmods) wrote in [community profile] undyingcourt2023-11-30 12:01 pm

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 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.

draculaintraining: (soma11)

Unethical Experiments

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-12 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Go with Eden, the professor said. It was good to nurture friendships between classmates, they said. What the professor didn't realize was that Eden was already getting under Soma's skin. She approached all their classes so far like they were games for her to play. He bet she never even studied either, and still got good grades. It was infuriating. ]

[ Yet despite how he felt, he kept it to himself as he was dragged along to help her with the fetch quests for the symposium presenters. As long as they were both being useful, it wasn't so bad, but even the wailing coming from the basement made him pause. ]


Hard to miss.

[ He glanced toward the unguarded door, uneasy. ]

Should we look?
serpendipity: (F14)

Re: Unethical Experiments

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-12 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ Stress like that can be really unhealthy, Soma. Especially when the source of said stress was completely oblivious to what they were doing, and treated it all like a grand time. Why wouldn't she, when there was someone there to also help and keep either of them from getting overwhelmed, and they can both enjoy the classes.

She genuinely thought about it, fidgeting with her hands in doing so. ]


If we weren't allowed to go down, they'd have someone at the door, right? Plus, some of the scholars have been seeming a bit... drawn thin. It'd be bad if they lost control and someone was getting hurt down there.

[ Yet, with the time there having increased their senses, Eden could smell that there was a foulness. ]

I haven't heard of anyone getting in trouble over being concerned before...
draculaintraining: (soma01)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-12 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ Soma could smell it too: a rank thing that stung at his nose. He absently rubbed at it, before he looked down at Eden. After a moment of debate, he grabbed one of her fidgeting hands, holding onto it as he started for the door. ]

We may as well see what we can do.
serpendipity: (F11)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-12 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's a small sound as her hand is grabbed, though at least she's quick to move along without fully getting pulled. ]

Hopefully we can. That really didn't sound good...

[ Yet her pace slowed enough once they were down and a few feet into the basement because she knew the smell without the heightened senses. It was more than just rank- there were particular compounds that never smelled great that could do horrible things to the skin if used improperly and never diluted. For once, her voice was soft and, dare to say, meek in tone. Possibly because it was probably too late to easily just go back. ]

I'm starting to think we're not supposed to be down here.
draculaintraining: (soma13)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-12 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ Soma wrinkled his nose as the smell got worse, not as well versed in what that smell was supposed to be as Eden was. Still, the fact that she was being hesitant drew his attention away from it for a moment, and he looked back at her. ]

You okay?
serpendipity: (F8)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-12 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ It probably was odd from someone who wasn't afraid of taking Black Court courses and approaching those teachers as if they were from any other court. ]

I don't think the scream was something going wrong...

[ An anguished scream echoed through the stone hall, making Eden flinch. What if it was just coincidence that no one watched the door to here when they were going by. ]

I think if we saw what was happening, we'll find it's exactly under their control. Soma, we should go.
draculaintraining: (soma08)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-12 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ Soma glanced in the direction of the scream. He would be lying if he said he wasn't curious what they were doing, but he had a feeling she was right; they weren't going to find anything good down there. ]

[ He gave a nod, motioning for her to go back up first. ]
serpendipity: (F11)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-12 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ That motion was all Eden needed to head back up the stairs, still holding onto Soma's hand as if to pull him along. She went back up with a more urgent pace compared to their curious foray down to the basement, refusing to even look back when another of those screams (though you could tell this person's throat was going raw,) went through the halls yet again.

It's not until they're back to the ground floor, and the door was closed, that she said anything again. ]


I think that was specifically a place for researchers. It didn't smell clean enough for surgery.
draculaintraining: (soma11)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-17 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Researchers... so that's what Silver Court vampires did when they were bored and wanted to learn more about their own bodies. Soma wasn't going to say it out loud, but that just made him more curious as to what they were up to. ]

Then it's... probably a good thing we didn't go down all the way.

[ Also, her senses were already developing enough that she could tell what that smell was? Not. Fair. ]
serpendipity: (F14)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-17 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Some things you learn the smell of pretty early, even as a human. Sometimes it was the lack of certain aromas. Give it a little bit- she arrived a bit before you after all, Soma. Maybe not by much, but you can't rush these things. ]

Definitely. I imagine a lot of them can get really carried away with their research. My maker is like that...
draculaintraining: (soma13)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-19 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
Y-yeah...

[ Soma paused a moment, before he realized he was still holding her hand. He let go quickly, absently fiddling with the collar of his shirt instead. ]

Um... I-I guess we should get back to what we were doing.
serpendipity: (F24)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-19 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
Ah...

[ It took her a moment to shake off the feeling from the basement. While she didn't explain the smells and what they could mean, the ideas of what they could be were a little unnerving to come across. ]

It was silk ropes for one scholar and... The other one had a crate prepared in the storage room and- They stressed to keep the crate closed. Was there anything else?

[ This was probably the biggest sign of her being frazzled. ]
draculaintraining: (soma05)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-27 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Another one wanted a book on how blood types taste differently.

[ That, thankfully, would take them far away from the basement. The sooner they left the area, the better. ]
serpendipity: (F5)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-27 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, right. That book. ]

That thing is outdated. I'll swear by it being about the nutrition, and not the blood type. The conversation ends up being about the sweetness of rarity, so it's not even about the actual taste.

[ That's getting her back on track, motioning to a direction and heading to the library. It was probably where they were going first regardless. ]

We can do that one first and get to the stuff in storage after as it's on the way back. That's what we decided before, right?
draculaintraining: (soma12)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2023-12-27 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Soma's lips quirked into an amused smirk, and he slipped his hands into the pockets of his pants as he followed after her. ]

Yes, and then the rope was going to be our last stop, since they were on the other side of the castle from everything else.
serpendipity: (F18)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2023-12-27 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Right. Because it'd be the same regardless of whichever was chosen first.

[ Soma, she hoped you won't ever find out just what exactly those smells were. Flesh being eaten away by an acidic component had a particular etch to it, on top of the lingering of blood. There were medical uses for it, but judging by the sounds down there, someone was indulging in other... research.

Yeah, she's going to be distracting herself with literally any other subject. ]


You're officially starting classes after this, right? Have you signed up for any yet? I know there's a bit of time still.
draculaintraining: (soma05)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2024-01-01 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ Soma paused momentarily at the change of topic, eventually opting not to question it. ]

Not yet, I'm having trouble deciding how many I want to take.

[ "All of them" wasn't an option, so... ]
serpendipity: (F1)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2024-01-01 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
Well, you already know the requirements on the variety and minimum amount of classes to take. While they say the maximum is seven, if you have good reason to present why you can handle more, you can take up to two more.

[ She had also learned that you couldn't take 'all of them' when first arriving. ]

Look at the classes available in later seasons to see which ones you want to approach. They tend to have requirements, and you'll find some other classes will help you out in them. Like Darth Vader has a combat class, so you'll want to take the Red Court course in blades. If you're familiar with a sword, it should be an easy mark to set you up with future courses.
draculaintraining: (soma13)

[personal profile] draculaintraining 2024-01-01 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
That's... one of the avenues I wasn't sure about.

[ He flinched slightly at the small confession. He shouldn't be admitting weaknesses to potential rivals. But did it really matter much if she was a whole season ahead of him? ]

[ Soma took a breath, before plowing on. ]


I've never wielded a weapon before. Outside of gardening tools, I've never needed to stab anything before.
serpendipity: (F2)

[personal profile] serpendipity 2024-01-02 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ She isn't quite sure to the reasoning for his flinch. What was said sounded rather... Normal to her? ]

That's sort of how I was, and a lot of people are, when arriving. If you want to learn, the Blades course is very introductory. In fact, the grip from gardening tools may help. Obviously these will be heavier, and take more to manage, but it's something to build from. If anything, Blades is a class to get through for the basic understanding. Regardless of your own skill, you'll be familiar with what to expect when it's on the other side of an encounter.

[ Though, perhaps working on that in any capacity was against what people wanted. ]

It's possible to avoid all combat as well. You don't have to take a full course load.