changelinged: (Default)
Pixie Led Mods ([personal profile] changelinged) wrote in [community profile] pixieledmemes2025-05-16 12:28 am
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Test Drive Meme #3

TDM #3 - May/June 2025
🦋 Introduction

Welcome to the Pixie Led Test Drive Meme!

The prompts will always be game canon, provided both characters who participate in a thread are either already in the game, or get accepted in the next application round.

You do not need an invitation to join the Test Drive Meme, it's open for anyone!

Please indicate character name and canon in the subject line of your top-level. For current characters, you may also indicate your character's court.

For prospective players, Invites open on the 18th, Reserves on the 20th, and Applications on the 22nd. Thanks for checking us out and we hope you'll join us!

🦋 The Party

You wake up at a party.

You're not sure how, exactly, you got here. You may have just been walking in the woods or at a meeting for work or doing any other normal activity for you. But you know you weren't supposed to be at this party, you're fairly certain.

Anyone you ask about it will say the party is for you. You and the others also waking up and looking confused. Further questions will lead to the partygoers insisting you have something to eat. You're starving and others are eating the food without repercussion, so you figure there's no harm in a bite. You finish your portion.

It's another garden party near a large hedge maze in the middle of the night. With his penchant for games the Ruler of the Spring Court decided it would be nice to hold an actual game for all the Adopted present. None of that dreidel game a couple of parties ago. This time, he wants more spectacle with higher stakes. Forced to participate and host aspects of this gathering as well, the Ruler of the Dark Court wanted nothing to do with this, so he figured his participation in itself is for the party to happen at night, during his rule, when his mood is at its most pleasant.

Of course, there is no shortage of light sources such as candles and torches, much to the Earl's chagrin, as well as no shortage of food. This time, the fae decided to try their hand on some pasta. They heard it's a good delicacy from the mortal plane. Thing is, sauces look and smell bizarre. One's purple, while another's bright pink, and they taste fruity, as well as flowery, much like the cookies from the last gathering.

As the party winds down and everyone's eaten, a tall, stately woman stands up and speaks. You feel her voice more than hear it.

I am the Lawspeaker of the Fae, elected by Seelie and Unseelie alike, and you are all, now, subjects of Faerie. You cannot leave this realm once you have eaten our food, and even if you could, there is no saying how much time has passed back where you're from. Your loved ones are likely dead, your problems have likely played out. We require assistance in various matters, and each of you has been chosen for your talent and skill. You will be adopted by one of the Seelie or Unseelie Courts based on your strengths and personality. Your Court will decide what to do with you from there.

As suddenly as she stood, she sits back down.


🦋 Feeling on Hedge

So, what about this hedge maze that seems to have appeared out of nowhere and looming quite eerily beside this night's gathering? For one, peculiar noises can be heard whenever one's near its entrance. From the rustling of leaves to a woman crying, everything seems to be coming from inside.

Of course, the Adopted's participation is required and paramount. Anyone who refuses will be met with harsh penalties and consequences, whatever those may be. They also hint of a prize to anyone who comes out victorious on the other side. It's unclear what it is, though.

The fae know that while the Adopted have been very useful so far, they are also vulnerable and susceptible to fear, so to mitigate that, they have some colorful shots on a table marked LIQUID COURAGE near the entrance to the maze with such effects:

  • Gold: Essentially a strong drink that gives you profound energy for 24 hours.
  • Red: Downing this will make you feel warm like an aphrodisiac.
  • Blue: Basically functions like a normal tequila shot. Or three. Comes with a little bag of salt.

These shots are not compulsory for the Adopted to take, but they will be highly encouraged to do so before entering. Once inside, the rustling of leaves and the sounds of someone crying become louder and even more evident. There are also a few key things that seem to be very clear the longer an Adopted is within the maze's walls:

  • The maze is moving. How it's doing it, nobody knows. But it appears to be alive somehow, much like the castle grounds, so finding a clear pathway is almost impossible.
  • Whenever an Adopted turns right two consecutive times, they will see a more positive outcome from a terrible event in their lives. Lost someone? They're now here and alive. Gave up on a dream? You find yourself currently living it.
  • If an Adopted turns left two consecutive times, they will see someone, a family member or a friend who's still alive and had a deep impact on their lives, bleeding and dead on the ground.

It would be great if no one else can see an Adopted during their most vulnerable, but since the maze moves constantly, another Adopted or two might be able to see them trying to parse out what they're seeing, even if their fellow Adopted can't see it themselves.


🦋 Can't Unseelie It

CW: dismemberment, body horror, forced body transformations, mild gore, asphyxiation, drowning of children, death

The Spring King only wanted some good-natured fun within the maze, but unbeknownst to him, some Unseelie creatures and Unseelie magic have appeared inside, threatening the safety of the Adopted traversing every nook and cranny. Surely this will not have any lasting consequences between the relationship of the Seelie and Unseelie court rulers. Not at all.

A few of these Unseelie beings and Unseelie magic roaming around the hedge maze that the Adopted will have a chance to meet are as follows:

  • Manananggal: Capable of severing its torso from its legs, this vampiric creature usually preys on sleeping pregnant women and unborn babies. But not anymore. Due to magic put on it, this manananggal will strike anyone it comes across. Better pour salt on its severed lower torso once you find it, or else.
  • La Llorona: Remember that woman crying? Well, somewhere in the maze alongside the eerie sounds of water flowing, you'll come across a weeping woman cloaked in white with her back turned against you. Be careful not to approach her because once you do, she'll try to choke you to death, reminiscent of how she drowned her own children.
  • Jersey Devil: The first thing you'll hear once you turn is a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream then the sound of bat wings flapping. You better run as fast as you can to the other direction because this devil is out to attack anyone it sees on its path.
  • A fountain: How odd. Running from the jersey devil or the manananggal might have made you thirsty so perhaps there's no harm in drinking from it. But just coming in contact with its water will make any Adopted soon realize they have transformed into an Unseelie creature.

Fighting off these creatures might be best with a fellow Adopted. After all, there's power in numbers. Just be careful not to die within the hedge maze. There might be some dire consequences.


🦋 GEIS

You feel a vibration in your pocket sometime after the Lawspeaker addresses everyone. When you search for the source, you will pull out your Leaf, the device the Fae use to stay in touch with each other. Anyone who's used a smart phone will easily recognize how it works.

Greetings, Adopted. This is your Lawspeaker.

To be on theme with our festivities for tonight, we want to know a time in your life when you felt lost and wandering about. Perhaps the most compelling story will receive a reward from us.



navigation

goldenturtle: @osewa6363 (Default)

[personal profile] goldenturtle 2025-05-15 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
• are current Adopted forced to attend, or can they skip?

• What sort of penalties/consequences are there for not entering the hedge maze?

• Are the hedges immune to fire?

• Can the hedges be controlled with plant powers?

• Similar to the above, can the hedges be communicated with and, if so, will they provide any useful information about the maze?

• What happens when someone tries to fly, jump, climb, cut through, or otherwise try to cheat their way through the hedges?

• do light sources have any impact in the maze?
deprime: (pic#17850075)

gustave | clair obscur: expedition 33 | OTA

[personal profile] deprime 2025-05-15 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
(( cw : talk of death, depression, melancholy, and suicidal ideation ; SPOILERS for the end of Act 1 ))


party
SPOILERS for the end of Act 1
Grimacing, Gustave folded his lips inward and nodded, trying to politely wave off the… person, who had come back around for the fourth time in the last ten minutes. There was no easy way to say no, or to ask the questions he really cared about. To be fair, the egg thing she was carrying around was probably lovely, but he didn’t know how to explain the fact that just the thought of eating made his stomach turn. Gustave was intimately aware of the hole in his chest, or where there should have been one, right there alongside the pit in his stomach and intermingled with the shards of what was probably his heart. It was hard to tell these days which pieces used to belong where, and even harder to try to get them in anything remotely close to the shape they had once.

Death had actually been quiet, and calm. Maybe it was different on the continent, but it didn’t really feel like an end. Or maybe he was just that tired that it just felt like rest when he hadn’t stopped moving since he was six years old. Always doing, always needing to have some project. Gustave had thought there was peace in good work, in changing things for the better. It was why he worked his fingers to the bone, why he ever thought about crossing the sea to make this impossible journey to the Monolith. Hope, change, a future — for Maelle, for all the children who would come after. Always for those who come after.

“So,” Gustave said, out loud, which he didn’t realize at first and now he needed to commit. “I’ve been to worse parties.” Not a great start. “At least we don’t have to serve ourselves at this one.”


hedge maze
What’s there to lose? [ Despite the easy way he comments, Gustave doesn’t take a step forward. ] A maze is simple enough. You follow one side all the way through and you’ll find the exit.

[ And yet, he still isn’t moving, toying nervously with the glass in his hands, full nearly to the brim with a blue liquid. It smells awful, but no worse than the bitter wine they’d had left at the end of the night, sour or stale or perhaps both, acidic and rotten on his tongue. ]

Liquid courage, [ he reads with a wry chuckle, the lines by his eyes deepening as he continues to waver. ]


geis — un: demain

Wouldn’t a better story be how we managed to stop being lost?

[ Is that deflecting? Maybe. ]


wildcard
Want something else? Have an idea? Hit me with it, or reach out on brutallyamish (plurk) or by PM and we can discuss and I can write up a starter!
Edited 2025-05-15 17:20 (UTC)
maellum: (Default)

maelle | clair obsur: expedition 33

[personal profile] maellum 2025-05-15 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ooc: Maelle is from a fairly new canon, but I will be doing my best to avoid any major spoilers in her tags/marking where needed! Considering an end of Act II canon point for the time being.]

I. PARTY
[Maelle's pale blue eyes are wide as she wanders the party. It's too many people for her (though they say it's for her), and as she looks for a familiar face, she's increasingly disappointed. This is not Lumière or the continent or any place she's seen before, but she's becoming rather skilled at taking it all in stride.

An afterlife, maybe. And yet there's still no one she knows. What a cruel joke. In the next life.

As she approaches a table, a spread of fruit laid out, her voice is small as she addresses someone near.]


Have you tried the food? How is it?

[She makes a face. She's terrible at small talk.]


II. MAZE
[A maze. She can do this. Alone isn't ideal for puzzles that need you to be inside them, but she takes a deep breath and looks to whoever is near the entrance.]

They said the drinks are to help. I... think I'll pass, but... we could go together? If you want.

[She's young and nervous and bad at hiding the fact, but she takes a deep breath and forces herself to look forward.]


III.
[WILDCARD! Maelle can be just about anywhere, so let's goooo. Cries while tagging on my phone.]
sine_metu: (Default)

[personal profile] sine_metu 2025-05-15 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Couple of questions for the blind character.

1. The creature in the maze even though they're based off spirits I assume they have solid forms. Do they have heartbeats and breathe and have body heat to sense? I would assume the personalized visitations from the spirits of someone's passed would be in such a way that Matt can sense them since they're personalized.

2. Does the fae food or the water in the fountain have anything off about it smell wise or will it all just smell like normal food and normal water?

3. For someone who can't see the color of the drinks do they smell different to tell them apart?

4. And because it's Matt, what happens if you just try to fight all the creatures in the maze? Can they be subdued by physical violence at all?
vertegrez: (pic#17850099)

alicent hightower | house of the dragon | OTA

[personal profile] vertegrez 2025-05-15 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
party
Rising from her seat, Alicent folded her hands in front of her, hiding the way her nails carved at her skin. In the back of her mind, her father’s voice chastised her, each lashing word pinning her shoulders back further, straightening her spine harder, lifting her head higher. That she was in an entirely different realm mattered little — here, or in the heart of King’s Landing, she was the Queen, and she would not let herself bow. Alicent had been made to cripple and bend and yield for far too long, and she had gotten a taste of the freedom she could grasp at her once-dearest friend’s wedding. Every eye had been on her and she had not faltered then and she would not falter now.

Demurely, she smiled, nodding to the Lawspeaker as they finished their speech, though the words sat oddly in her chest, pushing at the seams between her ribs as if to escape. If those declarations were to be believed, there was no home waiting for her, certainly not one that she would recognise. There would be no husband to tend to and lay beneath, no crying babes to tug at her curls, no attendants who knew the temperature at which she took her baths or which books she preferred to read at night. There was freedom in that, too, as if the chains she had been shackled with were unlocking, but there was also guilt. There would always be guilt.

“You don’t suppose they meant that, did you?” Alicent turned to the nearest soul, not exactly caring who it was, and perhaps it was better that way, besides. They did not know her, and she did not know them, and at their parting, they could, maybe return to being strangers. Alicent had grown used to being held aloft over a sea of faces she did not know, and friendly faces were difficult to come by. Lonely but too proud to admit to it, she clung to what she knew in the hopes of it easing that pain. “That centuries have passed while we sat here.”



hedge maze
For her own part, Alicent hadn’t hesitated to step into the maze. She hadn’t needed an incentive, the promise of some prize; for once, recklessness called to her and she slipped into the impossibly tall and winding hedges without a second thought. It all struck her as a terrible dream, the sort the King had spoke of, endless and profound in ways a human mind couldn’t quite comprehend, but the leaves were real, and the sound of gentle sobbing called to her, as if reverberating right into her very soul.

Turning right, and then right again, Alicent pressed onward until a familiar song reached her — an old lullaby as soft as the waves of a calm sea. “Mother?” It looked like her, oh it must have been, but Alicent couldn’t be certain. Not as she turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Alicent chased after her, wrapped up on the sounds of singing and sobs, until she was well and truly lost.

Heart in her throat, she looked one way then the other, terror beginning to rise up along her spine. Each time the hem of her dress caught on a branch, she jumped and her hands shook. “Hello?”



geis — un: nymeria
When have I ever not? What sort of a question is that to ask.



wildcard
Want something else? Have an idea? Hit me with it, or reach out on brutallyamish (plurk) or by PM and we can discuss and I can write up a starter!
meforsaken: (- 37.)

[personal profile] meforsaken 2025-05-15 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
so i know that normally in the maze the other adopted aren't able to see each other's visions, but loki's magic of making lies real has occasionally manifested as their thoughts/subconscious becoming real.......

really what i'm asking is can the two magics mix together and on two consecutive right turns give loki a kid loki construct who would be visible to others while going through the maze? obviously he would disappear when the maze is finished!
lutin: (no confidence)

Eponine Thenardier - Les Misérables

[personal profile] lutin 2025-05-15 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
The Party

At first, when Eponine wakes, she senses nothing wrong. She had fallen asleep in a ditch in Paris so the grass beneath her and the leaves above come as no surprise. What makes her sit up is the smell of food in the air. Her stomach rumbles; she hasn't eaten for some days now and she's ravenous. She stands, her expression becoming confused when she sees others staggering to their feet too. Even in the candle light, she recognises that their clothes are different. She glances down. If this is a dream, perhaps her own clothes have changed. But no. Bare feet peep from the hem of her ragged skirt and she hitches her chemise up self consciously.

She follows the crowd, staying back and away from them, until she sees the food.
Then, and only then, does she elbow her way to the table to ask for even just a taste. Of course, as she weaves through, she can't help but put her hand into some unsuspecting person's pocket, just to see. What she finds, she conceals quickly to examine later. For now, she's more interested in her stomach.

"Excuse - may I - oh, may I have just - any of it? Please? I - I will find a way to pay, I swear."

The Maze

Eponine doesn't mean to be difficult. She really, really doesn't. But being ripped away from the food, from comfort to walk around a maze right now doesn't seem at all fair, and she will tell anyone who will listen.

"You see, me? I like the night. It is nicer than the day, I think. The streets are quiet and there is no one to spit on you and that. And it is that I can think and that. But why must we walk now? There is food there. Can we not do it later? Tomorrow?"

Obviously, it falls on deaf ears and Eponine finds herself at the maze entrance with a cup of blue liquid in her hands. She drinks it and laughs hoarsely. "Oh, it burns. Not like brandy, but like - well, I do not know. Oh, I like it. Fine. I shall walk this stupid thing if I might have another at the end."

She sets off, walking aimlessly. Her sense of direction is good and it isn't long until she is stood, transfixed, as a man with fairish hair and kind eyes holds his hand to her.

"Marius?" She can't believe it. "Monsieur Marius? You are choosing me over that Cosette? You like me?" And she starts to laugh.

Drowning CW: Drowning

"Madame?"

Eponine approaches the crying woman. She looks like a bride, almost, with the veil, or a nun.
"You are lost? It is not so difficult, you know. What will you give me if I show you the way out?"

She reaches out to touch the beast's shoulder, but La Llorona is quicker even than Eponine and soon has her gripped tight.

"MADAME!" Eponine's shrieks echo through the night sky. "GET OFF ME, YOU FUCKING MENESSE"

Geis [cw suicidal ideations, implied prostitution]
[Eponine loves the sound of a prize. And that she can prove she can read and write. And she has a lot of tragic stories that she really doesn't mind sharing]

Me? I were not lost in my body. me, I know the streets of Paris as I know my hands and that. I cannot get lost. and I know all the ways people don't know, through streets and alleys and the sewers and all them. I cannot be lost.
but my head? she is lost. it were the winter before the one gone. we had no money, no home. sometimes, I go with a man to keep warm and sometimes, parnasse lets me to his bed. but sometimes, no and me and azelma, she is my sister, yes? she and I lie together beneath the bridge to try to stop the snow getting to us. we have our shawls but it is so cold that sometimes, my eyes are frozen shut from my tears. and there is nothing. no more. I am lost. and I want to be more lost. so I don't wake her and I go to the river. Madame Seine. And a toe in, and she is so, so cold. But I don't care. Perhaps I shall freeze before I drown? And then another inch, and my foot, and to the ankle, and I can feel her pulling me in, and further and further until I am to my knees and my skirt is soaked.
And then I am found.
Azelma shouts me and honest, I am so shocked, I fall over in the damn river and almost lose myself all over again. But no. She finds me and I struggle to her and - and la. That is it. I were lost, I suppose, but not wandering. I do that at night. Walk. Just anywhere. I like the stars. I like the quiet.

may I have a present now?
artfuldawkins: (served my time)

Jack "The Artful Dodger" Dawkins | The Dodger Papers | OTA

[personal profile] artfuldawkins 2025-05-15 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
THE PARTY
Okay. To say he’s confused is saying the very least that can be said, an’ he reckons he could say a lot about this whole waking up at a party thing. There’s light all around them, and it shows the food which… Well, it ain’t nothing like he’s ever seen before. The colours certainly ain’t like any he’s seen before, not on food at the very least.

Doesn’t stop it tasting nice though, he’ll cop to that at the very least. He ain’t sure why he ate. Well, no, okay, he knows why he ate, that gnawing hunger that always lingered, even if he’d managed to get something decent in his belly that day. It killed that feeling, an’ he always thought better when that feeling was gone.

Should he have ate? Eh, probably not, but right now, feeling full for the first time in a while? Hard to remember why he should have been more careful. It’ll come to him, at some point. Maybe.

Probably not.

That voice though… The way that it runs through him. It’s like it’s inside him, something filling his head in a way he ain’t never heard any music do before in his life. His face falls as the woman – grand fancy toff that she is – speaks.

He can’t leave? His people are dead? … Nah, nah, that can’t be, can it? Can it? He looks around, letting his panic show on his face for just a moment before he hides it away. No, he ain’t panicking, he’s the Artful Dodger. He’s… There’s going to be a way out of this. Always is some way to work things.

First things first… he had to work out where the bloody hell he actually was. Everything else could come from there. He had to just calm down and think. Use those brains people always said he had.

“Ain’t exactly the most upliftin’ thing I heard,” he mutters. “Still, c’n’t all be the St. Crispin’s Day speech, right mate?”

He speaks to whoever is near by, a grin on his face.

Time to get to work.


FEELING ON HEDGE
Dodger looks up at the hedge with a general sense of… He thinks foreboding fits, but generally he would prefer to go with ‘what the hell have I gotten myself into now?’

There’s noises coming from inside that hedge. He can hear some poor sod crying, who knew what about? Maybe just ‘cause they got lost? He reckoned that could make anyone cry, gettin’ right lost and not know which way to turn. He’d been told a story once, ‘bout someone who found their way out of a big maze with string. Least he thinks that’s how the story went, it was years ago, an’ he’d only been half listening at the time. Not like it mattered much, anyway. He ain’t got any string, more fool him.

Wish that person’d stop crying though. Sorry, missus, he ain’t the one who’s going to be able to help. Everyone for themselves, an’ that meant the Dodger first.

He eyes the colourful little glasses. Liquid courage, was it? So… that meant booze? He nodded, he was good with booze. God knows he could use a decent slug of gin round about now. He considers the colours, reckoning through each of them. Red… well, that makes him think of one thing, an’ he ain’t downing that. Blue, Dodger don’t ever recall seeing a drink that was blue before. Water, maybe, an’ water wasn’t going to give him any sort of courage.

So… gold then? That was likely whisky, from what he remembers of seeing of it. He grabs that one, downing it in one go.

He coughs.

Bloody hell, that was stronger than he thought.

“Reckon I prefer the gin,” he mutters, sitting the glass back down. There’s a shake of his head, a slight face made from the aftertaste of the drink. “Oh, that’s got a kick, alright.” He shook it off, and sighed.

“Right then.”

He had to do this damn maze, so there was no time like the present to get started on it. He travels inside, wandering in whatever direction he wanted. Left, then straight, then right… then left again, and then… No. Wait, this wasn’t working. He stopped.

“I ain’t getting no where, here. It ain’t workin’.”

He turned to retrace his steps.

… Wait, there was a turn behind him, wasn’t there?

“...What the hell…?”


GEIS
Dodger ain’t exactly sure what this… Leaf is. It’s nothing he’s experienced before. Still, he was going to learn it, prodding it with a finger slowly and cautiously. He frowns at the words on the screen, pushing at it like it might do something. Makes them bigger, at the very least. He mouths out the words, reading slowly.

What? He can read, it just… takes some work. Same with his writing too. How… He frowned, pressing the screen again. Oh, there was those letters again. Now, what was that they asked? A time he felt lost and wondering about…

Depends on what you consider lost. Gettin shipped off when I ain’t asked for it. That’s being lost alright.
maritorious: (angel babe)

party!

[personal profile] maritorious 2025-05-15 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Nancy feels someone brush next to her, and immediately, her hand goes to her pocket. All that's in there had been an old note from one of the artisans at the market, so she doesn't speak harshly. Just reaches to grab the wrist of the person, just so they know that she knows. Then, she really looks at the person she's holding. The girl can't be any older than her, has the look of a starving child about her. Instantly, Nancy's heartstrings are tugged.

"You don't have to pay for them," she tells the girl. "There's no money here- everything is bartered or traded." And Nancy had been taking advantage of that, with regular trips to the market to indulge. She had stories and songs to share, some cool rocks, and that made her rich for once in her life. While her clothing still erred on the simple side, her dress was a beautiful dark rose, with flowers pooling at the hem.

"Take whatever you'd like." Because clearly this girl needed the same permission Nancy herself had been given. "Just don't eat too much and make yourself sick. That's no way to start out here."
disasterexpedition: (Fleuret Flury)

Maelle | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[personal profile] disasterexpedition 2025-05-15 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
((Taken from the end of Act 2. There should be no spoilers in the TL and I will be trying to avoid any active spoilers for people, but warning one prompt that would almost certainly lead to them. Happy to change style to action tags if preferred!))

The Party

It takes time for her to actually heed the urging to eat. Everything is almost an overwhelming blur for Maelle, who did not expect to open her eyes to anything like this. There's so many people, she never sees such bustle unless it is time to gather for another Gommage. How strange, to celebrate without painted death hanging over everyone's heads. For a time, she lingers to the side, one hand grasping the opposite elbow, uncertain what to think. Your loved ones are likely dead, your problems have likely played out - oh, none of that is news. Adoption, again - that one she doesn't want to think about right now.

But it's alluring, isn't it? Pasta, breads, an assortment of delicious-looking offerings that she would never see on the expedition. Maelle thought she'd never see such foods again. When she drifts along to peruse the options, her fingers brush the edge of a plate - Pâtes à la Ratatouille, she thinks. Real. Not a dream. In the end, it's a baguette in her hands, and she offers a ghost of a smile to the person next to her.

"Well," she says, a hint of dark humor in her voice. "I don't think anyone is starving around here."

Feeling on Hedge
Shots:
Maelle frowns at the table, murmuring a doubtful, "Liquid courage?"

At this point it's not a suspicion about consuming offerings, but rather the fact that the teen is quite certain any of those colors is some sort of alcohol or another. Bitter stuff, Maelle assumes, something she has no interest in consuming. Yes, there is sound to be wary of coming from the hedge, but offer her a drink, and she'll still pull a short grimace and come back with:

"Isn't there any juice?"

Two rights: (Spoilers likely to come up)
Even after the beach, Maelle has never let things stop her from exploring. If she has friends at her back, so much the better, but she knows she can go out and face danger on her own. We continue, she knows. And apparently, she is.

Until she takes two rights in a row.

Maelle sits in the middle of the path, knees drawn up to her chest as she directs a peaceful smile at empty air, nodding along to a musical beat that only the expeditioner can hear. Whatever she sees, oh, this is something she could stay in. Lose herself in.

She doesn't turn her head to acknowledge when someone approaches, for fear that the scene will dissolve into so many petals on the wind. Maelle only tells them, "Shh, don't interrupt. It's only their first chance to play together."

Can't Unseelie It: La Llorona
Finding the weeping woman fills Maelle with dread, and her empty hand is raised as though she might transition into a dueling stance at any moment. Yet she never does. She is slowly taking step after step toward the figure, indulging curiosity and the strangely familiar grief. The weeping woman is grieving, just like the Paintress always looked sad and lonely at the base of the distant Monolith.

Who doesn't know grief? Who can't sympathize with it? What moves this figure to cry, Maelle wonders. Is there a blazing rage laced through that grief, as there is in Maelle's own?

She is nearly within the weeping woman's reach. Another step, and the woman will whirl into motion, eliciting a surprised shout from Maelle as she tries to flinch back and away from the grasping hand. There isn't long to intervene.
Edited 2025-05-15 17:40 (UTC)
maritorious: (thinking of Bill)

IN THE MAZE.

[personal profile] maritorious 2025-05-15 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"I love you, Nancy."

The world stops as Nancy's feet and heart do. There, in front of her, is the man she's been missing for a month. Tall, dark, handsome, there is Bill Sikes in front of her, holding out what truly looks to be the most beautiful ring she can imagine.

"Got it just for you," he says, and places the emerald ring on her finger. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I figure it's high time we get 'round to making it official. What do you say, Nance? Marry me?"

"Bill! Yes!" She doesn't stop herself, she flings herself at him, wrapping her arms around her husband and kissing him with all the passion she has for him. It's the sort of scene that would have played out, to some degree, in the flat she and Bill shared. The kissing, the passionate embraces. The only thing that was different was Nancy's dress-no longer was she in something Dodger would recognize from her limited wardrobe, but a dark pink dress in a far better fabric than they'd ever had access to before, and the flowers embroidered into the hem would have cost a fortune. But it's still Nancy. A Nancy with tears in her eyes and rose gold freckles sprinkled across her cheeks.
dessendre: all commissioned, dnt s'il vous plaît (Default)

clea | clair obscur: expedition 33

[personal profile] dessendre 2025-05-15 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Content warning for potential Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 spoilers ahead! Also brief mentions of grief and suicide ideation. Feel free to respond with brackets / poke me at [plurk.com profile] mycroftier for any plotting. ♡ ]

feeling on hedge
At the offer of drink, Clea snorted derisively. This was obviously a test, but it could also offer an advantage — and she was in no position to pass up such an opportunity. So, after crossing her arms, she studied the arrangement of glasses through narrowed eyes, attempting to determine the effects of each one by observing those who were so quick to ingest them.

The red was easy enough to identify, given how flushed everyone looked immediately after drinking. “Odd,” Clea muttered under her breath, but she focused instead on the remaining two. With a little more time, that, too, became obvious: a sudden burst of energy seemed to overtake each drinker. That left only the blue, but no amount of careful study yielded anything worthwhile.

Frustrated, Clea exhaled hard, approaching the table when her patience finally waned. “You’re a stubborn thing, aren’t you?” She accused the glass, raising it to her nose for a sniff.

can’t unseelie it
It was a sound that grated like nails on chalkboard, skittering up her spine with cold, biting precision. Her mother would cry like that. She’d wander the manor ceaselessly, her agonized sobs echoing through the empty halls at all hours. Clea could do nothing but watch, as she did now, paralyzed by indecision and doubt, hating her for it, hating herself most of all.

The irony that this would be how she finally met her end wasn’t lost on her.

Hard, bony fingers closed around her throat with surprisingly swift force. Clea gritted her teeth against it, but her eyes filled with tears, a burning sensation clawing up her throat. Kill me, she thought bitterly, Finish what you started. Even as the creature loomed with a face she imagined to be her mother’s, Clea was defiant, gasping for breath but making no move to prevent this creature from choking her. Maybe it was mad. She didn’t care anymore.

geis, un: nevron
If you actually wander when you’re lost, you’ll only find yourself at a disadvantage. This is a stupid question.
amurderofcrow: (pic#17798876)

goro akechi | persona 5 royal | dawn court

[personal profile] amurderofcrow 2025-05-15 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[i.feeling on hedge] take my head and kick it in / break some bread for all my sins (cw: vivid descriptions of severe injury)

[Akechi keeps turning left.

It’s partially due to his own left-handed preference but he’s also well aware the best strategy is to pick a side and follow it through until the very end. And it works, to a point, helps to keep the teenager from wandering aimlessly through the maze, allowing him to stride forward confidently around every corner, to about face and continue on at every dead end.

Depending on the size of this labyrinth, Akechi estimates it shouldn’t take him longer than an hour to emerge victorious. But that’s before he rounds a corner and is stopped by the sight laid out before him:

- The familiar face of Ren Amamiya and his dead eyes, blood pouring from the hole in his head.

- Sumire Yoshizawa, her body broken almost beyond recognition, bent at all wrong angles, tears still streaming down her frozen face.

- Impaled through his chest, Yusuke Kitagawa bleeds out pitifully onto the grass he's laid out on, blood bubbling up at his mouth, his eyes closed.

- And he nearly misses Futaba Sakura, the tiny girl so wrapped up in vines that she blends into the hedges themselves, suffocated.


OOC: pick a specific character death to experience or I'll randomize it!]


[ii. wildcard] say a word, do it soon / it's too quiet in this room

[OOC: keeping my prompt pretty simple so if anyone wants anything else, hmu here or over on plurk! let's plot!]
artfuldawkins: (what fisticuffs)

[personal profile] artfuldawkins 2025-05-15 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
He's not sure where he's been going, not really. This damned maze keeps twisting and turning on him, an' he wants it known he don't find that fair play. Not that he's really cared about that before, but ain't the point! Still he finds himself... somewhere, and it's the voice he hears before he sees anything.

"That c'n't be..." his voice trailed off. It had been years since he heard that voice, but he'd never forget it. Not that one. He found himself turning, moving quick and hoping - really hoping - that this bloody maze would hold true until he found her. Turning left, and then right, and then straight on and...

There she was. Dressed in something that would get a pretty penny right enough with the right kind of fence back home, and there was something sparkling across her cheeks, but it was still her. He'd know her anywhere.

"Nance!"
maritorious: (tree)

[personal profile] maritorious 2025-05-15 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ignore it," Bill whispers to her, his voice husky, rumbling in his chest. "Just ignore him." And she wants to. She wants to ignore the person who's calling her name, but the accent is so familiar- it's not Spike, or Mr. Cravensworth's, and neither of them call her Nance.

She looks at the person speaking to her, even as Bill tries to pull her back into him. She keeps her arms locked around Bill.

"Pardon, sir?" She blinks at Dodger. "I'm in the middle of something with my husband here." She gestures to what Dodger will see as nothingness.
artfuldawkins: (aint no life pondering)

[personal profile] artfuldawkins 2025-05-15 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Sir? Only time he'd ever been called sir for serious was when he was in the dock, an' he hadn't thought much of it then, except was a lark it all was. That was before the ship, of course, but it still was daft to think back on it.

There's a blink at her words, looking to the empty air as if there should be something there. Husband? Only one person she'd ever call that, an' there's no way he was there. Nah, Dodger knew you'd never miss the sight of Sikes if he was hulking around the place.

"Oh, come off it, Nance," he says, grinning wide. "It's me! Can't tell me you don't recognise your old Dodger, surely?"
coolcustomer: (what on earth)

Haru Okumura | Persona 5

[personal profile] coolcustomer 2025-05-15 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
party

Haru jolts awake, visibly near panic to anyone who knows what to look for. She remains on high alert when she finds herself in unfamiliar surroundings, among a crowd of strangers... but at the same time, it's tempered with relief. Considering what just happened, she's a little surprised she woke up at all.

The presence of food in this unfamiliar gathering (how can it be for her, when the whole problem was public cognition turning against her and her friends?) does ring the faintest of alarm bells - she's not unaware of the myths, even though she doesn't know them well. But, well, trying to save an ungrateful populace from itself is hungry work. In the end, she doesn't need much convincing.

hedge maze

The gold drink was probably a mistake. Haru was already riding a bit of an adrenaline rush, and now she's even more keyed up; whenever it wears off, she's going to crash hard.

In the meantime, she's growing less and less amused with this whole situation, especially once she makes two right turns.

cw: parental/infant death(She doesn't need to be told it's a vision of what could have been. She's nine or ten, and her mother is there - the obvious source of Haru's fluffy hair. Her father is chasing the toddler baby brother who never came home.

He's happy.)


GEIS (un: belladonna)

That's been most of the last two years, honestly. I was only just starting to find some direction in my life recently.
amurderofcrow: (pic#17835154)

ii

[personal profile] amurderofcrow 2025-05-15 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[Akechi is barely that much older than she is, but in the lives of teenagers, eighteen feels like a lifetime away from sixteen, so when the obviously young girl approaches, nervous and clearly out of her element, and it annoys him how much it feels like he needs to step in. So instead of brushing the girl off, he nods, his golden freckles glittering in the sunshine.]

Agreed on the drinks. I've had nothing but bad luck with the fae thus far accepting any of their "gifts". Let's face what we find inside without their so-called blessing. I don't doubt we'll come out victorious.

[And because he's slowly learning to socialize-] What's your name?
maritorious: (thinking of Bill)

[personal profile] maritorious 2025-05-15 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
yes, Dodger. There is someone right there. And he's kissing Nancy's neck the way she likes and holding her just so. She wants to grab him by the hand and run back to her dorm, but they'll have to get through the maze, first.

"Dodger's a boy," she tells him. "You're a man, you are." A brother, maybe?

"But if you are Dodger, can you come back? Me an' Bill've got a bit of catching up to do." She giggles, looking back at him with stars in her eyes.
eighteensouls: (Default)

[personal profile] eighteensouls 2025-05-15 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Kind of a twofer, one's for more magic-oriented characters generally, the other's more specific to this blorbo:

1. Will characters who are sensitive to magic and the like be able to sense anything off about the people who appear as a result of the maze (two left turns or two right turns)? Assuming they're in a stable enough mind to be paying attention to things, since even without the liquid courage potentially affecting their judgment there could also be emotional responses messing with things.

2. Simon, in particular, has a sort of magical telepathy (it's a limited series run, there's VERY little info to on, it's the best I can describe it), with the strongest results coming through actual contact, usually by placing his hand somewhere on the person. Would this reveal any information about either any of the people he might see showing up as a result of the maze, or about any of the unseelie creatures that could be found inside?