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

biwildered: (Default)

GEIS un: Buck

[personal profile] biwildered 2025-05-20 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Heya Cap!
desashin: ([A] 119)

[personal profile] desashin 2025-05-20 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
You didn't leave anything at all?

[ That answer does get his attention away from the Lawspeaker. He still looks a little too sharp, but he smiles at Olivia with an almost defiant calm. ]

Do you want to live here, then? Even if it's as someone else's plaything?
whichisit: (What in the What Shades (alvh))

[personal profile] whichisit 2025-05-20 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Henry wonders if the other vampire is having a similar thing happen that happened to him, with Abraham and John.

He carefully approaches and puts his hand on Spike's shoulder, "Spike..."
sod_off: (Spike 20)

[personal profile] sod_off 2025-05-20 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
She had a point, and Spike could acknowledge it. "Nah, that's...fair." Didn't hurt him to admit it either. At least now he was able to place around where she was from better, given her words.

"Can understand that, given what you've experienced so far. But it is a cage still. A very pretty cage and keeping of us. The fae don't think of us as people, proper. We're pets, or prisoners. Or both really." Holding up a hand. "I'm not saying don't enjoy the luxuries. Having the bed is nice, and you'll love some of the other things available here. Especially since they don't use money. It's a barter or trade economy, running mostly on owed favors and debts that way. But don't think the fae are your friends, or are benevolent angels or anything."
figureskated: (With: Buck)

[personal profile] figureskated 2025-05-20 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Buck?! You're OK.

[What he doesn't see is the sheer amount of relief that settles over Bobby. Unless faries and a hedge maze is heaven? That's a weird bunch of imagery for heaven.]
maritorious: (neutral)

can't unseelie

[personal profile] maritorious 2025-05-20 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's the crying that has drawn Nancy to Castiel's position. A naturally nurturing woman, any sort of crying tugs at her heartstrings, and in a place like this, on a day like this? She'd like to offer whatever sort of help she can.

But this plan is thrown to the wayside when she walks right into Castiel's outstretched arm- he manages to hit her at about upper-chest height, and it smarts. Frowning, she rubs where they made contact with the heel of her hand, about to ask him what gives. But lo, he's on top of that, it would seem.

It also seems that he knows what could have been causing that crying, and something about his tone makes Nancy not want to object beyond a simple:]
You're sure? [Who even knows what an Aztec is, but if he's right about the crying...

She meets his uncanny blue eyes with her hazel ones, her lips parted and brow furrowed in worry.]
You don't- you don't really think that's true, do you? I mean, it's not like a banshee. [Those troublesome spirits were well known to Nancy, given her upbringing in the slums of London. She'd heard plenty of tales.]
lutin: (conning you)

[personal profile] lutin 2025-05-20 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
“All life is a cage, Monsieur. Me, I am trapped by poverty. And being a woman. Even rich, I am trapped to marry who my father says and stay at home to embroider. Even men, trapped by money or job or anything. At least this cage is pretty.”

She grins. “I met a fairy. I stole his knife and fork. He’s very beautiful you know, with curly hair and curly horns. He wasn’t so cross.”
She chuckles. “Dreadfully handsome. See, my cage is decorated with all sorts of pretties. And see, you call me ‘pet’ too. Are you a fairy then?”
whichisit: (Default)

[personal profile] whichisit 2025-05-20 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Henry stops them behind one of the higher hedges and crouches down, listening carefully for any more of the screetches or the woosh of the wings.

There are no deep breaths or quickened heart rate, "I believe we may, as they kids say, have lost it," Henry says, keeping his voice low.

"I've only run into ghosts from my past in the maze, but this is the first monster I've seen," he says, sitting down on the grass, taking a moment to collect himself.

"Henry, by the way, apologies for dragging you along, but getting eaten by that thing seemed like it would be less than pleasant."
sod_off: (Spike 8)

[personal profile] sod_off 2025-05-20 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Well that just made him laugh. "I deserved that." But Spike wasn't upset. "Glad to see some spirit, and some smarts." He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

He kind of liked this Eponine. At least for verbal sparring. "I'm not a fairy. I'm not human though." An eyebrow raised, and he smirked. "I'm a vampire." Wondering what references to the creature she'd have, since she was definitely pre-Dracula craze.
pentacled: (hopkins ⛧ thinking)

[personal profile] pentacled 2025-05-20 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Just a mite curious...

[ responded like he asked because he has some secret reason to do so (he does not have a secret reason). he's certain he would have noticed the radiating aura of someone whizzing past like this before, though, is why he would inquire. ]

[ faquarl sighs. if he plans to keep up, which he may as well, he should put his powers to some use. so he kicks off the ground, begins to levitate. he gestures towards the open hedges and the literal myriad of options. ]

Well, which way do you reckon, then? For exiting quickly.
memorycardio: (012)

[personal profile] memorycardio 2025-05-20 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[That makes her tilt her head, not familiar with the... er, name.]

Nunya?
lutin: (smile)

[personal profile] lutin 2025-05-20 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
“A vampire?” Eponine laughed. She didn’t believe Spike.
“Do you haunt a graveyard then? You know, sometimes I have got into mausoleums to sleep. Sometimes I imagined the dead rising up to get me.”

She laughed again. “Don’t you think it would be nice though, to be a vampire? To be so powerful and to live forever? I’d like that.”
betenoir: (Prepared)

[personal profile] betenoir 2025-05-20 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
spoilers inside
[Practicality. Structure. Direction. A minimal waste of time for the greatest outcome when combined with the practical application of effort. So why waste time on frivolity? Well, it is a contrast to emotion, and people mistake it for emotion. Emotions are important to understanding the human condition. And great art is an expression of that existence.

But what do you do when you yourself are the art?]


Perhaps forces exist beyond their comprehension. Artists in other worlds beyond their own.

[Oh, the irony.]
maritorious: (a little smug)

[personal profile] maritorious 2025-05-20 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Great. He wants her to lead and run.

"Good thing I can run in skirts." She says, and immediately grabs on to as much of her petticoats as she can and lifts them high enough that she can run. Away from noises, thank you very much.
sod_off: (Spike 8)

[personal profile] sod_off 2025-05-20 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"It has its perks." Spike murmured, still smirking. "We can haunt more than graveyards. Used to have a nice crypt in Sunnydale though. Made it nice and comfy, gave it some style." It was fine if she didn't believe. She'll either learn, or not.

Honestly he was somewhat intrigued that she seemed interested. Not that he had any intention of siring anyone while in the fae realm. From the talk, it seemed like all the current vampires were agreed about that whole 'no siring' thing.
maritorious: (hands on hips)

[personal profile] maritorious 2025-05-20 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"No, no! Don't you go about stealing here, they'll throw you in the dungeons for that, or worse!" Of all people to be saying that, of all the people to be saying it to. IF Fagin could have seen them now, he'd have done near pissed himself laughing.

"You don't got to, anyway. There ain't money here. It's all trades and favors, stories and songs. We can be whomever we want to be here. And me, I'm being a lady what can have fine things."
lutin: (conning you)

[personal profile] lutin 2025-05-20 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Like what? Tell me, Sir." Eponine didn't know if she believed Spike, but a story was a story and she loved those.

"Didn't people mind? People are usually scared of such things as vampires. Tosh, and I have heard people call me a ghost when I have got up off a grave before now. But I think people are a bit stupid."

She thought for a moment. "I wouldn't have minded being a vampire at home. I should have drained all the rich men of their blood and got fat and had their jewels. I might have had a fortune. Is that what you did? Killed a woman for her jewels?"
sod_off: (Spike 65)

[personal profile] sod_off 2025-05-20 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"Wherever we want that's safe from daylight." Spike replied easily enough, tilting his head. "Was a pleasant surprise to find I don't burst into flames here in the fae realm during the day. I've used mansions and warehouses, apartments and crypts, pretty much wherever I pleased that I could secure."

Another look over her, and a chuckle. "Most people don't notice, or pretend to not. They'd be too scared to find out the monsters are real. I could see you making a good ghost though, Eponine."

Of course, then she definitely has his interest with her words. There is, once again, that dangerous quality to his grin. To his voice. "Sometimes. Ran around with a group, a quartet known as the Whirlwind. We terrorized the continent. Got my girl, Drusilla, all sorts of pretties. Sometimes those pretties were wearing pretties too, and oh did she have fun playing with them. Dinner and a treat." Spike moved now while he continued speaking. Coming to stalk around Eponine in a decidedly predatory manner. Fluid, in control of himself.

"The trick though, ma petite, is to not get caught. To not arouse the mob's attention that wants to hunt you down and stake you or burn you where you sleep. Not if you want to keep that fortune." A dark chuckle. "Now me, I like a good brawl. My grand-sire never approved though. Felt I was too showy, too reckless. Why not enjoy the thrill of the kill though? It was boring always getting into fights you know you'll win."
friendstime: ([G] Only you understand me!)

[personal profile] friendstime 2025-05-20 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Leaf?

[ The confusion of adjusting to new things at least breaks through some of the blind panic and heartbreak long enough for Gentarou to focus back on action. He can't imagine a place where ambulances aren't normal practice, and he still hasn't realized that the person he's seeing simply isn't there -- if Kengo were there, he'd be the one telling Gentarou to stop being an idiot to start with. Unfortunately Gentarou is on his own, and if Ken hadn't run into him, he would probably still be trying to reason with the phantom image. ]

What do you mean it won't help? There must be someone we can call, right? Like a hospital or- or someone that can take us out of here? We shouldn't continue if people are hurt!

[ That's his logic anyway. Not that any of it would be fair when they're expected to solve a maze anyway, but Gentarou still assumes that they are playing by some set of kind rules. ]
ordealwithit: (36)

party

[personal profile] ordealwithit 2025-05-20 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"Don't eat anything, then." The words are soft, not quite a whisper but not meant to travel far from her ears; the voice, coming from the armor-clad woman leaning over the table to casually confiscate full dishes of food, is gentle but urgent. Kel knows it's likely she's too late, that the fae wouldn't have let her get near before a person's fate is sealed, but she's set on trying anyway. What she hasn't heard is that anyone who steadfastly refuses to eat at this party will eventually be forced--probably, she would try this anyway, even if she knew that.

"If you want to leave, your best shot at it is right now. You've got to refuse whatever you're served here."
ordealwithit: (36)

party

[personal profile] ordealwithit 2025-05-20 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"You mustn't." The warning voice is low and even, assured, accompanied by the soft clink of chain mail as the Kel steps in closer. "This feast is just like the one that trapped me here. If you eat or drink anything, you'll be trapped just the same."

Admittedly, she's a little surprised to have caught someone seemingly before they've eaten--she hadn't thought it would be possible, had heard that the fae had ways of preventing such a thing. What Kel doesn't know, having been fool enough to readily accept food and drink at the first party, is that those who refuse will eventually be forced to eat anyway.
lutin: (conning you)

CW: murder, knife play

[personal profile] lutin 2025-05-20 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Eponine turned her head to follow Spike as he stalked around her. Her body hummed with excitement, for Spike reminded her of Montparnasse, of his dominance, of how clearly he was in control of both himself and of Eponine.

"We never went for jewels or nothing. My husband, he did. He liked to enchant rich women and go off to fuck 'em. He were that beautiful, they did it every time. And then he would slice their neck. See?"

She pointed at the faint silvery scars across her throat. There was a thicker one right across her jugular.

"He liked to tease, my 'Parnasse. And me? Well, there is something to be fucked with a knife on your throat. Me, I like a man with bite. Your Drusilla were lucky. 'Parnasse never shared his spoils with me. He liked it though. He were the most feared man in Paris, and never caught."
sarcastass: (dull)

[personal profile] sarcastass 2025-05-20 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[The manananggal sweeps left, then right, neither motion followed by Szel. The only actual indication that he seems to be aware of a thing blocking his way is in his stance alone; even the positioning of his head isn't quite on the mark, 'looking' just past the thing into empty space. He does, however, speak, barely tilting his head back in Lena's general direction.]

You're good where you are, trust me.

[This game of chicken was apparently reaching it's breaking point for him, as he took one big old step back from the slavering vampiric thing, wings still outstretched and rattling. Seeing its chance, the creature suddenly surged forward after him, shrieking in triumph.

Prematurely, as it would happen. Because the 'dog' is still here. It erupts from the hedge, a blur of orange becoming a hideous amalgamation of blackened chitinous segments and spindly limbs, the manananggal going from predator to prey in a matter of seconds as its snapped back into the bushes once more.

... It's a working strategy, he's no noble knight, playing fair is for chumps.
]
sod_off: (Spike and Dru 5)

Re: CW: murder, knife play

[personal profile] sod_off 2025-05-20 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"Child's play then." Spike retorted, keeping up his stalk around her. "Guess you don't scare so easily. Not with what you've seen, I'm sure." A knowing smirk. "Drusilla was my princess, my everything for over a century. Was nothing I wouldn't do for her. Or to her, as she liked."

Spike laughed richly. "Even after we split from the Whirlwind, we were a force to be reckoned with, me and Dru. She never failed to surprise me, keep me intrigued, take me to new heights and depths." Spike stopped his pacing around her, and tilted his head towards her. "You like the danger. Is it worth it to you? Do you know what you'd be giving up?"
thephotosynthesis: (Not particularly impressed)

[personal profile] thephotosynthesis 2025-05-20 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, usually it's yellow...

[Olivia is, at the very least, confident in her ability to survive a bit of horrible mechanical violence. If he's talking about food, then it's probably not here to kill anyone... well, that wasn't true with Hendryk, though, was it? Keep your guard up.]

Are you sure that it's okay for you to eat this stuff? I don't know how well 'mortal' food works for someone like you.