pixieledmemes | Test Drive Meme #3

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!tdm

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

code

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

((OOC: taking him from a bit before where I'm currently at in the game. confidant level just maxxed, in the days between Okumura's death and Sae's Palace. Pls no ending spoilers!))

PARTY

There's a middle-aged, bearded Japanese man wearing khakis, a pink collared shirt, and a heavy duty apron with a stack of little plates methodically working through the pasta table. He takes two scoops of each pasta onto a little saucer, and places it at the place setting of a table he's claimed as his own. He also grabs a big glass of water.

At long last, he sits down in front of his array of noodles, crack his knuckles, and mutters a quick "itadakimasu" before beginning his taste test. He picks up a plate and his chopsticks and slurps up some noodles. His face scrunches up at the flavor while he chews thoughtfully. There's relief on his face when he's done, and he takes a gulp of water. "Granny smith? Who would want granny smith apple noodles?"

MAZE PT 1

He takes a blue potion, and is surprised to feel himself get a little buzzed. But then again, what else would be from a table labeled "LIQUID COURAGE"? Maybe he should have sipped it.

Well, he certainly has a convenient way to walk it off, huh? He saunters in, grazing his right hand on one hedge, confidant he can make his way through if he just follows the wall. Quickly leading him to take two right turns and-

"You're- you're alive? Wakaba, what-" But she's already running into his arms, knocking the wind out of him. It takes him a second, but he wraps his arms around her, breathing in her smell. She's alive. Or at least, she's here. He smirks up at her as they release the hug "Buy me a drink first?" He says, his voice suave and warm. "No way. Your breath stinks, I think you're cut off! Besides, I have so much to tell you! I have a new theory-" She grabs his hand and starts leading him through the maze. Sojiro follows, like he always does, staggering a little thanks to the drunkenness and punctuating her rant with occasional "Uh-huh"s and "Wait, Can you repeat that a bit more plainly for us plebeians?" The only thing that's different from before is the setting and the big, dopey smile he can't seem to get off his face.

MAZE PT 2

"Hey. It's gonna be al-SHIT" the woman in white whirls on him and his arms reflexively sweep up to block hers. He's not slurring any words together anymore but his reaction time is slow, her hands brushing his neck before he grabs her wrists and shoves her back. "Look, Ma'am, I - you need space, I can see that now, don't- Jeezus! I'm walking away! I'm wa- kght!" She's got him by the neck, and damn it if she isn't strong.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a blast of energy strikes the woman in white, a dizzying swirl of black-cyan-yellow-magenta that probably won't kill her but is hopefully enough to break her hold.

"Are you all-- Sakura-san!"

Sojiro staggers back, coughing and hacking for a second. When he looks up, he's suprised to see another person he recognizes. This is one of the kids' new friends, right? What was her name again?

"Oh, ah, Haru-chan, right? Let's go. Not sure what her problem is" he mutters that last part, not really processing that whatever just knocked the woman back was an attack, much less from this highschooler.

He walks briskly, puttting a protective arm around her shoulders. "That's a really incredible cosplay, by the way."

"Well, we should get going before she decides she'd like to strangle you again. I'm not sure that would work so smoothly a second time." Shadows have reliable weaknesses, but Haru's not fool enough to assume the beings here follow the same rules.

"It's not exactly--" The costume flickers out in favor of her winter clothes, though she's on the verge of being rather uncouth and tying her coat around her waist. "Not exactly a costume."

Sojiro does a double take when her clothes change. "Wait... I... This has to do with cognitive psience, then? How does tha-"

There's a shriek from the woman in white behind them. "You know what, it doesn't matter. Run!"

"It does," Haru admits as they take off. There's no point in covering that fact up at this point. The rest can wait until they've hopefully shaken this thing off their trail for now.

"What... day was it when you found yourself here?"

Sojiro frowns. "Uh. Halloween. Why?"

"Just double-checking how much you know about the whole... Phantom Thieves situation." Because it is indeed a situation, and there's still a lot that hasn't happened yet as of Halloween, but at least not having to dance around everyone's involvement is a good thing.

"It was Christmas Eve, for me."

And that's all the more she plans to say about it. She's not sure she could explain things in a coherent manner anyway, not right now.

"The fae haven't quite mastered the concept of flavor profiles yet. Everything they bring us is at least slightly off from what you'd expect, as if it was made by someone just trying to vaguely copy what they'd heard about humans through word of mouth. Either that, or they just refuse to follow a recipe."

Akechi isn't quite the sweet-voiced, inquisitive boy who he remembers visiting Leblanc, but there's nothing but very genuine respect in his tone and posture towards the man. He bows his head in Sojiro's direction, waiting for an invitation before he joins the man.

"Sakura-san," spoken in greeting. The appearance of this particular man is going to cause quite the excitement between Ren and Futaba, and Akechi imagines not all of it will be positive. The fae realm has proven time and time again that it isn't afraid to throw danger in their direction. And as capable as he may be behind a coffee bar, Sojiro doesn't exactly have the ability to fight off a dragon. His presence is going to complicate things.

"Disregarding our current circumstances, it's nice to see you again."

The man crosses one leg over the other as he looks up at the teenager. It's hard to get over a bad first impression, and this boy had made a rather catastrophic one, namedropping the prosecutor who'd threatened his custody of Futaba and making her uncomfortable within the span of two minutes. But there'd been impressions after that, and he even seemed to be hanging out with Ren's friend group now. There was a strange tension between him and the others, but maybe it was just the boy's relative celebrity.

There's something sullen, different about him now. And he's experimenting with some kind of makeup on his cheeks? Good for him.

"Make sure not to tell them about curry, then. I'd hate to have it ruined." He nods at the chair across from himself. "Good to see you too, Mr. Detective."

(Wait till Sojiro finds out Akechi's gonna be his son-in-law.)

"Obviously." It's all the invitation he needs before sliding into the chair opposite of Sojiro, gloved hands falling on the table top between them. "If it isn't from Leblanc, I'd hardly want it anyway. In fact, if it wasn't for Amamiya and I arriving at this place at the same time, I might have had to cut off from coffee as well. You've both made me completely unable to stomach anything else."

It isn't ass kissing, even if it sounds like it, but the honest truth. Going back to canned coffee after so much time spent enjoying Leblanc's house blend would outright kill him.

"You seem to be taking all of this surprisingly well, Sakura-san."

Sojiro makes a bashful, dismissive gesture. "Thank you. I take a lot of pride in my work, but you shouldn't write off all other coffee on my account. There's plenty of other enthusiasts who can do it in different, unique ways. Not to mention infinite varieties of beans and blends."

He frowns, leaning back. "Ren and Futaba explained some of what you kids do, and I'm not a stranger to the concept of cognitive pscience, as I was lucky to be one of the walls Wakaba would bounce her ideas off of. This is different than what I was expecting that 'other world' to be like, though."

"I don't doubt the existence of other enthusiasts or masters of their craft, but I do doubt that they exist here within this reality. The coffee I've tried here has been nothing but an utter disappointment. As you can imagine, Amamiya has kept busy tripping over himself to teach everyone."

Only a slight exaggeration.

Nothing flickers across Akechi's face at the mention of Wakaba Isshiki, even if internally something prickly constricts in his chest, but he nods along, casual as anything. "You're correct. This is nothing like the cognitive world. If it was, I don't doubt we'd be back in Tokyo by now. Unfortunately, our mastery of that world means very little here among the fae."

"Diego!"

Soon enough, the Persona blasts the woman off of Sojiro with a wind attack. Sojiro might be a bit ruffled too, but he'll be uninjured.

From where the attack came from, Morgana stands proudly -- in his bipedal form! -- and strikes a form. "Have no fear, for I am here to save you, so--- huh?! Boss?! What're you doing here?!"

In the moment, it doesn't occur to Morgana that Sojiro won't recognize him.

Sojiro turns to see- a mascot character? That calls him Boss? Like his customers?

"Um, thanks. I'm- Well, I think I'm trying to make my way out by now. I'm crap at this kind of thing." He rubs the back of his neck.

"Do I know you?"

Morgana can't help but wilt as Sojiro doesn't recognize him. It makes sense, of course, but that doesn't stop how much it stings.

"I..." Morgana's ears droop, and he looks around. But they're free from danger now (at least for now), so he doesn't need his Persona. He perks up. "Oh, I know! You'll recognize me better like this--"

It's almost instantaneous but he's back to his cat form, padding over to Sojiro without a care in the world. "See? There's no way you can mistake me now."

Behind him, his little charge stands there giggling. "These guys really do not understand human food." Granny smith apple noodles sounded particularly awful, but Futaba was sort of used to the less bad weird things around Faerie at this point. "Or coffee," she tacks on with a bright smile. "We've all been suffering without your curry, as you can probably tell."

And then she smacks him not-so-gently on the arm as her face contorts into a pout. "I can't believe you got kidnapped!" She'd been sort of holding out the hope that maybe, just maybe, Sojiro would be coming to the rescue eventually.

Once he hears her voice, his chopsticks are down, pasta abandoned, and Sojiri is out of his chair, turning around.

"Futaba." Something in him still pangs with worry seeing her in such a crowded space, but she's smiling, so he does to. "Well, I'll have to fix -hey!"

The smack smarts a little, making him chuckle and rub his arm. Has she gotten stronger too? "Kidnapped? We're not in somebody's heart, or whatever it is you kids do?"

"Huh? No, we were-" Oh boy where to even start?

...Wait. This could be like the Morgana Thing. Hm.

"Okay first off: This is a weird question, but-" When are Futaba's questions not weird questions, to be perfectly honest, but still. "What's the date?" A beat. "For you, I mean." Because if he's from the future like her favorite kitty was, fine, but if he's not then maybe she should shut her yap until she finds out if that breaks anything.

[There's a wolf-girl examining the pasta, sniffing it. Loona makes a face at it.]

Smells weird. Looks weird. Why does it smell like apples?

Well. This might as well be happening. That certainly is a bipedal dog creature dressed in modern clothing. Sojiro wonders what kind of cognitive distortion could mak a person look like that.

"I don't recommend it. It's foul."

Ren is certain, at first, that the voice he hears is some kind of hallucination. That he would look at food and hear Sojiro in his head, critiquing some kind of cooking or food. But as he looks over the party, a little pang of nostalgia with him, he catches sight of a familiar beard, those glasses, and nearly drops the plate of food he's holding directly on the floor.

Or rather, he does drop it-- he just catches it first, just barely, and thereby makes an absolute scene sure to draw Sojiro's attention. When they inevitably lock eyes, Ren blinks once or twice to make sure he's not seeing things, and then tries a smile.

"Uh-- hey." Almost immediately he tries to straighten up and look less like a goofus, though at least he's a little better dressed than Sojiro has ever seen him, a well-tailored shirt and pants with ties on the hips and sleeves in light, pastel colors. "Sorry, I... I didn't think you were here."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive Meme #3

Sojiro Sakura | Persona 5 Royal | OTA

maze part 2

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party

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i think he'll be more concerned with the attempted murder part than the dating

eh, seems forgivable

maze pt 2

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Party

dotter,,,,

ded,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

party

awoo

party :v