pixieledmemes | Test Drive Meme #3

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Test Drive Meme #3

TDM #3 - May/June 2025

🦋 Introduction

Welcome to the Pixie Led Test Drive Meme!

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🦋 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

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Gustave's thought had been similar though he'd chosen to hug the right wall through the maze. His fingers brushed the foliage as he walked, trying to keep his bearings as he was dwarfed by the hedge walls that almost seemed to stretch up into the night sky. It was almost pretty in the way the Continent had been, wild and surreal, as if the world itself was dreaming, impossible things coming to life right in front of their eyes.

This wasn't a dream — it didn't feel like one. All Gustave felt was this oppressive darkness accompanied by the somber sobs of a woman deeper in the twisting maze. "Can you hear me?" There was no way for him to know the wailing wasn't a person as he pressed on, brow knit in concern as he wove through the hedges, chasing the sound.

"Lune?"

That hadn't been the sight he expected, not this deep in the maze, not as he was following the disembodied cries of some unseen mourner off the path he had told himself to follow. "Who are — Made it?" Gustave looked, but there was no one else here. Maybe he was hallucinating all of this. Maybe this all was... No. He swallowed hard and kept himself from walking down that path. "Who are you talking to?"

It takes time for her attention to turn to Gustave. In another time, she could have kept more composure. Right now, though? Lune's expression twists. She might as well be looking at a ghost. Seeing the dead is a new sort of terrible. Sure, the continent is littered with the remains of her predecessors. But she could be numb to that.

This? This is surrounding her with the dead in a way she doesn't know how to deal with. Here she is, the woman who decided people who left on a suicide mission were just fine out there. And she's trying to hug a vision of the last survivors of their expedition to herself while the man they'd certainly lost...

"Gustave?" Too many thoughts and emotions at once. Should she be relieved? Angry? Suspicious of a trick? In a way, it's easier to believe in friends bleeding out than it is to accept that he is alive. So she gets a little mean. "...No. I don't have time for distractions. If you were really here, you'd try to help. Gustave would help."

Even if Lune snapped at him sometimes.

At that he laughs.

"Good to know you haven't changed," he comments, catching up to where she was with a few quick steps. "So uh, how exactly am I supposed to help. It's not like I build this thing," and he shakes a branch of the hedge. A few turns back, he'd tried to look through them just to see if he could see through to the other side, but there had been nothing. It was actually unsettling.

Gustave lets go as if burned, just in case. Can't be too careful.

"Did you pick left or right?" He glanced at the fork in the path and then back to her. "For the wall. I picked right but I hit a lot of dead ends."

If she wanted to focus on getting out, and it was probably the smarter thing to do anyway, he could do that. Whether she believed he was real or not was a problem they could tackle later, assuming she didn't try to fry him with a bolt of lightning to test a theory.

Lune's eyes squeeze shut, and she huffs a breath. Fuck. That does sound like Gustave. Maybe a person can only step over so many bodies before they come a bit unhinged. With what the hedge is showing her, Lune's quite convinced that in a few minutes she'll be doing it again.

She makes a releasing gesture - thinks she's releasing bodies - and pushes to her feet.

"As usual, I chose the opposite." Maybe it's morbid to let a wry note into her voice now, but there it is. "I can't say that it's working out any better."

Waving his left hand to prove his point, Gustave jokingly fired back, "I don't have a lot of luck with the left." A stupid joke, really, but he'd always been full of those and if they helped to break the tension, they weren't completely useless. And dark senses of humour didn't put him off and he suspected the same had always been true for Lune, too.

"We can alternate? I don't think this maze is following the normal rules," he mused, eyeing both the left and right paths now. It was almost as confusing as the forest that led to the gestrals but he'd take that over this any day.

Who could make it to adulthood in Lumiere without some type of dark humor, anyway? A stunted laugh. Fuck, that really is something Gustave would say.

If all this is somehow true and he's real, Lune should apologize for not being able to get back up to help him.

For now, she plans instead. "We alternate directions, or alternate who is choosing the directions?" Oh. But they could do even better than that. More decisively, "We do both. Just to really keep the maze guessing."

Gustave wouldn't have wanted her to put herself in danger, not for him, and he doesn't need or want an apology, so he's glad he doesn't have to awkwardly dodge that conversation and they can focus on this maze.

"We could flip a coin for it. Heads is left, tails is right? Leave it completely to chance." Gustave had a theory that if they didn't choose at all, the maze had no power over them, but there was only one way to test that.

This gets a disgruntled shrug from Lune, showing Gustave empty hands. Lune could summon a guitar, but a coin? She’s just been lucky the gestrals were happy to deal in chroma.

“That’s one way to do it. If you kept a coin.”

Maybe he did. Keep Gustave around, and he’ll come up with some surprises. Just have to keep him properly motivated, Lune supposes.

Chuckling, Gustave tucked his thumb against his index finger as a shimmer of light coalesced into the shape of a disc, which he flicked in her direction. "It's an old heirloom in my family. It's supposed to be good luck," he said, a lopsided smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. How much of that was true, he couldn't say, he barely remembered his parents now, and it's possible the story of where this coin came from has changed over the years. Either way.

"What is it?"

He's hoping for heads, if only because he's tired of going right.

A step, and she catches the airborne coin in her hands. It feels real enough, even though Gustave couldn't really... "Good luck," she grumbles. Lune recognizes it for charming nonsense, but...Just imagine. All that happened was Gustave with good luck.

She lifts a hand to peer at the coin's orientation.

"Heads," Lune announces, but extending her hand toward him, offering it back. Schools her expression, as though she is delivering an important point. "Although, I could have sworn you said left is unlucky for you."

Checkmate, so-called lucky coin.

"Supposedly," Gustave amends with a shrug. Really, it's just an old coin with no value except the sentimental, but that's enough for him. Most things in life are like that, he thinks.

Humming, he catches the coin as it's flung back. "Heads." A pause. "Left." Gustave holds it between his index finger and his thumb, studying the profile embossed on the metal. The face isn't familiar, and he doesn't have a name to attach to her, nor does he fully recognize the landmark on the reverse. "Unlucky for me, but maybe not for you."

Gustave flips the coin over his knuckles and then holds it in his palm. "It's worse luck to flip it again, so we should just go left," he says then, though he hesitates only a little to actually head in that direction.

It's almost funny, how much easier it is to step further away from the dead Lune thinks she sees when she has a man Lune is quite certain is dead to motivate. Lune's starting to walk down the path, per the coin's directions, when she pauses and glances at him.

"Your feet do still work."

And then she's moving along, no elaboration on how much of that was simply being a verbal elbowing between colleagues. Keep up, Gustave.

"Yeah, they... Yeah."

Gustave chuckles, jogging a few steps to catch up with her. He doesn't really have a reason for why he hesitated, just that it's hard for him to be here just like he knows it must be hard for those he... left behind. If he knows Lune and Sciel at all, and Gustave likes to think he does, they looked after Maelle like he'd hoped they would, but it was strange, standing here now, feeling like he had to apologise or say something to make it all right, when it felt like anything but.

"Still working," he adds as he continues to walk by her side. That brusqueness had never offended him and actually, he'd always found it endearing and honestly, it helped pick him up when he couldn't do it himself. "Left's right so far." Another bad joke, but he hoped bad enough to make her laugh.

The joke is like a startling jolt, grounding her from the thousand cutting feelings Lune has to contend with. It has her pausing in a stride, breathing out the sort of laugh that advertises just how bad the joke that prompts it actually is.

"What, exactly, are you basing that on?"

Gustave of all people should understand that there should be a logical explanation.

"Well, there was a fifty percent chance it was the right direction to start with." Not really, it was probably more like thirty-seven or something along those lines, but Gustave was used to working with a lot of leeway on things. His line of work wasn't always an exact sort, which meant finding loopholes and workarounds that might have not made sense to anyone else but that seemed perfectly normal to him. "And we haven't been attacked yet. So I'd say considering both of those things together, well, left must be right."

Gustave chuckled softly then as they continue down the path. "For now anyway. If we hit another junction, we'll have to flip the coin again. Put our fates back into the hands of chance."

He'd put his faith in shakier things.

"Fifty percent," Lune echoed. "You're becoming an optimist."

Another joke, but she supposed Gustave really had been one, once. There had been so much hope pinned on his lumina converter, and the idea that he would get to pass his journal to his apprentices.

Lune was sparing Gustave glances as they walked. His arm. Like one of these times, she would see something different.

"You'll be fine if we do find a fight?" Reasonable question, considering.

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Test Drive Meme #3

The Hedge: Turning Left

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