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pixieledmemes2025-07-15 09:03 am
Test Drive Meme #4
Welcome to the Pixie Led Test Drive Meme!
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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.
Unlike all of the other parties the Adopted have attended thus far, this one lacks the fae's usual easy elegance and ethereal beauty. Instead of dresses drenched in shining pearls and gems or sturdy tables full of the most mouth-watering food around, this party looks... cheap.
While the chasm between the Seelie and Unseelie courts has stopped growing, it also hasn't started shrinking. But when it comes to party planning, the Day Duke and the Summer Queen have thrown out the more traditional kind of party in favor of a summer celebration that their human pets might be familiar with. A Renaissance Faire.
But this is the fae interpretation of a human Ren Faire, complete with cheap, itchy costumes, cardboard stalls in the marketplace, and soft, plastic weaponry. Even the fae themselves seem to have gotten into the spirit of the event, masquerading - poorly - as humans playing faerie creatures. Everything within this crafted townsquare is absolutely fake, except for the plentiful faire food and drink that can not be avoided. Newcomers will have massive turkey legs, steaming apple dumplings, and overflowing wooden mugs shoved into their hands as they stroll through the faire.
As the party winds down and everyone's eaten, a tall, stately elf 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.
CW: loss of agency, character death
Between the faeries cosplaying as humans - flat, bland wigs and all - Adopted may catch a glimpse or three of strange figures slinking through the crowd, all dressed up in the same cheap robes, wearing masks made up to look like rats. If an Adopted attempts to catch one of these figures, they’ll find themselves drawn away from the lively crowd into some darkened corner of the faire, where the sound of the festival doesn’t quite reach. The rat man will say nothing if spoken to, only holding out a shining, jeweled crown that all Adopted will feel compelled to wear before they scurry away without a word.
And for most of the party, the rat men seem harmless enough, lurking around and handing out crowns, making a point to hit most of the Seelie court’s Adopted in particular. It just seems like another strange misinterpretation of human tradition by the fae, unintentionally sinister when really it’s all for fun.
But then the party goes silent.
One of the rat men descends into the market square with a cheeky little dance, pipe in hand, already playing a jaunty tune that carries from one end of the faire to the other. Any Adopted wearing a crown will be unable to resist the call of the music, dancing along to every note. And as the figure masquerading as a rat begins to step backwards away from the crowd, they'll find themselves following right after him, forced to mimic his every step.
If they are not stopped by those without crowns, the Adopted will eventually dance themselves right into the forest with their piper, blindly following him even as the trees themselves begin to twist in around them. The further they get from the party, the more the brush becomes so thick it suffocates, vines and branches curling around limbs, trapping the Adopted long enough that they'll be swallowed up completely by the forest, returned to their dorm bedrooms by morning.
CW: loss of agency, unintentional harm, blood and gore
There is a veritable trove of activities the adopted can pick from to entertain themselves for the evening as they battle the relentless heat and scorching sun. But don't be fooled, the activities present aren't mundane and offer some thrilling options.
It should be noted that while of the other weapons to be found all over the faire are plastic, Adopted will see for themselves that there is no mistaking that the items used in these games are incredibly real.
- 🦋 Axe throwing & Archery: Of course, this sounds simple enough, but upon stepping up and picking up your axe or bow, you will find that you cannot stop until all arrows or axes are used (the number of which we leave to you). And your target? Why another Adopted, of course. In a blink, some random Adopted (be they known to you or not) will be selected and strapped to the target board, unable to teleport or wiggle free, trapped in much the same way you are. Until the last munition is used, neither of you can escape.
- Hope you have good aim.
- 🦋 Jousting: Three parties are at war for the jousting trophy - the Seelie, the Unseelie, and the Adopted. Now's your chance to ride for your chosen patron's honor and saddle up. Upon getting on the horse of your chosen patron, it will become impossible to dismount until you win or lose. Take up your lance and shield (did we mention they didn't offer armor?) and knock your opponent off their horse first or risk your own impalement and subsequent dishonor.
- Do not fear, no matter what happens during this event, the horses will be perfectly safe. The Adopted however do not have that same protection.
- 🦋 Darts: Seems simple enough. Much like the other games, once you begin to play you cannot stop until you and your partner reach 0. Upon starting, everything is normal other than the compulsion, but once the first dart is thrown? Well, your partner better have a good constitution because when either of you throw, the other will be hurt in turn. The closer to the bullseye you are, the more painful it will be.
- Isn't teamwork great?
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, tell us all of a time when you saw through a facade that fooled everyone around you. Perhaps the most compelling story will receive a reward from us.
no subject
Even if hers was altruistic (to which he rolled his eyes beneath the mask. So many “good” people here).]
I’ll hold you to that. [His would is already bound but… Sync undoes the bandage easily enough, the movement practiced. Most of the bleeding has staunched already, and he holds the limb out to her, ready to retract it if anything goes awry.
At least this stranger is bound by her own words. If she would try to claim a favor later, he can just use it against her.
Plus, as much as he hates to admit it, some part of him is curious. Seldom has he felt healing artes before arriving here, but the sparse handful left a distinct impression. What would healing from another source be like?
(It’s for his own good. If trouble would come later, it would be best to be healed now.)]
no subject
[And should he happen to be injured anywhere else, that too ought to no longer be a problem. Magic such as that is not targeted specifically, but rather at a being as a whole. A side benefit, call it, if indeed any benefit did come from it.]
Indeed, not a grievous wound, but still not worth bearing overlong. Particularly as I would gather it was earned through involuntary means.
[To say her eyes flash when she glances sideways at the axe and dart throws is to ignore the fact that her irises already glow, but the sentiment is there nonetheless.]
no subject
Plus, he learned a few (useful) tidbits.
The magic was more wholistic than a healing arte. Sure, larger scale artes existed, but they also took a lot more concentration and fonons, as well as a greater strain on the fonist. He would have seen the signs if that was the case for this healer - and there were none. True to her word, it seemed whatever magic she used didn’t seem to have an inherently increased cost.]
That’s efficient. [He’d have to keep it in mind. Maybe if there was a way to copy the technique (a thought for another time). His viridian gaze followed hers, narrowing beneath his mask.] …and they are quite adept at such tricks.
no subject
[But such means little now; the results matter, not the means. And to that statement, Venat nods.]
The faeries of the First are arbitrary and capricious, prone to tricks of a cruel but hardly so enduring save in consequence. The axes and arrows would only fail to be their style by being too subtle. The more powerful ones here strike me as possessing a greater restraint, and in so possessing, a greater capacity to stretch their tricks -- such as our presence here, as I understand it.
no subject
The fact that he was healed, entirely, was such proof.
It was another kernel of information to put away: the fact that Venat seemed to have experience with similar creatures aside from the ones that pulled them here.]
‘Restraint,’ huh… [It was an ironic word. If anything, Sync would say their captors have none.] Their tricks just take different form, then. [They were viewed as pets, that much was clear. Something for amusement, easily cast aside. (At least, on that second note, he had experience.)]
no subject
Most concerning to me is the notion that they may not consider these 'tricks' in the slightest, but simply a due part of the natural order of things.
no subject
They consider us ‘pets.’ Anything that they do to us can be thrown under that excuse.
[It’s no secret how he feels about their entrapment here. Even if it does give him some form of ‘purpose.’]
no subject
[Though she wonders. That Lawspeaker had voiced not a scrap of affection or tolerance of the sort you would gift even a pet you expected to treat poorly. But perhaps those who would decide 'what do to with you' will treat manners differently.]
no subject
[While Venat’s logic seemed sound, Sync was also aware that not everything in the world was afforded kindness. The reflection, in this case, would be entirely up to the owner… and people were oh so individualistic that there really couldn’t be a comparison on how one might be treated.
Even Sync, for the one time that he had met the Duchess of the Dusk Court, couldn’t say he had a solid consensus on their moods.]