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pixieledmemes2025-01-15 09:46 am
Test Drive Meme #1
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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.
It seems to be a holiday party of some sort, if the large, candle-decorated pine tree in the middle of the tables is any indication. While the party appears to be outside, the temperature is mild and pleasant within the gates and hedges sectioning the party off from the rest of the garden. Stars twinkle overhead, a full moon hanging in the sky, as fluffy flakes of oddly not-cold snow drift to the ground. Some of the hosts dance in a circle around the pine tree, moving their hands around in odd patterns as their feet move; it seems to make the tree glow. The mood seems to be festive, with everyone smiling brightly. Their chipper voices sometimes crescendo louder than the soft chamber music that's being performed in the corner; their laughter rings out like little bells now and then as people get settled.
There are candles and sprigs of pine on every table accenting the festive spread of food and drinks. There are cookies, olives and cheese and crackers, various sliced meats, cranberries and oranges, chocolate coins, fried potatoes of every shape and style, warmed cider and mulled wine, and every other type of food you might be craving.
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.
In front of you sits a spinning top with symbols you don't recognize on each of its four sides. Next to it is a pile of chocolate coins. Someone nearby helpfully explains that you'll need a second player to bet against, but they at least are willing to take a second to explain the rules.
Each round, each player puts a coin into the pot. Then they take turns spinning the top, taking an action depending on the symbol that is landed on. The wind chime means you do nothing. The coin means you take everything in the pot. The sword means you take half of everything in the pot (half plus one if there is an odd number). The hand means you put a piece of your winnings back in the pot. When one person owns every chocolate coin and the other person is left with nothing, they have won the game.
Perhaps you should try and flag someone down to play a game to figure out what's going on around here. After all, half of the party guests look about as confused as you do, and it might be a nice idea to start getting to know the other people here.
Tucked away in a corner sits the dessert table. Each cake, cookie, and pastry has signs next to them:
Warning: Do Not Eat
But everything else you've had tonight doesn't seem to have an effect, so what's the harm in a little sweet treat? You dig in, and then, without your knowledge, something changes about you. What those changes are, exactly, is dependent on the desserts you've eaten. Luckily the effect is only temporary; some only last a matter of minutes, some last hours, but either way as soon as you leave the party, you'll be cured.
Types of Desserts
- Cakes: You will believe you've lived in the Fae Realm your whole life and belong there
- Cookies: You will shrink down to about two inches tall
- Pies: You will forget someone important to you
- Candies: You will no longer be able to tell any lies
- Custards: You will grow a tail, antennae, wings, or any combination thereof
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.
Tell us all of a time you received a gift. It could be one you enjoyed or one you did not. Perhaps a particularly amusing story will be rewarded.
no subject
Something twinges vaguely in her chest. It's the feeling that makes her want to make sure he... eats a balanced lunch? He shouldn't be worried about Avengers (has he heard of the Avengers before? Hard to tell), or fae speeches, and instead should be worried about finals and college and thermodynamics and, what else happens to kids in high school. Prom? Prom.
Jessica, in that moment, decides to stop staring at him. She also decides to take off her cowl, which folds around her neck like a hood, revealing a totally normal woman in her thirties. ]
Don't worry about it. [ She sticks out her hand, to shake. ] I'm Jessica.
[ A beat. She then points at him, not accusingly, just sort of. Addressing. ] Are you freaking out? [ She then points to herself. A little more accusingly, but mostly sort of responsibly. ] Do you want me to quiz you about thermodynamics?
no subject
neighborhoodsmile, then glances up. ]Nice to meet you, Jessica. I'm Peter. [ A beat. ] Peter Parker.
[ He retracts his hand to use it to rub his neck. ] And no no, I'm not. Just - [ How does he even explain this? ] It's, uh. I had a thing before and you kinda reminded me of it? Sorry it's sorta hard to explain without going through some really confidential stuff, probably. And no, it's not about thermodynamics, I swear.
no subject
Immediately, her eyes narrow. "A thing." It's less in suspicion and more focused. He doesn't look anything like Peter, and she's known him for a long time; maybe, if she squints and mentally superimposes the two on top of each other, he might have the same haircut? She's also met a lot of spider-people. It happens. Web of life stuff. Magic stuff. Maybe the faeries and their search ended up being a multiversal search. That'd make sense, and also make this whole thing considerably more a) dangerous, therefore b) difficult to escape.
Jess sounds sympathetic when she offers, a little more sotto voce in case they're overheard, one hand cupping the side of her mouth in case anyone's lip-reading, ]
Is it superhero stuff?
[ Maybe he's a Peter Parker who doesn't have anything to do with Spider-Man? ]
no subject
[ And then it dawns on him. The sorta spider-like suit, being an Avenger, and how she immediately knows it's superhero stuff with him just mentioning his name - definitely multiverse shenanigans. Maybe Jessica's someone where there's another him. Peter 4 or something because the other two Peters didn't seem to know the Avengers.
He should've known these faeries are strong enough to pull people from other universes. If only he can ask Doctor Strange about all this. He probably has all the answers or something, if he even remembers him.
His surprise dissipates into a sheepish smile. ] - Yeah. [ No use hiding he's actually Spiderman. ] Yeah, it is.
Let me guess, [ His smile turns a bit amused now. ] There's also a Peter Parker in your universe.
no subject
We're friends, [ she offers. ] Avengers friends. The Peter I know is a little older than you.
[ No point in not saying it, now. Jess points to herself, sort of, like, indicating the whole deal: ]
They call me Spider-Woman.
[ Quickly followed by a, ]
We're not related.
no subject
[ That makes perfect sense. Everything she said made total, perfect sense. Wouldn't be unusual that she knows an older Peter since the two Peters he got to meet were also older.
And her alias. Yeah, also makes sense. ] Guess that explains the spider suit. [ Then, excitement flashes before his face. ] What's it made of? Do you also shoot webs? Were you also bitten by a spider?
[ With a sheepish smile: ] Sorry this is the first time I'm meeting a Spider-woman, even if we're not related. [ Because that'd be weird if they are. ]
no subject
I have a person that makes my suits so I don't know, exactly, but it's dry cleaning only, and I don't shoot webs, and I wasn't bitten by a spider.
[ Patiently, because, as previous: Aw, Spider-teen. This isn't Jess's first multidimensional spider-rodeo, but usually there's a little more imminent death versus party that promises looming death and/or servitude. She lifts her right arm up, and reveals the wingpits that she has: light, almost see-through fabric attached near her armpits to her back, in the shape of a gossamer web. ]
These let me glide? [ Not fly! Also, ] I can climb walls. And I can shoot bioelectricity.
[ Among other things. Briefly glancing around, Jess's eyes land on a stray, innocent apple. It's so red. Just lying there, on the table, waiting to be eaten, to trick someone else into staying. Making sure nobody else is within apple radius, Jess makes a finger-gun and pulls the trigger at it.
A green zap! of energy fires out of her fingertip. The apple neatly blows up.
Jessica mimes blowing off the smoke off her impromptu finger-gun. For style. And then maybe she peers at Peter, like, Okay, thermodynamic Spider-teen, just in case this version of you has any hidden skills, have you got any fingergun talents? ]
no subject
But it's not until she tells him about shooting bioelectricity and actually demonstrating it that Peter's expression morphs into being completely awestruck. ]
Whoa, how did you-- How did you... do that?
[ His gaze travels from the apple she just zapped (or what remains of it, really) and her blowing off her finger-gun. Wow. ]
no subject
I have some spider DNA.
[ Is what she settles on. She holsters her finger-gun, like a cowboy, very cool Jessica, very demure, and then cocks her head at Tinier Peter Parker. ]
Hey.
[ As if it's just occurring to her, and it is, you know, important: ] How long have you been a superhero?
no subject
It takes a few more beats before that question registers so he reins his surprise in and fixes himself. ]
Right, uh. [ Okay, so he was 14 when he first began doing this thing. ]
More than three years, give or take. But there was that five-year gap where I was kinda dead, so. [ Shrugs. To be fair, he really only counts the years he's technically alive. ]
no subject
And you're still doing it?
[ It's phrased as a question and not wholly meant like one. His prefrontal cortex isn't developed yet but he's (a) Spider-Man and, of all the Spider-Teens Jess knows, his story isn't so strange. ]
That sounds really stupid and really brave. [ But it's not so disapproving. Neutral, like it's a statement, not an observation or a judgement call. She holds out her fist to him. ] Spider-bump?
[ Like a fist bump. But. For cool Spider-heroes. ]
no subject
Stupid and brave is sorta my thing. [ For someone so smart, Peter knows he makes some really stupid choices from time to time. Like interrupting Strange during his spell, for one.
But it's when Jessica offers a Spider-bump that his fond smile returns. It's one thing meeting versions of yourself from other universes, but another to meet a completely different person who almost has the same powers as you.
So, he extends a fist to meet Jessica's. ] Is this something you and your Peter also do?
no subject
Sometimes.
[ Not that they are super buddy buddy but mostly, they focus on the saving the world part, and being in and out of each other's lives really invites a specific kind of loyalty. Also, he is one of the weirder people Jess knows (compliment!). And he was pretty nice to her, during that whole 'an alien took over her life and she was paranoid about living' period.
And he's good. And he makes the tough calls. And Jess thinks that all the things that went into making the Peter Parker she knows isn't something she'd wish on Spider-Teen. Least of all here. ]
We've been through— [ A pause. It is probably best not to overwhelm anyone, right now. ] —a lot of Avengers business. And Web of Life business. We have each other's backs. [ And, speaking of! ] Do you have other people you know here, Pete-o?
[ She immediately makes a face of regret. Pete-o is maybe not the nickname she wants? ]
no subject
Well, I haven't seen anyone yet, not that they'd actually know who I am.
[ Oof, that slipped, and it's clear, even if it's subtle, that he regrets it. He really doesn't want to talk about that whole Spell Thing. ]
So, uh. How's he like? The Peter you know? [ Maybe a change in topic will help divert that Very Smooth line drop. ]
no subject
Her head, of course, snaps up at the mention of not that they'd actually know who I am. She opens her mouth, eyes narrowed, but then slowly, slowwwly closes it.
It's the secret identity thing. Is it the secret identity thing? For a second, she looks at Peter with a lot of sympathy. Something heartbreakingly sincere. Like she knows that feeling, or can imagine that feeling, in a way that's a little too close to her heart. ]
I'm not telling you this to freak you out, [ Jess says, after a beat. ] But Peter helped me when I was in trouble. Life-ending, reality-bending trouble. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to come back home.
[ Also, ]
And he didn't freak out when I started using the Spider-Woman name even though I don't— [ She mimes a little web shooter motion. As in, even though I don't shoot webs. ]
no subject
So, he puts a pin on that reaction for now. Maybe she has a similar experience. It won't be too outlandish given their jobs.
His brief surprise is replaced by a fond smile the second she tells him her version of Peter has helped her a lot. ]
Glad to hear he's done that much good for you. [ He rubs the back of his neck. ] I've actually met two mes back home. There was this multiverse thing that happened, and long story short, two Peter Parkers visited my universe. It was pretty cool. I don't think any of them is your Peter, though, since none of them knows the Avengers for some reason.
[ A beat, as he grins. ] I think it's pretty awesome he didn't freak out. I mean you're as much of a spider as any of us Peters.