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pixieledmemes2025-03-15 08:32 am
Test Drive Meme #2
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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's a garden party at the crack of dawn, with the sun still in its early stages of climbing through the yonder, casting a good mix of pastel hues of blue, pink, and beige on everything. Heralding the first day of spring, the Ruler of the Spring Court has found it fitting to arrange this gathering where guests can feel the blades of grass touching their ankles, as well as the rich soil beneath their feet. Flowers of all kinds surround the party as if they were carefully curated. With spring as the "dawn of seasons," which marks a transition from winter's latency to the resurgence of life everywhere, the Ruler of the Dawn Court has also seen it fit to host aspects of this party during the one time of the year that dawn occurs the whole day. Tall candles and torches grace the outskirts of the garden party, providing warmth and an orange glow everywhere. Not one flame goes out even with the occasional wind, the Duchess always makes sure of this.
There are also freshly picked blossoms and branches with leaves on every table accenting the festive spread of food and drinks. This time, a lot of the food prepared for the Adopted guests are familiar to them with a little bit of a twist. Burgers might come in small packages and in toothpicks, while hotdogs in buns are also diminutive. Cookies look delectable but they have a flowery flavor to them, as if eating freshly picked daisies or daffodils. Fruits that may have been present in an Adopted's home, such as pineapples and watermelons, have seeds in odd places. Picking this selection of food is an attempt to be more welcoming and to appease the lovely guests the fae have invited.
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.
A party is not complete without dancing, of course, and while during the last gathering held for the Adopted, different fae danced to music exclusively for them around a glowing tree, this time they are insisting their guests to join in.
This is a party for you, after all.
If the prodding of the different fae hosts won't convince you, perhaps the music will. They play easily recognizable tunes that their wonderful guests must have heard before. These melodies have certain unique effects to their mortal attendees, which are as follows:
- Upbeat Music: You will believe that you and your dance partner have been friends forever and have known each other a long time.
- Romantic Music: You will become amorous and flirtatious towards your dance partner.
- Slow Music: You will develop some tension with your dance partner. It may be negative or sexual; completely up to you.
- Quiet Music: You will assume your dance partner is a threat and try to fight them.
At the Spring King's behest, every Adopted should wear a flower corsage or boutonnière to the gathering. After all, this is to celebrate the coming of spring and what better way to do that than to honor everything in bloom.
The thing is, though, the King of Spring, while amorous and friendly, also has a penchant for playing with mortals' memories, if not also affect their desires and despairs.
So, mischievous as he is, he made sure to enchant the different flowers present in every corsage and boutonnière for the party with the effects below:
- Rose: You will recall a horrific trauma
- Carnation: You will see a vision of your future, whether it's good or bad
- Orchid: You will remember a time you lost someone
- Chrysanthemum: You will believe someone among the Adopted is your soulmate
- Dahlia: You will believe you betrayed someone important to you, whether you actually did or not
It is perhaps a good thing that no one but the Adopted are allowed to see these visions and memories, but everyone who wears a corsage or boutonnière will be able to see each other's memories and visions when in close enough physical proximity to the vision-haver, for better or for worse.
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 gave someone a gift. Perhaps a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates. Was it appreciated or not? A reward might await the most meaningful gift given.
no subject
And then there are strong hands on his shoulders to still him, and his own name from someone that doesn't immediately register as friend. Not as foe, either. Neutral. Neutral-but-familiar.
God, wouldn't he like to breathe. He sucks in a breath like it's an order, but it's all kinds of shaky. Disoriented. And if Nat were here, if she were here she could steady his soul and put her hands on his face and focus him, but she's gone and. And. He has to breathe. Keep breathing for her sake.]
'm okay. [He is very obviously and distinctly not okay. Maybe what he means is he's going to be okay as soon as the suckerpunch from the unbidden memory eases back and the feelings slide back under the floorboards.]
no subject
[But her tone is soft and non-judgmental. She knows what it's like, this punch to the gut, how hard it is to have to live with it. It never really gets easier, no matter how much you tell yourself otherwise.]
What would Nat tell you to do if she were here?
no subject
She'd also tell him, the same as this woman, to breathe, so damn it, that's what he's going to do. His hands are clammy as he clenches them tight and lets go again, repeats the motion a few times as he tries to stuff it all haphazardly into boxes, just get it out of sight and out of immediate mind. Breathing exercises. Like he's going to line up a shot. Focuses on a spot--not on her face, it's distracting, it seems distracting somehow, but a gentle curl of her hair. Thank god it's not red.
It's grounding. Something to focus on. A firm but understanding touch. Breathing the way he knows like it's second nature. Gentle voice. Let it ease back down, out, away. Dissipate back into memory. Focus. Refocus. Center.
There are days he wishes like hell that Coulson were still here. Nobody could get him calmed and centered quite like he could.
He's not a hundred percent by the time he speaks up, but he sounds a lot less slurred, looks a lot less like a rabbit in a pack of wolves.] Do I know you, ma'am? [Because she seems awfully familiar in a way that conjures up a name terribly relevant to SHIELD but, also, that seems crazy? Because that would be crazy, right?]
no subject
Not exactly. The easiest way to explain it is that I'm my world's Captain America - with slightly less emphasis on the America, obviously - so I know another version of you from the Avengers.
[And her world's version of Natasha, too.]
-I'm Peggy.
no subject
And be. Alarmed about it.]
Carter? [Which is about what he was thinking, because of course any seasoned SHIELD agent knows about Peggy Carter. And anyone who knows anything about Steve Rogers. She's just very...she's very square. And big. She's a lot bigger. If she's Captain America. Captain England? Then that explains and confounds a lot of things.]
Then what the hell is Steve, ma'am?
no subject
[The multiverse can be a lot to wrap your mind around at first, she knows. So she's sticking with the simple explanation - not that she's told anyone here the full story yet.]
Steve was wounded when a saboteur hit Project Rebirth, and I was the only one ready and willing to step in to keep everything from being lost.
[Simple enough, right?]
no subject
no subject
[After that? Well, it's complicated.]