Test Drive Meme #2

[changelinged]

TDM #2 - March/April 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 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.

🦋 Chance at a Dance

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.

🦋 Flower Power

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.

🦋 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.

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.

🦋 Link to Overflow Post



ｎａｖｉｇａｔｉｏｎ

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Comments

[sod_off]

"You get killed. And eaten. Maybe not in that order." Spike saw that look, both the fear and the resentment.

[toothaches]

So that's how it's gonna be. Well, at least he didn't come to chained up in a spooky basement this time. The party is a nice change of pace.

He thinks about it a little longer before nodding to himself. Then, in a movement as sudden as a sneeze, he crouches down and reforms himself into a large, shaggy dog.

"Do you think this will help?" The dog says in Maurice's voice.

ngl, I love the dog form. I want to cuddle it.

[sod_off]

Spike blinked, confused now. "Dunno. Depends on how useful they think you are, probably." Tilting his head as he studied the dog. "What are you?"

[toothaches]

"I can do minor automotive repairs and program a VCR to stop blinking the time." Maurice says this with stone cold seriousness. The question gets him to perk his ears up.

"I'm a vampire like you."

[sod_off]

"Huh. Most where I'm from can't do the whole shapeshifting bit." Spike was definitely amused though, and let out a laugh a moment later. "Not sure that's what they'll need. Couldn't tell you what they need honestly, bloody fae are tricky like that."

[toothaches]

Maurice lets out an anguished groan. This SUUUUCKS! Well, at least being in his dog shape made him feel a little better. Nobody paid attention to a stray dog.

"Terri can't either," Maurice supplies. Oh no...Terri! He misses Terri! And Meranda! And his MOM oh god oh FUCK his MOM! The last thing he ever said to her was--

Maurice throws his head back and lets out a mournful awoo.

[sod_off]

Spike does not bat an eye at this. Well no, he looks a little nonplussed. But not that surprised honestly.

"How old are you, kid?"

[toothaches]

When Maurice is done baying his mournful song, he drops his head and frowns at Spike's shoes. There has to be a way out of this place. There has to be.

"Twenty--" Mumble mumble. He's not being cagey with his age, he's just distraught. Suddenly tagging along with a bunch of small town vampires was way more appealing than this. Also, a bump is starting to form on his lip from where Spike socked him.

[sod_off]

"Uh huh. How long you been a vampire?" Spike was definitely feeling a smidge of pity for the other. He'd have been dead in seconds in Spike's world. If the Slayer didn't get him, the other vampires would've.

Then again, Buffy might take pity on him.

[toothaches]

"Uhm...since...June? July? This summer." It's all running together. The sudden news, the alcohol, it all swirls in his head. He wishes he hadn't drank so much. His blood to alcohol level is roughly 30/70 in alcohol's favor. Lucky he's dead.

"How, uh...you?" Maurice chances to peek back up at Spike through the furry mop on his head. The rest of his Murder were all different ages, but all of them more experienced than him.

[sod_off]

"Bloody hell, you..." Spike exclaims, head turning to the side in exasperation, before he looks back at Maurice. "Please tell me you had someone give you the basics for...whatever the rules are where you're from. How this all works."

One hand reached up and raked through bleach blonde hair.

"Older 'n you, that's for sure. By a good margin." A pause, and a look. "And you can quit being a dog now. 'S weird. You look pathetic."

[toothaches]

Being called pathetic finally gets Maurice's hackles up enough that he stops moping. He steps back and rears up onto his hind legs before the same process as before happens in reverse. However, once he's man-shaped again, his hands remain paws. He stares down at them in frustration and shakes them like someone trying to get the feeling back into a sleeping limb.

"Ugh...yeah, they did." With varying degrees of success. "I'm not great at flying. That's why Horas taught me the dog shape." Stupid paws! Slowly, slowly, his doggy fingers begin to lengthen and become less furry.

[sod_off]

That whole 'not turning back fully' is NOT helping him look not pathetic. Spike is very unimpressed. "Okay...so." Back to business, and don't say Spike never does anything helpful. "So, if they adopt you, you'll be put into one of their courts. There are four Seelie, and four Unseelie. Don't worry too much about what that means yet. They also do make sure we're fed. You can probably hunt if you want, but they've got blood in jars in the kitchen."

[toothaches]

Maurice nods, mostly comprehending. That matches up with what he knows from Shakespeare. He doesn't care if they call themselves the Greenbay Packers if they're going to feed him.

"I'd rather not hunt if they're just gonna give it to us." He rubs his normal hands together and finally shoves them in his pockets. "I don't wanna give anybody a reason to hunt me."

[sod_off]

A blink. "Hang on. You been hunted?" Spike tilts his head and studies the other. Studying him again. Then muttering "still probably not the same world." under his breath.

"Can't say someone won't even if you don't give 'em a reason. But so far no one's been calling for our heads and brandishing the sharpened sticks and torches." Because that was more important, wasn't it?

[toothaches]

"Yeah it was, like, a WHOLE thing," Maurice grumbles.

He rubs his chest subconsciously. The scars under his shirt are still fresh.

"I dunno what he's gonna do now..." Maurice frowns, but for once he's not feeling sorry for himself. He has no way to know if the Throat-Eater getting caught will be enough to get Jhonez off their backs.

"I'm not a huge fan of the sharpened sticks."

[sod_off]

"Worry about what you're gonna do now." Why did Spike have to be the one making sense. Sheesh, this kid would be lucky to be adopted and not eaten.

[toothaches]

Spike is right.

Maurice has to figure out how to make himself as appealing to the fairies as he can. While they might not have any Fords they need fixed, surely they can use some help with heavy lifting. He doesn't imagine fairies like hard work very much.

"Mmmn," he grunts thoughtfully. He then fixes Spike with a curious look. "How long have they had you? What do you do for them?"

[sod_off]

"Mmm. Bout a month maybe? Give or take." Spike said, not sure how long really. Time was weird that way. Maybe he should see if he could get a clock or a calendar. Then again, did it really matter?

"So far? Nothing. Just live here. Haven't told me what they find useful in me or not." A shrug. "Got adopted by the Spring Court. Surprised as hell by that, I was."

[toothaches]

Maurice very briefly imagines Spike all dressed up in his pastel Sunday best for spring. Despite it all, his mouth contorts and he barely contains a snort.

"Snk--uh, yeah...where d'they have you stay?"

[sod_off]

Spike glares at him. "You know I could just hit you again." It's a warning, as he definitely sounds peeved.

"To answer you, there are dorms. They're separated out by Seelie and Unseelie, and then into one of the 4 courts from there. You'll probably get a room mate whether you like it or not." Spike still hadn't quite forgiven Thomas Sharpe for taking over the whole room at first.

[toothaches]

Maurice shuts up real fast and lifts his claws in a no-weapons gesture.

"So, like college...I can live with that. Beats getting eaten...this won't be the first time someone's tried to eat me."

At least he won't have to see that stupid cat again if this is forever. Forever! Oh, he's feeling dizzy again. He quickly shakes himself to chase away the dread. He's gotta focus on the important stuff Spike is telling him. It just might keep him alive. Alive-ish.

"Fingers crossed, I guess?"

[sod_off]

Spike snorted, and fished out his lighter. He wanted to smoke, but he hadn't yet found a good replacement for his cigarettes. Flicking his lighter off and on would have to do.

"There are a few other vampires. Maybe that'll be what gets you an in." Muttered, before Spike said sod it, and fished out a cigarette. Stick between his lips, it was lit and the lighter put back in his pocket.

[toothaches]

Out of one Murder and into another, that was what his future was looking like. He's not looking forward to his place at the bottom of another pecking order, but it is what it is.

He kind of wishes he had a vice to fidget with in that moment, but he's drank all the Everclear. He's not hungry for table food. He takes to scuffing a boot in the grass.

"Do ya'll, uh, make more vampires? I'm branded. I'm not supposed to."

[sod_off]

"Probably could." Spike said around his cig. Pausing, taking a puff and then blowing it out. "Haven't found anyone here I'd want to sire though." Not that it would stop him either, but he didn't think the Fae would like that if he did.