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

[pagekaren]

[Karen doesn't really clock Stephen's appearance in this vivid nightmare. She is, surprisingly, keeping her shit together in a way that makes it clear that this is already something that she's relived over and over and over again. Eyes red and watery, hands balled into fists, jaw tight.

That doesn't mean that the stark reminder of her careless, immature teenage bullshit isn't sucking in all of her attention. That she's not just staring fixedly at her brother, like she might be able to will him to draw another breath from a decade later and another realm.

And then the golden runes erupt all around her and she jumps with surprise.]

What the fu -

[She's whirling, reaching for a handbag that's not there, for a gun that's not there, and then she stops, staring at Stephen with all that breathless fight or flight in her eyes in a way that makes it clear she stopped choosing flight a long time ago.

But still she's listening, and she can't help but let out a disbelieving little laugh that dies off when she gets a glimpse of the look on his face. It's achingly familiar.]

I'm sorry that you had to see this.

[a_keyhole]

[ If she did draw a gun he would find that very amusing. He's cast an incredibly powerful spell around them. Stephen doesn't worry about bullets he can see coming. He'd just shrink the shield and that would be that.

Still, admirable she thinks of fighting back. Not many people would have that clarity after watching one of their most traumatic memories play out like a movie in front of them. ]

I was a surgeon. I saw a lot of terrible things.

[ Stephen should maybe share his sympathies with the woman. That he too watched his sister die and it was his fault. That would reveal too much and Stephen isn't that kind of man.

He's changed with magic but he still keeps things to himself. As much as he can. He also wears an orchid so at any moment the scene might shift. He's hoping the magical shield will be distracting enough for her not to notice. ]

You know, they brought us here for a party and then do this. I'm not sure what tone they were hoping to set with this. Mentally crushing? Clinically depressing?

[ He shrugs. ]

Either way it's a terrible party.

[pagekaren]

There's a difference between scrubbing up for surgery and accidentally stepping into someone else's nightmare.

[Her answer is quick, and she obviously means it sincerely enough that none of the tension has burned out of her yet. But her voice is still at that same speaking volume. She's someone that's used to arguing, to hammering points home, and doing it in a way that it comes through like second nature.

Even when she got - what, kidnapped? humannapped? - to some incomprehensible fae realm.

Behind her, her younger self is still screaming. It's muffled by the dome of glowing sigils that surround them, but she still remembers the way that scream felt in her throat. Remembers the way every scrape and bruise felt as she crawled her way out of the wreck.

She flexes her fingers as she listens to Stephen talk, then folds her arms as she takes a step closer.]

I don't think, um -

[There's a pause there, and she huffs out a breath of a laugh when he calls it a terrible party. One shoulder lifts in a shrug and she rolls her eyes in a way that seems to indicate yeah, you can say that again. Her lips press together, and she looks out beyond the dome for a moment before her eyes focus back on him.]

I don't think we're the point of this. It doesn't feel, uh, sadistic, you know? They're not gloating or even obviously watching inside here. It's impersonal. This is just - part of the revelry for them. We're just...set dressing.

[a_keyhole]

There really isn't. You're already stepping into a family's worst nightmare.

[ And very often Stephen pulled off miracles. People other doctors wrote off as hopeless, he saved. The power trip was... immense to say the least. So immense he started to do the same, pick and choose who to save. Until no one could save him. ]

They don't need to gloat. Look at what they can do to us.

[ He gestures beyond the shield to the tragedy of her past playing out in front of them. If she's paying attention she'll catch a slight tremor in his hand and extensive but old surgery scars.

Never mind the snow starting to creep in on the edges of the scene. Stephen suspects its only a matter of time before his own past starts to bleed into hers.

Perhaps it'll take over and she'll have to watch another tragedy unfold. And he doesn't think she'll look away. She's got a backbone and a curiosity. She'll watch. ]

In terms of showing their absolute power over us, this is a pretty good way to do it. Of course, it's also a good way to make us angry. This sense of violation.

[ He tilts his head, considering. ]

Which is interesting given before this they had mostly been... benevolent. Giving gifts, shelter, and looking after us. I had thought they wanted to win us over onto their side willingly. This is a change.

[ Stephen has seen the fae violate boundaries but only of individuals that made trouble. That picked fights. He hadn't yet seen it on mass and on public display. An interesting change. ]

Maybe related to which court is in charge? [ The last bit said out loud is more for himself than her. ]