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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
Rogue. The name sounds familiar. She cannot remember where she heard it, if it was Logan or John or maybe it was printed in her comic books. Maybe she's misremembering, but it feels familiar to her.
"Laura," she says of herself, after hesitating for only a second or two. "It's okay. This place is not nice. It tricks you sometimes."
no subject
Living at the Institute had given her a sort of fierce sense of protectiveness over the younger students there, knowing how scary it is to be a mutant at all, never mind a mutant child who'd gotten shipped off to a boarding school. And though she doesn't have any reason to think Laura's a mutant, she's still a kid in a strange place with all sorts of strange things happening, and that's close enough to not make a lick of difference to Rogue.
"Seems like it. It hasn't played any tricks on you, has it?" Though, even as she says it, she has sense enough to realize that if Laura's here, she's probably subject to all the same weird stuff the rest of them are.
no subject
"The first party, there was candy that made you tell the truth," she explains unhappily. For a girl who is very selective about when she talks and what she says, it had been a deeply frustrating experience. But it doesn't hold a candle to what's been happening today. "I saw other flower memories, too. It took one of mine."
She's fortunate that it had been Erik who saw the memory of Logan's death, Erik who knew Logan and who cared enough to console her. A stranger might have wound up on the wrong side of a set of claws, without the ability to stop them. She'd have regretted it afterward.
no subject
"I'm sorry," she says softly, about both those things. As someone who keeps a lot about herself close to her chest -- hell, she rarely shares her birth name with people-- she can empathize with how awful it would feel to be forced to tell the truth about things she's not comfortable sharing. And the memories... well.
"Do you need to talk about it? The memory you saw?" She's also not one to pry, mostly because she tends to shut down when people push too hard with her. But she doesn't know that Laura had had someone (never mind Erik of all people) to help her process whatever she'd seen.
no subject
In the meantime, Rogue's question seems to puzzle her. Does she ask because she's curious, or to make them even? Does she owe this, because she saw one of Rogue's memories? Or is this something that's supposed to help make her feel better? She can't tell the motive right away, can't tell if this is a trick in and of itself, but-
Maybe it's fair to make them even. She doesn't have to tell everything. Maybe telling will help Rogue to know she understands how it feels to lose someone, even if she still doesn't understand the context behind the loss.
"My father died," she says simply, quietly. As though this vague and empty statement in any way encompasses the size of it all. "It was like your memory. Not very nice."
no subject
Nothing about her question had been about making them equal; she'd simply been concerned. And if Laura had chosen not to share anything at all, if she'd, instead, told her to get lost, that it was her memory and they barely know each other, that would have been fine. But she says that and Rogue forgets momentarily about her own pain over seeing what she had. Focuses instead on how awful it must have been for this girl to not only go through that once, but to have to see it again.
And, beyond that, is furious that this place would make Laura relive it.
"No, that isn't a very nice memory. At all. And it's not very nice of them to make you go through it again." Which is the understatement of the year. But she's afraid that if she says what she's really feeling that it might scare her. Not realizing that Laura's seen a lot worse than Rogue wanting to smack a few fae silly.
no subject
Her expression doesn't change very much at the comment, but there's a gentle rise and fall of her shoulders — a tiny, barely perceptible shrug. No, it wasn't very nice of them, not at all, but this is the way things are here. She doesn't like it, but there is nothing she can do about it. Not yet. Later, she will give the gun in her backpack to a man here who seemed like he was a better shot from a further range than her, and she'll be watching for the opportunity to join him whenever that shot rings out, but... aside from that, not much.
For now, there is only her, and the new woman.
After a hesitant beat, she says, "I like your hair."
It's pretty, and different.
no subject
There's a story about it, and it's not a good one, but she's not going to say that. And, anyway, it's sort of grown on her too.
"Yeah? Thank you. But you should see what it looks like when I pull it straight back." She wrinkles her nose a little, but it's an amused, teasing gesture. "I look a little bit like a skunk."
no subject