pixieledmemes | Test Drive Meme #2

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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hank follows, looking over the wine selection before picking up a glass of something that's red and sparkling. He's not much of a wine drinker, but this looks interesting. He raises it in a toast to John. ]

Here's to new friends.

New friends.

[ He echoes the toast and clinks his glass against Hank's. ]

So, mid-century, huh? Did you ever meet anyone famous?

[ They clink glasses and Hank takes a sip, smiling shyly and ducking his head. ]

No, I don't think so? Have you?

[ As exciting and remarkable as Hank's life has been, he doesn't really think of himself as anyone of note. ]

Oh, lots. But that would take some explaining, I think.

[ He pauses, considering, then ducks his head closer as if about to tell a secret. ]

Tell me: do you believe in the afterlife?

[ He knows this is the second time he's mentioned this, but now he needs to actually give details about it. ]

Edited (reviewed the thread whoops) 2025-03-24 09:56 (UTC)

Um. I don't really think I've ever given it much thought. I guess... For the sake of argument, let's say that I do?

[ He didn't believe in fairy tales until this morning, but it seems like anything's possible now. ]

[ He taps his palm on the table. ]

Oh, well; that's where I came from. There's a system where you relive your life and each time you grow from the decisions you make the time you tried before. Eventually you get sent to the Good Place to spend eternity. Well, we do call it eternity, but there's a door you can grow through when you're finished enjoying the Good Place. I know a few people who've used it.

[ Hank listens, sipping his wine. He's not sure if it's something in the alcohol, or the spell that the music cast on him, or just the fact that everything that's happened to him so far today has stretched his disbelief to the breaking point, but he's buying into everything John is saying so far. ]

That's fascinating. What's the point of such a system? It's like... a reformation program, so that everyone can earn their way into this... Good Place?

[ He nods. ]

Yes. They let me have my memories back of what happened when they were still working out the system—I was part of an experiment the first time I went to the afterlife. Before they switched to the new system there was a Good Place and a Bad Place. But life had become so complicated hardly anyone ever got into the Good Place by the time I lived the first time. You would do something simple like buy flowers for your mother for a gift, but instead of gaining point for being kind, you'd lose points for all the immoral choices that you were making because of the industry that grew the flowers. That kind of thing. When I went to where they were running the experiment they were trying to prove humans could improve if they learned from their experiences and the ethics behind them.