undyingmods: (Default)
undyingmods ([personal profile] undyingmods) wrote in [community profile] undyingcourt2023-11-30 12:01 pm

Test Drive Meme - New Blood

DEC TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to the Undying Court Test Drive Meme! This post will allow players to test drive their AU characters in the setting, as well as meet fresh faces or even connect with those they have preexisting CR with. As with anything involved in the setting, this post will likely contain: violence, enthrallment, torture, and sexual content.

Regarding continuity, all TDM threads can be taken as in-game canon if desired. Please keep in mind that the game proper will begin in mid December, in the Winter Season, so Students/Novices should create their prompts under the assumption that the TDM takes place during the season prior to the one they will be apping as. This means that students planning to app as first season novices will be visiting Castle Courtsheart prior to their Beginning. In other words, if you plan to app a student as a second season, the TDM will take place during their first, and so on.

Feel free to brush up on the Premise, Vampire Powers, and head over to the FAQ/Game Info page if you have any questions!

  • Make sure you are aware of the Rules when posting your top-level. (Content warnings are always welcome!)
  • Please format your Top-level in this format: Character Name (AU Name if different) | Canon | Teacher/Student | Court
  • As a reminder, a Test Drive sample is required in order to app.
  • If you have any questions specific to the TDM, ask them in the Questions thread below!




Top-Level Directory:Chat with NPC: Revar
Ace Attorney - Apollo Justice (Student)
Alice in the Country of Hearts - Alice Liddell (Student)
Attack On Titan - Erwin Smith (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Astarion (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Halsin (Teacher)
Baldur's Gate 3 - Raphael (Teacher)
Batman - Bruce Wayne (Teacher)
Bridgerton (Netflix) - Anthony Bridgerton (Student)
Castlevania - Soma Cruz (Student)
Castlevania: Nocturne - Maria Renard (Student)
Cosmo Warrior Zero - Harlock (Student)
Critical Role - Percy DeRolo (Teacher)
Daria - Daria Morgendorffer (Teacher)
Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha XIV (Student)
Dragon Age - Fenris (Teacher)
D&D: Honor Amongst Thieves - Edgin Darvis (Teacher)
D&D: Honor Amongst Thieves - Xenk Yendar (Teacher)
Ensemble STars!! - Mayoi Ayase (Student)
Fate/Zero - Kariya Matou (Kariya Makiri) (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Hilda Goneril (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Lorenz Hellman Gloucester (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Marianne von Edmund (Student)
FE: Three Houses - Sylvain Gautier (Student)
Final Fantasy XIV - Estinien Varlineau (Teacher)
Frozen - Prince Hans (Student)
Genshin Impact - Diluc Ragnvindr (Teacher)
Genshin Impact - Tighnari (Teacher)
Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name - Conrad Achenleck (Teacher)
Hannibal (NBC) - Will Graham (Teacher)
Jujutsu Kaisen - Gojo Satoru (Teacher)
Jujutsu Kaisen - Toji Zen'in (Teacher)
Lucifer (Netflix) - Lucifer Morningstar (Teacher)
MCU - Loki Laufeyson (Teacher)
Original - Aurinn Laurentius (Student)
Original - Bellatrix Bakhar (Student)
Original - Christine Delacroix (Teacher)
Original - Hanako 'Rosalina' Nurumi (Teacher)
Original - Jisu (Eden Woods) (Student)
Original - Karma D'Auvergn (Teacher)
Our Flag Means Death - Edward Teach (Teacher)
Our Flag Means Death - Izzy Hands (Student)
Persona 3 Portable - Kotone Shiomi (Student)
Persona 5 R - Goro Akechi (Student)
Persona 5 - Haru Okumura (Student)
Persona 5 - Ren Amamiya (Student)
Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet (Student)
Return to Labrynth - Sarah Williams (Teacher)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Snow White (Student)
Stargate: Atlantis - John Sheppard (Teacher)
Star Trek: AOS - James T. Kirk (Student)
Star Wars - Darth Vader (Teacher)
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Trilla Suduri (Student)
The Adventure Zone: Balance - Kravitz (Teacher)
The Adventure Zone: Balance - Lydia (Teacher)
The Adventure Zone: Graduation - Fitzroy Maplecourt (Student)

New arrivals will be starting their first season in the winter, but they're welcomed to the castle early, under the watchful eyes of the Silver Court. Upon arrival, they will be shown to a room by a human whose eyes glow softly from within, with vacant smiles. Thralls. There, the human thralls will draw them a bath and bring them new clothes to wear to their first meeting. These are rich, expensive things made of high quality fabric. Whether it's a silk dress and a heavy velvet cowl, or a fine pants and a vest made from a brocade, the servants will provide. The new initiate's old clothes will be burned after, in a symbol of the life they are leaving behind. If they are hungry, they will be provided food. If they need anything at all, they need only ask their new servants.

Later that night they are taken to a grand hall, with high arched ceilings and candles burning in chandeliers. There are figures painted overhead, beautiful and entwined. Some have their eyes are colored to match the courts, others are gracefully placed in their death, with blood dripping from necks and wrists.

Balconies line the hall behind a forest of pillars, and vampires all watch as the group walk through (some more hungrily than others).

"Welcome to your first undying season, initiates," a pale, silver-haired vampire calls. They have silver eyes are clad in silver robes, but command the attention of everyone in attendance. They have a beauty that seems neither male nor female. They are standing at the center of a wide semi-circle of other vampires, "As the Silver Court's acting voice at this end of the Autumn season, allow me to introduce you to the Houses that will be your new homes."

The vampire, Revar, gives the newcomers an overview of all of the courts—Blue, Red, Gold, Silver, and Black—and then invites those already claimed by their Courts to join the vampires who will be their Makers.

Revar offers the Foundlings who are left a gentle, knowing smile, and then allows them to be chosen. They are like the last sheep left at the auction, and the vampires who take them may not be the enthused about it. Nevertheless, Revar waits patiently until all have found a maker.

Now that they are paired up it is expected—indeed, required—that the initiate drink from their maker. That is their Beginning. Only once they have truly begun can they can be considered novices.
AUTUMN NOX
Silver Court is in season and for the Autumn Nox it holds a large symposium, inviting all the best vampire minds from around lands nearby and far. The whole castle is abuzz with new activity. The stables are packed full of horses, carriages litter the grounds, but somehow the castle has enough rooms to house all the new arrivals.

Novices will find that some of these vampires have not seen a human-novice in a very, very long time. These vampires might see the human-novices more like specimens, curious about their every move. They won't bite, but novices may find themselves observed as they wander the castle and its grounds.

The symposium itself is open to anyone at the castle. Scholars can present on any topic at all. Novices will find that these range from the incredibly mundane (you've always wanted to attend a history of bottom-feeding river fish, haven't you?) to the truly fascinating (new insights into how vampire hearts work) to the downright strange (the symposium has a range of lectures very close to dawn about the sharing of vampire...fluids). Seasoned novices with their own Autumn classes to attend are expected to keep up with their studies, but some teachers may let them out of a session to attend the lectures and workshops of the symposium.

The Silver Court vampires are incredibly busy between running the symposium and trying to help the new novices get settled in. They may need some volunteers to lend a hand with setting up rooms or helping scholars find their way around. In fact, volunteers might find themselves leading scholars down to the second kitchen for a bite to eat, a strong reminder that even these demure learners are still monsters who must drink blood.

PUMPKINS-GONE-WILD
The symposium isn't all that the autumn season brings. The Silver Court’s talents are on display in other ways—sometimes not in ways another had particularly hoped. An overly zealous youngblood in the Silver Court tried to grow a few extra pumpkins for the occasion and ended up with a few too many! The pumpkin vines break out of the green house and start sprouting pumpkins everywhere. These are no ordinary pumpkins, they will sprout and grow and become fully formed in the course of a night. Better keep an eye out for those vines or else your room might become full of pumpkins! Luckily, the pumpkins aren’t rotting any time soon (they’ll last until winter, or so the Silver Court vampires are saying), but it can be pretty inconvenient for them to grow everywhere. Start cutting those vines to pieces, and hope they don’t try to entangle you in the process.
LIBRARY CLEAN-UP
Meanwhile, with all the scholars in town are making a mess of the library, much to the Silver Court vampire’s dismay. Books are being checked out and not checked back in, passed around from scholar to scholar. You might find those lost books just about anywhere. Who was reading in a tree? Anyone who collects the books and returns them to the library is sure to get a little bit of favor with the librarians, and it’s never a bad thing to have a bit of an in with a Court. If you’re worried about failing Silver Court, it’s time to get searching! Although how you’re going to convince a 300 year old vampire that time is not fake and that deadlines are real (and in fact were two days ago) is anyone’s guess.
UNETHICAL EXPRIMENTS
[CW: Torture, experiments]

Those who venture towards the basement might hear something a little different than normal. The thralls who spend their time down there are normally quiet, commanded to keep silent and pleasant for the vampires they serve. But with the arrival of the new scholars comes disquieting, inhuman screams from the darker reaches of the basement. Novices trying to catch a glimpse will be chased away, but teachers might be invited to watch as these vampires experiment on one another, all in the name of science. What’s a little torture, when you’re undying?

Thanks for joining us for our first TDM! For any questions regarding the TDM prompts, please comment in the thread below. For general game questions, please check the FAQ/Game Info. Remember that the game proper will begin mid December, in the Winter Season, so Students/Novices should create their prompts under the assumption that the TDM takes place during the season prior to the one they will be apping as.

veardant: (009)

[personal profile] veardant 2023-12-15 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Professor Avidya or Professor Tighnari will do just fine.

[ he thinks perhaps to offer his first name, but their relationship isn't quite there yet - perhaps in his second or third season, when mayoi is closer to becoming a vampire, they will be on friendly enough terms for such intimacy as a first name basis, but for now? a respectful distance.

despite what they're about to engage in. ]


Are you aware of what's to come? That I will drink your blood, and you shall drink mine? It's how our blood claim will begin.
timidheart: _7_HR@twitter (38)

[personal profile] timidheart 2023-12-16 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
[That’s easy to remember at least. He did not want to immediately do something rude like refer to him in the wrong manner. While his exposure to vampires has been …decent enough, he does not know much about the intricacies of vampire relationships. He’s only picked up when he’s managed to read very recently.]

Professor Avidya.

[He stands, because he will not dare to sit or come close to Tighnari’s furniture without permission, and holds himself very tightly, as if to take up as little space as possible. He takes a deep breath, to try and express some of his lingering nerves. Now is not the time be faint of heart.]

I-I am. I have read up on the procedure, though I have never seen it in person. I… this is not the first time a vampire has fed on me, either. S-So, I can assume whatever position is most preferable to you.
veardant: (002)

[personal profile] veardant 2023-12-19 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ tighnari would invite him to sit, but in all honesty this is better done standing, he thinks. he won't be taking enough blood to make mayoi feel faint, it'll be a little more comfortable this way - they can always sit after, if he likes. ]

All right. Well, there's no reason not to get on with it, then, but first -

[ he steps in nearer, and looks straight into his would-be novice's eyes. ]

You're sure about this? If you'd rather look for another Maker, and shop around a little, I won't be offended. I need to know you're sure.
timidheart: (05)

[personal profile] timidheart 2023-12-19 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, the eye contact startles him a little, and his eyes widen for a moment.]

[To his credit, he does give a thoughtful silence before he answers. He gently shakes his head.]


I’m sure… I have been lead to believe all my life that a vampire would never regard me as anything more than dirt under one’s shoe, but your kindness has shattered that entirely. I don’t believe anyone would have batted an eye if I had simply suffocated in that ballroom earlier, and yet…

[He has a smile, something apologetic almost.]

It is I, who should be asking if you’re sure, as I am surely clinging to you in selfishness, like a cursed shadow. I feel unworthy to have gotten your attention at all.
veardant: (086)

[personal profile] veardant 2023-12-20 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
We're going to have to work on your self-confidence, hmm?

[ tighnari shakes his head, and breathes a soft chuckle, but he soon nods. mayoi's estimation isn't.. entirely wrong, really; many vampires look down upon humans as simple livestock, despite the fact that they themselves were once human as well. tighnari is a bit of a strange one, really, still clinging on to his respect for life. ]

But all right, let's get started, then.

[ he's a bit shorter than mayoi, but not so short that he needs to stand on his tip-toes, at least. lifting his left hand, he sets it gently onto mayoi's neck, before coming in from the right.

his bite is gentle, but firm, sharp fangs piercing delicate flesh as he begins to drink. ]
timidheart: _7_HR@twitter (53)

[personal profile] timidheart 2023-12-23 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[It’s so strange to have his confidence commented on like this. Sure, he’s been called a coward and such. Being weak-willed is just what’s expected of his clan, never having the right to refute the things they’ve been told are simply facts. Mayoi has never been allowed confidence because he has been lead to believe it’s something he was always unworthy of by birth.]

[But this was his Beginning, right…? He has left his clan, possibly forever. So does that mean…?]


…!

[He sucks in a soft breath as Tighnari comes in close, finding even his way of drinking from him to be far more gentle than those that acted as wardens for his clan. He finds himself finally finding some measure of peace. An acceptance for what’s to come, and that unrelenting pounding in his chest finally evens out.]
veardant: (103)

[personal profile] veardant 2023-12-24 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ many vampires are messy eaters, or voracious eaters, but tighnari is careful and measured as he drinks, warm blood spilling against his tongue like sweet nectar, while he cradles mayoi's jaw against his palm. he doesn't take too much, only enough to sate himself, enough to begin the blood bond before he's drawing away, his tongue swiping over the wound left behind to heal it nicely. no scar. tighnari is a practiced healer.

standing straight again, he licks the blood from his lips, then begins to unbutton the cuff around his wrist, his cheeks flushed now, fresh from his feed. ]


Now.. your turn.

[ he says softly, lifting his wrist to his mouth to slice it open with the end of one sharp fang, until his own silvery blood begins to run down his palm. ]

Whenever you're ready.
timidheart: _7_HR@twitter (92)

[personal profile] timidheart 2023-12-25 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
[He hardly realizes he’s done, with how careful Tighnari is. It takes him a moment, not because he’s lightheaded from blood loss or anything, but because the experience had been so pleasant he is still reeling a little.]

[He watches with some measure of awe as that silvery blood delicately drips down his palm, and he feels, with some urgency, that he cannot let it fall to waste. He reaches out, taking his hand, and very softly brings it to his mouth.]

[His brain only catches up with him a moment later, realizing with some amount of horror that he’s acted on impulse. Tighnari’s blood has spilled into his mouth, and now he has to commit. It’s done. He’s Begun. The life he used to know is truly behind him, and what’s before him now is, while shrouded in uncertainty, feels far less precarious than it did moments before.]

[The first show of any kind of confidence from Mayoi, is in the steady way he drinks, until he is told to stop.]
veardant: (074)

[personal profile] veardant 2023-12-25 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ tighnari isn't sure what to expect from mayoi. he's been a bit skittish so far, so he wouldn't be surprised if he were hesitant to drink tighnari's blood, but it would seem he is pleasantly mistaken. there's a sound confidence in the way mayoi drinks from him that tighnari likes to see. perhaps he will be a little better off than tighnari thought he might be.

with a soft hum, he closes his eyes; this feeling is always very pleasant, and it's been quite some time since tighnari was last fed from. he allows himself to bask in it for a little while, but soon enough he speaks again, his voice soft. ]


All right. That should be more than enough.

[ he says, gently withdrawing his hand so he can drag a thumb over the cut. it closes immediately, without the need for his saliva; tighnari knows what he's doing when it comes to healing, and a small cut like this is simple to mend. ]

Come sit down, you might feel a little lightheaded.

[ he gestures to the squashy sofa in front of the fire. ]
timidheart: _7_HR@twitter (53)

[personal profile] timidheart 2024-01-05 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Lightheaded is certainly a word. When Mayoi comes back up for air, pulling away at Tighnari's gentle insistence, there's a rush in his ears and the feeling of all that silvery blood making a home under his skin. It settles in much the same way the finality of all this does. He feels different, but not in a drastic way. It's subtle, and he notices it every time he turns his head or moves his fingers.]

[He breathes in sharp, but nods his head. Taking the seat with Tighnari's permission. He just kind of stares, blinking, at everything almost like he's seeing the room again for the first time.]


...The taste was unexpected.
veardant: (073)

[personal profile] veardant 2024-01-06 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ ah, tighnari knows that distant look. he remembers it for himself, how different he felt after his first mouthful of silver blood, how changed he felt.. it was a small change, but deep, something memorable. that day he lost something he could never get back, and gained something he never otherwise could have had.

with his hand at mayoi's back, he guides his new novice to the sofa and sits beside him. ]


Mm, well, you'll get used to the flavor, in time. How do you feel?
timidheart: _7_HR@twitter (39)

[personal profile] timidheart 2024-01-06 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
I ...did not mind it as much as I thought I would.

[But he will sit politely and continue taking in the room. He then turns his attention to Tighnari, and ...really sees him this time, too. Not just in the context of this man was a vampire who had taken pity on him, but Tighnari was his Maker, and that meant they were bonded now.

His heart is a little giddy at that thought, but it is full of worry, too. He hopes ...that Tighnari will not regret helping him like this. He ...hopes that he can prove worthy of at least this much.]


I... I don't know. It's hard to describe. The room feels a little brighter now. A-And...

[It takes him a moment to realize what it is that's suddenly felt different, but it finally hits him, and his eyes widen a little.]

...I have always been sickly and frail. I ...feel a little sturdier than before.
veardant: credit: <user name=veardant> (169)

[personal profile] veardant 2024-01-07 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ tighnari leans comfortably back into the cushions, one leg crossed over the other, watching mayoi's face curiously as the young man's eyes move over him as if seeing him for the first time. tighnari smiles. ]

Mm. I understand.

[ becoming a vampire is.. difficult, in many ways. you lose a bit of the person that you once were, you lose the beautiful sunlight, and your humanity, but there are gains as well. the world becomes clearer, brighter, every detail sharply outlined, and the bonds you develop.. are powerful, deep, and intense.

tighnari nods. ]


You are sturdier than before. That strength will only grow with the more blood that you drink.
timidheart: _7_HR@twitter (34)

[personal profile] timidheart 2024-01-07 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[Something about those words strike him a certain way. Perhaps because being "Weak" had always been synonymous with his existence, both for his struggles with illness and because of his clan's own status. The idea of being strong in any sense of the word is something he has been struggling with this whole time. To be a vampire is to be strong, that is easy to understand and it's something he's always known. But to place himself in that equation...]

Can a creature like me really become strong...? I never would have thought it could be possible.

[A quiet pause.]

Every part of me has always been weak, that I feared even the blood itself would reject me upon entering. It's hard for me to grasp that I could be something more than I always believed.
veardant: (089)

[personal profile] veardant 2024-01-09 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
Of course you can.

[ tighnari is sure to keep his voice kind, but firm, to instill what confidence he can in mayoi. he deserves to hear it, he needs to hear it. tighnari can't help him to change overnight, but he can start small, with little encouragements here and there. ]

Perhaps it's time to start believing in yourself a little bit more, hmm?

[ tighnari smiles, one ear idly flicking. ]

You aren't weak. You've made it this far, and that's something to be proud of.