TDM: April

[moustre]

Test Drive: April

Welcome to aefenglom's test drive! All threads can be considered game canon, should you choose to do so; regardless of if you pick specific threads to remain canon to the game, the prompts and test drive itself will be. This will be touched on later in-game, so it's fairly important to note! Aside from that, here are some quick reminders:



• Reserves Open Today! If you're interested in securing a spot, put one in! We accept applications without reserves too, of course. Reserves will expire three days before the end of the application period, on the 28th.
• Applications Open The 24th! These will last until the end of the month, the 30th, with the game formally beginning on May 1st. The application page can be found here.
• If you have any questions about the game or the world, please refer to the FAQ page; if you still have questions, feel free to ask them! For questions specific to the test drive, please ask them on the appropriate thread.
• For the purposes of the test drive, your character will have access to all magics taught by the Coven if they're a Witch, and as much of their shifted form as you'd like if they're a Monster. Feel free to play around and experiment with each!
• Test drive threads can be used as samples for your applications!



With that taken care of...

You feel like you're floating. Around you, colors and sounds and smells swirl as if trapped in a whirlpool, vibrancy and hue ever shifting. The more you watch them, the less solid they are; they only become clear out of the corner of your eye. The area around you begins to feel more solid as well, until your feet are on the ground, the wind brushes playfully against your face -

and you know one thing, and one thing alone: this is a dream, and an incredibly realistic one at that.

The Tea Party

The air turns a sweeter smell, almost like a bakery; the gentle laughter and chatter of living creatures filters in through leaves that brush against you, hanging from winding vines that hang from above. Flowers in shades of orange and red glow faintly among the greenery, their petals curling in shyly once they're paid attention to. As the area comes more into focus, the shadows of insect-winged forms become clearer, flitting about - talking about some kind of party, about a Queen, about the Courts meeting on neutral ground for the first time in a thousand years.

You're not entirely sure what's going on, and it doesn't seem as if anyone's noticed you've arrived - but three different paths unfurl in your mind's eye, vague in shape and meaning.

A Taste of Faeryland... Following the voices, you find them: smaller-than-average humanoids with thin limbs, a variety of wings (prismatic butterfly, fuzzy moth, delicate bee - all of it), large, glittering compound eyes, antennas fitting their winged insect-type... Those familiar with the tales of the fae might recognize these Monsters as something similar. They greet you as if you were an old friend regardless of your appearance, inviting you to sit down at the table - which seems to go on forever in the large dining hall-esque canopy of nature they have set up, lined with elegant porcelain tableware and shimmering orbs of magic. The food is similarly endless, ranging from the familiar to the unusual, and careful observation (or just plain digging in) shows the following effects: breakfast foods make you glow and emit colorful sparks, brunch foods get you floating as if filled with bubbles, lunch foods will make you feel as if you've taken part in happy hour, dinner foods will make you insatiably hungry, and dessert will make you feel as if you should simply stay in Faeryland forever... It's possible to mix and match these with effects, but do be careful. The creatures present speak in high, lilting voices about nothing in particular at all - if asked anything serious, they merely give the character a curious if disproving look and say it's impolite to speak of politics over a meal. Ask something a little more lighthearted though, and they laugh and still... don't quite answer, patting your hand and asking if you'd like an extra slice of buttered bread and jam. The tables aren't exactly the best place for eavesdropping and learning what's going on, it seems - but there are plenty of exits out of the dining hall. Large, beetle-like Fae stand guard at the entrances of various hallways outside of the hall in the castle though, preventing anyone from entering them. When asked, they simply reply these are to private quarters that ordinary guests aren't allowed into and refuse to budge on the matter.

A Coalition of Interests... The Seelie and the Unseelie Courts of the Fae - whether you know them or not, evidently it's a big deal that they're meeting tonight. Or over several days and nights; the Fae themselves seem to be in a bit of an argument over how long they actually want to stay in the same company as their counterparts, neutral ground of the Dewaint Forest. Regardless, there are no marked differences between the two physically, and they all speak of a singular Queen heading them; behaviorally, though, that's another thing entirely. Those of the Seelie Court are quicker to engage in conversation and prefer it one-on-one, hardly allowing a word in edgewise and getting irritated when interrupted; their pranks are usually mildly malicious, with spells causing uncontrollable laughter, color changes, and charms to make the charmee fall in love at first sight with whomever they see first peppering their repertoire. Returning to their good graces is fairly easy - the gift of something pretty as an apology tends to work, but each Fae has their own very particular gift they like. If it's messed up even a little bit, they won't accept it, and will merely play another trick upon the giftee. Those of the Unseelie Court, meanwhile, are a little harder to talk to; they prefer to prank and trick first to test those they might be interested in as a group, not unlike children trying to get the attention of someone they like by pulling their hair. Their pranks usually range from genuine hurt (such as pulling hair, stinging nettles, or simply beating them with bound vines) to curses (losing one's voice, the head of an ass, or full-scale animal transformations). Withstanding these, or standing up to these Fae, earns as much of their ire as it does their respect - the truly respectful human will be subjected to headpats and collars, like a pet.

A Treacherous Adventure... As beautiful as it is outside of the main dining hall and newly-grown castle (just for the momentous occasion itself, going by the rumors!), Faeryland as a whole is mired in danger. The wrong step sends one tumbling down a rabbit hole full of interesting sights, landing in a wide field of drooping flowers that snore softly and scream bloodcurdling loud when awoken. No matter how long one walks, discovering both familiar and unfamiliar sights, never ends in finding the castle again. In fact, it's much easier to find yourself accidentally going deeper into the woods. The exceptionally tall trees of the Dewaint Forest show hints of decay and rot, the smell of the dead barely covered by the flowers desperately growing across the blackened bodies of Fae and other animals that wandered too close to the growing infection in the area. What look like corpses will tremble and rise when they sense someone is close by - their eyes and mouth are pure white, contrasting with the darkness around them, and throughout the shell are cracks of a similarly pulsing whiteness; it smells magical, it feels incredibly heavy and overpowering, and it might just be too powerful for those most sensitive to the corruption and to magic. The shadowy creatures' wings are larger than normal and monstrous, with their bodies held up by the dew-crying flowers that simultaneously hold them back yet sneak their roots closer to grab those who awakened them and drag them closer. Where the monster begins and ends with the corrupted nature it's made its bed in isn't completely clear, but one thing is: it's very, very hungry. Thankfully, it's a good thing some of you have new abilities at hand, and some of you have a few neat changes to help. Teaming up makes things go quicker, and once defeated, these creatures bleed white magic and disappear in ashy smoke, shell breaking off in bits to reveal a dried-up corpse of a Fae. Nothing else remains, not even a hint to their identity, and the more of these monstrously-turned Monsters characters meet, the bigger and more terrifying they get.

Comments

STEVEN UNIVERSE | OTA

[starseedling]

★ A TASTE OF FAERYLAND
Steven gets shut down once for trying to ask a question, and then decides he's just going to have to accept it. This is all so whimsical that he is rolling through it non-critically, taking on the mindset he often does while lucid dreaming. He's just going to see where this takes him, even if it seems bizarrely different from any of the other perplexing dreams he's had.

The bug people are new. Are they aliens? Are they gems? Are they some terrible new adaption on Aquamarines? They're sort of acting like it.

One of the fae recommends he try the quiche instead of asking questions, so he does. Then, he finds himself floating up and out of his chair, forcing him to desperately grab onto the back of the seat. He looks around in a mild panic, for the nearest person who isn't a faerie, because the chair is starting to lift along with him.

"Ack! Help! I'm floating!" Oddly enough, this is a familiar predicament.

★ A COALITION OF INTERESTS (PT 1)
You may be wandering around the forest when you feel something gentle but pokey jab into your leg - upon further examination, it's a goofy looking pink kitten that seems just human enough in their expression to look weird.

"Whoops," the kitten says, laughing awkwardly. He tries to unhook his little claws from your pants or skirt. "Sorry. I just wanted to ask, um... Can you help me? I've got kind of a... purr-oblem..."

The problem might be cat related.

★ A COALITION OF INTERESTS (PT 2)
Later, Steven is still in the faerie meeting ground, only now he's human again, but with little antenna and the beginnings of faerie wings cutting through the back of his shirt. He's also wearing a collar. He doesn't look very pleased with it. All that fuss and this is what he gets in return.

He grumbles to himself, mostly looking for a wear out. Before he gets anywhere, another Unseelie pats him on the head and he looks like he's trying very hard not to be rude in response.

"Th... Thanks..." he says.

★ A TREACHEROUS ADVENTURE
Once he is outside of the castle, he'll definitely shed the collar if he hasn't already. He starts to wander, trying to sort out what the point of all this is. Is it real? Is this still some kind of weird dream? He's had stranger.

His floating abilities haven't been working since he found himself here, and though the new wings he has offer a bit of leverage, they feel too small to get the same kind of lift. He jumps off a small hill to test them - and then lands immediately into a pile of snoring flowers - which promptly start screaming on contact.

Steven screams back, thoroughly startled, and the flowers scream more in response. It sounds awful.

[OOC: I'm cool with either style of tag, I'll match what you do.]

A TASTE OF FAERYLAND

[yourvalue]

"Oh! Oh hang in there, poor lad!"

Lyr sat down his plate with a clatter and dragged a chair right from the garden table toward the airborne youth, stepped nimbly atop its seat and then set one careful foot on the top of its back. He had an acrobat's careless grace, and reached up with both tanned hands to grip around Stephen's ankle. Slowly, he brought the young man to him.

"Now, don't be afraid, grip onto my arm or shoulder. Are you hurting at all? Feel light-headed? I've heard that happens, sometimes, when the laws of nature suddenly loosen their grasp on a person."

[starseedling]

This guys doesn't seem bothered at all! That's impressive. He decides not to question it, because he actually feels too weird and full of bubbles to dwell on other things right now.

With Lyr grabbing his foot, he is free to let go on his chair and wrap it around his gut.

"Usually I only do this when I'm happy," he explains hurriedly, assuming this is something it isn't. It makes more sense than quiches making you fly "But right now I just feel like I'm gunna fart."

He crosses his knees together a little. He really doesn't want to fart on this kind stranger. (Thankfully, this is probably not actually a farting type problem.)

[yourvalue]

Lyr barked out a surprised laugh, and tried to reel the young man in.

"Well! I'll have you know that when it comes to young men learning magic, that's probably one of the least embarrassing outcomes. I could tell you all manner of incorrigible stories about the, ah, youths at the university... at least you haven't unleashed cackling hordes of blood-drinking imps onto the streets, or accidentally turned yourself into a pile of phalluses. Here now, if I bring you down to the chair, can you grab hold of it?"

[starseedling]

Okay, now he has questions. Thankfully, they aren't about what 'phallus' means. There are more concerning things, and all of those are outweighed by wanting to keep hold of his chair.

He nods eagerly, and if given the opportunity, will grab the seat with his hands and tuck his calves around the chair legs. With any luck, he'll be able to get his knees under the table too.

"What's the University?" he asks, assuming it is something space related and not at all what Lyr is talking about. "I've never done any of that stuff, but I did turn into a pile of cats once..."

Never again.

★ A COALITION OF INTERESTS (PT 1)

[veilfires]

[This dream is endlessly fascinating to observe. The hum of magic and possibility in the crisp forest air is infectious. One of the primary occupations of the fae appears to be amusing themselves with all manner of mischievous tricks and enchantments. So when the bright pink cat (who is clearly not really a cat) attaches itself to his leggings and proceeds to make an awful pun, Solas takes it with the same good cheer.]

Hello there. You do appear to be in a purr-dicament.

[He kneels down, and with long, gentle fingers helps the cat disentangle its paws, claw by claw.]

There, now. How may I help you?

[starseedling]

[The cat looks relieved to have someone paying attention to him. With Solus's help, he's slips his claws out of the fabric.]

Yeah, so... I accidentally burped bubbles in one of the faerie's faces... and so they turned me into a cat.

[He makes a really weird shrugging gesture with his paws.]

I asked them to turn me back and they said they'd only do it if I asked them eye to eye... I think like, on eye level? But they keep flying around... so maybe you could lift me up or something?

Being a cat makes you pretty short.

[veilfires]

[ Solas’ expression is open as he listens to the cat’s plight, but a grimace steals across his face at the crass mention of burping. ]

I understand why that would have earned its ire.

[ His calm smile returns. ] Still, it is hardly fair you should have to remain a cat. At such a height, you will miss the remainder of the festivities.

For the fae, these ‘punishments’ seem to be a form of game in themselves. [ As he speaks, he proffers his arms in a crooked shape for the cat to jump or climb into. ] If so, I will aid you as you play it.

[starseedling]

[Aw, how kind! Steven looks very relieved to find help so easily, and he nods and hops up onto Solus's arm. He's quite small, still a kitten, so he'll be easy enough to carry that way.]

Thank you so much! You... don't happen to know why any of us are here, do you? The faeries wouldn't tell me.

[veilfires]

[Solas shifts his arms so the little kitten can sit in a way that is comfortable and dignifying (or as dignifying as possible, considering his condition). He then pursues his lips thoughtfully.]

From what I have observed of the fae, they are capricious creatures by nature. They may have reasoning beyond what an outsider can discern, but I suspect their motivations are mostly sheer whimsy. Strangers such as us allow for greater mischief.

I fear we are guests and victims in equal measure. [He smiles again down at the kitten, evidently not much phased by this.

Having a non-trivial amount of experience in dreaming, Solas is well-aware this is a dream – and that revealing it as such would puncture the atmosphere. Better for them to take this dream as it comes, and remain open to its possibilities.]

[horkbajir]

Toby hears screaming and goes from tree to tree to investigate, moving like a big scaly spider monkey. Oh, there are screaming plants here... yeah, why not.

She's quick and this would have been pretty quiet, considering she's over six feet standing upright, but the sickly trees here don't seem to like her. A sound-seeming branch breaks under her hand at just the worst moment and she plummets a good twenty feet.

It doesn't hurt her, she was designed to move through trees and that means a good drop sometimes, but it does mean a big reptilian alien drops on all fours into the patch of flowers, which pause for a second before all starting to shrill in almost scolding tones. Toby grimaces.

[starseedling]

Steven lets out a second cry as Toby comes crashing into the scene. He'd only just started to figure out what was going on when she shows up, and needless to say, it throws the whole situation into chaos again.

It doesn't help that Toby herself looks very different than what he's used to. He raises his hands placatingly.

"Shh, shh... it's okay..." he says, to both the flowers, and to whatever kind of person Toby is. "I'm sorry for squishing you..." He takes a step back, looking at Toby carefully. "Are... Are you okay?"

[horkbajir]

She pulls herself upright and doesn't cut at the stems of the plants while she's down there, though she thinks about it. These are very high voices.

"I am. And you?" Her voice is gravelly, low enough to hear under the scolding, and her return look is at least as cautious. A Hork-Bajir that size is very young, she's never seen a human so small. Not that that means much. The only humans she's seen herself have been the Animorphs and a handful of Controllers, and humans are small in general.

There were those entities back in the castle... is this actually one of those?

[starseedling]

Oh, they talk! That's great!

Steven may have the wings an antenna to match, but he's ostensibly no where near as lofty as the beings in the castle. Those guys are impossible. This person, though - now that Steven has gathered that they aren't hostile, he's taken in by how cool they are. Are they a dinosaur?

"I'm okay," he says, his voice distracted with his thoughts. "...Are you a dinosaur?" If she's a dinosaur, he's very excited.

[horkbajir]

She's got an inherent slouch, her tail rests on the ground so she has a kind of tripod stand, and she's got all these curved blades. Also it looks like her tongue is a startling bright turquoise.

"I'm not. I am a Hork-Bajir. We're from a different planet, but I was born on Earth." Maybe this isn't Earth? She raises her head on her snake neck, glances around. Maybe? It's more like Earth, or the part of it she's seen at least, than the stories of other planets, but the ground plants with voices and the unfriendly trees are enough to make her doubt. "What are you?"

A flower is swaying in circles, waist high on her, complaining or teasing in a singsong. Toby looks from it to the... child? "Let's speak back over on the grass, all right? I don't think it has as much to say."

Coalition of Interests (pt. 1)

[evanescent]

"A purr-oblem? Is it a cat-astrophe?" Aerith kneels a little to regard what appears to be a talking pink kitten...boy (?), which, as far as weird things went, this was one of the less odd situations she'd been in over the past few days.

She tilts her head. Cheerfully: "Let me guess! You're not usually a cat. Did I get it?"

[starseedling]

He'd spent a lot of time preparing cat puns during his first transformation incident, so while having a stress dream (?) about being turned into a cat isn't great, at least he can lighten the mood. Even better, his mysterious helper seems to agree!

"Uh huh..." he admits sheepishly, nodding his head as he looks up at her.

"It's purr-obably just a temporary purr-di-cat-ment," he says, both puns kind of slipping out of a mixture of genuine desire to pun and magical compulsion. Maybe when you are a talking cat you just can't help it? That would make sense. "I... might have made one the fae mad. I have to ask them to turn be back, but they'll only do it if I'm looking them in the eye!"

He laughs uneasily.

"Turns out that's pretty hard when they can fly..."

[evanescent]

"Temporary or not..." Give her a second. "It's a hairy situation, right?" This is terrible.

Puns aside, his purr — predicament is a point of concern. She puts a finger to her chin, eyes dimming in thought, then brightens. "Well, a cat can climb trees, isn't that so? If you could get high enough in one, you could face one eye to eye! Show them what's what."

Her expression softens. "Or apologize. What did you do to make them so mad? They seem a little capricious."

[starseedling]

"Well there was this big dinner table... and I ate some of the quiche... and for a while after that I kept feeling like I was full of bubbles! Y'know, floaty and stuff? I thought it was over, but then when I was talking to them... bubbles came out of my mouth and popped in their face. So, I guess the bubbles were more literal than I thought..."

He'd flush, but he's already pink.

"They didn't like that. So even when I climb up on stuff they give me a hard time about it and look in another direction and act like I'm not there! They're being really pet-ty, if you ask me." It was their quiche that made him burp in the first place!

[evanescent]

She nods along, attentive. The bizarre situation aside, that's about what she'd expected — that he was being blamed for a misstep that wasn't actually his fault. She'd seen a lot of that.

"Maybe I could talk to one of them for you. Be your re-purr-sentative — your advo-cat!"

A pause.

"Not one of my best ones. I can try to help, though. You shouldn't be stuck like this for a simple mistake."

a treacherous adventure

[thisisamazing]

Playing games with the fae had gotten them nowhere, and Hiccup doesn't like to stay in one place for long, if he can help it. It's only natural that he and Toothless slip out of the castle as soon as possible, and stumble down the rabbit hole to fields of flowers and forests dark. He quickly grows to regret it, because even his relatively normal nose can pick up the faint undertone of decay that permeates everything, and Toothless seems a little uneasy at his side, picking up his feet like a fastidious cat in mud, ear fins lying flat against his head.

"Yeah, I know, bud, we should have just stayed put-" Across the field, they hear a thump, and then screaming, and in near-unison, both viking and dragon's heads raise and swivel to look in that direction. Hiccup draws Inferno, and though his Nightmare gel has run out by now, it still burns bright like a torch, a streak of light as they go running toward the disturbance. "Hello?! Are you okay?!"

Sorry for the delayed reply, I had Easter stuff going on!

[starseedling]

And suddenly, there's fire. Steven raises his hands in alarm, the flowers screaming all around him. He sees a young man, and also... some kind of black creature with eyes that remind him of a cat. Right now, that's the part he can see most clearly.

"Hello! Hi!" he yells back nervously, caught off guard but cluing into the stranger's hopefully benevolent intent relatively quickly. You generally don't ask someone if they are okay if you want to fight. "I'm okay! They aren't hurting me, they're just... screaming a lot!"

He bats his hands at the flowers placatingly, speaking in a hush: "Sshhh, it's okay..."

ffff similarly also sorry, some work things came up

[thisisamazing]

Hiccup slows his frantic run to a more sedate walk as soon as he receives confirmation that the kid isn't hurt. The screaming flowers are... they sure are something, though. He winces a little at the noise, closer to the commotion now, and Toothless is crouching a little, snarling at a patch of greenery, none too happy with the volume.

"'Screaming a lot' is a bit of an understatement," he says, voice raised to be heard over the din. In a little more of a mumble, he continues, "Worse than a flock of angry Thunderdrums... Yeah, I know, bud."

Toothless reaches out slowly to bat at a patch of flowers, and then jumps back, still growling low in his throat, mouth lit up with purple fire.

"So, uh. They just... started doing that?"

[starseedling]

"You..."

Steven's eyes widen at the sight of Toothless coming forward to bat at the flowers, readying some kind of fiery blast in his mouth, his draconic form finally becoming clear in the shadows. Not because it's scary though, but because it's...

"You - You're so cuuuute!" he gasps at Toothless, putting his palms to his cheeks in sheer delight. Toothless is, in fact, one of the cutest things he's ever seen. "Are they a dragon? Are you guys friends?"

He completely forgets about the screaming question.

[thisisamazing]

"Uh-" Well, that's certainly a reaction they don't get often. Usually it's more screaming, running, terror, that sort of thing. Toothless is taken aback enough that he chokes back down the plasma at the back of his throat and blinks. Then a patch of flowers screams again, shrilly, and he lets loose on it, turning that patch into blackened ash.

Well. It's probably good he's not afraid. They're not trying to freak him out. "Yeah, this is Toothless, my dragon. I'm Hiccup. Are you sure you're- okay? Something about these flowers has him on edge-"