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π–˜π–†π–‘π–™π–‡π–šπ–—π–“π–™ π–’π–”π–‰π–˜. ([personal profile] saltburnmods) wrote in [community profile] draino2024-07-06 09:30 am
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𝐍𝐎 π“π‘π”ππŠπ’ π€π‹π‹πŽπ–π„πƒ 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 π…πˆπ„π‹πƒ β–£ JULY TDM





JULY 2024 TDM: LECTISTERNIUM


Welcome to SALTBURNT, a panfandom smut/thriller game based off the film Saltburn, where characters are encouraged to indulge their deepest desires. The money never runs out and the liquor never stops pouring, so you may as well indulge from the bounty. Of course, things are rarely what they seem, and the manor itself seems to have a consciousness of its own. Throw parties, trash the house, engage in youthful merriment, but remember β€” dangers come out at night, and no one, no matter how rich you are, is safe from demons lurking in the shadows.

Threads can be considered game canon, provided the players agree. Players can also start fresh upon acceptance into the game. In game characters can post to the TDM directly, so all posters can use the title Β« CHARACTER NAME | CANON | NEW CHARACTER/IN GAMEΒ» in the header. There will be a spot below for new characters to link their toplevels for easy access. Alternatively, prompts on the Test Drive can be used for in game logs.







WELCOME TO SALTBURNT


It's the hangover more than the light streaming in through half drawn curtains that wakes you up, your brain rattling in your skull, your mouth dry and cottony, your stomach churning with whatever it is you drank last night. If self preservation is your strong suit, you might turn over in bed and see a few painkillers laid out for you on a silver dish, accompanied by a glass of water. If it isn’t, stay in bed and wallow β€” eventually a maid will be in to tear your curtains open, saying, "Breakfast is served," and scurrying out quietly, invisibly. Breakfast? Maybe it’s normal for you. Maybe it isn’t.

You're drawn from the room, either by the mystery, or an undefinable urge that could be supernatural in origin, or could be your hunger catching up to you. It's almost nostalgic, the walk to the dining room β€” have you been here before? Were you drawn up to this estate in a car? Haven’t you done all this already? Maybe you mosey around a library, maybe you run into your suite mate in your adjoining bathroom. Regardless, seemingly all hallways, covered in priceless artworks and ancient relics from times long past, lead to the dining room, where a comically long table houses the Balfours and their many guests, who seem just as disgruntled and confused as you. No matter. "The breakfast is self-serve," they say. But not the eggs.

If you want to leave, you’ll have to tell Giles, the housekeeper, who will arrange a car for you that mysteriously, or perhaps suspiciously, never arrives. Unfortunately, confronting Giles about it is near impossible, as he’s as good at being invisible as the rest of the house staff. Of course, there’s no reason why you can’t just walk out. The front gates are easy enough to jump over, even if the walk towards them gives you a strange sense of foreboding, or just outright discomfort, as if the ground itself doesn’t want you to leave. Those more sensitive or fragile might find they can’t make the jump, no matter how physically able, or desperately wanting. Still, a strong person could continue on, over the fence and into the lush English countryside. The feeling doesn’t dissipate, though β€” this sense of wrongness, almost sickness, like a weight on your back. Walk into the evergreen, carry on, but the strongest will make it perhaps a mile or so before the weight of dread and paranoia brings you to your knees, and then to your face, flat in the middle of a dirt road. What were you thinking? Is this really better?

Wake up with a hangover, in a bed, the curtains drawn, the maid saying, "Breakfast is served," before scurrying out. The painkillers are there, just like you remember. In fact, it’s all exactly how you remember, as if you never left an imprint the first time, or any mess you made was cleared away while your back was turned. Walk to the dining room, find everyone there eating away at their breakfast. It’s self serve, naturally. Just not the eggs.

"We dress for dinner," says Portia, with a kind, if discerning smile. "Black tie."




WHICH WAY TO THE BACCHANAL?

CONTENT WARNINGS: alcohol, nudity, potential for nsfw.

It’s been a balmy, warm summer in Saltburnt, with long, amber-hued nights making the house glow from the outside in. After the last party, things have managed to keep mostly calm and largely unassuming in the intervening weeks, with the focus kept on indoor activities β€” a scavenger hunt, a sex club, avoiding the outside trauma of cannibalistic cakes for as long as it seems to have taken the family and house staff to settle and, tangentially, forget. However, seemingly overnight a new structure appears on the outside grounds, under block construction fixtures and with loud building going on throughout the following day and night, tirelessly worked on. By the next day, however, the structure gets revealed β€” a Pantheon, and quite a sizable one (see: no, not terribly historically accurate) from the outside.

Between the columns and up the stone steps, you’ll find an entryway dedicated to worship on a grouping of twelve Roman gods β€” six male (Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, Apollo, Vulcan and Mercury) and their six female counterparts (Juno, Minerva, Venus, Diana, Vesta, and Ceres) β€” as depicted by several busts with small, holy fires lit before them for offerings. Notably, there’s also a thirteenth altar, with a statue depiction of the guest of honor: one John Gaius, who has been ascended to Roman godhood for the party. Offerings have the potential of gifting little boons to those who worship, like increased luck or a small amount of foresight. Feel free to make up your own, as influenced by the gods that you sacrifice to as you like.

Beyond the foyer, the space opens up into a sizable atrium that doubles as a dining hall, full of colorful, cushioned couches made for lounging while you eat. There's an endless supply of food brought in throughout the day, ranging from a traditional three course Mediterranean meal served with honey-sweetened spiced wine, to a more modern adaptation for pickier eaters with fried chicken and Red Bulls, to more adventurous eaters with flamingo tongue and fried doormice. Pistachios are served by the bowlful, fat figs littered on every tabletop, all alongside water flavored with rose petals. Also among the feast are several artistically decorated cakes, each featuring the name of any guest with a birthday in June or July. In addition to the meal, guests are encouraged to lay out plates in honor of dead loved ones, a more time honored tradition of Roman history, although here it has the benefit of being complimented by actual roaming skeletons (courtesy of John) who give animated attempts at play eating the food left for them.

Further into the temple, there is an overlarge, public bathing room for guests to enjoy, the bath carved into rock while the ceiling stays open air, for a visual on clear blue skies or a starry sewn tapestry. Modern heating has been applied to the water to make it steam and bubble, effectively creating a giant hot tub for patrons to slip into, in whatever state of undress they're comfortable with, though nude is greatly appreciated. When in Rome, as they say. Along the back wall is a more intimate stage for small parties, bedecked in a range of instruments and a karaoke machine, for a talent show, or just entertaining a few guests. Velveteen cushions sit in a circle facing each other, for Socratic circle style speech and debates, with a random grab bag of topics to choose from, that range from who is the best NSYNC member? to what is the meaning of life, really?

There is a second story to the structure, although there are no rooms. It's a roofless veranda that looks out on the backyard of the temple, wherein a concave dirt patch has been baking in the sun, for gladiatorial fights and the people observing them.






VENI, VIDI, VICI.


CONTENT WARNINGS: violence, body horror, gore, animal attacks (specifically wolf), potential body transformations.

You may have noticed in this particular party, a special leniency when it comes to costumes. Where usually semi-strict dresscodes are enforced, tonight it's more of a free for all for good reason: everyone dressed in a Roman inspired outfit (very loose is A-OK) will be seen as Roman royalty, while everyone not adhered to theme will be the royalty's slaves, servants, and workers. It's all for fun and more BDSM in practice than anything serious, but party poopers are expected to tend to their much more fun counterparts, especially once the gladiatorial fights commence. In addition, John, Furiosa, Hawk, Embry, Zoro, Matt, Nami, Chione, Hao, Koby, Alina, Tim, Alia, and Louis for their dedication to Otherworld have been gifted a single metal tag with their individual names on them, to give to collared friends of their choice for claiming purposes.

In any case, collared and claimed and laymen people are offered huge palm leaves for fanning, or grapes and pistachios and figs to hand serve their betters. Below, the gladiator fights take place all day β€” a somewhat humble dug out arena that's been lined with soft sand, accented in the back by an enclosed stone structure, no bigger than a single horse stall, where occasionally one can hear huffing and grunting coming from a too high to reach barred window. Anyone can take on a challenge, personal or for fun, and engage in a sparring match. The rules are simple: best of three rounds that end in a submissive pin or tapping out, wherein the loser loses their clothes after each fight. First go their clothes, then go their underwear. Fighting in the nude is an age honored tradition, of course, and we love our history.

That said, the stone building is a somewhat foreboding sight to anyone observing. As time goes on the structure begins to rattle, and as the sun starts to set, the integrity of the building becomes more and more questionable. By the time the last fight is over, a final challenge is announced to the public β€” a creature of great mythos, versus the entirety of the estate. From the rattling building, a 7ft Wolfman is guided out with gold, rattling chains wrapped around his impressive neck and wrists. Many onlookers applaud the spectacle, wrongly presuming it to be a play act for the party. However, the chains inevitably snap from those holding them, and the Wolfman gets set loose throughout the estate, running with supernatural speed on all fours throughout the temple and beyond.

Scared? Maybe you should be. The Wolfman is hungry, and indiscriminate with who he eats. It seems the only thing dissuading his appetite from certain people is the metal name tag some were given, like dogs recognizing their separate masters. Still, people will get attacked. A scratch or bite from the Wolfman will result in a similar transformation taking place, a necessary hunger set in your bones where vice and sin seem to infect you, become as necessary to you as breathing or sleeping. Indulge, and become more and more of a beast β€” abstain from all immoral acts, all wickedness for nine days, and the infection will cure itself.

If you find that too difficult, there is one other solution. Only 23 separate cuts will kill the Wolfman, who divides himself in odd ways with every penetration β€” less like he's being stabbed and more like he's being carved with every inflicted wound, the two halves of himself sliced apart. The 23rd and last attack completely separates the wolf from the man. It leaves a desiccated human corpse in its wake, and a full blooded wolf scampering off into the dark depths of Saltburnt proper, lost in its many rooms.

It'll probably be fine! Despite that hiccup, the Pantheon stays up for the month to encourage an ongoing celebration, the party inside ranging from feral, half-made Wolfpeople frenzy to a fragile relaxation depending on the state of the Wolfman. Thank you as always for bewaring the ides.




DIRECTORY


voyages: (10)

max | mad max: fury road

[personal profile] voyages 2024-07-06 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
WELCOME TO SALTBURNT
[He's on his feet the moment that he blinks back to awareness. The pain in his head, the dryness of his throat- They're both something he's grown all too familiar with from living days on end without water. So when he takes a look around the room he's found himself in, zeroing in on the glass of water by the bed is an almost natural habit, and it's emptied in next to no time. Nowhere near enough to sate his thirst, but it's at least a start.

It's only then that he notices his own lack of clothing, though another look around the room turns up nothing more than a fresh bout of confusion. So he ends up digging through drawers. Flings open the wardrobe. And while he can't find his own clothing, the shirt and trousers he finds for himself are far cleaner than anything he's seen in over a decade. So despite how wrong this all feels, the clothes at least feel like enough of a barrier for him to make his way through the closest doorway.

And straight into a bathroom. Complete with the sounds of water running through pipes. That in itself is all the motivation he needs before he's almost diving towards the bathtub, twisting the taps on to full and ducking his head underneath the stream to drink.

Sorry, bathroom buddy. But this room is occupied.]

WHICH WAY TO THE BACCHANAL?
[With his repeated attempts to escape leaving him back at the very start time and time again, his decision to investigate the newest structure is a forced one. Even with the seemingly endless supply of food and drink, even the comfortable beds and the reminders of a world long gone, he knows he needs to find a way out of there. So he can only hope that somehow, this...building offers him some answers. Better than having to ask his questions to others, after all.

The busts are only offered a cursory glance, the food left in offering given the most of his attention. And if he happens to grab a fresh apple from the pile, he shows absolutely no remorse. Why waste food when there's bellies that can be filled instead?

Of course, that thought changes a little when he makes his way into the atrium and sees the vast array of food on display. Dishes that're both a distant memory to him, and something entirely alien. It takes no time at all for him to claim a plate, each food given a sniff before he either adds it to his plate or dumps it back down. Anyone who ventures too close is given a rough grunt. A warning to keep their distance, because he will bite.

Naturally though, even he reaches his limits soon enough, and he ends up having to abandon his plate before he ends up emptying his stomach right then and there. So the murmurs of a hot tub nearby is something that catches his attention. A chance to sit back and take full advantage of a resource he usually has to fight tooth and nail for isn't something he wants to miss. Which is why, at some point, he ends up sinking in to the hot tub, his clothes left to the side simply because that appears to be how things are done here. And somehow, it's relaxing enough that when the newest addition to the tub ends up sitting within arm's reach, his only reaction is to blink an eye back open to look over at them.

...no, he doesn't know what he closed his eyes either.]

VENI, VIDI, VICI
[The idea of wearing a costume is something that goes entirely over his head. So when the fights begin and a palm leaf is shoved into his hands, all Max does is stare up at it. At just how green it is. Yet another reminder of how different this place is to everything he remembers. The longer he's here, the more he starts to think that he really has lost his mind. Again. That either this is a hallucination, or home is nothing more than a fever dream from a broken mind.

When the Wolfman appears though, he's leaning more towards the former than the latter. Because that? It's decidedly not a man in costume. And the moment the chains snap, Max is moving towards the weapon racks in search of something to defend himself with. Something a whole lot more effective than a damn leaf.

He may not want any part in this fight, but he's not about to sit back and let himself get eaten either.]

WILDCARD
[Come at me with anything and everything. Max isn't uh...a people person. So smut either takes a whole lot of build up or aphro. Outside of the above, he can be found anywhere with water/food/greenery, basically.]
Edited 2024-07-06 15:44 (UTC)
imperatour: (07-08209b)

ahem,,,,,,,, welcome to saltburnt (i may canon update her later but sorry it's chaos for now)

[personal profile] imperatour 2024-07-06 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Privacy, even a few weeks (a month? Time moves as strangely here as it did in the Wasteland) after arriving, is one of many oddities of this that Furiosa is still unaccustomed to. Even Praetorians had to sleep in the wide and deep caves, heat and noise from the piles of bodies filling the space. Luck, or maybe it was intimidation, kept the room on the opposite side of the bathroom empty from hers. Maybe it's good. It spares bystanders from listening to her fitful sleep that pierces the eerie silence. No one questions the many hours she spends laying in the bath until the water runs cold and the sun peeks over the horizon, and even when she knows can get clean water from any tap she still can't resist taking long gulps out of the tub before she can let it all swirl down the drain.

It's almost a comfort to have the peace interrupted, to wake with a start to the noise of something that sounds like a feral dog has been let loose in the bathroom. Clattering, and then the tub running. Briefly, she considers strapping her arm on, but the cinches around her waist are better suited by a thicker fabric than the thin over shirt she's taking to wearing to bed (another luxury, being able to take shoes off before you sleep). Plus, she hasn't met anyone in the house that she doesn't think she couldn't take on one-armed. She takes the risk, and clicks the lock to the bathroom open.

Sympathy is also rare in the Wasteland, and that's not quite what Furiosa feels. Maybe something adjacent to it. Understanding. Her lips pull tight, her gut twists as she recognizes an unshakable thirst that still sits in her throat even when every tap has clean, delicious, abundant water for everyone.

Still, she needs to piss and she's not about to go back to a bottle next to her bed. She picks up one of her boots off the floor and throws it at him. Not as hard as she can, no. Not picking a fight, more like scolding a stray dog. ]


Get off of there.
Edited 2024-07-06 17:49 (UTC)
voyages: (04)

what could possibly go wrong here

[personal profile] voyages 2024-07-06 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Even with the interruption, even with the boot to side, Max doesn't budge. Not at first. He knows a warning shot when he sees one. There wasn't enough force behind it to leave a bruise, isn't followed up with the usual display of anger that'd come next. Instead, it's just a demand. And one that, when it comes, has him twisting enough to look at the new arrival without cutting off the free flowing supply of water.

Which is why he ends up almost choking as the almost familiar voice is followed up with an equally as familiar face.

It's her, but it's not. She holds herself the same way. Has the same cadence to her tone, the same expression on her face. But she's young. Or at least, younger than the woman he knew. It's Furiosa, but it's not. And it's impossible for him to hide just how confused that leaves him.

With water still dripping down his face, Max raises his hands as a show of surrender. A way to try and make it clear he isn't a threat to her. But it takes everything in him not to move any further than that. To not step round the bath and close the gap between them.

If he could touch her, then maybe it'll prove she's real. Or maybe she'll disappear, and he'll be alone again. He doesn't know which option is worse.]


What's your name?

[Because maybe both are true. Maybe she's both real and an illusion at the same time. A shared face may not necessarily mean a shared name. Not to a man whose life is filled with ghosts of the past.]
imperatour: (04-14137)

she can be extra feral, as a treat

[personal profile] imperatour 2024-07-06 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's plenty of reasons Furiosa is used to being stared at. The arm when she's wearing it. The lack of arm when she's not. The way she chews with her mouth open and licks her plate clean at every meal time. Her penchant for staring more menacingly than situations generally call for. But, he's looking at her face and none of the other things are really happening.

She squints her eyes, skeptically, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder to make sure that it isn't something behind her. Her jaw works on the question, not trusting it. It's not that no one's asked her name here, it's just that usually it doesn't come from anyone looking at her like that.

Cautiously, ]
Furiosa.

[ Did a random Black Thumb spawn here too or... ]
voyages: (12)

[personal profile] voyages 2024-07-10 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's a testament to just how thrown off-balance he is by the entire situation that even with the water flowing freely between them, she's the only thing that has his attention right now. The only one that matters. He has no idea what's going on here. No clue why she looks the way she does. But there's no doubting that this really is Furiosa. The same woman who earned his trust in a world caked in blood and violence. Who's looking at him without an ounce of recognition on her face.

What the hell is this place?]


I'm not here to fight.

[Or at least he hopes not. Their cage may not be made of metal bars, but that doesn't mean they're safe. Doesn't mean that whoever brought them here isn't going to try to force their hands. But it's one thing for him to be used as a weapon, a pawn in someone else's game. But to drag Furiosa in to this too, after almost dying in the wasteland feels like a very particular brand of cruelty.]

Where are we?
imperatour: (05-03781)

[personal profile] imperatour 2024-07-10 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
It's called a bathroom.

[ Maybe later she'll realize that's not what he was asking, but a whole room for bathing and relieving yourself was new to her so she figures the stranger who did nearly the exact same thing she did when she found herself here probably also is unfamiliar with the concept.

She takes a few steps forward, turning off the tap's handle with her foot. ]


Better from the sink. [ She murmurs, tipping her head toward it. ] Where'd you come from?

[ Why are you looking at me like that? is really what she wants to ask but maybe this will get her closer. She doesn't want to provoke a fight either. ]
voyages: (12)

[personal profile] voyages 2024-07-19 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[Her response doesn't really come as a surprise. He hadn't been specific. Doesn't feel that same level of understanding with the woman in front of him as he did with the Furiosa he knew last. Whatever's at play here, he knows he needs to dig in to it. Needs to find out how she's been changed, and what he can do to try and fix it. For both their sakes.]

Woke up here.

[It's the only answer he can give. One moment, he was settling in to the driver's seat to catch a few hours sleep. The next, he was waking up in a bed far softer than anything he's slept in since the world fell apart. Whatever this place is, whoever's behind it all, they managed to get close enough to him to knock him out completely without waking him up. And that, well-

It's concerning.]


The others?

[The wives, that is. Not that she'll know that.]
imperatour: (05-01321)

[personal profile] imperatour 2024-07-19 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
What others? Black Thumbs?

[ Because that's what he is, right? One of the gear dogs that works in the garage. Not quite as disposable as the War Boys, although Furiosa liked all of her crew and the way Jack kept them working like a well-oiled machine.

Of course a Black Thumb recognize her. The Praetorian that isn't a wife. The whole of the citadel knows her. Maybe she liked it better when she was hiding in the garage, practically anonymous. ]


You're the first one I've seen. No one else here looks at running water like that.
voyages: (11)

ffs i wrote this and never pressed send

[personal profile] voyages 2024-07-21 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Not a Black Thumb.

[Sure, he may know his way around an engine. But willingly getting involved with Immortan Joe was never on the cards for him. Even when he was at his worst. The idea of not only being surrounded by people, but also working under a man that's somehow even crazier than him would've been a disaster. But the lack of understanding from Furiosa keeps him from dwelling on that point for too long. The wives are the only other people they have in common. So if she doesn't remember them either-]

From the Wasteland.

[He should leave it there. Should back out the room. Should put some space between them because he can't take that lack of recognition on her fact much longer. But instead, it's frustration that boils over in a burst of anger.]

Why don't you remember?

[It might be aimed at the situation, but unfortunately, she's the only one there to witness it.]
imperatour: (07-04753)

me once a week at least

[personal profile] imperatour 2024-07-21 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She thinks she feels it before he explodes. Something building that makes her hackles go up the same way they do when she's on the road. Like she can feel the air shift in tense moments on the road, the type of anticipation a well-prepared warrior hones that lets her sense Buzzards cresting over the dunes before she sights them.

Suddenly, she wishes she had the foresight to put her arm on.

Her reaction is violent, explosive. Maybe an older, wiser Furiosa would have been more even tempered, waiting for him to strike first before she escalates, but this isn't her. She's not a dog about to roll over and show her belly. She is wild. She is Praetorian Furiosa, and if he's a wastelander then he needs to be made to know the order of things. She launches herself at him, uses her weight and gravity and sheer force of will to pin him against the wall with her forearm across his neck. ]


Remember what? [ She hisses it, eyes wide and wild because why is he asking her name, why is he looking at her with something deeper than recognition, like she is something when Joe and Dementus and every other man couldn't be bothered to learn her face. ] Why do you look at me like that.
Edited (dropped my html) 2024-07-21 20:20 (UTC)
voyages: (06)

[personal profile] voyages 2024-08-04 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[Fighting back is automatic, brute strength against trained abilities, and it feels like a repeat of the first time they properly met. But without a gun between them, or a leash being tugged, the bear hold he makes around her waist gives him all the leverage he needs to lift her from the ground to spin their positions.

(He doesn't want to hurt her. Hasn't, for a long time. But some instincts are impossible to contain.)]


Me. You. Us.

[It doesn't cross his mind that 'us' could have a different meaning. That it could be more than an indication that the two of them had worked together. Had formed the closest thing to a friendship that was possible in a world like theirs.

And now, she's forgotten it all.]


You don't know me.
imperatour: (08-14917)

[personal profile] imperatour 2024-08-05 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ Furiosa winces as he spins them around, back hitting the tiled wall of the bathroom. It's not even all he can manage if the bulk and the fight of him is anything to go by. She should have put her arm on. She wishes she had a gun. Her instinct is to survive, that stubborn flame inside her belly that keeps her feral and fighting, legs kicking as she's lifted.

Who is this scag and what in the wasteland does he mean by us?

That alone has Furiosa almost stilling, legs settling on the ground. Her teeth grit together, chest heaving as her eyes dart across his face. There's no pain quite like being forgotten. If he knows her like he seems to think he does, he should forgive her for doing what she needs to.

She rears forward and bites him, piercing into the sensitive skin where his neck slopes to his shoulder. An old trick. Dementus kept her muzzled for a reason, but a feral animal will gnaw their way out of a trap if she needs to. ]
the_fairest_flower: (with a faerie hand in hand)

welcome: somewhere green

[personal profile] the_fairest_flower 2024-07-06 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Jamie dips out of breakfast when he can; he hasn't eaten enough, but he he doesn't leave empty-handed. No one seems to care, at least. He's not exactly sure where he's going at first, but it's easy enough to figure out as soon as he passes some high windows.

He's going outside.

There's someone sitting on a terrace, looking at the gardens and grounds beyond. The posture screams fuck off, but that's never stopped him before and he doesn't see why it should stop him now. He takes a deeper breath as he steps out of the house and walks barefoot across flagstone to get to the bench where the other guest is sitting.

Jamie sits next to them and sets down a peace offering between them: a bunch of scones he'd wrapped in a napkin. ]


You don't have to talk to me or anything. This is just fucking weird and I really fucking suck at being alone, so.

[ He shrugs. ]
voyages: (11)

[personal profile] voyages 2024-07-10 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[As has become routine for him, his morning is spent eating outside, relishing in both the almost blindingly bright green of the lawns and trees, and the distinct lack of searing heat that he's spent a lifetime living under. The jug of juice- apple this time -is a constant companion of his. As are the piles of food he openly walks out the dining room with each day.

Of course, even with all the food and drink he surrounds himself with here, when the stranger heads over to claim the other end of the bench, the extra food goes a long way towards him not just getting up and leaving right then and there.

Instead, his gaze shifts between the food and the man, eyes narrowing a little as he tries to work out just what he's after. But then the words come, and though he knows it's a risk he'd never take back home, he opts to stay. Snags one of the rolls out the cloth, and takes a bite. It's about as close to an agreement to stick around as he's able to give.]