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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


longitudinal: (XDiJt7H)

[personal profile] longitudinal 2024-07-24 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh so they set the bounty high because they were terrible at catching you. It sounds like your Navy needs to work on their strategies.

[ he grins a little, already excited at the idea that, though they may be from different worlds, he could be chasing this wily pirate on a sea one day. a playful game of chase, though - a catch and release for the fun of it. ]

But like your Navy is bad at its job, I think we'd be stupid to think this place is giving us everything for free. I don't know what the cost is, but - nothing comes for free. Any sailor knows that.
bigsmile: (174)

[personal profile] bigsmile 2024-07-26 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
Last time I tried to put something on my treasure tab I ended up washing dishes. (A pause and then —) I don't want to wash dishes here.

(The conversation and idea of other places being similar is great though, exciting despite Luffy not quite grasping the concept of other worlds. There's a part of him that still believes everything is in his own world, just from strange corners people have yet to discover. For all he knows this manor could be similar to Baratie, a large place floating on the water, though the lack of motion under his feet kills that idea off quickly.)

They're not bad, we're just better. (Luffy grins, snagging another plate of food from a waiter walking by. Can't go wrong with more meats and cheeses.) You'd never catch me.
longitudinal: (ngD4ZtO)

[personal profile] longitudinal 2024-07-27 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
There are worse things than washing dishes.

[ he watches as luffy snags another plate, grinning and trying one of the new things from this plate - a meat he has neither seen nor tried before. this place, for all of it's eerie concerns, is a place of great wonder and food. he hasn't eaten this well in a very long time. ]

But a bet - if one day we are gone from this place and we're back on the sea, I'll wager that if I can't catch you, I'll be the one washing dishes on your ship. I assume you have a substantial crew then, King Pirate Captain? Or yes, King to Be.

[ ... he tries one of the little discs of meat with a piece of cheese (in the real world, known to be salami and pepperjack) and hums in surprise, grabbing one of each and holding it out to luffy. ]

Try this together.
bigsmile: (137)

[personal profile] bigsmile 2024-07-28 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
It was a lot of dishes.

(But it had ended up with meeting Sanji so Luffy can't be upset with it. The only bad part had been the idea of all that wonderful food being eaten and him being no part of it. Luffy's life is a struggle.

The bet has Luffy's eyes lighting up at the challenge. A chase across the seas? Sign him right up!
)

You're on. And I have the best crew, maybe you'll get to meet them when you're doing dishes. (The offered meat and cheese is taken without argument, Luffy popping it into his mouth and nodding to himself.) Huh. Spicy. Not bad. Try one of these.

(Luffy holds up his plate, an array of chorizo and feta cheese laid out with some care by the staff.)
longitudinal: (XDiJt7H)

[personal profile] longitudinal 2024-07-30 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know if you want me doing your dishes - they might not come back completely clean!

[ he's joking, of course, but he looks down to the plate that luffy offers and swipes up a piece of the cheese, wraps it up in the chorizo and pops it in his mouth with a pleased hum. ]

I should have wagered to steal your cook for my crew instead if I won. But I suppose I'll settle for the dishes and enjoying a good race, instead.

[ he steals another piece of meat, then blinks up as some more people flood into the area. there are a few staff looking at them like they might be told to do something. ]

There's food in the other areas - we should go that way. Get out of this mess.