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π–˜π–†π–‘π–™π–‡π–šπ–—π–“π–™ π–’π–”π–‰π–˜. ([personal profile] saltburnmods) wrote in [community profile] draino2024-09-07 10:00 am
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𝐈 πƒπŽπ'𝐓 ππŽπ‘πŒπ€π‹π‹π˜ π‹πˆπŠπ„ π‚π‡πŽπ‚πŽπ‹π€π“π„ π‚π€πŠπ„ β–£ SEPT TDM





SEPTEMBER 2024 TDM: LUGHNASADH


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, using Β« 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, some who seem just as disgruntled and confused as you. No matter. "Breakfast will be out in a minute," they say. What's that?

EDIT SEPTEMBER 2024: For those who have attended breakfast with the Balfours before, a change in routine might come as a shock, given how rarely they stray from form. However, as of September, CARMY BERZATTO has taken over Head Chef position, alongside his cousin RICHIE JERIMOVICH and always the bridesmaid never the bride, SANJI. In place of the self-serve style breakfast, there is an elevated menu, including: a self-serve juice bar, with pitchers of various juiced fruit and vegetables, shaved ice, coconut water, green and black tea syrups, potted microherbs, sliced whole berries, and finger limes. There is also, naturally, liquor and champagne available. Guests can make their own drinks, or ask the allocated staff member to serve them one of the "specials" if they're feeling adventurous.

That said, these are world class chefs, so the gold is really in the menu:
THE EGGS

𝐓𝐇𝐄 π‰πŽππ“π˜: one runny boiled egg shelled and recoated in edible gold leaf, seated on a throne of fried bread soldiers, plated with whipped butter and italian parsley.
𝐄𝐆𝐆𝐒 ππ„ππ„πƒπˆπ‚π“: vinegar poached eggs with hollandaise foam on a bed of toasted freekah and baby spinach.
𝐄𝐆𝐆𝐒 π’π‡π€πŠπ€π’π‡πŽπ”πŠπ€: two eggs poached in a ramekin of pureed tomato, served with a crispy grilled cheese cut to dip.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 π’π˜πƒππ„π˜: french omelette with a light cheese filling, topped with crushed potato chips and chives.
πŽπ„π”π…π’ ππ‘πŽπ”πˆπ‹π‹π„π’: fluffy scrambled eggs in brown butter, served on sourdough.
π’ππ€ππˆπ’π‡ 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓: mini-quiche made with caramelized red onions and jamon pata negra ham.
𝐄𝐆𝐆 πŒπ‚π’π€ππƒπ–πˆπ‚π‡: bacon, egg, cheese and sausage breakfast muffin that tastes weirdly like it was made at a popular chain with golden arches.

THE SWEETS

❖ momofuku's "cereal milk" ❖
❖ fette biscottate with a sour cherry jam and peanut floss ❖
❖ a warm cinnamon bun served with a shot of espresso coffee for dipping ❖
❖ a macadamia-marzipan croissant with a wattleseed and burnt-honey filling ❖
❖ poffertjes with a liquid nutella injection ❖


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.

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




ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE

CONTENT WARNINGS: drugs, alcohol, nudity, potential for nsfw.
POOLSIDE PLAYLIST courtesy of Robin

It's an innocent enough, offhand suggestion from the mouth of one (1) DIARMUID about wanting to learn how to paint, and honestly, the house couldn't agree more: a party is necessary. As August winds down, it's important to go out with a bang, and what better way than through an explosive end of summer pool party? To say goodbye to the waning summer nights, the manor is throwing a pool party with an artistic neon twist. Per the growing complications of everyone's relationship status in this new age of bisexuality, polygamy, and pegging, glow-in-the-dark bracelets with matching solo cups have been set out with the appropriate labels β€”Β TAKEN, SINGLE, OPEN, and IT'S COMPLICATED, depending on your interest. Lounge by the water in your cutest bikini or trunks or nothing at all and engage in some very relaxing full-body painting using the supplies provided β€” that is, the paint is supplied, though brushes and sponges are few and far between. Better just to use your own body to paint your masterpiece. Put yourself on display as a model by the pool, or engage in a brutally competitive game of chicken fights, wherein the loser loses their clothes and the winner gets to keep them.

Not your style? Sneak off somewhere more private like the twinkling gardens illuminated with multicolored tiki lamps, lakeside decorated with bio-luminescent rocks, or the (perfectly safe, wolfless, we promise) maze to indulge in your inner desires. You might find that certain colors glow beneath the moonlight and unlock desires you’ve kept tightly under lock and key. It's hard not to feel impulsive or unrestrained under the full moon's light, with your body paint as armor. People might appear more attractive to you under this witching light like a magic spell cast β€” but really, you haven’t had any trouble with that, here. Have you?

If you’re thirsty, the house has tasked RICHIE, CARMY, and SANJI (dressed as cabana boys) with an extensive poolside drinks menu, since they’ve been so helpful with breakfast. Thanks, boys. Ask them for anything. In fact, ask them for everything. They're here to serve.

As the night closes out, turn your eyes heavenward for a spectacular fireworks show. Many apologies to those of you who suffer from PTSD; you can head inside for an early night and cover your ears with a pillow, but do be careful not to suffocate yourself, unless you're into that. The fireworks shimmer and shatter, and those watching closely might start to see hidden messages written in the stars for you, though is that your eyes playing tricks? Better ask that friend you’re snuggled up with. As anxiety weighs a little heavier on your heart, you might feel compelled to confess a few secrets on this last night of summer, big or small, something loving or not. Seek out that destructive habit, or take some steps toward healing. Let the fireworks drown out the noise.






FRUITS OF LABOUR


CONTENT WARNINGS: body horror, gore, cannibalism.

Saying goodbye to summer means welcoming in the new season, and as August nights turn into September mornings, the landscape of the grounds changes from verdant greens to egg yolk yellow and sunburnt orange, a gradient of autumnal colors. To that end, a week long festival erects outside to enjoy the last of the year's good weather β€” a generous harvest bounty fills up tables and tables of ample displays, full of ripened fruits and fresh baked breads, baked potatoes roasted in the coals of a bonfire, sausages, wheels of cheese, marshmallows, cider and apple juice, tomato soup, apple and blackberry compote, rhubarb crumble, all richly decorated in sunset hues. Among the servings, anyone with a birthday in August or September will find themselves a individualized cake, perhaps with some motif to define them, otherwise just with the harvest decorations of gourds, leaves, wheat, and fruit. Alongside that, a new smaller maze has been made from hay bales on the lawn. During the day it's just a silly and fun maze, but at night it takes on a new form and characters can easily become lost and find themselves in a maze that seems to go on forever, with the ominous lowing of a bull somewhere in the distance. Luckily, everyone is released at daybreak, maybe a little traumatized, but all in one piece.

What would a festival be, without some games to indulge in? Around the celebratory grounds, there are four pumpkins painted gold, hidden around the festival. Anyone who finds one is entitled to a boon from your very generous hosts (join the race HERE). Hunting not to your tastes after the last few goose chases? No worries, there's plenty still to do β€” from apple bobbing, jumping over bonfires, throwing discus/shotput, horseshoes, and more, it's a festival jam packed with games and prizes to be won, from little jars of handmade jam from France, to stuffed chicken plushies, to tin cans with the labels ripped off, full of ... well, it's anyone's guess, really. Crack it open and find out!

In honor of the handfasting ceremony, characters are selected at random and tied together at the wrist, much to everyone's amusement. Once knotted, the ribbon will not give way under any physical or magical duress, meaning you'll be stuck together until the tie undoes on its own. It could be day, a night, two nights, or more, but it seems like the ribbon is waiting for something in particular β€”Β a genuine heart to heart, maybe? Consummating the marriage? Hopefully you like the person you're tied to, because you're going to be spending a lot of time with your temporary spouse, in immediately close quarters.

At the end of the week, there's a final end of summer ceremony, wherein the vampire ARMAND is given special homage for being an especially adored guest, donned in floral regalia and ordained with crowns of flowers, much to his growing malcontent. In fact, he and all the vampires present in house seem to be given the regal treatment from the staff with less grand flower crowns of their own, honored at the head of the festival's final gluttonous table, lined with naked, giggling bodies covered in autumnal produce, sprouting mushrooms, blooming flowers, and distinctly meaty dishes β€” steak and kidney pie, blood sausage, pumpkins stuffed with zebra meat. It's only after you drink the wildflower tea and locally (Very, Locally) crafted beer that things start to feel a little off. The happy bodies used as serving platters look sometimes, between one blink and the next, like masticated corpses, the gourds and fruits set more deeply in the cornucopia their opened chest cavities make. Despite that, there's no real sense of death in the air β€” get a better look, and you might find the veins of the dead work more like the vines for the plants, giving them life.

The question becomes: which is the hallucination? The smiling faces or the blooming corpses?

Though hysteria rankles through the crowd the more people come to terms with the visions they're seeing, given the population at the head of the table, it's a fairly easy riddle to crack. Can vampires eat the cursed food? In short: yes, they can. Sorry we made you eat people again.



DIRECTORY


chaosmenu: (pic#17353047)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-13 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
She sounds so shocked at the idea of him working that it startles an abrupt laugh out of him. "I mean, they made me work this event. I'm not usually serving staff, I'm a chef, they brought me here to be a chef. But apparently I gotta pay my dues." Socially, he means, not with real currency: his role at the pool party feels like hazing, like a weird punishment from the head butler for being interested in crossing whatever line there is for guests and staff.
rationalism: (78)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-09-13 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
The little crease between his eyebrows is charming, the deep concentration on such a simple, silly task.

"When I was kid one of my foster dads was really into, um, art therapy. We used to go on walks to find the best, flattest, roundest rocks and he taught me how to paint those little mandalas on them." Her hand lifts between them and she presses her first finger to the tip of his nose like she is dotting it with phantom paint, then to the bridge of his nose, then to that little crease between his eyebrows.

"Have I changed your mind about sunsets?"
chaosmenu: (pic#17353165)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-13 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
Her little touches get a smile, the crease easing as he relaxes. "Nope," he says, unapologetic, "Sunrises are still way better."

He's mixing blue, now, but trying to seem more chill about it. "I've been messing around with art ever since I can remember," he says. "Mostly coloured pencils, and dollar shop water colors." Not a lot of actual paint, but he's kind of having fun learning how differently colours blend in this medium, and by not picking some specific shape he can be chill about how imprecise it is, slapping skin-safe water based body paint down on skin. He runs a finger over her sternum, collecting up some excess paint and wiping it on the egg carton.

"I dunno if it's therapeutic. I guess? It's like... it's just for me, so it doesn't have to be good. I can play around with it." Probably the only thing in his life he could classify as play.
kobes: ([:|] that's a terrible idea)

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-13 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Koby frowns, turning towards the noise, shoulders tight, tense. He can empathize for the story, having read it and felt -- that it wasn't fair to the Minotaur, that he hadn't chosen to be like he was. Most of the myths had these sorts of setups, someone always treated poorly to even start the story.

Still -- he crosses his arms tightly over his chest, shoulders still scrunched up close to his ears, looking down the long, dark, misty length of the passage they're in. Having empathy doesn't mean he isn't cautious, isn't immediately planning for the worst possible outcome.
]

Does he know who's a friend and who isn't, though? Or is he -- just angry and hurt enough to attack everyone? If it's really him, he's...people do terrible things when they're scared.
hyperthymic: (124)

pool (if this isn't okay lemme know!)

[personal profile] hyperthymic 2024-09-13 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
Ey! Lip!

[ There's a rather tall redheaded guy headed in Carmy's direction, having spotted him tucked away in a corner, a grin on his face as he approaches. Ian is relieved to say the least to see him, even though - he's dressed in... he stares at the man he currently believes is his older brother with a confused look. Is this another college party thing--even though he's been expelled? He's not drinking, is he? Without waiting for any response, he claps him on his shoulder in a way that speaks of familiarity. ]

What the fuck're you wearing, man?
rationalism: (9)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-09-13 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, we all have flaws." His is his sunrise nonsense.

Goosebumps ripple across her arms and she squirms the tiniest bit, clearly trying not to squirm but the chill of the paint against her warm skin makes her shiver.

"That is part of the point of art therapy. At least for me." She huffs a sort of sheepish laugh. "You know, being a kid no one wants, sometimes you think you have to be perfect in order for people to love you. But there's no such thing as perfect art."

It's a lot of unload on him in such a conversational tone, but that might also stem from her foster kid days. Gotta get all in information out fast because she'll probably be shipped out somewhere else soon enough.
chaosmenu: (pic#17353162)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-13 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. Fuck. Yeah." A sentiment he's so fucking familiar with that it blows him away. He wasn't a foster kid - but he was the same kind of unwanted. That's exactly why he obsesses over elaborately plated food, and exactly why his personal art is a relief.

This is a relief, messy colours, streaking orange in with the soft eggshell blue. He puts a palm on her bicep, paint smeared over her tattoos, which he keeps meaning to ask about but not right now because right now he's saying, "I kinda like you imperfect," painfully honest. Pink high on his cheeks.
sonatinas: (bridgertons3ep1-85)

[personal profile] sonatinas 2024-09-13 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
[She looks shocked upon seeing someone else there, and her hands cannot help but touch gentle, almost in shock. Delicate fingers move from her arms, shaking slightly as she tries to find the words. It is nothing she has seen, but there is something there surely. This cannot be in her mind. The other woman does not look familiar to her though, so she's withdrawing suddenly, but looking behind her in fear.]

I heard something-- someone or something behind me, but... [It should be there. Should it not? Something rustles in the distance though. It does not sound like a retreat, but it's not direct pursuit either.]

My-- my apologies. I-- [She starts, mouth open, but she has no words. She shakes her head lightly before swallowing. Francesca knows it is not her though, has seen too much on this estate. If it is her mind, it is something that has been played with. But otherwise? It is not her.]

It is this place. This was meant to be fun.
rationalism: (78)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-09-13 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
Her toothy smile crinkles up her nose, easy and comfortable even as she shakes her head, a soft laugh on her voice. "Don't fucking give me butterflies, I'll kick your ass."

But damn it.

"I kinda like you too." Imperfect is implied, but she wants him to know she likes him. Full stop. It feels deeply stupid considering how displaced she is, how she is definitely probably maybe going to jail for the implosion of her in laws and late husband but.

She simply likes him.
sonatinas: (bridgertons3ep3-15)

[personal profile] sonatinas 2024-09-13 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
"You are a chef?" Her brows raise, not meaning to repeat him, but it did make her smile, and she sat back with a look. "So you are the reason breakfast is different."

It was not truly accusatory, but Francesca was used to her routine here. She did not always go down for it, sometimes the larger hall with everyone filtering in and out was a lot for her, but if she was early enough, she might stop to see what was now being made. She was used to private chefs after all.

"I suppose you are the second now with some sort of job here. They have hired a new piano player at Otherworld." The club she sometimes played at during the day. She had opinions on him, it was clear, though not overly negative ones. It was nice to hear someone else play. Sometimes.
butwearenotmen: (p r o t e c t e d)

[personal profile] butwearenotmen 2024-09-13 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
[Daenerys does not have an idea what it is that is happening, what the creatures that look like men, but clearly are not, are. She is not frantic, not like some of the others fleeing, but her purple eyes are wide. Like this, here? She is defenseless. She has no bannerman, no allies, no dragons.

It is not a good feeling, but she will not be weak either, not outwardly anyway. She has no real way to defend herself, but she will not go down so easily either if what they are seeing is true. It is like some instances it is nothing-- the vegetation of a bountiful harvest before a winter, and then the next moment, the bloody remains of a corpse.

It is jarring, enough to still her when the visions switch again. She is nearly shook when a darkhaired woman approaches to her side, making her turn. The woman does not look familiar to her though.]


Take me then. [Now is not a good time to ask questions, and it certainly could be a trap. A Targaryen, the last of her name, could still fetch a price, but she does think they are far beyond that now.]
kobes: ([:(] is this a date?)

cw: cannibalism

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-13 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
Serpents, sure, or -- giant fish, whales, other creatures. Most of them are bloodthirsty and dangerous, though. Especially on the Grand Line. It's a toss-up whether the monsters or the pirates are more dangerous, there. Pirate graveyard. [Koby tends to get a little dramatic when talking about the Grand Line, okay, he's heard a lot of stories.]

There are parties, every month, like clockwork -- they're themed, they appear overnight, and sometimes they bring new guests in. The first one, people were...changed. Transformed. They -- ate each other. [His voice is trembling a little, remembering.] Some of my friends and I, we were in a different...strange place, before this. It was much, much worse there, but...it taught us not to trust people who won't let us leave and won't tell us what they can do or why.

[Another pause, a serious frown.] ...having sex? I'm assuming?
preborns: ([down] taken aback)

[personal profile] preborns 2024-09-13 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
[It’s cowardly, Alia knows, to seek the quiet calm hidden in another person’s arms, to block out the world from the safety of that place where neck and shoulder meet. It’s where a child might hide, fearful and confused by a sudden noise, a new sight, the unfamiliarity of the world driving them back to their mother’s skirts again and again. But Alia had never been that child, born into a world she already knew and comprehended fully. Her fear had been absurd, illogical, with the memories of a thousand past Reverend Mothers implanted in her infant mind.

And yet, she had felt it. Like she feels it now, perhaps all at once, perhaps every fear she’s ever, ever had, all bubbling up at once.

The woman murmurs to her, and even in her panic, Alia feels that the words have weight, meaning. They aren’t simple platitudes. This stranger knows. So she pulls back, face tearstreaked, eyes haunted, hollow.
]

No…no, it won’t. It won’t bring him back. It can’t – keep him here, where he’s happy. [Another firework bursts overhead, and she shudders, squeezing her eyes shut tight, hands seeking the woman’s arms, clinging tight.] I have to be – courageous. For him, here. Now.
preborns: ([up] just a girl)

[personal profile] preborns 2024-09-13 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Alia tilts her head slightly, delicate and birdlike, blinking her wide eyes a few times. There’s a sweetness to Diarmuid she is unaccustomed to, bright and pure, uncomplicated in a way that makes her chest ache with strange tenderness. She was never truly a child, never innocent that way, and it had always made her cautious to see in any others, too used to such softness being met with punishment. The desert is cruel to any who are weak, any who cannot fight and kill to defend themselves.

She draws a little closer, resting her cheek on his shoulder, fondly, squeezing his arm.
] I will win you all the prizes in this place of revelry, and if I meet any others as untrue and cruel as that man, who may stand against me, I will destroy them.

[Well. So much for curbing the edge of her violence.]
chaosmenu: (pic#17353070)

THIS IS PERFECT, THANK YOU

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-13 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ There is zero familiarity in Carmy's eyes, and he's a little prickly after so many strangers feeling free to touch him, but there's something in that shoulder-clap that reminds Carmy of his own late brother, and his insides turn strange with fond grief for a moment.

It doesn't occur to him that Lip is a name rather than some slang he doesn't know, so after a confused beat he tries to take this friendliness in stride.
]

I uh- I fucking know, right?

[ He even sounds like Lip, that particular accent that comes of trying to get out of lower class Chicago to somewhere better, get taken more seriously. Older, though, and more awkward, and aside from the delta triangle on his chest, different tattoos. ]

No, man, they said it's the service uniform. Fucking thematic or some shit.
dead_tongue: (gosh)

cw: cannibalism

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2024-09-13 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Iggy hushes, looking suitably impressed.] Really? Why does anybody go to the Grand Line, then?

[Iggy rubs one of his temples. He thinks, vaguely, of the cloying sweetness of buttercream icing. The need to eat. To be eaten. But the thoughts won't coalesce into anything solid.] ...yeah. Yeah, probably a good idea. But you can still have fun, you know? The world is always strange and dangerous, after all.

[Iggy stares, and then cracks up laughing in near total silence.]

Koby! You're hilarious! Okay, I believe you're real and not a figment of my imagination because I'm not that clever.
microbasil: (pic#17353543)

[personal profile] microbasil 2024-09-13 08:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Right?"

Grinning with pride, Richie peers down over his shoulder, trying to get a good look at it. The angle is one of the annoying things about it being on his backside. He's got plenty of other scars -- the nicks and dings of growing up a little wild, burns from the kitchen -- but this is the one with the best story.

"Before. Got it a few years ago. Blitzed out of my fucking mind. I think it was a dare. Pretty cool, right?"

He pulls his shorts up and turns back around, still smiling down at Grace.

"So now we're, like, even. So you don't have to worry about anything. We're both fucking badasses."
microbasil: (pic#17353547)

[personal profile] microbasil 2024-09-13 08:58 am (UTC)(link)
As far as Richie's concerned it is still on him, but for once he resists the urge to argue about it. He knows how futile it is to try to talk Carmy down from this particular ledge, and he's right, it is bullshit. The job is bullshit and the party is bullshit, mostly because Carmy says it is.

Rather than fighting him on the point, Richie circles up in front of him, taking the offered cigarette. Takes a draw on it, offers it back.

"Thought you were quitting," he observes on the exhale, a number of weeks too late but there hasn't been a good time to needle Carmy about it before. "Fucking bad for you, cuz."
microbasil: (pic#17353536)

[personal profile] microbasil 2024-09-13 08:58 am (UTC)(link)
It's the first service of the new menu -- or at least what will probably stay the new menu, though nobody can really tell with Carmy -- and Richie's that mixture of pumped and exhausted that comes from getting through a significant milestone. He's split his time between expo and the front of house, wanting to be in as many places as possible, and has plenty of notes on how they can do it better next time.

He's stacking glasses onto a tray and thinking about whether they could fit a couple two-tops along the wall instead of the warming trays when he's interrupted by one of the hottest women he's seen since arriving in the manor. Small and perfect, like she's stepped out of a magazine. The kind of woman that makes him feel big and strong and masculine. He's glimpsed her around the place, but hasn't had a chance to catch her name, which he immediately regrets.

Richie grins at the compliment, but the pleasure in his expression lasts only as long as it takes for Parisa to ask him about Carmy, at which point it's wiped away and replaced by an aggrieved scowl. He rolls his eyes.

"Fuckin' Carmy, I knew it!" He throws the napkin he's been using to wipe the table onto the tray, punctuating his annoyance. "Chicks always go for the big sad eyes. Or the tattoos. Is it the tattoos? Fuck! Look, I've got better things to do than make sure that little jagoff gets his dick wet, okay?"
chaosmenu: (pic#17353160)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-13 10:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Fuck you, I know that," Carmy says. He didn't really quit for his health, and he hadn't really felt an improvement in it during the gum era, but he understands like, in theory, smoking kills and all that shit.

Takes a step forward, getting in Richie's space a little. Almost but not quite shoulder-checking his chest, but not actually touching him outside of the brush of their hands as he takes back the cigarette. "I only did it for the restaurant. And it made me..." Insane. More insane. Withdrawals from both Richie and cigarettes, to the point he can't really untangle the relief he feels here, having them both back. "It didn't work. So whatever."

He can hear that he's too aggro, can't keep the asshole tone out of his voice even though it isn't really directed at Richie, he's just picking a fight.
unapparent: (305)

fireworks.

[personal profile] unapparent 2024-09-13 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ leaning on the hand nearest embry, alicent reaches across her chest to curl her fingers over his on the neck of the bottle, not taking it but rather guiding it to her lips. she needn’t keep them there, thumb skimming the back of his hand, but she does.

the sight of her, fluted sleeve brushing his arm, teal skirts pulled to her thighs as her legs shift in the water, would incite her ruin in westeros and bring a shame on her storied house that would last centuries. recently, however, she has decided to savour that they are far from the court and its vermin. the tanned skin of her bared collar and shoulders prove it, warmed by sunny afternoons spent with embry and her daily swim in the lake. ]


[ in a mild tone, ] Two more than I.

[ despite being married. viserys had never proposed, in so many words, sunk down on a creaking knee. he had sat before her, hands clasping hers. i’ve been inundated with proposals and propositions from friends and family, allies and rivals, all seeking to take his dearest wife’s place, but i’ve decided it’s you, lady alicent. of all the ladies in the keep and noblewomen across the realm, it would be the hightower girl whose father had walked her to the king’s chambers and instructed comfort. how she would laugh to see it now, such a blatant play for power from her father and the southron alliance. her fool husband, her ailing king. in his place, she’d flay any upstart girl-child that slithered into her sons’ chambers.

back then, she’d only cried. ]


Your Ash? [ she wagers, quietly daring. this boldness breaks the rules of their engagement, in which he pushes and she demurs, playing the rake and the lady. to soften the blow, she hooks her arm around his and leans closer. ]
microbasil: (pic#17340756)

[personal profile] microbasil 2024-09-13 11:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, no shit."

Paying back the aggro tone and not moving out of their shared space. This close, he can almost feel the heat coming off Carmy's skin. In the shadows of the dimly lit garden, Richie tracks his gaze over the planes and angles of Carmy's face, where the light makes him look strange and perfect.

"You're so fucking tense, cuz."

Richie puts a hand up, takes hold of the back of Carmy's neck, feels the cold sweat on his skin. Not the first time, but the first time since they've been doing what they're doing now, so there are new layers to it, a new familiarity, an animal thrill to be touching him. Especially when he sets his other hand against Carmy's face and thumbs over his cheekbone.

"Let me help. C'mon."
chaosmenu: (pic#17353056)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-13 11:53 am (UTC)(link)
It's really good, Richie's big warm palm scruffing him like a kitten. He wants to be wrapped up in that feeling, overpowered and enveloped by it. A shaky breath through his nose, lashes fluttering low for a long moment. Arguing with himself internally. Leaning into Richie's space while he does it.

This is all new, is the thing, but new in a way where their dynamic hasn't strictly shifted, it just has all this other shit threaded through it now. Layers of meaning. Fucking - yearning, if he's being honest with himself, which he's not. He shouldn't be letting Richie touch him out in the open like this, but Richie says let me and Carmy yearns.

Then: "Okay," he says, meeting Richie's gaze again. Sounding sure, even though he's not, doesn't even really know what he's okaying. A massage? A handjob? A valium? Honestly, he'd be fine with all three right now, or even just something to struggle against until his feelings of anger and insecurity and self-loathing settle the fuck down. "I dunno what the fuck you think you can do, cousin, but okay."
microbasil: (pic#17353548)

[personal profile] microbasil 2024-09-13 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
One word shouldn't have the sort of power that Carmy's soft okay does. It bursts like a little firework behind Richie's ribs, sends a pulse down into his dick, good enough that he can ignore the rest of Carmy trying to fight his way out of a good thing like he always does.

He nods to himself like he's agreeing and moves both hands to hold Carmy's face, looking down at him for a moment before he leans in and kisses him.

All of their kisses up until now have been pretty good, fantastic even, soft and wet and hot, urgent or sleepy. But they've been the product of compulsions, the inevitable conclusion of a set of chemical imbalances and physical touch. This time Richie moves with purpose, with a conscious desire to kiss Carmen with every bit of knowledge he's built up over two and a half decades of dares and second dates, marital bed good mornings and backseat making out and heavy petting, everything he's learned about how to kiss people and mean it. Wanting to make him feel wanted and special. Wanting to turn him on like a tap and make his knees weak.

Responsive and warm, firm but not too firm, teasing Carmy's mouth until his lips part and he can taste him, cigarette smoke and stress. Then pulling him closer, letting himself groan softly and letting Carmy hear and feel that groan, sliding his hand into his hair. Tightening his fingers in his curls a little, pulling gently. Kissing him some more, deep and hungry and thorough, until he's satisfied he can move away and start layering licking and mouthing at his jaw, down his throat, kissing and sucking gently, nuzzling beard-scratchiness against his skin.
chaosmenu: (pic#17340791)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-13 12:36 pm (UTC)(link)
What the fuck.

That's Carmy's first thought, when he finally manages to have one again. It's easily the best he's ever been kissed, like, it's lapped all previous kisses - and there's a fair few more of those than his scant amount of hookups, because Richie was right that women get really into the sad eyes and the tattooed musculature and go for it. Carmy thought he understood kissing, like, he'd mastered the technicalities of it, not like when he was sixteen and kissed like he was trying to swallow a whole orange. He knows when to use teeth and when not, all that shit. But this makes that feel like amateur hour. Richie kisses him with this warm dominance that lights up his whole body.

He is weak-kneed when Richie moves to his neck, breathing fast as interest pings back and forth between his chest and groin, makes him feel like hot syrup all over. "Jesus, Richie," he whispers, clinging to his shoulders - not swooning, he's not fucking swooning, it's just a lot. The cigarette gave him headspins. (The cigarette is no longer in his hands, he dropped it around when Richie made that fucking noise.) Was he pissed about something? He's forgotten.