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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


longitudinal: (2013878_900)

[personal profile] longitudinal 2024-09-14 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
There are things he can answer later - why he steals Koby's toothpaste, his favorite color, anything the other wants to know, but there's something about the nerves and hesitance that makes his stomach churn. Maybe he's having second thoughts - which he wouldn't question. He wouldn't bat an eye.

But then -

"Assume what?"

He tilts his head, brow dipping a little bit as Koby continues to explain, working through how and what to talk about and suddenly it clicks. Quentin's eyes widen a little bit and he huffs a little laugh, reaching up to cradle the other's face between his palms, soothed as well by the way Koby's fingers play around his piercing familiar and warm.

"I love you," he says quietly, where only they can hear, wanting this moment to be intimate and for them, even among the business of the pool. "My true north, my Captain. I'm your first mate, remember? It's your dock I'll wait on until you come home, and at the end of the day there will be us, no matter the rest."

He looks into Koby's nervous face and he can feel the inkling of doubt welling in the pit of his own stomach - the same hesitance from earlier when he'd seen the band around Koby's wrist. "If you want that, only if you want that. I don't know what it's called here, what titles and things they give to two people like you and I. But I want you to be mine, I want to be yours. There will be other seas we dally in, and other people but - if you -"

And there it is - the hint of nerves now, the confident bravado slipping, his fingers curling against Koby's skin.

"I didn't mean to make it complicated or... or make you worry. I'm sorry. I truly am. You can wear whatever bracelet you like - whatever is... is true to how you're feeling. That's the point, isn't it?"

A small smile. And there's no confession about the two purple bands he's hidden in his towel at his spot.
longitudinal: (1994014_900)

[personal profile] longitudinal 2024-09-14 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the pressure of something in his mind unsettles him, unmoors him in a way that someone with vertigo might feel, someone who hasn't yet gotten his sealegs beneath him. it makes him think of tatiana, the way her illusions and mirrors would warp his vision and his mind whenever she practiced on him. whenever they dreamed of escaping together.

he smiles through it all though, easy and pliant, enjoying the humid heat of the pool room and the cool drink. ]


You asked, I couldn't disappoint.

[ another grin as he takes up the seat beside her, dark eyes watching her, curious. ]

Visions of the sea? I'm jealous. The sea is a beautiful thing to be able to imagine.
rakta: (pic#16248477)

[personal profile] rakta 2024-09-14 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Her eyes are caught on Alia's bathing suit almost immediately, drinking her in, devouring her with a dark gaze. The strange, desperate connection she feels towards this woman is not something she can put into words, not something she can express without embarrassing herself, and so she bites her tongue instead. Lauralae thinks that Alia might be aware of it all the same, may have read between the lines of her mind and her touch and found out her secrets without even trying. ]

I am no artist. [ Not exactly a lie; she is no professional, not necessarily as skilled as the masters who sell their works for grand amounts, but she is talented enough to draw herbs and flowers, to keep account of the healing and the harming that they can do. Her own book is tucked away in her room back at the mansion, hidden from prying eyes who might devour the information to be gleaned from reading it.

Turning her body to face the other woman properly, Lauralae hesitates before she nods her head. ]


Any design you wish.
rakta: (pic#17331218)

[personal profile] rakta 2024-09-14 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
There are some here who's touch would have her recoiling, turning away and burning with the strangeness of it; the intimacy of even a hand on her arm, her skin, is far too much for her at times. It does not feel so with Armand, who settles in her mind as though he belongs there, who has already shown her pleasure and accepted what parts of her are more dangerous and feral. If she were to be some other creature, she thinks, Lauralae would imagine herself to be one of his kind.

It would feel easy to slip into that role, to let her teeth bite for purpose for a change.

Tilting into his touch, unable to resist, she nods her head in understanding. Age-old, older than she is, which seems a rarity in this place where there are so many young things. Her age might scream ancient to a human, but to elvenkind she scraped the surface of her eternal life; one century is meaningless when you can live for hundreds.

"I see no reason not to play along," she admits, finally, voice low and careful. "Their magics are powerful, but nothing here offends. It is natural. Exciting." And she wants more of it, the urge to bite and sink her claws into the offerings almost too much to ignore.
metalkinetic: (pic#17247522)

[personal profile] metalkinetic 2024-09-14 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Erik might be about to explode from the inside out, actually. ]

We're not going to be able to cut it.

[ An interruption, finally, and Erik turns to give the man beside him the most deadpan, irritated look he can muster, which - considering he's killed his fair share of people - could be quite intimidating. ]

Knowing this place, it's going to take a little more than that.
metalkinetic: (pic#17249555)

[personal profile] metalkinetic 2024-09-14 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Matt.

[ His eyes flick over the bracelets, amused, as if his own isn't giving away its fair share without his consent. Rather than getting dramatic about it, he simply motions to the space beside him; there are far more offensive people that could've approached him today. ]

Make yourself comfortable.

[ He doesn't mind the intrusion, and wouldn't hesitate to tell Matt to fuck off otherwise. ]

You look like you've been busy.
kobes: ([:)] be a good pirate)

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-14 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
The hands on his face, callused and warm and wet from the pool, get a soft huffing laugh, because -- he's being silly. It's Quentin, who's never made it painful or hard or scary to be with him, who silences every hissing, snarling, hurtful voice in Koby's head without even trying. It's his own fears getting in the way (again and again), not anything Quentin says or does, his own thoughts going a hundred miles an hour into every fearful, fraught direction -- what if he changes his mind, what if he disappears, what if I disappear, what if the house changes us somehow and we can't be together, what if we trip and stumble into another world, what if what if what if?

Koby reaches up, covers Quentin's hands on his face, squeezing gently and looking up at him. "It's not you. You don't make anything complicated, you make it -- effortless. You bring me out of my head, remember?" Turning, he kisses one palm, then the other, tilts his head into the first, apologetic and fond and sheepish all at once. "I love you. I want -- to be with you here and now, and later and whatever comes next. I want to wake up next to you as -- as often as I can, and I want to go to sleep next to you and I want to see you in between and tell you who I've met and what I've done and hear what you've seen and done and I want to."

He falters, bites at his lower lip, squeezing Quentin's hands tight. "I want to tell everyone who you are. That I'm yours." He'd thought it would echo back -- mine, always be mine -- would be soured by those words, by that hissing, snarling voice. But it doesn't. But it isn't. And Koby smiles, and something tight and aching and scarred in his chest releases, at last, at last. "If you -- want me to be. If you want that too. That's -- what I want."

One more breath, then, blurting it out: "Do you want. To go out with me? And be my, um. Be. Um. Boy -- friends? That's what it's -- that's what it's called? I think?" Rapidly turning bright red, Koby wheezes out a laugh, tugging Quentin's hands up to cover his face, mumbling from behind them: "Do you want that, whatever the word is?"
toyboy: in spite of all he did to you (but you feel the same)

Β« NEW CHARACTER Β» connor | deviant path | detroit: become human

[personal profile] toyboy 2024-09-14 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
prompt 1: welcome_to_saltburn
[ despite his capabilities, connor arrives at breakfast just as confused as anyone else. he hadn't woken with a hangover, but it was odd enough to reboot and find himself laying in an unfamiliar bed with a maid at the door. he hadn't known what else to do than to go to the meal that was on offer, and it seems to him when he arrives in one of the outfits left in the closet that it was the correct choice.

analyzing the faces surrounding him, he comes to the conclusion that he isn't the only one who's arrived under mysterious circumstances. a mass kidnapping? he's given some odd looks when the only thing he orders is a glass of water β€” but he either doesn't notice, or doesn't care.

instead, once the orders have been taken, he leans toward the person sitting nearest to him and asks, ]


Did you also arrive this morning?

prompt 2: pool_party
[ the pool itself holds no real allure, but the people do. connor spends his time time at the party sitting in the shade beneath a colorful umbrella, wearing a pair of small black shorts β€” the boxer-briefs that came with his uniform. they double up fine as swim shorts, even if the waistband is emblazoned in LED with his model number, RK800, and cyberlife's company name. his hands folded primly in his lap, LED blinking blue, he analyzes anyone and everyone who wanders close enough with a placid look on his soft face, doe-brown eyes darting from person to person to person. though no matter how he tries, he can't connect to his database, so the most information he gets out of it is the stress level of the various individuals passing by.

if only the lieutenant were here. he could really use a partner on this case. ]

prompt 3: fruits_of_labor
_cake
[ though connor doesn't have a birthday per se, his activation date was in august, and for that reason he finds himself with a personalized cake decorated with winding silver fondant vines and blue icing roses, his model number, RK800, written in icing in the center.

none of which he can eat.

he turns to someone nearby. ]


Excuse me? Would you like to have this? It seems a shame for it to go to waste.

_cornucopia (cw: cannibalism)
[ he's an idiot for not analyzing the food sooner.

as nice as the venue, this is still a kidnapping case, but it's only after connor politely sips the tea that he sees the truth for what it is β€” even as errors collect in his log, he refuses to believe he could fall victim to a hallucinatory. and it only takes a small sample pressed to his tongue to confirm it. his LED circles red, red, red. if he had a stomach, he would be sick to it. the rich waft of dinner makes him dizzy, and he moves away from the display on unsteady legs, static fizzing up and down his circuits in a nauseating feedback loop.

in a tight voice, he says to the next person he stumbles into, ]


Don't eat the food.

[ before attempting to shoulder past and go on his way. there's nothing he can do. he has no authority in this place. there's no point in letting his distress get the better of him here. ]
Edited 2024-09-15 00:10 (UTC)
forzare: (Default)

[personal profile] forzare 2024-09-15 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, well. "Asshole" is just how they say "hey, friend!" in their neck of the woods; had this guy whipped out something about Dresden's mom, they might have had a problem. As it stands, it's just an on-the-nose assessment β€” one that rings particularly true as Dresden's eyes light up with a certain be-shittery befitting an asshole. A tall one, that slouches to the side in his big fancy chair and still doesn't have to do anything more than look left and meet Carmy's eye.

His legs are stretched out under the table. Pool noodles in nondescript sweats.

"Oh, buddy β€” to anyone else you'd be singing hymns to the Pope, but I'm afraid you're talking to a King here." That crooked grin spreads across his face, tugging at the long scar through chin, lip and raking up through his temple as he does his best to simper and play pretend like he's just as fancy as any Balfour at the table; "A Burger King, at that. Maccas doesn't know how to touch me the right way. That Sydney might, though."

A huge pause, after his mouth runs away from him and he finally takes in the chef whites. The general, uh. Sweaty chic of a guy who's been in the kitchen. And he adds, smile creasing sheepishly: " β€” you're the guy cooking, huh?" Whoops.
waterdhavianwizard: gale dekarios from baldur's gate 3 thinking very hard [a middle aged white man with shoulder-length greying brown hair and a tidy, close-cropped beard] (thinking | @inkonic)

a-maze-ing

[personal profile] waterdhavianwizard 2024-09-15 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Gale leaves Waterdeep to die, and wakes up in what could have been his own bedroom.

More happens in between, of course. A Mindflayer ship in the sky, waking up in a chamber with a searing discomfort behind his eye, seeing a few other figures trying to fight their way out. The ship exploding, a last-ditch effort at a weak portal, inky blackness as the spiraling fall renders him unconscious. And then the room, so discomfitingly familiar when he jolts awake that he feels dizzy.

The house is -- strange. It's familiar: sprawling manors are a copper-a-dozen in Waterdeep's wealthier wards. Trollskull, long abandoned with a bar tended by some unseen spirit, or the uneasiness of the Cassalanter estate, in the days when Gale still held enough status to warrant an invitation. But this place has a presence those houses don't: something closer to the thrumming hunger that still lingers in his chest. Alive but not quite alive. Aware with an uncomfortable, single-minded need.

There's people too, too many, all unknown, and some sort of party. The clothes he finds in the closet are nice enough, a sweater in a pattern reminiscent of the signature Waterdhavian style and simple trousers.

But the noise, and the mystery of his arrival, and the myriad other unknowns are swiftly overwhelming, and it drives Gale to find the sorts of places on the grounds he might be left to his own devices as he tries to get his bearings. There's no shortage of hedge mazes for the wealthy in Waterdeep, either, a novelty he has never quite understood, but his confidence in his own ability to navigate is stripped away by inches every time it seems like something shifts around him.

A voice from what feels like nowhere makes him jump, and Gale presses a hand to his chest instinctively as he whips around to find the source. His thumbs massage restlessly over whisps of purple creeping up from the collar of his sweater.]


I -- yes. [He laughs, a little awkwardly.] I was overconfident, I think. It's more convoluted than it looks. I suppose there's some relief in knowing it's not just me. [With an air of practiced brightness:] I'm Gale, of Waterdeep.
semicharmed: (coat)

[personal profile] semicharmed 2024-09-15 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ Matt drops lightly onto the spot indicated on the pool chair, careful as he settles to make sure none of his paint slides over the edge of the plate. His smile brightens a touch as he regards Erik more closely. ]

The peaceful and productive kind of busy, so far, [ he says. His gentle way of trying to assure Erik that he hasn't been doing anything lately that could get him stabbed. ] I use paint in a lot of my enchantments, although usually it isn't body paint.

[ Though the notion appeals. Matt's anti-demon tattoo is a spell written on the body, of a sort, and he's dipped his toes into harnessing kinetic energy to power enchantments--foot traffic, that kind of thing. There's every reason to believe spells done in body paint could work pretty well. ]
semicharmed: (smiles!)

i can't read so i never notice

[personal profile] semicharmed 2024-09-15 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
The duration of her regard doesn't faze him. Matt returns her attention with an intent, judgment-free curiosity.

His expression turns both brighter and visibly puzzled at the familiarity of the strange girl's reaction, before he remembers that oh, right, he said a lot of shit to a lot of people while he was on drugs, and also made himself visibly identifiable to a number of people who did not return the favor-slash-curse.

"I'm a free man," he agrees with a smile. "Uh, but don't worry about it--I can keep asking around. You look so peaceful, I really don't wanna make you get up."
thirsted: (Default)

[personal profile] thirsted 2024-09-15 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ That tutting gets an annoyed ha of disbelief, the kind that typically precedes quite a bit of fussing, but her last few words β€” one husband has been enough for a lifetime β€” gets a genuine laugh, the furrow in his brow smoothing out as he ... doesn't quite accept their lot, but at least removes whatever sense of blame he'd held toward her. (It'd been an unfair instinct, though he'd never admit as much out loud. Her trembling during the little ceremony, the sight of her nails β€” once, perhaps, he'd have been inclined to prod and poke at her, like scratching at an open wound, but nowβ€” well, she hardly seems to need the added trouble.) ]

Am I so unappealing? [ he asks, his tone airy enough to make it clear that he's joking. ] And here I'd thought we had something special.

[ Still, he's already let go of the ribbon, though he glances sidelong at it now. There's not enough leeway under their wrists for him to slide a knife beneath, not without breaking skin, and the knot is mysteriously impenetrable, even to him. Part of him thinks even dismemberment wouldn't be enough to sever their imposed bond. ]

I suppose I should have known better than to think anything to do with this blasted estate would do us the courtesy of being simple.

[ Then, oblivious to the minefield he's wading into: ] Tell me about him, then. Your husband. Glad to be rid of him?
thirsted: (Default)

[personal profile] thirsted 2024-09-15 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ The other man pauses β€” so does Astarion. Everyone else he's encountered has passed by without much note, with little more than a smile or a nod, so anything else stands out (or, rather, triggers a sort of self-preservation instinct, an unwillingness to show this stranger his back). Little details strike him as similar to Armand, too β€” something about his eyes, the shape of his nails β€” and he's less willing to ascribe them to coincidence than, perhaps, a shared nature.

On top of all that, Lestat's beauty is the kind Astarion has learned not to trust, especially after so many years of relying upon his own to entrap and ensnare prey.
]

And I, you.

[ Truth, if also flattery.

He shifts his weight from foot to foot, head cocking slightly as he considers his next words, whether to try to disentangle himself and move on, or see this meeting through.

With a wave at the hedges around them:
] I could be convinced to change direction. I've been told two heads are better than one.
kobes: ([:)] oh phew)

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-15 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
They’re really nice trunks, too. [Koby says it very earnestly, sitting down in the chair across from Usopp and setting a hand on his knee.] And I promise there’s some good stuff here still. Lots of it. Everyone’s really nice, and your whole crew is here. That’s something, right?

[Squeezing his knee, Koby hesitates for a moment, wanting to be gentle about – it all.] They do, yeah. Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Shanks and I were in…another place, before this. It was much, much worse. And then Luffy came here like you did, after we left that place.

[He’s careful about it, not wanting to go too deeply into what exactly β€œmuch, much worse” means – it’s violent and horrific and complicated and some of it is for the others to tell.] But we’ve all missed you, a lot. A whole lot.
kobes: ([:|] now what)

yesssssss

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-15 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
[It’s dusk, the bonfires more for show than any practical reasons – though the gardeners do feed them with trimmings and branches from the hedges, heaving them in great bunches to make them spark and flare higher towards the twilit sky. Koby’s been careful about his task, carrying a stack of files through the numerous bonfires – not in the least bit uncommon for him, by now. Nearly everyone’s seen the earnest young man cart huge armfuls of books or papers or files around the estate, which almost has him able to hide in plain sight.

Still, he’s cautious whenever he comes to the base of a fire, smoothly pulling a carefully-sized portion of papers from the file on top of his stack, not so small that it’ll float away on the breeze, but not so thick that it won’t burn easily. Koby tosses the portion of notes – some typed, some handwritten, diagrams and maps and lists – into the flames, lingers long enough to ensure that the writing isn’t easily visible, then moves on. He has it down to a science.

Once he’s further away from the crowd, Koby feels more relaxed crouching down and pulling out the paper, tossing it into the coals of one fire and pausing to catch his breath. It’s here that Matt finds him, making him stand upright, like he’s about to bolt, clutching his much-diminished stack of files to his chest.
]

Oh. Matt. Hi. You – startled me.
kobes: ([:|] i believe you)

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-15 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Koby’s nothing if not perceptive – to an annoying extent, he knows, he sticks his nose into things and digs and digs and digs, needing to find it all out, to see every aspect, every angle, to understand. But he also see the quaver in Alina’s smile, the sharp caution in her gaze, the face of someone caught out and unsure what the reaction of their pursuer will be. The bracing for rejection – it strikes at something in his chest, makes him ache with sympathy.

So when he smiles, it’s as open and genuine as ever, the same boy who’d let her draw him, who pauses late at night in the library to bring her tea, ask her what she’s reading, pull her into quiet conversation to keep away sleep, dreams. Koby doesn’t ask what Alina dreams of, nor does he share the content of his own nightmares. He just asks her if she wants two sugars or three, this time.

There’s no tea here, and it’s chilly enough that even Koby’s sweater doesn’t keep him from shivering.
] I don’t think anyone would know anyone was missing. It’s easy to lose track of people at these parties. [The smile warms as he walks closer, crossing his arms against the night air.] I think that’s by design. Are you all right? You were – pretty deep in the branches, did you get scraped up at all?
kobes: ([:|] yeah but ur wrong)

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-15 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
No, no no. [Koby shakes his head hard, as if scandalized by the very idea.] Not a lot. I’m a Marine, military, in my world and – Marines don’t spend time around pirates. [He says it like a dirty word, sorry, Straw Hats, you’re the #only exception.]

– oh. [The bluntness has Koby’s ears turning bright red, eyes flicking down towards his lap.] That. Well. You’ll definitely like Otherworld, then.

That’s...a very pragmatic way of looking at it, Iggy. You don’t have people at home you miss?
kobes: ([:(] high standards)

cw: self-harm mention

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-15 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Koby feels the disapproving frown of Giles, sinking down into a nearby seat, though he angles himself away from the bodies laid out on the table, the way fruit and meat slip so easily into viscera and gore, every time his gaze drifts away. A trick, he tries telling himself, but the berry juice stains his mouth like blood, and every swallow is thick with that distinct, heavy taste.

It’s easy to slip from here to then, the other place Koby had been with some of the others. A snowy village, rough-hewn cabins and bitterly cold storms, a river running through the woods, the hunger and hunger and hunger that throbbed like a bruise in his stomach, through his limbs. The weightlessness of near-starvation, slated only by blood (usually animal, but sometimes the fishing was poor and the deer were scarce and Koby began plotting which of his own veins he could open, how much they would each need to give to stay alive) and the thrill of a hunt and the relief of tearing at flesh and feeling veins spurt hot and bright and brilliant between his teeth.

Swallowing hard, sitting sideways in his seat, Koby keeps holding Armand’s gaze, unflinching, knowing the vivid visibility of his thoughts – the wild imagination of youth, coupled with a genuinely bright mind, constantly moving and clicking and considering all possible outcomes, making connections and seeking answers. He knows Armand can see the village, the in-between prison, and the way he and the others had been changed. But he explains anyway: My friends and I were taken someplace different before we woke up in Saltburnt. It was a village. We were changed so we needed to consume blood to live. It was terrible.

But it had taught him, that particular type of hunger, the way it consumes and controls someone from the inside-out. Koby knows being hungry, it’s layered back in his memories for years upon years, but that ache, that craving for blood was – different. It was inhuman, uncontrollable, dangerous. It had driven him to stock up on blood bags from the kitchen, slipping in and taking one or two at a time, keeping them in the minifridge in his room. For Louis, for Daniel – for Armand himself, or so his thoughts convey. Koby’s stockpiled for everyone’s hungers, including the vampires.
]
Edited 2024-09-15 06:05 (UTC)
kobes: ([:|] wary)

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-15 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
[Koby swallows hard, conscious of how his throat works when he does so, how the collar of his too-big sweater has his neck bare, the hollow where his pulse beats quick and birdlike, the dip of his collarbone. He knows Daniel sees it, knows all about arteries and jugulars and the veins that spider through his body, beneath the delicate skin of his throat.

And that look – Daniel’s eyes are different, brighter, more vivid, like Louis’s are, like Armand’s. He’s one of them now, carrying himself subtly differently, smoother, with a predatory grace that sets off every instinct Koby has. His breath comes a bit quicker, body thrumming with the desire to turn and bolt, to run away, flight over fight. Because Daniel would win any fight. He could be across the distance between them in an instant, could overpower Koby without even trying, could open his mouth and sink his teeth right into that spot where neck and shoulder meet and –

Sudden, shameful heat floods his stomach, his chest, reflected in the blush that rises in his cheeks, and that’s – absolutely not something he should be feeling right now. Yes, there’s the quiet, shy, awkward crush he’s harbored since the first day he’d met Daniel, maybe, a mixture of hero worship and admiration and genuine affection, tangled into something that ultimately keeps him from running away, but that doesn’t mean he should be reacting like that, thinking about being bitten.

Swallowing again, reaching up to tug awkwardly at the neck of his sweater:
] You – probably were, I think thats, um. How this place is designed. To make us walk in, um.

Circles.
nishtha: (pic#17203656)

[personal profile] nishtha 2024-09-15 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ The chatter is both unexpected and grating. It takes all of Armand's well-practiced patience to resist the urge to kill the noisy young mortal and restore the pleasant peace of the maze. He entertains himself with a brief mental image of his blood dousing the hay, nourishing the stalks.

In the meantime, he puts his hands in the pockets of his coat and watches the paths ahead as the shadows lengthen, choosing their direction mostly at random. A brief smile crosses his face at the mention of the Wicker Man -- he's seen that one and enjoyed it.
]

It is a cage. But a beautiful one. [ He glances aside at the boy. ] We are given everything we could need or want, so long as we don't try to leave. A wall around the Garden of Eden.
dead_tongue: (bruh)

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2024-09-15 10:50 am (UTC)(link)
[Iggy, unaware he might just irritate his way into an early grave, looks back with his eyebrows raised.]

Well, when you put it like that it doesn't sound so hot.

[He looks at the bales of hay and frowns lightly.]

Although isn't that kinda the point of Eden? You're supposed to stay ignorant when you're there. I mean, I guess if you take a more gnostic view then it's like, oh, knowledge triggers the descent of the spirit to a physical realm so it's kinda necessary to life but...

[He hums, thinking.]

And of course, Adam and Eve got out. I'm guessing nobody here has made it?
dead_tongue: (drinks?)

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2024-09-15 11:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Oops. Iggy supposes pirates are kinda known for the whole pillaging and murder thing. Arr.] Oh, sorry. The Marines, really? We have something with the same name back home but their vibe seems more, uh, aggressive? Than what you're putting out. [He's saying the only twink he's seen in the marine corp is in porn.]

Yeah? Nonstop party, huh? Gosh, maybe I really did die and this is heaven. [He's not serious. And barely aware that he's embarrassed poor Koby.

At that he shrugs and smiles sunnily.]


Nope. I mean, maybe my favourite barista? And this guy I see every other month, he's really sweet actually, but like... he'll be okay without me.

I dunno, when you're presented with an adventure you just kinda gotta go with the flow, don't you? I learned that from movies.

fieldstrip: (πŸ”ͺ 008)

david collins β€” the guest β€” new character

[personal profile] fieldstrip 2024-09-15 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
001.BREAKFAST.
David is new, but he's doing a good job of melding into the background, of just being one of the faces in the crowd. There were clothes in the wardrobe and he's wearing them, he smiles when people look his way, he asks – very politely – for an omelette. He makes good eye contact, but not too much. His smile hits his eyes.

He's surgical with the omelette when he gets it, very neat. The neatest boy at the table, for sure. He smiles at the person sitting opposite, smiles at the person sitting next to him. He says, "Good morning," to the men and, "Good morning, ma'am," to the women, because he's a polite southern boy who can be trusted with explosives. He says, "Is breakfast always like this?"

002.POOLSIDE.
David takes a blue wristband declaring him single; it matches his eyes, the same bright tropical-ocean blue. It matches the trunks he's wearing too: whoever stocked his wardrobe thought he should be sticking to a theme. He takes a seat right on the edge of the pool, dipping his bare legs into the water. His gaze shifts from one person to the next, whether they're splashing in the water or drawing something on their body with paint, taking in each person's countenance, how relaxed they seem, the movement of their body.

"You missed a spot," he points out to someone who's already daubed in body paint. It's just a small flash of bare skin between their shoulderblades, but he can't just let it go unsaid.

003.FESTIVAL.
MAZE. He's always liked a good maze, and if the vibe shifts somewhere after sunset, it doesn't seem to bother him. He winds carelessly through the turns, and if you round a corner and run into him, you might catch a split second of mannequin emotionless on his face, before his expression shifts to a smile. "Hi. You lost?"

HANDFASTING. David gives the ribbon a little yank, and then a bigger one. He winds his fingers around the join to hold the ribbon taut, and pulls hard. It doesn't even fray. He wonders where they get their ribbons, that they're this strong. He looks at the person he's been locked to, looks them up and down as if assessing their ability to get in his way. "I get the feeling it ain't gonna be as simple as finding a pair of scissors."

004.WILDCARD.
[ hmu with whatever strikes your fancy – i'd be up for any of the other aspects of the prompts that i didn't use here! ]
chaosmenu: (pic#17340721)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-15 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm the guy who put the menu together," Carmy says, so yeah, and he's offended, right, but he's not immune to ruffian charisma so he's also kind of charmed. The Burger King, jesus christ.

If Harry was a cute girl, Carmy might offer to make him a Whopper. He's not, he's a disgustingly tall asshole, so instead he gets scorn. "I'm also not waitstaff, so make a fuckin' decision and tell someone else. I guarantee even the fancy shit will make you cream yourself." He has put so much effort into training his staff to make sure everything that hits the table is god-tier, except for the McMuffin, intentionally. "And hey," he adds, "Guess what, we're all stuck here, so you've got enough breakfasts in your future to try new things."