saltburnmods: (Default)
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
Entry tags:

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


imperatour: (04-14137)

[personal profile] imperatour 2024-09-27 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ A waste then. She hums back in acknowledgement, her tone is flat and observational. Most things here are a waste. Easy to do when you've never gone without.

She tips her head back towards the window, shifting to plant her legs in front of her and sit with her back against the wall. She takes the jug from him; the sensation of cool water has become a steadying feeling here, something that grounds her to this odd place of abundance and day-to-day safety even as the air fills up with explosives.

She squints at a bright flash coming through the window, her brain sticking to one of his points more than others. ]


Are there a lot of children where you're from?
lessnosey: (pic#17379937)

[personal profile] lessnosey 2024-09-27 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah... together. We're here together.

[Usopp can't deny that that's pretty dang important. Being together, facing things together... They may not have been sailing with one another for a very long time yet, but they're crew β€” and they've faced some pretty grisly people along the way. If they can topple someone like Arlong, then they can topple anything bad that could come their way here, couldn't they?]
lessnosey: <user name=chisketches>! (pic#17376032)

[personal profile] lessnosey 2024-09-27 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
[... Okay, hold up-]

Turned Zoro into a what?
chaosmenu: (pic#17353064)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-27 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
It feels good to yell β€” over the top of Richie, in fact, "You don't fucking know what's up with me, you always fucking do this, you get these ideas of what I'm supposed to β€” what's good for me." Like being told to eat his vegetables. He doesn't fucking want to. He's been hung up on Richie just as long as Claire.

Richie de-escalates, though, soft and sad, and Carmy runs a hand through his hair in frustration. Has to walk in a stompy little circle, all his lake-chill gone. "God!" he expresses, jams a pointed finger into Richie's chest. "Asshole! No, shut the fuck up, you are. Shut the fuck up." Pulls him roughly down into a kiss, to stop Richie from continuing to say stupid shit when Carmy is trying to tell him something. He doesn't care if people notice. Bites Richie's lower lip. Pulls back to keep scowling up at him, one hand in a fist pressed up against his sternum. He taps his knuckles there. "Don't you want it to be both of us?"
microbasil: (pic#17353550)

[personal profile] microbasil 2024-09-27 10:58 am (UTC)(link)
"No, you're a fucking --" Is about as far as Richie gets in his own retort before Carmy just kisses him to shut him up instead, a new tactic in their fights that he's not entirely unhappy about. He clings to Carmy's shoulders and looks down at him when he pulls back to knock on his chest.

"I do," he says, only 75% sure what he's agreeing to. He wants it to be both of them. With Grace or just together. Both of them against the world and all the shit the world wants to throw at them. It feels right, feels like it's his place, looking out for Carmy.

"I want, like." He reaches up a clumsy hand and strokes his fingers through Carmy's messy damp curls, deeply affectionate, deeply gone. "I want whatever you want. I want to be with you, cuz. And Grace. But I don't want to fuck it up. Don't want to be bad news."
chaosmenu: (pic#17340791)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-27 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
Carmy takes the cue, pressing closer through the hips and upwards, though he's still trying to keep some of his weight on one elbow. It's because she's tiny, and because he wants room to touch her, palming the base of her ribs and then up to cup one breast, slow so she can push him away if this isn't gonna be heavy petting. Wet paint is smearing, dried paint is flaking off, he's gonna be colourful when they finally break apart - Carmy doesn't care. He's breathing a little fast through his nose, against her chest, heart pounding, happy and nervous about being happy.
chaosmenu: (pic#17353028)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-27 11:11 am (UTC)(link)
That makes Carmy's expression go all sympathetic-understanding even as it tongue-ties him, never knowing what to say about all of that stuff with Tiff. He has no experience with divorce - the six weeks with Claire was his longest relationship. Loving someone and leaving them anyway. A fucking kid. Richie Bad News shit stresses him out, because Richie is an idiot asshole who has made a lot of bad choices, and one of those bad choices is fucking Carmy, and Carmy is too grateful for that to really wanna dig into any of the others.

"Okay," he says, exhaling. "Then don't be." He's always had a little too much belief in Richie, especially after Mikey died. Something about how realizing what a hero-worship pedestal he had his big brother on, and in accepting that he was just a fucked-up, flawed guy, accepting that Richie in turn is the same, not just the charismatic rogue Carmy's been crushing on for years.
unconscionable: (044)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2024-09-27 11:44 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, nah. I dunno when my birthday is.

[ He says it easily, no big deal, right? Sniffs a little, glances up at nothing, back at Homelander. It's fine. It is what it is. He doesn't really want to answer follow-up questions. ]

One in six chance I haven't just stolen someone's cake, those odds are good enough for me.
hymen: (215)

[personal profile] hymen 2024-09-27 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
You know there's a lot I'd do to make you feel better.

[ that entire night in chicago had been just that, because he couldn't stand to see her cry, because she'd hooked him straight through his cherry stem heart the moment he'd laid eyes on her silvery gaze. it'd been just his luck that ash had already staked his claim on her years ago. everything in his life always leads back to the same place, the inevitability of ash colchester. if he took his entire collection of sports cars out for a fatalistic joy ride, one by one, he'd still crash them all into him.

a hopeless thrill travels along his nerve endings at her words. he spent five long years thinking that she hated him, and for good reason, and to have her back at his side, even in the smallest capacity, is like having the pearly gates creak open once again for his wretched soul. they haven't ever talked about what happened. not really. they haven't brought up what he did β€” or more accurately, what he didn't do. it's a well of quiet confusion, silent hurt, that they're masterfully dancing around. they were both raised by expert politicos, after all.
]

Was it that good? [ a little softer, the press of guilt on his tongue. ] To make you forget about who you really wanted in your bed that night?
hymen: (207)

[personal profile] hymen 2024-09-27 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ oh you sweet summer child. ]

There's really nothing in the world that stops anyone from fucking other people, except death. And there are different kinds of death.

Or something. I'm in politics. Which is basically the same thing as an actor.
dead_tongue: (u don't say)

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2024-09-27 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, sweetie, don't I know it.

Ohhh. [He nods sagely, like he has any idea at all what it's like.]

Worse than an actor, really. Way more repression.
rakta: (pic#17423753)

[personal profile] rakta 2024-09-27 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Comfortable, safe, wrapped in the protective barrier of Alia's arms, Lauralae sinks into her. She refuses to permit herself the true sanctuary of utter trust and affection, but some of her discomfort has faded, and she allows herself to enjoy the warmth, the tenderness, the bliss of companionship. Alia understands her, and her body is so, so sweet. ]

I would be glad to do it. So glad.

[ Leaning in, she twists her body, curling herself into Alia, pressing her face into her neck, more catlike than wolfish. ]
unapparent: (134)

cw: child marriage

[personal profile] unapparent 2024-09-27 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Two hundred and forty, rolled off the tongue as if it's nothing at all. If Alicent were that old, she would have witnessed the Conquest first-hand. She means to inquire further. However, she supposes it is his turn to question her, in this wretched game. His chosen topic is a natural fit, and one which she has navigated many times over. ]

Four and ten. [ Nearly fifteen. A year into adulthood by Westerosi standards, having already bled. She delivers it with a sort of tired neutrality. Their peers in the manor have already questioned her on this matter. ]

[ dispassionately, ] He was over twice my age when we wed, but such is the lot of a second wife.

[ Men get older, but their women stay young, so they might provide more heirs. ]

It wasβ€” [ A great honour, she almost says. That's not the truth. ] It was not a match they will write songs about.
killergene: (084)

[personal profile] killergene 2024-09-27 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
( a soft laugh bubbles up from Betty's throat, the sound a flutter around them as she tilts her head and creases her brows together. ) I think you're underselling yourself.

( she thinks Alina does that a lot and it reminds her, in a way, of a younger version of herself. a little mouse who'd wanted to just survive, to get through it to leave the place she'd been shackled to by being born there. that is until she met V, until she found the friends that helped her shine or perhaps grow from a tiny bud into a deadly flower.

another sip of her drink and Betty kicks her feet in the water, creating ripples that break the calm.
)

I think daisies is very predictable, no? ( Archie gave her a bouquet of daises once, a pretty little bundle tied with string that sat in the window above the sink and withered as Rivervale died, all them none the wiser. ) Have you seen Lily of the Valley?
unapparent: (044)

[personal profile] unapparent 2024-09-27 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ even as they pivot, she shakes her head. daenerys is right to question the logic of the feast β€” alicent finds herself doing the same β€” but answers will not come easily or swiftly. ]

I do not think they will pursue us to our rooms.

[ they have a table of willing prey, after all. ]

[ carefully, then: ] Many of those honoured tonight have been amiable before now. I would wager this display was not made at their request.
missed: (116)

[personal profile] missed 2024-09-27 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Tropical and all seas? Can't be too mad about that, can you?

[ but he can tell by the wistful look on koby's face, the glimmer in his eyes far and distant that koby is there, living in the place even for a moment of time. the longing - he understands that most of all.

gently, he pulls his arm away from the painting, grabbing at one of the brushes himself. he swirls two colors together to create a deep, sea green. he doesn't hesitate when he slides closer, and carefully begins to start carving lines in paint over one of koby's pecs. he's not much of a painter - not at all, but he's admired enough art to make something out of the shapes and colors. ]


Guessing that's why I see you and that sailor boy out on the lake, huh?

[ a pivot, to keep koby out of the darkness of longing and in the present while he paints. ]
thirsted: (Default)

cw: "

[personal profile] thirsted 2024-09-27 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Four and ten. The way in which she delivers the words tells him everything he needs to know, as supplemented by their initial exchange of questions and answers. A child, used for the sake of someone else's political gain, likely framed as a gain of her own β€” an honor β€” when, in reality, little could be further from the truth.

Captivity of its own kind.

First, lightly,
] Such songs are often dramatically embellished, anyway.

[ A joke sits on the tip of his tongue, something about what the expectations are for him, then, as her second husband, but it seems in poor taste. Besides, such a jape is a smokescreen, a way for him to avoid saying, ] I'm sorry. That is a tender age.

I had a few decades, at least, before I was turned. And even so, I wish I'd had longer.
rationalism: (65)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-09-28 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
She would love it if he crushed her like a junkyard car, but then his huge waffle iron of a hand curves around the swell of her breast and it's better than she'd been imagining just two minutes ago, warm and firm and she groans into his mouth, trying and failing to catch the sound.

Their lounger is away far away from the party as possible whilst still technically being at the party. She's pretty certain she could open her eyes and look over Carmy's shoulder and find someone watching to see how far they're going to go. She's into that, she'd hold intense fucking eye contact with a voyeur whilst someone went down on her and it would be all the hotter, but she doesn't know what Carmy's into.

Her head drops back and she sucks in a few shaky breaths. "Don't you dare relocate that hand, but I do wanna remind you we are fully in public if you are not into that kind of thing."
missed: (107)

[personal profile] missed 2024-09-28 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
They've known what we are from the start.

[ the blood bags provided for meals, the hidden blood in wine glasses and goblets, the ease for which they were able to get a coffin. the place knows about them, but why it's expedient for the vampires to be revealed, he doesn't know. there's a level of freedom with it now, but the consequences... he can only imagine they will be great.

his eyes flicker to the way she adjusts her collar, feeling a little shame for himself - for the creature he is. for the monster those he cares about will imagine when the look up into his face.

he releases her, pulls back to wipe a dark sleeve against his mouth, smearing the blood from it. he bends to allow her to place the circlet of flowers he'd been given upon entry - some are woven into his hair as well, and his eyes flicker up to her. ]


Rejection or not, they'll do what they want. Plenty of others out there right now. Want to see you safe to your room first.

[ he shakes his head, thankful that perhaps alicent does not have his sharp hearing - the yelps and moans and wet slurps of blood he can hear in the distance. ]

Are any of yours out there? Friends? I'll get them back. I've indulged enough.
longitudinal: (cLctCjC)

[personal profile] longitudinal 2024-09-28 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ quentin feels so strange under her gaze, like she's gently prying down the iron walls he keeps erected, careful and meticulous, gentle. it isn't a bad feeling, no - it's the first time in a very long time he doesn't feel so lonely. that the yearning of the sea hasn't left him lost, wandering.

her fingers touch his cheek and he sighs, eyes closing against the touch, the blue shimmer of magic around him swelling at the kindness, swirling up her arm and around her frame, like meeting like. a whisper on her skin - like me - his magic welcoming hers. ]


I don't know if I can find a safe port now. [ but he has, in a way - in a person. a person with no dock or ship or landmark - but a gentle heart, a sweet soul. koby burns in his mind and when he raises a hand to touch the one at his cheek, he lets out a long, long sigh. ]

For me and - those I care about.
preborns: ([up] cautiously excited)

[personal profile] preborns 2024-09-28 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
[Alia feels the urge, suddenly, to offer a sweet lie -- to fill Quentin's mind with recollections of the ocean, plucked from his own memories and made vivid with his longing. She could wrap these images around him, transport him back to the world he lost, turning the surrounds of Saltburnt into his home. She's done it for herself often enough, let hours slip away as she travels through Arrakis in her memory, hers and Jessica's and Paul's and a thousand, thousand others.

And then, a whisper, a tickle, and Alia can taste Quentin's magic in the air, like spice carried on the wind, blue as his lost sea, unknowable and familiar all at once. And she knows, she knows -- any mirage she could give him would ring hollow, the way her own fancies and fantasies crumble in her hands whenever she reaches out to them. Alia cannot fool herself, and she cannot fool one like her. They are blessed, they are cursed, they are irrevocably other. Her chest tightens, her other hand rising to mirror the first, cradle Quentin's face, and the thrum of her mind touching his turns, becomes sorrowful, apologetic -- I cannot give you what you seek. I cannot give you your home back.

But there, a warmth, a presence, a sliver of home embodied in another -- like Paul carrying the heat of Arrakis in his chest, like the sun in Alina's smile, like the fragments of warmth she has found again and again. Alia feels that as well, and her woeful expression shifts, mouth curling back into that sharp, brilliant smile.
] If you cannot find it, you shall make it, Quentin. That I can see as well.
kobes: ([:)] i can tie a knot ;)))))

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-28 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
[Koby smiles in an intensely smug way that suggests a level of mischief that nobody would assume a Marine even capable of.]

A cat. A little green one. And Sanji was a bunny. [A beat, then, because he's Koby and he can't tease while also being guilty of cute animal transformation:] And I was a seal.

[Before Usopp can ask:] Yes, a pink one.
chaosmenu: (pic#17353061)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-28 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Good response. Carmy's eyes are pupil-dark as he looks down at her, all his usual intensity focused to the point he almost just wants to go back to kissing her without saying anything, but he reboots enough of his brain past the paleolithic era to make sentences. "I'm into that kind of thing."

Lucky for him, because in this place he always feels like he's being watched anyway, even when he's alone in his room. The occasional prickle like there's eyes on him in an empty kitchen, checking his bathroom for cameras because he got certain someone was watching him shower. Once he dropped a grilled cheese he was carrying back to his room and a servant appeared out of nowhere to clean it up.

He's less into like, the creepy voyeur house, but it's a fact of life. And there is an appeal at making out with the hottest girl at the party right where everyone can see, so he doesn't take his hand off her breast, thumbing over the curve of it. "Do you uh, wanna stop? Or go - go somewhere?"
kobes: ([:(] they both love meat...)

cw: vague internalized transphobia

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-28 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
[That little knot of worry between Koby's brows relaxes just slightly, though not always isn't the same as never, and there remains the slightest flutter of worry, deep in his stomach. Still, Matt is a grown man, just like Koby himself -- and who's to say he wouldn't give his own blood, if the cause was great enough? In fact, he'd shed it in an instant, if there was a way to help people through it.

So he lets it go, swallows back the concern, resolves to be ready should Matt ever go too far, need help of his own. If you're always taking care of others, it's easy to lose sight of yourself. Koby knows that very, very well.
] Well, if you were to help me shield my notes -- would it be blood then?

Ahhhh, I see. [There's a touch of sadness there, because Koby trusts Matt's advice, had wanted to ask him specifically because...well. Because. Because of that first embrace, the words Koby had hungered for in a small, secret part of him for years, you're doing great, I promise you are. Because if that part of Koby had been -- more than okay, had been capable of so many wonderful, amazing, thrilling things, if his body that he hated so, so much could be good, maybe this part was too.

So, before he can second-guess it:
] Was it -- hard? When you first started doing magic? Did you worry that...that you'd never be any good at it? That maybe you were destined to be a failure all along? [It tumbles out of him like a waterfall, raw with the fearful insecurity that still lurks in everything Koby does, constantly warring with his newfound confidence, with the warmth and light that's been given him, a perpetual war somewhere beneath his ribs.] When did it finally start getting easier?
rationalism: (Default)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-09-28 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
She lifts her head, bumps his nose with hers, up and then down again, hums a thoughtful noise. "No. No, I'm also into that kind of thing."

Eat your fucking heart out, Mitzy.

"Anything off limits?" He might technically still be on the clock, but she doesn't think the Balfours are going to care. She's honestly kind of baffled they let Carmy run breakfast because they won't even let Grace do her own laundry. They won't even let her into the laundry room, she's been strong armed by the world's oldest maid thrice now. She doesn't need a fluff and fold, Pearl, let her wash her own undies, damn.

But Carmy might care so he might not want her to shove her hand down his pants and see how fast she can get him off.