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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


kobes: ([:|] investigating)

[personal profile] kobes 2024-09-09 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
It's still there, it still hovers in the back of his mind, louder when it's dark outside and he's awoken from another vivid, stark nightmare. But it feels far away when he rolls over and snuggles up to another warm body (to Quentin's, usually), and it feels even farther away with the sun shining and the crystalline blue water splashing as he swims after Quentin. Besides, there are more important things to talk about.

Koby raises and lowers a shoulder, cheeks flushed -- from the warm water, from the topic, from both. He rakes his fingers through his wet hair, combing it back away from his face, then replaces his glasses on top to keep the loose pink strands in place. "I spend a lot of time taking notes, it's only natural to be curious." A beat, a breath in, and Koby's hands sloshing gently through the water. "If you ever wanted to read them, you...you could, you know. They're not secret."

He looks up, watches Quentin's face, oddly vulnerable, oddly cautious. "The same things as anyone, here. Your name, a little about where you're from, in case anyone comes here from the same place." Weighted, a little grim -- everything he knows about the Regent is there, so Koby will know him immediately, so he can be dealt with. "What you can do. Who here you know, so I can keep an eye out for them."

Then, looking back at the water, ears pink beneath his damp hair: "Reminders, for myself. In case anything ever happens to my memory or...or the rest of me." It's a very grim comment for a place so full of sun and music and warmth, but it's always there in Koby's mind, now that he knows people can just...disappear from this place. If that happens to him, he needs to know his friends will read his notes and know how important Quentin is. That they'll keep him safe.
butwearenotmen: (r e a l)

daenerys targaryen | game of thrones | new character

[personal profile] butwearenotmen 2024-09-09 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
( itsy bitsy teenie weenie )
[Her eyes take in the revelry as she awkwardly stands at the front of the party, not yet entering into it. Her face is flat, visions of Qarth in front of her, and the bounty they had, but what they sought to take from her. It is too late though, isn't it. There are no screeches up above her. There is no sounds of dragons. She cannot feel her children, Drogon in particular, like he has not imbedded himself into her bones. Her anger boils at the skin as she tries to remain calm.

What is she to do here? Seemingly she is alone. There is no Missandei, Ser Baristan, nor Tyrion himself. Not that she has been able to find on the grounds of the estate she cannot leave (and she has tried-- storming the gate with the fury of a small, white haired woman yelling all of her titles). Daenerys could have skipped this, could have tried to come up with some reason for staying in her room, but she figures she does need allies in such an unknown land. So instead of heading toward the pool, her eyes are drawn toward the garden instead, the way the rocks illuminate their path onward. She does not realize that the maze is meant to draw one in.

But she searches out a companion nonetheless, hopefully one with a similar blue bracelet, though pink or green would not be minded.]


Can you tell me of this place? [What else may be known that isn't so readily told upon first arrival. She finds herself slipping in a little closer, unaware what might be in garden itself.]

( handfasting ceremony )
[She knows the old ceremonies, not just of the Seven, but the stories her brother the Beggar King would tell her of her family. This is no Targaryen ceremony, and before she gets a chance to pull her own arm away, it is banded with another, and she looks near put out. This is not what she wishes for, to tie herself to another?]

Unhand me. [She tries to pull away, only yanking on their arm. Sure, she may have taken a lover in the past to clear her head, but men have made their wants known, to look upon a woman, a Queen, and try and see her as beneath her. Sex is for desire, but marriage? What need would she have when her dragons are her only children now?

The thought here is ludicrous, but pulling away is to no avail. She won't yank on the other person, though she looks more annoyed than not.]


Would they chain us here then? [Daenerys is meant to be the breaker of chains. She will not ask what it is they would have them do. Perhaps on some level she knows, but now they are tied at this feast, and she is stuck.]

( autumnal massacre )
cw: hallucinations, gore, very vague mention of miscarriage

[The sight is one she is not entirely unused to. A bloodbath happens when her enemies have crossed her before. But she has had men, dragons, armies. What she isn't expecting is to blink, to see the bodies of the severed vegetation-- only they are no longer plants, but the chest of a body carved out, the innards spilling.

She doesn't know what a vampire is, but she has idea enough of the undying. Is that the same, she does not know, but the mother of dragons doesn't flinch, just curls her nose. She's lost in the visions, like dreams she once had of dragons and armies. She watches them feast, but she does not feel as if there are victims, something in her not actually enraged at what she sees. Curious at the undead perhaps, but not enraged.

The Stormborn stands then, perhaps far more reckless than she should be, but she wants to feel the blood in her hands as the horse heart she once ate to prove who she was, a khaleesi with the blood of a khal in her as her child's heart beat. But as she nears it, she feels a very real touch to her shoulder, something that is more solid than the beat that seems to fade within her again.

You should run.

Whether those are her thoughts or words from another, she is unsure, but she's pulled from the thought, looking back to find the vampires feasting on flesh once more.]
multiverse: (pic#16999368)

handfasting

[personal profile] multiverse 2024-09-09 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
( unfortunately, this isn't her first rodeo as far as being married is concerned. fortunately β€”Β she might like louis a little more than her first husband, naseer. not that there was anything wrong with him really, the wealthy son of wealthy parents and her brother's best friend, he was just a means ( money ) to an end ( abuse ). this wedding is a lot less manipulative by anyone's measure. the only thing she ever really expects out of louis is a morose demeanor hidden by a charming smile. )

Oh, definitely. A million ideas.

( good ideas? that's questionable. her hand sinks down into his, interlacing their fingers. )

We should hit all the wedding traditions, see if that works. Let's find a champagne bottle you can stomp on.
peasant: (pic#17349300)

[personal profile] peasant 2024-09-09 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
( it's not unfamiliar terrain for alina, being inexplicably hated. the difference is — generally, she can define a reason for it. more frequently, it's become the nature of her power, like two sides of a flipped coin to her believers: some days, the public opinion lands on godly. on others: a sin against humanity itself, the design of something monstrous. less frequently, now, it's the arrangement of her physical features, faring no better than war propaganda — a poster to play darts with, to make a pointed caricature of ravka's sworn enemy, and anyone who so much as looks like them. and today, it's — well.

she doesn't know, for once, what part of her has justified that reaction this time. on instinct, she flinches from the public stoning of nami's opinion, teetering on a mid-step from the impact of it. it isn't undeserved, probably. nami has a keen mapmaker's eye for fine detail, confident in her ability to navigate choppy seas and craggy outcroppings, a sense of knowing whether she's in dangerous waters. it stands to reason she's seen the same wrongness in alina, the longer they've spent idle in one another's company, whatever ugliness that makes it impossible for anyone to find her safe to love, crashing into the shipwreck of her shores. of course nami should hate her. alina hates herself with twice the angry venom nami has stored.

her stare stays stuck on nami as she skids back, sparing a short-lived glance over her shoulder. even if she wanted a retreat, it would mean facing paul — would mean a doe's choice between facing a rampaging bear, or the hunter who has already clipped her with buckshot. predictably, she chooses the bear — though it's with trudging steps, too exhausted to even be concerned with defending herself, if nami intends on mauling her.

the closer she comes, the more humiliatingly obvious her vulnerable state is. puffy red outlines the bloodshot veins of her eyes, gone glassy with moisture. the leaky blood trails that web between her trembly fingers, lifted out numbly for nami to inspect. alina peers down at the damage like she's not truly seeing it, like she hasn't registered the sticky warmth of the wound, like — she hadn't dug up paul's crysknife from the soil, childish and petty. it just seems pointless, now — some cursed artifact she should have never taken, knowing it would curse her with the reminder of him, for as right as it had felt in the moment, stealing some piece of him he couldn't recover. taking from him as he'd taken from her.

later, she'll leave the bloody mess of it on his sheets. for now, her throat bobs on a thick swallow, watching the tangerine-bright flow of nami's hand in the night air.
)

I'm really not in the mood for ... ( she starts, flat, as if she's spent up all of her emotion for a lifetime. ) For whatever this is.
preborns: ([down] caught off-guard)

[personal profile] preborns 2024-09-09 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
You're welco-- ooh! [Alia's sang-out, obnoxious-little-sister response to Paul breaks off in a sharp gasping sound as Alina suddenly goes boneless between them, slipping like a liquid to the ground. She squeaks, squawks, flops onto her stomach and wriggles across the bed so her shoulder isn't wrenched out of it's socket (an exaggeration; Alina isn't nearly heavy enough to cause that).] Ow. [A touch petulant, to Alina, wide eyes sorrowful for an instant, like a beloved pet who's been scolded for the first time in it's life. There's an urge to poke at Paul more, to gain back Alina's favor that way, slinking up to her side and tucking into the warmth of her skin, the place where her neck and shoulder meet smelling sweet and soft, every time she nuzzles there.

But Paul is a raw nerve, standing and catching Alina's hand, kissing her knuckles, and Alia suddenly hates herself for her urges, hates that she hadn't thought to watch the wound, keep it clean and dry. Stilgar would've lectured her, ferociously, about how an open wound is death in the desert, how the sands will flood in and clog the blood, steal the moisture from inside out. They may not be in the desert, but it's Alina's hand split open, worried raw, it's Alina's blood clotted across the heart of her palm. And it's Paul who thinks to comfort her, still, despite being a walking wound himself. The two dearest people in the known and unknown universe, despite their recent savagery towards one another, and she can't seem to be of use to either.

So Alia quiets, resting her chin on her free hand, wide-set eyes fixed on her brother, on the measured way he paces, his energy bright and sparking like a live wire. There's an irrepressible youthfulness to him, like this, and Alia thinks of what she had told Alina, of how she had brought this version of Paul to life, how she had brought him to Alia, specifically. She believes that still, that the unchangeable, brutal destiny of Muad'Dib had been altered by the small, bright-eyed, sharp-tongued girl currently tethered to them both -- a bemused irony, Alina and her connection to each, not seeing how irrevocable, how necessary they are.

Paul, though -- he speaks of Jamis and Alia's eyes widen slightly, thinking of the story she knows, told again and again as evidence of Muad'Dib's greatness, that an outer-worlder could come to Arrakis and defeat an accomplished Fedaykin. Jessica herself had never told the story in any tones but the most hushed, the most holy.
] You didn't. [It comes quick, sharp (as a knife, as a needle, as the pinprick of kitten claws, the sharpest Alia can be with Paul).] You never shamed her. Or me. Or --

[Her breath catches and she snatches the gum, pops it in her mouth, chewing ferociously.] You martyr yourself because you think it's what you deserve, you create a world in which you can never be happy, ever, because you don't think you've earned it somehow. Jamis didn't need to stab you, Paul, you wound yourself for wanting. [A shuddery inhale, then a wrench of Alina's arm, shaking it like a doll, leaning forward to seek her eyes.] And you -- I can't even tell you what you do, whether you deny yourself happiness because you fear it or hate it or don't want it, because you told me once to stay out of your mind, your thoughts and I have, for you, when I refused for galaxies and gods and the living and dead, I have. So -- so I don't even know what your deal is, Alina.

[A pause, a moment of heavy breathing, heat and frustration springing to scorch the back of Alia's neck, to push tears to her eyes, becoming less the strange, elusive, fanciful saint and more the angry, hurt, sad girl, tied to people she loves, people she hates, people who make and unmake her. Then she tugs at the knot and sighs, flops full-body back onto the mattress.] Blatant critique is a "no" too. I think the only option remaining is blood sacrifice. [A pause, a pop of the gum, getting stale and stiff from overuse.] Or an orgy.
dead_tongue: (mmmmno)

hay gurl hay

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2024-09-09 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
The maze is, in fact, adorable. During the day it is charmingly rustic, warm and fragrant in the sun.

Iggy is sprawled over a hay bale in the maze, looking fashionably hungover. When he hears Chrissy approach he lifts his head, eyes pleading behind a pair of heart shaped sunglasses.

"My god, it's an angel," he says. "Tell me, o bright and shining hero, that you've got a Redbull on you."
chaosmenu: (pic#17353025)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-09 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
Carmy turns, startled: there's a rusk sticking out of his mouth that he was just kind of sucking on instead of crunching down on, like a weirdo. He lifts his hand and takes it out. "Uh, yeah," he says. "That's me. Hey." Blinks a couple of times, taking this guy in, trying to get a read on him. He's socially anxious, but he does okay with guys around his old age or a little older, has picked up the patter of machismo. "You here for a request? Kitchen tour? Richie handles all that stuff for me." The guy in the post, who has actual charisma and ability to talk to people.
chaosmenu: (pic#17353067)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-09 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ There might be some element of sex factor at play here, given the bullshit outfit Carmy is wearing. The one she just wiped her mouth on, making him blink and flush β€” or maybe that's the immediate shut down. Making his dick twitch even if she's not β€” they're not β€” she's just being honest. He did a bad job. ]

Please.

[ Not a begging tone, more of a yes, more than willing to have her show him up. If she can up his game in any way, he'll honestly take it.

Parisa makes him feel crazy in a good way, she's so small and knows exactly how to crack under his oyster shell and shuck it. An expert at being a woman in a way that elevates the whole concept of womanhood, helps gel femininity in his mind after years of figuring out how to do masculinity, Italian machismo, the in-group language of the man-to-man. Carmy thumbs along his open shirt, moving back to the drinks cart so she can show him the martini.
]

I dunno if grapefruit is even like, the right flavour profile? I figure lemon, olive, it makes sense. Maybe I should have gone like, fingerlime
chaosmenu: (pic#17353044)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-09 10:23 am (UTC)(link)
Carmy does glance at her - he never really knows how to, like, be around women? What to say, how to act. Like, he doesn't really understand people in general, but he's picked up the basics of how to be "one of the boys" in a casual setting, and "boss" in others. It doesn't help that he's dressed up like a cabana boy right now, an embarrassing and revealing costume that has him standing like he's posing the moment he's aware of eyes on him.

"Oh, yeah," he says, ashing his newly-lit cigarette, breathing out a stream of smoke. Looks closer at her, realizing she too has come over here out of the way for some peace from the revelry. He takes a seat, knees wide, gives her what he hopes is a reassuring smile. "They've had me working my ass off," he admits quietly. "So I haven't really had a minute to enjoy it." But now that she's pointed it out, he has to admit: it is a nice night.
chaosmenu: (pic#17353024)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-09 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Carmy gives him a flat stare like he's considering telling Richie to get the fuck out of his way - or pushing him aside. Two weeks ago he probably would have. Instead he levels one last glare at the older women as he storms off - but they're already too charmed by Richie to really notice him leaving.

He doesn't go find Sanji, leaves the poolside all together, hopping a steel-and-glass fence into the garden and digging his cigarettes out of the front pocket of his Hawaiian shirt, the neon of the pink and blue tiki torches catching his smoke and tinting his curls shades of purple. He just needs to settle, but he's churning with the indignity. It's not the MILFs, that's whatever, it's the fact that his breakfast finally miraculously came together and it's getting treated like a cute trick he did. It's that the kitchen staff don't seem to expect they'll be cooking his food long term. It's the head butler putting he and Richie and Sanji in these little outfits like a punishment. You wanted to work? Here's work. Fuck that. Fuck that, he's not a fucking server.

(It's the drugs and alcohol passing so easily through the crowd; it's watching hot people his age have fun in the pool while he stands by not knowing how to like, do that; it's realizing he's come all the way to England for a new beginning and he's still the same fucking Berzatto asshole that he is in every city in the world.)
nishtha: (pic#17235175)

[personal profile] nishtha 2024-09-09 12:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's strangely quiet within the maze. They're separated from the rest of the grounds by only a few feet of hay, but the noise of the festivities and the other games has become distant and unimportant. Armand can almost feel the dark power in the air, but he's curious as well as apprehensive, reassuring himself that he can just set the entire thing alight or simply fly out if he needs to.

Probably.

He's not surprised to find Iggy waiting for him as he rounds a corner, hands in the pockets of his coat, strolling along like a man with few concerns. He tilts his head as he arrives beside him, turning to follow his gaze up to the sky and the setting sun. His orange glasses glow gold and white.
]

Or a nightmare.

[ He turns his head to smile at Iggy. Just kidding. ]

We're on the cusp of darkness. Many cultures believe this is the time when the veil is thinnest. When anything is possible. Is that what you believe?
nishtha: (pic#17203777)

[personal profile] nishtha 2024-09-09 12:11 pm (UTC)(link)
The newly built maze is a simple but effective distraction for Armand. Over the years he's developed a fondness for puzzles, for problems that can be taken apart and solved. He likes the idea of discovering the solution to the miniature labyrinth, or at least memorising enough of the layout to be useful later on. By the time evening falls, he's already walked through it once and has returned to spend a little time in enjoying its twists and turns.

The problem he's quickly discovered, as he's walked the paths in the golden light of the setting sun, is that the maze is now, somehow, different. Dead ends are now open again and crossroads exist where walls were before. It's not terribly reassuring.

He's paused at a fork, regarding the diverging paths with a faint frown, as Lestat arrives. His awareness of the younger vampire's approach clearly hasn't compelled him to move. He keeps his hands in his pockets, glancing briefly at Lestat before returning his attention to the maze ahead.

"Was that your intention?" A very faint amusement crosses his expression. "You're still composing music."
nishtha: (Default)

[personal profile] nishtha 2024-09-09 12:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Exposure is difficult thing for a vampire to endure, especially a vampire who has spent his life -- and many lives of others -- attempting to stay in the shadows, hiding like vermin in cracks and crevices in order to survive. Armand suppresses an instinctive desire to run. To hide. To kill everyone at the table and erase the memories of everyone else, so they can slip back into darkness.

It's too late. Far, far too late. But his fear is useless in this moment; he has to appear unbothered, composed. Luckily, he's used to acting, and the longer he does it the more it feels real. Especially when he's looking into Louis' hot green eyes, watching his colour change as the blood feeds his body. Gazing at him, he murmurs his own pleasure at the feeling of Louis' tongue on his skin, pulling in a breath as Louis sucks on his thumb.

"We have little choice," he notes through their mental connection, though, like Louis, he's not entirely unhappy about it.

He presses Louis' tongue with his fingertips, then turns his hand, skating them across the point of a fang to draw his own blood in a flare and sting and add it to the sweet fruit juices.
buntas: (pic#17311350)

mae-ho aniseya | the acolyte | new

[personal profile] buntas 2024-09-09 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
welcome β€”
[ it's right around the third time she wakes up in that grand, four-poster bed that mae starts to consider that she is, perhaps, a little more out of her depth than she had initially appraised. and let it be known she hadn't been cocky, either, but rather what she had approximated to be a fairly pragmatic amount of cautiously optimistic.

that had been, of course, before she realized the perimeter of the estate possessed some strange sort of ability to knock a person out, no matter how much she worked to harden her mind against any outside forces. (not that she'd ever been particularly good at that either; just one more item on the stranger's long list of where she fell short as an apprentice. anyway.) she still hasn't figured out how she ever makes it back into the mansion, into that same bed. one of those freaky servants, perhaps? they always seem to turn up and disappear with nary a fanfare or notice. some sort or wormhole, maybe? it certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing she's come across since her initial morning here. ]


β€” a. [ she's determined, though. at least give her that. a third failure isn't going to bring her down (especially when she hasn't currently got any better idea to work with) so catch her trying to make a run past the woods again and again. think to question her? she'll just shrug. ]

I make it a little farther each time.

[ so she says, anyway. ]

β€” b. [ eventually, she begins to lose count. that in and of itself is enough to get her to put the brakes on that current plan. she could probably do with a little break to rework her perspective here. and so: a shower. it seems like the best course of action for right now, considering each foray into the woods resulted in her bringing in parts of it back with her. she won't address (yet) the mess left in the bed, even though a part of her feels petty enough that she'd gotten the luxurious sheets all dirty and full of twigs. the bathroom becomes her new refuge for the next hour or so, though she never does completely let her guard down considering she'd taken note of that other door almost as soon as she entered. further inspection of the door revealed it had no discernible way to lock it from the inside... SUS.

and, unfortunately, whatever poor soul happens to eventually enter the space via that door will soon find them shoved up against the wall, a cold press of metal to their jugular. (is.. is that a nail file?) and there's mae, all 5'3" of her, water droplets still clinging to her half-dried skin and soaking into the towel wrapped around herself while the steam in the bathroom finally begins to clear. her grip on that nail file is quite steady; maybe it's worth being at least a little concerned about it. ]


What business do you have here?

[ here... in the bathroom......... look, it's very likely the first time she's interacted with another guest, ok, cut her some slack. ]

itsy bitsy β€”
[ the fireworks are... something. it's the first time mae stopped long enough to look up, which is just all kinds of ironic, but it wasn't as if any inch of this place invited one to consider the possibility of space travel all that easily accessible. so much of it feels... old. archaic. but in a way that mae herself cannot quite fathom, making it all mildly suffocating, that she's actually kind of glad for the distraction of the bursting lights. the distant popping and crackling that makes her think of times long past, a fire that got a little too out of control. ]

β€” c. [ she isn't alone, suddenly. (though "suddenly" here is objective; she's slacking, her awareness of her surroundings slipping as the fireworks and hundred mph thoughts in her mind drown just about everything else out.) she should have realized one random balcony with a good view of the skies would be a sought-out spot.

she shifts to the side, hugs the blankets she'd dragged out of some drawers a little tighter around her shoulders. leave, she wants to say, the same way a child might when their only reason is i got here first, but what instead comes out is: ]


Sometimes it feels like death isn't punishment enough.

[ jesus christ, mae. ]

fruits β€”
[ she is, quite understandably, not in any mood for celebration. however while the pool party had been easy enough to avoid, the festival is far less so. anyone who would wish to escape the confines of the mansion would only find more evidence of the festivals literally on every other inch of the estate. and somewhere along the way mae had more or less decided to give up on trying to outrun the place.

she doesn't have a proper word in her vocabulary for the uneasiness this place gives her, how its magic and hauntings is so very unlike anything she's grown up with β€” not that she had grown up with very much at all. but it all serves to put her in a bit of a funk, no matter how lighthearted the atmosphere attempts to be. running had always served her just fine, but there are forces at work here that she thinks even someone as powerful as the stranger, or even sol, would not be able to counter. so fear keeps her complacent, for now. ]


β€” d. [ and so there are some things she can't avoid. forced together at the wrists is not necessarily the worst that could happen, but it's not exactly a delight, either. she considers the ribbon as it rubs against her skin, wonders its stability against one of the numerous dining knives she'd begun to pilfer during meals...

of course, she considers the other arm attached to it, too. ]


Can your limbs regrow?

[ jesus fucking christ, mae. ]

etc β€”
[ or hit me with something else! not currently interested in jumping into anything spicy, unless the chemistry is there, and would like to avoid accidental cannibalism too. :')b otherwise let's chat, let's plot, idk what i'm doing yolo ]
venatoris: hollow art (Default)

[personal profile] venatoris 2024-09-09 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
signing dean up!
venatoris: commissioned from @malagraphic (pic#14765815)

dean winchester | supernatural | existing character

[personal profile] venatoris 2024-09-09 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
breakfast;
[ Dean has, and kind of always has, a weird relationship with food. Coming by it in his childhood wasn't all that easy - John would leave for days on end, money on the shoddy motel room table that Dean sometimes wasn't able to stretch. He'd forgo his own plate in favor of feeding his brother, often giving him the last bowl of Lucky Charms, the last can of spaghetti o's, getting creative with boxed mac 'n cheese. That said, he kinda went without, like, a lot.

So when there's food in abundance like this, he's eyeing it suspiciously, wondering where the catch is, and then snatching a plate with an egg mcsandwich and two cinnamon buns (whiskey immediately goes into the accompanying coffee), and hurrying off towards the farthest end of the table, closest to the door, always clocking the closest exit out of sheer habit. The bunker may have had a full kitchen and he might've been able to cook, but the spread here is something he isn't used to, at all.

A few bites in, and he's finally speaking up. ]


This is freakin' delicious.


pool party;
[ This wasn't really on his agenda, attending a pool party, but he isn't actually sure if it's mandatory or not and he's not currently willing to test the limits of the 'hospitality' he's receiving. So he goes, reluctant, a white tee and swim trunks he's acquired from...somewhere. Of note; he's not exactly the ripped abs kinda guy, and while decently in shape, there's still a soft layer of fat padding his hips and belly from pie loving him back. He's not self-conscious though, and after he takes a green and blue bracelet he's peeling out of his shirt and leaving it on a chair and absolutely canonball the shit out of the pool, very likely splashing people nearby.

Later on when he climbs out, he's sprawled happily and nursing a drink, warm and tipsy and fuzzy enough to let some painting go on, because that's kinda funny, right? Body paint, why not. Everything else here is batshit crazy, might as well have a little fun with it. ]


fruits;
[ Hunting down some painted pumpkins is definitely in the cards, but they're a lot more trouble to find than he'd realized. Still, he's out on the prowl, but he's distracted by the bonfire and takes a seat next to it (apple bobbing is a big fat no from him, last time he'd seen that had not been a pleasant sight for the chick who's face got boiled off). Liquor spiked cider in hand he savors the warmth, a stuffed chicken plushie by his foot indicating his triumph at a horseshoe game.

What he isn't expecting? The handfasting and to be essentially handcuffed to a stranger. He's more than displeased, probably just as much as the person on the other end of the stick, and he tugs on the ribbon, annoyance on his face. ]


What the hell?


(( ooc; open to multiple threads for handfasting for extra irritation :> also totally open to wildcards and ideas for mr. winchester here! if you have an idea or something for the feast/maze/etc, feel free to throw caution to the wind or pm/pp me [plurk.com profile] virtuously! ))
Edited 2024-09-09 13:09 (UTC)
chaosmenu: (pic#17340792)

[personal profile] chaosmenu 2024-09-09 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Carmy looks at her over the cigarette. Her tattoo, her ring. Her glowing blue bracelet. Hands it back again. The question is visible in his eyes before he even asks it. "Not to be an asshole," he says, through a smoky exhale, "But Alex is your husband?"

(He's itched with curiosity about this and this is the first time he's felt like he's been able to ask without seeming skeezy. Which is impressive, given they were briefly and only barely jokingly arranging a threesome.)
nishtha: (pic#17235174)

[personal profile] nishtha 2024-09-09 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
It doesn't take long for the mood to change at the crowded table as the drink flows and the dark powers of their hosts are revealed. Armand, anticipating attack or worse, watches it all, noting every facial expression, the noise of tearing and chewing and swallowing. Some resist. Others fall to it like beasts at the kill, or simply don't care.

He lets his gaze travel back and forth over the length of the table, paying attention to those he knows to be powerful or dangerous. Lauralae is one of the former, perhaps also the latter. He's pleased when her mind opens to receive him and she turns to look, meeting those black wolf eyes with his own lambent gaze.

As she arrives beside his place at the head of the table, in full view of the assembled mortals and immortals, he takes her gloved hand without hesitating, a gentleman guiding a young lady, a king receiving his guest. The coven leader in full. With his other hand he flips the edge of his cloak away from his lap, indicating where she should sit. He glances over at his companions, seeks Lucifer's ancient regard in the crowd, then turns finally to look at her.

"Daughter of air and darkness," he lifts his hand to gently touch her chin, "are you enjoying yourself tonight?"
nishtha: (pic#17353284)

fruits

[personal profile] nishtha 2024-09-09 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's an interesting test for his new fledgling: can he control himself in a milling crowd of mortals, many of whom are drunk or distracted, or both? The night is drawing in, deep shadows stacking up beyond the glow of light garlands and candles. Prime hunting ground, in other words.

Armand doesn't need to watch him. He can feel him, his awareness of Daniel wrapped snug around his heart, tugging tight with flares of excitement or hunger, the steady throb of their matched heartbeats like a song in the darkness. Without looking, he knows where he is, knows how to angle to intercept and join him.
]

It is an interesting festival. [ He says, on arrival, as if continuing a conversation they've already started. He reaches into the pocket of his coat to find a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Daniel. Lights it, showing off, with a lift of a finger, then leans in to light his own off the end. ]

Celebrating death and life. Not uncommon. The light to stave off the deeper darkness, the winter's chill. [ He gestures with his cigarette, then casts a fond glance at his fledgling. ] An appropriate time to be new in the world.
rationalism: (91)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-09-09 02:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"He was."

Her breath leaves her in a sigh but she isn't really bothered answering. Grace knows it is bound to come up, especially at this fucked up mansion that could have become her fucked up life if only she had picked Parcheesi out of the box. It will only take time and it is always a little freeing when someone else knows, but she is trying to keep Jack as the only one really in the know.

Alex is fair enough game.

"For about... twelve hours. Suck it, Britney Spears."
sonatinas: (Frannie-extra9)

[personal profile] sonatinas 2024-09-09 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Francesca was probably even more behind in the people skills than even Carmy was at this point. She was behind most people when it came to actual timelines, so her mannerisms were dated, and beyond that she got overwhelmed at these types of events despite having grown up in similar parties (similar enough, the constant sex was also something new to adjust toβ€”- though exciting in some ways). Still it was a little obvious why they may be this far out of the party even in whatever Carmy was wearingβ€”- what even is a cabana boy?

She tried to not stare too much. It was not as if she was altogether new about these functions, and his language was… colorful enough. This was the first time she heard of someone working though. That made her brows rise. Was he somehow staff?

β€œThey have made you work?” She questioned, looking back at the house and then him. Francesca was from a time when the help and the house did not mix, but that was not to say she would be rude either. She was more curious, since it was the first she had heard of someone like them working.

β€œWell it is good you have a moment now. Hopefully you can enjoy it. I think it may the last of the warm weather if they are throwing an end of summer party.”

Which seemed a pity. But it also would have meant the end of the marriage season were she home.
peasant: (alina-sab-00222)

[personal profile] peasant 2024-09-09 02:36 pm (UTC)(link)
( pins and needles prick her limp arms, by the time paul and alia have gotten their fill of pulling them about, making alina whatever they need her to be. alia's punching bag, expected to take the beating of her anger, without much more than a grimace of pain when alia and paul both wrench her marionette arms this way and that. paul's urn, letting him pour his grief into her until she's overflowing with it, swallowing past the lumpy emotion in her throat. alina's stare stays disassociative-foggy throughout, retreating into the safe isolation of herself, barred doors and sealed windows. seeing without really seeing where it stays, unfocused, on the bumpy silhouette of paul's shoulder in front of her.

she doesn't mind it, really, being made into the vessel she's always been. that's always been her role, despite what alia's little-girl anger wants to say about it. there's no space for happiness inside of her ribcage when it's meant to be hollowed out and filled with someone else's dreams, someone else's rage, someone else's hopes and ambitions and needs. it should probably anger her instead, she thinks, but it's almost — relieving, to feel something after walking around half-dead for days, even if the echo of emotion isn't hers. she blows out a long breath, concaving with it, and presses her kneading fingers into the socket of her arm, restoring bloodflow, ignoring the little thought in the back of her head.

if paul is a monster for one death, what would the two of them consider her?
)

You're wrong. ( simple, clipped, edged with a bite of bitterness. because alia had claimed she wouldn't go hunting for more. that she could be satisfied with not knowing, and alina had tried to believe her. as it turns out: alia is as much a liar as paul. like brother, like sister. ) I'm not going to thank you for doing the bare minimum to treat me like a person, Alia. And I'm not going to defend myself to either of you. You would just take each other's sides, anyway.

( she sags back against the lip of the bed, head arched back to stare resignedly at the ceiling. alina is the outlier here, after all, keeping track of every little way they defer to each other first. how she's the footnote to paul's confession, the addendum to alia's criticism, considered last. how she has to share even those private intimacies, here, too. she closes her eyes for a frustrated moment, then moves to sidle her fingertips beneath the binding on paul's wrist, finding — no, not even the burn from her summoning can make it budge.

for a second, alina's expression wrinkles into ugly crumples, like she's on the verge of crying at the hopelessness of it all. then: nothing, just a shaky breath of exhale.
)

I'm not doing that. ( to alia. orgy, vetoed. ) Or cutting anything off. ( to paul, pointedly. his need for pain, vetoed. ) It's ... we've the same wedding rituals, back in Ravka. Grisha marry into their own traditions, with their own vows. The ribbon is just a symbol for tying their souls together, in front of the Making at the Heart of the World. Maybe —

( she chews on the inside of her cheek, begrudging. it hurts to even consider playacting, a cruel form of torturing herself with something sacred, something she won't have. after a breath, she lets it out in a rush, pre-emptively defensive, to the both of them: )

I don't want to be married to you any more than you want to be married to me. But maybe if we pretend to go through with the charade, it'll come loose.
Edited 2024-09-09 14:43 (UTC)
dead_tongue: (impish)

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2024-09-09 03:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[Iggy laugh silently.]

I was born on Halloween into a family of Spiritualists. Yeah, I know all about thin veils.

[He shrugs and saunters closer, looking at Armand's glasses with interest. He loves stupid accessories. Armand himself deserves more study too, and Iggy wishes fleetingly that he had a sketchbook on him.]

This entire place feels a bit like that, though. Thin, you know? That wasn't a line, what I said - you do feel familiar, except that's impossible. Unless I met someone you know who died.

Do you know many dead people? And can I try on your sunglasses?
microbasil: (pic#17340762)

slightly nsfw link

[personal profile] microbasil 2024-09-09 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
It's nice that she's not mad about it; Richie grins a bit, relieved, some of the tension going out of his body. He raises his eyebrows at her.

"Yo, okay. I don't think it's horrible, for the record. It's kind of cool, actually. Hey, you want to see my scar? Make it even between us?"

He's not really listening for an answer, already looking around for somewhere to set his tray so he can have his hands free. He settles on the end of a nearby sun lounger, puts it down, and comes back to Grace already tugging down the back of his shorts to show her the half inch knife wound scar on his ass just above the tattoo of Calvin taking a leak. He twists around a bit, trying to take a look himself.

"See? Fucking crazy, right? I got stabbed. With a knife."
missed: (115)

[personal profile] missed 2024-09-09 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
The itch of eyes on them will be there for a while and he does his best to keep his attention away from it. There are eyes on them, though - thoughts rippling across the table. Some in surprise, some fear, some curious and fascinated, some heated watching the pair and knowing what they are.

The mingling of Armand's blood, sticky sweet with the fruit, makes him groan lowly against his skin. He gently holds Armand's wrist and sucks from the punctured fingertips, green eyes meeting the blazing orange as both juice and blood drip from his lips and down his chin. He's not usually so messy an eater, but he allows himself the indulgence this time.

"Don't think I mind them seeing us, though," he hums again around Armand's fingers, taking them deeper, dragging his tongue along the underside and up to the pads of his fingertips to heal the little wounds before he pulls away on a little gasp.

"I know there will be consequences, but maybe we can enjoy it a while." He leans in to kiss Armand, bloody and sweet.