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
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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


dwelt: (pic#17455697)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-11 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
You're sure?

[he's ...considering it? sort of? he'd take her word over the maid's, but random pills are still random pills. at least he's finally standing up on his own, without the support of the vanity.]

When did you get here?
rationalism: (113)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-11 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
You can have mine if you want. I should probably put pants on anyway. [ sure it will be the same pants as the ones she left on the floor before she fell asleep, but at least she is clean now. ]

Come on. [ without waiting for his agreement, grace swans into the other bedroom which looks untouched aside from one rumpled side of the bed and her trail of clothes. like when he had woken there is a little dish with two pills and a glass of water on the side table.

grace putters around fetching her clothes. ]


I've been here a couple months. It's weird but mostly harmless. Paracetamol! That's what tylenol is called here.
dwelt: (Default)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-13 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
My parents used to have some of that lying around when I was growing up.

[he (eventually) pads in behind her, throwing any caution into the wind for the potential relief of a tylenol equivalent. he's hardly looking at her, maybe a stolen glance here and there - the towel is plush against her skin and he keeps catching a little whiff of the soap she'd used.

he caves; the water is chugged along with the pills.
]

What's 'weird' to you? Most people would find waking up in another world more than weird.
rationalism: (95)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-13 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ her wedding night skewed her definition of weird, duplicity skewed it further. ]

The rooms aren't always where they were the last time you saw them, maids are always there. [ if he dropped that glass she would expect a maid to come bustling in immediately. ] The Library might be sentient? But if so they are really nice as long as you are nice to them.

[ she wriggles her jeans on under the towel, doing to familiar hop hop hop to get them over her hips. ]

Giles is weird about breakfast, he is the butler, but they're making egg sandwiches now so Giles can be weird all he wants.
dwelt: (Default)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-15 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
[he arches a brow at her when sentient library is mentioned, a totally reflexive movement that has him also eyeing her as she wriggles her way into her jeans.]

Okay. Sounds like the whole place is sentient.

[the glass is placed right back in its original spot, hardly making a sound. he's not sensing any magical energy off of her - she seems human, just ... used to whatever this is. he wants to ask her about more, but he also walked on her showering and he isn't sure if she wants to deal with the questions that are piling up.]

Does the library have more information on what we're dealing with here?
rationalism: (91)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-15 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, huh. [ she stops briefly as if she's considering this, but she doesn't consider long, turning from august so she can drop her towel. grace apologizes to coffee tables when she walks into them so of course she was polite to the library request tube when it came time to ask it for something. she kicks the towel aside and tugs her shirt on, hair immediately dripping down the back. ]

I've never asked. We mostly talk about books. Sometimes it gives me candy.

[ she turns back to the new guy, smiles. ] I'm Grace by the way.
Edited 2024-10-15 03:41 (UTC)
dwelt: (pic#17456012)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-16 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
[he looks at her like she's talking backwards, bewildered at her lack of initiative. the first thing he wants to do is figure out what's going on, but maybe that's not her thing. maybe she's okay with her situation here. the thought is sobering enough to pull him more out of his hungover daze.]

I'm gonna have to check that out.

[he returns the smile with a half-hearted one.]

August. Wanna show me to the library? Unless you have somewhere else to be.
rationalism: (118)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-17 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ sorry, it's the ✨ trauma ✨ ]

There is nothing to do in this place so yeah, I have plenty of time on my hands. Though I seem to have misplaced my shoes somewhere last night because I... cannot find them.

[ her cursory glance doesn'tβ€” ] Ah, there they are. [ one yellow converse pokes out from beneath a pillow that had fallen to the floor and she strides over to yank it free, flipping the pillow like a rock in the garden to snag the other one. on her sneakers go, spattered with rust brown paint??? no, it's blood, but old blood. ]

Okay. Let's do this. This way. [ she sets off, trusting he will follow. ]
dwelt: (Default)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-17 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
Cool.

[the blood on her sneakers - well isn't that just a little detail that snatches his attention. new or old, he knows blood. while she puts on her shoes, he pulls his boots on, leaves them untied and tucks the laces inside of them.

he follows alongside her, quiet at first, hands stuffed into his pockets. it's not really any of his business, but eventually-
]

Why do you have blood on your shoes?
rationalism: (125)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-17 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
How do you know I didn't drop a smoothie?

[ she's tried cleaning them and some of the blood did come out, but some remains like paint splattered across it. luckily her wedding dress acted like an umbrella. ]
dwelt: (pic#17455744)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-17 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
[he smiles at her with a knowing sidelong glance.] The same way I know it's not a smoothie.

[he nudges his shoulder into hers softly, a friendly gesture meant to be reassuring.]

You don't have to tell me.
rationalism: (121)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-17 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ it is reassuring. grace is a tactile creature, though not one that really knows how to ask for it outside of a few people. ]

Nah, it's fine. Have you seen Kill Bill? They chop off someone's arm or whatever and the blood sprays clear across the room? [ she nods to one of the maids buffing the wood detailing around the windows. ] Hi Eloise. Anyway I wasn't fighting Lucy Liu or anything but ol' Aunt Helene left her mark.

[ that explains nothing. ]
dwelt: (Default)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-17 03:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[his head turns to watch the maid, then he's doing a full slow spin to memorize the hallways. the maids seem to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. he knows what she says isn't supposed to be funny, and he doesn't laugh, but the smile on his face lingers. it's all he can do not to picture Grace plopped into the setting of kill bill.

except, maybe that's what happened. it doesn't give him much to work off of, only that someone died (probably).
]

Sounds like Aunt Helene had it in for you. You survive?
rationalism: (103)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-17 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Alive and well, but my shoes did not come out unscathed.

[ and she won't even let them rest in peace! they were perfectly broken in, she loves these converse.

nor did grace come out unscathed but that is neither here nor there. ]
dwelt: (Default)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-17 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I could clean them if you want.

[getting rid of stains is light work for him, unless she has some attachment to the memory of why the blood is there and wants to keep them bloodied. he's curious as they walk, straying a few strides ahead or behind here and there to push semi-closed doors open to catch a glimpse of the inside.]

Definitely a conversation piece, though.
rationalism: (2)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-17 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ grace has an attachment to her scars so she doesn't gaslight herself into thinking what happened didn't happen. it's part of the reason she still wears her ring, but that has maybe become something of a crutch if she's honest.

which she won't be about that. ]


Yeah? That would be great.

[ no one else has been able to get the stains out so she doesn't have that much hope for her poor, precious shoes. ]
dwelt: (Default)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-17 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Sure. Give me a day? I don't know where I'll end up tonight. You can text me.

[she's getting some radical honesty here because he really does not know where he's going to be, and fully plans on some form of escape attempt at least once (or twice) before getting absolutely blasted.]
rationalism: (28)

[personal profile] rationalism 2024-10-18 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
No worries, I'm not in any rush.

[ they pull up at the staircase and grace turns in a circle trying to orient herself. ] Where the fuck was I going last night?

[ she's not wearing workout gear so she wasn't headed to the gym which seems to float between the fourth and fifth floors, hm. maybe she was trying to get to the zoo and got tired. it's all fuzzy, blurry at the edges and it makes her head hurt trying to focus. she'll piece it together later, probably once she scrolls through her text messages. ]

Okay, library. Down we go. [ she skips down the first few steps and then slows to a stroll. ]
dwelt: (Default)

[personal profile] dwelt 2024-10-18 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[people think August looks at them funny. he teeters between foreboding stare and a general aloofness that makes the hairs on the back of their neck stand up. it's how he's watching Grace now, a distant curiosity, like nothing really surprises him anymore.

she could tell him that the stairs move like in harry potter and he'd believe her. he follows her down the steps lazily, one heavy footfall after another, then quieter as he catches up.
]

Has anyone died here?