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π–˜π–†π–‘π–™π–‡π–šπ–—π–“π–™ π–’π–”π–‰π–˜. ([personal profile] saltburnmods) wrote in [community profile] draino2024-11-09 08:00 am
Entry tags:

ππ‹πˆπ’π’, ππ‹πˆπ’π’, ππ‹πˆπ’π’ β–£ NOV TDM





NOVEMBER 2024 TDM: RENAISSANCE


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."




2 GIRLS 1 CUP

CONTENT WARNINGS: nudity, potential for nsfw.

Over the past few days, a bit of construction has taken place on the grounds of the Saltburnt estate, and while it's difficult to piece together what exactly is being built, it's clear to see: whatever it is, it's massive, taking up a huge percentage of the grounds with multiple included structures. On the outside it seems almost like a neighborhood is being sprung up β€”Β new houses for people to live in, maybe? New shops, disconnected from the manor at large? All is revealed on opening day, when upon entry all are greeted with cheery hellos from jauntily clad persons shouting, "Huzzah!" and "Hail and well met!" For the more medieval and fantasy inclined among you, it might feel like stepping somewhere familiar and homey. To the rest, you know β€” you've just walked into a Ren Faire. Costumes are expected.

Not sure what to wear? Those born between SEPTEMBER to FEBRUARY are dubbed part of the Unseelie Court, which is associated with darkness and decay, generally dressed in deep, dark colors. Those born between MARCH to AUGUST are part of the Seelie Court, which is associated with stars and sky, in lighter, brighter colors.

On either side of the split path, you're assaulted by the scents, sights, and sounds of any ordinary Ren Faire. Vendors pawn off garlicky mushrooms and full turkey legs, or flower crowns and juggling sticks in exchange for a kiss, a secret, a lock of hair, or something of equal nonsensical value. Step inside a shop and see sellers offering crude jewelry and satchels of loose leaf tea, fudge sold by the ounce and porcelain ocarinas. Essentially, if it's kitschy and thematic, you can find it here, being sold to you by people in costume who refuse to break character.

Shopping not quite your style? Fear not! If you're lucky in your wanderings, your might spot the Unseelie Queen ALICENT HIGHTOWER or her counterpart and opposed Seelie Queen LAURALAE carried on palanquins towards the very back of the faire, where the real heart of the show takes place in a small stadium for entertainment purposes β€”Β a tourney for distinguishing yourself as the best among your peers in the manor. Prior to the tourney, all characters are given a favor of some kind ( an embroidered handkerchief, ribbon, garland, or piece of jewelry ) to give to a person of their choosing, be they a competitor or not, to show their support. Strangely, this favor seems to link them through an empathetic, sensation-based bond, so they feel everything their chosen competitor experiences. Mutual favors result in a mutual bond.

The challenges are set: ARCHERY/KNIFE THROWING, SWORDFIGHTING/HAND-TO-HAND, and a BARD'S TOURNEY. In addition to the more ye olde flavor of competition, there are also challenges for COUPLE TENNIS, HORSE POLO, and CHESS. And, in true Saltburnt fashion, there is also a somewhat lewd display of voyeuristic NUDE WRESTLING, where the first person to have an orgasm loses. (You can sign up for these competitions HERE.) To every challenge there is dubbed a winner, who in the old Westerosi tradition gets to crown a chosen "maiden" with the title THE QUEEN OR KING OF LOVE AND BEAUTY and an extravagant wreath of flowers, their victory dedicated to the lucky lord or lady. These wreaths are both fashionable and functional β€” while wearing them, no one can resist following whatever queenly command your character gives. Additionally, winners will receive prizes courtesy of Saltburnt, all to be determined upon victory.

Whichever queen has the most winners at the end of the tourney is crowned HIGH QUEEN OF THE FAE. The Queen is paraded around and celebrated by all, and while tribute is not necessary, it certainly is appreciated!






RING AROUND THE ROSEY


CONTENT WARNINGS: potential for nsfw.

The Ren Faire fixture runs adjacent to the tree line of the forest, which one can enter through a booth manned by THE GREAT WIZARD ARCHIBALD, who warns you to be prepared to enter the Realm of the Fae beyond his backdrop curtain, before handing you a flower and a pair of antlers (or a head piece from your fauna choice) for your journey to the beyond. Upon entering, you are greeted by a forest that bears no resemblance to the woods you've grown to expect in your time at the manor, everything more exaggeratedly lush than it had been even a day or so prior. Plump fruits with slightly glimmering skins grow fat on the vine, every leaf on every tree vibrant and healthy despite the changing of seasons, gone orange and red with the cold. Despite that, it's surprisingly balmy in the forest, everything illuminated by glimmering fairy lights and strung up lanterns. Flowers bloom under your feet, alongside perfect little red mushrooms, everything so idealistic it almost borders on discomfort.

Despite any reservations, there is a wild compulsion to everyone who enters the forest. The flower the wizard gave you is pungent enough to dizzy your head, leading you to the instinct of frolicking β€” or if you're not the type to frolick, then wandering β€”Β through the woods, to find some counterpart to your particular flower in a very innocent (or not so innocent) game of cat and mouse. Once you find them, a simple kiss will serve as enough to claim your prize and ease the compulsion. Unless, of course, you want to give a little more. It couldn't hurt, right?

Wander further through the seemingly never ending woods, drawn on of the beauty of faerie, and find yourself at a somewhat rundown chapel surrounded by foliage, the roof and walls broken down with age, invaded by exploring plant life that crawls and vines through every crack and opening. While the stone altar of indeterminate denomination seems like it hasn't been seen for hundreds of years, let alone cleaned, there's the distinct impression you are walking on hallowed, sacred ground when you move to inspect it. Those clever among you might note different runes etched on what appears to be a wooden tabernacle on an ancient pillar at the back of the chapel. Looking into it, there's a word from an unknown language carved inside, complimented with a cheat sheet bit of yellowing paper which reads F. M. K., with further explanation: FRIENDS, MARRY, KINK.

What could it mean? Well. You and whoever you entered the chapel with, or whoever enters next, are stuck until further notice unless you complete one of the proffered options. FRIENDS, it's time you bury the hatchet, let bygones be bygones and accept our faults moving forward, together, to the future. MARRY, let's seal our bonded union with the trees as our witness, in a church of our own making. KINK, if the altar can't be used for the former, it can certainly be used for the latter. Nothing vanilla will do β€”Β kink up or shut up.

Once completed, you're free to leave and roam around the forest at your leisure. If you wander far enough you might hear a distant, organic sound whirring and clicking from the trees, but don't worry. Whatever is watching you probably doesn't bite.




DIRECTORY


beneficiary: (109)

[personal profile] beneficiary 2024-11-20 09:32 am (UTC)(link)
( A few rounds of mead isn't enough to stop Aegon's spirits sinking at the sound of a familiar voice. Said voice is one he knows all too well having grown up with Jace and the others, spending time tormenting Aemond and larking around until things had blown up in a volatile fashion. Aemond had lost his eye and the already strained family bonds had pulled all the further apart.

And then ascension, usurpers and claims rightly (or not so rightly) acted upon. It seemed that the small hope of a family-free time in this place will not come to pass and Aegon sighs, not caring if Jace hears it or not.
)

So swiftly you fall in line with this places whims. ( Aegon will soon learn that doing what the place asks for is the quickest way to get through it, and he studies the paper again before giving a bark of laughter. ) And with such options as friend, marry, and kink? I doubt you know what that last word means.
Edited 2024-11-20 09:32 (UTC)
sonatinas: (bridgertons3ep1-130)

[personal profile] sonatinas 2024-11-20 09:46 am (UTC)(link)
Why? I think you deserve such honor with all you have told me you have been through. Perhaps bloodline means little, but fortitude and strength something greater.

[And that may be something to go against the royal thought, but different houses have held the Crown in England, and divine right doesn’t entirely exist any more. It’s all inheritance which she does understand.]

Oh, I would feel the same. We do not have to stay in public if you do not wish it. You may come with me if you like.

[She offers a hand to stand with her, smile light, but trying to find this new space between them now.]
sonatinas: (bridgertons3ep1-104)

[personal profile] sonatinas 2024-11-20 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
Others have offered as well. But I think what this place is capable of, and how it has brought others just as violent. [Between the vampire hallucinations the month before and then Matt’s own death, it’s certainly a lot for a girl like her to take in.]

But there are other good people here, too. Perhaps if we stick together it will make it easier.

[She smiles as he eyes the poppy, it’s shared meaning between the two of them. It all feels a little heavier, but this place doesn’t make it feel like it’s as pressing. Like the danger and fear she’s had has lessened some just by being in the soft sunlight that seems to dance around every little bright thing. Francesca gives him a natural smile before slipping in next to him as they walk.]

Perhaps it is a kindness after all we have been through. You and I specifically. I am glad to have seen you here.
bhaalite: all by cupnoodles | dnt (Default)

cw: child abuse refs :X

[personal profile] bhaalite 2024-11-20 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ this is what it means to be a child of bhaal. how could anyone else possibly know, in all the worlds that exist and all those that don't, that if he would be dead it should be by her hands, that if she is to be killed then it would only mean something worthwhile if it had been done by him. how could anyone understand that the tight grip at her hair and the sharp crackle of pain across her skin is love, even if she would sooner see him throttled under her fingers than walking the fair land of faerΓ»n.

this is how her mother loved her, how her grandfather loved them both, with pain, with wounds, with sharp agony that showed her just how much bhaal loved her, through their own hands. this is how they love each other now, and more besides. ]


Would you place my heart on display? Would you keep my body close? Would you finally understand what it means to make a beautiful corpse?

[ as she says it, orin is already pushing folds of material out of the way to get better access to his skin. her nails are sharp where they dig into his stomach, hard enough to draw blood and feel scraped flesh gathering under her fingernails. orin scratches like she means to reach his organs soon enough, finds his jaw with her mouth and sinks her teeth in enough that the flesh almost breaks between them. ]

Tear me apart and put me back together again, dearest bloodkin, and let us determine who will win this fight of ours tomorrow instead.
windriding: (assessing)

[personal profile] windriding 2024-11-20 12:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The mention of abilities don't seem to faze her at all - and until corrected, Ororo's going to assume this woman is a mutant, just like her. Out of sorts, lost, not just because they don't know where they are, but because their mutations aren't working as they should.

She shakes her head. ]


It does feel like a trap, a particularly well-crafted one. They've hampered my abilities as well - surely a bid to keep us right where we are.

[ She looks back behind them and up to the manor looming above them menacingly. ]

I've heard that the house itself is always watching.
naloxone: (pic#15307864)

[personal profile] naloxone 2024-11-20 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ three months, marta thinks, feeling dizzy. three months of this, of helplessness, of not knowing how to get home, or how anyone is doing now that she's gone.

if she sways a little in her spot, it's probably fine. ]


Just this morning, [ she confirms, though her voice sounds distant, punctured. just this morning, but she's tried five times to leave and thus woke up five times after, head splitting. ] I skipped breakfast, [ she answers again, though now it just feels like she's listing off one bad decision after the other.

mysteriously hung over, no breakfast because she didn't feel like trusting her hosts, then stress-gorging herself on all the food offered here as if that would be any more safe.

rather desperately, she starts to look around for somewhere to sit. ]
naloxone: (pic#15574927)

[personal profile] naloxone 2024-11-20 01:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ as a certified nurse, marta has done her share of residency. oftentimes, even if a student has a specific field in mind, residencies force everyone to try a different department every quarter, if not semester, both to expand a student's horizons and potentially tap into an unknown passion of theirs... but also mostly to get as much extra hands as they can, especially for those departments considered less savory than others.

all this to say, marta has spent months helping staff a hospital's emergency room. and while one knows never to generalize, she has, more or less, come to recognize the kind of person that is simply an unfortunate magnet for trouble.

looking matt over, marta can already feel a twinge at her temple; not quite a headache, but the seed of one. ready to catch root and thrive. to be fair: she doesn't know this man's life, but she has a feeling if he were to tell it to her, she would need more than just a seat to get comfy. ]


I'd worry anyway, Matt. [ somehow, it's affectionate. ] But that's just the nurse in me.
longlegs: ? s (057)

[personal profile] longlegs 2024-11-20 01:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Oof. Consider the alliance formed. [ A pause. ] Or maybe we might be too pretty to die?
longlegs: s (282)

[personal profile] longlegs 2024-11-20 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ah, the pretty girl is touching her hand. She'll be stunlocked for a moment or two, then come out of it with a pink addition to her cheeks. She puts a cold hand to her own face, as if that'll counter the warmth. ]

One of their games? [ Huh. That's ominous. Or promising. Not necessarily mutually exclusive. ] Wanna go check it out?
rakta: (pic#16248479)

[personal profile] rakta 2024-11-20 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes. They enjoy urging us into intimacy.

[ Lauralae is still unsure of it, a little on edge, but nothing she has done thus far has made her want to stop engaging. She had most recently permitted herself to be a toy of the house, after all, as penance. Engaging in the magic with an attractive companion would hardly be any real issue to her.

Moving over to the chapel, to the altar, she reaches out to touch the shape of it under her gloves, breathing out slowly. Her other hand still holds on to Cellar. ]


It has a request of us. Friend, marry, kink.
sterilize: (pic#17522470)

[personal profile] sterilize 2024-11-20 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't stop.

( she's already nodding before he gets the words out, under some kind of needy spell in watching hyunsu take his pleasure. she's just addicted to him, all the time but especially like this, letting him be greedy and liking how it looks on him, her body instinctively rocking with every thrust of his hips. her fingernails dig into him, yanking him closer. eunyu will never want to be pinned, with her hands above her head or her ankles tied β€”Β but she likes hyunsu's weight, finds it comforting. she's not really naked, when she's wearing him like a blanket.

a free hand lifts to her mouth, spitting on her fingertips, using the excess of wet to brush against hyunsu's cockhead every time it pushes through her thighs. it makes the motion more seamless, easier as hyunsu gets closer.
)

I wanna see.
longlegs: n (254)

[personal profile] longlegs 2024-11-20 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Her mouth is open, but Lauralae walks before the oh has a chance to come out. Frowning to herself, she leaves the anonymous antlers behind and follows obediently, hand still on her cheek.

Cellar peeks at the foreign message, head angled, then at the conveniently placed translation. Good thing Lauralae acknowledged it out loud; saved her the trouble of doing it first. ]


A reqβ€” [ Open mouth, no sound: chapter two. ] How do you know that?
rakta: (pic#16248428)

[personal profile] rakta 2024-11-20 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I was wedded to another here. It is part of the game.

[ Her eyes flicker over to Cellar and then away, as if embarrassed by the confession. It is no real marriage, nothing that would hold true meaning, but is sweet enough all the same.

Turning to look at her new friend, she hesitates. ]


We need not engage. We might only share a confession as friends, if you wish for it to be so.
corvere: (pic#15772677)

[personal profile] corvere 2024-11-20 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There are two things, that bring her to the edge of this woman's presence.

The first is a need, the second: a want.

She doesn't think she has to put on the martyrous act, to get what she needs out of her; a round of healing, to make sure she steps back from the edge of fatigue that comes as the consequences of wearing Marazhai's token, the ribbon holding her hair in a high tail. Her blunt fringe does absolutely nothing to hide a bruise or two along her temples, like she's gone and been battered around the head by a fist. But, there's so much less space on her small body; most weapons, fists and teeth, cover more area upon her compared to the bodies of others, and she knows it. She's small, fleet of foot. To survive the violence she invites, she has to be.

Getting some of the injuries attended to is important, since she hasn't much by way of means to mend herself up just yet. ]


Hands like his know how to make it hurt. He was pretty proud of that, too. What's this stuff?

[ Dutifully, she makes the attempt to wiggle her fingers. A staccato up-and-down motion, before she gives them a slow, pained curl. The pain's acute, sudden, bones grinding against themselves. Her stomach rolls, an easy thing to smooth out with the press of her will. ]

Bwoof β€” [ Mia exhales like the pain's barely containable, anyways. That's the part she'll use to get what she wants. ]

I gotta' β€” small talk some more. I need the distraction from this. You're like, a healer?
benedicked: (pic#17204119)

[personal profile] benedicked 2024-11-20 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's slapping a hand on Anthony's bicep, like he's also trying to make sure he's real, that this isn't some grand hallucination stemming from a little too much tea.

But no, Anthony is solid, he is standing here in front of Benedict just as surely as Benedict is standing in front of him. ]


Yes. Just this morning, in fact. [ His hands drop and he glances at the table then back to Anthony, arms folding over his chest. ] Correct me if I'm wrong, Brother, but this certainly isn't home, is it?

[ has he gone mad??? ]
benedicked: (pic#17204111)

[personal profile] benedicked 2024-11-20 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Sister.

[ He's stumbled across Anthony already at the breakfast table, but he hadn't expected any of his other family members to be presented to him in this dimension between heaven and hell. Certainly not Francesca in a dress that would send the entire family running straight to Paris to escape the scandal.

She isn't the only one dressed like that, but she's his sister and therefore it's far different, obviously. ]


What are you doing here, how long ago have you arrived? [ He very much wants to throw his coat around her and drag her back for something more proper!!! ]
benedicked: (pic#17204153)

[personal profile] benedicked 2024-11-20 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Indeed.

[ He glances over his shoulder at the roar behind them, and it has him offering his arm, head tipped, smile quick and crooked. ]

It certainly does. Would you care to escape the insanity for a bit and join me for a drink? [ Alcohol or not, doesn't matter. ]
Edited 2024-11-20 18:09 (UTC)
longlegs: s n (324)

[personal profile] longlegs 2024-11-20 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah! They gave me an iPhone too. It's super fucking old, I'm kinda amazed they have so many. Here, I'll give you my username. Once I figure out who's been here from the start I'll DM you.

[ She's up and walking over to Babydoll, iPhone out of her pocket. ]

Let me see?
peasant: (pic#15062179)

cw: brief references to xenophobia

[personal profile] peasant 2024-11-20 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
( in the way a hammer is a tool, she wants to say, better built for destruction than repairing anything. paul and jace are proof of that, their pieces put back together wrong, and by her hand — like a clumsy, naive child with good intentions. alina bites into the pulpy inside of her cheek to keep the comment from slipping out, despite the self-punishing need to poke at her own growing collection of bruises. )

You're not that lucky. ( she drawls, instead, no less self-effacing for all of its dry wit — alina's old habit of stressing the importance of being unimportant. it's not entirely untrue, either — correcting saint or general or any other number of titles feels as helpful as a rifle with no ammunition, as a bandage on a missing limb. it raises the abrupt question of why she's here at all, then, a sudden stab of self-awareness bleeding a pink flush into her face. (not for anyone's good but her own, maybe, in the end. not for any other reason but the guilty need to prove merzost hasn't put her back together wrongly, either.

perhaps there's still proof of it in alina's sympathetic grimace, watching mia's fingers curl like dying, twitchy spiderlegs. her fingers come away sticky when they peel back, a nostalgic scent of woods and earth. reminded of days spent at ana kuya's behest, watching her stomp herbs in her pestle, as though their existence offended her.


You learn to patch yourself up quickly in the army, when no one else cares to do it for you.

( and what care would they have had to rescue a half-shu orphan, of all soldiers? she rummages for a long line of gauzy bandage, beginning its bindings along mia's wrist, diligently working its way toward her knuckles. focused, her tongue pokes between her teeth. it's rudimentary, as far as healing goes, but even rudimentary can be the difference between life and death on ravkan soil. )

It's a basic salve. ( if not a little tingly, the stinging warmth of a bath settling over mia's skin. ) To numb the swelling and keep rot from setting in.
longlegs: n u (113)

[personal profile] longlegs 2024-11-20 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ #waterslander

She's about to say she only knows people from Earth, but that is Extremely Not True. Her boss is at the very top of the list of exceptions. Duh. ]


Yeah. Just not… this place on Earth. I'm from America.

[ Pause. ]

Where are you from?
agoniser: (pic#17515485)

[personal profile] agoniser 2024-11-20 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Hm. Yes, I would prefer to walk.

[ He does cast a contemptuous glance towards the shopkeeper, who does break character just a tiny bit to toss him one in return. They can’t say β€œwhat the hell did I do”, but it’s clear in their flat expression. Lauralae is definitely doing them a favor by redirecting the Drukhari’s attention. ]

It could be so distant as to be irrelevant.

[ He stays on the topic of their potential kinship, since he wears his feelings about it much more openly. His smile is still edged and his gaze is sharp, but he’s marginally more at ease. The smile is what relaxes the most, in fact. He just seems to be someone whose default is β€œintense”. ]

I have seen it with the mon-keigh. They find a world and are forgotten by the rest of their kin. They forget how they made it there in the first place. [ Since he assumes that she means world to simply mean β€œplanet”. Overcoming that misconception is going to be a difficult, and it’s half out of personal stubbornness… ] I would think even the Exodites better than that, since our lives are not nearly so fragile and brief. But it is possible.

[ It’s also an odd thing to consider. Though he didn’t have any strong feelings about the fall of the Eldar Empire because it was truly ancient history, it still feels surprising to know that perhaps some of the so-called Maiden Worlds did survive. He doesn’t crave that life, but it’s curious. So, imagining her to be from one of them, he at least explains a little more. Poorly, but. It's something. ]

I’ve no β€œworld” to speak of. Merely the Dark City in the Webway and the stars.
longlegs: n (351)

[personal profile] longlegs 2024-11-20 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It reminds her of how some people have described RaΓ­z's approach to organizing her little pseudo-menagerie and the reality they live in β€” like an ant farm she checks in on every now and then, shaking some things up, making sure others run exactly the way she wants them to. That has to be what's happening here, except… in a pocket dimension, or something. ]

Well. Shit. Has it, like... messed with you too?
rakta: (pic#16248502)

[personal profile] rakta 2024-11-20 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I do not think myself the kind of person with such fortitude and strength. Not in the way that this demands.

[ She is far too physically frail for a great many of these tournies, and so out of her depth otherwise.

Slowly, carefully, she pushes herself up, taking Francesca's hand in her gloved one and looking around, almost shy and nervous together. ]


Shall we visit the markets?
rakta: (pic#17423725)

[personal profile] rakta 2024-11-20 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A great deal of words come from his mouth, and in any other context Lauralae would be able to parse them and understand meaning, but it is clear that he means something beyond her knowledge. The world she had woken up in here was strange enough, disorientating and an adjustment, but the realms he speaks of are odd indeed... But she will do what she can to learn of them, determined and certain of herself in this if nothing else.

At least they are able to walk together, despite how strange she looks in stature beside him. ]


I had a world of mine own once, but I was cast from it. That is what the Feywild was, and now I live amongst the people here. Many of them are mortal, but there is power here, too, and strength.

[ They walk, and she is curious, wanting to know more of him. She has seen some elves in her time even before arriving at the mansion - Drow, and dark, and wood, deadly and dangerous, and even Seelie and Unseelie who had slipped out and away of their own homeland to stalk others - but nothing of his ilk. Not even elves who had wedded humans would make a creature so large, and it hooks her curiosity like nothing else, her desire to learn more and know more.

Like sinking your teeth into a book of dark, forgotten power. She knows that well too. ]


I do not know of it, but I would like to. There is much to know here, and I have enjoyed taking whatever I might trade in bargain.
longlegs: s n (324)

[personal profile] longlegs 2024-11-20 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It is sweet, she thinks, imagining a ceremony that took place a while back, something actually sentimental between two people who met and grew close, not just round two (or more) of the game. Picture this: hey, there's that chapel with the runes, wouldn't it be cute and funny if we tied the knot there? The following assumption: at least someone's finding love in the madness.

Then it's like her attention's been yanked right back in through a wall. ]


What β€” no β€” not that I wouldn't do the other two, I just. [ Go on, Cellar. Just what. ] Okay, wait, that's. I didn't mean to say it like that. Sorry, didn't you just say you're married?