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๐–˜๐–†๐–‘๐–™๐–‡๐–š๐–—๐–“๐–™ ๐–’๐–”๐–‰๐–˜. ([personal profile] saltburntmods) wrote in [community profile] draino2025-01-04 08:00 am
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๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐’ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐€๐‹๐‹ ๐ˆ ๐‡๐€๐•๐„ โ–ฃ JAN TDM





JANUARY 2025 TDM: IMMORTALITY


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 โ€” 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 ยซ NEW CHARACTER/IN GAMEยป 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 isnโ€™t, stay in bed and wallow โ€” eventually a maid will be in to tear your curtains open, saying, "Breakfast is served," and scurrying out quietly, invisibly. Breakfast? Maybe itโ€™s normal for you. Maybe it isnโ€™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 โ€” have you been here before? Were you drawn up to this estate in a car? Havenโ€™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, the menu has been redone by some guests in the manor. 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

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‰๐Ž๐๐“๐˜: 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.
๐„๐†๐†๐’ ๐๐„๐๐„๐ƒ๐ˆ๐‚๐“: vinegar poached eggs with hollandaise foam on a bed of toasted freekah and baby spinach.
๐„๐†๐†๐’ ๐’๐‡๐€๐Š๐€๐’๐‡๐Ž๐”๐Š๐€: two eggs poached in a ramekin of pureed tomato, served with a crispy grilled cheese cut to dip.
๐“๐‡๐„ ๐’๐˜๐ƒ๐๐„๐˜: french omelette with a light cheese filling, topped with crushed potato chips and chives.
๐Ž๐„๐”๐…๐’ ๐๐‘๐Ž๐”๐ˆ๐‹๐‹๐„๐’: fluffy scrambled eggs in brown butter, served on sourdough.
๐’๐๐€๐๐ˆ๐’๐‡ ๐“๐€๐‘๐“: mini-quiche made with caramelized red onions and jamon pata negra ham.
๐„๐†๐† ๐Œ๐‚๐’๐€๐๐ƒ๐–๐ˆ๐‚๐‡: bacon, egg, cheese and sausage breakfast muffin that tastes weirdly like it was made at a popular chain with golden arches.

THE SWEETS

โ– momofuku's "cereal milk" โ–
โ– fette biscottate with a sour cherry jam and peanut floss โ–
โ– a warm cinnamon bun served with a shot of espresso coffee for dipping โ–
โ– a macadamia-marzipan croissant with a wattleseed and burnt-honey filling โ–
โ– poffertjes with a liquid nutella injection โ–


If you want to leave, youโ€™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 heโ€™s as good at being invisible as the rest of the house staff. Of course, thereโ€™s no reason why you canโ€™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 doesnโ€™t want you to leave. Those more sensitive or fragile might find they canโ€™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 doesnโ€™t dissipate, though โ€” 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, itโ€™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."




8-BALL

CONTENT WARNINGS: drugs, nsfw.

In all 700 (and change!) years of Saltburnt's existence, never has the new year been rung in with anything less than a bang. Similarly, the manor is a bustle of activity in the post-Christmas week, setting up predominately in and around the Operating Theatre. Formally, all guests are welcomed to celebrate on the 31st of December leading into the new year by a fancy, handwritten invitation, delivered individually by Giles. BLACK TIE, the invite says. LET'S MAKE IT A GOOD YEAR, DAWG.

Upon arrival, it's plain to see the Operating Theatre has gotten a glow up since last visited. The amphitheater stairs serve as a dramatic entrance to walk through, the main floor usually designed for holding cadavers for dissection instead replaced with a dance floor. Everything is black, white, and as silver as surgery tools, the room seemingly a great deal larger than when it was last observed โ€”ย though, maybe that's your eyes playing tricks on you. Don't worry about it!

Celebrate instead, ringing in the new year with loud, Eurodance music and American rock, bodies dancing together for one last hurrah of 2006. In true Saltburnt fashion, there's a snack spread on the organized operating tables โ€”ย Vietnamese spring rolls, glass noodles, Prosecco jello shots to go with the tall flutes of champagne passed around on silver plates. Additionally, there are some silver platters circling the venue full of tall mounds of white, powdery cocaine, already spliced into lines for convenience. The name of the game is indulgence, as ever, getting one's worst habits out of the way to make room for better, healthier choices in the new year.

For the last hour of the year, a mock time ball in the shape of an magic 8-ball is set up in the center of the room, slowly inching up as time ticks down. At 11:59, the ball reaches its zenith, much more rapidly moving the other way as the countdown starts. Once the countdown drops to the 10s, everyone in the room is pairing up in couples (or trios?) to kiss at the strike of midnight, loudly chanting the last five numbers in chanting succession, 3, 2, 1, and happy new year!

Several things happen at once, following your kiss, or the strike of midnight if you're more of a lone wolf. Firstly, everyone's clothes disappear, left completely naked in the theatre. Any fabric they might think to dress themselves in will miraculously disappear once they put it on, and any attempts to escape the room are likewise barred, doors unopenable for the time being. At the same time, the 8-ball which reached the bottom of its stand rolls over, presenting its windowed side to all who look upon it โ€”ย and all who look upon it will see one of 20 different instructions.

For a fun game, roll a d20 and see what you get!



































Naturally, the doors only permit you to leave after achieving whatever challenge the 8-ball gave you, where you can run nakedly back to your room and find some clothes, saying goodnight to a wonderful year. Any and all party poopers uninterested in taking part will be let go an hour or so post midnight โ€”ย approximately when it stops being funny.






NEW YEAR, NEW ME


CONTENT WARNINGS: homophobia, misogyny, implied grooming, cultural insensitivity.

New year is a time for new beginnings, and it's no surprise that many resolutions involve the bettering of one's self. Exercise and eating healthy are all usual suspects, but what if you could take a little something that did it all for you, effort-free? New Years Resolutions the easy way โ€”ย try ReSculpt, an organic supplement using exotic kinds of sea kelp, as provided by Portia's personal life coach SHAMAN LEAF, for making a better you. Fat melts away and wrinkles smooth out, complexions clear and muscles strengthen, all with the help of this miraculous product! Simply apply the topical ointment on yourself, and watch a new and improved you emerge โ€” even those of you who wouldn't choose it willingly can take part, as it's stocked in every bathroom, in the shape of an ordinary lotion bottle.

Of course, it doesn't only effect your looks. The road to a better you requires a full makeover, changing you from the inside out. Be the son your father always wanted, or the wife your husband deserves โ€” become a better partner, a better housewife, a better soldier, a better friend. Whatever any of that means to you, whether changing your style or the people you're attracted to, this magical lotion seems to clear it up and straighten you out, turn you into a true, decent member of polite upperclass society. Even Portia in the days following New Years appears younger, nearly like a girl in her teens thanks to the power of ReSculpt. On your journey to self-improvement, you might feel inclined to sign up for Shaman Leaf's 12-step guide to proper English behaviors, including lessons in etiquette, fine dining, lovemaking with respectful hands-on accompaniment, and a suggested sizable donation on towards Shaman Leaf's travel fund. All of it concludes in a graduation for the enlistees in the form of a debutante ball.

Not to worry if you didn't take the course โ€” all are welcome to witness the caterpillar become the butterfly in this re-introduction to society in one of Saltburnt's many exemplary ballrooms. As opposed to the more carefree party that welcomed in the year, the debutante ball is steeped in the premeditated societal structures of an aristocratic family, everything proper and regal by design, complete with huge, expensive dresses and expertly tailored, starch-collared suits. Luckily, ReSculpt will see to everyone conforming to the expectations of society, without complaint. Unluckily, the side effects seem to kick in at the debutante ball.

Step one: paranoia. Is this who you really are? What happened to the person you were a few days ago? Where did everything that made you who you are go? Dread creeps in, a discordant note, a cold breeze. Step two: touch repulsion. The dances at the ball are all respectful, leaving plenty of room for Jesus, flirty little wrist touches and soft, careful hands โ€” and you're disgusted by wanting more, confused by it. Consumed by it? Scared of it. The sick touch of skin on skin is as offensive as it is arousing, like gripping ice cubes in your hand and flinching at the numbing, burning pain. Step three: hallucinations. You turn in a dance and the hand that slips into yours is more bone than flesh. The ballroom itself seems to grow more decayed than decadent, ghosts and horrifying faces spliced between the crowd, all looking at you, angry and disturbed. Is that face looking back at you your own? Can your friends tell you from a doppelgรคnger? Who even are you anymore?

And finally, step four: rehab. As it turns out, Shaman Leaf is not actually a good guy. That is, he's not a guy at all but a pรบca, here to unleash a humble amount of chaos and then quickly skedaddle while the iron's still hot, escaping with mischievous shapeshifting behaviors through the closest door, galloping to the forest. Though his exit from the premises doesn't clear up the effects of ReSculpt, it's nothing a little week spent very fashionably in rehab can't clear up. Going cold turkey is the only way to remove it from your system โ€” and you do want to remove it from your system. A depleting supply will force you into withdrawals regardless, in the form of continued paranoia and hallucinations, acting hot and cold with touch, alternating between your true self and ReSculpt self, fevers, nosebleeds, puking, and blacking out. A good detox for the new year.



DIRECTORY


lithes: (like a handprint on my heart)

[personal profile] lithes 2025-01-08 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
[I shouldโ€™ve done this on the balcony shudders like a crashing wave into Glindaโ€™s mind as Elphaba embraces her, as she holds her like the tower never happened, like they hadnโ€™t parted forever and for always before the Wizard and Morrible and all of Oz. She shoves it away, tries instead to fight the urge to turn and press her face into the crook of Elphabaโ€™s neck, breathe in the smell of her hair, her skin, nothing like Glindaโ€™s sugary-sweet perfumes but better, better. Fails at resisting that urge.

And then theyโ€™re pulling away and Glinda is pouting because sheโ€™s Glinda, and shaking her head hard.
] Not at all. The last I remember isโ€ฆ [The sky, green and black and thundering and magnificent. The shattering of thousands of windows and lights and glass, the cascade of power from that one final cry. Madame Morribleโ€™s arm around her, voice low and gentle and dangerous all at once: come with me, dearie, come to one of the guest rooms, youโ€™ve had a dreadful day, havenโ€™t youโ€ฆweโ€™ll keep you close by, until youโ€™re ready to talk it all through with the Wizard and I. The implication, clear, unflinching: youโ€™re staying here until we know you wonโ€™t try to follow her. Until we know youโ€™re ours.

Glinda shakes her head again, focusing instead on the way even the window in her (cell) room was shattered, the way she could distantly hear the constant replay of Madame Morribleโ€™s speech: Citizens of Ozโ€ฆ again and again as the streets filled with fear. She looks up at Elphaba and her eyes are hollow, red-rimmed, fingers curling into her once-roommateโ€™s sweater without thinking.
]

Youโ€™d left. Youโ€™d just left. [A shuddery inhale.] Do youโ€ฆwhat do you remember last?
aspires: (O6FQ225Hvk6P7yRclbbUt)

[personal profile] aspires 2025-01-12 12:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd just left.

[ she echoes the sentiment, and it doesn't feel any better than it had in the moment. elphaba doesn't regret her choice, she doesn't. she had to leave, if nothing else then the speed at which madame morrible and the wizard threw her to the wolves proves that. elphaba never would have been able to toe the line like glinda wanted her to, never would have been able to enact change from the inside. and elphaba knows with as much certainty, that glinda never really could have come with her. what would they do, go on the run together? live in the wilderness?

so she doesn't regret her choice, but there's something in the way that looking at glinda's face so close, that feels an awful lot like regret twisting tight in her chest. she exhales, and it's a careful, measured one, not at all like glinda's shuddery little breath, and she brings her hands up to touch the other girl's cheeks, thumbs pressed briefly right under those red-rimmed eyes. ]


Glinda, Iโ€” [ she doesn't know how that sentence is going to end, honestly, and elphaba almost always knows what she wants to say. i'm sorry presses harsh against the backs of her teeth but she can't quite bring herself to say it, not when she's so sure that she isn't sorry, for any of it. except for leaving her behind.

she'd promised, after all.

but she doesn't apologise, just swallows and attempts a weak smile at her, as she finally thinks of something else to say. ]
I'm very glad to see you. Even if we are in this....very strange place.
lithes: (like a handprint on my heart)

[personal profile] lithes 2025-01-14 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Itโ€™s funny, because sheโ€™d only just disappeared into the booming, crackling sky, and yet Glindaโ€™s already come up with a thousand explanations for why sheโ€™d remained behind, why sheโ€™d stood surrounded by the Wizardโ€™s guards, all of them shouting horrible things (kill her, echoing like the thunderclap of Elphabaโ€™s final battle cry, the realization that it was only her powers, her miraculous ability of flight that had prevented just that outcome) and hadnโ€™t hopped onto the broom and been carried away. Sheโ€™s run it through in her head, over and over โ€“ I wouldโ€™ve slowed you down, I wouldโ€™ve been no help, I can do more from within, I can change things slowly, subtly, carefully, without anyone noticing Iโ€™m doing it.

But Elphabaโ€™s hands come up, cradle her face, and Glinda thinks of how sheโ€™d nearly stayed safely buried in the crowd at the Ozdust, how it had been the tears in those same solemn eyes that had prompted her to step forward, to risk everything sheโ€™d thought was so important on a dance with a girl everyone feared, everyone loathed. That had been โ€“ difficult, yes, but the stakes had been so, so much lower. And even still, sheโ€™d nearly failed. Maybe if Elphaba had wept in the tower, had stood there alone and powerlessโ€ฆ

But no. She wasnโ€™t powerless. She never had been; it had just taken the shattering of all they knew to be true to show it. When the true test had arrived, Elphaba hadnโ€™t flinched away, hadnโ€™t hesitated before leaping out into open air. Glinda had. Glinda had.

She sniffs again, tilts her cheek into the hands cupping her face and squeezes her eyes shut against the unspoken apology.
] Elphie, donโ€™t be silly, I look a messโ€ฆ [Another sniffle, one hand reaching up to pat at the curlers, letting out a huffy whine.] My hairโ€™s in curlers. Soon Iโ€™ll start wearing hideous froats to breakfast and you wonโ€™t want to be seen with me at all.
aspires: (7sXe6YOWnYkuHQKU1aLpl7)

[personal profile] aspires 2025-01-25 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
If you're wearing a froat, then I'll be wearing a frost, and we'll both be hideous together.

[ could it really be that simple, for them to just...fall back into the rhythm of shiz, as if the emerald city and the wizard and the tower had never happened? or if not as if it had never happened, then certainly in spite of it all?

yes. elphaba decides, quite easily and quite firmly, yes it can be this simple. she can't help but laugh just a little at glinda's dramatics, so familiar to her these days that she might have been able to predict them herself. it's just a quiet chuckle under her breath, paired with a light brush of her thumbs under glinda's eyes as she sniffles, even if there's no tears to dry away. she's reluctant to let go, if she's honest, but really there's only so much time that she can stand there with glinda's face in her hands before they really will have to move.

there has probably already been annoyed and pointed coughs directed at them as people have to squeeze their way around the reunion, but elphaba hasn't noticed and also doesn't much care. ]


Come on, let's get you some breakfast, and then we can figure out the curlers on a full stomach.