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π–˜π–†π–‘π–™π–‡π–šπ–—π–“π–™ π–’π–”π–‰π–˜. ([personal profile] saltburnmods) wrote in [community profile] draino2025-03-01 08:00 am
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πŒπ„π 𝐀𝐑𝐄 π’πŽ π‹πŽπ•π„π‹π˜ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 πƒπ‘π˜ β–£ MARCH TDM





MARCH 2025 TDM: RENEWAL


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 (THE REMIX)


CONTENT WARNINGS: drugs.

For once, it's not the pounding hangover that stirs you awake. Oh, it's still there, like little shards of glass being shoved through your skull — but your dry, cottony mouth should be the least of your concerns. When you turn over, it's clear that the glitz and glamor of your room has been ... well, neglected, as of late. The sheets are musty, the furniture covered in layers of dust that sets your nose off, the nightstand decorated with a glass of stale water growing a new bacteria culture. If you're looking for room service to cure your headache, you'll have look elsewhere for painkillers β€” the maid has very generously left you a more traditional form of medicine. A neat little bag of white powder rests at your bedside, for those that need a little extra pep in their step. Don't say the help never did anything for you.

Unfortunately, that's where the perks of your accommodations begin and end. If you thought you had the room all to yourself, think again. Maybe it's a stranger snuggled up to you in bed that first clues you in. Or maybe it's the mattresses laid out on the floor, sleepover style. Complaining to the maid that enters won't get you very far. "We apologize for the inconvenience," she says, clearly a rehearsed script she's had practice delivering. "We're in the middle of repairs. Guests will have to share four to a room." Ask her again, and mumbles out a mousy apology, before scurrying away. Guess you'll have to rock-paper-scissors to see who gets to claim the bed.

Eventually, your curiosity or hunger (or anger) wins out. Entering the corridor, "repairs" suddenly seems like an understatement. A putrid scent sits in the air, maids scrubbing at bits of guts stuck into the carpet like chewing gum. No one looks up from the frantic cleaning as you stroll down the corridors where you might find yourself ending up in the twists and turns of rooms, lost in what they offer. Regardless, seemingly all hallways, covered in priceless artworks that have been ripped from the wall and ancient artifacts knocked down from their rightful places, lead to the dining room in all of its cobwebbed disrepair.

There, Giles ushers guests onto the lawn. "Breakfast will be served outside today," he says, tight lines around his mouth. Traditional gingham blankets have been sprawled out on the lawn, protecting your legs from the thin layer of snowmelt still on the ground, as you're nudged together and urged to share amongst yourselves. Open up the wicker basket to a strange assortment scrounged together last minute by the kitchens: champagne before noon, lobster salad sandwiches, fruit cakes, artisanal cheeses, apples that look questionably rotten, and old Valentine's Day chocolates in plasticky heart boxes to polish it off. Do those taste spiked to you? It's a good thing it's still a crisp day to cool you off, once you start feeling a little warmer under the collar.

For those of you attempting your daring escapes, 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 cocaine is there, just like you remember. The strangers in your room 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. Walk to the estate lawns, and find everyone there eating away at their breakfast.

Welcome to Saltburnt, esteemed guests. Enjoy your treats while they last.




CUPID'S ARROW STRUCK ME

CONTENT WARNINGS: possible sex, violence, a/b/o themes (pheromones, mating, heat/rut), breeding, body transformation/body horror, aphrodisiacs.

They say all is fair in love and war, but making war instead of love is a tiresome sport. While the help mops blood from the floorboards, the Balfours have kindly arranged for a (very belated!) Lupercalia celebration. What better way to distract yourself from your pesky mortality, if not with the life-giving act of sex? Just ask the Ancient Romans.

For those guests who like to watch (we see you, voyeurs), the lawn's knolls offer a perfect viewing. There, you can participate in a hunt of a more innocent sort. Sprinkled throughout the lawn, hidden in flower pots and tree alcoves, are brightly colored plastic eggs. Pop them open, and you'll find hidden trinkets inside. Those lucky enough might win a new pair of Tiffany's diamonds; some, to your annoyance, explode in your face with glitter and confetti. Others contain chalky conversation hearts, stamped with their own sayings. Some lean more innocent, but there's no mistaking the X-Rated hearts in the bunch.

Whether yours are PG or NC-17, they share one thing in common: you're compelled by the spirit of whatever heart you munch on, whether it be embodying its mood or acting out its instructions with a partner.

For those guests who are a little more daring (helped along by the chocolates that might have you feeling bolder than normal), Jonty has agreed to lend his expertise to leading a hunt — of sorts. With his expert knowledge on nature, HALSIN has been appointed to lead the charge alongside him, calmly watching over those who take an interest in signing up. By the edge of the forest, volunteers are divided into various groups and given all they need to transform. Masked hunters browse through an assortment of flogs, bindings, collars, leashes, and riding crops for the pleasure (or pain) of their captured prey. As for guests who draw the short end of the stick? You're the prized catch of the day. You best run, rabbit, and hope the wolves don't catch your scent.

PREY is, at least, given the mercy of a head start — we're not complete animals, here. Stripped naked and vulnerable, with only a mask to protect you, the only goal on your mind is to outlast the hunters. It's all in good fun, at first. Women and men alike are dragged laughing and kicking by their ankles, a reward for their captor to do with as they please. Eventually, the thrill in your stomach turns to dread, and the dread turns into a cramping ache that leaves you gasping on the forest floor, unbearable pain wrenching through your insides. For a horrifying moment, you're certain your bones are going to split apart from your flesh. You burn and burn and burn with no relief, caught between your desire to run and your need to fill the emptiness within you.

HUNTERS aren't immune, either. There's something animal within you, clawing for escape. Instincts overtake all sense and logic, leaving behind the natural, predatory drive to claim. Participants gradually lose themselves in their roles, reduced to nothing more than a mess of base instincts. Your fellow hunters, perhaps once friends, are nothing more than competition to you now; you snap, violent and territorial, at any who cross your path. Your senses grow stronger, scenting the sweetness of your prey on the wind, single-mindedly chasing their trail.

Think that's the worst of it? Think again. You might become so absorbed in your role that your body follows suit, transforming before your very eyes. Furry ears sprout, tails emerge, fangs descend, claws sharpen, mating glands throb in your throat beg for attention, your anatomy grows new changes to accommodate your fun, compatible mates smell especially enticing — all determined by the mask you don, now trapped in your new form.

Happy hunting, dearests. Don't let your prey be the one who got away. You never know who might get to them first.






A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME


CONTENT WARNINGS: nsfw (exhibitionism, ritual sex, orgy), dubious consent via magical compulsion.

After a debauched weekend, the Balfours eventually get sick of cleaning cum and blood off of their expensive Tuscan curtains courtesy of their guests' constant animal urges, and search for a solution. It starts with a magic pull in the pit of your stomach one night, guiding you further into the woods, back to where it all began. The further you step into the darkened forest, the more that feeling unspools, until you find yourself at the base of an altar. Branches and flowers decorate its sides, but it's the whorling sigils that draw your eye. To even the most educated eye, they're indiscernible, like nothing you've ever seen — yet they seem to soothe you, as if you know this is where you were meant to be.

Gentle hands from servants shed your clothing. The night air is a balm on your overheated skin as countless hands paint the same symbols ritualistically over your stomach, your chest, your neck, imbuing you with a sudden overwhelming burst of ... something. Something ancient and powerful, a vessel for magic growing root in your belly. Regardless of gender, they name you LORD or MAIDEN as they step aside to form a holy circle, watching you with reverent stares.

As a Lord, you don't know how you know, but you're aware you must choose your Maiden from the crowd. Maybe it's your mate, if you've taken one; maybe it's a stranger, inexplicably calling to you. But the magic leads you to them, unable to deny the call, as you bed them on the altar for all to see. Others around you do the same, pairing off or joining couples with wandering hands, smudging lines of paint in their ecstasy. Upon completing the rite with your chosen (or several chosens), magic releases itself into the land like a ripple, urging on the fertile beginnings of springtime. Trees sprout full leaves. Rose bushes come into full bloom. Those who suffered transformations come back to themselves, losing all of their animal features, and regaining their minds.

To fully embrace the season's change, you're invited to the lakeside festivities that follow. Several fires flicker warmly, dancers in various states of undress beckoning you to join them as they twirl themselves around. Some call for you to leap over the flames, showing you how it's done with a bit of drunken grace. All guests are urged to "purify" themselves in the spirit of rebirth, starting with your fears and hang-ups and rancid vibes. Choose a sentimental item to sacrifice, and release yourself from the bad memories attached, by feeding it to the flames. Or pen those letters you can't bring yourself to send, pouring out those emotions you've kept inside, and watch the pages burn away the baggage they contain.

Be careful with them, however — those letters are delivered to rooms the very next day, airing out your dirty laundry to their intended (or unintended, oops) recipient. You might even find they've been left in very public view, carelessly strewn onto the dining table or hung up in the corridors, for anyone to read. Those text drafts you also never meant to see the light of day? Fired off to the person you thought better of sending them to. Did you mean for those to stay private? Too bad, so sad. Part of purification is making amends with yourself and your loved ones, so get to it if you want to clean your dirty soul.

More of a "wash that guy right out of your hair" kind of person? Come join the communal bathing in the lake, where you're encouraged to give your neighbor a helpful hand. Is it just the moonlight, or do they look much more irresistibly beautiful? Whatever the case, pouring a palmful of water over each other seems to wash away old pains, whether physical or mental. Scars begin to fade as complexions become brighter. Your anxieties melt away until you can't remember ever having them. Festering grudges disappear. You are well and truly free for the night, unburdened by what came before. Nothing can hold you back.

If you're not looking to get your toes wet, you can participate in love fortune-telling at the seed planting and flower-making station. Individuals are paired off and led to a patch of garden where they can plant new life for the upcoming season, encouraged to write down their intentions and hopes for the upcoming spring, and share them by burying them alongside their seed. In another area, supplies have been left out to twine together your own flowering wreaths, which are then sent to float in the lake. Whoever picks up your wreath is rumored to be your soulmate, and if you didn't believe in them before — you do now. As if struck by Cupid's arrow, you fall head over heels for them, no matter how you felt about them before.

As you sip on tea and munch on sweet dumplings, be sure to make your final stop the Wishing Tree. Ribbons hang from its branches in delicate pastel colors, each of them bearing someone's desire. Blank scraps wait nearby, encouraging you to write and share your own. Who knows? It might just come true.



DIRECTORY


doped: (pic#17734452)

[personal profile] doped 2025-03-13 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
( shauna flies at her with such a force that nat gets some distance while she falls to the ground, doing a graceless half second stumble before landing uncoordinated in the dirt, with a stick poking her ass. her expression switches from shock, to pain, to temporarily stunned speechless at shauna's audacity. shauna fucking shipman. nat gestures at her in a way that can only be described as angry italian. )

You ran into me!

( bitch, she just barely bites off, because if leadership hasn't tamed her, it's at least taught her to choose her battles. freak she barely bites off, because the call would be coming from inside the house. psycho she bites off because β€” well, poking at shauna is like poking at a bear, except she's quicker, more precise, and with fewer weak spots. name calling = not a good idea.

instead, she just grits her teeth and glares momentarily, tension thick between them. outright aggression isn't that rare from shauna, but nat is trying to place it β€”Β is this an attack? a warning? the snap of a twig sounds off in the middle distance, and nat whips her head in that direction, ears honed in from months of hunting, as if she's been preparing for this moment forever. when she looks back to shauna, it's with a little amusement, before she scrambles up and starts running in that direction, two midfielders chasing after the same ball.

shauna being here turns the game into a competition. and there's no drug half as addictive as nat's competitive streak.
)

Better catch up, Shipman!
doped: (pic#17734431)

[personal profile] doped 2025-03-13 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
( nat looks behind her, like something might be there. when she turns back around, it's with a small shrug, kicking up one of her feet to stretch it up behind her. )

No goal. Just me.

( a circular gesture around herself, as if to say if there is a goal, it is me. settling back flat footed in the grass, she jerks her chin. )

C'mon, I'm ready.
doped: (pic#17734443)

[personal profile] doped 2025-03-13 01:52 pm (UTC)(link)
( she whimpers, but it's a good, lusty sound once travis bites at her wrist, a feral part of her clicking into place with it. claiming and being claimed like a closed circle, their own little biome. she keeps her hand cupped at the side of his face like she won't tolerate him looking away for a moment, and feels her pale skin go overheated and red, some mixture of animal instincts, arousal, and embarrassment. she knows travis doesn't like being talked to like this β€”Β she just hadn't really considered what he might want, in the wake of what she wants, which felt so intensely necessary at the time that she didn't even try to see it another way. so β€”Β is it good for him, she wonders? does he like it? is he going through the motions? can she trust that blissed, aroused expression on his face?

opting not to think about it, wolf parts take over instead. her free hand pets down the length of his torso, enjoying him fully naked for the first time ever, ever. her travis, claimed long before she stuck her teeth in his throat β€”Β but she likes the mark now, and wonders if it'll scar, if he'll let her keep putting it on him until it does. with a certain amount of viciousness, she rides him, cunt clenching hungrily around him, body circling in ways that make her gasp, unapologetically loud. it's rougher than they've ever fucked before, and for all that it's perfect, natalie soaking a good portion of his lower belly with the surplus of her wet.

she doesn't lose eye contact with travis the entire time, even mouth open and eyes glassy. eventually, natalie bends down to kiss him, hungry and breathless, nodding against him.
)

Yes, I β€” ( affectionately, she strokes his hair, the side of his face. she almost says you're my good boy before biting her tongue, moaning instead. ) I want you to cum, Trav. I want it β€”Β in me.
nishtha: (pic#17235171)

[personal profile] nishtha 2025-03-13 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Focused on the ring, Spike perhaps doesn't notice the smile that breaks out across Armand's face, a little to wide and too full of teeth. ]

I wouldn't dream of it.

[ Drowning, after all, won't work on a man who can't breathe. He'll have to rip his throat out first. A pity, since it will spoil his pretty looks.

Armand leans back as Spike comes splashing into the water, keeping the ring available but just out of reach, kicking off the muddy slope beneath the surface to wallow deeper. He waits for another swipe, judging the angle and timing for a moment when Spike is off balance, hampered by his boots and the mud -- and lunges for him, catching his arm in a vice-hard grip as he pulls him forward, hard, relying on his own momentum to carry him into the water, where Armand can wrap his arms and legs around him and pull him close enough to sink his teeth into his neck.
]
nishtha: (pic#17235269)

[personal profile] nishtha 2025-03-13 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ As Louis undresses, anticipation and hope war with guilt and sorrow inside Armand's chest, a complexity that leaves him trembling, wanting to fidget with his hands. He forces himself to be still and compliant, reduced to raw and nervous clay simply awaiting the thumbprints of his longest companion. He's undone by the way he wants what he can no longer have. He wants, he wants.

He gets, despite everything. He gets Louis closing the distance, cold water sloshing around his bare legs as he approaches, familiar and unfamiliar, hands that haven't touched him intimately in too long sliding around his throat. Armand's eyes close almost automatically, eyelashes fanning his cheek as he tries not to sway into Louis' arms and fall into pieces against him.
]

Please.

[ He echoes Louis' request as he opens his eyes again. His brows knit above his eyes; he could go to his knees in the water and beg. He would do it, if Louis asked him to. He would reach into his chest and pull out his heart if Louis asked him to.

Unable to stop himself, he lifts one hand, ghosting his fingertips over Louis' arm. His chest rises and falls with shallow breaths he doesn't need any more. All his control crumpling around him. In a voice barely above a whisper, he makes his confession.
]

I remember it. I remember dying again, Louis.
nishtha: (pic#17235269)

[personal profile] nishtha 2025-03-13 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Her tenderness and love, her anticipatory pleasure in tearing herself into shreds if it could soothe him -- it's both familiar and foreign to Armand. He's knows that he's unworthy of such devotion, that he's done nothing to deserve her attentions, but he can't help wanting it even as he fears it. She knows him better than almost anyone, yet she still welcomes him. Who's to say how long that will last once she realises what she's allowed into her bed, into her heart?

The blood flushing her cheeks makes his fangs ache. He watches her in silence, entranced by the soft breath against the inside of his wrist. Softly, into their private shadows, he admits to the both of them what he wants.
]

Tell me you love me. [ He could force her -- he could take over her body and make her mouth the words, could convince her that she feels that way, but he wants to hear the truth. ]
corporeity: (095)

[personal profile] corporeity 2025-03-13 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He stills under Astarion’s gentle hands, patiently waiting for them to clear whatever mess he’s made of himself. Smile twitching, despite his efforts. Since they’ve grown closer, Gale has learned that he likes to be fussed over, particularly when it’s Astarion doing the fussing.

He finds himself warmed, too, by the playful disapproval that only garners him more attention β€” and the snick of pen on parchment that assures him Astarion shares his hopes. Hardly excessive has his entire person perking up, brows lifted and eyes bright. It’s not a vow, he reminds himself β€” though Gale would swear himself to Astarion, if asked β€” merely a promise, akin to the act of the planting itself.

Astarion catches him staring, watching his elegant hand move, and Gale blinks, slow to register the question.

Finally β€” ]


I did.

[ A sly smile, the faintest amusement in his voice. Unusually succinct, he knows, for one who talks even in his sleep. He meets Astarion’s gaze briefly, flushing as he walks his attention back to the soil, intent on resuming his task. No elaboration, it seems. He tears open their seed packet with his teeth, shaking a few into his palm. ]

β€”You’ll have to bury some yourself, you know, or it won’t count. [ said with an authoritative air, despite the lack of instructions given. Such is the way of magic, which demands the caster invest their very being to reap the greatest rewards. ]
chokedout: (155)

[personal profile] chokedout 2025-03-13 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
That's a good stance to take, Iggs.

[Wiggling brows.]

I wonder if I count in both those categories. Is reincarnation technically immortality?
rakta: (pic#17688551)

[personal profile] rakta 2025-03-13 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The question is this: does she love him?

Lauralae had thought she had known love, once. She had fallen into the trap of affection and tenderness, the promise of a future held in the arms of a lover. She had felt the embrace of a mother and been safe, secure, comforted for all her ills and pains. It had been torn from her, ripped from her, a knife to the stomach and a wound in the mind, and she had thought herself strange and broken.

What is love, she wonders, a soft voice in the back of her mind, claws digging into her heart. Is it this trust, this tenderness, the knowledge that she can offer herself and share herself without shame nor hesitation? Does it have to be more than that, does it have to require any further definition? If she were to love, she thinks it would feel like this: comfort, warmth, sweetness, the tang of blood in the air, the knowledge that she could offer him all she has, and he would be gentle with it.

Leaning in, unable to resist, she presses her lips to his jaw, curling herself against him as best she can. ]


I do. I love you. [ Perhaps not with the depth of romance that is inspired by others, perhaps it is different, but she is sure of it. The warmth she feels cannot be denied, the hope and joy that captivates her in his company. ] I feel it, Armand.
thirsted: (pic#17656359)

[personal profile] thirsted 2025-03-13 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd like that very much.

[ Because it occurs to him, even before she asks the question that follows, that he hasn't really been good about using his phone camera, either β€” not so much because he's convinced that it's unnecessary but because he doesn't remember too, unused to the technology as he is. And maybe it ties in a little to his answerβ€” ]

I ... don't believe they do. Work, for me.

[ β€”because there's something bleak about the idea of taking pictures when he'll never be included in them. (Perhaps he ought to have taken advantage of the previous month β€” but he'd been too busy, then. Everyone had been.) How many nights had he looked into a mirror, hoping against all hope and good sense that he might finally see his own image reflected back at him? And yet, when he'd had that in hand β€” when his heart had beat again β€” he'd hardly had the time to appreciate it.

But as his fingers curl around hers, his other hand rises to carefully brush back the curtain of her hair, his mouth twitching into a slight smile rather than a frown.
]

Perhaps we ought to sit for a portrait.
wicka: n s (021)

[personal profile] wicka 2025-03-13 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He arches his eyebrows, a silent it figures as he shifts his attention back to a sandwich he doesn't care for. About to take another bite, a thought hits him, and unable to decipher it on his own, Dom leaves his breakfast hanging to look at Travis one more time. ]

Macao or West Creek?

[ Probably both, but a boy can dream of meeting someone who's finally heard of the former, at the very least. ]
wicka: n s (065)

[personal profile] wicka 2025-03-13 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The transformation leaves him surprised, then amazed, then a little jealous β€” Dom leaves a gorey mess when the sun rises, the outer layer of a beast melting off his human form that he then has to dispose of every time, whereas Lauralae just … becomes herself again, with no evidence of the animal to be seen.

It's enough to make him forget how awkward this might look to outsiders, with his hand still positioned to caress her before he retracts it. Lauralae mentioned touching is no-go when she's in her human form, and while he doesn't understand the full scope of it, it's better to be safe (and respectful) regardless. Therefore: hands are kept to himself now. ]


Did I make you turn back? I didn't mean to.

[ Maybe if he hadn't kept asking her questions… ]
rakta: art by <user name=Tenkomi site=plurk.com> (pic#17681603)

[personal profile] rakta 2025-03-13 08:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Consider it done.

[ In another world, another time, she would ask for something in exchange, some bargain or promise to make it equitable, to feel as if her worth has been met - but it is different, here. The exchange is unnecessary, because the tenderness comes from friendship, and the gift she is given in return is beyond her means. Astarion is too dear to her, too sweet for her to ever make such demands, because they are gifts.

They are a gift to her friend, and Astarion is one of her oldest and best here.

It pleases her, to give him such things.

Leaning into his touch, her lips curl into a smile - a real, genuine one, unable to resist the pull of it. ]


I have not sat for once since my mother desired my engagement, and I was much younger then. Do you think an artist will do you justice?
rakta: art by <user name=azathoth> (pic#17671429)

[personal profile] rakta 2025-03-13 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Lauralae does not move, not at first, to allow him time to adjust and find comfort. Only then does she lean back to settle on her knees, to tilt her head up and watch him. There's an eerie, expressionlessness to her that settles into a twitch of her brow, a curiosity.

He seemed so surprised, she thinks. Was it surprise? Is his change not the same as her own? ]


I wished to talk to you. I can turn back, if you wish, or become something else.
dirth: (pic#17509014)

[personal profile] dirth 2025-03-13 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I can. In my world, I am what is known as a 'Dreamer', and that is one of the skills I would possess. I haven't tried it here, however.

[ Leaning a little closer to her, he lets himself soften, lets himself indulge in the flirt. ]

I would take you with me, if you wished it. To venture into the realm of dreams and see what memories linger here in this world.
medals: (032.)

letters

[personal profile] medals 2025-03-13 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[Any letters Jem has written have already been and gone. She's empty handed when she knocks her elbow into Cellar, sitting down and offering her a drink - something clear, with a lime in it.

She nods to the paper, to the drying ink, asks cheekily: ]
Any of 'em mine?
metalkinetic: (pic#17247552)

roses

[personal profile] metalkinetic 2025-03-13 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
It isn't.

[ Erik is freshly recovered from his own exciting time as a werewolf and trying to get his head back together; it's difficult enough on a good day, and this has not been one. He is too filled with anger, hurt and rage, too burning with his desire to destroy, the echo of his upset a boil in his blood, and he has to force himself to stop and to breathe.

Not even the gentle hand of a telepath in his mind soothes that particular ache.

Leaning down, he picks up the wreath and turns it, one way and then the other. ]


Are you sure it isn't for you?
smudgy: (πŸ’« 242)

[personal profile] smudgy 2025-03-13 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He’s looking. She can tell β€” she can feel it, even, prickling her skin. Can see it through the veil of her lashes, slung low. She didn’t bother with all of this stuff last time, when the intimacy seemed like hard work with little reward. Everyone felt too soft beneath her calloused fingertips, no fun in holding them tight after the mistletoe’s spell had passed. Everyone but Silco.

Her grip tightens, nails digging into his skull. There’s no spell today. Just a man in her bed who doesn’t flinch when she hurts him. ]


Reckon you’re the lucky one, blondie, [ punctuated by an intentional grind of her hips, no longer simply teasing but seeking. ] β€˜Cause I don’t feel like running.

[ She wants him to try to kiss her, lips hovering over his, mostly because she doesn’t plan on letting him (doesn’t plan on him being strong, too, which will delight her in its own way). ]
viver: n (361)

[personal profile] viver 2025-03-13 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's a shift in his muscles that suggest a sharp sigh of relief, eyelids fluttering, lips stretching in one corner. Here he is, at his lowest point, looking to a young mortal for salvation with no regard for what it means for her; the figure who has embodied Life in all its forms, who has fed his own blood to those who belonged to him, now thinks of nothing but drinking it from them instead β€” bright and hot, not white and sweet like his, pumping in an unthinking rush, unaware of its purpose within Lottie's body, or in the face of Zephir's hunger.

He's gentle, at first, when he leans all the way down to find the perfect spot on her neck. His touch is cold, lips barely brushing over the warmth of living flesh, a hand on the opposite side cradling her face so Lottie can rest into it when she's nudged to expose her neck. Gentle becomes ticklish, then pinpricks, then an assertive push, fangs sinking deep so blood can pool quickly at the gashes, as though responding to his call. Like the twin streams of red were as desperate to be set free as he is to consume them. Lapping with his tongue, then closing his lips around the wounds to suck, Zephir drinks and drinks, holding on tight. All pretense is gone. All that remains is the monster. ]
powerhungry: (pic#17699304)

[personal profile] powerhungry 2025-03-13 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Silco watches the girl out of the corner of his (good) eye, a sliver of smoke escaping through his lips as she leans over to pluck the wreath from the water, droplets darkening the front of her dress. An odd pause hangs in the air, cut short as he huffs out a laugh, affects at least a measure of friendliness.

She doesn't belong here. That, at least, he can tell, as easily as one can distinguish between fresh and spoiled fruit.
]

It's a pretty thought, but no.

[ Not, at least, like this β€” not this easily. He knows the ways in which the water gives and takes, and this, as he sees it, is hardly about the lake at all. Just fanciful notions of the passing of seasons, largely unaware of how lucky they are to have any of it β€” light, clean water, fresh air, let alone the latitude for love and connection.

With a nod at the wreath, playing along:
] Is it what you imagined, of yours? Fit for a dashing prince or princess?
honorism: (yb8h4Ld)

[personal profile] honorism 2025-03-13 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[Flirtations aside, it really is fascinating to learn about. She smiles and leans in to touch her forehead to his, brushing her nose against his and withdrawing with a laugh]

I would like that very much. There must be many memories that linger here. Could you show me memories from yourself as well? Places you seen? I can't think of an easier way to see where you're from. [Thinking about it, her curiosity growing, she adds:] And could it work in reverse? Could I show you things?
dead_tongue: (fluffy)

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2025-03-13 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you.

You kinda do! But, uhm, I think you respect me. And I believe you love me, too. So. I dunno.

I'm getting to love me, too.
breeding: (pic#17404301)

[personal profile] breeding 2025-03-13 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ In what he thinks is as nice a tone as possible: ] Jesus.

[ And he misses the ball she kicks back to him, trotting a few steps to catch up with it and square it between his feet. A couple months and a year are pretty fucking different, to the point that he suspects it's closer to the latter, even though keeping track of time in a situation like that (so different from his own constantly-monitored life) is, he imagines, not exactly easy. ]

Congrats on Nationals, though.

[ The ball comes back at her a little harder, a little faster, this time, though not so much so that it couldn't be dismissed as lapse in attention. ]

So, you're, whatβ€” [ judging by her general attitude and the fact that plane travel seems to be common enough to her ] β€”1990s? Early 2000s?
viver: lady zephir (289)

[personal profile] viver 2025-03-13 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Zephir knows what that's like β€” she's experienced it her whole existence, even when she and Sully went their separate ways, scorned over some trivial or world-ending matter or another. They'd end up back together in the end, because their existence depended on it, yes, but also because they couldn't possibly have it any other way. Two halves that belong together, two halves that will always be as they are β€” the only ones who truly matter in the end.

Death would miss his children if they were all gone. Life would find the world boring without hers. As long as they remained each other's constants, however… There is nothing Zephir would ever find herself longing for that Sully couldn't fix. What a blessing that is. ]


Would you like to feel it again?
viver: n (352)

[personal profile] viver 2025-03-13 10:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I know, Iggy.

[ He knows it, feels it, takes advantage of it β€” and this sweet human longs for anything he's given, blessed by Death when he's so attached to what life has to offer. How can Zephir not play with him? ]

Have you spoken to Sullivan?

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