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𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖙𝖇𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖙 𝖒𝖔𝖉𝖘. ([personal profile] saltburnmods) wrote in [community profile] draino2025-03-01 08:00 am
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𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐎 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐘 ▣ 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 — 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 « NEW CHARACTER/IN GAME» 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 — 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 — 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


masticated: (pic#17630204)

[personal profile] masticated 2025-04-09 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Uhhh, pfft-

[not exactly the first thing saber notices about a person when they're trying to kill him and/or eat him. add that on top of his memory being filled with holes and he's a recipe for unreliable information.]

It was dark. Brown, maybe. Why do you care? You're always carin' about people who are already dead. Or I guess not dead. He's alive right? So what if I killed him?
1966: (94.)

[personal profile] 1966 2025-04-09 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ adam's home, back where he comes from - on earth, not his home planet - is dark and dusty and almost always in some state of disarray. old brick walls that always seem a little damp, ash and dust covering almost every surface in a thin film, broken glass on the floors, and always dim and dark, so the mess, organic or other wise, doesn't seem to bother him at all. it is, perhaps, a bit brighter than what he's used to, but most places are outside of where he tends to make himself comfortable.

with ease, adam steps around anything that might be left on the floor and keeps his hands tucked neatly behind his back once iggy leaves his side, waiting patiently for - the aforementioned collection of sweatshirts, he assumes, even though truthfully he's not all that interested in them. they're not what he came here for, anyway.

still, he gives iggy his undivided attention, lifting his brows slightly at some of them, neutral on others. classy earns a little bit of a head tilt and a brief squint of his eyes, but he says nothing of it. maybe classy, in this context, is just slang for honest. ]


I wonder, [ he begins, moving casually toward the bed where all of the sweatshirts are piled up. he unfolds his hands from behind his back, reaching out to pinch at a random sleeve, folding it out of the way, ] Where you find the time to wear all of them. It seems... excessive.

[ he says this without judgment, like he's stating fact, and then picks up one of the cropped sweatshirts by the shoulders. adam turns, takes a step so he's closer to iggy, and he holds the top against his body, lining it up with his torso and holding it there with a light but firm grip on iggy's shoulders, trapping the garment between him and his palms.

he stares into iggy's eyes, unblinking, his voice low. ]


I don't imagine this does a very good job of keeping you warm...
1966: (62.)

[personal profile] 1966 2025-04-09 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ adam's confusion only grows - someone else? who is he, and what is his connection to zephir, he wonders - but he doesn't follow up with any follow up question. at least not yet.

instead, his eyes are drawn to the subtle movement of zephir's hand, the moth; the question at hand, pun somewhat intended. adam doesn't answer right away. he contemplates, wonders idly if the question is as simple as it seems, or something deeper. it's clear to him that zephir knows... something about him, the same way adam knows something about zephir - that he's something else, something other. is this merely a question about the moths, or does he know about the dead things he's discarded? the things he's kept.

adam's eyes shift, following the line of zephir's arm up to his shoulder and then from there to his face. he answers simply, vaguely, a low murmur. ]


Only some.

[ only one, actually. but it's the most important one to him thus far. ]
1966: (95.)

[personal profile] 1966 2025-04-09 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ like a chef* lmfao like a shelf wtf ]

[ a disembodied shadow with no discernible, reasonable source should probably startle adam, unsettle him at the very least, but he remains right where he is by the edge of the pool, unmoved. instead of uncertainty, he looks on with mild confusion at first, and then curiosity as he follows the shadowy tendril from where it teases the bracelet off of his fingers, back to - to the woman in the water. curiosity quickly turns to quiet fascination, his head tilting with wonder.

what is she? certainly not anything made by his hand, though he finds some distant part of himself wishing that he could say he had any part in shaping whatever it is that she is. slowly, subtly, he sinks a little more of his weight into his haunches, almost like he's settling, but not quite committed just yet.

adam shakes his head a little, seemingly a little distracted as he looks at her. he hated the candy. ]


Seems a waste to fill them with sweets nobody wants... [ the eggs, he means. his wide, unblinking gaze wanders briefly, but not disrespectfully. eventually, it settles on the bracelet around her wrist. ] It suits you.

[ after a beat, he opens his hand and tilts his palm at a slight angle, so cellar can see the single candy heart resting in it, and he looks at her the same way he did when offering the bracelet. sure, everyone might hate them, but as he's been told by someone else, nostalgia makes people tolerant, apparently. maybe she'll still want it. ]
dead_tongue: (floof)

[personal profile] dead_tongue 2025-04-10 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
'Excessive' is my middle name. [A pause, because Adam seems a little literal.] Not really. I just mean I'm, you know. Kind of a lot. And I like to dress up. Here, especially, you can get changed a few times a day just for something to do.

[That sounds a little sad so he smiles, the expression faltering slightly when Adam steps close. His hands comes up to press lightly over Adam's.]

No. It doesn't.

[His eyelids flutter lower and he looks at Adam from under pale lashes. He licks his lower lip and presses a little closer.] I'm pretty warm right now. Can you feel it?

[His hips tilt forward slightly and he leans in for a kiss.]
psilocybe: s02 winter (l) (033)

[personal profile] psilocybe 2025-04-10 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[replace it. travis doesn't know where to begin. from shauna's sweetened behavior to the way she looks at him like - he's past being human to her. he's never seen anyone look at people the way that shauna does. prey frozen in place, muscles tensing beneath her touch. run or stay. he knows if it came to that, he could fight back if he wanted to. only, he wouldn't be aiming to hurt her. if they started she'd tear him to pieces.

she asks that loaded question and he's frozen here in the woods, naked and vulnerable and gaze locked on her, watching for hints of animosity. when will her touch turn harsh as it had on that night? when her kiss had torn his lips instead? she has so many faces that he's not sure where one starts and the other ends. multi-faceted and sharp, contrasting the connection he can see she's trying to make with him now.
]

Replace? Shauna.

[her name again. because she isn't nat or jackie or even lottie, because even if they both lost their loved ones, they're separate. none of them are close to letting any of that go no matter how much he wants or tries to.]

I want to go home. Don't you?
longlegs: n u (420)

[personal profile] longlegs 2025-04-10 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
'So what' if you killed someone I care about? So what if I killed someone you care about?

[ Frowning, not a lot of bite behind that (if any at all), Cellar drops her gaze and draws comfort from a description that doesn't match what she'd been expecting: curly, ginger hair. Her tone is smaller when she frees up her hands and starts picking at any imperfections on her nails. ]

Like Ash. Or your lady queen or whatever.
longlegs: n s (330)

[personal profile] longlegs 2025-04-10 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She entertains herself for a moment, turning the bracelet on her wrist while the shadow hangs over her shoulder like a helpful sentinel. There's enough distractions to keep her from noticing how little he's blinking, and instead attributes the apparent intensity of his stare to the eye color and — probably something that's none of her business. ]

Thanks.

[ A half-smirk. If there was a bad faith interpretation of his approval, she fails to take that route. Maybe she's not in such a poor mood after all. One moment is spared to think about the silent offer, the other to try to read what's written on the candy, but it's too small and she isn't close enough. Tipping her chin, ]

What's it say? On the heart.
viver: n (298)

[personal profile] viver 2025-04-10 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
What do you do with them?

[ Imagining moths that at Adam's feet, a display of spread and motionless wings covering the ground around him, Zephir keeps head cocked to go through the possibilities of what might come after that. Preserved somewhere, perhaps, as part of a collection, or to be used as resources or tribute for something else.

Each person sees different uses for dead things. Though some fail to see how they could serve any purpose at all. ]
viver: lady zephir (293)

[personal profile] viver 2025-04-10 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
We were born together. One single being that split itself apart. I do not exist without him; he does not exist without me.

[ That did come close to happening, once. And with it the end of everything else. ]

It was wonderful, Jewel. It still is. Only the universe seemed… empty. But so full of potential. We knew right away that we were capable of anything, so we chose to create. I recognize so many of the things we see here as our own.
redsoil: (hehehe)

[personal profile] redsoil 2025-04-10 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The dance is one of parrying blows that would seriously maim, or kill, a lesser being. A testing of the waters to determine ability and the extent thereof, playing coy with one's own power to see how far the other can be pressed. Despite Set's confusion as to why, the hell, he felt the urge to introduce himself fist-first to an otherwise nondescript servant-looking fellow, he's beginning to feel the familiar surge of delight, of pleasure. It's fun to fall into a wordless conversation, pushing and pulling against an opponent he doesn't know the true power of.

He tanks another blow, blood from the bridge and nostrils of his nose already beginning to stop its flow. Oddly, it even appears to be turning into flakes and granules, fading against his skin like water that is being absorbed into thirsty, arid earth. His tongue flicks out across his upper lip, licking away a patch of damp blood before he slips onto his feet and begins to straighten up. Only slightly, as he remains softly hunched into a position akin to a cat that's about to start wiggling before a leap. ]


No idea. It is just that I saw you, and felt like it.

[ One hand touches the center of his bare chest, as if to gentle the flexing parts of his soul that strain toward this man; the dizzying sense of deja vu has happened to him twice before, in this place. Matthew Jamison was the first, and Eddie Munson, the second; he'd never met them before in his life, but felt drawn to them as if he had always known them. Something about the man before him speaks to a part of him, dark and syrupy-deep. It flexes like a muscle awakening after disuse, sore and pleasurable. ]

Something tells me that you are fun to play with.
cutlery: (Default)

[personal profile] cutlery 2025-04-10 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It’s a sharp contrast of style, isn’t it? As Sebastian draws himself up into a prim, defensive posture, Set stays low and wild. He’s careful to make his skill believably human, if exceptional, but as he notices the strange way that Set’s blood disappears, he realizes that’s not a shared sentiment. His eyes narrow suspiciously, and as his gaze flicks back to Set’s eyes, there’s a cooler quality to his attention. He’s barely moved a muscle, and yet the impression is suddenly quite different. ]

I see.

[ no??? he doesn’t??? that is not a helpful answer at all, set??? ]

Allow me to rephrase, then. What manner of whimsically violent creature are you?

[ Ever careful, this one. He has his suspicion about what Set might be, but only because that manner of shrugging off injury is a quality that his kin can manage. He’s counting on him also being much more of a braggart about it than Sebastian personally is. ]
chokedout: (271)

[personal profile] chokedout 2025-04-10 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[That is disgustingly romantic. Theo, despite thorn after thorn after thorn and life after life after life is still susceptible to romance - to believing in soulmates, firmly believing he's truly found his here. But to try and grasp the expanse that is Zephir and Sullivan? That's - fascinating. Incomprehensible. Yet so truly beautiful, he's inspired by it.]

Are there any things you've created that you regret?
honorism: (BqbvpjW)

completely understandable tbqh

[personal profile] honorism 2025-04-11 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
[She tilts her head, considering his words and then nods briefly] It isn't usually so...dangerous. I think. I've only been here a few months and my first month here was very quiet and nice. It was only that second month...

[She trails off, rubbing her thumb against her knuckle.] You don't seem like the staff. [He's talking way more] Are you a new arrival? It's kind of you to help with the clean up. I've been putting books back in the library when I can.

[It's not the same as scrubbing on her hands and knees, and she has the vaguest thought of if she should try, but... If her mother or brothers saw her, she's pretty sure they'd have a fit.]
masticated: (pic#17567223)

[personal profile] masticated 2025-04-11 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
[the playfulness stops, silence hanging between them as saber's body language shifts. flat and without much emotion behind his words, a dangerous emptiness:]

You wouldn't because you can't. Don't screw around about killing what's mine.

[ash is untouchable even to him no matter how many times they went at each other. alicent, on the other hand - she's very touchable. no real consequence for killing her, but he knows cellar wouldn't be able to deal with them, not when she's so caught up in her feelings. tapping the surface between them to draw her attention back up to him. stop picking at those nails, cellar.]

Do you have a picture if you're going to be so sensitive about it?
biomancy: (pic#17514714)

WILDCARD

[personal profile] biomancy 2025-04-11 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ Sebastian, meet your most heaven-sent match. Sebastian is the type that noticed everyone, isn't he? Heinrix is often about the manor with a pinched furrow between his brow, a tightened jaw, and the look of a man with the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. Really, the weight of a drukhari. Surely, the world would not think to weigh him down more with something worse, would it?

He's not looking where he's going. It's rare for Heinrix, but he's had a poor few days, hasn't he? It's always a poor few days. He looks rather stuffed into whatever outfit he's managed to throw together, but Sebastian is observant enough to notice the little signs of hand-made alterations. One of the buttons on his polio has a wax seal implanted into it. The tag on the inside of his shirt is longer than normal. The belt he has on has been meticulously inscribed. Little signs. Little tells.

He bumps into the demon butler with a distracted air, and he says:
]

Oh — apologies.

I didn't mean to.

[ He holds up his hands, and looks around. Had he dropped anything? He looks primed to start helping him pick them up. ]
cutlery: (Default)

[personal profile] cutlery 2025-04-11 03:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ As is customary, Sebastian at first only gives Heinrix a brief glance as he approaches. Any more than that would be impolite, at least when he’s playing at being the docile servant, but really, he doesn’t need more than a glance in the first place. He’s sharp, and he can make a frighteningly accurate assessment about someone from first impressions alone.

So, for Heinrix, he quickly sees a man that he would describe as harried. And, honestly? He feels something almost like sympathy for that. It’s a feeling he knows well from trying to keep the manor smoothly operating… But there’s the other little details too. That wax seal is curious, for example, and that’s enough for Sebastian to decide it’s worth making this man’s acquaintance.

He’s in the process of tidying up one of the hallways, having spent the majority of the morning scrubbing at the walls to remove the remainders of violence. So, artwork has to come off the walls, vases on pedestals removed, et cetera. It’s a marked improvement from the last time Heinrix would have come this way, certainly, though he might not notice it at the moment. With a few trinkets in one hand and a vase in the other, Sebastian turns Heinrix’s way and—

As if he hadn’t realized that Heinrix was there, Sebastian stumbles very naturally, and the vase slips from his grip. It’s a show of very quick reflexes as he’s quick to drop the less fragile trinkets and lunge for the vase instead, catching it gingerly in his silk-gloved hands. The decorative books and candles spill across the hall, but Sebastian just sighs in relief. ]


Goodness— No, please, it was my error in not paying proper attention…

[ Similarly, there’s a good bit that Heinrix can learn from Sebastian’s voice alone—or at least of the impression that Sebastian very much wants to give. His voice is polite and accented in a way that implies wealth, though clearly, not personally. It’s gentle and pleasant, and while not warm, the coolness is that of a seasoned professional. This is a man who is a servant, but the sort that would be at the highest echelons of society.

He sets the vase down safely on a nearby little sconce (not quite its proper place, but it’ll do), then returns to start picking up the pieces that he’d dropped alongside Heinrix. ]


I was in my own little world there… I shall take it as a sign that it is indeed time for a break after all the morning’s work.
cutlery: (Default)

[personal profile] cutlery 2025-04-11 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ His brow draws together sympathetically as she trails off with that “second month”. It’s obvious that it had been significant, to put it lightly. He’s scrubbing it out of every surface, it’s starting to feel like, so naturally it would cause the average person anxiety. Idly, he wonders just how many residents must have died. ]

Ah. [ His expression relaxes as he looks surprised to be called out, and then it’s immediately followed with a sheepish laugh and a nod. ] Yes, I suppose I am… Though flattering as it may be, I am hardly suited to be a guest. I do work in a manor not dissimilar to this one, so taking up my usual work felt a bit more natural.

[ He turns the brush over in his hands idly and chuckles as he looks down at it. There’s a moment of consideration, then he leans very slightly closer as his voice quiets. There’s no one to overhear, but in a strict world of etiquette his comment would be impolite. ]

—And truth be told, it seems like they need the assistance, besides.

[ He straightens back again with a bit of a warmer smile, then politely nods towards the book she carries. ]

Were you heading that way now? I have only done a cursory exploration of the collection, but it is very impressive.
nightbite: (101)

[personal profile] nightbite 2025-04-12 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
[a small sigh escapes her. he reminds her of the human children who beg for its mother's milk, whining and screaming. it's not their fault they can't speak and not the mother's fault for being exhausted.

only, this is a grown man.
]

My, my, my. Is something wrong with you, can you not communicate properly?

[she releases his wrists. the emotion he's feeding on is curiosity over satisfaction - whole emotions that have her leaning down again.]

I am not your meal. You were mine.
honorism: (yb8h4Ld)

[personal profile] honorism 2025-04-13 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
[His lowered words make her smile lightly, shoulders shaking briefly in a silent chuckle at it. The staff has always been.... well, there, certainly. Helaena hardly interacted with them-- but then, she'd hardly interacted with the servants back home either unless they were the ones directly in charge of helping to care for her children.

She holds the book out for him to see, her eyes brightening
] Yes, I am. I've had this one for quite a while and I was saving it from when we had to resort to burning the books for warmth. I think it's safe to return it now so I can look for another one that's more specific, like one about spiders. I've taken in quite a few so I'd like to know how best to take care of them.

You can find just about every book you can think of, and many you can't, in the library. It's been... interesting. [She tilts her head, as if trying to decide if that was the right word she wanted to use, before she nods and pulls the book back to her.] May I have your name?
diarists: ([:|] were never called)

i. welcome!!!!

[personal profile] diarists 2025-04-13 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
[the bathroom feels real. plus – shauna doesn’t usually dream about bathing (anymore), not like she had in the first few weeks after the crash. she’s got better (worse) things to dream about, things she misses that are more fundamental than just hot water and soap. so when she sees them, it’s sort of just a nice bonus, while she’s trying to figure out what the actual fuck was going on. had they been rescued, while she was asleep? did she have amnesia or some shit?

no, she didn’t. because she hears that voice and lurches upwards, out of the steaming hot bubble bath she’d drawn herself, instinctively lifting her chin and sniffing the air, drawing in the scent of expensive fabric softener and dust and –
]

Mel? [it slips, the shortened version, the nickname, and shauna is up and grabbing an enormous towel to wrap around herself before flinging open the door to the bedroom and stumbling into it, hair streaming, eyes wide.]

Melissa?
diarists: ([:(] and i'm so tired that i might)

[personal profile] diarists 2025-04-13 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
[it’s like a switch is flipped. something shutters in shauna’s expression, goes cold and detached – not like during doomcoming, when it was enhanced madness from the mushrooms and the wine, not like when she’d stood alone in the snow and covered her eyes and set her knife to his brother’s throat, when it was her slaughtering what was left of her heart.

it’s beyond. it’s her sitting in the village and sharpening her knife, looking up as he passed and seeing him as just another living beast in the forest, one she knew, one she recognized as kin, one she recognized also as meat. it’s shauna after the first winter who stands there, nearly in his arms, not like nat, snuggling into his chest, not like jackie, moaning his name, not like lottie, whispering in his ear. shauna, two graves at the core of her, looking travis in the eyes and seeing the two he carries too.
]

We’re never going home, Travis. [her hands come to rest on his chest, flat-palmed, thinking of the ease with which she could crack his ribs, reach inside, draw out his heart.] I thought you’d know that by now. We are never. Fucking. Going home.
docmartens: (119)

[personal profile] docmartens 2025-04-13 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
[Julian doesn't cry out but the pain is red hot for him too, blood running down his arm after Dom pulls away with the ring, spitting it to the side. He bats at him when he's back on him, hissing as his fingers burn against his lips. For a moment he's frozen, Dom's lips to his hand while his other pushes at Dom's throat, keeping him away while Dom's grip of Julian's wrist keeps him close. It's an awkward balance.

Somehow there's red staining his teeth when he sneers up at him.]


Gonna lick my wounds now? Bad doggy.
preborns: ([up] awwww bless ur heart)

[personal profile] preborns 2025-04-13 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
[that gets a sudden, bell-like peal of laughter, alia flashing her bright teeth and rising up a bit, nudging into his hands on her face, practically nuzzling into them in her odd, near-feline way. her cheeks are flushed, freckled, rounded with her grin, and she presses up against his knee, pert breasts visible now above the water.]

You could never be ordinary. It would suit you like a sandworm in flight. [there’s fondness in it, delicate-fingered hands resting on his thigh as alia drapes herself sylphlike in homelander’s lap, some sort of siren emerging from the depths.] Were you from my world, you would be among my brother’s Fedaykin, his holy warriors. There are none deadlier, you know.

[the question makes her hum softly, pursing her lips.] Not quite so; I learned the Voice as a sister of the Bene Gesserit. My body would be able to perform it, though not so powerfully as with the skills of the Reverend Mothers within me. It would not be as effective, were it just myself in my head. My prescience too, would vanish.
rehabitual: (04.)

[personal profile] rehabitual 2025-04-13 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ felix's brows lift in subtle surprise and mild confusion. he's still brand-spankin'-new, so the manor's... whimsies are not yet familiar to him. ]

Like - here? Or is that the one place we're actually allowed to go.

[ the one place they're allowed to leave the manor for, he means. earlier, he watched a small handful of people trying to climb the fence and getting nowhere. kind of an odd thing to witness, but maybe not the strangest thing he's ever seen. an in-house blockbuster seems like typical rich people behavior (he would know), so that wouldn't be all that shocking either. ]

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