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TEST DRIVE MEME 002
⚰︎ ⍢ ⌲ ⍚ TEST DRIVE MEME:
Welcome to RUBILYKSKOYE — a dark, horror-smut game where player choices will drive a mod-run storyline about the world and its NPCs. This test drive meme provides a medley of prompts evoking the game's general tone.
THESE THREADS CAN BE GAME CANON if both players are accepted into the game and agree to it. However, if players who'd prefer to start fresh are welcome to reuse these prompts in their own personal logs upon acceptance into the communities. Note: the universal test drive arrival prompt will not be repeated on the coming event log, but players are welcome to reuse the prompt.
CONTENT WARNINGS for this game include: monsters, body horror, dub-con, non-con, religion, blood/violence, and marking/branding, loss of autonomy/self, and mental influences. This log additionally has warnings for: nudity, spiders, character death, and references to children in proximity to sexual situations.
If you have QUESTIONS about the test drive prompts, please ask HERE. Questions about the game itself or the general setting should be directed to the FAQ.
FAQ ✧ SETTING ✧ CALENDAR ✧ RESERVES ✧ APPLICATIONS
THESE THREADS CAN BE GAME CANON if both players are accepted into the game and agree to it. However, if players who'd prefer to start fresh are welcome to reuse these prompts in their own personal logs upon acceptance into the communities. Note: the universal test drive arrival prompt will not be repeated on the coming event log, but players are welcome to reuse the prompt.
CONTENT WARNINGS for this game include: monsters, body horror, dub-con, non-con, religion, blood/violence, and marking/branding, loss of autonomy/self, and mental influences. This log additionally has warnings for: nudity, spiders, character death, and references to children in proximity to sexual situations.
If you have QUESTIONS about the test drive prompts, please ask HERE. Questions about the game itself or the general setting should be directed to the FAQ.
IN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE
The chirping of partridges in the treetops rouses you. Light barely filters through the canopy, just enough to suggest daylight. By the time it reaches the forest floor, the light has taken on a sickly green. You lie amongst the frost-covered mosses and ferns, the frozen soil cold and just a little damp on your bare skin. Wherever you were before this moment, whatever you were doing or wearing, when you awaken in this forest, you find yourself naked and helpless as the day you were born. As you sit up and get your bearings, aside from a brief wave of disoriented nausea, you seem to be no worse for wear than you last remember.
You seem to be alone. The gnarled oaks and moss suggest no sign of civilization or sentient life. Just flickers of movement from curious squirrels or brave lizards emerging from a temporary retreat from the wintry weather. With your feet under you, and you'll find the wood is filled with berry bushes and nut trees, though much of the fruit has been picked clean. The freshwater stream that runs north-south, populated by both poisonous toads and delicious crawdads, is running actively again as the weather warms back up from the recent snowstorm.
As you explore, you may run into others with stories just like yours. Some may have already formed clumsy nudist groups, others may still be processing their confusion, with no memory of how they got here. Now is a good time to overcome any hang-ups you have about modesty; it's going to be a long hike, and the weather isn't quite amenable to your lack of.
Turn your back to the darker, shadowy parts of the forest and eventually the glow of manmade lights and the curve of a dirt road may come into view. At the edge of the wood, you'll find a town surrounded by a fifty-foot wall of beige stone. The only entrance is an iron gate positioned on the southern edge. When you arrive, the gate is already open, welcoming people inside.
This quaint, historic town of five-thousand has cobbled street and signs lit by gas lamp. Wooden shutters protect otherwise open-air windows on the buildings, which are all under three stories with gabled roofs. A number of businesses hug the main street — a clockmaker, a cobbler, a grocer — while residential homes sprawl outwards towards the wall. At the far end of the main street, visible about a mile to the north now that the trees and the enormous wall is out of the way, sits a castle with three towers.
When you enter, the streets are full of people, but despite any efforts on your part to hide or make excuses, they don't seem offended by your nakedness. Even families with children don't gawk or look twice. Those determined to find proper clothing regardless will find that modern clothing stores aren't available — the closest this town has is a tailor's shop and a stand in the central marketplace selling scarves and blankets.
breaking and entering
If you intend to have your character break into someone's house or yard to steal some of their clean laundry, please review the info about game laws on the FAQ and give the mods a heads up HERE.
Fortunately, the people of the town are very generous! Anyone who ask the locals will be directed to the boarding house for both clothes and a place to stay. Accessible through an embellished iron garden gate and obscured by hanging plants, trees, and vines, beyond an overgrown yard in the residential sprawl of the town is a bright-red door, which opens to a spacious cottage of several stories. Parts of the house still bear the dust of disuse, gathered on various furnishings — bedding, sofas, curtains, wooden tables. However, it's already full of people! Anyone who's already appeared in the village just as you did today lives here. Once inside, you may notice patchwork repairs have been made, and some scorch marks still linger from a recent fire, and some furniture is still lying around in splinters.
Tonight, a few of the townspeople will help out with the new arrivals. They stock the kitchen and prepare a communal dinner of parsnips, pheasant, and squash. During dinner, they (and those outsiders who've already begun to settle) sit down at the enormous wooden dining room table and help orient the newcomers and answer their questions.
finding roommates
Don't spend too much time in the dining room going for seconds, though. You'll want to claim a bedroom quickly because each one only has two full-size beds, and there aren't enough spaces for everyone. The last people upstairs will need to double up to squeeze in. Roommates will not be mod-assigned; players should coordinate directly with one another to determine their living arrangements.
Get a good night's rest. By the light of day, locals will help get the new arrivals set up on the coal stove with breakfast. You may notice they're dressed in a way you would almost call normal — at least, in a manner befitting 19th century Eastern Europe. As you find your way around town to get your bearings, folks are eager to help you find a place to apply your skills so you can contribute to your new home.
writer's block?
If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try: naked hiking, acquiring clothing or other inventory items, asking questions at dinner/orientation, or staking your claim on a bedroom!
OFFERINGS FOR ULANTI
The festival starts in the middle of the night, when the sun and the children are safely tucked into bed. The streets come alive with dancing locals, their faces painted red and purple and black and yellow. They all wear revealing clothing that, to your sensibilities, may seem sexually suggestive. Some individuals openly expose their breasts and nipples, while some others may incidentally reveal when they turn around to tend to their errands that their dress is backless — entirely! market stands and kind neighbors will gladly provide clothing befitting the occasion to anyone who asks.Notably, the locals' choice of clothes reveal a mark on their bodies. An astute person will notice that there are four varieties — and a very astute (
In addition to dancing and the lighting of any number of candles, you may stumble upon fighting rings inspired by Terry Silver's basement club, where the locals brawl until they're bloody and unable to move. Elsewhere, amongst the performance of a number of erotic dancers, you might come upon a face you recognize — naked and collared and caged, tongue pressed to the bars to taste anyone who'll stop and give them a little attention.
Temporary night market food stands offer various forms of alcoholic beverages and sweet and savory street food in suggestive shapes — sausages, popsicles, flowering cupcakes. many of them represent hedonistic indulgences and displays of wealth that the town usually does not seem to possess. This bounty, they attribute to the Duchess' patronage — and much of it is dosed with herbs and additives that enhance the sexual appetites and aggression in any who consume them.
Another kind of temporary stand has been erected — while new arrivals may at first mistake these for some kind of bathroom, it becomes apparent upon entry that they are partitioned stalls with gloryholes drilled between them. Some stalls are closed with an anonymous stranger waiting inside for someone to push a part of themselves through the hole to be lavished with mystery touches; others are fully unoccupied, should your character wish to lock themselves in and wait on the small wooden stool for a partner to offer themselves.
Anyone native to Rubilykskoye will take the time to answer questions about the festival of Ulanti, which functions as a way to purge their bad energy ("zadza") and sate their inner beasts ("duchozweirz"). They encourage characters to join the festivities — which range from staged sexual performances to sadism and masochism designed to feed the desire for violence. all appetites are welcome here, and there are only two rules: (1) stay away from the unmarked, which refers to the locals' prepubescent children; (2) hold nothing back.
writer's block?
If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try entering the fighting rings, watching or joining a live sex performance, or eating some aphro food (deliberately or otherwise)!
the fathomless dark of pajak wood
At the outer edges of the forest, shadows grow long and the air grows thick. Though the sun never grows warm red-gold with sunset, the wood darkens. Birdsong is replaced by the click of mandibles and the skitter of many legs. Anyone who ventures out this way will soon find it difficult to see before them, even in the middle of the day — eventually, even the brightest magical light source or darkvision cannot stretch further than a few inches. In the void, the air feels heavy, as if it were not air at all but some more solid mass. Almost like liquid-smoke, it presses down upon you. Slowing your movements. Characters who push too far into the void may stop being able to move at all, and find themselves given over to insanity if they collapse, unable to draw themselves out. This is just one of many dangers.
Monsters thrive this far out. Huge, blood-red spiders the size of hunting dogs drop from the treetops. In addition to their venomous bite, which contains a fast-acting paralytic, these creatures are clever: they attempt to use their webbing to entangle any trespassers, binding limbs together or to trees. If you're unfortunate to become fully cocooned, you don't have long before this forest will be the last thing you see.
In addition to the spiders, you may come across the sharp-toothed furred yetis that emerged during the snowstorm, still looking for a meal. Each one hunts alone, a fifteen-foot-tall shambling creature that drips black ooze and super-chills the air around it until your skin feels tight and icy. If it gets the drop on you, you're likely to be its dinner. It has emerged from a long summer hibernation to enjoy the colder weather, and it's starving.
Those who seem lucky enough not to run afoul of the monsters here are in for a worse fate. The void can play tricks on your senses. As madness sets in and you lose all sense of direction, you may also lose control of your body — what is that steers your hands to turn against your friends? Why does it sound like your own voice whispering?
In the fog, you may also hear the voices of those familiar to you — people you know from the town, or people whom you know with almost perfect certainty aren't here. these figments may recreate unhappy memories or force trespassers to hallucinate their worst nightmares. Nothing is as it seems in the void, and when you swing at these figments, desperate to silence them, it might not be a figment at all, but a friend in the flesh trying to help you. By the time you see their true face, it could be too late to stop yourself.
writer's block?
If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try fighting a monster, hallucinating your worst nightmares, and/or attacking a friend or stranger!
HIDING INSIDE EACH OF US
Uh oh spaghetti-os.
The marks worn by all residents of Rubilykskoye aren't just cool body art, as it turns out. The town is full of rumors, whispered in shadows and over candles of a starving creature hiding in the dark corners of your chest. Feed your inner beast, they say, before it finds a way to feed itself.
Alas, its emergence is inevitable — sooner or later, the horrible things that happen here pile up and make someone repulsed by the idea of human contact. Someone holds themselves back, bites their tongue, or simply does not believe the stories. Today, for one reason or another, that creature is coming out. Someone hasn't been keeping it sated.
Symptoms escalate over weeks, from monstrous irritability to full-blown body horror transformation, where people physically shed their human forms and evolve into the monsters this place made them. Once a person becomes something more (or less) than human there's only one way to go back — sate the beast.
The baker, Nile Yoren, is a likable, middle-aged woman who can fill any request — wheat, rye, even nut breads. She boasts that her sourdough starter belonged to her grandmother. Today, when you enter her shop — to help out or to get a muffin or a bag of rolls — something is off. Her smiling face isn't behind the counter.
Around the back wall, you hear the crackling of the oven. But when you call, she doesn't come out. You have to go back and look for her. What you find is not just the oven crackling, but nile herself — twisted into an incandescent monster of human flame, the flickers of dark orange light like a face howling in agony amidst the yellows and reds and whites. Before you can scramble away, the creature lunges at you. Defend yourself or flee, or her inner beast will be feeding itself on you.
(There are other monsters lurking in every townsperson — feel free to invent your own npc monsters and scenarios!)
The marks worn by all residents of Rubilykskoye aren't just cool body art, as it turns out. The town is full of rumors, whispered in shadows and over candles of a starving creature hiding in the dark corners of your chest. Feed your inner beast, they say, before it finds a way to feed itself.
Alas, its emergence is inevitable — sooner or later, the horrible things that happen here pile up and make someone repulsed by the idea of human contact. Someone holds themselves back, bites their tongue, or simply does not believe the stories. Today, for one reason or another, that creature is coming out. Someone hasn't been keeping it sated.
Symptoms escalate over weeks, from monstrous irritability to full-blown body horror transformation, where people physically shed their human forms and evolve into the monsters this place made them. Once a person becomes something more (or less) than human there's only one way to go back — sate the beast.
someone else transforms
The baker, Nile Yoren, is a likable, middle-aged woman who can fill any request — wheat, rye, even nut breads. She boasts that her sourdough starter belonged to her grandmother. Today, when you enter her shop — to help out or to get a muffin or a bag of rolls — something is off. Her smiling face isn't behind the counter. Around the back wall, you hear the crackling of the oven. But when you call, she doesn't come out. You have to go back and look for her. What you find is not just the oven crackling, but nile herself — twisted into an incandescent monster of human flame, the flickers of dark orange light like a face howling in agony amidst the yellows and reds and whites. Before you can scramble away, the creature lunges at you. Defend yourself or flee, or her inner beast will be feeding itself on you.
(There are other monsters lurking in every townsperson — feel free to invent your own npc monsters and scenarios!)
you waited too long
At first, as you hide yourself from your darker impulses, a subtle itch develops under your skin. An irritability that makes you snap at the person who bumps into you on the stairs because all those fleeting emotions that you've been repressing bubble to the surface. Every dark thought you've had about being here, all the fears of never getting home, of being surrounded by ticking time bombs, the anxiety of wondering who you might hurt or what relationships you might betray by doing what you have to do. The anger. Oh, the anger.
Maybe you shut yourself in your room or run into the woods to hide away, but there's only so much you can do to deny the itch that grows into hunger like a spark catching and growing to wildfire. Someone comes to check on you. That knock on the door or crunch of leaves in the wood that fills you with dread at what you might do and hope that you will be sated.
As claws and fangs and scales and spines and fur grow and your body transforms with a sickening crunch of bones and peeling of skin, so do your appetites. If you won't sate them, you'll lose yourself to your beastly impulses sooner or later, mauling friends and taking your fill. Is it better or worse if only your claws get inside of them?
Maybe you shut yourself in your room or run into the woods to hide away, but there's only so much you can do to deny the itch that grows into hunger like a spark catching and growing to wildfire. Someone comes to check on you. That knock on the door or crunch of leaves in the wood that fills you with dread at what you might do and hope that you will be sated.
As claws and fangs and scales and spines and fur grow and your body transforms with a sickening crunch of bones and peeling of skin, so do your appetites. If you won't sate them, you'll lose yourself to your beastly impulses sooner or later, mauling friends and taking your fill. Is it better or worse if only your claws get inside of them?
nicholas ó broin | original
AWAKENING.
OFFERINGS.
WILDCARD.
Offerings
Given Ankari seems to have quite the collection of drained glassware in front of him, a whimsically princely tone answers Nick's question with some authority behind it,]
My advice would be to simply drink a lot, sire.
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for now, the priority is getting drunk.
it's easy to tip a friendly smile at the stranger, drop an elbow on the bar and chin in his palm, half-matching the pose of the other man as he raises an eyebrow. seems like the guy is taking his own advice. ]
Is that so? Well, do you have a recommendation then? Something I won't get sick of.
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[A strange thing to say, but listen, he's already hammered. Ankari has a pleasant, if dark humored demeanor with his mind swimming in alcohol. It helps calm his anxieties and it is working at that.
Despite his words, he puts a couple fingers to a still full shot of... something, Ankari himself isn't even sure what he's been drinking... and delicately slides it to Nick as his offering to join in.]
If the gods wanted us sober, they'd knock the glass over. [that is to say; just do it! Ankari doesn't live his life as a good and responsible influence,]
awakening | cw: violence bby
one second, he was chained to a chair in a karaoke room on his third involuntary go at the hashtag prison world life; next second, he woke up totally naked in the middle of the woods. did someone spring him out? because if they did, he would like to write them a heartfelt "thank you" note and ask them why they couldn't have performed the ritual without stripping him first. that was like... one of his favorite jackets, man.
luckily, it doesn't take him long to hear footsteps in the distance. it takes him even less time to locate and slam him into the trunk of a tree by the throat, his fingers digging into the flesh of his neck. haha. look at that, he must've found his good samaritan because he can feel the magic coursing through him. )
Interesting. ( a curious grin emerges as his eyes narrows down at him. ) I've never felt magic like this before.
tee hee
but this isn't normal and nick doesn't realise that there is someone else there until it's far too late. there might have been a cry of pain or surprise, but his back hits the tree trunk too hard for that. instead there's just a punched-out sound of protest, and both his hands quickly come up to grab at the hand around his throat. ]
The fuck- [ he spits out the reaction, blinking rapidly and still trying to catch up with what is actually happening to him. talk about a bad fucking day, now there's some freak threatening him for--being magic? honestly who knows. there's something about this guy--something other than the grabbing him by the neck in a very scary and threatening way--that immediately sets off alarm bells, somewhere deep in nick's psyche. ] Listen, what do you want? A fucking spell? I can do that.
no subject
( he could use some of his magic, too.
manifested in red energy, kai slowly begins to siphon the guy's magic. not a lot, of course; he isn't going to try anything too risky, until he knows for sure what will happen. it's more like... a tasteful sample. but it's still gonna hurt like a son of a bitch for those few seconds that he's draining him, stealing a bit of his gift, his lifeforce.
his eyes come to a close as he draws in a breath, getting a better feel for the magic. it's unsurprisingly unique with a touch of rebelliousness that he wouldn't consider bad. it doesn't repel him, just rebukes — a significant key difference. it's even kind of nice. earthy. reminds him of the nature who'd refused to mother him. blue hues reopen as his gaze lowers down to his free hand. he can feel the magic surging towards his fingertips, almost frantic to be released back out.
directing his palm out towards a nearby tree, he twists his wrist upward, watching as a chunk of its bole explodes outward. )
Oopsies. ( he looks more amused than shock. ) Definitely wasn't trying to do that. ( he looks back over at his new witchy friend with a grin. )
no subject
it hurts, there's no way to ignore it, and even if the moment only lasts a few seconds it leaves him gasping for air like he'd just had his head shoved under water. immediately he knows that he's lost something. not lost permanently, there's one thing to be said for possessing the kind of magic that can tap into the world like a battery. short of being shot into space or magically severed, there's not a whole lot that can cut him off forever.
but nick's reserves are low in this new world and there isn't a whole lot for him to draw on, let alone share with another. he feels the loss keenly and immediately, a tingle in the tips of his fingers like blood loss. the scar across his palm, years old and never healed, starts to bleed, just a little bit. ]
You can't just-- [ nick bites off the protest because, well clearly the man can just take. there's an unpleasant moment of disorientation where he can feel his own magic mirrored back at him, pulsing through this person's body as well as his own, but the way that he wields it is destructive and not like nick at all.
it's abundantly clear that nick isn't capable of the kind of brute force necessary to break a grip like this, and he briefly curses his past self for never bothering to show any interest in physical strength, but he swallows, tries to crack a smile. his grip on the hand at his neck slackens, turns gentle. ]
You know, it'd be easier for me to share, if you let me down...
no subject
( his grip on his neck doesn't loosen, not even by a fraction. in fact, it seems to tighten in direct opposition to his request. )
Man, I really hate it if there's any misunderstanding between us, so I'll let you in on a little secret. ( hand still extended out towards the splintered tree, he gives a snap of his finger, instantaneously igniting the trunk on fire. ) I don't actually need your magic. It just felt different, so I wanted to try it out for fun. But... ( he sucks in a breath with a sss, wincing slightly. ) the fun's kiiinda over now. At least it is for moi.
( he angles his head at him thoughtfully. )
Sooo, what's keeping me from just killing you?
no subject
Can you fucking not? Forest fires take years to recover from.
[ because, again, that is the priority right now.
the thing is, nick actually is very scared. it's just that he's never known how to react appropriately to anything, and mysterious strangers with mysterious threats in the middle of mysterious forests is emphatically not in his wheelhouse of things he knows how to manage.
maybe he should be begging for his life. instead he's a weird combination of panicked and annoyed, itching for a high and desperate for escape, that leaves him floundering. ]
What do you want, a bargain? Please don't kill me, mister magic thief, I want to be in the sequel?
no subject
he watches him put out the fire. doesn't try to stop him or reprimand him, or even try to refocus him. he likes the cool tingle that flows through his palm up the length of his arm from where he's still touching him, like a refreshing spring song. there isn't a hint of remorse on his face though as his gaze shifts back over to him. )
I was going to put it out, ( is he telling the truth or is he yanking his chain? who really knows at this point? ) so chill.
( someone's got a pair of lips on him, but honestly? he'll take it over begging. )
Not a bargain. ( he literally has nothing on him right now that he would want, except for his teenage rebellion magic. ) You can start with your name, where you're from and why in Hell is your magic so weird?
no subject
[ again, the priorities, because it's not really the moment to take a comment personally but nick can't help but be a little offended all the same. he wrinkles his nose, only half-caught in trying to figure out how the hell to get out of this. it hardly feels worth trying to fight, but maybe the man is chatty enough that they can drag this out a little longer that way. if he was going to kill nick he probably would have done it by now. right?
hopefully. ]
I'm Nick, I'm a witch, my magic is--I don't know, man, my magic. Nature is what I do. What does magic normally feel like to you?
no subject
( he hasn't decided what he wants to do with him yet, so they're both in the dark right now.
it's more about going with the flow, you know? wherever the wind takes him, yadda yadda yadda. )
And we aren't out in the woods for a nice bonding experience, so why don't you stick to just answering my questions for now?
no subject
[ it's one thing to be accosted, grabbed and magically drained, but nick really draws the line at bossiness. trust nick to have a run-in with a would-be murderer and end up irritated.
he yanks at the man's wrist, not because he expects that it's going to go anywhere, but it feels like an acquisition to not at least try. this is stupid, this whole thing is stupid, and if there is a point they're supposed to be getting to, nick kind of just wants to get to it already. ]
I'm not from here, I'm from freaking Alaska. No one ever knows the town, but like--I just woke up here, okay?
no subject
Oh, you're from Alaska? ( he doesn't even seem to notice the subpar effort to break out of his grasp. c'mon, man. you can do better than that. right? ) Nice place. Too cold for my taste. ( he nods his head thoughtfully. ) Okay, then. ( it looks like something has clicked into place for him, so immediately following those words, kai releases him. congrats, buddy. you got free, even though you didn't really do anything to deserve it. )
So if you aren't responsible for me being here and I'm definitely not responsible for me being here, then... ( he turns away from him, eyes narrowed as he just listens for a moment. ) maybe we can ask the nice folks in town.
( he glances back at him with a sharp smile. ) What do you say, Nicky?
no subject
offerings
Kick?
[ she's not remotely cool enough to follow, nick. sorry. ]
no subject
[ it's been a long time since nick has been in anything he could consider a new environment, and he clearly has no idea of how subtle he needs to be in this one, so there's a moment where he casts a cursory glance around them. if anyone is bothering to pay attention to his inquiries nick doesn't notice it though, and apparently satisfied he tips a little closer. the absolute picture of discretion. ]
...when booze just won't cut it and you need something a little stronger? Keep the night interesting?
no subject
[ she shakes her head, a genuine ignorance about her expression. it's a little naive, that edge of her smile. hapless. ]
But if you have something specific in mind, I'm sure we could ask around. A local is bound to have heard of it, if it's available here.
no subject
no subject
Except the guy speaking to him is a new face, maybe? John's mouth crooks into a smile: ]
I'll need to see some ID?
[ He's kidding. Probably. ]
no subject
[ nick makes a vague gesture towards the skimpy little shorts he's wearing courtesy of a generous stranger. their revealing cut doesn't seem to phase him all at much, but they cling in a way that makes it incredibly apparent that there isn't a pocket to be found. such a shame, really. the grin really highlights the devastation he feels.
in lieu of a card to flash he tilts his head, levelling his focus on the stranger and his whole vibe. nick doesn't quite know what to make of the guy, but then that's always been enough to catch his attention. ]
Would you take a 'pinky promise I'm old enough to know better' instead?
no subject