TEST DRIVE MEME 001

[rubimods]

⚰︎ ⍢ ⌲ ⍚ TEST DRIVE MEME:

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, waxplay, character death, and references to children in proximity to sexual situations.

✧ ✧ ✧

Welcome to RUBILYKSKOYE — a dark, horror-smut game where player choices will drive a mod-run storyline about the world and its NPCs. For the first round, this test drive serves as characters' arrival into game.

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.

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

AWAKENING IN PAJAK WOOD

The chirping of partridges in the treetops rouses you. Light barely filters through the canopy, just enough to suggest warmth of the sun. By the time it reaches the forest floor, the daylight has taken on a sickly green tinge. You lie amongst the mosses and ferns, the 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.

Fortunately, you seem to be alone. The birdsong continues 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. Amongst gnarled oaks and moss, you see nothing around. No sign of civilization or sentient life. Movement flickers at the corner of your eye, but it's just a curious animal — brave squirrels or lizards who have come to see what stirs in their home.

Then, like the rippling of the horizon at noontime, the ash-gray soil around you undulates. Sea, not earth. Something else has come to greet you — their grey bodies blended in so easily with the floor, but as you stagger to your feet, you see them. Thousands of spiders roll like waves underfoot. They crawl towards you from the darker edge of the forest.

attack

Individuals who attack the spiders will find the small spiders are easy to kill, but the pheromones released by their corpses draw larger spiders in their place. 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 will attempt to use their webbing to handicap 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.

FAQ: DEATH RULES

hunt

Any aspiring monster-hunters enterprising enough to try to follow the spiders to their nest will move eastward. This way, the forest grows darker and darker — though the sun never grows warm red-gold with sunset.

In the void, the birdsong is replaced by the click of mandibles and the skitter of many legs, but soon it is impossible to see. Even with the brightest magical light does not reach further than a few inches. The air grows heavy and thick, 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. Soon, you cannot move at all.

Turn back while you still can — collapsing out here is dangerous. The void can play tricks on your senses. You may find yourself reliving unhappy memories or hallucinating your worst nightmares.

SETTING: THE VOID

But flee the spiders westward and you will discover that the wood is well-populated with the survival resources that someone might seek — berries bushes and trees bearing stone fruits; sticks and dry leaves to aid in the building of a fire; rocks big enough to fashion into crude weapons; small animals that can be hunted or caught; hike long enough, and you might just find the freshwater stream that runs north-to-south, populated by both poisonous toads and delicious crawdads.

What's more, you may run into others with stories just like yours. Some may have already formed clumsy nudist hiking parties, others may still be naked and confused and processing how they have no memory of how they got here. They all stagger vaguely, as you do, with only the sun for a waymarker — and even that won't last long.

Now is a good time to overcome any hang-ups you have about modesty, as it's going to be a long hike. If you sneak a good look at your new companions, you may four varietals of marks on their bodies. Maybe someone will even point out that you have one, too.

FAQ: CURSE MARKS

EVERY DAY LIKE THE ONE BEFORE

Hike far enough — or long enough that the sun does go down — and signs of life come into view. The glow of fires and lights, the smooth curve of a stone wall. A town sits at the edge of this wood, a reward to the survivors.

The fifty-foot wall of beige stone protecting the town's perimeter has only a single entrance — an iron gate positioned on the southern edge. When you arrive, the gate is already open, welcoming people into town from the winding dirt road. Attentive eyes may note that the road itself bears the mark of many wagon wheels and horse hoofs, but not cars.

guards

The guards grant entry to anyone who attempts a conversation with them. However, if your character is more likely to attempt to sneak in, overcome the guards, or attack them, please reach out HERE.

Inside the wall lies a quaint, historic town with a population around five thousand. The streets are cobbled, and their signs are 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 bank — 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.

No matter what time you pass through the gate, the streets are full of people. The climate of the bustle befits a night market or a busy friday downtown — plenty of people to ogle at your exposed body. But despite any efforts on your part to hide or make excuses, the locals don't seem offended by your nakedness. Even families with children don't gawk or look twice. In fact, the further into town you go, the more you may notice that 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! If anything, they seem to be under the impression that you're naked to participate in the evening's events with the rest of them.

Those still determined to find proper clothing will find that modern clothing stores aren't a thing here. The closest this town has is a tailor's shop, which is closed for religious observance, and a stand in the central marketplace selling scarves and blankets.

Fortunately, the people of the town are very generous! The locals will gladly share what they have with those who ask politely — but those items are as revealing as what they're wearing. You might get a mesh bodysuit or drape outfit. Remember not to be ungracious! it's only appropriate for the occasion.

steal clothing

Anyone unwilling to ask nicely for help could break into someone's house or yard to steal some of their clean laundry. Notably, inside their homes, the people of the town also appear to own some more modest apparel. Be sure to alert us HERE if your character pursues this option.

SETTING: CRIME

And what is the occasion? The locals are excited and flattered by any interest in their ordinary weekly prayer: the folks dancing and selling their wares are all offering their energies to give thanks and ask for their god's patronage! The abstractions are all familiar — fertility, harvest, peace. Smalltalk makes them eager to chat and draw you into those festivities — including some ceremonial wax-dripping on the exposed parts of your body!

Anyone who chats at length with the townspeople will gather that the locals feel it's better for the newcomers to dive into the deep-end because, since you'll be settling in here, they expect you'll want to participate down the line. They seem to be under the impression that the new arrivals are a boon from their god.

In addition, many of the locals' choice of clothes reveal the same four types of marks on their bodies as the folx who were wandering out in the wood!

ROOM AND BOARD

Once you're tired out, the locals will help you find a place to stay. The boarding house is several stories tall and spacious, accessible through an embellished iron garden gate and obscured by hanging plants, trees, and vines. Beyond the overgrown yard is a bright red door, which opens into a spacious cottage.

The house has clearly been empty for some time — dust has gathered on various furnishings — bedding, sofas, curtains, wooden tables. According to the locals, it has remained empty since its last occupant passed away, and that's all they'll say about that!

Each floor of the house has a shared sitting room, but only the first floor has a kitchen — large enough to support feeding the entire household. Here, a few of the townspeople will help out — they stock the kitchen and help make dinner for the new arrivals.

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.

Comments

The Iron Bull | Dragon Age: Inquisition | Skala

[aban_aqun]

Spider Killer
[cw: violence against spiders]

The big ones are the problem. Bull grunts and throws one of the mabari-sized spiders into a tree hard enough to hear something crack. The only advantage he has here is size and thick Qunari skin, and those are only going to keep him alive for so long.

But after waking up in a strange place with no memory of how he got here, it feels really, really good to crush something.

Another tries to skitter by him, towards--another person. Bull snarls and grabs at two of its legs to drag it back, minding it's venomous fangs. He knows what he looks like: he's seven and a half feet tall, thickly muscled with a pair of horns that are almost as broad as his shoulders. The left half of his face is heavily scarred and he's missing the left eye entirely. But he yells at the other person anyway.

"Hey! You okay?"

His hand smashes through the carapace on one of the spider's body segments to make it stop moving.

A Walk in the Woods

Bull watches the spiders, even the big ones, skitter away to the east. There is a part of him, still enraged, that wants to follow. But that seems like a bad idea. He has no idea if spiders have tactics, but if they're running back to a nest, he isn't going to walk into it.

So he turns west, joining others if he finds them, helping if he can. Hell, he'll carry someone if they're paralyzed by venom. Respectfully. But it definitely doesn't escape him that he - and everyone he runs into - is naked. In the woods. With spiders.

Room and Board

Bull doesn't move fast. Not after a day like this. His leg is throbbing from ankle to hip and his back is starting to chime in. He keeps a hand pressed to the wall on his way up to look for a room.

He quietly checks rooms on the second floor, then heads up to third floor. He makes it to the common room there and decides it's not worth a continued search. He can find a bed to sleep in tomorrow night. Stiff and slow, he shuffles toward a chair or couch that looks like it could hold him and sinks down with a quiet groan. He stretches his leg out toward the fire, if there is one, and makes peace with possibly sleeping right where he is.

"Don't mind me," he says when he hears footsteps pause on the landing. "Unless you wanna do me the favor of grabbing me a blanket."

Wildcard/Notes

[Hit me! I'll match style. Bull's a big guy. Everywhere. Feel free to notice. More info here.]

Room & Board

[patientman]

"It's no trouble at all." After putting his mug of tea down on the floor near the Bull's chair, Bashir goes to fetch a blanket and the loose collection of odds and ends that is slowly assembling itself into his doctor's bag.

"Given the level of technology here and as an old injury, I don't believe there's too much I can do that would permanently relieve your pain, but I can help with the ache for now?" He cocks his head to one side and, oh yes, there was something he'd forgotten.

"Julian Bashir, Doctor."

[aban_aqun]

"Not all that different than the technology I'm used to," he says when the man comes back. "There's not much anyone can do, I can live with it."

Bull is happy to have the blanket though, draping it over his shoulder. The belated introduction gets a quiet chuckle. "The Iron Bull," he answers. "Sure, do whatever you think you can. I appreciate it."

[patientman]

"It's no trouble, and I've no double that you can live with it, but why suffer needlessly? I can't fight, but I can heal." Sitting on the floor, Bashir settles in front of the Bull and investigates his knee. It's only after he's sure it won't cause too much discomfort he moves closer and gestures that he ought to rest his ankle on Bashir's shoulder. For a slight man, he's surprisingly sturdy.

Given the relative size of his patient, it may look like an odd spot for treatment, but this will allow him to ensure that he can reach the various tendons and muscles that surround the joint.

"If I do anything that hurts in a bad way rather than a good one, do let me know."

[aban_aqun]

"I know the drill," he says with a quiet warmth. Bull's still very careful as he rests his ankle on Julian's shoulder, making sure he's got his balance before he lets the full weight sit there. He sinks back against the couch, watching more out of curiosity than concern.

"Feel like I should offer you a cushion or something if you're going to stay down there. You uh... new here, too?"

Julian mentioned technological differences, so Bull feels pretty comfortable guessing.

[patientman]

"If my aged knees start to ache, you'll be the first to know." He rummages through his bag for something that smells a bit like lanolin and menthol, rubs it on his hands and starts to get a more hands-on impression of how Bull's joints work. Not unlike a human, but not wholly the same - he ought to have a rather substantial layer of cartilage in the joint.

"I am. Before this stationed out on the edges of known space which meant a lot of medical care for all manner of people, so I have some idea of what should be happening here."

[aban_aqun]

More the same than not. Part of the problem is from the series of injuries his left leg has sustained in the years since he lost the eye, damage that wasn't easy to repair and he probably lost some things he needed or should've had along the way. His other leg probably looks much better, or much more familiar, in comparison.

"Took a few bad hits there over the years," he says, figuring the doctor might as well know if he's going to be feeling around. "Ankle took one first. Then the knee."

And he's a big guy with a lot of weight for a bad leg to be bearing up.

"Usually I've got a brace."

[patientman]

"You've a couple of callouses that did suggest a brace." Bashir isn't going to be able to craft something like that right away, but he can work out the worst of the tension and wrap it well enough to take some of the strain off.

"The angle you walk, it puts pressure right here, and that means your muscles right here -" A gentle(ish) poke. "Overcompensate and that pulls your gait off on the other leg as well which means I ought to do the other while I'm down here."

"This is where it's probably going to start to hurt a bit."

wildcard

[unconscionable]

The soldiers at the gate have grown more used to the new arrivals over the past few weeks, naked and needing to be let through the gate, but they're definitely not too sure about the qunari, concerned he might be partially transformed or otherwise monstrous. They also aren't the brightest guys in town. Fortunately, not long after they stop Bull to confer quietly, John is also heading through the gate, since he's temporarily camping outside the walls, but still spends plenty of time in the town.

"Hey guys," he says placatingly. "What's the ish."

The soldiers explain their trepidation using a few choice course words, and John looks over at Bull with a slightly longsuffering look. "For fuck's sake. Hey, are you a monster? No? Listen, I'll take responsibility for him, don't worry about it."

He has the start of a good reputation in the town, has been seen fighting monsters and healing the wounded, and he's known at the gate, so the guards reluctantly agree that Bull can come in.

[aban_aqun]

Bull, for his part, is used to it. Despite the ache in his joints and the fact that everything he's got is out in the breeze, he's got patience to spare while the soldiers try to decide what he is and what to do with him.

He's quietly surprised when someone steps up to take responsibility for him, and he resists the urge to laugh. It takes all he has to resist saying depends on who's asking to the monster question. He's smart enough to know that won't help him. Instead, he gives the soldiers a look that is as light and innocent as someone like him can manage.

"I'll behave," he says solemnly. Bull glances at his rescuer and takes a step past the gates, then another before he says, "Thanks. Could've been standing there a long time."

[unconscionable]

"You could have," John agrees easily, falling into step alongside him and walking towards the boarding house, willing to play guide instead of rescuer. He at least waits until the guards are relatively out of earshot to explain: "The people who live here are a little antsy about how many of us have just shown up in the woods. It's just a small town, there's a monster problem, they're a little parochial, you know how it is." A figure of speech, but this guy had seemed patient enough with them maybe he does know how it is.

"John, by the way," says John, who only brings out his titles to strangers to make a point.

[aban_aqun]

"I can't blame them. Especially when someone like me shows up." Especially if they have monster problems. He huffs a sound that's almost a laugh. "Yeah, I know how it is."

He's lived away from his people for a long time. Learning to manage the way other people see him has been part of his life for twenty years.

"Nice to meet you, John. I'm the Iron Bull. You uh... know a place I can find some clothes? Or a sheet?" He's not optimistic that he can find anything here that will fit him without alteration, and that's fine. He can work with that.

[unconscionable]

John himself is wearing a toga — what started as just using a sheet has turned into something he wears regularly because it's easy to source and the greco-roman implications tickle his fancy. The guards likely had armor on, for practicality, but John feels it's only fair to inform him: "You'll find the people who live here are pretty relaxed about nudity."

He glances over (his eyes are black to the sclera, a faint white ring the only give away that he just chanced another glance at what Bull is packing, trying to be polite instead of like. Mildly obsessed with the size of it, hello.) "But yeah, we can find you something. There's a boarding house this way, get you a sheet and somewhere to sleep. We're a bit cramped at the mo', there was a fire."

[aban_aqun]

"That's fine. But fighting spiders naked was bad enough, something is better than nothing." Nudity isn't really a problem, but he doesn't need his junk exposed while he's in a dangerous situation.

That's when Bull notices the eyes, the black sclera. Not something he's seen before in a person who looks relatively human, which makes him curious. And then he notices where John is looking. Bull smirks.

"Yeah, exactly." He doesn't mind the staring, but he isn't going to pretend not to notice, either. Then he frowns. "A fire? What happened?"

They can walk and talk. Bull matches John's pace, very accustomed to walking with people who are shorter than him.

[unconscionable]

Ah, the fucking spiders. John doesn't think back on them fondly.

"So when I said 'monster problem', I didn't just mean the ones out there," he jerks a thumb over his shoulder, back the way they came to the woods outside the gate. "Everyone in the village is cursed."

Everyone, even them. He flashes Bull his open palm; the red diabel curse mark sits in the center like he's been stabbed there. "Everyone with one of these has a monster in them. Sometimes that means transformations happen inconveniently. Nothing worse than having to fight something inside a house, impossible not to wreck the place."

They've been rebuilding, everyone pitching in, but even if the structure is mostly whole a lot of the rooms are still being cleaned of smoke and ash, and there's a shortage of furniture, including beds. Though given his size Bull might get priority on having his own.

Room and Board

[nootherway]

Leah doesn't stay in the boarding house. She has no room here, and thus no claim on anything that happens inside it. Buildings like this are easy to surround, to lock up and burn, burn, burn. Easier still to be surrounded in the dark, when there are only a few exits. An old tactic - but one the people here seem unaware of. They're so trusting, these people. Perhaps they've never been under siege. She doesn't intend to find out, either way. Better to sleep out in the woods.

But, there are supplies here. That matters, in the end. She returns for them occasionally, and for food. And, every once in a while, to observe the people who show up. Case in point.

She regards the man silently. Is he a man? She's never seen anything like him.

"I don't have any," she says finally. She keeps her distance, weight evenly spread. He's bigger than her - much heavier. But perhaps she's faster, if it comes to that. Perhaps she could get under his guard before he grabs her and dashes her skull against the ground. It's an old, reflexive threat assessment. Anyone in range is a danger to her, an almost-enemy.

[aban_aqun]

"Ah well."

Bull doesn't look inclined to move fast right now, though that doesn't mean that he can't. But when he notices the way this person is looking at him, studying him, he sits up more. The firelight makes shadows that emphasize the ruined left half of his face, and he has not yet found a patch to replace the one he usually wears.

He'd considered the possibility of being trapped here, of being hurt. But he's talked to a handful of others, and while they all look more or less human - more so than he does - he believes them when they say there's been no overt attempts to hurt strangers. Bull recognizes that he is stranger than most.

Bull telegraphs his movements, because the last thing he wants tonight is a fight started with setting off someone's paranoia. He's not sure how it would go, but it wouldn't end well for anyone.

"You new or less new?"

[nootherway]

He’s got a mess of scars dappled across him, one eye missing. The shape of that is familiar: violence she knows, even when it’s inflicted on a stranger. Blindspot, she thinks absently. An advantage she might take against him if it came to that. It probably will before the end.

Maybe not just yet, though.

She doesn’t answer immediately. She watches him with a narrow sort of intensity.

She’s been told she stares. The unspoken part: this behavior is unnerving. And one does not want to be unnerving in company.

“Less new,” she says finally. “A group of us came a month ago.”

[aban_aqun]

Bull doesn't stare unless he's trying to make a point. People notice staring, and he avoids being noticed when he's watching someone. They let their guards down. They relax. Something tells him it'll take more than that to make her relax, though.

He meets her gaze, his good eye sharp and attentive. When someone stares, it's easier to tell what they're paying attention to. Bull knows how someone experienced might read his body. Left eye gone, left leg scarred. The last two fingertips on his left hand missing. Other scars tell stories across his skin, most of which is still bare, but the ones on the left tell subsequent chapters in the same story. Bull knows his weak side. Everyone else knows it, too.

"A month?" Maybe that's why the village didn't seem so put off by another wave, or maybe they'd been this welcoming the first time. That unnerves him. He gives her another quick once-over. "You don't stay here."

It isn't really a question. He keeps his tone even, his expression and body relaxed.

[nootherway]

Men that size more through the world in certain ways. If he’s clever, he’ll know how to play it to his advantage. If he’s not, then it’ll be a crutch—a weakness to be exploited as much as anything else. Leah knows her own measure: she’s smaller than most enemies she goes up against, but brute force was never the game she favored and she doesn’t intend to start in this place. And the rules are strange in this place, the balance shifted away from the known and directly into something as of yet unwritten. The only certain thing is that everyone around her is dangerous in one way or another.

Best to assume he’s clever, then.

She doesn’t move. Doesn’t focus overly on his hands, or his remaining eye: she takes in the whole of him for a threat assessment. His stance is relaxed—so far, at least, but that doesn’t mean much except he won’t get stoved up if he decides to move. She’s dressed in local garb, hunting clothes rather than the skin-bearing nonsense, but the knife at her hip is promise enough. She wears it like an extension of herself and that too is habit, a lifetime of it. She regards him silently, considering.

The horns are new. She’s never fought anyone with horns before.

“No,” Leah agrees after a moment, because she doesn’t, and pretending otherwise complicates the situation. “We’re not forced to.”

[aban_aqun]

"Good to know. I'm not opposed to cramming together, but having the option to stretch out is better."

He'll have to explore more options tomorrow, along with finding better clothes. At the moment he's limited to a sheet a generous person in town gave him and he's had that wrapped around his waist most of the day. He doubts there will be much here that fits him without alteration, and that's fine. He can work with that.

"I'm not gonna throw a chair at you," he says. "You can exhale."

She doesn't need to believe him. He'll say it anyway to put it out there.

"I'm the Iron Bull. What can I call you?"

[nootherway]

She doesn’t smile. She merely regards him, her stance unchanging. People can say anything, sometimes even mean it. The threat remains. How many times now has she been burned by liars and enemies wearing polite masks?

Not so long ago, she killed the man who was like a father to her. Not so long ago, she laid the rest of her family to an unquiet rest. They lie unburied but at least they weren’t hungry.

“The Iron Bull?” she replies slowly.

That’s new.

room and board

[ohhshrine]

Link is on the way back to the room he grabbed earlier — one that is still only his, at least for the moment. He just got lucky like that. Or maybe other people, like Bull, got tired of looking on the third floor. Who knows.

He's seen plenty of different kinds of people before, far from looking like Hylians (or humans, a word he doesn't know yet), but he's never seen anyone like Bull. At first blush, the Qunari looks kind of like a monster. But…he's just hanging out in a chair like a regular person. Gorons look like rocks. Zora look like fish or sharks, sometimes kind of scary.

Link isn't easily scared or anything, he's just a little surprised. And probably staring. Uh…whoops?

"…Oh. Wouldn't you rather have a bed?"

He realises after he asks it that it's a stupid question, considering Bull's size. Would a bed even be big enough?

[aban_aqun]

"I'm not sure rather really factored in here when I sat down," he says, voice low and warm. Bull chuckles and shifts to sit up a bit more since he's got company. He keeps his left leg stretched out.

"I take up a lot of space," he adds. "I don't mind sharing beds, but it's a big ask when the beds aren't built for me in the first place."

He could manage in most of them here, but anyone wanting space on the bed would have to get very close.

[ohhshrine]

Link considers that. Well, good point. He hasn't seen anyone here as big as Bull, has he? Most people he's met are generally Hylian sized: bigger than Link, for the most part, but not exceptionally large. Bull is comparable to Sidon, though not built the same really.

"If a bed is more comfortable, no one is sharing my room. I don't take up too much space."

Part of him isn't really even sure why he offered. Of course he doesn't care about sharing; he's not overly modest or anything, but being that close to a stranger is pretty forward. This place does weird things to people, though he doesn't really know that yet.

"I can just grab that blanket, though."

Either way, it's in his nature to be helpful.