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TEST DRIVE MEME 001
⚰︎ ⍢ ⌲ ⍚ 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jin Guangyao | Mo Dao Zu Shi
Jin Guangyao was on the run before he lost his bearings and awoke in the woods. This was surely a curse otherwise where did his
hostagecompanion, Lan Xichen go? He would be a sitting duck with his cultivation locked as it was. Was this a ploy by the same hidden enemy that had been pursuing him? The one that sent the letter to his wife? The one who had threatened to expose him if he did not expose himself?Well, he certainly was exposed. Jin Guangyao opened his eyes blearily against the dull rays of light through the canopy of the trees. He pushed himself up and everything was just gone, the soft sword he wore at his waist, and even his clothes.
This wasn’t ideal, but he’d survive, he always did. Or at least he hoped he would. With a sigh, he tied his long hair up into a loose knot against his head, no use in getting any critters in there. It was a good thing he did because when he looked down there was just wave after wave of tiny spiders approaching him.
Look, Jin Guangyao had grown up in less-than-ideal conditions and he was not the least bit of an arachnophobic, but this was just too many! Better to run than deal with whatever venom they may have when he didn’t have the means to cure it.
It was just as well that he was running, without his sword or talismans to help him fight any creatures that were lurking there his main objective was survival. (It always was no matter where he had found himself really.)
Perhaps a newcomer would find him with a small pile of fruit near the stream, bent over a pile of wood, biting into his finger and writing fervently on a leaf with his own blood. He tosses the leaf onto the wood with a bit of a spark and a full fire bursts up. He smiles at them.
“It is exhausting running around here, Would you like to sit and warm yourself? I have food I am happy to share.” He says amicably.
Jin Guangyao was nothing if not polite. Besides the night would be easier to survive with others.
💮 B. Everyday like the one before:
The town looked promising, and he took everything in. The architecture looked nothing like the towns he was used to. How far away did this curse take him? This was certainly not China or any country in the East. He had at least had the forethought to do a quick rinse when he was by the stream so he did not look too filthy, though he was still regrettably naked. Though it seemed that there were enough others in the same state of undress as he.
Jin Guangyao struck up a conversation with the guards. He was pleasantly surprised when he was pushed through as he explained his situation. As he wandered through the streets, his hands covering his shame, he looked around and realized that, no this was not China at all, really began to sink in. In every other way, the town seemed fairly normal, but the foods were foreign and the items of clothing were certainly skimpier than anything he’d seen in the brothels.
The people here seemed friendly enough and there was a sense of jubilation in the air, though Jin Guangyao suddenly found himself being dragged into a wax-dripping ceremony, by an older woman he had asked about the specifics of the occasion, and when he took a few steps back so not to rudely decline he crashed into another person hard, landing flat on his ass, upending a bowl of melted wax in the process.
“Pardon me. I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you at all!” He made such a mess on just coming here.
“Are you injured?” he asked frantically while apologizing for the spilled wax.
💮 C: Room and Board:
The boarding house could certainly use some cleaning, but Jin Guangyao was grateful for the food. He would be happy to help clean and fix things in exchange for a place to stay after all. And after a cold night in the forest, a hot meal was certainly welcome. He sat at the table dressed only in a cape one of the villagers had loaned him and smiled at the person next to him.
“Today was a rather eventful day. The food is good here though. I'm Jin Guangyao, Do you have your accommodations yet? Do you know if we are supposed to pick a room to settle in?”
💮 D: Wildcard:
(Feel free to just drop a starter here or hit me up on either
Jin Guangyao has his mark over his heart.)
B
He turned, the 'blindman's stick' -a mere branch he had grown attached to from the woods- touching the ground in front of him while his sunglasses wearing face turned to observe the person he came across.
Another naked person, as he himself had been mere half an hour ago before finding his tank top and pants, and looking more flustered by the situation than his nakedness. But then, if the young stranger had been running around in his skin as long as Shades had been the whole day, he would be pretty worn out by the novelty of it too. So Shades smiled back wide in a disarming grin and waved his hand, the one not holding his stick.
"It's fine, it's fine."
His head tilted slightly. "The people here are surprisingly nice. They help clothe you if you ask."
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"Really? I suppose I should ask her if she has any spare clothing I can borrow. As fun, as it has been shaming myself in front of everyone like this." he quipped, before brushing off the dirt from his skin and moving over to ask the woman. She grinned and covered him with a sheer cloak, instead. He thanked her regardless and wrapped it around himself.
"It won't cover everything but it is better than before. Thank you. I'm Jin Guangyao."
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Better was definitely subjective. He didn't tell Jin Guangyao he now looked like a scandalous male prostitute instead in his sheer half dressing.
He did grin though.
"Ah, Hei Xiazi [ Black Blindman ], but people just call me Shades. Lemme guess, dropped naked in the middle of forest Nowhere and had to hike it back to... civilization?" If a culture that did kinky public wax dripping was considered civilized.
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"Shades, then. Yes, that is basically the predicament I seem to have found myself in. I assume it was the same for you? I wonder what is causing this, it has to be something much bigger if there are others like us. At least a great power behind it." was it his enemy? Why would they bring so many here?
no subject
"Ah, yes, great power." Great enough to catch a man like himself unaware to strip him and transport him naked here. He scratched absently at a mosquito bite-- possibly the most annoying part of this venture so far.
"You wouldn't think it's a mystical reason too would you?" He already met one person who had pretty outlandish theories, he might as well hear what other people thought as well.
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"I had thought it may have been some sort of teleportation talisman or curse. But I have never heard of any that can do this kind of distance. This place looks so different from the towns where I am from, and to go through a huge distance like this would take a lot of energy...More than even the strongest cultivators." he stated finally.
"But I have nothing to really back up this theory. I need more information about this place."
no subject
That this young man spoke so casually about it and cultivation made Shades a little curious about him. "You're a Taoist?"
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"I am. I am a cultivator, from the Lanling Jin region. I am the sect leader, though I do find myself making offerings to the goddess Guanyin as well." Okay so Guanyin with his mother's face (who else had ever been compassionate towards him?), but he was not going to say something so blasphemous to a stranger." This place is certainly very different, the symbols on places are like no character I've ever seen.
no subject
His hands put together briefly at the mention of the bodhisattva in a sign of respect and did not find it too surprising that a cultivating Taoist would worship an icon from Buddhism. They were not exclusive in their beliefs after all. Although Shades had a feeling they might be less accepting of the their current local beliefs, if this wax dripping rituals was suggestive of anything.
"I think we've moved northwards," he carried on, "and we're somewhere near Russia. Maybe a small isolated village with their own language. The symbols look similar to Russian but..." He shook his head, indicating he couldn't read it.
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awakening
It seems like Nie Huaisang is going to have to suspend the final act of his play and go into an intermission, at least, until he's acquired some resources and gotten his bearings. It's too dangerous to reveal himself (ha) now.
So a helpless, distressed wail that should be very familiar to Jin Guangyao by now sounds out through the trees and Nie Huaisang starts barrelling toward him with tears streaking down his face.
"San-ge? San-ge! Is it really you? Is that really, really you!? Help me! I'm so scared! I woke up and someone took my clothes and there were spiders everywhere and they were so big, I thought they would eat me! I ran away but I don't know where I am any more or where I'm going and San-ge, please!"
Nie Huaisang stops to take a deep breath, sniffling loudly.
no subject
"Huaisang?! What are you doing here?" he was worried. Did his Enemy get him too? Transport him to this place alone in the forest as well? First Jin Ling, then Qin Su... Now Huaisang as well. Anyone who was close to him could be in danger!
"Here here. The spiders were terrifying, did any of them bite you?" he moved to check him over gently. Wiping some tears away with a hand and picking off a few leaves from his hair.
"It's okay San-ge is here. We'll figure it out together." he consoled him gently, a protective notion stirring in him. His enemy wouldn't get away with this. Hurting someone weak and ill constituted as Nie Huaisang.
cw: self-infantilzation?
"I-I don't know! I don't know! I don't know anything at all, San-ge!"
His voice rises into a borderline hysterical shriek, like he's too scared to process anything at all. Not where he was before this or how he even came here.
"I don't think anything any of them bit me... I think I got away before any of them could. They were just so scary! I've never seen so many of them and all of them were so big! How can spiders grow so big!? What if everything else big, too!? What if the rabbits are big enough to eat people, too!?"
Look at him, trembling uncontrollably like a leaf on the verge of being torn apart by a stiff breeze.
no subject
He shushed him gently, brushing his hair from his face and gently patting down his shoulders, in an attempt to calm him. He make soft noises as he did so as if he was calming Jin Ling.
"Spiders aside, the animals I've seen so far are normal-sized. Let us make some traps and set them up. We can also go fishing and have a good dinner. It'll feel better after our bellies are full." he soothed. Poor guy.
"Here sit by the fire and I'll look you over okay?"
no subject
For now, however, the man's far more useful to him alive than dead. Nie Huaisang can put up with his enemy's presence in the world of the living a while longer.
"Oh, what a relief... I don't want to fall to a rabbit. My ancestors would be so ashamed and Da-ge would be so disappointed in me if I met such a pathetic end."
Nie Huaisang sits down carefully by the fire but not so close it can burn him.
"All of this is just so much, San-ge, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to survive in the wilderness or go without clothes. I don't even have my guan or the fan you gave me anymore."
no subject
"This has to be my fault, that you got wrapped up in this. San-ge is so sorry, Huaisang. Please forgive me. I will protect you to the best of my abilities." he felt terrible he never would have wanted him to get involved.
"Imagine this is a night hunting trip. I'll show you how we can make some traps. There are fruit we can gather and I'll roast some meat."
no subject
"R-Really? Someone's after you? That's so terrible, San-ge. Do you have any idea who it could be? I-I just have a hard time picturing anyone going after you. You're so kind and do so much for everyone."
It's too bad, really. But a promise is a promise and loyalty is loyalty. And Jin Guangyao had made his own bed to lie in through his own choices that he made.
"I guess it's probably better to just focus on food for now, huh."
no subject
“When one leads a life like ours, one needs to be prepared for this. Not one of us is spared from our actions. It’s politics. I just hate that they targeted…” his throat closed up. He tried to focus again. Qin Su flashing through his mind. He shook himself out of it.
“You’re right. Can you gather some fruit and I’ll go catch some fish.” Better to plan their next steps with a full belly.
no subject
"O-Oh? What kind of fruit? Did you see any berry bushes along the way? I-I'm not sure what I'm looking for but I want to help! Do you think there are any mushrooms or nuts or seeds in this place? In a forest like this, lots of things must grow here, right?"
He fiddles with a long, loose strand of hair, the picture of indecision and uncertainty.
"Or-or maybe I should go catch the fish, instead? I used to catch them by hand with Wei-xiong back in school! I haven't done it in a really long time but maybe I could still do it if I tried?"
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C!
Immediately, he whips his head to the side and stares at Jin Guangyao as though he is literal sunshine bursting through a line of thunderheads. "Zongzhu..!" he exclaims--well, whisper-exclaims, because even here in this objectively non-jianghu environment, he can't be too careful about being overheard by their enemies.. whoever they are. "Zongzhu, are you well? Are you injured?"
no subject
He was dressed in a rather scandalous see-through cloak, provided by the villagers and was picking off a bit of wax that someone had poured on him earlier off a leg.
"Asides from my dignity? I am unharmed thankfully. It seems as if our enemy has gotten a hold of you as well. It cannot be helped I suppose. This is certainly not Dongying but I suppose the end goal is the same. Are you unharmed?"
no subject
the gall, the audacityIncensed, Su Minshan turns a look of impotent fury on... well, no one, really. The fire in his eyes gutters out about as quickly as it flares to life; in truth, everyone here looks equally miserable."I'm unharmed," he confirms, sounding almost shamefaced about it, like he ought to have some injury on his person to justify why he became separated from the one he has sworn to serve. At least his own cloak isn't something better suited to a parlour house curtain, and knowing what he knows about Jin Guangyao's background, his next step is only to be expected.
He shrugs out of his cloak immediately and offers it out. "Zongzhu must take my cloak." He isn't naked beneath it; thankfully someone saw fit to give him a tunic. And shoes.
no subject
"Good. I'm glad. We have no idea who we are up against and if they have the power to transport us so far from home who knows what else they can do."
At the offer, he looks up and smiles kindly. Su Minshan was always really too good to him. He took the cloak gratefully and covered himself with it, pulling his knees up underneath it. He really did feel the exhaustion from running.
"Thank you Minshan, you really are too kind. I hear the tailor will be open tomorrow so I can find myself something more decent. Have you eaten?"
no subject
He bows his head in response to that beneficent smile and compliment, never particularly good at responding to such things, and is grateful when the subject changes to more practical concerns. "No, I haven't," he admits, then looks towards the bustle of activity he can see near the kitchen. The smells wafting from it aren't familiar, exactly, but something in there smells savoury, and that is good enough for him. "I will fetch us something to eat," he volunteers promptly, already rising to his feet to do just that, "and then we should find a room for the evening." A beat, and then he lowers his voice to say, "Zongzhu shouldn't be out in the open like this." He can't disguise the worry in his voice and the severe set of his brows; stealth he can accomplish, but subtlety in social situations just isn't in his nature.
no subject
Since he hadn't eaten since the day before, his stomach growled at the prospect of food. The smells from the kitchens were just lovely. Straightening up his back, Jin Guangyao gave him a soft smile.
"That sounds wonderful, Minshan. I think we are safe for the time being, but finding a room for ourselves will be good. A base of operations while we figure out where we are and what we need to do. The people here are kind and helpful but we need to find out what the caveat is. There usually is a cavet."