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TDM #1

TEST DRIVE MEME

This Mess We're In The city sun sets over me...

You awaken slightly disoriented on a beautiful, smooth stone floor. A look around will tell you that this place is a hilltop temple with a good view of the beautiful city below. On opposite sides of the temple are genderless depictions of deities. One is clearly powerful, made of onyx, held up in an imposing stance with one hand holding a gilded flogger and the other outstretched with an open palm as if to enforce a command. The other, made of polished white marble, has taken a knee to the dominant statue across from them. One of their hands is a vase for fresh flowers and you can see that new ones have been placed there today.

The music of an unseen harp begins to play and a golden light permeates the temple. Suddenly, you know what is happening here. The duality that is worshipped here, the figures in the temple, they have a name. The onyx one is Ceannasach and the marble one is Cuiristeach and together with their combined power they are the ones who have brought you to Parthas.

What is Parthas? Parthas is paradise! You have either been brought here because Ceannasach believes you contribute to your world in some glorious way and deserve to be honored and served or because Cuiristeach believes that you would be excellent in a service role, perhaps they even feel sorry for the state of your life back home and want to show you something better.

The deities here also brought you because they need lik which is the energy that allows them to exist. Lik is created in small amounts when you interact with other people, in greater amounts when you grow fond of certain people, and in greater still amounts when you begin to use physical affection. However, when you orgasm, that creates the purest form of lik there is.

Ceannasach and Cuiristeach reward you in a special way. When you have sex with your soulmate or your hjarta, your vördr, or spirit, leaves your body in a time-frozen moment to commune with the deities and ask for something big or small that you might like. Sex carries on as usual and only you will know that you asked for something. If you ask to be sent home, the deities will send you into a hyperaroused state when you least expect it. Hey, you offended them.

The deities also believe you should know of something they have placed in Parthas for your benefit. There is a river in a valley in the middle of housing that will give and take anything you like from your body if you should so wish. This can mean a illness, sadness, a memory or anything else, but be careful because this river runs on fickle magic.

As the harp music continues, you become aware of a new power of yours. You can hear any thought that any other person sends your way, even the ones sent accidentally, and you can see images and moving pictures, as well. Don’t limit yourself to one person! Send that thought to everyone!

The harp music comes to an eventual end and you are left with the knowledge the deities gave you. Your intuition leads you down a southbound path towards a city where a celebration seems to be taking place, if the colorful banners are any indicator. Welcome to Parthas!

Dancing Barefoot She, intoxicated by Thee; She has the slow sensation that He is levitating with She

There is indeed a celebration going on in South City as this is the month of Feabhra. Where it was daylight when you left the Main Temple, now that you have reached the city the only lights are colorful paper lanterns strung up across smooth stone roads. The warmth of the daytime has cooled, so it might be smart to snuggle up with someone in one of the city’s various gazebos – each of them has a swing made for two (or three if you snuggle close enough.)

Harps, flutes, guitars and drums play lively music for everyone to dance to in the city square where garlands of brightly colored and white flowers hang for people to do with as they will. A stately woman dressed in black and wearing a brooch with the face of Ceannasach stands off to the side, her dark hair pulled back in a chignon. Whispers circulate, getting to you and informing you that this woman is E’ara Fraoch, owner of the most successful brothel in South City, and she is paying 50 gold pieces to the best dancers and 100 more if they will come work for her at Where The Wild Roses Grow, her establishment.

I Feel You I feel you, your precious soul, and I am whole

Food and drink is plentiful at this celebration and some of it is even free! The vendors believe that this is a good promotion for their stores during the rest of the year. They wheel their carts about, humming jaunty tunes and offering delicious things to you, the new arrivals, and everyone else in the city.
There is a man named Sam wheeling his cart of beverages and chocolate dipped waffles through town. If you catch him, he’ll probably suggest you order the alcoholic drink The Spirit of Feabhra. This drink does not come without side effects. It tastes like a fancy gin cocktail, sparkling and sweet with the flavor of berries and mint hitting your tongue, but the moment you get close to someone you actually have feelings for, you start to feel it… Them. Their thoughts, their emotions, their dreams… It’s as if they have melted into you.

Is This Desire? Is this desire; Enough, enough; To lift us higher; To lift above?

You have been told repeatedly throughout the night by smiling (creepy) faces not to wander out of the city limits into the wilderness, but now that you are here you just don’t get it. Lichens and fungi light up the night with a soft glow from the tree trunks, seemingly drawing you in.

In the forest, the music fades and the chittering of small animals creates a different tune. You don’t seem to be in danger. You might come across the healthiest, most beautiful apple tree you’ve ever seen. It is completely free of pests and only the dew clings to the apples’ shiny surface.

Should you pick one for yourself, you will feel a strange compulsion to bite it. Go on. Do it. If and when you have, you will find yourself incredibly aroused, but you won’t be able to bring yourself to orgasm – another must do it. If you didn’t bite the apple, maybe you gave it to someone else. In that case they will be unstoppably attracted to you with arousal to match. If you chose to plant it near your home, a tree like the one it came from will grow there and you will ICly receive a special reward.

Dead of Night When delirious fun; Has seriously begun; You'll be down on your knees; You'll be begging us please

Now you’ve done it. You’ve wandered into the woods without a spiritual guide from the temple. Now the vættir have been awoken and they are ready to fuck shit up… Sort of. Right now, these spirits kind of only want to ruin this party, but who knows what they’ll do later?

A low-lying cloud of black smoke crawls down the hills from the forest to the city until it covers the smooth stone roads and reaches up into everyone who is either of weak constitution or just simply tired and possesses them. It doesn’t take total control, but rather influences them, and causes them to destroy decorations, vendor carts, and do wild things they wouldn’t ordinarily do. Basically, these spirits want to cut through the façade and see you party like a rock star.

The only way to exorcise one of the vættir from a friend or loved one is to call on the deity of light – Cuiristeach. They accept demonstrations of service as the highest form of prayer, so get on your knees for your friend and get this done!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( It isn't a house he knows and the feeling he gets from her is that she clearly isn't from Westeros so it makes sense that she would describe herself in terms unknown to him. Still, she seems like some kind of nobility and he should treat her the same in kind. While he might truly be a prince, he'd been a bastard too long to think himself anything else. )

Eirene. It isn't a name we have where I come from. It's a beautiful one, though. Sounds like something southron. Never met anyone below the Neck that I truly liked but I'll make exceptions for people not from Westeros.

[Snow seems like a strange name for someone to have, but it might well be a dynasty name adopted from wherever he's from. The places he lists off mean nothing to her. There is nowhere in the Colonies with those names, though being called Southern makes her grimace a little.]

Thank you. It comes from the Boreais region where I was born. I'm not Southern. I reside in the North, in Fort Despoina.

You resemble the men of the North.

So you are a Northerner. Then well met, Eirene. I would never tell a proper Northern girl she was from the south.

( Jon smiles at her and reaches for her hand. It's forward, yes, but he feels like it's all right because of the drink lowering his boundaries and he lifts it to his lips to kiss. He marvels a little at her soft skin. She has a lady's hands, proper with soft skin, and he's always been attracted to women of that status. )

Never. I'll forgive you, as you are a Norther too.

[He gave the sense of frost and cold, a world that she's known all of her life. It's why she's not disturbed by the kiss to her hand. It's elegant and proper, but there is an undercurrent of want beneath it. She didn't fail to notice.

Her eyes welcomed his attention, the drink melting away her inhibitions, like too much wine.]

I'm no dancer. Is it too forward to ask you to go somewhere more private? I feel the need to take you somewhere, to be with you and learn you as much as I know myself. I've never felt so compelled.

( Jon feels, too, that he must be honest with her even if it's more than he'd normally say to someone he'd just met. That drink is powerful and he's going to have to remember to pass on it next time it gets handed round. )

I can't dance as it is. [Her teeth tore at her lower lip as she watched him, well aware of what might happen if she agreed. The full weight of his attention flustered her. Her chest felt tight.] I-

[Her shyness overpowered the effects of the drink, shrinking a little from his intensity.]

We can speak more, but more, I don't know. I'm married.

Oh, my lady, I didn't know. I wouldn't press a married woman. Never been married myself but I wouldn't want my wife laying with some strange man so I can imagine your husband wouldn't want it either.

( As to dancing, well, he has to be a lot drunker to dance because he can really only move his feet around a bit and hope not to stumble. )

I would need much, much more drink to manage a dance. I'm terrible at it. Truly terrible.

[There’s a measure of disappointment that the matter seems closed, despite she being the one to do so. Her marriage was complicated, made more difficult by his preferences and her ill health.

Being noticed, desired, it was uncommon and flattering. Whatever propriety dictated, she was curious.]

My husband is...lenient. At present, he is being held prisoner in the South. What I do privately is not a large concern for him. It's me. I don't know what is permissible, what is proper.

[She placed a hand over her chest, lightly rubbing above her bust.]

Are you? You are out of practice then?

It's better for me not to dance.

( Jon laughs, then, a true laugh, and shakes his head. No, he's never been able to dance for all that he's good in battle with sword, knife, and bow and he thinks one should translate to the other and they absolutely do not. )

No, my lady, I've never been able to dance. I've always just stumbled over myself. As to what's proper, that damned drink tells me it's proper to bed you but I'd never bed someone who wasn't willing to go to bed with me. That said, I think these strange gods want us to bed one another.

[Sin isn't a concept Eirene knows, so there is little thought to morals and ethics. It appearances. Giving in, doing what these gods wanted, would it all stay confined here when all is done?

Would she remember?]

I know they do. [It's said softly. In that at least, she can find some motivation. Duty and expectations, she can stomach it all through that lens.

But...she likes Jon, she likes the smell of him, the sight. She likes his hands and how full his lips are. She likes his hair and how, she assumes, it is soft against his skin. She wants more, a rare slip into this world.]

You make it hard for me to think about obligations.

Aye, I could say the same about you. Whatever was in that drink makes it so I can't think of anything but you but...I don't want you to think it's just the drink. You're beautiful without it, all right? I wouldn't need it to find you beautiful.

( Jon feels like that's important to say because if Eirene thinks that he only wants her because of the drink they'd both indulged in, it might make her think poorly of him and he doesn't want to leave that sort of impression. )

[It never occurred to her that it might just be the drink. Everything in her mind is what she wants versus what she should do that she hasn't really considered Jon's motivations. She had accepted them as legitimate.]

I doubt whatever they gave us can fully change who we are and who we like. It might only enhance what is there.

You came over because you felt me and liked it. I can feel you too. It's a spark. The drink can only emphasis it, not create it.

I'm not afraid of how you will feel after, Jon.

I think you're probably right. I still feel like me even if I'm a little bit...more forward than I would normally be. I'm kind of quiet, usually.

( Jon likes his own company and had spent a lot of time in it when a ranger beyond the Wall and as Lord Commander. As King in the North, he'd had less time to himself, but he still liked to go out into the woods with Ghost and just enjoy the quiet of a cold day. Here, though, it's not as easy to slip away what with the party. )

I probably wouldn't have come over and talked to you at all.

[She gave a small laugh, surprised to hear of his normal nature, for it was similar to her own. There’s a measure of relief in that, knowing someone else with similar desires as her own.

Much like this King in the North, Eirene preferred the quiet. Health limited what she could do, but her activities were normally solitary and secluded.]

Without it, I'm not certain I would have been able to respond. I don't like crowds.

I have always been shy.

I can speak when I need to but I prefer to keep quiet and to the edges of things like...this. This isn't where I'm strong.

( Jon finds his strength in commanding an army or going on a hunt, not in the social graces. Without Sansa, he'd have failed even harder at being a king because being a king is more than winning battles. )

I'm better at swinging a sword.

You have the look of a soldier or a man that has worked with his hands.

[He's noble, she can tell that much, but given the Colonies, it is impossible for nobles not to work in some form, especially in the North. His talent with niceties aren't in question. He has managed so well, she would imagine that he constantly hosts feasts and festivals or greeting other nobles.]

I'm expected to host the nobles and governors of my husband's realm.

Soldier, my lady. I've been serving or leading for half my life. I went to the Wall at sixteen to defend my lands from those who would want to invade them. I fought in many battles before I was made a king and I feel more comfortable doing that than doing anything else. I'm not even a king any longer. My sister is queen.

( And the North is better for it. Jon thinks he was never really a very good king, only a good commander of troops, and he doesn't have the head for politics that Sansa has. Winterfell is in very good hands. )

I see. [Everything was falling into place. The Wall, king, queen. None of this was familiar or resembled home. Thus, she could only conclude they come from similar lands but not the same one.] I have never heard of siblings that graciously relinquish the crown for family.

My husband is imprisoned by his brother who means to be High King of the colonies.

Why did you give up your crown?

I gave it up so we could ally ourselves with a rival queen. It wasn't a popular decision among our people but we needed her armies to fight a war. It was a difficult choice to bend the knee but it was the best decision at the time. No one wants to make a decision like that.

( Maybe Sansa could have found a way out of it but she hadn't been the one to go south, had she? No, it had been him as the King in the North and he returned as Warden of the North but with dragons and an army. It was what they needed. )

Have you ever had to make a decision like that?

[It was a logical decision and one she could appreciate. Not many would approach the cold facts in such a reasonable way. It is always more important to think of the greater need rather than selfish desires.]

Did you win your war?

[Oh, if he only knew.]

I face that decision now. With my husband imprisoned, his brother, Demoleon, is demanding that we subjugate ourselves and accept him as our High King. So now I must decide if I should go to his realm and submit or...well, the only other option would be war.

Aye, we won the war. It was a good choice.

( Jon listens carefully while she describes what is happening in her own home, the things that concern her there. He doesn't know that he's the advice that Eirene would need but he can at least be someone who listens and sometimes that's better than someone full of advice on how they would handle a situation. )

It's a difficult decision to make. Would you want my advice or just an ear to listen for a while?

Then it was worth it. Though how did your sister reclaim the crown?

[There are details missing, but they might be painful or delicate. It's an uncertain road and she will not dig up uncomfortable pieces if he's not able to broach the subject.

She smirks, knowing and patient.]

This decision is the first to fall to me. I don't turn away advice, if it's offered. I don't mean to approach this lightly.

I gave up my crown. After the death of the rival queen, I didn't want it and my sister was chosen as Queen in the North by our people. She declared our lands independent. She can be formidable, in her way.

( Sansa is his cousin, in truth, but he doesn't know how to think of her now. She had been distant from him as a child, close to him during the war, and now she is a cousin and not the closest relative to him that he'd thought she was. It doesn't help Eirene, though. )

How many men can you muster for an army? If your independence means much to you, you should prepare to fight for it. You might lose your husband as a casualty, though, but I imagine he's too valuable as a hostage.

Separate kingdoms bordering other kingdoms is dangerous. I hope you're sister manages, this is the situation I find myself in.

[He suggests the route she has been considering. He may not have wanted to be king, but he had a head for statesmanship.]

Our country is small in comparison, but there is another way to build an army. There are mountain clans, natives unalligned to either cause. If I can negotiate with them, they may help. It is possible, if we offer something to their benefit.

Then you may want to consider it, depending on what they are seeking. Do you know what these mountain clans might want?

( It could be similar to what he offered the Wildlings, back when, and if so she could probably muster their help. )