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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

Oh. Oh no. Break his heart, Sansa. Never? He was fumbling to pull one of the apples out, holding it out to her with a little sadness in his eyes. Sad that there had to be some kind of drug or enhancement to make this happen, but also sad that a woman who'd been married and who was as gracious as she was hadn't enjoyed any of it.

He holds it out to her, then adds, "For the record, I'd be doing my best to make sure you felt something good without it." But he also couldn't really hold himself to being able to do that with how fucking needy he felt.

Sansa takes a bite of the apple and the change is almost immediate. She feels warm and flushed and it almost feels as if she's run a long distance except she desperately feels empty and needy. If this is what he's feeling, it's quite intense, and she can see why he was willing to trade something of great value to him to ease the ache.

"I...I don't doubt that," she says, gripping the edge of a dresser that's in the room. "Women just aren't thought of where I'm from."

She has a dress that ties in the front, thank the gods, so she starts undoing the ties so she can get out of it. Her corset will be a pain but she can get it off herself, she thinks.

"Well, then where you're from sucks." He sounded very sure of that, and then she's working on her dress. His attention is caught by that, and he adjusts his glasses again, then comes over. "Can I... help?" Maybe she needed it, maybe she didn't, but undressing a woman was an oddly sensual thing, and he wanted to be involved in that. Especially since she was doing him an enormous favor.

When he offers to help, Sansa drops her hands. It is much easier to get undressed with the help of another person and she misses her lady's maid not just for her company but for the sheer task of getting dressed every day.

"Please," she says, biting down hard on her lip because she feels completely strung out and has never felt like this before and it is absolutely intoxicating. "Just don't rip anything. I don't have many clothes here. The corset laces in the back."

"No ripping. Got it." As turned on as he is, he kind of just wants to cut her out of everything, but there's layers and layers here and laces and ties and he's actually not that bad at undoing knots and bows. He's a pretty damn good uncle, and there's been many a shoelace that he's had to conquer without going full rage-beast on the shoe.

It takes a little bit, and there's a few muffled bitten off curses, but eventually Jensen gets the ties of her dress and corset undone. He feels like he earned some kind of badge.

Sansa is grateful he doesn't cut her out of the dress because she doesn't have anything to mend it here and while this place seems to be about liberty, she doesn't think she's liberated enough to go without anything under her gowns. Her skin is bare now, though, so she can work on his clothes.

"Yours are much simpler. Men's clothes always are." She pushes up his shirt and wonders what sort of life he leads if such a thin thing is enough protection for him. Even lords wear a bit of armor to turn away a knife. Once she has it off, though, she traces her fingertips against his chest.

"You're not an idle man, I see. Warrior?"

He was quickly undressed, but he was only wearing civvies; a tshirt and cargo pants. Easy enough to shuck off and most of what he wore as body armor into combat was a vest of some sort if needed. Bare chested in front of a naked lady, he felt her hand on his chest and let out a soft little keen. Oh, that felt too good. "Ah... soldier. Part of a crew. Not here, though. Just me."

Look, his brain worked enough for him to put words together. Bonus. His hands went down to his belt, undoing it slowly because everything in that area was supersensitive, but he left it undone as he moved his hand to touch the soft silky pale of her shoulder in front of him. "You are... gorgeous."

"Beauty is my curse," Sansa says wryly. "But thank you. You're the most attractive man I've ever seen. I don't mean it in jest, either. My experience with attractive men is that they're cruel and you seem to be very kind. It makes you even more attractive to me."

She leans forward and kisses him quickly, just a press of her lips, and slides her hands down to his belt.

"I should return the favor, yes?"

The way she talks makes him have to actually think; the cadence and use of more words than he's used to meaning more than just a quick verbal outpouring. And when he pieces it together, it again just makes him sad. "Sorry you've come across a bunch of assholes. I, ah, I'm gonna do my best not to suck."

He was going to fail, he knew it, but even if he came quickly, that wasn't going to put him out of commission, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't do what he had to to make her come apart. Her hand was on his belt and he glanced down, a sheepish smile on his face. "Um, if you want, yeah."

"Trust me. You are already better than the horrific man I was forced to marry. Don't worry about your ability to please me because the fact that you're thinking about it already makes you a better man."

Sansa slips her hands down to undo his trousers and they're different than anything she's ever seen. Buttons, she knows. This metal device, she doesn't, but it doesn't take her long to figure out if she eases it down, it parts the fabric. Far more convenient than laces, to be sure. Once it's undone, she tugs them away along with his underclothes and smiles at him.

"Stop worrying so much. And tell me your name?"

"Oh my god! I didn't tell you my name yet? Jesus christ." He lifts a hand and slaps it over his face, knocking his glasses askew. "I am so sorry. I swear, I'm not normally like this."

His mother would slap him. His sister would slap him. His niece would probably punch him in the dick, and he'd deserve it all. "Jake Jensen. I'm used to just Jensen- army life. I am so sorry."

He was sorry and now he was naked in front of a queen named Sansa with a shitty ex husband.

Sansa reaches up and gently readjusts his glasses. She isn't familiar with the concept, not seeing them in Westeros, but she feels like they must aid him in seeing and she doesn't want him to be blind. If he's a soldier, he likely needs his eyes to have decent aim.

"Jensen, then," she says warmly. "And you need not apologize to me. You only need to take me to bed, all right? That is what you need, isn't it? Far be it from me to deny a man in true need."

Oh, he's in need alright. But so is she now that he gave her that apple, and he moves to sweep her up into his arms in a bridal carry, heading for the bed. "Bed. Gotcha. And then maybe I'll, ah, see to your needs before my own. Because I'm not going to last."

No one has ever carried her like this. The Hound did once, though it was only because she'd been attacked, and that was quite different than this. This is romantic and the sort of girlish thing that's been stamped out of her over the years. Perhaps good men do exist.

"Will you? I'm curious to know what that entails." Sansa pauses for a moment and bites her lip.

"I have some scars. Please don't make a big deal of them. Will you do this for me?"

Piecing everything together that he was getting from her; the lack of any romance in her life, being married and not enjoying it, scars... Jensen was getting a very vivid image of a painting of her life, and it made him angry. He was all for badasses and women being in charge, but not in them being abused. He had too many women in his life he respected and loved to be okay with that.

He set her down on the bed, reaching up and taking off his glasses and moving to put them on the low table by it. He could still see without them, but he was a programming techy, and he read better with them. "What scars?" He shrugged his shoulder, even though he was trying really hard to play it off. He gave her a smile instead, then leaned in to give her just as gentle of a kiss as she'd given him.

He seems to understand that she doesn't want to discuss it and that, too, is another proof of kindness. Other men might be repulsed by it and he seems to not let it bother him. Then again, she's discovered that her home is very different than the places other people have come from.

The kiss is gentle and she lifts her hand to cup his cheek, wanting to touch him. Sansa hasn't had a lot of experience with kissing but she suspects that following what he's doing is a good way to start.

"I've never really kissed before," she whispers against his mouth. "I might be bad at it."

"Impossible," he said, mouth still gentle on hers. God, for all that she'd probably been used poorly, she was essentially like a virgin in what she hadn't had in terms of anything good or pleasurable. It made him mad with the situation, mostly because he wished he wasn't so gonzo stupid with lust right now so he could actually do his best to walk her through a good time instead of rushing them both through this.

"Mmm, well, show me some more about how this is supposed to feel good," Sansa says, kissing him again. She's a little more confident about it this time, knowing how it's supposed to go, and she trails her fingertips along the line of his bicep as she does.

"Because I know what you're going to like. I know what men like."

"Mechanically, we all like the same thing. But, I like..." He trailed off, looking down at her and brushing his thumb over her lips. Then he kissed her again, gently. He had a feeling that she didn't get enough of that, or any of it, in bed. Which just made him mad again.

"I like you. I like mutual pleasure. Some men, or women, might be all about getting theirs, but it's not... no. I'd prefer both parties to be satisfied. And as a guy, I'm easy. Not going to take much to make me happy, even without that stupid apple."

"Show me what mutual pleasure looks like, then. I should like to know."

The kisses have already felt good and she wonders what the rest of it feels like. Sansa knows about some things - she had been in the keeping of Littlefinger after all and one knows about brothels if with a brothel keep - but she doesn't know how they feel or how to do them.

"Please?"

If nothing else, that soft little 'please' would have undone any resolve he had. He kissed her again, a little more intentionally this time, lips parting to let his tongue drag over hers. His hand moved gently down her shoulder, careful to make sure she was okay with everything because god knows what she'd been through. He tested the waters every few inches, seeing how she reacted to his hand on her arm, shoulder, then the soft edge of one breast.

Sansa has never been touched like this. Jensen's hand is soft when others have been rough and when he touches her breast, she tips her head back and gasps a bit. It feels good and she hasn't had a lot of things that have felt good in her life. There are good men. It is an intoxicating discovery.

"More," she says, trying to encourage him. The apple has her tense with desire, yes, but she doesn't think all of this is the apple.

That's encouraging. His thumb circles her nipple, fingers gentle as he tweaks it, then he's moving down the curve of her side, doing his best not to linger over any scars he might find if he comes across them. He reaches her hip, and he draws back to glance down at her as he pauses there. "Are you okay with me touching, ah, there?" There being further inward, but he's not sure what words someone in her world uses and now is not the time for confusion.

Sansa laughs softly at that and shakes her head. He is entirely too gentle and polite about this and it is refreshing, truly, because she's never had such a thing. She takes his hand and pulls it inward.

"In spite of the fact that you're going to have to in order to get what you need, yes. I want you to."

"Well, that's not entirely true. I'm pretty sure a hand would work, just not my own. But it doesn't hurt to ask." The fact she laughed had him smiling, his hand moving in to find the heat between her legs, fingers gentle as he cupped her, then parted her folds with his middle finger.

He was trying to be slow, but that wet heat had his cock throbbing and he felt a shudder go through him as his own need reared up and made itself known.