quietplacememes | TDM #002

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test drive meme!

TDM #002

TEST DRIVE MEME
You wake, standing. A thick, muddy red dust coats your skin and clothes - it sticks to your tongue and blocks your vision. Inhale and it chokes you, exhale and your breath puffs out in front of your face in a transparent maroon cloud. It tastes of copper, tangy and harsh. Movement is difficult, every limb tingles and aches. Look to your left, your right. Evenly spaced in each direction stands another person indistinguishable in every way from the next. You're disoriented and lethargic, unable to grasp onto a single thought. A pinprick of light blooms ahead and grows steadily larger; a door has opened.

Hands grip your wrists, push at the small of your back and guide you out of the darkness into a room with four walls and a thin, sagging ceiling. The plaster is peeling, the air is musty, and the floor is slick. White plastic piping juts up from the center and curves into multiple spouts, clean water flowing in uneven streams. Those hands pull your clothes off and clear the dust from your body, redress you in handsewn jumpsuits.

A finger is pressed to your lips. Kind eyes meet your own and a single word is whispered - hush.

Led out of the room in a line, you’re taken down a short hallway and into another, much larger room. There’s a woman waiting for you there, a child hugging her leg, and a cloth bag in her hands. She reaches in and pulls out a device, passes one to each of you. Once finished, she begins to move both hands in graceful gestures, a language. One of the people who helped you lifts their device and the screen lights up, tracks the woman’s hands. Letters appear on the screen and you understand the device’s purpose. She tells you what she knows and it’s not much.

This world is haunted. Noise attracts them, so it is not allowed. Communication is through body language, soundless writing, and the device. She tells you that your feet must be light and your mouth never used. There is a community outside these doors, where you can survive together, but only if you agree to one thing: complete and total silence. You'll have time to talk it over. Acceptance allows you to journey outside. The ground is marked in pathways of sand, lining the paths to each building and everywhere in between. You notice that the locals hold their devices always, aloft and glance to it often. It will not vibrate or make a sound to signal a message.

Notices appear. Rules. Guidelines. Feet on the sand and never anywhere else. To open a door you brush your fingers along the hinges - oiled and you may enter. If not, take the brush from the can sitting nearby and coat the metal with the dark liquid. You're to settle into your new home.

And I, and Silence.
Content Warnings: Nightmares, sleep-paralysis, memory-alteration
Themes: Survival, exploration, shared dreams, horror

Reims was beautiful once. Vibrant and bustling. The scent of fresh baked bread each morning and the soft crooning of a local band singing residents and visitors to sleep every night. But that's not the Reims you've come to know. Nor is it anything the natives have known. The city is in ruins. Buildings have crumbled from age, weather, and lack of upkeep. Graffiti is etched onto walls and nature has begun to take over streets and everything in between. The community you've been accepted into is peaceful, for the most part, and unbearable in other aspects. Quiet, always. Not allowed to make even the slightest noise.

You remember falling asleep curled up by the window - looking out at the stars and wishing that you could hear even a single cricket chirp. But, when you wake, it's no longer just you and silence. There's a person sitting across from you. They're blinking awake. You're both sitting up. You're not in your house and it's so dark that you can't see anything else but them. You can't move. You can't lift your hands to sign or reach for your device. If you choose to speak, your lips are heavy and the noise you make won't attract Sound Eaters - but do you take that risk? The only way out is for both of you to acknowledge, aloud, that you think you might be dreaming and when you wake ( for real this time ), you'll be laying beside them in the Reset Room.

Dead Man's Hate
Content Warnings: Hanging, death, minor hunger and dehydration
Themes: Survival, horror, native death

His lips were writhed in a horrid grin like a fiend's on Satan's coals, And the men that looked on his face that day, his stare still haunts their souls. Such was the fate of Adam Brand, a strange, unearthly fate; For stronger than death or hempen noose are the fires of a dead man's hate.

Earlier in the month, the natives begin what they have dubbed 'spring cleaning'. This is where all trash and waste products are carried to the bridges near the Seine and stacked there. Everyone is required to help and after everything is stacked and piled according to what it is, the natives rig the piles up so that they can set them on fire after they're far away. This way - nobody gets hurt. The process is smooth and goes off without a hitch. Characters are paired up randomly and sent, each hour, to go check and make sure that the fires haven't spilled out and spread anywhere they're not supposed to.

When you and your partner arrive, you'll find that everything is as it should be except - hanging from the arch to the entrance of a building near Place Saint-Paul is one of the natives. You've seen them around. Their face is twisted up into a horrific smile, eyes open and somehow, they're pointing right at you. They're high enough up that it's hard to imagine how anyone could have done it. You have two choices, ignore what you've seen and go back to the community, letting the next team find the body or tell the natives what you've found. The latter results in accusations where you and your partner are locked in the reset room for three days with no food or drink until it can be discerned that neither of you were involved and the former results in the same treatment to the team assigned to go after you.

ooc: Characters will not know of the results until they've made a decision ICly about what to do. The team that would have followed yours would be natives and they will remain suspicious of your characters afterwards for the duration of your character's stay in game.

OOC
From your mods:

Please remember to mark your content in your starters or subject lines as material comes up. The threads on this meme can be used as game canon. Feel free to thread out arrival style meetings as well! If you have questions, pp the mod account, use the faq or comment below. Have fun!

NAVIGATION

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[Nightmares aren't new to Max, either, even if hers tend to involve a lot more of the human kinds of monsters than supernatural or alternate dimension ones. Although after seeing a demodog up close and personal, she won't be at all surprised if and when that starts appearing in her dreams, too.

And this doesn't feel like a dream. For one, no one is yelling at her. And secondly - she's staring wide-eyed at Will Byers.

She can't see anything else but the darkness, but she can tell this is Will. Except she'd definitely just been in the house she'd been assigned to, and now she's not and oh god, what the hell is going on? She's just going to stare at him.]

[Oh.

Well, that's new.

Perhaps it'll come as a surprise to her, but Will's entire body relaxes (minutely, but visibly) when he sees Max. They haven't spoken much (getting possessed sort of tends to do that to a person), but seeing someone familiar is enough of a relief that it shows.

Max. He mouths it, rather than says it aloud.]

[Out of all of the boys, Will is the one she's spent the least amount of time around. She knows now -- and believes Lucas' story -- about what happened to him the year before. That he'd vanished into another dimension for a week. If she'd had any lingering doubts about it, they were wiped away entirely when she'd landed in this alternate dimension (but really, seeing a demodog was pretty much all the proof she'd needed).

She relaxes a fraction when he does, because apparently that's just what happens when you run into a familiar face in a very unfamiliar place under completely terrifying circumstances.

And Jesus -- poor Will. Two years in a row he's now been taken to another creepy ass dimension by no decision or fault of his own. That sucks royally.

She nods ever-so-slightly in response to his acknowledgement, but she's afraid to move, and she doesn't have her stupid electronic device to type out words. And that's frustrating because she now has a shit-ton of questions she wants to ask like When did you get here? How did WE get here? What the hell is going on? Not that he would have anymore answers to those last two questions than she, but she still wants to ask them and she can't.]

[Will swallows hard -- at least he can do that, at least he can move that much -- and slowly draws in a breath. It feels wrong, already, to speak. It feels like it'll bring things down on them, horrible things, even here in this dark alternate-of-an-alternate place.

But he has to try. So, croaking it out, dry and hesitant:] Are you okay?

[She's too terrified to move. And when Will speaks, her eyes go wide and she holds her breath, waiting for the inevitable -- monsters and death. A moment passes and then another, and nothing happens. There's no other sound, no glowing eyes or sharp teeth or anything and she wonders suddenly if this is all some kind of experiment. Maybe by the same sick scientists who apparently do experiments on children.

She breathes, blinking a few times and she meets his eyes.]

I think so. Are you? [Her voice is still hushed, barely above a whisper, and some part of her still wonders if she's sealed their fate. Wouldn't that figure?]

I think so. [Another exhale, a little louder, and...and no monsters. He still can't move, but they're not dead yet. Will is going to take "not dead yet" as a good thing.

So he moves onto the next question:] Are we dreaming?

[She hesitates. This isn't the kind of thing she usually dreams about, so she's not sure what to think about that possibility.]

I don't know.

[They're still alive despite the fact they're speaking and not using the electronic devices or sign language.]

How do we know if we're dreaming?

...sometimes you can't move in dreams, so... [Will's going to try and move which -- yeah, nope, not working.]

...it's still good to see you. Even if we're only dreaming.

[She definitely can’t move. She’s trying not to freak out about that.]

Yeah I’m sure seeing me in your dreams is an amazing experience.

[The words are sarcastic but not biting.]

It is. I didn't think I was ever going to see anyone from home ever again. [Will is too damn honest for sarcasm. He even manages to get his frozen muscles to cooperate into a smile.]

[Her expression softens instantly with his honesty.]

Me either.

[She smiles faintly too. She supposes that considering his previous experience with dealing with a monster dimension by himself, having a familiar face around this time probably really is comforting. ]

Okay. So then how do we wake up?

[In spite of the...everything around them, Will is genuinely pleased to hear this. Pleased enough that he makes a concentrated effort to move and --

-- well, and then they're both awake. Apparently that's all it takes, breaking the silence. Will looks extremely disoriented and lies very still for a long moment, on the ground.]

[She's lying beside him and starts a little when she realizes she can suddenly move again. Sitting up quickly, but feeling dizzy and disoriented, Max blinks a few times and looks at him with wide eyes. She recognizes the room she's in. It's the room they'd kept her in until she agreed to stay silent. The room where she'd met Bill, who'd been as upset as she had been.

The room where it's safe to talk.]

Okay that was -- trippy.

That's...a word for it. [Will sloooowly sits up, like he's expecting the room to crumble around him at any moment. When it doesn't, he lets out a slow, relieved breath.]

Oh. You can move too. So I guess we...were sleeping?

[She watches him as he sits up more slowly than she did. Probably a good thing since her head is still spinning a little.]

Yeah, I...guess so.

[And sharing a dream. Which is...bizarre.]

I wonder if that happens here a lot.

I kinda hope not. That sort of sucked.

[Then, as if it suddenly occurred to him:] Wait. Max. You're here. Like...here-here. Not just in a dream.

[It had been scary, but she can definitely think of worse things. And worse people to be stuck in a dream with, for that matter.

She nods slightly in confirmation.]

Lucky us.

[She'd been hoping when they woke up the entire thing would have been a nightmare, and not just the nightmare part of the...nightmare.]

How long have you been here?

[Will stretches slowly, wiggling his fingers and his toes, like someone would after being paralyzed. Just making sure everything works.]

Me? Just a couple days. What about you?

[She watches him for a moment, as he works feeling back into his fingers and toes. She wraps her arms around herself.]

Yeah, me too.

[Max hesitates, but can't stop herself from asking.]

Was it like this before, for you? You know...in the other place.

[Will falters a little at the question, looking up at Max sharply. He knows she has to have wondered -- everyone does, deep down. Mike's careful not to mention it, while Dustin and Lucas are a little too obvious in how they tiptoe around it. He's not sure if he's shocked or...relieved that Max asks so bluntly.

He swallows tightly.] It was...worse there. It was colder and darker and...I was all alone.

[For a moment she's sure she crossed the line, maybe even obliterated it entirely. Maybe now Will is going to hate her like Mike does. If she knew how to keep her mouth shut she'd probably actually make friends and not get in as much trouble as she does.

But then he answers and she meets his eyes, nodding slightly, brow furrowing, frown tugging at her mouth.]

You're not alone here. [Even if she's the only one from home there with him, she won't let him be alone.]

Yeah. [He clears his throat, thickly, then manages a very shy smile.] So, y'know. It's already better.

...sorry it's just me, though. [He knows she'd rather have Lucas or Dustin or maybe even Steve.]

[Max can't help but smile when he does. He's so much quieter than the other three boys back home. Soft-spoken. It's...kind of endearing, actually.]

What? No. [She shakes her head quickly, because she doesn't feel that way at all.] Not that I want any of us to be trapped in this shitty place, but - [She hesitates, shrugging.] It's okay that you're here with me and not one of the others. We just don't know each other that well yet.

[She really wants to get to know him though.]

You really don't mind? [Will sounds skeptical, shifting to hug his knees to his chest.] Even after...everything?

[Putting them all in danger, he means.]

It's not like any of that stuff was your fault, Will.

[Her voice is matter-of-fact and she raises her eyebrows as she gazes at him so he can see she's serious.]

Monsters from another dimension? Literally not in your control.

and i, and silence

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