bequiet: (Default)
The Quiet Place Mods ([personal profile] bequiet) wrote in [community profile] quietplacememes2018-02-28 08:56 pm
Entry tags:

TDM #003



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.

Caught me unawares
Content Warnings: Confusion, disorientation
Themes: Survival, horror, it's like groundhog day

The ending of the floor has caught me unawares. This must be the reason why I’m falling down the stairs.

That night, when you fall asleep, you dream of your life before The Quiet Place. At first it's the happiest moments of your life played on repeat, over and over. Everything good and sweet and fun. The second night, it's much the same. You go to bed anticipating another restful and pleasant sleep. But on the third night it changes.

For everyone, it starts the same. There's a long hallway with a door at the end. You walk towards it with nowhere else to go. You twist the knob and when you step forward, the floor ends and you fall. Falling lasts for seconds, minutes, or hours and when you land, it's with a jolt and a cloud of red dust all around you. There's someone else next to you, stumbling, coughing and choking on that familiar dirt that coats your tongue and mouth. When your eyes meet, everything blurs and you're falling again - this time, when you land, it's inside that dream from the first night. Only you're not alone. They're with you. The only way out is to experience the dream together. And when you do wake up, for real, that same red dirt is on your hands.

Falling down the stairs
Content Warnings: Confusion, disorientation
Themes: Survival, horror, it's like groundhog day

The ending of the floor has caught me unawares. This must be the reason why I’m falling down the stairs.

That night, when you fall asleep, you dream of your life before The Quiet Place. At first it's the worst moments of your life played on repeat, over and over. Everything bad and sour and awful. The second night, it's much the same. You go to bed anticipating another restless and dreadful sleep. But on the third night it changes.

For everyone, it starts the same. There's a long hallway with a door at the end. You walk towards it with nowhere else to go. You twist the knob and when you step forward, the floor ends and you fall. Falling lasts for seconds, minutes, or hours and when you land, it's with a jolt and a cloud of red dust all around you. There's someone else next to you, stumbling, coughing and choking on that familiar dirt that coats your tongue and mouth. When your eyes meet, everything blurs and you're falling again - this time, when you land, it's inside that nightmare from the first night. Only you're not alone. They're with you. The only way out is to experience the nightmare together. And when you do wake up, for real, that same red dirt is on your hands.

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



voidmage: (I can see you in my mind)

[personal profile] voidmage 2018-03-22 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
because friends are someone youd do anything for

[Even if it means going into the jaws of death. El can understand that sentiment - that her friends may need her here.]

not all
just mike and will
lucas and dustin are still back home
bossily: (smile)

arrival

[personal profile] bossily 2018-03-22 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
[The question takes Clara by surprise. It probably shouldn't, since it's something she asked herself upon arriving. Questioning the reality of this place is only natural. But being asked it by someone else makes her take pause, because she doesn't have an actual answer. At least not one better than anyone else here has given her.]

As real as you are, I wager.

[There's a soft smile to go along with her non-answer that's as good as she's able to provide. This woman is young, Clara doesn't place her as being far out of her teenage years yet. Having to deal with this place at nearly thirty is a lot. She can't imagine being brought here that young. She wishes she had more of an answer to give her, so she adds something else on.]

I didn't believe any of this was real when I first arrived either. It's a lot to take in all at once.
gotyourselfapilot: (pic#12168618)

[personal profile] gotyourselfapilot 2018-03-22 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
You're right about that. I try to at least feel useful. Offer help where it's needed.

I've seen them a few times. I recorded the Sound Eaters the second time.
rockypath: (smile)

[personal profile] rockypath 2018-03-22 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
[She recognizes she's probably being ridiculous in her fear. If this Buffy is from the same time as her, she's not going to try to mess anything up for her here. Still... some worries are ingrained, unavoidable. But she's here. And despite her idiotic concerns, that is a good thing. Not that she wants Buffy to suffer here like her. It's good to have that back-up.

Faith finds herself smirking a bit at that greeting.]
What? No hello? [Come on Buff, show some common courtesy! She winks, then answers the questions.]

I've been here nearly three months now. [She pauses a bit, realizing what she's about to say next may come as something of a shock.] Spike showed up a few weeks ago...

Clothes showed up on my doorstep. In a suitcase. Kind of creepy, but I'll take it if it means i don't have wear... you know.
[She gestures to Buffy's getup.]
bossily: (Default)

arrival

[personal profile] bossily 2018-03-22 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Clara's in the process of attempting to help herd some of the local children back to their homes after a reading lesson. When she spots someone that seems a bit lost she takes pause, and decides to send the older ones on alone. They did just fine without her here, and she supposes they don't really need her to guide them. It just helps her feel better knowing they all make it home from her classes safe. She keeps one of the youngest ones with her, a boy that's not much older than five. She's holding his hand as they approach the man with his device turned out for someone to read.

The question isn't one she's expecting. Or really has any idea how to answer. When she looks up at his face, she's got a clueless look there, and gives a little shake of her head. Her hand pulls away from the child's so she can pull out her device from her makeshift dress and respond to him.
]

I'm not sure what you mean.

[The boy at her side moves his hands to sign out something in addition. What's a mutant? Logan's device should translate for him automatically.]
paragon: (tws ☆ 153)

[personal profile] paragon 2018-03-22 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ That answer earns a not dissimilar expression, and that's it. He's sure as hell not arguing, and he nods and makes a concise 'lead the way' sort of gesture after reading the rest. ]

Steve Rogers. Just get here, too?
Edited 2018-03-22 20:50 (UTC)
paragon: (cw ☆ 093)

[personal profile] paragon 2018-03-22 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
It's okay. [ He looks at the boy in front of them, older but not much bigger than Eleven, still a little green around the gills and with, Steve knows, just a penny left in his pocket. ] I went back for more.

[ And he'd kept it down that time.

Little girls don't need superstrength to have a formidable grip, and as the wind starts to rush in their ears he says above it,
] It's supposed to be fun! [ and lifts his free arm from the bar into the air in demonstration. Look, Ma, no hands. ]
vdova: (370)

[personal profile] vdova 2018-03-22 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
[ He doesn't look so fragile to her, she thinks, as she watches the boys go. Her face turns up to him at his question, and she can't answer right away. She looks down at the dust on her hands, lifts her palm up to him. In answer and surrender. ] This, I think. There was... a door. And I went through it, and then I was here.
first_summers: (listening)

[personal profile] first_summers 2018-03-22 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ Spike with a tan; wouldn't that be something. Too bad there probably aren't any beaches around these parts. Though with his luck, he'd probably skip tan and go straight to lobster. ]

Of course there is. [ Now she's the one letting her exhaustion show. Magic, alternate dimensions, people coming back from the dead — won't they ever get a break? Even just a little one? A week or two really isn't asking for much. Taking a deep breath, she moves her hands to her hips and nods to herself again, deciding to get down to business and just work this like every other thing they've come up against. ]

Okay, so we just have to figure out what the magic mojo is that brought you back and make sure it sticks when we find a way out of here. That's not so hard. [ They've conquered worse and lived to tell the tale. ] What about the things that are hunting people here? What do you know about them?
eachother: <lj user="godmaking" site="insanejournal.com"> (024)

[personal profile] eachother 2018-03-22 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ though he's aware newt is only teasing, thomas's response is minimal and mostly unreadable as he glances sideways, almost like he means to roll his eyes at the subtle jab, but without enough effort to successfully execute the gesture. yeah, yeah, so he asks a lot of questions and challenges a lot of things, but if he hadn't, they'd all still be in the maze, running around like clueless lab rats.

( and there's a part of him that thinks maybe things would have been better that way, that some people might still be around if they hadn't left — but he knows better. he knows wckd, and they would have let every single one of them die looking for the cure in what thomas mostly believes is the wrong place. )

but he'll listen to newt for now. he'll keep his head down and lie low for the time being, and he'll keep the majority of his questions to himself until a later time. maybe he'll even seek majima out himself so he can ask him in person about everything he wants to know. ]


I don't know. I don't know what any of this is, if it's WCKD, if it's something else. I do think you're right, though. We should keep our heads down until we know more.

Minho's priority. Everything else we can figure out after.
rakuyo: (... so sweetly.)

Lady Maria | Bloodborne

[personal profile] rakuyo 2018-03-22 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
Falling down the stairs

[Awakening in a dream, for Maria, is no oddity. She woke countless times before, knowing the world around her couldn't possibly be real or true. Forging onward despite this was the only way. There was no other choice, after all. You live in whatever reality your mind and consciousness occupy, dead, alive, awake, or asleep. Maria was long resigned to this... or so she assumed. Time was lost to her when she left her body, unsure if she had been dead for years, hours, or mere seconds.

Last she knew, she had perished within the nightmare, at the hand of another Hunter. From there, a hallway. Another nightmare to traverse. Red ash, mist, falling through pure disorientation... she saw another form, nobody she recognized, then she felt herself land somewhere familiar.

Slumped in her chair, Maria was still as a corpse. The ornate seat was face away from an enormous clock tower face, in a cathedral like room lined with flickering candles. She felt another, across from her, unsure how far. The Hunter back again, so persistent. Had they not already defeated her? Her memory was too blurry to recall.

Lady Maria stood, lifted her double bladed weapon, and broke it into two short swords with a menacing clang of metal. Lifting her head, her eyes looked out cold beneath the brim of her hat. Both arms outward, swords pointed away and ready to swing, she approached the new person.

A repeat of her worser nightmare, her vision unfocused, not certain if this was an enemy she was facing... or not. The village, the secrets, she needs to protect them. At any cost.]
Edited 2018-03-22 02:22 (UTC)
lovesbitch: whose unwished yoke (☾ 160)

[personal profile] lovesbitch 2018-03-22 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
[ he bites into his lips to keep from interrupting her. he doesn't need to live through this, as long as they get everyone else out. but there are bigger fish to fry so he'll save it up for when he's feeling truly self-loathing. shouldn't be long now. ] I don't know if hunting's the word. If you make any noise, they just - appear - and take you down. Saw some videos, real Alfred Hitchcock nonsense. They don't look so tough, but Faith says we can't fight 'em. People more powerful than a Slayer have tried. [ so one shitty vampire who may or may not be at full strength isn't going to do much good, basically. ]

There's gotta be a spell or something, like the one you used to raise all them girls.
first_summers: (Default)

[personal profile] first_summers 2018-03-22 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
If there is, I'm betting we'll have to do a lot of digging to find it. I never would have found the scythe if the First hadn't wanted it, and if anyone but Willow had tried that spell... [ It wouldn't have worked. She might not know it for certain, but she can feel it. They'd gotten lucky, all the pieces falling together in their favor. She wouldn't bet on it happening twice. ]

You're right though, there's gotta be something. Some weakness, a creepy origin story — whatever it is, we'll find it, and we'll put things right. [ She looks around at the room they're in, finally taking in all the details of the soundproofing. It kind of reminds her of what her house had looked like every time something trashed the place. ] Is this where you're staying?
youcantfixme: (serious business)

Luke Cage | The Defenders / MCU Netflix

[personal profile] youcantfixme 2018-03-22 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
Arrival
Luke Cage wasn't a stranger to... well, the strange. His life took one crazy turn after another. First, it was suddenly having unbreakable skin and super strength when others had died in the same experiment performed on him in prison. Then he met Jessica Jones with a similar gift to his, her strength besting Luke's. Along with Jones came the psycho with mind control (Kilgrave) who fated the two to meet.

Recently, Luke had reunited with Jessica and a couple other New Yorkers that also had super powers. The four had teamed up to fight against The Hand who were intent on destroying New York City. One of the four was lost but the city was saved. And now Luke Cage found himself somewhere that sound wasn't allowed. He was warned about being killed, regardless of his impenetrable skin and super strength.

"Sweet Christmas," Luke thought to himself leaving the reset room to where he could find housing.

Falling down the stairs
Luke had yet to explore or understand Reims when he'd fallen asleep and found himself in some nightmare stuck on repeat. The dream brought him back to Seagate when he was a prisoner. He was fighting and losing himself. Reva couldn't reach him. His mind was a dark abyss, feeling he had nothing to fight for.

Suddenly he found himself on the table in the experiment that killed a series of others and went through the painful procedure. Someone was with him that Luke had not remembered from before. That same person was at the fights, Luke could swear it.

If those two memories weren't bad enough to relive in a dream, he suddenly found himself facing off against Jessica Jones in the fight that led up to her having to fire off a shotgun at his head so he'd stop. Luke knew better but couldn't stop himself or change the outcome. The shot rang off and he was back at Seagate, brawling.

"Always forward. Never backward," he mumbled to himself.
lovesbitch: that i may know (☾ 121)

[personal profile] lovesbitch 2018-03-22 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ he nods decisively, glad buffy is as ever her positive self. he likes faith, but they have a tendency to up each other's negative ante. ] Yeah, we will. [ it's soft, but confident. he glances around the house and shrugs. then points through the kitchen to the deck. ] Out there, actually. Or sometimes the other Slayer lends me her couch. [ he points the opposite way, since faith lives just next door. ]
first_summers: (Default)

[personal profile] first_summers 2018-03-22 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's either be positive or crack under a mountain of stress and worry. There's really not a choice there, not when she's spent the last seven years putting on a brave face for everyone else. Glancing in either direction, she looks a little longer toward Faith's before shifting her position nervously. ]

You're safe here? [ If nothing else, she knows that he's safe with Faith. ]
kimoyos: (pic#)

unawares

[personal profile] kimoyos 2018-03-22 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
[This is enough like the use of one of her remote control disks that she's only slightly worried about what's going on here. The red dust that's the same as from her arrival exists here too, and so she focuses on that instead of on her surroundings at first. It's all over her hands and she examines it up close, bringing a hand toward her face before eventually dropping it against the bar in front of her.

She knows this. It's an older, basic rollercoaster. One that exists in places like Coney Island. She's always wanted to go, but her father and brother have never allowed it. She hasn't even gotten to go to Disneyland yet. That's not what she should be focusing on though. This unusual situation is. It's not often she falls asleep and wakes up on an amusement park ride.

The clicking of the wooden rollercoaster sets a beat that reminds her of some of her favorite songs. Shuri whoops and hollers and holds up her hands, but the fun is over as soon as the boy in front of her vomits. Her hands slowly drop down and she looks grossed out. That look is on her face when she turns to finally look at whoever is sitting next to her. This is dreamlike enough that she expects it to be T'Challa.

It's not.

It's one of the Avengers. She makes a surprised sound and reaches over to poke and touch at him to see if he's real or her hands just go right through him.
]

Captain Rogers?

[Her accent is thicker in her confusion. She uses his title because she figures he's like Bucky and deserves the respect. He's managed to put up with her brother, after all.]

Cotton candy cannot be blamed for this!
kimoyos: (pic#)

un: shuri

[personal profile] kimoyos 2018-03-22 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Do you think we were chosen for this? I'm still trying to find logic in any of us being here.
misplacesfriends: (☑ Well the taller they stand)

arrival

[personal profile] misplacesfriends 2018-03-22 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
[Finn had been stuck in his work on the sandpath when she stepped out of the reset rooms, his clothing is probably hiding a bit of his appearance. Poe insisted on the hat. So he's properly startled when the device gets thrusted into his face, jerking back but he manages to stay quiet.

His eyebrows scrunch together at the message, "real?"

The former stormtrooper lifts his head, face still scrunched up and then everything eases out as he sees who it is. He almost slips up this time, reaching up and out to wrap her in a hug. He thought she was horribly hurt—he's from the end of the first movie.]
warfares: <user name="na-i-cons"> (pic#12153779)

network; un: socorro

[personal profile] warfares 2018-03-22 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Chosen" might be giving them more credit than they're due.
oorah: (☠︎217)

stairs

[personal profile] oorah 2018-03-22 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ frank castle was no stranger to a prison brawl. though his had been more of a bloody massacre. he doesn't fight against luke, but at his side, mowing through one stacked shit brickhouse after the next. he cuts them down like they're nothing, his brain and his heart and his soul in the fight as he screams out in rage. he can sense that luke isn't in it the way he is though, and when he finally looks at him, face and uniform caked in blood, the scene drifts effortlessly away.

he wakes up strapped to the table alongside luke, flashing a fearful glance his way. he's endured torture before, but this is agony. he strains against his bonds and bites his lips against crying out, but soon his screams match luke's and he can't remember anymore why he was trying to stay quiet. they both open their eyes and take a breath and for a moment it's like he is luke cage. he feels everything the other man feels, and when they break free it's as one unit, now indestructible. being bulletproof sure would have come in handy before, but he doesn't have time to think about it before the curtain closes again.

and then it's act III: he isn't with luke this time and he isn't luke either. he's been relegated to the sidelines; the bench of the shitty dreamworld. he hears a familiar voice and his fists clench along with his jaw, a vein bulging from his throat menacingly. kilgrave. because of course it is. who else would turn up to ruin his day. or night...? he looks down and his prison jumpsuit has been replaced by his tailormade black one from reims, along with tall scuffed combat boots and a plain black beanie to cover how overgrown his hair is. this isn't like the other dreams because he's aware of what's happening, that this is another one of those trippy dreams he's observing and it's once again his responsibility to get them out.

the last thing he expects is jessica. she looks more broken than he's ever seen her as she grapples with luke, sobbing for him to stop but it's no use. frank knows what's going to happen before it does, and he flinches back when jess shoots him, hearing his own voice carry a No! but it's too late. and what could be done besides? he hears kevin's awful villain laugh and his face wrinkles up in disgust even as he runs to jessica's side. but it's too late, the whole depiction disintegrates out from under him before he can get there, her cries carrying them both back to prison.

they're pitted against one another this time, and he gets a few ineffectual hits in before the other inmates start to fade away. so too does the room around them and reerected piece-by-piece is the shopping mall he's been renovating into a jail with jessica, but she's not here. no one else is, but they're still fighting. none of his blows touch the other man, and the harder he hits the more bruised his wrapped hands become. and when luke finally swings back, it knocks him on his ass, his skull cracking loudly as it ricochets off the vinyl floor. the sound eaters will come, it's the last thought he has before slipping under the rising tide of unconsciousness. ]
lovesbitch: and by the next new moon (☾ 164)

[personal profile] lovesbitch 2018-03-22 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ he frowns as her question registers, safe...? he's dead. or, undead again as the case may be. but the way he figures it the last thing she ought to be worrying about is how he's doing. he's always some approximation of fine, right? well except for that one time he was a government experiment or that other time the first made a squeaky toy out of him. okay, so maybe she's right to worry- but the inquiry still catches him off guard. ]

Yeah. [ he sounds uncertain then shakes his head and starts over. ] Yeah, Buffy, I'm fine. You want to-- I mean. Do you wanna stay here tonight? I think we've got extra rooms... [ he rambles, remembering faith offering him a room in her house the first night. she should probably stay over there, right? but he has to offer, just in case... just in case she needs him. ]
purpose: (tlj_683)

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Yes.
And because they're good people. The best I've ever known.


[ Not that she has had many personal, close ties, but that loneliness has only reinforced her protectiveness and dedication. ]

That's good, isn't it? You won't be alone, and the others will stay safe back home, won't they?
purpose: (( inside your eyes. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ Almost imperceptibly, the tension in Rey's shoulders ebbs. Maybe it shouldn't; a dream would be easier to escape than the wreckage of a city she's never known, but the woman in front of her is — well, friendly, from the looks of it. Harmless, and warmer than the handful of individuals that had greeted her upon waking.

Appearances can be deceiving — Jakku had instilled that lesson within her fairly young — but Rey feels her lips twitch slightly in reply, somewhat relieved she'd been met with a smile rather than more poking and prodding, or worse.
]

It feels more like a dream.

[ Her lips press into a frown as she thinks better of it, and hastily corrects as fast as her fingers can type: ]

Or a nightmare. Do they greet everyone like that?
purpose: (( let them through the storm. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know. It feels like they did, unless all of it was just an accident.
But there has to be a how and a why. I'm still trying to figure out what that is.