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



thechristmasnazi: (crying my best)

falling down the stairs

[personal profile] thechristmasnazi 2018-03-22 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
Isabel wasn’t sure how she appeared in the dream. She had been showing up in some surprisingly dark and violent dreams lately. Maybe it was penance or maybe she was just losing her grip on her abilities. The answer was uncertain. All she knew was that when a fight broke out, she stuck to the edges of the crowd, uneager to become a part of the action.

She spotted one man in the mess and figured out that this was his nightmare. After being shoved to and fro, Isabel was able to make her way over to him and spoke loudly enough for him to hear her over every other voice. She already stood out in every other way.

“Would you like to go somewhere a little quieter?” There was no innuendo to what she said. Isabel simply thought that the man might like some peace. This didn’t feel like a pleasant dream to her and she was always willing to provide an escape from nightmares.
purpose: (( scar away the wolves. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ One moment, she's trying to inelegantly shove the device back in front of his face to press for an answer; the next, she's wrapped up in his hold.

The familiarity of it doesn't register, not completely. Her arms hang loosely by her side, brows knit together as she nearly shoves him away in her panic, before her mind overrides her instincts to shout that it's Finn.

Careful not to disturb the quiet, her exuberant laugh is more of an exhale as she brings her arms up around his midsection and squeezes. There hadn't been time to linger in the aftermath of Crait, or for any reunion when they'd all been recovering, but she lets herself bask in the moment before the urge to say something overrides.

She doesn't step back far, only enough to type out a rapid message.
]

I'm so glad you're here. I thought I was alone.

[ Again, left to fend for herself in a strange and new environment. Maybe it's selfish to be so relieved to see him when she's been warned of the danger lurking, but she can't control it. ]
purpose: (tlj_689)

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Accidentally choosing us to be here would still mean that we were chosen in some way.
warfares: <user name="na-i-cons"> (pic#12150779)

[personal profile] warfares 2018-03-22 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
Or you're just grasping at straws.

Regardless, I'm likely dead so I have little option but to make what life I can for myself here.


[ Not that he's not massively bitter about that or anything. ]
kimoyos: (Default)

private;

[personal profile] kimoyos 2018-03-22 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
Not even Wakandan technology is this advanced. The ability to pull people in from multiple dimensions and worlds means that whoever is responsible is very powerful. And likely very dangerous too. I have changed our connection to exist on a private channel. It's better that we talk this way.
purpose: (( i'm ready to fly. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not grasping at anything. I don't see anyone else trying to figure out how and why we're here.

Yes. Well. Good luck with that, I suppose.


[ How else is she meant to respond to something like that? ]
warfares: <user name="recadreuse"> (Default)

[personal profile] warfares 2018-03-22 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
Your sympathy is heartening, truly.

If you've not seen evidence of people speculating it's because those doing it no better than to do so on a public channel.
purpose: (( not a tear in my eye. ))

perma-private;

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
I've never heard of a place called Wakanda.

[ She hasn't heard of much, admittedly, though maybe there's no need to feel aggravated by her own lacking education and the sheltered nature of her upbringing that had caused it. They're all as lost as one another here, after all. ]

Where I've from, we've already mastered space travel, but it's nothing like this. I wouldn't have even thought it was possible to travel to different dimensions until now.

If they're as powerful and as dangerous as you think, they may be monitoring private communications through our devices too. Just a thought.
purpose: (( and it's safer by your side. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know what you expect me to say to something like that.

[ And that much is genuine. Socializing is hardly her forte. ]

I was asking a perfectly innocent question to start off with. Do you have anything to contribute that's actually useful?
purpose: (( whispering in the shadows. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sure you're plenty useful. Did they assign you to one of their strange jobs?

[ Strange in that the job assignments... aren't what she would have expected. Then again, her only frame of reference is Jakku; none of the scavengers had ever banded to form a community to help one another, and Rey isn't so certain that wouldn't have turned on each other if they'd tried. ]

To study, or for some other reason?

[ At some point, she may stop with the twenty questions, but her curiosity is an endless, nagging thing. ]
warfares: <user name="recadreuse"> (Default)

[personal profile] warfares 2018-03-22 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
Yes.

[ It's tempting to just leave it there, but he adds (after significant pause): ]

The locals lie with the ease of a politician but the Sound Eaters are real enough.
purpose: (tlj_682)

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 06:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ What an actual child. ]

I already know that the Sound Eaters are real.

[ She could be less dismissive of his confirmation, but he's already grated on her nerves; as a result, her tone comes across as snappish even in text form. ]

What makes you so sure that the locals are lying to us?
kimoyos: (Default)

[personal profile] kimoyos 2018-03-22 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh, this one is fascinating. Shuri makes notes to find her soon and ask about space travel.]

Then we will have to be sure to be careful. At least until I can develop a series of protection to put on these devices. They're primitive but not impossible to work with.

Do you think you could tell me more about the space travel your people have mastered? I can tell you about Wakanda in return.
bloodyrose: (No need to think it over)

un: kiryuu

[personal profile] bloodyrose 2018-03-22 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, there is. Where are you located? I can help lead you there, if you want.
warfares: <user name="na-i-cons"> (pic#12150809)

[personal profile] warfares 2018-03-22 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
Good.

[ Not that he should be blaming anyone their skepticism, he'd been skeptical of their existence too, and then he'd seen them. ]

Because I've been here several months already; they promise answers they later admit to not having.
voidmage: (left me hopelessly lonely)

[personal profile] voidmage 2018-03-22 07:00 am (UTC)(link)
cant leave them here alone

[El's the same way, only having four and they're the first friends she's had. She'd go to the Upside Down and back for them - has done just that.]

yes i can protect the ones who are here until we go home

[Not that home is completely safe either.]
voidmage: (but all I want is to be found)

[personal profile] voidmage 2018-03-22 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
[More candy or more rides - that's the real question here. Maybe both. It's not something she dwells on for long because there's just no chance to. The coaster is flying like a bullet on the tracks. El's mouth opens as if in a silent scream but nothing comes out lest that feeling bubbling up in her stomach rise up and accidentally break something like she had with the windows in the cabin.

She can't identify if it's a good feeling or a bad one, El will have to take Steve at his word that this is fun. And it is - in a terrifying way.]


Why is it fun? [El shouts be heard over the sound of air whooshing by. What she means is actually why do people think this is fun.]
voidmage: (I can see you in my mind)

[personal profile] voidmage 2018-03-22 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
[Mike doesn't make promises he doesn't mean to keep. If he says he's okay, then El believes him. That doesn't mean she won't take the opportunity to cling to him anyway. Hanging on to him as if she never wants to let him go again. Maybe if she does, they won't have to be separated again.

El shifts enough to be able to press her forehead against his and look him straight in the eyes.]


I'll find you. [There's no time limit added because "soon" is not soon enough for her taste.] I promise.

[To do that she will rip holes in the world to be with him again... only maybe not because they don't need more problems.]
voidmage: (left me hopelessly lonely)

[personal profile] voidmage 2018-03-22 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
[El wishes she could believe that but knows that if she hadn't been there, Benny wouldn't have died.]

I should have saved him. [What a great looking set of household items they are.]
voidmage: (for me it's so hard to be normal)

[personal profile] voidmage 2018-03-22 07:28 am (UTC)(link)
[Ice cream is always a good thing to bond over. They will find a way to get milk so they can put Max's machine to good use. Hopefully the thing came with instructions. Hot chocolate works too.

No eggos?!

What a horrible world this is! A lack of frozen breakfast foods is the worst thing about this place.]


not the same

[Hopper's tried. El will find a way to track down eggos.]
purpose: (tlj_421)

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
Are you an engineer, then?

[ That seems the natural conclusion to draw. The implication makes something excited and curious flip in Rey's stomach, if only due to her similar fondness for tinkering. ]

I can try. What is it you want to know?
purpose: (( windswept and spun round. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe you haven't been asking the right questions. Or you've done nothing to make them trust you with the answers they do have.
Edited (i swear i can write coherent tags) 2018-03-22 09:30 (UTC)
kimoyos: (Default)

[personal profile] kimoyos 2018-03-22 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
An engineer among other things, yes.

[She doesn't say it to brag as much as just be informative. She knows what she's talking about and the sooner people here understand that, the more she can work with others to get things accomplished. So far, she's pleased with this person. They're easy to talk to.]

Tell me about the method your people use for space travel. That is a good place to start.
purpose: (( oh i love your precious heart. ))

[personal profile] purpose 2018-03-22 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
Then it sounds like they're lucky to have you.

[ But something in particular still nags at the back of her mind, primarily: ]

Can they not protect themselves?

[ She understands the drive to protect, even with those that can fend for themselves, but the worry that there are those here who may need the protection — it's gnawing, something she can't push aside. ]
danzan: all icons by <user name="danzan">. please don't take. (051)

[personal profile] danzan 2018-03-22 09:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ The kite doesn't crumple when he holds it, but Logan affords it a small glance before deciding he'll take it with him. ] What do you mean, "go"?

[ Because... this is a dream, surely. The lingering taste of dirt in his mouth and the paranoia of blinking and feeling sand in his eyes is just a mental thing, brought about because of how he ended up in Reims to begin with.

Of course, how his mind could have conceivably created a woman he'd never met before (Brunnhilde, he'd heard, but he's not sure if this is her name or simply some other signal misinterpreted by his brain) is beyond him. She seems so -- detailed. So real.

He follows Brunnhilde -- the name assigned to her because he's got no other point of reference to go on -- anyway, walking in step just behind her. Logan feels that shift in wind, too, and he frowns because he's never heard galloping in his dreams of home before.

The kite is held firmly in one hand. ]


Hey. What the hell is going on? [ Taking bigger steps so he's walking at her side, Logan's brows lift at the grave expression on her face. ] You know what those horses are here for?