TDM #003

[bequiet]

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:

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NAVIGATION

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Comments

[gaits]

[ she pulls her hands away and david doesn't stop her, slender fingers slipping through his grasp. she looks upset, likely still trying to process everything that's happened and david tries to calm her down. he crouches again, gets on one knee to put them on the same level and make himself smaller, less imposing with his height.

he takes out his device from his pocket, tapping out a message and holding it up for her to see. ]

I'm David.
This is Reims, a city in France.

[ there's more to say, but he leaves that there for now, watching her expression. he doesn't want to overload her with too much, but hopefully this will at least give her something to focus on. ]

[culver]

[He kneels, and Nill knows it's to put her at ease--it works, to an extent. There's still a lump in her useless throat and her wings are trembling just a bit, but her eyes don't burn as much anymore. She swallows, trying to remember how to breathe, and takes a moment to compose herself as he types out a message for her to read.

She takes a little longer than should be necessary to scan the words, but only allows herself a few seconds to think about them. France is a country she's heard of before--but it doesn't really exist anymore, as far as she knows. There had been a war, things had gotten ugly politically. But she's never been to school, has never heard the full spiel. She thinks the underground she's from is somewhere in what used to be Germany, but she can't really be sure. Nobody talked about it, and she'd never asked. That was all too big-picture for her tiny life, just stories about a world she'd never been meant to see.

The device in her own hands feels awkward, so she opts for something a little more familiar. Looking down, she uses the sole of her shoe to smooth down part of the sandy path before using the toe to trace out four letters, a name. Her name.

NILL

And just to be clear, she points to herself, eyes darting up to meet his.]

[gaits]

[ david looks down when she shifts her feet, watching her trace out the four letters. nill. it must be her name, and she confirms it when he looks back up at her, nodding to show he understands. ]

Hi Nill
It's nice to meet you

[ the circumstances could be a lot better, but david's glad to meet her all the same. he's still kneeling but doesn't make a move to get back up just yet, and he takes a moment to think about how to proceed. ]

My friend and I
His name is PB, sometimes he goes by Hotdog
We live together in one of the houses in the community
It's safer there
I can help you look for one
If you're ok with that?

[culver]

[Nill can't help but fidget as she waits for him to type another message to her. His greeting receives a short nod in response, but she does offer the smallest of smiles in addition. He's... being nice. Nill hasn't met many people in her life who would take the time to be polite, and it helps create the thinnest string of trust.

She watches his hands move, eyes then drifting around their immediate area as she waits. The urge to run has faded away, but she's still on alert for, well, anything. This is a new place, the natives had said there were dangers all around. She isn't about to be caught off guard again.

PB is a strange name, but so is Hotdog. Maybe his friend just likes funny names. While she doesn't particularly like the idea of living on her own (she's never done that before, what if she needs help?), she especially doesn't like the idea of living with someone she doesn't know. Nill spends a few seconds rolling her sparse options around in her head before finally nodding. Yes, she'd be okay with that. Anything to get out of the open, anywhere she can have time to think.]

sorry for the delay!

[gaits]

[ david returns her nod with one of his own and moves to stand up, slow enough to avoid startling her (but really, it's just to prevent his joints from popping and making too much sound. he's not as spry as he used to be). once he's on his feet again, he points down the sandpath and starts walking at a slightly slower pace, letting her fall into step beside him. he'd offer her his hand again, but judging from her earlier reaction, he doesn't think she'd be comfortable with that right now.

once they come up on the housing, he pauses to let her take a look around and takes out his device again. ]

House 6 is completely soundproofed
The people living there are nice and won't bother you if you want to be left alone
We can check that one out first?

[ if she ends up not liking that one, he can show her the other ones. but it's the last place him and frank stayed at and he knows for sure that it's safe. ]

no worries!

[culver]

[She watches him stand, shifting back a bit--less because she's uncomfortable and more to give him some space. He's kind of gangly, like Heine, and it's something of a reflex. Nill only hesitates for a split second before starting after him, eventually matching his pace as best she can. He's very tall, his legs are long; she's the exact opposite. But it works out, and they walk silently together for what doesn't seem like much time at all. She lets her mind and eyes wander as they do, trying to take in her new surroundings and not feel totally overwhelmed by them.

It sort of works.

They stop in front of nearly identical-looking houses, and she tries to pick out which one might be best to live in. Honestly, she has no idea. But he offers an option, and it's easy enough to nod along. Sure, why not? She doesn't bother trying to relate to him that soundproofing means a little less for her than it might anyone else, since she can't speak. But there are other ways to make noise, as the locals had already explained. It would be nice to just eliminate that worry altogether.]