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



selkiesaoirse: ([animated] peer)

[personal profile] selkiesaoirse 2018-03-02 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rita is a pretty name, Saoirse thinks. Not as pretty as Greta, but close. At the question posed to her, she shakes her head.]

I haven't seen her yet. I'm Saoirse. I'm from Ireland, and then from Darrow. I suppose I'm from here, now.

[ She looks up at Rita, because she's still smaller than her, even while she's crouched. She wonders if Rita knows what Darrow is, or if she even knows what Ireland is. It's so hard to tell.]
full_metal: (actual hint of an actual smile)

[personal profile] full_metal 2018-03-02 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rita had assumed the girl was a native, and she turns her head to hide her wince. She doesn't have a working theory for how the hell she got here, but children being brought here is a variable she'd rather not have to contend with. What kind of sick fuck messes with kids?

This one -- Saoirse -- seems to be taking it in stride. The least Rita can do is muster a smile for her. ]


I'm from England. We're neighbors.

[ God, this is weird. She wants to ask Saoirse if she remembers the mimic invasion, but she doesn't want to give her nightmares. As if filling her head with dire warnings about 'sound-eaters' hasn't already taken care of that. Instead, after a moment's thought, she types out another message. ]

I could help you look for her.

[ It'll get her moving, and it might lead her to someone with a bit more information. Besides, she's not letting this little bit of a thing wander around by herself. ]
selkiesaoirse: ([animated] proud)

[personal profile] selkiesaoirse 2018-03-05 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Saoirse nods. There's a part of her that doubts they'll find her: just like she hadn't found Ben or Dad when she'd first got to Darrow, and just like Greta never got her baby from her home. Saoirse has learned that places like this don't care about the people. Only the things.]

I'd like that. It's funny that I'm here. Without my coat, I'm mute. So this place is just right for me.

[ She smiles, looking a bit proud of herself. For once, her lack of selkie coat has proved especially useful, instead of a hindrance.]