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quietplacememes2018-02-28 08:56 pm
bequiet) wrote in 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:
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Taako | The Adventure Zone: Balance | TAZ Balance spoilers
Taako doesn't ordinarily dream. It's very likely due to the fact that he doesn't really sleep; not the way most people would know it, anyway. Elves have their weird biological bullshit just like any other species, or race, whichever one would call it. And so, when he sinks into his restful meditation for the evening, he isn't expecting the vivid imagery that greets him.
He's in Glamour Springs. He's been doing another show, another episode of Sizzle It Up with Taako, and he's just wrapped up the recipe he's been working on with a flourish, displaying the completed chicken for his adoring audience.
"Who wants samples~?"
People line up; old, young, teenagers, househusbands and housewives. Hungry strangers, and bored looky-loos wanting a free show. One by one, they accept their little piece of chicken on a small plate, and they taste it, and they rave about the flavor, about Taako's skill.
One by one, they begin to get sick.
It starts slow; someone feels nauseated, but it's brushed off at first, until someone nearby begins to vomit. Then another. Then another.
Taako doesn't wait to see what happens next. He's already shutting down the wagon, putting everything away so quickly that he nearly smashes a glass bowl in the process, and he's yelling to Sazed to shut it down, to get them moving as soon as possible. Outside of the trailer, he can hear the sounds of a slowly-growing hysteria building, people calling frantically to one-another or begging for help, calling for doctors, and he begins to panic.
He doesn't look back out of the windows as they finally pull away, driving away at a frantic pace, leaving the scene of destruction behind. There's nothing they could do, right? Taako knew exactly what he'd done wrong.
Or so he'd thought.
The next day, he wakes up alone, the trailer silent. Sazed is nowhere to be found. He has to face this alone. Pain and horror gather into a cold, heavy pit low in his stomach. He can't breathe.
And then... he's somewhere else. He's not on the trailer anymore, cold panic wrapping itself around him like a second skin; he's in a hallway, and there is a door ahead. He half-runs to it, and then entirely runs, desperate to get away from this, to go anywhere but here--
-- and then he's falling, and he can't remember why, and a new kind of terror tears at him until, quite suddenly, he lands, pain spiking up through his frame; he's paralyzed for a second, unable to get up. The pain passes, however, and he's able to stand, and there's dirt-- it's everywhere, it's in his mouth and eyes, and he glances up to see someone near him, and then he's falling again, spiraling downward to somewhere unseen, and this time, he isn't alone--
... and, suddenly, he's in Glamour Springs, and he's just finished up a show of Sizzle It Up with Taako, and he's having to watch, helplessly, only dimly aware of his new companion as he hears his own voice call to the audience--
"Who wants samples~?"
no subject
She's about to pass it off as her mind being a dick with some kind of fantasy It's A Wonderful Life garbage. All look, Lup! He's moved on. Who needs a sister that leaves with nothing but a shitty note to remember her by?
It's then she notices the other Taako. The one standing next to her, still as a board, looking like he's watching his whole world crumble around him. It's not...an expression she likes seeing on his face. It reminds her too much of their past, of being passed around, having to survive on nothing but the tolerance of garbage people on a garbage world. Maybe he could be a dream, too, but somehow he seems real. Somehow she's sure she's looking at her brother.
Are they sharing this dream? She wouldn't put it past this place.
Without even thinking she reaches down to take his hand. Like she's done a million times before, to show support or comfort. It might not seem like much to outsiders but to her, the gesture is a reminder that no matter what the world throws at them, no matter how hard things are or how lonely life gets...they have each other. Always.
"Hey. Fuck this place, huh?"
no subject
And then someone is taking his hand, and he jumps, as though he'd completely forgotten she was there-- and when he looks at her, he freezes for a long moment. There's no real recognition on his face; he has no idea who this woman is, or why she looks so much like him, but he does know that looking at her is causing him to hurt. His head is aching like he just slammed it against a wall, and it feels like something is squeezing his ribcage so hard that he can barely breathe. His hand shakes slightly in hers as he looks at her, and then down at their hands.
Why does this feel so familiar?
He pulls his hand away from her in a panic, stumbling away, his typical facade of cool completely destroyed by the mix of the scenery, and of her face.
"... uh--" He stammers, trying to find his voice; he's clearly trying to sort out what's going on, what she's doing here. She wasn't at the show. Who is she? "I-- u-uh, yeah, uh, right. Fuck this."
no subject
But that's...not what's happening here, and she knows it. Despite how desperately she wants to believe literally anything else--well, she's not one to ignore something of this magnitude. The final blow to her rationalization is him pulling his hand back as he practically hurls himself away from her.
He doesn't...he doesn't know her, does he.
It's a kick to the gut and she can feel the color drain from her own face the moment she accepts that fact. She wants to be angry--not at Taako, but at whatever it is that took her from him--and she probably will be later. Right now, though, she's scrambling. She needs to figure out a solution, or a way to make this right. Something. (anything)
She pulls her own hand back and then raises them up like someone caught red-handed. She tries to play it cool, to act casual as can be. But her attempt at a smile falls way, way short, and she can't get rid of the tension in her shoulders. She tries to make it easier by telling herself his actions aren't an outright rejection. He doesn't know her, but maybe she still has a chance to ...what, jog his memory? Hah. It's such a stupid thought, but she clings to that sliver of a possibility. She has spent two months in this hellhole, not knowing if she'll have the chance to see him again. She's not...she can't just let him pull away.
"Woah, Taako, it's okay. I'm--whatever's happening, I'm here, okay?" There's so much more she wants to say. How she's sorry, so fucking sorry, she left without him and Barry. How she regrets it, regrets leaving a shitty 'back soon'. How she thought it was something she had to take care of alone.
But she keeps it all to herself. It'll mean nothing if he doesn't even remember who she is.
no subject
He can't... take it.
He quickly turns away, keeping his gaze down on the ground.
"-- listen, I--" He bites it off; no. He doesn't want to know. It hurts too much-- he's honestly afraid of what might happen if he learns her name, and he isn't sure why. He can just feel the deafening roar of something terrible just over the horizon, coming closer every second he's near her.
The feeling of her hand in his...
He curls his fingers into a fist.
"I don't know what's going on, but-- don't... touch me, okay?" His breathing is uneven, but he's trying very hard to get himself back under control. This isn't a cool look. He knows that much for sure.
People are eating the samples that he's offered. And then, slowly, the energy of the scene changes. People begin to sway, clutching at their stomachs, complaining to their companions about how they don't feel right.
Someone throws up.
Taako is shaking.
no subject
"Yeah, Uh. Of course." But her ears droop a little and her shoulders sag. She needs to keep her shit together but it's so hard when it feels like her world is literally crumbling around her. "Anything for you, bro."
She clenches her hands to fists and then unclenches them. She's about to say something else, try and...explain her own existence? When the people around them start to get sicker, the illness rippling through the crowd. Despite everything else, her attention shifts immediately to the scene.
"What..." It escalates so quickly, but she doesn't immediately make the connection that the food made them sick. It's the most logical thing, sure, but Taako has cooked his entire life. There's no way he would make a mistake this big.
"This happened?"
no subject
Not at the people around them, slowly dying.
Not at her.
But when she speaks up again... when her voice rises in a question, just the sound of it making his chest clench, he chokes out a breath.
"Yeah. Yeah, uh..." He swallows hard, glancing up only briefly before his gaze drops solidly back to the ground. "A long... time ago. But it wasn't my fault, turns out, so I don't know why I keep..."
He breaks off, because he doesn't want to tell anyone that he still feels terrible about what happened. That he still dreams about it sometimes, like he's doing now. That it's still hard for him to cook for others these days.
no subject
Sizzle it Up with Taako! What in the world was that? There's a crowd of people walking up to this wagon, reaching out for samples - walking right through Angus, as if he's not there, just a spectator. Sounds of gagging and retching fill the air and really - that's not fair! Taako's so talented!
"Hey! It's probably really good!" Angus calls out to them, a frown on his face.
no subject
Until he heard Angus's voice, he was just watching, resigned; but when he realizes that he's not alone, that Angus of all people is having to watch this play out as well, he looks down at the kid with something near panic, just for a split second. He tries his best to cover it, but doesn't entirely succeed.
"You, uh, you probably don't want to watch that happens next, little fella, it's... not pretty."
no subject
"Taako? Sir? What's going on - what is this?"
no subject
He sounds... strangely subdued for Taako, tired and sad, as he watches the scene before them play out.
"This... is it. Um." Taako glances off, a high, pensive sound in the back of his throat that sinks down slowly, and he glances back at Angus after a second. "I used to have this, uh, show, that I did on the road, a while back... this was the last show we ever did. You can probably, uh, see why..."
How does he even begin to explain? Especially given he doesn't want to talk about this. He just wants to be allowed to move on, for once.
People begin to collapse, the scene turning far darker as the time ticks by, and the trailer has pulled away, peeling out into the distance as Taako and Sazed make their getaway. Angus and Taako are left to watch the fallout.
"Uh. You... really don't want to watch this, uh, Angus, we should probably... I don't know, cover your eyes or something, okay?"
no subject
He's not sure what else to say, except to maybe reassure Taako, so he glances over at him and demands, immediately, "I'm not a baby! It's fine."
no subject
Taako reaches up to catch his braid in his fingers, squeezing it tight, his gaze dropping to the ground.
He's never seen this before. Not so directly. And watching the actual outcome of this...
"... yeah. If you say so. I mean... I don't see why you'd want to, though."
no subject
He glances over at the scene again, just as a body falls, with a rattled breath and then silence, right in front of them. It makes Angus jump back in the dirt, startled. This is so much worse than dead ducks in an ice cave, holy shit.
ANOTHER PROMPT: ARRIVAL
Is this some kind of LOST thing? Is this purgatory? It's purgatory, isn't it? What did he finally beef it against? Goddammit.
He shuffles down the sandy paths, ears dropped low over his shoulders and his thick mane of blond curls entirely down; they kind of had to do that to get all the dust out of it when they were washing him up. Which was, by the way, one of the weirdest experiences of his life so far, and that includes the sprinkler party with Tom Bodett. At least they gave him back his hair tie, given it wasn't a magic hair tie or anything, so he's presently wandering in search of someplace he can sit down and put his hair back up properly so it doesn't get everywhere.
Or end up stuffed full of sand again. God.
His jumpsuit is a vivid crimson red, a color that may look familiar to certain canonmates of his. It just seemed like a good color for him. He isn't sure why, really. He's rolled up the arms of the jumpsuit to reveal his bracer; if there are others from the Bureau here, they may have more of an idea what's going on than he does. Though he hasn't seen any other bracers so far, which is... worrying.
He has a message pre-typed in his communicator that he's just been showing to anybody who looks halfway-friendly that he's passed; he glances at the next person along the path, and he holds up the sign he's created on the screen, looking put out and frustrated:]
hail and well met where is literally anything
no subject
Hey Taako!
[He looks surprisingly calm, all things considered. This is a nice break for him. Doesn't even have to fake that accent, not here.]
no subject
Well. This almost makes up for everything else about this fucking place. Almost. It's a struggle not to run and throw himself onto Kravitz's lap, but that seems ill-advised for just so many reasons. Instead, he eases his way over to sit across from him in the sand, close enough that their knees touch, and he grins, looking far less upset than he did literal seconds before.
He types into his own device, slowly:]
so the astral plane is weirder than i thought
no subject
This isn't the astral plane.
[He shrugs and motions at the buildings around them. Everything's solid, not ephemeral, and there are no sparks of light except for the stars in the sky.]
It's a nice break tho. Better now, too.
[He smiles, and rests a hand on Taako's knee.]
no subject
When she reads the guy's message, though, she stops, tilts her head, a little confused. This guy isn't a native at all, is he? Oh geez, he must be a new arrival. Kara pushes her glasses up, flashing him another smile and types out a message on her device.]
Hi! My name's Kara! I've been here a couple months now, so I can show you around if you'd like. Where would you like to go first?
no subject
is there somewhere i can sit down and maybe see a map
no subject
There's no map, however. Unless you want a map of the stars?
[she winces. they should... they should probably have a map.]
no subject
[Even though there's no tone of voice to go with it, the look on his face is more than enough to express just how confused he is by that. But... okay, sure, whatever, fair enough. He's been adventuring for a while, not everywhere has a map, even though it... doesn't make much sense for an actual, organized city to not have any kind of map, yet they have a town hall.]
ok thats fine can i go to my place i guess
no subject
Yeah, absolutely! Where did you get assigned?