quietplacememes | TDM #003

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test drive meme!

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm definitely offering! Someone needs to roll out the welcome wagon once you guys leave that room, haha. :) We don't talk like this always. There's a sign language that the natives created. I hear it's pretty easy to learn, and they offer classes in it on Sundays at the Town Hall.

It's the big building that way.

[she gives Hunter time to read her device, then points towards the Town Hall, which can just be seen over the tops of the other houses closer to them.]

Thanks! And sorry for bumping into you, guess I should watch where I'm going better. Don't want to make noise by accident, from what I heard that doesn't end well. Going to take some getting used to. I'll sign up for the sign language, I like to think I'm a fast learner, that's really helpful thank you.

[ The building is noted, something to look into for later. It won't do any good having people around talking and not knowing what they're talking about. No good at all. Kara gets a smile for her efforts.]

Been here long?

Oh, it's okay! I've been here for a couple of months so far. Do you remember how you got here?

That long huh? There goes hoping this will be a short trip.

[ As for how he got there, it's still hazy as anything so Hunter just defaults to a terrible joke and a grin as he motions at the door behind him.]

[Kara follows his gesture and then sighs out a laugh, shaking her head.]

Hardee har har! So, I take it that's a "no."

[ It was hard to resist. THat and it helps Hunter cover up his own discomfort at arriving in such a place.]

Feels like some crazy cross-world jet lag. Are there many people here?

"Jet lag" is definitely a good way to put it. And there's... quite a few, actually. I can show you.

[she lets him read the message and then turns so they're side-by-side instead of facing each other. She holds her device up between him and pulls up the network, the list of names of the arrivals here. she scrolls down. it's a pretty long list!]

Everyone who's here gets put on the network pretty quickly once they arrive, so that should give you a good idea, right?

[ That is some useful information, so much so that Hunter doesn't really care that he's standing shoulder to shoulder with someone, staring at a random list of names on some device in a place where a sneeze would probably get him in trouble. Knowing that there's an automated list and it updates quickly enough? Brilliant.]

That's more people than I would have liked to see. The arriving stuff is a regular thing then?

[Kara glances up at Hunter and nods.] It seems to be, yeah. About once a month apparently.

[she touches his forearm lightly, eyes alert like she's just remembered something.] Oh! I never got your name!

[ New arrivals once every month, a list that updates itself soon after. Even if it's nicknames it works out, Hunter is certain he'll be able to recognise some nicknames. The confidence he has in himself is unparalleled.

The question gets a moment of thought; he could say his name is Jay Garrick, go down that route again and have some fun with it. But then it all boils down to who is here already and who knows that name (or more importantly, him). If he says Hunter then should anyone show up later, he can't be accused of lying in that sense.

It's an interesting enough dilema and Hunter quickly opts for the latter; he can still play nice and be the hero for a bit, toy with the others whilst finding a way out. He just doesn't have to attach the fake name to it. That and he left his hero uniform at home, a real shame considering the hat was a gift from his father.]

Hunter. :) I didn't get yours either if you don't mind sharing it and where you come from. Seems like there's things here from other worlds that aren't even mine.

[Kara holds out her hand for Hunter to shake, a bright smile on her face. There's nothing for her to suspect, after all. She's only briefly heard the name "Zoom" from Barry, and she had... no idea who that was, geez.]

It's nice to meet you! I'm Kara Danvers. Everyone here comes from different Earths, or different planets altogether. I'm from Earth, though. Well, technically Earth-38, according to my friends, haha.

[ Hunter has no reason to suspect anything either. Sure, Barry came across Kara's world when trying to get faster in order to defeat him, but that whole adventure never came up in discussion and he shakes Kara's hand back firmly.]

Nice to meet you, Kara Danvers. And Earth-38? That's a weird name, does that mean there's 37 other ones that came before it?

[ The interest in Hunter's expression is genuine; he's from Earth-2 and the concept of naming them as such didn't seem to be such a big thing.]

Apparently! Weird, right?! I'd love to see them all. I wonder how different they could be.

[do u really wanna go to Nazi world, Kara? do u?]

[ even Hunter would think twice about going to that world.]

They're probably parallel worlds if there's that many, that's how it usually goes if science is to be trusted. Does Earth-38 have an America?

It does! That's where I live, in National City. So, where are you from?

[ Well okay he walked into that one, but these things are never too complicated.]

Missouri. Please tell me coffee is still a thing here and in 37 other Earths.

[Kara smiles, charmed.]

Coffee is a little hard to come by here? I know Akira had some. Here, let me show you. [again, Kara pulls up the list of names, poking at the username purrusu and tapping the picture of Akira that comes with it.]

I don't know if he has more, but if you find out before I do, please let me know. I'm DYING for another cup, haha.

You're a lifesaver.

[ And sure, Hunter is going to make a mental note of this other person, though he doubts it's worth going through a lot of hassle just for one cup of coffee. There's bound to be some more around somewhere and if he has to scour every inch of the place then he will.]

Thanks for that info, I'm really glad you were here to bump into me or I'd be out of info and coffee options. Weird question; do people here have....above average skill sets?

[Kara reads the question and then looks up at him, tilting her head. well, she might as well let the arrivals know there are superheroes here to protect them. It has to be a comfort, right?]

Are you talking amazing carpentry or superpowers?

[ Hunter glances back down, keeping his expression one more of reluctant curiosity if anything. It's almost like he's dreading the answer.]

Kind of...both?

You know, I'm not actually sure about CARPENTRY, but there's some medical people working with the hospital, and Tony Stark seems really good with mechanics and gadgets. And there's definitely superpowered people here, some heroes, like Supergirl.

[supes cas, Kara.]

[ So this place has metahumans too. It comforts Hunter somewhat to know that his cautiousness is paying off; had he simply decided to start tearing things down then it would have been messier than expected.]

It's good to know that wherever I go there's always people around to help. "Supergirl"? You mean like heroes with secret identities?

[ Blank look. That one isn't ringing any bells right now.]

That's exactly what I mean! She's from my world. From what I know about her, she's an alien from another planet named Krypton. She's SUPER cool.

[Kara grins at Hunter, proud of herself for being able to play it off for at least a few minutes. Since everyone already here pretty much figures out her secret identity in about two seconds.]

Are there any superheroes where you're from?

[ A super cool alien going by the name Supergirl? Hunter may be returning the infectious smile, but even he has to wonder on it somewhat — and that's coming from a mad speedster called Zoom. Though in all fairness, someone else named him, he just took it and ran with it.]

That's a new one to me, but I'll take your word for it. And there are some, the one I've seen around is called the Flash

[Kara can't help or stop the way she instantly lights up, sucking in an excited breath. Barry! This guy knows Barry! Maybe not the same Barry she knows, if he's on a different dimension of Earth, but he has to know a Barry Allen, right? Oh, that's exciting!]

I know a Flash too! Well, I wrote an article about him once when he visited our Earth! He and Supergirl teamed up to save the day! It was awesome!

[exclamation point!]

got so excited I spelled his name wrong. ooooooooops

easy enough to do imo

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