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

[monomachy]

[A child really is the last thing she expected her mind to conjure, but who is she to question her subconscious? Her armor shines in the sun as she turns to follow his gaze, a wide smile gracing her lips. She's never watched someone take in Themyscira for the first time, not even Steve. But his first moments on the island had been far less peaceful, and they'd fled into the night before he had a chance to see much of it at all.

Diana can't help but laugh at his question, but it's a gentle laugh without any hint of derision.]

It may be for some. But for me, it is just home.

[353]

You grew up here?

[ So jealous, but at least he has a tour guide, if he can call her that. ]

Can you show me around? [ If it wasn't obvious enough - he's excited to go on an adventure. ]

[monomachy]

[Pride swells in her heart--she loves this island more than almost anything, and eve if it's a dream, she is more than happy to share it with someone else.]

Of course! I will show you the palace and the forum, and if you are up for a climb, my favorite cliff.

[She pauses briefly, and smiles widely.] What is your name?

[353]

A palace? Who lives there?

[ As for climbing, he probably won't be great at it. He's someone who tires of running easily and has probably spent an unhealthy amount of time playing games in his basement when he should have been outside, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to. ]

Mike, short for Michael. What's yours?

[monomachy]

[She begins down the sandy path towards the cobbled streets of Themyscira, watching her sisters work around them as she goes.]

I do--did, before I left. [The broad smile stays on her face as she looks to him.] I am Diana. It's good to meet you, Mike.

[353]

[ Mike tries to keep up with her. He's not as small as his friend Will and he's growing more and more each day thanks to puberty, so he's got pretty big strides for his age. ]

You left? Why would you leave here? [ It's literally paradise to Mike. ]

[monomachy]

[She tries to make it easy for him to keep up by slowing her pace. Diana gives a sad sort of smile.]

I'm afraid I was needed elsewhere. It was a difficult choice to make, trust me.