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:

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

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Comments

[voidmage]

[She knows what it feels like - to be the odd man out when it came to the Party. There was once a time when Lucas really didn't like her even though Mike kept pressing. It doesn't take much for her to remember how they fought and El "pushed" Lucas away so hard that he was unconscious for a while.

Maybe El can ask Mike why. And maybe that knowing that will explain her own feelings.]

lucas didnt like me

[Perhaps they can find solidarity to being the outcast of the outcasts.]

ill be happy to see him too

[beyourzoomer]

[Lucas had definitely left that part out of the story and for a moment she just stops in her tracks, eyes wider than before as she looks at Eleven.]

lucas? really? because he misses you a lot.

[Apparently there are still things she doesn't really know yet, but she can't imagine Lucas not liking Eleven. Hell, Max likes her already and they just met. Boys. She shakes her head a little and starts walking again.]

I'm Max, by the way.

[Because it suddenly dawns on her that she hadn't told Eleven that much yet.]

[voidmage]

[There were probably more important things to tell besides how they had issues in the group. When Max stops, so does she.]

i tried to stop them but did it wrong
friends dont lie

[She'd done it to protect them from the bad men and the demogorgon but things escalated because El wouldn't tell them why. Though Lucas hadn't wanted her around from the start and she made matters worse. El had broken the most important rule of friendship.

Once again, El follows along silently. At the name she tries to mouth it silently. It would be much better if she could say it outloud.]

eleven

[Even if Max already knew that, she'll introduce herself.]

[beyourzoomer]

[It was definitely a long story. Hell, Max hadn't even believed Lucas at first. It sounded way too much like a novel he'd read. But then she'd come face to face with a baby demogorgon and well. It's hard to discount much of anything when you see your first monster.

Her eyebrows furrow a little at Eleven's message that she tried to stop them and did it wrong. The rest of the message she understands, because Lucas had said that exact phrase back home. Still, she can't help but ask.]

did what wrong?

[She smiles at the confirmation of her name and she nods, wishing they could actually talk instead of use the devices. She's glad for Eleven's sake that Mike and Will's new house is soundproof at least. She'll be able to talk there.]

[voidmage]

[Most people wouldn't believe the story and El knows that Hopper was sworn to secrecy, even everyone else involved. Though it was harder to deny when faced with a creature that shouldn't even exist in nigthmares.

She'd been worried for so many reasons - not wanting them to end up with the bad men (and her not going back), not wanting to get close to the Gate, not wanting them to know that she was the reason it was released. But El doesn't bring any of that up. At the moment she doesn't know how much Max knows of the events that happened a year ago.]

stop them tricked them lied hurt them
everything was wrong
i didnt want them to get hurt by the bad men

[The bad men and the demogorgon. Both of those were scary and El had been too afraid to go back. She'd been frightened to confront those fears, even for Will's sake at first.]

[beyourzoomer]

[Max has no idea what kinds of things are going through Eleven's mind as she watches the girl type a message on the device. She takes the time to really look at her. She's not at all what Max had pictured from the stories Lucas had told her. She'd been expecting her to be taller, maybe more muscular, and with a shaved head. But Eleven is smaller, maybe an inch or so shorter than Max, and her hair is curly. She just looks like someone that would go to Hawkins Middle with all of them.

She might have a lot of badass super powers but she's still a girl, a kid, and one who'd been through some seriously terrible bullshit at that. She's a girl who was in dire need of some normalcy, Max thinks.

She reads over the words and something inside of her twists in her chest and she nods slightly.]

you were trying to protect them

[She gets it. She looks at the other girl speculatively for a moment, then links her arm through Eleven's as they walk, determined to befriend her.]

[voidmage]

[Eventually Max will learn that is a pretty normal thing - to not know what El is thinking about because her use of the English language is poor in comparison to other kids their age. Hopper has helped to expand her vocabulary but there's still a lot left to learn. Though, it's probably a safe bet to say that it has something to do with the Party or eggos.

She only has the vague sense of what "normal" is. El knows that most kids go to school a lot, that there are mouthbreathers and dinner is supposed to be eaten before dessert. But if normalcy means not spending every day in hiding while home alone and being with friends, she'll take it.]

yes but i couldnt tell them why

[There were so many reasons why it was difficult to say and not all of them were because of the bad things waiting on the other end. She was afraid of what they'd think of her if they knew El had been the reason Will was taken away by the demogorgon. That she was how it got into their world in the first place.

Suddenly Max is linking arms with her and El stares for the longest minute. But she doesn't pull away.]

[beyourzoomer]

[She can tell Eleven is startled by the linking of their arms, but when the other girl doesn't pull away, Max doesn't either. She gives her a tiny smile.]

they know now though. that you were trying to keep them safe.

[She knows Lucas knows that. He'd referred to Eleven as part of the Party, which meant whatever bad feelings that may have happened between them at first were gone now. Thankfully.]

[voidmage]

[Even though she still isn't sure how she feels about Max, El can't deny that human contact is nice. Downright pleasant, actually.]

they know now
you know too

[That last one is a question. Someone needs to show this girl how to properly work these things.

They did form a good bond once they got over their rocky start. It helped that she flipped a van over them when the bad men were chasing them.]

[beyourzoomer]

[It is nice. It's not something Max engages in all that often herself, mostly because she has a tendency not to let people get too close to her, period. Lucas had been unexpected. Here it's almost impossible not to get close to some people. Especially when you live with them. And especially when their own lives were as weird and screwed up as her own.

She smiles softly in confirmation at the question, giving her arm a gentle squeeze without really thinking about it, then typing a message back.]

I know too. I won't tell anyone anything, though.

[She wouldn't have, even without Mike telling her she better not.]

[voidmage]

[She doesn't even want to go into the reasons why touch is such a big deal. Not even the Party know much about her life before meeting them, about all of the experiments and what happened when she was bad. Even El knows the difference between Papa and Will's mom after having experienced both.

This world might be different but that doesn't mean she wants other people to know about her powers. At least not yet. There are many she doesn't trust.]

okay thanks

[El mimics Max and squeezes her arm lightly in return.]

[beyourzoomer]

[It's a big deal for Max, too, but for very different reasons. She's never been locked up in a lab and experimented on, but affection wasn't really a thing in her house. Even less so once her parents divorced and her mom remarried. With Neil and Billy, it's about as opposite of affection as you can get. Mostly she just tries to avoid them as much as she can. She's just not always successful.

She knows all about keeping secrets because it's what she does back home. It's what she has to do. One more isn't a burden by any means.

Max smiles when Eleven squeezes her arm back.]

their place is a bit farther but we're getting closer. do you have any questions about this place? i've been here a few weeks now so i can try to help if you do.

[voidmage]

[They can just both bond over what a big deal it is for them. Maybe El will even invite Max into whatever blanket fort she builds so they can talk about what mouthbreathers their dads are. That will help her get over the feelings she had for the other girl when she first saw Max.

She doesn't care if the whole world knows about the Upside Down or the monsters that live there, just about her own abilities staying secret for the most part.]

are there eggos

[This is a BIG DEAL, okay? There have to be eggos or El will find a way to open a Gate to a world that has them.


......

Alright, she wouldn't really but a psychic girl has gotta have her eggos.]

[beyourzoomer]

[That would be an intense bonding experience for sure. Maybe Max will have found a way to get milk for the ice cream machine that had been left on her porch and they can binge on ice cream. If not, there's always hot chocolate.

Eggos.

Oh. Her face falls a little and she gives her an sympathetic face before shaking her head slightly.]

sorry. not that i've seen. but we might be able to come up with a way to make some from scratch?

[Maybe.]

[voidmage]

[Ice cream is always a good thing to bond over. They will find a way to get milk so they can put Max's machine to good use. Hopefully the thing came with instructions. Hot chocolate works too.

No eggos?!

What a horrible world this is! A lack of frozen breakfast foods is the worst thing about this place.]

not the same

[Hopper's tried. El will find a way to track down eggos.]

[beyourzoomer]

[There are instructions so they're in luck there. She smiles a little, giving her a sympathetic look.]

yeah i know.
i'm sorry.



[For being the bearer of bad news, really. It's not a job she loves by any means.]