quietplacememes | 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
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NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He wonders if she doesn't like anyone touching her things - even in a world that might not even be real - until he recognizes she's looking for something in the cards. As one for doing what he's told, he leaves the cards alone and leaves her to do... whatever it is that she's doing.

He wants to ask her what the judgement card means, but if he doesn't even know her name, he probably has no right to ask. ]

Then show me the rest of the house.

[ Something tells him they're not going to be allowed to leave yet. ]

( in any other situation that request, from a stranger, would be particularly forward. but vanessa's a little used to it, the company she keeps being rather forward, and as anything could be happening-- )

Follow me.

( she leads him back through the door they first arrived through, avoiding the length of the hall in favour of the direction of the stairs. there's a scorpion on the wall, drawn (oddly) in blood, and a front door that looks, with its thick steel, as if it's meant to keep something out.

there's a brief moment of hesitation before vanessa ascends the stairs, memories running of everything that had occurred in the house -- especially recently. it's halfway up the stairs when vanessa stops, a hand stretched out to stop him )

I would take out your sword.

( something's there. invisible to the eye, hiding in the walls. they were supposed to be dead but this wasn't real. this was her nightmare )

[ Lucas doesn't think he's being particularly forward, but he's not afraid to speak his mind when he wants to and there's a certain air about him that suggests whoever dares cross him will get his sword straight through their chest.

And like she said, he's never been here before. She needs to lead the way.

The scorpion on the wall is a little unsettling, though something about the sight of blood doesn't make Lucas flinch the way any other might.

At her suggestion and with a hard look in his eyes, Lucas pulls out his sword, then takes a step towards her, as though to protect her. It's what he's good at. ]

( the unspoken acknowledgement is all that vanessa needs. it's a few seconds more before her hand falls from him and then, as she's about to step again, comes a sound.

vanessa turns, looking behind them now for the owner of the noise but still, there's no one there, or at least no one perceptible. it's a bad time to ask if he believes in monsters, though no doubt the topic will arise when this is over.

seconds pass, vanessa remaining on the step, eyes seeking them out. it comes in the blink of an eye, the brief glance of a nightcomer at the bottom of the stairs, and then they're gone again by the time you've blinked once more )

[ Does he believe in monsters? He hasn't seen any yet - at least not in person, though he's seen footage - but that doesn't mean he doesn't believe.

Lucas turns as well, readying himself to attack, but there's no one there, at least until there's a glimpse of... something. Something haunting. Lucas blinks afterwards, wondering if he imagined it, but from the way Vanessa is looking at the same spot, Lucas knows he didn't. ]

I can't hurt what I can't see. [ He warns Vanessa that his sword will be useless if whatever is stalking him only appears for a second at a time. ]

They're there.

( they shouldn't be but they are. there were three before, how many of them were here? she thought they were dead. but then this isn't real so who knows how many there were really )

Their power comes from the dark.

( the night was where they were stronger, and every time that they'd attacked. they were fast, capable of camouflage. and moving still.

the strike comes and this time when they see her she's beside them, pushing at lucas with an inhuman strength, trying to isolate him and vanessa )

[ Lucas goes flying into the nearest wall - it's any wonder how he doesn't go through it, and it hurts, but he supposes dreams can make you feel like you're experiencing pain.

He's quick to steady himself - it'll take him more than that to take Lucas out - then he comes to Vanessa's aid, moving over to the monster with his sword in a stabbing motion. Something instinctive comes over him. Kill. ]

( she's not entirely so defenceless and though the nightcomers are one of the few things that truly frighten vanessa she's drawing on the steel within herself, grounding herself on the stairs.

her words come as lucas begins his attack, voice low, chanting a banishment. the nightcomer is caught between them, fearful of vanessa's own words, and that second of doubt allows lucas's blade to hit its mark, spearing the nightcomer before it can flee )

[ He hears her chant something, reminded of the witches in his world, but now's not the time to ask. Lucas pulls the sword back out of the nightcomer, but even if it's dead, he'll cut through it again.

This is what happens in moments like this - he gets carried away. It's as though something dark takes over him. He needs to hear a voice to snap him out of it or he'll just keep going. ]

( with the sword impaling the nightcomer vanessa's chant slows, only stopping once she's convinced that it's dead.

lucas doesn't seem to be with him stabbing it again. and again.

she takes a step forward, hand moving to rest on his arm, trying to pull him out of it )

It's done.

[ Vanessa's touch coupled with her voice brings him back. He avoids her eyes for now, afraid he might see judgement in them as he breathes heavily, putting his sword away. ]

You're a witch. [ Yes, let's talk about her and not the disturbing moment he just had... ]

( when he does look he won't find judgement. vanessa knows all too well what it's like to have dark forces tipping and controlling your movements.

she at first doesn't respond to his accusation, hand returning to her side, eyes appraising for what he might be thinking, for what reaction her response might bring )

Yes.

( she decides not to specify, still searching for a few seconds more her gaze looks down to the body between them )

I don't believe there are any more.

( if he wants to linger on the topic of her being a witch she might give him a few more answers )

[ Lucas nods, relieved to hear he doesn't have to kill anything else in this dream.

After getting most of his breath back: ] Not all witches are good where I'm from...

But then, everyone is not entirely good. [ Lucas being a prime example of that. ]

( vanessa doesn't know what you're talking about she's a--

no, she's sinned plenty. vanessa believes that she ruined people's lives with her actions, that is marked her own. which it did, though not as much as she likes to take the blame for )

That was a nightcomer. A witch in the service of Lucifer.

( just to put it in perspective. if he asks if she's in service of lucifer she will be offended. angry, even )

As we are still here I doubt that was all we had to do.

( time to find some ruby slippers? )

TDM #003

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