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

[oorah]

In his defense... [ words he never thought he'd say about daredevil. he gathers his thoughts while dusting himself off. ] I've already died once here -- it's hard to avoid. But try not to, alright? People come back, but we don't know all the consequences of that yet.

[ he pulls out his device from his pocket once he's sufficiently undusted and shakes it at her. time to do the lame silent game. he starts leading the way to house six, a place he's still inexplicably attached to. and not just for its occupents. ]

[blacksky]

[That visibly unsettles her. Frank has earned his reputation. If something can kill him, Matthew is pretty fucked. She tries to put that out of her mind for now by playing it off.] I'm not trying to repeat my swan song. It'll lose all its drama.

[She can take a hint. The device comes out even if she's not readily engaging in all the small talk just yet.]

[oorah]

Good. [ he's glad and similarly, he can tell she's freaked out. freaked out is good if it makes people behaved, but seeing a woman that powerful and ruthless thrown off her game isn't easy for him to process either.

the second they hit the cooler air just outside the room, frank lets out a long silent breath. here they go again. ] you get a room yet?

[blacksky]

[She's never questioned her ability to survive. Without Matt, she never would have stuck around long enough to end up in a situation like that on the roof. He's sentimental. That makes keeping him alive very difficult and therefore scary even to someone as terrifying as she is.

Elektra breathes in the clean air and immediately feels better. She'll clean up later. For now her thoughts are consumed with seeing Matt. She may have promised it wasn't the end, but she didn't expect to deliver on that like this.]

Second bedroom, in the eleventh house or as I like to call the home of forgotten children and that one woman who isn't smart enough to run for the hills upon realizing she's the only adult there.

[oorah]

[ house eleven was pretty kid heavy which was why frank had helped soundproof it. picturing someone like elektra trying to relate to them is a little funny. hopefully they don't scare the terrifying murder woman too much :') he'll check on her. ]

i'm in the big weird house just past 12. that's where fight club is too if you ever need to work something out. [ he still feels guilty which he knows is irrational, but that doesn't matter. after everything he's just seen, it doesn't make him feel any better about letting her down. ]

[blacksky]

[Elektra barely resists the urge to snort. He's seen some of what she's been through. If it had been anyone else, she'd be throwing around threats. Something tells her Frank will keep his mouth shut.] I'm always working something out.

[Her expression softens and she tacks on another message. This will eat her alive if she doesn't ask.] Is that family still alive?

[oorah]

[ he's about to extol all the virtues of fight club to her when she goes and asks him that. he swallows, clenching the fist still concealed in his pocket and slowly nods. ] they're safe

[blacksky]

[She nods, openly relieved before immediately hating herself. How pathetic is it that she got attached to the fantasy version of real people? She honestly disgusts herself sometimes. Elektra rushes to change the subject.] Tell me about Fight Club.

[oorah]

[ he's in the same boat, and he should use this opportunity to tell her david is here, and yet he doesn't. fight club is easy to focus on, so he starts there. ]

it's a safe place to learn teach and punch out your issues

[blacksky]

[That's fine. She'll just be shocked later and have a reason to beat up Frank.] Anyone there who can handle fighting someone better than Matthew?

[oorah]

[ if he could, he would laugh. as it is, he grins, pointing to himself then her. they both could beat matt obviously!! but he knows that isn't what she's asking. ]

sure there are. a bunch of women in there can kick my ass better than you i'll introduce you

[blacksky]

[She smiles sincerely, charmed by the little gesture. He certainly isn't wrong about that. Elektra now has something to look forward to.] Generous man. Now you're making me regret they we weren't introduced properly before this.