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quietplacememes2018-02-28 08:56 pm
bequiet) wrote in quietplacememes2018-02-28 08:56 pm
Entry tags:
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:
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hope you brought enough to share
Of course she'd picked up on that concern, she'd never be able to miss it, but shouldn't there be more? Shouldn't there be that softness in his eyes that he gets whenever they aren't fighting... An awareness rises to the front of her mind that leaves her feeling shaken. Keeping her voice calm and steady, she tries not to give anything away when she asks him a question to which she already knows the answer. ] Damon, where were you before this?
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Before this? Well, I brought you home, got to watch Stefan make that face that he makes when he's trying to be intimidating, but really he's as scary as someone who primarily hunts Thumper and Bambi can be.
[ What a weird question. ] Why? [ Don't get him wrong, he enjoys making fun of Stefan, but there are more important matters here. ] I've pissed off tons of witches, but why would they kidnap you?
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I don't think this was witches, this is something-- different. But what do you mean, you brought me home? Home from where?
[ He isn't her Damon. It's the only explanation that fits. He's not the one she was with on the station, and he's probably not the one she left behind. It's hard to wrap her head around and does absolutely nothing to help ease the aching loss of her connection to the Nest. ]
no subject
[ The question however has him stepping closer into her space, leaning down a bit to lock eyes with her - looking for something in her eyes. ] Did you hit your head harder than we thought? Georgia, Elena. I don't know how you forgot our amazing road-trip. [ It actually kind of stings, if she had, not that he's going to say that. He'd at least thought they'd come to some kind of understanding. Hell, even maybe friendship. ]
no subject
But he thinks she's still with Stefan. How is she supposed to handle something like this? With a shaking breath, she takes a step back, two, then turns slightly away from Damon, lifting her hands to run them through her hair. Hair that has a bit of body and curl to it since she hasn't seen a straightener in almost two months. ]
I didn't forget. That was a year ago. For me, that was a year ago. [ It all tumbles out before she can really think it through; guess they're going with the ripping the bandaid off method then. ]
no subject
And then she says that, and it brings Damon pause. He's not sure if she's messing with him, not being able to see her face. But somehow he has the feeling she's not. He trusts her. He wants to turn her around, make her face him, but it's also Elena, so he wants to let her do as she wishes. He doesn't want to control her. ]
A year ago? I just saw you. [ He didn't wake up to a year's worth of hunger. Sure, he's hungry, but it's nothing he can't handle. ]
no subject
I know, and before I left Mystic Falls, I'd just seen you. We were arguing about my transition and Stefan saving Matt instead of me-- [ Her voice wavers and she finally looks over at him, her vision blurred from the tears.] I don't know how, Damon. I wish I did, but I don't.
no subject
He's not really sure how to deal with this, but he knows Elena, remembers the first night they'd met. He replays the words she'd just said in his mind. And while he wishes he knew the words that would make her want to stop crying, he settles for trying to catch up on this year or however long he's missing. ]
Your transition? [ Okay, wait, he puts some space between them, to look down at her. ] Stefan saving... bland jock boy over you? [ That sounds fake. ] Why would Stef do that?
cw: minor suicidal thoughts
Having his arms wrapped around her makes things better, if only for a brief moment. She forgets just how messed up everything is, how alone she feels... until he pulls back to question her. And damn it, but she can't lie to him. ]
Because I asked him to. [ The words are tight and brittle around the edges, so very close to breaking. ] It was Matt or me and I couldn't bear to lose anyone else. So I died with your blood in my system.
[ In for a penny... ]
no subject
He watches her, silently urging more information out of her. He's been sure to make it clear that she could trust him, not to compel her when she was human, and now he's sharing that trust, hoping he can actually trust her to tell him the truth as well. ]
Why didn't I save you?
[ If Stef was busy with jock boy, what was Damon doing at the time? His brain races to try to figure out what had happened from the few details he already knows. Had his blood been his attempt at saving her? He hates feeling like this, not being the one to know things. Usually its him that's got a better view of the playing field than the others. ]
no subject
You weren't there. It's... complicated. I had you blood in me because I'd been hurt and a doctor used it to heal me. But then you... You weren't there when we went off the bridge, and I couldn't let anyone else I care about die in that river.
[ There's so much he doesn't know, it's overwhelming. Klaus, Rebekah, Katherine. He has no idea about any of it. The hybrids, her blood being the key to it all, Mikael. She can't even fathom where to begin. ]
cw: suicidal intentions
It's complicated is an understatement. ] Was I locked up in that doctor's basement? [ He's been there done that before and he doesn't know why else a doctor would have his blood. He's not big on donating it. ] So you'd rather let yourself die? [ There's something accusatory in his tone. That anger that she had managed to calm down blooms back to the surface again. But then he lowers his voice, instead of raises it. ] You knew my blood was in your system, right?
[ Whether yes is the right answer or not, well, it's sort of a mystery. A future him would be more brave in admitting that he misses being human. That he'd want Elena to be happy and to grow old and be happy. But also if she'd known at least it'd have meant she knew it wasn't her end. He's not even sure why he's so bothered by this whole thing. He has everything he wants. Katherine is back, and free. Elena and him? They seemed to be on good standing friendship wise. ]
no subject
She can't think about that right now. She can't let the horror of it consume her or it will wash away everything else. ]
I didn't know I'd been given your blood. No one did. But even if I had... I don't know that I would have made a different choice. [ She ducks her head, remembering the next morning when she'd admitted to both him and Stefan that she'd been ready to die. For all the good things that had been in her life, the pain had overwhelmed them at times and she'd been ready to finally have it be over. But even now when she no longer feels that way, when she wants to live the life she's been given, she still couldn't let one of her friends die in her place. It just isn't who she is. ]
no subject
That place had been hell.
He doesn't exactly like what he hears, at all. A soft sigh falls from his lips. ] That was stupid, you shouldn't be ready to give up your life so quickly. [ There's a conviction in his voice that makes it clear he means it. But this is getting way too heavy for him. ] How are you adjusting? You don't chew on puppies do you? Stefan loves them.
no subject
His comment about Stefan earns him an exasperated (and slightly amused) eyeroll. ] I'm fine. I've got a good handle on my cravings, I won't be attacking anything human or otherwise unless I fully intend to.
[ She would find a way to throw herself out into the sun before letting that happen. ]