TDM #004

[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. The bulletin board feed lights up so you can read about the history. 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.

Take a peep
Content Warnings: Possible animal-thing death
Themes: Slice of life, it's like gremlins... kinda

On the first of April, small piles of dust with brightly colored eggs at the center will spring up over night. After a few hours the eggs will begin to hatch and out will come the smallest and brightest bunny-like creatures (the only notable differences from regular bunnies are the colors, size, and that they make no noise). They're friendly and immediately attach themselves (bond) to the first person to pick them up. One of the natives calls them "peeps" because they don't make a sound. All with unique personalities, the creatures can be found nibbling on the dust and needing no other form of food, and will shy away from any and all water sources.

If, however, any of them get wet - there will be a sudden and brief rain shower at noon - the creatures fur will turn black and they will begin attacking the others that didn't get wet. Stopping them is key, and the black creatures will either dash away from the community if given the chance or will need to be stopped.

OOC: All characters can keep a Peep! Any color! They are palm-sized and never grow larger than an adult hand.

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

[clawings]

If only we were so lucky. Not a fan of the conformity look?

[brodakota]

Okay.

[Because he would very much like to talk to Delta and have someone familiar around. It's really hard to be brave like this.]

I don't know.

We were attacked and then we ended up here. I think he's still hurt from that but there's no injuries or anything. At least, nothing's coming up.

It was Maine who attacked us.

[brodakota]

[There's a small flash and a little holographic figure pops up. He's wearing armour and is a mixture of red and blue. He appears over a figure slumped against the wall, and starts to wave]

Over here.

I'm Theta. He's North.

[ahsokathegrey]

No. Not sure anyone is, when it's suddenly enforced. Though it seems like one of the easier rules to follow here.

David Haller | Legion (FX)

[multifariousmind]

arrival

[David takes the scrub down and re-dressing in stride. This isn't his first trip to the rodeo. He doesn't even make a fuss as they slip him into an orange jumpsuit that brings not-so-distant memories of Clockworks come bubbling enthusiastically and loudly to the surface of his mind. The disorientation means the voices all around him are loud, confused, insistent and sometimes down right screaming. By the end of the talk with Mother May I, David has his palms pressed against his eyes trying to remember how to find the dial to turn it all down. Too many voices, too much agitation, he can't risk having a break here and now.

He takes a few steps back, takes the device offered out to him, and moves away to a farther corner of the room to focus on the tiny screen of the electronic in his hands. It's no payphone, but he'll figure it out.]

network: un: themagicman

I was promised there'd be pie.

[He was not, at all, but could you blame him for trying? It just kept getting yanked away from him at every turn, like a carrot on a very mean, angry stick.]

If there's no pie, there should at least be waffles.

take a peep

[David is smitten with the peeps immediately. He has no idea the cute and colorful bunnies are anything more than projections from his mind, but he loves them all the same. They're everything easter should be: small, fluffy, bright, and unquestionably adorable. He pockets a red one, then an orange. Sets a blue bunny on his shoulder and a violet one in the crook of his arm. A green one is the last to join the collection and curls up in the palm of his hand, nose and ears twitching lightly. It's a rainbow of colorful bunny pals, and by the time David finds his way to his assigned housing, he has a half dozen peeps in his arms.

They each have names, of course. David isn't a monster. Fitting to their festive look, he names the first five after characters from a children's book. There's Beauregarde Violet, Charlie Blue, Teavee Green, Veruca Yellow, and Augustus Orange. But the little red one sitting on his shoulder is the odd one out. He gives her the name Lenny, and with the rain tapping away on the roof, carries on an idle conversation with her as he sets each of his other five bunny buddies into a cardboard box.]

I really liked that pair of shoes and now what? I'm going to track sand around barefoot, that's what. Do you know how hot sand gets in the sun? They could have at least left me my socks. Socks are quiet.

never ever feed them after midnight cw: peep on peep violence

[The issue for David and his cardboard box full of colorful bunnies comes when the over-eager new peep parent, still believing his rainbow of bunnies to be creations from his mind, accidentally loses track of the violet one (Her name is Beauregarde) and she merrily hops straight out of the box, off the porch and into the rain. The change is something straight out of Dahl's work, as her fluffy violet fur darkens soot black and she lunges straight for the box, toppling it out of his hands and going after Augustus. What ensues is a blood bath of wet and horrific peep on peep violence. David finally manages to scoop up one of his multi-colored friends just in time to save her from the jaws and kicking feet of the now black Beauregarde and Charlie. She was putting up a good fight but it was two against one, and David was acting on instinct following his stunned shock.

The duo of black bunnies vanishes down the paths and out of sight. David is left standing under a porch in the rain, holding firmly to a squirming red bunny, kicking and wriggling in his hands, as he stares down at the aftermath of the disaster, silence surrounding him except for the pitter-patter of rain on the rooftops and the toppled cardboard box.]

[infailtration]

[ Oh. He's from then. York's stomach twists a little, and he speeds up. Wash had never told him exactly how North died, and he hadn't wanted to know, but obviously those injuries were fatal. Hopefully the fact that Theta is here with North and can't find anything means he's not that bad off. ]

From what I've heard, that wasn't really Maine. Just a second.

[ It should be around here... York slows down, looking in all directions until he recognizes the building he came out of. Heads that way, and when he turns the corner there's North, on the ground with his back against the wall. Nothing visible, like Theta said, but he's clutching his torso and certainly looks like he's in pain. York drops to his knees beside his friend, reaching out to tilt his head up. Trying to get North to look at him. Hey, man. He's here. ]

[sumio]

Then my lips are sealed. [well that makes that part way easier lmfao]

Don’t pull my leg. You know something about this place that I don’t?

[beyourzoomer]

Too many to count.

[voicelog]

[ despite his current predicament, tony is well aware of his surroundings, so the sudden appearance of a brunette garners little to no surprise from him. he would have expected her to keep on going, but something tells him that he may have just found the aid he needed. he can't put his finger on it yet, but she is oddly familiar.

honestly, he would have just dismissed the thought (because he really doesn't have the time to focus on it right now), but it's what she does next that makes him take pause — in fact, his entire body stills, almost as if he's been immobilized like the bunnies beneath him.

he recognizes that shade of reddish energy and the name that's habitually attached to it surfaces immediately in his mind — wanda. the last time he had seen her, the last time he is sure anyone else had seen her (to his knowledge) was during house of m. it has been a couple of years since then, but, in all fairness to him, he is missing his memories from the point he got extremis until now. so at least to him, it's a little too fresh, a little too painful as all the memories he has tried desperately to bury comes rushing back up.

fuck

to his credit, tony's expression remains unreadable (if not a bit on the grim side). he recomposes quickly enough as he forces an easy smile to slide into place. she isn't the wanda from his earth, he knows that for certain. far too young. in fact, there is a possibility she may not be her at all.

without needing to take out his device, he shoots her a text: ]

un: t
thanks

[ she is staring at him like there is a hint of... what? recognition?

could she be— ] your name wouldn't happen to be wanda, would it? [ does it help if he messaged that half-jokingly? ]

[beyourzoomer]

It is.

Yeah I don't want to know, but I do want to play this game sometime.

[Maybe it will show up here.]

[oorah]

[ big ol silent sigh ] by asking nicely? i'm kind of the mayor or something.

[setpoint]

The natives elected a non-native as their mayor?

[brodakota]

[It's something they can discuss later. Theta flashes into existence when York appears, a little beacon over North's form. If the AI can show emotion, Theta's managing a pretty solid example of relief right now.

North, in the meantime, stirs and blinking, looks up. Theta won't stop talking, reminding him to stay quiet and it's all he can do not to say anything as he finds himself staring at the other freelancer.

He manages a weak smile, struggling not to make any noise.]

[ohmandy]

He appreciates the help and clearly he isn't put off by that telekinetic thing she's pulling off or her appearance. Stranger things have happened and honestly she's prettier than most of the demons he's come across.

"Let's move them somewhere dry," Angel suggests, keeping his whisper barely audible through the pitter-patter rainfall.

no one likes knives as much as u majima

[unwise]

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima raised his brows at the appearance of the hologram, but hell, plenty of weird shit around here. He approached North first; the one good thing about the jumpsuits given to new arrivals was that they were standard, and pretty shitty at concealing active bleeding. ]

Called for help -- d'you know what happened to your pal?

[ So in the meantime, he'd kneel down by North, try and see if he was still conscious, and check him for injuries. ]

[unwise]

[ what the fuck ]

why is that your first assumption????

[oorah]

they put it to a popular vote

[infailtration]

[ York smiles back, leaning in for a moment to press his forehead to North's. The other man probably doesn't remember the last time they met, if he's from the attack, but that's okay. It doesn't matter. What matters is North is here in front of him, now, alive.

When he shifts back again he lowers his hand to rest on North's arm, trying to ease it away from where the other man is clutching at his ribs. Let's take a look, okay? ]

[deadboywalking]

[Will blinks a couple times in surprise, then beams up at Simon, smoothing the fluff of the purple bunny's ears back with gentle fingertips. Welcome, little purpley one.

And then he gives Simon an arched eyebrow, because of COURSE they have names. He points at each one in order (pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and now purple) and types the names as he does:]

that's nancy, that one's jonathan, that's joyce, that's bob, that's steve and this one's frank. see?

[unwise]

[ nishikiyama wasn't owed a damn thing and he knew it. he didn't expect any form of pity or understanding from majima, not just because of the discrepancy, in their time (if that was to be believed) but because he didn't deserve it from anyone. it had nothing to do with pride as a man, either, because nishikiyama had nothing left to be prideful about. if majima cared in any capacity, even tangentially, he didn't want it.

and majima offering up a place to stay was quite blatantly an offer nishikiyama wasn't equipped to accept just yet. it was an ideal situation, if he was being honest with himself. if what majima said was true, it would certainly be nice to have somewhere to be where kiryu wasn't prone to show up. but at the same time, majima was tojo. nishikiyama wasn't sure he wanted any reminder of the clan and their activities there by his side constantly. at least not just yet.

nishikiyama's eyes were dulled, expression hard to read. the longer he dwelt on it, the more his mind wanted to shut down. block everything out, just fade from existence. but that wasn't an option. ]

are those my only options? crashing with you or this shared housing business?

[deadboywalking]

yeah. they were creepy. we went and saw them on my birthday. it was weird, being so close, but knowing we couldn't do anything.

a couple months now. it's not too bad here.

[personify]

[And that had to be the strangest way anyone's told her she's attractive. If that's what he's even doing, as the phrasing sounds similar to if he were looking at a nice landscape or plant.

Now it's Raven's turn to cross her arms.] Vice? I'm not sure what you mean. Spell it out for me.

peeps!

[monomachy]

[Diana has been to enough worlds to know that when something changes--the temperature, the wind, the sorts of animals about--it is worth cautiously investigating. Though she's dressed in one of the jumpsuits all new arrivals get (this one is a light blue, and probably one of the most comfortable things she's ever worn), Diana still walks with a certain air of authority, as if she knows exactly where she's going and why. Only one of those things is true. She'd heard tell of rabbitlike creatures appearing in the square by the fountain, and had decided to investigate.

She sees a man staring down at something in his hand, and she recognizes it as one of the new animals. A quick glance up, and Diana stops dead in her tracks because she also recognizes the man.

It's hard for her not to call out to him. Instead, she begins to jog down the sand-covered path, waving an arm to get his attention, hoping against hope that he'll recognize her.]

[rockypath]

[Faith shrugs, holding her hands up at the question.] Not sure. You'll have to ask him. I tried to ask and he got all offended. There are some small animals in the woods but not a whole ton.

I think there may be a blood bank for the clinic? Maybe you could get something there?