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

PETER PARKER | THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

[spideys]

❚❚❚❚❚ i. ARRIVAL

[ It's real hard to get Peter Parker to just stay quiet. Sure, he's had his moments: when his parents dropped him off at his Aunt May and Uncle Ben's place, he refused to talk for about a week before they finally had him chatting. In Midtown High, he was a little more observer and a lot less participant, which meant a little less talking and a hell of a lot of listening. He kept his head down, took his pictures, skated in the park, tinkered in the basement.

But then he donned the red and blue spandex and - well. It was like opening a floodgate of dumb jokes and ridiculous quips and it was fun. Also hard to stop. Turns out Peter Parker is something of a talker and nervous babbling is a Specialty and it only took the right key to unlock that door. Lucky him, right?

When he first opens his eyes and tries to choke the dust out of his throat, it's also with an exclamation of - ] What is this stuff? What's happening -

[ Of course it sounds a lot less word-y and a lot more cough-y, so there's that. And honestly, he's not feeling too great, his arms and legs feeling weak and noodley (well, noodlier than usual) and he only sees an opening door before he's being led somewhere dark and gloomy. Great. Perfect. His favourite type of door. ]

Uh - can somebody - [ He starts to say, but then there's a finger pressed against his lips and the rest of the sentence kind of trails off into a smudgy sound like eggspaindis??

Now he's here with a device in one hand and a freaky spine-tingling feeling that buzzes in the back of his brain and refuses to relent. This place is exuding bad vibes and he doesn't have to have spider senses to feel it. But this can't be real. (Sure.) Who is 'Them' anyway? And why hasn't anyone fought back? ]

This is a joke, right?


❚❚❚❚❚ ii. PEEPS

[ He's in Creepy Wonderland.

Yep. Great. He's solved the riddle. Somehow Peter has landed in Tim Burton's craziest, wildest dream because maybe he'd never seen Edward Scissorhands, so you know, he watched the movie and now he's having some kind of soulbond moment with Tim. There are colourful eggs and little bunnies coming out of them, and when he approaches - as you do - one of the pink ones comes right up to him, nose twitching, looking up at him with those dark inky eyes.

It's kind of cute.

Peter bends down to pick it up and gives it a little scritch around its ears. And when he puts the bunny back down and begins to walk away from the collection of eggs, it follows him close behind, never missing a hop or a step.

Turns out the only soulbonding happening today is the bond between (Spider-)Man and Bunny. ]


❚❚❚❚❚ iii. WILDCARD

[ idk what im doing but hmu if you wanna do anything with peter! just leave a starter or find me on plurk (thwip). i'm super open to anything! ]

peeps

[justbeingknife]

Hey, looks like ya got a fan.

[ Frankly, Majima wasn't so sure about this Easter Bunny thing -- survey said that most of the unnatural wildlife around here was borderline dangerous. On the other hand: bunnies, what could possibly go wrong? ]

Gonna keep it?

[spideys]

[ Peter glances down at the little pink floof loyally following behind.

He lets out a (quiet) breath. ]

not sure i have a choice, do i?

[justbeingknife]

Not unless you ain't have a heart. I mean, look at that guy.

[ As part of the hunting team, Majima had trapped his share of rabbits, but even he didn't have the heart to take out a technicolored little munchkin like that one. ]

Might not match your jumpsuit, though.

[spideys]

man

you're right

he's (?? she?) awfully cute

guess i can't return it for a blue one can i

i.

[morphogenia]

[Kamala can relate to his situation. She's sixteen and loves to ramble about her (very nerdy) passions. It takes a while to get used to putting them on a device or learning to sign it. She can't help wanting to help. It's what she does.

Kamala waves to get his attention, points to her device once she has it, and types up a message to send to the one they've given Peter.] Hi, I'm Kamala! Just post all your questions here. I'll answer them.

[spideys]

[ Oh, thank god.

Peter grabs his own device and reads the message sent. He looks up, offers her a grateful smile, and nods. ]

hey kamala

i'm peter

uh

where do i even begin?

how did we get here? how did you get here?

[morphogenia]

[She smiles and starts typing furiously in response.] Nice to meet you, Peter! You know... under the circumstances. Anyways, the Reset Room aka that place you just came from for both questions. We're pretty in the dark about stuff, but some people put together informational packets that might help! Want to go to them?

➾ ARRIVAL

[hext]

[ it isn't that she blames him, his lingering immediate confusion, or even that she wants to frighten him.

but the young man won't shut his mouth even after a local shoves the device into his hand, having explained the process, the rules — the stakes. wanda is worn too threadbare by exhaustion and her own unease with the incomparable mystery to have much patience for either watching him die, or leading others to die with him. she absorbs his disbelief from around the corner... peers at him past the edge of an abandoned storefront, watching him struggle.

still talking. damn it.

cloth-covered slippers advance toward him in long, purposeful strides; she's upon him in mere seconds, hand raised, scarlet filaments of energy curling out like wisps of smoke from her fingertips, directed toward his mouth.

he may find it very difficult, at this point, to use his jaw. ]

❝ Do you hear anyone laughing? ❞

[ she'll retreat from his mind as soon as he proves he can handle the ground rules. ]

[spideys]

[ Eyes widen at the sight of those red wisps floating through the air, coming at him without preamble. ]

MmmMM -

[ Talking is a thing he can't help. Nervous talking is a thing that happens when ... well, when he's freaking out. And freak-out talking is a thing he finds himself unable to control until his jaw is literally magically kept shut.

He's defenseless, without his webshooters or anything but his internal spider-abilities to help him, and right now nothing's gonna help him.

He stops trying to shout and goes as still (and quiet) as necessary and shakes his head. His eyes are glaring a very pointed, Can you stop that? look in Wanda's direction. ]

[hext]

[ slowly, she retracts her hand; the red glow fades from her fingertips, releasing him. her glare, however, remains a match for his as she pulls out her device and gestures to it firmly.

wanda presses a button, waiting for an icon to appear on her screen showing their devices are synced. the message she sends is not much friendlier than her original greeting. ]

you're welcome, by the way.
i just saved your life.

[magician_king]

[A little while later;]

Anyone answer yet? About what's going on?

[spideys]

hey

yeah i got this info pamphlet

pretty useful

have you seen it?

[magician_king]

No, I haven't made it that far yet. Where'd you grab it?

I'm headed for the town hall, approximately. Think they'd have one there?

Arrivalish

[flyguy]

[After someone’s convinced Peter why not talking might be a good thing and he’s been let out of the reset room& mdash; There may be an hand clapping down on his shoulder. Or, trying to. Since spider senses and all. Either way at the same time a message will be popping up on Peter’s device.]

You look like a kid with some time on his hands. Well, also, the natives told me.

[So Tony is here to claim it?? Sorry not sorry.]

[spideys]

[ To be fair, spider-senses mostly work when he's in serious danger, usually by way of someone trying to kill him ... so while the hand clapping down on his shoulder is one hell of a surprise, one that nearly has him yelping aloud, his spider senses don't go off.

They're kind of unfortunately useless that way.

He looks to his device while his heart learns to beat properly again, and then he glances back up at Tony once more.

Uh - what?

The look of confusion should be pretty clear in Peter's expression.

He quickly types up a message. ]

i mean yeah that's probably true

what do you have in mind?

also who ... are you?

[ HE LOOKS FAMILIAR ]

[flyguy]

The perfect job for someone new. You'll love it. As for me, that depends. Does the Battle of New York mean anything to you?

[He knows everyone goes for recognizing “Avenger” as the hallmark, but there's kind of multiple dimensions where that word's recognizable. He wants to limit it down just a smidge further to his particular dimension.]

un:hotdog

[oorah]

[ this message pings peter's device some time after he's settled, probably several hours post his initial arrival and kamala first gave him the information sheet. ]

have any questions about that packet?

un: bill.nye

[spideys]

[ At this point, Peter has been scrolling through the document at his leisure so this message comes at the opportune time. ]

hey! you're the guy who wrote it right?

'hotdog'

[oorah]

yeah me and my brother micro

i.

[assguardian]

[ it doesn't take a lot for billy to start getting alarmed when the other teenager starts to open his mouth like he's going to talk, so he starts shaking his head and attempting to communicate nO DON'T TALK JUST TEXT. somehow. hand flailing isn't doing him any favors right now, though.

that is, until he remembers he has a phone and starts texting: ]

un: semiurge
please don't talk you will get yourself killed! literally!

hi i'm billy and welcome to nightmare jackass. uhm. only it's serious. really serious.

[spideys]

[ By this point, Peter ... gets the hint. Kind of. Even if it's just a really, really extra library policy, he gets it. No talking. Talking means getting into trouble, and whether he believes that it means actual death-related trouble or otherwise, he's going to follow along.

He gives Billy a kind of thumbs-up gesture, then glances down at his screen. ]

sorry

sorry okay

i get it [ He texts. ] hey billy i'm peter

this silence thing? this is for real?

peeps;

[scarecrowed]

[ Lucas doesn't think they're as cute as everyone else seems to think they are. They look a lot like rabbits, and rabbits are strictly food to him. He's been given the role of a hunter here and takes it seriously, feeling a certain duty towards hunting animals for everyone. He doesn't get attached to animals... except for Toto, but he'd never admit it.

( username: lucas ) ]

you think we can eat them?

[spideys]

[ Uhhhh ...

Peter glances at the little pink bunny at his feet, all soft and small and honestly harmless looking.

Gwen would have loved these things. ]

you really wanna hang these little dudes up and turn them over on a spit?

[scarecrowed]

dudes?

i wouldn't enjoy it, but i've been given the role of a hunter here.

[ This is hardly hunting when they're so friendly though... ]