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

[brodakota]

[Arrival]
[It's disorienting, to be sure. And it's amazing that North manages to stay conscious for most of it, though he spends most of that time trying to keep up with the explanation.

He knows this wasn't where he was. He remembers rocks, dirt, a ruined based. He remembers a teammate...a former teammate, and pain. Mostly pain.

It's largely through the efforts of Theta that he manages this. The AI is humming in the back of his mind, trying to get North to focus, to keep him awake, to file away information until they can go over it later. It's a lot for a terrified, little AI but somehow he manages it.

Eventually, they make it to a designated safe space and North slumps against a wall, clutching his torso even though there's no injury or blood (should there be? He's not sure right now?).

Theta springs into action on the network.]

Help! Help! SOS!

He's hurt! North's hurt! Help!

[Wildcard]

[Want something else? Go right ahead]

arrival; un: kyouken

[justbeingknife]

Who?

Slow down for a second, where's this emergency?

[brodakota]

North! He's my partner!

[He's a little panicked and trying to slow himself down but that's difficult when North's not there to provide some guidance. Still, he manages to provide a description of where they are.]

He's breathing but I think he needs help really soon.

[justbeingknife]

I'll message a doc. Hold tight.

[ In the meantime, though, he might as well head on over with a first aid kit in hand, see what he could do to help. ]

Yo, you North?

[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.

[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. ]

[brodakota]

Before we ended up here, we were attacked. I think it's still injuries from then.

[North's eyes flicker a little and he seems to come round, Theta going off in his head to remind him to keep quiet and that this is help. He probably should have asked for a name.

North's injuries amount to bruising and evidence that he's been hurt. But the wound that should be there isn't.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Well... nothing much he could do if North's injuries were internal. ]

Attacked, huh? Sorry, but it ain't look like you're bleeding. Anything feel broken?

[brodakota]

[North pushes himself into a bit more of a sitting position, wincing but recovering. He takes over the device from Theta, who still hovers nearby.]

Not really. Mostly bruised, I think.

Can't say all this is doing favours for my brain either.

un: foxtrot12

[infailtration]

[ York is wandering along the sandpaths at this point, device in his pocket while Delta scans the network history and conveys things of interest to him as he finds them. The rules, the discoveries, the theories. It's a lot to take in, and honestly York is still more invested in finding out if he's the only one that was dragged here. He's hesitant to post to the network immediately so he's just out looking, hoping for a glimpse of blond curls or red hair, flagging down everyone he comes across and offering them a description of who he's hoping to find. So far, no dice.

But then Delta stops mid-sentence while discussing the newly elected mayor, and York has to pull his device out to confirm what the AI is telling him. He stops, good eye wide and shocked. Hastily types a reply and holds his breath, trying not to hope too much. ]

Theta, is that you? Where is he? Where's North?

[brodakota]

[Someone who knows them is here? And the username is familiar.

There's a burst of text as Theta provides a description of their location, as well as some reassurances that are probably meant for North more than anyone else.

And then, a realization that he probably should have confirmed first.]

Agent York? Delta?

It's really you, right?

[infailtration]

[ York thinks he knows where that is -- it sounds like the area right outside where his group had showed up, and he's on the move immediately. He doesn't have any first aid supplies or know where to get them, and so tells Delta to search the networks for any mention of a medical facility. ]

It's really us, yeah. Delta's busy but you can talk to him when I get there, okay buddy?

What's wrong with North?

[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.

[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. ]

[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.]

[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? ]

[brodakota]

[The solidness of York's forehead against his is a welcome gesture, enough to ground him for the time being. He's got questions aplenty but those will have to come later. For right now, he seems to be alive and he's not alone.

He lets York move his arm away, and he's not sure if he wants to see the result. Interestingly enough, the wound from the Brute Shot doesn't seem to be there despite some bruising, some evidence that something happened. Still looks like it hurts.]

arrival; network; un: dameron

[gotyourselfapilot]

How hurt is he? And where is your location?

[brodakota]

[A description of their location pops up. It's all he's got at the moment.]

I don't know. He's still breathing.

We were attacked and then we ended up here. It's hard to tell what his injuries are.

[And his vitals aren't making much sense.]

[gotyourselfapilot]

[ It should be easy enough to get to the location and he would start making his way while replying back. ]

Is his name actually North? What's your name? I'll be making my way to the location.

Don't worry, there's a clinic and I know someone that can do healing spells, magic. [ It's strange he knows. But Akira should be able to cure him and if he couldn't there had to be someone who could with different magic. There could be more people with abilities that he hasn't had the chance to meet yet. ]

[brodakota]

My name's Theta. Agent North Dakota is my partner.

[Theta has about a million different questions he wants to ask but is trying his best to stay focused. At least until he knows North is safe.]

Who are you?

[gotyourselfapilot]

Hello Theta. Alright, I just wanted to confirm I wasn't hearing things.

[ He should be getting pretty close according to the location that Theta provided. ]

I'm Poe. Poe Dameron.

[brodakota]

Uh...nice to meet you!

Will you be here soon?

[He's appeared over North as a beacon, a little red and blue beacon.]

[gotyourselfapilot]

Yep. I believe I see you two now.

[ He does noticed the red and blue beacon above North. Poe jogs the rest of the way over while nodding at Theta and North respectfully. ]

What's wrong exactly?

[brodakota]

We were attacked before we got here. North kinda passed out, and I'm not sure how bad his injuries are.

[North, in the meantime is starting to stir.]