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:

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NAVIGATION

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Comments

[rockypath]

[Old habits die hard, Faith is sure, so she's not going to give him shit about keeping to the shadows.] Yeah, three months now.

[She takes a moment before figuring she better tell him sooner rather than later.] Buffy and Spike are here too. Spike for a month. And Buffy for about a week... [Totally not mentioning the part where she watched Buffy die. She came back, but it had been fairly traumatizing for her. Buffy too, obviously.]

[ohmandy]

[Three months. Spike. Buffy. Well that puts their noise problem in a little bit of perspective. Not quite a 'quick fix' or 'easy problem' as Angel had envisioned it to be.

His face changes at the mention of Buffy despite his adamant refusal to process any information Faith is giving him about her. Not enough for other people to notice, but Faith's known him long enough to see the little tics and twitches. Faith's known them both long enough to know that that way madness lies.]

Spike's been going for a month without talking? [Incredible or incredulous - pick one. Clearly with the way his eyes are darting around he's not going to mention Buffy.]

What're we dealing with here? Have you seen it?

[rockypath]

[She'll roll her eyes a moment, catching the way he attempts to openly ignore the mention of Buffy. She gets it, hell, she'd probably do the same if she ever really had the option. But his denial would only work as long as he could avoid Buffy and it's a pretty small group of people here. So that strategy is not going to fly long, sorry Angel.] He's got places he can talk, so he's not losing his mind, just yet.

I've seen them. The Sound Eaters. They're all over. More of them than you can count. No one's worked out yet how to even kill one of them let alone all of them... [So it's not looking good, basically.]

[ohmandy]

[Don't you give him that eyeroll young lady. It's complicated, okay? And he knows that sooner or later he's going to have to face that particular demon, but for now they can just focus on the 'sound eaters'.]

Okay. Well let's- [He catches himself then, about to take charge of a situation he knows nothing about, trying to fix things. She's been here for months, so he doubts that anything he had in mind is something she hasn't already tried before.]

Anything you haven't tried yet?

[rockypath]

[See, this is why she appreciates Angel. He looks at her and sees a capable ally, someone capable of handling her shit. Not some magnificent fuckup. Perhaps that's not fair to the others, but she's always felt Angel had her back more than anyone else ever did. That he trusted her more. It felt good.]

I suppose I haven't tried an all out assault. But those things have ripped apart someone I know is stronger than either of us. Like, this girl but lift planes, sorta strong. Someone tried explosions and were able to injure one. But then all it's buddies come along out of the wood work to save them and attack whatever caused it.

They don't like rain. And avoid it. Too much noise. So there may be something there. Like we could overload them with sound? [She shrugs, unsure. Faith is wishing she had more answers for him, honestly.]

[ohmandy]

[Yeah he could see why an explosion wouldn't go down all that well. What with the way the locals had treated him when he arrived, they must have been dealing with this for a long time. And all the newcomers like them must have tried getting rid of the problem too. He gets that maybe the locals are just accustomed to living like this, and hey maybe there's absolutely nothing wrong with brooding in silence and enjoying a bit of sun, but he doesn't like the idea of sitting on his hands while people lived in fear of these things.]

Yeah. Okay. We'll try that maybe. [After sunset. And sunrise. Is that selfish? Maybe a little.] How are you, otherwise? You and uhm... Buffy. [There, he said it.]

[rockypath]

[Faith didn't like doing nothing either, but she doesn't even know where to begin in fighting the Sound Eaters. She could just run out and attack, but that sounds like a one way ticket to the reset room. And as Angel well knows, Faith is no longer on the death wish train.]

I'm okay... [Her look then isn't nearly as believable as she'd like and Angel can probably see right through it. Dammit.] Buffy is okay too...now.

[She would have gave Angel a round of applause for finally mentioning her name, but she's got something to say that's too important to waste time on jokes.] She came here in a storm. And died. I saw her die. But when someone dies here, they get reset. Back to the room you just came from...

[ohmandy]

You don't look okay. [He says it flatly like it's supposed to be dry humour, but the genuine concern is in there somewhere in the furrow of his brow.

It also twists him and cuts him up inside when she says those words he'd been dreading for years. Buffy died. He shouldn't feel like a failure even though he'd taken it upon himself to keep her safe. By avoiding her completely.

He knows what it's like to die. You don't come back the same. He wants to see her but he doesn't. He wants to hold her but he can't. It makes no sense to want to go back to that room but his legs are itching to move in that direction.]

She remember. That? [Angel's sporting that wounded puppy look he shouldn't be able to pull off.] Are you... you two looking out for each other?

[rockypath]

Yeah, maybe not. But the past few months have been insane. [First, there was Kilgrave. Now, it's witnessing Buffy getting gutted when she should have been able to stop it. That guilt will hang with her for a while, regardless of what she tells Buffy or anyone else.] It's coming back to her. [Faith looks pained at his last question, the guilt coming back.]

Trying to. But she's only just got here. And I should have had her back in the fight in the storm. I had to go save a kid and then she was left open... [Then the rest happened.]

[ohmandy]

[He always feels helpless around Buffy, but he'd rather live in that despair than risk letting the caged beast loose.]

She'd rather you saved the kid than her. [There's not much else Angel can say - he'd feel the same in her shoes. And probably was more selfish than her and would have gone for Buffy in that split second if he had to make a choice despite trying to tell himself that the Slayer's life is worth just as much as any kid's. But she's not just a Slayer, is she?

Anyway, that's his own burden to bear.]

She won't blame you.

[rockypath]

[It was Max though. Faith loved Max. The young girl she's been training at the Fight Club that she thought of like a little sister. But Buffy is her sister too. No matter what decision she made it felt like the wrong one. If only she could have split herself in half and saved them both.] I know she won't. [Didn't change anything though. Especially considering their problematic past, it just brought up a lot of bottled up feelings.]

You should go see her, Angel. I know, I know. But still. Just suck it up and go. She's staying right next door... she just got back.

[ohmandy]

I can't. [He unconsciously takes a small step backwards. It hurts to say because it's not that he physically can't - he just won't. Because nothing gets to him like Buffy. Nothing else can possibly do what she does, the way she gets under his skin, crawls through his veins, lifts his soul, eviscerates him from the inside out.

Nothing makes him happy like the possibility of spending one more moment with Buffy, one blink of an eye in the span of almost three hundred years that would utterly ruin him and destroy them both.

He won't make eye contact with Faith. Wants to be the rock she can count on, doesn't want her to see the hurt. The floor is infinitely more interesting.]

People around here have enough to worry about.

[rockypath]

[Faith understands. She's got so many buried issues, that those issues had issues. But Angel just takes it all to a brand new level. And him ducking his head like that doesn't make her see it any less. She knows. And honestly, it doesn't make her think he's any less of him. Faith's been in your head Angel. What else did you have left to hide from her?]

Alright, suit yourself. I've got some booze? We could have a drink, instead?

[ohmandy]

[He's going to get into a lot of shit for actively avoiding her, so he hasn't yet decided how he wants to deal with Buffy. But he's only just got here so he believes he has a little bit of time to figure it out.]

I think it'd be a waste on me. [Also other pressing things for him to figure out first, like what's for dinner, without scaring the locals into trying to burn him at the stake.]

[rockypath]

[Better Angel be on Buffy's shit list than her! Whatever, that's his prerogative. She'll raise her hands in defeat of the issue and leave it be after that.]

Alright, fine. Just trying to be hospitable. You find a place to stay yet?

[ohmandy]

No. I just got here. [And honestly not expecting the red carpet treatment. It's sometimes hard enough just getting people he knew to invite him into their homes.]

I can make do. [Somewhere far far away from Buffy.]

[rockypath]

[And by proxy far away from Faith, since she lives right next door. Does Faith look sad. Ugh, maybe, but she's not going to say so.]

Okay. But if you do need anything, I'll be there at the drop of a hat. You just let me know. [Please let her know. Rather than wallowing in your own brooding refuse.]

[ohmandy]

[God don't do that to Oscar the Grouch. He feels bad about imposing even if he'd like the company of a friendly face. Of someone who knew him, what he was. Knew what to do if he lost his shit and had the guts to do it.]

Spike. You said Spike was here? What's he been uhm. What's. Eating. [Sideways glancing. Not awkward at all.]

[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?

[ohmandy]

Yeah I'll talk to him, thanks. [His conversations with Spike also don't always end well but Angel's not actively avoiding him the way he is with Buffy.] Is he staying here?

[rockypath]

He's in the house next door... the same one as Buffy. [/cough.

Don't look at her, Angel. She's not going to ask. Nor does she want to know!]

[ohmandy]

...oh. [A beat.] That's... [His gaze goes back to the floor.] good.

[Less like a balloon popping and making fart noises while flying around manically, more like an eerie sort of calm and acceptance.]

I should... uhm... I should. Find my own way.

[rockypath]

Jesus. [Faith can't hold that soft curse from coming out under her breath. You're killing her, Angel. You're like a sulky stray puppy who needs a pet.]

If you need my help, Angel. With anything. Come to me. Don't be a stranger. Or I'll find you and kick your ass. [Although Buffy may see to that when she finds out Angel's avoiding her, but so be it.]

[ohmandy]

Yeah. [She knows he probably wouldn't, but then. It's a small town and he can't wander off too far to do his brooding thing.]

I'm. Glad you're doing OK.

[rockypath]

Thanks. I hoping you can start being okay too. [She posits, head tilting at him with a tentative smile] Maybe? Eventually?

One of my roommates is a flying carpet. He's take you for a ride if you asked, that'd probably cheer you up.