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

[ohmandy]

The sound demon

[setpoint]

[Her brow furrows.]

You think it's a demon?

[ohmandy]

Well its nt human ?

[setpoint]

[She squints at him for a moment, as though trying to assess something. Really, she's quietly wondering if he's some sort of religious fundamentalist or something. Her return message is typed out more slowly as she tries to determine her response.]

What evidences makes you believe it's a demon?

[ohmandy]

[He just blankly stares at her while holding up his phone before deciding to add another line.]

Well its nt human ?
Therefore demon

angel is breaking mako rn thank you for this

[setpoint]

[He gets the same blank stare back, and when he adds the second line, her struggle to remain relatively neutral fails, and her mouth sets in frustration.]

There are options beyond 'human' and 'demon'.

[She holds up her device, then decides whatever, screw it, and adds another message.]

Demons don't exist.

wait til he gets his sassy nah uh gurlfrand finger out

[ohmandy]

[Yes, let's stand around surrounded by evil beings arguing semantics. He pauses for a moment, wondering if perhaps he should be more discreet, less confronting. He'd assumed the locals would think of it as monsters or demons but maybe that's misguided.]

What do you think they are?

omg i can't wait

[setpoint]

I don't know enough to say for sure, but I know from experience that there are usually scientific explanations for creatures that seem supernatural.

[ohmandy]

so fail ed experiment
or sky net
chemical biological weapon ?

[Neither of those options really worked for him. Demons he could deal with. Technobabble or donning on a labcoat to brew some moonshine in beakers and test tubes - not quite his forte.]

[setpoint]

Yes, maybe. Or maybe they came from somewhere else.

[ohmandy]

So you don't believe in demon s bt you'll believe in aliens?

[setpoint]

I've killed aliens.

[So, yes. Demons still sound fake!!!]

[ohmandy]

['I've killed demons' is the natural response to that. He almost punches it out onto his screen. But then he just shrugs. In the end it doesn't matter what the details are as long as they can be taken care of.]

I'm going out to investigate sound aliens

[setpoint]

[Mako almost sighs, then stops herself.]

Can I join you?

[ohmandy]

[He sheathes his phone and nods before turning his back towards her and heading towards the outskirts. They could stand around blankly staring at each other or get themselves killed trying to do something about their current predicament, and he's not really feeling like doing the former just yet.]

[setpoint]

[Mako is not entirely on board to get herself killed, but wandering around town asking everyone a million questions hasn't sated her curiosity, so this seems like a slightly better bet. Maybe. So, she follows, and hopes he knows where he's going.]

[ohmandy]

[He's less of an asking and more of a go poking around type, although he'd prefer to have some books and a computer at hand to do some research first. Going in blind isn't ideal but he didn't have much of a choice. Thankfully having to remain silent means she doesn't expect him to engage in small talk.

Of course the locals won't let the newcomers venture too far away from the town, but he doesn't know that yet.]