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

:) !!!

[neritic]

Stopppp

(You know what? Neptune takes an extra long time to scowl at her phone precisely because Venus can't see her doing it. So there.)

Okay
I haven't been here very long either; hour or two, maybe

Venus what happened to your arm exactly

[wingstosee]

[ what... happened to her arm? ]

um
i pulled it off?
it was a lot easier than i expected. you just kind of... pull? and it pops right off

unless you mean "what happened to the arm," in which case... i guess it's still in the cabin?
haha. i probably should have picked it up. now i have to add "littering" to the list.

we didn't really have much time to clean though.

stumbles back in here a week later

[neritic]

Of course it does
It's really interesting, how you said that like any of it made sense out of context

(When in actual fact the context is still foreign to Neptune, who sees everything that happened in her mind's eye like it has a layer of cling-wrap over it: filmy, blurry.)

Let's be real: if anybody finds your actual fucking arm left over in the cabin, their last thought is gonna be that somebody 'littered'

Nope
I doubt anybody is actually going to go back there after... everything

slams back down, points at my eyes, points at yours

[wingstosee]

[ okay this is basically making no sense whatsoever. venus takes a good long look at the message, a frown crossing her face as she tries to parse just what neptune means.

in the end, she settles on four words. ]

do you not remember?

it's on 👍

[neritic]

(This is the crux of everything, isn't it. She stares at the screen of her phone for a long time, wiping her thumb against the display. Before she types anything back, she has to pause to cough roughly into her fist a few times.)

Venus, if I remembered I wouldn't sound like a complete fucking idiot right now

What are you talking about

[wingstosee]

oh, neptune...
:(

[ it might come across as pitying, but it's not meant to be - not even an ounce. that's not how she feels reading that. she feels... upset. angry. like she's being forced to watch someone humiliated on national television.

the next words are typed quickly, without thought or hesitation. ]

you were the devil
and i was too
and so was she

we all heard her together.

[neritic]

DON'T pity me

(Now she doesn't know what to think. How could there be room for three? The devil came in during the quiet and it picked her and she was glad, glad because she was tired of being around people who were good, tired of pretending to be the same way.)

We all knew it was fucking going to be me, Venus
Nobody said it out loud but we all knew

[wingstosee]

i don't.
not anymore

and that's true
it was you.
but it was also me, and it was jupiter
and you can't take that away from us.
i wouldn't let you.

[ a moment's hesitation, no typing - and then venus flicks on the video feed. she is smiling. she is radiant - literally, a faint glow coming out of her from all directions. the wings on her eyes are nervous, restless, looking all around - but after a moment's focus they turn to face the camera. ]

see?
it's not just you.
i was

i am the devil.

[neritic]

(Before she can respond to that, Venus' video feed takes over her screen, and Neptune can only stare. She looks... like herself. Which is strange to think, but the moment the thought occurs to her, she knows that it's true. She is Venus, iridescent, resplendent, and she is the devil. Neptune can't fathom what it feels like, to be so much at once.)

I

(She's not sure what to say.)

Where is Jupiter

[wingstosee]

[ maybe the video feed was a mistake. venus frowns, almost a grimace, before typing a response. ]

i don't know
i was kind of hoping you would :(
you're the first person i've talked to, neptune

[neritic]

(It definitely wasn't a mistake. Neptune still has Venus burned into the backs of her eyelids, soft and ethereal when she closes her eyes. It's comforting; it's strange. It's hard to know how to talk about it, so she just avoids it.)

So it's just the two of us?

(That feels wrong, some how. They've always been a group.)

We should go looking for her. You know what she's like; she'll trip over a fucking log or something and ruin everything if we don't

[wingstosee]

no
that can't be right
if you're here, and i'm here, she has to be here.

[ she's not really speaking off anything but her gut feeling. but her gut feeling is loud and clear, here: jupiter can't be missing. she's jupiter. ]

haha.
she totally would, wouldn't she?

where are you

[neritic]

Yeah. I think so too

(Nothing makes sense any more but the three of them always have. Jupiter, and Venus... they're all that's ever made sense to Neptune.)

She would
It would be just like her to finally find us and then fall directly on her face and alert everything within a couple miles to our whereabouts
If that actually happens and we're ripped to actual pieces Venus, know that *I told you so*

I'm outside by the old fountain. Are you near by

--> action?

[wingstosee]

haha
she would, wouldn't she?
but...
i think i'm okay with that risk. :)

[ neptune's sweet. neptune's so sweet. god, she hasn't been gone for more than an hour and she kind of missed her already. ]

i think so?
i don't really know this place very well yet
but i think i remember something like that.
definitely?
maybe.

yyyy

[neritic]

YOU might be but I'm not

(Though it would be better to die together, than to die apart. That's a strange thought. Neptune coughs as quietly as she can, muffling the sound into her fist.

She's nervous even though her usual sharp replies. Venus on the video had been... opalescent, but Neptune? Neptune's skin is muddy, water-logged and mottled black. She looks strange. They'd drained her on a blue tarp out on the fields in the sun and she'd said nothing, just suffered it in silence, pretending to be asleep.)

I'm outside of the reset zone where we came in Venus
Like twenty fucking yards away tops
If you leave the building and then look up from your phone you will literally see me standing here, just
Don't freak out when you look at me okay. I'm fine

[wingstosee]

oh.
that fountain.
i can find that.

[ she doesn't address the rest of what neptune says, but she sure reads it. maybe that's why she's clearly a little tense, a little worried, when she makes her way to the fountain. she is absent-minded, and just a bit distracted, and so she doesn't notice neptune at first, but she manages to find her soon enough - spotting her and immediately waving with an excited smile.

as she gets closer, as she sees neptune just a bit more clearly, her brow creases with worry. she takes out the communicator, typing quickly: ]

oh no :(
do we need to get you to the water?
you can't be comfortable like that

also i'm not freaking out!!

[ even if a tiny frown has made its way onto her face. she swears she's fine, neptune. ]

[neritic]

(Neptune glances up from her phone, and feels her breath leave her; she's even more, in person. She's beautiful. She's glowing, smouldering gold in the quiet; Neptune glances back down at her phone and pretends what she's ignoring is the tiny, concerned tilt of her mouth. The tickle in the back of her throat is being ignored, too.)

Then stop with the fucking look on your face right now! My eyes still work!

(Do you know what requires no sound at all? Flipping somebody the bird.)

I said that I'm fine so I'm fine
Can we talk about something else. Like how I didn't expect you to look so different?? The devil really did all that?

[wingstosee]

[ for a moment, venus looks taken aback, and then something new crosses her face: indignation. she frowns, biting her cheek lightly to keep from saying anything and typing her response: ]

bullshit!!

[ VENUS DID IT
VENUS DID A WHOLE SWEAR ]

you're clearly not fine!
the last time i saw you were running clear
and now it just looks like someone tried to
i don't know, wring you out!

[ the thought that it might have been her that did it doesn't even cross her mind. why would it? neptune is the devil, and so is she. why would she hurt someone so important to her?

but a thought does finally sink in. neptune doesn't remember her like this, and she doesn't remember neptune like this. does that mean...? ]

neptune...
do you not remember the devil coming?
what her voice sounded like?

[neritic]

(FUCK DUDE, SHE SURE DID.

It's Neptune's turn to look bewildered, and then abruptly delighted. She has to press her free hand over her mouth immediately to quiet the chuckle that slips out. This is a much better look for Venus than her eyes and her wings and her wispy, halo light.)

Excuse me??

(They're messaging each other, but it's tempting to hold her device right up to Venus' eyes, make her read it that way instead. More in her face– but the next message that comes through gives her pause. Slowly, she backspaces and retypes, her brow furrowed.)

Haven't we already been through this? I don't know what you're *talking about*
It didn't sound like anything! Not a person just the
Tide. The water. The draining. It's hard to remember, okay? I couldn't talk

[wingstosee]

[ well, she sure said that. she starts to feel the brief flare of upset certainty fading away, and for a moment that's okay - and then neptune says her piece and the hurt sadness shows on every single one of venus's many eyes. her hand raises up, covers her mouth for just a moment-

and then venus steps forward, wrapping her arms around neptune and pulling her close. she is tall, a good two inches taller than venus, and venus is able to easily bury her face in the other girl's shoulder while her wing's eyes keep watch.

she is silent. it's only when she starts shaking, when the eyes in her feathers break away and begin to shut as well, that it becomes clear she's crying. ]

[neritic]

(She feels Venus' distress before she sees it, but when she raises her head sharply Venus is already there, so close. Her arms encircle Neptune and lock around her tight and it feels familiar.

Neptune stiffens, but only for a moment, and then she sinks into the embrace like a tidal wave, like the crashing of the ocean. Venus has her face pressed against the curve of her shoulder and it's easy to turn her head, tuck against her and raise a hand to hold tight to the back of her shirt. She knows this embrace is born of pity for her and she hates that, but she can't hate Venus. Sometimes she really fucking wants to, but she knows she never could.

She can't disengage. She wants to stand here in silence and hold Venus to her but never speak of it. If neither of them speak it isn't real: it exists only in this quiet moment, and nobody ever has to know. Nobody but the two of them get to have it. Venus' tears are wetting the shoulder of her shirt. It feels like being watered... but she can only take so much, until she feels full.

Neptune has to tap lightly on her back with her fingers to get her attention, giving her a gentle nudge away.)

[wingstosee]

[ for a few moments, neptune feels almost whole again.

venus can feel the black patches on her, the mud and dried dirt where the water has long since stopped flowing. but she can also feel neptune in her, in the places where the river keeps running even through the drought, and it's reassuring like nothing else has been in this place. neptune's here. even if she's hurting and empty and drained, neptune is here.

she stays as long as she can, pouring all the emotions she has into her, and when neptune finally taps out she pulls herself away as gracefully as she can manage. she wipes at her eyes, opens her mouth to say something, and remembers to pull out the communicator just in time. ]

sorry
i should have asked, huh?

[ oh, venus. ]

[neritic]

(Oh, Venus.

Neptune catches herself before she reaches out to thumb her tears away, busies herself with her phone instead. She feels like she wants to cry too. She's filled to the brim, too easy to spill. She takes a deep, slow breath until the water settles.)

Listen. You don't have to be so sorry all of the time, Venus.
If you wanted to hug me and I wanted to be hugged, nobody has to be sorry for anything.

[wingstosee]

right
i know

i guess that does work out, huh?

[ she's smiling in a way that looks like she might have tried to laugh anywhere else. emphasis on tried: her cheeks are blotchy and red and she still looks like there's a pain she can't quite get rid of. but it's an improvement.

she looks over neptune slowly, carefully, her eyes lingering on mottled flesh and taking in each sign of storm and light. finally, she types a response. ]

it was us, wasn't it?
me and jupiter.
you tried to let the devil flow and we forced it down.

[neritic]

(Neptune lifts her head to look right back as Venus looks her over even though she hates it, even though she wants to sit and pick all the dirt out, rinse herself clean. This calm appraisal is infuriating to her, because she knows that it's making Venus upset.)

Yeah. You hit me with your fucking radios and knocked the devil out of me like you were supposed to. Just like you were taught
You weren't doing anything wrong.

(If they hadn't, Neptune would have sunk her fingers into them one at a time and ruined them, peeled them neatly open and put what was revealed on display. So it's probably for the best that what happened happened.)