quietplacememes | TDM #001

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. 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.

Don't say a word.
Content Warnings: creepy song - play me though, forced silence
Themes: Horror, room resets

As the sun begins to set on the first day, the natives' behavior changes. It's not subtle and it comes fast. Hinges are oiled and doors are shut. Children are packed up, windows closed, and your phone lights up with a message, a reminder. A warning.

Hush little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird don't sing, Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond ring turns brass, Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass. And if that looking glass gets broke, Mama's gonna buy you a winter cloak. And if that winter cloak's too cold, Mama's gonna buy you a pile of gold. And if that gold was stolen, too, Mama's gonna go to jail for you. So hush little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna kill the whole damn world for you.

By the time the scrolling message has stopped, a stillness accompanies the silence. The community has locked itself away and natives have prodded and pushed to get you into your assigned home. Another message - one hour. Hands are pressed to young children's mouths. Any native close by rest their finger over their lips and implore you to be silent. The air, almost, seems to come alive around you. Their fear is palpable, heady, and thick. They don't move. If your character makes a sound, even the slightest, a native will subdue them. If they attempt to venture outside, they will be stopped. Once the hour is over, you can breathe again. Natives go about their nightly routine and if asked, will not tell you what it is they're so afraid of.

Quiet, Quiet.
Content Warnings: Danger, being chased, no way out without action
Themes: Survival, exploration, horror

There is always work to be done in Reims. The first part of each day is spent completely individual job tasks and the second half is dedicated to Sound Maintenance, which is checking the community for sound issues and repairing them. Free time comes in the afternoon and can be spent exploring, working, mingling, and more. A few natives ask for volunteers to head towards the forest lining the Seine to gather edible plant-life and hunt. It's rare for the natives to do so but the appearance of so many new arrivals has put a dent in food stores. You follow the sandpaths through the city, pause by the Seine for a break, and then head into the woods.

Without any notice, the light begins to dim as if the sun is setting hours earlier than it's supposed to. The natives panic and they run, never straying from the sandpaths but they don't wait for you. They're fast and they know the area better and eventually -

You're walking in the woods, there's only one other person around, and your phone is dead. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot them, about thirty feet back. A dark shape, a silhouette. It steps towards you. You step back. It gasps softly but the sound is loud, deafening when you've accustomed yourself to no noise. Teeth gleam in a wide set smile and it gasps again, softly. And again. Smiles wider. It's not advancing to hurt you, it's making sound nearby on purpose. It's blocking your path back out of the forest. You and the person beside you can head deeper into the darkness or take action. Which will it be?

OOC
From your mods:

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a galaxy. Specifically, I'm from the second quadrant, ninth sector. Home is the fifth settlement there. [ But he hasn't been "home" in years. ]

I'm an alien to this place, but so are you if this isn't Korea or Texas.

[his conclusion on all that - alien. but he makes a good point about them both being aliens here.]

Are you grey? I'm not.

[ Ivor sends a pic of himself, and though he's a little pale, he's not grey. Or an "alien". ]

Does this answer your question?

[squint]

You look human.

You're good looking.

I am human.

Is that a compliment? Customs are different where I'm from.

[ Meaning he's dodged one too many instances of some of the outer colony locals trying to solicit him. ]

I thought you were from Andromeda.

It's a compliment. But honestly, if you're human, I like you anyway.

There are plenty of humans in the colonies of Andromeda.

Do you dislike anyone who isn't?

I dislike everyone who isn't.

[himself included. but he's trying. he's trying so hard.]

[ Well, that's... difficult to swallow considering the only person he cares about isn't all human now. Still, he's not quick to judge. ]

Why?

[something shifts. it might be hard to tell through text, or maybe not, considering how lighthearted the previous ones were.]

Because they look at humans and all they see is something to eat or something to fuck. Vampires and wolves and foxes, I hate them all.

[because the only person that minsu loves is human. a powerful one, but one with slender limbs and challenging eyes, a beacon for all of those things.

he makes a displeased, pained little sound. something that's sure to get him into trouble here.]

[ Somehow, he can sense it—the pain in those words. Ivor can relate to them too, though it goes much deeper than some creatures who want to swallow up or destroy such precious things. Humans, too, aren't all that innocent either. ]

They're called sirens where I'm from. Humans orchestrate feeding them so they don't have to suffer their call. Like they can keep them contained. I don't know which is worse: them or the people who kill for them.

You're not alone in this.

[humans aren't. people have tried to warn him of that, but it hasn't taken root in him. someday it might just be his downfall. even in the story that ivor tells, all minsu can think is that if there were no sirens, there'd be no suffering.]

I'm glad.

I mean I'm sorry you're here and not where you want to be. But it doesn't feel as lonely. And I won't let anything eat you.

[the fucking irony.]

I'm not worried about that. If something eats me, it's earned the right. [ Because he's done everything in his power to prevent. ]

But I won't let anything eat you either.

No, let it. I'm so sweet, maybe I'll give it a cavity!

[it's an attempt to lighten the mood, but minsu just can't make himself forget the first part.]

You shouldn't believe that.

[you shouldn't say that to me.]

No one deserves that. [ So he might be a little bit of a hypocrite. ]

It sounds harsh, but I wouldn't give up until there was nothing left.

Good. Survive, kill anything that tries to kill you. If you think there's even a chance of it.

Are sirens hard to kill?

[ Survive... That's all Ivor has done his entire life. ]

I don't know. No one really knows what they look like.

[survival was the only thing that minsu knew for so long. and he was damn good at it. but this past year he's actually started to live, and there's no comparison.

and now, this shit.]

Do you think that's what's out there?