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

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[ He has his own questions, regarding life and death, honestly. While he could easily go into a lengthy series of thoughts on that, he's choosing to avoid dwelling on the situation, back home. Even just letting the thought pass through his mind for a moment, he's already feeling tense...

That smile... It has his expression dimming.

And, look... you wind up in a life-or-death situation together? That kind of throws some formalities out the window. There's no bond like that of kidnapping victims who are facing the threat of angry, creepy ghosts together.

The response has his brow tensing, though not in a way of sole concern. No... there's some confusion there. Itomori...?

... What comet? ]

Comet Tiamat? I can't say I've ever heard of it.

Or of Itomori, for that matter.

Edited 2018-01-04 14:11 (UTC)

[ it still hasn't fully processed yet, the burning sensation, the sudden fade to black, the surge of pain that rushed through her body when tiamat hit itomori. it feels like she was back in her town just moments before her arrival here, yet...

he doesn't know?

she has to stifle a "hmm?" that almost escapes her lips. ]

(°ロ°) !
You don't know?
Comet Tiamat only comes once every 1,200 years! It should've been all over the news!
And Itomori is in the Gifu Prefecture, around Lake Itomori. It's far from Tokyo...maybe that's why you haven't heard of it?

[ There's a moment where he stares at the screen of her pho-... device... ...phone. Instead of shaking his head or giving any other response, really, he quietly types up: ]

(・_・ヾ ?

[ ...Yeah, he could have probably just done that, physically. Still, he tenses his brow -- maybe it'll be obvious by his face that he is, in fact, making like the emoji he just sent her. Only... internally.

After a couple of seconds, he does heave a silence sigh, lifting the phone to type into it, and then holding it up for her to read: ]

I was checking the news every single day, and I never saw anything about that. I have heard of Gifu Prefecture, but nothing about that particular lake.

...This might seem random, but I promise there's a reason I'm asking:

Have you ever heard of the Phantom Thieves?

[ he's not as expressive in-person, mitsuha notices, and she can't quite understand his confusion. he checks the news every day? but comet tiamat was blowing up (haha) on media outlets everywhere--how could he have not heard of it? ]

Maybe you just changed the channel while they were covering Tiamat? It was being broadcast everywhere...

[ and then his second question leaves her even more perplexed.

the phantom thieves? ]

Um, no...are they some kind of idol group? I don't keep up with idols very much (・・;)ゞ

[ idol group. ]

[ He waits for the response to both things, expression softening in surprise at her response to his question regarding the thieves. Well... surprise isn't all he gives. Idol... group...?

This is an incredibly serious moment, and he should not be biting the inside of his bottom lip to keep a smile from surfacing???

Akira holds a blink, taking a discreetly heavy breath. ]

The reason I asked about them is because they were an incredibly hot topic for a while...

Unfortunately, you not knowing anything about them can't prove much at this point, but they were an infamous group that recently targeted a man named Masayoshi Shido.

[ And now is the moment that should answer a lot of remaining, unspoken questions... ]

[ mitsuha, on the other hand, is dead serious. who are the phantom thieves? see, this is why she wished she was born in tokyo, because then she wouldn't be so behind the times. the thought resurfaces when he mentions that they were a "hot topic", but then...

her dreams are crushed. so they aren't an idol group after all...rather... ]

I don't know who Masayoshi Shido is, either...
But...now you're making them sound like they're a gang! Who are they, exactly? (((＞＜)))

[ Akira Kurusu: student/barista by day... and a thief, lead singer, and street gang leader by night is now... crusher of dreams.

~~His resume is a true work of art. Yusuke would be proud, he thinks.~~ ]

A band of thieves, just like the name implies.

They fight to better society with unknown methods. Apparently, they have really cool costumes and masks, if their televised calling card was anything to go off of.

[ SMILE.

... At this point, he's just curious to see how many different things they'll be referred to as. ]

Edited (sick tags are best tags clearly) 2018-01-06 02:00 (UTC)

[ what is your life now akira... it's talking to a completely clueless teenage girl who seems concerned about this band of thieves you speak of. ]

They have a calling card, too?!
How scary...

But, Kurusu-kun...I've been watching the news every day, too, and I haven't heard anything about the Phantom Thieves.

[ how odd...something isn't right here. ]

TDM #001

i was thinking "-san" and typed "-chan" why this. also you managed to hurt me in one tag

hahaha no problem, AND I'M GLAD!!!

quiet gasp... that introspect is rude.

you're welcome

thanks i --love-- hate it (also P5 SPOILERS)

their cr is incredible already

agreed!!!

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