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quietplacememes2017-12-31 09:56 am
bequiet) wrote in quietplacememes2017-12-31 09:56 am
Entry tags:
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!
Tadashi Hamada | Big Hero 6
[It still seems like a dream. Heat and smoke and panic, and then-!... Darkness. Darkness and dust and a silent new world. Strange rules backed by real fear and vague logic that he doesn't currently have the mental clarity or experience to argue against. All Tadashi knows for sure is that he is not where he was before, he cannot make a noise, and he is alone.
Not truly alone, of course. In spite of their rules, the natives are kind, and there are other new arrivals like him, easy to spot wearing their similar jumpsuits and confused expressions. Much of the day passes in a blur as he's given a room to sleep in and taught how this silent world functions, but soon that behavior changes and the message comes. He's still too off-kilter to fight the natives' insistence... not that he would have. Not when every face is lined with anxiety, every body radiating fear. All he can do is claim a space for himself and wait. Wait and try very hard not to think about... much of anything. About what they're hiding from or why they're even here or what he's left behind. It's easier to just observe, brown eyes wide and cataloging whatever inane little details they can find.
He can do this for an hour. Occupy himself with the minutia. Mark the location of every oil can he can see. Count every hinge. Note every potential trip hazard and carpet edge. Look out over the faces gathered in the common area of this house that he's meant to call home, looking for anything familiar. Anyone...]
After/Network
[It's a little better once the hour passes. Tadashi's still not... right (how could he be), but he's collected himself. He's not ready to face the full reality of what his presence in this place might mean, but he's ready to try and find out what just happened, at least. He pulls himself to his feet once he's sure the danger has passed, briefly stretching cramped muscles before setting about his self-assigned task, device out and a strained smile at the ready. Even if he can't find the information he's looking for, he won't get anywhere at all if he doesn't try.
He won't be trying for long before he realizes that the natives will be no help, and he quickly turns his attention to his fellow new arrivals. A message to the network seems the most logical route, but he'll make a few rounds with his device in person anyway, the same message he sends out kept up on the screen as a simple introduction.]
My name is Tadashi. I figure we're all probably in the same boat here, but has anyone else managed to get any new information out of the locals?
After.
[He slowly gets up and walks over to get a good look at the message on the screen. Hm... He reads over the message again to make sure he's not mistaken, before returning to the desk and picking up his own device he had set down on it. He walks back to Tadeshi, types in his own message, and reveals it to him.]
Hello, Tadashi. You may call me Kiyo. The natives here haven't explained anything to me, but as an anthropologist I have been studying their behavior and architecture. Do you mind if I share my findings with you?
[Because it's going to take a while to type out everything he wants to say.]
no subject
The mask is... a little unsettling, to be honest, but the last hour or so has fundamentally changed Tadashi's personal definition of what "unsettling" can truly be, so he'll roll with it. And with a smile, even! Not his best or brightest, but it's genuine enough. He shouldn't be judging on appearance anyway, and if this person is willing to talk (as much as they can) and share information, how bad can they be?
Tadashi gives a nod along with that smile, gesturing with one hand in a "please, continue" sort of motion. He's going to have to get used to deliberate non-verbal communication, so he might as well start now.]
no subject
Judging by the architecture, we are somewhere in what remains of France. It seems some form of catastrophe involving sound has caused the collapse of society as we know it, and the survivors are in the process of rebuilding it. I'm assuming it has been at least a few years since then, judging by the state of many of the buildings and the behavior of the natives. Silence and caution are the norm, and they dare not challenge it. Perhaps they may not remember why they must remain silent in the first place.
I was in the middle of consolidating my research into notes when I saw you walk in. It's incomplete, due to the lack of evidence, but you may look through them if you like.
[Kiyo will move out of the way if Tadeshi wants to look at the notes on the desk.]
no subject
So... Post-apocalyptic France
Still, it's not much to go on, and he can't help but frown a little as he goes over the notes, reading through a little slower than he normally might before lifting his device to type his own reply.]
They behave like even mentioning the threat will bring it down on our heads.
[This is all too vague for him. He's not foolish enough to ignore the warnings they've been given, but the engineer buried beneath his lingering confusion and anxiety is screaming. Details are where he lives.]
no subject
[The process is pretty much cemented by now. Read, type, present, repeat.]
It is strange, but what more can we do than play along? We can only hope the answer is made clear soon.
no subject
He nods before continuing.]
Not worth risking an entire community without more information. We're lucky the locals have been as hospitable as they have.
[After all, if the danger is real then every new arrival is a risk for them.]
network
no subject
no subject
no subject
[Not what any of them want to hear right now, but it is what it is.]
no subject
[She leaves it unspoken, but she'll report back to him if she finds out anything useful.]
no subject
no subject
[Please excuse the lack of proper capitalization etiquette, she's crafting this message one-handed.]
and i haven't yet, no. everyone's really scared, and i think it doesn't help that we're a bunch of strangers.
[Nevermind that no one asked to be dropped into this strange, silent land. Fear wasn't rational; Lys understood that perfectly well. She can't begrudge the natives for their reactions.....only wish that she had gotten to keep the clothes and possessions she had arrived with, instead of being stuffed into a weird jumpsuit.]
i was planning on bringing in extra food from the forest, though. see if maybe they'd be willing to make some kind of trade?
no subject
... Okay, he's not hip or cool, but he is usually pretty chill. Less so at the moment, but no one is at their most chill just now for obvious reasons.]
Hello, Lys.
It can't hurt to try. The locals have been very hospitable so far, considering, so helping where we can is really the least we can do.
no subject
yeah, we're really lucky! so we gotta be properly grateful for their help. [that said:] maybe we can convince them to give us our stuff back too, eventually.
[The technology in her world hasn't yet progressed beyond the cannon and hand-wound pocket watches, but she's already liking the text function of this strange little device. No fight to keep emotion better left buried out of her voice, no need to hide the way her hands are shaking at the thought of never getting her ring back, her sword and uniform, the layers she's worn for years. There's just stark, simple words on a screen, typeset in neat lines, as politely neutral as Lys wants to make them. Enamored of the feeling, she chatters on a bit more.]
did you notice the kids?
After
Nearly eight foot tall robots tended to make people nervous after all, and people were antsy enough as it was.
And in all honesty he was more focused on listening, on how disturbing the silence was. He was so used to the noises that came with a busy household, and even alone there were a variety of sounds his own frame made. Not now though. The natives had given him a few adjustments to make sure he could move about safely, and while he was glad he wouldn't be risking anyone simply by existing, the lack of any noise still left him uneasy, optics dimming slightly as he was flexing the fingers of his hand, without the familiar sound of gears or micro-servos accompanying it.
When he felt someone's gaze on him, he straightened a bit, peering up at the stranger and his device with a faint almost smile before he was plucking his own device off the arm of the chair to reply, steam curling from the vents framing his face.]
Hello Tadashi. I'm The Spine, good to meet you even if circumstances could be better. Can't say I've gotten much info from the natives yet though, sorry to say.