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

[Reigen is still making a fuss when he's manhandled into this room - he's a somewhat strong man, a very noisy guy, and he's been gagged and even then he's making objecting sounds even as the locals desperately try to convey their fear. It takes them a few minutes, but Reigen finally stops making a ruckus when he feels a presence, which makes his skin crawl and hair stand on end. With him finally shutting up, the locals leave him with Victor, exasperated, possibly even willing to let the newcomers bite it if they couldn't keep silent (or maybe that was just Reigen's frustrated and cynical thought).

He glances back where the locals left, then up at Victor, from his hog-tied position.]

[Having been freed earlier, Victor had been busy exploring through his device in silence. Leaving the room resulted in being pushed back inside by the locals. It wasn't like he could protest, either, not if wanted to stay unbound. His head swivels and he watched another man get pushed in, in much the same state he had been before. Victor gives a... perhaps empathetic look, the kind that says that's rough, buddy. The locals shoot another critical look to Victor, who makes a "lips zipped" gesture with a hand, which seems to placate them enough to leave. Phew... he did not want to get tied up again...

He types out a message on his device and turns it to Reigen, squatting down by him so it could be read.]

Keep quiet or we'll BOTH get tied up again, okay?

[Reigen huffs through his nose, but jerks his head towards the restraints. He'll be quiet, but right now all he can think about is how much his shoulders are straining.]

Don't even sigh I'm serious

[Victor shows the message before setting his device aside and going to look over the knots. He seems to have gotten off easy or maybe this guy is more trouble than he was. Maybe it's a mistake to let him go, but Victor doesn't think too much about the possible consequences, making quick work of the knots so Reigen is free. He'll let the man himself remove the gag, shouldn't be difficult with his hands free]

[Reigen'll yank it out and sit up, rolling his shoulder frustratedly and stretching his back - thankfully the resulting pop doesn't seem loud enough to incur any issues. He digs around for the device he was given, typing out a response.]

I've never heard of ghosts that'll attack you if you make a sound.

[Victor will sit beside him, crossing his legs and looking between the man and his screen, until he finds a picture that seems to match up. He'll message through that, looking up to read expressions. It's so strange to communicate this way, though he'd be lying to say he hadn't before. There's been a few conferences or interviews where he'd been texting under the table, trying to make his other bored friends laugh while coaches chatted. This isn't so lighthearted as that...]

that's the deal so I wouldn't test it

did you just get here, too?

[Reigen's a surprisingly fast texter, though he fidgets - it's clearly difficult for him to keep clammed up. Not to mention the feeling that he's gotten in over his head, without Mob or Serizawa or even Dimple around to actually deal with dangerous spirits.]

I was on another exorcism job and somehow ended up here.

You're an exorcist? For real?

[Victor types and sends, only to realize that's.... not the strangest thing he's run into here. Ghosts, super humans, what was so unbelievable about an exorcist if the former suddenly exists?]

What do we do about this thing???

[Reigen ponders briefly, barely avoiding going "hmm" before typing a response.]

I attempted to explain that I could perform an exorcism with salt, but they claim it doesn't work against this spirit. If I had my phone I could contact my ultimate weapon.

If the solution was salt I think they would have managed already??

[credit where it's due, these people seem like they've been dealing with this haunting a while. The preparation on all the doors, how the houses were sound proofed... this isn't something new to the locals. Unless salt is some rare commodity, it seems like the first thought someone would have to use.]

what kind of weapon works on a ghost?

One of my apprentices! While I require the tools of my trade to perform my high-quality spiritual cleansings, my apprentices have the boon of an innate psychic ability. They've been able to tear apart spirits with it.

You're a psychic coach? Why don't you do it?

[He nearly blurts something out, but bites his tongue, gesturing vaguely before typing his response.]

I tried to chant an incantation but that's what got me bound and gagged.

That's so risky! What if it doesn't work? You'd just draw it out omg

Then I'd die and probably haunt these guys too.

TDM #001

Arrival

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