TDM #001

[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. 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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Comments

ivor grames ( original )

[stillstar]

ARRIVAL

[ He's standing in the middle of the town in a pile of sand and feels nauseous.

Maybe it's the sudden stress of waking up in an unknown place, though it honestly doesn't make any sense considering where he'd been at the time, and Ivor bites down on his tongue to keep from throwing up, unused to the sensation being so prominent. He's usually the more composed one, shifting a little where he stands and making the habitual motion to access his comp band. Of course, the thin metal bracelet doesn't light up and doesn't offer him a screen to access because he'd woken up without that too, and there's no way for him to communicate with Cae or anyone else that walks by so easily. The device they've given them isn't particularly bad; it's just... old. Very old. He doesn't even know what year it is, and that's probably worse than knowing nothing else, deciding to circle his way around to a padded little overhang just outside a building to sit.

Once he does, he begins to tinker with the thing they've given him in hopes of transforming the tech into something a bit better. It's slow work, especially without any tools, and when he notices someone walking by, he switches to sign because – as of right now – his screen is taken apart and so is the keyboard interface. ]

« Can I see the device they gave you? » [ If they don't understand, Ivor just gestures at his own before pointing at them. Because the sooner he could figure this out, the sooner he could find Cae and they could leave. ]

NETWORK ( UN: I.GRAMES )

[ He doubts the connection is secure, but if whatever is out there is hunting them purely based on sound, then a data breach shouldn't be an issue. So, here he is. ]

I don't ask this often, but I'm curious enough to try. This might not be an easy topic of conversation for some, and I apologize if it isn't.

How many people here were born without the ability to speak, new or native? I've noticed a few are hesitant to even answer something like that. If it helps, I'm one of those people. Silence isn't supposed to be as terrifying as it's made to seem here.

It shouldn't be a weakness. [ He had, of course, learned that the hard way. ]

And if anyone knows the year, maybe we can figure out what's going on.

WILDCARD

[ Open to just about anything else, really! Even plotting, so feel free to PM if you want to figure it out or hit me up @ overcasts. A bit of info about Ivor can be found here. ]

network

[foxtrots]

un: minsu

What about whistling? Can you whistle?

[stillstar]

Whistling isn't the same as speaking, but I've never tried it.

Can you?

[foxtrots]

Not really.

I can speak but whistling is hard for some reason. My mouth can't decide if it's trying to blow out a candle or kiss someone.

[stillstar]

I don't think being here is the right place to try. Unless you can whistle without making noise.

network | un: nympheas

[hoaxer]

KNOWING THE YEAR IS USELESS. OUR STANDARD OF TIME: IT'S USELESS.

[What an optimist!]

[stillstar]

It's not useless. It will help make some things easier to understand. [ Maybe. He's kind of reaching at this point. ]

[hoaxer]

[Trying to make sense of things is a good coping method. Lu Li isn't at that stage yet - she's still grappling with a lot of baggage.]

I KNOW THIS PLACE. THIS COUNTRY. IT'S ALL WRONG AND BACKWARDS.

[stillstar]

[ Dealing with someone close to panicking is sort of his forte, but he can't see her to do much besides text. ]

That's why it's better to know the date. Maybe it isn't the same place you know.

un: qetziah

[rou_gui]

Words are not the only power in the world.

[stillstar]

I know. I wonder if we'll find something like that here.

[rou_gui]

Power? Of course. It has us all cowering and we have not even seen its face.

[stillstar]

Not all of us are afraid. There are some things worse than fear.

wildcard

[sirenscarred]

[ The silence is heavy and for Cae it's a form of torture once he becomes aware of just how unconscious his tendency to fill the empty air is. The part of him that is inextricably wound together with the siren makes it hard for him to stay quiet, to resist the urge to hum as he goes around. This world seems designed to kill him more effectively than anything he's endured in the past three years. The inside of his cheek has been chewed raw with the effort to keep himself silent, the watchful eyes of the natives keeping him hyper-vigilant of what he does.

More than anything, he's looking for Ivor. He hopes that he's not there but he keeps searching for him all the same. This wouldn't be the worst place in the world for him, a world where silence was king. It's still a thousand times better than the siren nest that turned their lives into a horror movie. But it would be better if Ivor was back on the ship, safe from whatever this is.

But then, he spots him from behind and some traitorous part of him relaxes. Thank goodness. Slipping around another native as he hurries over to him, Cae taps his shoulder in warning before circling around him. ]

« Are you alright? Did they hurt you? »

[stillstar]

[ The idea that Cae might be somewhere in this place had been his first thought after waking up, even worse the prospect of not knowing what that could mean when he still wasn't entirely sure what the siren sickness was doing to him, but the relief that fills him with that familiar touch to his shoulder is strong. Overwhelming. He looks him over once or twice before even making an attempt at responding, reaching out to grab his hands and squeeze them. Real. He felt real.

So, this wasn't a dream, and he had no idea where they were. His comp band had been missing, which would have made it easy to access their location, at least what colony they might have been on, but that doesn't really matter right now; it looks more like a planet than a colony anyway. Ivor squeezes Cae's hands again before drawing back to use them. He doesn't feel like answering the question about himself because he still doesn't know exactly where he falls on the spectrum of "fine" and "not good". ]

« They're too scared to hurt anyone but themselves. Are you okay? » [ A pause, and Ivor tries examining him again. ] « How are you feeling right now? »

un: neverlands

[butterknifed]

When someone starts a sentence out that way, it never usually ends the way yours did.
Isn't it a weakness? Not here, because we can't talk.
But what if you had to? What if.. picture this, you were pinned down and the only way to get help was to yell? Then what.

[stillstar]

You take your chances with the consequences. It's what anyone would do if that's the only choice they had.

[butterknifed]

Yeah, sure.
But that doesn't mean it's not a weakness.

[stillstar]

You can be just as efficient without sound.

Are you afraid of being quiet?

Network: Veuve

[araignees]

It would seem you have an advantage over us.

Honestly, if something as simple as speaking is so dangerous, I'm surprised that anyone here is still capable of it.

[stillstar]

I could show you if you want to know how.

Maybe they don't want to forget. There's fear in that too.

network | un: trip (he's not sorry)

[credibility]

I wasn't allowed to speak for some time but i got over it
So this kinda sucks all things considered
I'm prob gonna get killed at this rate. It's p exciting ngl

threadjacks; hope that's okay

[coquetted]

Is it dying that excites you, sweetheart?
Or the loss of control that leads up to it.

[credibility]

More the latter than the former
I love a good fight and if it means i'll die at the end it'll still be totally worth it

network; un: macaron

[coquetted]

You still looking for answers, sugar?
With a face like that, wouldn't imagine you are.