INTRO LOG #3

[bequiet]

INTRO LOG #3
Put a Sock in It
Content Warnings: Disorientation, memory loss, confusion
Themes: Arrival, survival, exploration, horror

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. By the time they’re through, you will have begun to come back to yourself.

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, Constance, with a child hugging her leg - 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. You may ask one question and receive one answer. There are others like you in the room, those who'd come earlier. They're there to help.

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.

Now, you're to settle into your new home – with or without the help of those who have come before you.

In Freakish Flight
Content Warnings: Threat to safety, death, weird creatures
Themes: Plot, survival

This is the tale that was told to me by the man with the crystal eye,
As I smoked my pipe in the camp-fire light, and the Glories swept the sky;
As the Northlights gleamed and curved and streamed, and the bottle of "hooch" was dry.

The new arrivals are here, like clockwork it seems. A strange occurrence that the natives haven't missed. They don't have answers but following support and encouragement from some of the older arrivals, they have been looking into it. If they notice anything odd, they post it to the bulletin board and they're working as hard as ever to help. Settling in is easier this time around, smoother, as everyone is more prepared than before. The first few days go well, one of the natives finds a patch of wild berries and makes fresh jam - serves it with breakfast until it runs out. There's a nice breeze that night, not too hot and not too cold. The stars twinkle and the moon is full, a pleasant atmosphere rolls through the community as everyone falls asleep.

Everyone wakes to the soft sounds of birds chirping. There's a light fog, windows misted over, and abruptly, it goes quiet. The only way to see outside is to open the door and those curious brave enough will find, covered in red dust, a handful of individually unique creatures scattered around the fountain at the center of the community. There's about fourteen of them - each one focused on the door of the main residences and two have scurried off towards the others, quiet now but watching. After the first door opens, they move, stopping only when they're right in front of each of the houses and then the sounds start again. Louder.

OOC: Removing the threat, these creatures, is possible in a few ways. They have a weakness for water, which slows them down and shuts them up. They can be killed, the same as any normal animal might. Or they can be captured, something tied around their bills to silence them. Unfortunately, only a few will survive being caught alive ( we randomized out of the twelve houses - 5, 1, 2, 12, and Private Housing (Sora) and the Permanent Apartments ) and can be kept for study. The players in each house can decide what they want to do with them or use the comment below if they want to hand it over. As a side note, the dead ones can be kept too.

Alone or Together
Content Warnings: Poisoning
Themes: Plot

Up until now everything around here has been, well, pleasant. Recently certain things have become unpleasant. Now, it seems to me that the first thing we have to do is to separate out the things that are pleasant from the things that are unpleasant.

The natives have been up front about those that came through the Reset Room before. Some left, some didn't survive, and a few now call themselves natives. The above message lights up everyone's devices ( username - lamar ) but all ways to respond are disabled. A follow up message comes from Constance, explaining that they don't know how the message has been sent due to the fact that Lamar has been dead for over a decade. That night at dinner, the set up in town hall, the natives are abuzz talking about the mysterious message. Food is passed out. Drinks are had.

Before the first person leaves the hall, a plume of red dust sprays out from an old vent near the floor boards and fills the room. Quickly, all color is leached from the world. Every person is now color blind, seeing everything in varying shades of black, white, and grey as they cough and choke, trying to clear the dust from their faces and mouths. Was this Lamar? Was this the person who rigged up the noise machine in Verdel Square? What did the message mean?

OOC: The effects will fade after twenty four hours. All arrivals, new and old, plus all natives will be effected. For each character, one person will still be in color. Players can decide who this is. A friend, lover, enemy, one of the natives.

OOC
From your mods:

Please be mindful of content - if something triggery comes up or if it goes up a rating to say, something sexy, mark your threads in the subject line. We're very flexible and allow any material; we just want our players to be respectful of each other. If you have questions, pp the mod account, use the faq or comment to the appropriate post below. Have fun!

NAVIGATION

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Comments

[ex_tagartist520]

[ Meanwhile, she just be mildly disappointed it's not hard lemonade. Getting drunk sounded pretty fucking good right now. She took the glass with a nod of thanks, going to take a sip and winces immediately as the lemons hit the cuts in her mouth. Fuck, bad idea - but she's thirsty enough to push through it, taking another large gulp before she puts the glass down on the counter. ]

Six-- No, seventeen? [ Who doesn't know their own age ] The months are a little off here from what they were back home.

[clussy]

(Maybe another day when he could trust her to not tattle. Not that she seemed the type, but Eddie was prone to keeping his guard up. He notices the wince and frowns.)

Are you okay? (It doesn't occur to him that her mouth might be injured.

It was fair enough. Eddie's pretty sure she isn't the only one. He only knew his age because his birthday had just happened.)

Yeah- so is the year, I think. Hold on.

(Eddie scurries off into the house to get those things. He pulls the relatively thick quilt off his own bed and carefully folds it up into a square. He grabs one of his two pillows and plops it on top. Then he ducks into the bathroom. Thankfully he had fresh toothbrushes in abundance from the hospital. He was raised with the mentality of throwing out your toothbrush after getting sick. Now he was glad for that. He grabs her one of the plastic-wrapped toothbrushes, and one of the small boxes of toothpaste. It'd probably be a little gross considering how old it was, but it would work. He considers his stock, and after a while, grabs a bar of generic hospital soap, and some of those non-allergenic small conditioner and shampoo bottles.

What else did girls need? He tucks his current stash into a bag. It didn't put too bad of a dent in his supplies. Kid kept stocked up, that's for sure. It was mostly because he was trying to run a bit of a personal clinic out of his bathroom.

His eyes light on a single box of...girl stuff and his face goes a bit red. Taking a deep breath, he grabs a handful of pads and shoves them to the very bottom of the bag. After that, he all but sprints out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. He ties the bag up and grabs the bundle of blanket and pillow before heading back out to the kitchen. He sets the bundle up on the counter, staring down at it.)

This should probably all hold you over til you find stuff of your own. Umm. I tried to think of basics. (He's just gonna stare at the quilt for a while, don't mind him.)

If you ever- need anything? Like. Medically. I'm sorta...I'm learning a lot of that stuff and have medicine stuff here to help.

[ex_tagartist520]

[ She gives a vague sort of gesture at the bruises on her face, a simple shrug after, figuring it was enough of an explanation for why her mouth might've had cuts as well. ] Been better. It'll heal. Especially if I keep drinking lemonade, right? [ That was some old wives tale, wasn't it? If it burned, it cleaned it out and encouraged it to heal faster or... something.

Whatever.

She waits while he goes and gathers up the things, taking another gulp from the glass (it's good and she thinks it's numbing the cut anyway) and definitely taking her time to glance through the kitchen like the nosy type she can be. Maybe she chose the wrong house to live in - well stocked kitchens are a thing she's got envy for even back home.

Turning around pretty quick when he comes back in, she goes to take the bundle from him with a small smile of thanks, glancing through it to see what the basics were and -- ] Huh. Guess you really did think of everything. [ She'd be thankful for that later, that's for sure. ]

You're old enough to study medicine? [ She thinks that's probably not true, but the question needs asking, alright. ]

[clussy]

Lemonade is pretty cleansing. (Said rather matter-of-factly. Eddie being from the fifties meant he fully believed that wives tale.

Eddie wouldn't blame her for her nosiness. God only knows he was the same way. Probably even a bit worse. People had made sure the kids here had what they needed, and Eddie had always been glad for that. More than that though, the kids in this particular house were efficient. Each of them had always been independent in some small way. Slap them together and you have a fully functioning house.

Eddie knew they'd have to leave soon though. They were outgrowing the house.

He gives a small shrug.)

Yeah. Well.

(Like he said. Medical stuff. Plus he had maybe thought to get those things for Max. And Bev. Cripplingly embarrassing for him, but it was worth it for his friends' comfort, he knows.)

I don't really know if I'm old enough but I'm not really old enough for a lot of the stuff that goes on here. (Or back home, for the matter.) I'm pretty sure I shouldn't really even have a job, but if I'm gonna be doing stuff, I figured I might as well do stuff I like and that's useful.

Do you have a job yet?

[ex_tagartist520]

Guess that's fair. [ She wasn't sure she was old enough for the stuff that went on around here either, when it came down to it. At least not if that info packet was accurate. Angry drug dealers and missing parents were starting to sound like a cake walk.

At least she'd keep his offer for medical care in mind. If she ever got better about the whole 'accepting help with her injuries' thing, anyway.

Chloe couldn't help the amused smile at the ask about her job, putting the bag of supplies down on the floor for the moment if she was going to stand and talk rather than being asked to leave right away. ]

Uh, yeah. They said I could be a... teacher? I guess? [ She rolls her eyes slightly at the thought. ] I'm gonna assume they're desperate if they're giving me a position like that.

[clussy]

(It wasn't the first time someone here was given the job of 'teacher' without being exactly qualified. Will was a teacher after all, technically, and he was Eddie's age. Not that Will wasn't smart, but he definitely was no teacher. It makes Eddie crack a genuine smile.)

Seems kinda funny. I don't think they care what you teach. (He doesn't know what Chloe is into so he can't make any suggestions really. If she planned to stay and talk, that was just fine with Eddie. She seemed a lot less scary now that they were talking, and he moves to pour himself some lemonade.)

I think they're desperate in general. They gave me construction work. (He gives Chloe a really deadpan look before pointing to himself and slowly reiterating:) Me. In construction. I know you don't know me but it doesn't really take a rocket scientist to figure out how fucking dumb that is.

(His arms were like noodles! He gives a sigh and sips at his lemonade instead.)

So I think they kind of just put names in a jar and shake it all up and decide to do whatever.

[ex_tagartist520]

That's brimming me with confidence in their management abilities. [ It's said entirely flatly, but there's a twitch of a smile at the fact that he was going to be made a construction worker. There's a fairly obvious look over like she's trying to assess where they got the idea for it.

Yeah she's definitely not seeing it. ] Maybe they wanted you to carry the tools. My dad always said that was a real important part of fix it projects. Tool carrying.

[ She knows he just said it to make her feel like she was helping when she was younger and not actually able to handle any of them, but that is entirely beside the point. ]

So they let you switch out of it?

[clussy]

Oh yeah. It's real assuring. (Eddie drawls these words, looking rather deadpan as he does so. He had absolutely no faith in the adult natives of this place. They seemed to be hiding way too much while also not having a single clue what to do.

He snorts at that suggestion.)

Oh trust me. I'd mess even that up in a heartbeat. I can barely carry my gardening tools.

(Although he had been getting stronger lately. Which felt nice.)

Did you carry a lot of tools for your dad? (This intrigues Eddie purely because he never really knew his dad and the fifties weren't really known for having dads who bonded with their daughters. At least not in normal, healthy ways.)

Yeah. It wasn't too hard, honestly.

[ex_tagartist520]

Glad adults are as reliable as fucking ever. [ Given that it had been less than twenty-four hours, she clearly had no faith in all of this from the start. She's still in the process of trying to get herself to realize this isn't just some fucked up dream, though, so her opinions are unreliable.

There's a small laugh at his admission, grabbing her glass so she can take another sip of the lemonade after. Hardly stinging this time, she's going to stick to her guns on that whole 'lemonade heals all wounds' thing.

Plus it gave her something to focus on so she didn't visibly tense at the question. Talking about her dad still isn't easy. She's wondering when it's supposed to get easier, but she doesn't know that it ever will. Placing the cup down, she keeps her eyes on the counter when she speaks, since it's easier than looking right at him. ] Yeah. Eventually he taught me how to use them. I'd be a hell of a lot more suited for construction than teaching. Maybe I should look at switching sometime.

[clussy]

(In one fell swoop Chloe earned automatic credibility. Anyone who knew that adults were pieces of shit had pretty good notes in Eddie's books. No one with half a brain would ever think otherwise. So Eddie smirks at that, feeling himself calm down even more with Chloe. It might not be some enlightening moment of trust being established, but it still made him feel better about her.)

I could count the amount of reliable adults I really know on one hand. (There were good, kind ones here, but Eddie still wasn't sure how they were in terms of being truly reliable.

Maybe it was because he had so many friends with bad home lives that he just knew the look of someone who didn't quite know how to talk about their own parents. It's not like Chloe made it painfully obvious, but...Eddie knew better than to pry. Maybe her daddy beat her. Or maybe he was dead. It could be anything. Eddie sips on his drink.)

You can switch whenever you want I think.

(Gently slides away from the topic. Just in case.)

They have a bunch of options. What kinda stuff do you like doing?

[ex_tagartist520]

[ There's a hum of agreement. She wasn't sure that she could count many more than that. She certainly hadn't been here long enough to meet any, though there were one or two she could see being at least alright in her book if she got to know them better.

She's thankful when he doesn't push for more, focusing on the idea of changing jobs pretty quickly. Though she realized just as fast she didn't exactly have a list of skills. ] Uh... [ Did she like doing things anymore? It was hard to remember the last time she cared.

A Professional Weed Smoker is probably not something she'd want to advertise for her skills, that's for sure. ]

I like to fix cars, but I can't see that being very helpful here. I draw a lot? I dunno. Nothing I can think of that would be really good for career options. Maybe that's why they assigned me my job - if you can't do, teach, right?