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

---

Comments

[ex_tagartist520]

[ she smiles a little at max, looking at the house frank gestured too and giving a nod of her own. she stays close to his dog while she walks, still occasionally glancing at him because she just in case, even if she doesn't actually... say anything. it's probably for the best in a place like this that she's used to not talking anyway. ]

[oorah]

[ frank is just as used to not talking, and he finds it strangely comforting now. knowing they can make noise, but choosing not to. out of habit, he checks the door hinges before opening it for her, moving ahead just for that moment in order to beeline towards the fridge. the house is an open floorplan, almost cavernous really. there's the beginnings of some soundproofing in the kitchen and it's a bit lacking in the furnishing department. there is a low-slung light fixture over a table and four chairs though, almost like civilized people live here. spoilers: they don't. it's just frank and david. and a dog.

he fires up the stove without cause for worry which feels like a luxury. he puts an old pot on the burner and waits for it to heat up as he goes to retrieve a left over hot dog from the freezer. he still has ingredients to make his mustard so he whips that up in the mean time. ]

[ex_tagartist520]

[ she spent most of the time wondering if she should light a cigarette, but she's already had one today and faith only gave her a pack... when they make it to the house, she's able to push the craving to the side to focus on looking around while he's making his way to the stove to cook the hot dog. not like she wasn't going to take the opportunity to be nosy when the occasion arrived for it.

don't mind her just going through your stuff, frank. boundaries are not her strong suit. ]

[oorah]

[ he doesn't have much to go through, at least not in here. there's a room with just pillows and blankets in it that will one day be an epic fort. other than that, the house is kind of... empty so far, save for the garage. he cooks the hot dog and hums a little to himself without noticing he's doing it. ]

[ex_tagartist520]

[ somehow that all isn't so surprising. chloe makes a mental note to at least make him some kind of cool art for his walls, before she goes to move back to the kitchen again, going to use one of the counters as a seat like all civilized teens do. ]

Faith said you're working on sound proofing houses.

[oorah]

[ he throws her a look over his shoulder for jumping up on the counter, but there's no heat behind it. it's just a dad thing. ]

Yeah, I've got a bunch of guys on the job. No reason all those houses shouldn't be sealed up tight. Which one are you in? [ not because he's going to keep an eye on her or anything, nope!!!!! ]

[ex_tagartist520]

[ oh. hey. it's been a while since she's that particular look. she almost looks like she'll get down but - nah. ]

Four. [ but that's not the POINT, why did she bring this up again. ] Did you need any more extra hands? [ she says with the confidence of someone who is 99% sure she's gonna hear the word 'no' ]

[oorah]

[ he files it away, plating up her dog with a dollop of mustard as god intended and bringing it over to her. max, of course, follows dutifully behind. frank sets it on the counter next to her and spares her the lecture, and even seems to brighten a bit at her offer. ] Sure we could use as many bodies as we can get. It's slow and rotten work, just letting you know.

[ex_tagartist520]

[ she's picking up that hot dog and biting into it like she hasn't eaten in weeks, busted lip be damned. it hasn't actually been weeks - it was more like. this morning, probably. but she's a never ending pit of hunger, really.

... she'll just. also talk with her mouth full. manners are also not her strong suit. ] I don't care. I like that kind of stuff.

[oorah]

I like that kind of stuff, too. [ menial labor, hard work. he crosses his arms across his chest and nods. ] I'll bring some stuff by tomorrow we'll get to work.

[ex_tagartist520]

[ she's doing her best to not look excited by the prospect as she finishes off the hotdog and hops off the counter. ] Cool.