MOD LOG #1

[bequiet]

MOD LOG #1
Packing Up
Content Warnings: General tension
Themes: Survival, exploration, heavy-lifting

At the end of the month, the natives send out a mass message informing everyone of the upcoming trip to 'meet' the Sound Eaters. Preparing for the trip is simple, though labor intensive, and begins with making certain that everyone packs food, water, clothes, gear, and a twenty-pound package of sand. When it's time for the journey to begin, those tasked with watching the sandpaths, will lead the party on the journey towards the Eiffel Tower. It's a slow trip, a careful one. Natives will take breaks every few hours and when the sun sets, help everyone to set up their bed rolls around a few lanterns. The natives will unveil the star mapping feature, with constellations named and general history attached, on the devices. They will encourage those to tell stories, get out food and water, and 'talk' amongst the group before everyone settles into sleep. Out, under the night sky, the silence is more noticeable - there are no crickets or frogs. This process will repeat for two days until the group reaches the end of their destination at midday.

Sound Eaters
Content Warnings: Disorientation, confusion, character and native death, Sound Eater birth and death, body horror
Themes: Survival, exploration, horror, death

On the third day, characters will finally reach the Eiffel Tower, where the Sound Eaters in this area of France have set up their 'home'. Stopping far enough out to allow for communication, the natives will gesture to the ruins of the structure that appears to be altered. Structures are built up and around the metal frame, closing off different sections with a dark material that glints an oily-green in the light. After explaining that the Sound Eaters are influenced by the weather, rain being an issue for them, they'll take everyone closer. Silence is key here. The natives are visibly wary, tense, and uncomfortable but they believe that showing the arrivals what they're so afraid of will inspire them to be more cautious.

Now, as close to the Sound Eaters as they dare to go (less than a half mile), the natives will have everyone crouch down behind various cars and debris. The devices will say only one word, watch. As the sun begins to set and clouds darken overhead, the tower will open up, the Sound Eaters spilling out. They are split up, as the natives refer to it, into classes - the young, the shifting and the matured. The young are extremely sensitive to sound, volatile and aggressive, humanesque in form with features in various state of change. The shifting are grotesque, splitting and reforming, changing from young to matured in a shift that is punctuated by pained screams and the breaking of bones, splitting of flesh. The matured are in control. They command and guide their kind into a circle, where they all bend down, kneeling as something different than the rest comes out of the tower to stand at the center. The wind catches, dusting up red ash from it and blowing the ash towards the group - there's no way to move and it tastes familiar, coats your skin in red. They all grow quiet and a wrapped form, in the shape of a body, is placed at the Sound Eaters' feet. It crumbles, breaks apart and sprays out over the wrapped figured to completely cover it.

The shards of the Sound Eater bubble up and fuse together, creating a shell. Rain begins to fall. Light, but enough to cause the Sound Eaters to begin to move, pushing against one another but not leaving the circle. There's a shrill sound, an offbeat whistle, air escaping a tight space, a desperate inhale, and then the shell at the center splits apart. A Sound Eater died to create a new life. Smaller than the other young, the 'child' climbs up and out, but it's not the same as the others. It's form is generally human. Dark hair, androgynous features. No eyes. No mouth. Standing, it angles its head towards the matured and they move, as if on command, and surround it as it walks into the tower.

( If anyone makes noise at this point, in any way, the coming bad weather and what just occurred, will result in the Sound Eaters only attacking that person - rather than the whole group. They'll drag that person into the tower and out of sight. The character will be reset. )

The natives are upset. Spooked. They've never seen anything like that and they're quick to tell everyone this, followed by a hasty message to leave. As they're moving, the rain begins to beat down and the ground grows slippery. Making it back to the supplies is troublesome and just as the group gets close, one of the natives slips and tumbles down broken concrete, twisting and smacking against the hard surface until they come to a stop at the bottom. Anyone that goes to help will find that the native has hurt themselves and there's nothing that can be done, despite best efforts. The natives will take the time to wrap their friend up, relaying that the Sound Eaters don't attack now that the rain is heavy, and will begin the slow trek back to the community. They'll camp each night, the same as the trip up, but with an uncomfortable tension that no amount of story telling can break.

It's Raining Me- Rain. It's Just Water.
Content Warnings: None
Themes: Survival, fun, noise-making

After everyone is back in Reims, the natives will split off to bury their dead - they will not allow anyone to accompany them. Everyone is encouraged to head back to the community to get a break from the bad weather and to unload their supplies. The following day, the natives can be heard outside. Splashing and making noise, fixing houses, and what might have been a somber event will quickly turn into something a little more upbeat as rain beats down on the city. Children will play and occasionally laugh, stunted in their ability to enjoy themselves but willing to learn from the arrivals. Bigger items will be moved and natives will encourage everyone to do the 'noisier' things that they need to do. When the rain ends, work will resume as usual and soundproofing will be a lot more difficult - the water washed away sandpaths and damaged some areas. Cleaning up will take time but the natives aren't as unhappy with the situation as they just had a moment's respite from the normal tension of their everyday lives.

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! The OOC Plotting Post.

NAVIGATION

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Comments

[warfares]

Different planet, roughly the same vicinity on the galactic map. [ at a guess; he still hadn't figured out their precise location. ]

I'm from one of the Core worlds originally. [ he lifts his shoulder in a half-shrug. ] Unless you have the date I really couldn't say. [ probably, though. ]

[rockypath]

Well, fuck me. [She mutters, running both hands through her wet brown hair.] Nice to know that nothing matters. Save the world one day, it's just gonna get screwed over the next.

[warfares]

Noble causes often meet futile ends, [ comes the response, tone mild despite the cynicism. One need only look to his family history to see how far good intentions got you in the end. ]

I would not take it personally.

[rockypath]

I'll have to remember to come to you next time I need a pep talk. What's your name, anyway? I mean I'll have to remember it.

It's so hard to find the kind of inspiring shit you're laying down on me right now. [There's a ghost of a smirk underneath the thick fog of futility hovering all around her.]

[warfares]

Kylo Ren, [ it's a name that suits him, at least:a somber name for a somber man, ] and you are?

[rockypath]

[She's tempted to accuse him of making up that name. It sounds fake. But what does she know, all people from space probably had weird sounding names.] Faith Lehane.

[warfares]

[ In all fairness to him, Ben Solo wasn't a name that tended to inspire much fear or aweㅡlikewise, before Rey had marked him, his face had almost been too open.

He cants his head at her when she gives him her name, ] I believe you know a friend of mine: 5'6", brunette. Can do impressive things with her mind.

[rockypath]

Rings a bell. [So he's friends with Rey? And Poe, presumably? She hadn't liked being held by Rey with her mind. Or when she'd tried to get in her head to force her out of Kilgrave's compulsion. Of course, the alternative would have been much worse.] Was she talking about me? [Faith sounds less than pleased about that. There's a thing called privacy, Rey. Geez.]

[warfares]

Only in the most general sense, [ she'd given him a name and made a vague (and largely unhelpful) mention of some ill-conceived rescue attempt, ] she wanted to make me aware of the threat Kilgrave presented and to ask me to kill her should it become necessary.

[rockypath]

What are friends for? [She offers, with a forced smile. Faith definitely doesn't want to murder anyone. But considering the lack of permanency here and that it would free someone from Kilgrave. It's not bad as plans went.]

They didn't kill me. Just... waited it out. Took twenty four hours. [And the time she'd been conscious it had been unbearable.]

[warfares]

[ He cants his head at her, taking in the information she offers. There is something hunched in, almost defeated, about Faith now; anger and self-loathing churning together.

This is an unburdening, he realizes. ] You must have an incredibly strong will. [ then, to clarify: ] What she didㅡwhat she tried to doㅡwould have worked, otherwise.

[rockypath]

When Rey tried to get in my head? Probably helped that I was pissed off but sure. Slayers are good at a lot of things. [She leaves the credit at the door or her calling, as though her force of will isn't even her own.]

So are you like her?

[warfares]

It doesn't work like that, [ his tone is casually matter-of-fact. The word Slayer means as much to him as Jedi and the Force are likely to mean to her, but he knows the limitations of the Mind trick well enough, after having used it for so many years. ]

Somewhat. We follow different paths.

[rockypath]

How does it work then? [She asks, wondering if she'll have to worry about someone doing what Rey had tried to again. Someone who isn't trying to help her. Would she be able to stop them again?]

[The different paths comment has her looking him over, there's a knowing quirk of her brow. Amused.] Oh yeah? Who would have guessed? [The stark contrast is pretty spelled out with the way he's dressed. Even more obvious than the differences between herself and Buffy.]

[warfares]

Do you consider yourself the type to be easily influenced? [ then, to clarify lest she get self-deprecating, ] Independent of Kilgrave; biological agents tend to play by their own rules.

[ He cants his head at her, debating whether or not it's worth mentioning that he'd have killed her purely because it was the most efficient solution. He decides against it; people, in general, tended to not take such things well even when grounded in pragmatism. ]

Philosophical differences, mostly.

oops, lost this tag. my bad

[rockypath]

No, I suppose not. Usually pretty good at spotting that kind of thing. Vampires can sometimes influence people, and I've done decent at avoiding that. Fighting it off.

[If he'd offered the solution, she'd be likely to agree considering that in this place death isn't a permanent thing. It would have been better than the mental agony she'd suffered to escape it.]

no problem.

[warfares]

Then you have no reason to be concerned, [ he says it like it really is that simple, because to him it really is, ] nor should you blame yourself for having succumbed to his influence.

[rockypath]

I guess. It's just I gotta be pissed at someone and Kilgrave's not here right now. [She's just an easy target of her own ire. Faith winks at him then, trying to push past that self-loathing.] I can blame you, if you want? You look like you collect things to brood about.

[warfares]

You have a very simplistic view of the world, [ it's less of an insult than it sounds; he might even envy her a little. Simplicity breeds a kind of certainty and certainty is one of those things he has always lacked. ]

And how would you do that?

[rockypath]

Or you have a too complicated view. Two sides to that street, my friend. [She has plenty of baggage, but she can't be letting it slow her down. Or she wouldn't be able to function.] I don't know. I can get creative. Maybe you had some insight on how to stop my mind being controlled and you did nothing. Although the complication comes in that I haven't even met you until now... damn.

[warfares]

Occupational hazard, [ it's said in the mildest of tones, no further clarification offered. ]

That is quite the reach, [ not bothering to hide his amusement now, a thin smile twitching briefly at the corners of his mouth. ] It sounds as though you had more than enough assistance without my complicating matters further.

[rockypath]

Sure. [Faith is skeptical. She just thinks you're a drama queen, Kylo.]

[She scoffs, looking down at her still scarred wrists from the zipties she'd ripped through during her rescue. They would heal soon enough, but the experience is going to take longer to forget.] It was a bit of a clusterfuck, that's for sure. A lot of people helping, but not enough... smart help. [Faith liked Frank, but it could have used some better planning in hindsight.]

[warfares]

[ Faith, meanwhile, reminds him a little too much of Poe; reckless, impulsive. The kind that dives right in and doesn't ask questions ㅡ it's an attitude that gets people killed. ]

Sentiment tends to cloud our judgement; killing you would have solved the problem and spared you further trauma. [ Rey's lack of training and understanding had driven her to the edge of exhaustion; she could have just as easily killed herself as well as Faith (all of them) in the process. ] You suffered needlessly.

[rockypath]

[She is reckless and it is only until very recently that she had to worry about the lives of anyone but herself. But when the potential Slayers turned full Slayers came into the picture, that had all changed. It had been a rough transition.]

Story of my life. [She's tried to get Angel to kill her to just avoid the suffering of trying to redeem herself and crawl back from the edge.] But you're probably right. Death isn't likely permanent here, so it's a pretty sound choice. Not the I really want to know what it feels like to die... [The coma had been bad enough.]

[warfares]

Does anyone? [ Even he, when taken to that edge, bleeding out, alone in the snow, had found that he had wanted nothing more than to live. ]