quietplacelogs | INTRO LOG #1

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INTRO LOG #1

INTRO LOG #1
Muzzle and Mute
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, 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. You may ask one question and receive one answer.

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.

The Man in the Hat
Content Warnings: Heavy lifting, following the rules, alcoholism
Themes: Moving in, survival, exploration, horror

Once you’ve claimed a room for yourself, it’s time to acclimate to the community. Natives will ask what you need and take you along the sandpaths to different areas in the city to gather supplies - furniture and the like. Heavier items will require assistance and will take longer. Houses are mostly empty so if you and your housemates need something, you’ll have to carry it and put it inside the home. Do not make any noise or the natives will refuse to help you. Getting to know your housemates is key to a smooth transition. They are going through what you are right now; take the time to get to know them. Make house rules.

As the first day gives way to night, the natives can be seen moving at a faster pace outside. They’re hurried, though not frightened. Some even smile at you. When the sun sets behind the ruins of what was once picturesque Reims, your device will signal that it’s time to meet at the center of the community. There, natives will stop each person and give them a small gift - a trinket, a token to show that they are trying their best to make all the new arrivals feel at home. These are all items from the character’s home or from another character's home (they will not be anything that belongs to anyone else). Small, soundless and either something taken during the application process or something brand new. They will have no powers to speak of and are meant to be a momento. If asked, the natives found them the same way they found each of you.

Then the party starts. Sort of. A soundless, stitled kind of celebration. Fun is meant to be had, but it’s not an overly joyous occasion. The natives simply don’t know how to cut loose. There will be extra food in the form of one and two; Phillipa even brought some of her homemade bread. If you stumble across a man wearing a hat, the only man in town who does, and agree to go with him when he offers to show you his house - he’ll gift you with a jar of hooch; it’ll burn on the way down.

Sound Eaters
Content Warnings: Threat, danger
Themes: Survival, exploration, horror, game plot

It’s the second day of your stay, and the natives call for an emergency meeting at the Town Hall. Everyone is paired off (see below) and are asked to walk the perimeter looking for anything out of place and patching any areas that might have been affected by weather. Once finished, the same is done on the inside, and when the community leader is satisfied, the main hall is opened up so that everyone can congregate. Characters, during this time only, are allowed to make sound. This is so that the natives can explain why silence is so necessary...

The Sound Eaters.

In an effort not to frighten everyone, the natives won’t go into the history just yet, but they will warn that when someone makes a sound, it attracts them. They don’t know what they look like because they are so fast. If you’re too loud, then in the blink of an eye, you’ll go through a room reset. This is because either the natives ‘silenced’ you or the Sound Eaters have. They will explain that the room came at the same time the Sound Eaters did and that it doesn’t work for the natives. Sometimes, it doesn’t work on new arrivals. Death, for those born in this world, is permanent. If you attract them, you’ll get someone killed. Hence the need for no noise. During the meeting, the natives will tell each character of their own experiences. Their losses. The families they have left and how they’d do anything to keep them alive. They don’t know if you’ll be reset, but is that a risk you’re willing to take? The meeting will last a few hours and will end on a somber, ominous note - at the end of the month, they are taking everyone to meet them.

OOC
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NAVIGATION

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[She didn't expect a card. Lu Li looks at it, turning it over as though it'll help further clarify what it means. It's the sort any businessman would carry. Utterly mundane, save for the profession printed upon it.]

A HERO.

[She repeats the title, her systems already scanning her files for further clarification. Lu Li knows she won't find one, but. There are times when she can't control her own cybernetic mind.]

YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE ANYONE FROM THE COMIC BOOKS. WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU DO?

[He snorts a bit at her comparison. Comics... Unrealistic depictions, really. He can't deny their presence did shape the art of heroism, creating a wave of flashy, egocentric heroes, and-]

[He pauses, stopping to pinch the bridge of his nose like it will stop the irritating train of thought.]

I'm not some media junkie type of hero... [Although, if this person's only idea of heroes was from comic books, they wouldn't have a clue what the job actually entailed.] I respond to some large events, major villain sightings... I've worked with a few offices in cooperative efforts but these days I get enough done to get by on my own. It's a lot more logistics and paperwork than people care to believe.

Does that address your question? [He holds their gaze. While he's spoken a bit about heroes as a career, there is a pointed lack of his own abilities. It's a bit of an old habit. The more people knew about you, the more that could be countered.]

[Comics are a sore spot, huh? On some level, Lu Li can empathize. The sensationalist coverage of Cassie's work drove her crazy. Perhaps it was the same for professional "heroes?" She nods.]

THEN YOU ARE A SUPERPOWERED POLICE MAN.

[It sounds ridiculous to say but she's woken up in an entirely new world. The implausible is no longer a distant idea.]

THAT EXPLAINS YOUR LACK OF TIGHTS.

We're separate from the police for legal reasons but... you could call it that. [The nitpicking details between the two organizations was more a topic for some upper-level class than the situation they were in right now. He was a hero, he maintained the peace in a way that only he could.]

[His lips tug back, a little bemused by the reference to certain hero costumes.]

If tights helped me do my job better, I'd consider them. [Plenty of heroes did, he wasn't going to tightshame so long as it matched the powerset. Midnight certainly wouldn't let him.] As it stands, I don't need them.

[That's a fair response and, if Lu Li could laugh, she would've. She opts for a different way of expression by holding up her device.]

( ´ ▽ ` ) VERY FUNNY.

[And now she'll speak:]

ALL RIGHT, MR. HERO. I AM WILLING TO HELP YOU.

[It really isn't a good interface for socializing, is it... So it stands that it's not one of their functions. Still, they want to. Little details.]

We're all helping each other here... but I'm glad for your cooperation. [He'd be a leader if he had to and not a step more. He didn't need the attention.] And you can call me by my hero name. You saw it, after all. ["Eraserhead" written clearly on his card and attached to his picture on the network profiles.]

How about you? [he gestures to... all of her.] Name. Qualifications.

[Socializing is hard when you have no face and you can't speak like a person would. How in the world did Asimov's robots do it? We just don't know. Lu Li is quickly becoming comfortable in Eraserhead's presence - strange as his name and job may be. He hasn't shown any suspicion or discomfort around her, which would have made her antsy.

That's why she puts a hand over her chest, head dipping as if trying to convey a polite air. She knows her voice can't convey her emotions properly.]

MY NAME IS LU LI. I USED TO BE AN ARTIST.

[Her eye quickly shutters, akin to a blink.]

I USED TO BE. HUMAN. I'M SORRY. I'M NO ONE SPECIAL.

[It's close enough to a bow and he gets the sense of politeness. There'e propriety in that and that's fine. The lack of emotion in her voice is fine, too, although it clashes with what she says then. His eyes narrow a bit, at the apology.]

... You offered because you had something to offer, right? [he taps a finger against his leg,] That's all I meant by it.

People who are preoccupied with being "special" rarely contribute enough anyways.

[She cants her head to the side, as if reassessing Eraserhead. This man is still a stranger. For all she knows, he's some quack job claiming to be a hero. But the pragmatic way he approaches things is a comfort. She'll take that for now.]

SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE PROFESSIONAL. INDEED. THIS BODY WAS DESIGNED FOR THE BATTLEFIELD. IF THERE IS SOMETHING DANGEROUS TO BE TESTED.

[The sentence cuts off midway, as if she's hesitating.]

I WOULD BE A GOOD CANDIDATE.

[Hesitation was natural, in a situation like that.]

I see. [There were all sorts of questions about that situation but none would be relevant to the situation they were in. An artist in a body designed for the battlefield. He's used to using robots to test his students skills, with the idea to minimize casualties. Those robots usually don't talk, though. They don't gesture. They certainly don't use emoticons.]

No matter what we're testing, or who's triggering the sound... we shouldn't take a risk we're likely to lose. [The words she chose, what she said... they all rung of a civilian, trapped in this situation like so many others around here. He wouldn't disrespect her by refusing her help entirely but he wouldn't dare consider her an expendable body.]

... How is it moving around in that, anyways? [he tilts his head a bit, considering that now she she'd mentioned the body it was a fair time to look it over more carefully instead of maintaining their strange "eye contact." A body like that seemed like it should make noise but maybe the technology was better. She'd barely made a sound when gesturing, after all.]

[It can't show on her face, but she's relieved to hear his response. Logically, she knows what's happening in this Reims isn't her problem. Lu Li has enough to worry about. She has no obligation to those around her, not when she already has a vital goal to accomplish.

But her heart has always dictated her actions. France was where she had her honeymoon with Cassie. This town - regardless of whether it's her version France or not - strengthens the memories she has. The least she can do for the people here is to offer the unnatural, metal shell she's trapped in. Eraserhead reaffirmed that she was valued just as much as the other civilians. It's remarkable how much she appreciates that small implication.]

... IT'S ODD.

[Lu Li lets him look. She'd normally wear thick layers of clothes to hide the robotic nature of her body. A quick scan should be enough to tell Eraserhead that the android was designed for combat. Though it's clear that the plating is thick, it folds easily as skin would.

She looks away while he does so. This isn't a topic she enjoys touching upon.]

IT LISTENS TO ME LIKE MY OLD BODY. I DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS MOVING. BUT WHEN I LOOK AT IT, I KNOW IT ISN'T MINE. IT'S. LIKE A PHANTOM PAIN. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

[I suppose when there isn't really a way to "close" her eyes, looking away would have to work. He recognizes the gesture, though. That wasn't a sort of nostalgic looking away, like someone about to go into a story. He takes note of the features of the body, recognizes it's for combat, then returns his eyes to her face.]

I can't say I've experienced anything like it. [For all the danger he'd put himself in, he kept his limbs. They were battered and scarred but still there. He can't imagine that feeling extending to the entire body. He can't imagine feeling anything other than belonging in his body.] I'm familiar with the idea.

... I doubt there's any way to ease that sensation here. [So, it's not his job to, it's not his job to pry too deeply. There were too many perplexing elements of "used to" being human, an artist in a body clearly designed for combat, and wondering if a brain, a spirit, or- some part of him considers- a very deluded AI piloting it. Whatever they were, they could at least work together.]

[It's a lot of thought for not much actually said. When he does speak, the sentences come out evenly, there are just pauses between them, pauses for thoughts, where sometimes he could jump quickly back to another topic.]

If the body's designed for the battlefield, are you capable of fighting? [Is it built into the body or simply a product of the person controlling it?]

[To have it acknowledged is already enough. Lu Li's expectations for human interactions are astonishingly low these days. Those who have been kind to her have already risen above the bar.

She knew the question would come up sooner or later, since she's offered her help. It's only right for Eraserhead to know what she can actually do. Though this body isn't "hers," she can at least use it to help someone survive. Lu Li turns her head slightly so she can face him.]

OF COURSE. THE WEAPONS BUILT-IN WERE REMOVED, BUT I DON'T THINK MANY, IF ANY, HUMANS CAN HURT ME.

[. . .]

NOT COUNTING SUPERHEROES.

[No offense Eraserhead!!!! As if to apologize, she quickly adds:]

THIS BODY WAS BUILT TO PROTECT BASES OFF-WORLD.

[He considers it carefully. The idea of there being off-world bases matched the impeccable degree of technology along with whatever strange, illogical consciousness-transfer she had experienced. The idea of being nigh-invulnerable isn't so much a fighting style, though. He leans over and raps against her arm with a knuckle, making a small click with his tongue.]

I don't think I could make much of a dent in you, honestly. I'm not that type of hero. [He doesn't blame her for assuming, though. Heroes from comics generally didn't have the limitations that real once had to work through. Everyone wanted to be a kind of hero like All Might: super strong, super fast, a real textbook example. He just did what he could.]

If it comes to fighting, we'll rely on you for defense. There are plenty of noncombatants here that will need protection. [That also held the advantage of her not needing to necessarily have good combat reflexes.]

[His knuckles will meet unbending metal, a muted thud sounding out from the force. If Lu Li could give him a look, she would. Though she's quickly growing comfortable with Eraserhead, she doesn't like it when her personal space is invaded. The most she can do is shrink her eye a bit - "narrowing" it, so to speak.]

OH, SO I'LL STAND THERE. I CAN DO THAT.

[Easy enough, ha ha. She knows there's more to it than that, but she can't help that little quip.]

WHAT "TYPE" OF HERO ARE YOU, THEN? YOUR CARD DIDN'T DO A GOOD JOB EXPLAINING.

[That's fair, he'll withdraw the hand after "knocking." Also, the delightful discovery that robots are capable of sarcasm.]

I'm classified as support. [Which, he'd never liked that classification system but it gave the correct implication that he wasn't the real firepower. He didn't want to talk through exactly what his limits were. It was too naturally ingrained to keep that a secret.] That means my strength comes in neutralizing enemies, not outright smashing them.

[He idly grasps at the collar of the jumpsuit, a gesture for part of his clothes that weren't with him anymore. He can't really give a demonstration.]

We deal with villains non-lethally, anyways, so... Restraining them is usually sufficient.

[It's a special trait that only questionable human robots can have!

"Neutralizing" enemies is an interesting way of describing his powers. It doesn't give Lu Li a clearer image of what exactly he does - judging by the way he grabs at his collar, maybe it has to do something with a suit...? She cants her head, a clear gesture of curiosity.]

I CAN SEE THAT. YOU DON'T LOOK THE TYPE OF HERO THEY CAN SELL ON A CEREAL BOX.

[Her eye glows a bit brighter in amusement.]

SORRY. IT'S REALLY FUNNY TO ME!

[She doesn't have to apologize for laughter that can't be heard, but - it feels nice to. It makes her keep some of her human habits.]

[He rolls his eyes. Any other hero would match Lu Li's mental image better. Still, the fact he of all people was chosen... it was probably for the best. He was equipped to deal with it. From how the locals spoke, even super flashy powers wouldn't be as useful.]

I prefer to not attract attention. [he glances down at the drab, beige jumpsuit he'd been given.] Even if they didn't take my hero outfit, it would take some convincing to make people believe it was anything special. [which was how he liked it, of course, he somehow managed to wear that thing out to grocery shopping without issue. His coworkers mistook them for pajamas, once (which, they could work as).]

If any of my colleagues show up, you'll probably notice them... even dressed like this.

[Of course, he doesn't want any of them to show up. He'd only be more irritated about how their students were deprived more protection. And it's not like he'd die without their company.]

[The implication that his colleagues would stand out so much makes sense. They are, after all, superheroes, right? But Lu Li doesn't voice that thought aloud. She knows what his views are in regards to the comic book image she has in her head.

(That doesn't mean she still can't find it funny.)]

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

[She can guess, but she wants to hear Aizawa incriminate them in his own words.]

[There is a pause where he just looks at her, like questioning if she's really going to make him say it. Of course, the only response is that unresponsive face and... for a moment, he maybe understands how other people feel when he asks those sort of questions. As a less extreme example, of course.]

In some cases, their powers have altered their appearance. In other cases, their powers are so much a part of them that they'll let it be known immediately.

[With the serious options out of the way, he shrugs.] ... and a lot of them are just obnoxiously heroic. [he grits his teeth a bit, as if he's annoyed, but... it's just how they were, no malice about it.]

[Sometimes, being fed your own medicine is fun.

Lu Li's eye shutters halfway again.]

I SEE. AND YOU LIKE BEING SUBTLY HEROIC.

[................... Well, when she puts it like that. There's an exhaled breath through his teeth, looking a bit embarrassed. Just a bit.]

I just don't feel the need to be excessively praised for doing the right thing.

[Ah, so that's the kind of personality he has.]

THEN I THINK WE'LL GET ALONG GREAT. I CAN'T STAND THE SPOTLIGHT, EITHER.

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INTRO LOG #1

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