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
From your mods:

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NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They might be somewhere in the furniture store? I've brought a few things back from there.

[He's doing his best to help everyone get their furniture in, and grab things for the rooms that will be used in common, too--people are naturally most concerned about their bedrooms right now, after all. But someone needs to get things like dining room tables and couches, right?]

Okay. Can you show me where it is? [Faith asked feel ridiculous, but growing more used to talking to the carpet as time went on.]

Is there anything you needed or want? Maybe I could help you find them too? [What a carpet needed, she'd no idea. But that's what polite people did, right? Try to help right back?]

I don't need anything, but I can show you!

[Faith is absolutely right. Why would a rug need anything? He exists to take care of other people's needs, people like her!]

Edited 2018-01-17 05:02 (UTC)

Lead the way, then? [She was just going to embrace the insanity.]

So... you just showed up here too? [This was her lead up to figuring out just what the hell he/she/it was. Obviously a flying carpet, but from where? And how? She wasn't getting any sort of demonic vibe from him, anything but.]

[Carpet nods to confirm that; he'd just..... found himself here, just like everyone else. He makes a beckoning gesture soon after, though, rising several feet into the air and gliding towards the door; if she wants him to lead the way, then he'll gladly do so.]

[She followed after him, the gesture clear enough. It's not a long walk, but it is a surreal one. Once they find the building she moved forward to ask him something else.] Where are you from? I've never run into a flying carpet before.

I live in Agrabah. Have you ever heard of it? Where are you from?

[It's easy enough to type while pushing the door open; Carpet holds it to let Faith through. Now, where would bedroom furniture be.....?]

Never heard of it, sorry. I'm from the United States?

Of America?

[If she hadn't heard of where he was from, maybe he won't have heard of the US either. Not necessarily, of course. Faith wasn't exactly well read and up on world geography.

She followed inside, looking around. There was a lot in here, the trouble would be sifting through to find something that wasn't garbage.]

I've never heard of that kingdom either. Where is it?

[He can't get high enough to survey the entire store, thanks to the roof. Even so, he should be able to see all the signs from up there? Carpet rises high overhead to get a good look, scanning the store to look for the right department.]

It's not a kingdom. there's no king. There a president. People vote for them. [Faith wasn't exactly an expert on government. Hell, she'd never even voted.] It's... in North America? [She shrugged, not sure how else to explain where it was.

She moved away from the carpet to have a look around the aisle of furniture. If the carpet directed her somewhere, she would follow.]

How do they know who to vote for?

[So a president is a king that people choose to rule over them? What an odd idea..... who ever chooses their master? Masters are the ones with the power to make decisions like those.

Regardless of how weird democracy may or may not be, though, Carpet dips down to start leading Faith deeper into the store; he's spotted some dressers, so he's pretty sure that's the right direction to go in.]

There's debates, I think? But I'm pretty sure most people don't put that much thought into it... it's always some asshole.

all politicians are shit. [Faith wasn't ever very impressed with those in authority.]

[She followed after him, spotting the dressers in the distance. Moving forward, she had a look at them all. She didn't need anything fancy. Which was good, because there wasn't anything here that was all that nice. She spotted one that looked like it had a good number of drawers and pointed it out to Carpet.

How he could help her, she wasn't sure. But there was only one way to find out.]

Why wouldn't you put thought into who's going to be your master? Isn't it worth the effort to pick someone good?

[~~Gasp, how dare you swear in front of a Disney, Faith!1111~~ That's..... not how democracy and politics actually work in the modern era, Carpet. Sorry. He glides over to take a look at the dresser regardless, raising a tassel for a gesture that looks rather like someone rubbing their chin. Trying to carry two big pieces of furniture at once would be pretty difficult, not to mention potentially noisy..... one at a time is considerably more doable, though.]

I could take this back while you look for the beds?

[Faith can't help it! She's not exactly a Disney princess, after all. Swearing comes far too naturally for her to stop herself.] Probably is. But people suck. And apathy is the name of the game, Mr. Carpet.

[It was really disconcerting watching a carpet deep in thought. Looking at the dresser and then him, she raised her brow.] Can you carry this whole thing on your back?

I can lift it and put it on you, then?

[~~She will be spared from being asked to explain what those words mean, at least.~~ Carpet still can't say he understands why people would be apathetic about their ruler, but..... well, if Faith says so, then it must be so. This United States really must be a sad place to live, though, if everyone is so apathetic!]

If you tip it onto me, I should be able to take care of the rest.

[Carpet lines himself up with the back of the dresser, standing up straight behind it and readying himself to bodily catch the piece. Just tipping it off-balance should be enough to let him catch it, and silently lower it down to being horizontal and laying fully on him..... and once it's situated to be easily carried, all he'll have to do is the reverse to get it set up in Faith's room! Nothing to it, right?]

[Nothing to it. So long as he could do all of this quietly. Still, she'll trust the Carpet- and that had to have been about the weirdest phrase that had ever crossed her subconscious, right there.

She nodded, moving to lift and then set the dresser down on him on it's side as slowly and quietly as she could herself. She won't just let it tip and fall onto the him as there was too much potential for that to cause a noise. She going to do it responsible, like.]

[Done as carefully as Faith is moving, Carpet doesn't even falter under the weight. He simply sinks down obligingly to let the dresser settle, waiting until it's stable before rising back to a proper height. He's definitely moving more slowly now, either from the weight or the need to be careful with it--but he waves to Faith before heading for the door. It may take a little bit, but he'll be right back!]

[Faith watched him go, fascinated. He was certainly going to be useful to have around. While she waited, she had a look at bed frames, also collecting other random items. And- gasp, some books. There wasn't a whole lot else to do around here and she'd need some way to not lose her mind.

When he returned she'd find her with a box fool of smaller items, standing in front of a bed frame and a small side table. She gave him a wave.]

[Carpet waves in return as he rejoins Faith, taking a look at what she'd collected. A little more than he'd expected, huh? But that just meant she'd found other things she needed, it was good to do that in as few stops as you could, right?]

You found it! What else did you get?

Just a few smaller things. Found some old books- Count of Monte Cristo, Moby Dick... not much of a reader but it's something to do. Also found some blankets for my bed. And a pillow. [It was all the basics to start making her room something she could actually live in.]

Maybe I could set the table on you and then I can follow with the stuff in the box?

[He's never heard of those..... then again, it isn't as though he's had much occasion to read, himself. As long as they help keep her occupied, it doesn't matter what they are, anyway. Carpet sizes the bedframe and table up critically, scratching his head as he considers the suggestion.]

I'm not sure I could get the bed and table without the table falling off. Maybe if you can get the legs between the crosspieces and I go slow?

[Dropping something or having the table rattle around are pretty much out of the question here; if the table can't be kept steady, it'll have to be a two trip process. Even if they do find a way to make it work, that's definitely not a maneuver he can do by himself; Faith will have to be the one to make sure the table is in position.]

[Faith considered it all. Maybe she could get both the table and the box herself, but the box was large and a bit awkward to carry one handed.]

We can give it a shot and see if we can get them both on. Then I can walk beside you to keep it all steady with my free hand?

[She walked over the the bed frame to work on getting it on him first, adjusting the pieces to set across him. Then the moves to set the end table overtop to keep the pieces of wood in place.] Good? Yes, no? We can take it real slow-like.

[It's not hard to get the furniture settled; once he slides under the frame, all she has to do is lift each end a little in turn, so he can stretch out fully and get properly centered. Carpet shifts a little under the load to test it, starting to rise into the air, then gives Faith a thumbs up. Everything seems stable to him! And with her following along to prevent any mishaps and unload him, they should be able to do this quietly enough to satisfy even the locals.]

[Faith was usually an incredibly impatient person. Taking things slow. Being careful? Who needed that? But she's doing well here. She walked slow, kept her free hand resting on the table in case it swayed eyes on the rest. They got this.

Once they got to the house, she opened the door and then was back at Carpet's side to get everything inside.]

[Even Carpet, patient and steady as he generally is, seems glad to get unloaded. The process of getting the bedframe and mattress situated together where they're supposed to be is tedious, let alone doing it quietly; by the time they're done, Carpet takes a moment to just give himself an energetic shake in midair, like a freshly-bathed dog spraying water every which way the moment it's freed from the tub. After all that tension and carefulness, they can finally relax!]

INTRO LOG #1

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