INTRO LOG #1

[bequiet]

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:

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

[oorah]

[ no offense since the other guy looks much much worse. frank reads the words as they appear and nods, inclining his head to indicate she should come with him. maybe he should get a couch too. not that he expects to ever let anyone else into his shitty garage, but you never know right? frank takes quickly to the sandpath outside her house, not waiting for her to follow or looking to see if she will. ]

[rockypath]

[One thing that made her well suited for this place (since nearly everything else about her didn't) was that she was light on her feet. She followed Frank at a quick but very silent pace.

She watched him as they walked, so he may have sensed the eyes burning holes through the back of his head. Then she caught up beside him, finally, keeping pace with him. Faith handed her device over to him.]

I'm Faith. What's your name? Or should I just call you Punching Bag? [She made a punching gesture then pointed a finger at his face, smirking.]

[oorah]

[ he ends up with her device in his hand somehow, blinking at the transaction even as he looks over the words. he'd deliberately not been handing his name out to anyone, or any other information about himself, even if it seems like everyone is far too worried about where the fuck they are to worry about all the bodies he'd stacked behind him back home. frank resists the urge to roll his eyes at her joke. two can play the stupid joke game, he was a dad for 12 years after all.

frank hits enter a few times, leaving her words but writing his own. ] nice to meet you faith. i'm punching bag

[rockypath]

[She gave him a look, both amused and playfully irritated. The 'yeah, right' needed no text.

But the joke was on you Frank, because she'll be calling you 'Punching Bag' from now until eternity even after she learned your actual name and those bruises healed.]

Alright, PB it is. [They were approaching a building that didn't look like another house. Perhaps some kind of storage building or a store? Not that anyone had any money to buy anything. She gestured to him and then the building. Was that where they were going?]

[oorah]

[ joke's on you faith because he much prefers this to actually telling her his name. though pb makes him think of peanut butter, and now he's hungry again. frank looks up at the building and nods. there should be living room acoutrement inside. he takes the lead again without noticing he's doing it. ]

[rockypath]

[It was actually making Faith think of food too. A PB&J sounded damn good about now. All she'd eaten so far was a whole jar of pickles. And the brine. What, she was hungry!

Faith watched him take lead again. Hm. In some ways he reminded her of Angel. He seemed about as shitty with people as the ensouled vampire, but somehow endearing at the same time. That took some talent. Or maybe Faith just liked grumpy people. It made her seem more upbeat.

Once inside, Faith fanned out from Frank looking around the room. It wasn't exactly an Ethan Allen, but there was a lot to look through all the same.]

[She spotted brown love seat that looked alright. Faith popped a squat in the middle of the thing. Her nose scrunched, as she rolled her ass back and forth on it in some attempt to assess it's comfort level. She took a tentative bounce stopping the moment it creaked just a fraction. Well, shit. That one was out. What if she wanted to screw on the thing?]

[Never mind that sex in general in this place was probably near impossible. Silent sex? Was that even a thing? Could it even be enjoyed at that point?]

[oorah]

[ hey he won't judge her. he had a jar of peaches himself and a piece of that bread. it's not doing much to sustain him now. frank wanders around the space and looks for... something. or just looks at what they have. he supposes it's only fair to let them loot the place after dragging them from their homes into this silent hell, but it's still weird. he's used to stealing things when he needs them, but to just be allowed to take them? it'll take some getting used to.

the creak startles him, eyes flying wide open as he glances at her. how is he already programmed for this? as much as the silence was nice at first, now he's just pissed. he points to another couch that looks sturdier if she wants to check it out. he's still perusing baubles and various odds and ends. ]

[rockypath]

[Faith gave him a thumbs up, managing to look apologetic despite her thoroughly irritated body language. This entire thing was like a nightmare. Silence. She fucking hated silence to begin with. And having to watch her every move, every detail of things she'd done in the past without a second thought? Fuck.

Seriously. The worst.

Moving to where he'd pointed, she considered the couch he'd pointed to. It was ugly, honestly. It was the color of dog shit. Like a green-brown pile. All the same, she sat on it and went through the same motions as before. Hm. Surprising comfortable. A tentative bounce with her face bunched in anticipation.

Ah, well. A green-brown pile of dog shit, it was! She couldn't really be that picky here.

She waved over at PB until she got his attention, with both arms then gestured to the couch. This one, yeah?]

[oorah]

[ it takes a second for him to catch on but then he's nodding, throwing a few things onto the couch he found. a couple books, some cloth, and some other truly random shit. he's a weird, guy, faith. don't ask. he picks up one side of the sofa and waits for her to get the other. ]

[rockypath]

[She looked at all the random collection of things he set on the couch. Some of them she could understand. Even the books. Not like they could watch TV here. But some of the other things... she gave him a querying look, eyebrow quirked. Weird guy. Got it. But she'd have to keep her eye on him, clearly.

Faith bent down on her side and lifted. The movement was shift and easy. And silent- don't worry! Nothing in her grip or stance indicated strain. It was a solid couch too, not some crappy light futon.]

[oorah]

[ oh, um. okay. he blinks at how easy this seems for her, but otherwise doesn't react, his own portion seeming much lighter with her taking the bulk of the weight. he's just going to stear them back to her house along the sandpath silently, for lack of other alternatives. among his findings is some muslin and twine. it should prove useful for soundproofing. ]

[rockypath]

[Noticing his surprise at her ease and show of strength, she flashed him a cheeky wink before they started to move back toward the door and then to her house. She's careful of her steps and was paying attention to where they were going, but there's not much to do on the trip back but either glance down at what he'd grabbed or look at his busted up face.

PB was probably a pretty attractive man under all that black and blue. Screamed military. Or maybe that was just the haircut. And just how many times had he broken that nose? Shit. It made her wiggle her own absently.

It also made her glad for her own Slayer healing, since most of her injuries healed well enough they weren't noticeable anymore, save small scars on her neck from the time Angelus had fed off her and the long scar on her belly from the knife Buffy had shoved in her belly.]

[oorah]

[ he looks at her too, though he isn't sure what he sees. she seems young, a lot younger than him anyway. her strength might be why the natives had taken her and it makes him upset again. not for himself, never that. but he feels for all the other people who were snatched from their homes. especially the children, and women. but that's just fucking predictable right? he had never claimed to be an enigma by any stretch. open book pretty much from conception.

frank thinks this girl probably wouldn't give him the time of day anywhere but here. he lets himself think about meeting her in a real place. the grocery store maybe. he's pretty sure there's not one thing they have in common, actually. so maybe it's better they can't talk. god, but he hates having this much time to think. he doesn't like himself enough to be in his own head all day. ]

[rockypath]

[They weren't the same, but they weren't nearly so dissimilar as Frank might have thought.

Silence wasn't great for her either. Being alone with her own thoughts just drove her to think about shit she didn't want to think about. Her past. Her future, even. Too much shit rattling around in her head. And being able to talk distracted her. And dancing. And fighting. And pretty much everything that might cause noise. Maybe she'd have to go back there and get some books of her own or something. She hated reading. But maybe she'd have to start just to have something other to do than navel gaze.

Once they got to her house, she directed him back to her room to set the couch in the corner where there was still room. Once they set it down gently, she reached into back pocket for her device.]

You need help carrying anything for your place?

Or help silently kicking the shit out of whoever rearranged your face? [She was more keen on that second option however logistically impossible it was.]

[oorah]

[ he sets the couch down soundlessly and starts gathering his odds and ends. pocketing what fits and wrapping the fabric around the books to make them easier and softer to carry. it's clear he's getting ready to bail before he looks up and sees her message. frank doesn't know billy's here yet, but even if he did... that's his fight. even if it seems like faith could snap him in two. frank had deliberately left him alive. broken, but alive. he swallows and slowly shakes his head. ]

[rockypath]

[Alright, fine. Be that way, PB. She was just trying to be helpful back. It was a new thing she was trying out called 'being a decent person'. She gave him an 'okay' signal with her fingers, then a sardonic salute before she moved to sprawl out on the newly placed couch, leaving him to his retreat.]

[oorah]

[ relief sets in when she lets him go. he actually gives something like a polite little wave before ditching out of her house on quick, silent feet. ]