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

---

Comments

Faith Lehane | Buffy: The Vampire Slayer

[rockypath]

a.Muzzle and Mute

[This place was insane.

When she'd told Buffy that after their latest end of the world battle all she wanted was a place she could get some damn 'peace and quiet', this was definitely not what she had in mind. Not to mention it was much too literal on the 'quiet' front and the peacefulness of the place was questionable. More spooky than anything.]

[The silence was maddening. And the temptation to open her mouth to test these natives rules was near overwhelming. It showed just how much she'd matured in the last few years that she hadn't shouted at the rooftops just to challenge their authority. Who were these people anyway? And just what was so scary that they couldn't be heard?]

[Surely, whatever it was Faith could help fight it? What was being a Slayer all about anyway?]

[Sulking a bit about her circumstances, Faith followed the sand path to where the natives had directed her when she'd asked (using her device- no talking! God, forbid she even whisper!) where to find House Seven. And there it was. Decent size. Bigger than she'd ever lived in before. Approaching the door, she reached for the door knob and turned. She stilled, cringing a bit when the hinges creaked and she earned a few dirty looks for native passerbys. She mouthed them a reproachful 'sorry' and a wave before crouching down to snatch the paintbrush and oil on the porch. Perhaps she was the first to arrive?]

[Maybe that meant she'd have pick of the rooms? Oiling up the hinges, Faith made her way inside to have a look.]

b. The Man in the Hat

[Of course. The houses weren't exactly well furnished. She'd needed a bed. Eventually Faith had been able to track down a native to help her find and haul a mattress back to her house. She'd have to find a bed frame some other day because she didn't like asking for the natives' help. They were way too skittish. Afraid of goddamn everything! And Faith was losing her patience enough with today that she didn't think she could handle another excursion without doing something the natives definitely wouldn't like. Something noisy.]

[Then she got the text. A party? Shit, Faith could use something to unwind.]

[Except that the party turned out to be boring as shit. What was a party without noise? Talking? Some music? She couldn't exactly dance to silence, could she?]

[Sitting down on a bench, she stuffed the remainder of the bread she was eating into her mouth (a rather large piece) and chewed it in a very unladylike fashion as she leaned back and nearly let out a sigh before stopping herself. Shit, who knew how hard it was going to be to make no sound at all? Rolling her eyes, Faith looked down absently at what it was one of the natives had given to her. A metal cross necklace. But it wasn't on a metal chain but a cloth one. Perhaps the chain would have made too much noise? Shaking her head in annoyance, Faith pondered what use she could have for a cross when it didn't seem like there were any vampire's here to deter. She certainly wasn't about to pray.]

b

[xochipilli_cursed]

[Aaron's trying to figure out how you eat a pickle quietly. Basically it just means you eat it very, very, very slowly.

Seeing Faith pondering her cross on a string he finishes his pickle and comes to sit down beside her and waves. He draws out a piece of rose quarts on a string and holds it up to hang and sway. It's not a necklace but he could totally make it one.

That's not why he drew it out though. He's trying to find common ground and a conversation starter... without being able to converse.]

[rockypath]

[Faith eyed the quartz with a quirked brow as she fought to swallow down the remainder of bread in her mouth before straightening back up from her lean. She smirked, gesturing to her cross and then the quartz, joking in her expression as she mouthed 'trade you?' and waggling her brows.

Clearly she wasn't too impressed with her gift.]

[xochipilli_cursed]

[Aaron grins. Technically that should still be able to work and honestly he's tempted. Still, he might as well lie and up the value of his little stone and string.

He holds up one finger toward Faith, hoping "one moment" is universal and then he holds the quartz hanging in front of him. He focuses on it and concentrates. After a minute the quartz starts to sway even though it doesn't appear he's moved his hand. Simple magic trick any showman could pull, right?

Then the stone swings up and stops, pointing outward. Technically, it's pointing to the jar of pickles several tables over. He's starting to realize how limited this little trick is for him right now. The moment he loses focus it falls and swings naturally again. He drops it into his other palm and holds it out to her.]

[rockypath]

[Faith watched on and when he was done, he'd find her smiling but in the humoring sort of way. It would take more than that to impress a vampire slayer. She reached out to take it from him, turning the quartz around in her fingers, inspecting it. She wasn't sure if it was the gem that had done it or something he was doing himself. Her money was on him.

She winked and held out her cross a moment, and then started to spun it around like a pinwheel, very obviously using her hand to do so. Then she held it out to him gesturing at it like it was some impressive item in a showcase showdown on 'The Price is Right'.]

[xochipilli_cursed]

[He goes to jokingly clap and freezes before his hands slap together. Instead he awkwardly shrugs and snags the cross neclace. He gives it a quick look over and slips it into his pocket where the quartz once hid. It was just a jagged piece of rose quartz, taken from the ground, tied to a string.

She's right though, the talent comes from him and not the object. It was about now he remembered they have devices to help communicate. Drawing it out he quickly flashes the message.]

Talented and a shrewd trader!

[rockypath]

[Faith hadn't really cared about the cross, so if she got swindled or not didn't really matter to her. The rock, even if it was some trash he'd found seemed more interesting to her than that cross.

Maybe he would get more use out of it?]

She glanced down at the device and smacked her head with her palm, smiling. Right, there was an easier way to do this than to practice their mime skills. She dug in her pocket for her device as well.]

Ha, right. Well, if you'd had a pack of smokes then you would have seen some real negotiation. [She may have just ripped them out of his hands.]

Name's Faith. You?

[xochipilli_cursed]

[Luckily for Aaron, he has no cigarettes to lose in this situation.

As far as chatting, pantomiming is fun but it makes it hard to have real introductions.

Her name is Faith, with the cross. Aaron types up his response to show her.]

Rocky. Nice to meet you.

[He only holds the straight face for a few moments before the smirk breaks it and he quickly types.]

Actually it's Aaron.

[rockypath]

[Yeah, yeah. Faith with a cross. She was aware how that looked. Faith rolled her eyes at his joke, but was still smiling as she held out a hand to shake his.]

Nice to meet you.

Do you have a few moments to talk about our Lord and Savior?

[Straight face right back. Serious eyes. Two could play at that game, mister.]

[Then a wink. Yeah, no way Faith wanted to talk about god.]

I'm not religious. The cross and the name... just a coincidence.

b.

[laytheghost]

[Jan's never been much of a girl for parties, but she doesn't see any point in refusing anything the natives are urging her towards right now -- she's trying to learn the lay of the land around here right now, and they're the experts. she picks up a piece of bread and absently turns it over in her hands, thinking through the implications of this sad little party. no one seems to be having a very good time, and that more than anything argues that the story that the natives are telling might be true. who could blame them?

she's distracted by the sight of the woman sitting on the bench, so obviously bored off her ass and fidgeting to show it. a cross-- is she Catholic? didn't Jan see someone like that at one point when she was trying to get furniture into her house...?

her hesitation and pause to notice what Faith's doing is noticeable; Jan isn't a subtle person.]

[rockypath]

[Faith may have gone to church as a very young child when her mom was sober enough to take her. Hell, she'd even taken first communion. Like a good Irish Catholic. Not that her mother had actually been a hardcore believer. But it was South Boston. It was expected. But her mother had quickly lost interest when drugs became far more time consuming and worship too much of a hassle. And Faith had never had much interest to begin with, even if her name might have indicated otherwise.

She stopped spinning the cross when she noticed she had an audience. There was a woman watching her. Faith lifted a hand to give her a little waving wiggle of her fingers, a cheeky smirk on her lips. Caught ya...]

[laytheghost]

[the wave is fine. the smirk isn't. Jan presses a hand over her mouth briefly in surprise, a blush rising to her cheeks; oh, god, she was staring, wasn't she? super lame.

she could run away or pretend she wasn't really looking. those are certainly both time-tested social escapes. but Jan's also not one to brook a clear issue or back down from a challenge, so she straightens her chin and her spine and walks over to sit down next to Faith and extend her device to her instead. play it cool.]

sorry, didnt mean to stare. are you in house 7?? i thought i saw you earlier

[rockypath]

[Oh, shit. A blush? Faith looked like the cat that caught the canary, moving to sit upright as that smirk shifted into a full blown grin when Jan sat down next to her. Leaning over toward her (perhaps leaning closer than she would have normally just to make her face that much redder), she peered down at her device.]

[Faith moved back to give Jan a thumbs up, before texting back.]

Guilty as charged. I'm staying in the bedroom off of the kitchen.

[laytheghost]

[Jan's got it together now! she's keeping it cool! the coolest. she's unused enough to being flirted with by other women that the close lean doesn't immediately register as such to her, though it does occur to her that this lady is comfortable around strangers. real... comfortable.]

guess we're roommates. im in the garage

[wait, shit, that's not a whole conversational line. for some reason texting someone when you're sitting right there in person and she's practically got her head on you shoulder is more awkward than she'd expected. who would have thought...]

howdy neighbor

[holy shit]

im jan.

[Jan stares at her own attempt at communication in horror deep enough to go out the other side into rueful amusement. jesus, it's a good thing she's never cared about being cool before. her first attempt is going so badly.]

[rockypath]

[Faith didn't know it was possible to be that awkward through text. She was going to enjoy this. Typing she held out her device and a hand to shake.] Howdy. I'm Faith. Night to meet you, Jan.

How are you settlin in?

[laytheghost]

oh thats a pretty name

[it's her spontaneous first thought, and she's used enough to texting that she just types it, despite the unusual circumtances. she could be embarrassed about it, and her cheeks do warm a little, but... whatever. it is a pretty name. Jan rotates her shoulders a little and relaxes just the tiniest bit, accepting that she's not going to be the suave one in this conversation and shifting her expectations to roll with it.]

nice 2 meet u too. its been fine. all the old furniture is 100x better than anything i could afford at home tbh so whats there to complain about

[what indeed? she pauses, then adds, conscientiously:]

besides all the murder psychos with super hearing. i guess.

[rockypath]

[Being suave was overrated anyway.] yeah, save our potential horrible deaths, it's great here. [The sarcasm is thick through the text.]

I seriously hope we get more clothing options soon. These jumpsuits are terrible. [Faith liked clothes that showed a bit more. That were tighter against her curves. Clearly she still had game while wearing this potato sack, but still.]

b

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will had been securing his jar of homemade booze, which was about the extent of use he had for this whole 'party' deal, and was returning to pick up some of the extra food. If he could figure out a way to carry multiple containers back to the house without making any damn noise.

It really was harder than it looked.

As he walked past, the flicker of light off the cross caught his attention and he turned to glance at the item and it's owner. She didn't appear to pleased with her gift.

Usually he went out of his way to avoid catching anyone's attention, but this time he ducked his head and waved in an effort to bring her eyes up to him. Will shifted his jar to another hand and reached into the pocket of his jumpsuit, withdrawing a pair of glasses. They probably didn't look particularly useful either, since he didn't appear to need them to see.

Still he gave them a slight waggle and then pointed at her cross in a silent suggestion of, 'trying to figure out a use?' ]

[rockypath]

[The movement of the wave within her peripheral vision caused her eyes to snap to Will. She had known someone was close walking by from where she was seated, her Slayer side ever alert, but she hadn't paid it much mind. Faith had assumed it was simply another party-goer trying to figure this shit show of a place out too and not any sort of likely threat. And it seemed to be a correct assumption, based on the look of him.

Although at this point she was spoiling for a fight, so she'd almost wished he were a threat. Wouldn't that be nice?

She smiled back at him, shrugging at his silent question. 'yeah, pretty much' seemed to be her reply. Her hand gestured to his glasses, eyebrow quirked in question back. Was that what he'd gotten from the natives? Did he not need them?]

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ He gave good harmless, at least when it suited him. At the moment, taking a read of the way she held her shoulders, the tension through the lines of her body, Will decided it was probably in everybody's best interest to keep himself as non-threatening as possible.

His own smile seemed to be painted on, something that he understood people had to do now and again, rather than any sort of genuine good humor. He glanced down at his glasses, then unfolded them and perched them onto his face.

The way they fit, seemed as if they were actually his and not just a random gift. He pulled them back off, then gave them a tilt and pointed at the lens, making a motion of angling them towards the light.

'Might help start a fire' and his accompanying shrug an unspoken 'best I can think of at the moment.' ]

[rockypath]

[Hey, she was fine with fake smiles. Most of hers were, after all. Even the genuine ones were an attempt to cover up for a lot of the darkness and guilt rattling around in her soul.

So, they were his glasses.

She let out a soundless laugh at his mime show, finally giving in and reaching for her texting device in her back pocket then showing it to him.] you can start a fire. while I can make everyone uncomfortable while i pretend that i really want to talk to them about their relationship with jesus?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ When she withdrew her device, it reminded him that 'oh right, that was a form of communication' and he reached into his pocket to silently withdraw his own. Leaning down to set his jar of booze between his feet, Will read her comment and his lips twitched. He just managed to keep from chuckling ruefully.

Glancing up over the tops of his glasses, his quirk smile broadened before he typed back. ]

Not particularly good for warmth, but you could probably clear a room and have it to yourself pretty quickly?

[rockypath]

[Aha- yeah, she saw that! She almost made you laugh! Not that she wanted anyone to make noise, it felt good that he seemed to appreciate her humor. Joking like this was a nice distraction from actually thinking about their circumstances critically.

Faith waggled her eyebrows, sitting up as she typed back.]

Now you're on to something. Maybe I could get my whole house to myself if I really work at it.

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

See. Now you're making me wish I had gotten a cross.

[ He responded, and his expression suggested he wasn't entirely joking. It wasn't that he had anything against his housemates, he really didn't know them. It was just having people in his personal space that grated. ]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that particular item does not have specific religious significance to you?

[rockypath]

[Faith wasn't nearly so reclusive. But some of her roommates were a little too friendly. And nice. It was disconcerting after being so used to prison where everyone wanted something out of you- be that to take your stuff, to fight you, or to screw you. She shook her head at his question.]

No. Not a religious significance. It's use for me was practical. [She looked him over. It was hard to say what he'd believe her. Some people here were from places that knew about the supernatural, some not.]

Vampires.