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

noctis lucis caelum | final fantasy xv

[cxivth]

MUZZLE & MUTE.

( by the time the world started coming back into focus, noctis found himself staring down at the cuffs of an unfamiliar, dark coloured jumpsuit. with bleary, unfocused eyes he looked around, trying to wrack his brain as to when he might have fallen asleep...

the room was unfamiliar and the faces even more so.
but it was okay, there was a simple explanation of all of this.

locking eyes with someone nearby, he reached up to his own cheek, and pinched down, hard.
his blue eyes go wide with an obvious— uh oh. )

MAN IN THE HAT.

( he'd followed the man in the hat, thinking that somehow this guy was willing to share some additional information but instead... the jar of— something is handed over to him. looking at it, he can make a guess at what it's supposed to be, but it definitely doesn't look like any drink he's ever seen...

turning to head back to the house, he looked down and slowly, silently, opened the lid of the jar... and leeeeaned slowly in to sniff at the contents.

he recoiled almost immediately, lip curling up at the discovery he'd apparently made. he can be found braving another whiff either on the way home from the man's house, or approaching house five. )

SOUND EATERS. ( closed to dirk )

( patrol...? noctis didn't even know what the hell he was supposed to be looking for. some kind of monsters? creatures that were attracted to every day sound and voices? it was a lot to digest all at once, what with being ripped from one reality into this one and all.

bringing out the phone they'd given him, his shoulders heaved in a barely-audible sigh as he typed. )

you ever heard of a "sound eater" before this?

WILDCARD.

( anything else that works that is outside the above! housemates, moving furniture, etc etc. )

wildcard; housemates

[pawper]

[She "claimed" the dining room despite there still being one bedroom left (at the time of her decision, anyway) just to be nice, but all the wide-open space only has the effect of making her chosen corner look just that more....sparse, utilitarian, whatever word came closest. There's only a pillow and a few blankets arranged on the floor somewhere out of the way, despite the presence of a sofa tucked against a far wall along with a few other odds and ends.

However, that's neither here nor there, because Lys isn't in the dining room at all. She's on the roof, long legs balanced carefully against the architecture, studying the sky overhead with a worried expression. No, not just worried — afraid. ....But then she glances down and notices some Final Fantasy Sasuke-haired dude approaching the house, prompting the expression to slide off her face like mud and be replaced with a friendly smile, a wave of greeting.]

[cxivth]

( noctis had been eyeing the house from the outside, still trying to wrap his head around all of this. actually, he didn't notice the girl at all at first, the sight of her only catching his eye as she started to wave.

furrowing his brow slightly, he tilted his head with an obvious question on his mind... how had she gotten up there in the first place...? but eventually, he raised a hand as well, returning the greeting. no ninjitsu, just a wave. and not to mention, better hair than sasuke could ever hope for.

and after that, he pointed to the house's entrance, raising an eyebrow as he looked back up.
was she staying here, too? )

[pawper]

[Even from up here, she can follow his gesture and understand it. Or at least, take a reasonable guess: Lys figures he's either asking if she also lives here, or making a general inquiry about whether he's allowed to enter. Seeing how her answer to both of those possible question is "yeah!!", Lys nods in the affirmative. He'll find the door hinges freshly oiled, brush and oilcan neatly set aside.

In either case, there was no way to carry on a proper conversation (or offer a proper welcome) with her up here and him down there, so! Up and over the side of the roof she goes, beginning the necessary downward climb that'll let her descend to street-level. (Sand pathway-level?) Slowly, careful not to make a sound above the barest whisper of fabric scuffing on brick, Lys makes full use of the various hand and footholds practically built into the house, compensating easily enough for her missing arm.

(Best not to look weak or useless in front of new acquaintances, if possible.) ]

[cxivth]

( he watches her descent, head tilted that she chose to climb down rather than just... taking the inside route. but then, maybe that's how she managed her way up there in the first place? he only glances at where another arm should probably be, not wanting to draw too much attention, then shifted his weight once she was settled on the ground again.

he moves to clap in approval, both at how silently and efficiently she'd gone through the motions, but stops himself just before his hands make contact with one another. at his near-slip, he offers her a sheepish grin, then a nod instead.

yeah... this whole thing was going to take some getting used to.

oh well, with a motion of his head, he asks— should we go in? )

[pawper]

[She absolutely should have taken the inside route, it's true. Except....well, she didn't stop to think about doing what was sensible and logical until she was already halfway down the side of the building. In that way, Lys is either super dumb or a creature of instinct. Probably both.

That said, she still manages to notice that brief glance after touching down to the sand pathway (and after executing a sheepish little half-bow of voila! in response to his aborted applause), but takes exactly 0% offense. Is careful not to be stupidly obvious about what she saw. Because good god, she's missing an entire arm! It would only be natural if he stared. Lys is simply grateful that Noctis didn't do something rude like, idk, poke the stump where the limb used to be.

She mimics his gesture in the affirmative, still smiling, and moves ahead to open the door for him. Mostly just to prove without words that it was safe to enter their assigned house.]

[cxivth]

( there will be no poking lys, you don't have to worry about that. he does give it another quick look as he skirts by though, giving her a nod in thanks for opening the door.

once inside, his attention is all over the walls, the ceilings, and the floor. there's a glance back to see if she's following as he pokes his head into the various rooms during his brief inspection. once he's probably seen most of the rooms the house has to offer, he taps away silently on his phone, producing the eventual message that he holds up for her to read... )

a little empty, but not bad.
a lot better than i was expecting, actually.

SOUND EATERS

[splinten]

[Dirk doesn't like the idea of being on patrol without his katana. He can tell his whole sylladex has been emptied, even if there isn't any point in him trying to put things in it. But it's the lack of a weapon that unnerves him.

The Zillysanta does not count as an actual weapon.

At the message sent to him, he replies with a shake of his head, and then the quiet text,]

It appears to be a phenomenon unique to this world. Some kind of apex predator, probably supernatural in origin given its sudden appearance and the uncertainty around its existence. I can't really think of any analogues. Not even humanity is that indiscriminate in what it consumes. At this point I can't tell if it hunts by sound because that's a good hunting method, or if it hunts by sound as some kind of metaphoric expression of whatever birthed the phenomenon.

[When he's antsy, he gets theoretical. Please forgive him.]

[cxivth]

( woah. okay. noct had been expecting a quick 'yes' or 'no' or even a 'sounds crazy' but none of those were what he got. he's a little taken aback actually, leaning in to read all of that. when he's finished, a clear... 'huh' seems to be on his face as he shifts his weight a little, thinking of how to reply. )

that's— yeah, i guess that's all pretty true.
not like we're going to know for sure unless we get a taste of dealing with them ourselves but to tell you the truth... i'm not to keen on that happening. at least not today.

( and at least, not until they were properly armed again. )

you ever... had to deal with something like this before? otherwordly travel? strangers from places you only read about? ... all-consuming monsters?

[splinten]

[Sorry, Noctis. Dirk is very comfortable texting. And he's WAY too comfortable texting too much.]

Two out of three. I never got a chance to see if the skeleton monsters would consume us, partially or otherwise, but I have to assume they were more the gut-and-abandon variety.
What about you?

[cxivth]

we had daemons where i'm from. they were mostly also made up of the gut-and-abandon variety though.
first experience with all the other stuff.

( he pauses with that, like he seems to be thinking something over. )

they came out in the dark, but... no one had to live in complete silence.
not like this.

[splinten]

It's a different experience of oppressive forces than I'm accustomed to. You can't exactly argue against its necessity when it is very probably going to prove way too true the second someone breaks it.

[cxivth]

this many people suddenly winding up in this situation?
i'd be surprised if it took too long before the theroy gets tested.

( he shifts his weight a little, before glancing at dirk again, then sweeping his fingers across the device again )

skeleton monsters, though? really?

muzzle and mute.

[skittering]

❰ unfortunately, the individual noctis happens to lock eyes with... is lalli. who will ultimately be supremely unhelpful in this particular scenario. he watches the strange boy lift a hand and pinch his own cheek, just as deliberately as he locked eyes with lalli to begin with. and he watches as the boy's eyes go wide, like maybe pinching himself accomplished something.

a look of vague puzzlement passes over his face, but sure enough, he's lifting his own hand and pinching his own cheek too.

...and nothing happens.

he narrows his eyes at the boy for a long, suspicious moment - maybe a little longer than intended, he's still pretty drowsy - before scooting across the short distance between them, reaching out, and pinching the boy's cheek now instead.

nothing again. what exactly is this supposed to be doing? ❱

[cxivth]

( is this real life?
focused on the boy, noct can't help but continue to watch his movements, one of his eyebrows slooooowly hoisting upwards as they lock eyes after the pinch.

what the...?
but before he even reacts to that, here he comes across the room and now he's getting pinched? arms going up defensively, noctis moves to shove him away with a— )

Okay, okay, I get it, it's not a dream. ( and now he's rubbing a slightly-tenderized cheek. )

[skittering]

❰ is that what they were doing? seeing if this was a dream? lalli's always known when he was or wasn't dreaming. maybe it's part of being a mage, where your dreamscape is just as lucid and deliberate as your waking world. or maybe it's just a lalli thing. his mind kind of naturally repels abstract concepts.

the shove seems to have been taken with a weird lack of offense, like lalli's either used to being shoved or fails to register it as any kind of rejection.

in fact, he shifts to his knees to lean in just barely, fixing the boy with a long appraising stare. then: ❱ Your accent is weird. ❰ in actuality, lalli is the one with an accent - finnish, not that noct will recognize it. but then he seems to hear his own words on his own tongue, and he sits back on his heels with a sort of puzzlement. ❱ This isn't Finnish. ❰ there's almost a question mark at the end, but not quite. ❱

[cxivth]

No, it's not finish. ( he sighs. ) Pretty sure it's just the start, actually.

( apparently your nationality has gone right over his head. sorry about that lalli, he really knows not what he says. the truth was noctis was also rather used to dreaming, even rather lucidly. every once in awhile pinching wasn't a recipe for waking up but he'd never had anyone else pinch him so he figured that had to be a pretty big insight into his current situation. that being... there was no quick way out of this impossible scenario.

but also... ) What's so weird about it? ( if anything, your accent was the weird one, guy. )

was sick, no worries if this is too late and you wanna drop it

[skittering]

❰ no, not finished, finnish. lalli scowls a little at the mistake, not that the other boy can really see it very well in this dim haze of what tastes like iron dust or dried blood.

and on top of that, he's actually questioning lalli's verdict instead of just accepting that he sounds weird, so now lalli's expected to explain and he just. doesn't care that much, really. ❱

Nevermind, ❰ he dismisses... just as what looks like a door begins to crack. lalli's immediately on the defensive. ❱ Look out - ❰ the warning (for noctis, believe it or not) comes as he rises into a stance caught between ready to fight and ready to escape, one hand feeling for a knife in his tunic that he's never without but can't seem to find. ❱

all g with my slow ass, lol

[cxivth]

Wait what do you m— ( the warning confuses him at first, not having noticed the opening until it's pointed out, then inhaling sharply.

which does absolutely nothing for the taste in his mouth, bringing in all those alien particles of... whatever the hell was floating around them. it stuck to the insides of his mouth just as well as it did his clothes, sending noctis in to a coughing fit.

instinctively, he calls for his sword to his hand, but an empty burst of crystalline shards meet his palm instead. no weapon.

please forgive his manners as he needs to... spit this out before properly expressing his frustration. )

muzzle and mute

[zom]

[ funny enough, mitsuha's reaction is the same as noctis'.

he pinches his cheek and his eyes widen--no way, she thinks, this can't be happening--she copies his motion, pinching her arm and shutting her eyes tightly. she holds it for several seconds before opening her eyes again...

and staring right at noctis. ]

Eh...?

[ this...isn't a dream?

then...where...? ]

[cxivth]

( he can't help but wince watching someone else do it, followed up with a sympathetic look. )

Sorry— ( maybe she'd been following his lead... ) I was really hoping that was gonna work...

[zom]

No, it's okay...I...I was hoping it was, too...

[ she looks at him, concerned, confused, just...a flurry of emotions, all at once. she's lost, probably just as much as he is, confused, and she tries to move to stand up but--it's hard. it hurts.

she groans in pain. ]

Ow!

[cxivth]

Woah, hey— ( he moves to try and catch or steady her, whichever she'll tolerate best, as he brow furrows in worry. just... how hard had she pinched herself?! )

Are you okay?

[zom]

[ noctis catches her, and mitsuha holds her head in her hands. she steadies herself, though, and then looks at him with an apologetic smile. ]

I'm fine! I'm so sorry about that, I just...I feel really dizzy...

[ her limbs are tingling, and she feels weak... what an odd sensation. ]

Um... Who are you, exactly?

[ her grin turns a little sheepish. if this isn't a dream, then...? ]

[cxivth]

Noct—... Noctis. ( here's an attempt to straighten her back up, but he isn't shy with having to support her weight if it doesn't go well, either. )

It's okay, don't... push yourself. This is all pretty crazy.

You want to sit down for a few mintues?