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

alexandre tialys | ffxiv

[priwen]

arrival;
[ ... well, this is unexpected.

Certainly, being torn away from the world he had been asked to aid is a problem. The second problem is that the transport may have removed him from Hydaelyn, as he doesn't recognize this place as anywhere in Aldenard. Perhaps one of the eleven remaining fragments, worlds that were mirrors of the original... but the aether is empty here. Possibly another issue that he would have to elucidate.

Recover his equipment, his bearings, and synthesise a plan of action. This should do. ]

Excuse me... are you hurt?

[ - to the person nearest to him. Alexandre's voice is more gentle than his features and height might suggest. A small doll sits on his shoulder, wings fluttering silently.

If you happen to be shorter than 6 feet, he'll also crouch down so you need not strain your neck upwards. ]


building;
[ Given his height and trained strength, he volunteers himself to do most of the difficult lifting. Once that is done, he can be found in his room, having claimed only a table, chair and bed.

Strewn on the table are needle and thread, as well as some thick yarn that a native had traded him. A sword and shield are laid across the bed behind him, both emitting a bright golden glow reminiscent flame. He'll weave the yarn into a makeshift necklace; two small crystals bound tightly within the fibre so that they would not fall.

Sometime later there may be a mother and her child at the entrance to the communal house; Alex is there as well with his kit, mending a loose seam in the girl's emancipated stuffed toy. The mother hushes him once or twice if he pulls the thread too quickly, but otherwise his work is silent.

Adaptability, and patience. A curious thing to watch, no doubt. ]


around;
[ Alex is remarkably calm compared to most of the other new arrivals. He's quick to settle into the silence; a blond man who has to crouch in buildings and resigns himself to sitting down on the porch. He makes no attempt at concealing the fact that he's observing everyone, eyes not on the device in his hands but landing on those who pass by. If he meets your eye, you will be offered a nod and a slight, friendly smile.

Approach? ]


messages;
[ Amidst the flurry of public polls will come a few less alarming questions: ]

Might I ask if there are any weavers or tailors here?

[ A while later, after he's resolved more pressing issues such as soundproofing rooms: ]

Does anyone else come from Eorzea?

wildcard;
[ Throw me something and I'll roll with it! Note: Alex has a mild mind-reading ability, his opt-out for that is here. Please fill it in if needed! ]

wildcard; perimeter patrol

[pawper]

[Despite the anxiety that's been pushed to the back of her mind, not to mention the dread sitting like a rock in the pit of her stomach, Lys is still relieved to have been paired with someone for this particular chore. For any reason at all, really. Somehow, even the worst of situations seemed a little easier to swallow when she didn't have to be alone. This guy even had both of his arms! And was actually taller than her, too. That by itself was a new, rare thing.

Introductions came first, though. She takes out her device and manages to type out a message one-handed, if slowly and with some difficulty.]

hi!! my name's lys
looks like we've been paired off for this job
it's nice to meet you, despite the weird circumstances

[priwen]

[ Lys is quite tall for a Hyur lady, leading him to wonder idly if she's even a Hyur in the first place. Still, these are trivial questions.

Alex has two hands, but he types with one finger - evident that he's not familiar with technology. ]

Hello. I am Alexandre, you can call me Alex if you like. [ Everyone calls him that after a while. ] It's a pleasure to meet you as well. I'll do my best.

[ Checking for damage sounds simple in theory, but he's sure there is a catch somewhere. ]

[pawper]

[The unfamiliarity is a small thing, but Lys notices it just the same — social cues were what always seemed to fly over her head, not everything subtle — and feels, perhaps strangely, heartened by it. Like they're on equal terms in that respect, if no other.]

alex sounds good!

[Less to type, is what she's thinking on some level.]

mm! we'll both do our best
people are counting on us, after all

[After he's had a chance to read the message, Lys puts the device away and holds out her hand to shake, smiling bright and expectant.]

[priwen]

[ Truly, they are foreigners in a foreign world. Best to band together - and Lys is an energetic young lady, from what he can sense. She is a good person.

Pocketing his own device, he would return her handshake. He has slim fingers, as befit his frame. Once that's done, he'll not hold on to her hand any longer than is polite.

Now, where to start? Perhaps in a direction that wasn't so populated, so they need not walk too far to search for a spot to work on. There's bound to be one.

Alex tilts his head towards one of the further walls. How about there? ]

( arrival. )

[clarius]

... [ she wants to talk but-

it hurts. everything.

her cheeks still flushed and her eyes continue to hold a glazed quality to them, unfocused and glassy despite the townspeople's best efforts to patch her up. she's only able to notice the stranger's approach due to how tall (short, for a galateion) they are. for a second, she thinks it might be overlook but no. it isn't.

lore opens her mouth and immediately shuts it, the mere effort to move causing her muscles to ache and her limbs to feel like they're all on pins and needles. unpleasant.

in the end, lorem opts to simply shake her head and make a gesture to her appearance. while also allowing herself to look miserable as possible because it has been a long, long few months for her. this is the cherry on top as she looks at the new face, expression flickering with suspicion and curiosity. ]

[priwen]

[ A good thing that he decided to approach her first, then - with the Echo, it's easy to perceive the moods of others, and he had the inkling that she would need help. Her presence is weighed down by a shadow. Perhaps she has a fever that hurts her; however, he's no chirurgeon. If it be a permanent disease, he knows he cannot cure it - but maybe his magic can provide a temporary measure.

Alex will steady her if needed, holding a hand in front of him. A soft light envelops her body, restorative spells hopefully easing her pain.

hear, think, feel... ]

[clarius]

[ when the light envelops her, lorem is understandably confused and upset. she looks at the stranger, trying to make her mouth work with her so she can ask him a question. her mind is fuzzy and slow though. words are jumbled, limbs heavy, pain insistent. all she can focus on now is the light because what on earth-

and then, just like that, the pain is gone.

most of it, at least. there's still a soreness to her limbs a nagging headache throbbing behind her forehead but this? this is so much more bearable than what she had been forcing herself to go through. it isn't long before she's able to stand by herself without any assistance, the shakiness in her hands fading along with the glossy quality of her eyes.

her expression is alert and serious once its all over, confused but- grateful for the assistance. utterly grateful. thank you, she mouths. ]

[priwen]

[ So it works.

That in itself is a relief - that his honed spells haven't been dulled by whatever force that had brought them here. Clemency, healing magic bestowed to paladins of a high order; ancient knowledge that was no longer practiced until his Soul Crystal had reawakened the spell to him. It was one of the rare spells that did not need an incantation, allowing its use here. Still, its potency meant that it exerted an equal toll on himself. If one cast was not enough, then another solution would be needed.

Relief lights a small smile on his calm expression. ]

You need to rest. I can get you some water.

[ They haven't left the room yet, so they can still talk a little. ]

messages; un: mitsuha

[zom]

Where's Eorzea...? I've never heard of it before (‘◇’)
I'm from Itomori, Japan.

un: alexandre

[priwen]

Eorzea is a place on Hydaelyn. It's my home.

I assume Japan is the name of your nation?

[zom]

Is that a country?
Yes it is, but I'm surprised you've never heard of it before (・・；)

I also saw your earlier question about needing a tailor.
I can sew a little, if you need something patched up!

[priwen]

Hydaelyn is the name of our world. Eorzea is a region on the continent of Aldenard. It houses three city-states and beautiful wilds.

I'm aware that we are all from different worlds, so I thought getting to know you would help with my knowledge.

[ He's an amnesiac but it's not something he advertises. ]

I am a weaver. If we can work on commissions together, we might be able to earn some keep from the natives here. It would help to have some income.

messages

[ghostfluster]

no sorry i'm from california

[her grasp of geography outside Santa Rosa in general is real hazy -- a map of the world is not really the first priority to learn after one's been brought back to life -- but she's at least 60% certain there is no city in her state named Eorzea.]

pretty ok at sewing though, if they'll let us have thread from stores!

[priwen]

[ california.... doesn't ring any bells, sadly. ]

I could spin some if I have fibre. The issue is doing it quietly.

[ghostfluster]

[ALAS]

maybe plant fibre? they have greenhsouses i saw

and they must make the jumpsuits with something.

[she wonders, worried, what the state of animals is, here, if they're so worried about keeping quiet. you can't just ask a pet or a livestock animal not to make any noise, and they probably can't be kept indoors perpetually...]

[priwen]

[ spoilers: they're all dead. ]

I'd imagine they grow food there, but I could go take a look later.

I can also weave. A loom makes a loud noise, so that's a problem too.

Do you like growing things?

arrival!

[cxivth]

( noctis had been rotating his shoulder at the joint when the question came his way— still lost in his thoughts about what to make of this whole... situation.
he looks up, then up again, being that he was only 5'9", though maybe a little more with the help of his boots.

his eyes go to that fairy-looking thing on his shoulder too, before he moves back to the man's face. )

No worse for wear, I guess. You?

[priwen]

[ It seemed that there were plenty of Hyurs in this place. Not too out of the ordinary, given how numerous they tended to be; but it also meant that he had to look downward.

Not something he's keen to do, especially in an enclosed space. ]

Fine enough. Though, I doubt the same can be said for some here.

[ He lets his gaze pan over the group huddled here and there. Their anxiety is palpable, like a stifling fog. ]

If you are hurt, I can heal.

[cxivth]

Yeah. ( he seems to agree, panning the view of the place again, and the variety of people in it. )

I'm all right, might as well save it for someone who really needs it. ( inhaling slowly, he added in a genuine— ) Thanks, though.

( he's still again, crossing his arms over his chest. ) So you must've heard by now. What we have to agree to in order to get out of this room...

[priwen]

[ It strikes him how many of the people here are Hyurs. Even the populous cities didn't have such an overabundance; there were always members of other races. Curious, but not immediately dangerous. ]

I don't think they're lying. [ Their fear is genuine, but whether it's a founded fear remains another question. ] It shouldn't be too hard to adapt, though.

around

[gimmesometassel]

[There are no eyes to meet on this particular passerby--just an eye-catchingly intricate, brilliantly colorful pattern on what may be one of the finest woven rugs Alexandre has ever seen. That's to say nothing of the fact that it's flying, and carrying what looks like a tool box; Carpet is on the way home from work, with the tools of the trade the locals had provided.

Even that much acknowledgement is enough to get Carpet to pause on his trip though, curiously approaching to look at this giant of a man. Why is he sitting out here all by himself like this? Is something wrong?]

[priwen]

[ There's intent that he can vaguely sense from the carpet, which sets it aside from other enchanted objects or mammets that he had encountered. It even stopped to look (if carpets could look) at him, implying further sentience than it appears to have.

Alex will wave at the carpet, because that's what one does when greeting people. ]

[gimmesometassel]

[Carpet is a little surprised to see the wave, though a bright bubble of happiness overtakes it almost immediately; it's awfully rare to find someone who takes seeing him in such stride! He waves back with his free tassel, before opening his box and reaching in to pull out his device.

A quick turn finds him reversing directions entirely, to hold it with the other end that's now facing Alex; there's no way he could type without two 'hands', so to speak.]

Are you okay?

[priwen]

[ Matoya had employed similarly enchanted housing equipment, so Carpet's existence is more of a curiosity than anything else. He even has hands! How interesting. ]

Hello.

I'm okay. I came out to look around.

Do you have a name?