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

Party

[saltsplash]

[Rock paper scissors? Reigen can't back down from a challenge! He boastfully texts back.]

I've never lost!

[kiljoy]

[...Well all right then. Not subtle, this one, is he? Nor humble either. He'd bet money that this guy is a loudmouth, so maybe this silence thing isn't all bad. Kilgrave leans back a little, but he's willing to play. He holds out his hand. One, two, three...

Scissors.]

[saltsplash]

[Reigen is quick to focus, and is staring very intently at Kilgrave's hand the whole time - the subtlest twitch, and Reigen also throws scissors. He nods, it's a draw - but not a loss. He glances at his own hand, making the signs for paper and rock, looking like he's overthinking which he's choosing again.

...Is he really trying to psyche Kilgrave out without saying a word...]

[kiljoy]

[It's just a game, man. Not that Kilgrave isn't competitive, he's just used to automatically winning. And that's not the purpose of this game anyway, but he still finds himself caught up in the kid's gestures, trying to guess what he'll do next.

Okay. Scissors again.]

[saltsplash]

[Scissors! Reigen 'laughs', shaking his shoulders like he's chuckling, even if he's quiet. If he sees that hand twitch, it's either scissors or paper.

Time to go for it again!]

[kiljoy]

[Damn, Kilgrave actually wants to win this now, to the point that he's tempted to cheat but since they're literally surrounded by residents who will jump him if he speaks, cheating is not an option. Which is just unfair. His lips thin and he stares at Reigen. Two can play at the psyching out game. He doesn't twitch his hand.

Rock.]

[saltsplash]

[Ah hah!! Reigen catches it, and throws down paper!

He's grinning ear to ear, far too smug and pleased with himself.]

[kiljoy]

[How can a silent person be so obnoxious? Kilgrave shakes his head. Fuck you, they're doing this again. He holds up his hand once more. One, two, three... A twitch of the thumb.

This time he's throwing down paper.]

[saltsplash]

[Time for Reigen to claim his second victory! He throws scissors!]

[kiljoy]

[This guy is literally the worst. Kilgrave sighs audibly before he can stop himself and gets a ton of dirty looks from the nearby residents. Christ, they're eagle-eyed. Eared. Whatever.

He shakes his head and abandons the game while it's still not embarrassing, typing a message instead:]

Fair play, you got me. You good at anything else besides rock paper scissors?

[Kilgrave shows him the message with a rueful smile, forcing himself to accept defeat with grace. He just knows the guy's eyes are going to light up at that.]

[saltsplash]

[Not any more than they already were. He taps his bottom lip for a moment in thought.]

Nothing that wouldn't make a lot of noise, off the top of my head.

Reigen Arataka, the 21st century's greatest psychic, at your service.

[kiljoy]

[A psychic? Really? If he really is psychic, that is a huge problem. But then wouldn't he have been able to beat Kilgrave every single time instead of drawing before winning? Kilgrave raises his eyebrows.]

So you can read minds? Think of a number from 1 to 100, that sort of thing?

[saltsplash]

If only! Telepathy eludes me, but I can read auras, that sort of thing. I specialize in exorcisms.

[kiljoy]

[Okay. Sigh of relief. Not an audible one this time, he remembers to control himself.]

Like getting rid of ghosts?

[saltsplash]

Ghosts and curses! For now I'm investigating this. I have to see the Sound Eaters to be able to tell if they're spirits or not. I'm not specialized in monsters like the yokai hunter.

[kiljoy]

[Oh... seriously. Has he stumbled upon someone who might actually be useful in getting them out of this mess? This is most unexpected.]

Well that sounds promising. So potentially you could get rid of them too?

[He gives Reigen a hopeful look. Hey, if this kid can do something, he'll take it. He's been here a day and he already wants out.]

[saltsplash]

That's the idea. A lot of my exorcisms use chanting, or special holy items, so that's the next hurdle if we find out that the Sound Eaters are spirits.

[kiljoy]

[Well, that's less promising. But this doesn't seem like the kind of place where anything is easy. Kilgrave shrugs, his expression sombre.]

I hope you find a way. Or someone does. I think we're going to need all the help we can get.

[saltsplash]

We'll get it figured out, and if we're lucky, maybe we can help the people that grew up in this hellhole.

[kiljoy]

[Kilgrave does not give two shits about these people but he smiles and nods, giving a thumbs up. Right! And he types one more thing:]

Nice to meet you, Reigen. Name's Kilgrave.

[saltsplash]

[Thumbs up right back! Reigen doesn't think too hard about Kilgrave's expressions, since everyone's tense and frustrated.]

Hang tight. We'll end up figuring it out.

[kiljoy]

[He nods again, then pats Reigen lightly on the shoulder before moving on – a friendly goodbye. Whether or not Reigen's self-professed skills will actually come in useful, Kilgrave doesn't know, but he won't forget.]