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

Lup | The Adventure Zone

[shotfired]

A.

[ Lup died. She knows this. Silverpoint isn’t something you come back from. When she regains consciousness and discovers she is not, in fact, a lich she is understandably confused. Was it all for nothing? Probably. Needing to do another reset would fit in with their track record. If it’s the start of another cycle, though, then she should be back on the Starblaster. Unless...breaking the light changed how the cycles work, somehow. It’s then that it really hits her: They failed. It’s a new cycle. She’s not on the ship. Where is Taako?

Lup jumps to her feet and immediately starts to look around. She shoves through the crowd of people, searching for crimson robes or familiar faces. Not here. Her brother is not here. None of her family is. For the first time in her life Lup is outcast, but very alone.

She starts a mental list as she storms towards the door out of here. 1) Find Taako, 2) Find Barry and the rest of the crew, 3) Locate the light of creation and figure out why the shit things changed. As she tries to leave, someone stops and actually shushes her. Apparently, she can’t leave until she swears to be silent. What complete garbage.

The illusion of fire crackles between her fingers. She’s not about to seriously injure a bunch of people, but hot damn is she going to use Prestidigitation to look as goddamn intimidating as possible. ]

Alright, look. This room sucks, and I have some real important stuff to do. Stuff like, oh I don’t know, saving your world from being swallowed like a piece of hard candy? So stop asking me to go on an indefinite adult time-out and let me through.

B.

[ On the second day, she can be found in one of two places. She will either be on the roof of house 10, standing stock-still while staring up into the sky. Or she’s sitting near house ten, magically lighting then snuffing out some grass. Her expression is one of boredom, but she keeps switching positions or tapping her fingers quietly on her knees.

In the town hall meeting, she's given Barry's glasses. Barry's fucking glasses. She knows they're his, she can see the bite marks from when he was thinking too hard about something. She stares at them for a while, not sure what this means. For the rest of the meeting, she listens to what the people have to say and then wanders around, double-checking the crowd for familiar faces and then getting shit-faced at the party. ]

3, Choose your own adventure

[ OOC: Lup will be around most places, being a nuisance and probably making fun of people. ]

B - In front of House 10

[xochipilli_cursed]

[Aaron's playing around with how to walk silently and dance step along the sand. He smile and waves at anyone he happens to pass.

The same goes for Lup as he's about to quick step past. Or at least he was.

He freezes when he notices that she's making things catch fire without a match. He points to the burned grass then puts his hands together while puffing up his cheeks. He spreads his hands out then will letting out his breath and trying to mouth "woosh".]</small?

[shotfired]

[ She watches Aaron carefully and then takes a moment to try and puzzle out what he's trying to say. Is he worried she's going to start a wildfire? Does he want her to make a bigger Fire? She looks from Aaron to the grass a couple times. Yeaaah, she's got nothing.

Lup opens her mouth to say something and then remembers she's not supposed to say anything. Ugh. Instead, she grimaces and walks over to him, pulling her device out of her pocket as she does. She holds it up once she's close enough. ]

What

[xochipilli_cursed]

[Oh, yeah, devices. What sort of futuristic hellscape is this? People have cell phones where he's from but he doesn't have the money for all those text messages and doesn't really have anyone to text so he didn't bother.

He pulls his device out and responds.]

You're a mage that makes things go boom?

[shotfired]

[ Man it would be so boring to have only one spell. Like what would you even do. ]

Well yes, I am a wizard and I can make things go boom. But I can do A LOT more than that, my man.

B also in front of house 10

[lunisolar]

[Remus spots her from one of the windows, and the show of flames is intriguing enough that he can't help but go "talk" to her.

Except not actually talking, of course.

He leans against the deck instead of sitting on the ground (his knees aren't so good with getting all the way onto the ground like that), conjuring a handful of cold, blue flames.

Hey, I got magic too.]

[shotfired]

[ Lup tilts her head to look at Remus when he shows up, and smirks when the flames blaze to life in his hand. They're blue, that's hella cool. She picks up her device and types quickly. ]

Not bad homeslice. I'd be impressed if I wasn't also a hella cool wizard.

[lunisolar]

[Remus' shoulders shake with a silenced laugh at the message, and he dispels the flames with a wave of his hand. It takes him a bit longer to type out his response. He's not used to texting.]

It seemed faster than writing a proper greeting on this thing.

B

[hoaxer]

[... fire?

Lu Li figures that, with how electricity must be carefully conserved, there would be a few candles here and there. The pattern of the fire's heat signature, however, is odd. It's far too rapid for it to be a candle. Furthermore, it's outside. Her curiosity overpowers her caution and, as stealthily as she can, she follows the trail.

Sorry, Lup. A robot is going to be peering around the side of house ten, its red eye big and wide as it watches you go about your magical shenanigans.]

[shotfired]

[ It takes her a moment to notice she has an observer. She doesn't really mind, though. Magic is sick as hell. She doesn't want this robo gal to feel like she has to be sneaky, though, so she tries to wave her over.

And just to punctuate how welcoming and cool she is, Lupe Prestidigitates a shower of colorful sparks and waggles her eyebrows. ]

[hoaxer]

[What in the world--?

Maybe this woman was a magician. An illusionist, perhaps? Lu Li isn't sure how sleight-of-hand would escape her sensors but it has to be a trick. Magic doesn't exist.

(She thinks.)

At the very least, this stranger wasn't afraid of her and there was no ill intentions in that smile. Cautiously, like a cat being offered a hand, Lu Li comes out of her hiding place and sits by her.]

HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?

B-ish

[thinhammer]

[ Naruto isn't the most perceptive person going - in fact he's kind of unfortunately dense - but when it comes to negative feelings Naruto is like a fly to sugar, drawn to them from a place deep within his chest that feels like his own heart and something else entirely all at the same time. It's a strange feeling, but he's barely aware of it as he watches Lup's progress through the party.

Reacting to a trinket by looking lost and then drinking whatever you can get your hands on is, after all, a pretty weird reaction to have.. but Naruto has seen that kind of drinking before. All he can see is Lady Tsunade when she heard about Jiraiya-sensei, and he's not sure if it's grief, empathy or the want to help that makes his chest hurt a bit at the thought, but it's what propels him forward to tap Lup on the shoulder. He could be wrong, of course, but either way by approaching her he figures neither of them lose anything. ]

hey, i need a favor!

[ He's already got the message written, plan formed and only in need of her assistance. ]

i saw you earlier doin the fire thing, can ya do other stuff too? this party sucks, i wanna spice it up!

[shotfired]

[ Lup is mid-drink when Naruto taps her on the shoulder. There isn't a jump of surprise or anything, she just spins on her heel to see who's trying to get her attention, the glass never leaving her lips. The dude isn't someone she knows, which is disappointing but not a surprise.

It takes her a short second to realize he's already written up what he wanted to say, and she raises an eyebrow as she reads through the request.

She is so down for a fun distraction. So down.

As she's not able to type and drink at the same time, Lup downs her drink, almost slams the glass on the table, and gives Naruto a thumbs up. ]

I'm a wizard, of course I can do other stuff! And you better believe I want in on whatever crazy hijinks you're cooking up.

[thinhammer]

[ Naruto is elated that his idea seems to be working - there was every chance, after all, that she'd turn her nose up at him and tell him to get bent, that perhaps she was too preoccupied drinking and brooding to humor him - so he's more than relieved by her thumbs up and the message that follows. ]

a wizard??? i dont know what that is... does that mean youre super powerful??

[ He kind of wants to ask for training but.... one thing at once, kid. ]

can ya do anything flashy for a party??

3 i do what i want

[kiljoy]

[Oh look, the master bedroom. Yep, this is his. He's taking this. Granted, the entire house is ugly and lacking in furniture, but if he has to live somewhere in this hell hole, it might as well be here. Kilgrave looks around, running his hand over the walls, checking the soundproofing.

He doesn't realise the room has already been claimed.]

[shotfired]

[ Lup had jumped on the master bedroom pretty much immediately. It was big, had some sick bay windows, and had plenty of wall space for research and shit. She only hauled in a few things before giving up and flopping onto a pile of blankets.

When Kilgrave comes in, she just stares for a second. ]

Hey, did you know that knocking exists? As in, that think people do before sensually caressing someone's wall.

[kiljoy]

[Oh my god she's talking, shut the fuck up you crazy bitch. Kilgrave flinches in surprise and places a finger to his lips, shushing her with an annoyed expression.]

Knocking makes noise. And you'd like to let me have this room. Shut up and get out.

[She spoke without dying so he'll try it too. Who knows, maybe his powers do work out here. He hasn't really tested it.]

A

[iisupergirlii]

[the room they're milling in as they hear about everything there is here is small, stuffy and uncomfortable. Kara's bumped into five strangers so far, but she's thrown for some surprise when someone just pushes past her, full forced and angry.

she follows the blonde head (with... pointed ears sticking out on either side? possibly alien.) bouncing through the crowd, her yellow jumpsuit so sound proofed that it doesn't even swish when she walks like she expected it would.

but then there's shouting, demands, and then energy crackling at the person's fingertips, and all Kara can think about is Livewire and all the potential for hurt there suddenly is on display. she storms forward, habit, even with no supersuit and no powers, and grabs the wrist of the person, spinning them around.]

Stop yelling at them! Wherever this is, they know more about it than we do, and whatever it is you can do, I'm not going to let you hurt them, so just calm down.

[shotfired]

[ Lup tenses and wrenches her arm away. She glares, but...her bluff has been called. So while she's not especially happy to let these people have their way, she lets out a breath. ]

Yeah, while I can definitely lay down the hurt? I'm not about to injure these people for no reason.

[ She holds up a hand, the illusion of fire still there, and points at it. ]

Not real fire. It won't hurt any of them.

[iisupergirlii]

[Kara narrows her eyes, a little suspicious. Then, since if it is real it won't cause her any lasting damage other than a really crappy sting, she holds her hand up and slides it through the flames a few times. She doesn't feel anything.

Well, that's reassuring.]

Good. That's... good. But still, don't scare them. That's... really rude.

3; scouting

[justsawthings]

[So, assignments. For scouting, which Josh absolutely, definitely not only knows how to do but is in a great state to do a great job at. Awesome. And the person he's supposed to search with is this chick, who looks like she might clock anyone who talks to her.]

[Whatever. He taps her on the shoulder and shows her his device.]

supposed to scout with you ig. fuck if i know what we're looking for?

[shotfired]

[ Lup looks over at Josh and offers a casual shrug. She can't help but wonder why he was sent on patrol. Nothing against him, but he looks like just a normal dude. Looks can certainly be deceiving, though. For all she knows, he could be a wizard.

She quickly types a reply. ]

Who knows. How these people are acting makes me think it's real spooky, though.

B

[fortheflowers]

[ 6O stands outside house 10 and stares up at the person on the roof, pondering how to soundlessly get her attention. She's not sure she can climb up there too without making noise, and with the person looking up at the sky, she's not sure waving is going to do anything. Maybe she could throw a pebble? But no, that would probably clatter... Hm...

In the end, she settles for trying to position herself at least somewhat in Lup's periphery and waves her arms back and forth, hoping to catch her attention.

If this fails, then.... well maybe she'll have to learn how to climb silently in a hurry!]

[shotfired]

[ Lup catches sight of movement out of the corner of her eye, and looks down towards...huh. Someone trying to get her attention. She casts one last look toward the sky before she drops silently from the roof and heads towards 6O.

She gives an easy smile as she fishes the device from her jumpsuit pocket. ]

Hey there, stranger. Need something?

apologies for promptly disappearing on an unannounced hiatus

[fortheflowers]

[6O is definitely impressed at that smooth landing - she'd tensed, all ready for sound, but there was none, and she just stares at Lup for a moment before she registers the text and smiles back. Although she's downloaded the sign language dictionary to her own memory, typing is more comfortable for 6O anyway so that's what she does, pulling out her device in return.]

Hello! I am Operator 6O.

I was going to make a supply run for this house and wondered if you needed anything, but... Why were you on the roof? Were you looking for something?