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

[353]

[ It's not like Mike really cares about Frank's opinion (read: he totally does) and it's not like he's waiting almost nervously for Frank to say his fort sucks or that what he's been doing has been a total waste of time (it's what he imagines his dad would say)...

Except Frank makes the OK sign and a feeling of pride comes over himself, like handing in homework and getting a good grade.

Once Mike is done quietly draping the blankets over his structure as well as laying them underneath, Mike types Frank a message. ]

I made this for my friend Eleven.

[ And then he thinks of something he feels the need to ask Frank - gesturing for him to hold on while he types more - because he feels like maybe he can trust him, more than any other adult he's met here. (Of course Mike would trust the man with bruises all over his face.) ]

There are bad men after her. If they come here, will you help me protect her?

[oorah]

[ yeah well mr. wheeler blows. frank made blanket forts with his kids whenever he was home. which admittedly wasn't that often. that's what happens when you sell your soul to the us government right? first david's kids and now... this kid. it's like he's trying to make up for something he's already revenged. his face is still black and blue to prove it.

stuck in his own head, staring at the fort, it takes him a second to realize mike's trying to get his attention. he crouches down so they're eye level and holds the device while the boy gets out his question. at first, relief floods frank's system, to know that mike has a friend here. eleven, weird name. but his mood plumets at the mention of bad men. hadn't he slaughtered enough of them in his children's names? and for leo and zach lieberman. the photograph is still in his pocket and he wants to sigh, but he doesn't. his expression is open, worry sneaking in plain for mike to read.

he hits the enter key and types his own reply below mike's. ] yes

[353]

[ The thing is, Eleven can protect herself - Mike probably needs more protection than she does - but that won't stop Mike from getting her extra protection.

And because sometimes adults lie, it's Mike's turn to type under Frank's response: ] promise?

[ And he'll hold Frank's gaze to show just how serious he is about this, that this isn't him playing around, no pretending. ]

[oorah]

[ mike didn't have to ask, he would have protected him with his life regardless. but he knows mike has no way of knowing that and doublechecking is safe. it's good. he reaches out, squeezing mike's upper arm gently and nodding, meeting the boy's eyes to show he's serious. nothing will get to these kids without going through frank castle first. and he's one hell of a wall. ]

[353]

[ Mike nods back, then copies that OK sign Frank made earlier because he's young and impressionable like that, back to smiling again.

He gestures to the fort that he's going to test it out, suddenly kneeling down and crawling inside. Frank won't be able to see him for a moment, until Mike pops his head back out.

Aren't you coming in? He speaks with a look. ]

[oorah]

[ he smiles, just a tiny fleeting expression, patting mike's back before letting him go. okay. that's it. he's guard dog. he can be that.

frank watches him disappear inside the fort, thinking he should probably get back to his shitty garage, when mike pops his head out to invite him inside. he looks conflicted for a moment before nodding. he crawls inside, trying to make himself as small as possible so as not to disturb any of their work. he lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding when he sits down inside.

he glances over at mike. he can't tell him a story or anything so he guesses they just... stay. be. it's better than being out there by a longshot so frank's cool with that if mike is. ]

[353]

[ Yeah, Mike definitely prefers it in the fort compared to outside. Maybe it wasn't just for Eleven. And maybe it can be for Frank sometimes too.

Sitting cross-legged, Mike passes Frank his device with a new message. ]

So you like hotdogs?

[oorah]

[ frank reads and gives a soundless laugh, just a little jump of his shoulders with a lopsided smile. he types back. ] doesn't everyone?

[353]

[ True, Mike expresses with a nod. He pulls his toy dinosaur out of his pocket and positions it at the entrance of the fort, like a guard dog. A guard dinosaur - how cool would that be? Then he moves into more of a lying down position because making blanket forts can be tiring. But not tiring enough for Mike to stop messaging Frank. ]

I don't think El's ever had a hot dog before. [ Which is a really sad thought. There was so much she hadn't experienced. ] We should get her to try one. [ Did they have them here? Mike has no idea. Maybe he'd look tomorrow. ]

[oorah]

[ something shifts in his chest when mike pulls the little toy out and sets it to keep guard over the fort. he bites into his lip and looks down at his device. this is like so many moments he had with frank jr. before... he swallows, tries to focus. he can't have a meltdown in front of a child. he's not that low yet. right? ]

you ever had a new york hotdog?
there's nothing like it. if i can get the ingredients i'll make you both one.

[353]

[ He shakes his head at Frank's question. ] I've never been there. I've never been out of Indiana.

[ His face brightens at the idea of tasting a New York hot dog without actually having to go there. ] Really? You're so nice.

[oorah]

[ oh my god this might be the worst thing that's ever happened to him. his reply comes quick. ]

don't tell anyone [ that he's nice!!! it will ruin all the grumpy street cred he's earned so far. ]

indiana huh
do you know what a hoosier is it's been stumping me for years

[353]

I know they're meant to be people from Indiana but I don't get it. I asked my mom once and she told me to ask my dad and my dad said to ask my mom and then I asked Lucas and he said they're rednecks.

[ Does that help Frank??

Mike yawns - Frank isn't boring him, he just feels like he could take a nap right now... ]

[oorah]

[ the answer is so endearing, he can't even begin to suppress the grin curling up his lips. he catches the yawn and puts his device down on his thigh, ready to guard mike's sleep along with their dinosaur companion. ]

[353]

[ Mike still has his device in his hand, trying to think of what else he can talk about with Frank...

Then he faceplants into the device as he nods off. Frank should probably slip the device away from Mike's face before he accidentally ends up posting the face equivalent of a butt text to the network. ]

[oorah]

[ on conditioned response, frank does indeed slip the device away, shifting one of the pillows slightly so he can guide mike's face to rest there instead. his hand pats over the boy's hair once before he can edit himself. breathing out a silent breath, frank straightens back up and pockets his own device, watching the entrance to their sanctuary for the forseeable future. he won't leave until mike wakes up. ]