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

[gotyourselfapilot]

[ Of course he's angry, she telling him that Kylo Ren, of all people would help them. Why though would he? That's what Poe didn't really understand and maybe once he heard her reasoning for it he could do something about it. Maybe... maybe for once he'll be thinking about those big moral questions. Even if he started a mutiny against Holdo for actions he didn't quite understand still. There was probably a reasoning for her not saying the complete plans to them. Poe was only looking for hope and believed in his own plans. Even if it seemed crazy it could have worked... but it didn't work.

The stuff that came next though, the explain, the unspeakable things. He got behind all of that. Even if there's was conflict it didn't make much sense. Not until the name Ben Solo came up across the screen. Poe looks at her steadily. He mouths back at her. I trust you, not him.]

I didn't know.

[ He keeps the device up as he looks a bit more defeated by this knowledge. Not fully believing what he just read. Poe was frustrated. He knew he could trust Rey but he wouldn't easily trust Kylo Ren. However, if what she was saying was true about him. Leia would probably want her son back. Poe covers his mouth with his other hand mostly in thought and to hide his expression a bit. This was a lot to take in. ]

[steal]

Now you do.

[Her eyes plead with him. There's more to this story, so much more. But they can't get into the full details here. She needs to be in a place where they can speak freely, even if it's in whispers. Beyond that, some details are private and she can't share them with anyone. There's a lot here for him to take in, at least, and he'll need time to process it. She might not need to say more than she already has, except - ]

I know you hate him. But he won't harm me, and he knows what I would do if he harmed anyone else here. Hux is a bigger threat to us here.

[gotyourselfapilot]

Thanks for telling me, I guess. It's a lot to take in.

[ He sees her eyes. There has to be more to all of this. Maybe they'll get a chance to have a private conversation. The need for whispering will come then. They'll be able to give out more information better than over the devices. ]

I will not trust him. You're right. I do hate him for a number of reasons. Not unless I see what you're seeing. Just because he's Ben Solo, it doesn't make everything right. If he still has conflict he could turn to the dark instead of the light. How can you be sure that he won't be tempted? For Leia's sake and yours, I can try to accept all of this. I'm not one to answer the big moral questions. That's usually left up with Command or at this point General Organa. Yeah, I blew up plenty of his ships, I'm sure he's not going to be too happy about what else I did to him.

[ Poe gives a shrug, he did call Hux, Hugs and tooled with the man before going off to take care of the surface cannons on the dreadnought. He can always tell her that story later. ]

[steal]

[All Rey can do for now is reach out to touch at his arm. There's so much he needs to tell her in return, it seems. They'll have to be patient, no matter how much she wants to just say everything out loud now. So she smiles a little and gives a nod before writing out another message.]

Acceptance will take time. I understand.

[She's certain he must have so many questions, but a part of her is glad for the fact they can't freely talk right now. Her answers are clouded with her hope and optimism, and she knows that. She so desperately wants Ben to find the light inside himself that she's done stupid things she won't readily admit to Poe just yet. So instead she focuses on the immediate future, and the man she has a meeting with soon.]

I'm meeting him again soon. Can I tell him you're willing to consider working together?

[gotyourselfapilot]

[ The touch on his arm made him ease a bit knowing that Rey was only trying to help. He had a lot of things he wanted to say to her, to tell her. Being patient was something he could do but he may not be able to settle his thoughts. ]

There's a lot more to this. I do appreciate the understanding.

[ There were a lot of questions. Poe really looks at her before placing both of his hands onto her shoulders. He gives them a small squeeze while shaking his head a little. The pilot pulls away while typing out his reply to that slowly. ]

I need to ask him questions of my own before I willingly say that I will. You can tell him that it's a possibility.

[steal]

[She needs time of her own to think. The urge to simply nod and part ways is strong, but Rey remains in place and forces herself to think of as best of a solution as can be found given the circumstances.]

I'll be sure to tell him. And I'll arrange a meeting for you.

[One where she can supervise and step in if she needs to. Rey probably isn't the best mediator, but she's willing to try.

Once she's certain he's read the message she pockets her own device, and glances up at him with a hopeful look on her face.]

[gotyourselfapilot]

[ It's a good thing they didn't completely part ways just yet. But Poe knew that there wasn't going to be much more to this. Not yet anyway and he only hopes that they will be able to tell each other their full stories. Even if it's later. ]

A meeting would be a good idea. I don't want to put you through the trouble. But I do trust you.

[ He pockets his own device and gives her a nod of understanding. But within his own eyes there's doubt mixed with whatever hope he still had left. Poe waits for her to leave first because he's not entirely sure what to do next. Because he seems kind of lost in his own thoughts. He might be like this for a while and anxious over the meeting until it happens. Although that anxious feeling might fester into frustration. ]

[steal]

[So she'll arrange a meeting between Poe and Kylo Ren. Unsure of how that might go, particularly in a place where quiet is mandatory, she figures that one of the houses might be the best bet. Her room in the house she's been assigned is large enough for a meeting, so it makes sense to invite them both there.

That information can get to her friend later though, and she offers him a smile and a hand to his shoulder before she turns to leave. If she keeps Ben waiting for long, she's certain he'll complain about it for days.]