quietplacelogs | INTRO LOG #1

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INTRO LOG #1

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The first is Naruto Classic, the original, who just laughs at Aaron's dumbfounded expression. The second also laughs as if the poke tickled somehow.. but the third catches Aaron's finger with it's very real hand, then promptly disappears in another puff of smoke, leaving only two Naruto's standing there. ]

whats a david copperfield?

[ Naruto's copy types on his device, identical to the one his original is holding. ]

[Yeah, no, this is strange. It'd take a lot of work to set this up. This is something else entirely.]

He's a magician! He can make buildings disappear in moments. This is actually cooler though!

[ It's definitely big praise being told he's cooler than a guy who can make buildings disappear - Naruto can't do that, wouldn't even know where to start, but he's not going to tell Aaron that - so the original gives a goofy grin while his copy scratches his cheek bashfully. ]

this aint even the best thing i can do
this is just two little clones
i can make hundreds at the same time yknow
thousands even

an i can make em look like anything i want

[ Hint hint. ]

Edited 2018-01-20 17:15 (UTC)

[He can't imagine what it'd take to create and maintain 100 clones. Or do they take maintaining? What little he knows of the supernatural outside his purview tells him that's got to be a real big deal though.]

That's pretty awesome. That's got to come in handy in so many ways.

[If Aaron had 100's of clones, life would be a living hell for whatever city he visited back home. Considering his current go to method to dealing with problems.]

I don't have many tricks like that but I can show you one cool one if you want.

[ Oh? Aaron has tricks too?? He looks like a civillian, so Naruto kind of just blanket assumed that he wouldn't have any powers. He's incredibly interested, therefore, to find out that he might. He leans forward, both of him actually, their twin bright blue eyes wide and attentive as the clone holds up his response. ]

hell yeah!! show me what you got, im ready!!

[Aaron has to think on how to do this right. He waves for Naruto to follow him away from the general party and preferably out of line of sight of others. He then types up his message, starting this off.]

First, make ten of you, link arms and form a circle facing away from me. When you do so, count to ten then turn around.
No peeking early.

[Aaron's totally unaware what he's about to do is a standard trick for the likes of Naruto, but he likes his tricks.]

[ Ten of him? Naruto and his clone give each other a confused look, but nevertheless they nod and back away a little so Naruto can form another hand sign and summon eight more copies of himself. He hasn't got a clue what Aaron might want with ten of him, or why they're forming a circle, or why they're not allowed to watch the transformation-- but he's curious, so he'll be obedient, signalling the start of his count with a thumbs up.

....Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!

At the last moment they all turn round, the eyes of every one of them turning to look where Aaron had been standing before. ]

[Aaron's gone. No one's there and no one's passed through their little ring. If he leapt over them or crawled past he'd have been spotted right? Though vanishing is more a trick where he's from than where Naruto's from.

There's only a few moments before they get a message on their devices.]

Okay, one last trick before I reappear. Turn around again and count to ten before looking. This time when you turn around, only look for a little bit then look away one last time.

[Aaron's vanishing illusion is pretty basic. It just prevents the eye from focusing on him and makes him seem invisible.

He's got one more trick before he's done.]

[ Naruto is practically bowled over by the disappearance, but he's been had like this before.. Kakashi sensei seemed to disappear only to have buried himself in almost an instant underground, so Naruto is peering close at the ground beneath their feet when Aaron's message comes through.

He doesn't really know what he means by look for a bit and then look away, but he's too curious to ask any questions and prolong the suspense, so again he turns and counts and looks back when he's done. ]

[Now, sitting where Aaron was once standing, is a coyote. It seems content to be the center of attention and watches the lead Naruto expectantly. Aaron's still nowhere to be seen.

The coyote stands to stretch but otherwise does not move from the spot it's at. It seems okay being around a bunch of people.]

[ Naruto looks visibly taken aback by that, because honestly a coyote is the last thing he expected to see in the middle of this circle. He's never even seen a coyote before, he doesn't even know it is a coyote, it just looks like a wolf-ish dog to him, but it's still pretty surprising to see it and not Aaron.

He'd been told to only look for a bit and then look away, so even though it's very hard to drag his eyes away, he does so and turns back around, already tapping a ???????? on his device to show to Aaron when he reappears. ]

[After a very short bit, Naruto gets one last message.]

And that's it. I'm back, you can turn around now.

[And there's Aaron, standing where the Coyote was, wearing the same jumpsuit he had been when this all started.]

[ When Naruto turns round he automatically dispells his clones, so that when the smoke clears all that's left is Naruto standing there with his hands on his hips, looking thoroughly confused. ]

ok.
youre gonna have to explain to me what just happened
where did the dog go???

Coyote, not a dog.
And I'm just really good at illusions.

[Well, that's partly true. He's not very good at them though and part of that wasn't an illusion.]

[ Naruto squints a bit. ]

ok
coyote

[ He's clearly unfamiliar judging by the look on his face... or that might just be from effort as he tries to puzzle this out. ]

so.. was the coyote you? did ya make yourself look like one??

Yes.

[He knows there were two questions there but the explanation is so much more difficult.]

huh

[ Well, he can't deny he's impressed. ]

ive never seen anyone turn into an animal before!! [ Well, there was one time but that was a strange period in his life so he prefers not to think about it. ] can ya turn into other animals too??

Just coyotes for now. Though the guy who fought me all I know could do other animals. I got a lot to learn.

can anyone learn to do it?

[ Asking for a friend. ]

Nope! It's something your sorta born with.

[Like natural green eyes and widow's peak hairlines.]

ah that sucks
i wanted to learn how to turn into somethin

[ :( ]

It's okay, the downside is it comes with a lot of obligations and rules. So there's always a trade off.

ahhh yeah its like that at home
but rules can be bent sometimes yknow, theyre not always supposed to be totally followed

[ Well, that is kind of the point of rules, Naruto... It's just that often he either ignores them completely or finds ways to dodge them. Most of the time it's the former, though. ]

When the best trickster in the universe tells you what he wants you to do, you either have to be really confident you can out smart him or you play along until you can.

[Considering how much of his life was some not very funny joke in order to get him where he is today, he's not risking it yet.]

[ HHHhhhhhhhhmwhat. ]

trickster?
what like a guy who pulls pranks??
whats that gotta do with you turnin into an animal???

INTRO LOG #1

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