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

[laytheghost]

[there is just no way to avoid it: that guy is a Hollywood elf. Jan tries not to stare much, since staring has gotten her in trouble in this place before. she's not in this to make people feel self-conscious. but regardless. Hollywood elf.

she flushes and casts her eyes down; it's more overwhelm than bashfulness. he's attractive, but she's too unsettled for a moment to really register it. what is she supposed to do that isn't staring here?! he's seven feet tall!

at the same time... she's not a "blush and turn away" sort of girl, in any circumstances, and leaving the impression that she is one doesn't sit well with her. so she covers her moment of panic by typing something in her device, squares her shoulders, and marches up to him. she has to tilt her face back up to return his slight smile as she shows him her device, so it's all good.]

u here to garden?

[priwen]

[ Fortunately (or unfortunately), Alex is used to such scrutiny. Being tall is one thing, but also due to his status back home as Hydaelyn's chosen. People expected things from him, so it was only natural.

However, it seems that he'll have to do more than just be patient to resolve this situation. ]

Hello. I apologize if I've messed up your space.

I did come here to garden, but I'm not too sure what I can do without making a lot of noise.

[laytheghost]

[an apology certainly isn't what Jan was expecting, and she blinks, trying to absorb it. she got assigned to this space, but she wouldn't call it hers-- just a convenient place for the natives to put someone. now, if they had a soundproof chamber and wanted to assign someone to build a solar shower, she might be able to help them--

either way, the fact that they're both just strangers reacting semi-awkwardly to another stranger is its own reassurance. she decides she should probably correct this polite pro basketball player's mistaken impression. (or is he more of a model? do dude models have to be really tall and specifically proportioned, like women ones? she isn't sure; no one has ever had enough of those kinds of magazines in the break rooms where she's worked...

well, whatever.)]

oh no u havent messed up anything afaik
or maybe u did &i dont know shit about gardening
i hope u know more than me actually
poor plants

[priwen]

[ There are generally two types of male models: the swole ones, and the pretty ones. By virtue of being an elf, Alex might fall into the latter - but he's hardly the best looking Elezen around, in his own opinion. Just ordinary.

Alex tilts his head at her device, frowning just ever so slightly ]

I have a basic knowledge of cultivation, but these aren't plants I am familiar with.

What is 'afaik'?

[ He's assuming 'u' is 'you'. It's probably also obvious that he's unfamiliar with a touchscreen, as he types with one hand ]

[laytheghost]

[elves don't know texting. of course they don't. Jan finds this thought so funny that it takes her a moment of effort not to laugh at the absurdity of it all, though she does smile slightly. hopefully it comes across as friendly, which is how she means it; she doesn't have anything against elves. (the thought that she isn't racist against elves is funny enough to make her smile a little broader.)]

o sorry. its an abreev
"as far as i know"
im bad at gardening and also "typing like an adult" but im hot shit w building things so there u go we all have tlaents
ur assigned here too? maybe we can figure it out...

[priwen]

[ There's more racism than sexism in Eorzea, which is the strangest thing... but not exactly important right now. ]

I see. [ He types the same as how he would speak, so he comes off a little stiff despite his demeanour. ] I was assigned to construction, but I would like to work here as well.

Do you know what type of plants these are?

[ Who needs sleep when you can be productive, right? ]

[laytheghost]

[Jan's thoroughly distracted from either the strangeness of the person she's talking to, or the formality of his typed speech, by the sudden stab of indignant betrayal that the simple word "construction" rouses in her. how dare they have a construction section and not put her there, in her natural element?! (they probably didn't know what she was good at, but details...)

god, she could've been actually being useful these last few days, at something she was good at! something besides this endless out-of-place quiet bullshit, staring around corners in case she did something wrong! what gives?!]

there's a CONSTRUCTION and they didnt let me in on it?? BASTARDS
u gotta tell me how they do it w/out noise! im losing my mind over here!!

[...oh, right. he'd asked her a question, and little as she cares about the answer, she should reply...]

and i dont know. corn?? i was just goign to try to get that mister unclogged

[the defective irrigation equipment was the one thing in the converted greenhouse that she'd actually felt qualified to do something about.]

[priwen]

[ Alex smiles when he reads her message - sine they're not allowed to laugh, this is all he can give. She swears like a sailor; not something unusual. ]

I assume they picked me for my height. [ And strength, though as an Elezen he's quite slim. ] If you had a word with them, I'm sure they will let you change your assignment.

[ As for the plants: ]

I'll see what I can do, then. If you could work on the pipes, that would be great.

[laytheghost]

[Jan hefts the wrench in her hand with a slight nod to show her willingness to repair the equipment. it's going to be a struggle to use it as silently as possible, but luckily the thick, deep soil and careful arrangement of plants has cushioned the dripping noise of the leaks so far; there's something to be said for the natives' careful adaptations to low-sound activities.

speaking of which, she has to know, though--]

i dont mind helpign w both rly
but SERIOUSLY what are you doing to keep noise down?? building is LOUD

[priwen]

[ Very carefully: ]

Working with caution is a given, that I'm sure of. Other than that, I don't know. I have not had to report for work yet.

[ Part of the reason why he's here, tbh ]

[laytheghost]

[Jan casts her gaze around the greenhouse. corn... yeah, that's definitely corn. besides that, the plants get much more mysterious to her. is that weird grassy stuff some kind of grain? what root vegetables are hiding under those little green heads on the ground? how do you tell what's a weed and what isn't? gardening is very mysterious.]

ok
u tell me what u find out & ill do whatever i can to help
deal??

[priwen]

[ It helps if one has a book of plants on hand, it was how he learned. Alas, up to date plant books are rare in this place, so they'll have to make do. ]

I can do that, definitely. Thank you.

[ Alex nods, rising awkwardly from his crouching position. He can stand up straight, but his head is quite close to the ceiling...

Oh right. ]

I'm Alexandre, but please call me Alex if that's too long. What's your name?

[laytheghost]

[Jan leans her head back, and further back, to smile up at him. he's weird, certainly, but he seems very nice about it. and he said that he'll help her with figuring out soundproof ways to do construction in this place. that's certainly worth something.]

im jan
god, not beign able to say hello out loud is still weird
hi tho

(...)

pls dont be mad but r u an elf?

[priwen]

[ It is indeed strange to have to write to converse, but at least he can see her face and feel how she thinks. It's not so bad. ]

I'm an Elezen. And you are a human, yes?

[ He doesn't seem to take any offense with it, instead looking just so slightly amused. ]

[laytheghost]

[Jan's smile broadens. honestly, this is hilarious, in its own way. she's been so out of her depth for so long now that it's swinging around to being absurd, something she can roll with.]

SURE AM
u dont know how funny that is if ur from a place where theres just humans
how did this place even GET u here??

[priwen]

[ If they could laugh, they probably would have - but they can't, and he'll just settle for this. ]

In the land where I come from, there were six Spoken races and a multitude of others. I must say, seeing only humans is a little strange.

I haven't the slightest idea why I am here.

[laytheghost]

that makes 2 of us buddy

[being the only person around who looks like you... that's not quite an unfamiliar problem to Jan. she buries the thought immediately. it's not like she's actually had issues with that kind of thing, not what she'd consider real issues.

she feels conscious of an urge to make Alex feel more welcome, at least.]

we cna at least figure out what were doing in here, i guess
did u have plans for these weirdo plants?
ill try 2 help

[priwen]

I was wondering if we could make them healthier, or plant more. The fixed irrigation would help a lot, definitely.

[ He's more of a harvester than an actual farmer, since he travels a lot - but these are basics. ]

We could also grow more things to work with, like vegetables, or flax for fibre.

[laytheghost]

[one more smile for the road.]

theres probably a lot of veg already
why dont u find one of the ppl who works here & ask for a list
& i'll get started on the pipe
plan??

[priwen]

[ nods quickly ]

It's a plan. Send me a message if you need me, I will try to be done fast.

[ He'll finally be able to get up and walk around the outside of the greenhouse. God he is tall. ]

[laytheghost]

[ACTUAL HOLLYWOOD ELF!

Jan goes about the (difficult, annoying to do with no sound) pipe-fixing with a good will, pleased by the acquaintance.]

[priwen]

[ About twenty minutes later he'll be back, looking no different. Jan might only be able to see him coming (and not hear) due to how careful he is about moving.

Instead of words, he shows her a list. ]

Plants

- corn. Not millioncorn? Just corn.
- 'chard'
- green vegetables 'leaf'
- root
- no flax.
- no cotton


need seeds to plant more


fertilizer?

fishmeal? are fish real?

[laytheghost]

[that... that last gives her pause, and it's a deeper philosophical question than she ever expected to need to react to while muffling wrenching noises with a handful of dirt.]





is this like, is anything real, or do u just not know fish

[priwen]

[ Oh, right. He skipped a few words in that sentence ]

No, nothing like that. I was just wondering if fish still existed here.

[ uhhhhhh ]

I like fishing.

[laytheghost]

[THAT'S SUCH A REASSURING ANSWER! she lets out a covert breath, glad she doesn't have to investigate the deeper meaning of trout, or whatever the fuck fish he is talking about.]

fucked if i know
if the sound eaters cant hear underwater that'd be great
are fish noises loud enough? we should go 2 the river & check