quietplacelogs | 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:

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NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'll be right back. [ He turns walking out of her bedroom to retrieve the oil bucket. It takes him a good twenty seconds or so before coming back with it and the brush. Poe carefully sets it down in front of the dresser before typing out a message on it. ]

This will need to go back outside by the door. It'll be easier to use what we need from the bucket since it's probably the only brush around currently.

Got it. I'll take out the drawers and you slather? [She'll wait for him to agree before moving to the dresser to start pulling out a drawer as slowly as quietly as possible. There's some noise but manageable.]

Yeah, you might have better luck with keeping it quiet.

[ He gives her a nod when he crouches to get ready to start brushing the wheels as well as the edges of the drawer. They could make noise within the house but not too much. It'll still be better to not risk it though. ]

[Faith's doing her best to play by the rules here. She doesn't want the reputation here as the town fuck-up after all. And she doesn't want to be responsible for anybody dying just because she was opening a drawer to get her underwear.

Once they get all the drawers, Faith slides them back with, pleased to find them relatively noiseless on reentry. Bingo! She smiled to Poe. Team work!]

[ Poe's going to be trying as well. As much as he hates it he doesn't want others getting into trouble or hurt. The Sound Eaters were definitely a mystery to figure out. Even if he were to get a small group together he wouldn't know the outcome. It could all be unpredictable.

The job would be thorough he would make sure any kind of noise or hard pull would be oiled right. As Faith tested it out, there's a grin as he looks at her giving her a nod. Team work was necessary at times and this was one of them. Poe puts the brush into the oil can. ]

If there's anything else you need don't be afraid to come knocking on my bedroom door. It's across the foyer and dining area. Closest to the porch. Food may be something to think about too.

I'll remember that. Across the foyer and dining area, closest to the porch.

I'm also all about food. I may be small but I can EAT. [That was something to worry about. Considering the state of her metabolism she'd need to keep in a steady flow of calories to not waste away.]

If anything loud enters the house I'll probably be the first one it'll try to get too. Not that I mind I can handle myself or take the beating. [ There's a small shrug since he's taken a lot. ]

I'm not sure what's provided in the house already. Might have to gather food to eat as well. [ He's not even sure what this planet would have for food. He would need to learn all the different names and tastes of it. Poe would probably try finding something similar to a Koyo melon if he could. Just another small reminder of home but not quite. ]

Maybe we should secure and insulate the porch door better? So it's less likely something will come in and attack through there? [Why'd he pick that room? Almost seemed like he was welcoming being the first one attacked. She, oddly, kind of understood that.]

Think I heard something about small animals being around. Like rabbits and shit. But I don't know what else we've got for food. Aside from pickles, bread, and that booze that could peel the finish right off a car.

We could give that a try. I can take a lot of hits or other things. I do appreciate the concern. [ If there's a better room available he could possibly be convinced to move into it later on. The room he's in is small enough for him. Plus he didn't mind having his own space to hide out in if he needed it. Poe wasn't even sure if he had nightmares. It could be a possibility with everything he's been through. No one should be put through that if he did. ]

With a community such as this, I would hope they have a farm of some kind to grow plants, fruits or whatever could on this planet.

[ Maybe if the cleaning job didn't pan out, he'd help with the whole farming bit. Since he could definitely do that job. Even if it was quiet it wouldn't really disturb him, it may make him feel oddly at home. ]

A lot of hit, huh? I feel like I should test out that theory... [She playfully jerks forward as though she's about to punch him, but she doesn't. Grin. Yeah, she's a shit.]

I hope so too. If they don't have a farm, some people should figure out how to start one. This number of people, scavenging for random shit's not going to keep us alive long.

Hits, knives, explosions and other things. I'm pretty sure your hits would hurt though. [ Poe stands his ground though not being intimidated by the playful jerk. He gives her a small raised eyebrow with a small grin. There is a small cut that never healed under his right eye but he doesn't pay much mind to it. But he won't go into much detail over how it happened. Not right away at least. ]

It'll be easy to start one with the right ground and dirt. I'm sure it'll be harder though. I'm used to using machines, this would be all done by hand and tools I won't be familiar with. The natives lived here for a while, they probably have something already in place. Where do they get their foods?

[She nods. Hell yeah her punches would hurt! Faith could kill a person in one blow if she tried. And she never planned to try that on a human being.]

Yeah, suppose they have to have something, unless they have some magic power to pull food out their asses. Maybe I'll ask the next one I see now that I'm curious.

[ No, please don't use it against him, he would like to live. She should do it against someone someday that deserves it. ]

If they have something like that, they would always have food. If you find out before I do, let me know if one exists. If they need help I may be more useful to them there than a cleaner. I don't mind the extra work though. It'll keep me busy.

INTRO LOG #1

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