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quietplacelogs2018-01-15 08:09 pm
bequiet) wrote in quietplacelogs2018-01-15 08:09 pm
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!
no subject
She takes half a step back - but only half. She's scared but... while it's true that she's heard about A2 and indeed has passed along the very order mentioned. Has watched 2B's signals flatline more than once. Even if all that is true... Command isn't here, and 6O doesn't want to see anyone die anymore. Maybe they can find an understanding?
I'm sorry.
Orders are orders. And 2B... no... 2E had a job...
The reports never said why you were to be terminated. But I'm sure whatever it is doesn't matter here. We should work together.
no subject
It's blunt, and A2 doesn't really waste any time in telling her it. She knows what happened thanks to 2B's memory data, and she has no qualms about sharing that knowledge either.
You and 2B. This place has a funny habit of bringing dead units to it, doesn't it?
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2B... What happened? What are you talking about?
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Which is something that she's sure 6O has come to expect from her, and she appraises 6O once again, weighing the pros and cons of continuing. Does she really not know? Or were there gaps in her memory caused by the virus?
... Is the virus still there, a threat in her system? A2's eyes narrow, and she steps towards 6O again, though her intent is to hack into her and take a look this time. If it's still a threat, it needs to be dealt with before it can be spread. Even if that means A2 has to kill 6O again if she can't remove it.
no subject
When? I just talked to her!
She's not expecting to be hacked, of course, so there are no additional defenses besides that which she normally possesses. Operators are designed to be reasonably secure against data breaches, so she isn't the easiest android to hack, but she isn't the hardest either -- there are no traps. But there is damage. Tell-tale evidence of a recent viral infection that has not yet fully been repaired. Lacy bits in her memory sectors.
It's a bit like a garden there, but where most of it is well tended, there are weeds in some places and thorns protecting her most precious memories. The thorns are damaged and a bit eaten away. 6O had been fighting hard to hold on to the last few precious things, and she hasn't had time to fully repair herself yet.
There is no Logic Virus left, it seems, unless it's sequestered somewhere deeply locked away.
no subject
She finds nothing. And while 6O's defenses aren't anything to scoff at, they're not the most troublesome things she's encountered.
A2 does what she can to patch what she can, restore fragmented data with supplements of her own, of 2B's own. It's not a pretty fix, and it's not the best solution, but these copy pasted sections are at least a decent filler for the moment.
She pulls out of the hacking space, flicking her hand like she might have something stuck to it.
How do you feel now?
She's going to have to actually contact 9S to do better than a shoddy job that she did.
no subject
Why? Why did this happen? Why did...
No, she has to keep herself together, even though she's trembling a little.
Swallowing, she lowers her hand and takes a slow, steadying breath in and out. Oh 2B... 6O wraps her arms around herself for a moment as she continues to collect herself. She registered the question, but she doesn't quite understand.
Why is A2 showing her this? Why is she doing this? Why does... why does she care?
I'm sad. That's awful!
6O should be mad about being hacked, but really she's just upset knowing what happened after. She had so hoped that 2B and 9S, at least, would make it. That they'd be safe...
no subject
I couldn't find any remnants of the logic virus in you. That doesn't mean it's not hiding in some locked part of your systems though. I didn't dig that far. 9S is here. Have him look at it. He can do better than me at dealing with that sort of thing. He can probably patch up those nasty errors I saw too.
no subject
Not that she isn't grateful for the concern but... it's so intrusive.
9S and I were assigned the same house.
But she hadn't wanted to start off the day with talking about... about such terrible things. She was operating well enough. It's fine. A2 is probably right, though.
no subject
A2 even crosses her arms to prove a point.
Right before she continues on signing. Fucking bullshit this is.
If I were you, I'd ditch the loyalty to Y-O-R-H-A entirely. Especially since it's gone now.
no subject
Technically speaking.
6O hesitates then before shaking her head and seeming to come to a firm decision. She wipes away the dampness from her eyes and stands up straighter. It only helps a little bit, because she's still upset, but it at least gives a slightly more collected impression.
Anyway, it doesn't matter whether it exists or not - I intend to do everything I can to help keep 2-B and 9-S safe. You too... if you'll let me.
I may not have the same resources here, but I intend to continue my operator duties as best I can! If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask!
Unless it involves hurting 2B or 9S, of course.
no subject
The last time she asked an Operator unit for anything was the same time she was told to go run a suicide mission. Granted, it'd been under White's orders, but also, fuck her in particular.
Last time I asked one of you for something I got told to go get my squad killed.
no subject
Is that why you deserted?
no subject
If she had known then... The futility of it all, she would have told the Commander to go pound salt, quite frankly. She's sure that all of YoRHa would have. But this isn't then. This is now.
no subject
She can't deny that she's curious - and ... what does confidentiality matter now anyway?
no subject
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It was forbidden* information I didn't have access to. I wasn't even allowed to tell 2B that she'd encountered you before.
Frustration creeps into her expression and her gestures there.
That doesn't mean I didn't care. You don't have to tell me, but I don't want us to be enemies!
* by which she means 'classified' but alas, there are not specific signs in the dictionary downlaoded for all vocabulary.
no subject
Humans are dead. Y-O-R-H-A is a lie. A2 signs, slowly. She's watching 6O intently.
no subject
Except then A2 signs those words, and 6O -- well. Actually, she just blinks several times.
What?
She isn't quite sure she parsed those signs correctly.
(That's a lie. She knows exactly what A2 signed, but she's having difficulty making sense of the words. They conflict with what is, in her mind, fact. There are many things 6O can accept as being different from earlier observations. She'd be a poor data analyst if she wasn't willing to accept new data. But there have always been some things that have never been in question. Fixed points of data, as it were, and Humanity has always been one of them. That's... that's what they're fighting for, after all.
If A2 had accused YoRHa of telling lies, well, that she can't deny. She's been a part of the lies herself before. Although she prefers to be as open and honest with 2B as possible, there are plenty of things she isn't permitted to pass down. Sometimes she understands the reasons. Sometimes she doesn't. But... was never programmed to be as curious as the Scanner models. Questioning authority has never been within her typical parameters.)
no subject
It's not typical android behaviour to misread something. Even herself, several years out of date, is still functioning more or less like a newer model. Just without all the fancy upgrades.
The head of the machine network? They knew too. They always knew the futility of Y-O-R-H-A. They knew we were fighting for a lie the entire time.
no subject
It doesn't make any sense. Who assembled YoRHa then? What is on the Moon, then? Why are they...? How did ...?
How?
How does A2 know this? How do the machines know this?
no subject
A2 is starting to get a little impatient playing 50 questions with 6O, but unfortunately sign language doesn't exactly lend itself to unfriendly stances like having her arms crossed.
It's a pain in the ass, honestly.
All I know is that your commander knew. She knew and she still sent my squad off to die. And the only reason was to collect our battle data. We were expendable. Good soldiers died. Good friends died. And she did nothing to stop it no matter how much we begged or pleaded.
no subject
6O swallows. A back door in the system...
She almost doesn't catch the rest of what A2 signs as several things click together in her mind, and her eyes widen slightly even as they unfocus for a moment. (She remembers the feeling of the Logic Virus sliding in, and that probably got in through some back door.) 'Good friends died... no matter how much we begged or pleaded.'
And it doesn't even matter, because they're all dead now anyway. Except A2 and 9S. They're all dead.
The part of her mind still functioning logically points out that by name alone, A2 and her comrades were prototypes, and like any other prototype, testing was only to be expected. And besides, they're all soldiers. A good soldier is willing to give her life for the cause. Even when she doesn't want to die. Even when her friends don't want her to die.
Except that humans are dead. Which makes the cause meaningless.
But... are they really? 6O is still confused about this.
How did you find out? How do you know humans are dead?
The logical part of her is still hung up on this, but it's also looking over past odd bits of data. Discarded observations. It... might be true... Is this -- Is this why 2B had to keep killing 9S over and over? Learning this? Learning the lie? Unless A2 is wrong. But 6O can't think of anything worse than this for 9S to have found out.
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A2 almost makes an audible scoff. Almost.
The machine terminal told me. It told me because it thought it was funny, I guess.
no subject
Machines lie
She signs that almost reflexively. It's not quite a denial, but she's definitely not accepted it all yet.
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