INTRO LOG #2

[bequiet]

INTRO LOG #2
Put a Sock in It
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 – with or without the help of those who have come before you.

The Place Inside
Content Warnings: Disorientation, hallucinations, body horror
Themes: Plot, exploration

Have you been to hell. And more importantly, have you been back. We all know this pain but are too scared to recall. This horror controls us, pulls at our strings to ensure how our life plays out. So, let me rephrase my question: have you been to Ile Lacrox. And more importantly, can you come back.

In the community, if you hear something you're not supposed to hear, you learn to look the other way. If you see something you're not supposed to see, you pretend it never happened. If you feel disappointed, you learn to never ask for more. So, through good times and bad, famine and feast, the natives held fast to their rules until one common day a sly wind blew in from the south...

That same red dust twists through the streets, curling up in faint, little plumes of familiarity. The farther south you go, the thicker it becomes. Those willing to explore far enough will find it coming from an island in the middle of the river. Once there, doting every available surface is the evidence of Sound Eater births, and the closer you are to the island, the harder it is to avoid being coated in red. Even if it's not rubbed into the skin, it doesn't take long for the effects to take over. Every sound is amplified. Your breaths are deafening, the slightest step echoes. But no Sound Eater attacks. Your vision blurs, and it's as if your mouth is sealing itself shut. Those you traveled with seem to be similarly affected, and you know you have to be quiet. Anyone who brought supplies with them might discover that a drink of water subdues the symptoms.

OOC: Only characters who entirely submerge themselves in water will be free of the dust effects. Just remember that noise will attract Sound Eaters.


Liplocked
Content Warnings: Violent tendencies, mind alteration
Themes: Love, romance, obsession, sex

The natives are of French origin, and with that comes a love of romance. Residents will find treats and valentines at their doors. That same night, there will be a small, red-glowing fire built near the fountain. There will be jars pressed into the dirt and filled with a sweet, red liquid. Some natives can be seen drinking it and being very affectionate with one another. Anyone who drinks this is inspired to show endearment or lust to others, and it will wear off after sleeping.

There's also the noticeable addition of a new arrival. They came through the Reset Room just like everybody else. They understand the rules and follow them to a tee. They are the perfect example of what the natives want in their residents. They are charming and captivating. They say nothing, and they don't have to. When your eyes meet, you feel seduced. There's a nervous flutter in your stomach. You can feel your heartbeat in your throat. Pounding, constricting. They smile and then turn away.

As they're walking, you notice you're not the only one looking at them, and in their expression, you see your own mirrored. What started as sweet infatuation and longing dissolves into a jealousy unlike any you've ever known. All you understand now is that to win their affections you have to come out on top—so you're the only one they see. Your actions are not your own, but they're still yours.

OOC: There are two ways to break the "spell". Your character fights it out with someone else who is feeling the same way OR they're approached and physically touched by someone who isn't affected by the newcomer. A third of the community will be completely unaffected (everyone else is affected unless the player is uncomfortable with playing out the scenarios). The newcomer can be of any gender the player wishes. For those partaking in drinking, the players can choose what effects it has; it can inspire feelings of lust or boost paternal/maternal instincts or devotion towards friends.

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

[flyguy]

House One: /pees on deck to mark territory

[There is a growing pile of carpets, tools, paintings, dry wall— if it can be used to soundproof it's showing up outside of the deck of house one. Appliances and hardware that might potentially be useful in the future are scattered here and there like markers. And car batteries. So many car batteries. Tony himself has the sleeves of his most-definitely-not-the-tailored-five-figure-suit-he-arrived-in jumpsuit rolled up despite the temperature. It's not particularly a walk in the park to do this silently. The restriction is, in fact, making this take five times longer than it should. The temptation to say screw it and go sulk in the reset room with a pair of pliers and a coffee maker until he can finish a sound dampener is high.

And he would if he hadn't been locked away for several days starving and dehydrated in it. Bad memories. He'll keep his distance.

If you're passing by through his maze of junk, good luck. Try not to get in the way when he inevitably arrives lugging some new sacrifice to the growing dump. And yes, if you make it far enough through his stuff that is a media case stocked with alcohol. He is, but a mortal man.]

Liplocked: this can in no way go poorly

[Tony's been sitting on an overturned box a ways from the fire. Nursing a drink, not being particularly sociable, but he's not hiding in a dark doorway either. He's been people watching mostly. And rolling his eyes at the increasingly explicit PDA going on.

The real story of the evening though is one of the new arrivals. It grows more blatant over the course of the evening something's up. Half the population present can't take their eyes off the stranger and puerile fights are breaking out over the merest flick of apparently captivating eyes. Tony wouldn't know what the attraction is. He just sees another displaced joe in an ill-fitting jumpsuit. The effect on everyone else, though. That's pretty familiar. Disturbingly so. Bad memories kind of disturbing.

As such halfway through the evening Tony stands up and approaches the stranger, grabbing them by the arm to keep them from walking away. Up comes his device to make up for the sign language he hasn't yet mastered:]

What are you doing to these people.

[There's an hard look to go with the demand. Probably wasn't the slickest move to do this in front of so many people vying for the stranger's affection. Hindsight....]

Roulette

Want something else throw it at me, no plotting needed. I'll roll! Tony will be drinking the MysteryJuice™ a suitable distance away from the fire so that he's not first pickings if anything chooses to crash the party (safety first, kids). He's also unaffected by the stranger if someone needs/wants the spell broken (though heads up he'll be a complete ass first before he touches anyone :, ) last resorts).

house one

[deadboywalking]

[If you pile a bunch of cool stuff out where anyone can see it, then chances are you're going to attract pests. Raccoons, mice...pre-teens. At least Will is fairly respectful about it, keeping his distance and not touching anything, but he's definitely curiously looking at everything.

If he catches Tony looking at him, though, he's going to try and hide behind the nearest large object, though.]

[flyguy]

[He's coming back with a laundry basket full of curtains when he spots the kid. And yep. He's staring, waiting for some eye contact back. It's not as if he can really shout, Does this look like a playground? Get off my lawn, kid. Not if he wants to keep his head attached to his shoulders. When he does finally get a glance in his direction the kid goes off and ducks behind a washer (don't ask how he got a washer here silently, the answer is very painstakingly).

Really? An eyeroll, a shrug and glance skyward as if to say why him. Putting down his basket he grabs a nearby controller with an antenna sticking out of it. Very shortly Will has a supremely quiet rc car driving up to him from behind. If not caught it'll be bumping into his shoe. Taped on top is a device with a message displayed clear and bright.]

To the kid hiding behind my stuff: it's my stuff. I'm not paying for your tetanus bills. Get out here. God help you if you touch anything.

[He always did have a way with the kids...]

[deadboywalking]

[While this is a very clever and unique "buzz off" attempt, Tony's major mistake was giving a tweenage boy an RC car. That's the only thing he cares about, crouching down to sit on his heels and look the car over curiously. He doesn't touch it, but he looks over it in great detail, brow furrowing.

Then he glances up and around the edge of the washer, gesturing at the car with evident confusion. How'd he get it so quiet?]

[flyguy]

[Will can peer, but the point of the rc car was so Tony didn't have to waste the precious steps (and time, he's only got so much daylight here and a large...deck...to soundproof still if he wants to sleep halfway comfortable to ight) to get to the kid. He points right in front of him at the ground. World recognized symbol for “get over here now insert-full-name”.

His offhand gives the controller a flick to run the rc softly into Will's shoe one more time. What is he waiting for?]

[deadboywalking]

[Uh-oh. Every kid in the world knows that gesture + facial expression combo. Will skedaddles right over almost without thinking about it, because he's a well-trained kiddo. But he stops a safe distance away from Tony, so he can't be reached. Just in case.]

House One

[born2b]

[What the hell is all this junk...?

2B follows it all to the source: someone she hasn't seen in the house before. 2B personally doesn't care who lives in the house, people can come and go as they please. As long as they don't put the others in danger by making a racket, they're fine by her. But she can't stand watching this guy continue to carry all this without help. Besides, she'll have an easier time of it.

2B steps into his line of sight. Her eyes are uncovered and she wears a plain jumpsuit. But hovering at her back is a unsheathed katana almost as long as she is tall. Once she has Tony's attention, she gestures carefully using the natives' sign language--]

Allow me to assist you in carrying those.

[flyguy]

[Tony has yet, in fact, to master the native...tongue. Can you call it that if it involves every body part, but the tongue? Question for later. Point is: he has no idea what's being communicated at him. He could pull out his device, but it's in his pocket and he has his hands full of...batteries. He needs a lot of batteries for what he has in mind. A lot.

He's going to settle for making the international face for no comprende and shrug his arms expressively like a chicken flapping its wings. And this is why he doesn't do PR functions for deaf kids without a translator. After a moment he'll be passing some batteries over anyway. If she's just going to be standing there might as well put her to use. He points out an area that is quickly looking like a nursery for young wayward batteries with the amount of dusty and rusted power supplies that are accumulating there. Clearly it's where he wants her to drop them off.]

[born2b]

[Right. Humans need the device to interpret the language. They can't just, you know, download it all directly into their language settings. Humans are her creators and therefore above androids, but their limitations can be rather inconvenient.

She takes the batteries easily, following his silent instruction without comment. But once she's set the batteries down at the indicated area, 2B fishes her device out of the pocket of her jumpsuit and swiftly types the words--]

What are all these for?

[--before holding her device up so the stranger can read her words.]

[flyguy]

I'm building a wall. Kind of grunge, scrapyard chic. Post-modern.

[She doesn't really deserve that answer, but he's giving it anyway. After a moment he adds:]

It's for a generator. Until I can get something self-sustaining running anyway. I'm guessing you're not the local girlscout troop. Just a good Samaritan or am I the most entertainment there's been all week?

house 1

[oorah]

[ it's hard not to notice a guy piling up shit on the deck of the first house, which frank glances over to on his way back to the party. no one in the first wave had been so... proactive, so it's interesting. almost admirable, the readiness with which this guy takes to his new surroundings.

maybe that's what makes frank approach in the end, his combat boots putting him a few inches over the man and yellowing bruises perhaps giving him an even more imposing look than his three-weeks-grown military fade haircut. he's wearing a bright yellow-orange jumpsuit unlike some of the residents. to him, clothes are just clothes. he's going to ruin them either way, so it didn't seem worth asking for. but the thick hoodie he's wearing over it doesn't seem native-made at all in comparison.

rather than dig out his device, he just gestures to the stuff and shrugs a little helplessly. if he needs an extra hand, frank's got two meat mallets that pass. ]

[flyguy]

[Tony wasn't expecting to be helped by a traffic cone today. Or an inmate. Hard to say which he's looking at. He leans back the slightest and looks Frank up and down. The man's familiar, but nothing is immediately springing to mind. There's something about the guy that just screams military (it's the haircut, he's sure, same exact got-it-in-a-blender bland Ken model wannabe as Rhodes). Maybe Tony's seen him around a base or somewhere similar. Or his alter ego parallel self. Who's to say they're even from the same Earth (if this guy is from Earh, but the orange jumpsuit is arguing that; Tony refuses to believe any other civilization would come up with a piece of clothing so assaulting to the eyes).

Okay. Musing over. In the end it doesn't matter. The body language is so clear a toddler could undersrand it. So Frank? You're getting pointed to a large board of drywall. Don't question where he got it. Just put it where he's pointing and duct tape it up as quietly as possible.

Have to just love when even the sound of hammering can be fatal. Whenever he finds who or what was responsible for this trip there's going to be words. Doesn't matter if he has to type like a teenager on twitter to get them all out.]

[oorah]

[ on some level the orange jumpsuit, though a few shades lighter, does remind him of the uniform he'd been given on ryker's island. he doesn't pay much attention to the colors, knowing the natives are short on supplies.

the orders are easy, though, so he's not about to question them. frank picks up the dry wall as if it weighs nothing and carts it over to where tony wants it, efficiently and silently attaching it. ]

[flyguy]

[Approval of the quiet competence. And he’d thought he wasn’t going to like the silence thing. It has its benefits. In similar fashion they get one wall of the deck paneled, Tony actually lending an hand. It’s a mishmash of layered dry wall and stolen artwork including a school mural for a daycare (don’t you judge him, Frank), but it’s coming together. At least until Tony runs out of large pieces and the sun starts getting low. He’s got a few options here from keep foraging to quit for the night, but he hasn’t made his mind up yet when he stops and grabs a drink from a faded paper cup.]

Thanks for the help, ....?

[Feel free to insert your name Frank. Or not.]

roulette!

[kiljoy]

[As various new people spill out of the reset room, one man in particular catches Kilgrave's eye. It's the face. He's sure he recognises it from somewhere (the news or something?) but he can't quite pinpoint where from.

He approaches, curious, and at that moment the penny drops. Isn't that Tony Stark? Obnoxious rich guy, famous for selling weapons and flying around in a metal suit...]

Not the place I expected to bump into New York's most famous resident.

[flyguy]

[Tony's in the middle of getting his bearings. Dressed in an all-fitting jumpsuit and just recently informed any sound could lead to his gruesome death (as in just minutes ago), he's hardly in a mood to have devices with messages waved in his face. Does he even know this guy? The man's for sure not in Tony's top ten favorite people so the question becomes: does it even matter?]

No autographs. They took my pens.

[And Tony just looks so sad about it as he clearly glances over Kilgrave looking for an opening in the crowd of new arrivals to get around the man. Marginializing and condescension are clearly the best way to get off on the right foot here.]

[kiljoy]

[So obnoxious is definitely the operative word here. Stark's dismissal rankles him and Kilgrave raises a hand in a gesture that clearly means stop.]

No need, I'm not a fan. Just happened to see a familiar face. That makes at least three of us so far. Do you know where you're going?

[Because he sees Stark looking to get around him. And Kilgrave is one of the few here dressed in normal clothes and not a jumpsuit: clearly, he's not a newbie. But hey, if he wants to ignore someone who could help...]

[flyguy]

[Okay that does get Tony’s attention. “Us.” Who else? Thor? Natasha? God, not T’challa. But then it registers the guy who’s about as persistent as an illegal taxi in Rome is including himself in that. Right. “Us.” People from Earth. Or his version of it, anyway.]

I’m guessing not a penthouse suite at a five star hotel?

[The cheek is just to buy some time as he thinks his situation over. There’s a lot he doesn’t know and even more it seems no one else knows. Not really the atmosphere to play Defender of the Meek in. And that’s more Steve’s sort of thing.

When it comes down to it though he really can’t ditch a pair of fellow...Earthlings...simply out of hand. Now that one’s in his face where he can’t be conveniently ignored, at least.]

If I’m one and you’re two, who’s the third?

house 1

[gotyourselfapilot]

[ Poe happened to be taking a walk until he almost bumped into a piece of drywall that happened to be at the right height for him to tumble over. His mouth drops a bit at all the junk. What kind of batteries where those? There were so many of them. After a moment of just staring he climbs over the dry wall to walk up to the batteries giving them a closer look. He wanted to find a bunch of stuff such as this the first time he arrived here. But he didn't think about all of this other stuff. What was this new person going to be using it for?

Don't worry, he's mostly looking while trying to piece this weird puzzle maze together. Poe tries to go looking for a person that would have done this. Eventually he spots Tony, adding to the pile. He gives a gesture by spreading his arms out wide. After standing there for a few seconds he takes out his device while typing out a question. ]

What are you going to be doing with all of those batteries?

[flyguy]

[Better not be touching his stuff Poe. Points at eyes points at Poe. Kidding, but Tony does notice the other man. Partly because he's on hyper vigilant alert for something to attack him (though the neighbors have assured him he won't see it coming) and partly because none of his junk heap moves of its own accord. Yet..

Now. How does one sign “generator”. No idea. Reaching into his pocket he flips out his device and types one handed, not even looking as he sets down the metal rods (taken from many a bathroom towel rack) he's carrying with his other hand. When he's done he holds the message up for Poe to see.]

Electrical current has sound. Need an independent power supply to build something off the grid.

[Okay, he finally looks up once he's secured his pipes to ensure they won't rattle if a breeze whips through. The guy in his junk pile is...different than what Tony is coming to understand as the “local” look. He lacks that scared rabbit, ma and pa on the frontier quaintness many of the residents sport. There goes Tony's thumb over the device keyboard again.]

Not a resident, are you?

[gotyourselfapilot]

[ He's keeping his hands to himself not touching any of the stuff. Mostly curious gestures while trying to figure out what it is mostly or what it belonged to before Tony scavenged it for parts. The natives wouldn't attack him, it would only be the Sound Eaters if he dared to make a lot of noise. House One didn't have all of this a few weeks ago.

Poe understands generators, that's what Tony was referring to. At least that's what he was thinking about when he read independent power supply. He helped his father work on them on the ranch back on Yavin 4. As Tony types on the device one handed, Poe reads the first message while nodding. It made sense but he did have a question in mind to ask. He waits though as he realizes that the other may have something for him first.

There's a small grin as he replies back to the resident thing first. ]

I'm not from Reims, but far away in a galaxy. I live in House Seven. I know a few people who live here or rather I know one who still does and another who recently moved out. How are you building a generator out of all of this?

[ He's no engineer but he may be able to help with some technical things. If Tony was willing to have help, Poe would and may actually learn something from the other too. The technology here was all new to him and even if he wanted to try tinkering he didn't want to accidentally die by blowing something up. ]

house one

[nursetemple]

[ Claire's been exploring her new surroundings a little, so it's not exactly a surprise that she'd find herself on the deck at some point, looking around and moving extremely carefully - knowing something over will help exactly no one. There's Tony Stark, the one and only, looking like he hasn't slept in days.

She'll wait until he looks up to type up something. ]

coffee maker finds itself useful?

[ She raises an eyebrow at him, entirely bypassing the fact that he looks irritated. He wouldn't be the one pissed off man she's ever dealt with. ]

anything I can do to help?

[flyguy]

[Spotting Claire doesn't sour Tony's mood further which is something not most people can claim. Still, he can't say he's having the time of his life. It's not as if he's never given thought to the sound problem of most of his endeavors. It did take him a while in life before noise citations were no longer a weekly occurence. The conundrum: in order to build a sound proof room one generally needs to make, wait for it, sound. He's been reclaiming items from surrounding buildings to varying success. Still not the same as constructing a room without nails or saws.

His problem though. Not Claire's. A wave of his hand directs her to her now frankensteined cofee maker, clock part missing and instead flooded with wires that go every which way and all lead to a pair of D batteries stuffed into the filter. It's not his usual elegant and ostentatious design, but there is a IV painted on the body in gold. Priorities, okay.]

Need a stronger power supply. Which is where soundproofing this room comes in. Hold this up for me?

[He sure is proferring her one end of a shag carpet. Look. He's making do with what he could find, okay. Ignore the fact it's in literal rainbow.]

[nursetemple]

[ Honestly, he could have shown her anything and she would have believed it was, at some point, a coffee maker. She's not exactly an engineer - her field of expertise is the human body, not mechanics. All of this, to Claire, looks pretty impressive - the fact that he's managed to build anything without making noise is a feat in itself. Any machine in the hospital was a cat purring at its very best, a beast of technology and hammering noises at worst. She always imagines the amount it must take to even build these things.

When he holds up the carpet, she holds, looking on curiously. ]

kind of a privilege, to see the great tony stark at work.

[flyguy]

[The magnificence of Tony Stark at work: grabbing a swiffer he uses the head to push the carpet Claire's holding up against the hardware glue smeared over the ceiling. The only way this could get more low tech is if he brought out the Elmer's (which he won't because they're in France; it's called LePage over here). Once he has one section done he motions for her to hold up another spot so he can repeat the action.]

There's usually more artificial intelligence and fire extinguishers involved. [Speaking of: he needs to reconfigure F.R.I.D.A.Y. to interface with the devices and put her on stealth protocols so he can get his watch back from the locals. The AI's getting an unapproved vacation: unacceptable. He looks over at Claire.] Find a place to stay, yet?