quietplacelogs | INTRO LOG #2

Entry tags:

the dark tower: jake chambers

INTRO LOG #2

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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[Jake isn't the only one who had the idea of wandering down the path that leads out of town. Max is a naturally curious person, and she at least wants to see for herself some of what they're up against. She hasn't seen a Sound Eater, yet, though she wants to, because she needs to. She's probably asking for even more nightmares than usual, but she doesn't care. In her mind, she sees a demodog, but she knows that's not what this is. It's just the closest her mind can come up with for monster.

She's never been afraid of monsters growing up. Monsters under her bed or in her closet, or monsters from movies. The line between fiction and reality has always been easy for her to draw. At least until she moved to Hawkins. Things aren't so cut and dry anymore, and while it makes her uneasy, there's also something else. Something exciting, knowing there's more out there than she ever imagined. It's these reasons that find her out on the path, pausing when she spots another boy, staring into the distance as the clouds of red dust swirl around them.

He turns and she holds her hands up as if to show she's not a thread, not there to hurt him.]

_{[It's the red hair he notices first--popular color today. What do you call a redheaded man who works at a bakery? A gingerbread man, he thinks to himself, the first thing to pop into his head at the sight of Max paused further back along the path, scarcely holder than he is.

He hadn't heard her coming... but he supposes that's the point. He has to wrestle down the urge to open his mouth and reassure she's okay and can put her hands down. Already the air here is starting to thicken with dust--not nearly the choking cloud it will be closer to the bridge end, but enough that he squints as a light gust sends dust into his eyes. It's so quiet he can hear every skitter and scrape of the grains across the ground.

In lieu of trying to shield his eyes to see the device screen and type out a message, he waves with one hand. A friendly gesture. Hi.]}

[She watches him reach for his device, squinting against the dust and grimacing. She holds back a cough -- coming out here had definitely been a terrible idea. She pulls her own device out when he waves and she waves back with the device in her hand, looking at the message.

The corners of her mouth turn up just a bit and she types back quickly - because she's getting a little better at this now.]

Hi.

_{[On the one hand, texting smooths out some of the awkwardness of trying to talk face-to-face. On the other, striking up a conversation like this every time is going to take some getting used to. He has the bizarre thought they must not have a lot of fistfights or foot chases here; how do you do anything quickly or catch someone off guard without risking a sound?

He takes a few steps toward her down the path, composing something a little more articulate once he's cleared his eyes and similarly cleared his device screen of accumulated grit.]}

Were you following it, too?

_{[He doesn't have to say what; it's everywhere, all around them.]}

[It is so, so strange for Max to have to use a device to talk rather than just speak her mind whenever it strikes her to do so. Add that to the list of things she hates about this place. But - on the other side of things - she can text people from her bedroom and not have to talk on the phone to communicate with them. It's a weird trade-off.

She glances at her device when he's finished typing and presses her lips together, glancing up at him and nodding, looking out toward the bridge. Then she looks down at her device, tapping out a message.]

I don't want to go any farther. [And she really, really needs to cough.]

_{[The message brings with it a surge of relief. He'd force himself to find the source of the dust if he had to. Terror icing every joint and tendon in his body hadn't stopped him from entering Dutch Hill, despite the sucking blackness he'd felt lurking behind its broken-out windows, but he'd really prefer to avoid being attacked by some demonic entity. The girl sharing the sentiment makes him want to grin gladly out of nowhere. If she'd continued on, he would've felt a pull to join her.

Suppressing the grin, he channels his relief into his message, shaking his head in agreement with her. He's not any more eager to bathe in the stuff a second time.]}

Me neither. I don't think whatever's waiting for us at the end is a good thing. Let's get out of this dust.

Did you get stuck here, too?

[Max's gaze shifts past him toward the bridge once more, eyeing it warily, and feeling even more convinced that not going any farther is the best plan, even if part of her is dying of curiosity. She still hasn't seen one. Sound eaters. At first the name seems so basic, stupid. But upon second thought, it's bone-chillingly terrifying. It's enough to make her want to hide in the house, even if she won't. She's not a coward.

But she's not stupid either. Going out in search of monsters definitely seems stupid. She glances at her device when he responds.]

Definitely not a good thing.

Yeah. A few hours ago. How long have you been here?

Edited (Timeline clear up thing!) 2018-02-17 21:16 (UTC)

_{[The path is fairly narrow--two people walking side-by-side might find it a challenge. Two children might be able to manage, but Jake doesn't want to take the risk with the girl near him. If he stepped on a pebble and something heard him, would they kill two birds with one stone and attack her, too?

Better not to find out. He lets her take the lead this time, provided she's comfortable being ahead and not behind while they creep away from the dust-laden area. It's not cowardice, but a couple of hours isn't enough to teach what is or isn't safe in this world. For all they know, this dust could be pollen from some poisonous plant, or.... worse.]}

The same happened to me. That's the part I can't figure out--how did so many of us end up in the same place at the same time?

Sorry, I don't mean to freak you out more. I'm Jake. What's your name?

_{[It's so weird doing this through a screen and not with words and eye contact. What's rude to him seems to be the only recourse they have unless they want to mime helplessly at one another.]}

[She has no issue taking the lead and making her way back toward the center of town, the houses, and farther away from the bridge and the dust and who even knows what else. She doesn't think about the possibility of poisonous plants or what else. Not now at least. Tonight, she'll probably lay wide awake and ponder all the different possibilities. But for now, she's somewhat distracted by the conversation they're having on their devices.]

I don't know. Some kind of interdimensional gateway? But...there are people here from other points in time, too, so...

[So that further complicates things by a lot. She's pretty sure that there was no timejump when Will got sucked into the Upside Down, but it's not like she's an expert on these things.]

It's okay. [She's calmed down a lot from when she'd first arrived. She's still freaked out, but she's dealing.] I'm Max. You look about my age.

[This is definitely weird. Especially considering Max has never seen anything like a cell phone before.]

_{[Max might get a tingle between her shoulder blades from the amount of glances he gives the back of her when not watching where his feet are or focusing on the keyboard.]}

You know about portals, too? Time travel's a new one, but maybe that has something to do with time working differently in different worlds?

_{[Try as he might not to brood over this and worry where Roland could be, he can't help asking questions--thinking it through. And he feels like he can talk more easily to another kid. It comes naturally. An instinctive desire to connect. Kids see things differently than others.

Sometimes literally.]}

I'm 11.

[She walks, reading his questions as she goes, and chewing her lower lip. She knows other dimensions are real, and that back home one had been opened between her world and another.]

Not much. [She types back, not sure how much she should share with anyone about all of that. She also genuinely doesn't know much beyond the fact that it happens.] Yeah I guess that makes sense. As much as anything.

[Because frankly not a lot of this makes sense to her, but. She's not home anymore and as scared as she might be of this place, another side of her thinks she's actually safer here.]

I'm 13. Pretty close though.

_{[That's cool she already knows about portals from her own experiences--some of the blank looks he's gotten so far have been discouraging. The further away they get, the more he can appreciate it.]}

Are you from another world?

_{[The fact that they're both typing in English doesn't mean here, he's quickly realized. Whatever these devices are, they're super advanced at translation.]}

Close. At school you'd probably still be taking the best seats in the cafeteria because you're older.

_{[It's an attempt to diffuse the situation and awkward first meetings with a little humor. And maybe find a bit of common ground, at that.]}

Yeah. I'm not from this place.

[These devices are very much a mystery to Max. She's never seen anything like them. She's fascinated.]

Well, maybe. I had just moved to a new school so I don't really have any kind of read on the junior high hierarchy just yet.

[There's a tiny smirk on her face. It's true, plus the fact that her only friends are a couple of very nerdy boys whose social standing is...not all that elevated. She doesn't care. She's never cared about that whole popularity game at any school she's been to.]

From Earth, or any Earth?

_{[Maybe the school social scene exists in other dimensions unfortunate enough to have junior high, who's he to say? Mid-World had theme parks. This place has "old" antiques that are only a year old to him. The weirdest things seem to cross-pollinate.]}

Now we're both new kids. We've got that in common. Are you okay? Did any of that stuff get in your eyes or mouth?

_{[Jake looks her over once they pause in the road and they face each other. Whatever it is, he's guessing it's not something they want to keep snorting like a line of coke. Waking up bathed in it was bad enough.]}

Oh, I'm from earth. Just not this one.

[She smiles a little at the mention of them both being new kids and she gives a slight smile as she meets his eyes. Then she shakes her head at the next question.]

I don't think so. Maybe in my hair.

[She makes a face and shrugs.]

What about you? Are you okay?

It's hard to tell. Your hair's really red.

_{[He smiles back the tiniest bit, highlighting it as a joke and not an insult. He hopes the expression projects confidence. They're okay. They will be okay. Nobody puts Earth kids in a corner... not even another ruined, post-apocalyptic Earth.]}

Ditto, on both counts. _{[An Earth boy born and bred, and one who's not yet foaming at the mouth from inhaling too much poison dust or anything along those lines. Could definitely be worse.]} Want to get out of here? Head inside?

[She makes a face at him, and after a second, sticks her tongue out. Look, she's mature for her age most of the time. She can be silly once in awhile. But she nods at his question.]

Yeah, sure. Do you have a place yet? I'm in house 11. If you don't already have somewhere, you can come stay with me and a few other kids who live there.

_{[He misses two things: sound and his family (new and old).

Then Max sticks her tongue out and he realizes he misses three things: sound, his family, and this. The thoughtless, sometimes stupid, sometimes silly playfulness of being a kid in the company of another kid.

(... A potential friend? There's always that venturesome hope. The new and improved Jake Chambers is in short supply of those.)]}

I hadn't thought about it, if I'm honest. A part of me is still waiting for this to be a mistake and get back to where I was going.

_{[The confession comes attached to an apprehensive frown. He'd been expecting to spend the night in front of one of Roland's campfires, not walking around a deathly silent town that somehow feels twice as gruelling as his hike across the Mohaine desert.]}

There are other kids that came from other worlds? Are you sure it'd be okay?

[There are a lot of things that Max misses. Music, skateboarding, video games. Lucas. But her family? Not so much.]

I mean, that's fair. But...it's probably not going to happen today at least and you're going to need a place to sleep.

[And she really doesn't think Bill or Richie or Eddie will mind that she's extended the invitation to Jake. He's a little younger than all of them, which is probably better for her new friends than if she invited an adult to stay there.]

Yeah, there's a few of us. I'm sure. Come on, I'll show you the house. We should all stick together.

_{[He looks at his red-dusted feet for a moment and then nods. He doesn't exactly want to worry about where he can safely lay his head on top of everything else. She's right, of course, and Jake is pragmatic enough to see it. And besides--he wants to see her safe, too. It doesn't take any more than meeting her and knowing she's lost like him.]}

Okay, that'd be awesome. Thanks.

_{[It's a more sincere gratitude than text could possibly get across. Smiling at Max, he feels a glimmer of the renewed hope he'd felt walking through the portal in New York.]}

Do you know the others? Are you all from the same place?

No problem, Jake. Bill and Richie and Eddie are from the same place but I'm from somewhere else. We can be the weirdo outsiders together.

[Her smile is teasing when she looks at him, eyes full of mischief. And now she'll just lead him back to house 11 so she can meet the others.]

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INTRO LOG #2

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