quietplacelogs | 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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh... So you worked as an executioner.

[That's...not as bad as he thought. He still doesn't like it, but if Jessica Jones has proven anything to him, it's that humans will find reasons to kill one another.

Just like androids.]

Of course it does! Humans are our creators. Doesn't it bother you?

Why should it? They made me for this purpose. If it bothered me to execute, then I'd be going against what I was made for in the first damn place.

[ and if he's being honest? he's good at it. he likes that he's good at it, even if he doesn't particularly care for the nature of the work he's meant to do. ]

[He's torn between understanding it and not. After all, 9S was made for a specific purpose, and that's why he was curious. It only made sense that a "clone" made for execution wouldn't be bothered by killing. But then what about the E-Types?

Humans could be...terrible, sometimes.]

What if you had to kill a human you were close to?

i've done it. not a great experience, but you do what you're supposed to.

[ this is more than he'd expected to tell the other, if he's being honest. ]

[Tetora may not have intended on telling 9S that much, but because he did 9S is finally able to understand. The last of 9S' apprehension seems to fade away, his lips tucking into a small frown. This clone really wasn't all that different from the androids if he could discomfort over the orders he executed.

Still... Why did have have to do things that they felt were wrong?]

Yeah... Do you ever wonder why we have to kill each other?

because we have to.
because we're told to.
because sometimes it's the only thing we can do and there's nothing we can do about it.

[ why do people do what they do? if they knew the answer, they'd be more than human, but tetora's fine with being different from them the way he already is. ]

[He can't really...deny any of that. Even if he's never had to deal the finishing blow to a YoRHa unit himself, he's still aided 2B in getting there.]

Yeah... I guess that's about it.

We're what we're made to be, is what I mean. We can't help it, unlike how people are.
They have free will for most things. Me, I can't even kill myself if I tried.

Huh? But we do have free will! It's just we were made with a purpose... You especially. You're still organic.

[9S' lips tug, not quite a frown but clearly uncertain.]

What do you mean...? I mean-- Why would you want to?

[ tetora sighs deeply. he's not sure he's the right person to be talking about this just yet. ]

I mean, if it comes down to it, shouldn't we have the choice of how we end up dying? Not have it predicated by something like code or fate or any of that crap.

[9S' expression twists with disbelief.]

Is something like that really programmed into you...?

[ tetora's own expression twists into something angry. ]

Yes. I fucking hate it.

Oh...

[Was something like that programmed into him too? He really doesn't know. He was ready to die if he had to... But wasn't that just part of his duty as a soldier? His purpose was a lot more noble than Tetora's; it was something he was proud to die for.]

But I thought you were organic? Is there some sort of chip inside you? If you don't mind being hacked, maybe I could...

[ can he be hacked? does he want to chance it? tetora isn't sure what he thinks about it, but...

he offers his hand anyway. ]

Just check if you can do it.

Sure thing. Just hold still, and don't freak out.

[There's no need for 9S to take his hand. He holds his own out, palm pointed towards Tetora as he transmits his self-contagiousness outward, immediately finding his access point and hacking into it.

Tetora will hear a voice, echo in his head.

Okay, looks like I can get in from here. Sooo... Do you want me to look around?]

[ it surprises him, to hear a voice in his head again, and tetora very nearly pulls away - but he doesn't. he closes his eyes and transmits a message back. ]

Go right ahead. Just don't touch anything without asking me, yeah?

[Roger that, but I can't help seeing anything you're thinking about.

Any thoughts at the forefront of Tetora's mind will echo out around 9S as he searches for a singular bit of coding.

...Okaaay, so there's one other problem. I don't know what most of this stuff here is until I open it up.]

[ well yikes.

fair warning, tetora sends back, it's gnarly in here.

tetora unlocks the surface of his mind and out flows thousands upon thousands of memories, nearly all of them about people tetora's killed. it's disgusting, and it's overwhelming at first, but at the very center is his memories of miwa - and she shines like a beacon of light through the quagmire of tetora's actions. ]

[Don't worry, I'm use to this sort of thing.

He says that, but as the memories echo past him, 9S realizes that there's nothing he hates more than hearing about the death of humans. It's an uncomfortable search, but among the muck he finds something...interesting?

Someone important to Tetora.

Ah, but if he asks about that, Tetora will know he ended up snooping after all... So it's off to find the chip, and after awhile he finds what seems to be a chunk of code related to his mortality.

When he finally speaks again, his voice is notably less chipper.

Okay, I think I found it.]

INTRO LOG #2

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how the fuck did i not get this tag until now

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