Test Drive Meme #1

[rebirthorder]

TEST DRIVE MEME

In my restless dreams,
I see that town.

Silent Hill.

You promised me you'd take me
there again someday.

I. Public Records - Daytime

If you want to find out more about the strange town you’re in, why not check the Public Records building?

There’s no one at the guard post, and there’s no one at the desks, so you’re free to look through all the filing cabinets you can find. Some are full of petty complaints sent in about this person not cutting their grass short enough or that person letting their dog out without a leash, and there are meticulous records of replies. Others are full of blueprints of different buildings, buildings that exist and buildings that don’t. Others still have police reports, and there seems to be a suspicious number of reports about abused and disappeared children, and dealers selling hallucinogens to tourists. All those complaints are found unsubstantiated or tragic accidents. Nothing to be done about it.

Deeper in the filing rooms, so far deep that you can’t see the sun from the windows anymore, there’s one filing cabinet that smells like charred flesh and smoke with a tiny, childlike black handprint pressed to its surface. The filing cabinets around it are full of messages to you, messages from loved ones that may or may not be alive anymore. There’s no way to open the cabinet with a handprint on it. No way to look through it. If you fiddle with it too long, you’ll start getting a dreadful feeling of being watched by someone very, very unhappy.

II. Midwich Elementary School - Nightmare

Sirens cut through the night, and the fog lifts, only to be replaced by darkness. The floor glows like embers, linoleum peeling back to reveal rusted wires, like the floor is a catwalk instead of the bottom of a school. The walls are too hot to touch, and they glow with words scratched on their surface as if with a burning hot knife.

Witch

Go home

Drop dead

Terrible things spill from the classrooms. Tiny, childlike creatures, blackened entirely save for veins of red heat breaking the surface of their skin like lava. They turn their faceless heads towards the nearest living creature and shriek, sprinting towards them with arms outstretched, intending to tackle them in a blistering, suffocating bear hug.

III. Toluca Lake - Daytime

Starvation is looming. Anything perishable has rotted, and non-perishables have been devoured. What is there to do?

Well, there’s always the lake.

It stands to reason that there are fish in the lake. The tourist pamphlets in the hotels advertise fishing trips, after all. But on the docks, someone has drawn in chalk a terrible picture. It’s a childlike drawing of the bottom of the lake with hundreds of hands reaching up to the surface, hundreds of hands of the dead reaching to take the living down with them.

Maybe it’s a warning. Maybe it’s just a taunt to get people keyed up. Either way, there’s a fishing boat docked with a fishing pole ready to go. Good luck.

Comments

[donthithimintheballs]

They were going to get no where standing here talking about these files. He huffed a breath as she mentioned the files were about her and... Charles? Did she mean the professor? His brow raised high over one eye. Damn did he need a cheap cigar. "You and the Professor? That's not what I was looking at a minute ago." He said, pushing away from the filing cabinet.

As she told her story again he snorted, moving to the cabinet with the small hand prints on it. Mostly to put some distance between him and her. The last thing he needed was her messing with his mind right now.

So maybe it was the truth. It sounded more believable than his waking up at the docks with no idea how he got there. Great, someone was messing with his mind again. And then she said it. Someone taking chunks of his brain. He growled at that, never one to like people messing with his brain. Too many past memory problems.

"That's what I'm worried about. You at least have some idea how you ended up here. I don't, and I don't like it." The cabinet was locked, and he got a weird feeling of being watched when he pulled at it. With his comment of not liking it, he let a fist lightly slam into the front, denting it but only barely. Which wasn't like him. "This place smells wrong. Hell, you smell wrong. Somethings messing with us."

[skinsuits]

She tried to open it again to confirm, but it wouldn't budge. "I must be losing my shit," she whispered, dropping her face in one hand in frustration. Raven had absolutely no intention of discussing the contents of that file with anyone. Especially not Logan. When she looked up again she pushed red hair back and out of her face.

The man wasn't trusting even on his good days, he had no reason to believe her now. She could understand, though, since she would never blindly trust herself either. Thankfully she doesn't need him to trust her, but she did need him. This place was creepy as all hell and she didn't want to be left alone here. With the strange fog, and loud sirens, nothing felt right.

"Hey, calm down, tiger. If your mind is being fucked with, so is mine. Not sure if that makes all this better or worse though." While the likeliness that they were stuck together in some telepath's illusion was low, it would explain a lot. Most of the ones she knew were bad, but would never deliberately try to cross her, and the ones he knew wouldn't do that to him. So she was no closer to figuring it out as she had been before.

"I don't know what that means, but I've heard enough. Can we get the hell out of here. This place makes my skin feel strange." As she said that goosebumps formed over her arms and she used both hands to try to smooth them. There was no way she'd ever admit to being scared, but it was obvious since she wasn't storming out to do her whole lone-ranger thing.

[donthithimintheballs]

"We both are." He said as he caught her whisper. He mumbled it himself, standing there staring at the other file cabinet, wondering what was in it as well. It seemed firmly locked though. The more he messed with it the more it felt like he shouldn't. When told to calm down he gave a gruff huff of sound, moving away from the cabinet.

"I am calm." He growled, but then decided he did need to calm down. He just didn't like being in the same room with this woman, and a room with intel on him (and her it seemed) as well as a weird feeling of being watched. He looked around as if trying to find who was watching, seeming distracted by that. "I'm calm." he repeated.

"Yeah. Lets get going. There's nothing worth my time here." He said, turning to look back at Mystique and trying to take her in, almost judging her. He can work with her, but the last time they had met was... well, not the best. "Ladies first." He said, waving a hand towards the door.

[skinsuits]

She knew what calm looked like, and whatever that expression on his face was, wasn't calm. Like her, he seemed to be the type to become more pissed off when told to calm down, so she left it alone.

No matter how many time she whipped her head around to look behind her, expecting to catch eyes observing them, there was nothing. While fucking with Logan could easily be a fun hobby to pick up again, she wasn't really in the mood to do anything besides get the hell out of there. Maybe another time.

His suggestion that she take the lead is unappreciated, but she did as he suggested, reaching for one of the guns in her thigh holster. "Can't be too careful." She was sure this Logan wasn't the father of the Daken she was familiar with. He would have been able to smell the fear on her easily and give her shit for it. For now she could play the part of strong fearless woman, but fear could be a good thing. It was part of how she'd managed to survive this long. Didn't mean she had to disclose that weakness to her temporary companion.

"Should we try to find out who's in this building, or find a way outside?" There was definitely someone there, even if they couldn't see them. Either way, she began to move down the hallway, constantly checking behind her for Logan to make sure he didn't ditch her.

[donthithimintheballs]

She might have a point there. Calm was not being told to stay calm, really. It would do best to leave that one alone, yeah.

He'd really rather she not fuck with his head in the middle of horror zone USA. There was already too much messing with his head as it was. Like what the hell was watching them. Not that he was going to say it. At least not at first.

The only reason he said she should go first was one, he knew she could handle herself. She wasn't a delicate flower. Two, he'd rather she not be behind him. Mostly because he didn't trust her to be behind him with out causing some kind of mishap.

He did however, stick close by, in case something did happen to try and attack her first. He was a jerk but not that big of a mistrusting jerk. And no, he has no idea who Daken is. As far as he knows he has no children, thanks. He can catch the smell of fear which might be her only saving grace to the fact that he was trusting her in his company at all. He nodded to the gun, having no problem with it. His hands were balled up, ready to drop claw as needed.

"You feel it too." He said, walking behind her, falling into step with her when the hall was large enough. He looked around carefully, trying to find what he was feeling. "Feels like we're being watched, but by who." He turned around to double check their back. "Couldn't hurt to take a deeper look around..."

[skinsuits]

Well, it was a reasonable decision. She did have a tendency toward backstabbing--both literal and not. There was a lot she could say about Logan, but at least he had a good portion of common sense.

The building didn't seem too old, but god there were a lot of creaking and soft static like there were speakers hidden in the walls playing a radio station that was out of range. "God, I hate this place." Raven saw movement in the distance, and shot first, asking questions later.

It was a rat. Now a dead rat. She glanced back at Logan and shrugged like a kid that accidentally did something they didn't take any responsibility for.

When they start moving again, she made a mental note to relax despite this building doing every goddamn thing to make her nervous and unsettled. She also didn't notice any cameras which made the feeling of being watched that much more strange. "Even if we don't find anyone, I want to know what the hell is up with this town. People don't just get up and walk away from a perfectly good place all at once."

Mystique is a dick. The biggest dick. Apparently more so when terrified. "I wish Victor was here."

[donthithimintheballs]

He's been backstabbed one too many times, especially lately. Then again for him it wasn't all that long ago that he took a couple dozen arrows to the back to try and slow him down, so he was really looking forward to no more stabs in the back. Can't be too careful.

He didn't like the feel of the place. People didn't just leave buildings full of files of complaints and furniture in them and disappear. Full buildings just standing alone. It was strange.

The gun went off just as he had turned to look back behind them. The moment he heard it his claws dropped from both hands, turning to snarl at... nothing. he gave her a soft glare, not really meaning to glare. Just.... really? "Relax. It's not like you to be so jumpy." Is it?

He retracted the claws when they realized it was just a rat, only to growl faintly in a huff at her last comment.

"Yeah. I'd rather have Victor here too." Now who's being the dick?

[skinsuits]

Mystique might have been jumpy, but based on his reaction he was probably not far behind. Even if he was going to be a jerk and point it out. She didn't have it in her to argue against it. At this point she had a lot less shame about being creeped out, so she could be prideful another day.

"Yes, well, it's not everyday I find myself in an abandoned town in the middle of nowhere. Also, I'm no ghost hunter, but I'm pretty sure this dumpsterfire is haunted." she complained.

Victor would be just as lost as far as what they should do, but at least he wouldn't have smart shit to say. And she could probably have convinced him to take the lead easily enough. Just to lighten the mood she changes form to look exactly like the Victor she knows. Big muscles, shabby hair, and taller than this version of Logan, even. It made the gun look small in his hands.

"Better?"

They come up on another room. The door got kicked in easily, and the insides were identical to the one they'd just left. "You've got to be kidding me."