introduction log.

[falsitates]

JUNE 1, 2021

The first day of summer - it’s unbearably hot. Temperatures are high and relentless, and without a single cloud in the sky, the sun blazes down heavily on the unlucky few stuck outside.

Weather predictions warn of an intense heatwave that’ll last all week long. The young and elderly are advised to stay indoors and hydrated, and anyone with the symptoms of a heat stroke is urged to head straight to the city hospital. Schools are temporarily closed until new air conditioners can be installed, and businesses come to a slow grind as many call out sick from heat exhaustion.

The city warns that it’s going to be a long seven days.

  NEWCOMERS

You wake up.

You’re left to your own devices. You have a vague memory of the last few moments of your time back in your world, in familiar surroundings, but you’re now somewhere new. Whether you’ve awoken on an unknown rooftop, in a stranger’s bedroom, behind cell bars, or under six feet of water - you know that you’re no longer at home.

You’re on your own for the time being. You must escape whatever predicament that you’ve found yourself in and find answers to your own questions. What brings you here? How did you arrive? What happened to your friends and family? You have an hour to explore and speak with the people of this world before your time runs out.

Something then vibrates in your pocket.

  RESIDENTS & NEWCOMERS

Your phone vibrates.

It buzzes incessantly until you pick it up, but when you look at the screen, it’s blank. It will not turn on, no matter how hard you press the buttons. It’s possible that it overheated and shut down, but it’s unusually cold to the touch, almost as if you’re touching a brick of ice. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, white text appears on a black background.

Decryption confirmed.

Condition green.

Booting program.

The screen goes dark once more. Seconds later, new words are typed.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

→ MISSION 001
HEAD TO THE CITY CROSSWALK BY 1500. FIND THE [ OTHERS ]. YOUR REWARD WILL BE ANNOUNCED THEN. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

  WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

You can't avoid the mission; you don't have any choice. Any attempt to ignore or avoid it is futile, as convenient coincidences occur all around you as a motivator to go.

Did you have work? For some inexplicable reason, your shift has been cancelled. Were you trying to get some rest? The fire alarm went off and you were evacuated from your home. Did you attempt to travel to another part of the city? The sidewalks and roads have been closed due to a sudden blackout.

No matter what you do, you are compelled to head to the city crosswalk.

For the middle of the afternoon, it's unusually quiet and empty. Despite the heat warning, there should still be more than just a handful of you and a few others, but you won't have the time to ponder about it. Your phone finally reboots and appears to be back to normal - or so it seems. You've got a new app.

[ AVA ]

It's an icon with a white eye. It stares at you, and the screen remains frozen until you press it. It then starts the initialization process.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

PEACEFUL DAYS ARE OVER

ALEA IACTA EST

The text vanishes, revealing the app's interface. It's an online social media network with public forums and private messaging, but it's completely devoid of content. It currently only contains the user profiles of those who have signed up for the app, and you are one of them. Your full name, date of birth, personal address, height, weight, and a mugshot that you don't recall taking are all listed on your profile.

You quickly discover that you have no way of deleting or even editing your information. You can't even get rid of the app. The option simply does not exist.

Minutes after opening [ AVA ], you receive a notification. There have been two new forum posts. MISSION 002 and MISSION 003 are the names of the new threads. You open them to read.

→ MISSION 002
NEWCOMERS, WELCOME TO VITAE. YOUR GOAL FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS IS TO SURVIVE. IF YOU ARE ALIVE TO SEE THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH, YOU WILL BE GREATLY REWARDED.

→ MISSION 003
RESIDENTS, BE AWARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THIS CITY. ONLY TRUST THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW. YOUR COMPENSATION WILL BE PROVIDED IN TWO WEEKS' TIME.

These threads allow you to leave comments. What do you do now?

Comments

[whiteshroud]

[Another strange person approaching him. It must be another person who also got the message and is trying to sort out answers. He can smell the cigarette smoke on him, but he's not that bothered by it. His client and teacher was a stress smoker, and always smelled of the stuff.

He'll look up at the man, studying him. He was certainly approaching him with an odd level of caution...was he worried he'll scare him? ]

Ah ... not especially. I just went to a Catholic school for a few years.

[It's not exactly true - or rather, it's an extreme stretch to describe the Orden as a catholic school - but he still says it without any hint of deceit. He's very used to covering his tracks, and around new people and without his powers...well it was best to be cautious. ]

[ape]

Oh— that explains it.

[ he's never actually been to catholic school and is quite athiest, so he can't otherwise object. for all he knew, latin was still pretty important to swipe through religious scriptures! nothing wrong with that, they do them. with the ice broken, at least, he offers his hand. ]

I don't see many people your age with that knowledge, so it caught my eye. [ "interest" was a little ambiguous here, since, many subjects you take aren't actually a choice. hell, these days even schools aren't a choice, the parents usually choose for them. ] I'm Ezekiel. Part-time teacher, full time student.

[ there's no break when it comes to learning! ]

[whiteshroud]

Mm, not many public schools offer Latin classes these days, that's for sure.

[But hey moving on from that! He'll take that offered hand and shake! Is this a pandemic-free modern Earth? Who knows. Jun's from 2015 so he has no idea either way]

Nice to meet you, Mr. Ezekiel. [Always gotta address teachers politely!] I'm Jun Kohinata. What do you teach?

[ape]

[ at least he hasn't gotten him started . . . yet. hand shake complete, ezekiel nods and keeps a hand on top of his messenger bag. so many buttons. ]

Biology for high school and some assistance in undergrad while I finish up my own work. I was going to say I haven't seen you around, but . . . [ he waves that thought off, ] That's answered. Visiting family, Jun? Or—?

[ something else in this city—? ]

[whiteshroud]

[He notices the buttons. Man, guy must really like apes. Was he one of those obsessive teachers about their topics he's seen in anime? Fascinating]

Oh wow! Sounds like you keep busy.

[And boy, that's a question. He pauses as he tries to figure out what to say- if he should lie or tell the truth. Finally, he opts to tell the truth. There's a barrier in the sky, weird shit is already going down what's one more weird thing?]

Ah well...I actually just woke up on a rooftop near here. I don't know how I got here at all, considering I was in Tokyo before.

[ape]

. . . Tokyo.

[ he repeats that, with a touch of dubiousness (that might be impossible to withhold, at this point), but more and more does he seem to go thoughtful, quiet, rather than outright rejecting. silence begins to settle in as he brings a curved hand to his mouth, tapping with index finger and pacing just one step or two to the side, then back. ]

You're not the first one. I spoke to someone on the messenger board of that— viral app, that said the same thing. [ just— wake up. on a rooftop. completely far from home, and jun was way far. it was a little redundant to ask about his phone, considering he saw one before he approached, so . . . best not to waist time. ] I'm guessing you can't get in contact with anyone you know in Tokyo, is that right?

[ jun may be confused, but he's . . . taking it with an odd sort of calmness ezekiel wouldn't think a high schooler would be able to master (like the mister "isaac" freaking out online). is he just still in shock or are they that strict in japanese catholic schools?

he decides not to think too much on it, but keeps a close eye on jun, for his health's sake. ]

[whiteshroud]

[He knows how insane it sounds, so he's already prepping himself to try to convince this guy that he wasn't just making some fantastical story. But it seems that instead of doubting him completely- he's heard the story before! Thank God.

So he'll nod his head]

Mm. that's right. None of my calls are connecting. Might have something to do with that barrier around town...

[He was taking it calm. It wasn't that he wasn't uneased by all this, he actually was, it's just....yeah, he's more used to weird shit and also his emotions aren't the strongest in the world

Also in his defense, even if he was a normal kid it'd be hard to beat Isaac's freakout levels]

[ape]

[ about that barrier. boy. man. compadre. ezekiel lifts his head and pushes his glasses back up to the arch of his nose and gives a sigh, raspy and thick. ]

I wish I could still say it was a flashmob thing . . . [ but that would've ended by now, wouldn't it? ] Not even the police are responding.

[ troublesome. he's getting antsy standing here and waiting for more more curiosity is banging on his door to investigate. ]

We should keep in touch, if we figure anything out. Ah— [ hold on, let him pull out some paper, and do the scribbling, ] Here. That's my personal number. It should be on "AVA", if anything.

[ or, if jun has whatsapp, that works, too. ]

Do you have anywhere to stay?

[whiteshroud]

Mm...I think we can rule out a flashmob. [He had a few guesses what was going on, but he was keeping it to himself right now. At least until he had a better idea of the situation. Throwing around false theories would just cause problems]

Oh, ah thank you. [He'll take the paper.] I'll send you a text so you can save mine. [He'll open up his phone to do that!]

Mm, someone's letting me stay at their family home until the heatwave breaks.

[After that, well, he'll figure it out]

[ape]

[ that's actually a relief to hear, and the slump in ezekiel's shoulders expresses it well enough. ]

That's nice of them. If you or anyone you know in the same situation needs a place, I have an empty guest room. [ mostly used for his extra stuff and boxes of paperwork, but he can easily organize those back into his room. but with that— he doesn't want to keep either of them, and holds his hand up to declare goodbye. ] I'm going to see if I can figure anything out.

[ he's given his cue that he's leaving but then, oh, one more thing. he points up with an aha and fishes into his pocket. five bucks? that's for you, jun, held between his fingers in a neat little fold. ]

This should keep you hydrated for now.

[whiteshroud]

[jun will give a nod]

Thank you. I can think of a few people. If they still need help when I see them again, I'll point them your way. [Isaac and Judai come to mind. Though who knows, maybe they found a place like he did. But yes, he is putting them before thinking about taking the space for himself.

But yes it seems time to part ways. He blinks in surprise at being given five bucks. He's not familiar with american money so he isn't sure how much this is worth]

Oh...thank you! I appreciate it!

[ape]

Don't mention it.

[ ape together strong but he won't actually say that. just think it. he regards jun with one more parting look before he's off toward the park. half to smoke, and half to borrow some public baseball equipment . . . for science.

to be continued. ]