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

[morient]

Kind of
So you're a kid here without any guardian adults?

[stormsoff]

I’m fine

[ read: yes. ]

[morient]

[ ... 💧 ]

Do you at least have a place to sleep?

[stormsoff]

Im working on it!
Not exactly a ton of resources here

[morient]

[ 💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧

Noah will get chewed out by his mom if he takes in any more people. ]

I'll look around too.

[stormsoff]

[ just your casual homeless extremely tsundere 13 year old boy. ]

you will?
I mean
That’s cool but like
You don’t have to

[morient]

[ That's the problem!! Why is there a 13 year old on the streets!!! ]

I will.

I don't want you to get hurt.

[stormsoff]

you don’t even know me

[morient]

Well I do now!!

[ Honestly Noah is just a nice person. ]

[stormsoff]

you don’t even know my name dude (ーー;)
don’t cheat and check the profiles
I don’t need anyone’s pity

[ dammit. why is he doing this? why does he ALWAYS do this? ]

[morient]

[ It's too late. He already checked Isaac's profile when they started talking. ]

Seriously it's dangerous to be out there by yourself

[stormsoff]

[ rrrrrrrrrgh ]

say I did let you help
Then what?

[morient]

We get you a place to stay
Then we figure out why people get kidnapped to this place and get you home somehow

[stormsoff]

[ there’s a delay of a few minutes ]

fine

[ another delay. ]

thanks

[morient]

I'll text you once I find something okay?

[ He figures telling the boy to 'take care of himself' would just make him angrier.


A while later there's a follow up message as well as the address of the church ]

This place has a youth shelter. You could sleep there maybe?

[stormsoff]

[ I could have found that on my own

Being that this is messaging, he is forced to think for two second about what he’s saying—or rather, he’s forced to look at the words he types before he hits send.

And so he swallows them like the poison they are and they just make his chest hurt worse. ]

it’s definitely better than nothing
Thanks
What’s your name
Since I for one am no cheater ┐(￣ー￣)┌

[morient]

I'm Noah

[ He doesn't quite give his surname because it seems more like a tag for his identity than anything else. ]

[stormsoff]

Isaac
Thanks Noah
For talking to me
And helping
It’s
Well
Thanks
Like I said

[ smooth. ]

[morient]

No problem

Feel free to text me if you need help with anything else ^ _ ^

Or if you wanna hang out

[stormsoff]

[ ! ]

you wanna hang out?
with me?

[morient]

Yeah if you want. No pressure tho

[stormsoff]

[ ..... ]

I’d like that

[morient]

[ Friendship!! ]

I'm more free on the weekend, maybe then?