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

Yuya Sakaki | Resident | OTA

[hippocarnival]

[The Teahouse]

[Yuya was sure he muted his phone.

But it's rattling in a drawer at the counter, vibrating against the wood. He's currently moving an order of afternoon tea from the rolling cart to the table. He's trying to ignore it. He thinks, after a minute they'll get the idea and hang up.

But it doesn't stop, even well beyond how long it would normally take for a call to go to voicemail. It doesn't even pause? And Yuya's smile becomes tight as he shifts stupid, tiny cakes to the customers.]

Please enjoy. Is there anything else you need? [Say no, say no...]

[The Crosswalk]

[Of course, what he's greeted with doesn't make a lot of sense either. Some app he doesn't recognize reboots his phone. It must be some kind of malware, which sucks because he has no idea how to get it off. And now it's giving him some ominous demand to go to the central city crosswalk. Actually, maybe it's ransomware and he's going to get jumped.

He doesn't think much about it as he closes the teashop a half an hour early, changed out of the kimono and into a brightly colored graphic tee and pants. Better for errands.

And maybe he's a little curious, so he swings on his bike and decides to take the long way to the market, right past that intersection. There's quite a few people milling about, confused, so he stops at the right.]

Hey... you know what's happening here?

[Wildcard]

((For doing literally anything else. My plurk is monochromic for plotting!

Information Post | AU Details))

crosswalk

[armsel]

I don't have a damn clue what's happening. All I know is that we have to be careful and watch ourselves.

[ Leon waves and then he smiles while trying to be polite. ]

The name's Leon Kennedy and what might yours be?

[ It might be nice to make a friend. They seem to be in the same situation so it would be great if they could exchange information as well. ]

[hippocarnival]

[That's intense! Yuya hasn't even given his phone a second glance yet.]


Uh... I'm Yuya. What are we watching ourselves for?

[armsel]

Anything suspicious. It's not safe in the city so you can never be too sure what might happen.

[ But he relaxes his expression and nods. ]

Good to meet you Yuya. I'm actually a cop so we'll be safer if we stick together.

[hippocarnival]

Not safe? [Yuya laughs lightly. This is all pretty unsettling, but Vitae being unsafe?

Well. Less safe than any suburb.] It's really not that exciting here.

[armsel]

Yeah, they sent out a message to our phones. It was an alert.

[ Leon holds up his phone with the messages printed on it in fine text. His phone looks outdated though almost like it came out of the last century. ]

Did you get a chance to look at it?

[hippocarnival]

Not since it downloaded... [He reaches into his pocket, fishing out his phone. He clicks the app open, pausing when there's more new information on it.

He frowns slightly, clicking it. 'Mission 003' manages to be more foreboding than before, and he turns his phone to show Leon.] Did you mean this?

crosswalk

[tsunotarou]

I think we're in some sort of game.

[That's the only thing that makes sense, to Malleus at least. That's a really cool looking bike.]

Did you check your phone?

[hippocarnival]

When it started going off at work. [He frowns, pulling it out of his pocket.] It looks like it's got a bunch of profiles, but I definitely didn't sign up for this!

[tsunotarou]

Me either, and yet, everyone I see here seems to have a profile.

[Malleus sighs, pocketing his own phone.]

It's honestly too hot and uncomfortable to be standing here.

[hippocarnival]

Well, I guess the app didn't tell us we had to stay here. [Since they all went and congregated despite, you know, it being extremely creepy. He glances around the crosswalk.] It makes me kind of uneasy, anyway.

[tsunotarou]

It's making me feel hotter and I hate it.

[He's wearing long sleeves, take pity on him.]

[hippocarnival]

[That is, unfortunately, something Yuya cannot help him with.]

Uh, maybe you should find some shade...?

teahouse!

[flowerclips]

[ Niko has been staring at her phone since she got the notification. She's been having a good day so far, deciding to treat herself to some tea and cake, but something about this message is making her feel anxious. She's so absorbed in rereading the text over and over again that she's taken by surprise when Yuya speaks up. ]

Oh! Oh, um, no, thank you.

[ She takes the plate with one hand, the other still on her phone. She would normally dig right in, but... ]

Um, I think something's vibrating...?

[hippocarnival]

Y... yeah, it is. [This is embarrassing.] Please excuse me.

[Yuya scrambles to the counter, completely abandoning the serving cart at Niko's table. He crouches, disappearing behind the counter before pulling his phone out and trying to turn it off. Mute it. Something.] Shhh!

[flowerclips]

[ Niko just... watches. Does the buzzing continue? Does it stop? How is Yuya doing back there? ]

[hippocarnival]

[The buzzing stops pretty quickly after he grabs it, but he doesn't rise. It's... rebooting. Or booting up something?! Is this a virus? Did he click a bad link somewhere.

Yuya mutters with worry under his breath. He can't fix this right now. He stands, shoving his phone under his obi to hide it and then hurries back to Niko's table, grabbing the cart tight enough to jostle it.] So sorry about that! Was there anything else you needed?

[Didn't he just ask that.]

[flowerclips]

[ Seeing Yuya's frantic energy is enough to make Niko also feel on edge. In one hand, she still has a tight grip on her phone. ]

Mm, no, it's okay. Um, but is everything all right? Was that your phone vibrating?

[hippocarnival]

Uh, yeah, but it's okay. [He might need a new phone but that's going to have to wait, isn't it? Abby is off today so it's just him scurrying from customer to customer.] Thank you for your concern.

teahouse

[pursuit]

[ Maybe Yuya's paid the other local teahouse a visit. Maybe he hasn't.

Regardless, Deuce is paying a visit anyway. His manager called it reconnaissance, and it sounded pretty important, so how could he refuse? All he has to do is place an order and report back about his experience, which sounds pretty easy.

Just the same, Deuce is sitting with such stiff posture he might as well be a soldier at attention... That is, until Yuya's phone goes off. Mostly because his has been doing the same thing, incessantly, all day. ]

Hey, uh... You getting some weird spam too?

[hippocarnival]

[Ah, yes. The other teahouse.

Yuya's aware of it, though he's never actually been allowed to go. His grandmother didn't like the idea of giving "competition" any business, and even though Yuya always thought that was silly because they're not all that similar he obeyed.

That means he has no idea who works there, though, so this is just another customer.

Yuya cringes as the vibrating is commenting on.] I... I guess so. I'm sorry, I thought it was turned off. Would you excuse me for a moment?

[pursuit]

[ If only Deuce knew of his accidental covert success... Alas, perhaps another time. ]

Sure, but one thing first. [ Because that sounds oddly familiar. Although it's poor table-manners, he knows, he tugs his phone from his pocket to show that it too is vibrating without cease. ] I turned mine off too, and it's still going.

[ A pause, and he thinks to add another relevant bit of information: ]

I don't even have vibrate turned on.

[hippocarnival]

... Should you turn it on? [How long as he been ignoring his phone while it vibrates? Yuya can't really compare until he grabs his own phone, but that seems broken.]

[pursuit]

I've tried, and nothing seems to work...

[ To demonstrate, he holds down the power button for a few seconds and nothing changes. ]

Even gave a factory boot a shot, but that didn't do anything for me either.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya rubs the back of his neck.] Sorry, I don't know much about phones. Maybe it's just broken?