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

[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.

[flowerclips]

[ Hmm, the vibrating might have been nothing - it might have just been a very persistent person on the phone, but Niko decides to ask her question. ]

Did you also get that weird message about a mission?

[ Her own phone wouldn't stop buzzing until she looked at the screen, even when she tried to ignore it so she can just have a quiet time with her tea and cake. Plus, it's really strange. The message doesn't seem addressed just to her? It sounds like a mission for a group of people... ]

[hippocarnival]

Uh... [Yuya didn't at all look at it for very long after it started rebooting. The app has not been given proper consideration. And he shouldn't be pulling his phone out at work, but it's a customer asking so it should be... fine...

He slides his phone back out, looking at the app now front and center.] AVA...?

[flowerclips]

[ She loosens her grip on her phone, lowering it so it's laid flat on the table. On the screen, it contains the same information. ]

Have you heard about it before...?

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya shakes his head.] I definitely didn't download this. Or, I didn't mean to.

[He starts pressing through pages, looking for what information there is. Exactly what you shouldn't do with malware, basically.]

[flowerclips]

[ Sorry Yuya, your phone is out of commission until you ditch this place and get to where everyone else is. Chop chop ]

It says that we should go to the city crosswalk but I don't know what the 1500 means. Do we have to go there 1500 times?

[hippocarnival]

Uuh... [Yuya squints.] I... think it's time? But it's missing the dots. [It's still supposed to have dots, right? He doesn't know, he doesn't use military time.]

[flowerclips]

Time? What time is 1500? Do we have to be there in 1500 hours?!

[ Sorry, Yuya, she's dumb ]

[hippocarnival]

I don't know! [He doesn't know either?? And if his phone is stuck in the app he can't really look it up.] Do you have a tablet?

[flowerclips]

No... but maybe we can ask someone!

[ She's already turning to ask the old lady at the table next to her. Will Yuya allow her to just randomly disturb others ]

[hippocarnival]

[Can he... can he reprimand a customer? Is that allowed? And is it really a big deal? Ultimately he just freezes in place and watches.

The old lady, at least, takes it in stride, and tells Niko that it's 3 pm.]

[flowerclips]

[ She thanks the old lady. Look how easy that was! Niko will do whatever she likes. she also has chaotic energy like judai but in a different way ]

It's 3 o'clock! Isn't that soon?

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya looks up at the clock on the wall.] It's... almost an hour and a half. I don't think I'll make it in time.

[They normally close 30 minutes to 3, and then there's clean up... it would take a force of the universe to ensure he's there early.]

[flowerclips]

[ what if... potential gas leak so everyone has to evacuate out of safety. it just turns out to be a false alarm ]