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

[tothemetal]

[that far? he hasn't said anything strange, he doesn't think...ah, he'll have to try and remember to ask about it later so that he can apologize if need be. right now they're having a more important discussion.]

nice to meet you dude !
im styx :)
you been here a while ?

[ape]

[ believe in your intelligence, styx. that is all. ]

Likewise. And that's quite the unique name, Styx.
It's going to be almost thirty years. I was born here. Is "Eddan" where you're from?

[tothemetal]

[thanks, bro.]

haha thanks ! its real killer right ?
thats the name of the river that runs through the underworld in greek myths
and the goddess they named they river after too
but uh
im a dude so im named after the river not the lady
:)

whoa man thats so old ! !
youre doing fucking awesome using the internet
way to go !

[normally one would take offense at being termed old enough to need validation over using a chat app at thirty, but...there's just something so very earnest about those stupid words. the person typing them clearly and wholeheartedly believes what he's saying without any sort of malice.]

uh yeah though eddans where i was born
youve never heard of it ?
people said it was kinda famous on the mainland and all

[ape]

[ oh my god he. just called old ]

Thank you, Styx. I'm even skilled in the art of memes and emojis. 🐵

[ and yet, there's something about this wording that goes on like he's talking to one very sincere kid not out to troll him. he hopes his hunch is correct, it's hard to really follow with precision when there's a screen and distance in the way of fine judgement.

besides, he seems to like greek myths. what a great interest for a kid, you know? he'll have to talk to him about it later! ]

I'm sorry about this, but I haven't. It's not the first place I haven't heard about lately, though. Google hasn't, either. [ not one single search points to a place called "eddan". just like isaac. ] You said it was still on your ID, right? Can you take a picture of that?

[tothemetal]

whoa shit ! look at that little guy !

[is that a monkey? he thinks that's a monkey. how fucking cute is that? he's never seen any nonhuman emojis before outside of the bird-related ones...and the occasional dragon. he's pretty sure that every time Ymir dares to be enough of a shithead to text that to Vincent it foretells another fight between bandmates though, so maybe...maybe not the greatest omen, that one.]

dude thats awesome !
my fingers are too big to really pick out any of that shit on the phone :(
but i can get the little faces you type so its not so bad
:) like that




you really havent heard of it before ?
mean
always thought it was pretty big as far as cities go
spelled it right and everything too

[he even pulled out his id card to double check - a convenient decision, considering the rest of Zeke's request. the guy on the other side of the app gets a brief affirmative before he sets about arduously photographing this tiny piece of plastic; it takes fifteen minutes to find a spot on the sidewalk where the glare from the sun doesn't completely atomize the details, and then another five to snap a picture that isn't blurred from his wobbly hands and send it the geezer's way.

when Zeke finally gets the secondary reply ping from Styx, he'll find an attached photo of...well, a perfectly ordinary looking id card. if he's ever seen one from the state of Massachusetts before it will appear identical to those save for the unfamiliar (nonexistent?) city name: Eddan. should he had been curious enough to look at Styx's profile on Ava he'll also see that all of the statistics match what's on the card. if it's a forgery, it's a very meticulously prepared one.]

[ape]

[ this boy.......... he's endearing. he's positively endearing and zeke can't help his older-sibling-sensei heart in wanting to keep an eye out for him. lucky for him, he's quick to work with what he gets, checks the app and matches the information. just right. it's all the same. ]

MA, hm? At least you're not too far from home. Technically. [ since they were in new york, but if eddan didn't exist and vitae didn't exist for him either . . . lord. the conspiracy theorist monkey jumping around in his head is wailing. ] Why don't we meet up for some water, Styx? On me.

[tothemetal]

yeah right ?
never been outside the city before now though
so everything feels pretty far away to me haha

[it's been kind of disorienting, honestly. Vitae feels so similar to Eddan in so many ways, but everything is just strange enough that he feels as if he really has to focus to keep from tripping over his own two feet.]

oh shit for real ?
i mean thatd be killer dude !
uh sir
you dont gotta buy me nothing though i dont wanna put you out
but we can still hang ! :)
uh youll have to pick the spot though i dunno where anything is around here
haha

[ape]

Don't worry about formalities, Styx, we're all people here. But if it makes you feel any more comfortable, you can call me Mr. Yeager, as students do. That or Zeke.

[ "ezekiel" has either been the formal jump or the name he heard when he was in trouble. haha. ]

Why don't you tell me where you are, and I'll meet you there? Tell me what's around you and I should pick up.

[tothemetal]

[students..? oh, he must be a teacher. without entirely realizing it himself a small weight settles down onto the drummer's chest with that conclusion, the trappings of a miserable school life he still hasn't entirely escaped from. his response takes a sight longer than the previous ones, ostensibly because he's taking stock of his current location - but also because he's taking a bit more care with his punctuation now, painstakingly fumbling massive fingers across the keyboard for the sake of legibility.]

oh, uh. there was the park i started at, and that's still kind of close by.
don't think i walked all that far yet, anyway.
and i can kinda see a church from here?
top of one, anyway. pretty tall!

[he's definitely in the south district still, that much is clear. it shouldn't be too hard to pick him up from there.]

[ape]

Oh, perfect. I'll be right there. Blond, beard, glasses and a messenger bag is what you should be looking out for.
👋🐵

[ it should only be a five or so minute walk at maximum. he didn't ask what styx looked like, but he didn't need to when he had a picture of his id. technically, styx didn't either if he had access to the app, but with all his confusion, it wouldn't hurt to simplify for him just a little bit. there's a little convenience store around there somewhere, so he already knows where they're getting water.

and there he was. large and visible from the end of the street ezekiel made his turn. oh, and wow. he was getting bigger the closer he got. ]

Styx?

[tothemetal]

[it's like something out of a horror movie, isn't it? he just keeps getting taller...unlike that particular genre, however, the 'monster' is waving enthusiastically at Zeke the moment he locates the source of his own name ringing out nearby. Styx has been staring maybe a little overly intently at every bearded man with fair hair who's passed by in the last five minutes, so there's an extra dose of excitement at having finally located the correct one.]

Yeah, hey! 's me!

[he calls out with a sunny smile, realizing only afterwards that it would probably be less disruptive to meet the man halfway rather than keep shouting in a public space. finally dropping that still-windmilling arm back to his side, he ambles his way over to Zeke with that same effervescent good humor still bubbling over.]

[ape]

I'm Ezekiel. Nice to finally meet you.

[ what a large lad. ezekiel extends his hand to shake with styx, and might as well be surprised (and amazed) at the difference in hand size. the young professor's is nimble while the lad's is thick, but luckily he's not too far from the same height. he doesn't have to bend his neck to look up. ]

Like I promised— Why don't we grab a drink to talk things over with? Still my treat.

[ and he gestures, over at the corner store. ]

[tothemetal]

[this is a comforting sort of size disparity, the same (or close to it) as his taller bandmate. Styx doesn't recognize it as the cause of his broadened smile, but the warmth spreads through him all the same as he pumps Zeke's hand up and down a few times. the grip is strong but careful, indicative of someone who has spent most of their life afraid of causing pain.]

Super cool to meet you, like, for real! You know, in person 'nd all.

[his hand gravitates to his hair once the introductory gesture has completed, ruffling at it thoughtlessly. it's dried out nicely in the blazing heat of summer, but there's a telltale crinkliness to it that belies how recently it had been wet.]

You really don't gotta buy me nothing, honest, but 'm not gonna say no to getting a drink at all! 's real fucking hot out today, huh?

[ape]

Precisely why I want to.

[ because it's blazing and his new buddy here just dropped out of a fucking nexus. that would at the very least garner some water and some time to sit and think about what happened. with a gesture, he leads them both into the convenience store, agitating the bell that signaled their entering. ]

Choose what you want and I'll meet you at the register.

[ he trusts styx to be responsible with his choices. in the meantime, ezekiel, grabs a favorite: canned iced tea, and quaintly asks for a pack of smokes at the front, grabbing some chex mix along the way. ]