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

[cislunar]

[ how sweet........ more than this human doodoo deserves, probably. for all styx is paying attention to avoiding rudeness, johannes cares not at all about that. so after a lull where styx's weather talk gets absolutely ignored, there's a little tap as the bubble tea is placed casually in front of him.



here's his scraps, buddy. ]

Many things change quickly. Interests among them. [ ??? ] Please, don't bother with the small talk when there's other things catching your attention. Follow your desires; it's more fun that way.

[ this is the most dramatic, extra way to offer your leftover hk milk tea to a fountain hobo, yes ]

[tothemetal]

[oh, so it was milk tea...he'd thought it might be, but from a distance there was always the possibility that it was coffee or caramel or one of those trendy flavors Vincent complained about before he caught himself. up close he could see he'd been right, the shade was all wrong for anything else, and Styx feels a swell of pride at having managed to deduce -

........huh?]

...you really sure, dude?

[it's not that the drummer hadn't noticed the drink plopped down in front of him (not waxing poetic about it like he'd been) as much as...the implications of it being there in the first place had only just hit him now. he looks up at Johannes with a sort of hesitant wonder, like he really can't believe that it's alright for him to accept such a miracle. people just don't hand over one third of a cup of bubble tea out of the goodness of their heart! ...not to him, anyway.]

You don't gotta just 'cause I was staring, 's yours 'nd all.

[cislunar]

[ bruh most people would go "who are you and why are you giving me your germs" but this is better. this one acting like he's being given a slice of the moon and the stars gives johannes the image of a rather simple puppy....... fountain fits, too.

which isn't a bad thing, but also it's terrible. ]

I never do anything out of obligation. If I don't want to do things, I simply don't do them.

[ y'know, like the most uppity ten year old

he gestures, again, to the bubble tea. ]

You must not be given things very frequently if you consider that a gift to shyly question. Am I wrong?

[tothemetal]

[being told such childishly 'deep' things would also be something that normal people might feel annoyed by, or at least brush off in order to continue the conversation without a terminal rolling of the eyes. Styx once again proves himself far from the norm when, instead, he finds some comfort in the statement; it's extremely similar to something that his friend Vincent says, something that has always allowed him to safely trust in his statements. Vincent didn't do things that wasted his time, so the drummer didn't need to question when those things involved him - and he supposes that the same goes for this man as well. how nice.

with newfound confidence he gives Johannes a bright, sunny grin before finally taking the tea when it's indicated the second time.]

Shit man, thanks!

[his gratitude is as sincere as the joy that spreads across his face when he takes that first sip of backwash-ridden tea. mmm...oh, man, these bubbles were especially good. what a fucking treat. he sighs quietly to himself, taking a small moment to appreciate the taste before answering the question posed to him.]

Nah, you nailed it! Kinda hard to tell since I'm sitting down, I guess, but I'm real big 'nd useless. Be kinda dumb for people to waste their stuff on me, you know?

[cislunar]

[ ... puppy indeed. johannes offers no words of encouragement to the straightforward self-deprecation, nor does his expression shift. he doesn't find reason to disagree with that so far... but it's not like he's disrespecting styx for being who he is. not that he respects it either.

still. ]

I see. [ hmmmm. ] "Waste" could be argued. What I gave you doesn't have value to me -- it yields a greater reward if I give it to someone who exaggerates its perceived worth due to their lack of self-worth. I'm sure it's made me seem more favorable in your eyes. Not that there was any particular motivation behind the gesture.

[ some sincerity for styx's sincerity. not that he wouldn't be straightforward about it if styx wasn't, because he's always just gonna shove tact to the side in favor of objective observations and starting shit. ]

Regardless, while you aren't my favorite kind of person, I'll admit I prefer those who've made their own conclusions about themselves. Good or bad. [ maybe it's endearing? amusing? he doesn't know enough about styx to say. ] What's your name?

[tothemetal]

[acceptance is expected, encouragement foreign. by simply taking Styx's understanding of himself at face value, as if it were a matter of course to reach such a conclusion, Johannes fits himself perfectly into the drummer's perception of the world. all is as it should be - himself at the bottom, and others recognizing it. it's comforting in its own way, given his bizarre surroundings, and only serves to increase his natural good humor.]

Um...gotta be honest, don't really get most of what you're saying - but you're probably right! Mean, you seemed like a cool dude even before you let me have the bubble tea. Most people don't really go for the milk tea when they get shit like this.

[simple and honest, but completely ironclad in his tolerance for what he'll allow people to say about or to him. many of the concepts the other man was tossing around flew right over his head, but he's fairly sure he gets the gist - this was probably going into the garbage, so it's better to give it to Styx since seeing him get excited is funny. makes sense. it also makes him happy to have provided a little amusement, eliciting another warm smile while he carefully chased some rogue bubbles around the bottom of the cup with his straw.]

Name's Styx! 's real nice to meet you, man.