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

[infolds]

[ Really, one of the silver linings of all this is that his phone is ice cold. Connor has been putting his phone on his forehead and arms every now and then to cool off. It's so hot...

Aside from the sudden "ARG" sprung on him (that's what he thinks it is, until--) and basically being doxxed on the internet for some reason, he finds that he isn't alone at the very least. This app should be sued for leaking personal information online, he vaguely thinks. ]

Can we go home now?? It's way too hot out here!

[ He'll just do the thinking later and probably tell his brother about this weird event. Though, shouting that at no one in particular doesn't seem to be working much, because there isn't a target for him to complain to.

Actually, now that he goes through some of the profiles, he squints at the phone screen. ]

Are we really playing the game with a bunch of hobos...?

[ y'all homeless ]

wildcard

[ Hit me up with anything. Connor deems it too hot to be outside, so he'll want to go home, but can be easily enabled into going elsewhere for investigations. Texting him works too. ]

[stormsoff]

.... hobos?

[ wait ]

Wait, you mean us?

[infolds]

[ Huh. He looks at his face and then back at the app. ]

Yup, but you're a teenage hobo. That's rough, buddy.

[stormsoff]

Wh— excuse me?! You’re—

[ pauses

scrolls furiously through the app

finds This Guy

POINTS AT HIM DRAMATICALLY THE INSTANT HE DOES!!! ]

—ONE TO TALK! You’re here too, you know!

[infolds]

Yeah, but like. I live here.

[ He's got an address and everything. Connor laughs a little, as if this situation is funny. ]

How are you so loud when it's so hot out here...? Do you run on energizers or something? That's impressive.

[tsunotarou]

...So I look like a hobo?

[Malleus is wearing his school uniform, blazer on his arm, and an eyebrow raised.]

[infolds]

You can always pretend to be one, Mister Rich Guy.

[ Malleus' family name is famous even for a nobody like Connor, who doesn't really have much to his name in comparison. Seeing him doxxed on the app was kind of a surprise, but now he can see how he's personally like himself. ]

[tsunotarou]

[Malleus raises an eyebrow, and shakes his head.]

Why should I?

[infolds]

It offers a fresh perspective from how other people live! That's always a good thing to have, isn't it? Broadening your horizons and whatever.

[ spongebobrainbow.gif ]

[flowerclips]

What's a hobo...?

[ so it starts....... ]

[infolds]

[ It begins... ]

You dunno what a hobo is?

[ Well, okay. He hasn't looked at her profile yet, but he's going to assume that she's like. 8 years old. ]

Well, a hobo is someone who doesn't have a home. All the bad ones made being a hobo bad.

[flowerclips]

[ With her height, yeah, she can be mistaken for an eight-year-old. ]

Ohh, I see, but then who are the bad ones?

[infolds]

I dunno. They usually pop up on the news and stuff, but the bad ones usually steal money or beat people up for stupid reasons.

[ ... ]

Just keep an eye out. Can't trust everyone, after all. You should go back home, or you'll pass out in the heat.

[pursuit]

[ Deuce looks to the left.

Then to the right.

All he finds are regular people around them, and so he turns his perplexed attention back to the guy who made the comment in the first place. ]

What are you talking about?

[infolds]

Look, look.

[ Connor has no sense of personal space as he slides right up to Deuce's side with his phone with everyone's profiles on the screen. He points to every single one who doesn't have a home address. ]

Maybe it's a hobo welcoming party by the city and we're getting paid.

[pursuit]

[ If Deuce notices the intrusion, it doesn't show in the slightest.

Which is to say he seems oblivious to it, with his focus on scrutinizing the screen with a pensive hum. ]

Maybe whoever's creeping on us didn't find that info?

[ Honestly, he'd rather someone didn't know where he and his mom live. ]

[infolds]

Delivery drivers always have to call me if they want to know where my house is! It's hard to find!

[ That aside, Connor feels the same. No one likes getting doxxed, even if it's to a select group of people--mostly because they're strangers. ]

That would be weird to leave out though. Would be nice if we got paid for this too, but like... I wouldn't want to bring strangers in my house. Dad will freak out. You're probably the same, right?

[silentends]

Going home would be nice. It's way too hot.

[Nier has to tie his hair up because it's long and that just makes him sweat more.]

We actually have a place to go back to...but look at all these other people. They don't have anywhere to go.

The church might be able to do something about it.

[infolds]

I guess even if they don't like religion, a church would be free lodging. Buuuut, I think some churches still like maintaining their image despite, you know, their religion. I guess the pastors are gonna have to make a tough call for this!

[ And he sounds rather delighted by that, because it sounds fun. The conflict sounds fun, especially with a reputation at stake. ]

[silentends]

I guess so. I don't know too much about religion but it would be hard for them to suddenly take in a bunch of homeless people.

[There's a decent handful of them without homes.]

The only thing I can really do is offer medical aid. I am a nurse after all...

[a nurse in training who has yet to finish his intern. That's what he really is.]

You aren't hurt, are you?

omg i never got this notif.... im sorry

[infolds]

Uhh, no, but from how some of these people are dressed, they might pass out from heatstroke soon. Are you gonna stay behind and watch over all of them? Because that's a lot of responsibility.

[ Connor doesn't care but like... also, what the fuck. ]

[cislunar]

[ wow no need to go straight for the jugular connor RELAX

johannes did not get isekai'd, so he will exclude himself from that statement. ]

Considering nothing cooperative in nature has been put up just yet, it could put us at an advantage.

[ survive the great hobo wars ]

Or perhaps the intention was for us to meet these newcomers, and then house them.

[ to, you know, get stabbed later ]

[infolds]

Okay, then since you're an adult, you should house all of them because you have income.

[ ... ]

Right? You're not a city hobo, are you?

[cislunar]

[ listen, you little shit,

NO? ]

No, no. Hobo or not, I'll pass. Some of you may be interesting enough to take home... But some of you might annoy me.

[ these are people, not pets ]

I also have a very particular roommate who might not enjoy the sudden intruders.

[ he's talking about his actual cat. ]

[infolds]

They're not intruders if you let them in.

[ But. Wait. Connor raises an eyebrow at him. ]

What the hell. Are you trying to score with some of these people??

[ Why else would you take them home?! Or at least wording it like that. Connor looks at him warily. ]