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

[stormsoff]

Pffffffhahahahaha!!

[ yeah he just loses it

He’s thirteen, this is hilarious. ]

D-Don’t worry, I’ll keep him in line. Snrk.

[prevail]

[ Kainé only wishes she was kidding about that too. ]

You'd be doing me a favor. Guy's like a goat.

[ A goat whose stomach can't keep up. ]

He's a good guy though. If you need something bandaged up, he's probably got that covered.

[stormsoff]

Hahaha. You got it.

[ as in: Zeke will never hear the end of this ever for the rest of his life ]

Heh. So, what, he know first aid or something?

[prevail]

Yeah, Nier's in some nursing program. He'll rattle off a bunch of technical crap if you ask him about it.

[ It's put her to sleep before, so she can't exactly recommend it.

And that's who she's been talking about; she's been really good about specifying that. ]

Always does his best though.

[stormsoff]

Wait were you taking about Nier that entire time?

[ damn. His hopes, crushed. ]

[prevail]

Yeah, guy's my neighbor. Who'd you think I meant?

[ It's only a little canon for dreams to be crushed when Yoko Taro characters are involved... ]

[stormsoff]

I was really hoping you meant Mr. Yaeger, not gonna lie.

... I’ve heard Nier’s name before, though. [ tilts his head. ] Huh. Who was it?

[prevail]

Nier'd know more about him than me, so... Might be something interesting I don't know about.

[ Everyone's got quirks. Maybe. Probably. ]

You'll probably see him around here. [ She's not too keen on poking around the weird app's forums, but she finds Nier's picture to show Isaac. ] This guy.

[stormsoff]

Oh!

[ Isaac snaps his fingers. ]

Him. Someone told me about him. His sister, Niko. She’s, uh, she’s nice.

[prevail]

Yeah, that's her. She's a good kid.

[ Though Kainé worries about her as much as Nier for different reasons. ]

If you ever see her by herself, keep an eye out for her, would you? Or lemme know. She wasn't feeling well for a long ass time.

[ Nier sure made it seem like an age, anyway. ]

[stormsoff]

Yeah, she told me he was her nurse. I didn’t want to pry so I didn’t ask why she was sick or anything, but... yeah. I’ll look out for her, don’t worry. On the network she told me she was scared... I felt bad for her. I’m glad someone like her isn’t stuck here alone and actually has people who care about her.

[ Isaac rubs the back of his neck, his eyes far away. ]

[prevail]

[ Sorry Isaac, it's time to plonk a hand on that noggin and muss up that hair. ]

Don't go looking like that, damn. [ Please kid it's too strong. ] You're not exactly by yourself, and people like to meddle around here.