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

[ehero]

[ Judai doesn't choose to pursue this line of conversation anymore, though mostly because he's distracted by the shuffling inside his bag. There are soft sounds of meowing as little tiny paws start to poke out. ]

Oh, sorry, Pharaoh. Here.

[ He kneels down to set the bag on the floor, opening it so the cat can be free. It jumps out and lets out a big yawn. It gets a few pets on the head before Judai stands back up. ]

So, are you from this city? Or did you just wake up here as well?

[curriculumachine]

[Mike almost walks away while Judai's attending to the cat, but he's too slow to make the decision, and there's another question before he takes a step. There's a quiet noise of irritation; it's not directed at Judai, but everything that's happened to direct Mike to this encounter in the first place. It's too hot to hang out at the crosswalk with this guy and his cat. He frowns very slightly, an almost imperceptible twitch of his mouth, and scrapes his shoe against the asphalt. His flipflops are melting. Hn.]

Yes.

[Did he answer the question? Was there only one? Whatever.]

[ehero]

[ Mike can't get away. Pharaoh has now decided to use his feet as its new pillow. ]

Yes to which one?

[curriculumachine]

[There's a tiny distressed noise as the pudgy cat flops onto his feet; weight pressing the melting plastic harder against the sidewalk, fur immediately adding degrees of warmth to his bare skin. He wiggles his toes, but they don't move. Pharaoh is too powerful for Mike's low effort escape tactics.]

I...

[Logically, he's more likely to have absorbed solely the first question, so he'll go with that.]

The first.

[ehero]

[ Pharaoh lets out another yawn, becoming very comfortable on Mike's feet. Judai just allows the cat to do whatever he likes because if Mike doesn't say anything about it, he'll just assume that it's fine. ]

Is this sort of stuff normal in your city? 'cause I've never been to America before.

[ Maybe Americans are just weird. ]

[curriculumachine]

[His feet are starting to sweat, and this itch with the dampening fur slightly shifting every time Pharoah breathes.]

What, the app?

[That's what they're still talking about, hopefully.]

No.

[ehero]

[ Pharoah just continues to lay there. Mike's feet are going to melt away at this point. ]

App?

[ What the heck is an app ]

[curriculumachine]

With the missions...

[He keeps looking down at Pharoah as if willing the cat to move, but it does not.]

[ehero]

[ Pharaoh doesn't even glance up at Mike. He just keeps on sleeping. ]

I thought it was called AVA?

[curriculumachine]

[Mike hesitates before answering. If he explains this, then what else might he be questioned about? It's opening an avenue of communication he doesn't want. Judai can find someone else to explain how phone applications work.]

Right. Ava.

[He misspoke. No apps here.]

[ehero]

[ What a funny guy. Judai has met with a lot of different types of people, but he hasn't come across someone as... socially awkward(?) before. ]

Hey, is everything all right?

[curriculumachine]

I...

[It's choked, because that question implies Judai has been really looking at him, perceiving him, watching, noticing things. Even with the sun, he can feel additional waves of heat burning from the inside, across his face and ears. For a moment, he can't say anything, and then what comes out is a whispered:]

My feet are hot.

[There's a distressed noise that follows, one of instant regret that those are the words that escaped.]

[ehero]

[ He looks down and oh! Yes, that would definitely make anyone's feet hot. He bends down to pick up the fat cat, freeing Mike from his predicament. Pharaoh does not fight back, going limp and meowing, while Judai just gives a sheepish smile. ]

Sorry, I guess Pharaoh just likes you.

[curriculumachine]

[Mike stares at the cat for another too-long moment, not really seeing its floppy dejected demeanour, only starting at Pharaoh because the cat is there in front of him. He shifts his feet, de-sticking the tacky plastic flipflop bottoms from the asphalt. Then, he may have something to contribute to the conversation.]

If you... just showed up here... why did whatever bring the cat too?

[If it is indeed Judai's cat from home and not a random stray.]

[ehero]

[ He places Pharaoh back on the ground and watches him for a few seconds, making sure that he doesn't just return back to his spot on Mike's feet. Instead, he just lies next to said feed. Judai looks back up. ]

Maybe because he was in my bag? That's the only reason I can think of.

[curriculumachine]

[Pharaoh isn't touching him, but he can feel the heat of that fat little furry body like standing next to a radiator.]

Nh.

[He has no thoughts on Judai's reply, so the conversation ends there. Mike fishes a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He's going to smoke the cat out and reclaim his sidewalk space.]

[ehero]

[ No worries, Mike. Judai is used to carrying conversations and being oblivious to awkward silences so she'll fill in the gap. ]

What's your name? I'm Judai Yuki.

[curriculumachine]

[He's still looking down at Pharaoh, and will continue to do so until Judai takes a hint or gets bored of him. He almost gives Judai a fake name, but all of their information is in the app and it's pointless to try to hide or escape these strange circumstances.]

Mike Yamashita.

[ehero]

[ Judai will never take a hint. He's had countless people hating his guts and telling him that to his face, but he would always stick around. Sometimes, it leads to friendships and sometimes, it doesn't. ]

Hey, your family name is Japanese. Are you from Japan?

[curriculumachine]

No.

[He slightly nudges Pharaoh with a melty flipflop.]

I've never been there.

[There's a long pause before he adds something else, and Judai may have already met Jun.]

Some kid with green hair... appeared from Japan.

[ehero]

Oh, you've met Jun! Yeah, he also came from Japan.

[ Pharaoh lets out a small mew and rolls onto his side. He's half an inch away, but he's still radiating heat. ]

So, you were born here?

[curriculumachine]

[There's a tiny inscrutable noise, but it means Pharaoh has won him over with that roll. The cat is cute.]

Yes...

[He proceeds to ignore Judai and crouches down to pet Pharaoh.]

[ehero]

[ Seeing Mike crouch down, Judai does the same. haha you're never going to get rid of judai, he's here to stay ]

Looks like you like Pharaoh as much as he likes you.

[curriculumachine]

[It was the wrong move. Now everything is far too hot, more oppressive and confining; Judai's eyes on him, penetrating. Nothing comes out of his mouth in reply but a choked 'haa' noise as his fingers tighten in Pharaoh's fur.]

[ehero]

[ Judai will honestly be okay with silently waiting and allowing Mike to pet Pharaoh for as long as he likes. They can stay crouched for however long this will take. ]