collectedlogs | INTRO LOG #1

INTRO LOG #1

Welcome to Collected’s first Intro Log! The information we’ve provided about the setting is not exhaustive - feel free to interact with the setting as you see fit. Rather than have specific prompts, our event posts throughout the game will generally have information listed out like this and players may come up with their own prompts.

If you have questions about the setting or the intro log, please ask them HERE in the comment thread! And most of all, have fun, shoppers.

PROMPTS

The first thing anyone does is gasp for air.

It’ll feel like the first breath you’ve taken in years. That’s right; before you can even become aware of your surroundings, the most immediate thing they’ll process is that you’re in water. Foul smelling water - like rotten eggs and decay. It’s pitch black, and you’re swimming in it with only your head above the surface. If the smell doesn’t deter you, the longer you stay in will; the water stings to have on your skin, chemical in nature.

So - you need to get out. This water can’t be okay to stay in. Once you’ve gathered enough about your surroundings, you’ll see that you’re inside a mall, of sorts. There’s a large (non-functioning) escalator in front of you that will lead you to the semi-safe havens of the second floor - but be careful, because everyone’s going to be gunning for that only exit.

» Once on the second floor, exploring will lead you to a few notes of interest: Long windows and tall glass doors show the conditions outside. The sky is a burnt orange, and there is a thick sort of fog on the horizon. Nothing for miles in every direction - just an empty parking lot, completely devoid of life or any sign that anyone has come across this place in many years. Even so, you’ll find the windows and doors unlocked, so getting outside is easy… the problem is what’s out there.

A trip outside will make it instantly clear why you see no life outside the mall’s walls: exposure to the radioactive sun outside causes your skin to bubble with welts, and the thick, toxic air of the outside is impossible to inhale without keeling over. It’s blistering hot, too. Even non-organic creatures would melt or be eroded by the sun’s radioactive qualities. One thing is abundantly obvious: you cannot survive outside. Not now, at least. Those who receive a burn or other damage from the conditions outside will discover that strangely enough, upon returning inside the mall, the wound begins to heal up on its own. Slowly, and extremely painfully, but it’s healing. That’s strange…

» Another thing of note is that there’s a food court on the second floor. There, you’ll find a variety of abandoned restaurants that have varying amounts of non-perishables inside - canned vegetables and preserved meats, as well as dusty old jars of sauces and the like. There are a few walk-in freezers with hefty locks on them, but if the locks are broken or picked, there’s actually some frozen rations, as well! Many of them are not labelled, so the dining experience will be pretty hit or miss. None of the stoves or cooking appliances in the food court work anymore, either, so you’ll have to get creative when it comes to cooking up these ingredients. (Or just, you know, eat them cold.)

» Throughout the mall’s bathrooms, water fountains, and gym showers, you’ll find that all the water in the mall is suspiciously clean. Like, way too clean to be normal in a place as run-down and clearly abandoned as this. You’ll find that toilets flush completely fine, and shower water heats up (eventually). Should you be grateful, or concerned?

» There’s an electronics store on the second floor, as well, along with a internet cafe. Should you try to turn on the computers in the internet cafe, you’ll find that it only opens to the same forum page: a site called Mall Watch. It’ll prompt you to make an account and password if you try posting to it. In the electronics store, you’ll also find that any phone you forage for and try to boot up will also only open up to this forum page. Weird!

» If you’re looking for a place to sleep, the department stores of the mall still have a variety of furniture sets collecting a lot of dust. Then again, no one’s around to tell you where to sleep - and maybe you don’t trust all these new faces you arrived with. If you’re okay sleeping on the floor of a random store, more power to you.

» You’ll probably want to do something about your clothes that were stained by the black water on the first floor.. try foraging for some clothes! Looking around, you’ll find that some clothes stores have some stock left over, though everything’s generally a mess in clothing stores - it’ll take you some time to find anything that’ll fit you. Looking around enough on this second floor, you might end up stumbling across some of your own belongings or clothing, or those of your peers.

More than anything, the longer you explore and scavenge the mall, you’ll recognize how eerily silent it is. If not for you and your peers here, this place would be totally desolate. Clearly, there’s no one around for miles, and as far as you can tell, you’ll only be able to survive here for as long as the supplies here last. No one’s coming to save you - no one even knows you’re here. In every sense of the word, you are alone.

For now.

NAVIGATION

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[ 9S is one of the last people to talk fashion with—despite his usual uniform, he knows little about it—so her statement does come as unexpected. His eyebrows raise, but of course, they're hidden, not that it matters for long as she swiftly jumps back to what are, admittedly, more important matters.

One he could far more easily speak about. Good news, Misa! ]

More than good, I'd say. [ He manages to have enough in him to be a touch boastful. She just seems so thrilled, and he can't deny there's a small part of him that feels glad he could be of some use to her, an instinctual feeling that easily settles within him. ] It's my thing, if you know what I mean. If I thought there'd be any around, I might've started there hours ago.

[ But he doesn't know the first thing about malls, so he wouldn't have imagined cameras would just be... there. Then again, one doesn't get unceremoniously dumped somewhere as weird and foreign as this and think straight, either. ]

Yay!!

[ She claps for emphasis, giggling. Yes, she's awfully chipper for just finding out that he's great with technology, but she's the type to overcompensate with cheerfulness when in a dismal situation. Everyone around is so down, anyway - and why not try to bring some cheer around? ]

Lucky for you, Misa knows all about where cameras might be in a mall! So we can work together. The two of us can get to the bottom of this in no time! [ surely things will be that simple! ] I guess since you don't know, that means you've never been to one before?

[ Misa starts off in the direction she'd been originally going in, walking backwards so she can continue to face him. ]

[ She does have a cheery air he's yet to see in anyone else, but the circumstances don't quite lend to having one. It does make it feel somewhat out of place, but he's hardly about to tell her that. Besides, he had done the same back when he had missions to be assigned on; the amount of times both 21O and 2B had admonished him for being too chatty on the job...

No, now isn't the time to dwell on that. 9S focuses back on her, instead, shaking his head. ]

Places like this are long gone. Or... they're supposed to be, but it looks like this one's managed to stick around. [ Or something. ] I wouldn't have been able to set foot in one if I wanted to.

[ And he did, along with everything else humans typically had. He didn't think it would happen quite like this, though. ]

Really? They were gone? So, you must be from the future or something...

[ Misa accepts this... relatively easily as the truth, after having met people from other universes or whatever since getting here. Malls being long gone - that must mean time passed after they did exist. She looks thoughtful for a moment, folding her hands behind her back while she continues to walk. ]

The future to me, anyway. There's lots of malls around where I live! [ a beat. ] But it's sad this is the first one you get to go in. They can be really fun when they're not so... abandoned.

—The future?

[ Meanwhile, this is the first 9S is hearing of this, surprise evident in his voice. ]

How could I be from your future if we're both here?

[ It doesn't make sense, but it also... does, in a weird way that he isn't sure he could explain. Humanity was a thing of the past, but now he inexplicably stands among them; there had to be a reason why, but this hadn't been what he expected to be told. ]

I don't really get it myself, if I'm being honest.

[ Misa admits, fully, turning back around so her back faces him. ]

I met someone earlier who didn't even know what electricity was. And I even met one alien from another planet... it seems like there are people from all over the place in this mall. [ And that's putting it lightly. ] Isn't that confusing? I mean, you just said all types of buildings like this one were long gone whenever you're from, right? How far away is 2004 from when you were living?

[ Two-thousand four. She's... serious? She is. ]

... A good ten thousand years off, give or take.

[ So, definitely from her future, he realizes. ]

T... Ten thousand years?!!?

[ That stops her right in her tracks, twirling around way too dramatically. ]

I didn't think you'd say that far in the future!! I'd be long dead by then...

[ Her and everyone else, he thinks wryly, but that is a comment he's keeping to himself.

In her shock she stops suddenly, and so does he, startled by her reaction. Well—it's a reasonable reaction, because he can hardly believe it himself. What an overwhelming day it's been so far... He barely knows what to think of this all. ]

And I didn't think you'd bring up so far back in the past. I barely know anything about that era...

W-Well.... haha! [ Misa stumbles in responding to this crazy information, but she quickly recovers, shaking her head and trying to laugh it off. ] If you wanted to know anything about that era, you could ask me! I'm from Japan in 2004.

[ She offers rather easily, thinking that this turn in the conversation is better than dwelling on the idea that people are watching them. ]

If you tell me some stuff about the future in return, that is!

[ For her, perhaps, but it's the lesser of two evils that 9S has to mull on. Naturally, he's spent a lot of the day already dwelling on what he's unwittingly left behind, especially so that it's the first in months he's slowed to a halt, by choice or not; quite frankly, it isn't any easier to think about once separated from it all.

He glances off, a hint of shame in his demeanor. ]

Sorry, it's... not really worth talking about.

[ Not the answer she'd want to hear, he knows, but there's no levity in anything he could tell her. ]

It's not...?

[ Her brows furrow in confusion, tilting her head a bit farther to the side than is truly necessary to convey her feelings. ]

Oh, well, I guess you telling me about the future might mess it up, right?

[ She's a pro at smoothing over conversations, though, and she starts up walking again with ease, not missing a beat. Misa had wanted to know if there were cool flying cars or any of the other basic things humans think the future will have, but she can tell by his demeanor that it doesn't seem like he wants to talk about it at all. So she shrugs it all off, offering a small smile. ]

That's okay. I could still tell you about 2004, though. It shouldn't change anything!

[ She took that a lot better than he imagined she would (though, not exactly for the reason he'd thought; "might mess it up"...?) In the end, he'll take it. 9S doesn't feel he's up to the task of explaining what an absolute shitshow the world became so many millennia after her time.

As she starts ahead again easily, 9S falls into a step behind her, curiosity piqued. Though he can't offer much in return, he's surprised she's still willing to tell her story—and he'd be stupid to turn her down. ]

Oh—uh, sure, if you don't mind. I've seen... what's left of cities, at least, but I always wondered what they were like when they were populated. [ A beat. ] There were big cities in 2004, right?

Oh, yes, of course! I live in one of the biggest cities in Japan. There are lots of big ones though, like London, LA, New York... there's big cities all around the world.

[ Misa explains, breezily, her voice sing-song and full of charm. She finds it's easier to stay in high spirits here if she just keeps talking, and companionship is always a blessing in times of suffering. Of course, what he says is troubling - implying that there's no one left living in these big cities - but what can she even say? Ten thousand years is a long time. And the human world was rotten to the core. Something probably happened to wipe the human race out. ]

Where I live, I see hundreds and thousands of people everyday. [ She examines him from the corner of her eye. ] It's nothing like this old dump.

Wow...

[ He sounds genuinely awed, unable to comprehend how the sheer number of people in one city could look like. ]

Doesn't that get crowded?

[ He's seen how tall buildings could span—even if most of them had either collapsed or toppled over—but it still doesn't seem like everything could fit that many people. ]

In some areas. Like downtown, or big shopping centers.. otherwise, not really.

[ She hums, darting her eyes around the walls and ceiling rather than looking directly at him, as she really is looking for cameras, like she said she was. ]

Does that mean there's really not so many people left in ten thousand years? If there really even "people."

[ He should probably be looking for cameras as well; needless to say, their conversation has distracted him from that. Chances are she has a better idea of what to look out for.

But that aside, her question does give him pause. He hasn't been subtle, but 9S answers a bit reluctantly regardless: ]

Not any humans, anyway. You're one of the first I've met.

[ Of course - anyone would have their eyebrows raise at that. Though, she only does so minimally, looking over at him for a sign of jest, and when she finds none, she lets out a long breath, looking up at the tiles on the ceiling. In thought, not in search of a camera. ]

Aw, that's kind of sad. I guess it makes sense - it's such a long time, afterall...

[ Her tone remains light, airy even. 10,000 years is a long, long time, and she has to imagine humanity's fall had in some part to do with outside factors besides the corruption and cruelty she was seeing in her day to day life. Though, she's sure that probably played a role also, without Light to watch over the world. She has no great care or love for all humans - it's only sad in the sense that humans couldn't overcome extinction, for all their talk. ]

Look on the bright side— the first human you're meeting is the famous celebrity Misa-Misa! No record of me exists in ten thousand years, probably, but I'll have you know that I'm a pretty popular! When I see guys like you around, they're usually asking for my autograph.

[ "It's such a long time" she says, like it's not an entirely unexpected outcome to hear. That he wasn't expecting, although he hasn't the faintest idea what wiped them all out; does that mean she would?

This is a question he obviously isn't going to ask. (Right now.) ]

Misa Misa...? [ 9S echoes the name experimentally, yet it rolls off his tongue oddly, like he finds the name weird more than anything else. Unfortunately, the idea of celebrities is lost on him. ] Why do they want your autograph?

[ At that, her smile broadens, her demeanor seeming to puff up with pride. ]

I'm model - like, a celebrity. I'm in magazines and dramas and stuff. [ She pauses for a beat. ] I'm somebody famous! Does that make sense to you?

[ There's no humans or big malls anymore, right? So... what exactly does this person have to compare when it comes to fashion magazines and late night talk shows? She's not sure, so she does her best to clarify. ]

[ Models... magazines... Again, it flies over his head, but he believes he's getting the gist of it. ]

Oh. So... They all admire you then, is that it?

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INTRO LOG #1

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