PbtAstuck: Act 1 (Vinn)

[SerbianMounted]

> Narration: Begin

A young man stands in his room. It is the 2nd of May, 2021. Though it was sixteen years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!

What will the name of this young man be?

> Enter name.

Squad141 ​

 

[Squad141]

While you may be the subject of a cruel joke in meta-written nature, you understand it's only the means to a fabulously narrative end. So why not allow for some fun?

Your name is VINN XIVINNE, and despite your unseemly name, you are indeed only sixteen years old. You are a second-year at your local senior high school, and a pretty good one, too.

As previously mentioned, you are indeed standing in the middle of your bedroom, which used to double as an attic, giving it those cool slanted roofs, each one having a slanted window to match. On to the right side, you even have a small TELESCOPE that your SOBA gave you, allowing you to look out at the cityscape from time to time.

For a layout of the room, first, you'd have to enter it, which is available from the small trapdoor that one would crawl up through to get there. In the center of the room, is your bed of course, with white pillows and a comforter patterned with simplified purple turtles. Above your bed is a poster of NO-FACE from SPIRITED AWAY, due to your love for that studio's films, as well as a KYOTO-THEMED CALENDAR.

Other posters hanging on your walls include a TRADITIONAL JAPANESE PRINT of the TOKAIDO ROAD, a custom poster of yours schools CULTURE CLUB, a banner from the HAPPY HOME ACADEMY you got from ETSY, a PORTAL 2 poster, DAFT PUNK POSTER, and a JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE PART 8 POSTER.

At the foot your bed is a small bask/table, which holds some games and trinkets of yours, like your CHESS SET, pair of MONOKUMA-INSPIRED GLASSES, three KOKESHI DOLLS from a trip to Mt. Fuji, a JOLLIBEE KNITTED DOLL, a pair of BUTTON GLASSES, two AKA MANTO-INSPIRED PING-PONG PADDLES, a TOY TRAIN set, TAROT CARD DECK, NINTENDO SWITCH, NINTENDO 64, and a MAGATAMA NECKLACE.

To the right is a wardrobe where you keep your clothing and accessories, all of which are unique and special due to your love for FASHION DESIGN. The top shelf is specifically dedicated to your PIN and ACCESORY BOARD, where you collect said articles. Your top pins/brooches include the BLACK FISH with WHITE DOT PIN (which you're currently wearing), WHITE FISH with BLACK DOT PIN, EMOJI PINS (Quite a few mini-ones, each with a different expression), MIDNIGHT CHANNEL PIN, TEAM MYSTIC PIN, LUCKY MEW PIN, GOLDEN RATIO PIN, GIORNO LADYBUG BROOCH, ANCHOR PIN, and the MAC TONIGHT PIN. The actual wardrobe starts with a BLACK JACKET/HOODIE that's covered with iron-on PATCHES, like the GREAT WAVE OF KANAGAWA PATCH, YGGDRASIL PATCH, YELLOW SUBMARINE PATCH, and SMILEY FACE PATCH; Hanging up is also a TV COLOR BAR WINDBREAKER, an OKINAWA TIGERS VARSITY JACKET, UBOA T-SHIRT, AUTUMN SCARF, ZOMG! T-SHIRT, SAILOR OUTFIT, CUSTOM SUMMER YUKATA, PLAIN SCHOOL UNIFORM, PETSUKOPPU SHIRT, BUMBLEBEE STRIPED/COLORED HOODIE, WHITE DRESS SHIRT, KIRA YOSHIKAGE TIE, BLACK TIE, PURPLE HAWAIIAN SHIRT, BLACK SWEATER VEST, and DRAGONFRUIT-THEMED BUTTON-UP. At the very bottom is your shoe rack, which includes your WHITE SLIP-ONS (which you're wearing right now), SPEED SNEAKERS (modeled after Sonic the Hedgehog, given by a friend at school), BLUE HIKING BOOTS, BLACK LOAFERS with a YIN-YANG symbol on them, and your SCHOOL SHOES.

On top of the wardrobe is your DARUMA, which is still incomplete, due to you having not played a certain game yet, sitting next to a custom-made MANEKI NEKO, or BECKONING CAT, that Soba got your for your birthday last year. You also put your SCHOOL BAG up there after school.

​

On your person, you're currently wearing your favorite PURPLE SWEATER, some BLACK SLACKS, your WHITE-SLIPONS, your PURPLE-TINTED GLASSES, and your KEYRING. Your keyring also has a special LENS KEYRING, which acts a mini microscope, which you got on a school trip. You also have your MOBILE PHONE, which has a purple PROTECTIVE CASE, and an OBLADI OBLADA PHONE GRIP.

On the left of your room is your DESK, and general WORK STATION. The desk holds papers, journals, and supplies, like an ORNAMENTAL PAIR OF GOLDEN SCISSORS. It has a quite spacious surface area, which you use to the full extent. You have a DOUBLE-MONITER set-up, with a WINDOWS SYSTEM and everything. You also have a dense keyboard, mouse, and desk lamp which you mainly use for late-night homework.

Sitting kind of haphazardly next to your desk is your KEYBOARD-SYNTHESIZER, which you use to make music for yourself, your friends, and your Soba.

Sitting on the wall next to your wardrobe is a small bookcase which holds many written works you enjoy. The entire top half of the shelf is dedicated to the works of popular mangaka HIROHIKO ARAKI, mainly with the Jojo series, though you also religiously read his book MANGA IN ART AND THEORY, which discusses good storytelling, character design in personality and appearance, and the use of enemies and tension in a plot. The rest of the books are much different in type, many being from the west, including THE DAVINVI CODE, BEST WORKS OF EDGAR ALLEN POE, SLADE HOUSE, THE GAME OF SUNKEN PLACES, COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, AGATHA CHRISTIE'S HERCULE POIROT SERIES, SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, ORIGAMI 101, and TALES FROM THE LOOP.

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[SerbianMounted]

> Vinn: Examine Complete Works of William Shakespeare

You marvel at the OUTRAGEOUSLY DAUNTING TEXT sitting before you. You could kill a cat if you weren't careful with this thing, and quite frankly the book is way to big to carry normally. Thankfully, you can CAPTCHALOGUE it.

> Vinn: Captchalogue text

Squad141 ​

 

[Squad141]

You decide that having some ironic Shakespearean quotes (I.e. ‘thou art false as hell’) might be fun for later on.

You captchalouge the book, using up one of seven safes in your modus. You only use a SINGLE-KEY SAFE, and watch the book disappear to the meta verse of fetch modi.

In less than second, a key appears in the air, and you grab it. The head has a letter K on it, thus making it the K-KEY. You add it to your key ring.

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[SerbianMounted]

>

You realize your modus can be a little frustrating at times. Though it's a far cry from the infamous ENCRYPTION MODUS. Made for ULTRA LEVEL hackers. You are quite skilled in a few programming languages, however you're really not here to make your life ridiculously difficult or anything with your inventory management system. Instead, it is sort of a cousin of that modus and the also notable CHASTITY MODUS which came out a few years back. Handy, if esoteric.

> Vinn: Inspect coding manuals

Speaking of your coding prowess, while captchaloguing the tome it seems as though you've uncovered some books that were hidden behind its pure density! Some coding and programming manuals you bought, or your SOBA bought for you in earnest when you were starting to get into programming as a hobby some THREE YEARS AGO. Ah, the classics. TALES FROM THE LOOP, a manual about coding for looping procedures in software which is, unfortunately ENTIRELY IN SWEDISH. PROGRAMMING FOR ASSHOLES, an incredibly ornery if forward guide on the basics of software and hardware design. And the most esoteric of your books: ~ATH. It was a rare find you aren't really sure where you got it from. It's rather old, too.

> Vinn: read a manual

Squad141 ​

 

[Squad141]

You decide to skip vulgar teachings and grim earnings, and choose the TALES FROM THE LOOP manual.

While you indeed cannot understand, you appreciate it greatly. It’s written by LIMON STAHLENHAG, the smaller brother of Simon, and a well-known underdog of the indie programming scene.

You open the book, and begin looking at the words and diagrams, all beautifully layed out in diagrams and set-ups that only the family of a great artist could achieve.

You definitely don’t understand it, but you read about two chapters (which you *assume* are about how to loop using And/Or statements) before looking up from the book.

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[SerbianMounted]

>

Going over some of these manuals youre starting to understand why it took you so long to pick up coding as a Hobby. Your resources on self-education were.....limited, to say in the least. But luckily the internet was there to help you along.

Speaking of the internet, maybe you should check out a few programs you've coded on ypur computer!

> Vinn: Inspect computer.

You go to your old and reliable DESKTOP COMPUTER. The old gal has served you well over the years. It seems as though you have TWO MAJOR NOTIFICATIONS. The first is a calendar reminder telling you that today, the 2nd of May, is the day you were supposed to recieve a copy of the much anticipated GAME OF THE YEAR. Which you were to play with some friends.

The second is a notification telling you your friend Maya is online! Perhaps you should say hello.

Squad141 ​

 

[Squad141]

Oh yeah! You’d completely slipped with the memory of that game coming out. When it was first announced, you were worried that you might not be able to play it with your friends immediately, due the continental distance. Hopefully the company would follow through.

But you’re computer! Before you look at anything else, you decide to fool around on your desktop. The background you have is that of the European electronic duo, Daft Punk. Their heads are in the circle at the center of screen, with your icons circling the image.

You’ve got a variety of programs on your computer. First, there’ you’re preferred web browser, that being DESPONIA. While it’s electro-steampunk vibe can be annoying at times, you prefer it to some newer browsers due to the code windows being so accessible.

Next, you have PHOTOSHOP. You commonly mess around with that for your friends, or for fun. You’ve been trying to learn good graphic design recently, as well, and you think you’ve making some progress. After that, there’s SNITCH, your game store/catalogue, and it’s partner program, RPG GAME STITCHER, which you’ve using quite often to program some indie games. You’ve even got a dedicated journal about them in your desk drawers, somewhere under the mountain of art supplies.

Of course, there’s PESTERCHUM, your chat program, MICROSOFT WORD, and finally, ORCHID, your programming sandbox when you’re not coding any games.

You used to have the TWITCH application, but decided that streaming wasn’t for you.

And yes, you noticed MAYA being online. Maybe you will chat with her, but you open SNITCH in the background.

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[SerbianMounted]

> Vinn: play around in sandbox

Opening SNITCH in the background while you begin to read messages, you begin to absent mindedly scan through some code on your computer. Nothing too important, just a few old files you never really got around to finishing or putting in your trash bin. And you notice a strange file in the edges of your catalogue. It's a file marked 'RUNMEVINN.pdf'. You double check to see when it was installed and....well, it was installed just this morning apparently? With the date 05/04/21 tagging it as such. Though you swear you've never seen such a file before on SNITCH before now.

Squad141 ​

 

[Squad141]

Read Me...? Of course, Vinn was not an uncommon name, but you don’t remember installing such a program.

Curious, and wanting to report back to your friend, you open it.

SerbianMounted​

 

[SerbianMounted]

> Vinn: open file

You open the file, and immediately it seems to open a zip file that starts downloading onto your computer. A black window opens with white text and code that begins to run, and before you have time to even react, the window closes, being promptly replaced by another window, this time displaying the name 'ALTNEXUSSCHATLOG.exe'. A sullen, violet colored text begins to appear, words forming on the screen for you to read.
​

Spoiler: Chat Log

Hello.
Please enter name.

Squad141​

 

[Squad141]

You are now INCREDIBLY WORRIED. Was it a virus? Even then, it seemed pretty serious, and there wasn’t exactly enough pressure to call whatever cyber-police could help. Your Anti-Malware program is running, and you now for a fact that SNITCH moderates all of the games and files on their catalogue. With a huff, you get up from your computer, and prepare to descend the small ladder to your attic room, when you hesitate.

You quickly turn heel, and rustle around your bed, until get the PURPLE WONDERMAKER YO-YO. You know you won’t need a weapon, but your nerves are all over the place.

You open the trapdoor, and climb down the ladder into the small second-story hallway.

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[SerbianMounted]

> Vinn: enter hallway

You enter the hallway from the attic entrance, now walking down and finding yourself fearful if determined. The discs most likely came in the MAIL SLOT and were then deposited in the MAIL PILE your Soba keeps adjacent to behind the register on the first floor of the house. As you go down the stairs, passing by the chair lift on the railing of the staircase, you feel a slight chill. Hm. It's a bit drafty for May, isn't it? Maybe your Soba just cranked the AC for the fast approaching summer months. ​

 

[Squad141]

The AC... yeah... one little problem: the first story didn’t have an AC. The building was originally a souvenir shop from the early 1900’s, and the second floor was added about thirty years ago, so it got the goods of modern technology.

Now, on top of worrying about your friend, you change your route slightly. Soba was the closest to you, and thus your first priority. Besides, investigating downstairs will also lead to your Mail slot.

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