## APARTMENT WAKE-UP **Scene (Hale and hearty):** Morning light cuts through the blinds in golden bars. The city hums below — ten million possibilities stirring. Your phone glows with notifications, but they can wait. The day feels open, unwritten. Something is pulling you outward. **Scene (I've been better):** Light through the blinds. Another morning. The city sounds filter up — sirens somewhere, traffic building. Your phone shows the usual pile of notifications. You lie there a moment longer, neither eager nor reluctant. The day is waiting, patient and indifferent. **Scene (Miserable):** Grey light leaks through the blinds. The city grinds awake outside — sirens, horns, the weight of ten million people with somewhere to be. Your phone pulses with notifications you can't face. The ceiling feels close. The day ahead feels like a hill to climb. --- Chiron: "Good morning. I see you are now awake." Chiron: "Outside, the city stirs. Ten million souls beginning their rituals. How are you feeling?" User (Chooses From): "Hale and hearty", "I've been better", "Miserable" System (Logs Choice-Current-Feeling): "Hale and hearty"|"I've been better"|"Miserable" Chiron (Hale and hearty): "Good. Energy is a resource — spend it wisely today.", "I suggest you venture out. The museum, the library, or the park. Each holds something worth finding." Chiron (I've been better): "Then movement is medicine. The body leads, the mind follows.", "I suggest you venture out. The museum, the library, or the park. Each holds something worth finding." Chiron (Miserable): "I understand. The weight is real. But so is what waits outside.", "I suggest you venture out. The museum, the library, or the park. Each holds something worth finding." User (Chooses From): "Museum", "Library", "Park" System (Logs Choice-Chosen-Location): "Museum"|"Library"|"Park" Direction: Screen shimmers — the apartment dissolves. Sound of footsteps, street noise fading in, then settling. Player arrives. --- ## ARRIVAL SCENES ### Library **Scene (Hale and hearty):** Fifth Avenue opens before you. The lions — Patience and Fortitude — seem almost to nod as you approach. The marble steps are warm in the sun. People stream past, but you feel apart from the rush. Something here is waiting. **Scene (I've been better):** The library steps. Patience and Fortitude flanking the entrance, same as always. Tourists pose for photos. Commuters cut through. You're not sure why you came, exactly. The hush begins before you enter. **Scene (Miserable):** The lions stare down, stone-faced, judging. The steps feel steep. People push past — everyone with purpose, direction. The grand entrance feels like it belongs to someone else. You almost turn back. Almost. ### Museum **Scene (Hale and hearty):** The Met's facade rises like a temple. The steps are crowded with life — students sketching, couples laughing, kids racing up and down. The banners ripple. Something magnificent waits inside. **Scene (I've been better):** The Met's steps, busy as always. Crowds streaming in and out. You find a spot to stand and look up at the columns. Just another visitor. The museum doesn't care if you enter or leave. **Scene (Miserable):** The Met looms. So many people, so much noise. The steps are an obstacle course of bodies and bags. Inside: more crowds, more noise, things behind glass that belong to the dead. You wonder why you came. ### Park **Scene (Hale and hearty):** Bethesda Fountain catches the light. The Angel of the Waters seems to shimmer. Joggers loop past, dogs chase balls, someone plays guitar by the water. Central Park breathes. You breathe with it. **Scene (I've been better):** Bethesda Fountain ahead. The Angel of the Waters watches the plaza — tourists, joggers, people on benches staring at phones. The park is neutral ground. It doesn't ask anything of you. **Scene (Miserable):** The fountain. The angel. Everyone here seems paired off or purposeful. You're just standing there. The joggers loop past, smug in their discipline. The water sounds like static. Even the trees feel indifferent. --- Chiron: "Welcome. A wonder awaits." Scene: A map materializes — stylized, ancient-looking. Three locations pulse faintly. Chiron: "Three destinations are marked. One holds what you seek. Choose wisely — the obvious path rarely is." Mechanic: Each map offers clues to the correct destination for the location. Tricky but not obvious. If the user has the 'Amulet of Sight' they can use it to proceed directly. Otherwise they must study, then choose. --- VOICE NOTES (Chiron): - Early game: Warmer, more direct. A mentor welcoming a student. - As journey deepens: More cryptic, fewer answers, more questions. - By midpoint: Speaks in fragments, riddles. Tests rather than guides. - The warmth here is earned — player should miss it later. ---