EmilyRees

Student Apartments [Manhattan] – 3:40 PM on a Sunday in October A man in his early twenties sat on a couch watching a download progress bar slowly creep on the television located in the middle of a studio apartment. “Is there a single game that doesn’t have 20GB+ weekly updates now?” A cloaked figure crept out from one of the few rooms with a door within the apartment and approached in a shambling mnner. “Just leave the food on the side table near the door. I paid you in the app.” When he didn’t receive a delivery notification on his phone, the man knew something was up. Turning around, the cloaked figure grabbed his neck. “You’re not the delivery guy.” “You forgot!” The cloaked figure shrieked. “You forgot to zip me up!” Abruptly, the cloak dropped; revealing a twenty-something woman desperately holding up a dress in position for someone to zip up the back. She glanced at the television hoping to see what was so important. “Updates again? Really?” The man

Emily’s (Former) Apartment – 10:42 AM EST “What the fuck is going on?” Emily had walked in on her friend Ashley suspended upside down in the air, occult literature rotating around her and a person resembling Pierce Brosnan in ancient armor. “I ask you to apartment sit for a week and you make it into Spook Central?” Emily almost tore the coat closet door off from the hinge. Located among the various costumes she had left behind was a variant of her old striped hoodie dress in a slightly darker shade of blue. “I never expected to need this ever again.” She examined a pistol from the holster integrated in the center pocket. “Professor Rees, forgive the delayed introduction.” Archie waved his hands towards Emily. Emily’s waitress outfit automatically removed itself in time for the hoodie dress to pull over much like a jumper. “Now I’ve saved you the hassle of manually changing outfits. My name is ‘Architect’ or ‘Archie’ in casual conversation.” “Yeah

“Overwatch fans, brace yourselves for the ultimate MEKA experience this weekend! See a recreation of the MEKA hangar fully realized in reality! Sit on the beanbag chairs that you recognize from the spawn room! Experience the gyroscopic gaming chair of the 2070’s! All this and more awaits you in historic Suffolk. Only [100 of regional currency] for admission! You get the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge.” This obnoxious ad ran around the world on a Wednesday afternoon. Surely, there’s no chance anyone would actually attend, right? Well, about that… Saturday Morning in Suffolk One man stood in line outside of a dilapidated boarding school auditorium that sported stock footage-adorn posters over cracks in the exterior walls and broken windows. The queue marking ropes were so cheap that the man accidentally broke by bumping into them. “Maybe they picked this place to have a reasonable approximation of an omnic attack epicenter.” He took a selfie in front of a poster

“I struggle to see why a broken fridge warranted an urgent dispatch.” Zeydaan, dressed in full adventurer attire, found themself in a university industrial kitchen far from their terrestrial and extra-dimensional homes. On a surface level, the offending refrigerator appeared like a relic from the 1950’s down to the tacky chrome detailing. Zey tapped the butt of his gun against the side. “You need ‘Home Repair’ rather than the Hawkmoths. How did you mistake the listing for appliance repair?” An anxious male college administrator idly played with his hands during Zey’s assessment. “It’s less the refrigerator itself and more about the contents, Zeydaan.” The college administrator went to open the refrigerator before jerking his hand back abruptly. “Let’s just say that the subject matter doesn’t necessarily mesh with my country’s government.” An American flag magnet obscured a metal plate on the door. Between various dry cataloging numbers was the distinct phrase ‘CRYOSTASIS