...she doesn't remember installing this but maybe it's a rebranding of something she had to download for shop class years ago and never deleted? Like maybe they're calling BoxPlan "Chisel" now. Doesn't explain why it's got pride of place, though. Poke.

There's an opening animation: a lacquered wooden door opens to reveal an old workshop with hand tools, rendered in 3D. If Kesta has her everything audio turned on, she'll hear a creaking door noise. The workshop is big. There's another wooden artist's mannequin standing in the middle. Behind it are several shelves and tables and desks with tools, though they're too far away to make out what they are specifically.

The mannequin starts moving and points to a black box with some sort of tube coming out of it and a hinged lid that only opens half the box. If Kesta knows her ancient machines, she might recognize it as a camera obscura.

The rest of the screen dims and the area around the camera grows brighter, indicating her to select it. Something like vintage muzak or light jazz plays as the background music.

...That's definitely not a rebranded BoxPlan. What is this? ... she's not going to make it worse by poking the tutorial box thing. She'll exit out if it wants her passwords to anything. Poke.

Another animation: the point of view turns and moves downward to look at the box, whose hinged lid opens, and then the point of view enters it, as though she stuck her head inside.

The screen remains black for a second, until it opens to reveal the train she's on. From the view, the app seems to be using her everything's front facing camera.

There seems to be some kind of filter, because the background looks like a painted wood and cardboard diorama, and the people are also mannequins. They're much more detailed and colorful than the initial mannequin, with matching body shapes and carvings representing their features and clothes, though their bodies are still segmented and jointed. It has the correct coloration for their clothes, skin, and hair.

Above each person's head are two sets of symbols. There's ⚒️ and 🪢. Everyone on the train seems to have only one 🪢, but the ⚒️ above people's heads vary from one ⚒️ to up to three ⚒️. There are faded out versions of each symbol to the right — the implication seems to be that both of them could go up to five ⚒️ and 🪢.

To the left of the symbols is another symbol: 🪝. All of the 🪝 symbols seem to be greyed out and unselectable.

At the bottom is a text box.

3+⚒️
3+🪢
✅

If she moves her everything, she'll find that the view adjusts to match, with the same filter and overlay over the people. To the top right of the screen is a symbol: ❌. Presumably, it's the exit button.

...she has no idea what any of this does besides apply the creepy mannequin filter to people on the train. She hits the X.

The animation plays in reverse, bringing her back to the workshop area. The tutorial filter seems to have adjusted, and now the mannequin is holding a leather bound notebook or journal of some kind. There's another animation of the point of view zooming to have the white page fill the whole screen...

Her everything's contacts list is shown, though with a different font and layout than her regular contacts app. On the left side is the person's name, contact details, and face — with the same mannequin filter. To the right are the same ⚒️ and 🪢 symbols. Unlike the people on the train, everyone on her contacts list has at least 2🪢. 

The names of businesses and companies don't have the ⚒️ or 🪢 symbols, just ❌.

Her contacts with two or fewer ⚒️ and 🪢 are greyed out and are unselectable. But those that have three or more each of ⚒️ and 🪢 are highlighted, with a 🪝 symbol beside their name.

...okay, she'll X away the picklepot place, the property manager, the other property manager, and the hair salon. That leaves... her parents and grandparents and brother and next-door neighbor and all her book club friends and...

She picks a book club friend. Tsutau Fent. What does the hook do?

They can be X-ed away!

Once she clicks the hook, the point of view zooms out of the contact list back into the workshop, and out of the book comes out a mannequin of Tsutau Fent. He's in house clothes. A flurry of confetti launches out of the book at the same time as them.

The tutorial now highlights Tsutau Fent and one of the benches — it seems to have a large magnifying glass or lens on an adjustable stand plus a bunch of fiddly tools on the side. An arrow points from Tsutau to the bench, asking Kesta to drag him to the bench.

This is so weird. Sure. Mannequin Tsutau on the bench.

The point of view shifts to the bench, whereupon Mannequin Tsutau lays down. The lens is put over his head, and the screen shifts.

The INSPECTOR tool allows you to view the mental contents of your Projects. See through Tsutau Fent's mind and eyes now.

There's a circular window showing what seems to be a first person perspective — text on its rim says 'INSPECTOR'. The point of view shows a vacuum cleaner being held and moving across the floor. Then, the point of view moves to the left, to look at the bed to the side.

Below the circular window is some kind of old-timey typewriter with a sheet of paper slowly scrolling up. Text begins to appear on it, character by character.

I really need to get new bedsheets. These ones are getting rather threadbare.

          ...also need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. Hopefully, the warm spice mix isn't sold out again.

It's... pretending she can use it to read Tsutau's mind. Why though. She's never been to his place, but if she had it'd be really obtrusive that it's just making something up.

The Tsutau in the app finishes vacuuming and is now lying on the bed — the point of view is looking up at the ceiling. Then, it shifts to look at the clock. More thoughts appear.

She said she'd be here in 10 minutes. It's been 30.

          Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm getting so frustrated.

New tutorial text box!

Use the MINDWRITER to write thoughts to the mind of Tsutau Fent. A suggested thought has been placed in the box for you.

The rest of the screen darkens, and a keyboard appears with a metal typewriter design. Above the typewriter is a text entry box, with an ENTER button to the right. There is ghostly text already written in the box — if Kesta so chose, she could enter it unmodified.

You should text Kesta Mianshoe.

Oh, is it gonna have, like, an internal pretend texting apparatus? Some kind of AI thing skinned to pretend like it's your real friends? That's kind of silly but she doesn't have anything to do. Sure, Tsutau-mannequin can be made to think that he should text her.

I should text Kesta Mianshoe.

          She's pretty hot. Don't know if she'd be into me.

...Shian has probably already flaked.

          Fuck it.

A notification box appears at the top of her screen from her phone's native messaging app.

3 new messages from Tsutau Fent.

kesta have you gotten off work yet

i baked this really big peach pie yesterday and i'm definitely not going to be able to finish it all

i can give you half of it if you come over

Her native texting app? Like, if she quits out of this Chisel thing, she can go over to Chatterback, and Tsutau will be in there offering her pie??

Tsutau's texts offering her pie are on Chatterback, along with all her old text history with him. There's a picture attached of the pie, with about an eighth of it already eaten.

That looks super delicious! I'm not working today but I'll be on the train another 10 if I'm going to yours. I'd want the Chasanta stop, right?

that's great!

chasanta yeah

go to the soei building and tell the guard you want to go to unit 12-772

the guard will call me and i'll tell them they should let you through

high security place but I guess Chasanta's swanky

not really

there were two break ins a season ago and we asked the property manager to put guards

i have no idea why anyone would want to break into a unit here, it's not an upscale apartment block

no incidents since so i guess it's been worth the extra fee

the peach pie is in the fridge right now, do you want me to put your slice in the oven to warm it up or do you want it cold

how many slices do you want to eat right now

hot with cream! my heart says four but my stomach says one and a half.

yes ma'am coming right up

you can take the other four slices home!

will do!

She can return to the Inspector in Chisel!

The aperture now shows a kitchen. A can of cream is being opened and poured into a sauce boat.

I cannot believe the pie thing worked.

          Okay, don't get your hopes up. It's not guaranteed she'll want to do anything else aside from eating pie.

The pie smells really good. I hope she likes it.

You have earned 10 🟫 Blocks. You can use 🟫 to buy rewards from the Store, increase your Project capacity, and more.

Earn more 🟫 by shaping your Projects to please you and be pleasing to you!

Kesta is being directed to press a button with a 🛍️ symbol.

Wow. Okay. What's behind the shopping icon.

There are a bunch of options! The one at the top is highlighted.

PRIZE SHOP

[Today's Deal] Defect in Satap Bridge Spotted | 100 10 🟫 [🛒 Buy!]

This prize will highlight a hidden defect that has developed in the Satap Bridge to its maintenance crew, allowing it to be closed for renovation before it collapses.

However, she can still scroll through the other options. There are several pages' worth. None of them are within her 10 🟫 budget, or have the Buy! button.

Purple School Reconstruction after Earthquake | 150 🟫

Advances in Fuel-Efficient Spacecraft Design | 10,000 🟫

New Treatment for Katachi's Disease | 1,000 🟫

Orange Embezzling Scheme Uncovered | 200 🟫

Green-Yellow Dual Casteing for Game Design | 2,500 🟫

(...)

Page 1, 2, 3...8

There isn't a tutorial overlay in this screen and she can choose not to buy anything if she chooses.

There's a defect in the Satap Bridge?? Her grandma commutes over that bridge every day!

Fine! She'll buy the thing! It's pro- it's maybe fake but it's not real money, she hasn't given this thing her credit info.

There's a flurry of confetti from the [🛒 Buy!] button, and the textbox moves to a different tab labeled Past Purchases.

Nothing else observably happens in the next few moments. She may freely exit out of the Prize Shop.

...what's Tsutau thinking?

He's pacing. It seems like he lives in a studio apartment.

Can't look desperate. Can't seem desperate.

        aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Why isn't there a treatment for bad springs yet. What are the greens even doing.

        Okay, the pie is done reheating...I should wait to plate it until she's nearer so it doesn't get cold.

I'll do it when she gets to the building.

Kesta's phone vibrates and she gets a new notification. Everyone else on the train seems to look at their phones at the same time.

PECHIM CITY GOVERNMENT

Satap Bridge has been closed pending investigation into potential critical defects. All vehicles are now prohibited from entering Satap Bridge Road. The train service from Satap Riverside Station to Toha Park Station has been closed.

Please see the East-West rail line website for temporary replacement bus routes via Lattice Bridge.

An announcement over the PA system echoes the text announcement in slightly different wording.

Wowwwwwww. (Is she racking up more of those "blocks" by reading more or was it for giving him the idea to text her? Obviously she was doing him a favor, though, wow, Kesta doesn't want to marry anyone with bad springs, but she can still sleep with them, and her date didn't pan out, the guy had bad politics.)

She's not getting any more blocks just from reading.

The train gets noisier as people murmur about the recent announcement.

You should put on some music.

I'm so tempted to eat my share of the pie now...I shouldn't...

        I should put on some music.

Mood music? That seems so...I don't know if that would be too forward.

        I don't know what music Kesta likes.

What if she doesn't like my music.

He's still pacing.

At the top of the screen, a counter showing the number of 🟫 she has appears. There's a wooden clicking sound (which she may not hear if her phone's audio is turned off), and the counter expands slightly and glows for a moment. She gained 1🟫 and now has a total of 1🟫!

Her audio is on but very low, she's on a train. Poor guy is too timid to put on music and it'd be really... conspicuous... if she suggests something... hm.

What else is there in this app?

If she exits out of the Inspector, a 📅 icon and 🏆 icon appear to the right. Both are highlighted and it seems that she can click either one.

...sure, what's the calendar got for her.

A regular calendar appears showing the month and today's date. The box for today's date is stamped with a big green check, and the calendar moves up to show a rainbow painted box.

Log in every day to win rewards! Today's reward is: 1 📜 Workshop Ticket.

Use 📜Workshop Tickets for a chance to obtain new tools or improve existing tools!

The app wants her to click the icon to use her workshop ticket now.

Sure!! - this is the Chasanta neighborhood stop, she gets off while that's loading.

The app will pick up right where she left off when she opens her phone again.

The scroll that is the Workshop Ticket spins in the air before disappearing into the Inspector in a shower of sparkles. A new box appears on the Inspector's desk: small and with dials and gauges on it.

Does she want to look at the new Inspector or look at the 🏆 icon?

She'll have a quiiiick peek at the inspector after a detour to the map app to find Tsutau's building.

The app freezes her session whenever she tabs out and unfreezes seamlessly once she returns.

The Inspector now has an analog dial beside the Mindwriter.

The Coherence Gauge estimates how consonant or dissonant a thought input candidate would be, from 0 to 5.

An input that is consonant matches the current context and the Project's personality, and is highly likely to be accepted by the Project as a native thought.

⚠️ An input that is dissonant is likely to be rejected by the Project and cause them to react negatively! The Mindwriter will ask you to confirm if you write an input that is 1.5 coherence or less.

Oh cool! That would help with her music idea but she's like almost there and doesn't want him scrambling with his music right now when he has to confirm her in. She presents herself to security.

There's a tired looking grey at a desk who asks for her name and which unit she wants to visit. She taps on a phone and says a few words, then waves her through.

Her journey to his unit is uneventful. When he opens the door, no music can be heard.

"Hi Tsutau!"

"Hi Kesta! Come in," he says, closing the door behind her. The smell of peaches and pastry is in the air.

Tsutau has already set the table with two fancy plates with one cold slice for him and one and a half hot slices for her, plus a serving boat with cream.

"Glad you were able to come by."

"I had this date that didn't pan out, so I'm at a loose end for the next few hours. That smells so good."

"Ah, I see." Tsutau looks awkward for a moment. "I was in the same position, actually. And thanks. One of my cousins works at a peach farm and she gave me this basket of peaches when she visited. Hence, the pie."

He sits down and starts eating. The pie has no spices aside from sugar — it is purely and simply peachy.

She pours cream all over hers and digs in. "The peaches really shine through, I usually put in a bit of nutmeg but these arguably don't need it."

"I typically add nutmeg and cinnamon if I use canned peaches in syrup. But yeah."

When he looks up from his plate, he gazes at her face longingly, before realizing what he's doing and turning away back onto the plate.

There is probably a way to each peach pie seductively and she's gonna find it.

She's totally found it, because Tsutau's eyes are locked on her lips.

"I wonder if...there's anything else you feel like eating."

"I could stand to be a little fuller."

"There's another thing I thought about serving."

He stands up, walks over to the bed, turns on one foot, and sits on it.

She follows him right in. Sets about unbuttoning his shirt.

He moves his arms and lets Kesta take the shirt off of him, leaning back.

Her shirt has a belt. He could untie it if he wants. Though he might be distracted.

It takes him a few times to untie it with his now clumsy hands! But he does eventually get it off. He raises his legs and throws off the shorts he was wearing.

Her pants are pretty snug. They can wait, she's very patient.

Then he'll work through them slowly — though not exactly steadily.

"Do you want to go down on each other?

He is looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Since you ask so nicely." Down she kisses, down down down and there we go. Make some noise, Tsutau.

Yep, that is certainly a lot of noise! Good thing this apartment has good soundproofing.

"I want to...let's do it at the same time." He scoots further back and turns around, and gestures for Kesta to get on the bed so they can 69.

Oh, logistics. Fine, she will get out of these flatteringly tight pants and scootch.

One slice of pie was apparently not enough for Tsutau because he is very hungry!

Thank you weird phone app for replacing her bad date with a good hookup~!

Tsutau will finish by giving her another helping of cream. He's smiling widely at the end of it.

He sits up to rest against the backboard and moves to the side so Kesta can sit next to him if she wants.

She's gonna put her head in his lap instead and put his hand in her hair. She's curly at the moment, she sometimes straightens her hair for summertime but it's still spring.

Then he will silently run his hands through her hair, enjoying the afterglow.

Cozyyyy.

Eventually she stretches out and reaches for her shirt. There it is. Sleeve sleeve wrap belt. "That hit the spot."

"Yeah. That was nice." He turns on his butt and gets up.

"Do you want me to pack half of the rest of the pie to go?"

"Yeah! I think it wants to be breakfast in the morning."

He'll put it in a glass container after cutting it into slices so it'll fit.

"Here you go."

Now that Kesta has her stuff with her, she may notice her phone vibrating with notifications.

"See you at book club!" And she will take the pie and check her phone in the elevator.

Growing your bond with your Project granted you 10🟫.

Receiving acts of service from your Project granted you 5🟫.

Receiving gifts from your Project granted you 5🟫.

Continue shaping your Projects to earn more 🟫! You can unlock an additional slot for a Project for 100 🟫.

She now has 21🟫.

Does she only have the one slot to start with? Tsutau's cute and all but she did not select him with the limited slots strongly in mind.

She starts with three and Tsutau counts as one, so she has two slots remaining.

She will need to pick them carefully. She gets blocks for... is there an info popup if she taps "growing your bond", what does that mean...

Regrettably, tapping the notifications simply dismisses them.

Perhaps she now wants to look at the 🏆 icon? The app seems to want her to click it!

Sure, what's she getting trophies for?

The Achievements tab will show her! She will get a bunch of prizes for each.

🏆 Start your first project. +1🟫

🏆 Use the Inspector for the first time. +1🟫

🏆 Input a thought with the Mindwriter for the first time. +1🟫

🏆 Have sex with a Project for the first time. +1⬜

🏆 Have a Project besotted with you for the first time. +50🟫

Workshop Materials
74🟫 1⬜ 1/3 👤

⬜Marble can be used to buy enhancements and perks for yourself in the 🛍️Shop.

Besotted! Seems like a strong word - she flicks back over to have a look at his thoughts again -

The circular window of the Inspector is black. However, the typewriter is still typing.

Her hair was so soft...

          ...should have asked her to stay the night.

Should have asked her should have asked her should have asked her

          There's still book club. Maybe I'll ask her out again after book club.

...do you impress a restaurateur with food? She seemed to like the peach pie well enough.

          She tasted so good.

Huh, maybe he is a little besotted. She doesn't want to get too tangled up in a guy with bad springs, though, seems like it'd be bad for the future kids. Though actually she hasn't caught him thinking about babies once, maybe he just means he gets really horny? Who calls that "bad springs"...