Realistic or Modern [closed] Magik Hero U In-Character

[Juju]

"Have you tried the new game?" ​

"It's like your very own reality…"​

"Completely free? Not even microtransactions? That's impossible!"​

"I read that it's a billionaire's passion project."​

Chances are you've heard something similar in the buzzing hallways of Northside High. Enter the newest craze among the youth and online gaming community; Magik Hero U. On the surface, it would seem like just another cross-platform RPG game, but in reality it is far from it. A seemingly boundless uniquely generated map, stylish graphics, event-driven story line, and practically unlimited character customization. Most importantly, it is completely free. There isn't even a payment option built into the game.

The only cost there seems to be is time and dedication, both of which have been given in ample supply. Millions of players have joined the game world wide… and you are one of them.

Whether you be casual or fanatical (perhaps even financial), you received a game alert that would forever change the course of your life:

Congratulations! You've been chosen to become a Magik Hero! Accept? ​

You could feel it the moment you clicked or tapped the screen, like droplets of water falling down every inch of your skin. The mind couldn't sense anything different, but the body did.

It was the evening, just before bedtime, and a good thing too. For after the message faded and the chiptune jingle ended, an explosion of light burst from your device. Something jumped up from this light, which was certainly impossible considering the thing was about the size of a cat. You could see white and purple fur, soft like a plush doll, and two long ears.

A creature now took up the space between you and your device, sitting poised like a sphinx statue. There was a star-like marking on its head, though it seemed more like a window into a pocket of brilliant cosmos. Its rabbit-like ears twitched and two large eyes, swirling with stars, gazed up expectantly at you.

As if that was not bizarre enough, the creature spoke, "Hello, and congratulations on becoming the newest Magik Hero! My name is Moki and… Moki hopes the entrance was not too frightening! Moki has heard that humans can be scared out of their skin and would not like to test this theory!"

The creature known as Moki shivered and curled its fluffy tail over its paws before continuing.

"You should have many questions, but Moki must be brief! Tomorrow you can ask Moki all the questions you like, but for now Moki is here to test your E.G.O.! Please excuse Moki for a moment, this can feel strange to humans!"

Moki's eyes glowed, casting a bluish-purple light across the room, like a cheap planetarium projector. You could feel a gripping sensation in your chest, spreading outwards like a jolt of electricity. It held you in place as a circle of ornate symbols appeared below you, cloaking your body in blinding light.

When it was finished you no longer felt a strange sensation. You also no longer looked like yourself. This was most prominent in a change of height, body shape, outfit.

Moki looked exceptionally pleased with themself, their tail swishing happily from side to side, "How do you like it, hero? Familiar? It's just like how you imagined yourself as a Magik Hero in the game! You can now transform into this when needed. In your world, this form is called your Alter E.G.O., or EGO for short -- think of it as a transformation into your soul's energy. Unlike your human body, you are physically superior and capable of harnessing your own magik. Go on, give it a try! Moki will watch you."

Somehow, you instinctively sense something powerful sleeping inside you and call it forth to manifest… a small and pathetic example of your magik power. Even talking to fish seems more useful.

"Oh no, please do not give Moki that look! Magik powers must set in before growing to their full potential! It is dangerous to absorb it all at once, you see. Wait a full day, Moki will show you. Tomorrow night, meet Moki in Memorial Park for your first day of training!"

Moki padded over to wherever your phone was. If it was in your pocket or bag somehow it was now on the nearest surface. Moki bapped it with a paw and instantly a GPS map popped up with the coordinates.

"For now, Moki suggests you get some sleep and eat a good breakfast! Remember that your magik powers are just developing, so try not to experiment too much until tomorrow. Also, magik powers can only be used when in your EGO. Humans cannot recognize you in this form, but as a rule Magik Heroes are to keep their identities hidden!" Moki's ears perked up at something and turned their head to look beyond you. They blinked in apparent surprise and shook their little head, "Oh no, Moki has already taken too long! Sleep well hero, and Moki will see you tomorrow night! Please do not be late, and make sure to arrive in your EGO form... you will want to make a good first impression for your new friends!"

Waving their tail in farewell, Moki leapt up like a fox and dived back into the awaiting device. After they left an alert from the app was sent to your phone, stating a reminder for your meeting in exactly 24 hours.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ The next night... ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

​

Following the instructions given to you by Moki, you made your way to the Memorial Park. The meet-up location was grassy area right next to the artificial pond normally filled with ducks and carp. Tonight it was still and quiet, with the moon hovering on the pond's surface and a light breeze ruffling the trees overhead. It was exactly 24 hrs from when you first met Moki, though the creature was nowhere to be seen.

Soon the new Magik Heroes would arrive, and soon their journey would begin...

Note from Babushka Juju

Let the story begin! Feel free to write a summary of your character's past 24hrs up until this moment in your posts. First to post is canonically the first to arrive at the scene. There is no set post order, nor maximum. Have fun! Please note that YOU DO NOT HAVE A FAMILIAR OR WEAPON YET!!!

seasonedcat Solirus jmann Nellancholy ShredKnives vainglory in bed Cresion Breezes ThatWhichShouldBe Tiguidi

 

[ShredKnives]

In the span of 24 hours, her world had changed.

In the span of 24 minutes, her life had changed.

In the span of 24 seconds, she had changed her world.

Misaki wasn't exactly the most popular student...Just one of the more enthusiastic ones. Tended to be out there, just all sorts of wild rides came along whenever she was around. She liked boldness and she preferred herself as "volunteer person." She just liked hanging around people, too, a little clingy but it was more charming than irritating.

For certain people, anyway.

Pressing accept was more like an automatic decision; the type of button you'd press after finally managing to skip all of the bloatware your software installer would advertise to you, when you were too tired of reading the terms and conditions and you just wanted your free PDF viewer. Maybe she should've taken the question a lot more literally, but then again: who was going to take this question seriously to begin with?

At the opposite end of the deal, she had worked to the bone to customize her hero the way she wanted. She thought it'd look cute, it'd look snazzy, and it'd look all pretty with sprinkles on top. Something along those lines. What she hadn't expected was something to turn it into reality.

"Hello, and congratulations on becoming the newest Magik Hero! My name is Moki and… Moki hopes the entrance was not too frightening! Moki has heard that humans can be scared out of their skin and would not like to test this theory!"

"You should have many questions, but Moki must be brief! Tomorrow you can ask Moki all the questions you like, but for now Moki is here to test your E.G.O.! Please excuse Moki for a moment, this can feel strange to humans!"

People often say that the monsters in the world are the ones being protected by humans. That the viciousness of life comes directly from life itself, and that the hazy boundary between monster and human fades and reveals the more faded obscurities; in which a human could be more monster than not.

So what was she?

Kind of excited. Strange creature in a strange world, telling her strange things in an even stranger way.

"How do you like it, hero? Familiar? It's just like how you imagined yourself as a Magik Hero in the game! You can now transform into this when needed. In your world, this form is called your Alter E.G.O., or EGO for short -- think of it as a transformation into your soul's energy. Unlike your human body, you are physically superior and capable of harnessing your own magik. Go on, give it a try! Moki will watch you."

Frankly, Misaki never believed in that sort of thing. Humans were humans; they desired things just like any other animal. She desired to be a magical heroine, even if it was a rudimentary idea supplied only by impulse. Misaki...Momentarily believed she might regret this. Would this impulsive decision be a mistake for her?

But she...Saw something. In this pathetic little display, a speck of light amidst the boundless sea of lamps and lights...And as she felt her hair and her jewelry and the pretty details she put so much effort into on her own outfit...

She tapped into a more internalized desire of who she wanted to become. What she wanted to be. She remembered looking back up. She wanted this to be something more than an impulse.

"Oh no, please do not give Moki that look! Magik powers must set in before growing to their full potential! It is dangerous to absorb it all at once, you see. Wait a full day, Moki will show you. Tomorrow night, meet Moki in Memorial Park for your first day of training!"

It was hard to tell if she was still breathing. Somehow, it took all of her self-control to stop herself from screaming, shouting in disbelief, any sort of claim that she was dreaming...She felt the looming distinction, her consciousness standing ground in reality, that all of this was real from the get-go. And it was kind of exciting. A new batch of responsibility she had never seen before. A chance to be someone. And...Well, a lot of other things she'd have to figure out as this story continued. This little piece of nothing meant a lot to her.

She hadn't said a word, ended up back in her home, in reality, and completely at a loss. Fidgeted around under her bedsheet, still staring at her phone in a dark but bright-colored room, baffled. She hadn't even remembered if she said hi to anyone there, convinced she was on hypnosis and this was now her head finally letting the panic attack settle in one smooth go.

What did she just do? Conjure some...Alter Ego or whatever? Became the magical girl she spent more than a hour on? Press Accept? Meet some magical talking animal? Gosh. She had never made a career-changing decision like this!

Okay, relax, Misaki Ushio. Let's just...Relax and process this in the span of 24 hours. Go bed, right?

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ The next night... ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Her heart was thumping. She was standing on the grass of a signature park, eyes locked into the pond. The fountain wasn't usually on at night, so all she could hear were the sounds of crickets and birds, percussive maintenance to the soul and therapeutic to anyone outdoorsy. Every now and then, she'd sniff the odd scent of paint and drywood from the benches. The branches of the trees were waving, their collections of leaves sniffling while a rush of air swept past them.

She hadn't slept a wink.

School was about as normal as it was, but she was mostly on autopilot, something real easy to recognize with a girl like her. Sometimes she was overly happy that it was a Wednesday...Sometimes she seemed both tired and high at the same time.

Moon's bright out. Maybe she should've designed herself after Usagi Tsukino. A complete imitation of Sailor Moon, ironically becoming the very iteration as a part-time magical girl in a not-so-magical world? Now that would've been a genius spin-off prompt for Naoko Takeuchi.

From the looks of it too, she was alone. Classic Sailor Moon vibe. She should've brought her Bluetooth speaker and maybe pick up the lonely atmosphere.

 

[Nellancholy]

[45 minutes before meeting]

Thunk.

An empty box of "meal replacement" bars and a can of green tea fell into the rubbish bin of the small flat Callisto Fairlight inhabited. She stretched, allowing her gaze and her mind both to wander. Briefly, her eyes flicked over the chart on her wall comparing and measuring the various species of non-flowering plant in the area surrounding the block, as well as their population ratios and known dependent animal species.

Maybe tomorrow morning she'd be able to continue to work on that, if tonight's meeting didn't take too long. Or maybe she could read up on some of those motor vehicle blueprints. Or astronomical charts. Or-

She also wondered when her amusingly anonymous client would call. She'd generously let them know about the invitation she received from Magik Hero U earlier, though she carefully withheld the fact that it was delivered by some kind of magical mascot, or that the mascot had shown her how to utilize some measure of that account's power in the real world... It seemed strange that they'd go to such lengths to investigate a popular mobile game. Were they just a competitor? Was that game illegal somehow and they were a police officer? Callisto wasn't too pleased with the idea of being a narc.

beep beep! ring ring!​

Speak of the devil.

Callisto fell back into her office chair, rolling back to her PC. Right on time. She moved her mouse, clicking to accept the call.

The client always insisted on video calls encrypted and directed through several proxies. but never turned on their webcam. Callisto would always unplug her own in turn, as a little reciprocation.

"Ah, Caliban." The familiar garbled voice muttered through her speakers. "Good to see you again."

"Heya, Mr. X." Callisto chuckled. "Called to check in before I leave?"

The first response was a grumble, made more humorous by the caller's voice filter. "Don't call me that."

"Well, why don't you give me a name then?" She leaned back in her chair. "Oh, I know! How about...Deep Throat?"

"...Mr. X. Whatever." Whoever they were, they were probably rolling their eyes in restrained tolerance for her banter. "Just wanted to make sure we're go for tonight. You have the bodycam?"

"Yep, got it right here." She held the small camera up, barely larger than a shirt button. To emphasize her point, she tapped the tiny device against her microphone. Both parties had agreed it was better for Callisto to not give out her address. She had to walk all the way into town and pick it up from a PO box. "No promises though."

"I'd appreciate it very much if you could get me some usable footage of...whatever ends up happening at this meeting. But..." The caller tented their fingers. "...we've been doing this just long enough that I'm willing to trust your full and unredacted testimony. My superiors...may be more demanding. And I don't think either of us wants to disappoint them."

"Hey, I'm just the contractor." Callisto shrugged. "Don't worry, I'll get your spycam video."

"You'll have my gratitude." Without any further ado, the caller cut the connection.

Callisto sighed. Tonight could be long. Maybe she should eat something better before leaving...

---

[10 minutes before meeting]

Gleam soared through the air, the light and shadow of the city at night reflected against her tinted visor. That strange creature was certainly quite generous in gifting her the opportunity at a...sleeker form. With a pretty nifty outfit too. She'd always wanted thigh highs. And the dress was quite the figure-hugger.

Her heels lightly tap-tap-tapped as she ran along a wall, catching a glimpse of her reflection in a window. Damn, she looked good. Sure, she could have just transformed after arriving at the park, but with something like this? She'd better enjoy it as much as she can. And make sure she got a good grasp on what she could actually do, too...

"Whoa!"

Her momentary distraction cost her as her foot slipped on a loose brick. In a tenth of a second, reflex kicked in, and Gleam grabbed onto a nearby standing flagpole, spinning gracefully around it.

That was...a little embarrassing, but who even looks up at night?

With that thought in mind, Gleam kicked off the pole, crossing the fence into the park and landing on a sturdy branch. With a smooth forward flip, she barely disturbed the grass beneath her as she landed on the balls of her feet.

Huh. Someone was already there. A pink, frilly, shiny kind of girl. Of course.

Well, she could just be someone in costume...but if more of that sort showed up then she'd know this was where the meeting was.

Gleam kept her distance, leaning slightly against the tree as she peered at the meeting spot. She gave a little tap to the button on her apron, making sure the camera on and streaming...

 

[Solirus]

Atrian Vahl


​

It was a night like any other, Atrian was on his chair leaning forward as he continued to fill out one of the homework assignments. “Wait… no, the limit shouldn’t be that…” he spoke to himself softly raising his pencil and spinning it around accidentally dropping it, ''darn.” Atrian leaned down to the ground to pick up the pencil, noticing it had left a mark on the floor he’d just cleaned before starting his school work. Atrian grumbled to himself, lifting himself back up again and finishing the homework, neatly placing it atop the stack of papers consisting of other assignments.

With a huge sigh Atrian slumped on his chair and quickly grabbed his phone, putting it away when he saw no new messages. Atrian stared at the wall for a few seconds before a notification popped up on his phone, only the notification didn’t seem to come from any of his friend groups, but rather that new game Henry had recommended to him. “Maybe Henry sent me a message… but that’s weird he usually doesn’t send me those through the game…” Atrian spoke to himself.

Without further hesitation Atrian booted up the game on his phone and almost immediately did the prompt appear.

Congratulations! You've been chosen to become a Magik Hero! Accept?​

Atrian appeared confused, he would’ve known about this since Henry bombarded him with a ton of information to get by easily at the beginning of the game, but this was entirely unique. There doesn’t seem to be a Decline option, pft how bad can this be anyways. Atrian pressed accept and immediately his body went into a panic mode, sweating profusely like finishing a long marathon.

Atrian dropped his phone as the message faded and chiptune ended, a burst of light erupting forth. From it, a creature appeared gazing at Atrian.

A creature now took up the space between you and your device, sitting poised like a sphinx statue. There was a star-like marking on its head, though it seemed more like a window into a pocket of brilliant cosmos. Its rabbit-like ears twitched and two large eyes, swirling with stars, gazed up expectantly at you.

As if that was not bizarre enough, the creature spoke, "Hello, and congratulations on becoming the newest Magik Hero! My name is Moki and… Moki hopes the entrance was not too frightening! Moki has heard that humans can be scared out of their skin and would not like to test this theory!"

The creature known as Moki shivered and curled its fluffy tail over its paws before continuing.

"You should have many questions, but Moki must be brief! Tomorrow you can ask Moki all the questions you like, but for now Moki is here to test your E.G.O.! Please excuse Moki for a moment, this can feel strange to humans!"

Atrian hadn’t even realized he’d instinctively jumped to the other end of his room and before he could get a word out he felt his chest tighten as the sensation of lightning spread across his body and blinding light surrounded him.

Spoiler: ”Transformation Sequence”

Atrian felt weightless as the light surrounding him turned into a gray void. His clothes began to shine with a brilliant white as they appeared to meld into his body. Blinded by the light emanating from within, Atrian could sense his body changing ever so slightly, the slight imperfections in his face wiped and the pain from his joints erased. When the light seceded, he witnessed as his body was wrapped in weaves and silks, flowing around him with grace and precision, melding with each other into an attire not unlike that of his creation within the game.

Atrian examined his hands, they were paler than his own, as he kept looking he rested his hands on his face, the complexion he was so used to was gone, replaced instead with a perfect symmetry.

From behind Atrian heard steps approaching and quickly turned to face the figure. They were wearing the same outfit, yet the figure in front of him had no face, only a dark void instead and their skin was almost translucent only showing red veins that pulsated at the same rate as Atrian’s own heart. Atrian’s eyes immediately focused on the figure's hands as he say it hold it with both hands, extending formally towards Atrian once it had gotten close enough.

Atrian instinctively took the hat, putting it on. The figure closed both fists, placing their left hand behind their back and their right fist right into their chest. Atrian could tell it was a sort of salute but before being able to ponder any further the figure in front of him had its appearance immediately shift to his own. Then another one showed up to his right and to his left, looking behind him he saw yet another one. 4 became 8 and 8 became 16, as more and more continued to appear from all directions like being stuck in a mirror house. In a matter of seconds all his reflections along with the gray void shattered like glass revealing once more he was in his room, only this time his appearance was now that of his game character.

​

​

Taking a single deep breath Atrian felt somehow relieved, “what the actual heck was that.” He said under his breath. Moki continued speaking.

Moki looked exceptionally pleased with themself, their tail swishing happily from side to side, "How do you like it, hero? Familiar? It's just like how you imagined yourself as a Magik Hero in the game! You can now transform into this when needed. In your world, this form is called your Alter E.G.O., or EGO for short -- think of it as a transformation into your soul's energy. Unlike your human body, you are physically superior and capable of harnessing your own magik. Go on, give it a try! Moki will watch you."

Atrian heeded Moki's words only out of curiosity and some fear from the way his body acted before. He tried making slight poses and even some extravagant poses until he decided to snap his fingers which just so happened to cause a small crystal looking shape to appear from his sleeves. Atrian wasn’t exactly sure what kind of shape it was yet he grabbed it, fascinated by its capabilities of levitation and composition. He looked at it for a bit to figure out why before listening to Moki speak again.

"Oh no, please do not give Moki that look! Magik powers must set in before growing to their full potential! It is dangerous to absorb it all at once, you see. Wait a full day, Moki will show you. Tomorrow night, meet Moki in Memorial Park for your first day of training!"

Moki padded over to wherever your phone was. If it was in your pocket or bag somehow it was now on the nearest surface. Moki bapped it with a paw and instantly a GPS map popped up with the coordinates.

"For now, Moki suggests you get some sleep and eat a good breakfast! Remember that your magik powers are just developing, so try not to experiment too much until tomorrow. Also, magik powers can only be used when in your EGO. Humans cannot recognize you in this form, but as a rule Magik Heroes are to keep their identities hidden!" Moki's ears perked up at something and turned their head to look beyond you. They blinked in apparent surprise and shook their little head, "Oh no, Moki has already taken too long! Sleep well hero, and Moki will see you tomorrow night! Please do not be late, and make sure to arrive in your EGO form... you will want to make a good first impression for your new friends!"

Waving their tail in farewell, Moki leapt up like a fox and dived back into the awaiting device. After they left an alert from the app was sent to your phone, stating a reminder for your meeting in exactly 24 hours.

“Tomorrow night huh?” Atrian asked himself after Moki left, “UUUUGGGGHHH, I had planned things tomorrow with some pals, am I going to have to cancel those plans now?” Atrian wondered to himself, “...Wait what am I thinking, I need to process what just happened right now… This isn’t a dream is it?” he spoke as he tapped himself on his side only to notice his fist moved fast enough to cause a whipping sound. “I’m going to need to think about this more tomorrow” he said as he tried to detransform, failing a couple times until he focused his entire mind into returning to normal. With a sigh of Relief Atrian cleaned up his room and went to sleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ The next night... ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
​

Atrian arrived at the park transformed ensuring that no one was around. His mind was filled with constant thoughts and doubts, What if this is some sort of trap, why am I here, Moki seemed legitimate but I still can’t shake off the feeling, It’s all legitimate however, with my ego I was able to perform supernatural feats, maybe I should’ve brought a knife in case, but then if someone from the school saw me they’d think I’m weird or part of a gang for bringing a knife and heading to the forest at this time of day, But my appearance is also very different and Moki even said people wouldn’t recognize me… With his head still filled with doubts he marched forward and carefully into the supposed meeting place.

Looking around made his way around the trees, hoping his dark outfit could blend in well with the darkness they provided. Each step was more careful than the next avoiding branches like his life depended on it, he had to ensure that this wasn’t some sort of scam or trap.

As he moved through the trees, from the corner of his eyes he saw someone leaning in through the trees, causing Atrian to hide behind one of the trees before being able to get a good look at them. Why are they not in the meeting spot, why are they hiding… I’m also hiding but that’s not the point, I know why I’m doing it, I don’t know why they are doing it… Maybe it’ll be better if I ask them directly, I would rather not be caught being seen hiding, creating a bad impression… Without further hesitation Atrian stepped out from behind the tree and walked towards the mysterious individual, getting a better look at them. “What are you doing?” Atrian spoke clearly enough for others who were nearby to hear, Is that a weird maid dress? “Have you been told to come here too?” He asked before stopping at a respectable distance.

Interactions: Juju Nellancholy
Nearby: ShredKnives ​

 

[seasonedcat]

Ez sat at his desk, a steaming hot bowl of spicy ramen ramen perfectly done before him, even managing to have an egg this time! He blew on it with a happy hum falling from his lips, some music blaring from his headphones that let him hear it even though he didn't have them on. Grabbing his phone he turned it on, the background lighting up the room, the only light other than from his pc and some shitty lamp.

the familiar hum from the city outside his open window brought him peace as the game he had just been playing on his pc before he decided to get food. Magik Hero U. He signed in as usual, joy filling him at his spot still being safe from taking, despite that though he was going to work even more on it. As he began to play suddenly a notification popped up on his screen. Ez tilted his head, chopsticks in his mouth in confusion as he looked at it,

"well that's new, I thought my character already was a magik hero?" it was then that Ez got flash banged by his phone, knocking him back as his chair tilted sending him flying to the ground with a yell, his phone still safely on his desk. Ez swore loudly as he shoved off a pair of questionably clean boxers from his head as he looked up at his phone. A creature sat atop his phone. Ez stared at it for a moment as it began to speak. He blinked.

Ez slowly stood up, Moki finishing its first sentence before Ez let out a happy squeal. Only stopping when a loud thud from next door and a shout shut him up. As it kept talking Ez swept it up in his arms, petting its head and ears as he planted kisses on its forehead. The creature seemed spooked for a moment but continued speaking inside Ez's arms as he continued to gush over the creature,

"wait check my what?" Ez managed to get out before his tired eyes were once again attacked by a bright light. His body was frozen mid pet as a sharp pain in his chest mixed with jolts of seemingly electricity went through him. Ez wondered if the egg he had today was really worth the supposed heart attack that he was having. Maybe he got too excited from the cute creature.

but as it came it went and Moki spoke again. Ez looked down and almost screeched again at his outfit,

"Oh fuck YES. The glasses are even here, do you know how hard I worked on that shit, I didn't sleep for 4 days!" he giggled happily, placing Moki down as it said to test his powers, "Oh yes yes yes! Okay whats my favorite move from the game uh Jubaline! no no, Crystal heart~. No, uhhh... OOOO I know!" Ez got himself into the stance oh so familiar from his character, doing several poses before pointing his arm out, clutching his arm for support with the other,

"ULTRA LOVE LAZER!" there was silence as the wall of his apartment was not in pieces and nothing came from his hand. Ez looked at Moki for a sec, "wait let me try it again!" he repeated the actions with the same result to which Moki responded before Ez interrupted it, "No, no give me a sec I can do this." he repeated his actions 4 times before Moki decided to go back to his phone and continue talking.

Ez almost laughed at the thought of sleeping but just offered a nod to Moki, "Oh wait, before you go!" he rushed forward and gave Moki another kiss on the head and a fluff of his cheeks before he waved it goodbye, "See you Momo!" now faced again with his seemingly empty yet messy room Ez immediately went back to trying different moves from the game, having lots of space in a room with only a mattress on the floor and desk with his two PC's. Of course his guitar was also over there but he could not bring himself to test anything on it in risk of breaking his baby.

of course as usual, Ez found no comfort of sleep in the night and continued his attempts at magic until 4am where he did his laundry in the sketchy basement with Old lady Micky from the ground floor who was always doing her laundry no matter what time it was(Ez would swear on this), who looked old enough to have met dinosaurs. She of course helped him with his laundry like always, giving him another stale lollipop before Ez went upstairs to get ready for school, chugging coffee(packed with sugar so that it tasted closer to syrup than coffee), and then packing some more for school.
---
"okay El Bruno the Second, keep watch while I am gone, and if anyone asks you make the best cappuccino North Side has ever seen." he spoke, waving goodbye to the cactus that sat on the counter, now proudly wearing Ez's apron as Ez turned the closed sign on and snuck out, thankfully Marcy decided to sleep at her parents house(crazy but oddly convenient), which meant Ez could slip out of his job for the meeting.

slipping to the side of the cafe in the ally with the trash cans and bowls for stray animals Ez took out his expensive phone(from a time when he still had money), and opened the oh so familiar app, this time clicking a new button. Ez's phone floated out of his hands as his feet also gently lift off the ground, his clothing disappearing as his body became pure yellow light. He then grabbed his phone, gliding it down his arms and legs as his clothing slowly appeared. Shaking his head his new hair appeared before he pointed his phone at his face, summoning his ears and glasses before in one quick motion doing the rest of his clothing. His phone then floated out of his hand, gliding in front of him for a moment before he grabbed it before doing a pose, a peace sign by his face his other hand by his hip that was jutted out as he floated gently back to the ground.

as his moment of epicness ended he noticed a stray cat(he had named her Lucy) staring at him with her big old eyes. They had a staring contest for a moment before Candance bent down and blew in her eyes causing her to blink, "WOOOOO LETS GO, I WIN AGAIN LUCY" he then quickly ran inside and grabbed her some food before returning to his stance before hand. He then climbed onto the garbage bin and got into a stance with his fist to the sky, "Alright Candace-he giggled lightly-, Lift off!" with that he jumped off the garbage can and proceeded to fall face first onto the ground, Lucy sparing him a glance as she ate her food. "ow ow ow, guess I don't get flight" Candace muttered as he removed a banana peel from his head and decided to walk to the meeting location.

surprisingly no one commented on his outfit choice as he made his way to the park, checking his phone every now and then before de-summoning it every five minuets or so(image touching grass? L). As he entered the park he saw another person in a magik hero outfit which caused his face to light up, "OH hey wassup! You must be a Magik hero too! Did Momo also get you to come here?" he asked loudly without seemingly a care in the world.
Juju ShredKnives

 

[ShredKnives]

Interaction: seasonedcat
Nearby: Juju Nellancholy

---

Huh. Someone was already there. A pink, frilly, shiny kind of girl. Of course.

Well, she could just be someone in costume...but if more of that sort showed up then she'd know this was where the meeting was.

Gleam kept her distance, leaning slightly against the tree as she peered at the meeting spot. She gave a little tap to the button on her apron, making sure the camera on and streaming...

Huh...Was she the only person who made this frilly outfit? Why was this stranger looking at her funny? Nervously, Misaki looked down at her outfit. She thought it looked nice! Now she felt self-conscious.

Nervously, she stuffed an earphone into her ear and tried to select some music, only to stand there with no mood for any type of genre. So now she was just standing there appearing to have some earbuds playing music, but she's just awkwardly shimmying her feet against the grass like she was "bobbing" to some tunes.

Without further hesitation Atrian stepped out from behind the tree and walked towards the mysterious individual, getting a better look at them. “What are you doing?” Atrian spoke clearly enough for others who were nearby to hear, Is that a weird maid dress? “Have you been told to come here too?” He asked before stopping at a respectable distance.

WHA-

HE LOOKS LIKE A WAR GENERAL!

What the heck?! Why didn't she think of that?! She could've most certainly rocked a trench coat! This outfit was way too showy, corny, cheesy, and...Other words that started with "C!" Damn it all!

If she had known she would be competing with Nobunaga's right-hand man, she would've opted to take inspiration from Hachiman or something...A war kami most certainly fit the bill on this job application than a magical wizard.

Shame he was talking to someone...She would've asked where he found those clothes.

as his moment of epicness ended he noticed a stray cat(he had named her Lucy) staring at him with her big old eyes. They had a staring contest for a moment before Candance bent down and blew in her eyes causing her to blink, "WOOOOO LETS GO, I WIN AGAIN LUCY" he then quickly ran inside and grabbed her some food before returning to his stance before hand. He then climbed onto the garbage bin and got into a stance with his fist to the sky, "Alright Candace-he giggled lightly-, Lift off!" with that he jumped off the garbage can and proceeded to fall face first onto the ground, Lucy sparing him a glance as she ate her food. "ow ow ow, guess I don't get flight" Candace muttered as he removed a banana peel from his head and decided to walk to the meeting location.

surprisingly no one commented on his outfit choice as he made his way to the park, checking his phone every now and then before de-summoning it every five minuets or so(image touching grass? L). As he entered the park he saw another person in a magik hero outfit which caused his face to light up, "OH hey wassup! You must be a Magik hero too! Did Momo also get you to come here?" he asked loudly without seemingly a care in the world.

HE'S WAY TOO EXCITED FOR THIS!!

She understood that the magical appearance was intended to completely mask the original person, but wasn't this a little too brash and public?!

Was...Was there banana on his head? Did he come out of a trash can? Was she about to talk to a homeless man with access to a smartphone? Was she going crazy? Who was he talking to? Her? Her.

Okay, her! More than excitedly, she took the earbud out; finally, a chance to make conversation.

Wait, Momo?

"You mean Moki? You're calling it Momo now? You two are already that comfortable with each other? Er- YES, by the way, I'm a Magik Hero too!" That hurt to say. "I guess you're also one! You've got funny clothes, but I love the guitar. And that shoulder thing! It looks fuzzy, is it fuzzy? Can I touch it?"

She felt compelled to touch it, so she touched it regardless. "And I like the sunglasses, but...The moon's out, so that's a little weird, but you look like a ray of sunshine, like, literally a ray of sunshine. But you're calling it Momo? Was I supposed to call it Momo?"

He's got a funny mushroom sock. She didn't quite get that vibe, but people tended to be creative like that, and she heavily respected the experimentation, so he was already on a positive tally in her book!

 

[Juju]

Marceline ☆ Prism

Interaction: seasonedcat ShredKnives || Mention: Solirus Nellancholy​

---

Like every other day for the past week, Marceline's day both ended and began at the Sweet Heart Café. By the time she flipped over the "closed" sign to the café she could see the moon peeking down at her between the city lights. As of recently the café would continue its service into the night with the new Night Owl hours, but Marcie had put a limit to how many late shifts Ez could cover. Even if he didn't sleep, workers needed days off. Besides, she knew he had some Magik Hero U events he tended to save for these free nights. Speaking of which, she hadn't logged into the app for a few days. Marcie flipped off the lights to the café and looked over to her phone sitting on the freshly cleaned counter. As if reading her mind, she heard the familiar chiptune alert from the game.

"Speak of the devil… I guess I can spare a half hour before bed. Ez did say he could help me with that wolf monster. Shouldn't take too long, right?" Marcie muttered, walking across the room to put her phone into her pocket without looking at the message.

She passed the kitchen door and walked up the creaky staircase that lead to the upstairs area. It was part storage, part makeshift apartment. Her grandmother had lived up there decades ago when she first started her business, and now Marcie was starting to see why. Between taking more shifts to cover for her grandmother and juggling homework, Marcie often found herself ending the day too late to catch a bus home. That was not even taking into account that she needed to bake the pastries early in the morning before heading to school.

In the end she found the best solution was to sleep above the café. The bathroom appliances were no younger than 30 years old and the bed was bought second hand, but it was like heaven after a long day. She even found a few dusty landscape paintings and string lights to make the storage-slash-apartment more homey. After a few days of organizing it had really started to become a second home. Besides, her current living arrangements was only until her grandmother recovered. Surely she could return to work. Surely.

After taking a shower and getting dressed in her pajamas, a simple combination of kitty shorts and an oversized hoodie, Marcie plopped down on her bed with a sigh of relief. She probably would have drifted off into sleep if not for another alert from the MHU app. Remembering her decision to catch up on the game, she reached over to the storage box serving as a nightstand and grabbed her phone. She held it above her face and finally read the message.

Congratulations! You've been chosen to become a Magik Hero! Accept?​

Marcie sat up, frowning down with confusion. This had never happened before. Was it some new event? She would have to ask Ez about it tomorrow. Wondering how to return to the actual game, she hit accept and was taken aback by a stream of light and a creature she had never seen before. Spooked, she tumbled back across her single bed, the old springs creaking as her back hit the headboard.

The creature, who introduced themselves as Moki, explained the situation in a whirlwind of information Marcie struggled to absorb at once. Magik? Like the Magik Hero U app? But that wasn't real?! This was impossible. Before she could tell this creature it should not exist, she was surrounded in a circle of glowing symbols.

Gravity seemed to reverse as she rose up weightlessly from her bed until she was suspended in the air. Glimmering lights rose up with her, like underwater bubbles catching sunlight from above. It was so mesmerizing that she couldn't help but reach out in awe to touch one. As soon as her fingers made contact with the bubble of light it was absorbed, covering her hand in that same bright light. It then crystallized into iridescent shards along her skin, scattering specks of every color across her room.

The other droplets of floating light followed suit, until her whole body was covered in dazzling light and crystals. She gazed down at her hand, a bright silhouette encased in a jagged, glassy shell. Surprisingly it didn't hurt, quite the opposite. She felt a rush of energy, a thrill of wonder. A bystander might think to panic, but at this moment she felt only a strangely ecstatic calm.

All at once the crystals covering her skin shattered, but instead of raining down on her room the splinters froze in mid air, suspended around her. Like a broken mirror, she saw her reflection in a thousand fractures. She recognized the figure almost immediately.

"Prism?" She muttered in disbelief, her voice even and mature. It did not belong to her.

Marceline forgot to breathe, staring wide eyed at the woman. Her feet lowered gracefully onto her bed as the fractured mirror faded away in a rain of shimmering dust. Only then did she notice how close her head was to the ceiling. She looked down to see long legs and silky hair cascading around her arms, falling just above her calfs. Impossible.

She stepped off of her bed, amazed at how tall she was, and faced Moki, "I'm…Prism? H-how?"

When she had designed her character -- with the help of Ez, who insisted on the fox ears -- she had kept a regal theme in mind. When acting as a hero, she wanted her character to exude a mature presence, one that would inspire comfort and reliability. Like a queen, or lady of influence, not a scrawny looking teen. Even if they were NPCs, when people saw her she wanted them to feel like they were in good hands.

It was an aura she could never seem to achieve in her normal life, so she made sure her fictional persona reflected it. She never thought that someday she could share in this idealized form. Needless to say she couldn't help but examine her new form in childish wonder as Moki explained the situation. Marcie -- no, Prism-- could hardly pay attention as her mind tried to comprehend the reality her eyes were seeing.

When Moki suggested trying her power Prism nodded her head, eyes narrowed in determination "Alright, I'll give it a go."

She extended her hand, long fingers spread out into the air. Like before, a light appeared in her palm and crystallized, though it was no more than the size of a quarter. Her heart sank, left wondering how on earth she could save anyone with such a weak power. It was nothing more than a party trick.

Moki's departure left her with more questions than answers. From what they said it was safe to assume that she was not the only one. There were other magic heroes. She looked across her room to the mirror, staring at the stranger sitting on her bed. Who were the other magic heroes? If they also abided by the anonymous rule, they could be anyone. The idea was both exciting and terrifying. If they were others her age then some could be in her school, even her class.

She reached for her phone, wanting to call Ez and tell him about the character he helped her make, then remembered what Moki said. Drawing back her hand, she placed it onto her chest. Her heart was fluttering like a caged bird.

If anything, having other people like her meant she didn't need to keep secrets from everyone. She didn't have to do this alone. Whatever THIS was. It dawned on her that whatever heroes were meant to do was never easy, nor safe.

It kept her up that night, even long after she figured out how to return to her human form and calmed down enough to attempt sleep. She couldn't help but toss and turn thinking about what being a Magik Hero meant. For Prism, it had meant saving others from the wrath of monsters. Would it be the same in this reality? In all her excitement she had forgotten to ask Moki.

At some point her tired body won over and her troubled mind drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep. Whatever questions she had would have to wait until nightfall.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ The next night... ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆​

Unlike every other day for the past week, at the end of her shift Marcie did not retire to her grandmother's old apartment. It wasn't too unusual, as she did go back to her house for laundry, groceries, and of course visiting her family. At least, she hoped Ez wouldn't find it too unusual.

Tonight was one of the Night Owl nights, which meant that Ez was working. In fact, he was the whole reason why they started the extended hours. Marcie had been looking for more ways to increase business, and it had come up almost as a joke when Ez was talking about his insomnia. They both arrived at the idea, but Marcie was hesitant to accept it at first. Of course, after several reassurances and talks of providing a study venue for cramming students, she agreed. It was great for extending business, but now it made sneaking out for magical adventures a little problematic.

Hopefully her early departure wouldn't make Ez that suspicious. She wasn't the best at lying, and she most definitely had a nervous look, but if Ez noticed it he didn't say anything when she left the café. In fact, he looked a little relieved himself. Did he find it awkward working at the café when she was living in the room above? Did she say something? Maybe she should ask him about it tomorrow.

"Focus, Marcie!" She muttered to herself, making a fist as she walked down the dark street. "You've been chosen for a special task. Now you've got more than a café to worry about!"

The effort to pump herself up only ended in a new string of worry. How was she supposed to balance her work, school and magical adventures. Whatever they were. She tightened her hand on her bag's strap and quickened her steps, brows furrowed in resolution. She would just have to put in even more effort! Her grandmother moved to the city as a single mother and raised that café from the ground. Hard work and grit was all she needed. School work could be done at lunch or during shifts. She could always borrow Atrian's notes again if need be. He was really helpful about it last time. Oh, but he was already swamped with student president work. How could she! No, she would just have to work a bit later into the night for a while. Surely a few hours less of sleep couldn't keep her down.

Before she knew it, the sound of wind and leaves could be heard above the distant traffic. The park! The gate was mere meters from where she stood. Marceline's face flushed with red embarrassment as she realized she almost failed the first test; keeping her identity hidden. She moved to a secluded spot, drew her phone from her bag and clicked the app, letting the crystals envelop her body once more.

Within seconds Prism stood in her place, casting her tall and elegant shadow over where Marceline once stood. Whatever her new responsibilities were, she would handle it with as much grace as Prism would. If there were other Magik Heroes like her, they would need someone who could stay rational and look out for them. That is what Prism would do.

She walked down the park's main path, feeling strangely confident in Prism's form. The park lights caught in her hair, making it shimmer with prismatic light with each movement. Hiding would have been difficult, but it was not something Prism would do anyway. This was a meeting of allies, so there was no need for deception. She held her head high and proudly, like Princess Kotorys in the Game of Dragons series.

Eventually she arrived at the meeting spot and saw that a few had arrived before her. Her ears could pick up at least one in the nearby bushes, talking to what she assumed was another. Aside from those two she could see a beautiful girl with an equally stunning pink outfit. The frills were everything, along with that cute hair. It made her look just like a princess or some of the pop idols she followed. She had originally dressed Prism in a similar outfit, but decided to change the concept to something a little more mature. She wanted to be looked up to, not doted on. Still, the frills and puffy skirts would always hold a special place in her heart.

Prism was so caught up in the admiration of the girl's outfit that she almost overlooked the one thing that broke her ladylike demeanor into a look of shock. Conversing with the girl was the unapologetically bright character she knew all too well.

"C-Candace..?" She muttered into her fingers, still unsure if she should be saying their hero names.

It was Ez's custom character, one she had seen every time he shoved his phone in her face, proudly boasting about the newest high score or rare cosmetic he unlocked. It could be a look alike, sure, but that was one chance in a million. Even still… he should be at the café, right?

 

[Nellancholy]

"..."

Gleam tried to resume her cover, pressing up against the tree like she had found some particularly fascinating lichen or bug on the surface of it. But it was to no avail. She knew that maybe she should have stayed in the tree or on the flagpole, maybe entered from another entrance altogether...

Well, there was nothing for it now. She turned to face the person who addressed her, doing her best to look dignified and elegant assisted (she assumed) by her sharp outfit. "Why, I haven't the slightest what you mean. I'm simply a passer-by who happened to chance upon this gathering of some rather charming folk and was deciding on how to approach them." Her affected tone was planned to give off an "obviously not to be taken seriously" vibe without outright saying the truth. If this guy could extrapolate what she meant, all well and good. And even if he didn't...she still had a way in.

Now that she looked at him...damn, that was a good look too. Clearly it was pretty safe to assume that that furball's invitation wasn't entirely a trap or a scam of some sort, considering how everyone in the vicinity looked some level of ridiculous. Well, it mainly meant it wasn't a trap set up specifically for her, anyway.

Either way...it wouldn't do to try and skulk around any further. Time to get in there and find out what was up. Maybe she could get a bit more into character...put this bunch at ease.

With that, Gleam rested her hand on her hip, offering her arm to the man in military dress.

"It looks like the other visitors are forming into a group of sorts. Since we're both here, we may as well...and if they ask, we can just say we arrived together." As part of that invitation, she flashed her best approximation of a winning smile. There was certainly no immediate reason to carry out such a ruse, but a little roleplaying couldn't hurt when it came to forming relationships with these new acquaintances. And even if he refused, there was still many others to try and get familiar with.

Solirus

 

[Cresion Breezes]

#776598​

"Uh huh uh huh, yeah yeah I been doing that, get me 1000 more fresh accounts and we'll talk."

The sound of humming computer rigs and the flashing of various OLED screens washed the room in a strange science fiction atmosphere, though it was clearly just a normal student apartment room as long as the lighting was just a bit more normal. There was a rack on one side of the room, on it lined tow or three dozen smartphones all plugged in to an outlet so overclocked it would probably make the landlady faint again if she ever saw it, and also definitely a fire hazard. They were all running the same game, the most popular one that swept the market by storm recent, though it appears that no one was actually playing them

"Look buddy, just because I solved Shoujo Quest 3's WR seed doesn't mean seed solving is my forte, that game is 23 years old. If you want someone to solve the RNG of the most popular live service game I suggest you look for someone with more education than high school level."

Kiva Acrimoné crunched the aluminum can on her desk a bit as she spoke through her headset, while typing so rapidly on her keyboard that one may have the illusion that sparks were flying from them. On her multi-screen set up one of the screens were completely covered in 64 instances of the same game the smartphones on the rack were playing, but the PC's user herself was more fixated on some chat software.

"Yes the spreadsheet is getting updated, no it's not on cloud that thing is way too big, yes I have the up to date version, no I'm not giving it out for free."

She yawned while emotionally responding to whatever conversation she was having with the nebulous internet voices that came from her headset. Until an alert simultaneously popped up in all of the instances of the automated games that were running in the room. It seemed like about a hundred of them, and were then activated automatically by whatever script that happened to be running.

Kiva shuddered a little when it happened, not noticing what has happened in the game with the brief notification. It was a strange feeling.

"...I feel like I've just been roped into something I didn't sign up for." She muttered, causing a bit of confusing in whatever group voice chat and a wave of denial.

Out of the corner of her eye a bright light was seen, and also an...animal. Yes, that was an animal, indeed.

"I think a rabbit just got into my room. Brb guys."

There was indeed a "rabbit" there, Kiva had missed the initial bit of Moki's speech due to her headset and lack of attention to what happened, but she looked at the strange creature with dull eyes and an unamused expression. As Moki continued to speak Kiva reached out and grabbed the long rabbit-like ears. The weird animal seems to be struggling, but it continued to talk anyways.

"Ohhh..." Kiva said to herself. "It feels like a real animal, but that colouring is pretty awful, it would get hunted down by predators in no time in the wild, it's a miracle a species like this haven't gone extinct."

"Hmm..." Kiva tilted her head, whatever Moki said pretty much going into one ear and leaking out the other. "Maybe it's a toy, but who would make such an annoying and ugly toy, its dialogue is so complicated, that's not marketable to children at all."

Being deep in thought about how marketable this strange toy would be, Kiva held the creature up and tried to walk around. She felt a tug on her scalp as she walked and realized she stepped on her own hair. Wait. Her hair isn't that long.

There was an odd darkness and quietness in the room, the OLED screen lights faded and the ground has melted away into a dark clear pool of water. Something rippled out, the ripples centered on where Kiva was standing and expanded out and out, until it hit another set of rippling circles. There were obsidian black snakes hidden in the water, they slithered towards the human in the center, now nothing but a darken silhouette in this dimension of low humming and a dark clam pool of water. As the snakes move some spell seems to be casted upon them, transmuting the once live animals into fleshy ribbons that became increasingly inanimate as they approached Kiva, eventually becoming nothing but strips of fabric that constituted the obsidian coloured robe and scarf on her body.

A crack appeared in the dark cocoon, a shimmer of light casted through it. As the light was shone upon the completely dark hued outfit it solidified into various embroideries and button hooks, the slivery light swirled and set itself into place as more of Kiva's form was casted into it. The pattern of a serpent that appeared upon the long scarf came alive as soon as it was finished, the snake slitered upwards, eventually resting on top of Kiva's head, curling itself up and swallowing its own tail, levitating there silently.

Kiva narrowed her eyes, the light was too bright for her taste. Suddenly a weight was felt on her nose bridge as a pair of sunglasses materializes as if knowing how she felt. She paused for a moment, and decided to push them up to her forehead. It was better to see things as they were, even if she didn't like them.

Moki was still held in her hand after the ordeal was done, but Kiva let go soon enough, she had no more interest in the weird rabbit. Instead she could tell that what she was wearing were cosmetic items from the game that she never played for herself but so much for others, but the matted feeling and darkness of the fabrics reminded her of the untextured grey models used in development builds. One item that she didn't recognize was the "halo" on top of her head, being a snake eating its own tail, an ouroboros. Although she did recognize it as something, it was the logo of her automated video game grinding service. The circular autophagic snake represented the infinite cycle of grinding and upgrades presented in modern gaming, a futile and self-destructive effort that live service games use to cast plague onto the world. It seemed deep when she was 14.

"I'm not interested." She said to Moki, the latter seems to have ignored her.

"I said I'm not interested." She said again.

...
...
...

Back at her desk Kiva looked at her reflection the darkened screen of her now in sleep-mode computer. Her dark colour palette and somewhat disturbing looking "halo" sure didn't make a the impression of a "hero" or whatever the rabbit talked about. She felt like it was more of the look of a mid-season antagonist that gets an awfully written redemption arc before being killed off. She would rather have no redemption arc if that was the case.

She put her headset back on to rejoin the online voice chat.

"So guys...do you think I'm kind of like, villainous?"

----------------------------------------

The sound of over a hundred notifications going off was quite an experience.

"Holy shit! I get it! I'll do it okay!" Kiva yelled, while trying to disable the alarms of every one of the dozens of phones in her vicinity. She didn't really want to do what the rabbit said, because even if this was real, she felt like she had no business being a "magik hero" or whatever, she didn't look or act the part. But fate or whatever higher power that is controlling this seems to insist on it.

The night air was...the night air. Kiva was not one for waxing poetics after all. In a puff of dark smoke an suspicious snake jazzy sounds she walked out appearing in her alternate form. As annoying as this entire ordeal was, the identity hiding feature was a thing she enjoyed.

There were other people at the supposed meeting spot. Strange clothes that looks like they're from the game, check. Seems like dumb kids, check. Absolutely no normal reason to show up here at this time, check. Yes, this was the place, Kiva thought. She tapped her weird snake halo a bit, feeling its scaly coldness. What was this whole bit anyways? A fallen angel thing? This train of thought sparked something in Kiva though, as she smirked a bit. If she was going to get roped into this, then better make the most of it.

She climbed up a tree that is a bit more faraway and hid in the darken canopies, leaping from tree to tree as she got closer to the part of the park the meeting place was marked as. Parkouring in this form sure was easier, the landings didn't hurt the ankles or wrists at all. But soon she arrived beside the meeting place where a few other oddly dressed, presumably "heroes" gathered. Kiva cleared her throat and gathered her thoughts one last time, before taking a leap onto one of the streetlamps that over looked the park grounds.

"Welcome, fledging heroes." She said in a voice that is lower than her usual one, with a slightly regal tone. "I have not expected for so many to fall into my trap with such ease, perhaps cleansing this world of you utterly insignificant nuances would not be as arduous of a task as I initially thought." She waved her hand and turned her head to the side in what seemed like a scoff, but in reality Kiva was trying really hard to hold back a laugh.

"Tis a shame, seeing this oh so filthy pathetic world grow so weak, it pains me to be reminded of the imperfections that it bestowed upon me-pff." Kiva took a deep breath before (trying) to continue to speak. "Now! No longer shall this world see me as a fallen angel! I will dye the rivers red with the blood of false idols! I am the God of the new wor—Pffffftttttttt—"

Kiva leaped from the streetlamp and leaned against the pole at the bottom while barely being able to contain her laughter.

"Okay okay- I can't actually do this, that was so bloody awful. I don't even know why I thought I could make it through that, it sounded way more ridiculous than it did in my head." Her words were laced with various chuckles and wheezing.

"Anyways, did you guys put your phone on a hot plate or something too?" She shrugged and asked, before rolling her eyes and realziing she wasn't talkingwith people that knew her references.

"I mean, like, the whole notification, weird rabbit, weird outfit...and stuff...thing?" Kiva asked, making the gesture of holding a phone, holding a rabbit by its ears, and holding out an article of clothing respectively.

 

[vainglory in bed]

Rinya Mikiyohen
-​

"The air is lazy tonight, it's putting me to sleep."

Yawn, a lethargic girl sighed out in one, drawn-out breath. She basked in the complete darkness of her surroundings, locked inside a spacious room devoid of light. Through the luxurious skylight leering over her, thin beams of silver danced to and fro, and she giggled softly whenever they illuminated her elegant, slender arms.

"My skin is quite beautiful, wouldn't you say?"

She looked over her shoulder, though there was nobody there.

It had been quite a while since Rinya had last experienced company within the lonely prison of her family's summer residence, but she didn't entirely mind. Loneliness meant peace, and peace was good. Of course, the sprawling complex only served as a 'summer' residence for her parents, and even then they'd barely ever visit when the season rolled around. In the eyes and hands of Rinya herself, the mansion took upon the strange role of a personal playground, where theatre was rehearsed and lavish curtains hung from the ceiling.

Sufficed to say, she tended to visit her dates in their own homes.

Well, dates weren't really on the agenda tonight. In a few minutes, she would have to leave the lull and comfort of the dark-lit room, and make an incursion into Memorial Park. A strange creature had told her to do so under suspicious circumstances, even after she nonverbally threatened to kill it with her $1,600 laptop. If it didn't consider that enough of a threat to back down, who knew how dangerous it was? Facing the unknown, it always served better to investigate before jumping to hasty decisions.

Ah, that's right. . . She was a magical girl now. That suspicious thing—Moki it called itself—had roped her into some equally suspicious scheme, and now she was a magical girl. The whole ordeal came about when she attempted to uninstall a game she didn't play anymore. Back then, she had downloaded it because a boy from 3-B thought it was 'super cool' for girls to play games, but now that she had stopped seeing him, it only ate up space on her hard drive. Unluckily for her, just as her mouse hovered over the 'uninstall' button, she had received that dreadful pop-up prompt.

The rest was history.

"Mhmm. It really is beautiful. I don't know what I'll do with myself if it ever becomes ugly."

The vain girl caressed her forehead, flicking her bangs playfully. She had to arrive as her 'Alter E.G.O.,' but she didn't mind that either. She did wonder; however; just what that abbreviation was meant to stand for.

Ah, it's probably just pop-culture gibberish.

Shrugging, Rinya began to undress. Her clothes were pretty expensive, so she preferred to toss them at her feet, instead of risking any number of ways they might become damaged in the process of her transformation. Then, she simply snapped her fingers, and something like an old nobleman's uniform materialised and draped itself over her body. At the same time, her eyes changed colour and shape, and even her hair became far more voluminous and turned a pale shade of gold.

"Ugh," the girl turned on a lamp and stared into a mirror mounted on the wall. She recalled the words of that creature.

'Magik Heroes are to keep their identities hidden.'

Hidden, huh?

She didn't really care much for the game and its escapism, so her in-game appearance copied her actual face pretty faithfully. Even if the colour of her hair had changed, the way it spiraled into a drill-like ponytail gave her easily away too. . . She'd have to do some self-styling, she thought.

Sssnip!

Rinya grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the ribbon holding up her fancy ponytail, causing the hair to erupt into a stormy ocean of curly strands. Some of those strands fell all the way down the front of her face, obscuring her features. It was the look of a scary urban legend.

"Woah, that's hideous. Fufu, I like that, it makes me feel bad for my own face. No one will guess it's me, plus. . . desperate types find this kind of thing appealing, don't they?"

She mused aloud, turning to face the door. After unlocking it with an old-timey, golden key, Rinya walked through a series of empty hallways and found her way outside. From her house, the hike to Memorial Park was mercifully short, and so she went on foot like normal.

"My, looks like there's a crowd already."

By the time she arrived, a small gathering of costumed individuals had already congregated within the park. Rinya performed worst in crowds, thus she decided to simply move past all of them, offering a deliberate nod as she did. Following her confident greeting, she gracefully sat down at one of the park benches, the whole ordeal giving her the air of someone who knew exactly what was going on.

Though, it did seem as if she was intruding in the middle of someone's villain monologue.

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

Alexander Michaelson

As if that was not bizarre enough, the creature spoke, "Hello, and congratulations on becoming the newest Magik Hero! My name is Moki and… Moki hopes the entrance was not too frightening! Moki has heard that humans can be scared out of their skin and would not like to test this theory!"

It was a very, very strange thing, to find out that you were a hero. It was way, way weirder when you get the news from a... Little... Fox thing... popping out of your phone. Especially when all you had done was start playing a really fun new mobile game. The little fluffball in front of him was vaguely reminiscent of a fox, though it seemed to be unlike any fox he'd ever known. More than just the talking bit, anyway. Purple fur was not exactly the most natural of colors. Plus apparently living in cell phones, also not very natural.

"U-Uh... Okay? Sure...?"

Alexander looks at the little critter with a very confused look on his face, as it scans him over...

Moki looked exceptionally pleased with themself, their tail swishing happily from side to side, "How do you like it, hero? Familiar? It's just like how you imagined yourself as a Magik Hero in the game! You can now transform into this when needed. In your world, this form is called your Alter E.G.O., or EGO for short -- think of it as a transformation into your soul's energy. Unlike your human body, you are physically superior and capable of harnessing your own magik. Go on, give it a try! Moki will watch you."

And then he feels himself grow, his muscles shifting as he takes on a new form. He knows before he sees his reflection in the mirror at his bedside the general gist of it, but the person in the mirror is someone he... recognizes? His avatar? ... W-was that what this game was? A giant recruitment pitch for people to.... What the hell was going on! Moki's suggestion to call upon the power within him provides... very little to be learned. A vague sense of bolstered strength, but one that he had no idea of how it manifested.

"Oh no, please do not give Moki that look! Magik powers must set in before growing to their full potential! It is dangerous to absorb it all at once, you see. Wait a full day, Moki will show you. Tomorrow night, meet Moki in Memorial Park for your first day of training!"

Alexander nods slowly at the small critter, watching it leave with a confused look on his face. Okay. So... Memorial Park... Training? Training for what? Was he going to be a superhero, or something? He supposed he'd just have to find out, but it still left him with so many questions and so few answers. When he moved to the big city to get to know people, this... this was not what he'd expected at all.

Well, at least it'd be interesting....

============================
Present Day

When Alexander arrives, he sees many others, also transformed like he is, around the park. He'd managed to get a good amount of sleep and some homework done before this, and now he was just... here... amongst other people with weird outfits. He suddenly feels self-conscious about how his avatar is kind of, y'know, shirtless. It'd looked cool on the phone but now? He felt so awkward. He waves shyly at the people around, many of them already engaged in interacting with their fellow... whatever they were.

"Uh, Hello? Nice to meet all of you?"

 

[jmann]

Hector Hughes

The smooth sound of a saxophone and bass line reverberated through the red brick basement of the Hughes home. Every now and again, the sputtering vintage record player was interrupted by the sharp twinkle sound effect that marked a ‘Quest Complete’ in Magik Hero U.

Hector Hughes sat shrimp-posed on the worn leather couch tapping away at his phone. That chime marked 300 eagle feathers he had been farming for over two hours. For 150 eagle feathers, Hector could craft the Mantle of the Airborne, giving himself a 1.5 XP multiplier. However, since the quest was done by so few it went overlooked that the mantle counted as an enchantment and did not take up an item slot, allowing Hector to equip multiple at once, at least until the server reset. Hector’s brainstorming was interrupted by a new chime. A pop-up.

​

Congratulations! You've been chosen to become a Magik Hero! Accept? ​

“I- what?”

His click was followed by a blinding flash that made Hector throw his phone across the room under his train table.
Hector sat paralysed as Moki appeared and introduced themselves. He barely moved a muscle until a jolt of energy sent him straight to his feet. His clothes shrunk until the buttons exploded off his pants and his shirt tore to ribbons. His skin felt tighter, more muscular. He shook his head as shaggy brown hair turned to a flowing orange mane.

“What did you do to me?”

Hector darted down to Moki and snatched back his phone, opening to the camera. Hector almost dropped his phone at what he saw. Muscles of tanned marble, teeth so shiny he could almost see his reflection in, and a jawline that could cut glass. Earthquake. He had been turned into Earthquake, his Magik Hero avatar. He looked up only to meet Moki’s expectant gaze.
Moki was asking for a demonstration. Hector looked away in thought. His build was entirely defence-based, how was he supposed to demonstrate that? Unless… Earthquake squared his legs and leapt upwards.
In Hector’s mind, he’d show off his chiseled calf muscles and powerful jump. However he had failed for account for one thing. The ceiling. He slammed into the concrete slab, sending fractures along the ceiling as he dropped back and impacted with the carpeted floor. His skin was unbroken, but everything hurt.
Was he not as resilient in this form?
Hector limped back to the couch, and felt the legs strain under his new weight. With a few more words Hector struggled to understand, Moki bid him farewell and disappeared as fast as they had appeared.

“No no no! How do I turn back?”
It was too late. They were gone.

---

The Next Night

---

Hector, or rather Earthquake, walked through the dark streets, stomach churning. For the first time in over a year, he had been Absent. His parents were going to ask questions he couldn’t answer. They wouldn’t even recognise him like this. He could barely recognise his own reflection. Hector had squeezed himself into his biggest and loosest hoodie and accidentally turned it into a muscle shirt. Even his XXL triple-stretch sweatpants only barely fit him.
When he finally passed through the gate to Memorial Park, he noticed the awaiting group. As he got closer, he recognised a few. One or two he remembered from boss battles, and of course, Candace. Candace was one of the top players in the world, and somehow managed did so with a status-build. Hector had never actually spoken to them, but fondly remembered fighting the Brood with them a few months ago. It was stunning that whoever was behind that avatar could make an effective build from status effects. Next to them stood a beautiful person, or avatar, that Hector thought he had seen before with Candace. Was Candace one of the cool people? Hector was always a little nervous around cool people. They were the ones most likely to bully him, even if they seemed nice.

The nerves bubbled and broiled in Hector's stomach like a volcano science fair project. Cool or not, he had to talk to the Candace. Everyone was so bright and flashy. It scared him. But Earthquake wasn’t scared, no, Earthquake was a fearless defender of the people, and so Hector would be too.

Hector dawdled through the park, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible until he stood behind the legend.
“Excuse me, sorry, are you… Candace?”

---

seasonedcat Juju

 

[ShredKnives]

Mentions: Juju Cresion Breezes ThatWhichShouldBe jmann

---

Prism was so caught up in the admiration of the girl's outfit that she almost overlooked the one thing that broke her ladylike demeanor into a look of shock. Conversing with the girl was the unapologetically bright character she knew all too well.

"C-Candace..?" She muttered into her fingers, still unsure if she should be saying their hero names.

Oh! Someone noticed her outfit! Misaki, likewise, grinned sheepishly. She was proud of her look!

Candace? Do I...recognize that name?

"Welcome, fledging heroes." She said in a voice that is lower than her usual one, with a slightly regal tone. "I have not expected for so many to fall into my trap with such ease, perhaps cleansing this world of you utterly insignificant nuances would not be as arduous of a task as I initially thought." She waved her hand and turned her head to the side in what seemed like a scoff, but in reality Kiva was trying really hard to hold back a laugh.

"Tis a shame, seeing this oh so filthy pathetic world grow so weak, it pains me to be reminded of the imperfections that it bestowed upon me-pff." Kiva took a deep breath before (trying) to continue to speak. "Now! No longer shall this world see me as a fallen angel! I will dye the rivers red with the blood of false idols! I am the God of the new wor—Pffffftttttttt—"

Kiva leaped from the streetlamp and leaned against the pole at the bottom while barely being able to contain her laughter.

Ah...A fascinating announcement.

She pulled up her phone. She recalled this...What they call the Eighth Grade Syndrome. A brilliant cacophony of sound! If it wasn't for the secondhand embarrassment, she would certainly be admiring at how lovely her voice sounded.

Misaki was recording. This was cool...Now that Misaki thought about it, this would've been a heck of a cool thing to go for. Gothic dark undertones, dazzling the night sky with darkness...Going all Light Yagami upon the nation...And with powers to boot? Thematic color schemes? Come on!!! It was the perfect combination!

Damn it, she really went the stereotypical option, didn't she...? Misaki sighed. At least this person seemed like a lot of fun.

When Alexander arrives, he sees many others, also transformed like he is, around the park. He'd managed to get a good amount of sleep and some homework done before this, and now he was just... here... amongst other people with weird outfits. He suddenly feels self-conscious about how his avatar is kind of, y'know, shirtless. It'd looked cool on the phone but now? He felt so awkward. He waves shyly at the people around, many of them already engaged in interacting with their fellow... whatever they were.

"Uh, Hello? Nice to meet all of you?"

She heard a greeting! She waved! She was waving! Hi!!

But she was in a conversation with some person named Candace, someone these people seemed to know quite well, so...She'll have to stick over here.

...

Hector dawdled through the park, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible until he stood behind the legend.
“Excuse me, sorry, are you… Candace?”

The realization burst in her head like a bubble. Candace, she saw the name on the leaderboards...This was that person? Ohhh..Now she was talking to a professional, wasn't she? The self-consciousness was destroying her. She hadn't exactly done much in the game, so she was far from whatever that Candace guy knew...What was the term...Normie? Yeah, that might've described her.

Was she becoming the new third wheel? Oh, no. Should she just...Sneak away before people prattle that she might be too casually talking to one of the top-ranking players of the game? No, stand ground! She was here first!! Deep breath, Misaki!

She hadn't actually said anything, though, so it's not hard to tell that she was being a weirdo about this.

 

[Tiguidi]

SAMANTHA FORD​

The screen’s blue light shone on Samantha’s face as she laid in bed, holding up a handheld console over her head. While the volume was low, nearly anyone would easily be able to identify the SFX from the new, vastly popular game, Magik Hero U. A game as fun and expansive as it was mysterious. Many were aware of the cross-platform game’s background and questioned how it even came into existence. Where did the budget come from? ’Well, thinking ‘bout it won’t really get us that much closer to the answer… nor am I interested enough to find out.’

A loud laugh coming from downstairs made Samantha look away from her screen for a moment. Saying nothing, the young girl let out a sigh and went back to her game. Her parents were having guests -some friends from their college days or something, and opted to completely ignore her while they made sure these randos had everything they wanted and needed.. ’Such is the family tradition, I guess.’ Apathetic thoughts like that weren't uncommon but Sam didn’t really care. People had it worse. At least her parents still paid for her tuition and everything.

Brows scrunched when a strange pop-up suddenly appeared on her screen. Sam couldn’t help but curl her lips into a small smile. “Heh, becoming a Magik Hero. Sure, not like I have anything better to do.” A stray glance was thrown toward her school binder on her desk. Some homework actually needed to be done, but… she’d do it in the morning. Sure.

Jokes aside, though, was this a new event? Everything in the game was procedurally-generated and random but a pop-up like that seemed a bit specific. Obviously not aware of what would happen, Samantha accepted this strange invitation.

Skipping a few moments in the future, Sam re-opened her eyes after shutting them closed. Thank god her door was closed because this light definitely would’ve caused her folks to act up.

“... And now there’s a fuckin’ fox-rabbit here. Sure, alright…”

---

TWILIGHT​

Samantha was silent while she walked toward Memorial Park, understandably a lot going through her mind. A part of her thought she was dreaming -this whole situation felt way too anime for it to be real. But then again, Magik Hero U itself gave off a strange vibe. ’Well, better play along for now…’

Sam hadn’t been too surprised at her transformation in her EGO form, taking it almost as well as anything else in her life. She did find it pretty cool, though it quickly turned into disappointment after seeing her pathetic attempt at creating a spark of electricity. ’So much for being like my in-game avatar, huh… dammit…’

Nevertheless, Samantha obeyed the orders given from Moki and transformed before going out. Which wasn’t difficult since no one would mind if she went out late at night.

As the new Magik Hero approached the meeting place, she did try to adopt a straighter posture. Samantha didn’t exactly envision Twilight acting like she did in real life. Maybe she should adopt a persona…? ’Yeah, that’d be metal! Like, act, talk, move all lady-like an’ shit. Like an actual princess magical girl thing. Urgh, I dunno, this is embarrassin’ just thinking about it… But holy shit, this new hair of mine is so pretty!’

Briefly stopping in her tracks, Samantha -well, Twilight, noticed that quite a few people were already present and chit-chatting with each other. No need to be a genius to figure out that they were people like her that got this strange notification in the game and turned into, well, this. If anything, that proved she was in the right place.

Upon arriving, Twilight noticed that there was a particular one that was in the middle of an… evil monologue? '... Bro, that shit’s actually hilarious.’ Of course, Twilight did her best not to laugh out loud as walked closer but instead greeted everyone with a bright smile and a wave of her hand.

“Hol- *ahem* Wow, your avatars look so cool~!”, Twilight spoke up once she was close enough to the large group. “I think I’m right to guess that we were all brought here after meeting a certain, um, creature last night?” Her voice in this form was slightly higher-pitched than her regular form, giving off much more of a ‘magical girl’ feel to it. She definitely wasn’t complaining about that little detail. “It’s interesting how he needs so many of us…”, she pondered out loud. Surely Moki would make an appearance soon to give everyone a proper explanation…

Interactions: Juju ShredKnives Nellancholy Solirus seasonedcat Cresion Breezes vainglory in bed ThatWhichShouldBe jmann

 

[stcrlight]

Vivian Labelle never would have thought her life would turn out like this, being a magical girl and all. Not even once would it ever occur to her that something that she thought wasn’t real would become real. It's insane.

She had been sitting at home comfortably on her bed, lounging reading up on some of her missed assignments. She lazily scanned each page of her textbook, feeling a wave of tiredness wash over her. Vivian was debating on whether to take a break, “A short break shouldn’t hurt right?”, she had questioned out loud to herself. She shrugs, figuring that her assignments can wait at least a few minutes then... or maybe more than that.

Her new obsession Magik Hero U, had practically taken over most of her time in and out of school, causing her to barely pay attention in class. Her parents were definitely not happy with what she spent her time with, she could honestly care less, she was having fun for once in her life! She slowly got up off of her bed, taking long strides across her room to hurriedly get her phone and get back into the comfortable bed. Pulling out her phone from her bookbag setting on top of her desk chair she switched it on, immediately her eyes caught a notification appear on her screen.

Congratulations! You've been chosen to become a Magik Hero! Accept?

Her eyes lit up in recognition, but also in confusion, wasn't she a magik hero in the game already? Vivian quickly clicks the notification wasting no time to figure out what it was. She quickly regrets that hasty decision as her device nearly blinds her with the bright light that suddenly started to emit from it. She drops her phone in fright backing up away from it, her heart racing fast. Vivian squints, letting her eyes adjust to the lighting again, her vision manages to make out a small animal sitting next to her phone. Vivian's eyes widened, pointing a shaking finger at the creature. It was purple and white, what sort of creature is colored like that?! Vivian couldn't get any words out because the creature started talking! Vivian could've sworn she almost fainted, was she dreaming? She didn't remember falling asleep. She sat there staring at the creature prattle on about whatever, completely zoned out, but quickly was brought back into the world of the living when the creature's eyes started to glow. Vivian closed her eyes for a moment doing it unconsciously, and when she opened them, she looked down at herself. But that was the thing, she didn't feel like herself. The creature said few words, Moki, it had called itself, she thinks that's what it's called anyways, before it had leapt back into the device it came out of.

Vivian slowly getting over the fright she was given, she felt her heart swell in joy. She was a magical girl, in real life, the character she had made all on her own, Pandora, the one she had been playing on this entire time. She twirled around her room smiling happily. Moki had told her to get some rest, and go to the meet up point at the park the next night. At this point, what was rest if this literally just happened?

---

THE FOLLOWING NIGHT​

Vivian had to figure out a way to leave her house without her coddling parents figuring out she had left in the first place. Vivian had waited for her parents to fall asleep, and when the time had come, she figured out how to transform, slowly crawling out of her window of her room. Vivian gave no cares in the world despite dangling ten to fifteen feet up in the air on a tree. She clumsily climbed down the tree, slightly injuring herself in the process, she started sprinting across her front yard hoping her parents don't see, though, she didn't look like her usual self, which she realizes after the fact.

Vivian figures she should use her hero's name Pandora, because that's who she was right now. Her footsteps slow to a walking pace once she arrived to the park she was told to go to, she whistles in disbelief at the amount of people there already, damn, first day and she was already late, how typical of her. Might as well make a fashionably late entrance, she quickly walks into the group of heroes that were already chatting amongst themselves, smiling wide, waving her hands in excitement, "Hi fellow heroes..! Glad to see all of us here already."

---

Nearby
Juju ShredKnives Nellancholy Solirus seasonedcat Cresion Breezes vainglory in bed ThatWhichShouldBe jmann Tiguidi ​

​

 

[seasonedcat]

Candace's face turned into confusion at the girl's reaction, "Uh no? I just call it Momo because he is just the cutest!~" he exclaimed, voice raising high in pure happiness at the mention of the creature. It wasn't until a voice behind him spoke his name that Candace changed, his face displaying a smirk of pure mischief as he turned to face the person, "Candace Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh- mmmmmm ahhhhhhhhhhhh, hi there uh Prism, I uh, totally didn't expect you to be here I mean why would I its not like I am supposed to be anywhere else at this point in time, haha..." he stuttered out as his smirk dropped in momentary fear, oh no, him and El Bruno the Second were in so much trouble.

Candace laughed nervously at Prism before his attention was taken away by a classic evil monolog. Okay, maybe too classic, was this real? Candace snickered at them which quickly joined the person's laughs as well, they clearly had been joking. Candace let out an inviable sigh of relief in his head, thank god they weren't getting sent into a boss fight when they didn't even have weapons yet.

of course before he could respond to anyone else the magic word was spoken as Candace turned again with a smirk as he readied the famous line, "Candace Nmha-" he was cut off by Prism covering his mouth and glaring at him. So maybe he had used that joke on her one to many times in the past when they played together, and she was beyond tired of it. He of course responded by licking her hand which she quickly retreated with a sound of disgust.

"anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, It is I, the one and only, best and brightest, coolest and smartest..est? Candace!!!" he exclaimed with a bow to the person as he finally spared them a glance. His face tinged red for a moment at their appearance, the clothing he was wearing tight against his muscles, "wow- I mean, muscles, I MEAN WHATS YOUR NAME? ahaha" he ended up almost yelling out as his face was beet red. He did not just say that, of course if he just pretended he didn't then it would be fine right, ehe?
interactions: Juju jmann ShredKnives |mentions: Cresion Breezes
---
Fabian let out the twentieth sigh in the last two minuets, rubbing his face in silent annoyance yet again. Charcoal was smeared on his face in various points, his fingers coated in the black carbon substance that he was using on the once black substance. A picture of his mom, or what he remembered of her. No matter how many of these he makes they never look right. He crumpled up the paper and through it inside the basket by his desk, one that was piling out with other such papers. Images of people from his school or just those who he had seen in the streets lined his walls, some charcoal others painted. Only good ones got to stay on the wall, and that was only until another one of his breakdowns occur and he ends up tearing it up and discarding it.

he ran his hair through his messy locks, pulling the headband he had been using off and discarding it next to the art supplies on his desk, he would pick this up another time. He stood up, cracking his back as he did so. It cracked in many places, especially near the top where his forever hunch tended to stay. He walked out of his room, the door wide open as always-its not like anyone else was ever in the house- his wool sock feet expertly making their way across the marble floors of their apartment. "Irene mute." his normally quiet voice spoke up, bouncing across the empty apartment walls as the metallic female voice responded, "yes Mr. Alves.", when he was a kid he used to get it to call him Fabian as he pretended that it was his mom when he was lonely. As he grew older he realized it didn't help.

Fabian opened his phone, clicking the delivery service as he ordered his usual from a restaurant down the street, contactless delivery, which meant no talking. Sitting down at an almost unused bar stool, he leaned his upper torso against the cold expensive counter- he wasn't sure if it was marble or what it was, all he knew was that it looked nice and felt nice on hot days. He opened the app he had heard so much about, he had hardly played it since he downloaded it, in fact most times when he started it up he got scared. What if people thought he was some creep? What if they somehow knew it was him?

shivering at the thought he looked back to the device, sitting up at the sudden notification that flashed on the screen. He had never seen this before, in fact he had never heard anything about it when he spent hours researching the game before he downloaded it. Gulping back his worry, like he had been told many times before, he took a few deep breaths, clicking his screen, surely it was just a normal notification right? It had to be since there was no decline option.

the bright light hurt his tired eyes as he threw his phone across the room, the clunk of it hitting the wall made him wince. Peering out from his place behind the counter-where he had taken refugee in his panic- he saw a random creature. Fabian grew confused, how did it get in here? This apartment was on the top floor there is no way an animal got into it. Not to mention no one on his floor had any pets, in fact he was pretty sure they were not even allowed pets in the building. Through his racing thoughts he didn't realize Moki had approached him until he felt the touch on his leg. He flinched back on instinct, falling on his butt as another bright flash engulfed him, this time sending his heart racing faster than it already was.
TW panic attack
as his eyes opened again-he didn't even know that he closed them- he found himself shorter than he was originally, in fact, the found that they felt smaller than they were originally. As they looked down their eyes widened, "What on earth?! Wait what's wrong with my voice?!" their voice came out more delicate than it normally was, in fact it sounded like that of a girls. They quickly shuffled over to the stove that they never used, straining their eyes to see their reflection on the glass. They jumped back at the sight, they were their in game character. Slowly they moved their hand up to their chest, feeling the small bounds of fat that sat there. They let out a scream, "What did you do to me?! I look like... I look like a pervert!" Fabian, or rather Enoki gasped out, panic gripping their chest as they crawled over to Moki, their eyes wind and frantic as they looked at the creature.

"I don't care about my magic, I want you to turn me back! People are going to think I am insane!" they hissed out, their breathing thinning as Moki seemed to continue without a care, "I don't want to meet you?! Turn me back! Moki!! MOKI!?" Moki of course had a schedule to keep as it quickly left as soon as it came. Enoki stared at their now cracked phone for what seemed like years as their breath came out in gasps, this was only interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Enoki flinched violently, immediately covering themself up with their puffy sleeves as if the person outside was going to see it.

they began to grow dizzy from their strangled breathing as they listened to the footsteps outside their door retreating. As soon as they heard the elevator door shut they jumped up, rushing to the familiar drawer in their kitchen. They fumbled around, their legs smaller than they were used to, their fingers too tiny as they pried open the pill bottle. They dumped a few into their hand as they quickly swallowed them dry. They then slid back down onto the floor as they pulled their hat over their ears, counting out things in the room as they tried to come down from their panic attack. Eventually after time had passed they managed to pass out.
TW end!

when Fabian woke up again they found themself back in their normal body, they would have thought it a dream if not for the half spilled pill bottle on the counter and their cracked phone still against the wall. Fabian managed to stand himself up, wincing at his pounding headache that burned against the clock light, signifying it being 4am. He shuffled to the door, grabbing their cold and soggy food that they plopped onto the counter. He sat there silently and ate until his alarm to go get ready for school rang. He let it ring a few times before he walked over and called in sick for school.

he numbly stared down at the reminder on the phone Moki must have left. Grabbing his pills for the day he made his way to bed and slept the rest of the day.

~later that night~​

his knee bounced a mile a minuet as he bit his lip as if he hadn't eaten in weeks, one of his hands in his pocket shaking the pills he had brought just in case. His eyes bored into the ground as he prayed no one look at him as he road the bus, fear eating away at him that everyone knew about last night, and where he was going now. As the bus got off at his stop he slinked out the doors and into the night. Pulling his hood of his coat over his head and a mask on his face he slipped into the park, hiding behind some trees far away from the crowd of other magik heros he could see. He made sure no one was near before he opened the app.

his body became incased in light as slowly a bunch of mushrooms grew out of him and encased every inch of skin until there was nothing left. Then all at once they popped off, the heads floating to the ground softly before puffing into nothing as Enoki now stood. Biting their lip they watched the others from afar, barely in hearing range as they struggled to hear what they were saying, far to nervous to get close. They just hoped Moki would get there soon and turn them back.
Juju

 

[Solirus]

Atrian​

"..."

Gleam tried to resume her cover, pressing up against the tree like she had found some particularly fascinating lichen or bug on the surface of it. But it was to no avail. She knew that maybe she should have stayed in the tree or on the flagpole, maybe entered from another entrance altogether...

Well, there was nothing for it now. She turned to face the person who addressed her, doing her best to look dignified and elegant assisted (she assumed) by her sharp outfit. "Why, I haven't the slightest what you mean. I'm simply a passer-by who happened to chance upon this gathering of some rather charming folk and was deciding on how to approach them." Her affected tone was planned to give off an "obviously not to be taken seriously" vibe without outright saying the truth. If this guy could extrapolate what she meant, all well and good. And even if he didn't...she still had a way in.

Now that she looked at him...damn, that was a good look too. Clearly it was pretty safe to assume that that furball's invitation wasn't entirely a trap or a scam of some sort, considering how everyone in the vicinity looked some level of ridiculous. Well, it mainly meant it wasn't a trap set up specifically for her, anyway.

Either way...it wouldn't do to try and skulk around any further. Time to get in there and find out what was up. Maybe she could get a bit more into character...put this bunch at ease.

With that, Gleam rested her hand on her hip, offering her arm to the man in military dress.

"It looks like the other visitors are forming into a group of sorts. Since we're both here, we may as well...and if they ask, we can just say we arrived together." As part of that invitation, she flashed her best approximation of a winning smile. There was certainly no immediate reason to carry out such a ruse, but a little roleplaying couldn't hurt when it came to forming relationships with these new acquaintances. And even if he refused, there was still many others to try and get familiar with.

Solirus

There were a million things Atrian wanted to say. It was evident that the person standing in front of him was hiding something, playing the part of bystander and ignorant. He would’ve liked to point it out, to exclaim he wasn’t some buffoon, to reveal his competence and how he could ascertain people’s intentions, but all of that in itself would’ve been dangerous.

Atrian rolled his eyes, “it doesn’t matter anyways” he said as he walked past her. He was in a negative mood, he needed to cancel his plans for bowling with some friends and would be crammed with extra work tomorrow just so he could be with people he had no clue about and now knew that they’d be willing to lie in a situation that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Ez sat at his desk, a steaming hot bowl of spicy ramen ramen perfectly done before him, even managing to have an egg this time! He blew on it with a happy hum falling from his lips, some music blaring from his headphones that let him hear it even though he didn't have them on. Grabbing his phone he turned it on, the background lighting up the room, the only light other than from his pc and some shitty lamp.

the familiar hum from the city outside his open window brought him peace as the game he had just been playing on his pc before he decided to get food. Magik Hero U. He signed in as usual, joy filling him at his spot still being safe from taking, despite that though he was going to work even more on it. As he began to play suddenly a notification popped up on his screen. Ez tilted his head, chopsticks in his mouth in confusion as he looked at it,
View attachment 1025543
"well that's new, I thought my character already was a magik hero?" it was then that Ez got flash banged by his phone, knocking him back as his chair tilted sending him flying to the ground with a yell, his phone still safely on his desk. Ez swore loudly as he shoved off a pair of questionably clean boxers from his head as he looked up at his phone. A creature sat atop his phone. Ez stared at it for a moment as it began to speak. He blinked.

Ez slowly stood up, Moki finishing its first sentence before Ez let out a happy squeal. Only stopping when a loud thud from next door and a shout shut him up. As it kept talking Ez swept it up in his arms, petting its head and ears as he planted kisses on its forehead. The creature seemed spooked for a moment but continued speaking inside Ez's arms as he continued to gush over the creature,

"wait check my what?" Ez managed to get out before his tired eyes were once again attacked by a bright light. His body was frozen mid pet as a sharp pain in his chest mixed with jolts of seemingly electricity went through him. Ez wondered if the egg he had today was really worth the supposed heart attack that he was having. Maybe he got too excited from the cute creature.

but as it came it went and Moki spoke again. Ez looked down and almost screeched again at his outfit,

"Oh fuck YES. The glasses are even here, do you know how hard I worked on that shit, I didn't sleep for 4 days!" he giggled happily, placing Moki down as it said to test his powers, "Oh yes yes yes! Okay whats my favorite move from the game uh Jubaline! no no, Crystal heart~. No, uhhh... OOOO I know!" Ez got himself into the stance oh so familiar from his character, doing several poses before pointing his arm out, clutching his arm for support with the other,

"ULTRA LOVE LAZER!" there was silence as the wall of his apartment was not in pieces and nothing came from his hand. Ez looked at Moki for a sec, "wait let me try it again!" he repeated the actions with the same result to which Moki responded before Ez interrupted it, "No, no give me a sec I can do this." he repeated his actions 4 times before Moki decided to go back to his phone and continue talking.

Ez almost laughed at the thought of sleeping but just offered a nod to Moki, "Oh wait, before you go!" he rushed forward and gave Moki another kiss on the head and a fluff of his cheeks before he waved it goodbye, "See you Momo!" now faced again with his seemingly empty yet messy room Ez immediately went back to trying different moves from the game, having lots of space in a room with only a mattress on the floor and desk with his two PC's. Of course his guitar was also over there but he could not bring himself to test anything on it in risk of breaking his baby.

of course as usual, Ez found no comfort of sleep in the night and continued his attempts at magic until 4am where he did his laundry in the sketchy basement with Old lady Micky from the ground floor who was always doing her laundry no matter what time it was(Ez would swear on this), who looked old enough to have met dinosaurs. She of course helped him with his laundry like always, giving him another stale lollipop before Ez went upstairs to get ready for school, chugging coffee(packed with sugar so that it tasted closer to syrup than coffee), and then packing some more for school.
---
"okay El Bruno the Second, keep watch while I am gone, and if anyone asks you make the best cappuccino North Side has ever seen." he spoke, waving goodbye to the cactus that sat on the counter, now proudly wearing Ez's apron as Ez turned the closed sign on and snuck out, thankfully Marcy decided to sleep at her parents house(crazy but oddly convenient), which meant Ez could slip out of his job for the meeting.

slipping to the side of the cafe in the ally with the trash cans and bowls for stray animals Ez took out his expensive phone(from a time when he still had money), and opened the oh so familiar app, this time clicking a new button. Ez's phone floated out of his hands as his feet also gently lift off the ground, his clothing disappearing as his body became pure yellow light. He then grabbed his phone, gliding it down his arms and legs as his clothing slowly appeared. Shaking his head his new hair appeared before he pointed his phone at his face, summoning his ears and glasses before in one quick motion doing the rest of his clothing. His phone then floated out of his hand, gliding in front of him for a moment before he grabbed it before doing a pose, a peace sign by his face his other hand by his hip that was jutted out as he floated gently back to the ground.

as his moment of epicness ended he noticed a stray cat(he had named her Lucy) staring at him with her big old eyes. They had a staring contest for a moment before Candance bent down and blew in her eyes causing her to blink, "WOOOOO LETS GO, I WIN AGAIN LUCY" he then quickly ran inside and grabbed her some food before returning to his stance before hand. He then climbed onto the garbage bin and got into a stance with his fist to the sky, "Alright Candace-he giggled lightly-, Lift off!" with that he jumped off the garbage can and proceeded to fall face first onto the ground, Lucy sparing him a glance as she ate her food. "ow ow ow, guess I don't get flight" Candace muttered as he removed a banana peel from his head and decided to walk to the meeting location.

surprisingly no one commented on his outfit choice as he made his way to the park, checking his phone every now and then before de-summoning it every five minuets or so(image touching grass? L). As he entered the park he saw another person in a magik hero outfit which caused his face to light up, "OH hey wassup! You must be a Magik hero too! Did Momo also get you to come here?" he asked loudly without seemingly a care in the world.
Juju ShredKnives

Unbelievable, Atrian thought as his mood began to sour further, Speaking extremely loudly and acting without a care in the world. Is there no one else that felt their lives were threatened that night?

Ok ok, keep your chill, you don’t want to create a bad impression in case we have to stick together. Atrian took a deep breath looking around, searching for any more people who were keen on skulking around.

#776598​

"Uh huh uh huh, yeah yeah I been doing that, get me 1000 more fresh accounts and we'll talk."

The sound of humming computer rigs and the flashing of various OLED screens washed the room in a strange science fiction atmosphere, though it was clearly just a normal student apartment room as long as the lighting was just a bit more normal. There was a rack on one side of the room, on it lined tow or three dozen smartphones all plugged in to an outlet so overclocked it would probably make the landlady faint again if she ever saw it, and also definitely a fire hazard. They were all running the same game, the most popular one that swept the market by storm recent, though it appears that no one was actually playing them

"Look buddy, just because I solved Shoujo Quest 3's WR seed doesn't mean seed solving is my forte, that game is 23 years old. If you want someone to solve the RNG of the most popular live service game I suggest you look for someone with more education than high school level."

Kiva Acrimoné crunched the aluminum can on her desk a bit as she spoke through her headset, while typing so rapidly on her keyboard that one may have the illusion that sparks were flying from them. On her multi-screen set up one of the screens were completely covered in 64 instances of the same game the smartphones on the rack were playing, but the PC's user herself was more fixated on some chat software.

"Yes the spreadsheet is getting updated, no it's not on cloud that thing is way too big, yes I have the up to date version, no I'm not giving it out for free."

She yawned while emotionally responding to whatever conversation she was having with the nebulous internet voices that came from her headset. Until an alert simultaneously popped up in all of the instances of the automated games that were running in the room. It seemed like about a hundred of them, and were then activated automatically by whatever script that happened to be running.

Kiva shuddered a little when it happened, not noticing what has happened in the game with the brief notification. It was a strange feeling.

"...I feel like I've just been roped into something I didn't sign up for." She muttered, causing a bit of confusing in whatever group voice chat and a wave of denial.

Out of the corner of her eye a bright light was seen, and also an...animal. Yes, that was an animal, indeed.

"I think a rabbit just got into my room. Brb guys."

There was indeed a "rabbit" there, Kiva had missed the initial bit of Moki's speech due to her headset and lack of attention to what happened, but she looked at the strange creature with dull eyes and an unamused expression. As Moki continued to speak Kiva reached out and grabbed the long rabbit-like ears. The weird animal seems to be struggling, but it continued to talk anyways.

"Ohhh..." Kiva said to herself. "It feels like a real animal, but that colouring is pretty awful, it would get hunted down by predators in no time in the wild, it's a miracle a species like this haven't gone extinct."

"Hmm..." Kiva tilted her head, whatever Moki said pretty much going into one ear and leaking out the other. "Maybe it's a toy, but who would make such an annoying and ugly toy, its dialogue is so complicated, that's not marketable to children at all."

Being deep in thought about how marketable this strange toy would be, Kiva held the creature up and tried to walk around. She felt a tug on her scalp as she walked and realized she stepped on her own hair. Wait. Her hair isn't that long.

There was an odd darkness and quietness in the room, the OLED screen lights faded and the ground has melted away into a dark clear pool of water. Something rippled out, the ripples centered on where Kiva was standing and expanded out and out, until it hit another set of rippling circles. There were obsidian black snakes hidden in the water, they slithered towards the human in the center, now nothing but a darken silhouette in this dimension of low humming and a dark clam pool of water. As the snakes move some spell seems to be casted upon them, transmuting the once live animals into fleshy ribbons that became increasingly inanimate as they approached Kiva, eventually becoming nothing but strips of fabric that constituted the obsidian coloured robe and scarf on her body.

A crack appeared in the dark cocoon, a shimmer of light casted through it. As the light was shone upon the completely dark hued outfit it solidified into various embroideries and button hooks, the slivery light swirled and set itself into place as more of Kiva's form was casted into it. The pattern of a serpent that appeared upon the long scarf came alive as soon as it was finished, the snake slitered upwards, eventually resting on top of Kiva's head, curling itself up and swallowing its own tail, levitating there silently.

Kiva narrowed her eyes, the light was too bright for her taste. Suddenly a weight was felt on her nose bridge as a pair of sunglasses materializes as if knowing how she felt. She paused for a moment, and decided to push them up to her forehead. It was better to see things as they were, even if she didn't like them.

Moki was still held in her hand after the ordeal was done, but Kiva let go soon enough, she had no more interest in the weird rabbit. Instead she could tell that what she was wearing were cosmetic items from the game that she never played for herself but so much for others, but the matted feeling and darkness of the fabrics reminded her of the untextured grey models used in development builds. One item that she didn't recognize was the "halo" on top of her head, being a snake eating its own tail, an ouroboros. Although she did recognize it as something, it was the logo of her automated video game grinding service. The circular autophagic snake represented the infinite cycle of grinding and upgrades presented in modern gaming, a futile and self-destructive effort that live service games use to cast plague onto the world. It seemed deep when she was 14.

"I'm not interested." She said to Moki, the latter seems to have ignored her.

"I said I'm not interested." She said again.

...
...
...

Back at her desk Kiva looked at her reflection the darkened screen of her now in sleep-mode computer. Her dark colour palette and somewhat disturbing looking "halo" sure didn't make a the impression of a "hero" or whatever the rabbit talked about. She felt like it was more of the look of a mid-season antagonist that gets an awfully written redemption arc before being killed off. She would rather have no redemption arc if that was the case.

She put her headset back on to rejoin the online voice chat.

"So guys...do you think I'm kind of like, villainous?"

----------------------------------------

The sound of over a hundred notifications going off was quite an experience.

"Holy shit! I get it! I'll do it okay!" Kiva yelled, while trying to disable the alarms of every one of the dozens of phones in her vicinity. She didn't really want to do what the rabbit said, because even if this was real, she felt like she had no business being a "magik hero" or whatever, she didn't look or act the part. But fate or whatever higher power that is controlling this seems to insist on it.

The night air was...the night air. Kiva was not one for waxing poetics after all. In a puff of dark smoke an suspicious snake jazzy sounds she walked out appearing in her alternate form. As annoying as this entire ordeal was, the identity hiding feature was a thing she enjoyed.

There were other people at the supposed meeting spot. Strange clothes that looks like they're from the game, check. Seems like dumb kids, check. Absolutely no normal reason to show up here at this time, check. Yes, this was the place, Kiva thought. She tapped her weird snake halo a bit, feeling its scaly coldness. What was this whole bit anyways? A fallen angel thing? This train of thought sparked something in Kiva though, as she smirked a bit. If she was going to get roped into this, then better make the most of it.

She climbed up a tree that is a bit more faraway and hid in the darken canopies, leaping from tree to tree as she got closer to the part of the park the meeting place was marked as. Parkouring in this form sure was easier, the landings didn't hurt the ankles or wrists at all. But soon she arrived beside the meeting place where a few other oddly dressed, presumably "heroes" gathered. Kiva cleared her throat and gathered her thoughts one last time, before taking a leap onto one of the streetlamps that over looked the park grounds.

"Welcome, fledging heroes." She said in a voice that is lower than her usual one, with a slightly regal tone. "I have not expected for so many to fall into my trap with such ease, perhaps cleansing this world of you utterly insignificant nuances would not be as arduous of a task as I initially thought." She waved her hand and turned her head to the side in what seemed like a scoff, but in reality Kiva was trying really hard to hold back a laugh.

"Tis a shame, seeing this oh so filthy pathetic world grow so weak, it pains me to be reminded of the imperfections that it bestowed upon me-pff." Kiva took a deep breath before (trying) to continue to speak. "Now! No longer shall this world see me as a fallen angel! I will dye the rivers red with the blood of false idols! I am the God of the new wor—Pffffftttttttt—"

Kiva leaped from the streetlamp and leaned against the pole at the bottom while barely being able to contain her laughter.

"Okay okay- I can't actually do this, that was so bloody awful. I don't even know why I thought I could make it through that, it sounded way more ridiculous than it did in my head." Her words were laced with various chuckles and wheezing.

"Anyways, did you guys put your phone on a hot plate or something too?" She shrugged and asked, before rolling her eyes and realziing she wasn't talkingwith people that knew her references.

"I mean, like, the whole notification, weird rabbit, weird outfit...and stuff...thing?" Kiva asked, making the gesture of holding a phone, holding a rabbit by its ears, and holding out an article of clothing respectively.

… In any other context that would’ve been remotely funny. But that’s just poor taste right now… Why did I even bother coming, I was really looking forward to bowling. Atrian took an even deeper sigh, crossing his arms and letting the breeze of the night alleviate the growing stress.

Time passed and more individuals arrived coming in different shapes and sizes, some even appearing to know what was going on, but Atrian didn’t believe for a second that someone late would know what was going on. Then suddenly he heard the shorter of the Muscular men talk.

Like a whip cracking through the wind, Atrian’s head turned to face him. The way he just talked, that pause before finishing the question, the slow and careful way he pronounced the name… Is that Henry? Upon further inspection Atrian remembered Henry helping him out clear some early level content to hopefully get him more invested in the game and Atrian can remember he used an avatar named Earthquake.

Atrian walked up towards Henry. If he knew it was Henry, then it’d be a matter of time until Henry would recognize his avatar. Knowing at least one person here should make this more bearable and perhaps safer, but I need to be 100% sure. Although maybe I’ll just stand here for now, I’ll let Henry finish talking with… Candace… they named themselves after a joke… Lovely.

Atrian left out one more sigh from the realization and just waiting for Henry to be finished talking

jmann seasonedcat Nellancholy Cresion Breezes

 

[Juju]

☆ Moki ☆
A familiar tune carried above the hum of conversation, dancing merrily in the night air and hushing the crickets. Somebody's phone was ringing with a notification from the MHU app.

It belonged to Enoki, the last to arrive.

In a flash, Moki leapt out of the phone (which appeared without Enoki's action) and landed deftly in front of the mushroom hero, tail swishing proudly. "How wonderful! Everyone is here! Well, everyone except for one, which is exceptionally low! Congratulations, heroes! Your bodies reacted well to your new magic! Consider your first test passed!"

Moki trotted towards the rest of the group, initially en route for the center of their gathering only to veer slightly off course when they got too close to Dopplewalker and Potentia. Their long ears twitched nervously as they instead hopped on top of Candace's head so that everyone could see them.

It would appear that the previous night's events had changed their trust for a few of the heroes, both positively and negatively.

Their tiny paws kneaded the fluffy hair of the yellow hero below them for a moment, like a cat, as they then continued to address the group. "As Moki promised last night, Moki will answer any questions! But first, Moki will explain things briefly to the new heroes."

They puffed out their fluffy chest proudly and closed their eyes in a look of chuffed contentment. It was as if they were reciting something they practiced several times.

"You have been chosen to become the champions of Light, tasked with defeating the creatures of evil and spreading hope and awe to the world through your heroic deeds. Each of you possess a strong virtue, and a high potential. This is difficult to translate into human language, but the most clear explanation is that your souls have a high capacity for Magik! In other words, you are very special!"

They bobbed their head, happy with their flawless words and added, "Of course, potential is not always guaranteed, so Moki is in charge of training and evaluating your performance. Moki was also very clever and observed your human school today. Moki noticed that notes are a preferred way to teach and transfer information. To save time, Moki has sent all important information about Magik Heroes directly to your phone."

Just as they said this, the group's phones all chimed simultaneously, manifesting in their hands. A new alert appeared on their screen, bringing them to a more detailed summary of Moki's words. "Please take a moment to read through this and refer back to your phone if you forget any details. Moki will add new information here as it is taught!"

Hardly giving any time to absorb the information, Moki pressed on, "In the meantime, Moki shall announce the teams you will be part of for training and missions! Isn't that fun? Teams are also better for safety, so cooperation is important for your wellbeing. The stronger the bonds between a team, the more resilient they are."

There was an unusual gravity to these words, something that Moki themselves seemed to notice, making them raise their tone in an overcompensating manner.

"Now, without any more delay, it's time for the announcement of teams! After consideration Moki has divided you into two teams. Team One shall include the heroes Candace, Earthquake, Gleam, Nexus, Prism, and Twilight. Team Two shall include the heroes Dopplewalker, Enoki, Pandora, Potentia, Sol Invictus and Starponaria."

After they finished assigning the teams, Moki looked over the assembled heroes. An ear flicked again in discomfort. Something troubling seemed to be on their mind, "Heroes should also be reminded that both teams cooperate together to cover large missions, such as tonight's. There is nothing gained from competition. Moki shall be evaluating each individual hero, including their ability to act as a team. Please look out for each other."

"Now… are there any questions for Moki? If not, we can proceed to the best part of becoming a Magik Hero! Moki won't be spoiling it though, so don't ask Moki! It is a surprise!"

seasonedcat Solirus jmann Nellancholy ShredKnives vainglory in bed stcrlight Cresion Breezes ThatWhichShouldBe Tiguidi

 

[Nellancholy]

"Haaa..."

Tonight was really paying off, in several ways. Unless she was somehow hallucinating from the tea she drank, it was abundantly clear to Callisto that some kind of strange force (dare she say magic?) was at play here. Fascinating, an incredible new avenue of study, something to really get down to the roots of. Imagine if she could get more than a weird dress, maybe she could cast all kinds of awesome spells...

The sting of being brushed off by Nexus (after HE was the one who approached her) barely registered now, but she gave a dramatic shrug and shook her head anyway before moving to follow him to the group. "Hehe, alright then..."

The same fluffy creature that had greeted her the night before certainly had a lot to say, and certainly seemed even more smug than before. The fact that it came out of their phones meant it wasn't a hologram of some sort, such features were very much in the prototyping stage and no commercial models had the necessary hardware. This meant, of course, that it was merely some kind of external force using their phones as a conduit.

What it said was quite interesting too...it said that their virtues were what gave them great potential for magic. Or Magik, as the case were. Gleam took a moment to glance at her peers, holding her tongue for the moment. She wasn't too sure what virtues were apparent in them. Being swole, perhaps. Or excessive sparkles. And really...what virtue was inside her that was apparently so valuable? They were being directed into teams, though...perhaps their virtues and the strange power they brought would become quite apparent in time. That included that rather cold fellow in the military uniform, Nexus...

Ignoring the beep from her phone, Gleam finally spoke out as Moki asked for questions. "Why yes, I do have a question. Mx. Moki..." She opened her arms a little, chuckling. "Not that we mind going with you on your little escapade, but I was wondering who your boss is? Your patron, your sponsor, your...master? The person you report to. Since they'd basically our boss too, I suppose we should know as well."

She didn't expect a straight answer from the marketable plushie, but they were the talkative type. If this question put them off balance, they might let something slip that would be useful to her own contractor...

Juju

 

[vainglory in bed]

Rinya Mikiyohen
-​

Rinya kept herself seated as she listened to the doormat's lengthy exposition. Supporting her nose with interlocking hands, she leaned forward as she absorbed the information. Her mind was racing, but she wouldn't let that show. Just to be sure, she skimmed through the info on her phone.

It's playing a game, that thing.

Indeed, the present situation served as a perfect example of the kind of nonsense people were willing to accept, so long as they heard it from a figure of authority. They had absolutely no idea what they'd gotten themselves into, and so they gobbled up the things told to them. Moki assumed the role of a mentor, thus it was trustworthy. Well, fortunately, Rinya was well acquanted with the tactic, and besides. . .

The whole premise stank unbearably foul.

Before she could address all the problems which stood out to her, another girl went straight for a question. It wasn't a bad one, but she doubted any meaningful response would be offered. Chains of command were never that straight-forward in the first place.

"More importantly, why don't you explain things to the 'new heroes' as they really are?"

Rinya raised her hand ahead of speaking, but didn't wait to be called upon. She berated the creature in a tone that suggested a range of circumstances, from confused anger, to a condescending master scolding their pet. The discrepancy between those two was a fully conscious decision. Once authority is publically challenged, it has to account for its words.

"By 'defeating evil and spreading hope,' you mean risking death, don't you?"

Death wouldn't make her happy.

"There's no option besides accepting magic once you've seen it firsthand, but wouldn't you say something here is still quite unbelievable? You want everyone present to rush to their deaths because you told them to, so shouldn't you be a bit more honest, rat? What compels anyone to do as you say? Why shouldn't they walk out and enjoy their lives like normal, without fighting your wars for you?"

The apparition leaned on her fist, tilting her head along its surface.

Death wouldn't make her happy, so she refused to die for anyone.

"Oh, and for the record, I don't recommend admitting to stalking children around school all day, that's just ostensi—ahem, very creepy."

Rinya tried as best she could to cull fancy vocabulary from her speech, so that she wouldn't be recognized. Then again, she didn't consider that too likely. Who'd ever guess that a timid, eager to please vice-president could be so dangerously nitpicky? She had more concerns, but for now she decided to settle down. After her short tirade, others would also be forced to become a bit more sensible, she hoped.

 

[Juju]

☆ Moki ☆
Moki tilted their head at the question, trying to comprehend what was being said. It was clear that the concept of boss and patron were not ones they were used to. "Oh Moki thinks Moki understands now. Moki doesn't know them! Moki thinks? Is that what boss means? Things above and things below do not matter so much as things together and why. Master is a strange thing, like principal and mayor and boss. How can Moki say this? Oh…"

Their ears flopped asymmetrically in confusion, "Ah, Moki will use the term "master" in hopefully the correct way! What is 'master' to Moki is not 'master' to you. Did Moki use that word right? Hmm… Moki will get back to you!"
Nellancholy

Moki's ears drooped, flattened dramatically against their body when the next round of questions -- or rather angry chastisement -- came from none other than Potentia. They looked like a rabbit huddled in snow, almost as if physically pained by the negative outburst.

"Say things as they really are? Moki doesn't understand… that is what…" they winced at the word 'death' their starry eyes wide. "Oh…"

Moki waited for Potentia to finish, watching her cautiously. When her barbed words ended there was a moment of silence. Moki stood up straight and spoke in a serious tone, if not a bit hurt.

"If Potentia wishes to undo her blessing, Moki can arrange this… it is not too late yet. Still, Potentia is concerned about running to her death, when returning to her human self would put her at greater risk. Potentia's Magik would be no more, and would be unable to protect herself from the growing darkness. Potentia would be human again, forgetting, oblivious, unable to see evils until it was too late. Potentia does not want to risk herself for others, but would Potentia wish for a hero to protect her? Maybe Potentia already has been protected. She needs it more than most here."

A wind gusted the trees, unusually chill for the otherwise pleasant evening.

Suddenly Moki raised their tone, ears popping back up and bobbing their head cheerfully, "But you shouldn't be scared! Moki is here to make sure the new heroes are safe as they train to become full Magik Heroes! This is why Moki put you in teams and is training you! Moki will always be here to keep you safe! Don't be so down on yourself! With enough training, no evil can take down a fully fledged team of Magik Heroes! Moki has a really good feeling about the newest heroes and believes in them even if they don't believe in themselves!"

Back to their peppy self, Moki began pawing at Candace's hair again, perhaps a little self consciously. "...and Moki thought attending school with the heroes was a good thing, so Moki could learn too. Maybe Moki will use other sources instead…"
vainglory in bed seasonedcat

 

[seasonedcat]

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊Enoki𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Enoki gazed at the group of people from afar, pushing themself tighter against the park tree in hopes that they wouldn't get noticed. There were so many others here, some of them even seemed to know each other, most of them seemed friendly enough... but what would they think of them when they found out who they really are? Enoki shivered, face dropping into an even more worried expression. They just hoped they could get a hold of Moki and make it turn them back, they wanted nothing to do with this.

just as their thoughts turned to Moki an unfamiliar ringtone filled their ears. They gazed around for a moment, waiting for the person to pick up until it clicked to them that this was their phone. Their face flushed a sharp shade of red as they quickly began ruffling around their clothing looking for the thing. Despite finding no pocket their phone seemed to appear in their hands as they did so. Of course their panic lead to the phone flying out of their grip, their desperate attempts at catching it only resulted in the thing falling further away until it hit the dirt with a thunk. Enoki flinched at that, probably another crack...

it was just then when the phone had a moment of stillness that Moki popped out. It's voice spoke loudly in the court yard, "Moki! I waslookingforyounevermindimsorry." their voice shrunk rapidly like a deflating balloon as they realized eyes had turned to them, or well more to Moki who was in front of them. They shrank in on themself, their mouth dry as the eyes bore into them making their flesh burn. They shook as they shakily stepped behind the tree they were once hiding in and sinking to the ground, their back sliding against the trunk. Pulling their large hat down flat against their arms as they could in an attempt at hiding they prayed to disappear.

they flinched at the mention of their character's name, peeking out a little from the tree to glance at the addressment. Moki continued on after it so Enoki deciding peeking out a little and watching what was happening wasn't too bad. They just hopped that Moki would finish talking soon so that they could get rid of this stupid outfit and turn back to how they normally look. Even if the outfit was cuter in person.
Juju
---
Candace
Candace's momentary moment of almost, KEY WORD ALMOST, losing his cool was interrupted by a soft weight landing on his head. The familiar voice of his child filled his ears as Candace practically melted on the spot. Candace froze, bringing his hands up to his mouth as tears filled his eyes. A look of pure happiness took over his features as he let out a contained joyful 'EEEEE' in his throat, practically shaking from restraining hugging Moki on the spot.

Candace joyfully stood as they attempted to listen to Moki through his excitement. At the ping on his smart phone he opened it up as instructed before seeing the many lines of text and closing it without reading it-he would read it later(no he wouldn't). At the mention of the teams Candace almost jumped happily before he realized that if he did he would disturb Moki. So instead he settled with a celebratory fist bump to the sky.

"Prism we get to be together! The perfect Team Beans(TM) shines again!" Candace called out happily to the other-probably interrupting her reading of the info, "Can you believe it I told you I was main character material! I mean my backstory isn't edgy enough, BUT WE CAN WORK ON THAT! I'm thinking magik hero mafia? What do you think? Come on you know I have a point" he raised his eyebrows at her with a smile, encouraging her to agree with him.

it was Moki's sad tone that brought Candace's attention back to the group. His eyes turned to slits as he scooped the baby off his head and cuddled it to his chest, planting its body on his forearm so it could still see and talk to the group, "Don't listen to them Momo they have no clue what is a cool thing, I think this hole thing is great. In fact it has been the best thing that happened this month- no week- can't forget when I took YurMuum33's place in ranking, ah sweet Victory, last time they will shit talk me for sure- BUT ANWAY, I think Momo is cool, and amazing, and that this is all great." he then glared at the Potentia and Gleam,

"I don't know what your issue with my child is but if you want to hang around me or my child I want none of this talk! Just look how sad you made it," Candace huffed, petting Moki as they did so, "So no more of that or you can not hang out with us! Momo is great and wonderful, and the cutest~-clears throat- so I have no idea why you think that Momo would ever lie to us let alone its father!"
Juju vainglory in bed Nellancholy |@everyone since you are all here as well

 

[Cresion Breezes]

#776598​

Kiva shrugged after a few more people arrived, and then with a few flips and steps jumped back onto the top of the street lamp she perched on formerly.

"Aww, guess my acting wasn't cringe enough, I wanted to see if someone would attack me if this magic thing was real." She yawned while sitting on the street lamp, coincidentally getting further away from the weird rabbit thing that seems to want to avoid her. So it does have the capacity to learn and remember things, and also probably didn't like it when it gets held up by the ears.

She glanced at the people who arrived, although anonymity was a thing, it was pretty clear that these 'heroes' that showed up were all kids in some way. They all talked in that way middle and high schoolers did, either overly excited, overly confused, or trying too hard to sound mature. At least she can admit she has issues, most other people don't. There was some hostility in the air, as two of those self-important sounding kids really went in ham with some questions. Kiva had those burning in her mind too, but she decided asking right now would probably get nobody nowhere. Hostility will just burn things down in the future, that's the number one rule of doing business. She raised her eyebrow at the statement about attending a school with the heroes that Moki said...So it means that these heroes are all in school, judging by the tone and demeanor of the others it would likely be high school or above, and there was only one prominent high school in the area...Maybe she would skip classes less in the foreseeable future.

Virtue, huh? Kiva thought, she didn't really have any opinion on this entire thing, she always went where life carried her and did what she want, even if there might be consequences down the line. Virtue, no one has ever said that about her. She got up from her sitting position on the lamp post and leaped down again, getting between the somewhat hostile seeming cosplaying magical teenagers and the weird rabbit.

She had a cheery smile on her face, though her eyes were dark like a bottomless obsidian pool. "Now now, there's no need to be like that, peace breeds prosperity after all, it would be bad for business." Although Kiva tried to smile in a chipper way, she doesn't know how sincere it would look because of her outfit and the waning moonlight. "But I am curious, you said something about virtue, little rabbit?"

She leaned into Moki and the other kid who was serving as a makeshift pedestal and asked, staring directly into the creature's eyes, but quickly withdrew herself and spun around dramatically. "No one has ever praised me so you know, I'm surprised, perhaps even a bit honoured. For me it's always '▇▇▇, you're awful' or '▇▇▇, you're like, totally a villain', the best thing someone said to me is 'I have a nice bed ready for you...when I break both of your legs'." The quotes were given much dramatic emphasis, perhaps even too much. "So," She rounded back to Moki and Candace, still smiling, "maybe you can let us know what our 'virtues' are, you said teamwork is important and getting to know what each other stands for would help that, right?" The girl tilted her head in an innocent and inconspicuous matter while glancing at Moki out of the corner of her eye, her tone brimmed with curiosity, nearly impossible to disconcert whether genuine or not.

 

[Juju]

Marceline ☆ Prism

Interaction: seasonedcat Solirus jmann Tiguidi Nellancholy || Mention: Cresion Breezes​

All doubts of whether or not this Candace was the ‘real’ one was dashed as soon as the catchphrase was uttered. It was like a knee jerk reaction for Ez, one that Prism predicted the moment she saw his lips form the first syllable. Out of habit, she covered his mouth to interrupt the dirty joke, and immediately regretted it.

She drew her hand away in disgust, staring down at where Canadace had licked her palm, like some child at a playground. “What the!? Gross…”

The childish defense had unfortunately worked as Prism was forced to retreat and looked around for something to clean her hand with. There was NO way she was soiling her outfit because of Candace’s immaturity. She eventually settled with wiping her hand on the grass, letting the dew collecting there do its job. At this time of night the grass was fragrant and cool, and calmed her down enough to restore her shattered composure.

Prism rejoined the group, staying near Candace and watching the others cautiously. Surprisingly, Candace knew quite a few people here. Well, more accurately it seemed as if people knew him. Most of them looked nice enough, though she had to admit the towering guy who looked like he could punch a mountain was more than a little intimidating. There was another beefed up guy, but this one caught her eye over the others for one reason -- his outfit. It was out of place primarily for how ordinary it was, almost like he took whatever he had in his closet. Was he hiding his hero’s outfit? Prism narrowed her eyes, trying to think of a reason why he would do such a thing. Was it to protect his identity, or something else. Could it be that he was embarrassed? Oh no. What if his hero outfit was just a speedo? Candace had joked about characters who looked like that.

However, despite all this he was certainly far from the most suspicious character here. Prism couldn’t help but grow defensive at the arrival of the apparent ‘villain’. Initially she was caught off guard, unsure if this was a genuine threat or a prank, but as the monologue went on it was painfully obvious. Prism sighed as the prankster and Candane howled with laughter, cursing silently under her breath. Not another jokester to keep tabs on.

Moki couldn’t come sooner. She was beginning to grow restless, wondering what the cause of the delay could be, and that’s exactly when the chiptune alert sounded from someone’s phone. She listened to Moki’s explanation carefully, and was once again overwhelmed by so much to absorb at once.

Prism frowned in concentration, studying every word on her phone and commiting it to memory. Whatever they faced going forward, she would have to learn everything she could and remember more. Candace wasn’t exactly the most responsible at the best of times, and there was much more at stake here than just rent money and grades. The new bloom of worry in her gut almost made her miss the team announcement, but thankfully Candace’s restless (and very excited) fidgeting brought her back to earth.

‘So we are in teams. That’s good… but…’

She didn’t dare to think it, but there was a possibility she and Canadace would be on different teams. Her chest tightened at the thought, her ears flicking back as the names for team one were called out one by one. The worst case scenario played in her head, until finally she heard the name.

It was like a balloon of dread suddenly popped. Prism’s shoulders slumped and she let out a breath of relief. Her cat-like eyes turned to Cadace and she shook her head, smiling lightly, “Team Bean? Did you just trademark it? Nevermind, we can figure out a better name later, but for now we should figure out who the others are.”

She blinked in surprise when Candace grabbed Moki and declared the small animal as his ‘son’. Of course he wasn't listening. It was all typical Candace behaviour, but that didn’t make it all the more tiring. Prism placed her hand over her face, “Candace, you can’t just call them your son…”

Of course, her words were unheeded as Candace held onto his ‘son’ and scolded Dopplewalker and Potentia. Looks like she was going to have to be the responsible one again.

“To be fair, those sorts of questions are to be expected, though the tone could certainly use improvement…” she flicked her eyes towards the two transgressors, but she was careful not to give them too much attention. Sometimes that made things worse. Instead she cleared her throat. “As for my question, who here is Earthquake, Nexus, Gleam and Twilight? I'm not sure how long we have until our mission begins, but I think it would be helpful if we all knew each other before then.”

Moki had said something about team bonds and safety, and as far as she was concerned that was her first priority. Trust would make things easier, and that started with knowing who you would be working with. Prism placed a hand on her chest, “I’m Prism, and I’m sure you know who this is by now.”

She motioned towards Candace with a hand. She was purposely avoiding his name, refusing to walk into yet another one of his poor jokes.

 

[Nellancholy]

As expected, the questions that Moki asked for ended up giving it pause. "What is 'master' to Moki is not 'master' to you." Gleam didn't believe that was a lie, so much as a dodge to avoid telling the whole truth. It seemed that this creature wanted to put some distance between the heroes and whoever it was they served. Which also meant that Moki wasn't the one ultimately giving the orders...and this mysterious figure could even be the source of their power?!

Another one of the heroes (apparently named Candace) took a certain amount of offense at Moki's apparent distress, attempting to comfort them and getting all huffy at Gleam and Rinya. Apparently Magik Hero U was popular enough to have people really invested in the game and its characters, huh? That was kind of news to Gleam, though the scale of its operations would suggest as much.

"Oh, don't worry your little head about it...Candace." She smiled thinly, flipping her bangs and looking slightly to the side to signal herself backing off. "I've no intention of bullying Moki beyond giving them the question they asked for."

seasonedcat

Nevertheless, Moki had divided them into teams, and now it was apparently time to move on to the meet-and-greet phase. Prism was the first to present herself. She seemed nice enough...but who knew what secrets hid under that pretty hair of hers? Candace, for better or worse, was in the same group as well. He seemed quite the overachiever, at least as far as the game was concerned. Gleam wondered how far that could take them...despite his eccentric personality. And Nexus...she wasn't too sure, but maybe that was the nosy guy in the sharp uniform?

Gleam spread her fingers, laying her hand on her chest. "Please, do call me...Gleam." She did need to take a moment to be sure of her name. "I am merely an ordinary passer-by whose curiosity was piqued by this gathering...and it appears Moki has seen fit to allow me to partake of their gift as well." Untrue, but would anyone call her out on it?

Juju