maskormenace | 001

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001 - VIDEO

[There's the sound of some fumbling with the communicator as someone struggles to get the thing oriented and recording. For a moment, there's a flash of one giant, emerald green eye close up to the lens as the owner inspects the device.]

Is this...is this thing on? Is it recording...? Gods dammit...how the hell...

[More fumbling. Then another voice offscreen can be heard: 'Hey boss, you want me to show you how to--']

No. Look, I got this. Go over there and finish checking the inventory and let me--

[Finally, he manages to get the comm aligned and recording. The blue haired newcomer looks absolutely exasperated.]

Okay, I think I've got it. Anyway, I'm not sure who all can see this? But I'm having some issues here. Now, I, for one, am glad that I was provided employment upon working here. I kinda wish it was more in my field, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, am I right? I've run a shop before. I know business. I know how to sell. I can sell a full set of plate mail to an eighty year old wind mage. My point? I can do this job. Here's the problem:

[Darin tilts his comm to show his store, namely the Thot Topic in Nonah that he has been given management of. The store is in great shape and people are shopping and being helped by the staff. But over by the entrance there stands three seemingly disaffected teens. Two girls and a guy, and they are all taptaptapping away at their phones.]

Can someone explain to me what the hell is happening here? They've been here for hours. They're here every other day, it seems. They don't talk. The best part? Hang on.

[Okay, looks like we're moving now. Darin walks over to the group and not-so-discreetly circles them while holding his comm aloft. Maybe some eagle-eyed viewers might catch one of them texting 'omg, the old blue haired guy is back guys lmao' before Darin walks back to his original position towards the back of the store.]

Did you catch that? Did you? They're sending those messages to each other. They're talking to each other! Through their little devices! Instead of using words! Culture shock my ass, is there a priest or something out there? Because I think these kids are possessed and I do not deal with ghosts. Seriously, if anyone can offer me any insight into what the hell is wrong here, I will give you ten percent off of whatever the hell you want from my store. Hell, make it twenty percent.

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Well, step one to helping him is wanting to help him, so at least you got that one downpat. Step two's probably to have a really dope sword, [ Magnus says, looking pointedly at Darin's sword,] so that's steps one and two all dealt with.

[ He shrugs. The smart thing would probably be to tell Darin to kill the guy, save himself, not subject himself to that sort of power and misery. But that's never how Magnus has lived his life and he doesn't think that's how his new friend lives his life either; life's too short a prospect to waste it on regrets. You need to keep on moving forward, no matter where that takes you. ]

You won't know unless you try. You much of a fighter, Darin?

No, not at all. I actively avoid bar fights in general because I find them to be boorish and in no way shape or form hilarious to participate in.

[Do you detect the sarcasm, Magnus? Maybe the fact that he's got a giant shit-eating grin on his face is a bit more of a giveaway.]

I'm no wilting flower, if that's what you're asking.

I was gonna say that if you weren't, I could help train you up, but with that kind of attitude? Looks like we're gonna need to spar instead!

[ Magnus is never one to back away from a challenge, even if a challenge wasn't even implied in the first place. He's just that kind of guy. ]

Sir! I'll have you know that, not only have I personally outfitted half of the elite royal guard of Alvale, but I've also trained under them. I make it a personal creed that every weapon I forge, I know how to use. I may not have mastered them all, but trust me when I say I can fight.

That said? I'd be happy to spar with you. Buuuuut...in the spirit of being fair? There's probably something you should know about me.

And I'm a carpenter, but you don't see me braggin' about it, [ Magnus says, as only someone who's typically deeply unimpressed with anything with 'royal' in the name can. Then he pauses and slaps at his gut as he laughs loudly. ]

Wait, I just did! Scratch that!

[ -- wait, okay, Magnus, focus. ]

What d'you have to tell me?

Uuuh...let's see. How do I put this.

I ah...

I'm really strong.

Like. Unnaturally strong.

Ah.

[ You know, you can only spend so long around fellows with superpowers before starting to feel really cheesed off that the only superstrength you've got is the one you've always had - which is to say, he works out a lot.

Man, he wants cool superpowers too. ]

All right, dish. What's your deal?

My deal? There is no deal!!

[Darin laughs nervously. It's not like he was born specifically to end the world. That would be stupid!]

I'm just. Y'know! Strong! I was born that way! Hahahaha!

Nah. I was born strong. Other people have got superpowers. You don't go around warning people about being strong if you're just a regular-person level of strength!

[ Like Magnus! Who nobody would have ever accused of having regular-person strength before considering the dumb shit he pulls but, alas, he has seen what people here are really capable of. It really threw his position of being the strongest guy around into peril. ]

Alright, look. Apparently it's not a big deal here since they hand out powers to people when they get ported in. But...I wasn't given any powers when I arrived here. I just kept the ones I was born with. And they're far from super.

Truth is, I don't really know how physically strong I am. I never actually tried to push that limit out of fear of what I'd be able to do. Right now, my current threshold is eight years ago, when I was sixteen, I managed to hold up the better part of a house that was coming down when its foundation was washed away due to a storm. That's about where I'm at.

[ Magnus whistles. ]

That sounds pretty super to me, bro. I mean, some people - [ him ] - train their whole lives just to get stronger. Doing that, being able to help people like that, be reliable in something like a storm - that doesn't sound like such a bad thing.

It is when people look at you like some kind of...freak. And you realize that you could very easily kill someone by accident just by...being you.

[He sighs. He just made such a fantastic new friend. He'd hate to ruin it by telling Magnus the source of his power; the fact that he's the vessel for a world-ending demon. That's the worst way to make friends.]

I've spent my entire life training my body just so it matches my strength. I've trained myself on how to focus; the physically limit my strength to something that would appear normal. If I didn't, I could....I dunno.

Crack the ground just by walking? Things like that.

Well... if it makes you feel better, I don't think you're a freak for having superstrength - or for using it to help people. That's how it oughtta be.

[ Maybe he should acknowledge that it's a curse - but how can he? All his life, he's wanted nothing more than to get stronger, and each and every time he hits a wall, he knows he's not strong enough. He'd give anything for that kind of strength, even if it meant having to learn how to control it. You could protect anything and anyone you wanted with that at your disposal. ]

Sounds like the only thing you're telling me is that you're the right guy to have it.

That's...

[Wow. Darin's always looked at his powers as a curse. An omen of his prophesied future. He'd learned to conceal his strength, learned to at least kind of pass for normal back home. He even made his outward appearance; his blue hair being a physical trait only exhibited by demonkin and beastkin in his world, into something positive. A selling point, almost. But for all of the work he'd put into himself just to hide who and what he was, he was never told that he was good for it. He just assumed what he did would be what anyone would do. Even though, deep down, he knew that wasn't true, Dromas being unliving proof of that, he still considered it duty over choice.]

[Being told he was the 'right guy' to be burdened with the fate of his world? And possibly this one? Not something he expected to hear, least of all out of someone he'd just met.]

I...

[He genuinely doesn't know what to say. For once, his bravado he uses to hide his own insecurities melts away, and the young man struggles to find an adequate response.]

Thank you. I'm not...well, I'm not used to talking about it. Like I said, these sort of powers back home tend to be...well...demonized.

[For lack of a better word.]

...Doesn't mean I wouldn't be up to spar, though.

If you've gotten flak for it, I can't blame you for not wanting to talk about it much, but... here's the way I see it: I've seen a lotta people who can't handle having that kind of power on their side and things go sour. If you got power and you're worried about it instead of getting carried away with it, then better you than one of them.

[ He thumps Darin on the back with a grin that belies the serious subject matter at hand, earnest as anything. It's not anyone's fault for getting possessed by the relics, but Magnus has seen people go mad with other kinds of power too; it seems that without proper caution, without an eye towards what's good and right, it'll always corrupt. And until he sees any evidence that this guy's someone to watch out for, he's happy to continue on assuming that he's going to do his best with the gift he's been given.

Because it is a gift, whether Darin thinks it is or not. It all depends on your point of view. ]

Which is to say, hell yeah we'll spar. I'm no slouch for someone without superpowers! Maybe you can even teach me a thing or two.

[Again, Darin really doesn't know what to say. He's always associated his strength, his powers, with what he was meant to be. If he had to use his strength, he always tried using it for good. But doing so made him worry that maybe he shouldn't use it at all. Maybe using this power would cause whatever was inside him to wake up and get stronger.]

[He's never been able to put such a positive spin on it before.]

...I can't help but feel like you've already taught me something.

Yeah?

[ Magnus chuckles, shaking his head. ]

First time I've heard that one. [ He is not, as it goes, a man who is frequently told that he's taught anyone much of anything. He gets it. He's more of a do-er than a thinker and people rarely look towards him for any nuggets of wisdom. ]

But hey, I'm glad. Why don't you close up shop and we'll get outta here?

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001 - VIDEO

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