maskormenace | 001

[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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

001 - VIDEO

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