[1] video. | un:sk8rboi

[thirteenth]

WHO: Roxas and you!
WHERE: Libra
WHEN: around 11pm on 10/24
WHAT: Roxas has no idea what's going on here, but maybe you can help.
WARNINGS: none!



[The video never shows his face. It's a feed of the sky, of the aurora that only they can see. It just stays on for a while, probably about thirty uninterrupted seconds of the shifting lights accompanied by the sounds of a light breeze and distant traffic.]

It's been four days. There isn't anything in the news about it.

[His tone is mixed wonder and distrust, but it's hardly strange for that to be the case for a first-time poster, isn't it?]

I can't get rid of this app. The sky's changed. There's... weird things happening. But a lot of the people I'm seeing make posts seem to know a little more. So I'm giving it a shot.

[No matter what, though, he hasn't turned the camera on himself. He's not that ready to trust yet.]

What's happening?

Comments

video; un: midnightfishing

[illucesco]

—oh, hey, you’re new.

[Has it really just been a matter of months since Noctis himself was new to the app? And now here he is on the other side of it.]

From what I know the sky’s just…kind of been like that for a while, people like us just never saw it before. [A pause.] And, uh, yeah, there’s no getting rid of the app, either. I know people who’ve tried.

I’m going to DM you something in a bit. Don’t worry, it’s significantly less ad-riddled. [And he’s just going to drop off a link to the Gemini app in Roxas’s DMs.]

voice. un: sk8rboi

[thirteenth]

[oh, that's helpful. weird, but helpful.]

I even tried factory resetting my phone. Not a huge deal, since I broke the last one a week ago, but.. still. This is supposed to be...what, magical spyware?

[illucesco]

As much as any app can be considered spyware to some degree, these days. But no, it’s magic social media. Blame Zodiac.

[Noctis usually does.]

It’s ultimately harmless, just annoying. But it showing up on your phone does mean that you’re going to be dealing with a lot more overtly supernatural stuff soon. And I do mean a lot more.

[thirteenth]

Supernatural.. how?

[Because things are weird, but...]

Is this stuff gonna follow me outta the city?

[illucesco]

Probably! I leave the city sometimes to go fishing, and the ambient weirdness sticks around. But it doesn’t get as weird and life-threatening as it does in the city.

[A pause.]

It, uh, does get life-threatening a little too often.

video · un: vinviv

[mehjin]

Sky's always been that way. You just couldn't see it 'til now.

[viv isn't half as hesitant to show her face as roxas is — she's positively eager, in fact, which is why he'll be receiving a feed of this weird... purple woman casually lifting a hand in greeting, her face impassive.]

Welcome to the party.

video. un: sk8rboi

[thirteenth]

[the feed is still the sky; but he's not missing that this is a purple woman. what the fuck.]

... Are you purple?

[this is the most important part of this conversation, hang on.]

[mehjin]

Yup.

[she doesn't elaborate.]

[thirteenth]

... Have you always been purple?

[that's okay he's got questions]

Video

[prunedworlds]

"It's not on the news because most people can't see it. You started seeing it when this app appeared, right?"

Granted she's an otherworlder, herself, but she's heard about how it goes.

voice. un: sk8rboi

[thirteenth]

Weirdly enough, yeah. Couple... other things started happening, too, at the same time. Are we having a collective stroke or something?

[prunedworlds]

"Not really. Just one of those things where people without magic can't normally see or notice all the magical stuff going on. But the app makes people able to, somehow?"

Don't ask her how she had not clue.

"It's been around for a couple years, I think. I'm not sure, I've only been here a little over a year."

[thirteenth]

Magic. Actual magic?

[surely he heard that wrong. of course, it makes everything make sense, but that's just not possible.]

You've seen the magic happening?

UN: JOJO

[standless]

[A very friendly bat answers the phone! He fits into the screen with unfortunate ease.]

Not to worry young man, the sky hasn't changed at all! And truthfully I should say that things seem quite typical in the city at this moment...

[Oh but that isn't very helpful is it. Give him a moment.] Though, could it be that you presumed much of it mere decoration until now? I have been mistaken for such, repeatedly in fact!

[thirteenth]

[the video remains fixed on the sky, but it goes... very, very still.

[that is a bat. talking to him.]

Yyyyyeah, I'm starting to hear that this is just... normal? But I sure didn't see it this way until a few days ago.

[and then, after an uneasy pause,]

... You're a talking bat.

[standless]

Indeed not? Not even with the veil, I was told it was making things rather more difficult to hide...hm?

[Blink blink. Yes, hm?]

Yes, quite!

...Oh! [He abruptly looks quite pleased.] ...Are you meaning to say that, even with the magnificence of the sky and such, I am yet the most bizarre thing you've seen so far?

[thirteenth]

I mean... yeah? [He thinks??? He thinks he's understanding what you said??? It's been a year or so since his Shakespeare unit in class.]

The aurora is a magnetic reaction in the atmosphere. There's some science backing it up, even if it shouldn't be happening here. This? Definitely weirder.

text; un: doordasher

[doublethumbsup]

oh oh ok i got u dude
nice vid btw

so like
its some kinda magic world? i guess
did u get through the weird maze thing too ?
and like sometimes u just wake up a new guy i guess

ok maybe i dont got u
but uuhhhhh
people are p cool?

text; un: sk8rboi

[thirteenth]

lol thanks
its weird but pretty fr
cant pass that up

what maze are you talking abt
been here my whole life

[doublethumbsup]

yah i kno
real pretty but then ur like
"weeeeeeeeird"
and it kinda kills the vibe a little u kno

ohhhhh
oh they said that happens sometiems
u like
wake up and oops u see all the weird stuff
sorry man that didnt happen to me so uh
maybe somebody else knows better

[thirteenth]

think itll make it a little less terrifying if this kinda stuff keeps getting worse tho
like
oh yeah everything is super scary and there are monsters or whatever
but at the end of the day when ur safe
pretty sky

ok but what did u mean abt magic world
like ur not from here
u an alien or smth??

text | un: shinope

[killerapp]

welcome to the supernatural people will think youre crazy if you try to tell them about this shit and they dont already know. did Noct get you the Gemini app?

text | un: sk8rboi

[thirteenth]

i thought they might so i posted here first
glad that was the right choice

is noct the scruffy guy??
so this isnt more spyware

[he looks real familiar.]

[killerapp]

yeah thats Noct. and its not spyware its just another app for supernatural people but one not run by Zodiac.

[thirteenth]

ok so its safe
but whos zodiac