kaisou | Aria gets an app on her phone

Aria gets an app on her phone

Who: Aria, Belle, and Whoever else happens to be at RandomPlay
Where: RandomPlay
When: March 7th
What: Aria has a small panic attack
Warnings: None

[It’s a normal day at RandomPlay for Aria when she hears a notification on her phone. She goes to check it, thinking that maybe it has something to do with her latest song cover. When she notices that it is in fact not that and instead an app she distinctly does not recognize. This realization causes her to panic and run out of the backroom in a rush, anxiety overtaking her shyness.]

AAAAAAAAAAA! MANAGER, I THINK SOMEONE HACKED MY PHONE. WHAT DO I DO?!?

[The panic about the phone app did cause her to not realize she now also has bright pink rabbit-like carbuncle ears and a carbuncle tail.]

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[Belle, rearranging a few movies misplaced by customers, looks up with a furrowed brow as she hears Aria's panicked screech. Huh, was that—

—wait what does she mean somebody hacked her phone—

Belle puts the DVDs down for a moment, holding up her hands now in a gentle manner, not unlike that of someone trying to calm a panicking horse. She's an old hat at this by now, even though deep inside her a new nervousness squirms inside her gut at the thought of Aria getting in the kind of danger the app users tend to face. She almost hopes Aria had been hacked, actually.]

Aria, hey, calm down. It'll be fine. Can you give me your phone so I can look it over?

[Aria takes a deep breath, it doesn’t help, and hands Belle her phone. The phone is aggressively pink and covered in various stickers.]

Okay, here you go Manager. There is this weird app that I can’t delete.

[She opens the phone, and—yep, there it is. She chews on her lower lip, then sighs and shakes her head.]

Yeah, it is a weird app, but it's not—hacking, exactly? It's more like magic, literally. Because, uh.

[She fishes out her own phone, then unlocks it and passes it over for Aria to look at. The app is also on there, along with the Gemini version right beside it.]

I've had the app for over a year now. There's no way to get it off, and as long as you have access to it, you get to see some...strange things.

[Aria stares at the screen for a moment. Blinks. Blinks again. Then looks back up at Belle.]

Why me though? Am I in danger?

[gentle:] No more than the average person. Probably.

[She holds out her hand, so she can guide Aria over to the couch near the front.]

You'll have to sit down for the long and thorough explanation, but the short version is, the people who get it tend to be supernatural in some way. Whether they already are supernatural or just have the potential to be kind of depends on the person.

[Aria lets herself be guided over and sits on the couch.]

Okay I think I can work this outing my head. Thank you Manager.

[She looks down after Belle finishes explaining the short version.]

Ummmmm. Manager? Why is the fur on the couch longer and different colored than I remember.

[A beat.]

Harumasa turns into a tiger and likes to sleep on the couch.

[Throwing her boyfriend under the bus oop.]

If you see a tiger around here, don't worry, he's harmless and he just likes pets.

Is it weird that I find that less distressing than anything else I have learned. That part feels very in-line with my impression of him. Though I think I would feel a little weird petting him when I know that he is Harumasa.

Nah, I get it.

[A beat.]

He loves pets, you can pet him. He won't mind.

[Anyway. She sits next to Aria on the couch.]

So, when I explained about people who get the app, I kind of left out another part. Most of us on there remember our past lives from different worlds, though how well kind of varies from person to person. If you start to remember things that never happened here, people you never met—don't panic, that's normal.

Thank you so much for the warning Belle. I’m going to be honest I would not have handled it well without the warning. I like to think I have gotten a little better, I can actually talk to customers occasionally, but yeah that probably would have caused an anxiety flare up.

[She pauses for a bit.]

So not to try and avoid the new changes to my reality but I released a new cover song this morning!

Hah, yeah, y'know what—that's fair. Most of us are already pretty used to this, we kind of forget not everyone else is.

[...man, most of her friend circle has been in this for ages, now that she thinks about it. Save for Luke.]

Oh? Show me, show me! Actually, hey—show me and I'll drop it into a group chat!

Yeah! I’ll send you the link to the song. It’s the theme from a retro anime but it was really fun to do.

[She gets more animated as she talks about her Vtuber/song work. She proceeds to send Belle a Spotify link to her cover of A Cruel Angel’s Thesis.]

I’m excited to hear what you think.

[Zelos worked at Random Play, helping out his younger sister watch the counter while she took care of other tasks. And that's where he is, dressing a seasonal leprechaun outfit when the part timer starts freaking out over her phone. He grimaces at the noise and turns his head to tell her to stop shouting when.

... Oh]

Uh... Lil Angel? I don't think it's just the phone that's the problem.

[Aria tilts her head to the side as she looks at Velos, her new rabbit ears flopping to the side.]

Huh? What do you mean? DID THEY GET MY COMPUTER TOO?!

[How would he even know that Aria]

What? How would I know that. Sheesh, kids really are glued to their screens these days...

Check your reflection. You'll see what I mean.

[She looks even more confused but goes and looks at her reflection in one of the TV’s. Where she proceeds to let out a squeak and pulls at the ears.]

WHAT ARE THESE?! WHY DO I HAVE RABBIT EARS NOW??? AM I DEAD, AM I IN HEAVEN? Wait… if I was dead why would work be what heaven looked like. AM I IN HELL???

[He sighs]

No, we're not in Hell. Because if we were, that'd mean I'm in Hell too-- and I know that's not the case.

[If anything, the afterlife seems real keen on not letting him in!!]

Most likely you've been cursed by a fae somehow. Maybe it was one of the earlier problem customers?

[She just whines a little.]

Why would anyone want to curse me??

Wait did you say fae, like as in fairies.

I dunno, probably because they're assholes.

[Oh.

He forgot]

Oh yeah, you didn't realize magic's real. Well... surprise! Magic's real! Also my hair is not dyed.

[It's just naturally the color of stop signs!!]

Whaaaaaaaaaat. That’s so cool, I wish I didn’t have to dye my hair. I’m always having to re-dye it to keep the color bright.

Haha, yeah! I'm just that cool.

[Zelos why]

But yeah- magic's real, one of the asshole customers was probably a fae... Belle will fill you in on the rest of it. But hey, you'll get used to it!

[Look, sometimes you've just beaten up your dragon boyfriend, and you need anime.]

[And sometimes, someone is having a moment right by the anime you were going to buy to make said boyfriend feel better.]

Your phone? I would think the ears pose much more of a problem.

[She takes a closer look.]

Though they do look nice.

AAAAAaaaaaaaaaa

oh god a customer, remember your practice Aria. Smile and be professional.

[Aria puts on her best smile and turns to Rose]

Hello and welcome to RandomPlay. How can I help you? Is there a movie or show that you are specifically looking for?

I've found what I'm looking for, thank you.

[Rose motions to the wall of anime behind her.]

I appreciate the effort, but you seem to have more pressing concerns than helping me.

ohmygodimsosorry

[She gives a small panicked bow and quick scoots out of the way.]

Um, yeah a lot is happening right now.

…

You have ears and a tail.

[Any other time, Rose would get angry.]

[But she doesn't. This is clearly a small child, and she is going through it right now.]

[And she's about to be going through it a lot more.]

So do you.

[She reaches up and touches her head, feeling the ears. She then reaches behind her and feels that she does indeed also have a tail.]

I am so overwhelmed and confused right now. Why do I have ears and a tail. I need to sit down.

[She goes and sits behind the counter.]

I need to do a karaoke stream after work to get my mind off of this.

[She thinks she says this to herself, it is however out loud.]

Don't be silly. Everyone has ears. I happen to think mine are quite nice.

[It isn't Rose's fault that Hyurs aren't lucky enough to have Miqo'te ears. They're stuck with boring human ears. It sucks to be them.]

Let me guess, a strange application just appeared on your phone, correct?

[gasp]

How did you know? It just appeared on my phone while I was doing inventory. I tried deleting it but it kept coming back. It also made a notification sound which is very mean because I thought I had good news.

[Rose shrugs. She's been here long enough to know the score. And also know which anime are good.]

I believe that's how it happens for people from this world. It certainly beats those awful labyrinths.

[She looks at rose for a moment. Then another moment passes.]

Okay wait, back that up a moment. Did you just say “this world” because that implies other worlds. Also actually I am now worried about that other part, labyrinths??

[The confusion is overriding her anxiety so she is actually standing at the register ready to ring Rose up.]

[Rose hands over the money and takes her anime. For all the weird experiences she's had, this barely registers.]

Well, that saves me the trouble of explaining that. Yes, other worlds exist. I'm from one, though I've been here for many years.

[Thanks, Kaisou!]

I wouldn't worry overmuch about the labyrinths. They don't usually take you against your will.

[she just stares into the middle distance for a bit before shaking her head and responding.]

You know what I’ll worry about that another day, trying to wrap my head around everything at once probably won’t work. But thank you for the explanation and your patronage to Random Play.

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