[center][h1][color=96EACE]Joseph[/color][/h1][/center]
[@canaryrose][@Duoya][@Jumbus]
[hr]

Somehow, through great effort, Joseph resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Starbrights arrival. Oh sure, he'd already known what to expect attitude-wise, but for some ungodly reason, he hadn't been expecting the sunrise behind him, despite knowing he really should have. Still, he was more surprised that he actually [i]asked[/i] the rest of them about teams, rather than just declaring Chad his teammate like he'd expected him too.

Of course, Chad immediately called dibs on Starbright anyway, so it's not like it actually changed anything, but Joseph was fine with it. Poor Jamie though, he could almost see her thought process playing out on her face, as she tried to think about something positive to say about being stuck on a team with him, before presumably giving up and settling on 'Yes, he is Joseph' as the best she was going to get. Thankfully though, being on a team with a loser like him wasn't enough to get her down, and she was quickly distracted when she got picked to serve.

From there, Joseph did... decently. He was never really much of a sportsman, actually preferring to avoid it when he could. Honestly, he wasn't even sure why he'd suggested volleyball in the first place, but he was here now, so he just had to try and get through it. He had to admit though, it [i]was[/i] a little hard to push through it when it felt like somewhere around sixty percent of the hits to him involved the ball bouncing off his face. With every hit, he could feel his cool reputation fading away, replaced by some kind of goofy slapstick target, and he began to wonder if maybe he should've just tried his luck at convincing them to have a sandcastle competition or something instead. Still, at least they usually managed to bounce off his skull in a way that set them up for whatever Jamie had planned. Or she'd just adapted to his sports specific clumsiness, one or the other.

However, it was when one particularly bad hit somehow managed to spin off the side of his head and fall where neither of them could reach when they were saved by a man he didn't recognize, who caught the ball just before it could hit the ground.

The second he looked at him properly, Joseph felt his blood run cold. Heiroglyphs covered the mans body. He couldn't read them, but any magus would recognise the structure of the designs that covered the mans body. Runic Arrays. Each and every one of them. It took everything he had to keep his agitation from showing, fighting it down to retain his usual laidback appearance. Beneath the surface though, he was just waiting for this man to make a move.

And make a move he did, although not in the sense he'd been expecting. After briefly introducing himself, notably confirming that he [i]was[/i] in fact egyptian, he proceeded to start hitting on Jamie. For a moment, he couldn't help but stare in some odd combination of shock and panic, his brain trying desperately to process what it was seeing. When that moment ended, he had made his decision. Even if this magus wasn't a villain, he was an enemy.

However, he doubted that would be the case. The world of Magi was a cutthroat one, that naturally bred dangerous, unscrupulous people. Magi with moral compasses were rare, and one of the first lessons an apprentice magus would generally be taught was 'Never trust a magus.' For non-magi, it was even worse. Magi might be competitors, rivals, or anything else on that level, but for normal citizens or non-magus powered people, it was unfortunately common to end up as little more than a guinea pig for their twisted research.

And then there was what the man they'd fought on Seraphs island had said. Seeing his use of runes, the ice-wielder had been surprised, specifically saying he didn't look Egyptian. For an Egyptian magus to suddenly show up here... Yeah, it was probably just a coincidence, but he was still going to keep his guard up. He couldn't risk it.

He couldn't lose anyone else.

[color=96EACE]"Jamie."[/color] He said quietly once the man had left. [color=96EACE]"Be careful around that guy. He's a magus. On it’s own, that would already be dangerous enough, but I also think he might be connected to the ice-user who was working with Seraph."[/color]

Planning in his head, he realised he only really had one real advantage, which was that Yousef hadn't seemed to realise he was a magus yet. Of course, it was possible that he had just been pretending not to know, but if he really didn't, it could end up being what tips the balance in their favour.

[color=96EACE]"Also, if anyone asks, my name is Alex, and I'm new to HERO."[/color] He said, this time to all three of his teammates. [color=96EACE]"None of you have seen my powers yet. No matter what, I'm not a magus, ok?"[/color]