Fabricant451 — Roleplayer Guild

I don't know what's making me so afraid
Tiny cloud over my head
Heavy and grey with a hint of dread
I don't like to feel this way

When you’re a child barely able to go to sleep at night without a bedtime story, a kiss on the forehead, and an assurance that there are no monsters under the bed, you believe it. There’s something reassuring when your parents humor your childish fears. It’s funny in a way. People all around the world know that there are very real threats out there but much like a parent tucking you in at night and opening the closet to show you the scariest thing inside is the sweater your grandmother got you for Christmas when all you wanted was a dollhouse, the fact that everyone knows heroes will be there to beat back the threats is reassuring. Maybe that’s why children are more terrified of nonexistent monsters in the closet and not another maniacal madman threatening to turn an entire city into rubble. 

But the thing is, monsters in the closet do exist. And they are more terrifying than whatever a child can imagine. 

It’s no secret that the world is larger than people thought even as far back as the moon landing. Before, people just knew that Earth was all there was. Now people aren’t even sure if Earth is the only Earth. That’s what I think the various hero teams really do: protect that belief that Earth is the only place to be. Most people won’t ever leave Earth, won’t ever talk about Asgard in any capacity other than being the place where one of the Avengers is from. Most people don’t even know that there exists an entire dimension constantly knocking on the walls of Earth, trying to get inside and any attempt to tell them that is typically shot down or brushed aside. Unlike when aliens turn Manhattan into a warzone, this secret dimension isn’t a tangible threat. So of course, the people who can only ever aspire to heroism through normal good deeds don’t want to humor the notion that something far more sinister lurks behind every shadow. Unlike your parents, they don’t humor your fears. 

The wind is invisible to the eye but everyone knows it exists. Why, then, do so many refuse to believe that there are monsters in the closet? Moreover, that the voices in your head aren’t always just inner monologue, aren’t just the id and superego being the devil and angel on your shoulders. Everyone interacts with those voices in the head differently, those monsters in the closet gnawing at your brain. 

What happens when the voices in your head talk back to you? When is a good time to be afraid? What should I do when everyone, even my parents, tells me that there is no monster in my closet? 

What do I do if it wants to get out? 

-Zofia’s Diary

Zofia Maximoff wasn’t in the auditorium with the rest of the new students. She couldn’t risk one of them coming up to her, startling her, and her freezing up or worse. Fortunately, the upside of going to a school that lived in the sky was there was always a soothing breeze that lapped at her hair. Zofia had found a bench on the quad, near enough to the auditorium that she would be able to tell when the meeting ended but far enough away that she wouldn’t be disturbed. Open in her lap was a crimson covered notebook whose pages looked like papyrus parchment and whose pages were blank. Zofia’s left hand was hovering over the open page, a dark black and red swirling aura surrounded the hand which was moving over the paper like a typewriter or someone taking notes. 

There were certainly words being written but it was in a type that only Zofia or those in tune with magic could detect and translate. Considering her diary didn’t have a lock and key, this was certainly a novel way to keep her secrets from being exposed. The hand that was doing the magical diary keeping was shaking, but not with the normal drifting shake of someone putting pen to paper, but the fearful, nervous shake of someone leaving a note for the police to find in order to solve the mystery of her murder. 

“At least the paper didn’t light up.” Zofia clenched and loosened her left hand and the aura dissipated, leaving just a seemingly empty diary open in her lap, her black compression tights shaking with the idle taping of her foot. Her right hand closed the diary and for the first time since sitting down to jot her thoughts, Zofia Maximoff looked up, the breeze of the open air blowing strands of her rusted copper hair against her brow. Her eyes glanced towards the auditorium but the stream of bodies that followed a commencement hadn’t yet been unleashed so it seemed the orientation speech was still on going. Zofia should’ve been inside, listening to the principal, seeing some of the people she would be spending the term with, but she wasn’t. Crowds of people tended to unnerve her, and she couldn’t exactly subject a room full of strangers to a potential accident caused by her. People tended to get expelled for destruction of school property, let alone bodily harm towards a fellow student and somehow she doubted “I can’t control it” would work more than once.

“Maybe I should’ve gone to Xavier’s” Zofia spoke to herself, not under her breath but not loud enough to be seen as a crazy person talking to herself. Mobius was a top of the line academy with more funding than some impoverished nations got in a decade of aid, but one thing Mobius didn’t exactly have was an entire student body and staff who understood the confusion that came with abilities that were as much a threat to the self as the individual. Mutants had a familiarity with waking up one day and suddenly being able to harm someone just by looking at them or something and they’d built something of a strong support structure; her mother counted herself as a mutant but still Wanda had insisted Zofia give Mobius a try rather than Xavier’s School and Zofia wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the lame uniforms the X-Men had. 

“Why couldn’t I just...be normal?” It was a question Zofia asked herself more than once though the first time was after the first time her powers manifested and she got into a shouting match with her mother that turned into an ugly cry session and Zofia sleeping deeper than she had in years. It was a rich sentiment, wanting to be normal when she was sure there were a lot of ‘normal’ kids out there who wished they could be superheroes, saving the world and inspiring people. Perhaps that’s why they had that saying about grass. 

Zofia glanced towards the auditorium again just in time to see the doors swing open and some of the next generation of heroes spill out, moods up and bright, smiles and chatter, and the excitement of a first day of school before the doldrums of the second day set in. Seeing it made her smile, weakly, a brief flash of an upturned corner of her lips and then it was back to her distant, seemingly sad expression. Would she have that if she stayed? Could she? Did she deserve it? 

“No…” Zofia’s head shook softly, dropping her eyes once again. She would have to go into the auditorium eventually, though maybe if she went to the office she could just get the information she needed there. She just hoped whoever her room mate was that she would be understanding with Zofia’s...everything. Zofia would even let her roommate have the top bunk if she so wanted, assuming this was like summer camp and there were bunk beds and not just two beds like a normal dorm room. This place was funded by billionaires and government agencies they had enough to spring for individual beds, surely. 

Another glance towards the auditorium was met with Zofia taking a deep breath and standing up, though not before sliding her diary into a pouch around her waist. She was going to have to face the masses sooner or later, and before long people would be coming this way whether she liked it or not. It was time to put on a smile and practice her monosyllabic responses; if people thought she wasn’t interested they tended to leave her alone. It was a double edged sword, really. She wanted those friendships, those relationships, that came naturally to others, but it was too dangerous to do so. She didn’t need someone getting close and then a repeat of...just a repeat. 

With another deep sigh, Zofia turned to her right to begin the long march to the auditorium to gather what she surely needed - only after one step she found herself stopped by an immovable object. A bright light shone in her face like an eye exam at the doctor or a kid looking directly into a flashlight and pretending it’s the sun. Zofia’s left hand went up to cover her eyes and in so doing the black, crimson aura returned to swirl around her hand and wrist. “No..it’s...no…” She was wincing while her eyes were trying to focus, and just as suddenly as the light appeared, so too did it disappear - though the owner of the light, as Zofia noticed when her vision returned and she glanced downward - remained in place. 

“Did you know you’re talking to yourself? Also,your hand is on fire. Are you Johnny Storm’s kid? No, wait, Angelica Jones. You look like an Angelica Jones kid. Anyway, do you have anything to say to….wow, twenty five hundred people? Holy farkle, I’m FAMOUS! And it’s just my first DAY! Anyway, any words for them? Preferably directions to the auditorium and also my dorm?” 

Zofia could barely keep up with the new arrival, she spoke so quickly...something about twenty five hundred farkles? What did that mean? Who was Angel Jones? “Please...go…” Zofia turned away from the smaller girl and walked as quickly as she could while still holding her left hand up to her forehead. 

“Well, she seemed nice! My first conversation with another hero in training! AWESOME! Come on, true believers, this tour isn’t over yet!” 

But we are young, we get by
Can't go mad, ain't got time
Sleep around if we like
But we're alright

Zofia Maximoff hadn’t been the only Mobius student to not be at the assembly in the auditorium but unlike the morose magician, Riley Quinn wasn’t in the auditorium for the simple reason that she didn’t know where it was. And also for the not so simple reason that this was a once in a lifetime live stream opportunity and if she had gone to the auditorium and streamed the speech or whatever, there was probably rules against it. But as a certifiable reader (well...skimmer) of fine print, Riley knew that there was no such rule that said she couldn’t broadcast a live tour of the Mobius campus. It was frowned upon, sure, but frowned upon was just a nice way of saying ‘victimless crime’...plus she really needed to see how strong the wifi signal was up in the sky. 

Turns out? Pretty decent. 

While the students were shuffled to the auditorium after arriving however they did, Riley used her height to her advantage. She was short, probably one of the shortest students at Mobius naturally - it was possible someone here could pull a Pym particle in the hamstring and shrink to hang with some water bears, but that was a technicality! Riley’s short height was possibly her greatest asset, no one would ever assume the five foot nothing could possibly be the host body for a hulking green monster - and not the energy drinks she had a slight addiction to; well, no one would assume that until she tweeted it out to the world as soon as she awoke from the coma she put herself in. 

She made a meme about it and everything. It was a classic case of ‘I lived, bitch, also I’m a superhero’ complete with selfie of her in the hospital bed. The downside of having such a viral tweet is that people showed up to the hospital room. People in suits. With attache cases. She thought it was the Twitter cops there to tell her to delete the tweet but it was actually a legal team from S.H.I.E.L.D. or something to walk her and her parents through the enrollment process. It was really kind of a dick move from S.H.I.E.L.D. because her parents had spent the better part of two weeks crying over the fact that their only daughter put herself into a coma after damn near killing herself with gamma radiation poisoning and then men in suits told them their daughter was going to superhero school. 

Life moves fast and that’s why Riley had to document everything. 

Riley, being short in stature but large in internet presence, had left the crowd of people entering the auditorium and promptly took out her phone, her selfie stick, and started up a live stream in the IRL category. ‘HulkStan62’ hadn’t been streaming lately - probably because of the aforementioned radiation coma - which was why Riley was determined to make this the best stream ever! 

“What’s up, true believers, it’s me, HulkStan62 and for those of you who thought I was dead: joke’s on you, I only wish I was dead! Just kidding, that’s some of that humor that got me a following! If I was dead, I couldn’t be broadcasting to you live from MOBIUS ACADEMY! That’s right, bitches, move over S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, this is the coolest thing in the skies! Even cooler than Iron Man! What? Of course it’s not cooler than The Hulk, jazzdood77, but The Hulk doesn’t fly he just jumps really high so that means he’s not ‘in the skies’. Duh.” 

People came to her streams always trying to catch her slipping, like she would one day just look at the camera and say she was trolling in her fandom for the greatest member of The Avengers. Of course not! Her name was HULKSTAN62, and you can’t just lie about who you stan! Her stance on superhero rankings had caused her a fair bit of controversy but it wasn’t her fault everyone who disagreed with her on the internet was wrong. 

“ANYWAY, for those of you who ever doubted me and my devotion, guess who’s laughing now? THAT’S RIGHT IT’S ME! Look around! While you’re all going to normie school and eating mystery meat and getting wedgies and stuff, I’m at MOBIUS ACADEMY and I’m trying not to freak out! Look, there’s...some sort of building!” Riley pointed the camera to one of the dorm buildings, and then pointed towards what she assumed was a classroom but who could really say. 

“Thanks, Jinkerbell, for the 500 bits! Maybe think about subscribing? Because I’ll be bringing you all the insider scoops on the future heroes of tomorrow! Which I’ll be part of, because I’m gonna be like, a Hulk, guys! No, c00KIECrisp, I’m not gonna transform right now, I’d get suspended or something!” 

So long as she didn’t know the trigger conditions, that was going to be her excuse when people in her chat or in comments asked why she wasn’t transforming. Granted, she doubted her other self would care about a livestream and would, in fact, probably as soon break a phone rather than dab for likes in front of one. Riley’s tour of the grounds was an informal and confusing one, though there were signs clearly pointing things out, Riley ignored or outright didn’t see them and just walked wherever she liked. She couldn’t tell where the auditorium was, only that the buildings were way bigger than she thought they were; the layout seemed bigger than some college campuses. 

“No, this isn’t just an empty park! All the students are at an orientation meeting, that’s why no one’s around!” So many doubters, so many haters who just couldn’t get over the fact that she was basically an Avenger now. “Look, see? There’s someone over there, and her hands are GLOWING RED!” Riley pointed the camera towards a girl wearing a red jacket and a dark skirt sitting on a bench. She kept the camera trained on the girl and started making her way towards her. 

“Why couldn’t I just...be normal?” 

“You hear that, true believers? She’s talking to herself. Maybe we can talk to her instead!” Riley crept closer and moved quicker when she saw the girl stand up. “Oh, there’s the auditorium!” Riley whispered, quickly turning the camera towards the sound of shuffling students, before she turned back to the muttering girl up until both paths collided with each other and Riley’s camera light was flashing in the face of the other girl. 

Riley watched as the camera shy girl turned and walked away with purpose. She didn’t get a name, but Riley counted that as a success. “Alright, true believers, let’s go get to know some people, get into trouble, and also maybe find out where my room is because I need to check the wifi signal indoors!” 

Still broadcasting to her increasing live audience, Riley started heading towards buildings that, for all she knew, was where her room was but could’ve been anywhere. Someone would help her out, and if they did, they would be the SECOND guest on what would surely become known as the GREATEST STREAM EVER!
Fabricant451 Member

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