Masks: Halcyon Superheroics 101: Preston Digits

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Identity

Hero Name: Preston Digits

Real Name: Nigel Scott

Look

• male
• white
• untrusting eyes
• casual clothing
• cheap costume

Labels

• Danger 0
• Freak +1
• Savior -1
• Superior +2
• Mundane +1

Conditions

• Afraid
• Angry
• Guilty
• Hopeless
• Insecure

Abilities

Illusion: Preston only knows a couple spells himself, literally in the case of the Phantasmagoria of Python, the same spell the Oracle of Delphi used to trick and mislead those who the priestesses recognized as the proof there is no shortage of people who, when faced with bad news, blame the messenger to the point of violence. He thinks it's more than he needs most of the time; it's an incredibly versatile arcana, and extremely easy to use; the issue is just not being too clever with it so that it ceases to look like actual reality, and keeping an eye to detail.

Teleportation: This is the power everyone knows he has; the other spell he has is the Omnifarious Door, effectively a shortrange portal to...anywhere, the trick is narrowing down the location enough so that the portal actually leads a single place, otherwise it defaults to back upon itself (in other words; it's a lot of obvious special effects that have no effect). And generally, it's what he did as a sidekick, helping out with the logistics while Alex did the fighting. Many people think this is his only power because of it, the illusions were often unseen.

Moves

I don't care what you think!: Whenever you reject others' Influence, add +2 to your roll

Criminal Mind: When you assess the situation, you can always ask one of the following questions, even on a miss:

• what here is useful or valuable to me?
• how could I best infuriate or provoke ____________?
• what's the best way in/way past?

Are you watching closely?: When you mislead, distract, or trick someone, roll + Superior. On a hit, they are fooled, at least for a moment. On a 10+, choose three. On a 7-9, choose two.

• you get an opportunity
• you expose a weakness or flaw
• you confuse them for some time
• you avoid further entanglement

On a miss, you're hopelessly embroiled in it and under pressure; mark a condition.

Moment of Truth

This is when you show them what you really are. Whether you’re the hero underneath the rebel facade...or the one who can make the hard choices heroes can’t make. You do whatever it takes to show that truth, whether it’s saving the day from a terrible villain or stopping a bad guy once and for all. Of course, once you’ve shown what you really are, there’s no going back to playing the clown...

Team Moves

When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if they think you’re cool. If they say yes, give them Influence and take Influence over them. If they say no, mark a condition or spurn them immediately. If they’re a teammate, then either way, add a Team to the pool.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, give them Influence over you, and ask them who they’d like you to be. Mark potential if you show them that person. If they’re a teammate, add a Team to the pool no matter what.

Backstory

How did you get your powers?

Magic, the user-unfriendly Swiss army knife of the gods that every newbie power-chaser thinks is the solution to all their mundanity woes, and every more-informed and wise chaser promptly decides otherwise (fools tend to be the ones who get eaten by demons or on trial for murder of sentients for the parts needed to skip all the boring "needs to actually study this" business; the ones who manage to live the dream through sorcery were generally wise ones until desperation, and even then, it usually takes the form of cautious dabbler stuff). Magic, you see, needs not just a bunch of equations, but a worldview and assimilation of some frankly alien logic, and that takes a lot before the brain adapts, usually a combination of trauma and desperation. So it was with Nigel, who lost both of his parents to a mob hit, collateral damage against the circus' debts. And then he met the worst person to begin healing with, one who thought that the most helpful thing to do was to break everything about Crime (capital C) in retribution for Crime hurting you. Punching your issues - or befuddling them, as it were - is not conducive to actually moving on, especially when your coping mechanism of being showy and a disaffected attitude is core to what spells you know. Alex Azam is very much someone who refuses to believe that magic can't solve all problems, it's kind of why he's a villain with a self-righteous cause who forced an orphan to be his sidekick.

What do you do for fun?

He's got a soft spot for kids; he finds both doing magic shows for them, and his actual job as an often-online tutor, quite satisfying, and unraveling the puzzle of someone's ignorance is fascinating for him. If he's feeling pissy, he fakes hauntings.

Who, outside the team, thinks better of you than you do?

Elia Gibbs, his landlady. She thinks of him as this often charming stage magician with an understandable chip on his shoulder who wants to do good and to be someone better than what his mentor wanted him to be. Nigel agrees with the "understandable chip" part, and appreciates it, but he thinks of himself as a jackass who wants to piss off said mentor.

Why do you try to be a hero?

Because he feels it pisses off Alex, who is very much of the "if you're damaged, you're evil or you're on my side" school of morality. Alex Azam is of the opinion that only damaged and weak people become supervillains, as do people who think they should be more than they are - they should let people who know better handle things (he is completely blind to his membership in a villain team these days - he refuses to see they're pricks and/or thinks he can sell them into good graces of the public). Nigel, being someone who still has phobias over mannequins, and who enjoys learning new techniques and secrets because it makes him stronger, enjoys being a living flaw in his philosophy. That, and punching down always makes the absurdist comedy that is existence less funny.

Why do you care about the team?

Frankly, the fact that they've realized his absurdist "all is theater, give 'em a good show" philosophy and cavalier attitude is a coping mechanism even he knows is unhealthy, and he also wants people to avoid the same trauma he suffered under an abusive mentor and his orphaning. That, and they wear their malfunctions on their sleeve, rather than hide them. This puts him far more at ease, as opposed to having a showy, extroverted illusionist who's also a dogmatic psychopath and bully behind closed doors.

When Our Team First Came Together

We totally broke some major rules to win the fight. What rules did we break? Whose rules were they?

We stole a dimensional stabilizer that a local secretive government organization was working on, used to prevent unwanted entry from other universes when testing on them. The big thing it did was stopping Kromatic from xenoforming the area into one more like its home plane, something it didn't expect and preventing it from using the alien environment to its advantage, and blinding it due to it being used to using its color bleed as a sort of "spectrum echolocation".

Relationships

• You keep trying to impress Gravitas with your antics.
  • Gravitas; she is just as cutting as him at times, and she is from a still existent family that clearly cares for her. There's a bit of envy there, but also sympathy for trying to live up to expectations...and also seeing her as a bit of a role model. She's not dislikable enough for the envy to become resentment.
• You and La Rabia pulled an awesome (if illegal) stunt together.
  • It was more an act of trolling, but let's just say there are a lot of files and Ultra Branch that was in the possession of the government that isn't anymore. Also, Branch had some really bad password protection, and some idiot forgot to change it.

Influence

I have influence over Fennec Fox and La Rabia

Fennec Fox, Gravitas and La Rabia have Influence over me

GM Questions

So Alex is Worst Mentor Ever(tm)?

Yep. In Project Moon terms, he's basically a male version Valencina (a resentful and proud narcissist who treats everyone under him as a tool who needs to be beaten into shape the moment something goes wrong, and is often an angry drunk - capable of kindness, but utterly unwilling to show it when his fragile ego is hurt, and who uses thoughts of glory and getting known as a hero as a shaky pillar to avoid his depressed funks) crossed with John Constantine. With Zatanna's costume and showmanship.

So who is Alex hanging out with now? Maybe not the whole villain team, but name a couple of them.

He's part of a group of dark vigilantes who think of themselves as Hard Men Making Hard Decisions...everyone else sees them as fallen heroes who went way too far and ended up becoming criminals in the name of "justice", and mostly only liked by idiots who scream about the thin blue line, and not even all of them, especially given how they do lead racketeering efforts in the name of "protecting" their turf. They call themselves the Knight Shades; Nigel has extremely conflicted feelings about their scout and long-range specialist, Ghillie (Scottish for "Warden" - it also refers to a type of camouflage used by snipers), who while kind of a jerk, is also one of the few people who told him he needed to get out lest he end up a depressed shell, and Platinum Blonde, their bruiser, spoiled him a lot...and clearly did so in the attempt to mold him in her image and seeing him more as a side piece for her hobbies rather than his own person.

What does your costume look like?

Imagine a more clean, crisp version of The Hat's from Superman vs. The Elite

What message is it trying to send?

Nigel is trying to show a combination of cool and being down to Earth. He's done with Alex's showiness and narcissism, so he wants to be something people they feel they can approach, though keeping a "bad boy" image of a working-class warlock type. The kind of man you can be, instead of lording himself over you as Preston Digits.

What is your home life like?

Nigel is the son of circus performers and entertainers, so he's used to not having much or needing much. He also is officially an emancipated minor...realistically, he's kind of the ambitious younger brother of his apartment block in on Dove Street, though he's fairly responsible about the chore turns. Often times, it resembles an extended family than it does a building that multiple people happen to live in, which makes sense, as it is something of a crashing place for other runaways and escapees from bad situations, even a few dimensional refugees living in a bizarre spatial fold in the basement. Really, it's a place everyone loves existing, but nobody wants to be stuck in forever.

Outside of school and home, where are you most likely to be found when not in hero mode?

Often, his job as a tutor - it has flexible hours, and thanks to him being quite good with math and history, students feel comfortable with him as a peer. He does hours as both in-person and online, he prefers in-person for being able to be warmer and more focused on issues. Yes, everyone knows he's a bit young for this, but it grounds him and helps pay bills.

Would you choose to spend time with your teammates outside of Team-related activities?

He'd be surprised if someone asks, but he'd be open. It's easy enough to fit into his schedule, and frankly, he knows he needs to relax and remember how to be a teen instead of a sidekick. A lot of his persona is him trying to reclaim his actual age.

Which Hero, other than your mentor, do you look up to?

Blue Eagle, which shocks everyone, especially him, It really shouldn't, mind - as much of a boy scout as he is, Eagle is also a huge crusader for the rights of the ignored and people in the gray zones, and Dove Street exists partly as something he campaigned for. Eagle makes him feel seen, and is clearly doing his best while faced with constant frustrations. He's the opposite of the mentality the Knight Shades embody.

Which Villain do you dread encountering the most?

Speaking of...

Alex Azam is a living trauma button for Nigel, and trained him, knowing exactly how he fights - and bitter he jumped ship to the "soft" side. Platinum Blonde is a close second, due to how she flips from friendly big sister to grinning embodiment of violence, as well as smart enough to recognize when she's dealing with illusions and people trying to trick taking advantage of her weakness of being unable to control her momentum when charging and weight in her metal form. She's someone who is very good at making you think she's your friend until she realizes she can get something really nice by backstabbing. And good at making you think you want the same thing she does. All of them are walking embodiments of trauma (he's described them as the World's Most Toxic Polycule, and he's only not sure about the last word, and they were something resembling a foster family at the time...he really, really hopes nobody else has to suffer being a sidekick of theirs, even as he is paranoid about planning for it).