White box

Interview

Why had parents agreed to this? Marcus had no idea-- but he was sure he had eyes of a dead fish on every single picture those guys took of him. He had been under an impression it would be a scientific journal of some kind and they would ask him to elaborate, maybe write up some extra, or explain some parts, but what he actually found was a--

Fashion shoot, huh? For a popular teen journal, huh?

The only part about this body that was even remotely model-esque was the thinness and Marcus was not being modest about it. Timothy did not have the face, the height or the handsomeness to pull modeling off, they would be better off finding a body double and photoshopping a face on top or making cool landscapes with a tiny Marcus somewhere in the background.

But oh-- right, humans had the thing called make-up and after a smiling lady had done her magic he actually looked-- a lot like a pretty girl.

Selfie time. [How do I look?] Sent to Bill. And this day should mark history, it was the first selfie for this body. Using it to get some laughs was the best he could manage.

[Not too different from usual?] Replied Bill.

Fascinating.

How come he saw a huge difference, but Bill, who had stared at his face more than any other human being in existence, did not.

"How do I look?" He asked parents, pointing at his face.

'Nice' and 'good make-up looks like it's not there' huh? 'Don't worry you don't look too different, they just applied something so your face doesn't shine under cameras'.

Fascinating.

Then could this be some human phenomenon? He decided to look it up, but meanwhile - Smile. Smile. 'How would Stephanie pose?' Victory sign? Marcus got tired part-way-- Just how long this would drag on? He could be crafting artifacts. This was such a waste of time-- So yeah, the second half of this boring affair he just had the eyes of a dead fish.

At least, before this crap, he had finished the artifacts and while Bill did not seem too happy about it on the phone, he did agree to wear the tiara due to normal people not seeing it anyhow. It looked seriously ridiculous on Tharururu, though. Was he a priest princess? But he wore it with such dignity-- It looked good on both Stephanie and Xena, though. Stephanie did seem embarrassed, but Xena was nonchalant.

As for the reason why everyone needed to wear tiaras, Purple apparently could get a tome Marcus could study in exchange for three more artifacts. According to Stephanie, Purple would have offered that as the solution if there was more time, so--

Something Marcus could look forward to if this incident passes over. Yet-- how would that go? Five Hadeans had arrived in this city already. They were too far from him and seemed idle, but--

Maybe it was a good idea to just skip the event. His Ureal parents would be upset and there might be some other displeasure, but at this rate, there was bound to be something happening, yet-- if he does not go, his name would still be up. And those very same Hadeans would try to get to his house, parents, surroundings.

Right now Marcus's aether thickness was close to two times as much as the strongest Hadean and while it would be pure arrogance to think his mental strength was above them all and it would be 'safe' to eat them, he didn't think they could get to him easily.

The first question of the interview cut his trail of thought.

"So, Tim, how does it feel to be here today?"

Marcus smiled. "Like I'm wasting my time," was the honest reply that left the interviewer dumbfounded and his parents speechless.

"... Oh, you'd rather be solving another problem right now?" She gathered her bearings.