"..."
The laughing track. He could hear a fucking laughing track.
"...Okay." With a tight smie and a tight grip on his hands, Garren "Top" Maverick took a deep breath before signing out a "I'm perfectly... okay." before simply tightening the hold he had on the book until his hands were white.
[Welcome, to the Trope Master System!]
[You can now detect the Tropes at play and even use them!]
[You have received the <Newcomer Actor Pack>, granted access to a home and 1 year's worth expendings.]
[First, you need to choose your first Archetype!]
"...okay." This explains a lot, actually. One day he was home, and the next, he lived alone in a rather big home and he had nno parents anymore. Suddenly he was enrolled to a school he had never heard of and had no connections to. He didn't care about his parents, he was kinda glad they were gone, and now that he lived alone? He had freedom like never before- he didn't know exactly where the money came from, but now he knows. "Okay- I'm not gonna panic."
[First, select a <Starter Archtype> from the list below (Note: This is just your starting Archetype, you may unlock others as you grow):
> Jock - Starting Tropes [Brawns, No Brains], [I Lift], [Play Book]
> Nerd - Starting Tropes [Um, Actually], [Brains, No Brawns], [Eureka!]
> Side Character - Starting Tropes [Best Friend], [Invisible to Cameras], [NPC Behavior]
> Loner - Starting Tropes [Lonely], [Mysterious Aura], [Chill or Kill]
> Eye Candy - Starting Tropes [Beauty Is Beheld], [Charismatic Magnet], [Love Interest]
Please select 1]
"...huh." Although he didn't have much information about these things, he was a bit... how would he explain this, uhm, savvy? He knew a bit about repeating tropes on media. Although he never bothered to give them names, he knew about them and could recognize them easily- side character in an action movie disappears? It's a lot likely that they'll appear when the main character is in trouble and needs help! Villain boasting about their power? They'll surely fucking lose even harder now. The planets are aligning? Some magic shenanigans with a deadline is going to happen and a lot of chaos is going to follow.
Not to even mention series and even animation!
Which this world was... lacking a bit. He came from the year 2020, and this world was in the year 2000, which made his life a lot harder. He had his phone, thankfully, but it had no charger, so he used it less and less every day, resigning himself to read books and wait for school to start- because guess what? He needed to go, and today was the first day of school and he was in the school's library, ready to make a decision that would possibly change his life. The choice was kinda obvious to him- he didn't have any friends, and he didn't want to interact with people who knew nothing of the era he was from, otherwise it would be awkward because what the fuck is he even supposed to do?
"...I wanna be left alone."
[Loner Archetype selected!]
[You've received the Tropes -
> [Lonely - Being alone is not so bad, but being lonely is not great.
Effects: You can, whenever you want to, become "alone". This makes you harder to perceive by others, essentially hiding you from them. Expect curious or extra extrovert characters to notice you more easily.]
> [Mysterious Aura - You are always alone, why is that? Such a mystery.
Effects: You carry with yourself an air of mistery. This mystery can be anything! From being part of a hidden shadow organization to simply having a rather interesting secret.
Expect to become a relevant character after Season 1.]
> [Chill or Kill - You are lonely most of the time... Is it because you're just calm, or is it because you're violent?
Effects: You can, whenever you want, to choose Chill or Kill.
Chill - You are calm and collected. Gives you a small resistance to [Charm], [Savvy], and [Mind Control] tropes.
Kill - You are aggressive and abrasive. Gives you a small boost to all your [Grit], [Mettle], and [Combat] tropes.
[You have unlocked your Unique Trope!]
[Trope Master - Gaze upon others and see their tropes, detect tropes happening in the world around you.]
"..." Immediately, he could feel his body be surrounded by this soft blanket of cold. It wasn't chilling, it was more like... he was sitting on a cold floor, comfortable, alone. His mind calmed down as he felt [Chill or Kill] in action alongside his [Lonely] trope hiding him from sight. In the library, away from everyone, alone... At peace! "If only this laughing track stopped." He was in some sort of Sitcom? He hasn't seen the main character or the cast of main characters yet, but he is sure that they are in the library. "Oh, so this is how this works."
[Trope Master, Activate.]
[World - Earth (879-A-X)
Genre - Comedy (+)
Type - Series (+)
Subgenre - Sitcom (+)
World Tropes - [Episodic, Seasonal] [Crossover], [Right Tone], [Evolving World], [Complications, Past and Future]
[Episodic, Seasonal: This world's main storyline (can change) is Episodic, meaning there are episodes that happen. There can also be seasons, where various episodes may happen!]
[Crossover: This world has been expanded! Other series or movies might have been added.]
[Right Tone: Whenever a situation calls for it, the right tone will play. Be it laughing tracks ir thriller music.]
[Evolving World: This world grows with you. The stronger you become, the more complicated and expanded this world becomes too.]
[Complications, Past and Future: This world, for being in the Present, has some complications. Your actions and missions might define this world's past and future! Make good choices.]
"Hello anxiety my old friend... it's good to see you again..." Having the past and future of a world in one's hand is not chill, and even his [Chill or Kill] was having a hard time keeping him from panickin right now! He deposited the book back in the shelf and decided to leave the library, going to class as the bells rang. "...I hope I can stay alone for as long as possible!"
———
'...well, it lasted for a whole day!'
It was after school, as the sun had long set that he noticed that he was, apparently, living right beside the Main Character! His eyes narrowed as he watched from his window- how did he not notice this till now? He was pretty sure the house beside his own wasn't occupied, but apparently there was a whole damn family of 5 people there! The Golds, as they were called, were the classical stereotypical white suburban family, and he could easily see the the family falling into their Character Archetypes like a glove. He watched from his home, his [Lonely] trope making him almost invisible in the shadows, and he could view everyone through the roof of his house looking into the other home.
He didn't really care, until, of course, something caught his eyes.
[New Quest Received!]
You have been caught watching your neighbors! You creep you. Congratulations though, you are actually kinda mysterious right now since the shadows of the night hide you completely, leaving only an outline.
Quick, act!
Reward - Random Trope based on your performance!]
Without really thinking about it, Garren's eyes locked with the eyes of the kid in the window, staring right at him. He tilted his body to the side, and since he has been taking some breaks on the rooftop for a while now, he knew that he could easily fall from it. His body slid down and he fell- but instead of getting hurt, his hand easily caught the rail of the window to his room, making him enter through it with a smooth move that he practiced every night, and then he was inside his dark room, all lights had been turned off.
His body, hidden by shadows, looked more like a monster than a human. Maybe it was the fear of the unknown, or maybe it was the darkness of the night, but from the character's perspective- [The Younger Brother] Michael "Mike" Gold watched it all from his room. The scene itself wasn't going to be remarkable at all if it wasn't for a certain aura of mystery and a lonely aura from a teen that hid him from all eyes but also made him... well, a bit harder to pinpoint as human under extreme conditions, such as the pitch blackness of the night. Sadly- or thankfully? -for Garren "Top" Maverick, he had just set up the first domino that would affect the world, changing the from a boring normal Sitcom world into a dangerous Urban Fantasy world.
Meanwhile, said butterfly had already landed into Garren's open palms as he received a new trope for a random quest:
[You've completed a Quest!]
[Reward calculated!]
[Based on your surprisingly creepy and horrific performance, you've received a Horror Trope!]
> [He's Just Standing There. Menacingly! - Sometimes, just standing is more than enough to scare other people...
Effects: The longer you stand still, the more menacing your presence seems to grow. This can intimidate or scare others, has a nice bonus to [Scare Factor] whenever you are standing in shadows.]
"Huh. I really scared the kid, didn't I?" Well, when a shadow stands on a roof and watches your home, only for it to slide down and enter an open window and vanish? That's pretty fucking scary, even if you're part of a Sitcom world- the tone of the whole thing shatters and you're suddenly faced with the fact that somebody was watching you. "Well, I did get something kinda interesting..." He could stand back, still and watching people for a few moments, emanating a menacing aura like a Jojo Character... Maybe he'll become so menacing that he'll unlock a Stand? One can only dream! "Well, it kinda resonates with [Lonely], so it can be useful." Since he can hide himself and be alone with [Lonely] and [He's Just Standing There. Menacingly] would make him able to scare people by doing mostly nothing.
Well, scarimg people has the nice bonus factor of them leaving him the fuck alone, so it is going to be really useful.
He stood still inside his room- Since he was the only one living in this house, he had various rooms for whatever he wanted them to be. His own bedroom is the only one with a way from the rooftop by falling, the way up the rooftop is on the room opposite to his, in the other side of the house. Why? Because this room already had everything he wanted, those things being video games, a tv, and even a mini fridge on his own room! He also had a lot of books and bookshelves surrounding his walls, a few plants, and even a small pet bed for his cat.
Oh yeah, he had Mister Hades, his black cat with bright green eyes. Hades was, in one word, beautiful! He was an Oriental Shorthair the size of a small dog and looked like he spoke in riddles- He was amazing and very cuddly, which was great. Garren got him from a cat shelter a few days ago, being in this large house alone for a whole month was a bit lonely, so he got a black cat.
He loved cats, they're great gremlins.
But not Mister Hades- Mister Hades was the perfect fur baby, a hunter who would bring him the rats he hunted and Garren would put them in a box, he wanted their skeletons for a little project of his... It sounds creepy, I know, but he... Well, the best way to say this is that he had a friend who introduced him to bone jewelry. It has been a long time ever since he tried making one because his parents grounded him and made him stop speaking to his friend because she was a witch and a lot of extremely religious parents bullshit. Now that he is alone, he does want to try- And what better way than to use bones he received from his very own little hunter?
He doesn't really want to throw them away, so he put them in a box to bury them later until they decay completely and only the bones are left behind. And because its fall, it'll take about... 2 to 3 weeks? Well, he isn't sure, but a bit of decomposed rat corpses are welcomed by his garden.
And by garden he means his backyard overrun by plants.
"Well, Mister Hades..." Turning to hold his cat, Garren grinned- unaware that his smile seemed to almost shine in the dark -as he said: "Let's sleep, huh? You cutie."
That day, unaware of the consequences, Garren "Top" Maverick just changed added another layer to the world that went from a simple Sitcom world to a Horror one.