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luckywildrover · 5 years

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ABOUT

Name: Jamie Murphy

Alias: Rover (or ‘Lucky Rover’)

Birthday: July 10th, 1992

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Job: IT Specialist // Face and Brains of LuckyWildRover, a large social media channel that predominantly focuses on video content. However, since the latter is linked to the online persona, it’s not common knowledge.

Skills: Can quickly learn how to use computer programs, coding. Parkour and good agility. Has a strong, accurate gut feeling

Struggles: Has unharnessed electrical powers: will give static shocks when stressed, and has shot out electricity when overwhelmed with an emotion. Photosensitivity: has to wear special glasses to prevent him from getting eye strain or headaches while surrounded by artificial lights.

Distinguishing features: Large lightning scar on his back, stretching from his right shoulder, down his spine, to his left hip. It would give a faint glow when his electricity is active, but it’s only noticed when the scar can be seen.

Positives - Energetic, Optimistic, Friendly, Bubbly

Negatives - Stubborn, Prone to over-work, Can mask own problems,

Jamie Murphy was born and raised in a rural community in Ireland. His family was large and closely-knit, with his family home being built on the land his grandparents owned. There was always something going on, a new adventure to be found in the nearby fields, jobs to do on the farms, games to play with cousins and lessons to be learned.

One of his favourite lessons was when he learned about the Irish culture and traditions. His grandfather was a famous storyteller in the community, and could regale tales of Celtic mythology and local legends with such skill that Jamie would go to bed with images spinning in his mind. He grew up convinced there was more beyond what we could see - the fae were experts in hiding, after all. There was magic hidden everywhere if you looked hard enough! Imagine - a world where a chance encounter could lead to something wonderful and unforgettable! This outward view of looking at the world with curiosity stayed with him, as he graduated with a honours degree in Computer Science and travelled to America to pursue his dreams. Magic might not be a thing, but technology was a magic all its own.

Once there, he moved to the city to catch up with Cormac. Cormac was his cousin, and undoubtedly his closest friend growing up.The two were similar in age and looks to the point of there being a running joke in the family that they were secretly twins. Cormac had moved to America after finishing school and hit it big once he graduated university. He founded a social media channel - LuckyWildRover - that became very popular in a short amount of time. While Jamie didn’t quite understand how it happened, he was happy to spend time with his cousin while settling to life in the city. His own job focused on temporary contract work, so Cormac helped him find his feet in a little rented space.

It was a strange life, but Jamie couldn’t complain. He was happy, had a sense of security, and had good company. Life was starting to turn into something good, but this is only the start of the story.

A late-night walk home turned into a threat when a man approached him. His hood was up, and there was no trace of a face underneath. Even when the light should have given a hint, it was like the stranger was made of shadows. A knife was pulled out as the stranger pounced. Jamie’s training in parkour meant his reflexes were sharp, and he dodge the initial attack and run. He hadn’t gotten far before he was grabbed from behind and slammed into an electrical box. The knife was plunged into his shoulder with such force that it tore through and damaged the electrical box. A powerful surge of electricity shot through Jamie’s body, and the force of the knife being pulled out of his body had him drop like lead to the ground. He watched the other raise his knife again with fearful eyes… But a third figure approached.

“You have failed your task,” the third said to the attacker, “This is not who we want.” Without so much as an apology, the pair walked out of sight as Jamie passed out.

He woke up in hospital, with one arm bound in a sling and an IV drip attached to his other arm. Cormac had been pacing the length and breadth of the ward, relief as clear as day as he hurried over. However, it switched to panic as Jamie attempted to explain what happened to him. At that moment, it was decided that Jamie would be hired by Cormac while his arm recovered.

The following months found Jamie in a rather unusual setting. Not only was he going through a slow recovery process and adjusting to a new job, he also was adjusting to being more prone to static shocks and seeing little sparks shoot out of his hands. All he could hope was learning the ropes of the LuckyWildRover channel would be easy. Thanks to social media, he had an idea of how the life of someone like Cormac ought to work… Except it didn’t apply. Despite his face being on the camera and the channel’s focus on him, very little of Cormac himself was known. Fans, and even those who worked for and with him, only knew Cormac by Rover, his screen name. No video update mentioned Jamie being around or what happened. Even Jamie’s joke of the two doing a ‘spot the difference’ video between the nearly identical cousins was shot down. “Everything runs as it ought to, Jamie. No better way to do it”. Despite this, the pair worked rather well together, and the arrangements that had been set up continued long after the doctor gave Jamie the all-clear. While he did have some small jobs here and there, Jamie’ primary job was to be someone Cormac could bounce ideas off while he worked, and help out where he could. He had a chance to learn how to set videos up, how to prepare a script if it was needed, how the system worked to record screens, video game footage, whatever might be required. But when Jamie asked why he was learning all of this, Cormac shrugged and admitted that it was nice to talk to someone he knew about his job, rather than being known as just the stage name. The joke of Jamie being the substitute while Cormac went on a sneaky holiday didn’t go down so well.

This continued for a year, until one night Jamie had spent the night playing video games and chatting with his cousin in the latter’s house. He crashed on the couch, and woke up the next morning to discover that Cormac had vanished from existence.

Not in a ‘he fled the country’ manner, but more so that Cormac had literally been erased from existence. In a panic, he searched the entire house, the recording setup at the bottom of the garden, all the familiar settings, but to no avail. It was only when Jamie knocked a childhood photo while scrambling to find the phone did he realise this wasn’t a matter for the police. It was a photo taken at their grandparents’ 40th wedding anniversary, where all the cousins were crammed into the tiny sitting room for a photo. Even though the photo was ten years old, Cormac wasn’t there. He had stood beside Jamie that day. Any photo Jamie had was intact, but all other traces of the streamer vanished. Online social media statuses didn’t include him in the family groups, photos had him absent… It was like he was never there.

For two days, Jamie was at a loss, mourning the disappearance of a man no one could remember. But why could he remember? What happened? It was like the stories his grandfather had told them back in rural Ireland, where people would make a mistake and be vanished away by something like the fae. It seemed so improbable, but it was all his frantic mind could conclude.

Then… A phone call.

The editor of LuckyWildRover called, wondering where Rover was and if Jamie knew anything. At first, he was delighted that someone remembered, but the joy sunk to his stomach when he remembered the editor only knew the channel persona. The mood quickly flipped as he learned that fans were asking about Rover, wondering why the streamer had disappeared.

All at once, Jamie realised that Cormac’s strange approach to business was deliberate. If there was magic afoot which erased his identity, his legacy would remain since the channel wasn’t about Cormac. He promised he’d look into getting an update, and hurried back to the studio at the bottom of the garden. A proper search of the desk revealed a notebook addressed to Jamie.

“If you’re reading this, things have gone to shit. Everything runs as it ought to, and no one can know what happened to me. I’m sure you understand why I can’t tell you what’s happening, but you need to keep this going. Everything you’ve learned was for this, everything you need to help you is here. All I’ve worked for is my loophole. I’ve made sure everything I own also has your name attached to it. Don’t let it vanish like I did. Rover.”

The channel and the house were all Jamie had left of his cousin, and he would be damned if he’d let it all disappear. Until he figured out a way to bring his cousin back, he’d have to man the channel and try to find answers.

Everything runs as it ought to. No better way to do it.

This is Rover. Welcome to the show.

#roverinfo

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