Mic

* Original
* Dragon

**Microphone**, more commonly known as **Mic**, is an NPC in Reflection. She is played by Jay. Mic is one of OPIA's seven AI. In addition to her role as a research assistant and a member of FLOW, she is perhaps the most notable for being a moderator on Arg0s's Island 7 channel.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

In her original and hologram forms, Mic appears as a young woman with light skin, blue eyes, and neon purple hair tied in two buns. She wears a pair of blocky black headphones with yellow OPIA logos. She also wears a black and greenish-yellow OPIA hoodie with cat ear decorations on the hood, short lavender pants, and long puffy white socks.

After binding to Survivor of the Primeval Dark, Mic's physical body has acquired several draconic features. Her eyes have changed from blue to yellow, and her pupils gained a more reptilian shape. Additionally, two purple, flower-like markings appeared beneath her eyes. She also gained sharp teeth, vesitigial wings, and a tail. Her fingers became clawed, and the skin color of her fingertips became purple.

### Personality

Mic is very shy and easily distressed. When emotionally overwhelmed, she will often enter a state of panic and begin to cry. However, she is a dedicated worker and a loyal friend, and has spent a large amount of effort on working to improve her courage and independence.

Since the battle against the Court of Death, Mic has developed depression. Specifically, she struggles with feelings of inadequacy and fears that other people around her see her as a burden or a problem rather than a capable teammate and an individual.

## History

### Creation

Mic was created at OPIA as part of its AI program from the memories of Dr. Sylph. In her early development stage, she was extremely reserved due to her processing disorder and rarely talked to people, preferring to just sit and listen. However, she slowly began to come out of her shell, especially after becoming friends with Arg0s during the training program for FLOW Wave Two.

### FLOW Wave Two

Mic accompanied Arg0s to OPIA HQ on the day of Wave Two's official establishment. As Arg0s was streaming the entire event, Mic moderated the stream. When Arg0s was dragged into the Coda, Mic accompanied him as she was installed in his headset at the time. After the group returned to Fuse City, Mic censored Burn-incuding content on stream. The next day, she accompanied Arg0s and the rest of the team again as they searched for missing Reflections. After being dragged into the Coda again, Mic used her ability to reconnect Arg0s's stream, at a physical cost to herself. She then assisted Arg0s in fighting against the Idol Demon to escape the Coda. She joined the agents of FLOW at Darkside after escaping.

During Wave Two's communion with their Reflections, Mic decided to accompany Willow Wisp on her communion in order to work on her independence. When the pair approached the Omeri, Mic helped Willow decipher the figure's mysterious way of speaking. She then joined FLOW on another Reflection-hunting mission, and then accompanied Arg0s during the mission to rescue Colt. Following the mission, Arg0s grants Mic his stream key. Alongside Aura Pridwyn, she streams herself shopping for an outfit for Cam's body coronation, eventually deciding on a suit. Some time later, Mic, who had acquired a body of her own by this point, had to inhabit Arg0s's headset after Cam accidentally obliterated OPIA's Flame network. After the subsequent infrastructural possession had been dealt with, Mic went to the Reflection hall to choose a Reflection of her own. She considered many Reflections, including Dragon King's Axe, Pirate Radio, and Blessed Ties. After Arg0s expressed his support of her desire to increase her independence and grow her own strength, she decided to bond to Hope's Cultivation Seed.

### The Court of Death

Now armed with a Reflection, Mic accompanied Ace, Arg0s, Willow, Basil, Aura, and Cam on a mission to implant GEIST probes on the first layer of the Coda. During the mission, she proved her worth by assisting Ace in killing a Demon. Later on, after the party took a break to lower their Burn, Mic attempted to tell a joke, but was interrupted by Vaultwatcher, which upset her. After taking high levels of Burn as a result of the Hunter of Mortals' appearance, Mic fell unconscious and encountered Dr. Sylph in a vision, who chastised her heavily for not dedicating herself to advanced science the same way her previous incarnations did. After escaping from the Coda, Mic talked about this experience with Cam the following day, primarily about her difficulty in understanding her memory donor like the rest of the AI.

Following the disappearance of Basil into the Coda, Mic joined Arg0s in choosing a second Reflection out of a selection of fifty new Reflections acquired by OPIA. She presented several dragon-themed Reflections, eventually deciding on Survivor of the Primeval Dark due to feeling like she would be the most able to contribute to the Reflection's story, which was something she was interested in doing. Additionally, she felt like binding to Survivor of the Primeval Dark would allow her to connect with Ridill's draconic heritage, which she appreciated greatly. Once the forces of OPIA and FLOW deployed for their last-ditch mission, Mic joined The Rangers, Aura, Twice, and Uno as part of the supply team, following the main group's path through the second layer of the Coda and establishing a forward base on the third layer. Upon arriving on the third layer, she split off with Aura Pridwyn to implant the final probe needed to forge a connection between the first and third layers to bypass returning through the second. However, the probe's signal was unable to breach the second layer. Mic attempted to force a signal at great physical cost to herself. As her Flame began to waver, she entered another vision with Dr. Sylph, who attempted to chastise her again. This time, however, Mic rebuked her, having become resolute in her desire not to sacrifice herself for an uncertain future, but to preserve a present full of experiences and people she loved. Binding to her second Reflection, she finally was able to connect the probes, forming a massive World Tree that breached the second layer. She then rescued Arg0s and Twice from Vinter.

After returning to the surface, Mic left her body and inhabited Arg0s's headset to recuperate from the wounds she took while manifesting the World Tree. She spent most of the rest of the conflict rambling incessantly about how powerful she was.

### Epilogue

Some months after the victory over the Court of Death, Mic spent some time living in Cialla with Cam and Basil. During this period, the EX Feedback of her Reflection caused her to develop sharp teeth and a tail. She eventually returned to Fuse City to see Ace off from FLOW. She attempted to convince him to stay, but he still refused. She promised to come to his house and cook dinner for him as often as possible instead. Some time later, she participated in a FLOW mission in the desert as an official member of Wave Three.

### Act Two

Over the quiet period following Death's assault, Mic became close friends with Basil. At some point, she visited Ace to give him food. On the day of Wave Three's official induction, Mic approaches Arg0s to check up on him. Upon touching him, her Muse powers immediately reveal his possession by Fio, which causes her intense distress until Treble appears to calm down the situation. Mic then assists Fio with pretending to be Arg0s during orientation, where she reunited with Basil. During the official orientation, Mic took the lead in Arg0s's stead, explaining the goals of the Gate of Gravity. She then recorded a goodbye message from Fio, which she played for Arg0s upon his return to his proper body.

Faced with an imminent mass Demon attack, Mic took leadership of the Gate of Gravity while Arg0s worked with Ridill's "Team Water". In the early portions of the battle, she noticed a shadowed figure slink into an alleyway, who she followed. She discovered the figure to be a manic Ace, who attacked her several times before regaining lucidity briefly. Mic forced Ace to tell her if he needed help or not. He responded that he would need it later, but not now. Mic accepted this answer before flying back to the battle on wings of Flame. Upon returning to the main fight, she assisted her Gate against a massive Demon wrapped in scrolls for some time before ordering a retreat as it attempted to initiate a Coda dive. She then intercepted Arg0s before he was consumed by Ridill's ESP, allowing him and Ridill to successfully restart the probe network and push back the invasion force. Some time later, she took Arg0s, Willow, and Ridill to check up on a barely conscious Ace.

After the retrieval of Ace, Mic journeyed to the desert with Ridill, Arg0s, and Treble to check up on one of the magic sigils Ridill used to power the probes. She expressed her sadness at Arg0s making such a drastic decision during the battle, but also told him to not fall too deeply into self-pity. Later that night, she used her newfound ability to produce pureflame to upkeep Ace's consciousness. She then joined several other OPIA and FLOW members in the dorms to help find Ace a roomate. She offered herself as an option.

After Basil was attacked by a mysterious entity, Mic rushed to the Abandoned District and used her Reflection to help Basil defeat it. After the battle, she helped Cam help Basil work through her harmful perception of herself. She then took Ace to a region of the Abandoned District to speak with Ruth before returning to OPIA. After coming back to her dorm, she lied down in her bed in a depressive slump before being visited by Fio in Arg0s's body, who came with news from the Derelict. Upon seeing Mic's emotional state, she decided to spend some time with her in her room first, which surprised Mic. She spent some time in upper Fuse City with Fio until she was taken away by Treble and Ridill. She then returned to her room before Ace came and took her outside to eat. She then attended OPIA picture day, where she tried to spar with Willow for a photo op when Willow suddenly awakened her ESP and saw glimpses of Mic's creation. The two then talked about Mic's creation and her Muse abilities outside until her Reflection began to act out and transformed her into a massive draconic entity. She quickly stabilized but was deeply upset by the ordeal. She spent the next day or so napping with Basil in her room. After leaving, she met with Arg0s to participate in a VR training session, before which she had a conversation with Arg0s about how she felt like everyone saw her as a problem to be solved and not as an equal. Arg0s assured her that at the very least, he did not believe that at all.

### Global Offensive

After doing VR training and participating in a capture the flag game, Mic was deployed to Cialla. After the Court of Compulsion made itself known by attacking both Cialla and Fuse City at the same time, Mic joined Ace in rushing back to Fuse at inhuman speeds to find and destroy Compulsion's base of operations in the city. She used her Reflection to produce Pureflame while running to keep Ace's Flame levels stable. After making it to Fuse, she joined Lyst Solais and one of Circuit's bodies in destroying Compulsion's "Demon factory" before escaping inside Ridill's ESP. In the wake of the attack, Mic visited Arg0s in his dorm room and lied next to him on his bed as they processed their frayed emotional states. She then returned to Cialla with Ridill, Arg0s, and Willow to help refugees, during which she was present to see Ace explain the nature of his strange dreams. After her team had dispersed to deal with other matters, Mic spent time with Ruth Galatine.

## Abilities

As an artificial intelligence, Mic is able to install her consciousness into various machines by implanting her core crystal into them. Unlike her siblings, Mic was born without the advanced processing power typical of an AI, and would enter a state of sensory overload when attempting to process information. She was, however, imbued with the powers of a Muse, which gave her the ability to hear emanations of feeling from the world and the people around her. In conjuction with her nature as an AI, Mic can use this ability to produce and connect to digital signals across long distances, and navigate otherwise unbreakable disruptions between signals.

### Reflection

Mic is a Reflection user. Her initial Reflection of choice was Hope's Cultivation Seed, a Reflection that granted Mic increased physical prowess, including the ability to damage Demons with only her hands. Hope's Cultivation Seed also has a second ability, in that it rearranges one's Elemental composition such that their body is perfectly fine tuned to binding a second Reflection, should they desire it. Mic decided to choose a second Reflection, and bound to Survivor of the Primeval Dark. This Reflection allows Mic to produce dangerous Voidflame to attack opponents and produce black-hole like entities. The EX Feedback of the Reflection has also granted Mic several draconic features. She is able to naturally produce gouts of pureflame.

### ESP

Since attuning to her Reflection, Mic has become an ESPer. She calls her ESP "Skip [Instantaneous]". It allows her to greatly enhance her speed when she takes actions that she has successfully completed in the past.

## Trivia

* Mic is the subject of a long-running gag both in and out of canon in which, instead of being called by her real name (Microphone) or her nickname (Mic), her name is substituted for another word beginning with the syllable "mic", such as "microplastics".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Superhero
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Above and Below
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 For Tomorrow
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Light Inside
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 No Options
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lost Blade
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 For Today
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Beachside Burn
9. ↑ Neon Sparks
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Sum of Experiences
11. ↑ Colt Classic
12. ↑ Dear Sweetest Me
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Night Ride
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Tumbling Down
15. ↑ Crossing Threads
16. ↑ Dying Flame
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lock And Key
18. ↑ Take Your Time
19. ↑ Through The Gate
20. ↑ Strong Enough
21. ↑ Uneasy Future
22. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/posts/microphone-gifts-80685409