---

Of course, the one day Jongin gets the motivation to wake up early is the same day that his life changes forever.

It's currently the early morning and he'd decided to stop by a local bakery for some breakfast, and on the way back as he cycles along the bike trail towards his home, he spots a black cat huddled in a blanket in a box at the side of said trail.

Now, Jongin's always been more of a dog person but seeing any stray animal like this always hurts his heart, so he skids to a stop a bit away from the cat and lifts his bike with him as he walks backwards towards it--bringing the kickstand down as he gets off his bike. The cat's wide, curious eyes follow his every movement before it seems surprised as he stops in front of it.

Meanwhile, Jongin's just digging through his to-go bag, opening his sandwich to take out a few slices of cooked beef when he hears a silvery voice ask, Wait, you can see me?

He flinches and looks up from his sandwich to look at first the cat (who he notices has a small white tuft of fur on its forehead that looks vaguely like a heart) and then around at his surroundings. No one else is around though, which actually is pretty surprising for this time of day.

"What the hell--not me hearing things..." Jongin mumbles to himself before he looks back down again.

"Erm...hello?"

Jongin flinches again and wonders if he's hearing a ghost or something and oh gosh why him, when he hears another Hello? coming from the ground and looks down with wide eyes at the cat.

"You must be the one I'm looking for," the cat seems to say, its mouth moving in time with its words.

Jongin opens his mouth in shock before he subsequently drops his meal and then jumps back as the cat unravels the blanket around itself and jumps outta the box.

"What the--!" Jongin says, feeling too shocked to move further backwards. He then pushes his hair back and grabs at the back of it. "--I-Is this some sorta prank? Why--? What? I--huh?!"

The cat lifts its head a bit as it says, "Alright, now I know this may be very...shocking but well, I don't actually originate from this planet."

Jongin just stares, mouth agape.

And the cat continues. "I've been sent on a journey to find the next guardian here on Terra 3.150, and it seems to be that the Heart wand chose you."

Quickly, Jongin processes this, thinking back to all the anime he knows where this sort of scenario happens before he relaxes a bit as he tells himself that this all must be a dream. Yeah, that has to be it. Ha, he finally managed to lucid dream! Amazing.

So, with furrowed eyebrows and a deep pout, he bends down to the cat's height and says, "Okay, tell me everything I need to know then."

The cat laughs at that and replies, "Ha! You've acclimated to this situation better than I thought you might. Some people outright refuse."

Jongin almost tells it that he knows that this is a dream but refrains from doing so. (Which in hindsight, definitely saved this initial meeting from being even longer.) So instead he says, "Well, if Earth's somehow in danger and I can help--well, of course I will."

He's always wanted to be a magical superhero after all but threw that dream aside for something more practical and well, realistic.

"Alright then, well to actually receive the wand's blessings, you must hold out your hands, close your eyes, and say..." Jongin's eyes twinkle as he grins. "Merge thy heart with me, oh key!"

Jongin lets out a snort. "Okay."

Then, with his arms dramatically outstretched, he closes his eyes and feels the sun shine down upon him as he says the same thing that the cat just said. Then, it's basically like magic as he feels a magnetic pull form between him and something.

"Can I open my eyes now?" he asks, and the cat quickly tells him No.

So, it's with the thought of how he must look to a biker he hears pass him by, and with the sun's heat seeming to bear down harder on him that he suddenly feels as a small wand floats towards him and instinctively grasps it once it's close enough.

"And now you're merged," the cat announces, sounding like it's relieved. "You may open your eyes now."

And so, Jongin does just that and quickly looks down at the wand in his right hand before he gasps at its beauty. It's a black and gold, sparkly wand (that honestly he'd describe more as a scepter) with a handle that's thick and comfortable to wield while at the top lies a gold ornament depicting a heart surrounded by sun rays.

He quickly turns the wand over and over as he marvels at it, while the cat comes closer and asks if it's to his liking. Jongin s the wand out like he's gonna cast a spell and grins as he answers, "Hell yeah, this is in' awesome!"

"Great aha! Though now that you've accepted the Heart wand, the wand and I are now tangible--" Jongin stops playing with the wand at that and lifts an eyebrow. "--And so, I shall tell you of your fate and my journey here although...we should probably head inside where the locals won't spot us."

"Ahh, I get you--okay, lemme just..." Jongin then quickly moves to grab his to-go bag, silently crying over how squished his sandwich is now, and drops it into the basket in front of his bike before he looks down at the cat. "Um, would you be okay in there too?"

The cat lets out a Sure, almost seeming to shrug and so Jongin moves to bend down and pick it up before he lets out an Oh okay as the cat jumps into the basket itself. So, with his wand in his pocket and tucked under his belt for now, Jongin takes in a deep breath to steady himself as he gets back onto his bike and then bikes him and the cat away towards his home.

---

On the way, the cat introduces himself as Agim (apparently that's the closest Earth translation of his name) and Jongin happily introduces himself back. Oh and apparently, while Jongin can hear Agim speak in English (his wand translates every known language automatically for him), anyone else besides other guardians or people Agim trusts would just hear a regular cat meowing.

But besides introducing himself, Jongin somehow manages to keep his numerous questions to himself until they're both home in his apartment like Agim said they should be. Then, once they've arrived and he lets them in and locks the door behind them, it's like the floodgates come out with how many questions he needs answered.

"Okay, so...what planet are you from? And uh how old are you?...Ooh ooh, were you born a talking cat or is it some kinda curse? And are there others like me?" He suddenly clutches his hair with excitement. "Am I a long-lost prince from another world?!"

"Ahahaha! Right to it, I see?" Agim replies as he walks over to Jongin's couch and jumps to sit on it.

He then pats the space next to him with a paw and Jongin kicks off his shoes and rushes over to sit next to him with an expectant look on his face. But before Agim says anything else though, he suddenly furrows his brows and looks around quizzically.

"Wha--what?" Jongin asks, looking around too.

"I felt this when we were outside but now that we're in your domicile...I believe there's someone who may be listening to our conversation."

Jongin's eyes widen and he looks up at his ceiling at every corner, wondering if he's been wire-tapped somehow. He wouldn't put it past a dream honestly. Then just as he looks back down at Agim, his phone rings and he flinches as Agim jumps up high and rushes off of the couch onto the floor.

"W-what was that?!" Agim asks, hairs raised as he points a shaky paw towards his phone.

Jongin furrows his eyebrows. "Um, my phone?"

He quickly declines the call, noting that it's his ma, and reminds himself to call her back as he quickly texts her an automated lie that he's driving right now. She texts back a thumbs up emoji a few seconds later and he pockets his phone before he asks Agim if there are no phones on his planet or something.

"T-there are, but in a different form--I--never mind that." Agim furrows his cat brows again. "That is what I sense has the ability to listen in on our conversation."

And Jongin lets out a relieved chuckle. "Oh, I see. Yeah, that's...kinda a staple of living in this country you could say. With the knowledge that the government could be listening to our conversations through our smartphones and whatnot." Agim's mouth opens in shock and his paw falls back to his side. "It...obviously must seem very dystopian but I promise it's like the most normal thing to people at this point."

"I--erm, I-I don't really know how to respond to that..."

And Jongin scratches at his left arm for a second. "Yeah...But um if you don't feel comfy about it, we could just like go somewhere without it while you give me your exposition and whatnot."

Agim seems to relax a little at that, his hairs no longer standing on end, as he replies, "Yes, that would be better." He then preens himself for a short moment by at his arm before he asks, "So, where in here would be appropriate to do so then?"

Jongin puts a hand over his mouth as he sits and thinks of where for a few seconds. The walls in his apartment are kinda thin so generally he can hear his neighbors next door and even all the way down at the first floor through the vents. So, he's pretty sure any long talk of another world and fighting evil and such would make him look...pretty loony.

His long lack of a response though causes Agim to say, "If there's nowhere here, we could always travel into the Heart wand's training area then to talk more at length about everything."

"Wait wha--?"

And Agim smiles. "Every wand is equipped with the ability to transfer its owner and owner's guide to a training area where when there's a lack of open space in this reality, on its plane of existence, time and space are vast and outside of this planet's typical bounds."

Jongin takes out his wand as Agim explains that and then pouts as he asks Agim why he didn't just suggest that in the first place. Agim chuckles and then informs him of the one caveat, that because of the planar dimension travel that they'd do, once they get back, they'd both be out of energy and would have to rest heavily. Which means...