endbringer, meet gun

[peterxy]

...Very unseasonable rains can be seen in the distance from the shores of Acapulco.

The Brockton Bay Protectorate starts organizing volunteers to be transported or teletransported in batches to it. Heroes, rogues, villains, anyone's assistance is appreciated. A rendez-vous point is set for non-Protectorate capes wishing to volunteer, and Protectorate capes are informed of the situation via communication devices.

Comments

[mxglam]

...Glam cannot spend that much time without talking.

Well they can but. It's not in their nature.

"How're things at the Protectorate post-attack?"

[thinkering]

"Quiet. Althaea shouldn't have been there but she thought it was worth a try. But she had no business getting that close to him in the first place and we still don't know if it could've worked."

[mxglam]

"Yeah..."

Well some of Glam's cheer about the attack did drain away over the past few days, but still, talk about bucket of cold water.

[thinkering]

"You did a good job. Is this setting private enough for you?"

[mxglam]

Glam blinks - mask and all - and looks around. "Uh. Yeah, I suppose."

[thinkering]

"Nobody but me and my bots. I have a guess, but I don't know how close I am except 'close enough, probably'."

[mxglam]

"...I don't suppose I could ask you to forget about it?"

[thinkering]

"You need somebody backing you up. I get it if I'm not your first choice here but at least get an unpowered assistant to cheer you on."

[mxglam]

Cheer them on. Right. "That's- okay, what's your guess?"

[thinkering]

"Something in the neighborhood of expectations or attention or social support. There was no good reason for you to have me tell everybody I possibly could about the laser unless it's something like that or you were just fucking with everybody during an Endbringer battle."

[mxglam]

"I would not fuck with everybody during an Endbringer battle, no," they say quietly.

[thinkering]

"That wasn't my read on you, either. I got a reprimand for that, you know? All 'yes, I understand that placing bets on the comms mid-combat is inappropriate' and 'I am sorry for my out-of-character behavior' and 'I didn't mean to disappoint you', it was tons of fun, so did I at least help?"

[mxglam]

"Yes. Second blast was definitely stronger, though it could have been better, I think. The bet part- best if we avoid that part in the future." Still quietly.

[thinkering]

"Wasn't planning to replicate it."

[mxglam]

"...it would help if lots of people expected it to work next time. Actually if they expected it to work better that'd be, well, better."

[thinkering]

"Okay. Look. If that's how you work you need help, you need your story corroborated. I am happy to help you, especially bringing down Endbringers, but I need information to do that."

[mxglam]

Sigh.

"Yes. Alright. Well, your guess is- kinda right." They swallow and sigh again. "I really, really, really need you to not tell other people this, I might as well not have a power if this gets out."

[thinkering]

"Noted."

[mxglam]

"It's, um, belief. If I believe a thing exists, or should behave a certain way, then it does. If other people believe it as well, that's a plus."

[thinkering]

"And you can be canceled out? How's it weighted?"

[mxglam]

Glam looks around. Good, they're still flying. That's good.

"I'm not quite sure what the math is like. If anyone squints at the stuff I make hard enough, it goes away. Even if I squint hard enough, it goes away, though my squinting threshold is higher. As for weighting, I think everyone's the same, but since there's a lot of precedent for even the most outlandish powers, once someone's seen me do something, well, they believe I can do it, so that's two people believing already. Implicit expectations are somewhere in the mix as well."

[thinkering]

"Okay. So what you need to hit hard is a rep. Eidolon has never actually killed an Endbringer but if the news reported it everyone would believe it, because he's freaking Eidolon. Like that."

[mxglam]

"Yes. Yes, I do. And I think some of our past conversations should probably make more sense now."

[thinkering]

"I don't have time to read through all my transcripts; remind me?"

[mxglam]

"Well, when I said that I wanted to be famous, and talked about my wiki page, and mentioned taking on Purity. That kinda thing."