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]

"You're welcome!"

Patrol patrol. End of shift.





Another day: arrives.

"Harroo again."

[thinkering]

"Hi. How's it going?"

[mxglam]

"Pretty good. You?"

[thinkering]

"I'm all right. Same old."

[mxglam]

"Cool. I keep running into you, it almost makes me suspect it's my power but if it's capable of that level of reality manipulation I should probably just try to believe really hard that Endbringers are a figment of our collective imaginations."

[thinkering]

"Oh, they are, didn't you hear? Chicago Thinker came out with it Wednesday, it was all over social media."

[mxglam]

"That possibility almost makes me wish to find a sufficiently powerful Master to control me."

[thinkering]

"I'll let you know if I find one. I can spot you, even."

[mxglam]

"Yeah, I think I'll want a significantly higher confidence that this will work before I'm willing to actually try."

[thinkering]

"I get it."

[mxglam]

Patrol patrol.

"So, I've been thinking."

[thinkering]

"Yeah?"

[mxglam]

"Before I actually decide on a plan to get a rep," and Lorica might notice that Glam went and added the billowing to the cape and the mysterious light from nowhere, "I probably need a lot more info on my possibilities."

[thinkering]

"Like what?"

[mxglam]

"Well, a more thorough description of what being a Ward is like is why I brought it up. Like... how would you go about trying to convince me to become one?"

[thinkering]

"Should I be trying?"

[mxglam]

"Yes, please. Then try to convince me not to join up?"

[thinkering]

"You sure you don't just want pros and cons in list form?"

[mxglam]

"Well I guess that works, too, though it'd help if you also added information about what you think is most relevant and stuff."

[thinkering]

"So, if the concept of high school appeals to you on a social level, Wards is sort of like that plus shop talk, the expectation that you'll be kind of close-knit, and a smaller background context. Also me not taking my helmet off and a higher casualty rate, but, you know."

[mxglam]

"Yeah, casualty rate of peers goes in the list of cons."

[thinkering]

"Yeah. Uh, powers testing might matter more for you than most... backup's good... merchandising's good for you, branding's a headache for most people but might plausibly be good for you... priority parahuman healing when there's any to go around... networking if you ever want to move cities..."

[mxglam]

"Power testing's way fun," Glam agrees. They don't actually write it all down, they wouldn't be able to read it in the future anyway since it counts as sufficiently hard squinting, but they nod along.

[thinkering]

"Budget. Everybody gets one, not just Tinkers; nontinkers get less but don't have to sink as much of it into parts. Having a Wards history helps seniority in the Protectorate, I think, compared to triggering or joining up as an adult. ...I might be out of pros. Cons are that you get to work in life-threatening situations with a lot of traumatized people whose personalities weren't filtered for compatibility to begin with and are supervised by older instances of same."

[mxglam]

"Yeah. I usually like people and they tend to like me after a fashion, but being parahumans the 'fashion' may be enough for them to hate my guts."