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]

"Yeah!" they say, holding the door.

[thinkering]

"Why?"

[mxglam]

"Well, when a person has standards as high as yours to like other people, signs that I'm one of them are most definitely cause for smugness, methinks."

[thinkering]

"You may or may not have just killed a guy and you're being coerced into the Wards. I thought you might need emotional support. If all I'm doing is stroking your ego I'll just go build something instead."

[mxglam]

"Oh, it's not really an ego thing, it's a... warm fuzzy kind of smug? I like you. And I like that you like me - or at least don't despise my presence. And in any case, yes, the emotional support is helping, I just found my stride again, you know? Talking helps. If I talk a lot, especially about what I'm thinking, it helps me sort it all out, understand myself better and what I'm feeling and deal with it in a less descructive and more coherent way."

[thinkering]

Lorica throws a robot at them. The robot lands on their shoulder. "Be warm and fuzzy about the bot, I'm going into tinker fugue for the next two hours."

[mxglam]

They giggle. "Okay, have fun. And, hey, thank you. I know it looks like I'm all okay and maybe shrugging it off or something but you helped a lot and I'm really happy I met you." They pet the bot. "I'm keeping it."

[thinkering]

"You can't keep me," says the bot. Lorica is already at her keyboard.

[mxglam]

Giggle. Out they go.

[alicornucopia]

Chevalier's waiting in his office.

[mxglam]

Knock knock!

[alicornucopia]

"Come in."

[mxglam]

Glam does. "I'm in," they say without preamble.

[alicornucopia]

Chevalier has the paperwork all ready. He hands it over.

Identity-related fields are marked optional, except the gender one.

[mxglam]

"...is there a particular reason gender is not an optional field?"

[alicornucopia]

"I didn't devise the form. Is there a problem?"

[mxglam]

"Uh. Kinda, yes. Both a cape-problem and a secret-identity-problem."

[alicornucopia]

"Identifying your gender does much less work in finding who you are than narrowing down your age, which the Wards membership does on its own," Chevalier points out.

[mxglam]

"...no, it's not that. My cape identity is nonbinary. My non-cape identity is genderfluid."

[alicornucopia]

"...I don't follow you."

[msglam]

Sigh. Mask disappears.

"Sometimes I'm a girl."

[mrglam]

"Sometimes I'm a boy."

[mxglam]

"With the mask, I'm neither."

[alicornucopia]

"Leave that blank for now and see if you can get anywhere with Branding on that. You might have to pick one in the end, but it can be based on which aisle you want your action figures sold in."

[mxglam]

"Why- nevermind, I'll talk to Branding about it."

They continue filling in the form, the gender part being ironically enough the only one they leave blank.