peterverse | branding lady, meet meek little lamb

mxglam posting in

Glam isn't allowed to actually patrol the following day (it's a Sunday), so they mostly browse the 'net and read books. Echo's busy with her family (and she is allowed to go out patrolling), and Lorica's... doing something.

They're slightly worried about the fact that Yates hasn't replied to their email, but it's the weekend, so maybe that's why.

Has she replied to the email by Monday?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

mxglam

Stop sounding reasonable! Why are you sounding so reasonable? Why couldn't you keep being a harpy of horror?

"It's as good as any," shrugs Phylum.

"The white has more-or-less sentimental significance, in addition to being pretty gender-neutral..."

"...but I'm not particularly fond of any color scheme."

"What should the mask look like?"

"It could change each time I go out, maybe a different animal every time while keeping the same general style?"

"Though that might be too similar to the mask that shifts all the time..."

From:

alicornucopia

"Too similar," agrees Yates. "You could go with some kind of animal headdress option as a mask, perhaps a wolf, or the costume could be less obviously related to the powers. Glam's projected attitude seems kind of whimsical or I'd recommend adding a tail... If the whole thing winds up organic a more earth tones color scheme might work better. Do you prefer to go armored?"

From:

mxglam

Phylum nods. "Might be better for me."

"I can just generate whatever armor's necessary at the moment," explains Glam, "but he's more limited in what his supposed powerset can do."

"Though with enough practice with my actual power my regular bodysuit could be just as bulletproof."

"Why does my attitude preclude adding a tail to his costume, though?"

From:

alicornucopia

"We don't want you to seem very similar or be associated with one another. A tail is a silly sort of thing to have on a costume, and while Glam's costume is not particularly silly what little coverage she's gotten suggests that she comes off that way when interacting with people."

From:

mxglam

Wincing a bit at the 'she' but okay. Better get used to it. They both nod again.

"That makes sense," says Glam.

Phylum tilts his head. "What sort of attitude should I project?"

From:

alicornucopia

"You need to be able to do it convincingly and consistently; what else can you do besides 'silly'?" inquires Yates.

From:

mxglam

"Serious, focused, mysterious, introspective, grumpy, arrogant, sympathetic, curious, innocent, idealistic..."

"I think I can pull off almost anything with enough practice."

"Might need to script some things and play with the character in my head, maybe write about it a little."

"Probably practice with the people here in HQ before actually going out."

From:

alicornucopia

"Well, it's no good deliberately adding grump to a persona, there's more than enough to go around. Serious and focused aren't bad traits to play up. So, armor, animal head mask, I'm less and less attached to blue and gold as I think about it - bronze, maybe, bronze armor over grey underarmor and a coyote head mask and possibly an accessory through which to 'channel' your power to generate the animals."

From:

mxglam

With the information, Phylum's costume starts changing, starting with the bodysuit becoming gray and more like underarmor. "What color should the mask be?" he asks, adding bronze plates everywhere and a bronze coyote mask. "Should I be able to fly?"

"His power's gonna be generating animals, then? Should it have a limit? Like, maybe one animal at a time, maybe a type limitation or something?"

From:

alicornucopia

Yates turns her monitor around. "Coyotes look like this. There can be a difference between what your publicly displayed Phylum power is and what hidden depths you can reveal in a more serious emergency; most capes don't reveal all their contingency options. Sticking to mammals, a small number at a time, or animals with realistic capabilities for their species are all reasonable 'show limits' that you can discard under pressure before resorting to collapsing your personae. I don't think Phylum should display the ability to fly under his own power, but animals to carry you around are likely enough."

From:

mxglam

"No fictional animals by default I presume."

"What do you think of a more shamanistic vibe, since I'm going to be summoning animals?"

From:

alicornucopia

"Are you Native American?" asks Yates pointedly.

From:

mxglam

"No, but I don't mean necessarily something that's actually used by Native Americans."

"More the feel? Specifically for whatever artifact I'm going to be using to summon the animals, like Myrddin has his magical feel I could have something magical looking as well to make them appear."

From:

alicornucopia

"A 'no' would have sufficed. If you evoke Native American aesthetics and aren't planning to claim, in costume, believably and ideally truthfully, to belong to the culture people will think of when they see you acting that way, then we will have protests to deal with and it is my job to prevent that. You could probably get away with a druid look but you'd need to replace the bronze with leather and deal with the reduction in defensive power."

From:

mxglam

"Druid would work if there was something more protective underneath the leather."

"Or maybe I could be really good at dodging?"

"Another idea for the summoning would be making the animals appear from out of view, round a corner or something."

"Especially with species whose presence in Brockton Bay makes no sense."

Edited Date: 2016-02-07 06:30 pm (UTC)

From:

alicornucopia

"If you're in a crowded situation or there's backup for your opponents watching and you don't already have the creatures that you need made, there's no hiding that the animals come from nowhere, and limiting yourself to local species would leave you mostly with small vermin of limited effectiveness plus cats and dogs. I think you're going to have to conjure them, but going through a noticeable ritual first is better than just spontaneously appearing everything. That, or you could have a single animal capable of shapeshifting?"

From:

mxglam

"An animal capable of shapeshifting is definitely possible."

"As is a noticeable ritual."

From:

alicornucopia

"Your animal will also need a name if it's always the 'same' animal. But it does substantially differentiate the Phylum power from the Glam power; I think it's preferable for that reason."

From:

mxglam

"Are we using the druid idea? Something in Gaelic or Welsh would make sense if so."

From:

alicornucopia

"I think yes, but advise you to stick to relatively accessible Gaelic or Welsh - names that have assimilated into Anglophone cultures or a fairly straightforward and pronounceable noun. Possibly change the cape name from Phylum to something which matches. Fawn-colored leather armor, bronze studs, green under it, perhaps a gray wolf or some other animal instead of a coyote."

Edited Date: 2016-02-07 06:54 pm (UTC)

From:

mxglam

Erstwhile-Phylum's costume and mask start changing to reflect the new ideas. "Could you look something up? Maybe specific animal names, like bear or eagle or something."

"And the cape name could be 'druid' or 'animal' in a Celtic language, if that's not taken."

From:

alicornucopia

"Let me see..."

Yates eventually finds a chart. There are many words on it. Lorica's bot digs up pronunciations. "Loen for the cape name and Ki for the animal?" Yates eventually suggests.