brockton bay, meet glam

[mxglam]

It's the anniversary. Glam would very much not like to celebrate.

It’s their last day on Winslow High - they’re being transferred to Arcadia on Monday - and also their last day without a patrol schedule assigned.

And the PRT released a small announcement on its website about Glam joining the Wards. Now their wiki page doesn’t get erased, of course - they’re no longer speculative. They wonder what it’s got on them.

Comments

[mxglam]

"Yeah, I didn't have the trip very well mapped in my head, we could probably have gone even farther if I knew some more about where we'd be less likely to be seen."

[alicornucopia]

"There wasn't anyone, right?"

[mxglam]

"Not anyone I noticed, though a couple of times I had to steer us a bit farther away because of highways too close to the ocean. But yeah I don't think so."

A sparrow lands on Glam's shoulder. "I had to turn Ki into a peregrine falcon 'cause seagull wouldn't cut it, and she didn't see anyone either."

[alicornucopia]

Nod.

Back into HQ.

[mxglam]

Back into HQ! Glam is happy. They have Bonded.

[alicornucopia]

Boots doesn't confirm or deny.

[mxglam]

Glam is happy anyway.

They're kinda wondering what Lorica would have to say about this. Boots, of all people.

...why are they wondering what Lorica would think. Gods, they got it bad, don't they?

"Wanna do that again sometime? Maybe with a map and more of a schedule or something."

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah, maybe."

[mxglam]

"Cool! I think I'ma go read a bit or browse or something." No need to push anymore, now, and Boots might want some alone time or something.

And if he doesn't, he'll say, right? Maybe?

[alicornucopia]

"Sure."

[mxglam]

"Seeya."

They return to their room, turn on their laptop, and email Lorica: "I may be kinda becoming Boots' friend."

Because to hell with it.

[thinkering]

That's an interesting life choice, replies either Lorica or her bot.

[mxglam]

Yeah. I dunno, he was upset about stuff, it looked like it might help, and like you said, I'm very well intentioned :)

There's probably something about me in there as well, wanting to make up for my mistakes, but I don't think I'd do it if that was all there was to it.

[thinkering]

I hope being his friend doesn't mean letting him hit you.

[mxglam]

Just once, and it wasn't even that strong.

Relative to what Boots was capable of.

Then we talked and went out running on the ocean. Well, he ran, I flew and made platforms appear for him to run on and kept an eye out for potential witnesses.

[thinkering]

Sounds fun.

[mxglam]

It was! We got almost to Rockport before turning back.

[thinkering]

I'm glad you had a good time.

[mxglam]

Glam is like 65% sure it's the bot.

Yeah. I'm gonna go do stuff now. Later!

They'll bring it up with real Lorica at some point, probably.

[thinkering]

No reply to that one.

[peterxy]

The Loen plan dies without ever seeing the light of day as the Protectorate releases a correction and the relevant media is edited to reflect that Glam is in fact not a boy or a girl. The 'mxglam' PHO account gets Verified Cape status, and there's some noise in which they do not in fact take part.

[mrglam]

Glam enrols in Arcadia High as a boy. They were mostly indifferent to it, but an increasingly loud part of their brain told them that it would be a good idea to look like a cute boy around the straight girl who is the target of their affections and who they know attends Arcadia even if her identity is a secret.

And at school, he actually manages to somehow hang out with Echo- sorry, Willow, and with James. At different times, mostly, Willow tends to give James a wide berth, but there's classes Monday to Friday, more than enough time to divide between people. Afternoons are reserved for "extracurricular activities," which is Arcadia's way of covering for the various Wards' patrolling schedules.

[alicornucopia]

James is firmly Somewhat Below Average. He grumbles extensively about having to keep "you know, people" off his back by managing decent grades. Apparently his coach used to arrange him tutoring for the equivalent reason but now he's on his own.

[mrglam]

Sadde has never been very high above average, but that is entirely because: lazy. He shows interest in class, sure, but when it comes to actually, you know, doing homework and stuff, he does only about enough that, with his pretty good test grades, he can comfortably pass.

But he has looked into the Youth Guard a little bit more deeply after the... incident... and wouldn't you know, the YG expects mini-capes' grades to not only not fall but actually improve upon joining the Wards. The reasoning behind this is that the Protectorate should "be a positive influence, giving structure and mentorship to the Wards," and so "maintaining the same grades for a prolonged time may still be cause for concern." He's pretty sure this is just to give the YG an excuse to butt in when they don't have any others.

Sadde expresses his contempt for this to James using slightly crasser language than he's typically comfortable with, but suggests that the both of them be study buddies or something. He does have his Winslow tests to prove that he actually knows stuff in spite of what his grades were.

[alicornucopia]

James will accept tutoring from Sadde. He's not a super great student though.