internet, meet [insert title of glam's webseries]

[mxglam]

To Glam's continued delight, more kissing sessions happen on the following days (when they're feeling like a boy). They haven't met her parents as her official boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever yet, and don't mind it too much.

News about Purity's escape surprises exactly no one, but the Protectorate's reputation suffers a blow because of the attack; after all, the heroes were beaten on their home turf. The PHO forums are abuzz, though rumors of Glam's death at the hands of Hookwolf (probably started by same) prove largely unfounded.

And Glam really should get to their webisodes and start building a steadier rep. And that's (one of the reasons) why they're in Lorica's workshop a few days later.

"So what should I do? I haven't posted anything since Purity, should probably make this more of a habit."

Comments

[thinkering]

Okay. I will not grievously physically harm you or reveal your identity or power.

[mrglam]

Thank you!

[thinkering]

You're welcome.

[mxglam]

A couple of days later, as predicted by Lorica, a new Branding person has filled the vacant position, and given that it's the summer holidays, there isn't school blocking off half of Glam's day.

Glam schedules an appointment (is that even what it's called?) with them.

[alicornucopia]

The new branding person calls it a "meeting", but whatever.

New branding person is a stylish gentleman in his thirties with one earring and a very nice haircut. Maybe somebody was trying to earn back diversity points. "Hi, Glam, what can I do for you today?"

[mxglam]

Diversity. Right. "Hi! I need some help with a little project of mine," they say, looking for something that might clue them in to what his actual name is.

[alicornucopia]

Well, his nameplate says George Saunders. "What kind of project?"

[mxglam]

Noted. "A little... webseries, of sorts. With battle footage, power testing, stuff like that."

[alicornucopia]

"That's not a bad idea," nods George Saunders. "As long as it was all scripted carefully and edited well; I'm not sure your budget will cover even student videographers."

[mxglam]

"Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. The first one, with footage of the Purity fight, got cleared by the person in charge of branding in Boston, so there's something to go on. I made another one, and did some editing, but all I know how to do was what I learned over the past month or so with the internet, so maybe not terribly good." They look at their shoulderbot. "Can you email it to Mr. Saunders?"

[alicornucopia]

"Done," chirps shoulderbot, and Saunders pulls it up and watches the video.

[mxglam]

It's actually fairly decently done and edited, considering. Glam is definitely not a pro, but Lorica's bots are good at recording stuff, and the mysterious ethereal light their costume generates doesn't look bad on camera. They seem to have also dedicated a reasonable amount of time to learning how to use a few of the lower-end video and audio editing tools available.

[alicornucopia]

"It looks amateur, but not bad," George says. "How long did you spend on it?"

[mxglam]

"Hmm, about four or five hours total, I think?"

[alicornucopia]

"Did you script it or is this off the cuff?"

[mxglam]

"Off the cuff."

[alicornucopia]

"You might want to consider a script. You sound friendly and spontaneous, but at the expense of a fair amount of polish, and I think you could keep the friendly spontaneity with a script if you worked at it."

[mxglam]

"You're probably right," they agree. "Is this the sort of thing you think ought to be done by someone who knows what they're doing? And if yes, would you be willing to help me with it? Maybe I write stuff, you comment on it, I fix it, we back-and-forth until we're both satisfied? If you're too busy or don't want to do it you don't need to worry about it."

[alicornucopia]

"That seems well within my purview," smiles George. "I'd be happy to edit your scripts."

[mxglam]

...

There is quite a bit of second-guessing going on in Glam's head. Is he acting like that because he's afraid Glam will cause him trouble like they did Yates? Is Glam being unreasonable, or threatening? Is...

"Well, thank you! And about the editing, any tips, is the current style good, what do you think I could change...?"

[alicornucopia]

"It's, hmm. Like I said, spontaneous and friendly, but there's not a clear structure to the video as a whole and it's not clear why you're making one in the first place - an audience member could guess at motivations but only guess."

[mxglam]

"Right! I'll work on the scripting there, but I meant the actual video and audio editing part, effects, lighting, sound, those."

[alicornucopia]

"Ah. It's, again, good but amateur - this looks like you filmed it in a randomly chosen room which happened to have good lighting but it would only take a little setup to have something more studio-like arranged. There's not very much background noise but there's a little. You didn't abuse Powerpoint transitions between parts, so that's good."

[mxglam]

They giggle, but nod. "Something more studio-like, alright. Can be arranged. Do you think anything in specific should be in the background?"

[alicornucopia]

"You could just go with a blank drape. The outside of HQ would send a certain message; if you want to create assorted sets, different each video, with your power, that would add a kind of whimsy I suspect is part of what you're going for."