blasto, meet official opinions on self-replicating minions

[peterxy]

The PRT catches wind of a strange increase in disappeared domestic animals in the downtown area. Given that the people who live there are the rich and powerful, this is clearly a problem that needs to be investigated and solved immediately. The PRT, of course, agrees that this is of utmost importance, and not just because of precedent about mass abductions of pets, of course not, why would you think that, they are so very worried about Fido, even Scion recognizes the merits of rescuing lost pets.

(Lorica's asked to maybe keep a few more eyes there than she has been.)

Comments

[mxglam]

"Sorry about your sandwich, kid," they say. "I'd offer to conjure you another one, but my conjured food tends to disappear after a few bites. Terrible weakness, I know."

[alicornucopia]

Sandwich kid gets a hissed reprimand from one of the chaperon teachers and scoops the remains of his sandwich into its bag and puts it away.

[mxglam]

"If you had a parahuman power," they ask, still leaning on the conjured lectern, "what would you like it to be?"

[alicornucopia]

...The kids are not sure if they're supposed to answer that. They're probably not all supposed to talk at once, right?

[mxglam]

"I meant you, sandwich kid," they clarify. "What's your name?"

[alicornucopia]

"...Todd."

[mxglam]

His voice also comes from a bunch of speakers everywhere.

"Hi, Todd! D'you wanna be a superhero?"

[alicornucopia]

"I wanna be a dentist," says Todd.

[mxglam]

"Oh, that's cool! Is one of-" Pause. Shake head. "I have a time limit, we'll chat later if you want." They straighten up. "Does anyone here want to be a superhero? Or, perhaps, a supervillain? Just raise your hands if you do."

[alicornucopia]

There were a couple of twitches when Glam said "superhero" but nobody seems to want to own up to "or, perhaps, a supervillain".

[mxglam]

They smile, having expected this. "Unfortunately we don't really choose to have powers. And while the Protectorate is currently pretty neutral about 'rogues,' don't you find it interesting that so few parahumans choose to become those?" They sit cross-legged in the air, and gesture idly to make the lectern disappear. "Can anyone here name a single rogue?"

[alicornucopia]

Coupla hands.

[mxglam]

They point at one of them. "Are you gonna say Sphere? I bet you're gonna say Sphere."

[alicornucopia]

"...I was gonna say Tiger Lady."

[mxglam]

"Oh, alright, I'm defeated," they say, throwing their hands up dramatically. "Ooor maybe not! Can you nnnaaaame... five rogues?"

[alicornucopia]

Nobody can do that.

[mxglam]

"Aha! I win!" they say, grinning, then clear their throat. "On the other hand, I bet some of you have at some point owned Alexandria lunch boxes or Armsmaster underwear, and I doubt none of you have speculated on who would win between Eidolon and Legend."

The projector finally comes to life when Glam mentions Alexandria lunch boxes, and starts showing pictures of various heroes, changing from one to another every five seconds. As they do, a few copies of heroes (Alexandria amongst them, naturally) start walking (or flying) in from the back of the auditory, floating above the students or joining Glam at the front.

"And it's not just a matter of PR, although we must commend the Protectorate there. It seems that, for better or for worse," and at the 'for worse' pictures (mostly blurred, from a distance) of various villains start replacing the heroes', "parahumans tend towards conflict." No copies of the villains show up.

[alicornucopia]

The kids are mildly interested in the copies.

[mxglam]

"Does anyone here know how people get powers?" Copies have stopped walking in, only about a dozen of them, but the pictures are still going. The speakers have also disappeared from behind the kids.

[alicornucopia]

There's a hand.

[mxglam]

"Oh, I'm actually surprised now, go ahead."

[alicornucopia]

"They came from Scion, right?"

[mxglam]

"Mmm, that's one theory, yeah. No one knows if Scion was just the first parahuman, or whether he was the origin of powers, or both, or neither, really. Scion himself doesn't seem to actually have all powers, though, unless he's holding back, which is reasonable - no hero or villain really shows all their cards. But my question is at a lower level - how does a person without powers get them?"

[alicornucopia]

The other kid keeps her hand up.

[mxglam]

"Mmhm?"