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

[alicornucopia]

"Why'd you stop?"

[mxglam]

"Honestly, being unregistered and independent's not really worth it. There's stigma, heroes and villains don't like you much, you don't really get anything out of it - I used to have a part-time job, now I have a fairly generous allowance. I could've merc'd it but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work out, not to mention that it's technically illegal." Shrug. "Now I got the weight of the Protectorate behind me, all their resources, and my fa- emoji is in posters and T-shirts, making daring poses." They stand up and look into the distance in a superman pose.

[alicornucopia]

"How come you weren't a Ward to start with then?"

[mxglam]

"'Cause there are a few drawbacks - having to patrol according to strict schedules and having someone else in charge of my image being some of the chief ones - and I was weighing them too heavily. I guess I could say I was scared of, sorta, losing freedom, in a way?"

[alicornucopia]

"Did you?"

[mxglam]

"Well, yeah, naturally, I do have to patrol, and my image does have to go through PR and Branding, but if I didn't think the tradeoff was worth it I wouldn't be floating here, talking to you."

[alicornucopia]

Nobody calls out another question at this time.

[mxglam]

"We-ell, I had some vague plans about asking y'all about trigger events and powers and maybe conjure some copies with those powers, but we're running out of time." They sit cross-legged in the air again. "My goal here was trying to teach you-all a bit about how capes start their careers and what's involved and the psychology, and maybe tempt some of you into research to figure out what the heck's going on. I do hope I've achieved it, but I also hope you enjoyed it. Weeee have time for more questions if you have them, or perhaps one more create-a-power session if we're quick about it. What do you prefer?"

[alicornucopia]

Hands!

[mxglam]

They pick a hand!

[alicornucopia]

"Do you think all of the capes that there are definitely have secret weaknesses or just most of them?"

[mxglam]

"Hmmm, hard to say, because not all weaknesses are easily perceived as such, in the power itself. We know about more than a few broken villains, whose only notable weakness is their lack of mental stability. Other powers have more debatable ones, like the way Kaiser takes a longer time to make larger, more resistant structures, or the way Lung needs to be in the thick of battle to even activate his full arsenal. And given the way powers work, I wouldn't be too surprised if I found out that, say, Legend didn't have one he chose to hide. But I'd be a little bit surprised."

[alicornucopia]

"What about Scion?" somebody wonders.

[mxglam]

"Maybe his weakness is that he forgot how to speak," Glam shrugs. "Or that he thinks sometimes rescuing kittens from trees takes priority over whatever-the-heck else's going on in the world." They shake their head. "Honestly, if Scion is a parahuman, and I have no hypotheses to offer if he's not, then he probably got the short end of the stick when it comes to the whole," they gesture vaguely around their head.

[alicornucopia]

Scattered giggles.

"Okay, but Eidolon," somebody calls out.

[mxglam]

"Well, the obvious one is that he can only hold on to two to four powers at a time and it takes a while for him to change them, though I guess that one's more debatable." And there is, of course, the other one that anyone paying attention (meaning about seventeen people worldwide) would notice, but this they do not mention.

[alicornucopia]

"Only two to four," mutters someone.

[mxglam]

"Of course he could be hiding stuff under that mysterious hood, his whole schtick is the dark brooding mysterious, who knows what secrets he hides."

[alicornucopia]

Scattered titters.

[mxglam]

"So! Any more questions?"

[alicornucopia]

No hands.

[mxglam]

"In that case I'm done. I think there's a couple of Wards yet to present, and then they'll have us stay around to socialize and stuff, so if you're not sick to death of hero-wannabes barely older than yourselves pretending they know what they're talking about, I guess I'll see you then!"

[alicornucopia]

Giggles.

[mxglam]

"Bye, then!" And they disappear. Because that was, demonstrably, not the real Glam.

[alicornucopia]

That gets a variety of surprised reactions.