"I don't blame you a bit."

"Having to occupy a certain mental state to use it is..." Sigh.

"Frustrating."

"At least is one I'm reasonably competent at consistently occupying? When there isn't a trumpy power ducking me over? I mean on balance I think it's a pretty darn good power to have even with the downsides."

"Um, yes. Yes it is. You killed an Endbringer with it. It is a good power."

They giggle. "I killed an Endbringer with it, yep."

Hug?

Hug!

Really?

Nnnnggghhh squirmy hug maybe a bit shorter than usual.

Okay. "We should get some sleep."

"Yeah. And have delightful nightmares about the evening."

"If you want the bot to hypnotize you to sleep and see if that helps it can be arranged."

"It... could be useful, yeah," they admit.

"Done. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you. Good night. And, uh, thank your mom for dinner, it was very good."

"I'll tell her."

And with that they go to bed.

Boxing Day is unexciting except for the discovery that the body parts that looked chewed on weren't actually chewed on but rather made look that way artificially, so the Siberian's ruled out. The Protectorate however is pretty sure the Skinners will want to do something for New Year so everyone's at the ready then, patrols are spread out and redoubled, and no one's given the day off. So of course nothing whatsoever happens.

It does happen the next day, though.

Another apartment building's targeted, the symptoms being no one answering doors again. Investigation reveals that everything's functional and nothing bizarre's going on, except that every single person who lives there seems to have decided it was a jolly good day to hang themselves. The news will, of course, love it when they hear about it, yet another apartment building targeted. Brockton Bay is large enough that this is more or less statistical noise, but the news isn't known for being reasonable about this sort of thing.

And once again, Glam fails to help at all.

Okay, everybody hanging themselves - and the forensics look solid on it actually being that - really doesn't look Niney.

Yeah, fits the pattern of "something their powers could more-or-less accomplish but not quite their M.O." of these recent kills.

And while it's being wrapped up, Glam's called to Piggot's office. They show up and knock.

"Come in," Piggot says.

They do. "Good afternoon, ma'am."

"Hello, Glam. I'd like a private word."

She looks pointedly at the shoulderbot. The shoulderbot pats Glam on the cheek with one extremity and then flies out.

"Okay. So I probably oughtn't tell Lorica about what we talk about here?"

...this is oddly not distressing. They feel like they should be more distressed by it.

"Not by default. Can you tell me what seems to be the matter with your power recently?"