"Do they field them."

"Yes?"

"Wow."

"Uh, there are a bunch of regulations limiting their involvement in combat - you need parental consent for S-class events - uh, that's mostly fighting the Endbringers - you generally aren't supposed to put Wards into excessively dangerous situations or into combat with capes who are undeniably known to cause mental and physical trauma. Though those rules aren't absolutely binding, especially when the Wards themselves push back against them which is relatively often."

"I guess that's better than not having any regulations at all about child soldiers."

"I - uh, if they weren't capes none of this would be at all legal."

"...in most situations twelve year olds without superpowers aren't very useful in combat, I'm not sure that really means anything?"

"Yeah I.... I don't know. I guess I see how it sounds horrible but the youngest member on the Wards team is one of the most competent capes I know and I think a system that didn't let her fight monsters like Leviathan would be failing her and everyone else."

Lucien had joined his superiors in ignoring the fact that her mom never signed forms as fast as the S-class permission form got signed.

"Maybe I should hear - Lorica's dad's - take on this or something."

"Yeah that might make sense."

"Um. Sorry if I was defensive I was captain of the Wards for a while and still have strong feelings about some of that, apparently."

"- oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - I -"

Oh god what did he do.

"No no no it's okay I'm not mad at you or upset or anything sorry if I implied that or anything."

"Sorry, I'm just really very insane at the moment."

"Yeah I uh. Can be more careful about that."

"It's probably not actually worth you being careful about things like that. I'm a fixed amount of lonely and my brain is doing stupid things to make sense of it and making sense of it does not improve the situation because I am a fixed amount of lonely. I just have to live through the week and then I'll be okay."

"Okay."

"Um, do you want me to read to you more?"

"Please."

Then he can do that! For as long as she wants really.

Eventually she remembers that she should be composing an email to Lorica's dad. "Does he know Tattletale?"

"Uh, yes, though I wouldn't expect him to have a high opinion of her."

"But like, as an explanation of why we'd think I was connected to Lorica in any way."

"I think that will maybe make him more suspicious? A bunch of the PRT think she manipulated me into joining the Undersiders and generally suspect her of using her power to trick people. After Lorica worked with her they considered moving Lorica to a different city - though I don't think her dad agreed with that. There might be a way to get a message to him without going through channels that would let the PRT protectively censor it?" 

"It'd be a bit much to assume he has the same email address. And - without Tattletale's say-so and without putting a lot of weight on your personality assessment and voice recognition abilities we have very little reason to think I'm 'a Lorica'? We don't even know for sure that I look like her or have the same name, it just seems plausible that I do from the starting point of thinking we're alternate universe versions of each other."

"You really do act a lot like her. Other than the backlash that is."

"Well, it's nice to know I'm recognizable even when I feel completely different."