"I get that, but I think you need to show that to Glam in order for them to believe it? They struck me as... Well, when I was actively helpful and thoughtful they were weirded out and trying to figure out my angle. And, yeah - they were under the impression that joining the Wards would induct them into the Protectorate when they turned eighteen."

Nod. "The impression I got was that the only reason Glam has been doing felonies at all is because they thought the problem with the drug dealer screwed them over forever."

He blinks. "I wish I could say that surprises me but in hindsight it really does not."

"Yeah."

Sigh. "And you believe if they didn't think the... incident... would cause problems, they would have joined?"

"I think what they wanted was to be a rogue of some kind, but I didn't really ask them for what-ifs, I was trying to understand things how they are now. Now they'd like to be a rogue that gets along well enough with the Protectorate and isn't going to be thrown in jail or forced to do anything that they don't want to do."

"You understand that's no longer an option. They have in fact committed felonies."

"Yes, of course. But I was under the impression that probationary status on the Wards until they're eighteen, and then becoming a rogue that gets along well with the Protectorate is viable?"

Reinhold spends a second thinking of a way of evading that question without outright lying, fails, and decides to be honest. "Yes, it's viable, and while it's a more desirable outcome than the present it's not altogether ideal. We're not so well-staffed that we can really afford to let people go like that."

"... I understand your interests," says Morgan, managing to be diplomatic and honest a lot faster than Reinhold managed it, "but Glam is unwilling to join the Wards at all if it means they have to join the Protectorate. Which means that they keep up being villainous. If you want to try to convince them to stay with the Protectorate after their probation's up, feel free, but misleading them about their available options is exactly the sort of thing Glam is afraid of. And I think if you attempted to, if they ever found out, you would have a much bigger problem than what you currently do now on your hands."

He considers this, then nods. "Very well."

"We usually stretch it out for up to six months, and given that Glam's probationary that's likely what's going to happen."

"I'll see if they're okay with that," says Morgan. "But you can't stretch it out longer than six months?"

"No, keeping a growing young adult for too long with their younger peers and not allowing them to move on is potentially damaging to their maturation and should be avoided," he recites from memory.

He nods. "Was there anything else?"

"Yes, actually - what's your policy on nonbinary gender identities in the Wards? It wasn't in any of the pamphlets."

"It is against our policies to take any action that suppresses or interferes with a Ward's gender identity or sexual identity. Should a Ward self-identify as one gender, the department should strive to assist in creating a costumed identity to match that gender," he once again recites from memory. That ruling is quite recent, and he doesn't mention that Glam's reactions to being misgendered were the spark that caused it to pass.

"All right," says Morgan, nodding. "I think that's everything. I'll make sure Glam's okay with the likely extra six months of probationary status, and then get back to you? But I think this'll work."

He nods. "I'm glad we could reach an understanding."

Glam is faster than she is.