"Game night might actually be in the list of pros for me. ...possibly watching cute people work out as well."

"Capes aren't filtered for looks either, you know."

They shrug. "Sure, but having to stay in shape is bound to help. And I mean, have you seen Legend."

"Not up close."

"Well me neither but you know what I mean!"

"I do, I do."

Giggle. "Anything to add to the list?"

"I might be running dry unless you have more specific questions."

"Lessee..." Think think. "What actually changes if you go to the Protectorate when you graduate?"

"You're a step up in the command structure, you don't have to go to school and if you do there's nobody worried about Youth Guard protests anymore if you have an off-day, and unlike being Ward Captain like Dauntless is now you can, if you work up to the point of seniority in your team, have some actual autonomy on some things that matter."

"Things that matter like what? Also is the moving around and changing teams actually voluntary? The media makes it seem like everyone's altruistically joining whatever teams will best help everyone else, the forums make it seem like every hero's a pawn of the Protectorate."

"Forums are mostly right. If you want to stay put you can probably do that. If your day job, should you maintain such a thing, moves, you can probably follow it. But Dad got moved here and I don't think he was upset about it but they didn't really ask him."

"Hmmm. This overall lack of autonomy sounds really annoying."

"Ah-huh."

"Well, thanks for this, info's useful."

"You're welcome."

"The other ideas for rep building were... pairing up with a Tinker, pretending to be one, both with aforementioned power-locking drawbacks, what else?"

"Pairing up with a Tinker doesn't lock you. There's an obvious reason not to do it all the time - you have to sit through the entire design and building phase making them stuff and then the final product doesn't last very long. You just have to do it now and then when someone scared by the phrase 'unlimited tinker budget' is listening. Getting minions might help too - makes you look stronger to your opponents and gives you a boost from the minions."

"Minions as in people minions or as in conjuring up minion-like things? 'Cause people minions might make me look way villainy I think."

"Cohorts, teammates, support staff, you don't have to call them minions. If you conjure them up they don't boost you, I imagine - if they did your runaway power scenario could be worse than mine."

"Yeah I don't think they do, and I still haven't had any success making them anyway. Teammates, other than the Protectorate there are a bunch of other hero teams, I suppose, with slightly different lists of pros and cons. Having non-teammates people working with or for me is harder without having a rep already."

"You could try New Wave, but you'd have to unmask..."

"That's actually less of a problem than you might think."

"Oh?"

"...I don't have much of a non-cape life. I go to school, have some friends there, but no one close mostly because can't talk shop and because of my expected lifespan."