Wonder Woman winces.

"I'm sorry, Wildcard. That was impolite of me. I was just not expecting the sudden multi-colored aura. And I can see why acquiring personal protection is your first priority; I approve of it, even. But from my point of view you look a lot like you are chasing after things you don't understand in somewhat of a panic without trying to take the time to slow down. I can't even say that's not the right approach, since everyone's powers are different and you're probably actually more well-informed about what could go wrong — both with your powers and generally ­— than I am, given your origins."

"And you're right; the League does face near-Death experiences on a too-frequent basis ... which means that many of us have a warrior's-flinch around unexpected brightly colored effects. So I will not apologize for being discomforted, but I will apologize for reacting to it as thoughtlessly as I did. You have done nothing to suggest that you are dangerous to me or to those who I am here to protect, and you are clearly doing your best to act swiftly and decisively in the face of a difficult situation. I'm sorry for implying that your attempts to defend yourself and better understand your powers were something to be wary of."

One extra bit of information comes along with this apology, along some invisible divine channel: Wonder Woman is a champion of Truth, and when she speaks Truly, this can be perceived by people who know how to listen.

"...Ah.  Yes.  My apologies in turn, then.  It was..."

"I did, directly, state that I was going to attempt to replicate a Lantern's environmental shielding, but I could have been much, much clearer that I intended to do so soonest and been much less of an unpleasant surprise thereby, and for that I owe you an apology, ma'am.

"And much of my...  Snappishness...

"Should not have been aimed at you.  Or, indeed, anyone.  Unfortunately, it is...

"Not unlike your flinch at sudden glowy things, in how...

"...Hm.  How to say this.  ...I might need...  A moment, to figure out the words.  Or I might not be able to.  They're giving me rather much trouble.  But I feel as though I should at least explain, as best I can."

"...It would not necessarily be wrong to say that for various and sundry reasons my brain has conflated social opprobrium into the category of dangers that actual threats to life and limb should be filed under, to which it reacts accordingly - the uncertainty being mostly a matter of degree of just how far off the calibration is.  I don't want it to do that, but it does do that."

"...As for the matter of it looking as though I'm chasing after things I don't understand in a blind panic without pausing to even catch my breath...

"...I am, in all honesty, a bundle of nerves by default, but if I was panicking I'm at least 70% sure I'd be a lot more obvious.  Either that or I am simply panicky almost all the fucking time I'm doing anything remotely consequential and therefore unfortunately too habituated to it to realize that it's happening.  And, for that matter, I would have been glowing yellow.  ...Oh, I should not make - a mood ring -"  She buries her face in her hands for a moment, clearly trying not to get distracted by laughing at her own joke.

"But, no, the reason I'm like this isn't panic, or at least I think so - it's because I have learned that 90% of the time if I do not do a thing immediately or have external structure that incentivizes me into doing the thing on its schedule, the thing might never get done.  And when the thing is 'make sure you're not suddenly exploded', you really want to lean towards doing immediately instead of not doing.  ...ADHD and the fucking time blindness, not even once."

Something appears to occur to her, a few seconds later; she pinches the bridge of her nose, and speaks once more.

"And I should have made it explicitly clear much sooner that I do indeed accept your apology and hope there are no hard feelings between us."

Wonder Woman gives a little laugh.

"Yes, no hard feelings at all. As I said, it was my unthinking mistake."

She thinks for a moment.

"Is there anything that I could do, to help you handle things while I'm here? I've been hanging back and going through creating action items from the prophecies you gave us earlier, but if it would help you could bounce ideas off of me, or I could try to help with prioritization?"

"Oh, good."

Another of those subtle little shifts in bearing that Wonder Woman may or may not have been noticing occurs, as they think about what to do with those questions.

"I think there's more than enough ideas of what to try doing, to be getting on with - though I really should consult a wizard, and there's definitely the mess of Kent Nelson's retirement that I want to get out in front of - but there was a question I once saw asked of a mentor figure, that seems appropriate to steal here, if you're offering advice.  What do you think I need to know, about...  Any of this, really...  That you think no-one else will tell me?"

Wonder Woman taps her lip in thought.

"Well, it's hard to say, because you probably already know a lot of things that I don't know you know, or that you haven't thought about explicitly."

She's silent for a moment.

"You don't need to be a superhero. Batman wouldn't tell you that because he would want to use your unique powers for combating threats the league couldn't otherwise face. Superman wouldn't tell you because it wouldn't occur to him that you might not want to, given the option. The others on the League probably wouldn't really think about the question at all. But ... you know that 'Wonder Woman' is a title, right? Given to the strongest of Themyscria's warriors, a champion who is charged with the defense of her people? I do this because I was raised in a martial culture, and because I've been charged to protect my sisters on Themyscria, and threats to the world are threats to them. I do this because I've grown used to fighting beside my comrades-in-arms in the League, and because I support them so that they will support me, in the way of shield brothers and sisters."

"But you have no such charge. The vast majority of people don't actually run into supervillainy in their day-to-day lives, and with your powers, you're already better equipped to evacuate than most people. You could fly away to a random place, start a new life, and not worry about the various terrible apocalypses that you've told us about — both because, with your forewarning, we'll already be working to stop them, and because it's not your obligation."

"I know that might not be the kind of advice you had in mind, but I think it's important to say. If you do want to become a superhero, it's worth doing that because you made a choice to take on that burden willingly, and not because you felt like it was something imposed upon you."

...She has a point.

But.  Even so.

"...It would be very funny to nigh-accidentally constrain Kl-- excuse me, The Witch Boy - to mostly street-level hijinks by way of not getting involved with much more than, essentially, tourism."

"I'm probably not going to do it.  But it would be funny."

"Unfortunately, the Tao of Peter Parker is strong with this one, if I might be forgiven making a non-local reference and furthermore speaking about 'myself'," she does not actually air-quote, "in third person.  And I have been given at least moderate power.  And, worse, one that will grow with my own accomplishments.  So I find that I should do no less than assume moderate responsibility.  Not on the scale of yourself, or Batman, or Kal-El, for I do not have the experience to bear the world on my shoulders - but I'd regret doing nothing.  And while this power was a gift - given freely and with no obligation, in no uncertain terms -

"I would, I think, betray myself, if I betrayed the hope I was entrusted with, in being given this gift.  And...  I am not selfless enough to entrust it to another, if I can keep nothing for myself.

"I do suppose I should check, it would be quite silly of me to have all this angst for no good reason.  But I do not expect it to be that easy to resolve this.  It would make for a rather poor story, if nothing else."

Gift, dear?  Could you elucidate on the relevant circumstances, here?

It can grow seeds that they can give away, if they want it to? Or it could grow a seed for them, and then leave and they could use the seed instead, if they wanted that. The seeds will take a long time to grow to the level that the gift is at right now, though.

And also the gift was designed to help, but it doesn't always know the best way to do that. It comes up with powers that it thinks they will want, and implements them. If the best way to help is to make it so that other people can be powerful and fix things instead, it can come up with powers related to that! It can't decide what they want for them, though, just do its best to support whatever that is.

Awww.  Thank you, darling.  Yes, she knows.

(The above thoughts are all bathed in such an undertow of sudden affection(maternal) that they have to check if they're glowing.)

"...It seems that the Gift I was given is meant to be shared, for all that it takes a while to fruit to the point where it was given to me."

"What do you mean by that? You can grant lesser versions of your powers to others, as Captain Marvel can?"

"I mean - hm.  One moment."

-- yeah okay she is the better poker of things and a less circuitous explainer but really?

"The word choice was, insofar as my feeble mortal brain," she quips, "comprehends the substantially alien worldview of the symbiote attached to my soul as best as it tried to explain the answer to the question of what could happen if I wanted to pass it on, that it could grow 'seeds' that could be given away as we saw fit, or that I could pass the more-grown form on and reserve a seed for myself if that was what I preferred.

"And, furthermore, that if the best way to help people would be to empower others, that it would be glad to help me do so, though the question of priorities is my own decision to make.  ...As it should be, for all that sometimes I do mislike the burden of choice."  She sighs.  "But that is another matter entirely, I should say."

"There are ... very few reliable routes to power," Wonder Woman notes. "The Flash's formula is one, but it's hard to reproduce and very dangerous, both to apply and in the hands of someone bent on ill-use. If you could grant safe, reliable abilities to other people — to people chosen ahead of time for having heroic dispositions and support networks — that could be a definite shift in the balance of power."

"On the other hand, if a villain learns that you can do that, you might be targeted. I would recommend keeping that ability close to your chest."

"Oh, definitely.  I probably shouldn't have said that while there were holes in the building.  Or in this building at all.  ...Too late now, unfortunately."

"I do have the impression that it takes time, though."

...How long does it take, for a seed to grow?

It's not a growth measured in time. It's a growth measured in personal achievement and the background flow of cosmic energy. For a seed to grow to the stage the gift is at now ... a new realization about the self, a difficult monster defeated for a meaningful cause, and an attempt to make a friend from an enemy, maybe? There are other things that would do as well, though ...

It's hard to give an exact measurement.