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(And well, they have no way of knowing if it's true, if he's pretending to be humble, or if he's deliberately misleading them.

It could be that his feathers act on his desires but aren't constantly under his conscious control when he's using them in large numbers. Or any number of other possible explanations.)

If you say so.

[ He can, it was a lot of training. Each feather can act independently, at his conscious command, although there's no intelligence modifier. He's naturally smart. ]

I didn't even go to school. I got my license independently.

(A thing Sidestep would be very impressed by if they found out.)

That actually makes you look more, not less smart.

(He learned how to succeed without the aid of tutors or teachers or the other resources an education provides.

Not someone to underestimate.)

So is it just your country or your whole world that requires a license for hero work?

[ He had tutors of a sort, enough to know the things he needs to and nothing more. It's a complicated situation, but while most heroes hold the prestige of their school, Hawks does not. ]

The whole world requires it. It's something that was decided upon with all the quirks coming in, before I was born anyway.

The ranking is country specific. I don't know where I'd end up worldwide. In speed, possibly number one. All Might could've beaten me in a sprint, in his prime, but he's retired.

Huh. Back home you can't really get multiple countries to agree to anything.

(It's like if regular Earth had all the wars and few to none of the treaties.)

Nice to know ranking people is the same though.

Can't say I know how that came about.

Rankings are determined on a few metrics, but the biggest are your resolved cases and public opinion and support. Frankly, I think the second one matters the most. Our Number One is only fourth in public support, but he has so many resolved cases, he makes up for it.

Might be because it's so much more widespread in your world that people had to figure something out.

It's not so official in our world, various fan sites and forums have ranking lists for the top heroes and villains, though there's a few that top the lists pretty consistently everywhere.

They make a huge event of it, every six months, the top ten take the stage and parade around for the audience, we all get to say something to thank them for their support and that's about it.

The ceremony is meant to appease people I guess. The public likes it. It's a hassle and a half and it distracts from what my job actually is. It's like the modelling and endorsements I have to do on top of my patrols. Adds to the notoriety. Interviews, too. Real hard to get around all that. Endeavor can because he's so abrasive. The rest of us just have to play the game.

Rumi escapes some of it, that lucky rabbit.

Can't just say no? That sort of stuff is expected with the really major and corporate heroes at home but they can still refuse it.

(He says public opinion matters to him... does he feel forced to accept to keep it up, they wonder?)

Afraid not. Rumi can, that's how she gets out of them.

The only way out of the ceremony is to be injured. Best Jeanist missed the last one due to that reason. He's ranked number 3. Great guy.

...Think I'd just start faking illness in that scenario.

(Then again, maybe it would have been better if the heroes of their world had no choice in this sort of thing. Then they never would have tried being one.)

I don't know if that would work. I don't mind the rankings. People really like them, they get excited for them and you know, I do like to make people happy.

The modelling though, I could do without. It's all kinds of uncomfortable to have ten people pawing at me to get me prepped and I never have much time so we have to hurry because I usually have patrol.

(And they have to pause, because unfortunately, they can sympathize.

Standing in the mirror, dressed up for a party they have no desire to go to. Wrong gender. Wrong everything.

Their handler inspecting their outfit. Inspecting them.

That's not what he's talking about, they tell themself. It's not the same.)

You shouldn't have to.

[ It isn't the same, but Hawks can't talk about how things are, not really. He knows he shouldn't. He doesn't like people grabbing at his wings, doing the quickest, most uncomfortable version of preening he's ever experienced. It would be difficult to explain what's wrong with it, he knows it's just his instincts going haywire.

Yeah, because it should be fine otherwise. ]

I just do what I'm told and show up. It's all to make me a better hero.

[ So they say. Somehow. ]

The best heroes in Los Diablos wouldn't put up with that shit.

(They aren't talking either, but something about this nags at them. Will likely keep nagging at them.)

I guess, but because I work a lot someone else sets my schedule, there's nothing I can really do about it. I like the long patrols and getting to meet and help people so if I have to put up with some things that are less great then there's not really much to complain about.

I probably shouldn't complain at all. I do warn the little chickadees that this kind of thing comes with the job. No one thinks about it.

(The obedience bugs them. The way he tried to mask how annoyed he was when they grabbed his feathers now also bugs them, when they compare it to this.)

If you don't complain, you'll probably just get more and worse stuff piled on you.

Complaining doesn't really do anything, there's not much I can do about it. Fortunately, I don't think they can add too much more, I was already working about twenty hours a day and under double surveillance so there wasn't much they could ask me to do right now.

(What the fuck? 20 hour shifts? Yeah there are corporations that do shit like that to their workers in Los Diablos, but this is extreme, and heroes are supposed to above that anyway.)

Does your quirk include not needing to sleep?

(This seems likely to kill the guy, or cause him to fuck up the job from exhaustion.

The surveillance, though... that's. Something's wrong here.)

Edited 2024-12-05 03:26 (UTC)

Of course not, I sleep. I just have little catnaps on my breaks.

Well not catnaps. Birdnaps? That's probably better.

I'm on a mission where I'm on call and they mostly operate at night. I won't deny it's exhausting, but sometimes that's how it is.

(This sounds more like a prison sentence than a job. They'd wonder if he was a reformed villain under surveillance to make sure he doesn't try anything, but that doesn't fit with what they've seen of him.

Is he being forced into this? What the fuck?)

Sounds like a good way to collapse in the middle of something important. You getting sleep here?

I would never, I know better than that.

Yeah of course, I only do patrolling here for about twelve hours a day or so. I have a cool hammock in my room. Probably because a big enough bed wouldn't have fit.

It's not really a matter of knowing better...

You know, the Conservatory could probably use someone like you, if you'd be interested.

(They're pretty sure Turo and Red would push this guy to work a more reasonable amount of hours. 12 is still a lot.

A part of them wonders about how sleeping positions and sleeping in a hammock works given the wings, but... this guy already doesn't get any privacy, he doesn't need them asking invasive personal questions.)

[ It might not be - but he would definitely be blamed if he was anything less than his best, all the time. ]

What's the Conservatory?

Cosmo Conservatory. It's a nature preserve and place for sheltering animals. Some of the stuff there is magical enough that there's a risk people might try to steal or poach the animals, so there's a security detail.

(Of course, a big time hero might not be all that into helping guard a nature preserve, but that brings them to next bit...)

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