maskormenace | Text; Pull Point Plot (Aged-Down Barnaby)

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Text; Pull Point Plot (Aged-Down Barnaby)

[The attached ID reads Barnaby Brooks Jr. As a spokesman for a prominent energy drink brand, his name and face are splashed on all sorts of magazines and advertisements, and anyone who's been here for even a short amount of time might know him as a hero who's very public about his crime-fighting activities.

Generally speaking, it's rare for him to use text over the network. Of course, the message that follows doesn't exactly mesh with his usual image, either.]

I've got three questions. If you've got an answer for any of these, I want to hear from you.

#1: What do you know about this symbol?

#2: Who the hell is this?

#3: Do your numbers reflect the market's ACTUAL demand for heroes, or are you all just calling yourselves heroes because it's become the popular thing to do? At this rate, your characters are just going to overlap. Unless you've got a good hook, your odds of standing out or building a solid fanbase are pretty abysmal.

[You shouldn't need a 15-year-old kid telling you this, he irritably thinks to himself. And yet here we are.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...Oh good, it's this guy.]

And what is that?

protecting the people, obviously!

But you can't keep protecting the people unless the public likes you. That's why you have to market yourself. It's just like any other performance-based job.

all that stuff is just extras
the important part is being good at the protecting part of the job
the restll fall into place from there
thats why we have sponsors and stuff, right? to deal with all that

[He's assuming this guy is from Sternbild too, anyway.]

Edited 2016-04-02 01:02 (UTC)

I agree it's important to be good at your job, but I'm pretty sure someone could focus on become a walking billboard, fall dead last in the rankings, and still stick around, as long as they had a good enough gimmick to keep the sponsors happy.

ugh are you being serious right now
thats completely stupid
what would even be the point of being a hero if thats all someone was gonna do?!
its just wasting everyones time, including theirs, AND putting themselves and innocents in danger that way

if youre not invested in the job you shouldnt be doing it

Edited 2016-04-02 01:37 (UTC)

I'm calling it like I see it. The hero industry has been moving in that direction for a long time now, so it's only a matter of time.

look i get that theres a business part to it, okay, im not dumb
but heroes and hero tv would just become meaningless if people did that
why would you even put yourself out there and risk your life for literally nothing
its not worth it
theres plenty of other stuff you could be doing if protecting people isnt a life you want
i mean thats why we exist in the first place right?

Maybe they tell themselves they want to protect people, and they're just playing the game they know will get them there.

once theyve been approved by the justice bureau theyre already there, though
like i said, after that what counts is doing your job well
all the other stuff should come from that

And they can just as easily be dismissed if the sponsors aren't happy with them, regardless of the reason.

well yeah, thats why you do the stuff they tell you
but that shouldnt be your focus

If they are literally the only reason you're allowed to be there, I don't see how you can do anything different and hope to get anywhere.

its like...people who write books and do art and stuff like that
well, sorta
ish
anyway point is they gotta do things other people want to sell their stuff too but they still get to keep it in a way that represents what they wanted to do, yeah?
its like that
i dont care about putting a logo on my chest or having to pose for pictures or whatever as long as it doesnt get in the way of what im here for, which is protecting people

[That kind of narrow-minded focus on a single idea...it's something that weirdly resonates with him, but Barnaby does his best to shake it off.]

How long will you keep that up?

keep what up!

Protecting people as a hero.

i dunno, as long as i can?
its only been like a year, i havent exactly started thinking about retirement

[Barnaby purses his lips at that response. The industry will only take and take from someone like Wild Tiger, until they decide he's no longer of use, and they will shunt him aside in favor of the next big thing. It's seldom anything personal. That's simply the way the free market works.

He isn't sure why, exactly, but he actually feels...a little sorry for him? It's strange...]

It's good to plan for the future. Not everyone even has a future to plan for, so you should make sure not to waste yours.

[Who is the old man here, exactly.......]

whats that even supposed to mean, not everyone has a future to plan for?

People die before it's their time everyday, and the ones who are left behind are stuck picking up the pieces.

You have a wife and a baby on the way, don't you? It's your responsibility to make sure they're taken care of in case something happens to you.

[...Jeez, way to be depressing.]

i mean ive got like, health and life insurance and stuff like that?? plus my brother owns a business; theyd be okay

i just dont see the point of thinking about what im gonna do when i leave this job cause thats not gonna happen anytime soon

[He's good at that.]

So you can't imagine a life where you're not doing hero work.

Edited 2016-04-03 00:06 (UTC)

[He wasn't planning to get this sentimental in this post, but...]

not really?
its all ive ever wanted to do since i was a little kid
soooo
yeah

Edited 2016-04-03 08:17 (UTC)

I see.

So it's more than just a competition for you.

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