maskormenace | 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

True enough, character would be critical. And a good understanding of publicity and media, which it seems you have.

My future self, maybe. Me? I still have a long way to go before I can even hope to reach that level.

[That’s another reason he’s avoided using video and audio on the network. He’s socially awkward and, quite frankly, pretty off-putting even in text.]

Let's hope that this strange problem with timelines and proper age is remedied soon, then. But I'm sure you could be an effective hero in a pinch right now, if you had to.

That sort of thing is probably best left to the professionals. Back home you sometimes read stories about NEXTs who try to play hero and only make things worse.

[ha. ha ha. YES THAT IS. ALL TOO FAMILIAR.]

That doesn't surprise me in the least.

The way you type 'NEXT' makes it seem like an acronym.

That's because it is. It stands for Noted Entities with eXtraordinary Talents.