[merlin]

A poorly-shined swathe of the reflective window seemed to stare him down. They should have had someone to clean it. Unless it had happened today. Some grubby-handed patron of the cafe had leaned against the pristine surface and the servers were too busy to both notice and take action.

Yes. That seemed more likely.

What set this coffee shop apart from the plethora of others on the ground level of a skyscraper fell just beyond Billy's ken. Everything from the yellow-and-blue shadesail to the wicker-patterned chairs felt only marginally distinguishable from the next charming spot a stone's throw away. Maybe the popularity bred popularity. People loved the place. Billy would have been as happy walking and talking. Unfortunately, that wasn't the way that the Program did business.

There was a pen in his pocket. How he wished now that he'd taken it out earlier to establish the understanding that notes would be taken. As things were, Billy would remember as best he could what was discussed with this big-shot Hero Program spin doctor and write out whatever actionable tasks needed attention only after they'd said goodbye and shaken hands. Billy swallowed but the lead in his throat failed to budge.

"-pretty well, uh, I guess, except --" The teeth closest to his bottom lip closed down in sanction and the man briefly debated beginning again. His gaze left the man opposite and found the coffee between them. "-- except they're handling me with kid gloves. No-brainers only."

Patrols. 'Visibility opportunities'. Community events. If the Tank never had to go to community events.

His hand grasped gingerly around the patterned ceramic mug which contained his lifeblood and let the warmth soak into his palms. Only after Dom spoke could he lift the coffee to his lips. In a considerable show of mental strength, Billy did not glance at the poorly-shined swathe of the reflective window.

[Dominic Weaver]

Surge The best part of “believe” is the “lie”. + merlin

Merlin... Merlin was an interesting character. He was young, yes, but that made no difference. Alice had been younger when she'd started fighting crime, and not much older when she'd become the face of the Hero Program. She'd been a lot easier to work with than Merlin though. If it hadn't been for his sister the Program might well have turned him down. Savage... Now there was a powerful Hero. Dominic is sat across from Merlin, an overpriced, albeit delicious coffee sat in front of him. He doesn't like New York, there's an animosity, an anger simmering barely beneath the surface. His power is not public knowledge, but even so he knows that he would not be welcome here. New York has little time for metahumans, ever since the Shockwave attack there anger and fear has grown, despite the Program's best efforts to salve it. He takes another sip of his coffee. "Billy, these things take time, they take a lot of time. Especially now that we have a proper Program in place. These aren't the days when we desperately needed Heroes on the streets. We need to ensure that Heroes aren't going to end up in a situation they can't handle." The truth is, Billy is small fry. The Program had tested his powers and while they were extraordinarily versatile, they seemed to come with far more limits than the average Hero. Tank is basically bulletproof. Paladin can stop a semi with one hand and nobody knows the actual limits of Gravity Girl's powers. Merlin has power, but the last thing Dominic needed on his mind right now was another dead Hero. "Things are especially delicate here, we need the people to love you. They know your sister, they don't know you, and everything is harder here for a Meta. Everything. There have been attacks, but New York... Man the Central station attack. You're fighting an uphill battle here." He sighs, rotating the coffee mug in his hands. It wasn't all that long ago that he had been on the streets himself. "Look, I get it, you want to feel like you're making a difference. And right now it just doesn't feel like that. So..." He releases the coffee mug and raps his knuckles on the tabletop. "Tell me what I can do to make you feel like you're here for the right reason?"

© seadra of gs