Applying to Cape and Cowl

[exceptionallybright]

I have severe doubts on your character if you consider a population of villains to be an attractive feature of a city. Especially since your motivation seems to be based more on some perverse interest in my reaction than an eye for improvement. You can rest assured, typist, the champion of justice is well equipped for whatever ordeal there is to be encountered in the worst of wretched hives.

And not just because I'm bringing my actual equipment with me.

Comments

[foreshadower]

Wretched hive? How dramatic. I wouldn't consider it quite so terrible as that.

[exceptionallybright]

I was deliberately bringing up the extremes for effect. [Now you can go and be totally impressed by his rhetorical technique] What are your experiences with the place?

[foreshadower]

My experiences have been not quite the same as others. For one, I prefer to spend my days enjoying myself, rather than bothering with the game of heroes and villains on most days.

[exceptionallybright]

Some situations call people to action, while forcing others. What was so interesting as to cause the latter?

[foreshadower]

Boredom, of course. What other reason is there?

[exceptionallybright]

The service of justice, willing or not, should have been the first answer.

[foreshadower]

But whose justice? Yours? Society's? Alas, I have found that my standards differ from those of the heroic persuasion.

[exceptionallybright]

That heroic mindset is the only authority that counts out of all of those you've mentioned.

[foreshadower]

Is it? Dear me, I believe you'll find that things are hardly so simple. Why, in a world where the hero is the one who can clearly dispense justice, what happens when the hero is not so heroic?

[exceptionallybright]

That doesn't happen. I am certain that I can trust myself, of all people.

[foreshadower]

Ah, but could one such as I trust you? The villain in this sordid tale?

[exceptionallybright]

That won't be necessary. Your trust isn't needed to make things work out.

[foreshadower]

Are you so certain? My trust can aid you in a great many ways.

And my ire can create many a problem.

[exceptionallybright]

Forgive me for not being too keen on the idea of accepting handouts from self-proclaimed villains.

[foreshadower]

Ah, but I will be the most honest fellow you will meet in the City.

So many who simply lie and say they aren't what they truly are. A true villain is the most honest foe you can meet.

[exceptionallybright]

That wasn't meant to be tacit approval of the hidden kind! Of course it's in the nature of evil to hide its face in the shadows, though, in my experience, even the more sneaky sort of criminal is open about being...sneaky. [He starts to trail off, honestly not sure at the right words to use, before catching himself] But I'm confident that I'll be able to sort them out when I get there.

[foreshadower]

Perhaps, perhaps not. It is never so black and white as some may suggest.

Why, I may be a card-carrying villain, but even I have played the hero from time to time. IT is a situation that occurs.

[exceptionallybright]

Rarely enough that I don't think it needs to be accounted for. In most situations.

[foreshadower]

So little faith in your fellow man?

[exceptionallybright]

I'm merely reserved on who deserves it.

[foreshadower]

And your standards are?

[exceptionallybright]

[Opportunities like this never fail to inspire a satisfied smile. It shows clearly on his face, accompanied with with a nod.] Anyone with a righteous heart can depend on me to be on their side.

[foreshadower]

Ah, I see. The righteous only? That's such a narrow standard.

[exceptionallybright]

I don't see you offering any better. [A poor argument, to be sure, but still inarguable. This is a point where Justice honestly can't come up with any counterarguments.]

[foreshadower]

It is not my place to put a hand in the enforcement in any world. I'm immortal, and beyond such petty concerns.