Camron shook her head, "No, he didn't have wings or shrink.  At least during our encounter, but he could have been hiding that."  The tall red head shrugged her shoulders as she sipped from her glass.  "I didn't get to find out where he was from," Cameron hummed thoughtfully, "or anything else about him.  We were trying to maintain our cover as regular people."

"Since he used something that looked like fairy dust, I thought I would mention it to you," Cameron shared with her teammate.

Kevin looked to their host and hostess to see if the description of the Meta rang a bell. “Does this individual sound familiar to you? Didn’t know if you might have a file on this person or not.”Stitches looked to the ladies and pondered something. “If the group was to gain a more public image, would you ladies consider doing a swimsuit calendar? It would boost your reputation and be an additional sort of income.”

Virginia thought for a moment, "His using what looked like my dust may or may not be an associative power. But thanks for mentioning it to me." She sipped at her water waiting for some sweet tea to be delivered.

Virginia's face went to an expression of doubt at the suggestion of a calendar shoot.

"Hmmmm..."

"Well..."

"I..."

"Ok so, I am not against calendars but...that could be a big can of worms, could it not? I mean, does that not alert the criminal element in town that 'Hey, these people are around! We need to adjusts plans for them. And they look just like these pictures!'?

Explain to me how this helps??

What reputation do I have now??" she finished meaning to be funny.

Cameron looked over at Kevin, "Before we get to the question of a calendar, what exactly do you mean by going more public?  Does this mean revealing our identities?"  She looked around at the others to see what they were thinking.  She didn't know about the others, but she was hesitant to reveal her real identity to the public, she wouldn't want to put her Aunt in danger or any other family member.

Kevin shook his head and looked over at Stitches. “I believe what Stitches here meant was masks stay on and identities concealed while being less concealing in other areas. Just ignore him. He sometimes falls back into his MMA fight promoter ways like he used to be with me.”

"Dibs! I get July! And either October or December!" Virginia exclaimed jumping way ahead. "Are we using bogus monikers or our hero names? I haven't figured one out yet...... Is it just us? What are we doing? We need theme. Bikinis? Beach? I don't want to do cars. What would be more funny would be to have us using our talents but make it looked obviously photoshopped. Can we photoshop me some bigger boobs??"

Cameron shrugged, "I think it is too early to talk about a calendar, but later maybe, as long as we can preserve our identities."  The tall, willowy red headed agreed with a shrug.

Looking over at Kevin, "Are we going to do some group exercises, would help us work better together," Cameron asked currently because she felt woefully unprepared to work with Cythi during their last mission.

"I already have a 'more public image'." Marie said a bit, bluntly. "I am not sure you want me to be a part of this, calendar business." Then she looked over to Ace. "I have no identity to hide, it was agreed to keep mine public to demonstrate I can be 'fixed, redeemed, whatever'." She actually shrugged at that.

"Anyway, what is this about pixie dust?" She said, deciding to change the subject before someone decides to bring up HER attractive boobs.

Jenny and Carter shared a smile. then Carter leaned in.  "And that sort of leads to why we wanted to meet.  Since Vigilance disbanded, things had been fairly stable, right up until the Exalt stuff hit the streets.  Combined with some of the more recent overtures of the Thresh, and I'm not convinced that things are going to stay stable."

"Jennifer has told me all sorts of things about you and I want to discuss assisting your, ah, extra-curricular activities.  Ideally, I would like to position you to leverage the public goodwill you've currently got going for you.  I don't know about calendars and merchandising quite yet, but I'm also not the marketing expert.  I can put you in touch with some very talented people in that regard."

Jennifer leaned back, and held her drink close to her face, pensive.  "It's not entirely altruistic, mind you.   Our history isn't exactly a secret.  I'm about to make a big announcement soon that will bring out some old acquaintances looking to settle even older scores.  Having a more pronounced meta presence in the city--embraced by the city--will simply do everyone some good."

Stitches both elated and sad at the responses from the ladies depending on their interest in the swimsuit calendar. When the topic of promoting the group’s public image came up, he went into full manager mode. “Oh yeah! Now that’s something I can get behind! We’ll have to get your statements ready at the press conference. Outfits and makeup need to be ready. I’ll call up my old friend Nine-Finger Jimmy to get us some pyrotechnics. Can’t have a reveal without fireworks am I right? I need to put a fresh set of batteries in my megaphone. Can’t cheer on a hero if they can’t hear their name. Then there’s meet and greets along with pictures with the kids. That’s always a good PR move. This is going to be great! I can already imagine it.”

PB started laughing at Stitches and slapped him on the shoulder. “Calm down old man. I don’t think these ladies are quite ready to see you in full peacock mode just yet. Besides, I’m sure the two veterans here already have thoughts on how they would like to handle it.”

Carter seemed a little uncertain, glancing between Stitches and Kevin, but Jennifer continued, after waiting a long moment for the wait-staff to step off of the terrace.

"Mayor Hartnell is retiring from politics.  His second bout with cancer was rougher than he expected.  I am concerned about council president Spohr taking over and I plan to press for a midterm election.  If council votes in favor, I'm going to run for the office."

--
As a council-woman, Jennifer Wilson has pushed heavily on the municipal protectors packages (by which metas can be employed by the municipality for limited-term contracts), the housing affordability crisis and some "innovative" approaches to the drug problems. After two terms on council, she has a strong support network but her past as Radiance and her sometimes progressive liberal leanings  have made her some definite political enemies.  For the past couple of years, she's focused on her role a a spokesman for the The Emerald Shelters Program, which is now Seattle's premier Emergency Weather Shelter provider.

"Kirk Moore was a friend of mine." he said, referring to the remains found in the spider-cave in Seahurst Park.  "He was a good guy.  Careful..  But the minute you wear the tights, you get a big bullseye painted on your back.  That's just the price of the outfit.   So, if you do this, it's going to put a target on your back bigger than the ones you've already got just by existing. "

"The trade-off, though, is that it could mean you get more teeth for your project." Carter said.  "A chance to do some real damage to the criminal element."

"Seattle needs a team.  Between Exalt and the Thresh, there's going to be some serious conflicts coming soon.  This isn't the kind of thing that requires an answer right now. Take the time to think about it. Talk about it."

--
Of course, you can answer right now if you want.   I'm working on the chapter-two threads right now.  It'll be a couple of days before they're ready...  I'm still building the broad-strokes of the bad-guys.

Cythi takes a moment to take it all in what was said and really does not weigh it at all.  Since she was told about being a superhero she wanted to go that route.  "I would so be happy to do it.  I mean that is like a dream come true!"  Cythi says over exuberant.

She does realize the problem of her still not having a name which may come to pass.  Mind you if it is a public team maybe a contest to name some of them....or no that is silly.  Maybe she should think more.  Either way she bobs happily to the news.

Kevin nods in understanding of the gravity of the situation. “We’ll just have to make sure we keep our noses clean until then. I’ll certainly be on board for this. I’ll have to adjust my suit and wear a mask to at least have some sort of normalcy in my daily life and keep the gym from being targeted.”

She just stared at Stitches for several long moments before speaking. "Could you slow your hyper roll please? I am the most publicly known out of any of us because I 'have' to be. But that doesn't mean I have to go about blaring my presence. It means I go about using what I have helping others to the best of my abilities as I gain more control over them." For a second there her eyes flashed behind her sunglasses, and the room shook before everything calmed as she took a deep breath.

"...anyway. So you guys are here to see if we want to make an actually...to and true team? I thought we..?" She scratched her head a bit confused.

Carter nodded and tilted his head at the same time... a sort-of-yes sort-of-no response.

This is your choice.  It's your call how you do it, too.  I can see a path for being Seattle's protectors.   If that's too public for you... there are other options.  If you want the work, I mean."

Carter spread his hands.  "I've been there.  We've been there. he glanced at Jenny, then down at their hands which were clasped together.  And, boy, we've made mistakes--mistakes we might be able to help you avoid.  But if this is too much...  Seriously.   It's only an offer.  That's all.  There's no hidden judgement, no shame of blame in saying no--or yes.  "

Cameron's loses her normal, slightly lost look and gets really focused at the mention of the Thresh, "If it will help stop the Thresh, I am up for it." She immediately jumps in on the affirmative, "I still want to protect my identity, I have family to protect." She explained and several people here knew about her Aunt.

The usually relaxed Cameron was trying to slow her breathing down as she reacted to the mention of the Thresh.  She looked down at her food as she unclenched her hands as she set her silverware down and put her hands in her lap as she regained her composure.

"Being a public team does have its pitfalls. Being 'vigilante' has much more freedom! But when you think about it, none of the most famous heroes were morally perfect yet most of their reputations are still intact. Having a public endorsement seems to give alot of them 'tarnish immunity'. As long as we don't get out of hand, no reason it will not work for us. But...

Jennifer I love you, but I am not wanting to get into personal political endorsements." Virginia does a goose bump shiver.

"So many of them take the creep factor way off the scale!" She made several repulsed faces. "Bleck!"

PB crossed his arms and smiled. “I’m in. Being in the public eye has never been a problem for me. I need a good challenge anyways.”

A groan can be hard as Carter spoke about mistakes and having made them. "Mistakes? I attacked two officers... Mind you, it wasn't on purpose, but I did it. I robbed and stole to feed...those that couldn't afford to feed themselves. They tried to cuff me, through me down, wouldn't listen, and my...curse went out of control. That's one hell of a public mistake I have to live with sir." Another visible flash of her eyes behind her sunglasses, but this time she squashes whatever it was rather quickly before any rumble ever happens.

"...it's what she wanted though..." A soft sigh.

"She?" Virginia asked with the side eye.

"I'm sure they know." Marie said, pointing to Jennifer and Carter. "She is Samantha Swan. If not for her, I'd be in jail, possibly even prison, not here, not living in one of Cynthi's rentals."

"Oh ok. My mind went to the wrong place on that" Virginia blushed slightly.