[center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/V6hv41Rs/living-hell-regular.png [/img][/center]

When Zinerva was a child, the most terrifying sound was her mother calming saying her full name. It was different from her mother’s screaming fits, where she knew the storm would blow over if she just gave her mother space and time, or the insincere apologies and platitudes, which signified a brief reprieve and served as warnings for a future relapse. No, she knew that when her mother spoke calmly, it only meant that the worst had yet to come.

The Endbringer sirens screamed in Zinerva’s ears, her conversation with Claire momentarily forgotten over the surge of terror flooding her veins. This was impossible. Insanity. Lunacy. She’d lived in this city for four years now, coming here for college and to escape from her parents, and it had really begun to feel like home. And now...now it was all over. If—no, [i]when[/i] the Endbringer rampaged across this city, she’d lose the life she’d built, her friends, her home…

Zinerva blinked as Claire’s words brought her out of her stupor, her basic conversational skills making her instinctively push her fear and panic beneath the surface.

“I can understand finding it difficult to care about humanity,” Zinerva said quietly, dabbing at her lips to brush away a few stray donut crumbs and disguise the tremor in her hands. “I find it helpful to set my expectations low and be delighted by any who surpass them.”

Her bone armor had long since evaporated, the interior of the store slightly warmer due to the heat and vapor given off by the exothermic reaction of the bone dissolution and resorption. Standing up from her chair, she firmly shook Claire’s proffered hand..

“I’d be delighted to join you for this fight,” she said. Then she smiled. “Though I certainly hope it won’t be our last.”

Joining the Endbringer fight was never a question. She’d stepped up earlier today for the sole purpose of protecting the things she valued in this city, and she wasn’t going to back down from this threat either.

After she finishes her conversation with Claire, she’ll be changing out of her borrowed clothes and giving them back to Claire. Then she’ll start growing her armor, leave a few twenties behind the counter as payment for the donuts she ate, and head straight for the PRT headquarters.