What do you even say to something like that?
Reassurances are, of course, the obvious answer, assuming you have the slightest shred of empathy for the person saying it, (and I certainly hope that's the case,) but that's far easier said than, well, said.
What possible reassurance, sincere or otherwise, could possibly seem adequate?
If I had been the one doing the reassuring, my first answer probably would have been hugs. Can't say for sure if it would have been a good answer, but they were my go to for a reason, and physical presence and pressure has a weight of its own.
And not just in the ways that physics tell us.
Failing that, probably because the hypothetical other person wasn't in a hug-friendly state, or just didn't know me well enough for it, I'd probably admit my own worries, faults, or foibles. That method has its own risks, of course, particularly the chance of seeming like you're undercutting the other person or trying to make it about you, but if you can pull it off, get it understood that you're sympathising instead of patronising, it can work wonders.
Triumph could, in fact, pull it off. Or, rather, Rory could pull it off. That's an important distinction.
The face was the core of it. Triumph's frozen face was that of a lion victorious, triumphant in its feline, predatory, glory, wrought in gold (that probably wasn't actual gold but definitely looked like it) and pride unbreakable. Whether you deemed it arrogant and overreaching or as it's (presumably) intended shining beacon of strength and hope, it wasn't a face made for admitting weakness. It wasn't a persona meant for admitting weakness. Or folly.
It wasn't physically impossible for Triumph to admit fault, but it was distinctly at odds with every other aspect of what was Triumph, the carefully crafted celebrity character. It wasn't unimaginable for that "everything I do is perfect and how dare you imply otherwise" aura to drop, but it was incongruous, and thus more than a little difficult to believe.
Like, well, basically any cat. Only more so. Infinitely too proud to acknowledge mistakes.
Although unlike Felis Catus, I don't imagine Triumph was particularly likely to fall off a piano or get caught eating the houseplants. And his record as a superhero wasn't anything exceptional, but it was pretty solid for the point of his career he was at. So maybe his pride was a little more justified.
But it was still a little much if you wanted to talk to a person instead of a shining beacon of hope, positivity, and much less floof than you'd expect from a cat-based superhero persona.
Rory was a different matter. He could admit fault, and do so with impressive grace. He could be Rory, suddenly in the face of all that Triumph was, and laugh. Genuinely at that, or at least with a considerable amount of skill and effort put into faking it. It doesn't say great things about his perceptiveness that he apparently failed to notice the name thing before, but you couldn't fault his willingness to admit when he'd been stupid.
It wasn't the most obviously admirable of admirable traits, but I admired it all the same. And he certainly made it work for him.
"Look, Jacqueline, I can't say that poking Purity like you did wasn't stupid, but I also can't say I haven't done stupider things for worse reasons."
Admittedly, stunned blinking probably wasn't the reaction he was going for, but he certainly didn't let it stop him. Not for more than a moment, anyway. And even that was probably just in case we had anything to say.
(He also didn't exactly use the word "things", and he probably shouldn't have been using the word he did use around impressionable minors, but I wasn't particularly worried about it. The situation did require a certain level of emphasis, and it wasn't like we'd never been exposed to profanity before. I had, in fact, heard significantly worse from both of the other girls in the room, and even if that hadn't been the case this was Brockton Bay. I had read the writing on the wall(s), and a statistically significant portion of it made Triumph's expletive seem positively prudish in comparison.)
"At the end of the day, all you did was lambast somebody who definitely deserved it. Harshly, yes, and with incredibly bad timing, but it was still just words. From what I heard you didn't even curse, and you held your tongue until she specifically asked why you were 'looking at her like that.'"
I supposed that was true. And a good thing too, given that anything more probably would have pushed it from "could have ended very poorly" to "ended very poorly".
"I, on the other hand, once punched Assault in the face just because he was being a teasing jerk."
That did sound like him. Assault, that is. It would have been more surprising to learn that the man hadn't gotten himself punched in the face for being a jerk at some point. I wouldn't have specifically pegged Triumph as the one to do it, but I also wouldn't have pegged him as particularly unlikely. Story checked out.
Giggling was probably not the most appropriate response on my part, but in my defence it's not like the man couldn't take a punch. He could take all the punches. It was a core part of his schtick.
"Okay, okay, maybe that one's funny cause it's him," Rory continued, visibly but not verbally acknowledging that he definitely did it on purpose, "but it was still a poor move on my part. I didn't even consider his powerset before I did it, and he absolutely could have torn me apart for it. Physically or just with the rules. He didn't, because as much as he can be grossly insensitive and almost never actually apologises he's not one for retaliating when he's called out, but he could have."
Yeah. He absolutely could have. Rory was a Brute in his own right, of course, but Assault was out of his league in terms of experience with Brute-on-Brute violence and significantly more powerful to boot. And his power was pretty much a direct counter. And though I didn't know too much about Wards' disciplinary matters, I was fairly sure the PRT didn't exactly appreciate assault on a superior officer.
Even if they deserved it, it wasn't the sort of thing a paramilitary organisation could let slide.
"So you see, you're not the only one who's gotten mad and done something stupid."
I blinked at that.
"And if that doesn't convince you, I've got plenty more stories."
I decided that I liked Rory as I nodded with something approaching eagerness.
