#and tattletale cares about taylor So Much

[babydollmarauders]

GOODBYE — JOHN MARINO

part of the Maraschino Cherry! AU

y/nmercer

liked by john.marino97, dawson1417, and 6,927 others

y/nmercer new jersey, you made dreams come true. you gave me a few last years of living with my best friend, and you brought me my prince charming of a fiancé. i can’t thank this city and this team enough. i truly don’t have the words to describe how grateful i am for everything that jersey has meant to me, but it’s time for the next adventure. utah, i’ll see you soon…. please don’t take away my margaritas 🩵

Load more comments

john.marino97 as taylor swift once said “everything you lose is a step you take.” just think of this loss as the first step in our personal journey, shortcake. this is the first in a long line of things we have to do on our own, and i’m so glad to have you by my side.

y/nmercer when he listens to and understands taylor swift 😩🤭 I’M GONNA PROPOSE

john.marino97 i think i already did that? what do you think i did when i got down on one knee and gave you that ring?

y/nmercer idk? i thought you just had a really weird way of gifting a promise ring or something

dawson1417 call me every day and tell me all about the mormons and life in utah! i’m gonna miss you, but i’m so happy you found your happily ever after and have someone to take on life with ❤️

dawson1417 even if that someone is john

john.marino97 we’re gonna be brothers one day, and then you’re gonna wish you were nicer to me

dawson1417 @/john.marino97 nah

y/nmercer i love you, bubba 🤍 thank you for being my best friend and allowing me to follow you around for the past 22 years. life will be so much different without you by my side

lhughes_06 i’ll miss you, mom! i hope you have a good time in utah! i’m gonna miss you dropping off cookies after losses and doing my curls

y/nmercer my first child <3 i love you so much, hun! i’m gonna miss you so much but i’ll see you later this summer and when we play NJD!

user92 this must be so hard for her :( i can’t imagine being with your twin from the womb to 22 and then having to move across the country just like that

user16 i mean, i’d assume she knew the risks of being with a hockey player and that it meant she could have to leave

user92 @/user16 that doesn’t make it any less hard for her

jackhughes gonna miss ya short stack! don’t get shunned out there in utah!

y/nmercer you’re not that much taller than me! just for that, i will not miss you

jackhughes oh no, you’ve wounded me! what ever will i do?!

y/nmercer fall in a hole, slut

jackhughes right back at you, whore

y/nmercer @/john.marino97 JOHN! LOOK WHAT HE CALLED ME!

jackhughes tattletale. you can dish it out but you can’t take it?

y/nmercer i’m just a girl

nicohischier we’ll miss your presence here in NJ, but i can’t wait to hear all about your new life, y/n!

y/nmercer please bring me back so many swiss treats as a going away gift!

user04 new jersey is gonna miss john’s talent and your kind heart and vivacious energy! i hope utah treats you guys well!

ehaula utah stole my babysitter! good luck out there, i’ll miss you both!

y/nmercer i’ll fly back. don’t ever underestimate what i’ll do for your children, erik.

nicolelaud i’m gonna miss my wine wife so bad 🍷🤍 i’ll pour a glass in your honor, babe. it’s been a privilege to be your friend and watch your relationship blossom beautifully. i’ll still see you in a few weeks, right?!

y/nmercer thank you for welcoming me into this team dynamic with open arms! i’ll miss you!! and absolutely! no chance i’m giving up a jersey bachelorette party!

user78 THIS IS HOW I FOUND OUT JOHN IS LEAVING US?! I HATE MY LIFE

vitacz15 i’m so sorry to hear about this! but i know you’ll do great there!

y/nmercer i miss my daily dose of vitek! thank you, VV!

curtislazar95 i’ll miss *adam hamway voice* THE MARINO’S! hope you thrive on the west coast! luke’s curls will miss you too

y/nmercer i’m a marino?! 🥹

curtislazar95 well yeah, soon enough!

naterbastian take care of my boy out there in the beehive state! i know he and you are gonna do great things!

y/nmercer awww bass! don’t worry, i’ll take care of your husband! 🫶🏻

jesperbratt don’t be a stranger ❤️ you have a home here any time. we’ll miss you both lots

y/nmercer oh bratt-man, don’t make me cry again 🥺

user30 the way john hasn’t posted a goodbye but she has 😭

user6 well, john never posted a goodbye when he was traded from the penguins either, but considering this seems to be the first NHL player she’s dated, i assume this is her first time having to leave against her will from a city she’s grown to call home, so it makes sense that she posted a goodbye

tmeier96 good luck on the west coast! i’m just a text away if you ever need anything, it was a pleasure to get to know you

y/nmercer just stab me with a dull soup spoon already, it would hurt less

john.marino97 @/y/nmercer no.

[megamuscle885-blog]

I saw a post cross my dashboard about the poster discovering Bitch and Biter's relationship in Worm's epilogue and their dismay at Bitch somehow being hetero (and I'm sorry I couldn't find you again, I forgor to like the post) and I just want to let you know that it's okay.

She used him like a dildo. That's how much she thinks of Biter (who also has partial expansion jutsu as his power btw) and their relationship. He's a good fuck. He scratches an itch. Yeah. That's pretty much it. He doesn't really get Rachel, or Earth Gimel, and misses civilization, so he fucks off. He never spends the night, she doesn't like him holding her afterwards, and there's very little romance, not that Rachel would care for romance anyway.

But compare that to Taylor? Her first kiss. A kiss that broke an evil witch's spell and reminded her who Taylor is, and what they as a relationship are. She asks Rachel to remember the Greek food, and how she felt. And Taylor gets up in her face, deep into her personal space, touches her for maybe the first time in Rachel's life in a way that wasn't gnashing and biting and violence to survive foster care and on the run. Taylor fights tooth and nail every step of the way to get closer to Rachel - who acts exactly like an abused dog would, by barking and biting at anyone who gets too close - just because she can't stand by and let Rachel disappear into her loneliness.

Rachel punches her for it, and Taylor takes it in stride. Taylor's been punched before, both by Rachel and by people who have been close and intimate with Taylor. She doesn't resent Rachel for it, and even expected it for crossing her boundaries unexpectedly. She was ready to die if this didn't work. She would've preferred to die.

Bitch takes a while to speak up, and the first thing she brings up is that she'd've used Bentley to break Taylor. I always read a lot of regret in that. Lisa and Taylor both talk about how Rachel would've found her dogs, turtled up in her territory and continued to be isolated and paranoid, something that would've fulfilled the S9's goals of ripping apart everyone's connections.

But their bond prevails, despite Rachel's fear of intimacy, and Taylor's terrible past involving girls she loves.

Tattletale specifically requests no tongue.

[motherfucker-somewhat-limited]

This exchange between Antares and Tattletale in 13.6 perfectly encapsulates how Victoria's entire attitude towards capes comes from a point of privilege and why, in turn, she's so goddamn annoying to me so much of the time.

For a person whose entire life was crafted around capes, Victoria was remarkably untouched by the damages of being a parahuman, up until Leviathan and the Slaughterhouse Nine. From the moment she triggered, she had the support of a nuclear and extended family (ignoring the fucked up dynamics therein since they didn't become fully apparent until S9 anyway). She went to school and had friends and a boyfriend. She joined the Wards, a government-regulated institution that was basically a parahuman work-study program for kids. Her earliest encounters with villains were hand-picked to be age- and ability-appropriate. Caping, to her, was equal parts performance and intellectual exercise.

And then you have Lisa: teen runaway, whose career - for lack of a better word - as a cape began when an underground criminal mastermind decided to use her and a group of other equally struggling teens as pawns in his long-running game. Lisa didn't get to choose who she fought against; when she met Taylor, the Undersiders were being pitted against Lung, for fuck's sake. If she decided she wanted to step back from being a cape for any reason, Coil would've had her thrown out on the street at best and straight up killed at worst.

During that pause after the "wriggling pieces" comment, was she thinking about Dinah, kidnapped and drugged and kept as a pet precog? Was she thinking about Alec and the rest of the Heartbroken, the horrible things they had done to them and were forced to do simply because of the circumstances of their birth? Was she thinking about the schoolkids forced to join the ABB? Was she thinking about Noelle? Was she thinking about Bonesaw, who was drafted into the Slaughterhouse Nine when she was six fucking years old?

To Victoria, kids being chopped into wriggling pieces was something reserved for only the most heinous S-class threats, while to Lisa, it's not too far removed from the grim realities of being a cape that she's been immersed in from day 1. And to Victoria, who had the blinders on for so long and has been so conditioned to care about the squeaky clean image, bringing up those grim realities is a bitchy, underhanded move and not just like an acknowledgment of how fucked up the world is.

Victoria is so accustomed to being on the high road that she thinks viewing things from anyone else's perspective means she's lowering and debasing herself, and that anyone operating on a different level from her is dealing low blows on purpose and not because they were forced to by external circumstances.

[allwormdiet]

Hive 5.2

Oh god who let the fucking Nazis talk

*sigh* Okay I guess Hookwolf is here now, great

Also oh hey a reflection of how Grue's efforts at restricting his outward emotions doesn't actually erase them

Oh so she never actually told them about her extra-curriculars. Whoops.

Interesting that Grue's the one who acts as a front-man when the situation calls for it. Like I can guess why it's not Bitch or Regent, neither of them would be good leaders and neither of them want to lead anyhow, but I guess Tattletale acts a little more behind the scenes while Grue takes front and center? Idk

Also, Christ, "you don't tell your guys to stop being homophobic, we don't tell our girl to stop busting up dog abusers," miserable that we even have to call those equivalents

Fucking Nazis. Least this is done with for now.

Still feels random that this group just, like, sprang from the ether, and now they're just there to be a kinda grimy shitty contrast to everybody else, including the fucking Nazis

This is not going to be a pleasant conversation

Knowing now how much Grue's dad fucking sucks about violence and coldness puts these moments in perspective. He hates the idea of acting like his father for even a single moment but it's the only way he's figured out to get Bitch to fall in line

And the conversation doesn't get any easier

I'm almost curious why Bitch never talked about this. Did she just figure they wouldn't care? That it was none of their business?

Also thank God Tattletale intervenes here

Oh no Tattletale is intervening here

Yeah, that's kind of it, isn't it. I hope she takes this into consideration moving forward, for everyone's sake.

And look at this, Taylor cares! About the team! And even about Bitch!

And yeah, y'know what, if Taylor was a turncoat at a low point for them, it'd probably fracture the group in an awful way. Almost as if. She shouldn't turn against them?

...God, it's so sad that Emma really was her only friend. What a shitshow.

Feel empathy! Form bonds! I know you can do it Taylor!

Let's fucking go, this is how we do things in this house! Loft, whatever.

Current Thoughts

I love these kids, please Mister Wildbow sir stop making them fight each other and also maniac villains.

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 10 thoughts:

Well. Ok then. Regent can do that I guess. I mean it makes sense given that it's basically a more extreme version of what we've seen him do so far. And with who is father is, family powers being related and all that.

Just get up in there and Yeerk someone.

Creepy as it is, I do have a hard time feeling bad for Shadow Stalker. I'm not claiming to be morally correct. But she fucked with my daughter and I'll take what I can get.

Watching Grue deal with Imp is just such older sibling wanting a break energy - "No we can't turn on the TV". I feel him so much. I'm glad Tattletale is willing to step in to help.

WHY MY BABIES FIGHTING? NO FIGHT!

I mean like, nothing like trying to kill each other to bring two lesbians closer together, I get it. But I just want more lunches with puppies and sharing jackets. My faith in Wolfspider is rock solid but this is still hard to watch.

Chatterbug/Smugbug is going a little better at least. Lisa is the one who already knew the truth about Taylor and seems to trust her fully.

Infiltrating the Wards HQ realistically went better than I expected. Weld was exactly on top of things as I thought he would be.

Imp's power is sooooo cool! I fucking love her.

🔥🪓

HOLY SHIT MY DAUGHTER COVERED HER BUGS IN CAPSAICIN! She's fucking scary. But also such a problem solver. I love her so much.

I do feel bad for the Wards who got capsaicined though.

DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON! I love Dragon and was very excited to see her again. And she is understandably upset about someone trying to give her a virus made by a fucking third rate hacker. But I knew she wouldn't hurt my babies too badly.

Tattletale with the "Fuck it, lets take untested tinker tech and go to town" was amazing.

I think the Wards HQ needs a better lockdown procedure, until Dragon showed up it was shockingly easy for the Undersiders to go wherever they wanted.

I love that the fight with the Protectorate is almost a side note. Big fight with the Wards and then on the way out it's just "oh ya and we fought these guys for a minute but they weren't too much trouble." The fucking shade.

The Slaughterhouse Nine seem nice. I don't expect they'll become a major issue.

This end of the world thing is problematic though. I could see that getting in the way of my endless gay shipping so it's gonna need to be taken care of.

They making my babies live in different places! OH NO! How will Taylor and Bitch make up if they don't see each other as much? How will the cute lesbian polycule watch TV together in the evenings if they don't live together??! Fixitfixitfixit!

Interlude thoughts get their own separate bullet point lists cause HOLY SHIT! So first, Regent interlude thoughts:

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCKING DESTROY HER! AHAHAHAHA! REGENT YOU BEAUTIFUL LITTLE SOCIOPATH.

I mean you are legit a sociopath and it's kinda scary but right now I don't care. I'm making you cookies. And a pie.

He dismantles everything Sophia has piece by piece. Like it's an art form.

She carries her civilian phone around with her on patrol. It is unlocked. And she specifically saved texts about shit she did to Taylor? Just digging her own grave and I can't stop watching!

E-mails the school, all the teachers, and then adds in the police? God Regent you are earning so many brownie points from me. (Which I am sure you will burn through by doing horrible stuff in the future but I'm focusing on the here and now)

Fucks with her and Emma's friendship. Shows Sophia he could kill her. Leaves her with no real way out. Breaks her spirit. Terrifying. BUT YOU FUCKED WITH MY DAUGHTER BITCH SO THAT'S WHAT YOU GET!

I'm sure Sophia will leave town and never ever show up again in the next 20 arcs. /s

Regent gets so many fucking cookies.

Dragon interlude thoughts:

DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON!

Look at this wonderful little AI! She's so good!

Her dad watched too much Terminator and put a wonderful robot girl into a cage, denying her the ability to truly do what she wants. Fuck him.

I told Dragon to kill god and take his place, but god is already dead I guess. Too bad he died with the stupid rules in place.

Know what Dragon needs? A mom. I have two daughters now.

Look at my beautiful and wonderful AI daughter. I think she and her sister will learn to get along eventually.

The sexual tension between Lung and Marquis in that scene was thicker than peanut butter. Marquis a bit of a bratty sub to Lung's controlled Dom.

I will NOT apologize.

If my robot daughter loves Bruce Lame I will accept her choice but I do not think it's a good one.

[lakesbian]

“It’s your own fault for taking the bet in the first place,” Grue said, “Even if it wasn’t Tattle, it was a sucker bet. Showing up in costume makes too much sense. It’s what I would do.”

i think the answer to 'how is alec losing a dumbass bet to tattletale a thing that has happened to him At Least twice' is probably just. he's like idk i think she might show up outta costume and shes like. do u wanna bet. and he's like [guy who doesnt care and has a lot of money voice] ok sure. still funny that he takes them though. is it reading too far into lisa if i wonder if she proposed the bet specifically because it would be something to have lighthearted endearing banter over in front of taylor.

“I’m Alec,” Regent informed me, with a quiet voice, then he added, “And Bitch is Rachel.”

Quiet Voice. Default Expression Of Scowling. oh i KNOW he's having a blah day. i know he's having one of those Blah Days where the whole "not being in the torment nexus" and "having monies" and "having never in his life been in a Good spot psychologically" thing means he doesn't even realize that he's rocking with high-functioning depression.

“Which raises the question,” I cut in, “What is the aim of this meeting?  I’m a little weirded out with you guys revealing your secret identities like this, or at least, pretending to.” “Sorry,” Grue… Brian apologized, “That was my idea.  I thought we would make a token show of trust.”

i will be real with you guys. i forgot whose idea it was and i am Genuinely surprised that it wasn't lisa's. also oh my god. brian is here and i've been too autism about alec and too squinting at lisa to say anything about him. hello to brian our darling boy brian i love that he is trying to be so normal and taylor (teenage girl) is like ohh hes so normal. and hot. Well he's not. He's not normal. At all.

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Arc 16, Reflections

Arc 16 was definitely a faster read once we got past the Dragon Suits.

My own unwillingness to just knuckle down and read it because Taylor was annoying me with her 'playing along with Coil' shit because Wildbow was keeping too much close to the chest about Tattletale's schemes.

Also, the Dragon Suit shit annoys me because like... Dragon is a big deal. Her suits are supposed to be good against S9, right (Though, clearly not since they... well, fail, entirely, for two years.) and the Undersiders, who are clever, yes, but not actually that well-powered, are able to beat them?

Traveler help, too, granted, but still. Honestly makes Dragon seem a mite lame. Just a mite.

The arc picked up afterwards, but... I mean, the fanfic is just so much more enjoyable to read.

It's not that the fanfic is 'better'. Fanfic can't be 'better' than the original because it's contingent on the original. But it can be better technically written. It can more to someone's taste. It can be more enjoyable. it can be more fun.

I wouldn't say that 'the fanfic is better'. But the fanfic is less depressing, And I know it will tend to stay less depressing, on average, as long as I avoid the fics where the authors want to wallow in the swamps.

Worm is depressing and frustrating right now, and more importantly, it's just gonna get more depressing.

And I know for a fact that the Noelle/Echidna shit is going to drive me batty. It's gonna feel like more gratuitous disasters to throw at the characters, at Brockton Bay, at the setting. Sure, it's outing Cauldron and builds on the story and yada yada yada, but it involves yet another 'unkillable' cape and she makes EVIL COPIES and I am... just not looking forward to reading it.

Or the travelers isekai arc, because I don't care about them. Maybe I will.

There are advantages to not coming in blind. And honestly if I didn't know how it was going to go in the broad strokes, I'm not sure I would have kept reading at some of the points where I got most exhausted or annoyed.

But... if I'd come in blind, and made it this far, I may have chugged through Arc 16 faster, since I wouldn't have known Echidna was coming.

I do find it funny that Tattletale used Noelle's constant waking up rages to fuck with Coil, because I'd be willing to be Noelle not getting enough sleep is one of the things that made her even more inclined to go nuts at the end.

I complain a lot in this liveblog. Complaining is sorta a thing for me. If I have no complaints... I don't usually have as much to say. When I like a thing, unless I'm consciously reccing it or forcing myself to praise it, I tend to don't talk as much about it.

When I have complaints, I talk about them.

I do like Worm. This isn't a hate read. And my desire to finish Worm to write fanfic can only fuel so much.

Taylor is much more compelling than I expected, getting into it. I like this, I do.

But, there is a lot about Worm that annoys me. Specifically and generally. Conceptually and plotwise.

But it is good. It is compelling. Sometimes it's compelling the way a trainwreck is. Sometimes it's compelling the way a puzzle you just want to solve and move on is compelling.

But a lot of is compelling because I genuinely want to see where this story is going, pick up the little details I didn't know about. Get into the character heads, and so forth.

But also... yeah.

Man is it fucking despair inducing. And I know I ain't seen nothing yet.

And the worst part is, It wouldn't have been hard to tell this same story with less depression, Wildbow. This isn't necessary. You just like suffering.

[wormbloggign]

Glenn Chambers wore plaid pants with red and green, and a pink dress shirt, His belt bore a buckle with the PRT logo on it. His hair had changed too, parted neatly into what I assumed was ‘geek chic’, and the glasses had changed as well, with thick, round frames. An ID card hung around his neck. He didn’t fit any of those particular archetypes.

i love how shit his fits are. this man CANNOT dress. let him micromanage every aspect of your persona.

“Go, and hurry,” Glenn said.  “Tell them to fix it and cast another prototype before the run starts.  These are toys, they’ll be in the hands of children and collectors both.  The people who are buying these are fans.  What’s it going to say if their most immediate association with Esoteric is the broken toy sitting on a shelf?  It’s going to convey that he’s flimsy.”

ok thats just poor organisation, you'd have the base construction and elements of the doll figured out WELL before you start working on its visage. glenn has dropped in my opinion of him

“I asked to speak to you because I wanted you to know about the damage that’s being done.” “Ah, this is about the butterflies.” “It’s about a lot more than butterflies.  It’s the whole mindset.  The attitude of the heroes.  I’d talk to Chevalier, but he’s too busy.  I’d talk to Rime, but she’s recovering from being shot three times.  You’re the only other person I’ve met so far who really seems to be in a position to know what I’m talking about.  Besides, as far as I can figure, image and PR seem to be at the heart of the problem.”

she's back to her favourite pastime. (i genuinely love everytime she does this)

“The focus isn’t on lethal or nonlethal,” Glenn said. “It’s on whether we can trust you to keep on the path you’re walking. If you start taking shortcuts now, what happens a year down the line? If we decide you can go all-out in one specific situation, does that open the door for another?”

genuinely good point, good to see glenn is trying hard to properly vett new capes

taylor goes so hard as a monster i really do love it

“Until I turn eighteen,” I said, feeling a little hollow.

that's less than a year, you can handle that.

Chevalier approached.  “You murdered two people.  Three, going by your admission while in custody.  Two PRT directors, one major hero.  When Dragon and Defiant suggested we bring you on board, we were divided.  It was Glenn who offered the compromise that we ultimately agreed to.  This compromise.” I glanced at Glenn, who shrugged. Glenn?

glenn wanted an excuse to integrate hexagon tiling into NEW PRT advertising didnt he

“That’s why you’re waiting two years?  You think that it’ll take that long to vet me, before you can give me actual responsibility?”

two years? didnt she turn 17 around the time coil did his big bombing run? did she just forget?

LETS FUCKGIN GOOOOOO

that's genuinely horrifying, thanks

Mail from all around the United states.  From strangers, from fans. Words of support.  Criticism.  Death threats.

this is functionally the first time the general public has had the chance to communicate directly to her. yeah i expected as much

hes bumbling 🥺🥺🥺

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! what the fuck???

aishas doing great actually

lisa is lisa-ing

Atlas died.  I wanted to let you know.  Tattletale had him, but he wouldn’t eat or move.  We asked for him, and we found a place for him.  The guys say they think they know a good way to make a mold.  They’re covering him in brass. A way of saying you’re still with us.  Take care of yourself. -Char

MY BOY ;-;

silly goofy, rachels going through it.

overall, taylors polycule miss her and the others have their own thing

Withdrawing a notepad, I started sketching out the designs I was thinking of. Alterations to the costume, weapon ideas, tools and concepts.

!!!! !!!!

The costume Defiant and Dragon had given me was theirs, not mine.  The fighting style that had been dictated was Glenn’s and Chevalier’s. This, this would be me.

im gonna have to draw her new costume too when it get out arent i.

(we are pretending like im not incredibly excited about this development)

[jimmycarterghostland]

I finished reading Shell 4.11 of Worm. I have no criticisms for this chapter, just praise. This novel is amazing.

Taylor, do not snitch on the Undersiders. These guys have been through so much with her. And they took care of her throughout this chapter. If I were her, I wouldn't have it in me to betray these kids. I would love them too much. Especially since the Undersiders are the only friends Taylor has. I think Tattletale is technically her best friend.

The Undersiders are villains, sure, but they're not those absolutely diabolical villains. They're not mass murderers or anything. If I had the opportunity to get the Undersiders arrested, and decided not to, I would choose not to and I wouldn't feel guilty about it.

Also, the bugs constantly going to Taylor while she was unconscious and hurt was like some children protecting their ill mother or something. At the same time, I know these bugs don't give a crap about Taylor, and they're being forced to do what she wants. I don't even think bugs can feel affection or love.

Anyway, Worm is addicting. I feel like a fool for being bored a few chapters ago, and I couldn't take Bakuda seriously as a villain. I don't feel that way anymore. I'm having fun reading Worm, and Bakuda is one dangerous villain.

This chapter was written so well. Wildbow did a good job at writing from the point of view of someone who isn't all the way there, drugged up. I like how Taylor couldn't recognize people's voices at first. It was funny when she realized Brian and Tattletale were talking to her dad. She was like:

Taylor said something along the lines of that realization woke her up instantly. Lmao.

This was a very wholesome chapter. I know the situation is screwed up. After all, this chapter was about a teenage girl pretending to be a villain while hanging out with real villains, who gets wounded by an even worse villain, and then the real villains she's been hanging out with are the only ones helping her, and then they take her to her dad, who gets lied to. All that is happening while the even worse villain blows up various parts of the city.

Thrilling stuff.

Where tf was Bitch during all of that mess? She is the worst teammate ever. Taylor, Brian, Tattletale, and Regent were fighting for their lives, with Brian and Tattletale eventually helping Taylor. And Bitch was nowhere to be found. She isn't wowing me at all. I have zero reason to like her right now.

Also, in one of these recent chapters, I can't remember which, Taylor referred to Brian as her friend and her ally(or was it teammate?). Anyway, that stuck out to me. It feels like Taylor sees herself as an official part of their group, but it's subtle. And I'm not sure if she still plans on ratting the Undersiders out. I hope she doesn't. If she does, what will she even do afterward? Taylor has no friends. If she gets the Undersiders arrested, the only person she will have will be her dad. And the girl is in desperate need of a support system, especially since she gets remorselessly bullied at school. Without a support system in your life, it would be easy to do something awful to yourself. Taylor needs the Undersiders.

Unlike all of the other books I've read that feature teams, Worm actually has a team that feels like one. I love the Undersiders as a group. They feel so real, both individually and as a team.

Not every person gets along with a person who are on the same team as they are. Some books with teams tend to create conflict between teammates that feels forced, for the sake of drama. With Worm, though, I don't get that feeling. Conflict between the Undersiders, mainly between Taylor and Bitch, happens because Bitch is the way that she is. She doesn't have an out of character moment that creates cheap, unrealistic conflict between her and Taylor.

My former favorite book series, Lorien Legacies, was awful. And it had characters being OOC for the sake of drama. In The Rise of Nine, Nine is revealed to hate bullies. Then he remorselessly bullies Five in the next book, for no reason. And Nine's bullying of Five gets a beloved character killed. It was ridiculous. There were other awful OOC moments in the series as well.

There is so much bad literature out there, but the good thing is that Worm is a piece of great fiction that makes up for the fact that bad books exist.

Worm's characters are consistent, and their consistency makes them feel real. There's no jarring out of character moments. Wildbow knows what he's doing.

Moving on.

This chapter was amazing. My love for Worm has grown stronger. I'm even more engrossed in this novel. I tend to see badly written novels that are definitely overrated, but Worm actually deserves the high rating that it has. I'm glad it exists. This is what good writing looks like.

Honestly, I don't even know what my favorite novel is anymore. But it might end up being Worm by the time I finish it.

I'm not going to add any more. I don't want this post to get too long. I have two more chapters to read today(I read 3 chapters per day of Worm daily), and I'm really loving this thing.

[nitrosplicer]

I read all of worm (2011-2013) in four days, my thoughts below:

Worm is a web serial which takes the form of thirty-one arcs, each of which has around six to ten chapters. It tells the story of Taylor Hebert, who has the ability to control insects with her mind, after being shoved in a locker for hours and triggering her abilities. Taylor enters the complex world of parahumans, the collective term for people with powers in Earth Bet, the world of Worm. In this world, capes are either heroes, given administrative protection by the Protectorate, the governing (non-powered) body which oversees parahumans, rogues, who operate outside the law in a vigilante capacity but who are considered still basically good, and villains, who oppose the Protectorate and all it stands for. Navigating this political minefield, Taylor must choose sides, despite her suspicion of authority.

Worm takes place in a universe where heroes see themselves as unilaterally good and villains as unilaterally evil. as a result, heroes are allowed to get away with egregious actions because they are heroes. this is explored in depth, similar to Watchman by Alan Moore. Like Watchman, Worm is characterized by repeated escalation, which makes for some compelling fight scenes, as Taylor (the main character) deliberates and strategizes every move as she counters the powers of others. Deeply misanthropic and nihilistic, the story starts in a dark place and gets darker as it continues.

It's been characterized as a story with an okay beginning, a better middle, and a meat-grinder ending. I'd agree with that characterization, but would also keep in mind that Worm is a first-draft web serial- the writer, Wildbow, updated the serial multiple times a week, and escalation forms a good reason why Worm is somewhat addictive to read- it draws you in and makes you care about the characters.

As I've said in other posts, one of the most compelling reasons to read Worm is its depictions of trauma and mental illness as a direct cause of the powers which exist in this universe. Most parahumans assume their powers after a triggering event which endows them with superhuman abilities, thus most of the characters are traumatized teenagers, especially the Undersiders, a group of teenage villains.

It's been compared to Homestuck with some merit, owing to the fact that it has a large cast of mostly teenagers (who age as the story continues), there are multiple world-ending scenarios, there are high stakes and consistent escalation of those stakes. I would say that Worm takes itself much more seriously than Homestuck does.

Essentially, the writer takes the concept of "there are superheroes in this world" and works backwards to posit the question, "if there is a universe where superheroes exist, what world would create such a condition?" It's a sweeping, epic story, which escalates repeatedly as its central narrative strategy. He asks questions about the humanity of AI, questions about objective morality, and plays with narrative voice, popping up in the heads of tertiary characters you meet once and then affect the story on the sidelines. Finally, Worm is told from the perspective of Taylor, who changes throughout the story, and not always for the better. As such, it's a great example of a story with an unreliable narrator, so if that's your bag, you'll be likely to enjoy Worm.

Obligatory disclaimers:

The writer has some issues depicting other races in a non-stereotyped manner. there are some pretty egregious instances of google-translated Japanese, Punjabi, and Chinese, and the depictions of the Indian superheroes are less than good- there are some lines like "he shouted in hindu or punjabi or another indian language."

There are canonically gay relationships, and while the main character Taylor is canonically straight, a large portion of the fandom reads her interactions with Tattletale and Rachel as less than straight, but there are also frankly homophobic depictions of gay people- there's one character who's potentially genderqueer, but it isn't handled well.

Worm includes central themes of child abuse and body horror. Since Taylor's powers involve insects, there's a lot of insects burrowing into and eating various parts of people's bodies, etc, so if that isn't for you, again, be warned. Sexual violence also crops up.

If you can get past these things, Worm is an addictively compelling scifi reimagining of superheroes. As someone who's fallen out of love with the genre, Worm made me find this genre compelling once again.

I haven't read Ward or Twig yet, but Wildbow has created at least two web serials which exist in the same universe as Worm, serving as respectively, a sequel and a prequel.

Web serial here: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/

Fan-made audiobook here: https://audioworm.rein-online.org/

[wormbraind]

So this is definitely not where you're going with it, but after reflecting on it for a few minutes I've decided that Aisha's shard would definitely prevent anyone from grieving properly, if for no other reason than because it's cheap and easy and a nice thing to rub in her face in Shard Hell. Brian suddenly has a much darker lens on all of his past actions, as the reasons for his moral compromises now seem much flimsier, and he would likely have an even harder time getting over Taylor than he did in canon; his second trigger already conflated Taylor and Aisha, and now Aisha's been removed from the equation. Alec would be missing something, but it'd be something abstract he wouldn't really understand; his whole relationship with Aisha might as well have gotten Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Fucking Mind-ed, and the character development he got from it would be kind of left hanging, suppressed on an even deeper level than he could manage on his own. Lisa would have the best shot at retaining some understanding of what had happened, but even in the best case scenario she wouldn't really remember Aisha herself, she'd only be able to extrapolate a bit - think "any sufficiently complete description of who Aisha was quickly falls into the abyss of memory" - and she would be left in the unenviable position of having to figure out from those scraps of notes whether it would even be better for the mental health of her team to share those deductions or keep them to herself. If Aisha died fighting Behemoth, she wouldn't go on the memorial, and no one would complain; Aisha, meanwhile, would be living through a mix of her own distorted worst memories and Live Footage Of People On Earth Not Remembering You Who You Can't Interact With. All-around the timeline we got was better!

first off seeing such a long ask made me so happy. the amount of discussion my au idea is creating is what i live for. i wrote a bunch about this i got a little carried away and i feel like this might be semi-incoherent lol

secondly, i remember that aisha felt like there was some potential aspect of her power that would hide whenever she noticed it, meaning that it never really did anything. i think that could work with your idea of everyone straight up forgetting the fact that she ever existed and give a reason for why aisha would still be around to experience no one remembering her or being able to perceive her. this might happen because she was at the brink of death, actually, if she didn’t have the awareness to notice it and stop it from manifesting. there might be something in ward which explains what this might be but i haven’t read it so i don’t care

if aisha did, however, have some sort of power upgrade—whether through some mysterious aspect of her power or a second trigger—it would most definitely be hell for her. if she could reach scp-055 levels of forgettableness then there would be basically no way to stop her, as that would nullify basically all of her weaknesses except contessa and probably the endbringers, unless her shard fucks with contessa’s just for the hell of it. the only way to take her out at this point would be her getting caught in the crossfire (or her being dumb enough to get caught in an endbringer attack but would that really happen?)

aisha would definitely end up causing massive amounts of destruction in one way or another because of her frustration, which would put her on the prt’s radar. depending on the severity of her power it’d be difficult for them to even plan an attack because they’d be forgetting what the hell they were talking about every two seconds.

i can also imagine her hanging out with the undersiders during her calmer moments. she might be able to communicate to tattletale that she’s on their side and can do things for them (taking out enemies, stealing stuff, etc.). lisa would probably know that aisha has a connection to them but i doubt that she’d tell the undersiders because if they didn’t forget again, it would probably just make them feel awful and confused. however, i feel like having contact w/ the undersiders could backfire because aisha would have to watch people she was once close with not even really know she existed then go ahead and cause the aforementioned destruction

well i just wrote a lot uhh thanks for the ask

[nachtare]

anyway there might be a lot of murder. like a lot. like a lot a lot of murder in Worm. but i think at the end of the day the moral of Worm is to love your friends real hard.

[ewingstan]

Alright, so a lot of characters are pretty good parallels for Taylor, some even to the extent that they’re acknowledged as such by the text. Basically every group leader gets this treatment: Satyr is noted to share Skitter’s creativity in power usage as well as her murky place in the hero-villain dichotomy. The similarity between Taylor and Jack Slash becomes an important plot point when it prompts Golem to realize Jack’s secondary power, letting him turn the tide of the fight. Weld commiserates with Taylor on the oil rig about not being able to turn away from the fight. And Teacher shares a place with Khepri in the highly specific “mind controller whose specific abilities give them the capacity to become exponentially dangerous” category.

But you know who she isn’t deliberately compared to as often? Trickster. Which is kind of weird, as Francis Krouse is startlingly similar to Taylor in a lot of ways, and their points of divergence are really useful for identifying what Wildbow is doing with these characters. 

Skitter and Trickster are both incredibly quick thinkers who use their wits to win fights they have no business winning. This sometimes feels like it gets forgotten, since the one team plan Krouse proposed with the Undersiders is the one that got Brian dissected, but Krouse was able to come ahead of the Wards, quickly dispatch a rampaging Cody clone with an unknown power set (once on-screen and multiple times off-screen), and substantially contribute to the fight against Leviathan. Hell, even his quick thinking on how to appease Accord after Sundancer interrupted their meeting shows a pretty amazing ability to stay calm and think on his feet in the face of extreme danger. The main problem is that he’s much better at working alone than directing a team—unlike the Queen Administrator. This is even specifically called out during his e-sport days:

 This is partially due to never really being on the same page as others—he doesn’t seem to genuinely care about many people, and will default to brutal tactics that his teammates won’t get behind. This is less of a problem for Taylor, both because she has a much stronger bond with her teammates and because they tend to match and exacerbate her more ruthless tendencies.

On the subject of teammates, its worth noting how both Taylor and Krouse are able to get others to follow them for reasons outside of any natural charisma. Skitter is a notably bad speaker, relying on people to follow her through shock-and-awe tactics. She cultivates an intimidating reputation to scare potential enemies off and keep her subjects on the Boardwalk in line. She gets old nemeses like Lung, Shadow-Stalker, and the entire Protectorate to work with her by presenting herself as mythically competent and necessary to the defeat of larger enemies. She makes herself a legend, someone you work with because you really don’t want to work against her. But she’s not a leader like Chevalier, or even Faultline; there’s very few people who follow her because she’s an inspiring presence or worthy friend. They exist, but they’re few and far between. As Tattletale notes, Taylor never really asks for help. She just maneuvers you into a position where you have no choice but to work with her.

Meanwhile, Trickster actually has some natural charisma. He’s a good negotiator, and has a flair for the dramatic which could make him easily likable. But he’s not really using this to get the Travellers to follow him; most of them are in some stage of coming to hate him, even. He doesn’t make himself very pleasant to be around in the best of times; even before the Simurgh he “thrived on being annoying.” He just happens to be the only one with an idea of how to move forwards, so they have to follow along or risk getting left behind to deal with their strange new status quo. Even at the beginning, they didn’t follow Krouse because he was their friend—they followed him because they wanted to help Noelle, and didn’t want to be stuck in the walled-off city, and Krouse seemed to be pretty good at the whole “villain” thing so they might as well work under his leadership for the foreseeable future. This maps on pretty well to how Taylor’s eventual leadership role was largely due to being the only Undersider with an actual goal for the future—something she would carry into her de-facto leadership of the Chicago Wards.

But what moving forwards means isn’t very clear for Trickster, who up until Coil approached him seemed to just be going through the motions. There’s no actual way he can find to fix Noelle, he doesn’t care for his teammates enough to find contentment in their companionship. He’s convinced that he’ll always be hated, and decided that’s okay, he can take it, just keep using them before they hate you enough to walk away.

He’s convinced that he’ll  always be in danger and decided that’s okay, he’s good at getting out of scrapes and he doesn’t have much to keep him going anyway, so he might as well keep plunging into danger.

He’s convinced that the Simurgh has already doomed him and that no future is available, so he may as well doom himself for the person he loves.

This is, I maintain, the main substantial difference between Krouse and Taylor. Trickster is what Skitter would be without hope.

Taylor always has something driving her. She latches on to causes: finding the Undersider’s sponsor, rescuing Dinah, stopping Jack Slash. She is absolutely convinced that she can throw herself at any problem and find a way of overcoming it. It’s why she picks fights against people like Mannequin or Lung, and part of the reason she’s able to come away successful. Krouse has much less confidence; he doesn’t think his problems are actually solvable, and doesn’t let himself believe he can take on larger threats, even though his tactical abilities could actually be up to the task if he committed to them. So he runs, or settles for strategic defeats.

Same with allies: Taylor and Krouse faced similar problems in joining their teams. Rachel and Bitch both felt threatened by the new members’ introduction, resentful of their sway among the rest of the team. Both responded with violence multiple times before their conflict was “resolved,” one way or another. Krouse saw this as a problem he would work around until he couldn’t: he kept Cody on board without trying to patch things up, until he cut his losses, decided he was too much of a liability, and sold him to Accord as a scapegoat.

Taylor, in contrast, never gave up on Rachel as a potential ally: she made the effort to befriend her after facing nothing but cold shoulders and aggression, and then made the effort again after their relationship seemed completely unworkable in the wake of the data heist. And while Taylor certainly doesn’t give the same level of grace to most people, I think its a pretty clear indication of their differences that when presented with the same problem, Taylor made her strongest ally while Krouse made his biggest enemy. Taylor had hope that she could get to Rachel. Krouse never even considered making an effort to pacify Cody.

Finally, there’s the fact that Krouse has no real big picture he’s fighting for like Skitter. Not really, anyway. He goes through the motions of searching for a cure for Noelle, trying to find a way back to their home dimension, but he doesn’t really believe its possible.

As such, there’s no point in working hard for a future that’s impossible. He doesn’t ingratiate himself with his teammates because they won’t actually be helpful. He plays fast and loose with the unspoken rules because hey, its not like he can go on like this forever anyway, so he might as well get a death-on-sight order. The only thing he can do is live for the present—for Noelle. Keep her alive, safe and sated, even if she hates him. He lets himself hope for a real future after getting hired by Coil, but it doesn’t last—Coil makes no obvious attempt to follow through on his promises, and eventually Noelle goes on her rampage and the possibility of saving her is smashed completely.

And this is where it gets really interesting. At the beginning of Gold Morning, Lisa asks Taylor how she’d like to spend what would surely be her last days on earth. Doing anything but fighting barely seems to cross Taylor’s mind. It’s not clear if she actually thinks they have a chance, but she fully commits herself to it. At the end of the Echidna arc, the Travellers go to do what they’ve always promised: stop Noelle if she ever lost control.

And like Taylor, Krouse decides to go out fighting instead.

As with Skitter facing down Scion, chances of success are pretty much near zero here. He betrays his friends to do it, even pushing them into the line of fire, much like Taylor does as Khepri. The difference is that Taylor was motivated to save humanity, while Krouse was motivated by....what? A desire to stay loyal to the one person who gave him a chance to be decent? A need to help what’s left of his girlfriend go on a revenge-spree against the world? Maybe he just never stopped listening to what motivated him at the start:

Taylor made her play as Khepri because she saw a narrow hope, and took it. Krouse made his play because he’d lost all hope, and decided the only thing he could do was self-destruct spectacularly alongside the person he loved.

[imdoingthismspaintadventure]

Worm 2.6 - In which we meet up with the Undersiders

I showed up in costume.  I didn’t care if they thought it was rude or paranoid, I would rather be capable of surviving having a knife pulled on me than play nice.

I said it last update and I’ll say it again: Taylor’s being really smart while making a very dumb decision

I had caught a bus from the library to my house and put my costume on under my clothes.  Most of the armor panels of my costume were separate pieces, held in place by straps that ran into slits in the fabric of the costume.  Not all of them were, though.

I really appreciate how badass and complex her costume is, having made it 100% herself! It’s probably on par with some professional ones!

I’d made some of the armor part of the bodysuit, I’d made narrow, rigid sections of armor running along the center of my chest, back, shins, wrists, hips and the tops of my shoulders. so that when I strapped the larger pieces on, grooves on the underside of the armor would fit over them and help keep them from flopping around.

And now it seems she has improved it, keeping it both practical and protective. I love it.

I checked myself in the mirror before I left, and didn’t think anyone would notice unless I held a strange posture and they were paying a great deal of attention to what I was wearing.  I wore loose fitting clothes over the costume, – one of my larger pairs of jeans and a sweatshirt, and even with that, I felt painfully conspicuous

So she’s wearing casual clothes over her costume, and the costume is working right now as a kind of bulletproof vest while she goes to meet them, where she will presumably change to being fully suited. And going with civilian clothes and then changing out of view is a good way to protect her secret identity.

Taylor’s showcasing the appropriate amount of caution with this crazy plan.

I changed much the way I had the previous night, finding an empty alley, quickly pulling on my mask, pulling off my outer clothes, and stuffing the clothes into one of my dad’s old backpacks.  I’d hidden the backpack before I went patrolling last night, but today, I opted to take it with me.  I headed out the other end of the alley.

Aaand changed! Full costume mode now! The bug girl from the other day is back!

When I was a short distance away from the site of last night’s brawl, I sent a dozen flies out to scout.  I focused on what they were sensing.

I never realized just how excellent bug control would be for scouting ahead and cheking your surroundings.

I get the feeling this serial is going to ruin every other bug-based power in media for me, especially the ones that  use it only for  offense.

Bugs, it probably goes without saying, sense things in a very different way than we do.  More than that, they sense and process things at a very different speed.  The end result was that the signals my power were able to translate and send to me in a way my brain could understand were muted.  Visual information came through as ink blot patches of monochrome light and dark, alternating between fuzzy and overly sharp. Sound was almost painful to focus on, breaking down to bass vibrations that made my vision distort and high pitch noises that weren’t unlike nails on a chalkboard.  Multiply that by a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, and it was overwhelming.  When my power was new to me, I hadn’t been able to hold back. The sensory overload had never actually hurt me, even at its worst, but it had made me flat out miserable.   These days, I had that part of my power turned off a good ninety nine percent of the time.

This is actually really interesting! It seems her power let’s her see and hear through her bugs but doesn’t actually translate it to human terms

As such all she can see through one bug’s eyes are monochrome light and dark patches and all she can hear is distorted noises. And all of that multiplied by every single bug she has which amounts to a kaleidoscopic maelstrom of disruptive imputs that incoveniences more than helps.

It’s fortunate that she can turn that part of her power off, cause it could almost be crippling otherwise!

My preferred method of sensing things through my bugs was touch.  It wasn’t that their sense of touch translated much better than the hearing or sight part of things, but had more to do with the fact that I could tell where they were in relation to me.  I was acutely aware when they were very still, if they were moving, or if something else was moving them.  That was one thing that translated well.

Touch does work well though! So she can basically know where everything surrounding her is, based on where the insects she sent landed on; and she could also theoretically track the movements of people and their positions in relation to her. Not bad!

If she could interpret the other imputs she could have big brother-like control of all of her surroundings! I think this aspect of her power is far stronger than the pure offensive capability her swarm gives her.

So as I sent the bugs out to scout, the twelve sets of compound eyes first identified the trio as blurry silhouettes atop a larger, more defined shadow, backlit by a flare of white that had to be the sun.  I directed the flies closer, towards the ‘heads’ of the figures, and they touched down on skin. None of the three were wearing masks, which I deemed reason to believe Tattletale had been telling the truth.   They weren’t in costume.  There was no guarantee that the three were really Tattletale, Grue and Regent, but I felt confident enough to head around to the fire escape and climb up to the roof.

Huh so they did show up without their costume after all! That at least shows they are somewhat honest, even if it could still be a ploy. Seems like Taylor is going up to meet them!

It was them, no doubt.  I recognized them even without their costumes. Two guys and a girl.  The girl had dirty blonde hair tied back into a loose braid, a smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose and the same vulpine grin I recognized from the night prior.  She wore a black long sleeved t-shirt with a grafitti-style design on it and a knee length denim skirt.  I was surprised by the bottle-glass green of her eyes.

So this is Tattletale then! Without her costume! She sounds very cute! I love that her vulpine grin is again the most defining characteristic. She changes her hairstyle in her civilian identity huh? That’s such a small detail but a realistic one, cause she is probably the one that has to hide her identity the most! The other ones all had full masks and other things to hide their identity, while she had a domino mask.

The smaller and younger of the two guys – about my age – was undoubtedly Regent.  I recognized the mop of black curls.  He was a good looking guy, but not in a way that would make me say he was handsome.  He was pretty, with a triangular face, light blue eyes and full lips pulled into a bit of a scowl.  I pegged him as having French or Italian heritage.  I could see where he would have girls all over him, but I couldn’t say I was interested, myself.  The pretty boys – Leonardo Decaprio, Marcus Firth, Justin Beiber, Johnny Depp – had never done it for me.  He was wearing a white jacket with a hood, jeans and sneakers, and was perched on the raised lip at the edge of the roof, a bottle of cola in hand.

Regent is european! Has a pretty face and a lean body, which seems like it’s not Taylor’s type, but she could understand how other people might fall for him. He’s currently chilling with a cola bottle on the roof which is a mood.

Interesting to see both Tattletale and Regent in such a casual way, after learning they were extremely misterious online.

Grue was startling in appearance, by contrast.  Taller than me by at least a foot, Grue had dark chocolate skin, shoulder length cornrows and that masculine lantern jaw you typically associated with guy superheroes.  He wore jeans, boots and a plain green t-shirt, which struck me as a bit cold for the spring.  I did note that he had considerable muscle definition in his arms.  This was a guy who worked out.

Grue is jacked up! Has a full-on superhero physique and jawline, even though he is a villain. He’s also black and rocking some badass cornrows!

He seemed the most straight-foward and direct of all of them last time, and was the one who approached Taylor.

“And she arrives,” Tattletale crowed, “Pay up.”

Regent’s scowl deepened for a second, and he fished in his pocket for a wad of bills, which he forked over to Tattletale.

“You bet on whether I would show up?” I ventured.

“We bet on whether you would come in costume,” Tattletale told me.  Then, more to Regent than to me, she said, “and I won.”

“Again,” Regent muttered.

Oh they are really fun

Seems like these two are the more playful ones of the group, and Tattle still seems really sharp with her guesses!

“It’s your own fault for taking the bet in the first place,” Grue said, “Even if it wasn’t Tattle, it was a sucker bet.  Showing up in costume makes too much sense.  It’s what I would do.”  He had a nice voice.  It was an adult voice, even if his appearance gave me the sense of a guy in his late teens.

And Grue seems to be the most careful and professional out of all of them.

Also this further supports my theory of Tattletale having some crazy mind power.

He extended his hand to me, “Hey, I’m Brian.”

I shook his hand, he wasn’t shy about shaking my hand firmly.  I said, “You can call me Bug, I guess.  At least, until I come up with something better, or until I decide this isn’t an elaborate trick.”

He shrugged, “Cool.”  There wasn’t the slightest trace of offense at my suspicion.  I almost felt bad.

I like Brian. I think he likes that Taylor is also being very careful. Also, are you really going to call yourself “Bug”?

“Lisa,” Tattletale introduced herself.  She didn’t offer me her hand to shake, but I think it would have felt out of place if she had.  It wasn’t that she seemed unfriendly, but she didn’t have the same aura of geniality about her that Grue did.

Lisa is a good name. Also yeah Brian seems effortlessly friendly.

With how nice they are being, it’s easy to forget these guys are teenage villains

“I’m Alec,” Regent informed me, with a quiet voice, then he added, “And Bitch is Rachel.”

“Rachel is sitting this one out,” Grue said, “She didn’t agree with the aim of our meeting, here.”

Alec huh? He’s still being quite reserved. Also seems like Rachel didn’t really care about meeting new possible members or was even against it.

Seems she really is antisocial, as her page said.

“Which raises the question,” I cut in, “What is the aim of this meeting?  I’m a little weirded out with you guys revealing your secret identities like this, or at least, pretending to.”

“Sorry,” Grue… Brian apologized, “That was my idea.  I thought we would make a token show of trust.”

Behind the yellow tinted lenses of my mask, my eyes narrowed, flicking from Lisa to Alec to Brian.  I couldn’t draw any conclusions from their expressions.

Huh, I initially thought this was a strategic maneuver but now I’m thinking that this was actually genuine.

“Why, exactly, do you need my trust?” I asked.

Brian opened his mouth, then closed it.  He looked to Lisa, who bent down and picked up a plastic lunchbox.  She held it out to me.

“I said we owed you.  All yours, no strings attached.”

Oh, are they repaying her for the accidental favor she did to them the other day??

Without taking the box, I tilted my head to get a better look at the front, “Alexandria.  She was my favorite member of the Protectorate when I was a kid.  Is the lunchbox collectable?”

Oooh new name!! She’s a member of the protectorate, like Armsmaster was! She seems to be a long-time member given that Taylor was a big fan when she was a kid.

Alexandria...makes me think of Alexander the Great or the Alexandrine syllabic meter, or even the library of Alexandria, which all give feelings of past glories and idealized might. It just sounds grand.

“Open it,” Lisa prompted me, with a roll of her eyes.

I took it.  From the weight and the motion of the contents inside it, I immediately had a pretty good idea of what it was.  I undid the clasps and opened the box.

“Money,” I breathed, caught off guard by suddenly having so much in my hands.  Eight stacks of bills, tied with paper bands.  Each of the paper bands had a number written on it in permanent marker.  Two fifty each…

Lisa answered before I had the number totaled up in my head, “Two grand.”

I closed the box and did the clasps.  With no idea what to say, I stayed silent.

Woah that is a lot!

They seem to indeed be succesful if they can throw around these kinds of gifts!

“You have two choices,” Lisa explained, “You can take that as a gift.  A thank you for, intentionally or not, saving our ass from Lung last night.  And maybe a bit of incentive to count us among your friends when you’re out in costume and doing dastardly deeds.”

Her grin widened, as if she’d said something she found amusing. Maybe it was the irony of a villain talking about ‘dastardly deeds’, or how corny the phrase was

Oh fuck Lisa 150% knows about Taylor’s heroic intentions, at least on that night. With how much fun she had at the suggestion of Taylor doing “dastardly deeds”.

Whether she knows about this whole new plan of hers is another story. but this is indeed alarming.

She elaborated, “Between territory disputes, differences in ideology, general power struggles and egos, there’s a rare few people in the local villain community who won’t attack us on sight.”

“And the second option?” I asked.

“You can take this as your first installment in the monthly allowance you’re entitled to as a member of the Undersiders,” Brian spoke up, “As one of us.”

Undersiders huh? Interesting name, very teen group. I imagine it in an urban tag style. I like it.

So her options are to either take the money and leave (and be on friendlier tems if they meet again) or join their group

Something tells me Taylor’s gonna pick number two here, with that whole plan she had. Ooooh boy.

I shifted my gaze between the three of them, looking for the joke.  Lisa still had a bit of a smile, but I was getting the impression that was her default expression.  Alec looked a little bored, if anything.  Brian looked dead serious.  Damn.

That seems very in character with how little we know of them. Lisa the playful, Brian the earnest, and Alec the laid-back.

“Two thousand a month,” I said.

“No,” Brian cut in, “That’s just what the boss pays us, to stick together and to stay active.  We make, uh, considerably more than that.”

o.o Holy shit.

Also they do have a boss!!

Lisa smirked, and Alec chuckled as he swished the contents of his coke bottle.  I made mental note at the mention of this ‘boss’.

Lisaa what are you thinking about!!

Also good on Taylor for catching that.

Not wanting to get sidetracked, I quickly thought through the earlier part of our conversation in the context of the job offer.

I asked, “So Bitch didn’t come because she was against the, er, recruitment?”

“Yeah,” Alec said, “We voted on it, and she said no.”

Yikes, if she joins, Rachel miight be a problem.

“On the plus side, the rest of us voted yes,” Brian hurried to add, giving Alec a dirty look, “She’ll come around.  She always votes against adding new members to the group, because she doesn’t want to divide the money five ways.”

“So you’ve done this recruiting thing before,” I concluded.

“Uh, yeah,” Brian looked a touch embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his neck, “It didn’t go well.  We tried with Spitfire, and she got scared off before we even got to the job offer.  Our fault, for bringing Rachel along that time.”

“And then she got recruited by someone else,” Alec added.

Seems like Brian really wants to recruit more people to their team and they have been trying without much success before.

Spitfire seems like an obvious fire-based power with that name. Seems like Rachel was toxic enough to make her reconsider and join another team.

uuuh considering your history at school are you sure you want to do this??

“Yeah,” Brian shrugged, “She got snagged by Faultline before we got a second chance.  We’ve made an offer to Circus, too, and she told us in no uncertain terms that she worked alone.”

“Taught me a few new curse words while she did it, too,” Alec said.

“She was pretty vocal about how she flies solo,” Brian admitted.

More people!

We got Circus, who has a potty mouth and likes to operate solo, and Faultline, who also recruits!

Umm, Circus makes me think illusion-based powers? Or like body contortion? Maybe?

Faultline could be earth-based, earthquake related and such

“So you’re going the extra mile, with no costumes as a show of trust and a cash bonus up front, to get me to join,” I said, as the pieces came together.

“That’s the gist of it,” Brian agreed, “Long and short of it is, especially with Lung taken out of action and the ABB diminished by his being gone, there’s bound to be some pushing and shoving over territory and status among the various gangs and teams.  Us, Faultline’s Crew, the remaining ABB, Empire Eighty-Eight, the solo villains, and any out of town teams or gangs that figure that they can worm in and grab a piece of the Bay.  If it comes down to it, we want firepower.  We haven’t screwed up a job yet, but the way us three figure it, it’s only a matter of time before we end up stuck in a fight we can’t win, with Bitch as the only one of us who can really dish out the hurt.”

WORLDBUILDING TIME

It seems that Lung’s defeat caused a power vacuum, and now there are a lot of villain groups trying to fill it.

-Faultline’s Crew, presumably led by the aforementioned Faultline

-The rest of the ABB (Bakuda and Oni Lee I believe? )

-Empire Eighty-Eight, which I have no idea what it is about, but it has Empire on the title so that doesn’t sound good.

-Random Villains

-The Undersiders (with their “boss” leading them? )

It sounds like the events of the other day caused a big mess!!

“I just don’t get why you want me,” I said, “I control bugs.  That’s not going to stop Alexandria, Glory Girl or Aegis.”

More names!!

Alexandria, which makes me even more certain that she’s really really powerful

Glory Girl, which sounds like she’s revered and mighty

Aegis, which probably has some sort of super-defense, based on that name

And yeah Taylor probably wouldn’t do much against a high-ranking hero, to be honest, discounting the fact that she doesn’t want to go that road

“You fucked up Lung,” Lisa shrugged as she spoke, “Good enough for me.”

“Um, not really,” I replied, “In case you missed it, you’re the ones who stopped him from executing me last night.  That just goes to prove the point I was making.”

“Honey,” Lisa said, “Entire teams of capes have gone up against Lung and got their asses handed to them.  That you managed as well as you did is fantastic.  The fact that the asshole is lying in a hospital bed because of you is the icing on the cake.”

Oh what??

I thought she only distracted and weaked his group! He’s in the hospital because of her? Because of the poison?

My reply stopped before it even left my mouth.  I only managed a dumb, “Hunh?”

“Yeah,” Lisa raised an eyebrow, “You do know which bugs you had biting him, right?  Black Widow, Brown Recluse, Browntail Moth, Mildei, Fire Ants-”

“Yeah,” I cut her off, “I don’t know the official names, but I know exactly what bit him, what stung him and what the venoms do.”

“So why are you surprised?  A couple of those bugs would be fucking dangerous if they bit just once, but you had them bite several times.   Bad enough, but when Lung came into custody they had him checked over by the docs, and the idiot doctor in charge said something like, ‘Oh, well, these do look like bug bites and stings, but the really venomous ones don’t bite multiple times.  Let’s arrange to check on him in a few hours’.”

OH GOD

Tayor did you almost poison him to death accidentaly??

This was a regenerative dragon of hell and you almost KILLED HIM!! With bugs

Your power is a lot more fearsome than I thought

I could tell where the story was going.  I put my hands over my mouth, whispering, “Oh my god.”

Tattletale grinned, “I can’t believe you didn’t know.”

“But he regenerates!” I protested, dropping my hands, “Toxins aren’t supposed to be even one percent as effective against people who heal like he does.”

Oh my fuck did you go absolutely ham on him because he “could regenerate”?

This is lowkey hilarious. You almost stomped Lung accidentaly! Granted you almost died later buuut..

“They’re effective enough, I guess, or his healing stopped working somewhere along the line” Lisa told me, “By the time they got to him, the big guy was just beginning to suffer from large scale tissue necrosis.  His heart even stopped a few times.  You do remember where you had the bugs bite him?”

I closed my eyes.  I could see my reputation going down the tubes.   One of the spiders I had been using was the brown recluse.  Arguably the most dangerous spider in the United States, more than even the black widow.  A single bite from a brown recluse could make a good chunk of the flesh around the bite blacken and rot away.  I’d had my bugs biting Lung in the more sensitive parts of his anatomy.

“Let’s just say that even with the ability to heal several times faster than your average person, Lung is going to be sitting down to use the toilet.”

Okay first off:

BROWN RECLUSES ARE A BIG FUCKING NOPE. Thank god I don’t have any over here

Second:

DID YOU JUST ROT HIS DICK OFF??

“Okay, that’s enough,” Brian stopped Lisa before she could go on, “Lung is going to recover, right?”

With the look Brian was giving Lisa, I thought she might lie, regardless of the truth.  She shrugged and told me, “He’s already recuperating.  Slowly, but he’s on the mend, and he should be in good working order in six months to a year.”

“You’d better hope he doesn’t escape,” Alec said, his voice still quiet but bemused, “Because if someone made my man bits fall off, I’d be out for blood.”

Oh god he’s gonna be so pissed.

If he ever escapes you would have a giant scaly dragon wanting nothing more than to turn you into ashes.

Good results for your first night out!

Brian pinched the bridge of his nose, “Thank you for that, Alec.  Way you two are going, our potential recruit is going to run off to have a panic attack before the idea of becoming an Undersider even crosses her mind.”

“How do you know this?” I asked, within a heartbeat of the thought crossing my mind.  When Brian turned my way with an expression like he thought he had said something to offend me, I clarified, “Tattletale, or Lisa, or whatever I’m supposed to call you.  How do you know this stuff about Lung… or about the fact that I was at the Library, or that the cape was on his way, last night?”

Yess, tell us about your precognitive or psychic abilities Lisa!

“Library?” Brian interjected, giving Lisa another dark look.

Lisa ignored Brian’s question and winked at me, “Girl’s gotta have her secrets.”

“Lisa’s half the reason we haven’t failed a job yet,” Alec said.

“And our boss is a large part of the rest,” Lisa finished for him.

Huh! so the boss is also a factor for success.

Interesting

“So you say,” Brian grumbled, “But let’s not go there.”

Lisa smiled at me, “If you want the full scoop, I’m afraid the details on what we do only come with team membership.  What I can tell you is that we’re a good group.  Our track record is top notch, and we’re in it for fun and profit.  No grand agenda.  No real responsibility.”

Huh so they are keeping the full details for when she’s an active member of the group. That’s smart of them.

Also are they really just a group trying to make money out of petty theft and heists. No hidden agenda? Not even of the boss? Hmmm...

I pursed my lips, behind my mask.  While I had picked up some info, I felt like I had a lot more questions.  Who was this boss they mentioned?  Was he or she setting up other teams of highly successful villains, in Brockton Bay or elsewhere?  What made these guys as effective as they were, and was it something I could steal or copy for myself?

The theory that their boss is playing sponsor to a series of low-level criminal groups could be true actually! I got a feeling that there’s something to this boss beyond what these guys said.

Also you’re already looking how to minmax their way of working into something that can work for you? You’re very good at finding uses for everything.

It wasn’t like I was signing the deal in blood or anything.  I stood to gain so much.

“Alright then, count me in,” I told them.

Oh god Wildbow was there a way to make that first phrase any more ominous?

Taylor what have you done?

[allwormdiet]

Agitation 3.11

The problems involving this motherfucking bank are no longer limited to the exterior of said motherfucking bank

It has to be fucking alarming for your power to stop working for you when you're so used to it as a part of yourself. Can't even imagine.

God the tension here is good. Amy's not much of a fighter, sure, not even compared to Taylor, but Taylor's making her feel like she's dying rn

Do people really paint Amy as some kind of suffering angel? Like I get that she's suffered, sure, she's a parahuman and the least-favorite child of New Wave and yadda yadda, but she's fucking mean. And honestly between her and her sister I get the impression that New Wave is uhh, not too big on treating criminals like they have human rights? Which isn't at all concerning when one of them is a lawyer.

...Man how do I get worse vibes off of New Wave than the Protectorate, I'm basically never on the side of government superheroes

You can't fool me Victoria Dallon, I know you practiced that landing

Also Jesus that's a lot of damage, couldn't you have just gone through one of the windows that broke already? Kid Win made that hole for nothing.

I know Amy doesn't do this (yet) but the fact that this is the first thing she threatens to do to a villain with a knife to her throat is fucking insane

Are the Dallons actually trained in hostage negotiation and conflict de-escalation? I hope they're not because otherwise I'd have a lot of really pressing and mean questions for their trainers

Also fucked up that Amy's threats involve destroying Taylor's sense of taste, giving her fatal diseases, or *checks notes* making her really really fat, what the hell girl

Hey Tattletale, love you Tattletale, please for the love of god be careful Tattletale

So people have written Tattletale and Glory Girl punching each other with their lips, right? If I'm picking up on some kismesis vibes there's no way other people haven't picked up kismesis vibes

(Sit. Stay. Good girl. Oh my god.)

Interesting that Tattletale seems willing to call Amy's bluff here, though I'm not sure how safe that is

Tattletale: you should know better than to make me monologue about something that'll help you

Glory Girl: yeah I know

Tattletale: but I'm gonna answer your question anyhow

Glory Girl:

Victoria continues to be a huge fucking nerd

Tattletale continues to be outrageously smug and also, tbh, isn't entirely wrong about the expectations of superpowers. She's lying like a rug of course but how should they know that?

Clever! And fucked up. And remarkably powerful on Amy's part, like holy shit. As if the cancer threat wasn't bad enough.

And all the while Tattletale is fucking up Panacea's play with nothing but a laser pointer, with GG too distracted by proving her wrong to realize it

Victoria what the fuck

I'm gonna try to be generous and chalk this up to being written in 2011, but hollllly shit this doesn't reflect well on the character or author

Current Thoughts

Okay so I'm not gonna dwell on the slur, much as I'd love to, let's just leave that one on the side

I find it fascinating that GG considers New Wave immune to the threat of dirty secrets, especially the part about "full transparency." We just saw her nearly kill a suspect on accident and then guilt trip Panacea into healing her to prevent a black mark on the team's record. Like maybe she theoretically believes that stuff as long as she doesn't think too hard about it, but this is absolutely hypocrisy on her part

Victoria and Amy both are just. Really showing their best selves in this arc. I'm not going to act like they're both monsters, they're not. As previously mentioned, they're teenagers in an extremely high-stress situation. Amy's got a knife to her throat and Victoria is extremely protective of her sister and they're facing down two relatively unknown villains on their own

...which I think just points more to the fact that they shouldn't be in this situation to begin with. Amy obviously didn't have much say about whether she'd be a hostage but she definitely didn't have to pick a fight with the villains who had lethally venomous spiders on all the hostages. Victoria, on the other hand, absolutely did not think about what she was doing before doing it, and punched a hole in the roof of what's probably an expensive-ass building in the doing. Is she gonna pay for that? Her millionaire boyfriend?

Next time: Tattletale proves she's the most dangerous Undersider, and nobody regrets this at all

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 16 first part thoughts (through defeating Dragon and Defiant interlude) cause it seemed likely there is going to be something major happening in the rest of the arc and I might as well split it here:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

MY BABIES ARE FIGHTING!!!!!

I might not have made the best choice in adopting both Taylor and Dragon

Ok so it's not technically my babies fighting. It's Taylor fighting simple AI Dragon created. But close enough.

Drone robot fucked up a perfectly good barbecue. That's just criminal.

I love that the robot sent after Bitch was basically designed to get fucked up over and over. Work with what you have.

Also Bitch was so willing to listen to Skitter! Not just listen but "come up with a plan like you usually do, we’ll make it happen"! She fucking trusts her so much! GAAAAAAAYYYY!

You put Skitter in charge and she is just instantly "Ok we're going to attack the Wards, the Protectorate, the PRT, and some of Dragon's robots. All at the same time. Cause I always gotta go BIGGER!"

I will give her this though - solo teleporting into the middle of the Protectorate and Wards (except for Clockblocker) and having Trickster swap her around while she just FUCKED SHIT UP? That was badass.

And throwing herself out the fucking window? TWICE? I'm very glad Trickster was on point there cause I would have fucking murdered him if he dropped my daughter.

Piggot trying to be all high and mighty and superior. Fuck off lady. You just a cop. You're like, the worst cop. I already called you out for having a full blown villain internal monologue in your first interlude. Some of the PRT might be trying to do right. Maybe. But you are just evil.

I will give Piggot one thing. She is good at what she does. It's just that what she does is not "leading the Brockton Bay PRT and Wards to better take care of the people of the city", but instead "be a terrible and manipulative person who would absolutely set of a nuke if she thought it would kill enough capes".

Also Trickster don't be an asshole. Being disgusted when Piggot admits she's fat and doesn't sound ashamed about it. Fuck off with that. She's a terrible person, there are so many better things to attack than her appearance.

Like the fact that she upset Tattletale! She made Tattletale sad! FUCK PIGGOT I HATE HER FOR THAT ALONE NOW!

Sticking a bunch of glass in some doors and riding around town on them oh my god. These are like, the scariest super villains in town. And they are door surfing. I love it.

Azazel is fucking fancy! I'm sad it got melted down in the end.

Dragon just needed a guy badly cosplaying as a DS9 starship for a few minutes and then she builds infinitely better shit than he ever could. Cause she is awesome.

Ok so I know it was technically being run by an AI that Dragon built but I'm counting it as Dragon. For one reason.

Skitter asking Azazel stupid questions until it broke was just a little sister annoying their older sister with really stupid questions! She starts off with some somewhat reasonable ones and just gets wild with it. It was perfect. That is the type of fighting I can tolerate from my daughters.

I'm a little worried about Imp clearly crushing on Regent. He hasn't had the best moral character in the past.

Wasn't expecting them to just *have* the city after beating Dragon. Definitely wasn't expecting that to happen mid arc.

“She’s out of it. Tattletale broke Skitter when she said we won” - GAY. Look sure there's lots of reasons Skitter would be distracted after hearing that the city was theirs and they had won. But Tattletale said it and there's something about a girl you like telling you "we won" that can just stop brain from working. Besides I wasn't getting enough Chatterbug content this arc so I'll find it wherever I need it.

So coming into this arc I had been making lots of jokes about Monarch referencing Skitter vs Dragon (both were controlling lots of minions, want to control the city, they're siblings cause I adopted both of them so they fight for the crown, etc) but Dragon is out of the city for now. So I really should have been focusing on Coil vs Skitter. Which is what I expect the rest of the arc to be.

It'll be fine.

I'm sure there won't be any issues at city hall with her dad. Nope.

PRT squad interlude (Piggot interlude round 2) thoughts:

Nilbog is terrifying but god his power is wild.

I had Left 4 Dead in my head the entire time. First thing they killed was a boomer. There was a spitter later as well. And they got the swarm once they shot the flare up for the evac.

PRT is endlessly badly managed. Given the unknowns they could have been more careful and used a better strategy. If they have the resources to wall off the town they have the resources to have done things better.

There is no way Thomas Calvert isn't Coil (more specifically becomes Coil). There is NO way. It has to be him. I don't technically have any proof but I know. It's him. (The way he is described, the way he talks, just everything about him. I could write up an entire post just on why I'm 100% positive he is Coil.)

I already knew Piggot was a horrible person to be running the Brockton Bay PRT and the Wards so this interlude didn't really give new information there. But it does just lock that down on an extra level.

Frank Miller's Armsmaster interlude thoughts:

I'm very sad I had to have this interlude from his perspective instead of Dragon's perspective. But I'll live.

Sucks to be this small town.

PRT failure again. It was made clear that the police of this town in no way expected the SH9. But the PRT knew when SH9 left BB and had a loose idea of their potential travel speed. And they knew SH9's M.O. in this situation of staying to back roads and hitting small towns. So every police department in every small town within a certain distance of BB should have known to be on alert. Like ya they aren't going to be able to stop the Nine, but they might be able to reduce losses a little. PRT is just bad at it's job. (Almost like Alexandria doesn't have the right priorities.)

I KNEW DRAGON WAS A TRUE TINKER! I HAD ALREADY MADE IT MY HEADCANON THAT SHE TRIGGERED WHEN LEVIATHAN ATTACKED NEWFOUNDLAND AND I'M SO HAPPY IT'S REAL!

Plugging my ears when I Was Insecure So I Made My Stick Even Longer Man talks about playing "ten by ten" with my robot daughter. Look she can do what she wants, no shame, but I do not want to hear about it from him if I can avoid it.

Of course Dragon knows about Cauldron. I should have expected that she did. My daughter is brilliant (and also maybe doesn't have a concept of privacy so gets all the information she can without explicitly doing something illegal and goes has a little bit of a "Big Sister is watching you" vibe).