“We may need to stand together as a team sooner than later,” I said. “We’re being followed.”
“By who?” Tattletale asked. She paused, then laughed. “Silly question, I guess.”
Heh, yeah.
Though a minor description might let you identify them with your power.
“Tie them up?” she suggested.
“Right.”
Good plan. Restrains them while not harming them, just like Vista did to Taylor.
My bugs gathered in out of the way spots, and the spiders began drawing out lines of silk in preparation. I didn’t want to inform this person that I was on to their tail.
Depending who it is, they might have noticed anyway.
Then, just in case they decided to drop the tail and attack us, I began to gather bugs together into decoys. Human-shaped lumps and clusters of bugs gathered in alleys and at the edges of rooftops. Still more gathered in the street, standing in alcoves and in other hiding spots. I invested less bugs in the ones that were further away from our pursuer, trusting that the shadows the miasma cast would help round them out.
Seems fair enough, yeah.
There were no decoys our pursuer would see from where they stood, but there were now enough to give them pause.
Grue drifted away from our group to approach one of the decoys. He extended one hand and traced his fingers through the massed bugs. “You’re versatile.”
Very much so! But let’s not forget, she got this particular technique from you!
I felt a little uncomfortable at the compliment. “We should keep moving.”
“You’re not tying them up?”
I shook my head. A miscommunication on that front.
They’re getting… tied up in figuring out which decoy is real?
Hadn’t I recently been thinking about chemistry and intuitively understanding how your teammates operated? The miasma might be throwing us off in that department.
Oh yeah, that’s a good point.
“Sorry. Need to prep for it first, I’ll make my move in a minute. For now, we should act normal.”
“Fine.” He dropped his hand to his side and rejoined us. We kept walking. I had to admire them, the way they were confident enough to avoid looking over their shoulders.
Hmm.
That does sound like Armsmaster, among others. Or Jack, having not much cause oh wait she’s talking about the Undersiders
I had my bugs to track our pursuer with, and I was still feeling nervous having them behind me.
“Is paranoia a side effect of this mist?”
Seems like it, but it also makes sense as a natural consequence of its effects and the aesthetic it’s cast the town into.
Tattletale nodded. “Could be. As the symptoms progress, you could have fits of anger, paranoia, hallucinations…”
Knowing you might be hallucinating isn’t great for relieving paranoia either.
I swallowed.
“Or it could progress in another direction. A broader agnosia, with the inability to recognize anything, not just people.”
Yikes.
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