Category: argh krix fix your categories

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“I hope I didn’t keep you awake by leaning on you.  Don’t even know when I nodded off.”

“It wasn’t you, and I didn’t mind.  It was…” he searched for the word.  “Okay.”

:>

‘Okay’.  How was I supposed to interpret that?  Or did he intend for it to be vague and noncommittal?

If he did, he succeeded. I still think it’s vaguely positive, though. Very vaguely, but still.

I shouldn’t even have been worrying about that.  I blamed the fact that I was just waking up.  Brian was in a bad state.  Was there something I was supposed to say?

Hey, thoughts are not beasts that can be kept in check easily.

Something I should do?  Every gesture that normally demonstrated caring or sympathy or whatever else was a tender point for him.

I don’t know, this stuff is hard.

A touch on the arm was an invasion of his personal space, which he was keenly aware of at this point.

Yeeeah, if you’re averse to things going for your head right now, he’s probably gonna be a thousand times as bad with any unexpected contact.

Asking how he was doing was a reminder that he wasn’t ok.  Would offering to help him out or giving him support make him feel more powerless, like he’d felt when Bonesaw had gone to work on him?

And on top of everything, there’s the machism his dad imprinted on him, which might make him slightly more averse to being on the receiving end of the support.

Honestly, though, he handles that aspect of his background fairly well. He could’ve become so much more of a dick as a result of that, but here he is as a sweet and sensitive guy.

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Brian and I both spoke at the same time, with me mumbling something to the effect of, “Sorry, I must have fallen-” before shutting my mouth.

Damn it, he’ll have me back on deck long before the end of this chapter if they keep being this adorably awkward.

He waited, giving me a chance to talk as he wiped at the damp spot on his arm, then finally broke the awkward silence with,  “I’m glad one of us slept.”

Okay, so they didn’t fall asleep together. It’s still adorable, though. It means he’s been willing to let her sleep leaned against him for however long while he sat there wide awake.

…there’s no way Alec and Aisha didn’t tease the hell out of him. I would’ve liked to see that, honestly. 😛

“You didn’t?”

“Not a wink.”

He did look tired.  Not just like someone who had spent the night sitting upright, but like someone who had just finished a swim from one edge of the bay to the other.

Yeeah, he’s still gonna need some time to recover.

Clearly this is Danny’s fault for failing to get the ferry running so Brian had to swim.

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The noise of the microwave beeping jarred me from the first restful sleep I’d had in some time.

She slept!

I moved my head, and my pillow moved in response.

“Tried to tell them to stay quiet,” Brian said, his voice low, “They’re not the most considerate pair in the world.”

Who? Alec and Aisha?

“Muh?” I mumbled something, and even I wasn’t sure what I’d intended to say.  I’d been deep in the throes of some dream that felt strangely familiar, and I’d been pulled out of it quickly enough that I felt momentarily disoriented.

…

Interesting.

So are Dandelion dreams common for parahumans (though they don’t know it)? Do they just happen, or is it a result of something that happened nearby while she was asleep? Is it a vision, or a normal dream based on the visions that only her subconscious remembers (the disorientation might point to the former)?

This raises questions, guys.

I wiped at my mouth where I’d drooled a little, and was suddenly aware that Brian was there.  I felt my face heat up as I realized I’d been leaning -and drooling- on his arm.

Pfft!

Wait, did the two of you fall asleep on the couch together? That’s adorable.

Wildbow has pulled out the giant roped hook and is dragging me back towards the ship whether I like it or not. He might get me back on board yet.

Alec and Aisha were unmasked and rifling through the ‘kitchen’ to find something to eat.

Speaking of ships, I could absolutely see these two together someday.

Prey 14.1

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Another day, another chapter, another Arc! Howdy! It’s time to read some Worm!

Previously, this would be where I’d speculate on the Arc title, but I already did that for this one. I’ll probably be moving it to the Arc Thoughts in the future anyway, splitting the “next Arc speculations” section into pre and post reading the title.

So with that out of the way, I guess I should speculate on the specific chapter, huh?

First chapters in Arcs are almost as difficult to speculate on as Interludes, but at least I have a decent idea what I think the Arc is going to be about (though there’s probably way more to it than just “Siberian’s turn and probably Traveler backstory”), so that’s something.

I don’t think we’ll be jumping straight into Siberian’s hunt, though I don’t think we’re going to dawdle either. It is very possible that we’ll get one of the other remaining Nine’s turn first (probably Bonesaw in spite of her, ahem, handicap – devoting half an Arc to defeating her properly would follow on nicely from Snare, Jack’s supposed to go last though he might make an exception because of Bonesaw’s little problem, and there’s no way we’re dealing with Siberian and Crawler), too, transitioning into Siberian being the major threat in the latter half.

Of course, all of that might be complicated by the ongoing assaults on the Nine.

Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent. What I meant to go on to say is that we might start off with a lower-action chapter as Taylor attempts to deal with the mess Mannequin and Burnscar left in her territory and perhaps tries to make sense of what she and Brian want to be to each other.

So yeah, let’s have a look at what Prey has to offer!

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As the predators lurk through Brockton Bay
We get on our knees and begin to pray
Let’s hold on tight for another day
To the feeble hope that we won’t be their Prey

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At the end of Arc 11½, I did a favorites ranking of the Nine. At the time, this is what I wound up with:

  1. Bonesaw
  2. Cherish
  3. Jack Slash
  4. Burnscar
  5. Shatterbird
  6. Siberian
  7. Mannequin
  8. Crawler

After Plague and Snare, how has this changed?

Well, for one thing, Crawler’s a cat and I love the contrast between this enormous beast and how adorable his mannerisms can be, so he’s jumped up a couple spots. (It’s worth noting he was mainly on the bottom because we knew almost nothing about him.)

Mannequin has proven himself to be quite entertaining compared to his first impression, so he goes up the scale too.

And finally, Siberian has traded spots with Shatterbird, because Siberian’s scary as fuck in a good way. Meanwhile, I actively dislike Shatterbird as a person (she was only that high on the list because of her power), and apart from her sheer impact through the Shattering, she hasn’t had much opportunity to make me like her more.

Which means the list ends up looking like this:

  1. Bonesaw
  2. Cherish
  3. Jack Slash
  4. Mannequin

  5. Crawler

  6. Burnscar
  7. Siberian
  8. Shatterbird
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Oh yeah, one more prediction for Prey: I suspect one or more of the minor protagonists is/are going to die to Siberian, or at least get mauled. Maybe even one of the major protagonists. This would mirror the Case 01 video, perhaps even closely.

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krixwell-liveblogs:

It’s true that Earth Bet has a little less homophobia than our world (a lot thanks to Legend himself) but there are states where gay marriage was legal even in our world at the time the story is set. Remember that the US does a lot on the state level so looking at national level policies can be misleading.

WoG is that Legend being openly gay as a top hero helped a lot with these issues, which would probably include gay marriage being made legal sooner, though things still aren’t perfect and homophobia still exist.

Huh, that’s pretty neat!

And yeah, of course it’s not going to be perfect. This is still Worm, after all. 😛

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Krix please consider what the psychological impact of having your organs and nerves methodically torn out and draped across a room would be.

Throughout your read I was having my doubts but now I am a little bit more sure. I think you are underplaying just HOW MUCH trauma Brian went through. Its not just the hours of literally impossible inhuman torture, but being made to watch as your whole team/family member you consider highly get caught, then starting surgery on one, and proceeding to decide to just torch them as you can’t do anything to stop it. Going on an emotional tirade is the least to be expected

Yeeah, fucking hell, he needs all the hugs. Honestly, he’s handling it surprisingly well.

I do have a tendency to underplay this kind of thing, that’s true, though I think some of what probably came across as underplaying was more me trying to consider all the possibilities. I repeatedly mentioned how his change could be a result of his new power and didn’t make it clear enough that I thought that this and way more would be justified as simply a result of the trauma.

In fact, I don’t think I would’ve liked it as much if it had turned out it was his new power doing it. It would diminish the impact of his trauma in much the same way it seemed like I was doing by suggesting that could be the case. I just felt the need to acknowledge the possibility.