I looked up from the laptop I was using to view a webpage on origami.

Oh, nice! Using the bugs for more artistic purposes. I like it!

So what got Taylor into this? Is she doing it to pass time and as an outlet for creativity? That would be a healthy change of pace for Taylor.

Alternatively, it might just be a way to train her fine control over the bugs.

“Is it?  I’m pretty used to them, so I don’t give it a lot of thought.”

“They’re so organized and human.  Bugs shouldn’t act that way.”

They’re basically a swarm of tiny bodies with a human brain when she’s controlling them, so it’s no wonder they act human.

I do like that it’s not the bugs themselves that creep Charlotte out, but the way they act nothing like bugs. They fall into the uncanny valley, bug edition, where they look completely normal for bugs, but feel sort of wrong.

“I don’t really believe in thinking that way anymore,” I said, absently.

I guess that’s fair.

The first beetle gripped the corner of the paper in his mandibles and slowly pulled it back.

Hello, there, li’l friend.

So is that a paper as in a newspaper, book or something like that? Is this Taylor using her bugs for utility purposes while reading?

Two more moved to the edges of the folds and held them firm.  The fourth and largest of the four beetles ran its head left and right along the paper until it was firmly creased.  Each of the four changed positions and repeated the steps at a different point.

Hmm. Sound more like folding the paper than turning a page.

“That’s really creepy to watch,” Charlotte said, from where she sat at the kitchen table.

Hehe, yeah, I can imagine.

In an odd way, this line is making me think more about Charlotte’s role in the story. She’s one who now works with Taylor, and knows her secret, but doesn’t have powers or as much of a personal stake in things as the other Undersiders, and she’s clearly willing to speak frankly to Taylor at this point.

That might make her someone who can act as a person on the sidelines who Taylor will be able to trust. Someone whom Taylor may eventually be willing to confide in at times when she can’t do so to Lisa or the other Undersiders. Someone who can and will call Taylor out on some of her more bullshitty moments without being – except through reluctant employment – a villain. Lisa has fulfilled those roles up until now, but Lisa a) has a mildly villainous perspective, and b) now has her own things to do when the Undersiders aren’t out fighting. Charlotte, on another hand, will be staying close to Taylor while Taylor is at the Hive and ruling her territory.

Sierra, meanwhile… I’m not sure yet. And hey, I might be completely off the mark re: Charlotte, too.