Krixwell Liveblogs

“I think reckless may be a very good word to choose,” Brian replied.

Her impudence can result in recklessness, yes. That’s gotten her in trouble more than once.

“No.  It’s…” I reached for the word and couldn’t find it.  I was too tired, and my brain wasn’t really in that gear.

“I’m surprised, sometimes, at how much attention you pay to us.  You seemed to have Rachel down cold, and your description of Lisa seems pretty apt.  Makes me wonder how you’ve analyzed me.”

To be fair, she got a little help when it came to Rachel, and Lisa is her best friend.

But yeah, Taylor is a fairly good judge of character. We’ve seen that plenty of times.

“I’m not all that.  Really.  There are exceptions, but dealing with people isn’t my thing,” I said.  Feeling awkward, I distracted myself with the rice, taking it off the propane stove and scooping some out into a bowl.

She’s better at understanding people than at dealing with them.

Holding the pot, I pulled at the wrong muscle and felt my rib protest.  I winced, and I wasn’t able to hide it. 

Ow.

Grue pulled off his helmet and the darkness dissipated around his head.  It was Brian’s frowning face I saw, now.  “Your dad is fine.  He was already fully checked out and sent home.  Lisa is… less fine.”

Uh oh.

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s not life threatening.  I just don’t know if it’s hit her yet.

Good, so she’s alive at least. That was not a death euphemism.

But… if what’s hit her yet? Did something about the injury mess with her ability to continue working on the team or something? Or… make her mute? No, she’d notice that pretty quickly…

Coil’s doctor stitched her up, but he told her to expect a scar.  I don’t know if it’s shock, the blood loss, or if it’s that she hasn’t seen herself in a mirror, but she doesn’t seem to care.  Cracking jokes, even.  Isn’t- is it sexist of me to wonder why a girl doesn’t care more about her looks being spoiled?”

Ahh.

Hey, we’re back to Brian’s lowkey sexism – and this is also a great example of why it’s not as bad as it could be: he’s self-aware about it. He knows some of the view of women his dad beat into him isn’t right, he’s just not entirely sure which parts, and he’s trying to correct himself.

“It’s easily possible she does care,” I said.  I was thinking back to her interactions with our enemies in fights.  In particular, our run-ins with Glory Girl and Panacea during the bank robbery and Jack Slash last night seemed to stand out.  “I think maybe she handles stress and problems by throwing herself headlong against them.  It’s how she operates in costume, against serious threats and unexpected situations.

That sounds about right. It’s what she does – she catches enemies off-guard by acting completely unfazed and uses that along with her knowledge to manipulate them.

It makes a lot of sense that she’d extend that M.O. to other problems.

There’s a word I’m trying to pin down, it’s not reckless, but-”

Brash? Spiteful? No, spiteful sounds more like Amy when she’s dealing with Taylor. I think I’ll go with brash.

Actually, looks like brash has a lot of meanings that don’t all fit what I’m going for. Impudent is probably better.

“There were people in danger.  My people.  I thought a forty-five percent chance of survival was worth the risk.”

Honestly, it didn’t seem like she considered the risk much at all.

He tapped his finger against the forehead of his helmet.  I could almost make out the noise through the thin emanation of his power.  “Could you ask your employee to give us some privacy?”

Grue really doesn’t like what he’s hearing, it seems. Makes sense – Taylor’s heroic side is showing again.

“I can go for a walk,” Sierra said.

“Thank you,” I told her, “I’ll signal you with my power when we’re done.”

The range of Taylor’s power is quite practical.

My heart was speeding up just a bit as we waited for her to leave.  I distracted myself by limping over to the propane stove that was positioned on the countertop and checking the rice.  There were containers and boxes of food arranged on the counter that Sierra had apparently checked and deemed edible.  Nothing especially good for breakfast.

Of course, because we can’t have the morning improved by good breakfast.

As the door closed behind Sierra, I hugged my arms against my body and said, “Please don’t tell me you asked her to leave because you have bad news about Lisa or my dad.”

…ahh. No wonder her heart was speeding up.

“Employee?”  I suggested.

“Your employee just informed me that you fought Mannequin last night?”

Oh, never mind, I guess.

“Yeah.”

“Are you suicidal!?”

This is not an unreasonable response, regardless of how much Taylor has proven her skill. Mannequin is quite dangerous and Grue may be just as aware of Mannequin’s power being well suited to keeping bugs out as Taylor was.

“He’s not that strong,” I said, defensively.  “I mean, scary as fuck, he’s strong, but he was beatable.”

“Do you not recall the very specific numbers we got on our chances against these guys?  Fifty-five percent chance we die if we fight them!”

Oh yeah!

Then again, who knows what sort of scenarios were counted in that? Do 1-on-1s count, or did Dinah assume all-on-all? We just don’t know.

Coil isn’t always careful enough with his wording when asking for the numbers, as highlighted when Dinah was first introduced. Minor differences in the terms and points where he’s not specific enough can make a major difference in the numbers.

The second my bugs settled on the intruder and felt that familiar emanation of outward pressure, like a faint breeze, I calmed down.

That would be Grue. Hi!

I felt a mite embarrassed as I made my way downstairs to greet Grue.

It’s okay, he was probably expecting it.

“Christ, T- Skitter!” he exclaimed, the second he saw me.

…right. “Every bug” is probably a bit much.

“What?”

“Your, um-” he gestured at Sierra shaking his hand, agitated.

Drone. If it were up to me, anyway.

So what did Sierra do, when– oh! That’s not it. Taylor seems to have forgotten she’s out of costume.

Whoops!

“Skitter!  You’ve got company!”

Did Regent come with Charlotte, or is this someone else?

Most importantly, are they friendly?

I think the best scenario would be that it’s Tattletale, already recovered enough to be up and running.

Every bug I had in the cabinets and corners of the room streamed forth to check the intruder, my thoughts immediately shifting into a combat mode.  What escape routes did I have?  Could I help Sierra if there was trouble?  What tools and weapons did I have on hand?

It’s a bit paranoid, but it’s entirely justified right now. For the most part, Sierra and Charlotte wouldn’t know who is or isn’t friendly, with the exception of Grue, Lisa (in Charlotte’s case), the Coildiers (and as far as I’ve gathered, the Coildiers aren’t exactly uniformed) and the more obvious Slaughterhouse members like Mannequin, Shatterbird and Crawler. And none of the last three would be the type to stop politely at the entryway.

The uncertainties of the day, the worries about Lisa and Dad, having my routine disrupted and the spoiling of my breakfast and morning shower had put me in a bad mood.

Yeah, bit of a shitty morning after, this.

It would have been nice to say that it made me feel better, getting things in order again, and it did, but it wasn’t a cure-all nor was it a perfect distraction.  There was no way I could relax with the things I had hanging over my head.

At least it’s a little help?

But yeah… guilt time?

Doing this felt like I wasn’t doing something to help Dinah.

Boom, there we go.