By the way, I’m curious. Do you have Tumblr?
Also: If you’ve got asks to send in, you might want to hold on to them a bit. Due to technical issues, Sharks can’t currently access the screener blog, and we might have to make a new one instead, in which case any asks sent in since my last ask session will be lost. I’m sorry about the inconvenience and any asks you’ve sent that might not make it to me.
Alright, it’s getting late and I’m hungry, so I’ll stop here. Next session: Monday. See you then!
“Oh god,” the girl sobbed. She moved forward, ready to give Minor a hug, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. He didn’t speak, but only turned to Lisa.
Not one for affection with strangers, I guess.
“Don’t thank him. Thank her.” Lisa looked my way. “We wouldn’t have gone out of our way to help if she hadn’t been stubborn.”
Ooh, how is Taylor going to handle this? :3
Before I had a chance to respond, the girl threw her arms around me, hugging me tight.
😀
Lisa motioned to Minor, and he headed off to join Senegal in guard duty, leaving the rest of us alone. Better, probably, if the girl’s state left her uncomfortable or spooked around guys.
Ah, yeah, that would make sense. Although to be fair, she did just try to hug the guy.
We headed into a hallway that branched off into a side entrance and bathrooms, but the rubble blocking the door and the lack of water in the bathrooms left little purpose for the area beyond being a quieter spot, away from the party. Lisa signaled, and Senegal moved to stand guard at the entrance.
Nice, got a bit of a calm spot here.
The hallway now held only Minor, Lisa, me and the rescued girl, along with two small groups of younger people. There was a couple making out at the far end of the hallway, getting hot and heavy, oblivious to their audience. Nearer to us, in the alcove that led to the out-of-order bathrooms, there was a trio of teenagers that were so plastered with drink that they couldn’t sit upright. Empty bottles were scattered around them. It was as much privacy as we’d get.
Honestly, it’s more than I’d expect you to be able to find.
And hey, you’re lucky enough that neither group seems to be paying attention.
Minor put the girl down, and she immediately shrank back, getting her feet under her as if ready to bolt.
Again, completely understandable.
“You’re safe,” Lisa assured her. “We’re not doing anything to you.”
I wouldn’t blame her for not believing this, but let’s hope she does.
The girl wiped at her eye with the back of one hand, smearing thick eyeshadow and eyeliner across her temple. “But-”
“She’s right,” Minor spoke, standing, “You’re as safe as you’re gonna get for the next little while.”
I suppose it does help that she’s hearing this from both the big scary guy and the girl following him around.
How many people had joined the Merchants after everything went to hell? One in two hundred of the people who’d declined to evacuate the city? One in a hundred? One in fifty? How many of these people had been ordinary citizens until civilization broke down?
And how many of them were like this all along, just below the surface?
Had I passed any of these people on the street while going about my day?
Entirely possible. Hell, maybe you’d just think they were “slightly awkward people with poor sense of boundaries”.
We legged it in making distance from there, and the girl screamed and kicked the entire way.
Unsurprising. It’s not like she knows why this huge, scary man just disrupted the show to “buy” her.
People around us laughed and hooted. I couldn’t make out everything that was said, but there were lewd comments and dirty remarks cast our way.
Of course. At least they seem to be taking it well. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I was swiftly losing faith in humanity. Not that I had much to spare.
Wow, you had some left of that stuff?
Taylor’s faith in humanity has been pretty low since the start. (Honestly, that’s another point in favor of Taylor’s villainous potential.) And over the course of the story, she’s been through experiences that took it down even further, notably coming to a head in Extermination 8.8.
As Minor plowed his way through the crowd, Lisa lunged forward. She caught the wrist of an older man, and I saw that she’d just stopped him from turning a knife on Minor.
Nice work!
I moved to back her up, kicking the guy in the side of the knee. He dropped the knife and it skittered along the floor to the boundary of the crowd.
Heh. Skittered. 😛
I fell on top of it, covering it with my body to prevent anyone else from taking it, then grabbed it for myself at the first opportunity.
Sweet, she’s got a weapon she’s used to wielding now.
Senegal helped clear the crowd out of the way so Minor had an exit route, and I stood, pointing the knife at anyone who looked like they might make a move for us.
…I mean, you’re probably the second least intimidating person in your group right now, knife or no knife, but anything that helps, I guess.
The size and muscle of our bodyguards posed too much risk for the Merchants here, with the potential rewards of getting the girl from them being far too scarce compared to the immediate rewards that were in arm’s reach.
Ah yes. Follow the path of least resistance, folks.
The crowd let them be and continued to scrabble for the bills and pills.
Bills ‘n’ pills :p
I like when Wildbow decides to indulge in a little bit of wordplay. See also Judge Peter Regan lapsing into alliteration for a moment in Interlude 6, for instance, though I’m not quite sure whether that was intentional.
Lisa pulled on Minor’s arm, and he bent down so she could speak in his ear.
Minor straightened, and with one fist clenched, he made his way through the crowd, pushing people to either side, and then stepped onto the stage.
Oh boy.
Time for Minor to show what he’s good for against the crowd, while… the girls pull the teenager out of there during the racket?
The insults hurled his way were impossible to make out over the noise of the music and the larger crowd. He ignored them as he stepped behind the girl, caught her around the waist, and then threw her over one shoulder. She screamed.
…that works too, I guess. I suppose the crowd isn’t quite as eager to attack a guy like Minor?
“I’m buying this one!” he hollered, “Whoever brought her, here’s your fucking money!”
Huh. Well, I suppose that might work.
He revealed what was in his clenched fist – money and pills. The sugar pills Lisa had brought? He cast them into the crowd, and in that instant, the exhibition was over.
Huh. The “whoever brought her” might not be happy, but this should have the added effect of pleasing the crowd as they scramble for the scattered money and “drugs”.
The crowd tore into one another, fighting over what had fallen onto their heads and shoulders, or drifted past them onto the ground. The other women backed into the clothing store.
Just look how pleased this crowd is!
“You’ve got a little superhero showing through, there,” she whispered right into my ear.
Hehe, yeah.
Hm. Is this the first time we’ve seen someone use the word “superhero” in this story? We see “hero” all the time, but I’m not sure we’ve ever seen the super- prefix.
*blog search*
Okay, no, not by a long shot. It’s shown up on occasion, starting in 1.1, but it’s happened more rarely than one might expect from a story like this one. Blog search returns only three pages of results for “superhero”, compared to eight pages for just “hero”, though it’s worth noting that that includes cases of me using those words in my commentary and I’m more likely to use the shorter version.
“I am going to help her, with or without you,” I hissed, “Even if that means using my powers and throwing subtlety to the winds.”
Oh wow, Taylor’s really fired up all of a sudden.
Yeah, I was expecting a conflict like this to pop up sooner or later. Taylor isn’t one for pure recon in places with lots of people who need help.
But are you sure about this, Taylor? Keep in mind you’re uncostumed. You’d have to act like you were affected by the bugs like everyone else, at the same time you were directing them.
“Okay, okay. Probably don’t have to go that far. Hold on.”
Whatcha got in mind?
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