Tag: 15.1p1

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Bitch, for her part, wrapped her arms around his head as he lifted her off the ground.  “Good boy!”

He’s just a dog.  Beneath the three-thousand-ish pounds of muscle and the exterior of tangled muscle and bone, he was still a dopey dog who adored his master.  Bitch had given him what he’d been yearning for since he was abandoned or abused in his past life.

This is honestly what I love most about Rachel’s power. The dogs’ minds don’t change – they’re really big and scary, but they’re adorable doofs nonetheless. That’s one of the reasons I enjoyed Interlude 4 so much. (RIP Brutus)

She’d offered him the affection and companionship he’d been wanting for years.

I could relate.  Not in terms of Bitch, specifically, but I could relate.

That’s exactly what the Undersiders as a whole did for Taylor.

“Get to work clearing that up!” I ordered.  My swarm augmented my voice to carry it across the crowd of my followers.  There were twenty-two adults and twenty kids.

Ohh. Demolition work, that’s what they’re doing. They just used Bentley to bring down that building on purpose.

With Coil’s assistance, I’d brought in work gloves and black hazmat suits, but most people were wearing only the lower body of the suits.  It was too warm for the full suits, and the masks were largely unnecessary.

We’re in the midst of summer by now, I suppose. How long has it been since Prey, which was around mid-late June?

Everyone was dripping from the rain, but nobody was really complaining.  I rather liked it; it was refreshing in the otherwise warm day.

Rain can be pretty nice sometimes. 🙂

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Bentley lunged in my direction, and I could feel my people backing away behind me.  I stood firm.

Woah.

So.

First of all: Taylor perspective, as far as I can tell. Normally this story doesn’t use first-person unless it’s her perspective. So not an Interlude Arc.

Second: Why does she appear to be up against Rachel? Rachel isn’t the sparring type. Is this Taylor attempting to rescue Dinah and ending up with Rachel against her, showing surprising loyalty to Coil?

Maybe this is a nightmare similar to the one she had in Infestation, where something’s gone wrong with the rescue plans? Perhaps all the Undertravelers are against her?

She does have her people, normally meaning Sierra, Charlotte and other subordinates from her territory. Is Rachel attacking Taylor’s territory for some reason?

Or maybe Bentley’s lunge has nothing to do with fighting. Maybe he’s just… arriving.

The mutant bulldog landed with both front paws first, the impact so heavy that spittle and moisture was flung from his massive body.

A low, guttural noise tore its way from Bentley’s throat as he surged forward again.  I could hear yelps and shouts of alarm from the crowd behind me.

I could imagine this being a show of sorts, but Rachel would probably not allow that.

Wood splintered, cracked, and finally gave way.  Behind Bentley, the husk of a fire-scorched building collapsed.  Chains that had been lashed to the building’s wooden supports trailed from the dog’s harness as he bounded toward Bitch.

He’s going toward Rachel now? Is Rachel next to Taylor, having just called for Bentley?

Of everyone present, only Bitch and I held our ground as the dog barreled into his master, practically bouncing with joy.

D’aww.

Colony 15.1

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It’s that time again – time to start a new Arc!

Due to this ask I now know that Prey is considered the end of book 2, which I means that we are not ending the book in Colony. That has implications: For one thing, this is very likely an Interlude Arc like Sentinel.

For another, we’re most likely not seeing an attack from the Simurgh yet unless this Arc follows characters from a different location dealing with that, which I find unlikely because unlike regular Interludes, judging by Sentinel, Interlude Arcs seem like they should be at the beginnings of the books and an Endbringer attack is very much something that belongs at the end of a book. Although with the scaling of the threats, maybe that won’t be the case for much longer. Also, this Endbringer attack would need to have some connection to the main plot – getting to see the attack just because it is happening would be weird, considering that at this point, they’re just a thing that happens in this world. Thirdly, we’d need to have reason to care about the characters involved, though I suspect Wildbow could pull that off.

So if this is an Interlude Arc and not an Endbringer Arc, what are we in for? Whose POV?

My first thought is the population of Taylor’s territory. But we’ve just had an Interlude from the POV of one of a total two or so non-Taylor residents we have reason to want an Interlude from the POV of.

Hmm. Colony, ant colony, ants, workers… Docks? Something to do with the rebuilding of the town? Or maybe the Guild, finally learning what their deal is beyond “Dragon is part of both the Protectorate and the Guild”?

I don’t know. Even with some of my options practically ruled out by the knowledge that this isn’t included in the Slaughterhouse Nine book, this Arc remains very hard to speculate on. Much like regular Interludes, actually.

I think it’s time that I just jump in and find out! And try not to get bitten by too many ants that are pissed at me for jumping into their Colony.