“No,” Brian said, raising his voice.

“Yes,” I told her, giving Brian a pointed look.  “If I mention the meeting before you do, or if I piss you off.”

I love how Brian is just like some… chibi character in the background going “this is a bad ideeeaaa”.

She looked me over, “Whatever.  If you’re that eager to get hit, it’s your funeral.”  She took off the backpack and threw it at me.  I caught it with both arms.  Heavier than it looked.

As I hurried her way to get my running shoes on, Alec hissed at me, “You’re crazy.”

Ahahaha

Maybe.  Probably.  But I couldn’t think of a better way to reach out to Bitch.

I hoped this wasn’t something I was going to regret.

It might hurt for a few days, but you’ll be fine… hopefully. Your relationship with Rachel might be another story, though.

“A free shot.”

“One punch, however you want it, wherever you want to stick it.  I know Brian said something about there being no repeats of the day we met, no fighting inside the group or whatever, but this would be a freebie.  Totally allowed.”  I glanced at Brian, who only gave me a concerned look and a small, tight shake of the head.

Hehehe.

“nooo taylor shut up she punches hard”

“Nah,” Bitch answered, “You’ll just piss me off some other way.”

Impulsively, I told her, “Then how about this?  If we finish, we get back here, and it turns out I’ve ruined your day, you get that free shot.”

Even better. Now the terms of the breach are practically decided by Rachel – Taylor just gave Rachel a free pass to punch her if she pissed her off in any way.

She stared at me for a moment.  “So I just got to put up with you for a few hours, and then I get to knock your teeth out?”

Great deal! Am I right, Rachel?

“You’re going to take care of the rescued dogs, right?  That’s what you do when you go out?  Your ‘work’?”

“None of your business.”

“Coil said you’re overloaded.  I’m offering an extra set of hands, so you can give the dogs more of the attention they need.”

Hey, that’s not a bad approach.

And I’m all for the idea of maybe getting to see Rachel and Taylor taking care of dogs together!

“Bullshit.”

“Enough,” Brian started to rise, “You need to calm down-”

I put my hand on his shoulder and pushed him down.  “I’m fine.  Rachel, I’m going to make you a deal.”

A deal?

Her eyes narrowed.

“I thought my last deal was pretty fair, so hear me out?”

“Fine.”

“Let me come along.  I’ll help out where I can, we’ll maybe talk, but we won’t talk about Coil, unless you bring it up.  In exchange, if I do bring it up, or if I try to manipulate you one way or the other, you get a free shot at me.”

Yeah, this sounds good. It also makes it so that Taylor has a clear, self-imposed incentive to not try to manipulate Rachel, which should soothe the latter a bit. Hopefully.

Bitch, though, was less than impressed.  The look she gave me could have sent a small animal fleeing for its life.

Yeeah, this isn’t really the best time. I think she’s in the mood to withdraw from social contact right now.

“Fuck you,” she spat the words.

“Hey.  What?” I was stunned.

Did she think Taylor was mocking her?

“You want to come and bug me to change my mind.  Well fuck you.  You’re not coming into my space, getting in my business, to make me do or say anything I don’t want to do.”

Ah, yeah, that’s a fair assumption, given the timing. She’s wrong, but a predictable, understandable kind of wrong.

I started to raise my hands, in a placating gesture, but I stopped myself.  Bitch had a different standard for handling social situations.  She didn’t understand stuff like tone, stress, sarcasm, and precedent had led her to assume sarcasm and aggression from any statement.

See? This is exactly the kind of behavior Brian was talking about earlier. Not Rachel’s behavior – Taylor’s.

She’s learning very quickly. Lisa told her how Rachel’s mind works once, and Taylor is already taking it all to heart and adjusting her approach based on that new knowledge.

And it wasn’t just statements, I had a suspicion that the gesture of raising my hands could be seen as aggressive, or something like an animal trying to make itself look bigger, intimidating.

Yeah, seems likely.

I had to communicate with her in a way that left the least room for misinterpretation.

Good luck, but you might not need it.

Lisa stopped him, “Let’s wait, then.  He said we had a week, we can afford to wait a day or two.  Bitch, go do your thing, get it out of the way.  But maybe try to be more open to negotiation and discussion when it comes up again.”

Fair enough, I suppose.

Bitch’s eyebrows knit together in a glare, not directed at anyone in particular.  She turned her attention to collecting the things she needed – plastic bags, a few energy bars, leashes, and a backpack with a bright blue plastic stick jutting out of a gap in the zipper.

“Hey,” I spoke up, “Can I come with?”

Huh… now that’s an interesting move. I guess Taylor is trying to make good on what she told herself yesterday, and make an effort to get to know all the Undersiders better, including Rachel.

And now that Taylor knows a bit better how Rachel’s mind works, it might not go horribly, even.

I’d told myself I wanted to connect with these guys, and that wasn’t going to happen if I just sat back and participated only when invited.  I had to put myself out there.  Given what I was giving up to be here, I figured I owed it to myself.

Yeah… that’s… a good perspective…

*cough*imterribleattakingthiskindofinitiative*cough*

I have a feeling that by the end of the Arc, Rachel will either a) come around, b) leave the Undersiders or c) be steamrolled despite what was agreed. The deal looks too important to the furthering of the plot – it would be very surprising if the Undersiders didn’t ultimately take it.

I leaned forward, “Not saying you’re wrong in not trusting him, but why?”

Angelica, the one eyed, one eared terrier, nuzzled her, and Bitch scratched her behind the ear.  Bitch explained, “He talks too much.  Only reason people talk like he does is if they’re covering something up.”

Hm. Spoken like a true quiet person.

Maybe there’s some truth to that. I mean, snake’s tongue and all – I’m willing to trust Coil a fair bit, but let’s not forget the motifs and reputation he surrounds himself with. Plus, based on a couple of the asks I’ve been getting, it sounds like some of you guys don’t.

On another note, I wonder how much Rachel trusts Lisa.

“I don’t think he’s covering anything up,” Lisa said, “My power would probably clue me in if he was hiding something.”

“I’m going with my gut, and my gut says no.  Besides, things are fine the way they are.”

“But they could be better,” Alec said.

Fair points on all sides.

“Your opinion, not mine.  We done here?  You said we wouldn’t accept the deal unless everyone was cool with it, and I’m not.”

Yeah, that’s what was agreed. I’m fine with the other Undersiders wanting to know why Rachel voted no, but let’s not peer (pack?) pressure her.

Brian frowned, “Wait.  I assumed we’d discuss this, hear each other out.”

“Nothing to discuss,” Bitch stood up and whistled twice.  Her dogs hopped down from the couch to follow her.  “I’m going to work.”

“Come on,” Brian said, “Don’t-”

Sorry, Brian.

I raised my hand.  Alec, Brian and Lisa joined me in raising theirs.  That left the one person who hadn’t participated in the conversation over Coil’s deal as the sole nay vote.  Bitch seemed unconcerned as she rubbed Brutus’ shoulder.

Hm. What do you think, Rachel?

If this is an actual nay vote, then they’re not doing it. There’s still the chance that she just… hasn’t been paying attention, though? Not really something I associate with her, but a possibility.

“What’s up?” Brian asked her.

“I don’t like it.  Don’t trust him,” she didn’t raise her eyes from Brutus.

Okay, this calls for some serious questions regarding the identity of the scentless man. So far, I’ve been operating under the assumption that the scentless man was the Boss, later revealed to be Coil, but Rachel seemed to trust the scentless man to some extent.

I guess either we have another mystery boss on our hands and Rachel is working for more than one boss, I got the wrong impression of her attitude towards Coil in the Brutus interlude, or she’s lying.

I’m not confident enough in any of those options to really make a solid guess here. For now, Occam’s razor suggests the middle option, but I’ll have to see. Occam’s razor isn’t actually that solid in works of fiction, after all.

“My problem,” I chose my words carefully, “Is it sounds too good to be true.  What if it doesn’t work out?  What if we wind up miserable, or if he screws us, or if he isn’t as good as he thinks he’ll be?  Do we walk away?  Will we be able to?”

All you can ever do is try, so you do need to be prepared for the possibility of failure.

Icarus wasn’t, and that’s the real reason he died.

“I got away from my dad,” Alec said.  “Would it be so hard to get away from Coil?”

I didn’t have a good answer to that.

I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.

And hey, the Undersiders are the masters of the getaway and all…

“I guess we don’t know enough about him or the resources he’s got at his disposal to say.”

“I do have my reservations,” Brian spoke, “But I get the impression Coil’s going ahead with this regardless of whether we’re in or not.  I’d rather be in on this than sitting on the sidelines, watching it happen.”

Yeah, that’s a pretty good point, one that might be what would get me in on this. If the Undersiders stay out, nothing changes for their status quo in the short term, but what about when Coil is in charge of the city?

“Yeah,” I agreed, “I think that right now, what we stand to gain by saying ‘yes’, and being right, far outweighs what we stand to lose.”

“So, who’s for the deal, then?” Lisa asked us.

Aye!