My fave thing about the Lung/Marquis conversation is that Marquis is, like, this ancient insider in the Brockton Bay cape scene looking for more information, and Marquis is just this absolute Leeroy Jenkins doofus who has done zero research into the other BB capes.

Hehe, yeah. I suppose the second Marquis in that comparison (also known as Lung) preferred to focus on what affected his business directly. 🙂

This coming interlude is one of many that I’ve been looking forward to for a while. Just to see your thoughts. Though it seems you’ve already figured it out mostly. Which, is a fair better than I did when I first read through worm.

Congrats Krix on your joke theory being correct!

Probably not the first person to send this, but remember back when you said “To be clear, the “Dragon is trapped in video chat” theory is entirely a joke. I feel like I’ve made enough semi-serious but “out there” theories that I need to clarify that”? I am SO happy we finally get to rub this in your face :33

Hehe, yeah… Dragon being virtual started out as a joke theory (and seems to have originally been that she was a human whose power had caused her to get stuck in the virtual? I don’t remember, that’s just the impression I get from the wording I used, with phrases like “trapped in TV land” in the post one of you quoted), but over time, it started becoming plausible enough that I actually started taking it seriously, and… here we are!

And, hell, it wasn’t even the only theory involving Interlude 6 that turned out correct in this chapter! Marquis being Panacea’s dad was not a joke theory, but it wasn’t one I was all that confident in either.

You didn’t really comment on it much at the time, but do you have any thoughts on Regent being revealed to be bisexual?

Took me a while to realize this was about the “sex with himself” bit (at least that’s what I think it’s about?). I just plain didn’t think of that, but I suppose that’s a reasonable interpretation.

As for my thoughts on it… well, good for him, I guess. 🙂

With regards to Regent, Worm doesn’t have a whole lot of fridge horror. But only because Wildbow tends to beat you to it.

Heh, yeah. 😛

Now that you know regent’s true power his name sounds more fitting, doesn’t it ?

Oh, absolutely. It made sense from the beginning, in that a regent takes control, but it wasn’t clear how thoroughly he can take control, and thus how appropriate the near-royalnessissitude of it is.

So, the real question with interlude 10a: Was Regent planning for the suicide to be a fake out for the start, or did he just change his mind when the chair didn’t fall over?

I’m thinking the former, but the latter is scarily probable too.

I know it’s not probable, but I love the idea of Regent releasing Sophia and immediately regaining focus in the middle of the Slaughterhouse 9 / Everyone Will Die discussion and him going “Holy hell, what are we talking about!?”

Hah, I love that idea. 😛

I’m so glad you ended up on the “Holy shit Regent is terrifying and a huge sociopath” side of the people who read this chapter and (I gather) not the “Since she’s a bad person and I don’t like her, I’m so happy that Regent systematically dismantled someone’s life and psychologically broke her” side. I generally don’t like to judge, but the second reaction freaks me out and is way too common.

Yeah, I agree – that attitude is scary because of what it says about the people who hold it. It suggests a black and white view of the world and the idea that what Regent did is okay to do to anyone.

I mean, yes. She’s a terrible person. Literally a serial murderer, or at least killer (there is a difference) and attempted murderer. But Regent’s actions are simply not oki doki.

I think this is the chapter that cemented Worm as one of my favourite… literary things? Written works? The sheer emotion Wildbow manages to instill, the way this recontextualises and fleshes out a previously minor character, and the way he manages to make you feel bad for wishing Sophia would get some form of comeuppance for so long… And the things it says about Regent as a character are really interesting, especially the way he processes emotions (like his maybe-protectiveness? of Taylor).

I know, right! Good shit. Fucked up shit, but good shit.

You don’t feel any pity for Sophia? You don’t feel at least a bit of a pity for a teenage girl whose life was destroyed by a freaking psycho? Yes, I know that she’s bad and violent and everything, but still its cruel what Regent did to her, I kind of seriously hated him back when I read this chapter, he’s not a good person either and the worst thing is that he doesn’t even did what he did because he cared for his allies, he did only to have fun and teach her a lesson. What do you say?

If I ever gave the impression that I didn’t feel any pity for Sophia towards the end there, or thought that Regent was a good person in this chapter, I must’ve seriously failed to communicate my thoughts. She had a lot of it coming, but the suicide portion was way disproportionate.

And yeah, that last part is a good point.