Maybe fatigue factored in, but the more I thought on our allies, the less secure I felt.

Trickster: Knows what he’s doing in a fight, can change up the battlefield a lot and leave the enemy confused, came up with the plan, might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Sundancer: Can deal massive damage, could probably take out most of the enemies singlehandedly, might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Tattletale: Excellent source of information, might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Everyone: Might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

The information Cherish had volunteered about Coil, true or not, had left me with lingering doubts.

Did what she said seriously not occur to you before?

I mean, besides the idea that he’s close to his goal.

I was also acutely aware of the distinct lack of chemistry and camaraderie among the Travelers.  They were keeping secrets, with no promises of divulging the information in question.

This is another bit that makes me feel like we’ll be learning what those secrets are soon. Even if Taylor doesn’t (i.e. even if it ends up being in an Interlude).

Whatever the reason may be, they’re not working together because of friendship, at least not anymore.

And me?  I retreated into my headspace, I supposed.

That does indeed sound very much like your thing.

Although I wouldn’t trust your headspace to destress you.

I was maybe similar to Tattletale in that I took note of each of the others, but my thoughts were less about simply observing than about cataloguing and mentally preparing.  What options did we have?  What tools, weapons and techniques did we have at our disposal?

I suppose if not planning stresses her, then preparing as an anti-stress coping mechanic makes sense.

Who was going to be backing me up during this operation, and how reliable were those people?

The Travelers may have their internal problems, but I haven’t seen anything to suggest they’re not reliable in a pinch.

It was constructive, maybe, but exhausting.  There were so many angles to consider, and the stakes were high.  Brian’s life, Brian’s quality of life.

Ah, yeah, here’s the part where it changes from destressing to distressing. Amazing how much a simple vowel can change the meaning, isn’t it?

The rest of us weren’t in the Nine’s clutches, but it would take only one mistake before any one of us could be in the same boat, wondering just how horrible things were going to get for us.

Yeah, there’s a lot that can go wrong when going up against these lunatics.

“Sorry,” I said, “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.  I know Grue isn’t your teammate.  You didn’t have to come to help.”

Hey, there’s a reason I’ve been calling you “Undertravelers” for a while. For the time being, you’re practically one team.

But yeah, that’s fair.

“We’re all in this together, right?” Trickster said.  “You mind if I smoke?”

I do, but go ahead. At least I don’t have to share a car with you.

I shrugged and Tattletale shook her head.  He rolled down the window and lit a cigarette, placing it through the mouth-hole of his hard mask.

What about Sundancer?

…I suppose he already knows her answer.

That would be his way of dealing with stress.  We were all tense, and we all had our ways of coping.

Fair enough, I suppose.

Trickster smoked and stared off into the distance.  Sundancer fidgeted.  She frequently realized what she was doing and forced herself to stop, only to pick up something else.  Her leg would bounce in place, then she would stop doing that and start drumming her fingers on her kneepad in some complicated pattern.  It made me think of a pianist or a guitarist fingering the strings.

This is both relatable and adorable. :>

Tattletale watched people, her eyes roving over the rest of us.  Her cheek bulged slightly where she touched the tip of her tongue against the backside of the wound Jack had left her.

I wonder how much she’s learning on the way, about various people.

The truck passed over a pothole.  Our teams were out in force, our members divided across three trucks.

Ah, alright, so their duo excursion is over. There goes that prediction deadline. Though that does just mean it falls back to the end of the Arc.

I take it they’re on their way to execute or set up the pieces for Trickster’s approach.

I rode with Trickster, Sundancer and Tattletale.  Regent and Ballistic were in the second vehicle.  Bitch and her dogs rode in the third.

Sounds like a good arrangement!

Hey, when you say “Regent and Ballistic”, does that mean “Regent, Shatterbird-who-is-also-Regent and Ballistic”? I mean, otherwise the balance here is 4-2-(1+dogs).

This was Tattletale’s first time venturing out of Coil’s base in a little while.  Her power was limited when she could only get information by what we communicated to her, and this was the kind of situation where we needed her at full strength.

Makes sense. She’s superpowered Sherlock, she needs to be able to spot clues.

If nothing else, it felt better to have another teammate on the field with us, with Grue’s absence.

Doesn’t feel as empty, huh?

“I was a lot more comfortable with the risky plan when it was something I thought of,” I said.

Hah!

I suppose that’s a reasonable bias. She can more directly keep track of the thought processes involved in her own plans.

“You said calculated recklessness, right?”  Trickster asked.

Coddamn it, how did it not occur to me before that “calculated recklessness” is pretty much Trickster’s whole style?

“Part of that ‘calculated’ bit is control.  Keeping the chaos to a minimum, so we can anticipate and plan.”

So whatever this plan is, it’s something Taylor views as risky and chaotic.

This sounds like fun!

Trickster leaned against the door of the vehicle.  “That may be a bit of a problem.”

“You think?”

Here’s what I mean about this being Trickster’s style: He sows chaos on the battleground, but it’s controlled chaos, controlled by him. We saw him do this to great effect against the Wards in Sentinel. He also seems to go with the flow more than Skitter, making rapid decisions in the moment rather than planning things out.

““Nothing she can’t do outside the bubble that she couldn’t do inside,” Tattletale replied.” Triple negatives and incomplete sentences are hard to parse, but I think it works as dialogue. Just don’t think about it too hard.

Yeah, the technical meaning is almost certainly not what she meant (there isn’t anything she is unable do do outside the bubble that she is unable to do inside, meaning that anything she can’t do inside, she can do outside), but it’s a realistic error that’s just as easily pinned on Tattle as on Wildbow.